#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Deborah Peoples rally in FWTX; Calif. to track police misconduct; Black woman shot by off-duty cop

Episode Date: May 27, 2021

5.26.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Rally in Fort Worth, TX for mayoral candidate Deborah Peoples; Missouri appointed its first black Supreme Court Judge; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will have its first Black Woman administrator; Calif. to track police misconduct; Black woman in Texas shot by an off-duty cop; Tamir Rice's mother asks the Supreme Court not to consider the police union's appeal to reinstate the cop who killed her son; Recording Artist Major will join us to talk about the re-release of Why I Love You.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Roland Martin on the filter, broadcasting live from Fort Worth, Texas, where I've been talking with Deborah Peoples, who is hoping to become the first black mayor of Fort Worth. Also on today's show, we'll also be talking to Bishop Kendra Spears, who also is supporting her.

A number of folks here are supporting her campaign. She's already here at the Petroleum Club here in Fort Worth. Also on today's show, we'll talk with our legal panel about qualified immunity. How critical is that to being the George Floyd Justice Act? The U.S. Senate now is debating, and so we'll talk with them about that. Also, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid now has an African-American who is leading that agency. She was confirmed yesterday by the United States Senate. Also, California has a new initiative to track police misconduct. American who is leading that agency. She was confirmed yesterday by the United States Senate. Also, California has a new initiative to track police misconduct. We'll break that thing down as well. Plus, a black woman shot six times by an off-duty cop here in Texas. Also, in Ohio,

Tamir Rice's mother wants the Supreme Court not to consider the police union's appeal to reinstate the officer who killed her son. Plus, we'll be joined by my frat brother and also Texan Major on the fifth anniversary of his hit song. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin on a field trip 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, go, y'all. Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. Martin Hey, folks, Roland Martin here. We're in Fort Worth, Texas at the Petroleum Club where we'll be chatting with Deborah Peoples

who is seeking to become the first African-American mayor of this particular city. And so we look forward to that conversation. We'll also be talking with some of the folks in this room about what is needed in Fort Worth, especially as it relates to African Americans. One of the big stories that we, of course, have been focused on is the George Floyd Justice Act. And yesterday was, of course, the first anniversary of his death.

And his family, they went to Capitol Hill as well as the White House, talking with political leaders with regards to that bill and what is needed. Now, one of the issues that many activists say is vital, that it must have ending qualified immunity. That has been an issue all across this country. And so let's talk about it now with our legal panel, A. Scott Bolden, who's former chair of the National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Robert Petillo, executive director of the Rainbow Push Coalition Peachtree Street Project,

also Monique Presley, legal analyst and crisis manager. And so we'll chat with him in a moment. Is Robert, are you there? We're here, Roman. All right, Robert, I want to start with, I want to, Robert, I want to start with you. Scott will join us in a second. Many folks say this is the most important thing in this bill, that if you don't have the Indian qualified immunity, there really is no need for this George Floyd Justice Act. Your thoughts on that.

Is that the most important thing? And should this what folks be pushing senators to make sure it stays in the bill? We already know what Congressman Jim Clyburn said, where he said he's fine with the bill if it doesn't have any qualified immunity in it. Well, the issue is that without qualified immunity, this bill is almost indistinguishable from the justice act that Tim Scott introduced last year. So we're not going to have qualified immunity, and we should just come to a broad consensus around Tim Scott's legislation to move forward. The reason qualified immunity is so important is because every other field, every other career that you can have, you have personal liability for any torts that you commit.

So if I, as a lawyer, have an accident that results in a pecuniary injury to my client or to harm to them, then they can sue me for malpractice and I have to personally pay that tort against the client. If a doctor has a malpractice claim and accidentally kills a client or injured them, he has to personallyice claim and accidentally kills a client or injured them, he has to personally pay out and have a carry insurance policy in order to do so. Police officers are the only profession where you can simply say, oops, my bad, I accidentally killed somebody. And then the city takes on that debt for you. Then the taxpayers are in charge of paying off that debt to the individual. This is where we see these settlements

for $10 million, $20 million sometimes. The city of Chicago has paid up nearly a billion dollars in settlements over the last couple of decades for police misconduct cases. And the belief is that police officers were personally liable to pay off these debts. So they knew that them accidentally shooting somebody would result in them losing their retirement, losing their pension fund, losing their house, their car, their boat, their second home, their children's college fund, well, then you're going to be a whole lot less likely to, as we saw in St. Louis with Daunte Wright, to say, oops, I thought that was my taser, or oops, I didn't mean to shoot that individual. Oh,

sorry, I had my knee on their neck for too long. When it is your personal liability at stake, when you are personally and individually responsible for paying off that debt, and you know it can bankrupt you going forward for generations, then that is what it will take in order to get officers to put in the due diligence necessary to prevent many of these police shootings. Monique, the Marshall Project estimated that more than a billion dollars has been spent on police settlements over the past decade. And many folks say if you don't deal with the money, then you're never going to be able to get police to be held accountable. The money is crucial. There's no doubt about that because pecuniary interest and financial loss are drivers.

They are deterrents. And as someone who has defended police departments, defended officers in civil suits and sued them, I can assure you that it is something that is of great concern on both sides. However, I do believe that my colleague Robert conflated two issues. One, qualified immunity as it stands now makes it nearly impossible for families to get a day in a civil court. That is the first issue, that when a police officer does something, the standard is so high and so frankly absurd and ridiculous as it is right now that unless you can point to an almost identical circumstance, it's going to be very subjective. It's going to be what the reasonable officer would have done, and you're not going to be able to get the officer in court. So getting rid of that, whether it means that the police department takes

the responsibility or the city takes the responsibility or the individual officer, what needs to happen is that qualified immunity is gone. Secondly, then becomes the issue of who's actually going to be responsible and pay the bill, whether the police officer is going to be required to have individual insurance for malpractice the way that a doctor would or a lawyer would, et cetera, or whether the police department is going to be responsible for the bill. And then they are incentivized to better train their officers and to get rid of these so-called bad seeds, bad apples, bad actors, whatever, and to make sure that they are training up officers in good ground or whether it's going to be the way it is now in many places that it is

the city. Police officers make on average $50,000 a year. The money that it takes, the $10 million that it would take maybe to answer a wrongful death claim is not coming from the individual officers. So while I recognize the importance of that individual liability and responsibility, the thing that is most important to me is that a change occurs in this bill where families will be able to seek redress in civil courts when officers do something terribly wrong. Scott, on this particular issue here, again, this is something that activists have been pushing on.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, she made it clear unless this is in the bill passed by the Senate, it's a waste of time. Yeah, I agree with that, Maxine. Can you all hear me? Yeah, I agree with that, Maxine, and my colleagues here as well. Unless you hit them in the pocket, it's going to be much of the same. These families need their day in court. But let's not forget, let's examine one thing. The pushback from the police unions on taking out qualified immunity is a joke. It's that if you don't give them qualified immunity, then they won't be able to do their jobs. They won't be able to make these split-second decisions. They'll hesitate and put their lives in danger versus the lives of citizens, if you will, or the bad guys, quote, bad guys. But that doesn't make any sense,

because if you're really a good cop and you really want to seek excellence and think about excellence every day as a police officer, by the way, you don't have a right to be a police officer, but if you're going to get in that field, then if you lose qualified immunity, then you ought to be making smarter decisions. You ought to be well-trained and be seeking to be well-trained. And you ought to want to be an excellent police officer so that you don't have any bad actors or have any incidents because you're so well-trained. The police union culturally is so ingrained in them culturally that all they think about is us versus them. We know this to be the case because if you look at the history of payouts by major municipalities around the country, they're still paying out. They're still paying settlements and the police officers are still killing black and brown men and women. And so you've got to get through that culture and mentality from a leadership standpoint. But two, it begins with getting rid of qualified immunity

and hitting these police officers in the pocketbook, including forcing them to put on their body cam, and if they don't turn it on, it ought to be an obligation in the law. If they don't turn it on, then you start to discipline them and hit them in the paycheck, as we've talked about before on this show. Roland, can I add something?

I can't think of any. Yeah, Monique, go ahead. Go ahead. I just want to say that anyone who's saying that this bill is trash or that it's not worth anything at all if qualified immunity isn't included hasn't read the bill because there are so many other things that are of vital importance that are going to change lives and save lives that I do not think we can go as far and be accurate and say that unless they get rid of qualified immunity, it's not worth it to try to pass this legislation. Making for chokeholds being illegal federally is in this legislation. Requiring a national registry

for bad actors is in this legislation so that you can't commit bad acts in one jurisdiction and then like in the Joshua Feast case, Mike Brown, so many others go to another jurisdiction and get a job and kill more people. That's in this legislation. The requirement for officers to report, to intervene when there is a bad actor and they are witnessing it, and to report it if they have witnessed it or if they learn about it. That's in this legislation. Opportunity for funding for mental health so that mental health crises aren't being answered by police officers, like triaging in the streets in the middle of the night. Some of that funding can be allocated to take care of those things. In this legislation, we're making it easier for officers to be held criminally responsible. So

for everybody who's always saying, okay, the family got a whole bunch of money, but what else is going to happen? The individual officer, this one city paid $10 million, but how does that change things globally? Well, yes, money is an incentive, but so is going to jail. So if we increase the number of crimes that an officer can be charged with, or if we change the code such that it is easier to convict officers when they commit crimes in the scope of their jobs as law enforcement.

All of those things and more are still on the table in this legislation. As you know, I just spent yesterday in the offices of Senator Booker, Senator Tim Scott, Senator Lindsey Graham, the White House, and I can tell you that the serious-minded people are doing serious business trying to work something out and get something passed, and everybody wants a win here. Nobody is playing games with this legislation. And Scott, you can shake your head all you want to, but there's just no saying that we don't need the other things. Let me tell you why you're wrong. I'm not saying I want this legislation to not have qualified immunity in it.

And I don't think that was what he was saying either. I just think he didn't have any business talking because he's not a negotiator. He's not at the table. But what I want people to do is be informed about every single thing that we are fighting for and don't narrow it down or dumb it down to a single item issue because this is an omnibus legislation. This isn't one thing. Would you please? Well, the operative phrase there, the operative phrase there,

Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, you have to remind you again who show this is. This is a recurring theme every Wednesday. That's why you don't know how to act in public. So, so Scott, so, so the operative phrase, the operative phrase there, what Monique said was, if you read the bill.

