#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Dems challenge extremist MAGA agenda, South African Ambassador expelled, Mich. Lt. Gov. Gilchrist

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

3.17.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Dems challenge extremist MAGA agenda, South African Ambassador expelled, Mich. Lt. Gov. Gilchrist ✨Get your "Don't Blame Me ... I Voted for the Black Woman" tee and #FAFO 2025 tee TODAY #RMU Merch 👉🏾 https://rolandmartin.creator-spring.com/✨ Maryland Congressman Glenn Ivey will join us to discuss the Democrats' efforts to address the ongoing challenges created by the MAGA agenda. We'll explain why the Trump Administration is expelling South Africa's ambassador to the United States. The ambassador has until Friday to leave the country. Michigan voters can make history by electing the state's first Black governor. We'll speak with Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II about his gubernatorial campaign. The mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed an executive order on Sunday officially designating June 1 as Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day. And I'll talk to political strategist and social impact leader Alencia Johnson about her  debut book, "Flip the Tables." #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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the ongoing challenges created by the MAGA agenda, especially with polling numbers show their numbers have fallen through the floor. Also, the Trump administration, they are expelling South Africa's ambassador to the United States. The ambassador has until Friday to leave the country. I'm also going to break down why this is one

of the most anti-black presidential administrations since the racist tenure of Woodrow Wilson. Michigan voters can make history by electing the state's first black governor. We'll talk with Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist about his gubernatorial campaign. Plus, the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed an executive order on Sunday officially designating June 1st as Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed an executive order on Sunday, officially designating June 1st as Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day. Plus, I'll talk to political strategist and social impact leader Alicia Johnson about her new book, Flip the Tables.

Lots for us to break down. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered with the Blackstone Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it Whatever the piss he's got The scoop, the fat, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics

With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's on go, go Roro, y'all It's Roland Martin, yeah Rolling with Roland now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's fresh, he's real, the best you know He's rolling, Martin Martin

Polling numbers show Democrats have a 29% approval rating, the lowest in modern history. Many are saying Democrats are in a state of disarray. 56 days in of the twice-impeached, criminally convicted, felony-in-chief Donald O'Connor Trump administration. So the question is, what do they do now? Last week, of course, late Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, of course, led the effort, along with 10 others,

to vote for Republicans' continuing resolution. He is facing massive calls by many to actually step down as Senate minority leader. Lots is going on. And so let's talk with Glenn Ivey. He is the congressman from Maryland. Glad to have you here, Congressman. It's a whole lot going on. There's a belief that Democrats are all over the place. I keep telling people you can't focus on 2026 because, hell, you're not even having to get to the summer of 2025. But but but the reality is what the Republicans are doing is that was that was their goal. Let's just throw everything up against the wall at one time, making it very hard to respond to their efforts?

Well, I think there have been some good responses, especially in court. I think most of those cases have gone our way so far, although we're not out of the woods yet. We've got a lot more work to do. But the injunctions that have been put in place to protect government employees or to block the challenges to constitutional rights like birthright citizenship. So far, those have gone in the right direction. So hopefully that will continue. In Congress, though, I think, you know, Friday was a very disappointing day. You know, Hakeem Jeffries did a great job on Tuesday of organizing House Democrats to vote against the Trump spending bill, which was a Trojan horse bill aimed at really

undermining the authority of Congress to make sure we know where money goes and prevent him from sending money from blue states to red states. Unfortunately, as you just pointed out, Senate leader, Democratic leader anyway, Chuck Schumer, got 10 other Democrats to go with him and to vote with the Trump agenda. So that was a shock. It was a disappointment. It was a missed opportunity. And I think, you know, we're only going to get a couple more shots to turn back the tide with what Trump's doing, at least from Congress. And so we need to make sure we get the next one right. You know, on that particular point there, you know, I'm constantly trying to explain to people that you have to understand process. And that is y'all are very, very, very, very limited on the House side to stop Republicans from moving forward. The rules of the House are totally different than the rules of the Senate.

And the rules of the Senate, you can filibuster. You can, one person, you got the blue slip. One person can hold up nominations. We've seen that beforehand. You don't have the same type of thing on the House side. So, frankly, people don't understand. The most you can do on the House side. So frankly, people don't understand the most you can do on the House side is yell, scream, hold news conferences, you know, in terms of do things like that.

Procedurally, you simply don't have the power to do in the House like you can do in the Senate. Yeah, that's right. So, you know, Akeem had led efforts by the Democrats, you know, in the last two years to block some of those efforts that the Republicans were making. And we were successful with that because the Republicans splintered. And so they needed Democratic votes to get things passed. And that's how we kept the government open and, you know, raised the debt ceiling and the like. This time around, though, the House Republicans stayed unified. So even though we were unified, so were the House Republicans. So that was, majority rule is enough in the House, so that's how it got through. But, you know, Akeem Jeffries, I would say met the moment, but, you know,

clearly Schumer did not in the Senate. So then you have the folks who say, oh, well, the antics of the Democrats, you know, they look like children, what they were doing when it came to Trump's speech. And to me, that's one of those things was, OK, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. And frankly, I think that I had no issue with what Democrats did with this joint session of Congress speech. We had the State of Our Union. I didn't care that trash speech he delivered. We had Reverend Bishop William Barber delivering ours. And so that's the other thing. It's like

people are demanding something of House Democrats that doesn't exist. Senate is a whole different deal. And I do believe, obviously, messaging is important as well. But again, this is not defending Democrats.

It's just looking at this thing for what it is. Until the pain impacts a larger group of people, mostly white people, you're not going to then see the response that you need. You can stand there and yell, holler, and scream and be upset, but if the perception is that, well, that's liberals, that's progressives, that's those Democrats, they don't care. What has to happen here, Musk and Trump must continue what they're doing, and the pain must then hit red America.

It must hit their voters. That is the only way you're going to see things change. And what happened when people started showing up to three or four Republican town halls? They got scared and was like, uh, we ain't having town halls again, because they don't want to be yelled at because they don't want to have to face their constituents. Yeah, I think that's right. And it's important for House Democrats to make sure that we're laying out to the American people and being clear and explaining why things are going so badly for the Republicans in the Trump administration, and most importantly, how it's hurting them. Like the cuts to Medicaid, $881 billion in cuts, as you pointed out,

that's going to hit red America. That's going to hit rural America. And, you know, they're going to have hospitals shutting down and the like. They're going to have grandma getting kicked off, you know, her medical treatments because she can't afford to pay for them herself. And then you've got this bill that just passed, veterans being punished. And so you'll have the $23 billion cut from the PAC Act that was aimed at helping veterans who were injured during the last wars based on their service. You're going to have many veterans fired in this, you know, purge they're making of government employees, you know, because there are 80,000 veterans who are government employees

right now. And so and the impact of firing these government employees is going to result in poor service to people and dramatic impact things like terminating clinical trials for pediatric cancer. You know, the irony was they had that young boy at the State of the Union, and they celebrated the fact that he was a cancer survivor. But at the same time, they're cutting off the research that helps to find other cures for young boys like that in the same situation. We've got to make sure we're pointing those things out to the American public so they can see what's going on, see the negative impacts, and turn the tide. And then hopefully in 2026 we will have done enough to win back the House, and then we'll have real power again, as you're pointing out.

Yeah. And I just think that I do think it's a very good idea. We see this with Governor Tim Walz and others who are holding town halls in Republican areas. You must take the fight to them. That's what actually has to happen. And so I dare say, for the people who are whining and complaining, I say, I've been saying that the beginning of this year going through August is really about education, enlightenment, and informing. These are the facts of what's going on. While that is happening, then it's also mobilizing,

organizing, understanding that you can't tweet your way out of this. You can't Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook your way out of this. It literally has to be organizing and mobilizing. You've got a critical Supreme Court race coming up in Wisconsin on April 1st. You've got Elon Musk dumping millions of dollars. The Republican candidate, Sarah Crawford, is the Democratic candidate. If she wins that, then Democrats hold a 5-2 majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. That means that you beat back partisan gerrymandering. You can make that illegal.

You allow ballot drop boxes to be reinstated. You have them restore the powers of the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and the attorney general and the secretary of state. Now, all of a sudden, you focus on we're going to have Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist from Michigan. Listen, you win there. You've got three special elections coming up. Yes, they're in red districts, but you still have to be mobilizing and organizing in those areas as well. You never know. There could be an upset.

So I just think that bitching and moaning is one thing, but actually organizing and mobilizing is what's required. I think that's absolutely right. And part of, you know, the mobilization and organization process is making sure we're demonstrating to the public the mistakes that the Trump administration's making, the negative impact it's having on them and their families. Remember, he campaigned on economics. He said he was going to make their lives better, and Biden had hurt him. And here he is taking money out of their pockets with these misguided tariff policies and the like. So we've got to make sure we're clear on that. We've got to make sure we keep litigating and winning in court

because that's helping to block some of their efforts. I think they're getting a little frustrated with the fact that the courts are, quote unquote, getting in their way. Because, yeah, you've got to follow the law, even when you're president. And also, we got to make sure we're organizing in states and especially in congressional districts that are represented by members in the Republican Party, but they just barely won. Some of them that are Republicans who won their districts are in districts that Harris carried. So we should be able to take those back. And we need to make sure we do everything we can to position ourselves to do exactly that. Yeah, you've got about 20 or so Republicans who are, you know, look, they could have some issues

and they must be targeted. Folks must be going to those areas. They must be talking to those voters. And also for me, it's about how do you look at numbers? How many votes did the person win last time? And how many votes did the Democratic challenger lose by? And then say, how many doors are we touching? How many people are we touching? How... I mean, here's the deal. Even though, even in those districts you're talking about, even though you may have a Republican who represents them, it doesn't mean that you can't actually have your own town halls in that particular district, in that congressional district, talking to those voters, educating them,

because the reality is the right wing echo chamber pushes out many of these lies. You have to combat these lies with actual facts. Yeah, that's exactly right. And, you know, the other part we need to do now that we didn't do very well in 2024 is we've got to get in these communication lines that the Republicans use that we don't even know about or we didn't know about them in November. So people who were listening to that were only getting one side of the story. A lot of times they were getting lies and distortions and half-truths and they weren't hearing anything on the other side, so they were believing it. We've got to make sure we get heard in those same communities too.

