#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Debt ceiling showdown; SCOTUS cases to watch; US hits 700K COVID deaths; AL uses COVID $ for prisons

Episode Date: October 5, 2021

10.04.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Debt ceiling showdown: Biden, Schumer call for urgent action; SCOTUS to hear landmark cases this term; America hits 700K COVID deaths; GA Dems would rather keep up confederate statues before building one for Clarence Thomas; Black and Missing: 60-year-old Shanta Reid last seen in New York back in December 2020; What's next for police reform; For the first time, two Black U.S. attorneys to lead their districts; New project to identify hundreds of people involved in "Bloody Sunday", White OR man faces several charges for killing an unarmed Black man; Chauvin legal fees reversed; AL to use COVID $$$ to build more prisons; Netflix and Howard University establishes scholarship in honor of Chadwick BosemanSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's

dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. 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. Martin! It's Monday, October 4th, 2021. I'm Monique Presley sitting in for Roland. And here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network.

President Joe Biden tells Republicans to get out of the way and stop blocking efforts to increase the government's borrowing authority. The United States Supreme Court is back to hearing cases in person. Find out what issues we all need to keep our eyes on. Congress can't figure out how to agree on police reform, but California is one of many states who just passed significant laws. California State Senator Stephen Bradford will be here to talk about the new laws. There's an initiative to identify hundreds of marchers

from Bloody Sunday. One of the founders is here to tell you how you can help. Alabama will be using COVID relief funds to build more prisons. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling.

Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah. It's rolling, Martin. Yeah. 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. President Biden petitions the Senate to pass legislation increasing the debt ceiling. The bill narrowly passed in the House would help the American government pay its debts and ensure critical services continue. Republicans oppose the bill and want Democrats to come up with an independent solution to the problem. President Biden explains why this must be a bipartisan effort. So let me be really clear. This is really important to know. Raising the debt limit is about paying off our old debts.

There's nothing to do with any new spending being considered. There's nothing to do with my plan for infrastructure or building back better. Zero. Zero. Both of which I might add are paid for. So if we're going to make good on what's already been approved by previous Congresses and previous presidents and parties, we have to pay for it. Social Security benefits.

American people are promised salaries for servicicemen and women, benefits for veterans. We're going to have to raise the debt limit if we're going to meet those obligations. And raising the debt limit is usually a bipartisan undertaking, and it should be. That's what is not happening today. The reason we have to raise the debt limit is, in part, because of the reckless tax and spending policies under the previous Trump administration.

The president goes on to highlight the risks of not passing the bill, the risk that will put Americans in. The days ahead, even before the default date, people may see the value of their retirement accounts shrink. They may see interest rates go up, which will ultimately raise their mortgage payments and car payments. And the American people — look, I'll just say it this way. As soon as this week, your savings and your pocketbook could be directly impacted by this Republican stunt. It's as simple as that. Republicans say they will not do their part to avoid this

needless calamity. So be it. But they need to stop playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy. The vote is set to take place this week. Let's go to the panel for a discussion. I have my sister, Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeaver, political analyst. We have Dr. Omokongo Dibinga, professorial lecturer, School of International Service at the American University. And we have attorney Tammy Ellison, and she is the pardon attorney. Thank you, guys. Thank you, everyone, for joining. Thank you for having me. I want to go to Dr. Avis first. Dr. Avis, why can't we get our act together? I mean, does the president have to come out and threaten people in order for us to just do the bare minimum, which is to figure out how to pay the bills?

It is so horrible and pitiful to see this happening, but it's not surprising. I mean, the problem is that we have a Republican. There's nothing in my ear. Can you not hear me at all? At all? Hold on a second. Take that sound. That's the problem.

Are you hearing me now? Is this any better? It might be me. It might not be y'all. Keep talking, Avis. I hear you. Okay, cool. So I was just going to say that the problem is the Republican Party. This is a party who spent like drunken sailors under the Donald Trump era in which they had all of these tax cuts for their friends that were not paid for, which caused the deficit to skyrocket. And now that it's time for them to pay the bill for the tab that they ran up, they are running around and pointing the fingers at the Democrats,

trying to confuse the public by making them believe that this whole debt ceiling necessity that we find ourselves at once again was caused by something that the Democrats did. It's a lie. It's diffusion. And it's just another way in which the Republican Party continues along the same vein that we've seen from them for years. For them, it's not about responsibility. For them, it's not about actually governing, even. For them, it's all about politics and raw power. And their political calculation here is that they do not want to agree to anything. They want to make governing as difficult as humanly possible for the Democrats, because they believe that they use that as a political weapon in the midterm elections.

They don't give a damn about the country. All they care about is getting back in and retaining power. OK, so so, Tammy, assuming that everything that Dr. Avis says is true, which Dr. Avis always gets everything right. So we're going to take it all as true. What's the end game, though, for the GOP? Because they still end up looking like they can't pay their bills. They still end up looking like they are fighting at every turn. Are they counting on basically the fact that a good bulk of the country just believes that whatever they do is the right thing to do, even if it's not in their best interest? I think so, Monique. And Dr. Avis is absolutely correct. She has her facts on point, okay? I could see the checklist almost. I could visualize it. But Monique, I think the GOP, they're counting

on Democrats to do what Democrats always do. Democrats don't do nothing when we have an opportunity to do something and speak up. This requires bipartisan solutions. Raising the debt ceiling, yes, that is going to be something that is probably the GOP's fault. But let's not get it twisted. This problem existed during a Democratic presidency and when Democrats had power both in the House and in the Senate. What are you speaking of that you're saying existed when there was a Democrat in office? Which problem? The debt of this country that continues to rise has always existed. And I believe bipartisan solutions are what is going to be required

in order to resolve this issue once and for all. For Republicans to blame Democrats and for Democrats to blame Republicans, that does not resolve the issue. It creates problems for all Americans. And at some point, we need leaders in office that are not too scared to speak up. We need Democrats that are going to pull these games that the Republicans are pulling. The Democrats are not coming together and sticking together and huddling up to come up with these solutions to the problem the same way that Republicans are not too scared to get what they want at the end game. We've seen that with the former President Trump. A lot of them did not really like the man, but you see they lined up behind him and did what he said was necessary to do.

But I don't see that amongst the Democrats. And I think that once the Democrats are able to see past their own personal game and go for what's for the better good of the Democratic Party and strategize and strategically attack the GOP, then we can see some type of solution. Right. But isn't one of the problems, Dr. Dominga, that the GOP, as Tammy just said, they do what's in the best interest of their party. But what she also said is when the Democrats learn and they do what's in the best interest of their party, but that's not even what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to be doing within the best interest of the citizens of the United States of America. So how do we declare our humanity and our ethics, but at the same time, move the ball forward? Because as Tammy correctly points out, the cutthroat politics that gets the GOP agenda moving forward, the Democratic Party is not good at.

And I'm glad to be a member of the Democratic Party that's not good at that, but I still want us to get things done. So where's the rub? How do we get it fixed and hold onto our ethics at the same time? Well, I think one of the best ways to hold onto the ethics

is to continue to take the message to the people. That's how the Biden administration, the Biden-Harris administration, got the COVID Relief Act passed. They went to places like West Virginia, went straight to Joe Manchin's people on the news there. They traveled the country. And so what Joe Biden's doing today is what they need to do. And they finally need to just accept the fact, which I thought they would have accepted coming into office, that the Republicans are not honest brokers. And so they need to stop spending time fighting with them and speaking to the people who can put their pressure on them to make this happen.

Mitch McConnell said last week, look, you guys are in control. Y'all do your thing. Y'all make it happen. And what he was basically saying is, because when I'm in control, again, we're going to do it my way as well. And so they need to stop reaching out, saying things like we can find 10 good Republicans or they want to do it together for the American people. No, I know it's a slim majority, but the energy and the effort needs to be put on solely working with the Democrats and taking the message to the people so that they can also put pressure on the Republicans and the like. Because whether we're talking police reform and everything else, the Republicans are not honest brokers, and they are expert in running out the clock until midterm elections come. They've done this historically, and we need to move on without them.

Well, last word with you, Dr. Avis. I mean, where do we go from here? Because nobody who is in the House or the Senate seems to be able to put together two cogent ideas at the same time. I hear you. You know, I have to agree with what was just stated. The issue is a messaging problem that the Democrats continue to have. I swear they have horrible messaging, you know, just period. And they continue in that same vein with this. I agree that what Biden just did was what needed to happen. There needs to be an education of the public around what this is, why it's necessary, whose foot it really sits at the feet of, where it sits, right? You had a McConnell who passed, who voted in favor of debt ceilings, not once, not raising the debt ceiling, not once, not twice, but three times under Donald

Trump. And guess what? The Democrats did the responsible thing, not once, not twice, but three times under Donald Trump. And guess what? The Democrats did the responsible thing and did it then, too, because we do not want this country to default on its debts. Now this is just a party that is once again leaning into its hypocrisy and claiming that, oh, my God, clutching their pearls, they can't vote for this. They did it when they were in power. They're not doing it now as a political tactic. And the Democrats need to continue to message very aggressively by calling them out on the hypocrisy and letting the American people know really what's at stake if they don't come along. And you know what? Y'all who are listening to this now, you better run for office. I mean, come on now, get in there or we will continue to be led by all the people who are for real. It seems like they sat in the last row of class for every single class

and that is who will be governing us until we run ourselves. In other news, today the Supreme Court resumed hearing cases in person for the first time in over a year. The highest court ruled against a group of District of Columbia residents who were attempting to get a voting member in the House of Representatives. Small surprise there. The court will be hearing other notable cases on abortion, gun rights, and religious freedoms. Both sides of the political spectrum will have their criticisms for these controversial rulings. So guys, you can now go back in the Supreme Court, wear your mask, double up on your masks when you go in there,

because some of the people who are even sitting on Supreme Court, I just, I don't even know. We can figure out who doesn't have an investigation. But we're going to be hearing some big cases to change really the course of the way that women can govern their own bodies, the way that we will or will not be able to have a vote. All of these things are coming up. Tammy Esquire, what are you expecting from this time around with the Supreme Court? Oh, Monique, Monique, you know, I'm right here in the great state of Texas. Oh, my home girl.