Now, Scott, you can go ahead and make your little point. I've read the bill. I've had numerous discussions with mutual colleagues of ours, and I don't think Monique is wrong, per se. I think her conclusion is wrong, because let me tell you the difference here. All of those other good things in the bill are only as good as the state and feds implement them, if you will. Only as good as the leadership on the ground is if you pass all those laws. The reason that qualified immunity is so important is because it is not only the law, but I don't need anybody on the ground like a police officer, chief or mayor to implement those changes on the ground. The qualified immunity says I'm going to hit you in your pocket if you're a police officer. It is the fundamental law. And as a result, I don't need to look at who's implementing it because the courts have got to

follow it. And if you hit them in their their pocket all those other things are will support it but you don't need the implementation piece and it all begins and ends there scott we got that pass a bill without qualified immunity god no actually but i'm telling you qualified immunity is so much more important than the other items that you've got to begin there and the analysis ends there uh actually it doesn't end there and so we're going to explain explain that is an omnibus bill and explains is it no no no no no first of all look you're a lawyer i understand you want to hit the pocketbook but the but the but the point but but but here's the whole piece scott it is a comprehensive bill the operative phrase is's the whole piece, Scott. It is a comprehensive bill. The operative

phrase is read the bill. Part of the problem is too many people in this country don't know how to read. I'm still dealing with black folks who are utterly clueless, who are getting on my damn nerves calling it an anti-Asian bill, somehow thinking that that bill somehow dealing with hate crimes only applied to Asians. It applied to every American. This is what happens when we have these fake YouTube historians and these wannabe activists out here who I call never will be's who put information out and the average person doesn't read. And so what Monique detailed, what most people have never even heard about

because they're not explaining all that is in the bill that's currently on the table. Robert, weigh in, please. Well, I think the other thing we have to look at is whether or not even without qualified immunity, you can get Republicans across the aisle and vote for any form of police reform, because right now the Fraternal Order of Police, nationally, are going full-body lobbying trying to stop any version of police reform. So I think before we start taking things out of the bill in order to get Republican votes, we need to find out if there's any Republican votes to be got besides Tim Scott. Because what we've seen, the people like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell have basically said they will torpedo any part of the Biden agenda going forward. So if we're going to take one swing at this, I think we should take one forward swing.

Robert, Robert, Robert, actually not true. Robert, Robert, Robert, hold up. Actually not true. Hold up, Robert, that's not true. So LeCherne Lindsey Graham was one of the people the George Floyd family met with yesterday who is very much involved in the negotiations of this bill. Monique, go. I sat right next to him in two sessions now, and he is Senator Scott's wingman on this legislation.

And anybody who has heard me speak for longer than 30 seconds knows that I have said so many things about my issues with Lindsey Graham, it's ad nauseum. But I will sit next to and talk to and discuss with anyone who is willing to help us get this done. And he asked for specific things. And he committed that he firmly believes that there will be a bill. And he understands the need for accountability. And he believes he has the votes to get it done if we do our part, which is to drum up support in our community such that it is undeniable. They care about being elected. They care about the changing times. Everybody wants a win here. So I'm going to credit because they are working very hard. They worked over the weekend on trying to move further. They've given updates to family members.

Senator Scott, Senator Booker are calling the attorneys who represent the families who have been fighting for this legislation and saying, here's where we are. Here's what we think we can get. Here's what we need. Here's what we are. Here's what we think we can get. Here's what we need. Here's what's changed. So, guys, I I'm a Democrat for real and for true. But this is an American issue. And I need all Americans to understand black folks, white folks, brown folks that we we need to try our best to hear. I'm not saying support it if you can't, but I am saying to at least listen and understand that people are coming to the table to try to get this done. Lindsey Graham sat for two hours with these families yesterday and two hours, three weeks ago, not for nothing, but because they

are making these efforts to try to, he's a former prosecutor and a former defense attorney, so he's coming to the table as a lawyer. Senator Tim Scott is coming to the table as a black man who is able to galvanize support and get votes. And he's working with Senator Booker. So if it was all hogwash, y'all know I'd be the first

to tell you, but I'm going to put myself on the line and say there's progress being made. If I was a racist senator from South Carolina, I'd do all that and then vote no. You can't trust them. You can't trust them. But I appreciate what you're saying. But in the end, you and Monique, Monique was in the room sitting next to Lindsey Graham.

You weren't. So if we're going to listen to somebody on this, I'm going to listen to the sister. I'm going to listen to the sister who was in the room talking to the man who's negotiating. Well, Scott, you don't have to trust him, but he's negotiating in the deal. So she's actually in the room. He's got a history of voting against black immigrants. A history of voting for Trump. You done? So stop it.

You done? Yeah, I'm done. You done? Good. But for everybody who's listening, listen to the person who's sitting next to the person she's talking about, and it's not Scott. It's Monique. There's no major city in the country that's not been impacted by this issue. It was October 2019 here in Fort Worth. Antiana Jefferson was shot and killed by a police officer.

That was October 2019. He has yet to actually go to trial. Again, all across this country, this is one of the issues. It certainly has been discussed in the mayoral race here. We're going to chat in a moment with Deborah Peoples, who the mayoral race here. We're going to chat in a moment with Deborah Peoples, who was mayoral candidate. But right now I want to talk with, first of all, with Bishop Kenneth Spears. He is a pastor of First St. John Cathedral here in Fort Worth. Bishop, how are you doing? Great. How are you, sir? I appreciate it. Thanks for hosting us here. What's the phrase? You walking in the high cotton up here at the Petroleum Club? So I'm just saying, dang the phrase I would use

because I ain't picking nothing. But certainly appreciate you hosting us here. Not my first time. I spent two and a half years at the Fort Worth Telegram as City Hall reporter. So let's talk about this. First, thank you, Pastor Ralph West, who's a great friend for making the connection.

Thanks for coming. Not a problem. Not a problem. Absolutely. This issue we're talking about, the George Floyd Justice Act, is being negotiated right now in the United States Senate. And again, in Fort Worth, they've had to deal with this, not just with the Jefferson fatal shooting, but so many other cases as well, demanding a significant level of accountability from police. Yes, I think that's one of the reasons why we gather today. We are now a couple of years past in terms of Tontiana Jefferson and the case with George Floyd has already been dealt with.

So we're really trying to put pressure on the judgment in terms of DA's office and those individuals who make the final choice. Lives are so precious and it's happening too often in our city and we've got to do something about it. And so I really appreciate you bringing it to the headway because the more air time we get about it, the quicker we can move the process along. You spoke of that Jefferson shot and kill October 2019. George Floyd was murdered May 2020. And yet Derek Chauvin has already been convicted.

They've moved the trial for the other three officers from August to 2022. That creates some space because Chauvin still has to get sentenced. I constantly am trying to explain to folks why voting matters. Clearly, we have a runoff election on June 5th, but who is the DA determines these actions as well. And of course, you have African Americans who run in the past for DA as well. And what are you saying to people in this city, why they can't ignore the power of that ballot? Because I keep saying, you can't sit here whining and complain about changing policy if you don't understand that the poly in policy is the same as the same one in politicians. So I'm saying that we've got to get to the polls.

One of the problems we're having, I think, more than anything is that we've got to get people, black people, to the polls. We can't, ooh, I almost said talk like you talk. That's why the show called Unfiltered Well we got people who complain Who complain but they don't do the work And so June 5th So y'all heard he said complain Y'all like what was he going to say He's probably going to say they bitch and moan

I'll go ahead and say it I ain't got a problem I'll go, you be like a vent ain't got a problem. I'll go. You'll be like a ventriloquist. Just point to me when you want me to cuss. What you just said is what I wanted to say. I said. Say it one more time.

They bitch and moan. My wife will preach it, but that's her. She got papers. I don't. But go ahead. And so we're in a space now here's one of the other areas that i think in cities like fort worth uh we run against each other we can't afford to do that uh we are divided in places like that and i understand how people have their preference i understand that but we lose ground when we run against one another.

We've got in District 6, which is powerful, a young brother, your frat brother, I understand, who is running for, running against a guy, Jungus Jordan, young professional, up and coming, very articulate, very intelligent, and very informative. We shouldn't even be having a runoff. If people had gotten to the polls, it would already be settled. In our city, even in this place, when we talk about Deborah Peoples, we talk about running for mayor, by right, it should have been over. So what we've had to deal with is the first place was on the ballot, a person who should have been at the top of the ballot.

We had people who were voting. They had to go to the next page. And so people left, many in many cases, left the polls saying, well, I didn't see her name. Maybe she wasn't running. Well, they didn't know how to go negotiate the process and go to the next page. Then the critical piece is that during the election, when we came to the final portion, she won. And when the conversation comes up, it's always her opponent and then her. When in reality, in conversation, she plays first. And so we've got to make sure that we get people back to the polls. We can't keep having these kind of fiascos. You know, we've got to make sure that people understand that voting counts. And so I talked with a couple of people who said,

well, I already voted. I'm saying in a runoff, you got to go back. Right. You can't count your first vote as being counted. You got to go back to the polls and vote. And so that's where we are. And so what is the activation plan? How are you driving that? Because it's basically civics is voter education. So what we've discovered, we can't have one event that is for one event. One event has to have multiple purposes. We are here today for this event. One event has to have multiple purposes. We are here today for this event,

but we are pushing people to understand that this voting process, we already know we've got to inform people more so that we've got in this crowd, we've got people who potentially will run for judges, run for other offices, because I believe that if we're going to get the cloud or we're going to get the support, then the old school got to meet with the new school and that there has to be a place so that the people of means of wealth have to meet these young people who are preparing to run and make investment. And now, of course, now that places are opening up, folks are taking vaccines, the campaign looks a lot different now than it would have a year ago where, look,

we were in Georgia for John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock where there were drive-thru rallies, everything was outdoor, everything was social distance. And so now you can be a lot more vigorous campaign than really what has taken place over the last year. For sure. So one of the things that's important, we've got to convince people that the vaccine is OK. We've got people who are now challenged in terms of taking the vaccine. And I'm saying I've taken it. I was in the first run in terms of being vaccinated. My family, my staff team and different friends. So we've got to make sure that the message is clear that that this is not going to hurt you, that it's going to help you. And so we've got to keep people informed in that process.