And so there's a really aggressive effort. You know, Leader Akeem Jeffries is spearheading this and we've got a communications team that's new and in place that's making a difference with this. Reaching out to folks like you and other influencers and journalists on cable and, you know, other podcasters and the like to make sure that every avenue we can take to get the information out, that's what we're going to do. Yep, absolutely. Congressman Glenn Ivey, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. I want to bring in my panel right now. We're

joined by Dr. Amakongo Dabenga, Senior Professorial Lecturer, School of International Service, American University. He's also author of Lies About Black People. Dr. Julian Malveaux, Economist, President, Emerita Bennett College, author of Surviving and Thriving, 365 Facts in Black Economic History.

And Ben Dixon, pastor, political commentator and author of God is Not a Republican, joining us out of Atlanta. You know what? I'm going to start with you, Ben. Here's this pretty dumb ass comment from somebody named Ken B. in our YouTube chat. He goes, bitching and moaning is what this show does with Trump every show. When was the last time he wasn't mentioned on this show? Well, you idiot Ken B, you mentioned him because you mentioned the things that he's doing. So when Trump's DOJ chose to stop the lawsuit against the petrochemical plant in Louisiana, in Cancer Alley that impacts black people, you kind of got to mention them.

When you see them removing the history of black veterans, even medal, presidential, you know, Medal of Honor winners, you kind of got to mention them. You talk about Medicaid cuts and the cuts from Elon Musk, you kind of got to mention them. So, yeah, if the right mentioned Biden and Harris every single day for four years, you damn right we are going to share with our audience facts about the evil, shameful, despicable things that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing. Simple Simon can be.

And, Roland, I'm so glad that you mentioned that comment, because it is a standardized tactic of MAGA to try to get us to stand down from doing what we know we need to do in this moment, which is why I'm so grateful for this show, because as I heard you discussing this with the congressman, I realize that you all have—you see it very clearly. And what's so difficult in this moment is to get people to wake up and see what's actually happening. And that's why it's so critical that we have voices like yours. The congressperson was speaking about how black congressional leaders should go across and speak to other platforms. We have to get a repetitive routine of stating the obvious,

that Donald Trump is a complete and abject failure. He is turning into the slumlord president of a shithole nation, and because of his decisions, people are suffering. And so I'm so grateful to know that people, leaders, Tim Walz and so many others, are going across the country right now and going on their turf, going into Maga land and making sure everyone in Maga land realizes that they've been hoodwinked. Well, I just get a kick out of people who don't pay attention, Julian. So this same idiot posed, yeah, you mentioned, that's right, I said it.

When was the last time you ever talked about him? He drives your ratings. Where's your plan? That means you're stupid. I literally just talked about what needs to happen with Congressman Glenn Ivey. Every single day we talked about that. We had a seven-hour State of Our Union broadcast that was one of the highest watch shows on YouTube out of all of the channels on YouTube

on that particular day. We're constantly talking about a plan. But again, when you got dumb folk who don't pay attention and don't listen and all they want to do is complain, anybody who says that we have not talked about a plan of action on

this show, they literally are dumb. Well, dumb, dumb, and dumber. There are fools, damn fools, and big old MF fools out there. And forgive me for saying MF, but you know what I mean. Here's the bottom line. The Democrats have dropped the ball. We're all scrambling to figure out how they can pick it back up.

Congressman Ivey has made a great series of points about what needs to happen. But until Democrats do something, you know, I remember back in, you know, I'm old, Roland. I love saying I'm old. A people united will never be defeated. And what we're doing is we're seeing a people not united playing games. Schumer needs to be taken to a small room with a licking stick because that rolling over was just really absurd. He didn't have to do that. But at the end of the day, what we have is we have some

stalwart members of Congress who are saying, oh, hell no. You have some others who say, oh, we don't want to be disruptive. Well, what do you think this orange man is but disruptive? So when we look at all of this, what we have to just do is contextualize it and say, this is unacceptable, but there are those who will take the unacceptable and make it acceptable. And we have to resist, resist, resist. That's all we have to do is resist. So I am disturbed, distracted, bewildered, annoyed, as many of us are. But you know what? Rest is resistance. Reflection is resistance. Our existence is resistance. See, I'm not disturbed or distracted, Om Congo because we predicted what was going to happen. We said what they were going to do three days, two days after the election.

I never forget. Folks are like, dang, Roland, how have you moved on? I said, the election is over. I mean, it's called accepting the results of reality and then now focused on how do you create a new reality? And the fact of the matter is, you cannot focus on 2028 in 2025. You can't focus on 2027 or even 2026. What you can focus on is 2025. So as Congressman Glenn Ivey said, what do you have to do? There's a legal action, massive lawsuits everywhere. You let nothing go unopposed. That's legal. You have your protest side, okay, critically important, putting pressure on those Republicans. You have the education, the informing side. That's important

as well, okay? Vice President Kamala Harris did not lose by a massive amount of votes. She did not, okay? So we need to understand how the results can be changed. But you have to understand that you focus on what's in front of you right now. I'm so glad that you said that, because one of the things that have frustrated me over the last over the weekend was all of this. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action.

And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing.

So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

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Lava for Good Plus on Apple 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've 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 Council. Talk about whether AOC should challenge Schumer in New York. And I'm like, that's 2028. Right. That's three. That's that's three years from now. Right. Well, when I first heard it, I'm like, is there an election this year? Like, but people are

sticking to that. I've heard people mention things about Hakeem Jeffries. And, you know, now people want to talk about challenging Chuck Schumer's leadership in the Senate. Now that's a different conversation. But you're right, Roland, this idea about needing to think right now and in the present, this happens when you've been focused on this the entire time, which is what we've been doing here on the Black Star Network. The fact of the matter is that ever since Joe Biden stepped down, the Democrats have been fractured going into this new election right now of Trump. And so, yes, it's fractured, but this is the better time to be fractured now. But as you said, if we can understand that everybody's saying Democrats don't have a plan, but you're right.

Some are involved in the protest. Some are involved in the legal. And then you have the street folks who aren't part of, you know, independence or whatever, just the activists, as they say, if the people lead, the leaders will follow. And the Democrats on some levels need to step back and watch that while they're doing what they're doing in the courts and in the House and what they can do to challenge these things. This is the time to synthesize it all. And if people start paying—and this idea of, well, they can—you know, Republicans control all the information streams. Well, I'm seeing Jeffries come on here. I'm seeing Ivey come on here. And so many who are realizing that if we work together building on networks like this, we can build networks that have already

been out there countering the Foxes and the OANNs and all of that other type of stuff. That's what Representative Ivey was talking about when he was saying getting to understand new platforms. And so this is the time when you're supposedly, as Democrats, powerless is to really organize. I think some of their beefs need to go behind closed doors, to be quite honest, because that's going to help show a little bit more cohesion. I understand that they're frustrated and upset, but if they continue to listen to what you're saying, if they continue to listen to people on the ground and actually turn towards their base, which was a mistake in the Harris campaign, trying to appeal to independents and

Republicans and all of that, they stick to their base, some real change can happen this year. Yeah, I don't focus on the things that I cannot control. I focus on what we can control. That's the most important thing. So I'm going to go to a break. We come back and talk about June 1st now being recognized as a city, the official city holiday in Tulsa, we will explain. Also, we'll talk about how this Trump-Mack administration literally is one of the most racist, anti-Black administrations since the days of the virulent, racist Woodrow Wilson. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. We begin tonight with the people who are really running the country right now. Trump is often wrong and misleading

about a lot of things, but especially about history. Donald Trump falling in line with President Elon Musk. In the wake of the unsettling news that MSNBC has canceled Joy Ann Reeve's primetime show, The Readout,

Roland Martin and the Black Star Network would like to extend an invitation to all of the fans of Joy and Reeve MSNBC show to join us every night to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming on the Blackstar Network for news, discussion of the issues that matter to you and the latest updates on the twice impeached criminally convicted felon-in-chief Donald Trump and his unprecedented assault on democracy, as well as co-president Elon Musk's takeover of the federal government. The Black Star Network stands with Joy Ann Reid and all folks who understand the power of black voices in media.

We must come together and never forget that information is power. Be sure to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered weeknights, 6 p.m. Eastern at youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin or download the Blackstar Network app. Now that Roland Martin is willing to give me the blueprint,

hey, Saraz, I need to go to Tyler Perry and get another blueprint because I need some green money. The only way I can do what I'm doing, I need to make some money. So you'll see me working with Roland. Matter of fact, it's the Roland Martin and Sheryl Underwood Show. Well, should it be the Sheryl Underwood Show

and the Roland Martin Show? Well, whatever show it's going to be, it's going to be good. Folks, of course, the Tulsa Race Massacre took place in 1921. You realize it wasn't until 2018 that students in that state actually were taught about that race massacre. Why is that? Because, well, white folks in Oklahoma did not want to even talk about it. They didn't want to focus on it. There's been a continuous effort by the folks there, by African-Americans there, to really get the city and the state to not only pay reparations, but to give just due to that.