Don't leave because you might not be able to get back in. You know, we've seen the shenanigans that are taking place here under our leadership, Governor Abbott. And, you know, the attack on women's bodies, the attack on voting rights. And, you know, obviously, these are issues that are directly related to the Supreme Court. You and I both as attorneys know the Supreme Court is the end-all, be-all. And that is where we are guided from the federal government down to the states and local jurisdictions on how we can practice law, in which cases are able to relate to the American people as far as what we can and we can't do. I think all of us are aware

of the attack on voting rights happening right here in Texas and Texas not being able to have a quorum for the vote. And a couple of those Democratic members of the Texas representatives broke quorums. They were able to have a vote on it, and now we are under these very restrictive laws on voting rights. But like I said earlier, Monique, when we talk about the Democratic Party, which I am a proud member of, and I ran in the Texas District 6 special election for Congress earlier this year, But what I noticed myself as a candidate that came in third place out of 10 Democrats as a first-time politician, what I noticed is the Democrats are very divisive, and they're not focusing, once again, on those solutions that are

necessary. When we talk about voting rights, nobody's talking about the fact that it was a 2013 Supreme Court decision that came down and pretty much said, hey, listen, OK, we understand that discrimination is happening amongst underrepresented groups in terms of voting. Now, the areas of the law that you're relying on, it's a little old. So just refresh it. That was in 2013 under a Democratic president. Not until recently are the Democrats scurrying around and bringing that up and being upset because Republicans found that loophole because, once again, they huddled up together and figured out what they can do to oppress the vote of underrepresented groups. But be very clear, that was a 2013 Supreme Court decision from a state that sued the Department of Justice under a Democratic attorney general when I happened to be working at the U.S. Department of Justice with that over a decade of experience.

So we cannot ignore where this is stemming from and just focus on, oh, my gosh, the Republicans are attacking our rights. Yes, they are. But the Democrats, we got to stay woke. It's a lot of fake wokeness out here, and we have to stay woke and be on top of it and huddle together and come to some types of solutions

before the shenanigans just continue. Well, I mean, you can be so woke, you never need another espresso in your life again. But if you're woke and you don't vote, I don't know what the point even is. Dr. Dabinga, anytime people say to me, it doesn't matter, they're all the same, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Independents, it doesn't matter at all. I point to the nightmare we are currently living with the Supreme Court. I point to the manner in which the federal bench has been stacked due to that heinous, fraudulent, terroristic imposter we had for a last president.

I point to the fact that it's going to take my lifetime and another lifetime and maybe one after it before we will actually get true balance in the courts again if they don't change the entire structure of appointments for the Supreme Court and for the federal bench. So for people who are saying it doesn't matter, come on, y'all. Yes, find some of that wokeness Attorney Tammey was just talking to us about. But Dr. Dabinga, what do you expect from the Supreme Court? What's going to be important? And God forbid, if the worst happens, what are we going to do about it? Well, I expect the Supreme Court to fundamentally change the nature of how pretty much everything has been functioning in this country, whether we're talking about the gun rights, whether we're talking about the case with the religious exemptions in the schools,

and of course, whether we're talking about a woman's right to choose. And they're basically following Texas's lead. We see in Texas right now, you can walk around without a gun permit and have a gun. It's easier to get a gun than it is to get an abortion, right? And so I expect that to happen. What we need to do is there are several things we need to do. We need to understand, as you were saying, that these elections have consequences. We gave Donald Trump three judges on the Supreme Court who have made comments in recent days about, oh, people shouldn't talk about us being political. But at the same time, the last three justices that were appointed all show up at Mitch McConnell's events to kiss the ring. And then they want to talk about we're not political.

So we need to understand that we need to get out there and vote. We need to put pressure on the Biden administration to get these voting rights laws passed because we can do all of the voting in the world. But if they have their electors who are there who can overturn the election because we don't have the federal laws there to protect it, then it's going to be for naught. But another thing we need to do that has gotten a little lost in the mix is that we need to keep putting pressure on the businesses that sponsor these Republicans who are out there doing this work. And we do it a little bit here and there. We may call out a company online, but the companies know that we're going to eventually forget. And these politicians out there who are supporting

the insurrection, who are supporting election denial and all of these other types of things, we need to keep targeting the businesses that support them, similar to what we did in Georgia, getting that baseball game moved, and keep that pressure there as well. So those are three real areas that we need to focus on that can help to kind of counterbalance some of the shenanigans of the Supreme Court. Dr. Avis, it sounded like Dr. Dabinga just said, we're sunk. I mean, I know he didn't want to say it kind of like that, but he sounded like he's just saying this Supreme Court term is a wrap, people. Get back to the drawing board and figure something else out. He says one thing, though, that I know from Black Women's Roundtable perspective and all

the work that you do, you can understand. Sure, we need to be getting to these corporations. Sure, we need to be in the streets marching. Sure, we need to be, we need to be, we need to be. But there really is only so much of a who's going to get these things done. And it doesn't seem like there's any central structure with a cohesive plan for the attack that's necessary to bring our rights back. Can you talk to me just about all of the different black folks organizations that have so much to do and maybe a way that we can be smarter about doing it? Great question. You know, to me,

there are a lot of organizations out there, as you mentioned, like the Black Women's Roundtable, that are organizing, that are in the streets, that are trying to make sure that people are aware of what they need to do to be able to vote in the next election, because we know about how our voting rights have been under attack all across the country. So they are doing all of those things. The challenge is that we are facing an assault on all sides. And it's it really is difficult to do all the things. You literally need to check all the boxes that you just mentioned and more to be able to combat this full frontal assault that we are facing. I just wanted to say once again how we were right,

right? We've been talking on this show for years about how there's a demographic shift that's afoot in this country that is leading to a majority people of color nation. And I fully believe that what we are seeing all across this nation, all of the urgency to get to pack the courts when Trump was in office, including pushing through the last appointee literally days before an election that he lost. Let's not forget that.

In addition to that, we look at what's happened in like 48 states across this nation where laws have been introduced and many have passed to make it more difficult for us to vote. What's going on here is a concerted effort from every turn to have minority rule in America, to have, in essence, an American apartheid system where you will have white minority power for generations to come. And so really to me, in terms of what we need to do to combat that before it is too late, I mean, we're almost there, but I don't think we're too late. I'm not that fatalistic. Because whatever the Supreme Court does, for example, you could have new laws passed through Congress. Yeah, you would have more court battles, but this is something that can be done in order to sort of fight back against what happens in a court system. We do know that when judges are appointed, those are nonelected. Those are lifetime appointments.

And so right now that we are at such a disadvantage in the Supreme Court, we need to double down on voting in order to make sure that we have an overwhelming majority in Congress to be able to fight back against the rights that end up in those spots ran and won in conservative states for prior lower positions or judgeships on the local and state level. So it's important that we run and show up and vote in all of those positions because, listen, those mamas and daddies, they track their babies from preschool. They see them on the Supreme Court from the first time that they not even walk in when they're supposed to. They're fixing it from the very beginning. But moving on to fixing it from the very beginning. Clarence Thomas, the justice, is going to have a statue, apparently, y'all. Georgia Democrats say that they would rather keep up the Confederate statues

before they consider building a statue for United States Justice Clarence Thomas. Now, I'm going to go to the panel for just whoever wants to say something about this, but what I have to say about it is, why can't they just move the statue of him that shows up for every term and sits right there in the Supreme Court? I mean, there's no proof of life. I think maybe they caught him snoring. Can't they just use that?

Who wants to talk? Attorney Allison, thoughts? You know, since I'm the attorney on the panel, let's talk about Clarence Thomas. You know, bless his heart and his Caucasian wife's heart, too. And shout out to, you know, Anita Hill. But listen, if they want to give the man a statute, let him have his statute, okay? His statute is there for us all to remember that a black man sat on the highest court of the land and refused to speak. He refused to use his voice. And he's quoted somewhere in saying

that he didn't want to use his voice because he's embarrassed of the accent in which he has, which is rooted in his southern roots of the Gullah Gullah Island. I don't know. I think that's what it was. Either way, let him have the statute so we can remember. Remember who sat on that bench with all that melanin

and the type 4C hair and refused to speak. For all of these years, I think that statute is necessary. Now, as far as saying that they'd rather have a Confederate flag, they're taking a little too far. It's going a little too far. That's all I gotta say on that. Right. Flag's down, but I don't want to remember. I want to forget.

I want to forget. Like, if he wouldn't snore here and there, I would have forgotten about him already. Avis? Well, you know, I am so happy now to be a Maryland resident right down the street from Thurgood International Airport, by the way. And it is really, it is really, to me, honestly, disgusting that he is sitting in the seat that Thurgood Marshall made possible for him. And he takes every opportunity that he can to undermine the advancement of Black people. It is just absolutely disgusting to me. So, you know, I agree.

I think it's a little bit too far. I think it's a little bit too far to say you'd rather have a Confederate flag. But here's the thing. I can put up an inanimate object, as you mentioned, that will have just as much to say as he seems to have to say when they're actually having Supreme Court hearings. But the bottom line is that black people know who he is. We know his history. We know what he's done. We know what he hasn't done. And so they can put the statue there, but it'll get just as much respect as the

non-existent statue of him that's in the African-American Smithsonian Museum right about now. Dr. Domingo, 30 seconds. What's your thoughts? Well, he does appear on a small portion of the wall in the African-American Museum, and that's just a great place for him to belong. He could be in a museum, just like Confederate flags and stuff belong in a museum. No to the statue. Clarence Thomas does not deserve that, period, bottom line. Yeah, I feel y'all, but like I said, you can go to Supreme Court any day they're in session, and you'll see a Clarence Thomas statue. It's time for us to take a break, and we will have more news for you

on Roland Martin Unfiltered as soon as we come back. Time to be smart. Roland Martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punches! Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving voice to the issues. Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again.

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Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard. Ooh, where you going? Chante Reid was last seen in New York back in December 2020. Chante is five feet, two inches tall, and weighs 200 pounds. She has black hair, brown eyes, and wears glasses. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is urged to contact, if I can read it,

571-505-4838 or evolving116.sr at gmail.com. Again, that's 571-505-4838 or evolving116.sr at gmail.com. While this nation continues to wait for national police reforms, some states do what they can to hold law enforcement accountable. California is joining the vast majority of states in setting up a way to strip the badges of police officers who act criminally or with bias. Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the law as one of eight police reform efforts. Joining me now is State Senator Stephen Bradford. Senator Bradford, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. So, Senator, first, I want to commend you for the work that you do. It certainly is needed, especially in times like these. But first, let's deal with the obvious. It's a shame, isn't it, that states have to, one by one and in varying fashion, step up and do what really should be getting done on a national level.

