#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Day 2: Jan. 6th Hearings, 2022 UNCF Summit, Gun Reform Agreement

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

6.13.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: RMU is coming to you LIVE from Atlanta at the 2022 UNCF Summit. This year's theme is Delivering on the Promise of Black Higher Education. The opening plenary is just getting started. We'll dip into that throughout the show.Here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. It was day two of the January 6th hearings. Today the focus was on former President Donald Trump and his actions that led to the violent insurrection. We'll take a look at today's testimony. A bipartisan group of Senators says they have reached an agreement on several gun reform policies intended to prevent dangerous people from having access to guns and otherwise increase safety measures. We'll talk to one gun violence survivor and get her take on this agreement. Another Haitian Soccer delegate has gone missing in Florida.   And we have some heartbreaking news about one of our Black and missing folks we told you about last month. Jennifer Hudson makes history. We'll tell you about the elite group of entertainers she's now a part of. #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download 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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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007 007 Today is Monday, June 13th, 2022. Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasted live here from Atlanta from the UNCF 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. So we'll be talking with Dr. Michael Lomax, who runs the organization. We'll be broadcasting for the next three days here, showing you what is happening in the world of HBCUs, how things have changed. We'll also talk about what's happening on the digital side of campuses going virtual in this post-COVID world.

Well, still in the COVID world, but post-COVID world. We'll also talk about the January 6th committee today. We told you how Donald Trump was a grifter, right? Now the committee said that they raised $250 million for a committee that didn't exist. We'll show you what happened at today's hearing. Also, there is a gun resolution, a compromise in the United States Senate.

It is the first major gun legislation in nearly 30 years. We'll talk about whether it goes far enough. Now a seventh Haitian at the Special Olympics in Florida has gone missing, number seven. We'll give the details on that. Also, some heartbreaking news. One of the black and missing folks we told you about earlier this month.

And Jennifer Hudson makes history as she wins the EGOT, the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar. Last night, she won the Tony Award. Folks, lots to cover right here on Rolling Button Unfiltered. It's time to bring the's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling, best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks.

He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Yeah. Please? Please. All right, folks, we are here in Atlanta for the UNCF 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. A number of folks from all across the country are here meeting over the next three days to talk about various issues. It is a packed house in about 30 minutes. It'll be the opening session.

We'll be carrying that live from Atlanta. And as I said, anybody who's been paying any attention, we have seen the resurgence which we see used across the country. There are a number of reasons, but we cannot deny the reality that with the death of George Floyd, there's been a significant financial increase to HBCUs,

but also HBCU have seen explosion. Many of them, when it comes to students, many of you may have seen the New York Times story yesterday. Those of you who watched this show, you didn't read the New York Times. We've been trying to tell you all that for the last three years, what's been going on. Somebody who's been very much involved in the middle of this is Dr. Michael Lomax, who is the CEO of the UNCF, of course, a longtime resident here in Atlanta. So he knows this place real well. Dr. Lomax, good to see you. How are you doing? Hey, welcome to my town, man.

Yeah, indeed. I'm glad to have you here. Well, I see you dressed appropriately. That's the seersucker you got going on? I have a little bit of seersucker, but, you know, I'm not wearing my, you know, great white African attire as you are. I'm from Houston. I know how to dress in the heat.

I know how to dress in the heat. So all these folks be complaining about how hot it is. I'm like, y'all, this is a spring day. This isn't a big deal. Oh, no, this is good weather down here. Indeed, indeed. Let's talk about this summit. This is an annual gathering of the UNCF?

Well, it is an interrupted annual gathering of UNCF. We haven't been able to convene our community in two years. And there's a lot of pent-up demand. And there's a lot of pent up demand. And there's a lot of new news. You know, there's a lot that has been happening. You know, if you were to wind the clock back to 2000, to March, when everything shut down and the pandemic. 2020. I mean, 2020. And the pandemic was the news of the day. You know, I think if you were to ask black college presidents and black college students, what's the future? They would say it looks pretty grim. Yeah. We have to shut down campuses, go home.

We're going to have to go online. Oh, no. I remember my niece is through the Howard University. I get the notice. I call her parents. I'm like, oh, she's going home. And so I had to go get her, bring her to our house. I had to call a friend. I was like, say, man, Howard is shutting down in 24 hours. He was like, what? I said, you need to come get your daughter. I mean, so people, they didn't know what was going on. Then it was like, well, class has come back in the fall. She came back to our house in the fall. She went to school at our house because they couldn't go to class. Yeah. Well, and that's right. I mean, we had a crisis. UNCF and black colleges got together and we said, what do we do to manage our way through this crisis?

How do we stabilize our institutions? And actually the academic experience of our students because it was totally disrupted. Right. Your niece had someplace to go. She had someplace to go where there was Wi totally disrupted. Right. Your niece had someplace to go. She had someplace to go where there was Wi-Fi. Right. She had probably all this equipment you got in your hand. Yep. Think about most of our students didn't have that. So we had to jump in quickly. We had to provide Wi-Fi. We had to provide equipment. We had to help people find housing. In the fall,

we had an early recovery, but it was only a partial recovery because a lot of our campuses could not open up. And now, two years later, we're back. We're ending an academic year. We're preparing for another academic year. And guess what? HBCUs are more visible than they've ever been. They are attracting a new generation of students. They are attracting a new generation of philanthropy. It seems like a period of opportunity. So we are convening at a time which is not really what we expected, but we are convening at a time of momentum.

And the question is, is this momentum for the moment or is this the new future for HBCUs? I'm gonna come back to that in a second I do want to talk about what was transpiring especially in the digital space because many HBCUs like most black institutions but not just black people a lot of people all across the country were grossly unprepared for a totally virtual world. But the rally, it was exacerbated, frankly, in our community. There were a lot of HBCUs. I don't even want to talk. You know, bring up HBCU online to Tom Joyner. He will start cussing. Yeah, because because what he was trying to do years ago, folks were resistant. A lot of

black churches didn't want to be online. All of a sudden, COVID, they had no choice. Yeah. And so what has been interesting over the last two years, it has forced so many institutions to have to do the things that they were long resisting. Yeah. And black colleges and black churches, two foundation institutions in the black community, we could not afford to be shut down and not have an alternative. And so we did a lot of scurrying.

But, you know, we were pretty adaptable and we found a way. I know in the work that we did, we had to help thousands of black college faculty transition their classes from in person on a piece of paper and a lecture to online we had to help institutions get the online ability to do that with their students and we did we did a pretty good job now what we're thinking about is how do we prepare for that new future right and that's what we're doing here we're also celebrating being together you know we are this is a community so we got to do a little celebrate right but also understanding what was the journey for our students our faculty our institutions and how do we make that a building block for the future it is interesting

you were talking about you know how do you move in the future? Because I'm trying to think, I'm probably now up to 65 or so HBCUs that I've been to. Done 14 commencements. And so I was speaking to the South Carolina State alumni at the beginning of the year. New president. And what was interesting is they were, alumni was they were so focused on uh new buildings and get students back on campus and i was telling them folks pump your brakes you're talking about south carolina state when you were there i said you now have a world where there are

students who can actually finish from your school and they're're in California. And this is what I told the alumni. I said, I need y'all to back the hell off and let your president do what he needs to do. And to realize that this forcing mechanism that we call COVID actually is laying a foundation for a broader reach for HBCUs. I mean, the fact that today, I mean, and, you know, there are so many of those students who want their HBCU experience in person and on campus. Yet there are also a bunch of people whose lives have been disrupted and they don't want to disrupt their education.

But they also financially can't necessarily afford to go. So they want to go, hey, where my mom or dad went, but they traveled. All those things that go along with it. And so it's just creating a new way for them to still participate. And so what I'm saying to my colleagues in HBCU land is we've got to make sure that we don't squander this crisis. There you go. That we really build on it. What did it tell us about who wants to be a part of our community

and how we reach them and give them their piece of it? And so a lot of our institutions now, yes, they are bringing students back in person, but they're also going hybrid. Right. And they are, yes, reaching out to bring more students. And getting creative in the process of their teaching. And getting creative and extending their brand. You know, Spelman College has created an adult learning program,

which is giving a bunch of black women who already have degrees an opportunity to have a Spelman experience. And how are they having that they're having it online well morehouse uh said that if you had not finished uh if you had extra credits and you're looking to finish they allow for them to finish uh at morehouse those last two years now just let's just pause for a moment and remember what it was like back in the day when you had to show up right take that course and uh we weren't flexible right and so we've learned you being nice you said weren't flexible no extremely resistant resistant and i think we're gonna i think we're gonna benefit from that and we're gonna give this experience to others and i

want to say but i do want to lift up some real uh real heroes and sheroes during this period. The first group I want to lift up is the students who didn't give up. Right. And that they have persisted. We've seen them having the opportunity this year for a graduation on their campuses. Think about my grandson is a rising junior at Morehouse. So think what happened to him. He didn't have a senior year of high school.

His freshman year was at my house. And his sophomore year, he's finally gotten to live on campus. But he hasn't been on the Spelman campus because he's not in the class over there. So he's not allowed on it because because they've had to be right. So so protected. Right. Yet he is making satisfactory academic progress. He won't graduate in four years. I want to lift up those students because they've been incredible. I want to lift up the faculty who have stuck with our institutions and are now their virtual faculty and in-person faculty. And I want to lift up the college leaders who have fought for black colleges over the last two years. And our black colleges are today, Roland, in stronger financial position because of the work that we did in Washington, D.C. Getting loan forgiveness to the institution.

$1.6 billion. $1.6 billion. Getting funding out of the funds that came to our COVID institutions. We were talking about nearly $7 billion. We've covered that extensively on the show. And I got to ask you this because this has been one of the things that's been driving me crazy. When I hear people who are very dismissive of that $7 or $8 billion. And I really have gone through the numbers on the air. And've had i'd like to show people that literally alabama a m

alabama state florida a m north north carolina a t not going on list they got collectively four times as much money than the state was giving them yes so all these people who were saying nothing you know we've got nothing for black people from Biden, from the Democrats in Congress. The fact of the matter is that one point six billion in loan forgiveness is huge. Oh, look, that funding has been the cushion that has saved historically black colleges. And for loan forgiveness means you ain't got to pay the money back. Yeah, that's right.

That's what it means. And, you know, certainly black colleges deserve and need more. But this is a down payment and a significant down payment. And it has been done by the White House, the Congressional Black Caucus, and our allies in the United States Congress. Right. That's a big deal. Can't dismiss it. And then there's been private philanthropy. Now, the private philanthropy, the federal funds went to everybody. The private philanthropy went to a smaller group of them.

And while I welcome that philanthropy and I appreciate it, you can't just support 20 percent of black colleges and expect 100 percent of them to produce different results. So that's we still live in a time when black colleges are playing catch up. Right. And where there is a focus on helping the well-known few and not the entire community. Right. And on that particular point there, because when it comes down to the money, there was a tremendous amount of money that was doled out to black institutions after the death of George Floyd. Some called it white guilt. Some said this was the reckoning. To your point about this moment, this is what I keep saying. We're operating what I call a third reconstruction.