I'm saying that if we can get more people vaccinated, we talk about that herd vaccination, a community, we've got to do one by one. We've got to make sure that people understand that we need you. And if you haven't gotten your vaccination, put your mask on. Put your gloves on.

Do whatever you got to do to cover your feet, your hand and your mouth and get your, get your, get your ass to the pole. He wanted to say, if I went ahead and say it, I had to say, I agree with it.

Bishop Spears. We appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Uh, it, uh, it is, uh,

of course, uh, is all important. We're going to take a break right now. And we come back. We're going to take a break right now. We come back. We're going to talk with Deborah Peoples, who is trying to become the first African-American mayor here in the city of Fort Worth. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered live from downtown. We'll be back in a moment.

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for the content of this advertising. Hi, I'm Kim Burrell. Hi, I'm Carl Painting. Hey everybody, this is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. You got a shot. All right, folks, we're here at the Petroleum Club here in Fort Worth,

where I spent a little time soon after college working here, so I know a lot of folks in the room. One of the folks I crossed paths with while I was here, Deborah Peebles, she is now running for mayor of Fort Worth. She took first in the general election, head of a number of other candidates. And so now, June 5th, there will be a runoff taking place here in Fort Worth. And we certainly welcome her to Roller Barton Unfiltered. How are you doing? I'm doing great.

Right here. You got to grab the mic. You got. How you doing? I am doing great. Right here. You got to grab the mic. You got to grab the mic. I am doing great, Roland. Doing better since I see you. See, I told you I was coming. I know, but I... You thought I was joking?

Roland, I know you. I mean, look, when I hit Tashara Jones, when she was running for mayor of St. Louis, I said, hey, we're going to bring this show to St. Louis. Oh, you brought good luck. And so, hey, she won. That's it. In a run St. Louis. I said, hey, we're going to bring this show to St. Louis. Oh, you brought good luck. There you go. In a run-off.

In a run-off. First of all, how's the campaign been going thus far? Oh, the campaign is going great, but it's going as expected. I knew, Roland, they were going to come after me. And so we have just been working hard, doing what we do best. And so they are coming after me, but I'm like Obama now. I can take it. I got big shoulders. We are fighting for the soul of Fort Worth, Texas. We are fighting for all the people out there who

aren't represented so they can dish it out, but I can take it. When you say, so when you say they're coming after you, exactly how so? Has it gotten a little dirty thus far? Oh, you know it has. You know all the catchwords, defund, anarchy, socialist, all of that. The pictures of you where you don't look, you're a little darker than you really are, all those things. But that's okay. I can handle it.

Because you're part of the light-skinned club. No, Roman Martin. If this was a Tom Joyner cruise, you'd be on Tom's team, not Jay Anthony Brown's team. Not quite. Okay, not quite. So they got you looking like Jay Anthony? Yeah, they got me looking like Jay Anthony.

I got to cover my feet, my hands, and my mouth sometimes. What are the two or three dominant issues that you're running on that you say that need to be changed here in Fort Worth? Diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion, diversity and inclusion, diversity and inclusion. We are the 12th largest city in the United States. We're a minority majority city, but on issues like economic development, on parity around education, our children dominate in the public schools. On issues around good jobs and housing, we still continue to lag behind.

It is worse now than when you were here. Wow. When you talk about economics, we have a segment called Where's Our Money? And we've been, matter of fact, right before we came on, I was Byron Allen calling me, and we've been going after these companies, these ad agencies. Frankly, they've been spending 1% and 2% with African-Americans. That's right. But in the case of General Motors, we spent 12% of their cars are bought by us.

Absolutely. McDonald's, 40% of the dollars going to McDonald's bought from African-Americans. And our whole point is y'all got to do more. In terms of Fort Worth uh what does it look like for black entrepreneurs when it comes to contracts so that's it so we're all on flip the switch when we were just talking about you know the number of people who buy cars we are 35 percent latinx 20 percent african-american but we only get two to three percent of contracts it's ridiculous we are not moving ahead and even though we try that was

the case again i was a city hall reporter here from uh 93 and 95 and i remember writing i remember writing about the stories then yeah that's almost 20 years ago it hasn't changed and that's the problem 30 years ago that's right i tell people they don't know but fort worth used to have a black wall street with bill goose neck mcdon but Fort Worth used to have a black Wall Street with Bill Gooseneck McDonald. Riverside used to be one of the most powerful areas in the city. Now we are fighting each other to get contracts. COVID really wounded our black and brown businesses. They were struggling to survive, and that should not be the case so if this is a majority majority minority

city um how are you uh trying to get to those two major voting blocks to realize that sitting at home means your power stays at home so what has been your strategy uh trying to get them to return to the because it's harder for people to come out and vote for the runoff. It's a lot more difficult. That's right. We are walking and talking and knocking on doors and talking to people. You, Rowan, people need to understand our politics is local. You know, we like to talk about what's going on in Washington. And I know you were just talking about this bill, but things happen right here on the ground. When people talk about they don't get jobs, they don't have transportation to get to work, they don't have a good place to live, that's local policies.

That's not national policy. So we go to the door and have a conversation with people about how what happens locally impacts you. There are so many people who say, I only vote in the presidential elections. Well, I'm going to tell you, Joe Biden ain't going to come down here and fix your street. I mean, that's not going to happen. He's not going to come and, you know, put a light bulb over your house. The things that matter are the things that are here locally.

And the whole issue around public safety, all of those things are local issues. So how are you combating the folks who are trying to use, defund the police against you? So I tell everybody, people know me. So Roland, I didn't have to come to the community and say I'll take a tour. I am here every day fighting.

People know, I didn't mean that as a pun, but people know me. I have been out in this community for a long time. They know how I am. They know my brother was a policeman. They know my sister was a constable. But I also tell them I'm a person of color. I understand law enforcement, but I also understand how it feels to be a black man in a suit going to work, get pulled out of your car, and you have to go face down on the ground. That has got to change. And so I just tell them, you know, I call them, like I said, it's a lie.

You know, stop lying. Just like when you show a picture of me, and I'm sorry, looking like Jay Anthony Brown. You know, I'm proud to look at people in my family look like Janney Brown. But you're doing that for fear mongering. And I just call it out for what it is, race baiting and fear mongering. So this is a mailer here. Yeah, that's one. It says, I'm a tax and spend person. I just spend all these people's money.

She's elected for marriage. There are people who want to go on a spending spree with your tax dollars. That's it. That's it. That's it. And how are you responding to this? Because it's not me that goes on a spending spree. It's them. I didn't go and buy Pier 1 for $77 million. I mean, I don't make, when we had people, well, we had people who were homeless and people who were losing their jobs because of COVID, and we had a chance to buy two motels to do permanent supportive housing for homeless people.

I didn't make the decision to not buy the motel and go buy Pier 1. So you tell me who's tax and spend, who's spending all the tax dollars. The facts speak for themselves. We have a government that has not been hospitable to its citizens, and that is the wrong way. We run this city. The city hall is our house, but people feel excluded from their house. There's something wrong with that. I talked about Latinos and African Americans,

but how are you also talking to white folks in this city, especially broke white folks. I keep because I keep saying this all around the country. I mean the reality is you know this this is this is it can be deemed a conservative city. That's one of the phrases that you hear. You know the current mayor has been there 10 years and so her chief of staff is running. And so you've had Kay Granger, who was the mayor when I was here, now a Republican member of Congress.

But one of the things that I keep also saying is that broke white folks are in the same position as broke black folks. Absolutely, absolutely. And that's what I tell people. I grew up in a black, brown, white neighborhood, Roland. We didn't know we were poor till we got out of the neighborhood. But the issues are the same. And so when I go and talk to people in neighborhoods,

I tell them the same thing. What kind of job do you have? Do you know we are not, we are a blue collar city. We're a working class city. Most of our residents do not have a college degree. 30% of our residents have college degrees. The other 70% have some college or high school or some of them didn't even finish. How are you benefiting? We have to have the conversation what's working for you. And I will tell you, people, there's an economic divide. They have the same issues that we have.

They could just go across the street, though, and not be seen as black where we are black and brown our whole life. So how is your message being received by non-black, non-Latino voters? So I think it's been received very well. We could not have gotten to the runoff had it not been for white voters. Because I'll tell you, it is a learning process with black folks and people who look like me. Only 20% of the votes that were cast on May 1st were cast by African Americans. We are going back now to talk to all of those people. So if you didn't vote vote May 1st you can vote on June the 5th but we're going back to talk to people to say you didn't vote on May 1st even the ones that told me they voted for me I can tell whether he

voted or not but you know no shame there but I go back see you nice has lines. Right here, you ain't voting. See, you not... That's why I will never run for office. I probably would start... I keep telling people, I would start with 20,000 votes, probably end up with five. I'm way too honest. I'd be like, you lying. Stop

lying. Go ahead. So, Rowan, you know it's a work in progress. We have to make people feel good and to grow and to believe. And so that is what I do. I mean, that is what I do. And that's why I know I'll be a great mayor.

You know, unfortunately, sometimes I want to tell the truth, but I know it's not in the best interest of the city, so I will work with people to build collaboration. No, no, you tell the truth. You don't want to be hardcore honest. Okay, well. Like you say it, but you got sugar and honey, and you got all that.

I got sea salt. Okay, well. And sometimes you need sea salt, but right now we need sugar and honey because people need to believe that change is possible. And I don't care what color you are, what religion you are, what your sexuality looks like. People need to believe that change is possible. And that is what I'm working to do is make people believe that, yes, you can get your share of contracts, that, yes, we can build decent infrastructure in your neighborhood,

that, yes, you deserve a decent job and a good way to get there. And people have been beaten down so long, they don't think they deserve it. I'm going to do this here. So Anthony, we're going to do this. Trust me, I wasn't planning to do this here. So I'm going to take a few questions for some folks here. And so we're going to pass the mic, just like in church. If you have not been vaccinated, don't touch this microphone. So I assume if y'all got masks on, y'all ain't got y'all shot. So this is how we're going to do it. If you ain't got your shot, put your mask on right now.