Without a doubt. I mean, look at the challenges that Congress has just had with the George Floyd initiative. It's a clear example of how it's an isolated approach to police reform when, as you stated, it should be a national approach of having a unified process of getting rid of bad officers that we all know exist. And by doing so, we'll put up a process that protects the majority of those officers, those men and women who do their job in a responsible, caring way on a daily basis. But it's the bad apples that taint the whole barrel, so to speak. Well, absolutely. And the taint of one is the loss

of life of one of us. So can you explain, please, for our audience, what are the measures that you all have passed and why you think they're going to be helpful? Okay, we passed duty to intervene by Assemblyman Chris Holden. Again, these are the Legislative Black Caucus. I'm honored to chair the California Legislative Black Caucus, and we had quite a few bills that were signed last week focusing on police reform. Again, duty to intervene, as we saw in Minneapolis last year. The three other officers that stood there and watched George Floyd lose his life. Now, it will be a crime if that officer stands there and doesn't intervene. So we passed that. Also, asphyxiation, the choke

hold. That was authored by Assemblyman Mike Gibson, again, a member of the Legislative Black Caucus that requires bans, I should say, using any form of the chokehold or the knee on the neck, anything that causes asphyxiation, that is now outlawed in California. And another measure by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer that deals with requiring increasing age, I should say, of law enforcement from 18 to 21 and requiring additional training before you are allowed to join the police department. And in some instances, they're going to try to raise it to 25 because, you know, we're not totally developed, even as 30-year-old individuals sometimes. So giving someone a gun and a badge at 21 years of age, I mean.

So we're looking at that. That was another measure. But the measure that I authored, SB2, police decertification, as you stated, better known as the Kenneth Ross Jr. bill, allows California to join 46 other states in having a fair, transparent way of getting rid of bad officers, regardless of conviction, if they've committed serious misconduct, sexual harassment, falsifying evidence, and even killing unarmed citizens. So we're happy to, like I say, join the 46 other states who've already seen a fit to pass this law.

Now, we're duty to intervene is concerned, is that through the lens of the officer at the time? Because obviously there are situations where officers are themselves in danger. They believe that there may be a weapon. But what has happened now is that they claim that they think there is a weapon and they use that as an excuse to just watch people like Joshua Feast and Lamarck, Texas, just bleed out and they do nothing. They kick him in the leg, say, hey, buddy, hold on. But how through this law are we figuring out the difference between the two, like where it is actually safe for an officer to intervene on behalf of someone who is still a suspect?

That's a good question. And we're going to trust that the reasonable person will use logic, as we saw with Mr. Floyd. I mean, anyone would have intervened and interceded on that. I mean, I've seen people react far more quickly and harshly in mistreating an animal than they did for Mr. Floyd. So we're going to trust that the officers do that. And it's going to be a lens that we know it's a dangerous situation where police officers are acting in the moment of heat of something going on. And we're going to allow, you know, a rational approach to this, but we're going to also use common sense and say, come on, you stood there and you watched the guy get choked out for nine minutes and you did absolutely nothing. Those are the examples we're going to use where, again, you see a suspect who's down,

who's been shot or stabbed, and you don't render any kind of help. Or you have an officer that we just saw in Orange County a few months ago. A woman was handcuffed, and he's socking her in the face. And that officer, to his credit, his partner, he did jump in and say enough is enough. So we're going to hope common sense plays its part and guides officers to do the right thing. Well, okay. Well, I'm going to assume that the law is going to get given a little bit more detail than that, because I'm scared to tell jurors to lean on their common sense about stuff when they sometimes don't even have common sense. But it's definitely a step in the right direction to have the law. And I actually did not know that the age was as young as 18. Was

that the prior age where a person could become a law enforcement officer in California? They can't drink, but they can have a gun and a badge? No, they can join the Explorers and all that. No, it's still 21, but there were certain criteria where you could start recruiting them and bringing them in, and they're raising that up now to 21. So I want to be clear about that. No, they could not become sworn officers carrying a gun at 18, not in California, no. Okay, and now we're trying to take it from 21 to 25 or from 25 to 30. I wish Mr. Jones-Soria was here to better explain this bill, but it has a criteria for before you can start recruiting, because you can do recruitment at 18,

but they're seeing bringing it to 21 and looking at 25 with a college degree. Right. And that certainly will help because I know just as one who defended police departments for many years, that when you're talking about the cognitive levels that are required for the massive amount of information that officers have to know and the split decision making, the split second decision making, it is better to have the best quality we possibly can, and we deserve that. So what else do you think can be done? I know you're doing your job in California, but what can we do in the absence of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to create some uniformity? Because we don't want the case that our sons and daughters are safe in California, but they can't cross over to Nevada.

Well, I think SB2, like I said, the Kenneth Roffs Jr. Police Decertification Act, is leaning toward that uniformity. We'll now have 47 states, and there will only be three that are outliers. So, again, we can end that rinse, wash, and repeat that we've seen in California. You see across the country where an officer can resign before being fired or being charged for a crime only to be hired by a smaller department and continue those criminal acts. As I was taught by my parents, a leopard can't change their spot. So just because an officer quits one department, he or she is not going to change their behavior. Just in my district, last year, two officers in the city of Torrance were fired for racist and abusive activity, only to be hired earlier this year by another department. So I think, again, decertification is leaning toward what you're asking of how we can have some uniformity across the country where we share

that data. So you can't go from California to Nevada and be hired. We'll have a database that at least provides some kind of information on who these bad and rogue officers are. Well, Senator Bradford, I know you have so much to be doing with your time and you took the time to come and share this information, this vital information with us. I thank you for joining us and wish you well in all your endeavors on our behalf. Thank you for your interest in this issue. Appreciate it. In South Bend, Indiana, a federal judge dismisses a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a black man who a white police officer killed. The federal judge ruled Sergeant Ryan O'Neill acted reasonably when Eric Logan moved

toward him with a knife rushed over his head. The former officer said Logan refused to drop a knife while investigating a report of a person breaking into cars. O'Neal had a body cam at the time, but it had not been turned on. Oh, my God. If Roland was here for this right here tonight, because the no body cam on, immediate firing is what would be coming out of his mouth right now. One of y'all go ahead and say it for him.

Who wants to tackle it first? Tammy, talk to me. I'm not going to say what Roland probably would say, immediate firing, because I actually worked at the Department of Justice for over a decade. I grew up in that department. That's not how that works. Firing an officer

doesn't do anything, okay? We have police unions here that are, their whole job is to protect these officers and fight for them to get their jobs back. So firing the officer, okay, great. If you don't have just and sufficient cause, which is the standard of proof, whenever someone is part of a union, which most officers are, guess what? The employing agency who fired the person is not going to be able to meet the burden of just insufficient cause. And the arbitrator who, nine times out of 10, don't look like us, is going to say there's no just insufficient cause and give that officer back their job and give them the money back that they lost. So firing an officer, I need to let y'all know

that's not the answer. That's not the solution. What's the solution? What's the answer? The solution is we need to pay attention to these police unions. We need to pay attention to these unions like AFL-CIO that love to endorse Black Democratic candidates, okay? And whenever somebody like me in the state of Texas runs for Congress, and I'm using my over a decade of DOJ senior attorney experience to say, hey, opponent, that ain't a good look to be bragging about your AFL-CIO endorsement because that's the same union that houses police unions, the same ones that kept Derek Chauvin on the police force. So when I was covering the Chauvin trial on Court TV while I was also running for Congress, guess what? Right here in the great state of Texas,

in San Antonio, the police department tried for some reform. But AFL-CIO, that union, they fought against the reform. AFL-CIO, these unions, are the ones that are fighting for these officers not to have that discipline, fighting for the officers to get their jobs back. They pay for the attorneys to represent these officers in the arbitration right here in Texas. I don't disagree with that, but the Fraternal Order of Police, the FOP, and the International Union for Police Chiefs and Former Police Chiefs both supported the provisions that were in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. And one of those provisions included swift penalties for not wearing your body cam. So the negotiations that could take

place for police officers to be held accountable, I'm not saying immediate firing because government employees are going to have due process of rights and they're going to have protections, whether it's police or whether they are working at Metro they're gonna have protections but there are ways that we can make for penalties for the failure to wear your body cams and there are ways that we can create a presumption that it was something that should not have been done I mean there would have to be a change and it would have to be agreed upon and I think there is more goodwill I don't know FLCIO is talking about, but I know the FOP represents police departments and they are the ones who pay for their legal fees. And they want for there to be these measures of responsibility and are willing to trade them for things like giving up qualified immunity, giving up payment of legal fees and other things.

So I do think that there's room to get something done here. They strategically want that and they're going to strategically put that out because it sounds good, right? But not if you don't connect the dots, not if that's not part of the collective bargaining agreement, not if it's not part of the standards of employee conduct that specifically lay out that failing to wear your body cam, failing to turn it on results in penalties with this number of days. So all of that is great, and you're absolutely correct, Monique. But me being an attorney that actually worked at DOJ, not only at the Office of the Pardon Attorney,

not only as a former federal prosecutor, not only defending DOJ on the civil side under the Channing Phillips, also as a former employment law attorney for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It all has to be in there for that discipline to stick and make sense. Yes, they can support the George Floyd Policing Act, right? No chokeholds. All of that is already on the federal books where you can't do that, right? It sounds good. But if it's not actually all the way tied together here, here, and here for that discipline to stick and absolutely no arguments that can be made to say that this officer can be brought back onto the force or that there was not just insufficient cause, we're going to continue to see the same thing happening over and over again,

which no real solutions to this problem. Experts need to be brought into these conversations, people that actually work there and people that know what they're talking about, not just those that are talking for a good look. Right. And Dr. Dabinga, doesn't it seem, though, that this is another case that's like the one I was just speaking to Senator Bradford about, where the state has an opportunity to make changes, changes to the codification of the laws, changes to the procedures, and then local officials have an opportunity to make changes as well so that we don't end up back in this position.