Right. So our mentality has to be that way, that we can't just be OK. Let me set aside the last two years. Say, no, no, no. We've got to have this focus for the next 10 to 15, 20 years. What I call sustained investment. Yes. You know, the point you made about you listed those black public institutions. Yes, they got four times the amount from the federal government than they've been getting from the state. But they were, the states were still underfunding them. And have been doing that for 100 years. Yep.

So one, two years don't make up for 100 years. Precisely. Well, look, I know you have I got it I got it. You're gonna give me the rap three times. Tell Roy to slow down. This ain't my first rodeo So you got it and guess what? It's not mine And it's not ours together. We know when to It's 619 the panel starts at 630 you gotta have you gonna be sitting there with the conversation We'll be carrying some of it live.

We'll be chatting. We'll be chatting again. But let me just say this. The most important things we're doing here are two. We're bringing the community together, and we've got you here to amplify it across the country. So I want to thank you, Roland Martin, because you have been the voice of black colleges. You've been an advocate for our students, our faculty and our institutions. And you are always, always unfiltered and telling it right.

That's the only way. Well, look, so what's going to be happening? We're going to be the panel inside. We're going to be cutting in and out, but we're going to be then restreaming the entire session. For everybody who's watching, the plenary sessions begin tomorrow. So we'll be actually live streaming all the sessions, all the plenary sessions tomorrow, as well as on Wednesday and the session on Thursday. And so you can watch those live.

You can also watch the restream. You can also download the Black Star Network app. And so we'll be pushing that content out and then also having, of course, all of our social media pages as well. So follow the UNCF on the social media platforms. Look for the hashtag UNCF Unite as well. And so Michael Lomax, glad to be here. And so time for you guys. My handlers are pulling me away.

I know. I was to my woosah, to breathe over there. We good. It's just a shortly walk into the ballroom. And I think I can manage. I think so. Thank you. Tim, breathe over there. We good. This is a shortly walk into the ballroom. And I think I can manage. I think so. Thank you very much. Doc, I appreciate it.

Thanks so much. Great to see you, my friend. I appreciate it. Folks, as I said, we're here in Atlanta at the UNCF Unite 2022 conference. And so we're going to talk about HBCUs with our panel. When we come back, we're going to take a break. And we'll be right back here. Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network,

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Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roller Mark Unfiltered, broadcasting from Atlanta, from the UNCF Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. Glad to have all of you here. Let me introduce my panel for today's show, Dr. Julian Mabo. She's the Dean of the College of Ethics Studies, California State University, Los Angeles. Reverend Jeff Carr, founder of the Infinity Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Jason Nichols, Senior Lecturer, African American Studies Department, University of Maryland, College Park.

Julianne, I want to start with you. You, of course, former president of Bennett College. You heard what we talked about there with Michael Lomax. This moment that we're operating in, that there is a real resurgence, a renewed focus on HBCUs. We have students who, many top students who are choosing to attend HBCUs over predominantly white institutions. You see what's happening in athletics. One of the top gymnasts who decides to go to an HBCU that's just starting a gymnastic program. You've got, of course, the number one quarterback in the country, Travis Hunter, who chooses Jackson State over many of the Power Five conferences a couple of years ago.

You have the number two basketball player in the country who chose to attend Howard University. You've got Steph Curry, who's funding the renewed golf program at Howard University. And then you're seeing the push when a few years ago when Reverend Jackson was pushing Silicon Valley, he's pushing them to create partnerships with HBCUs. And so these things are happening. And so just from your vantage point, as somebody who sat in that position of having to call folks like me to raise money to keep kids in school, just talk about this moment that we're in and how HBCUs should be taking advantage of it. You know, Roland, thank you for reminding me of those hard

days. I'm sitting here now saying, shoot, I wish I could be a president now as opposed to, you know, when I had to get my tin can out to get some of my students graduated. But it's a wonderful moment. So many of our young people, first of all, this generation of young people are far more self-aware and assertive about what they want. So they don't care that you can dangle Harvard in their face when they're thinking Howard. They want to have an undergraduate experience, if they're in person, that is friendly, that's compatible. They don't want to have to fight these white professors

who basically have hidden biases, in some cases some not-so-hidden biases. They don't want to go to, I don't know, colleges that don't have the labs, which is why the contribution to Morgan State, $20 million from the, I guess it was the Jeff Bezos widow, that was just so very important. And the other large contributions. But as both you and Brenda Lomax said in your interview, picking up a few is not the point. Let's fund HBCUs generally. HBCUs have been conditionally, traditionally, systematically underfunded. AT&T, when you compare them to North Carolina State,

as an example, you look at a glaring difference in what the state does. We can see the same. This lawsuit was settled in Maryland, but the same kind of thing when you compare a coppin to another college. And you can go state by state and see what's been done. So the resurgence, which is very exciting, it's a step in the right direction, but it's not enough. Of course, we applaud President Biden. And we've talked about this extensively on this program, about the myths, about he hasn't done enough. Certainly, he hasn't done enough about a lot of things, but in terms of HBCUs, he's kept some of his promises, and we have to celebrate that. I'll dog you when you're doing wrong, but when you're doing right, we got to give him a little hand clap and say thank you. The persons that flowbacks lifted up

are the most important, the students. The students have brought their technology, their energy, and they're forcing us as higher education administrators to be far more flexible. Jeff, you're there in Nashville, of course,

Fisk University, Meharry Medical School. They are located there. Just your thoughts in terms of, again, the resources that we've seen that have come the way of HBCUs, but also what you're seeing from students, what you're seeing from when a Megan Thee Stallion decides to go back to college and she enrolls in Texas Southern University. TSU talked about the tremendous response that they received from students who themselves said, wait a minute, I can go back and finish my degree. Yes, absolutely. And I shout out Megan Thee Stallion for that choice.

Although here in Nashville, I got to remind you that Texas Southern University is considered the other TSU. Here we call ourselves Tennessee State University in Big Blue Country. I'm from Houston now. I'm from Houston now, so there's only going to be one TSU on this show.

Dr. Glenn McLovin, I love you, but the elders here, we like to go back to 1920s, you know? We like to take it back half a century before Houston saw an HBCU. But we understand, because we're all part of the same family and tradition. And just like we are from the same family and tradition, we always have a right to joke like that, because we're joking and making humor of good things.

I'm a Tennessee State alum. My wife is a Fisk alum. So she is absolutely turning back flips, celebrating the fact that the top gymnast in the country is coming to her HBCU right up the street. So between Tennessee State, Fisk University, American Baptist College, Meharry Medical College. We can't minimize and we can't maximize the importance of these schools. Consider this. Those schools that I listed just now were the core of the civil rights movement that birthed the Diane Nash's, the C.T. Vivian's, the Congressman John Lewis's. All of them were college students here in a space that was for

them, that poured into them, that developed leadership. And they walked down to Fifth Avenue, downtown Nashville, got hot coffee poured on them, got hoses put on them, got beaten with batons and pelted with bricks and mallets and still hung in there because there was something that was given to them at an HBCU that provided them with the confidence to stand strong and tall, to think about the people seven generations behind them, and to think about the people seven generations before them. That's the energy you get with an HBCU. I love what you and Dr. Lomax were saying. I think there's something that he said

that we all have to pay attention to, and it adds to what former president Dr. Julianne said, and that is that we cannot squander the pandemic. So we can't squander what happened. We had an opportunity to bring the wagons home, to circle them back, to have a new opportunity to put a renewed focus on HBCUs and the safe spaces that they provide for people like us. Because aside from jobs, leadership is going to come from HBCUs. Inspiration is gonna come from HBCUs. And I can say as a kid that got kicked out of high school,

expelled, barely passed an ACT, that when I ended up on the campus of Tennessee State University, had it not been for that environment and the students and the faculty administration who looked in my eyes and told me that I could do whatever I wanted, eventually convincing me to believe them, I would not be sitting here with you great minds today. Jason, you're there at the University of Maryland. The governor of Maryland was forced to sign a nearly $500 million settlement when the four HBCUs or lawyers on behalf of the four HBCUs sued the state of Maryland because they said they allowed the state to they allowed duplication to be created

thereby robbing those HBCUs of innovative programming that whole issue of underfunded a committee in Tennessee came out and said that the Tennessee state had been underfunded to the tune of at least 500 million dollars we had dr. Alvin Chambers jr. on the show who successfully sued on behalf of the Mississippi colleges in a major multimillion dollar settlement there as well. And I remember going down North Carolina when they were having some HBCU battles. And I was actually pushing black state legislators there to to work with lawyers and sue North Carolina. I really do think these state institutions, these state HBCUs, lawyers should be looking at filing similar suits like the one in Maryland. And granted, it was 13 years, like the one in Mississippi and other places,

against these states for their historic underfunding of HBCUs. Yeah, I would agree. And, you know, I'm going to tell just a really brief story, my story, and that is, and some people may be upset with me, but I initially wanted to go to Morehouse College. And when I visited, a lot of the students were telling me stories about how underfunded they were and how some of that had resulted in making it difficult to register for classes. And this is before we had online registration

and things like that. And that kind of solidified my choice to stay here in the state of Maryland and to attend the University of Maryland. If we had equalized the funding, I think you'll see even more competition. You'll see even more students wanting to attend HBCUs. And, you know, they get that family environment. Although I will argue that here at my university, if you come to African American

Studies, you get an HBCU experience on a PWI campus. And we will give you all the support, the kind of support that the Reverend was just talking about that he got at Tennessee State. But I will say that there has to be more equal funding. HBCUs historically get less revenue from tuition, so they need that extra funding in order to keep the lights on and to have everything that they need to be successful. And the state of Maryland essentially was robbing them. And finally, that was handled in the courts. And you have to have that patience, as you pointed out, that it was a 13-year process.

You know, we think things sometimes happen overnight. They don't. The Montgomery bus boycott was a year long. It wasn't overnight. So, but it's worth the fight so that our students, people, you know, Black people will have more opportunities to be educated around other Black people. All right, folks, hold tight one second. A little bit later in the show, we're going to be talking to a couple of HBCU presidents, including one who stepped down after 16 years. We'll find out what Dr. Walter Kimbrough is going to be doing next. And so we'll do that. But coming up next, we'll take a break. We'll come back. We'll talk about the first major gun legislation coming out of Congress in nearly 30 years. Is this compromise bill good or bad for America?

We'll discuss that next with someone for moms or demand. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app on all available platforms, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also join our Bring the Fun fan club where your dollars make it possible for us to do things like this, travel, report from different places across the country. Checks and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.

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There are those who say that transformative change is impossible, but history teaches us that it is precisely in times like these that people must build a broad and deep movement from the bottom up. We must compel this nation to repent, to lament, and to see the realities that have been hidden for far too long. On June 18th, we will come together to lift the voices of the poor and low-wage workers who know that change is not only possible, it is essential for our survival. We will make the connections to show how systemic racism,

poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of health care, the war economy, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism and white supremacy are hurting us all. We will show the nation the faces of Americans who cannot afford to go back to normal. We will detail the policies that can move us toward a society that works for everyone. And we will pledge to go home and build power for transformative change in this year's election and for years to come. Because the question should have never been how much will it cost to address poverty. The real question is how much is it costing us not to?