So now there's been a change in leadership in Tulsa. They got their first black mayor, and as a result, some things are happening. Demario Solomon-Simmons joins us right now. He, of course, is an attorney, been working with the families, also there working with the Greenwood Project, and lots of different things going on. So you got some good news today, Demario. I do have some good news. Good to see you, Roland, as always. The good news is, is that, as you know, we put forward Project Greenwood back a couple of months ago. We've been meeting with our mayor, Mayor Monroe Nichols. And he announced yesterday that he accepted one of

our proposals, which was to create June 1 of each year as an official city holiday, so we properly memorialize and commemorate the massacre and make sure it can never be erased from our history books ever again here in the city of Tulsa. So we're pretty pumped about it. For the folks who don't realize, I mean, y'all have got lots of resistance from previous white mayors. Well, yeah, I mean, I've been working on this issue overall over 25 years and pushing just to try to get the holiday was something I've been doing specifically for over 20 years. And so now to have a new leader, Mayor Monroe Nichols IV, like you said, our very first African-American mayor, someone that's coming in and wanting to right the wrongs of not only just the past, but what's happening right now, because as we see what's happening

in Oklahoma and throughout the country with the eraser or to try the eraser of our history, our contributions. Having a citywide holiday is something that will stop that here in the city. And of course, this is just the first step. We have 12 other proposals within Project Greenwood. And I'm also excited to announce that Mayor Nichols on April 6th, in a couple of weeks, will be announcing the other aspects of Project Greenwood that he plans to implement. He's going to do that at one of our 13 historical churches that survived the massacre. That's Morning Star Baptist Church. Of course, we will be there and we're looking forward to the announcement. This is a perfect example of what I'm always trying to say, what happens when you actually use your voting power?

Yeah, I mean, you know, this movement for justice for Greenwood, and we've been working on these things for a long time, but part of that is just building power within our communities. And a shout-out to my sister, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher and the Terrence Crutcher Foundation, who's been doing a lot of this work on the ground,

and we were able to come together with them, with other community groups, and get people up and empowered about the political process, political education, and make sure people get out to vote. Now, of course, it's 501c3s. You can't tell them who to vote for, but you can make sure they're involved in the actual process. And I think people saw who they wanted to have in office to kind of bring some of the things they want to see happen here locally. Absolutely. And again, for people to understand what's been happening there, you know, the city spent

millions of dollars on this museum downtown trying to attract tourism, did not include the black folks there from Greenwood. And really, it was sort of this effort to gentrify a massacre that impacted black people. No question about it. And you're talking about the millions of dollars that was raised that didn't go to any of the survivors or the descendants of the massacre. And, of course, we still have two living survivors. I would be remiss if I didn't specifically shout out my clients, 110-year-old Mother Viola Ford Fletcher

and 110-year-old Mother Leslie Bennet Phil Randall. Mother Fletcher will be 111th. I'm going to say it again. Mother Fletcher will be 111th on May 10th. And one of the main aspects of Project Greenwood is to make sure she's compensated in her lifetime. And so, again, we're excited about this very first step with the June 1st holiday.

And by the way, Roland, we picked June 1st. I picked June 1st because I wanted the massacre, for those who don't know, occurred over a two-day period. It happened from May 31st and June 1st. We picked June 1st because we didn't want to ever conflict with Memorial Day. We wanted to make sure that the massacre has its own special day.

But as we are so excited about this designation, we're still pushing for compensation for these two living survivors. We're still looking for a victim's compensation fund for the over $200 million in property and insurance claims that are outstanding and all of the murder victims. We're still looking for business grants for descendants who have businesses, scholarships for descendants who are trying to go to school. We're looking for immunity from taxes from descendants that have been paying into the city for 104 years without getting anything back. We're looking for a hospital to be built.

We had a hospital during the massacre that was burnt down. We don't have a hospital here in the Greenwood District and many, many other things. Plus, by doing it in June, you also just jumped right into Black Music Month. So you got that as well. Oh, that's good. I'm not as up on the music scene as you are, Roland,

but I appreciate that. And, you know, one thing we did think about is, you know, June 1st will be the Tulsa Race Master Commemoration. Then on June 14th, it is the anniversary of the signing of the Creek Treaty of 1866, which is enslavement within the Creek Nation for black Creeks like myself. Then, of course, we have Juneteenth. And listen, we know holidays is not substantive compensation or money that people can spend, the reparations that we need to eradicate the wealth

gap that we have within our communities. But this is a part of reparations as we start to commemorate and remember our history. And it gives us a platform to always make sure we can talk about these other substantial things that we need to have happen, like actual conversation with those who are old. And of course, last year, that celebration weekend took place, and lots of different things were happening there, including you had the Anthony Hamilton concert. I actually co-emceed that. Come on, guys.

So this was, of course, I had a good time there. A lot of folks came out for that weekend, you know, and of course, and trying to get people to understand that it's not just about a celebration, not just a party, not just. But it really is about legacy, accepting that and also getting people to understand the power of black owned business, getting people to understand, getting them in a state of mind where they recognize the support of black-owned businesses in doing this. Because it's one thing to sit here and it's one thing to sit here and just talk about what we need to do. It's a whole other to get people to practice that, to be in the habit of understanding what that is.

Yeah, and that's why I'm so proud of my team. I mean, Justice for Greenwood, our team, and all of our lawyers from around the country, like Sheltie Roth and Zabel in New York, my co-counsel Eric Mellon out in L.A., and so many other people have come together. You, Roland, you've been down to Tulsa many times. You've had me on the show.

You've shown a lot of support and love for what we're doing. And that's what it takes. That's what it's going to take in this time period. And as we talk about justice for Greenwood and Project Greenwood, one thing I'm really talking to my community and folks about is getting into the Greenwood mentality, the Greenwood principles, something we call Think Greenwood, that Think Greenwood. And these are the five core principles that built the Greenwood district in the first place, which is, number one, community love. Number two was self-determination. Number

three was ownership. Number four was wealth and education concentration. And number five were resilience. These are the things that built the Greenwood district in the first place during an era that was even tougher than the era that we're in now. And these are the principles that we need to commit to. Anyone that's listening that want to commit to those five principles, go to thinkgreenwoodnow.com. ThinkGreenwoodNow. Just join that pledge and say that you're going to live by those Greenwood principles and that you're going to join with us in justice for Greenwood to make sure we see reparations and justice for these people here in Tulsa, but also for our entire country. There were, I know last year, there were shirts being sold, things along those lines.

So people want to be able to support. Where do they go? Well, if you want to make a donation to the work of Justice for Greenwood, go to justiceforgreenwood.org. That's justiceforgreenwood.org. If you want to take the pledge and the Greenwood principles, go to thinkgreenwoodnow.com. Thinkgreenwoodnow.com. Just join and connect with us because we have a lot of great things in store. GO TO THINK GREENWOOD NOW.COM. THINK GREENWOOD NOW.COM. JUST JOIN AND CONNECT WITH US. WE HAVE A LOT OF GREAT THINGS IN STORE IN ADDITION TO THE MAYOR'S

ANNOUNCEMENT ON APRIL 6. WE HAVE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT WE ARE GOING TO DO ON JUNE 1ST THAT WAS ALREADY PLANNED. SO THIS IS GOING TO BE EVEN BETTER. THAT'S GOING TO BE ON THE ACTUAL CITY WIDE HOLIDAY.

ALL RIGHT THEN. SO, DEMARIO, WE CERTAINLY APPRECIATE THAT. TELL ALL THE FOLKS THERE, CONGRAT certainly appreciate that. Tell all the folks there, congratulations. And we're going to keep elevating this and teaching folks so they begin to understand that, recognize our history is so important. Thanks a lot. Thanks. Talk to you soon, brother. Peace. All right, then, folks. Got to go to a break. We come back.

We're going to share, first of all, more information with you. We're going to talk to the top of the hour, the Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, Garland Gilchrist. Look forward to that. And so we look forward to that. I want to do this here. Kill the music for me, y'all. So there are a lot of folks who sent us notes

and guys, kill the music please. Thank you. They got a lot of people who sent us notes, who sent us cards and letters, who the music, please. Thank you. A lot of people who sent us notes, who sent us cards and letters, who support our show. Jeanette Providence said, rolling in team, thank you for being a gathering place

of black thought, perspective, grounded in intellect and data. I appreciate your vision and work, which is and will be even more invaluable in this new season, yet familiar white backlash season. Your righteous fight for our people and humanity is precious. Refuel and rejuvenate yourself on this journey of good trouble.

Even boxers rest in their corners between rounds. Respectfully, Jeanette Providence. And so, Jeanette, I appreciate. So, Jeanette sent us this really cool card. This is a John Lewis Good Trouble card. And it's from Ramses. It's out of Los Angeles. So the Ramses art online.

So I got some information on the back of it regarding that. Let's see here. We got another card. This just said, hey, keep up the good work. I appreciate that. Let's see here. Let's see here. Who is this here?

Miss D. Happy birthday, Roland Martin. This is actually from birthday. Knowledge and power, integrity, humility, noble. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action.

And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain.

I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skill through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperSealing.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council.

Compassionate and faithful. Have the best birthday and get some rest. Let's see here. We got some other people. Like I say, just y'all understand how amazing this is. Let's see here. Deidre Sloan. Deidre Sloan.

She said, my name is Deidre Sloan. Support the show. Send a check every single month. Thank you for everything. Please stay safe, healthy, and blessed. She's from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so Deidre, I appreciate that card as well. And let's see here. Marie, one more. Dear Brother Martin, RMU, please pardon my neglect in not sending my tithe.

This is from October. Please accept this check for a $50 monthly donation for the month of October, November, December. Thank you. Happy holidays. Blessing and peace. Stephanie Humphrey. Stephanie is always on the YouTube channel. So, okay, so let me explain something.

Remember I showed y'all the photo from three weeks ago when I went to the post office. And like I say, normally, I tell you, normally, you know, we get probably about 20, 30 letters every week, every two weeks. So I went to the post office. Give me one second. I want to show you how this is here. I went to the post office. I typically go every two to three weeks

because there's always, you know, like I say, you don't want to sit here and just waste a trip. So so usually it'll be two or three weeks. So I went on February 26th, which would be three weeks on Thursday. I went on Thursday to to the post office to check our mail. And man, it was crazy the amount of mail that we received let me show you i think i showed y'all um let me pull it up um all right so this is a photo uh from three weeks ago so i go into the post office and they bring the they had like a little yellow slip in there and they were like hey uh uh so that they had to go get it from the back and so i pulled everything out of the bin i pulled

everything out of the bin uh to you know to bring out so i grabbed it had a handful it was a brother who was passing by and that brother um he actually uh took that picture he's like hey man you need some help he took that picture so i was like okay that's cool we can do i said appreciate that so i go to the post office today anthony you have to go wide so i go to the post office today y'all um and so the sister goes yeah you ain't gonna be able to carry all this out today you're gonna need to carry this being out to the car uh and that was the case that's exactly what happened so so understand this is what man y'all y'all have been responding this is what has come in in the past three weeks this is this is this yeah this is checks and money orders this ain't the other platforms

so y'all gonna have me opening slicing and signing and all of that so our i mean look i told y'all how our fan base has been absolutely phenomenal in supporting our show. Since we launched this show, September, we've had September 4, 2018. And remember, we got the first check was a sister, a 92-year-old black woman in Long Island, New York. And she actually sent us a $500 check. We've had close to 35,000 donors of our show since we launched. And again, so this mail you're seeing right here is just what has come in in the last three weeks. And so somebody said that bag has no end.