Either agree or disagree. And if you disagree, by all means, tell us what the heck else we're supposed to be doing. No, I agree. I mean, it's absolutely true that the opportunity to make these changes are there, but the will is just not there. Because there's basically this idea, whether we're talking about South Bend or whether we're talking about other places, is that this is just eventually going to fall by the wayside. And I think that as it relates to the work that we need to do, We need to increase a lot of the activism on our part, particularly as it relates to the federal level. I'm sorry. I know I've mentioned this a couple of times, but it's just like we keep—I've given up on the ability for states to do the right thing

consistently. I know with Senator Bradford and what's going on in California, that's incredible, that's powerful. We need more examples of that. He talked about it, you know, happening in many other states. But efforts like this are not being successful consistently enough for me. And we need to continue to put this pressure on the federal government while we have the ability to do so. I believe that Senator Tim Scott was just queuing up his, you know, run for presidency and trying to pretend that he was interested in this police reform bill. But look, there are so many other aspects of the bill that we can continue to fight for, like this registry of officers like this, so that they can't just go to another place and get hired, right? We can continue to put pressure on that, but sometimes I feel like

we lack the will to do so because we're so caught up in the outrage of what just happened that we don't keep our eyes on the prize going forward. Yeah, I was going to try to go the entire show without mentioning the name of Senator Tim Scott because I have to keep my assignment in mind. Dr. Avis, is there really a lack of will? It seems that the majority of the country supports common sense reforms. The majority of the country believes that things that they saw happen, like what happened to George Floyd, what happens to so many black and brown men and women in the United States should not be happening. And then the next thing you know, there's a crime spike.

And they say that it's because of lack of police officers being secure in their job couldn't have had anything to do with like a pandemic just ravishing an entire country and world, but you know, whatever. Dr. Avis, if the will is there in the citizens, how do we translate that into the will being there with our legislators, like the ones who supposedly work for us? Yeah, you know, the challenge is, and I do agree that the will is there among the people. And what has to happen is continued pressure to be able to, you know, force lawmakers to act. Now, I will say that there has been, and I agree, it hasn't been as consistent as any of us would have liked, but there have been some changes at state and local levels across the country since the murder of George Floyd. And personally, I think that that is really where there needs to be the focus. It's a lot more diffuse. It's more complicated because, golly, we have 50 states and we have tons of localities. But when it comes to this issue

of criminal justice reform, that's really where the rubber meets the road in most spaces. Your state and your local officials are really the place where most of that power is wielded. I would love to see the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed. But I frankly believe that this is just another example of the Republicans playing loosey and football to the Democrats' Charlie Brown, where they continue to act like they're going to do something, act like they have good faith. The Democrats believe it for some reason. And then at the last minute, they pull the football away and the Democrats are looking ridiculous. I don't believe there was ever any genuine effort by the Republican Party to

ever really do something significant with this Justice in Policing Act. I believe that from the very beginning, the plan was to just delay, delay, delay, delay. And then ultimately, when the public pressure was not as huge, they could just kind of let it fizzle out and that's exactly what happened but see even if if even if all of that was true um avis and i don't um i don't necessarily disagree um doesn't that end up being them just knowing how fickle we are uh that they they can just wait us out because whatever amount of outrage and fury and insistence upon there being change that we have when whatever latest horrendous thing happens, if they just wait long enough, everybody will go back to their lives and take the words of their representatives, which, I mean, we're

supposed to be able to take their words, but we just can't. But isn't that a statement about us even more so than it is about the people we keep putting in these jobs? I agree with you. It is a reflection of a strategy of understanding that a heightened sense of political pressure by the public is not something that will last forever, that eventually other issues will pop up and that level of pressure will eventually wane to some degree and to a lot, a lot, as we've seen now. But I do also think that it shows us that the reaction to this is that there needs to be even more effort to have a larger majority in terms of a legislative majority in Congress so that you don't have to have this very, very slim margin. The reason why it's so hard for the Democrats, for example, to get anything passed right now, including this, is because there is no change in terms of the filibuster rule. The 50-50, you know, tie is not enough to get things over the finish line. You actually will need 60 votes for anything to pass.

And, you know, we've already seen through their actions that the Republicans aren't willing to vote for anything. absolutely critically important to us is not to be so disheartened by this delay and this defeat or this deflation of this law that actually never really came to pass here. Instead of letting that make us even less likely to vote because we're thinking, oh, my God, my vote doesn't matter, the exact opposite reaction needs to happen. The exact opposite reaction needs to be, I'm pissed that they did this again. And what we need to do is come back even stronger next time so that it's not even this close. Because if we had an overwhelming majority in the Senate, for example, if we had 60 votes, this wouldn't even be a question. It would be law already.

You know, absolutely. I thank you for bringing that up because people become disenfranchised and just become completely fed up with the system when things like this happen. The bill doesn't even have to be dead, actually. They could be in reconciliation. They could be coming back to the table. They could be doing whatever it is they want to do. When you have the Fraternal Order of Police, when you have the Chiefs Union coming out and saying, we're still willing to meet with anybody who's serious about this, that means that any and every, I mean, hell just froze over when they're saying that they're willing to come to the table because they know that ultimately there's going to be another dead black man in the middle of the street and it's going to come back around. And I know I'm supposed

to go on to the next story, but I'm not going to do it without saying, Senator Tim Scott, I came to your office along with Attorney Bakari Sellers and along with Attorney Benjamin Crump and along with the families of George Floyd and the families of Terrence Crutcher and the families of Eric Garner. And we did not come there to kiss your ring, sir. We did not come there to make you feel good about yourself. We didn't come to hear stories about how you're black and you came from the black community and you know more about being black than we know about you being black. We know you're

black. We just don't know if you have a conscience. We don't know anything about your character. So the next time I have an opportunity to say anything about you, it's going to be to make sure that you lose your job, sir, because you have shown that you do not mean good for the people you claim to serve. Now for some good news. Wow. All right. For the first time, two black U.S. attorneys will lead their districts. And I hope they lead their districts until they take Tim Scott's job.

Yes. All right. Confirmed by the Senate without dissent, we have my bro, Eric Barron, who will be the state's highest prosecutor in Maryland. The former Prince George's County delegate is the first African-American and first presidentially appointed Democrat in 20 years. The Senate confirmed Nick Brown as the Western Washington United States attorney. The Morehouse graduate will be the first black man to serve in the role. President Biden has nominated four other black attorneys, including Sandra Hairston, Dina J. King, Kenneth L. Parker, and Delia L. Smith. If confirmed, Hairston, King, and Smith would be the first African-American women to serve in their districts. Win with black women, y'all.

Come on, Dr. Avis. What you got to say about all this good news? I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. This is so important that we are represented on the benches on these with these federal appointments. I am so happy that they're there and I'm just I can't wait to even more get appointed. Yay. Yeah. And and attorney Allison, you know that for for it to be a state like Maryland and there's never been a black person and it's been 20 years since it's been a Democrat. I mean, people don't understand just how important it is that this is happening.

Monique, I'm a little emotional because I spent the majority of my legal career in the DMV. I ran away from the state of Maryland to start over after my divorce here to Texas. And we all see what's happened in 11 months. Right. But for Maryland to now have a black attorney, I'm sorry, U.S. attorney, that is amazing. And I like my legal career started there. So I'm just ecstatic. You know, like the fact that this is what we need in order to see reform. When we talk about reform, we need people that look like us that are sitting at the table. We need people that are speaking the way that this entire panel is speaking today, just regular, you know, being in these offices. So whenever there are U.S. attorneys that are at a lower level coming to their supervisors, that there could be conversations, real conversations, especially when we're talking about the criminal side of things, about going under the guidelines range so that individuals are not sentenced disproportionately to white people that are currently incarcerated.

That's exactly why I quit DOJ after 12 years to start my firm to focus on clemency, to try to somehow assist with these crazy laws. So, yes, congratulations to President Joe Biden for trying to right a whole lot of his wrongs that he did when he was in Senate. But let's be very clear that these laws were passed under him. So kudos to him for appointing some Black folk, finally. But they need to be the type of Black people

that aren't too scared to speak up. And I can say that because I actually worked at DOJ for over a decade, and there's a lot of people that look just like me that don't use their vocal cords. There's a whole lot of Clarence Thomases at the United States Department of Justice. So when we talk about Clarence Thomas not using his voice as a Black man, where Thurgood Marshall paved the way for him, let's keep in mind that there's a whole bunch of them just like that at the United States Department of Justice. So hopefully some of them ain't too

scared to speak up and say what's right. Well, I mean, when you're a U.S. attorney, you're the boss. So if you're not speaking, nobody's speaking because you call the shots. So Dr. Dabinga, speaking of what Tammy was just talking to us about, about guidelines and sentencing guidelines and disproportionate sentencing and all of those things where it becomes important for prosecutors who look like us and not just look like us, not going to forget about Tim Scott, but care about the people of their own hue. When you see something like this, where a U.S. attorney is in one of these important positions, what is it that you think, and if you know anything specifically about Maryland, I'm especially interested in the way you think this U.S. attorney is going to be able to weigh in matters in Baltimore and current investigations, perhaps, against some state attorneys general and things like that that are happening. And I'll let other panelists who may know more about it weigh in. But what are your thoughts? Well, I wish I knew more about some of the local. I'm also here in

D.C. I wish I knew a little bit more about how he could weigh in and what's going on in Maryland. I can't speak so much to that. But what I can speak to is something that you said earlier, to be quite honest, Monique, has been resonating with me throughout the show. When you talked about how in many communities people birth their child and they're looking at a future Supreme Court justice, I have to commend these appointees for putting themselves in positions to be appointed and doing the work. Do we have what happened with Derek Chauvin if we don't have Lakeith Ellison, for example? And so I'm hoping that, you know, as you said, that they will be there, going on Tammy's point, that they will be the ones to speak truth to power. And this also goes with what Dr. Davis was saying as well. We have to keep making sure

that we're putting ourselves in positions to be able to get in charge, to get in these positions of power. And so I'm hoping that he's influential in Maryland. And quite honestly, I also got to commend you and the Roland Martin show because we weren't going to see this story on any other network as well. And these are also stories that need to be told. Well, amen. That's for sure. You are going to get the story here if it relates and is important to our people. Dr. Avis, there are three black women coming down the pike and they will be the first black women in their district should all of their nominations end up being confirmation. Speak to the importance of having black women in this position because when I see some of the most progressive things happening in U.S. Attorney's offices, in state attorney generals' offices. It's black women

that are at the helm that are making these things happen. Absolutely. When you look at the class of progressive prosecutors across the nation now who are really looking at this issue of criminal justice with a focus on the word justice, it is primarily Black women that are leading that charge. And so I am so proud of these latest additions to that role, because it makes me believe that we're going to see even more momentum in that area. And that's exactly what we need in order to look out for our rights as the criminal justice system continues to move along, oftentimes without our say. But to have these particular Black women and all of these appointees that were just mentioned in those positions of power hopefully bodes well for the

future of Black people in those states as it relates to issues of criminal justice. Well, that's good. That was like a fresh rain shower after that prior unpleasant topic. We're going to go to a break now, and when we come back, we'll have more news you need to know on Roland Martin Unfiltered on Blackstar Network. People our age have lost the ability

to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road. That is so freaking dope. Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Oh, yeah, that's nice.

Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. OK, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021. Oh, you should pick something stronger that's really predictable.

That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me, too. Hey. Really outdid yourself. Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision, an SUV built around you, all of you. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D.J. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seales. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy.

What's up, Lana Well, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. A new project aims to identify hundreds of people involved in the 1965 Bloody Sunday protest. have established a Facebook page where people can look through photographs from March 7th, 1965 and identify themselves or others. Dr. Keith Hebert, Professor of History at Auburn University, joins me now. Welcome, Dr. Hebert. Thank you for having me. This sounds like such critically important work that you all are endeavoring to do. Can you first just tell us how you began down this road and then why you believe knowing this portion of history is important? Sure. Well, we originally started this project because we wanted to preserve the historic site of Bloody Sunday outside of Selma, Alabama. If you travel to Selma, Alabama today, a lot of people go and they walk across the Edmund Pettus

Bridge, but they don't realize that the few hundred yards before you get to the bridge is the historic site where we've seen all of those iconic images of John Lewis and Hosea Williams and Amelia Boynton and the Alabama State Troopers, unfortunately, assaulting them. You know, the historic site itself is in pretty poor shape, and it needs preservation and interpretation. Well, me and my team were trying to restore the site, but as we did so, we encountered all these photographs of more than 650 foot soldiers who were there that day. And as we asked ourselves, we're like, well, who are these individuals? Most people could only tell us the names of a few, you know, 10 or so

of the folks there. And increasingly, we're like, well, let's go get the list of all the foot soldiers at Bloody Sunday. And unfortunately, no such list exists. Both fortunately and unfortunately, you know, the reason we're able to do this is on the day of the march, the Alabama state troopers, in addition to brutally beating the protesters, actually had surveillance officers there who photographed the marchers as they gathered and as they marched and so forth. And fortunately, we were able to discover a trove of about 1,000 photographs that have rarely been seen before that really detail most of the members of this march, all the way from their gathering at George Washington Carver Homes in Selma to the aftermath of all the brutality that happened after they crossed the bridge. I really think this project is really important because it speaks to sort of the

day that we're in. It's really important to honor these individuals who bravely risked their lives for the sake of gaining voting rights that were constitutionally already theirs to begin with, but braved the sort of the known brutality of the Alabama state troopers in order to make a case to America of the situation that was happening in Selma, Alabama. And when you look at Bloody Sunday, you know, a lot of times in the civil rights movement, we focus so much attention on John Lewis and Martin Luther King and what was happening there. But when you dig deep into Bloody Sunday's history, you find a real grassroots activism that was alive and well. The reason those 650 people marched that day was because the people themselves who were there,

the marchers, demanded to march and demanded to move forward with their protests, regardless of what organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or SNCC wanted to do that day. So I think for many reasons, there's a lot of great sort of information to be gained from sort of the art of organizing. How do you organize grassroots protests? How do you lead grassroots protests? How are they born and created? That day at Selma was very much the fruition of grassroots protests, how are they born and created? You know, that day at Selma was very much the fruition of grassroots protests. And how is it that people with information can weigh in and

provide that information to assist you all in your investigation and in your study? Yes, that's great. We have created a Facebook page. It's called Help Us Identify Selma's Bloody Sunday Foot Soldiers. And if you go onto that page, what you'll discover is we've taken a lot of those surveillance images that were taken by the Alabama State Troopers, as well as very famous photographs taken by journalists that day as well. And we've been able to identify individuals in there and take sort of headshots of people and organize them in a way that people can flash through there. And honestly, people are able to just interact on

that site with us. And they can also contact me at any time through Auburn University. The Facebook page actually has my phone number and everything as well. And, in fact, you know, we only launched the Facebook page about two months ago, and we've already identified close to 70 marchers who previously, you know, we didn't know the identities of. And, you know, we probably have another 50 or 60 people who have contacted us who are now in the process of helping identify individual foot soldiers. Well, that's amazing to have 70 in just such a short period of time. I want to go to my panel and see if they have any questions for you.

Dr. Dabenga, any questions? Well, first of all, I really think that this project is amazing, and I really commend you for undertaking it. I wonder, when you think about these debates going on of critical race theory, and this important story, do you feel like the work that you're doing is something that people try to shut down in our schools today because it's such a pivotal and important aspect of history. But I can look at these people who are, quote, unquote, anti-critical race theory, saying that these are the types of things that wouldn't need to be studied. So how have you looked at it as it relates to that current debate?

Yeah, sure, I do. Honestly, just the other day, the Associated Press picked up our story. That's probably how, you know, we were invited to the show. And almost immediately, you know, the kind of people come out of the closet a bit who are like, you know, this is an example of critical race theory, you shouldn't be doing this. And, you know, my email and Facebook page, you know, swelled a little bit as the word gets out beyond just the community in Selma and the community of marchers who we've been engaged with. And I find that very sad. You know, I find that, you know, I think the whole critical race theory debate has been nothing but distraction

and pretty ridiculous in terms of, you know, sort of banning it from schools and things like that. In Alabama, you know, in Alabama where I teach, I teach at Auburn University. I teach the history of Alabama. You know, even in those classrooms, you get a lot of pushback from students when you're talking about the history of slavery, the history of segregation, the history of lynching, the history of what it was to be black in Alabama from, you know, the history there. So I do take this very seriously. On the flip side of that, you know, going into these communities like Selma and Marion, Alabama, and really working with the people in those communities to help identify these individuals has really rekindled

a great deal of sort of like a generational connection in those communities where you have, you know, sometimes marchers who are, you know, now in their 80s in some cases, interacting a lot with their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, interacting with their city leaders in a new way, all sort of in lockstep to better preserve the story and find better ways to tell the story. And, you know, that certainly warms my heart. But, yeah, unfortunately, you know, but I will say, you know, while, you know, there are those who will push back, I will say, you know,

Auburn University has been very supportive of the project and has provided us a lot of financial support and has certainly helped us better engage the communities that we're working with. Dr. Avis. Thank you. I just want to say, sure, I so love this project. I really appreciate a point that you made in which, you know, we definitely appreciate and definitely review the leaders of the movement. But oftentimes we forget about everyday individuals who put their lives on the line to create the change that we all benefit from today. And so I'm loving that you are focused on those everyday people that for so many years were in many ways invisible to

the rest of us. My question to you is, you know, what is the outcome? What do you see as the end game in terms of identifying these individuals? Are they going to get any sort of awards and what sort of recognition? I'm just wondering, what is the end game for all of those who we now know the names that go with the faces? Yeah, I mean, that is sort of the unsung foot soldiers of this. I'm thinking offhand, one of the first people identified was a football coach at the All Black High School in Selma who risked his job to come out and lead these protests and then brought along with him most of his players who also risked being expelled from school from joining the marches. So those stories are just pretty common, actually,

among the 650 folks that we've identified. So this process is going to take a couple of steps. The first step is identifying folks. And then what we really want to know is how did they get to that day, you know, their experiences that day, and then we really want to understand more about their life after that day as well, you know, really kind of create a whole picture of the individual here. We're creating a database that'll have archival photographs, newspaper stories, sometimes these folks appear in news stories all over, as well as interviews for them. And that's our first step, is just creating a really good documentary sort of history of those events. I do suspect that there will be a big movement as we gain more and more

names to create some type of lasting memorial. One of the foot soldiers in Selma, this young lady at the time, this lady named Joanne Bland, who's still active in the community, she has created a fundraising effort to create a foot soldiers park in Selma. And in some ways, that foot soldiers park would be dedicated to people like Lawrence Huggins, Joanne Bland, heck, even Albert Turner Sr., who's right there behind Hosea Williams in the line, but nobody really knows who he is, you know, to tell their stories, you know, in this way. So, yeah, I really think there will be a very public commemorative. But everything we're collecting, though, is going to be for the public

and be able to be accessed. It won't be behind any kind of passcodes or anything like that. You know, so, yeah. Attorney Allison. Yes, I think that the work, again, that you're doing is amazing. And I heard you say that, you know, the university in which you are a professor at has definitely been supportive, whereas others probably not so much. And the university has, you know, provided funding in order for you to do this work that's going to take a lot of time to identify these individuals that were part of Bloody Sunday. I'm curious, given, you know, your racial background, how do you reconcile that with the individuals or

organizations that you bring on as contractors to assist you with the work. I always talk about reform through diversity, equity, and inclusion and pushing towards Black businesses and organizations to be able to, number one, know how to bid on a contract such as yours, but number two, be selected to actually get the funding to actually work on a contract such as yours. How have you addressed that? Yeah, that's an excellent question. I mean, the first step of that is, I mean, I'd be frankly honest. I mean, Auburn University is not the most racially diverse university. And so as we've created this project, I've particularly done a sort of concerted effort to recruit

students to our graduate program who can participate in a paid manner, you know, to be part of this project and receive their master's degree or their doctoral degree in history. And those efforts have done quite well. I mean, we've actually been able to present a quite diversified group that goes out into the communities. But more importantly, though, in working with Selma and Marion, Alabama in particular, part of my main job is to help the city council there, the local leaders, the foot soldiers themselves, many of whom have tried to preserve this story for years and years and years, but help them understand, not understand, but help them identify and help them learn how to apply for certain grants that are available

and think outside the box about the types of grant opportunities that are available to tell these stories. You know, sometimes people who are interested in history kind of go to the same well over and over and over looking for funding, when in reality there's this really broad base of opportunities out there. And so, you know, some of the things we've been doing is, you know, working with, like I said, elected officials like city council members or church organizations in the community, but also private property owners to help them, you know, secure this type of grant funding and manage it not through us,

but through their own sort of institutions and their own sort of communities. You know, ultimately, we're hoping to help churches and local governments in predominantly black cities, right, you know, Selma and Marion, you know, better access the tools and funding needed to preserve this really critical and important story. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Hebert, for sharing this information with us. I wish you the absolute best of success in the project. And I hope that you will come back and keep us posted on how it's going, because we certainly want to know and to be able to honor every single name for every single person in their families who was there that day. Thank you for having me. I hope y'all have a wonderful evening. Same to you. We will be going on break.