Somebody's been hurting our people. It's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent or unseen anymore. Join us in D.C. on June 18. Build with us for a third reconstruction in America. Visit PoorPeople'sCcampaign.org. How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday.

How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking. One of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox. Find new technology. Find new roads. Chevrolet. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hi, this is Essence Atkins. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond,

and you're watching Roland Martin, my man welcome back to Atlanta. This is a live look at the session in the main ballroom at the UNCF's Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. There is going to be a discussion in a little bit moment. They are doing libations right now for those who are no longer with us. And so we will be joining them when that session actually begins. And so let's talk about big news of the day where a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, they say that they have come to a compromise for the first gun safety bill in nearly 30 years. The proposal includes more resources for mental health, school safety, and more restrictions for dangerous individuals to get weapons. At least 10 Republican senators are in support, giving, that's assuming all 50 Democrats support this legislation.

Of course, joining us now is Melody McFadden. She's a volunteer for Moms Demand Action organization, fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence. Melody, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So first and foremost, from your perspective, from the perspective of your organization, is this a good bill? I have seen a number of progressive commentators and other politicians say this is horrible. It is weak. It is bad. It's not good enough. The Democrats, Democrats caved in. Your what is a mom'sand Action? What is their response to this bill?

Our response is that this is a good first step after over 26 years of no action at all. So to take a step forward is a positive thing, and it will save lives if the Senate advances this bill and makes it law. So this is a good thing. One of the things that I've heard that this closes the dating loophole. Can you explain that? Yes, sir. And again, thank you for having me tonight.

I'm so grateful to be with you. Our domestic violence survivors throughout the nation have been deeply affected by what we call the boyfriend loophole. The boyfriend loophole leaves a avenue open for someone that's convicted of domestic violence, just because he's not the spouse or she's not the spouse, it still allows them to purchase a weapon and thereby have the opportunity to go back and kill a person that they're in a domestic violence dispute with or to hurt them. So if this bill passes forward, the boyfriend loophole, as we call it, will be closed. A person that is under a domestic violence conviction will no longer have access to a weapon where they can go back and hurt their girlfriend or their boyfriend. It will not allow them, just because of their relationship status. A husband or wife, if they were convicted of domestic violence, would not have that access,

nor should a convicted boyfriend or girlfriend. And when you talk about the first step, and this is one of those things that I think about the First Step Act, and there are people who are when is the second when is the third so it's not as if this bill gets passed at both chambers and go to the president there cannot be another bill there are still people who believe that that that America must raise the age from 18 to 21 and must also ban assault weapons. That is true. That is very true, especially because this bill does have something towards that. That is why I say it is a good first step. It is going to expand background checks for those under 21 years old. It gives us a chance to speak with local law enforcement. It gives a chance for

a state background check before a person can just presently, they can buy a weapon and walk right out with it. This will give us some time to do a proper background check, check some mental health issues, check some other issues so that a weapon shouldn't end up in the hands of someone that is going to hurt others or themselves. All right. Melody with Moms Demand Action. First of all, we certainly appreciate you joining us. Look, y'all have been on the forefront of fighting this for quite some time badly we will continue uh and others uh absolutely absolutely well we certainly appreciate the work that y'all have been doing thanks a lot i want to say thank you again because this honors

my loved ones from gun violence my mother was taken and my niece sandy patrice so thank you so much for having me. We appreciate it. Thank you so very much. I want to bring in my panel right now, Jeff, Jason, and Julianne. And Jeff, I'll start with you. You heard Melanie say there that it is a good first step. Again, I've seen others deride this bill, blast it as being awful, as being weak.

Democrats caved. But the reality is, and again, in talking with Moms Demand Action and other groups, they said, look, there are good things in the bill. And if they were able to get something versus nothing, that was most important. I think that that's exactly what we're talking about here. We're talking about everything in context. There's an old African saying, and depending on which country you're in, it's either how do you eat the elephant or how do you eat the rat. But the answer is one bite at a time.

When we have rage, which has now become international rage around this issue of gun violence. If we do not find a way to provide steps forward to be successful, that rage leads to utter hopelessness, which manufactures more rage. So this bill is a step in the right direction. I think it's important to note that it's not going to be a be-all, end-all bill. No bill ever has. We have seen success in this country incrementally. That's not to say we're not going to reach the goal, which, in my opinion, from where I sit, is a full-out ban on assault weapons, period. But until we get to that space, we have to incrementally get what we can get. This bill has a number of notable sponsors.

We see Lindsey Graham. His name is on this bill. We see Mitt Romney, whose name is on this bill. We also see Kristen Sinema, whose name is on this bill, and our good old friend Joe Manchin. So there's always that uneasiness when we see those names pop up and we wonder whether it's going to have some teeth. But ask a person trying to take a stake down. It's better to have two teeth working on it than no teeth at all. So as we move toward getting the larger goal of this assault weapons ban, which is needed, this is a very important first step. And I hope we get to see this go through both houses with the correct number of senators

needed to prevent the filibuster and hopefully see this begin a journey toward removing the threat of gun violence in America. Jason, I've seen liberal commentators and others just call this awful and a waste of time. Your thoughts? I would disagree with them. And I understand that there are certainly other things that people wanted. I'm somebody who's who's pro gun and pro gun reform. I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive. But of course, I wanted things that weren't in this bill. But at the same time, we have to be realistic.

You have, as the Reverend mentioned, you have Kyrsten Sinema and you have Joe Manchin who are not going to end the filibuster. You need 10 Republicans. You're not going to get John Cornyn to vote for an assault weapons ban. You're not going to get Lindsey Graham to vote for an assault weapons ban. You're not gonna get Lindsey Graham to vote for an assault weapons ban. But you can get expanded background checks that will save people's lives. You can get red flag laws. You can end the boyfriend loophole.

These are really important things that are gonna save lives. Is it going to be perfect? Is it everything that people like me and you and others want? No. But this is politics in our democracy. This is how it works.

You have to compromise at certain points. And as you make your point stronger and stronger, perhaps we'll be able to do something. But as your last guest pointed out, it's been 26 years, nearly three decades with no action, zero, none. You know, since that assault weapons ban expired, there has been pretty much nothing done on this issue, even on things that were very popular. So the fact that you can get 10 Republicans to sign on to this and actually get some action and get a bill to Joe Biden's desk, possibly, I think that that's something to be excited about. And many of the people who have put so much sweat equity into gun reform, like the David Hoggs of the world and the Parkland kids,

they are excited about it. So I think it's not perfect, but it is something, and it's something that's a lot more than that that's happened in three decades. Julianne, Yank Ugar, of course, with the Young Turks, was not happy at all. This is how he responded to a tweet by Senator Chris Murphy. He said, sure, pass it. Y'all should be able to pull it up, folks. Can you pull it up? Sure, pass it, but it's nearly useless other than as political cover for Republicans and Democrats who don't want to appear to be doing nothing. This doesn't even seem to have a single one of the really benign suggestions McConaughey said the other day in the White House. You know, Roland, there's a saying, don't let the perfect get in the way of the good.

The fact is, I agree with both of my colleagues here. This is a step forward. It may be a mini step, but certainly nothing has been done. The National Rifle Association has had such a strong hold on the Republican Party. And you have the likes of Manchin and Sinema, and they're not the only ones, who basically tilt their dinos, Democrats in name only. So we haven't seen the progress we'd like to see. The Young Turks, I love them, but they are solid, gold progressives, and you don't get everything you want in politics. They need to go back to civics, high school civics, or political science 101. Basically, you don't want to see legislation made.

People say you don't want to see the sausage or legislation made because it's messy. So we don't know what was left on the table. But what we know is that folks were able to get 10 Republicans to sit down. And until they change the filibuster, which is not likely to happen anytime soon, this may be as good as it gets. Would I rather have this than nothing? Oh, absolutely. And so Mr. Young Turk bloviating is what he's doing is bloviating because I don't think he's ever sat with legislators and watch them horse trade. Now this, it is weak, but again, it's better than nothing. And let's just all repeat. It's better than nothing. Do not let the perfect get in the way of the good. You don't see what?

Alex, we're still up? Okay. All right, then. So we momentarily lost the feed here, folks. And so glad we are back up. So y'all let me know what the heck happened there. Um, uh, Julian, finish your comment before I go to break. Sure. All I was saying is don't let the perfect get in the way of the good. I agree with my

colleagues, but I think we've got to move further and we have to disempower the national rifle association that has a stranglehold on thinking, on simple thinking. These people do not think. With all these people that died dead in a supermarket, in an elementary school, they still want to have business as usual? They need to be voted out yesterday. Yesterday. All right. Folks, hold tight one second. We come back here from Atlanta at the UNCF's Unite 2022 Summit for Higher Education, Black Higher Education. We'll talk with the outgoing president of Billet University, Dr. Walter Kimbrough, a good alpha man. And we'll also, of course, talk more about what's happening here at this summit. In addition, in the next hour,

we'll talk about January 6th committee today. Eugene Goodman testified for the first time about what happened. He, of course, was a black cop who saved a lot of members' lives by redirecting those white domestic terrorists on January 6th, 2021. We'll discuss all of that on Roland Martin Unfiltered

right here on the Black Star Network back in a moment. iPhone 13 on us for every customer. Current, new, everyone to show the love. How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking. One of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox.

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And oh, by the way, now a multi-million dollar business. Every day I was looking at my numbers. Rather than looking at them weekly or monthly. When you're first starting your business, my recommendation is look at your numbers every day. Because are they balancing out each day? If they're not balancing out for three days in a row, that means your week is going to be off. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Get you free. Get you free. On a next of balanced life for Dr. Jackie,

we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Blackstar Network. Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Atlanta. We are here at the United Negro College Fund 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. We'll be here for the next three days, live streaming various events. There's a session happening right now.

Let's do this. Let's go live to this session. Let's see what they're talking about. All right. So we're getting video. Y'all let me know what's happening. Let's see. All right, we're not getting... PGM, which is the Asset Management Arm of Prudential, is the 10th largest asset management in the world, with over $1.6 trillion in assets under management, launched a new program called HBCU Strategic Initiatives, led by my colleague Timothy Woods, who is here as well.

Under his leadership, the program aims to establish and maintain student-run investment funds, in addition to providing training and scholarships at HBCUs, with the goal to further diversify asset management across the country. He will also lead an education and training initiative focusing on managing school endowments. And lastly, through our partnership with Student Freedom Initiative, we launched a micro grants fund which provides emergency cash assistance to cover unexpected expenses that does not have to be repaid. The program has launched with nine HBCUs and that number will only continue to grow.

With that, I hope during the course of this week's convening we might find time to connect and learn more about each other's work and how Prudential might partner with all of you. I would now like to introduce Dr. Eddie Cole in what will be a thought-provoking opening plenary. Eddie Cole, Ph.D., is an associate professor of higher education and history at UCLA. He, of course, is going to be having a sit-down chat with Dr. Lomax. We'll be carrying some of that as well. Right now we're joined by the outgoing president of Dillard University. No, he wasn't bounced out.