So I can separate who's got the shot and who hasn't. If you have not gotten your shot, don't touch that microphone. I'm telling you right now. I don't want to spray you down with all kind of stuff. All right, then. So we're going to take a few questions from the audience here. So who's first? All right, got a brother in the back.

Come on up. Come on up. I want you to stand right here. Come on up. And you got to move faster, bro. We live. Yeah. I'm like... Do you need this? Huh? Say it again.

Okay. All right. Well, Alpha, you got to move faster than that. I'm like, you like pick that space up. Good to have you here, Roland, always. Yes, sir. Mayor, peoples, transportation. Yes. What do we do about here, Roland, always. Yes, sir. Mayor, peoples, transportation. Yes. What do we do about transportation, multimodal, connecting, regionality, jobs, getting to that alliance, getting south? How do we create transportation to create economic development for our people, workforce?

So that was a trick question because he knows that's one of my big issues. And it's multimodal transportation. Roland, I was sitting in a meeting and they told me that a sitting city council member, a mayor, said he would not ride the city bus. I'm like, well, if you don't ride the city bus, you mean to tell me the city bus is good enough for all of us? We need to develop a multimodal transportation system so that we can get to jobs. They're putting the jobs out at Alliance and Irving, other places. If our people are going to have to come out of their neighborhoods to get jobs,

we need good transportation. Great cities have great transportation systems, and we don't have that in Fort Worth. We gave up our shot, and Dallas has it. So when you go to Dallas, Dallas has light rail because they got our money. Right. And Cheryl is laughing over there, but she knows it's true. Okay.

So, I mean, we have got to work on things. And this is what I tell everybody. Everybody says, well, we don't have the money. I said, but that is why you plan. That is why you come up with a master plan, and you say, okay, it's going to cost $2 billion or $2 trillion. How do I go and get that money? And I don't see that happening. All right, next question.

Next question right here. Oh, I love it. Thank you. We don't play that. All right. Hey, sweetheart. Hello. Thank you. We don't play that. All right. Hey, sweetheart. Okay. Hello.

All right. Okay. Well, following up with that question, you know, I'm going to proclaim it, future mayor of Fort Worth. How will you bring Fort Worth out of the red into the black and restructure our budget so we can flourish as, you know, what the 16th largest city in our nation. She said 12. Oh, we moved up.

Okay. Yes. So let me tell you. Well, since you've been here, since you've been here, the tax base has flipped upside down. Now, residents pay for 60% of the taxes and businesses only pay for 40%. We have to flip that structure. We have made some decisions that we put it on the backs of residents.

But the way you do that is it's not an immediate fix. You've got to find new revenue streams. And so you've lived here. You know when you want to go out on a Saturday night or something, you go to Dallas or you go to Arlington to the ballpark, you don't stay in Fort Worth. We send our money out of the city. We have to find ways to sell this city. Yeah, Ruby Woolrich, I know you up there saying bring that money to Arlington, but I want that money to come. I want that money to come to Fort Worth. And so if that means I got to find ways to sell things here.

Do you know we are, everybody says, we're just the city of cowboys. No, we're not. We're the city of so much more. But I will tell you, there were Buffalo Soldiers, there were black cowboys, there were vaqueros, there were Asian cowboys. We have to sell this city, and we have to bring people here.

And tourism is a quick way, Roland, because those are dollars that are not coming out of our residents' pockets. And so my job as mayor is to go out and sell this city, and that's what we're going to do and bring in new revenue streams so I don't have to keep taking money out of your mama's pocket. I see your mama over there, not yours. Okay. All right.

Next question. I see your mom over there not yours. Okay. All right next question you ain't coming near us oh no hell no no no no no just enjoy being the crowd i don't y'all sit next to her y'all y'all playing playing around if you're gonna take a selfie with me you're gonna be 10 feet in front i'm gonna going to be in the back. All right, go ahead. What's your question? Deborah, we're all individuals. We only get one vote. What as individuals can we do to make sure that you get the votes to become the next mayor of Fort Worth? Oh, so that's easy. So I get so tired of people telling me I'm with him. And I voted yesterday.

I said, so how many people did you take with you? Oh, that's like the people who say, Pastor, I'm with him and they and I voted yesterday I said so how many people did you take with you oh that's like the people who say pastor I'm with you they ain't sitting no time no offering they ain't praying for nobody they ain't brought nobody to church so that's it so, take somebody with you. We know people every day, our friends and family, who don't go vote. We have a sacred obligation to go and drive up and throw them in the car and say, you're going to go vote. You know, the way we win this, I'm telling you, only 20% of the vote came from African Americans. But guess what? Our population is 942,000, almost a million people. 20% of us are African Americans. That means that's 180,000 black folks in this city. If you figure that 50%

of them are registered to vote, that's 90,000 black votes out there. And we only had 63,007 people vote in this election. So 20% is 12,000 votes. We left 78,000 black votes on the tape. So the total number of votes cast in the general election was what? Was 67,000. 67,000, 67,000. 67,000, 68,000.

67,000. Uh-huh. Based upon how runoffs go, it would be shocking if a total number of 40,000 people voted. Well, we're hoping it's at least 60,000, but you're right. No, no, no, no, no. No, you're right, though. What I'm saying is, if you look at terms of how many dropped off. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. No, no, no. What I'm saying is if you look at terms of how does a dramatic drop off. So the reality is if you do the math, if you get 20, again, how wrong I normally go, you get 25,000 people come out and vote, you're the next mayor. That's right. That's it. But it's getting people to believe. And I will tell you, I work all the time in the Latinx community. Gabrielle knows 35% of this city is Latinx. Only 7% went to vote. Wow. We have got to do better but part of that is because we've been so browbeaten to believe that we can't do it. People keep telling us that this is a

conservative city. We keep getting told that our vote does not matter, that we don't do it. People keep telling us that this is a conservative city. We keep getting told that our vote does not matter, that we don't count. And so that's a big part of what I do, is making people understand that we have the power. We just have to own it and believe it and go vote. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm going to take one more question. I got a guest. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm going to go here. Okay.

Then I have a guest who I'm going to go to next. Then we're going to come back and ask more questions. I got you. Breathe. Breathe. Come on. Girl, you got to move. You trying to be all cute?

Yeah, but he don't ask this question. Deborah, can you please explain to us what the Fort Worth way is and what that means and why it's so important that we change that in this election? The Fort Worth way. Well, and you've heard that, too. All our life, we've heard the Fort Worth way. That means this heard that, too. All our life we've heard the Fort Worth way. That means this is the way it's always been. And this is the way it's always been doesn't work for a lot of us.

And so that is why I'm working so hard to change it. Roland, my mantra is one Fort Worth. It is one Fort Worth. It is not the Fort Worth way. It's one Fort Worth. It is all Fort Worth. It is not the Fort Worth way. It's one Fort Worth. It is all of our way. And until we start changing that, we're going to be in the same position that we were. What is it?

Same old same. That's it. That's what it is. That's it. That's what it is. They in control, you not. That's how it is. But again, though,

but this is what, you know, look, we do this on our show constantly. When numbers are numbers, it is getting our people to understand that we can literally flip numerous elections if we just simply vote our power. If white voters stay the same, you take our numbers, we could literally win any number of different places, but folk got to be willing to actually step out and actually cash the balance. Yeah. And they got to be, you know, we have to, I tell people all the time, we are extraordinary. The fact that we have survived and we thrive in these United States of America. I don't want to take anything from anybody else. I just want to have the same opportunity. I want to enlarge the pie. Roland, we've been convinced that the pie is this big,

and we have to fight each other. If you get a slice, Roland, I've got to fight you because that means I get less. No, there are opportunities out here that are incredible. And we have been convinced that all we get is this much of the pie. Which actually is not even a slice, it's crumbs. That's right. And so I changed that whole title one second. I got to go to a break. Folks, when we come back, we'll talk about a new California bill dealing with the issue of police misconduct. We'll also come back to Fort Worth and take more questions from the audience here for Debra Peoples. And if

y'all know some folk right now who are in Fort Worth, man, call them, text them, tell them, get off your behind and use the power of your vote. Y'all, we could, this is why we do this, because to amplify our voices. And so we'll be back on Roller Martin Unfiltered, broadcasted live

from Fort Worth. Hello. I'm Nina Turner. My grandmother used to say, all you need in life are three bones. The wishbone to keep you dreaming, the jawbone to help you speak truth to power, and the backbone to keep you standing through it all. I'm running for Congress because you deserve

a leader who will stand up fearlessly on your behalf. Together, we will deliver Medicare for all. Good jobs that pay a living wage and bold justice reform. I'm Nina Turner, and I approve this message. Shortly after 9-11, America and its allies went to war in Afghanistan to defeat a terrorist stronghold.

We accomplished that mission years ago. Trillions of dollars lost, over 2,000 Americans dead, countless Afghans dead. It's time to get out. Many presidents have tried to end the war in Afghanistan, but President Biden is actually going to do it. And by 9-11, over 20 years after the war was started, the last American soldier will depart, and America's longest war will be over. Promise made, promise kept. Hello, everyone. I'm Godfrey, and you're watching... Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. Keep clapping. Keep clapping.

All right, folks, welcome back to Fort Worth. Welcome back to Fort Worth, y'all. In California, there's a new initiative that's being developed to keep police departments accountable and also track misconduct. It's named after the late Congressman John Lewis. The Lewis Registry will be the first national database of police officers who have been terminated or resigned due to wrongdoing. Joining us right now is Dr. Errol Southers, director for Safe Communities Institute for the University of Southern California,

where the database is being created. Doc, how are you doing? I'm doing great, Roland. How are you? Thank you. So this is, I mean, first of its kind, and this is the thing that a lot of people have been complaining about, have been asking for. First is the cop who killed Tamir Rice. And we see this all over and again. That was a brother who was a police officer in Milwaukee who resigned from the city. Actually, he had four or five fatal shootings. He gets hired by the Sheriff's Department.

We see this all the time where an officer just simply goes to the next city or the next county. They're back with a badge and a gun. Exactly, Roland. It's called bouncing. And officers do it all across the country. As a matter of fact, California is one of five states, along with Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, where you keep your certification if you get fired and you can go to another agency and be hired and not have to go to the academy. Academy. And so with this registry, is the requirement for every law enforcement agency

in California to input the information? How is it going to be tracked? Just explain to us how it's going to be developed and monitored. Well, we're not there yet in terms of all 50 states being on board. So this is going to be a grassroots movement. What we are doing is collecting open source, publicly made available information from media on officers that have been fired or resigned for misconduct. We're populating this database with open source information. We have over 200 officers in the database already. We've only looked at two-thirds of the states across the country.