And when we come back, we've got lots more on Roland Martin Unfiltered on Blackstar Network. Can you... I'm sorry. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm sorry. Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson. Like, really loves. Hi, I'm Eldie Barge. Hey, yo, peace world.

What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. In Oregon, a white man is facing several charges for killing an unarmed black man. Ann McKenzie Cranston has been indicted for second-degree murder, first-degree murder manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault, and two counts of unlawful use of a deadly weapon.

Cranston shot Barry Washington Jr. after an altercation outside of a bar on September 19th. Some say the fight started because Washington complimented Cranston's white girlfriend. Doesn't that sound familiar? Prosecutors have yet to add a bias crime charge. The investigation of whether or not the shooting was racially motivated is ongoing. Cranston was arrested the night of the incident, but was released on a $10,000 bond. Since the indictment, Cranston remains in jail with no bond.

Y'all, 2021, and we're still dealing with the look you in the eyeballs, compliment the white girlfriend. I mean, that is still where we are. Whoever, who wants to talk? It sounds like a modern day lynching. I mean, that's really what that is. It sounds it just has echoes of decades of brutality and terrorism that has wrought down on black people, supposedly in protection, right, if I heard you correct. He's at home tonight, chilling at home, after murdering a Black man for just merely giving a compliment to his white girlfriend is unconscionable. that as far as we've come chronologically speaking in terms of years, we are exactly where we were decades ago in terms of lynching black men because they dare to gaze at a white woman. Right. So just a correction. It seems like they let him out on 10,000 bond when he was arrested.

But then since the indictment, thankfully, he at least is still in jail. Attorney Allison, what are your thoughts? First and foremost, my condolences to the friends and the family of Mr. Washington and to all of us that are tired of hearing these stories and all of the trauma that we're experiencing from seeing our brothers and sisters being murdered ruthlessly at the hands of police, at the hands of white people and people just not caring. Condolences to all of us. And, you know, it's okay to turn off, you know, devices if we feel triggered, first and foremost. I do believe that this is, you know, 2021 Emmett Till all over again. And, you know, I, you know, I'm a clemency

attorney and I have no idea that quitting DOJ and launching my practice 11 months ago would, you know, catapult me into, you know, the public light. But I was tagged immediately as this was happening by so many people that wanted to bring it to my attention. And I'm glad to see that, you know, at the time, just a couple of days ago, when I was getting tagged in the story, that, you know, they were trying to get attention on this because nobody was talking about it in Oregon. And from my understanding,

he allegedly looked or complimented the white girlfriend and the boyfriend shot him dead in the middle of the bar and people just looked like and kept on going about their partying and drinking and in no sense of urgency or compassion or anything so I'm glad to see that um you know it takes social media and in the push for for people to talk about it and bring it to, you know, the limelight and attention for there now to be an indictment where he has been rearrested and being held. But this is disgusting. It's ridiculous. change has to happen. And like I said earlier, Monique, I honestly do believe that in order for there to be change, real change, we have to have bipartisan solutions and not the divisiveness. We on the panel understand what we're talking about, you know what I'm saying? But we can't

go around calling people white supremacists and expect them to come to the table and work with a solution. We've got to code switch, right? We've all infiltrated. It's doctors and attorneys on this panel and on this show, right? We've all infiltrated. We've gotten out with the information. So it's our job, our responsibility, our duty to come out to the community and teach them how to play the game so we can make these changes that actually will be viable and stick.

It might not feel good, code switching a little bit, but pointing the fingers at these individuals in Oregon, for example, and calling them a white supremacist, that's not going to change anything. We're going to have to use some language that they want to hear, give them some type of incentive, because I honestly feel that's where we are right now as a country. We have to do something in order for everyone to get on the same page because we're tired. We're tired. We don't need to see this no more. Right. I agree with you that there definitely needs to be some bipartisanship. I mean, I just think that we have to have something other than white supremacists on the other side in order for it to be bipartisan.

And I call them white supremacists because I just think we have to call a thing a thing, or we're not free. My free speech is decoded. And that's why a racist is a racist and a white supremacist is a white supremacist. And maybe there are people, you know, I get criticized by people for going in the rooms the way that I go in. And I know that I'm not soft-spoken, but maybe there are people that can do it even better than I because I just... No, if you're not a white supremacist, I agree with you, Tammy. Don't call them one. But see, the thing about being a white supremacist is that us trying to sit down and have a conversation when your primary tenant is that you are meant to control me, there's just a basic kind of non-starter there for me. But that's just me. Dr. Dabenga, what are your thoughts?

Well, I think that just this also reminds me of Trayvon Martin where we had to fight and go to social media to get Zimmerman arrested again, because he was also let out the same night. And it goes to something Dr. Davis was saying earlier, you know, we can't let up. And I think people need to realize that we're not going to let out. We're going to keep fighting. It also reminds me of the fact that we still haven't passed the anti-lynching bill in this country, because this is a case that might be able to qualify for that, as well as a case of a martyr arbiter as well because we're talking about people who are not officers of the law who are enacting these actions. And Mitch McConnell is on record.

But why haven't we passed the anti-lynching bill? Forgive me, Dr. Domingo, for interrupting. But why is it, whose filibuster was it, whose obstructionist tactics was it that kept us, which one white man kept us from passing a bill and had us in there, like, standing around with our heads spinning with green pea soup coming out of it because we couldn't even get the most basic thing done without who, I guess, Tammy wants me to call the fine senator from the state of whatever.

Go ahead, Dr. Dabinga. Rand Paul, no doubt. And Senator Cory Booker talked about just last week how they might have a workaround as it relates to that. But that's something that we need to keep that public pressure on because these are our priorities as well. And so I don't know what Schumer and Booker are going to be working on together, but these guys, these Rand Pauls and McConnors of the world, they seem to know the system better than the Democrats do. And I think once we realize, again, they realize he's not an honest broker, I want to see what Senator Booker is going to put forward, because he said there might be a workaround. Why wasn't this workaround around six, seven, eight months ago? You know, this is important to us, the Emmett Till anti-lynching

bill, this is important. And there are only going to be more cases like this. And again, we're just talking about the ones that make it to the news. And we know there are more. Come on, doctor. Yes. Dr. Avis. Ever. You're exactly right about Rand Paul's problem.

It's not just Rand Paul. I don't trust the Republicans. As much as I would like to say, my dear sister, yes, we need bipartisan solutions, we're not going to get bipartisan solutions. How much more proof do we have to have to see that there is a completely toxic element in our political system that doesn't give a damn about doing anything in a bipartisan way. How many more instances of proof do we need to see of that? It is, you know, we saw this specific tactic, for example, that they plotted around. The Republicans specifically, the night that President Obama was elected, they met in a hotel in Washington, D.C., and came to a political decision.

Now, think about the context. This was at the height of the mortgage crisis. People were losing their homes. People were losing their life savings. People were losing their jobs. And you know what they said they would do for the American people? Not a damn thing. That was their decision, that they were going to do not a damn thing for the American people. And a damn thing. That was their decision, that they were going to do not a damn thing for the American people, and instead what they would do is oppose any and everything that President Obama put forward, which they did.

And they are doing the very same thing now with the Biden administration. They have zero, zero credibility when it comes to this issue of wanting to reach a bipartisan solution on anything. So in my opinion, the desire for a bipartisan solution is a fool's errand. We need to figure out how we can take enough power to be able to do what we need to do without one Republican vote, because that is the only way we will have progress on those issues that are critically important to black people, period. Yeah. And we've got people on the streets right now. I got to go to the next topic. We've got people on streets right now trying to teach people how to spell filibuster so we can fix it. A Minnesota judge reverses his decision

to have the state pay legal fees for former officer Derek Chauvin. Good call. In September, the judge ordered the state to pay $5,000 for his appeal in the George Floyd case. And then the judge changed his decision saying Chauvin is not indigent and could afford his legal fees, all $5,000 of it. Chauvin is serving 22 and a half years for the murder of George Floyd. Let me start with you, Tammy. Now, first of all, I'm looking at this $5,000 and, I mean, these are just jokes now, right? I mean, even from prison, him, his defense team, everybody, they're making a mockery of an entire system

because to get a real appeal done is obviously in the tens of thousands of dollars and all they're trying to claim to charge him is $5,000 and he got the state to pay for that. Really? Listen, Monique, what legal team? What legal team? He don't have a defense legal team anymore. They quit.

He is self-represented right now. He's not, though. He's not, though. He is not, though. He is not, though. He's not representing himself on the appeal? No. They might not have their names, but he has lawyers.

They publicly had said when I just appeared on Court TV the other day that he was self-represented in his appeal. So I do think it's a good call to reverse the decision. I don't think any state should be paying the legal fees of an officer that was found guilty of murdering an unarmed black man with his knee in his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. I think that decision is on point. Again, I don't know what's going on with his defense team, with the appeal, but I do think, you know, given the fact, given the fact that I sat there day in, day out and did cover the Chauvin trial, I believe that the judge's rulings were preserved on the record. The defense attorneys, any of the objections, everything, in my opinion, was preserved on the record for any potential appeal. So the likelihood of success of an appeal overturning the conviction or even any of the sentencing components of it, I believe it's very, very unlikely. Oh, for sure. That was one of the most well-tried and well-adjudicated cases that I've seen in 22-plus years of doing this work. So, yeah, I think it's going to stick.