He decided to leave on his own, Dr. Walter Kimbrough. He was formerly the president at Philander Smith. What, 16 years as president? How long? I'm in my 18th year. 18th year. Your 18th year. It's year. Yeah, 18th year. It's a lifetime.

And so good alpha man. Glad to see you here. So first question, what you doing? Did you just say, you know what, it's time to step down and recharge and find out what's the next thing for you? Yeah. So, you know, I always tell people, blame it on me growing up United Methodist with this itinerant ministry. So seven and a half years at Philander, going into my 10th year at Dillard. I think the pandemic gave everybody a chance to think about a lot of things.

And for me, when I think about it, you know, I'm 55, turned 55 this year. I'm seven years younger than the average college president, but I spent a third of my life as a college president. So it's time to sort of think about what should I do next? So I had a conversation last summer with Jeanetta Cole and she did the same thing as Spellman. Entering her 10th year, she said, I'm leaving. And of course, you know, she's a record setting president Spellman. And I called and I said, why did you make that decision? She said, brother, president is good for the institution and is good for you, too. And it's the way that she said it. It convicted me. I was like, yeah, do something else. You still got time to be creative. You can still stay in the HBCU space.

But, you know, like you, I'm a graduate of the University of Georgia. So there's opportunities in the predominantly white space as well. So I'm open to new opportunities. So I juxtapose what you just said to Dr. Harvey, who just retired at Hampton. And he was there, what, 40? Like 44 years. 40 plus years. I mean, that is a very long time.

First of all, it's rare to have somebody be the president of HBCU or any institution for that long. But also, I think it's a part of it. I also look at this as when you've left a place in the right position, then, frankly, you make it easier for the next person to take it to the next level. Right. No, exactly. You know, I think that institutions like HBCUs, a lot of institutions are living organisms. And so Dillard today is not the same Dillard that it was 10 years ago. We were still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina. We didn't have all of our buildings open. So it's a very different place. And so as the institution grows, there's somebody who has different skills and strengths that will help at this point in time. And I want a different experience too. So how do

I grow as a person and look for those as well? And I don't think people think about that. They're just like, I'm going to ride this until the wheels fall off. I'm like, that's okay, but, you know, everybody knows people who retire on the job as well, and I'm not going to be that person. So I want to make sure I get different experiences. And because Dillard is in a really good place, let someone come in with new creativity, new energy,

and take us to another level. That's a win for everybody. I look at one of your counterparts, Dr. Ruth Simmons, who stepped down at Prairie View A&M University. Although, I'm still trying to figure out what's going on there. But I read the statement, I was kind of like, I was sort of reading between the lines. I didn't get the sense that she was ready to leave, but I'm going to try to have that conversation with her eventually. But walk folks through, and definitely Julianne is on our panel today.

First of all, you last in 10 years. It's a whole, I mean, if there's one untenable position, it has been a lot of HBCUs. I mean, shuffling presidents in and out, a lot of instability, changing of leadership. I mean, that is a detriment to any institution when you have that much turmoil. I've heard from HBCU presidents who said that the stress, the constant fundraising, battle with alumni and boards of trustees, some folks are like, you know what, I'm just not dealing with all of this. Yeah, no, it's so, you know, I've started to study to look at those 10 years. And for all college presidents, the 10 years have dropped.

So I think the average now might be six years for all college presidents. For HBCUs, it was hovering around four. So really, I mean, people get one contract, their first contract, three, four, five years, and they're done if they make it through that. So it is, it's one of the, you know, it's just hard. I, you know, I heard Cornel West say once, you know, that when you lead people who sometimes hate themselves, there's a cost that's wrought from you. I believe that. You just see it. It's just people who are dealing with their stuff. And sometimes as a president, I've learned to not take things personally because sometimes people are lashing out and it might be at me and it has nothing to do with me. It's stuff going on. And when you start digging in those layers, you're dealing with hurt people.

And so you got people who got issues at home. They got financial challenges, just being black in America, all those things. And you lead that group. it's a hard job. I've said this, and I ticked some folks off. And first of all, I've ticked people off for a very long time, and I don't really care. Because actually, before I ask that, before I talk about that, here's one of the things that does bother me. And I want to, because you said it, so you went to Georgia. And I do believe this is a problem in the HBCU world, where there is this attitude or distrust of folk who are black who didn't go to HBCUs. And in some ways, there's a level of HBCU shaming,

where you have, first of all, you've got some black folks who look down on folks with hbcus but then you got some hbcu people who question one's blackness i even i even when i got when i had the footwear star telegram uh yeah valerie hill and i busted valerie out in person on this here um when we we first met we were uh running the photographer's pen and um someone introduced me to her and she says oh this is the brother he knew who he was with the Texas A&M I was like I don't know who the hell you think you talking to and I said I bet said baby I grew up in a black neighborhood with a black family went to a black

church black elementary school black middle school black high school I said I think by the time I got to college I knew I was black I said so you might want to back up. And and I've had to I've had to deal with people on that. And what I've said is, how are you going to fight folk who who believe in helping black folks, but you're holding against them because they didn't go to an HBCU institution? I want knowledgeable folks, regardless of where they come from, to help. Right. No, exactly. So my wife and I talk about this.

We think, and she, the HBCU graduate, Talladega College, we always say that people at HBCUs might not trust you unless you have two of the three sort of silos of blackness. HBCU graduate, black church, black fraternity, sorority. So I got two of the three. And then you got to throw black spouse in there because some folk get well yeah right might be four right right yeah right so you i mean so i got those two but the same as you i grew up here in atlanta black elementary middle high school i mean i've been around blackness all the time so i was able to make that but then i'll tell people

the greatest i would argue the greatest hbc president was Benjamin Mays, who went to Bates College in Maine. So he didn't go to an HBCU and he created this idea of a Morehouse man. So and that's always been he's always been my role model. My high school, Benjamin Mays High School was named after him because he was superintendent of schools here in Atlanta. So, you know, as long as those people understand blackness, I think that's okay. But there is sometimes that sort of stigma like, oh, well, you didn't attend HBCU. And a lot of times people who attend an HBCU, once they come back and work at one, realize that's a different experience because students a lot of times don't fully understand what has to happen to make that institution run.

Right. So just by attending doesn't mean you're an expert on HBCU. And I want to deal with that because one of the things that, and I said this a couple of months ago, about a month, month and a half ago, and I was talking about specifically in the area of sports, media rights, things along those lines, that there's a whole lot that HBCU folks don't know in terms of how this business operates. I've said that there have been some bad deals people have signed, that I personally believe that folks have not, that they've been undervalued, if you will, negotiating.

I believe that many of us, we talk about the pain of black folks, many of us suffer from white validation. We believe that if CNN doesn't show up or if ESPN doesn't show up, therefore it's not legitimate. When in reality, my whole deal is if you can own the product, then you actually can make more money than you might signing a rights deal with ESPN. And one of the things that I said is I said to all HBCU presidents, if you don't know, Jack, about this space and your AD don't know and your general counsel don't know, please go out and hire some African-Americans with unique skill set in these areas that can maximize your revenue when it comes to sports rights, when it comes to licensing deals and things along those lines. And that rubbed some people the wrong way when I said that there are people who are sitting on boards of trustees right now who ain't got no business being on those boards.

I said that y'all can be mad how y'all want to, but I also see it in black organizations. believe that there has to be a massive shakeup in what I call black leadership, because we've got a lot of nice people, but they simply don't have the expertise for the areas and the size of the budgets they're governing. Right. Your thoughts? Right. No, exactly. So, I mean, it's interesting you said that.

You were sharing some information with me about that. Our athletic conference, Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, we're small NAIA schools, but at our president's meeting last week, we were having these conversations to say, what's the best package for us? Working with some African-American companies to say, how do we share our content? Can we do it through TV? Can we do it streaming? How do we get that revenue?

So we're having that conversation even as a small and realizing we don't have the expertise. So let's go out there and reach in every company that we've been talking to and getting these RPS for our black owned companies to help us do exactly what you said. So there are some of us who are listening because I think you're right. And I think you made the point. You're saying people are excited. You're on ESPN three, but you still watching that online. So it's not like you own regular ESPN. No, you ain't getting nothing from it right so you're just saying if you get ESPN if you getting zero right all you all you getting is just say yeah that we're on ESPN right and I'm sorry that that just makes no sense to me right because I've traveled I mean like I said Dr. Lomax I probably I've been Dillard I've probably been in Philander I've probably been I think I'm around 65 hbcus and every time i go to one

and it's just natural for me i assess media i assess equipment i access uh facilities uh i've said that every single one of the hbcus look i have experts on my show all the time every hbcu should have basically a skype room with monitor, with their camera, where their professors can come in, do interviews, things along those lines. I say it because that's what University of Virginia does and A&M and other universities. And every time when I throw this thing out, people are man well you know we ain't got the money i said y'all i said we do stuff with this show and i we did a broadcast and the catcher nbc were like damn we were watching that march y'all covered how the hell y'all look that good y'all had three people but when you know what you're doing, then you can make that thing pop. And so that's where, you know, sort of I'm always there.

My whole deal is don't lead with we can't or we ain't got this or well, you know. No. Say what's possible. What's doable. What can we do within parameters of this budget? Right. No, I agree. And I think part of it is just making sure that we're getting our people to be out there, to be accessible. We got to understand that things operate in what I call or journalists call Internet time. So, for example, if you send me a text and say, hey, I'm doing X, Y and Z on the show, you're not going to wait for me for hours to respond to you because you got to keep moving. So I'm going to text you and say, yeah, I'm good, or no, I can't do it.

And sometimes we don't have that mindset. We want to run through and let me send this to this person that we don't have time for. So we miss opportunities. Doc, I can't tell you how many people I've told that to, and I said, oh, no, I can't do it today. How about Thursday? This is going to be a whole new story on Thursday.

Right. It's a new cycle. Right. So we've got to still keep learning that. So I think you've got to keep giving that message out. And people, because they'll ask us, you know, Dillard, I've shown them, you know, media ad values. We have companies that will show how much of a media value you're getting for these appearances. When I first got to Dillard, it was $15 million.

Last year, it was $85 million. And there's more than most of the people in the city of New Orleans. And if you do per student, it's even more than Tulane. So it's like, well, how are y'all doing that? Because we take advantage of the opportunity. And black media counts, too. And people don't understand that. But they're counting all of that. They're counting all of that. Sustained.