Yeah, I actually had another duffel bag, but that was too small. So, again, so I got to go through. We got to go through and open all this here. But I want y'all watching to understand that this is how we're able to do this here. When you talk about all the things that we're doing, when you talk about the plans that we have, I'm sitting there contemplating.

I remember when we were down with Thune Cook and I'm contemplating doing a live broadcast in Raleigh, dealing with St. Augustine's, all the drama that's going on down there. We got some stuff we're going to be covering, some stuff with Bishop William Barber and others. So your support is absolutely critical. And I told y'all, ain't no millionaires and billionaires cutting us checks. These are people who don't like Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle. They will send checks and money orders.

We got folk who, there are three people I know who actually, they've been, at least three people, they've literally tithed to this show every month since we launched in 2018. So I appreciate everybody who supported this show and all of this.

So is it tedious opening all this? Yes, but the reality is, y'all notes is like over here. This is just a smaller stack over here. I've literally got boxes of notes and cards. Every person that has sent us a note or a postcard or an envelope or notes since we launched. I have every single one of those notes. I have saved all of them. None of them get trashed.

I have all of them. And so we appreciate that. And so if y'all want to join, I bring the funk fan club. I'm telling you the work that we're doing, nobody else in black-owned media is doing. They're not doing it. And so we really are about speaking to the issues that matter to our people, covering the stories that matter, and providing voices to folk who don't necessarily get called. And that is so critical because we have so many smart, brilliant people in our community who do not get called by ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, all these platforms. And so this is why we exist. This is why we built this. And so your support is critical. So if you want to give you a cash app, use the Stripe QR code. You can use that for also credit cards. The Stripe QR code. Click the Cash

app button to contribute. You can also again, if you want to join these folks, you can send your check and money order to PO Box 57196 Washington, D.C. 2003 7-0196 PayPal is rmartinunfiltered Venmo is rmunfiltered

Zale, Roland at rolandsmartin.com Roland at rolandmartin unfiltered. Zale, Roland at Roland S. Martin dot com. Roland at Roland Martin unfiltered dot com. We'll be right back. On the other side of change, we're digging into the immigration crisis that's happening here right now. It can impact each and every one of us. We're going to break down the topic of this constitutional crisis that is being led by the Trump administration and what you as ordinary citizens can do to speak up and speak out to fight back. This is The Other Side of Change, only on the Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Kopp. We look at the history of emancipation around the

world, including right here in the United States, the so-called end of slavery. Trust me, it's a history lesson that bears no resemblance to what you learned in school. Professor Chris Mangiapra, author, scholar, amazing teacher, joins us to talk about his latest book, Black Ghost of Empire, the Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation. He explains why the end of slavery was no end at all, but instead a collection of laws and policies designed to preserve the status quo of racial oppression. The real problem is that the problems that slavery invented have continued over time.

And what reparations are really about is saying, how do we really transform society, right? And stop racial violence, which is so endemic. What we need to do about it on the next installment of The Black Table, right here on The Black Star Network. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, since Reconstruction, there have been three African Americans

to serve as governor of a state. Of course, Doug Wilder in Virginia, Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, and of course, Wes Moore in Maryland. Well, Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist of Michigan, he wants to be next. He joins us right now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Glad to have you back, sir. You have made the announcement that you are running for governor.

It is going to be a tough primary. You've got, I think the Secretary of State is running as well. You've got to raise a lot of money to compete. But let's just talk about why is it that you want to lead the state of Michigan? Oh, I think you're on mute. Roland, it's good to be back here. There we go. On Black Star. Thank you, brother. You know, Roland, I am an engineer and a problem solver.

And I spent time in all 83 counties in the state of Michigan. And what I found is that people want a leader who solves problems, doesn't create them. And frankly, in talking to people, they want to hear about the issues. They want to get results. And I think sometimes people have been so frustrated with the lack of results coming from the public sector, not seeing enough progress, that they are hungry for change. They were hungry for change in the 2024 election. They didn't think the Democrats were mad enough about the status quo, frankly. Well, I'm urgently trying to get results for the people of Michigan. And so I'm working to make sure that we can truly stand tall on issues like housing, health care, creating a new economy. And that's why I'm running for governor of Michigan. And so I'm working to make sure that we can truly stand tall on issues

like housing, health care, creating a new economy. And that's why I'm running for governor of Michigan, to make this an amazing state here where people can raise their family. They can stay here. They can succeed here. They can come here to build and grow here and be successful. And so if folks want to support that vision, support that kind of energy here in Michigan, go to garlandgilchrist.com support that campaign. Obviously, Gretchen Whitmer is the governor, you lieutenant governor. Democrats there had control of the House and the Senate. You were able to pass a lot of different measures. You also look at the state Supreme Court. And so in terms of next, moving forward, what specifically do you want to tackle if you become the next governor of Michigan? Well, let's talk about the fact that when me and Gretchen Weber took office, Roland, the times were very different.

I mean, look, TikTok was still a music app, you know, at large language models and A.I. were not a thing that a lot of people understood. And different times call for different leadership. Governor Whitmer and I have laid an important foundation for growth here in Michigan, but it's time to move forward. You know, I had the experience of being an entrepreneur trying to raise money for my first technology company in the early 2000s in the state of Michigan. And unfortunately, that was something that was very, very difficult to do. And I see technology entrepreneurs, frankly, leaving our state almost every day. That's why I created something called the Michigan Innovation Fund, where those entrepreneurs now can get the resources to raise their capital in Michigan, stay in Michigan, hire people in Michigan to be able to go forward. And then they

can grow those businesses. They can help contribute to our communities. They can help Michigan be, you know, a bigger, better state with a stronger technology ecosystem. But we also have to work on issues like housing. And we've laid a foundation. Look, I pushed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of funding into our housing trust fund that's resulted in tens of thousands of new units. But I still hear people talking about affordability challenges. So we've done some good things. We've sort of tested some things out.

But now it's time to go all the way to the next level because every community still has an affordability challenge. And frankly, I just want people to see that Michigan is a place where they have a path to be successful. I talked to too many parents who felt like my parents did when I graduated from the University of Michigan, and they were terrified that I was going to leave the state of Michigan and never come home. That's true for people in Detroit, where I'm from. It's true for people on the west side of our state and in the upper peninsula. Well, if we play our cards right, then every person who's growing up, including my kids who are in the sixth grade or my kindergartner, when they come of age, they'll be ready to choose and say yes to Michigan to take their next step as well. So this is about laying that foundation

for the future, and it's got to be strong. And frankly, at this time, we're seeing all this calamity, chaos, confusion, destruction coming from Washington, we also need somebody to stand strong and stand tall against this administration that's attacking Michiganders every day. Housing obviously is a crucial issue, but it's also building of homes. We are far behind. We're millions of homes behind. Economics is a critical issue. We have seen how Detroit has rebounded, but there are still some who believe that there are parts of Detroit, black parts, that are being left behind. And so what do you say to African Americans in the state that if they entrust you to lead, how will you benefit their lives and make their lives better?

On housing specifically, let's talk about the fact that we need a more diverse set of developers who are able to invest in and complete these projects. Because when you see more black developers, for example, black developers are more likely to build housing in black neighborhoods or places where black folks live currently or want to live live and also build them in a way that are affordable. We need to have the state of Michigan be a strong partner when it comes to the kinds of affordability programs like the rate relief program that I introduced that enables people who are buying a home to get a mortgage at a full percentage point lower than the going rate if they get one from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. We also need to make sure that the permitting process is something that is more efficient and works better for developers so they can build more homes faster. Because this challenge on housing, it needs to be solved now. And frankly, we haven't built enough housing in

the state of Michigan since 2008 in the financial crisis. We're about 140,000 units short in Michigan. But we've put on, we built 60,000 new units just in the last couple of years, and I'm going to continue to accelerate that progress. But I speak to small developers every single day, people who are hungry to build, you know, whether it's a new single family home or a new apartment building on the east side of Detroit. They're hungry to do more. They need their state to be a partner, and I'll be that partner for them. Questions from my panel. Let me go to you more. They need their state to be a partner, and I'll be that partner for them. Questions from my panel. Let me go to you first, Omkongo.

Well, first of all, Mr. Lieutenant Governor, wishing you the best on this campaign. I think it's really amazing that you are stepping up in this light because more people need to see the type of programs that you're providing. One of the questions that I have is relating to education. We see that many states across the country are still reeling from the COVID pandemic when there were so many drops in our educational spaces in terms of student attendance, et cetera, et cetera. And now we're seeing what's happening with the Department of Education. What are your plans as it relates to making sure that Michigan has a robust agenda as it relates to education? I appreciate that because I'm a public school kid, okay? And my children go to Detroit public schools, all three of them. Having an amazing public education system that is available and allows kids to get the

results that they're looking for and the families are looking for is a really big deal to me. And I think, frankly, that starts with supporting the education professionals who take care of our students. We need to make it easier for them not only to afford to live by increasing teacher pay, which is something I've led on here as lieutenant governor and will continue to, but we also need to make it easier for them to do the things that work and support the implementation of best practices in our public school system and position those educators to be able to implement those. And if they recognize or they observe that something is not working, they need to be able to pivot to something that they know will. I trust them because they have the closest relationship with our students

to work closely with their parents and with their colleagues to understand what is possible in terms of accelerating achievement. We also have to make sure that they have enough tools, that our schools are resourced enough. I'm proud to have presided over a state senate that has approved the largest education budgets in the history of the state of Michigan. This year, we will break the $10,000 mark of how much we spend per student on kids. And that's resources. That's laptops and technology and books and support for paraprofessionals. Now, these kind of supports need to be partnered with support from the federal government, the Department of Education, especially for our students with

extraordinary and special needs. I'm concerned about these massive layoffs that have been proposed to the Department of Education and what they would do, not only for our classrooms across the state of Michigan, but also for our professional certifications, which we have invested a lot in in Michigan. We have a lot more certified welders and certified electricians who have been able to go through career technical education programs that have taken to a higher level since we've seen in the 70s. But those would be potentially discredited or taking their accreditation away if the Department of Education goes away or is completely dismembered. Julianne?