Either Dr. Aves or Dr. Dabenga, anything to add? I just don't understand how the state originally paid for it in the first place. I mean, just when you think about the amount of gaslighting that represents, Black people's tax money was used for that $5,000. Now, I'm glad that they reversed it, but the idea that that was even out there and at some point it was okay to do, Black people's tax money was part of that $5,000. It is atrocious. It is gaslighting. And I'm glad that at least now it's been reversed. And I'm also thinking about so many trials that we have.

One exception, I'm going to put a pin in and say that indigent defendants have rights. So the fact that the judge decided that he was not indigent and that that is the reason, to me, that is important because I don't think that it matters what crime was committed or how heinous the crime was that was committed or the fact that there's been a conviction. I'm in favor of everybody getting their constitutional rights because, you know, I don't think less constitution works for us. I think it needs to be equally applied. I'm sorry for the interruption. Go ahead, Dr. Dabenga. No, that's part of where I was going to go. Okay, hold on, Dr. Dabenga. Dr. Avis is putting a pin in it, too. Go ahead.

Oh, go for it. I 1,000% agree with you. Let me just say, though, and you might be, come here if I'm wrong on this, but this typically happens. I mean, and this might be why it was reversed. Typically, when these things happen, you have, for example, white supremacists, I hate to use that term, from across the country and other...

They come together and they create legal funds And you have, for example, white supremacists, I hate to use that term, from across the country and others. They come together and they create legal funds for a lot of these police officers who are on trial for murdering black people. So I'm assuming the same thing happened in this case. Is that what happened? Yes, and that's exactly why I was saying, even if he's claiming that he's defending himself, I firmly believe, absent any proof whatsoever, that there are some white supremacist-funded firms helping him to do his so-called pro bono appeal. Now it's your turn, Dr. Domingo. Well, it just has me thinking about all of the young people, young black and brown children, teenagers and the like who don't have

money to pay their fees. And if they can't pay, they go into jail, they go into prison. They don't have an opportunity to even get that type of luxury that Derek Chauvin was afforded. So going off your point, Monique, if we're going to apply it, it should apply to everybody. But so many times people from our community get in trouble with the law and don't have the money for their fees and say, hey, just throw them away, lock them up, throw away the key. And we need to have it be equal for everybody. Agreed, agreed and agreed. It's time for another break so we can pay the bills.

When we come back, we'll have a very important topic here next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay tuned. to quote Marcus Garvey again. The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I gotta defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network.

I am rolling with rolling all the way. I don't wanna be on a show that you own. A Black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Like, wow, Roland was amazing on that. Stay Black. I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform

that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be black on media and be scared. You dig? That spin class was brutal.

Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Oh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021.

Oh, you should pick something stronger. That's really predictable. That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too. Hey. Really outdid yourself.

Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision, an SUV built around you. All of you. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shantae Moore. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

According to the CDC, 255,000 breast cancer cases are diagnosed in women and around 2,300 in men each year. Those numbers tell us that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women. There is a one in eight chance that a woman will develop breast cancer. Breast cancer has the highest mortality rate of any cancer in women between 20 and 59. African-American women have a 31% breast cancer mortality rate. That's the highest of any racial or ethnic group. Breast cancer incidence is higher among African-American women younger than 45.

Younger African-American women are more likely to present with the triple negative of breast cancer, the more aggressive kind of breast cancer that associates with higher mortality rates. The triple negative breast cancer is diagnosed more often in American women of African descent. The American Cancer Society says women should have the option to start screening every year between the ages of 40 and 44. Women 45 plus should be screened every two years and continue on as long as they are in good health. Now, I want to start there with the option on screening and frequency of screening. And I'll go to the two women on my panel first. No offense, Dr. Dabinga.

Avis. Okay. You know, a lot of the reason why we're hearing these numbers be higher for you and me and Tammy and our sisters and mothers and daughters is because of the lack of access to care. So when we need something, we got to fight and advocate for things

that other private care doctors are offering as rote. And we have seen that improve to a certain extent under the Affordable Care Act, but we obviously are not anywhere near where we need to be. You're exactly right. And we aren't anywhere near where we need to be. We know that with Black women, breast cancer tends to present in us at younger ages than it does in other demographic groups. And when we are diagnosed, oftentimes, as you mentioned, we end up being diagnosed with the most aggressive form, triple negative breast cancer. And so oftentimes, by the time we are told by our doctor that we should be getting

those screenings, we are well past the age where the typical, where many Black women actually present. So we need to get those screenings younger. We need to be very loud and boisterous about fighting for our lives by asking for and making sure that we receive access to those screenings that we need to save our lives. And we need to make sure that we put the pressure on our overall health system as a whole to do a better job of providing health care to all in a way that values every life, because literally every life matters. Tammy, your thoughts? I agree 100 percent with Dr. And the fact that fact that you know black women at a younger age you know are getting diagnosed with with cancer and even filling lumps and so not having that

access to health care even with you know the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare whatever you want to call it even as it stands now yes's wonderful, but a lot of improvement can still be made because an individual that makes approximately $25,000 to even $30,000 a year, you know, they're paying about $400,000 to $500,000 a month with the Affordable Care Act. That's still a lot of money every single month going towards health insurance, and that's a little bit of money annually for someone. So what we're seeing are individuals who are not telling the truth about their annual income so they can pay less monthly, or individuals that are just like, you know what, I only got $500, $600 a month to pay this, so I'm just going on ahead and not have no insurance.

And that's a problem. So we need to address that and also talk about it more, talk about personal experiences that, you know, women like us on this panel and even you, Monique, have experienced personally or with our families so that when people are watching us, they can hear us and identify with our experiences and know that it's okay for them to maybe go to Planned Parenthood or go to some organization that is willing to do a mammogram, even though they're not at the age of 40. Because when we talk about bias, there's a lot of inherent bias in the healthcare system. We already know that. And me personally, you know, I'm 39 and I've had several mammograms over, you know, the past 15 years because I got to go to Viti's and lumps. So I have to push and ask questions to get a mammogram, but that I'm fighting primary care doctors. And I had that good government insurance to do that. Right. So that I can get a mammogram and then get an ultrasound for them to say, oh, it's a cyst or it's fibroadenoma,

which is very common in African-American women, but still me being able to have the fibroadenoma removed, which is just a benign lump, right? But there's like a 1% chance of it becoming cancerous. I'm fighting because I'm not at the age limit of a mammogram, right? I'm not 40, so it's like, oh, you don't need it. You don't need it. But I'm like, listen, I feel it. Touch it. Give me your hand, right? I have to do all of that just to get the mammogram that then results

in the ultrasound, that then resulted in the ultrasound-guided biopsy, that then resulted in the removal of just the fibroadenoma. So if we're not talking about it, you know, people aren't hearing about this to know that there is a problem. So thank you for even bringing this up. And y'all know I'm an open book. I don't care. I'll be telling all my business, but hopefully somebody hears it and is inspired and, you know, gets help and we can save some lives. Right. No. And I just, I appreciate your transparency even in sharing that you are so right that the stories have to be told. And the thing that just terrifies me

and saddens me about that is here, you are having to fight in that manner and you're a trained advocate. You know, you're a person with a great degree of education. What would happen with our sisters who don't have the words, you know, who don't have the advocacy skills, who don't have the education, what would happen with our sisters who don't have the words, you know, who don't have the advocacy skills, who don't have the education, who didn't have even the training in terms of hygiene and regular checkups and all of the things that they need.

And the other thing I want to throw in here, Dr. Dabenga, is not just that men need to get checked too. They do because it is found in men, certainly not to the extent of women, but it is found in men also. But also just the fact that even if you've got the best healthcare, you know, you need family support. And I would just love it if you could, if I could put you on the spot for all the brothers out there to do the best they can in any way they can, if you can give some guidance on how they can support the women they love and their families. Well, first of all, you know, I really commend everything that y'all are saying tonight. And the first thing that brothers got to do is we got to listen to y'all,

period, bottom line. You know, we have to listen. Everything that we've talked about tonight, whether we're talking about politics, whether we're talking about this right now, this thing about listening to Black women, it's real. And for something that doesn't affect us to nearly the level that it affects you all, we have to be the advocates for each other. Because the other challenge is when you all get into the hospitals, we also got issues of doctors not listening to you all. Whether we're talking about breast cancer, whether we're talking about pregnancy

and black women getting less epidurals. I remember the situation with Serena Williams and she was talking about like, she was clotting in the hospital for a particular condition and she had to tell the doctors, this is what you need to do. So all around, we need to listen to black women. And for black men, raising black young girls, we need to encourage them to make sure that when they're going in to ask the proper questions and we need

to teach them how to do that. Black men, we don't know better about black women's health than black women, period, bottom line. And if we don't want, if we want to be better than these cats in Texas and all of these other guys, we need to step aside and understand that our sisters know what they're talking about, and we need to support them at any juncture. And for brothers who are in these conversations amongst ourselves, when we're downplaying these types of conversations, we need to step up and check ourselves around each other first before we even coming back to our sisters as well, because I've been engaged in those conversations as well. And in those things, when we see these things happening and we don't speak up, we are part of the problem as well and not part of the solution. And it has

to stop. Well, it's going to be, thankfully, Breast Cancer Awareness Month all month. And I know it's not the last time that it will be discussed on this program it's amazing to me that in this country you can systemically tear apart the fabric of families for a racial demographic and then expect for them to be able to get family history from the families they no longer know how to reach so early detection is important if you don't know mama's history or daddy's history, it's almost impossible. And that's why someone like my sister Tammy at 39 needs to get what she's supposed to get,

whether she knows her history or not. If we present with something, believe us. Okay, that's my soapbox for the night. Well, maybe my second one. Despite the widespread COVID vaccine, we're one. Despite the widespread COVID vaccine, we're finding, despite the widespread COVID vaccine availability, there have been over 100,000 deaths since mid-June, bringing the total of deaths to 700,000 and more than 44 million cases. As flu season nears, medical professionals are urging patients to get the flu and COVID vaccine.

The flu attaches to 295,000 people in the United States. The vaccinated during the holidays need to continue to wear masks. Health experts insist that we will be able to have a vaccine for those that are ages 5 to 15 sooner rather than later. I think that's already available, though, for Pfizer, unless I just read that wrong. Anybody on my panel know y'all are the experts? I don't think it's available for 5 to 15 yet. I think, like you said, they've been talking about it. I have a 7-year-old, so I've been on the lookout trying to hear about that. So what ages can get it now?