If I got Dr. Robert Collins on your show, they're counting that. That's my media value. There you go. there you go. What would you say has been, I ask book authors this all the time, what has been your biggest wow moment? That something that shocked you, that you just didn't, you were just blown away by in these 18 years

as a HBCU president? Man, that's, you know, I would say probably over the last few years was right before the 2016 election when we were hosting the Senate debate and David Duke qualified. First of all, I was shocked that he qualified. Now, I think they still rigged the numbers because he had never polled above 3%. And the week before our debate, he gets to 3% and he drops right back down. So I think it was a good TV. So I was like, but you know, the outrage that people had,

and I kept telling people, we missed the sign that things are about to change in this country. So when you saw Trump get elected, people were shocked. I was like, I wasn't shocked because I saw Duke pop up. And I don't think that was it was a signal. Yep. It was a signal. So that was just just how people responded. And people, you know, got in their feelings and wanted us to shut things down. And we didn't want to be activists and say, well, how do we prevent those things from happening? We just want to holler and scream and say, well, don't let him speak on campus. Well, that's not doing nothing. You got to get out there and do some other things. You got to vote. You got to do these things. And we didn't want to do that. We just want to complain. So that was a shock for me to watch. But once I look back on it, I was like, oh, that was a sign that everybody missed that this Trump

thing is about to happen. You took a lot of heat when Candace Owens came to Dillard. Yeah, a little bit. Not too bad. People were upset and I was like, no, let me tell you, that room was packed because students wanted to hear because it's like, who is this black girl writing for Trump like this? And it's like, y'all need to learn how to make arguments with some of these folks. I think that was a value for me is like, how do you study and listen to some of the nonsense

she's saying? And it sounds good. She can make it sound good, but she don't have her facts right. But y'all got to learn how to be listen to some of the nonsense she's saying? And it sounds good. She can make it sound good. But she don't have her facts right. But y'all got to learn how to be able to deal with the facts. I think that the issue now, and listen to Bill Barr today, Trump has created this environment where people are not interested in facts. No. I got people telling me stuff about HBCUs.

And I'm like, I've been a president for 18 years. Right. They can't even spell HBCU. And they're telling me my facts are wrong and Trump is right. Well, we've experienced that over the last three or four years. Every time something would happen, and all of these black folks, they would jump out, and they would start hollering and talking. I'm like, whoa, whoa, y'all don't know what the hell y'all talking about.

And then you would come on Twitter and lay this whole thing out, and people would try to throw something else out. It was kind of like, y'all, you have no idea. I remember there was somebody who was trying to tell you, you're like, yeah, I've only actually been a president. Right. I'm looking at actual budgets. You're talking about what you heard this man say. It's like, I'm looking at my budget.

I'm looking at the federal budget. I'm looking at his budget. I'm looking at all of it. I'm looking at real numbers. And you didn't come back and just say, well, you just don't like Trump. It ain't about me liking him. Let's deal with the facts. Right.

You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, we just don't like Trump. It ain't about me liking him. I'm just, let's deal with the facts. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, it's, we got to do better. Most, I guess you said the wow moment, but that most enjoyable moment or thing that you've experienced. Every year for me is graduation. It's just, and the stories like this year, we had the young lady who, I mean, it just went viral. She texted me at 4.45 in the morning saying, I am not going to make graduation. I just got admitted to the hospital to have this baby. And we had been talking for weeks to try to figure out how she, I was like, all right, so you think you're going to make it? When the doctor's gone, you know, and, you know, induced later on, I said, okay, well, if you feeling funny at the ceremony, we're going to move you up and get you out of there. So she didn't make it to the ceremony.

So I was like, all right, well, give me your schedule. My wife and I went down the next day, gave her her degree, and it was all over everything. People just shocked. I was like, this is what I would do for any student. I mean, that's just so it's somebody like her or it's when we gave Garrett Morris, who was a Dillard grad, honorary degree. That's one of my favorite Dillard pictures because he's just leaning on me, just bawling. And it was just, you know, like this guy is over generations, older alums know him for Saturday Night Live, you know, me for Jamie Foxx and Martin. He's on Two Broke Girls. He's just this long career.

But to see him on that stage with these big tears because he's getting his honorary degree is something I'll never forget. That story absolutely did go viral. And I got to ask you this here. There are some presidents who cannot stand the students who come on the stage dancing or doing something. But then you got like Winston-Salem State. Hey, he encourages it. His whole deal is like, look, this is y look this y'all day right right where do you come down on that so it doesn't really bother me i remember when i was at albany state we used to laugh i was a vp down there and the vp she would say graduation is a dignified ceremony as soon as

she finished that the air horns start going off we're like dr brown get us up it's not gonna happen so it's like and i was having a deal that you got a couple who will do it hadn't been just excessive so it's cool i don't you know i'm that you got a couple who are doing hadn't been just excessive. So it's cool. I don't, you know, I'm just like, don't slip because if you fall and hurt yourself, I'm clowning you. And it was like somebody this year when the sports field, I'm like, see, you never going to lay that down. Right. Be careful. You're going to be a meme forever.

Forever. Forever. So just make sure that they can get slick up there. Don't fall because if you do, I'm laughing. All right. So, okay, this is the last question. And I know I got my Poor People's Campaign guest. I'm over time.

Just hold on. Last question. And I know you can't say me because I didn't do Philander or Dillard when you were president. But the best commitment, now you know I would have killed it. Ask the other 14 HBCUs. But anyway. But you know, I always have you though because every time you're on campus, you kill it. I'm just saying.

I know. Like I said, after the David Duke thing and things are going crazy, I'm like, who can make sense of this? It was you. So you came in after. So definitely, I understand that. Your best, out of all your commencements, absolute best commencement speaker? I don't know.

It's a hard, people would go between Denzel and Michelle Obama. Denzel's is going viral. It's the second most watched ever. He was great. But I'm going to tell you, last year, Michael Ealy went straight black power that people were not ready for. I don't think I was ready for him. Really? Michael Ealy, that was one of the most, because I had faculty members saying, okay, he might have been the best. Wow. That brother, he really prepared, but you just, because people just thought, you know, my wife said, these women can't look for the eye candy,

they got meat and potatoes. Brother was deep, he was deep. I was like, Alright, so the folks who didn't see it, it's on our YouTube channel. Michael Ealy's commencement speech was absolutely fantastic So for me, he might be my number one and I really Janelle Monae was great chance to rap We've had some great ones, but that Michael Ealy he caught everybody off guard

Really he caught. Yeah, he was like cuz you know, he's just saying like why are we once again this white validation? He said, you know, why is everybody trying to be the next the black Bill Gates? I don't everybody hear themselves say I want to be the white Oprah. We were like, OK. He know he went there. It was great. OK. All right.

I'm going to have to hit him up on that. Yeah, he was great. I'm going to have to watch that. Then I got to give a call. So I think Dr. Kimbrough, always good to see Yeah, he was great. I'm going to have to watch that. Then I got to give him a call. So, all right then. Dr. Kimbrough, always good to see you, man. Anytime, man. Good luck on what's next.

Let us know what it is. I will. I will. And we definitely will chat about it. All right. Sounds good. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch.

All right, folks, when we come back, we're going to talk with, all week we're going to talk with dads who were involved in the Poor People's Campaign. Of course, their massive march in D.C. is taking place on Saturday, June 18th. We will be there broadcasting live from there. Reverend Dr. William Barber, Reverend Liz Peel Harris and the Poor People's Campaign. So we'll discuss that with one of the dads next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

the Black Star Network broadcasting live from the UNCF Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education here in Atlanta. We'll be right back. A powerful movement is rising across America. From the Mississippi Delta to the Apache stronghold. From the homeless encampments of Washington State to the coal fields of Appalachia or West Virginia. We are the 140 million poor and low-wealth people in this country, and we are building the Poor People's Campaign, a national call for moral revival.

On June 18th, ahead of this year's midterm elections, while the Congress is still in session, we will hold a mass Poor People's and Low Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington to arrest the attention of the nation, to put a face and a voice on poverty and low wages in this country. This is a watershed moment for justice and democracy in America. There are those who say that transformative change isn't possible, but history teaches us that it is precisely in times like these that people must build a broad and deep movement

from the bottom up. We must compel this nation to repent, to lament, and to see the realities that have been hidden for far too long. On June 18th, we will come together to lift the voices of the poor and low-wage workers who know that change is not only possible, it is essential for our survival. We will make the connections to show how systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of health care, the war economy, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism and white supremacy are hurting us all. We will show the nation the faces of Americans who cannot afford to go back to normal. We will detail the policies that can move us toward a society that works for everyone.

And we will pledge to go home and build power for transformative change in this year's election and for years to come. Because the question should have never been, how much will it cost to address poverty? The real question is, how much is it costing us not to? Somebody's been hurting our people. It's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent or unseen anymore. Join us in D.C. on June 18th. Build with us for a third reconstruction in America.

Visit poorpeoplescampaign.org. Love our new Alexa. It's a Buick. Yeah. Alexa. Buick. Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. Coach, that's a Buick. Yeah, Alexa. Buick. Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa.

Coach, that's a Buick. That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built-in. Hey, I'm Deion Cole from Blackest. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Partnerships emerged out of this. But ultimately, the wealthier universities with more resources understood that to have system-wide change within U.S. higher education,

you had to look toward black colleges and universities. Hundreds of thousands of dollars went into these programs. This is so, so critical to how we even make sense and even think about affirmative action today, because these partnerships were so critical, right? Now, with that said, somewhere along the way, those wealthier institutions turned their attention away from the black colleges and universities and turned

their attention inward to just themselves. This photograph here shows Rudolph Jones, president of Fayetteville State at the MIT conference. But as you had black leaders at MIT coming up with these programs, you also had whispers among some white academic leaders and white faculty that looked like some of these quotes. Coming across the archives, you can imagine how I felt when I saw this quote from the president of the University of Wisconsin that said, I personally at first was rather doubtful about this approach since I thought that integration would eventually

wipe out the predominantly Negro label. President of Fred Harvey Harrington, University of Wisconsin, Professor Sheldon Judson at Princeton disagreed with the partnerships in general, saying, quote, I don't see any compelling reason to justify the continuance of Negro colleges. My feeling is that effort should be toward non-segregated rather than segregated institutions.

You see, ultimately, these partnerships failed quickly on the same robust level that they were initially planned to be. Because by the late 1960s, officials at Tuskegee were sending letters to University of Michigan officials asking questions about what had failed and what was going wrong and why the University of Michigan had not come through on some of its promises with regards to these programs. All right, folks, that again is the opening plenary session at the UNCF Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. As I said to you before we went to break, this Saturday, the Poor People's Campaign, we're going to have their mass march on the nation's mall. They have been mobilizing and organizing 140 million low-income workers in this country, trying to force policymakers to speak to their agenda. Stuart Acuff is one of the folks who has been out on the front lines using his voice to speak to others on this very issue. Stuart is the father of two, retired union leader, community organizer for more than 40 years.

He joins us from jefferson county west virginia stewart glad to have you here one of the things that reverend barber is consistently talking about regarding the poor people's campaign which is which was really what dr king uh laid out um when he originated this idea was that this had to be a multiracial coalition, that whether you were white, whether you were black, whether you were Latino, whether you were Asian, Native American, if you broke, you broke. Yes, absolutely. Ultimately, until we resolve economic justice, every other kind of justice we resolve is inadequate, is incomplete

until we resolve the question of economic justice. Dr. King understood that, and he understood that there's power in our numbers, and when we pull all of our numbers together, we can win. And in fact, that's the history of the American labor movement. It's the history of the American civil rights movement, which was very well connected to the American labor movement, particularly in the person of A. Philip Randolph, who was one of the greatest organizers America's ever seen. And so I think Bishop William Barber and Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis, they understand it as well. It's not just a sentimental reach back to Dr. King. It's rather picking up the cross that Dr. King was carrying when he was murdered and pulling it forward across America, across all our people, all our races, all our genders, all our ethnicities, all our languages, everything that could divide us.