What we're hoping for after this is that the public will be able to look at these names, know who's working in their agencies in their cities, because I think all police rosters should be transparent and open unless the officers are working undercover. And they should be asking their mayors and their chiefs if there's a name match for an officer that's been fired someplace else, why did we hire him? And then on the law enforcement side, there'll be a law enforcement only side where we'll collect additional data. We'll be able to look at some predictive analytics to determine why these officers get in trouble. Perhaps we can influence

police department policy with regards to how long officers stay in certain details on a certain watch or other things that can keep them or reduce their risk of their problems coming up later on. Questions for my panel for you. I'll first start with Scott Bolden. Scott, your question for Dr. Southers. Hey, Dr. Southers, thank you so much for your leadership on this issue. My question is whether the government, the federal government or the state government, they have these statistics already,

true or false. And secondly, if they don't, then you're pulling stuff from public information. How can we help you with this brown swell of support? Because this issue has been subject to federal and some state legislation, and its time has come. Thank you very much, and I appreciate your offer. So what you've described is what we want. For example, in California, we have 509 police departments. We would love to be able to collect from Sacramento from all 509 agencies and have one point of contact,

one point of entry for each state. We've also set up a subscription rate for those police departments, so there is no excuse to not be part of the register or subscriber. So we're hoping that states like New York, who also have legislation right now, where if you're fired in New York,

they don't want you to be hired. The problem is there's no national database for New York to know if the officer got fired in Rhode Island. We'll be that database so they can look at it nationally. We will save agencies thousands of dollars and background investigators tens of hours unnecessarily going out to find out that someone is unqualified to serve at the agency because they've been fired before. So we need the legislative help, and thank

you. Thank you. Thank you. Monique, your question for Dr. Southers. Thank you so much for everything that you're doing. I think my question is similar to Scott's. I'm just wondering what people on the ground can do. We recognize the importance of this. I don't know if you got to hear what we were talking about a similar subject regarding the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the fact that a national database, a national registry for bad actors, police officers will be included. What can just a citizen at large who's listening to you and wants to make a show of support due to help? Thank you so much. Well, the first thing they can do is when they find an officer,

let us know about it. Yesterday when we launched, we had several people reach out by email from all over the country saying, do you know about these officers? Send us a link to the publication. We can track them down. The other thing you can do is go to our website SCI USC edu look at the Lewis registry. We have a whole collection things that you can do to contribute We've got an incredible list of supporters from Governor Schwarzenegger Karen vast Frank Serpico. So we've got a lot of support and this again is a grassroots movement So we want people in America to hold law enforcement agencies accountable. When they've got officers or publications that they see of identified officers, send them to us. Robert Petillo, your question for Dr. Sellers, please.

Robert. Yes, can you hear me rolling? Robert? Yes, can you hear me, Roland? Now we can hear you. Go with your question, please. Yeah, what has been the response from law enforcement to this initiative? What we've seen in Georgia is law enforcement has been very recalcitrant to even the most menial attempts at police reform or to holding them accountable. What has been their response and what can individuals who are attempting to assist in this do when confronted by hostile police unions or police organizations? We've reached across the country to chiefs that I know personally. I've been in the interest of full disclosure. I was sworn 40 years ago. I've served in three agencies,

including the FBI. So I've talked to chiefs across the country. We have their support. They do not want officers that have been fired working for them. In fact, one of our persons that's on the top of our supporters list is Art Acevedo, who's chief of the Miami Police Department and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. I would say we anticipate pushback from unions.

We are not dealing with qualified immunity. That's not an excuse. We are not dealing with decertification That's not an excuse. We are not dealing with decertification. We want officers that have been fired or resigned due to misconduct. There's nothing about taking away their due process. And if an officer is reinstated, and by the way, 23% of officers that are fired are reinstated with back pay. We will take them out of the registry. Sort of like being on the TSA no-fly list, that will be a little faster. We'll take them out of the registry. Sort of like being on the TSA no-fly list, that will be a little faster. We'll take them out of the registry because they shouldn't be there. This is not in any way neutralizing someone's due process. There's no reason for unions to push back against this.

All right, Dr. Southers, we certainly appreciate it. If folks want to assist you with this, petitioning their legislators, what information, where should they go to get more information about this database, this registry? SCI, same community as this, to sci.usc.edu. There's a Lewis Registry tab there. All the information they need is there. They can contact us. We welcome it. Thank you for your support. Again, this is a community effort. We're only going to get accountability if we demand it. And we will have agencies now that will be more transparent and be more accountable. We build community trust. Thank you for your support. All right. Dr. Errol Southers, director of the Safe Communities

Institute from the University of Southern California. Thanks a lot. Thank you, sir. Folks, we'll talk about this story here in Texas, folks. A black woman is lucky to be alive after being shot six times by an off-duty police officer. Suddenly, Lucretia Murray was driving when she began to feel sick. She made a U-turn to go to the hospital and noticed a truck closely following her. She stopped, got out, and confronted the truck driver, who quickly pulled a gun on her. She turned around and run back to her vehicle when the man opened fire on her, hitting her six times. According to Murray, the man identified himself as an officer once people came out to see what

was happening. That officer is now on administrative leave pending an investigation. It's not known if the lead is paid or unpaid. Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, is asking the Ohio Supreme Court not to consider the police union's appeal to reinstate fired Cleveland police officer Timothy Lohman. Lohman shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 as he was holding a pellet gun. While not convicted in Rice's death, he was fired for lying on his job application. In a statement, Samaria Rice said this here, Timothy Lohman can't be trusted. I hope that the Supreme Court does not give him a chance to get back his job. The fact that the Cleveland Police Union is still trying to get him his job,

despite him killing my child and lying on his application to become a police officer, shows you just how immoral that organization's leadership is. That right there, Monique, I think speaks to this whole issue of why the registry is important and why officers like this should not get their jobs back. But it also speaks to what has to happen when it comes to these contracts that are being negotiated, where in many cases it is hard for cities, mayors, city managers to fire police officers, a misconduct, a significant number of them get their jobs back through arbitration. Absolutely. It's very hard. And that is another reason I'm going to sound like a broken record and say that I am supporting the passing of the

George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, because if we are increasing the chances, the likelihood of police departments being held responsible financially, being on the hook for the things their officers do, I just have a feeling they're going to figure out a way to increase their negotiating ability with the FOP. And the FOP is not going to want to continue to have to answer for these ne'er-do-well officers. So the pressure has to come from the top down and then it has to come from the bottom up

so that we can really create this perfect storm in order to get some movement. I believe that the Fraternal Order Police has a place and plays a role. I think that everyone should have advocacy, should have representation. I am not against unions or anything of the sort. It's just that when these members don't adhere even to their own membership agreements, there needs to be accountability for that. Robert, again, this is a huge issue.

We had the mayor of Columbus on who talked about how it's nearly impossible for him to actually fire a police officer. Well, we saw similar things here in Atlanta. We had the police officers who tased the students at Morehouse and Spelman. We debated a couple weeks ago the officers who shot Rashard Brooks, who were reinstated. It's going to be imperative that on the, that one, do we have the federal legislation, but two, do we have state and local legislation that opens up some of these police union contracts to find out exactly how much power they have. Because what we've seen is that even when you have mayors and district attorneys

and even police chiefs who want to institute types of police reform that will ameliorate some of the violence in these communities, they cannot even fight back against the police union and particularly the arbitration clauses in the contracts. So it's important that we take this lesson and understand that the battle goes forward. It's not just marching in the streets. It's not just holding a bullhorn. We have to get into those city council meetings. We have to get into those executive board meetings, financial committee meetings, and make sure that we're breaking these systems down from the inside out.

Scott? Yeah, you know, the power of the vote, again, affects this, because if your city council, your mayor, and even your state legislatures who vote on these police protection rules set forth by the FOP, even if it's through negotiations, that's a real problem, because they have to have courage to beat back and vote against this stuff and vote for police reform. The state of Maryland did just that. After their Republican governor vetoed a comprehensive police reform bill, the state legislature, with many Democrats and many black legislators, overrode that veto and now they have probably the most

extensive and progressive police reform legislation in place. Right? They're not anti-police. They're pro-police excellence, if you will. You've got to elect the right people. You've got to vote and have them vote with courage. And then lastly, with Tamir

Rice's mom, the most important part of her statement dealt with Trump. If a police officer shoots a 12-year-old within seconds, if a police officer beats up defendants and is corrupt and oppressive policing, and that's their motto, and they get caught once, maybe twice, why should we ever trust them again? Why should they ever be able to serve as a police officer anywhere? They shouldn't, if you will. And you don't have a right to be a police officer.

And if you act badly more than once, or even once, it's a matter of trust between the police department and this officer, and the police department, this officer, and the community. He or she can't be trusted. They need to go find some other employer. I agree 100%. Folks, got to go to a quick break.

We come back more with Deborah Peoples here in Fort Worth. We'll take some questions from the folks here as well. And I'm just going to pull some other folks up who I see who have stepped in here. They don't know it yet, but I don't care. That's how I do it. You're watching Rollerball Unfiltered broadcasting live from the Petroleum Club here in the city of Fort Worth, Texas.

We'll be back in a moment. Anthony. I believe that it's movement time again. In America today, the economy is not working for working people. The poor and the needy are being abused. You are the victims of power, and this is the abuse of economic power. I'm 23 years old. I work three jobs. I work seven days a week, no days off.

They're paying people pennies on the dollar compared to what they profit. And it is time for this to end. Essential workers have been showing up to work, feeding us, caring for us, delivering goods to us throughout this entire pandemic. And they've been doing it on a measly $7.25 minimum wage. The highest check I ever got was nearly $291.