Lieutenant Governor, my brother. I'm your biggest fan. I don't know if you saw me clapping as you were talking, but you're the bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. And I really appreciate you. And of course, we share the connection with Councilwoman Joanne Watson, who was very much into the education system in Michigan. But I want to pivot to talk a bit about small business and to talk about what we lose in Michigan when the Small Business Administration and others are cut and what you plan to do to respond to that. You know, the small business drives Detroit, drives Lansing, drives our cities in Michigan. What can you do to fix this?

Doctor, thank you. It's always good to see you. And yes, Mama Watson was one of the most important cultural figures, educational figures, and cultural leaders in the history of the city of Detroit. So thank you for mentioning her. God, may she rest in power. I'm a two-time recovering entrepreneur. So I mentioned my first business, which was called Detroit Intern. It was a jobs and internship website for people to find work and hopefully find careers in the city of Detroit.

I know what it's like to start a business, to help and try to grow it and make it successful. And we see a lot of entrepreneurs struggling. We already, we've seen, you know, black entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs with disabilities have been left out. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news

show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin.

And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. B one two and three on may 21st and episodes four five and six

on june 4th ad free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs podcast sir we are back in a big way in a very big way real people real And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple 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 Council. Out of the systems to get the capital they need to be successful. That's why I put in place some really important programs to help them. Things like the Michigan Economic Opportunity Fund, a $10 million fund that supports those types of entrepreneurs that I talked about who have been unable to get bank financing. Now, Dell's resources came, the first several million dollars of that fund came from the federal government because I led an effort to use the state small business credit initiative

to apply to the federal government to say, we want to use these resources to help the entrepreneurs who need it, who are hungry, who are ambitious and ready to take that next step. And the first entrepreneur that we gave a grant to was a black woman on hair salon here on Michigan Avenue in Detroit. So I want to build on programs like that. The Michigan Innovation Fund that I mentioned, a $60 million fund. That's the Innovate Capital Fund, which is parking resources at our colleges and universities that are going to help scale up the research and technology that's coming out of places like the University of Michigan or like Michigan Tech, our newest R1 university in our state, to be able to spin off new businesses. But with small businesses in particular, these are the things that define

the character of our communities. When you go someplace, you think. These are the things that define the character of our communities. When you go someplace, you think about what are the small businesses that you remember? What were the cultural institutions or the cool art that you saw while you were there? That's really important to the fabric of Michigan. And as a former small business entrepreneur, I'm going to be thinking about that every single day. I talk to these entrepreneurs right now who are struggling because they don't understand what to expect from this Trump administration that's coming up with something crazy to destroy every single day. And they can't plan for the next quarter. They don't know what's going to happen next week. I'm going to bring the stability, the problem solving and the listening and relationship building skills to be able to

work with them to make sure they have a pathway to success here in the state of Michigan, that the state of Michigan will be their partner, whether it's raising capital, whether it's finding talent, whether it's being able to take whatever their next step is to get that next sale from the state of Michigan. My brother, if you need me, call me. Whatever you are, I'm coming. Thank you. Lieutenant Governor, it's a pleasure to connect with you here. I am very curious about the Republican demographics of your constituents, because as you become governor, you would be their governor as well. I'm curious about the impact of Donald Trump's economic policies right now, particularly the tariffs and then the subsequent

trade war, how that's affecting the auto industry there. But more specifically, your reach out, your outreach to disillusioned Michiganers who have felt the brunt of some of the decisions made in Washington that's trickling down to Michigan. In my six years as Lieutenant Governor, I've been to all 83 of our counties three or more times. Michigan is the biggest state east of the Mississippi River, and I put in more road work than anyone to get to know the people of Michigan by going and meeting them exactly where they are. And what I hear from people are just like, there's hope that is like snuffed out by frustration and anger and being mad about the status quo, not delivering the results that they need. And my conversation with them is help me understand what the challenges are that you're

facing so that as an engineer, a problem solver, a solution builder, I can work with you to find or create something that will make things work for you. And what we've seen is these challenges that exist in all 83 of our counties, they may not be exactly the same, but they rhyme. And let me give you a concrete example of that. So I've let our administrations work to reform our justice system, to work better for people and set them up for success after they've been held accountable. Well, we had a system of criminal record clearance called expungement in Michigan that wasn't working. And it wasn't working because after people had done their time, paid their debt to society, been held accountable, only seven out of 100 of them

were actually getting their records cleared. And y'all know that if you have something on your record, it makes it harder for you to get an apartment, to get certain jobs, to get a loan for a mortgage, to go back to school, or to be reunited with your kids and rebuild your family. So as an engineer, I thought, well, if you have access to justice, the law says you should be able to have it cleared, then the justice should be yours without you having to have the barrier of hiring an attorney, having the barrier of waiting more time than the law says to be able to be fully integrated back into civic and economic life. So I created the automatic clean slate, automatic criminal record expunging program that as of April 12th, 2023,

when it cleared one million offenses on that one day, has now automatically set free three hundred thirty thousand people's records so that they can get an apartment, again, get a loan, get job training, and get those jobs that we need in our economy today to work at those small businesses that Dr. Malveaux alluded to. And that has put 330,000 people back on the rolls in all 83 counties of Michigan. It is bipartisan to want to have access to economic opportunity. And that is an argument that has resonated for me across the state of Michigan. And it's a story I want to tell about economic possibilities so that people can stay in Michigan and can succeed in Michigan and not have to flee to someplace else because they're chasing opportunity. Now, you mentioned the tariffs. I am really worried about them. Look,

Donald Trump has never done anything in a way that was not sloppy and reckless. And the way that he's talking about tariffs is absolutely sloppy and reckless and dangerous for the economy and the workers of the state of Michigan. The people who create the value through these businesses, whether it's our auto suppliers or our big three OEMs, they're all going to be hurt by these tariffs, which is going to hurt families across the state of Michigan. My mother's a General Motors retiree. She would have been devastated. My hustle would have been devastated if this would have went into effect in the sloppy way that the only way that Donald Trump and I must know how to do anything is sloppy and destructive. So I talk to auto suppliers every day. And just like that small business owner I

referred to a little bit earlier, they're trying to figure out what they do next quarter. But they can't really plan because they don't know what's going to happen next week. Because one day the tariffs are off, another day the tariffs are back on. One day they're at level X, and then the next day they're at level Y. That chaos and confusion is frankly the kind of thing I'm going to be a strong contrast to as the governor of Michigan, providing stability, providing relationship, providing trust that we're going to make decisions together to make sure our economy is strong. Amen. So, Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist, I appreciate it.

Good luck. I'm sure we're going to have you back on. When is the primary? Primary is in August of 2026. We have a lot of exciting work to do. But Roland, you know I'm the kind of person who brings people together and has brought people together here

in the city of Detroit to organize for causes that are important, that can help us stand tall for our values. So I want everyone to support this campaign. You see how to do so on the screen. But come join this movement so we can really stand tall for Michigan. So primary is August 2026. It's on the ballot in November 26. Yes, sir. Got it. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Folks, we come back. We're going to break down how racist this administration is, how anti-black it is, even when it comes to the skin condition of black men shaving. Wait till we unpack this for you. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. What's up, y'all?

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On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, think about for a moment some of those icky behaviors that you display every now and then. Are you a petty Betty or a crabby Kathy? Where did those less than attractive traits come from? We all have them. And more importantly, how do we get rid of them to make certain that they don't infect other people? Pettiness is something that we all carry. It's just make sure that you carry it well

and you don't use it to intentionally hurt. On the next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Blackstar Network. Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Boy, he always unfiltered, though. I ain't never known him to be filtered. Is there another way to experience Roland Martin than to be unfiltered? Of course he's unfiltered.

Would you expect anything less? Watch what happens next. Thank you. There had been a lot of racist, anti-black occupants of the Oval Office. There have been slaveholders occupied the Oval Office. In the 20th century, I dare say this man right here, Woodrow Wilson, was the most racist president ever. This is the man who reinstituted segregation in the federal workforce. This is the man right here who screamed the birth of a nation at the White House that led to the rebirth of the KKK. This man was a virulent racist. He was absolutely anti-black.

I dare say, since Woodrow Wilson, this man is the most anti-black occupant of the Oval Office. Now, I'm sure some people are watching me and they're saying, well, come on. I mean, how can you say that he appointed one black cabinet member? I mean, how can you say that? He had lots of his black mega minions dancing at the White House, happy, gleeful. I think with the Black History Month reception.

I mean, this is the man who he welcomed Tiger, I rediscovered my blackness, Woods, to the Black History Month reception. So how can you say such things? Well, I base it on what a person does. The moment he gets in, what does he do? Blames DEI,

which means black people, for a plane crash at DCA Airport that killed 67 people. Y'all notice, they got real quiet when it was discovered that all the pilots were white. I mean, it was as if that just thing didn't even happen.

Then you look at the various attacks on Black History Month events, things along those lines. Then you see the attacks on equity and inclusion, the firing of people, the ending of offices. We told you last week the stopping of a lawsuit against a petrochemical company in Louisiana that was alleged to have dumped toxic chemicals in an area known as Cancer Alley. And who are most of those people who are dying earlier than normal? Black people. We told you last week about the closing of the environmental justice offices. Hmm, these things don't really exist, so why do we have environmental justice?