And this, one could argue, is the most noble task of Biden White House to meet with not only leaders of the Poor People's Campaign, but also affected workers? Reverend Barber and Reverend Harrison said, look, you can't just meet with us. You've got to meet with actually affected workers. And this administration has just simply been unwilling to set that meeting and make it happen. Well, let me. Yes. And it's sad and it's wrong and it's foolish. I'm a big supporter of the president. I was a Bernie supporter, but I watched what Southern African-Americans did and said, and they led the country in Biden's direction.

But Biden brought with him a whole circle of old sort of status quo corporate Democrats. And I can imagine that circle around him saying, well, why would you want to do that? And you'll just antagonize Joe Manchin. And we've got to have Joe Manchin. And Bishop Barber's been after Joe Manchin. Well, hell, Joe Manchin's the problem. And so if that is holding the president back, then that's that's that is itself the problem.

And so I don't understand that. I understand this question of we've got to deal with the reality of the numbers. That's absolutely right. But we also have a future to deal with. And we have to make the case in action for the elections next November. And part of what we're going to be doing on Saturday is with thousands and thousands of people from all across continental America, 43 different states, I think, are coming. And we're not the usual suspects. In many of our cases, we're the downtrodden. We're the poor. We're the outcast in many cases. But we're coming to provide a different vision for the election in November. We're coming to say this is what we intend to talk about, and this is what we're

going to talk about when we're on the street campaigning. And we expect you to take up each one of these issues from ecological devastation, including environmental racism that we're dealing with here in this all across West Virginia. But right now with a foreign corporation called Rockwell that is literally poisoning our county, you know, 30 percent of the people in West Virginia don't have tap water they can drink out of. We have an environmental crisis in West Virginia. We've got a human rights crisis in West Virginia. We've got a workers' rights crisis in West Virginia. We've got a health care crisis in West Virginia. We've got a poverty crisis in West Virginia. We've got a heroin crisis in West Virginia. And the heroin crisis is because of all the other

crises. And we have a crisis in racial justice. Questions from our panel. I'm going to start with you, Jason Nichols. Jason, what you got for Stuart? Thank you for being with us, Stuart. I have a question about some of the things that we've seen with movements in the past, even the civil rights movement, is that other points of dispute, whether it's sexism or anti-LGBT sentiments, sometimes creep up into the movement and poison it from the inside. And when I talk to people about economic issues, oftentimes the issue of immigration comes up. And I'm wondering if you guys have seen that as a hurdle, where you have low-wage workers who maybe see competition with other low-wage workers based on their immigration status. And I don't know if you've seen that, but I was wondering if you have and what your movement plans to do about it

if that does creep in. Well, no, we haven't seen it as far as I'm aware. And we are very active in Arizona and California and increasingly active in Texas and New Mexico, where you would be most likely to see that. In fact, there is a lot of unity between recent immigrants, not-so-recent immigrants, and Mexican-Americans or Tejano people or Chicano people, Latino people, who come from long families that were always in what we now call the United States. And I wouldn't want to speak for Latino people on this question, but it's what we all see when we're part of an oppressed group. And it wasn't long ago that the sheriff of Maricopa County was proud of this, Joe Arpaio. If you're brown in some counties in the United States, the Anglos, who are the law enforcement, don't care if your family goes back a thousand years in that county

or two days. You are lumped in with brown people, and of course I come from the labor movement as well, and I've been involved with a lot of organizing of Latino workers. And the truth of the matter is it is much, much easier to bust up the union if you're able to separate the native born from the immigrant people in a workplace. And so the answer here is unity. And that's to get sort of underneath your question, Jason, the organizing principle, the glue, the core of the Poor People's Campaign is the love that our holy scriptures talk about, the prophets of the Old Testament and particularly

Jesus of the New Testament. And that, if you're a red-letter Christian and you focus on what Jesus said, it's pretty easy to see that Jesus was about love for everyone. And that's the unifying principle. Sorry to go on and on. And I'm very grateful for this. Julian, your question. Stuart, first of all, thanks for being with us. I look forward to seeing you out on the streets on Saturday. Reverend Barber is my brother and my dear friend. You outlined a

number of things at the beginning of when you started talking to Roland about the West Virginia crisis. You talked about water, heroin, a laundry list of things that were happening. But help me reconcile that with the low voter turnout in West Virginia. In 2018, only, I think, 26% of people voted in the primary. This May, only 22%, or maybe 23 percent. So it went down. So you have the mansions of the world extracting surplus value using predatory capitalism

as their crutch. But you have the poor people of West Virginia who are allowing that to happen and not coming out to vote. Help me with the issue of voter participation in West Virginia. Part of it is our fault. When I say our, I mean the Democratic Party's, state Democratic Party's fault. The state Democratic Party is much too close to Joe Manchin, and we're working to change that now. We're working quietly the way you work in an institution to change that now. And of course, we have campaigned as hard as we possibly could against Manchin. But look, Manchin is doing in West Virginia what he's doing across the country. He is depressing Democratic voters. He is undercutting the message. He is saying, I by myself will not allow these changes that the people of America want. And so his love of the filibuster has had a serious effect. cannot see how deep the hurt is, the damage that Manchin is doing, just by looking at the

legislation that doesn't pass. He is causing, he's not only causing despair, but he's also causing distrust and, of course, undermining the agenda and hurting the whole nation. So a lot of the problem is not well organized at the grassroots. Of course, the United Mine Workers were a wonderful and powerful union and a powerful force for progress in the state. But there are very few underground coal mines left and almost none of them are union anymore. And so we've lost that advocate for justice. And so, you know, we work at it as we We're building from our senior groups. We're building from our churches.

We're building from our Quaker meetings. We're building from our people who cherish the common good and believe as Woody Guthrie once said, there's only one definition of God in the Bible, and that is God is love. And so we're taking where people... Stuart, Stuart, Stuart, Stuart, I'm running out of time. I got to go to Jeff. Reverend Jeff Carr with the final question. And so, Jeff, go ahead.

Sure. Thanks, Stuart, for your work, man. Thanks for everything that you're putting out into the world. And thanks for just being on the ground. About three years before I was born, Dr. King got a Nobel Peace Prize, and he said, there's nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid of it. Dr. Jason did a good job of talking about how issues can get conflated. And when we talk about what Dr. Malveaux would call predatory capitalism, how do we, as we move towards seeing success in the poor people's movement,

how do we keep success from being measured by predatory capitalism? In other words, rewarding a few people who eventually get the success and then them continuing to forget about the people at the bottom. How do we keep that from being mixed up as a measure of success for the movement? Stuart, I got about 60 seconds for a response. If I got to go to a break, go ahead. In a country that worships wealth and that rewards the worst amongst us with power and more wealth, that is the question. And we have to connect with one another and with the human spirit at a very basic level. We're all in this together. We are all either going to leave a healthy climate and earth to our kids and grandkids, or we're not. We all are going to have to answer for whether we love one another. And as Jesus said, we'll be judged by how we treated whatsoever we did unto the least

of these we did unto Jesus. What a blessing to be with y'all. Thank you so much. What an honor to be on. I appreciate it. Now, Bo, thank you so much. Appreciate you. Stuart, I appreciate it.

Thank you so very much, folks. Don't forget what people's campaign, their mass march taking place on Saturday, June 18th on the Mall in Washington. We'll be broadcasting that live right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's do this here. We're going to go right back into the main room for the fireside chat. It's taking place right now, so let's dip in and hear some of that conversation. Our college presidents and have been college presidents and chancellors. But, Dr. Warwick, there are a whole bunch more people in this audience who want to be and so

I'm wondering what you think the characteristics of a 21st century black college president must be how that differs from some of those presidents you were looking at between 1940 and 1960, when, by the way, there were still institutions that were getting a black college president for the first time, including Fisk University,

which didn't get their first black college president until the mid-1940s. Or like Spelman College, which I think still had, didn't get their first black college president until Albert Manley, and I think Dr. Manley, came in the 1950s and didn't get their first black woman president until two presidents later. Yes. So what do you see as the characteristics that you think are really different for a black college president in the 21st century than they were in the 20th century? Yeah, that's a great closing question. Let me take a point of privilege and talk about some things that I think are the same, and then I'll say some things that are different.

Okay. First thing that I think is the same, critical, based on history, is that it's for academic leaders, presidents, to understand history, right? You have to understand institutional history, but you also have to understand the social history of your institutions, right? You have to understand institutional history, but you also have to understand the social history of your institutions, right? Because our institutions do not operate within a vacuum. They're very much considered and connected to the local community.

So when you understand the social history, you understand the community's history. When you understand the community's history, you understand the people's history, and then your leadership puts people first in making a decision instead of the institution first. That's historically true and applicable to today. Very good. You're quick on your feet, Doc. Okay. But let me give you a difference.

For our current leaders and for our aspiring black college leaders, and it certainly has to do with technology and how fast you have to respond to the issues today compared to in the 1950s and 1960s. It's one thing for something to happen in the 1950s and 1960s and try to beat the evening edition of the news, right? You got a few hours to figure something out for the next morning newspaper.

Now you're a tweet away from going viral where you're in a meeting and don't even know what's happening. And you've got to be able to be connected in a way, an understanding of the way of how to respond quickly, but also with the same level of care that those presidents have had in the past. And that's a big challenge. But if you're not thinking about how to be quick on your feet, right, how to have a meaningful response that really puts what it means to lead a black college forward, but how do you do that in every variety of way that may come up,

especially based on technology today? So if you're thinking about being a leader, aspiring to be a leader today, technology and how fast things move and how interconnected we all are is something that has to be in your forefront. And if the pandemic hasn't shown us anything over the past couple of years, it's just how interconnected and how impact we all are with each other. Well, you know, that's a great answer. And, you know, as you were giving those answers and immersing your response in the actual history of black college presidents and the way they had to address the issues of their time. I have come to the conclusion that one of the elements that we're missing as we do our onboarding

of new presidents as we... How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking. One of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox. Find new technology. Find new technology.

Find new roads. Chevrolet. On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles. And on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network.

Hey, I'm Arnaz J. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke. All right, folks, welcome back to Atlanta for the UNCF 2022 Unite Summit for Black Higher Education. We're joined right now by the president of St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, Dr. Christine Johnson-McPhail. Glad to have you here. Fairly

new in the seat. I'm so delighted to be here. I've been in the seat about 14 months now. So when President Biden came to North Carolina A&T, he talked about the amount of money that various HBCUs had gotten. And it wasn't just public institutions, private schools as well. I was talking to Dr. Michael Lomax and Dr. Walter Kimber about this. And so how did y'all get through that COVID period and the difficulties that many universities were facing? It was definitely a challenging time for St. Augustine's University, as it was with our sister institutions as well. But we also viewed it as an opportunity for us to take a look at how we delivered our services and our teaching and learning environment for students. So we took a deep dive into our technological infrastructure.