I can't take it no more. You know, the fight for 15 is a lot more than about $15 an hour. This is about a fight for your dignity. We have got to recognize that working people deserve livable wages. And it's long past time for this nation to go to 15 so that moms and dads don't have to choose between asthma inhalers and rent. I'm halfway homeless. The main reason that people end up in their cars is because income does not match housing

costs. If I could just only work one job, I could have more time with them. It is time for the owners of Walmart, McDonald's, Dollar General, and other large corporations to get off welfare and pay their workers a living wage. And if you really want to tackle racial equity, you have to raise the minimum wage. We're not just fighting for our families. We're fighting for yours, too. We need this. I'm going to fight for it until we get it. I'm not going to give up.

We just need all of us to stand up as one nation and just fight together. Families are relying on these salaries, and they must be paid at a minimum $15 an hour. $15 a minimum. Anyone should be making this a be able to stay out of poverty. I can't take it no more. I'm doing this for not only me, but for everybody. We need 15 right now. Everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond.

Hi, my name is Bresha Webb, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Fort Worth, where we have been here talking with Deborah Peoples, who is running for mayor. The runoff is June 5th. Folks, you have to understand the power of the ballot, so you must use it. So there are folks who have been assembled here. They had a meet and greet earlier.

And you know what? Folks walk into the room, I'm going to go ahead and call them up. So I saw Congressman Mark Vesey stroll up in here. So Congressman, come on up here. Come on. Come on up here. What's going on? Good seeing you good seeing you you know how you know when your city had to bring a brother up

how's it going everything's going good everything's going good rolling good to see you welcome welcome welcome back uh always glad to be back uh in my home state of texas uh i will avoid austin because they acting the fool the legislators up there. So, you know, I ain't trying to get shot by folks who, you know, don't, you know, don't have a permit. No need for a permit or whatever. These people would swear as the wild, wild west. I don't know what's wrong with these crazy folk.

So share with us in terms of what do you think Debra Peebles will bring if she's sitting in City Hall in Fort Worth? Well, I think that Debra will obviously bring a certain level of dynamicism that is, like, really missing from City Hall. You saying last, mid, boring as hell? Is that what you're saying? Not necessarily saying that, but we need to get away

from the status quo. Okay, I'm just checking. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Ain't got much flavor there. I'm just saying. Ain't got much flavor there. I'm just saying you want a little more flavor at City Hall. I got you. You don't like seasoning? Non-seasoning.

Salt and pepper, Tony Chachere. Go ahead, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And, you know, generally speaking, honestly, I don't really even get that involved in the municipal races. I'm a Democrat. I'm very active in Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other Democratic causes. And I usually stick with that because, you know, in my opinion, the city council, their job is to make sure that we, that the fire and safe, fire and police are doing what they're supposed to be doing.

They're supposed to be making sure that water is going the way it's supposed to. You know, they're supposed to be taking care of these basic bread and butter issues that people don't care about if it's Democrat or Republican. They want to make sure that these services that the cities are supposed to provide, that they're being done. And so folks don't care about it until it don't work. Until it don't work. That's right. I mean, I always get a kick out of folk who say, man, that stuff don't matter. Yeah, then your water stopped running. Then all of a sudden you're like, who the hell? Who should I call? Well, no, you didn't say it mattered, so we ain't going to give you the number. Right. But, you know, in addition to those services, Roland, I will tell you something, that this city is growing very rapidly,

but there are other things that are happening here that people don't really see. And one of those things is that, you know, we're losing jobs here in the city of Fort Worth. You look at downtown Fort Worth and you and I can just start naming off companies one by one, whether it's XTO, whether it's Radio Shack, Dickie's just got bought by a company out of North Carolina and so on and so on and so on. And for black people in America, we work at larger companies. You go to any national black organization, whether it's Lynx, whether it's the Deltas, AKAs, and you go to these national conventions and you see black people that have experienced upward mobility in America, and they usually experience it at a larger company. These little small companies, they don't really employ us.

If we are successful at a smaller venture, it's because we have our own law firm or we have our own dentist practice or we have our own doctor's practice. We get opportunities at bigger places. And the places in the Metroplex that are bringing in new jobs and new growth are happening outside of Fort Worth. Deborah has the experience. She has worked at the executive level at one of our nation's largest companies. And she knows what it will take to be able to bring more jobs to the center city. That is going to be good for African-American growth here in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. I do want you to speak to this, and this happens a whole lot.

Anytime I get a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I really want them to explain this. It really gets on my nerves when I deal with a bunch of ignorant-ass black people who haven't... No, who... CBC ain't nothing. They don't do nothing.

I don't know what they're doing. They're failing us. And I have to explain to people that, first of all, you don't even understand what the role of a member of Congress is. That's one. When you talk about those basic services, the reality is the phone calls that come into a member of Congress's office dealing with Social Security checks, dealing with very basic fundamental things. All those things absolutely matter. And most people get caught up because they say, well, I don't see so-and-so's name on bills, not realizing that most people's names will not be at the top of the list on a particular bill.

And so speak to the folk who, again, who have this view that the CBC is a do-nothing group that has no impact on black America. Because, I mean, I deal with that a whole lot. People are like, man, why are you defending the CBC is a do-nothing group that has no impact on black America. Because, I mean, I deal with that a whole lot. People are like, man, why are you defending the CBC? I'm like, because you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Right, right, exactly. And let me tell you that one of the things that Donald Trump did

was that he took credit for the amount of money that the HBCUs got. A lot of you probably saw that on the news. And he was going around the country, doing a victory lap, talking about all this money that he brought to HBCUs. That was a congressional black caucus. That was money that we worked and fought hard for and insisted on before the final budget to make sure that HBCUs got those money. The bill was from Congressman Alma Adams in North Carolina. Absolutely.

Trump didn't know what the hell that bill was. No, not at all. Not at all. He did a photo op with some presidents and said, look at all the money. And then he lied, kept saying, oh, they were never getting, now they got permanent funding. No, it's literally one initiative that was started by President Bush, renewed by Obama. Then we had Walter Kimbron, the president of Dillard University, who broke it down. But again, the lie kept going. I mean, I even had black people saying, Trump saved HBCUs. I'm like,

how dumb are you? I mean, it's just so it's not like they passed an annual $5 billion allocation to HBCUs. That's a different conversation. But that's the thing that, again, we had to walk people through. He had nothing

to do with it. That was Congresswoman Alma Adams' bill. Absolutely. And then also the CBC put money in the farm bill. Also went to land-grant institutions. And, again, that's the stuff that people don't know and that does not show up when they have bill signings. That's right. That's right. Yeah, there are so many different things that we do that people don't think about. I mean, like, for instance, I fought very hard in this last stimulus bill to make sure

that we had money for cities to be able to put broadband into neighborhoods. And there are five neighborhoods in my district, one outside of my district. Como is outside of my district. Would everybody know that I have love for Como because that's where I'm from? And Como got some of the money, too. Yeah, they'll cut you out if you don't come home. They'll be like, man, you better send a check. See, Attorney Lee, you know.

So, yeah, I mean, and so it's things like that that we do. See, Mark, I got to help you out. See, Mark, see, you just sped past that too fast. So you need to unpack that properly. You got to slow it down. You got to say, as a member of Congress, there are five neighborhoods that are getting money directly where black people live to get the internet. See, you got to say it that way, Mark.

You got, I mean, I'm just saying. I got to help you out. You know, because you explained it like a member of Congress does. You got to say, no, no. Then you got to name the five, Mark. You've got to name the five. See, you've got to see. Yeah, we've got Ash Crescent.

We've got Rosemont. We've got, help me out, Stop 6 got some. Como got some. And Northside. That's right. So in this part, so you've got to say, for all y'all living in these neighborhoods, if your internet, you're now having it improved because I got the money. And if you have a young person in school, like I have a 15-year-old that finally, thank God, went back to school like two months ago.

But if you have kids at school, then you know how important this is for you to be able to have access to this broadband. Because, you know, it was hard enough to keep up with internet services at home. But imagine if you don't have those. And a lot of our young people didn't. A lot of our young people had one Chromebook for their entire house. That's why representation matters. And people don't always see that. We understand issues because we live in these communities. We experience these things. And it's not about taking something away from somebody else. It's making sure that our children have access to those things. And that's why we were so impacted by COVID.

And that's why I talk about education a lot. You know, the Zoomies and the Roomies. The Roomies are the ones who came back to school, but the Zoomies and the Roomies, the Roomies are the ones who came back to school, but the Zoomies are the ones that we lost. They're sitting out there. They don't understand what's going on. They check out. They're sleeping on the Zoom

call. And so representation matters because we know issues that impact our community and we're going to call attention to them. I said I was going to take some questions. Come on, sister in the back. Wake up! Come on!

Y'all back there. See, right there, she just said folks were sleeping on the Zoom. Come on up. I got the singer major. He's waiting. He's my next guest. We're going to take about five minutes of questions here. I got you. I got you. You ain't got to stand up. I got you, boo. I got the singer major, he's waiting, he's my next guest. We're gonna take about five minutes of questions. I got you, I got you.

You ain't gotta stand up, I got you boo, I got you. Come on, come on, come on. There you go. Thank you. Hi, my name is Sophia. Sophia, you ready to vote? No. She's 14.

I'm just checking. I ask everybody. I have friends that are 18 and I'm trying to make them vote. You'm 14. I'm just checking. I ask everybody. I have friends that are 18, and I'm trying to make them vote. You're going to make them vote? Oh, yeah. Okay, all right, cool. All right, just checking. Just checking.

So during the pandemic, a lot of my friends have been facing a hard time during school and struggling with their education. So I was wondering how you would address that towards my friends and how, you know, try to make them vote and go out and tell other people and my friends how to go vote. Thank you. All right. Ah, there's a button politician here. Then you got to tell me where you got that shirt from.

That's a nice shirt. That is a nice shirt. That is a nice shirt. Well, if y'all selling it. Sophia. Come over here. Come over here. Come over here.

Turn around. Turn around. Right there. Come on. Slide this way. Right camera. Y'all didn't see the shirt. All right. That over here. Come over here. Come over here. Turn around. Turn around. Right there. Come on. Slide this way. Get it right. Right camera. Y'all didn't see the shirt.

All right. That's nice. I'm telling you, it's a nice shirt. I'm just saying. It's a Juneteenth shirt. That's right. So, Sophia, any mayor that doesn't care about what's happening with our students is crazy and they're letting us down.