Give me the facts, y'all. It's 12 and up for the Pfizer vaccine right now. Okay, the end of this month. Okay, I'm looking back. Let me look at my notes. We'll meet at the end of this month to discuss Pfizer's vaccine eligibility for children ages 5 to 11. I was on the first thing smoking.

The minute they said my kids could get it, I was in there, but that's just me. Okay, comments from our panel. Dr. Dabenga? I think that this is crucial. I think that this is extremely important, and as we're going into this pandemic or continuing on, I mean, we've lost more people than we lost during the flu of 1918, and I saw a panel this weekend on continuing on, I mean, we've lost more people than we lost during the flu of 1918. And I saw a panel this weekend on the news, and they were talking about this country was supposed to be pandemic proof. But when you have people like Trump come in and you suppress the pandemic response and the like, the pandemic response unit and the like, and then you don't have the type of access that we were just talking about in the last segment. And then you got the ignorance and the disinformation. We're getting

what we're getting right now. People are still blaming immigrants and blaming people at the border and not wanting to look at doing the work themselves. And I feel like we still have the opportunity to get out of this. It's just a will. We're kind of like slaves to our freedoms right now. People are having this mentality where I can kind of do what I want. You can't tell me what to do. And we keep mixing up freedom and license. You can have the freedom to not get vaccinated, but you don't have the license to make me sick. And so we need to make sure that we're continuing on this route. I think that we're closer to overcoming it, but I'm very nervous about the holiday season and what's going to happen. And I think that

there'll probably be another surge after that because people are just so stubborn right now. Avis. I completely agree. Amen, amen, amen to everything that Dr. Namika said. I mean, you have the, I loved it. You have the freedom not to vaccinate if you don't have a license to make me sick. That is the part of it that is so critical to me because you have all these people, interestingly, the same people who want to take away a woman's right to choose around here to talk about my body, my choice when it comes to the vaccine. I find that very interesting. But it's not just your body. It's all of our bodies. And things, unfortunately,

will probably get worse as we head into the colder months and more people are inside. And if people don't start to really take this thing seriously in terms of getting vaccinated, in terms of wearing those masks, we're going to find ourselves once again back in another space where we are seeing spiking rates of COVID. If we want to get past this thing, we all need to do our part. And a major part of that is making sure that you get the vaccine. Get vaxxed, y'all. For all of our sakes. Please, Jesus. All right.

Alabama lawmakers passed a law to use COVID relief funds to build more prisons. Let that sink in. Republican Governor Kay Ivey believes the funds are necessary for the state's struggling prison infrastructure. Criminal justice advocates argue the funds were not meant to increase prisons in the state and could be used to improve the lives of residents. Alabama has some of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. Blacks make up only a quarter of the state's population, but over half of the prison population. One more again. Blacks make up only a quarter of the state's population, but over half of the prison population. Make it make sense, Tammy. Listen, Monique. Make it make sense. Talk about that one more time. Blacks make up a quarter of the population of the whole state, y'all, but half of the prison population. So when we talk about criminal justice reform,

the reform is addressing that. The math ain't mathin', okay? It ain't no criminal justice reform, Tam. You know, we need to talk about the support, but obviously COVID relief money was not, you know, intended to build more prisons as we are trying to push and advocate for non-private prisons and reducing the prison population. So using funds where a lot of Black-owned

businesses didn't even get PPP loans or EIDL because they can't even figure out how to do the paperwork right. And when they did do it right or wrong, they then got caught up with some federal indictments, but that's a whole other story. That money is not for building more prisons so that they can identify more people that DOJ seal to lean on regardless, you know, is I need individuals that are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated to understand that they are deserving of the forgiveness of clemency and that clemency is different than wrongful convictions and, you know, prosecutorial misconduct. But all of that goes into play when we have states that are building prisons for a financial benefit. It's a problem on a wider scale. And I just don't want to talk too much, like shut me up if you need to, but it's too much. It's too much. I mean, it's pay to play for sure. But I mean, Avis,

they said they were doing things to make their residents more comfortable. Apparently the residents they're talking about is the ones in prison. What they're doing is they are using black bodies as a monetization method to get white people jobs in Alabama, period. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's an employment system. It's income generation. It's a tax. It's slave labor. You name it. Prisons are the business. Prisons are big business. Hold on, Tam. What did you say, Dr. Avis? That's my point exactly. Prisons are a big business. When you look at a poor state like Alabama, what they are, and you have the statistics that you just laid out, 25% of the population is black, over 50% of those in prisons are black. Those black bodies are being policed by whom? I tell you that it's not being

policed by over 50% black people. I can tell you that. So it's being used. We are being used specifically as the means of production for an industry in Alabama that disproportionately keeps lower educated white people employed. That's what that's for. And that's what that COVID money has been used to do to keep uneducated white people with jobs in Alabama. Yeah, can't can't disagree at all. 15 seconds, Dr. Dabinga, and then we're going to a break. Let's just also add the fact that these prisons are going to be built in these rural populations, which are going to be used to add to the census count so that these rural communities can get more money

that are not going to go towards those prisoners. So it's a hustle all around. And if people really want to talk about this, that money shouldn't be taken back because it's being misappropriated. And I thought that was illegal to do. It's supposed to be got to go to a break, got to go to a break. We'll be back. Roland Martin unfiltered. Stay tuned. I'm sorry. Nå er vi på veien. Norske Kulturskapet Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids.

You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? Hey, I'm Amber Stephens-West. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Howard University and Netflix are making it easier for some students to attend college. HU, a scholarship worth $5.4 million honoring the late Chadwick Boseman will help incoming College of Fine Arts students with a four-year scholarship

to cover the total cost of university tuition. In a statement, the school's president spoke about the importance of the scholarship. The statement reads, it is with immense pleasure and deep gratitude that we announce the creation of an endowed scholarship in honor of alumnus Chadwick Boseman, whose life and contributions to the arts continue to inspire.

This scholarship embodies Chadwick's love for Howard, his passion for storytelling, and his willingness to support future generations of Howard students. I am thankful for the continuous support and partnership of Chadwick's wife, Mrs. Simone Ledward-Boseman, and to Netflix for this important gift. Last month, the university renamed the School of Fine Arts after the late actor. H.U., you know, which somebody on my panel would say if there was any bison among us. Y'all go ahead.

Okay. What you got to say, Dr. Dabenga? You can't say nothing but good stuff. You can't say nothing but good stuff. You know, there's not enough time to express how much love I have for Chadwick Boseman. Gone too soon. And, you know, we're the same age. And I just I'm so ecstatic from what I'm seeing Howard do to continue to uplift his legacy.

And, of course, Netflix going going joining as well. And it's just beautiful. It's just beautiful to see. And it's just getting emotional just seeing more stories about how people are honoring him because he's a brother who should just never be forgotten. Tammy? I think it's amazing, you know, spending over a decade in the D.C. area. You know, I've met a lot of wonderful graduates of H.U. And I think specifically having the scholarship for students that are in the fine arts.

I think that is one of those majors that I think underrepresented groups struggle to identify with or truly own their passion. That's my little business plug, own their passion of the arts because I think that whenever you're coming from an underrepresented group and trying to establish yourself and break generational curses, there's this kind of understanding or pressure to have a major that's like medicine or law or engineering. So to focus and to encourage underrepresented groups to express their creativity and to let them know that there is a career in that and there is ownership with creativity. And the fact that it's okay to have a career in something that's different than law or a doctor or an engineer. And I think that, you know, Chadwick Bozeman has demonstrated that and his legacy will continue on by hopefully encouraging a lot of

people. Amen to that. Dr. Avis, close us out on this. Chadwick Boseman was a beautiful soul whose entire catalog of work makes us proud and so I am just thrilled to see that he has been honored in this way. I am thrilled for Howard and the students that will benefit from this so that we can keep that memory alive and beyond that keep the legacy of creating work and the students that will benefit from this so that we can keep that memory alive and beyond that keep the legacy of creating work and creating art that makes us proud continue to live on for generations it's beautiful yes I really am thankful just to see him being honored in this way and to know, as you all said, how many people are going to reap the benefit of the richness of his legacy. I think we made it, y'all. Wait, we're not there yet. We have a quick break because all the bills have to be paid,

or as the old church folks would say, before we can ask, all hearts and minds are clear, all hearts and minds are clear. We're going to take one more quick break, and then we'll be there. It's time to be smart. When we control our institutions, we win. This is the most important news show on television of any racial background. Y'all put two, three, four, five, 10, 15, 20, $30 on this and keep this going.

What you've done, Roland, since this crisis came out in full bloom. Anybody watching this, tell your friends, go back and look at the last two weeks, especially of Roland Martin and Filkey. I mean, hell, go back and look at the last two days. You've had sitting United States senators today, Klobuchar and Harris. Whatever you have that you have, you can bring to Roland Martin unfiltered to support it. Please do, because this information may literally save

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Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Oh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021.

Oh, you should pick something stronger. That's really predictable. That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too. Hey. Really out tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too. Hey. Really outdid yourself.

Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision, an SUV built around you. All of you. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.V.J. What up? I'm Lana Wells, and you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered.

We made it. Thanks for joining us here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network. Special big thanks to tonight's panel, Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeaver, Dr. Omokongo Dabinga, and attorney Tammy Ellison-EsQ. You guys were phenomenal. Thank you for carrying a sister over the finish line. I love y'all. If you haven't done it yet, download the Black Star Network on all of your devices. You can download on iPhone, Apple TV, Android, Android TV, Roku, Fire TV, Xbox One, Smart TV. Whatever y'all got, download now.

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And all of the places that we stream, go, support. Guys, you know you're not going to get these stories anyplace else? You know you're not. It's only going to be here, here. And you know who's going to be here tomorrow? Roland Martin, as unfiltered as ever, or more so. He will be back with the show. Thank you. Take care.

I will be out of commission. He will be live from Los Angeles. I'm Monique Presley. It's been fun to be with you today. Have a great night. I won't say holla, but maybe the panel will. Holla! I'm calling Dr. Adam. What's got you all up? Roland Martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punches! Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving

voice to the issues. Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again. The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.

I gotta defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network. I am rolling with rolling all the way. I'm gonna be on a show that you own, a Black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. I'm proud. Roland was amazing on that.

Stay Black. I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be Black on media and be scared.

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