We looked at how we could multipurpose classrooms as well, all through the lens of the three perspectives of the HBCU. How do we deliver on the promise of economic impact? How do we deliver on the promise of economic impact, how do we deliver on the promise of cultural uplifting and maintaining the culture, and also looking at the political impact that we play in the community. So we went into our strong spots. HBCUs have always been social justice engines.

I think everyone will agree to that. But when we looked at who we were at St. Augustine's University, we knew that we had space defined in the health professionals area. For example, St. Agnes Hospital, the historical hospital on our campus, was the only place that African Americans from New Orleans to Washington, D.C DC could get health care so that we own that space so in now in the pandemic area we're saying how can we repurpose that so we're seeing ourselves as the center for the study of health disparities how do we look at that we can become who we are legacy wise but also define that space contemporarily.

And we're looking at being the place to go to if you want to know about health disparities for African-Americans, and also being that workforce pipeline in the pre-health professional education space. I've talked to any number of presidents who have lamented the lack of alumni giving. Folks talk more than they give. Talk to any number of presidents who have lamented the lack of alumni giving. Folks talk more than they give.

And in talking with folks, the average is around 5%. Claflin is the highest of all HBCUs. There are some that are in the 2 to 3% range. What have you made clear to your alumni that they must do? Folks, they want to come back from home, come in, they might want to wear the name of their hats and shirts, but they're not sending their check back. What have you made clear to them what their obligation is? That's a great question. And what we're seeing is nobody's innocent when we talk about the

lack of giving of the alumni. The university has a responsibility for reaching out and educating the alumni about what the needs of the university are. And also the alumni has a responsibility staying in contact with the university so we can collaborate collectively about how to do that. I'm excited about my relationship and our relationship as a university with our National Alumni Association. Matter of fact, in a couple of weeks, the National Association of Alumni will be on campus. We're presenting now my strategic plan, identifying specific asks that we want our alumni to know about.

For example, technology is a big issue, particularly inside of our classroom. We want 15 or 20 more smart classrooms. So we're being very specific with alumni and say, here's a gift that you can give. Give us a classroom, smart classroom, $20,000. So we have a list that we're going to engage in that conversation with them, tell them what our plans are, and then help them see where we are, and then we'll talk about how they can specifically give. They're excited about the conversation as well.

Where do you, what do you currently stand in terms of enrollment? Is it up? Is it down? Is it level off? We are excited about that as well. And what we feel that it's very important for us to understand that our traditional business model in providing education and training as an HBCU institution won't work today. So we had to redefine that our enrollment is indeed up, our retention is up,

and our persistence is up. And out of four years, we've had the highest alumni giving that we've had in the history of the university. So we're excited about that, and we want it to continue to grow. What would you say is your greatest need right now? Infrastructure, bar none. Our residence halls are old. Our lighting is old. Our HVAC systems need to be repaired.

And around that infrastructure development, we're going to be repurposing classrooms so that we can have the technology networks that we need. And the infrastructure technologically to offer more and expand their online offerings. So those are like barring on. And those are the big ticket financial options as well. You got a student out there trying to figure out where they want to go, make the case why they should go to your university. Because we see the student as a student and as a person, not as a statistic. We are going to connect with you when you first come to St. Augustine University.

We're going to want to know what your career path is, and we're going to show you how to connect, and we're going to show you how to stay on and complete what you want to complete. We help students finish what they start. That's our tagline and that's our story. And our faculty and our staff is committed to the mission of the university and they know what it is and that is to have students be successful. When you walk onto St. Augustine's University campus, they're going to say, what are the two things that we are about?

Anybody, whoever you talk to is going to be able to tell you. We are committed to student success and we are committed to the sustainability of St. Augustine's University. All right. Dr. Johnson-McPhilpin, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch for joining with us and certainly enjoy the rest of this summit. And thank you for the opportunity to share. All right. Dr. Johnson-McPhilip, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch for joining with us, and certainly enjoy the rest of this summit. And thank you for the opportunity to share. All right.

Thanks a bunch. Thank you. All right, folks. Let's talk about what happened in the nation's capital today. Second hearing dealing with the January 6th committee. It was high drama. And we probably can use my hashtag. We tried to tell you.

We tried to tell you how Trump was a grifter. The committee laid out that essentially he just took $250 million from donors for no purpose whatsoever, for no purpose whatsoever. And there's no committee. There's no legal defense fund. Here's some of today's testimony. My colleagues and I don't want to spend time talking about ourselves during these hearings, but as someone who's run for office a few times, I can tell you at the end of a campaign, it all comes down to the numbers. The numbers tell you the winner and the loser. For the most part, the numbers don't lie. But if something

doesn't add up with the numbers, you go to court to get resolution. And that's the end of the line. We accept those results. That's what it means to respect the rule of law. That's what it means to seek elective office in our democracy. Because those numbers aren't just numbers, they're votes. They're your votes. They are the will and the voice of the people. And the very least we should expect from any person seeking a position of public trust is the acceptance of the will of the people. Win or lose. Donald Trump didn't.

He didn't have the numbers. He went to court. He still didn't have the numbers. He lost. But he betrayed the trust of the American people. He ignored the will of the voters. He lied to his supporters and the country. And he tried to remain in office after the people had voted him out, and the courts upheld the will of the people.

This morning, we'll tell the story of how Donald Trump lost an election, and knew he lost an election, and as a result of his loss, decided to wage an attack on our democracy. An attack on the American people by trying to rob you of your voice in our democracy. And in doing so, lit the fuse that led to the horrific violence of January 6th, when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol sent by Donald Trump to stop the transfer of power. Put my pal in here, Jason. It was a hilarious day. I mean, here's the deal. This is what we are seeing. And we kept, this dude is drifter in chief. I mean, the people, all these Fox News people, they're whining and complaining about the committee hearing. It's Trump's own people who are sitting here blowing out his lies. It's his own people that are making it clear that he was one who was delusional.

You can yell, holler and scream that this is liberals. No, this is on people. Jason, you're on mute. Jason, you're on mute. Jason, you're on mute. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. Man, I was just really into it. University of Maryland, you can't even work the mute button.

Go ahead. Oh, okay. No, I'll just say that, you know, the interesting thing about the Fox people is that they're all wrapped up in this. They were the ones texting him knowing it was wrong. So, you know, they're clearly aware of all of Donald Trump's lies. And, you know, when you look at all of the things that have come out, Bill Barr basically saying, of course, we all know he said that it was all BS. But Bill Barr also throwing water on

Dinesh D'Souza's film, you know, The 2000 Mules, which, by the way, I also threw water on when I interviewed him on my podcast, showed him. And even my conservative counterpart was like, this doesn't add up. Um, so, I mean, it was just, it was comical. And it's kind of sad that some of these people, and I've looked on Twitter, it seems like they are silent about the fact that he took that $250 million, said he was going to pay for legal expenses and just use Rudy Giuliani.

And, you know, and there was basically pocketed the money. I mean, there's no accounting for that money. And you would think that people would be livid about that. But we'll see how things shake out and how people actually respond to it, you know, knowing that their money, they're in a time where they're complaining about inflation. They're complaining that they can't actually fill up their gas tanks. We all are. But yet they gave their hard-earned dollars to Donald Trump, and he pocketed it. A guy who's worth billions. So I'm wondering how that those people in West Virginia will be able to deal with that, with knowing that.

Those people in Alabama who don't have a lot of money or working on fixed income, but believe in Donald Trump's lies. Number one, knowing that it's a lie. And number two, knowing that he took their money. The billionaire Manhattan socialite took the working class guy in Alabama and in Mississippi, took their money and basically grifted them. We'll see how they react to this. Look, Jeff, I said point blank, if you were dumb enough to send any money to Donald Trump, you deserve to get ripped off.

If you were that stupid to send that fool any money for a legal defense team for no reason whatsoever. Okay, he lost the election, and these idiots are running around saying, oh, the Dominion machines lie. I mean, we had lie after lie after lie.

And the thing that got me the most, his own people were afraid to tell him, like, well, no, sir, I disagree. Nobody had the sense to say, Trump, shut the hell up. You sound like a damn fool you lost. Well, you know, he got rid of the people who were trying to tell him that it was idiotic. Bill Barr testified to that. Bill Barr's testimony was so full of expletives that they just had a continual bleep button because he told him that this was not going to work. But as Dr. Jason said, he started turning to people like Rudy Giuliani.

As far as the people who supported Trump in this grifter scheme, I think about the song from DJ. You know, it's hard out here for a pimp when he's trying to get this money for his rent. And these people out here are buying it hook, line, and sinker. I talk about it all the time. There's a difference between fact and belief. Once you convince somebody to be a believer, they no longer care about the facts. It harkens back to what Dr. Kimbrough was saying, brother Dr. Kimbrough. He was saying that he's got numbers in front of him. And you're trying to tell people about

what HCOs and BCUs are dealing with. And they're still saying, no, I don't believe that. And listen to the language. I don't believe it. Trump was able to convince people that somehow he was robbed of an election. These people still believe it even to this day because they are true believers. Everybody else is a non-believer. They got $250 million that they put into his account. He's not going to have to account for it to the people who believe in him and believe in the nonsense. And he's just sitting back saying, I is a RZA. Should I save her? And all the people who follow him are screaming with their dollars throwing at him I want to be saved. So when you get people who will

give their money behind belief in this way, it's hard to feel sorry for them in the end because everybody with common sense and facts has been saying this all along and now you got got and you have to deal with it. Matthew Morgan

was a campaign, was a Donald Trump campaign lawyer, and even he said his ass lost. Watch this. Generally discussed on that topic was whether the

fraud, maladministration, abuse or irregularities, if aggregated and read most favorably to the campaign, would that be outcome-determinative? And I think everyone's assessment in the room, at least amongst the staff, Mark Short, myself and Greg Jacob, was that it was not sufficient to be outcome-determinant. Julian, they were dealing with a childish idiot who could not accept the fact that he took a big-ass L. There you go. You know, this has been fascinating.

I almost didn't get out of my house this morning trying to watch this and make my lift and do all that because it was fascinating. The fascinating thing about it, let's call one name Rudy Giuliani. When the guy said, you know, the dude was clearly inebriated, talking stuff, let's just say we won. Let's just say we won.

Let's just say we won. So you got a drunk fool and a quasi-sober fool. So you had a conference of fools, essentially, with all the other people saying, excuse me, but you lost. Excuse me, but you lost. But he didn't want to hear it. But the bigger thing is we look at the people who gave him money, $250 million, $250 million. And this is a wealth transfer from the poor to the wealthy. But I'm not sure how wealthy Donald Trump is, because I think he needed that $250 million.