Doesn't happen. Hmm. things don't really exist, so why do we have environmental justice? Does it happen? Hmm. Now we have the military literally removing, if you go to the website, removing the images and the stories of African Americans and others who served this country, who gave their blood for this country. This is the website right here. If you go to the website, this is what it now says. They removed these stories.

They removed the history of these people. Now they begin to face backlash, and so all of a sudden they're kind of like, oh, we've got to fix the problem. Just like, remember when they stopped teaching by the Tuskegee Airmen? Y'all remember that? Trump signed an executive order late Friday

that essentially targets seven governmental entities. He wants to eliminate them, quote, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law. What's one of those agencies? The Minority Business Development Agency. Do y'all remember? Do y'all remember when he was touting his platinum plan and how amazing it was and how he was going to deliver

$500 billion in capital to black businesses, but he gets rid of the Minority Business Development Agency. Military.com had a story that was quite interesting, that Peter Hexseth, the grossly unqualified Secretary of Defense, what he's doing is he's ordered a review of these workers, and he's ordered some changes, some changes to them. And one of them deals with, first of all, I want to give you the name because we had we had him earlier. The highest ranking black Medal of Honor recipient who was who this is the headline in military.com, the highest ranking. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding.

But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vannick-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1,

Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug

thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got Be Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Black Miller of honor recipient erased in Pentagon DEI purge. Major General Charles Rogers wounded three times while fighting off three human wave attacks at a fire base in Vietnam. Yep. Yep.

Yep. Goodbye. Remove all your information. The story was removed during the auto removal process. Huh. Ain't that interesting? So this other story caught my eye that I found to be very interesting. And that is it dealt with the health of the skins. There were new policies. Oh, I just want to show you all this. And again, I want you to listen. Marines with skin condition affecting mostly black men could now be booted under new policy. A new Marine Corps policy says troops with a genetic skin condition that can cause pain and scarring from shaving and mainly affects black men can be separated

if the health issue persists. The interim guidance issued Thursday gives military health care providers 90 days to reevaluate Marines diagnosed with PFB. If they don't recover based on a four phase treatment program outlined in the message, have to remain on a shaving waiver for more than a year and a commander deems it fit, the service from administratively separating Marines solely based on the condition which is caused when curled hairs grow back into the skin, resulting in inflammation. It also comes at the same time Defense Secretary Peter Hexeth has ordered a military-wide review of standards specifically focused on issues such as shaving waivers and body fat. Listen to this. In cases where a medical condition prevents a Marine from meeting required standards

for an extended period of time exceeding one year, administrative separation may be considered if it affects long-term service compatibility. Major Jacoby Getty, a spokesperson for the Corps' Manpower and Reserve Affairs, said in an email statement Friday when asked why Marines are no longer exempt from separation due to PFB. However, every effort will be made to support Marines through treatment and recovery before such decisions are considered. Getty emphasized that the new guidance is meant to imbue consistency across medical exemptions and that the service remains, quote, fully committed to supporting Marines with

PFB. Hmm. Isn't that interesting? This is the guidance that they are now issuing out. Now, ask yourself this. Just ask yourself this. Just ask yourself this. Does that matter? Thankfully, I've never had that issue of ingrown hairs on the neck.

We've seen it where literally it creates massive problems for a lot of brothers. But when you look at this decision, when you look at this and you say, what the hell are these people doing? I told y'all in the first week MAGA wants to defund Black America. This is a perfect example of their desire to completely, completely degrade and deemphasize black people. And if you want to understand,

and I really, really, really need y'all to pay attention to the language of whiteness. J.D. Vance gave an interview with Laura Ingraham, and he was talking about Germany. I want you to listen very closely to this white supremacist language. Listen. I really believe that we have a great deal in common with Europe. And I'm not, you know, yes, the Europeans annoy me sometimes. And yes, I disagree with them on certain issues. But we have to remember that is the cradle of Western civilization, the entire idea of Christian civilization that led to the founding of the United States of America that was formed in Europe. The cultural bonds, the religious bonds, these things are going to last beyond political disagreement. But I think that Europe and frankly, I would have said this about America a year ago, but Europe is at risk, I think, of engaging in civilizational suicide.

They are unable to or unwilling, too many countries, to control their borders. You see them starting to push back against that, and good. That's a good thing. You see them starting to limit the free speech of their own citizens, even as those citizens are protesting against things like the border invasion that got Donald Trump and a number of European leaders elected. So, look, I want Europe to thrive. I want them to be an important ally. Part of that is going to be Europe respecting its own people, respecting its own sovereignty. And America can't do that job for them. If you have a country like Germany, where you have another few million immigrants come in from countries that are totally culturally incompatible with Germany,

then it doesn't matter what I think about Europe. Germany will have killed itself. And I hope they don't do that because I love Germany and I want Germany to thrive. OK, some of you were not paying attention. So I must say this to you. I'm going to replay it for you. What J.D. Vance just said is, we've got to ensure that Germany remains white.

And when these other people are coming in, they are polluting Germany. They are infecting the bloodlines of Germany. Now with me setting that up, now I want you to listen to what he said with that in mind. I really believe that we have a great deal in common with Europe. And I'm not, you know, yes, the Europeans annoy me sometimes, and yes, I disagree with them on certain issues, but we have to remember that is the cradle of Western civilization.

The entire idea of Christian civilization that led to the founding of the United States of America, that was formed in Europe. The cultural bonds, the religious bonds, these things are going to last beyond political disagreements. But I think that Europe, and frankly, I would have said this about America a year ago, but America, Europe is at risk, I think, of creating, of engaging in civilizational suicide. They are unable to or unwilling, too many countries, to control their borders. You see them starting to push back against that, and good. That's a good thing. You see them starting to

limit the free speech of their own citizens, even as those citizens are protesting against things like the border invasion that got Donald Trump and a number of European leaders elected. So look, I want Europe to thrive. I want them to be an important ally. Part of that is going to be Europe respecting its own people, respecting its own sovereignty, and America can't do that job for them. If you have a country like Germany, where you have another few million immigrants come in from countries that are totally culturally incompatible with Germany, then it doesn't matter what I think about Europe. Germany will have killed itself, and I hope they don't do that because I love Germany and I want Germany to thrive. Culturally incompatible. Hmm. Today, Trump administration welcomed a man who was found

liable for sexual assault. That's fighter Conor McGregor, to the White House. He literally spoke from the press secretary's podium. But I want you to listen to what Conor McGregor said, because he sounded strangely like J.D. Vance. Listen. I'm here to raise the issues the people of Ireland face. You know, and it'll be music to the people of Ireland's ears because never on the main stage

has the issues the people of Ireland face been spoke. You know, our government has long since abandoned the voices of the people of Ireland. And it's high time that America is made aware of what is going on in Ireland. What is going on in Ireland is a travesty. Our government is the government of zero action with zero accountability. You know, our money is being spent on overseas issues that has nothing to do with the Irish people. The illegal immigration racket is running ravage on the country. There are rural

towns in Ireland that have been overrun in one swoop, that have become a minority in one swoop. So issues need to be addressed. And the 40 million Irish Americans, as I said, need to hear this, because if not, there will be no place to come home and visit. Rural places are being overrun by these immigrants. Does that sound like Haitians eating cats and dogs? See, I know some of you may go, okay, Roland, I think you're taking this a little too far. Hmm, okay, I think you're taking this a little too far. Hmm. Okay. Really? See, what people don't want to pay attention to is that what you just heard there

is what Fox News has been saying for a very long time. You've been listening to these people and lay these things out, and they don't want to confront that. But see, you've heard me say this before. See, this is the reality of what's going on here. What's happening in Europe is literally what's happening in the United States. White people stopped screwing.

They stopped having babies. The death rate of a number of states in the United States right now, the white death rate is higher than the white birth rate. Let me just try to make this as simple as possible for everyone listening. In order for you to continue to have positive GDP, gross domestic product, the American economy is about a $30 trillion economy. Okay? You need the replenishment of people in order for you to maintain your GDP. We are far ahead of China in terms of gross domestic product.

We're up by 12, 13 trillion dollars. Why has China been having an economic problem? Because about 30 years ago, China had something called the one child rule. They wanted to stem the population. Here's the problem with that. People eventually begin to pass on. So 30 years later, where you should have children, where you should have people who are 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, essentially replacing people who are 75, 80, 85, 90 who are passing on, China's population begin to decrease. They began to realize, shit, we've got more people dying than people being born. Why? Because of that one-child rule.

So what do they do? Oh, hey, hey, hey, we need y'all to start having babies. Went to a two-child rule. They're now having to play catch-up. Understand what's happening in Ireland. Go to my iPad. Look at this. In 2008, the number of births in Ireland was 75,173. In 2022, it was 54,483. That's 2022.

Y'all, that's 21,000 fewer births. So what that means is Ireland is going to be a dying nation unless you replenish the population with people. Well, here's the problem. They're not coming from other white European nations.

Why? Because the white European nations are having the exact same problem as Italy. Same problem. Goodbye, Pat. Same problem. Go to my iPad. Germany's birth rate has been declining rapidly, reaching a record low of 1.35 children per woman in 2023. That's a 7% drop from the previous year and an 8% drop from 2022. Look at this here. There's a decline in the number of women aged between 27 and 36 in Eastern Germany, an age group that accounts for the majority of births in the region.

Germany's fertility rate has been below the natural replacement level of roughly 2.1 children per woman since 1970. Germany has experienced a natural population decline every year since 1972, but population has increased due to immigration. Now we get to the crux of the issue. The racists in the Trump administration, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, and others, they despise immigration because they want to maintain the power of whiteness. They want to maintain the purity of whiteness. They want to maintain the purity of whiteness. Donald Trump talked about on the campaign trail,

the blood being infected. Well, hell, see, Donald Trump prefers white immigrants. So he wants those white Afrikaners. He wants some white folks from Denmark and Finland. Let's just Kenya. Can we please go bring in some virile, blonde, blue eyed white people? They despise the fact that there are brown immigrants. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll

be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs Podcast. Sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care

for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperCeiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. The fact that there are immigrants from Venezuela, Colombia, Latin American countries, Bermuda, Jamaica, African countries, they prefer white people. So when you listen to Conor McGregor complain about the indigenous Ireland people, hey, Conor, you can't complain about everybody else. That's your problem.