You are going to be making decisions for me in the next 10 years, baby. You are going to be making decisions for me in the next 10 years, baby. You're going to be 24. In 20 years, you'll be 34. You'll be deciding what nursing home you're going to put me in. And so we have to partner with our ISDs and all of our schools around here to make sure that we are providing you with the curriculum

and the tools that you need to be successful and there's a state board of education member here Asha Davis and she knows that we gotta make sure that stand up we're trying to sit down that's right stand up hold on why we ask black people to stand up and they this is how they stand up Asha stand up, and they, this is how they stand up, like. They say, stand up! Stand up, no buckled knees, stand up! She's trying to be all humble now, like, look, you ask me to stand up, I'ma stand up.

But that's why representation matters, cause she's down there in Austin fighting about what goes in your textbook. So that you know we didn't come over here voluntarily to go clean up houses and stuff. It was involuntary. And so we're going to

partner. We're going to be joined at the hips with schools. And I'm going to meet with superintendents all over and teachers to talk about what you need and what the city does to make it better for you. All right. Go ahead. And let me say this, too.

The reason why you want young people to go out and vote for Deborah and go out and vote for city council and all these other races is that ultimately that's how you really make change. Now, I'm not going to bore everybody with any history lessons rolling, but let me just say this. If you go back to the civil rights marches of the 1960s and you look at the two key pieces of legislation that were really instrumental for black people, and the reason why I'm here now, you look at the Voting Rights Act, the reason why I get to serve in office right now,

it is because of the work that was done in Congress. Not to diminish the work that Dr. King and the marchers did, that was hugely important because that's what brought the problems that were happening in America to full circle so everybody could see. But if we didn't pass that legislation on the House floor and on the Senate floor and get it to the president's desk, like we're right now trying to get George Floyd passed, then it doesn't make a difference. So you have to go and vote and you have to make sure that young people vote so we can have people that are going to look like us and people that are also going to represent us and the things that are important to our communities. And that can only happen by going out there to vote. So go vote for Deborah.

All right. Next question right here. You got the vaccine? Oh, yeah. All right, just check it. Oh, you just want to show your bling-bling mask? I'm just messing with you. I don't show my face. I'm messing with you.

Go ahead. I don't show my face on any kind of publication. So speaking on education and the good point that you made. Hold the mic up. Hold the mic up. There you go. And the good point that you made with now HB 3979 passing Senate and the House. For everybody who don't know. For everybody who doesn't know, that's critical race theory being taught in your schools.

That point that you just made wouldn't even be told in our schools. So because of white fragility and white tears and their whitewashing of history, what are you going to do and what do you feel about that? And then also I wanted to know about how do we go about educating those who are against the CRT, but they really don't even know what it is. Okay, first of all, I'm going to start answering this first. I got this. I got this. I got this. I got this. First of all, 99.9% of the people out here

talking about critical race theory don't know what the hell it is. They have no idea. They can't spell CRT. They can't define it. They don't even understand it's a theory. You got all these crazy white folks who are

passing bills, and I'm saying it right now, in Oklahoma, other places. Oh, we're not going to teach critical race theory in our schools. Fool. It's being taught on the college level. But you have to understand what the strategy is. Next year is the midterm elections. Republicans need to drive white conservative evangelicals to vote. They cannot criticize President Biden on the American Rescue Plan, the COVID bill.

His approval rating is 60 percent above. So they have to find wedge issues. So all of a sudden critical race theory has become their wedge issue they are appealing to unsophisticated clueless uneducated white voters who all they hear they don't hear critical or theory they hear race that's what's driving it. In fact, Charlie Sykes, Charlie Sykes, who was a conservative out of Wisconsin, radio talk show host, he actually did a piece on it. And that was one of the folks who's against this. He literally articulated

what their strategy is. Control room, tell Major, I'm coming to him. I'm not going to go along like I did last time. And what he did is, what the guy did, and again, I need us just to understand what happens, what their game plan is. Because I think what happens is, a lot of times, we are fighting folk not realizing what the deal is. So this is a guy, Christopher Rufo, Mark Lamont Hill had him on his show. This is what he said. We have successfully frozen their brand, critical race theory, into the public conversation

and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category. This is what, he tweeted this. The goal, and he tweeted this in March, March 15th, 2021. And this is, y'all can look at it, at real Chris R-U-F-O. The goal is to have the public

read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think critical race theory. We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with, he put, Americans really mean white americans so that's what they did with defund the police that's what they so you have to understand what

the strategy is and so we have to counter the strategy by saying no we're not going to play your white tears games and then what has to happen is at every time when somebody steps up to the microphone to decry critical race theory, we got to say, what is it? Define it. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't don't. I mean, don't tell me you against it. Define it. They can't. And so but what happens is whenever these things happen and then look, I'm the one who I fight with words. This happened all the time when I was on CNN. So what happens is what they do is they want you to immediately go into defensive mode and defending it to counter them. And what your strategy has to be is to one take a breath

and then say so what is it no no no please define critical race theory and then you wait and then when they say well no you tell me what it is no you brought it up so please i need you to define me what critical race theory is. Then I need you to explain to me where critical race theory is currently being discussed. See, now what happens is you now have cornered them. So that's what's going on here. So when you have now school boards

and Republican-controlled state legislatures passing bills to say you can't teach critical race theory. It's not even being taught. What their real goal is, is to not discuss anything. That's why I hate the 1619 Project, because you got to remember, this is all a part of the deal. They don't want the 1619 project or anything dealing with it because they want what is his story to continue to be defined of what American history is and not we now can read, which is one of the reasons why they didn't want us to read, and now redefining it. And so when I talk about how America is changing, what is changing is that how they

have defined what it means to be American. They have defined what it means, what morals, valuables, principles are. What happens now is black people get to say, oh, no, we can talk now. Latinos say we can talk now. And so we now get to define what American values are. So when we say American values, we have to learn to begin to say, no, no, those are white American values. And so that's why they reacted the way they did with Colin Kaepernick and the flag. But see, you heard, but you realize none of them wanted to talk about Jackie Robinson in his book. I never had it made when he said why he did not stand for the flag, nor did he cite the Pledge of Allegiance. See, they're going to criticize Jackie because, see, they love Jackie

because Jackie is a civil rights mascot that they put on, just like Dr. King, that basically is like a civil rights bobblehead. They don't want to deal with that Jackie. And so we have to understand what their game is. And so that's why OANN, Fox News, Newsmax, Conservative Talk Radio, they want us to be on the defensive with them on race.

We have to understand. It's like when I had the white supremacist at my white show, Richard Spencer. See, the whole bunch of clueless-ass black people were like, oh, when he asked you who were you, you told him you were a man, a Christian man, and you a black man. And I say, no, dumbass, you don't know how to debate.

He was expecting me to say I'm a black man. But when I hit him with I'm a man, if they watch the video, he was like, then I said Christian man. He went, then his whole, where he was about to go, he was completely thrown off track. I said, so for y'all who don't know how to debate, I forced him to change his whole deal. Now he was kind of like, damn, hold on.

I'm a man, too. I'm a Christian man, too. See, so he was waiting for that. So we have to be very cognizant of what their games are. This is their game. It's all designed for 2022 to drive white turnout in the midterm elections so they can take back the House and the Senate. That's their strategy.

I know, Major, I know you're holding this. I was going to go to a break. I'm going to go to you right now. My man, Major, how you doing? My frat brother? Major, you there? Y'all bring up Major. I can't hear him.

Can you hear me? Major, unmute your doggone computer, man. It should be muted. You went to the high school for performing and visual arts? Yes, indeed. Now I can hear you. Major, what's up? Man, you are always... Now I can hear you, my brother.

How you doing? I'm great. I'm great. I'm great. Well, look, man. Hey, look. First of all, I'm so glad to have you. I'm glad you got your damn shirt button. Because the last time I saw you, you walk around here thinking you Jeffrey Osborne with the shirt all unbuttoned.

I'm surprised you didn't have a sheer shirt on. Well, can you woo-woo-woo? Can you woo-woo-woo? Huh? No, I don't woo don't know i get paid to talk you get paid to sing listen man i'm super honored uh i'm super honored to be here with you man i'm loving the work that you do i've always loved it found out we're basically like cousins on in in another space but you know it's it's good to be here brother celebrating five years why i love you talk about that man folks uh your song

why i love you you got all these folk they get married to your song uh i say some folk can get divorced to the song as well uh it's a good send-off song, too, so your song can go both ways. Listen, it honestly is. The song is a reality check. If you don't have a love that is founded in reciprocity, understanding that if both people

are giving, nobody's left empty, it's a love that isn't one that you should continue keeping, because that's a dysfunctional love right there. And how do you go make May 20th a major day in Houston? Sylvester Turner, the mayor, of course, our alpha brother. So you got your own day. So did any rights come with you that you get to, like, park illegally?

You know, I mean, did you, like, not pay your water bill? Roland, there's tons of privileges. We don't speak about them. We just rise up in them, if you know what I mean. I got a whole day, Doc. I understand. You got a whole day. Talk about your new album coming out.

It's about time. It's been a while. Listen, listen, we have new music. What happened? Was it delayed by COVID? The project is definitely inspired by what COVID mandated. COVID mandated a stillness, a sit down, take introspection, and just accountability for how we contribute to the way in which this world operates. But the song that I have coming out soon

at the end of June is actually in conjunction with season five of Black Love on Own. It's a song called Baby, Will You Love Me? It's got, you know, that soul, that funk. It feels really good. Kind of puts you in the vein of Leave the Door Open with Bruno Mars and Anderson. Okay. All right. I see you.

Now, also, for folks who don't know, you also very much we would be talking about voting. Of course, there were people just running for mayor here in Fort Worth. Runoff is June 5th. You put out a voting video. I rerun that as well. And so you understand how important this is to. Absolutely. Absolutely. No, no vote, no voice. Don't expect to have opinion. Don't expect for people to understand your plight if you're not stepping into this Democratic opportunity to make certain that your voice is counted. Well, Major, so the new work drops at the end of June. What's the name of it? And then, is it for pre-sale right now? No, it's not pre-sale right now. Baby, Will You Love Me?