I mean, we have yet to have the full accounting of what he's worth, what he lost, what he stole, but just the whole fascinating layer of this. I commend Liz Cheney. I have new respect for her and Benny Thompson, who's been doing a really great job. But the most important thing here is that there's some Americans who are fools. So Rudy and the Orange Orangutan had their little fools conference. There were enough people with $250 million to want to join the Council of Fools to say, we're going to support this man who has never supported us. It sort of echoes the question that I raised with our previous guest, with the brother for West Virginia. How do you vote against your own self-interest? Donald Trump puts himself out

there as a man of the people. What people? The fact is that, you know, you poor white people, he's not going to have his grandchildren playing with your children. He's not going to have you at Mar-a-Lago. He looks down on you. He has commodified you, and he has taken whatever he can from you. And you continue to support him, continue to vote for him. I'm not sure that these people are, minds are being changed as watching this stuff on television. I think that many of them have their minds made up. They believe that he's okay. And the word that we haven't mentioned in this conversation wrong, what we must, is race and whiteness. What he has done is he has become basically the standard bearer of white, I don't want to call it supremacy anymore. Somebody pulled my coat the other day and said, stop saying white supremacy, they're not supreme.

But you know, white idiocy. Idiocy to think you're supreme. But he's the white man, and because he's the white man, you see all kinds of insanity, like someone who voted against Juneteenth because they said having Juneteenth was like having critical race theory. I mean, give me a break.

But this is the ideology that has been promoted by the Orange Regatta. Well, Jason, Jeff, and Julianne, and this will be the final round of questions here. The thing is, I'm watching this, and I get it, how they are structuring this. It's now coming across as a second impeachment. And I get how they are methodically laying this out. But I still believe that one of the biggest mistakes is making January 6th all about Donald Trump and not the fact that you have an entire party,

you have more than 150 House members. You've got U.S. Senate members who went along with this, who were very much involved, and those folks are still in power. If you keep trying to make this just about Trump, Jason, it isolates him from the other individuals when what we're dealing with with January 6th is an entire party apparatus that now is beholden to the obscene craziness of this delusional man. I couldn't agree more. And, you know, I think Trumpism in some ways is outgrowing Trump. When you look at some of the

primaries, of course, the primary in, I believe it was Tennessee, the primary certainly, or Nebraska, I'm sorry, and the primary that we saw in Pennsylvania, where, you know, his endorsements weren't working. He got booed on that tour with Bill O'Reilly. I think Trumpism is starting to outgrow Trump. And I think, though, that this committee is building up to this. They're going to talk about the 10 or so GOP House members and I think even maybe Senate members who were looking for preemptive pardons from the former president. So I think they're going to build up to make this bigger than just

Donald Trump, but also to show that he is the orchestrator. And I think that they also recognize that he is eyeing 2024. So I think you have to take him down to a certain degree and show the threat that he is to democracy. And, you know, that's necessary because I think for his ego, he really wants to be president. And he will come back in 2024. And if you don't take him down, I think he's got a chance. So I think that they see it as a patriotic duty. Go ahead. Sorry.

But I think here, Jeff, is that, look, they are running people for secretaries of state, election supervisors. They are trying to put in the infrastructure to control electoral outcomes. This thing is not Donald Trump. Yes, Trump was the ringleader, the circus master behind all of this, the one who was sitting here, doing all the crazy things. But the reality is this thing has infected, it has affected, and it's going to have an effect

on the 2022 midterms and 2024. And so that's why it solely cannot just be about him. Well, absolutely. I think to Dr. Jase's point, Trumpism is particularly dangerous because he holds the cards psychologically. A lot of these people who are organizing the Republican Party now and organizing in every space, we're talking about from the presidential appointment of judges across the board to state houses redrawing election lines and gerrymandering districts that were primarily Democratic before we've seen that's happening in

Tennessee. We've also seen that, as you said, they're electing electing officials, Republican committee members locally. They're even organizing to run candidates and to fund them with dark money to run for local school boards. So this is a complete systemic taking over the Republican Party. And yes, at some point, the Trumpism is outgrowing Trump. However, we can look at this two different ways. Number one, if we focus the January 6th hearings on Trump alone, you could actually give him martyr status and you could actually give him martyr status

and you could actually make this movement worse. The Trump, excuse me, the commission's job, and Benny Thompson's doing an exceptional job at leading this through, is to discover what happened with the riots, what happened, who was behind them, and who was a participant in it, and how they were helped. Because one of the biggest questions that we haven't gotten to is how this many people were able to breach the Capitol without law enforcement being present. So that means that somebody else was a part of this. There were other people other than Trump. There were people who were working in the government.

There were people who were working in politics who were also a part of that, too. So it's my hope that this is going to expand expand and we are going to be able to catch the people who are culpable, hold them accountable. Even while we see the images of this riot, keep in mind that in spaces like Tennessee, the Republicans are launching initiatives to make it a felony for homeless people to camp or to hang out in governmental spaces. Notice that many of the people who were arrested in the January 6th riots, they are charged with misdemeanors. Why is that important? Because if you're a homeless person who gets their life together, but you were convicted

of a felony of sleeping on the state capitol or protesting on the state capitol, you no longer have a vote. Meanwhile, many of the images and the faces that we see represented in this riot, because they're charged with misdemeanors, they will be able to vote and hence look toward 2024. So it's a delicate balance. We want to make sure that we don't turn Trump into a deeper folk hero with the people who believe in the Trumpism. And then we were able to, at the same time, share the blame, share the responsibility, and convict everyone who had a role in making this happen. As I look at this thing unfolding, Julian, again, when you look at the Steve Bannons of the world

and what their strategy is, I mean, these people are sick and demented. But what they are doing is they are mobilizing and organizing. That's exactly what I said on Tiffany Cross' show on Saturday. I think, folks, if you missed it, you can see it on our YouTube channel or the Black Star Network app. But that's where they are. And you can watch this this and folks can be tweeting about it and posting about it. But the reality is we're going to have to understand that these

folks are playing for keeps. They're not joking around. And we've got to be there as well. Roland, it's a mistake to think of 2016 election as the beginning of Trump. I think we have to go back to 2008 and look at the election of President Barack Obama as a beginning of Trump. Now go back further. I agree. Now go back further. I want to start. Oh, yeah. Trump is Trump is nothing more. First of all, first of all, first of all, Ronald Reagan was simply an outgrowth of black success in the 70s. And so and he ran on a white nationalist platform as well.

Donald Trump is simply a continuum in this whole thing that I call white fear. But you're absolutely right. It was the election of Obama that actually caused these white people to go, oh, my God, America is changing. Demographics are changing. And so absolutely. And they said Donald Trump is their great white hope. He is. He is their Jerry Cooney to Larry Holmes. You know, he precisely is exactly that, and he's been that, and he's played that. Remember him coming down that elevator, escalator, whatever it was, talking about Mexicans, calling Mexicans rapists. He has used the race card throughout. He's used it throughout his career as well, even as he sucked up and grinned at black people.

I met Donald Trump actually at a party for Maya Angelou that Oprah held in Florida. It wasn't at Mar-a-Lago, but it was somewhere. And he was there, grinning and smiling. But, you know, he's always used black people, black symbols to get access, but he has never been about black people. We know that. We know all of this. But here's what we don't. One thing I want to say to Jason, you say that he's doing this stuff for his ego. Jason, he's doing this stuff for his pocketbook.

I mean, he has figured out a way to make money out of politics. The $250 million is just the tip of the iceberg. Praise the Lord to Tish James. Praise her for going after the details of this man's money. When we finish, we will find out that not only has he looted the United States Treasury, but everything else he could put his sticky fingers in and pull some money out of. So his ego, yes, but really his economics, because he's not the financial genius that he would let us believe that he is. Instead, he's basically no better than one of the homies

from the hood who will spat your pocketbook out while you're standing on the corner with your bag unzipped. We need to really deal with this. And it is, you know, beyond... Trump may have outgrown Trump, but Trump becomes their symbol. The people who would replace him would be like the DeSantis of the world. And that's scary, too. What we have to really deal with is what our country is looking like

and how we can educate our working-class white brothers and sisters. And Reverend Barber is doing a great job of it, but there's just not enough of them who even go to a poor people's campaign because guess what? They don't believe they Pope. They may be broke. They may have to pay $5 plus for gas, but

they still think they're better than us and that they have whiteness in their back pocket. Right. Alright. Jason, Jeff, and Julian, we certainly appreciate y'all being with us on today's panel thank you so very much can i go to a quick break i'm gonna come back uh with some sad news from one of the people uh in our black and missing segment

i will be right back uh live from atlanta at the uncf uh 2022 unite 2022 summit for black higher education we'll be back in a moment 2022 Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. We'll be back in a moment. On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles. And on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you.

Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll hear from Elizabeth Davis. career in the constructio her own business using he and all by the way, now a business. Every day I was rather than looking at th monthly when you're first starting your business, my recommendation is look at your numbers every day

because are they balancing out each day? If they're not balancing out for three days in a row, that means your week is going to be off. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet. Hi, I'm Israel Houghton.

Apparently, the other message I did was not fun enough. So this is fun. You are watching... Roland Martin, my man since June 11th. The 16-year-old is 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 130 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Alicia was last seen wearing a light-colored sweatshirt and shorts. Anyone with information about Alicia Lili Bruce should call the Fluvona County Virginia Sheriff's Department at 434-589-8211. 434-589-8211, 439, excuse me, 434-589-8211. Folks, we have an update about a

previous black and missing we told you about last month. Police in Houston, Texas believe that 24 year old California native Felicia Marie Johnson, who went missing on April 15th of this year, is dead. Murder and tampering with evidence charges have been filed against Chukwebuka M. Bodoa. He's still at large. He apparently knew the victim. And so, again, charges have been filed against him. The correct spelling on his name is C-H-U-K-W-U-E-B-U-K-A-N-W-O-B-O-D-O-A. If you have any information regarding him, you should contact either the LAPD or the Houston Police Department. And again, that's the sad news there on Felicia Marie Johnson.

They believe she passed away. Folks, let me tell you about the six members of the Haitian Special Olympics team have gone missing. Now a seventh is down missing. 25-year-old Louis Jacques Wilgens was last seen on Saturday at the Disney All-Star Sports Resort around 4.30 p.m. He was scheduled to fly back to Haiti on the following Sunday. He was last seen wearing red sandals, blue jeans, and a white Special Olympics shirt with Haiti written on it. Osceola County Sheriff's Office urges anyone that contacts Wilkins

to check his well-being and immediately get in touch with authorities. And the search continues for the six other members of the Haitian Special Olympic Delegation team. Now, no foul play is suspected in the disappearance of these seven. And so we will certainly give you any update when we come across that. All right, folks, that is it for us as we broadcast here from Atlanta for the UNCF Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. As I said, folks, we're going to be broadcasting tomorrow as well. I'll be carrying some of the plenary sessions.

So you want to download the Black Star Network app to catch the latest and be sure to set your alert. You can do so on all available platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV. We have Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, and Samsung Smart TV. So check all of those out. You can also, of course, support us in what we do by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. All of your resources go towards this show. Check in money orders sent to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. The cash app is dollar sign. R M unfiltered.

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right here from Atlanta with UNCF and their Unite 2022 Summit for Black Higher Education. Thanks so much. Holla! This is an iHeart Podcast.