You're the one who was found liable for sexual assault. Anybody trying to have your baby? J.D. Vance is complaining about cultural compatibility. What he's saying is those other people are coming to Germany, and they're not like the Germans. Well, excuse me, because here's the problem with Germany. If you don't have immigration, you're screwed. Y'all, what is my book about? It's about white fear, how the browning of America's making

white folks lose their minds. That's what the book is about. This is it right here. I literally talk about it in the book. I literally say in the book that what these people have been focused on, when you hear them talk about the great replacement theory, It all comes down to whiteness. They can't stand the fact that there are going to be fewer white people in America. So when you hear them talk about, man, we've got to maintain our, we've got to maintain these things. We have to maintain, how can we make, we've got to maintain whiteness? We're going to maintain white people being in control. What what can we do? It has to be white, white, white. And see, I need you to understand when you have these Negro MAGA trolls sitting here running their mouths,

sounding like pure idiots, they don't even understand that they are doing the job of the white nationalist, the white supremacists. They don't even want to accept it. Here's Sam Seder. You know how they have these conversations with what's called Jubilee Media. Listen to this white woman. By the way, she's talking like she's an American.

She's not. She's actually an immigrant from Canada. But she's blonde and she's white. Listen to this. What's the problem with xenophobic nationalism? Don't you think that's better for Americans in general? Like xenophobic nationalism is better? We should have a coherent culture. Everyone should be a part of the same culture. We should have assimilation. MICHAEL PASSMORE.

Which—do you get to choose what the culture is? AMY GOODMAN. We already have a dominant culture— MICHAEL PASSMORE. What is the dominant culture? AMY GOODMAN. —based on European and Christian values and identity. That is the dominant culture.

MICHAEL PASSMORE. White Christian— AMY GOODMAN. It's rooted in European identity. MICHAEL PASSMORE. White—so your argument is that— AMY GOODMAN. That has been the dominant culture.

MICHAEL PASSMORE. Just to be clear— AMY GOODMAN. And we're not letting people assimilate to that. We're saying you should keep your culture, and this is why our culture is so divided. Your argument is that Trump is good for those who want a dominant white European culture. I mean, that is what America is. It's rooted in European identity and Christian values. That's what it has been.

Like, would you really disagree with that? What is it, then, if that's not the identity of America? Well, I think the identity of America— For the majority of time, America's been a country. You don't think that's been the identity? Well, actually, no. I think, actually, the identity of America has been, you know, for better or for worse, a melting pot in that regard. Yeah, maybe since, since like the 1960s. Even then,

like even we had this idea of a melting pot literally means assimilation too. It means melting. It means you're assimilating to the dominant culture. Is that not what melting means? And now instead we're saying there's something wrong with xenophobia. Dominant culture. No. I mean, look, I gotta be honest with you. Like, you and I have a fundamental disagreement. We will never see eye to eye on this. It's a choice. And people, I think what you're expressing, though,

is really what the Trump movement at its heart is about. And I think that's problematic. I mean, I disagree. I don't think Trump's, like, anywhere close to being a Christian nationalist. That's ridiculous. Like, Trump's basically a Democrat from, like, 15 years ago when it comes to social issues. So you don't think that he's conservative enough for you? Oh, definitely.

Nowhere close, no. He's not xenophobic enough for you? No, he's trying to pour a bunch of H-1Bs. Are you kidding? Right. Oh, so you want to get them out, too. Yeah. No, I mean, I...

Literally sounded like J.D. Vance. I just need people to understand, y'all, this is not about the price of eggs. This is not about any of that. This is not about jobs. This is not about manufacturing. And this is why Democrats have struggled, because the problem is when you have the vice president, Kamala Harris, she gave an interview where she talked about this very issue, where she talked about one of the issues she talked about was when we talk about identity politics. White folks don't like talking about this stuff because what you're doing is you're

putting white folks on front street. You're forcing them. You're holding a mirror up to say, yeah, like her. Oh, the dominant culture. No. So when you assimilate, first of all, baby, when you're a melting pot, as somebody who cooks gumbo, when you start putting other ingredients in, it changes the taste of the roux. It don't taste the same. Spice adds flavor. Miss unseasoned chicken.

But I need us, I need our people to understand that if you're not framing what is happening right now through the lens of whiteness, of white nationalism, white supremacy, white theocracy, then you're actually missing the entire picture. And the struggle that Democrats have is that when they talk about justice, equality, diversity, equity, and inclusion. These white folks don't want to hear that because what they hear is you're taking my job. That Negro got my job. That black woman got my job. That Latina got my job because they actually believe if they're smarter, they're better, and that everything is designed for them and the rest of us, us non-white people, we're supposed to accept the scraps and be happy. We're supposed

to call a crumb a meal. J.D. Vance is saying, Germany, you're no longer pure and white, and we don't want America to become a non-pure white country. Ben Dixon. You know, Roland, as you laid that out, I'm sitting here and I'm thinking about the demographics of our community. And how, when you contextualize it for what you're saying, brother, how homicides in our community. And I was just arguing with AI about the abortion rate in the black community. But in context of what you're saying, as pro-choice as I am, and I don't want to go into all those things, I'm a super pro-choice, but I just see a percentage of blackness that has been cut off. And I can't help but looking and seeing that that's exactly what people like J.D. Banz and that Lily White

girl who was going up against Sam Seder, what they want. They fear more than anything else becoming the minority because they assume that black people will do to them what they did to us. Now, they better be glad some of us are saved, right? But we don't want to do to them what they did to us. We want equity. We want justice. We want inclusion. We want them to get out of our way. Let us build our towns instead of you coming in like you did in Tulsa, Oklahoma and burning it down and killing us. And so they fear the rise of a black population, of black power, of the black demographic, the black vote, black solidarity, not just here in the United States, but globally with South Africans, no expropriation or rather expropriation without compensation. Don't pay them a dime over there.

Matter of fact, also don't send them here. Could you all send the Afrikaners back to Europe? We have enough white supremacist devils to deal with here in the United States of America already. That being said, I also think we need to look internally and say that every brother that we see getting killed, that's a family line that could have enhanced and grown our tribe. And every time we find ourselves forced because of the systemic factors, the economic factors, the realistic factors that lead sisters to making that particular choice. As black people, we got to stop killing our own

so that we can do what we know we have to do, which is to grow as a tribe in the midst of a tribe that wants to exterminate us. Julianne? I'm troubled by a couple of things. Basically by the—that white girl, somebody needs to do something to her. And since I am now a full-blown Christian, I won't say

what it would be, but somebody needs to do something to her. She's had lost a cray-cray mind. But that's where we are, that people have lost their cray-cray minds. J.D. Vance has lost his cray-cray mind. Elon Musk with his South African behind. I mean, Roland, I hope we'll talk at some point about the, you know, the elimination or the brother, the South African ambassador, because he said something that was mildly critical. They've expelled him from the United States. What we see is the fear, as you wrote very well in your book, the fear of a black planet. And it's not even a black planet. We don't want the planet.

We just want our slice. And we want our slice. We want our opportunities. We want our possibilities. And these folks have decided, determined that we're not going to have anything. And you see them. I'll tell you, Roland, my heart broke today. One of my best friends, Cheryl Poinsett-Brown, her daddy, a couple years ago, we went out to Arlington where he was buried.

You met my godchild, Matthew Brown, who's an AP reporter, and I just thought about how they must feel that the plaques to the black and women veterans were taken down. Yes, but the black erasure, the black erasure is part of the focus on white identity. That's what it's all about. Let's erase the history. Let's erase the history. Let's erase the facts. Let's elevate whiteness. And we have to keep...

We have to continue. What I'm doing with some sisters and brothers right now is looking at the Saturday school movement, which you're a little younger than me. Or maybe a lot younger. I'm aware of it. Freedom schools. Back in the day, we were doing that. We need to

do it again. We need to make sure that our young people are able to learn us. Because like I said, when I heard that, literally, I was at Arlington when Brother Brown, Elijah Brown was buried. The 21-gun salute.

And I just thought, how must they feel? Yeah, but again, though, it is... But we have to... The voice of America is gone. Right, but I need to pull Omicongo in here because my next guest is waiting. Here's a piece, again, Omicongo, that we have to just be mindful

of. We have to look at these attacks through the lens of white cultural dominance. That is the goal. Oh, absolutely. And just to tie it into where you started about him being the most racist president since Woodrow Wilson, I mean, it's adding up. It's definitely adding up in very short order. And really, at the end of the day, if to look at it through any other type of prism, you're always going to be lost. You're always going to be confused. You're always going to say, I don't really understand. This is America. This is supposed to be the land of the free and

blah, blah. But when you just add whiteness to it, literally everything makes sense. And for us to continue to not, I mean, as a society, for us to continue to not do this while Trump continues to get more racist by the day, you know, I don't, I'm not an expert on Woodrow Wilson. I mean, I know what he did in terms of segregating things. And, you know, he made Black people carry, you know, identity cards into, like, post office and all of those different types of things, airing Birth of a Nation and like. But Trump is taking it outside of government. You know, he's putting it into schools, into corporations,

into police forces. So it's a wide-reaching net in terms of what he's doing. He's not just limiting it to what the government is doing. And so I don't see how anybody could deny that. I don't see how anybody can argue with his racism. And too many people are caving in right now, and they're not challenging it in ways that are sufficient. I love what people are doing at the Pentagon, but since they can't really speak up the way that they would like to, I'm sure they're fighting behind closed doors. But we're going to have to keep fighting every single day and be vigilant about this. Indeed, indeed. So I just want people to understand, you have to understand the underpinning of one's argument to understand how to counter the argument. And everything that Tucker Carlson has focused on the last several years,

Fox News is literally built on white grievance. From the beginning, it's been white grievance. You go back and study the history. Conservative, digital, conservative talk radio, it's white grievance. They love saying, black folks folks you're playing the oh you're playing the victim they are the greatest victim playing folks you can imagine they believe right now that they are facing more racism than black people yeah but it's more than anybody else folks just beware you're gonna see more of it. So prepare yourselves. Real quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about how did you become a disruptor in this society?