It's being teased right now in the Black Love series on OWN right now. Man, just stay tuned. It's a lot of great stuff. I don't know if you saw your brother as Curtis Mayfield in the Genius Aretha series uh now on hulu uh starring cynthia uh eriva eriva but man i'm putting in work man so stay tuned for new music

new tv and film stuff we we doing it man okay well man certainly glad to hear that uh and so look you got this you got to sing a little something, the fifth anniversary of your hit song. So go ahead and sing a little bit before I come back to close it out here in Fort Worth. I found love in you And no other love would do Every moment that you smile

Chases all the pain away forever and a while. In my heart is where you'll stay. This is why I love you. You. This is why I love you.

Yeah, baby. All right, then. Major, always good to see you, my brother. Representing Ace Town, representing Alpha. You know, the rest of those fraternities are youth groups. There's only one real fraternity. Listen, listen. We make room for the rest, but we know who's first.

You know, we just let them know. Is Scott Bolden still there? Scott Bolden, you still there? Kappa's in the house. Newt's in the house. Oh, man, that's unfortunate. No, Lil Kappa's in the house. No, it's all love.

It's all love. You know what? See, see, see, Scott, this is how Scott. Scott, I keep telling you, without Alpha, y'all be known as Kappa Psi. You need our name to complete y'all now. I keep telling you, who's your daddy? Roland, play nice, Scott.

They know. They know. No, no, Major, I don't play nice. Major, I don't play nice. I put They know. They know. No, no, Major. I don't play nice. Major, I don't play nice. I put folks in rhetorical body bags. I don't play nice. Major, I appreciate it, my brother. Thanks a lot.

Thank you so much for having me, King. Keep it going. I appreciate it, Fred. Thanks a lot. All right, so I'm going to take questions from our panel, so I'm going to have to relay them to him because Debra doesn't have IFB. So, Monique, do you have a question for Debra Peoples? Doggone it. I wanted to tell Major congratulations.

If you want to tell Major congratulations, send him a text. We got time for all that. All right. OK. Yes, I do have a question. Well, first of all, congratulations. I'm going to just go ahead and say congratulations to the next mayor. But what I'd like to know is... You said congratulations to the next mayor. I feel like I'm an interpreter. You would like to know...

Wasn't I speaking in English? Monique, come on. I want to know what we can do... In English? Monique, come on! I want to know what we can do or not use the area. She wants to know how to give money to my campaign, right? No. Okay. No, I'm here. I'm here.

I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. All right, so Monique said, folks can't vote for you,

how can they help with your messaging? And Deborah said, send her a damn check. Debra said they got the messaging. She doesn't need the money for the messaging. But also tell Monique she can tweet about me. She can go on social media. She can tell people about my campaign. Tell them to go look up Fort Worth so they know we are the 13th, soon to be the 12th largest city in the country.

And I know it hurts people's feelings in Atlanta and D.C. and New Orleans. And my New Orleans family is here tonight. But we're bigger than all of that. And so we are a city to be reckoned with. And we're going to do great things when I am mayor. But I'm a Deborah D E B O R A H it's Deborah Peoples for mayor calm you can read all about me you could donate to the campaign you could sign up to volunteer

we do phone bikes and wherever you are Monique you can make calls from wherever you are. Hey, Scott. Scott. You're going to send a check, Scott. Scott. Look, Debra, his name is Scott Bolden. Okay. All right. He gets a lot of Democrats. His name is he ran for mayor in D.C.

He got by 11 votes. But so Scott Bolden. So everybody who works, everybody who works. So everybody, I Scott Bolden. I didn't run for mayor. Everybody who works, everybody who works, I thought you ran for mayor. There's Dr. Michael Brooks, my treasurer, Scott Bolden, Dr. Brooks, okay? So Dr. Michael Brooks, in the next 48 hours, you should see, in the next 48 hours, Scott.

Hello, Scott. Scott, Allah wishes Scott Bolden in the next 48 hours, they should see your name appear on their website with donations, Scott. Hey, I'm going to give to her if you pledge your love for Kaplan. Pledge your love for Kaplan. You said you're going to give to her if I pledge my love, you said if you're going to give her $1,000 if I pledge my love to Kappa. Yes.

Is that what you said? Is that what you said? Is that what you said? Hey, watch this. I want to be clear. I want to give her $2,000 if you pledge your love to Kappa right now. Okay, Scott just said he will give $2,000 to Debra's campaign. Hold on.

If I pledge my love for Kappa, I got this here. I love kicking Kappa's ass. Boom. I just pledged I love kicking Kappa's ass. Boom. I've just pledged my love to Kappa. See, Scott, you've got to be specific with your question. Your request was too general. No, no, no, no.

The key phrasing was my love to Kappa. I use love and Kappa in the same sentence. Am I lying? But you used kicking Kappa's ass, too. You can't kick Kappa. I use love and Kappa in the same sentence. Am I lying? But you just kicking at us too. You can't kick at us. No, Scott, Scott, Scott, that's what happens when an alpha outsmarts you Kappas. Hold up, Scott. You ain't outsmartin' me.

You can fly. Hey, Scott, Scott. You ain't outsmartin' me. You just fly. Scott, we alphas love to outsmart you Kappas. See, I did it twice. Send that $2,000, and they're going to let me know in the next 48 hours. Matter of fact, Scott, get a website right now.

Scott, pull your credit card out right now. Open up another window on your computer and send the money right now, and they're going to let me know if it hit. Now, come on, pull your American Express card out. Deborah, give Scott the website. Deborah, D-E-B-O-R-A-H, Peoples, P-E-O-P-L-E-S, 4mayor.com. And Scott, I am sending you some Delta love.

Good. Hey, Scott, ain't your wife a Delta? Scott, ain't your wife a Delta? Scott, is your wife a Delta or AK? She agree? I don't know why she married you. All right. Hey, Robert Petillo, sell one of them 45 guns you have and send that money to Debra. Robert Petillo.

No, Scott, you don't get a question. You got to send a check. No, Scott. What's your question? I can't ask no question? Damn. No, exactly. You want to ask a question, you got to send $3,000.

See? The price go up. What you want to see in 3000. See? The price go up. What you want to do? See, he ain't trying to ask a question now. All right, Scott, what's the question? Hurry up. Scott, hurry up. Hey, Scott. Hey, Scott, you're a lawyer. The FCC does not regulate online. They only regulate broadcast

entities. That's the law. See, boy, I keep telling law. Well, whoever regulates you needs to get on their job. Whoever regulates you needs to get on your job. Scott, my mama and daddy don't regulate me, so you need to go ahead and be quiet. Robert Petillo, what's your question? Or you going to send some money to your lawyer? Robert, you need to send some money to the Debra campaign.

Bro, I work for a non-profit. That's between me and Scott and his palatial estate. Hey, hey, hey, I don't want to hear that non-profit stuff. Sell one of those AR-15s you have and go and raise some money. You know I got an AR-15 next to me right now. Besides this one. But I did

have a question. What we have seen... Come on, what's your question? Hurry up. We've seen police unions attack many black female mayors from Keisha Lance Bottoms in Atlanta to Mayor Lightfoot in Chicago. What would be your strategy for police reform? Because they like to use the pejorative term, defund the police.

What would be your strategy for bringing more accountability in law enforcement? You said police unions are attacking black female mayors all around the country. Absolutely. And is it happening here? And what is your response to them about police reform? And so how are you responding to that? So, Robert, absolutely. We've already gotten a classic defund the police mail. It's already been out there. But I tell people all the time, my brother was a police and my sister was a constable. We want to be safe in our homes just like you want to be safe in your home.

We want transparency and openness. And when something happens like the Tatiana Jefferson shooting, we don't want to wait days to get the tape. We want to see the tape right then. And people want to see justice done. I mean, it's just that simple. So I could take their attacks. I mean, I could take their attacks all day long. But until we change the face at the top, we're going to continue to see that same kind of battle going on. And that's why I'm out here running for mayor. All right, then. Scott, Monique, Robert, I certainly

appreciate it. Thank you so very much. To all the folks who are watching, who watch us on YouTube, on Facebook, on Periscope, and Twitter, this is why we launched this show on September 4, 2018, because an opportunity to give voice to folks. As I said, we were in St. Louis with Tashara

Jones. We're here. We've been actually in other cities as well. We spent five weeks. We literally moved to Georgia to help John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win there. This is what happens when you own your own stuff. You don't have to ask somebody for permission, which is part of the issue. Because the bottom line is when we have to ask other folk to cover us, then we might get two, three, four, five minutes as opposed to being able to broadcast live from two hours.

And so I appreciate Bishop Spears having us here at the Petroleum Club. I want to thank everybody for coming out here as well. For those of you who are watching, y'all can support this show. Your dollars make it possible. Last year, our fan base gave $672,000 to our show to make it possible for us to do what we do. Support us via Cash App, dollar sign RMUnfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash RMUnfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered. Zelle, of course, is Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

So, folks, use any of those platforms. We're going to be in Tulsa tomorrow, beginning our six days of coverage, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race riots. So we look forward to being there. Let me thank everybody here. Deborah, thank you so very much. Congressman Mark Veazey, I appreciate it. My brother, thank you so very much.

I want to thank Bishop. I saw Commissioner Brooks. I saw him. We're loud, Mary Ellen Hicks. Yeah, ain't nothing changed. She was loud 30 years ago when I was here. Ain't nothing changed. And so I see all my alpha brothers in the house.

I appreciate all of y'all here. Thank you so very much. For the rest of y'all who join the youth groups, whatever. Cheryl Smith, I see you here representing the black newspapers. Thanks a bunch. Hey, folks, again, tomorrow we'll be in Tulsa, so we'll look forward to that. There's an unveiling of a mural at noon,

so we're going to be leaving here at 6 o'clock in the morning, getting down and rolling to Tulsa to livestream that for y'all. There's no other platform that's doing this, no other black-owned media that's doing this, and so that's why this matters. So we need y'all to support what we do. So we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I'll see y'all tomorrow from what we do. So we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

I'll see y'all tomorrow from Tulsa. Y'all know how we always end the show. Y'all know how we end the show? Y'all know how we do it? Okay, y'all clearly don't watch the show. Okay, so I always end the show, I say holla. So on three, Zim, give me a wide shot. Give me a wide shot, Zim.

On three. Okay, y'all ready? Zim, there you go. No, keep it right there. All right, one, two on three. Okay, y'all ready? Zim, there you go. No, keep it right there. All right. One, two, three. Ha! A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives

in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways from tech billionaires to the bond market to yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chaston. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.