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. This week on A Balanced Life, we are talking about protecting your peace when life be lifin'. I mean, honestly, so much is going on from dealing with chaotic leadership, trying to figure out how we're gonna work on these 90-day holds, how to unburden ourselves from the things that are happening in our life all the way through,

knowing what it means and what it looks like to just take the time to work on self. How much time are you spending on wasteful movements? Like, what energy audit do you need to do on your personal time, your personal life? Because maybe some people don't need to have that front seat perspective on your life. Maybe some people need to be in a different position

where they don't cloud your view. That's next on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here at Blackstar Network. Hello, I'm Paula J. Parker. Judy Proud on The Proud Family. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+.

And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. The new book out called Flip the Table is the everyday disruptors guide to finding courage and making change. Alencia Johnson describes her exploration of transformation, resistance, and self-liberation. She joins me right now. Glad to have you here. Now, I ain't never really had a problem with disruption. I came out the womb disrupting shit. So that's been the case for the last 56 years. So when you describe disruption, what do you mean? Yeah, look, I mean, for someone like you, Roland, myself,

we have this courageous spirit to constantly disrupt the spaces we're in with truth telling. The reality is, though, I realize that there are so many people who want to have impact in the world around us when you have everything from, you know, attacks on us as Black people and what's happening in the political world. And I took this question of how can I create impact in the world and disrupt the world around me to think about how can everybody be an everyday change maker? Not everybody has a huge platform like you do. Not everyone has the positions that I do in politics. But we do have a sphere of influence in our communities. And this book, the idea, actually came from a time when I, myself, needed some personal transformation, some disrupting of myself. And so, really, the term disruption is something for us to actually embrace. When we see something before us that is no longer serving us, we need to destroy it with a plan to

build something better. And I think all of us have that in us. And this book is that guide to that. Well, see, here's the mistake that I believe that many people make. So there'll be somebody who goes, oh, my goodness, Alencia, you're right. I mean, you said that, you know, I don't have Roland's platform. Okay, so we've got 1.76 million subscribers. Got it. We didn't start with 1.76 million.

That's right. When we, inember of 2017 we had 72 000 youtube subscribers when we launched the show a year later with 157 000 we built to it so what i am always trying to remind people is i use Bishop Jakes. Stop focusing on the Potter's House, Bishop Jakes. And remember, he was digging ditches in West Virginia. Wife had the family filling out food stamps. There was a time when he wasn't preaching to a million people.

He was trying to preach to 50 people. And that's, I think, people too often don't understand that no one who's, quote, big actually started big. They had to actually start where they were, which was small, and build from there. Look, I mean, Brolin, I actually agree with you 100%, which is part of the reason I wrote this book, and I wrote it in three sections. First, disruption of self

so that we can find that courage to be our authentic self and give ourselves the courage and confidence it takes to just get started, right? To just get started posting a video on your Instagram for 15 people to speak up in a school board meeting. It might not be in front of hundreds of thousands of people, but it is in front of someone, and you continue to build that muscle. And so, but that first starts with us finding the way to find the courage

in order to be ourselves and go after what it is that we care about, whether it is in our personal life or professional life or the world around us. And then we have to have this big vision, disruption of vision, which is connected to that confidence and that courage, and then we're able to disrupt the community around us.

And to this point that you're making, I do talk about some big examples of some amazing people in history and folks that I have worked for whose names we know, but I also talk about people like my grandmother, who, while her name isn't necessarily in the history books, she told me countless stories of when she would travel through the South to hear Dr. King's speech or participate in movements, right?

She talks about, she talked to me about when she was in the NAACP. I talk to, I talk about so many women who have started movements just by speaking out on social media. And then there have become followings of hundreds of thousands of people wanting to challenge gun laws because our kids were dying in schools. And there's an easy solution. If we fix the gun crisis in this country, we might not have as many children die in school. So what you're saying is actually the ethos of this book. We just have to have the courage to get out there and also be okay with being misunderstood. The amount of times people start in these what seem small places

and they get discouraged because other people don't understand what they're doing. They tell them, oh, you'll never have a big platform or you'll never have a sphere of influence. And that's where they get stuck and they stop. But a disruptor keeps going because they know eventually people will catch up. Eventually they will influence the right people

and that their courage and their continuing on this storytelling piece is actually what is needed, especially. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith.

Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

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subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. in a moment like this? There's a phrase that I use that, I got some frat brothers, they crack up when I do this. Parking lot militants really get on my nerves. Those are the people after the meeting, when you leave work, y'all leave in the building, y'all in the parking lot, and man, they got courage.

Oh, they talking about this and this and this wrong and that's wrong, we need to fix this. I don't know why he did, he did, she did, whatever. And so then you sitting in the grid with them, you talking to them, and then the next day, you go into the office and you go to the meeting and you come in and, look, you hyped. And then you bringing the stuff up.

Then you look, you look, you're like, you ain't going to say nothing. And they ask, they look on his head. I call them parking lot. I cannot stand parking lot militants. I cannot stand people who can diagnose the problem and all that in the parking lot. But when it's time to put some skin in the game and put it on the line, they ask Mission in Action. Listen, I think, Roland, we know a lot of people like that, right? We get left out there by ourselves,

which is why I felt like it was so imperative to figure out how do you build that spiritual fortitude to go at it alone when you are the only one that is courageous enough to actually speak in that room, to actually flip over that table to play off the title of the book. Because there are going to be a lot more critics or a lot more folks who, to your point, are the parking lot militants. You know, I call them the folks that sit in the stands and only have the courage to criticize. But you're the one in the court by yourself. And so what do you need to surround you as you are a trailblazer?

What is that spiritual fortitude that you need? Listen, the story of Jesus flipping over tables in the temple is actually what inspired the title of the book. And so obviously it talks a bit about my faith. What is that spiritual connection and faith that you need to be that person that actually walks the talk

in those spaces when it's not popular. We know so many folks that you bring up in this, on your show, so many people in history. It wasn't popular for them to disrupt the status quo. It wasn't popular for them to speak up. It wasn't popular for them to risk every single thing that they had. But in hindsight, the way that we talk about them in history,

they were the greatest disruptor ever. Right. So courageous. And we all would have followed them. No, I want to get to the people so that they have the courage to be that person, knowing that they might go at it alone. But what is required for this generation now and generations to come is for us to be that single voice sometimes that we have to be. But if you think about it, Roland, I mean, I think for me, what I bring into a lot of these rooms is knowing that there are other people in rooms who are by themselves. And unfortunately, right, do we have to think about the club that way?

But I don't think that I am alone because I know that there are other courageous disruptors who are like, you know what? I have this one shot, this one moment. If I'm able to say something, then hopefully that moves. If I'm not invited back into the room, that's okay. But I spoke truth to power and what is required of me in this moment required that. Before I go to questions from my panel, they're waiting. For some of these folk, I just, I think what is most troubling for me, and I try to, so many people, they stop me wherever I go.

Last week I was in Jamaica. My twin niece has turned 21, and we had promised to take them there when they were 10 years old, and there were folks who were stopping me. Man, I got an idea, and they got this. And people are always saying, man, you know, what do we do? Where do we start? And there was this one brother, he was like, man, I just don't know. And he was all I was like, stop. I said, what do you care about? And he's like, what do you mean?

I said, well, what's the one thing you you don't think state, state, city, city, neighborhood, neighborhood, block, block, street, street, house, one person in the house. That's just how I try to break it down. And I just think what happens is people get frozen by being disruptors because they keep seeing, oh, this problem is so insurmountable. It is so huge. It is so big. And I don't have a college degree.

I don't have this. I don't have following. I don't have any money. And they go through all that sort of stuff. And I was just with somebody the other day and they were talking about the Montgomery bus boycott. I said, stop. Why you keep talking about 382 days?

I said, it was a one-day boycott. Then they said, let's go for five. That's right. After the fifth day, they said, let's keep it going. I said, y'all keep focusing on the 382. You're ignoring the one. And I just think that we have to get people to understand, to be a disruptor,

you actually have to be thinking micro, not macro, small, not large. That's right. And that piece you say, I talked about in the book too, what is the one issue you care about? Part of that's being connected to your values, right? What is it that we value? And who is it that we value? and how can we be in better community? And then you do realize the thing that a lot of us say, all politics are local. You report on this all the time, the amount of races at the local and state level that are decided by less than 100 people. So when they're acting crazy in Washington, D.C., there's so much that you can do in your local community. If you care about one specific issue, there are so many organizations, Black-led

organizations, that could use folks just volunteering their time, an hour or two a week. And that's when this giant doesn't feel so hard to defeat. And that's when you're able to start, instead of being paralyzed by the magnitude of so many problems to solve. And so this thought of disruption and starting local is also to get us focused and to stay focused and to continue along this path. And I'm glad you brought up this thing about not as many resources because I give a lot of practical steps that don't require a lot of resources. Just some time and a little bit of courage to get out of your comfort zone, to get a little uncomfortable, right? Because that's what disruption is going to take. But there are so many ways that we can shape the system. And if there are more than one of us doing that,

your audience is watching. If 10,000 of you are thinking of 10 different local ways, actually, let me not even say that, two different local ways that you can get in this and disrupt, that is two times 10,000, that is 20,000 ways, right? That is so many ways that you can get in this and disrupt. Yeah. That is two times 10,000. That is 20,000 ways, right? That is so many ways that can actually bulldoze and move this tables that are standing in the way of progress.

Well, I had Anthony, give me, give me a shot of the table. So I was talking to a brother who was trying to, he was in media, was trying to start his own show. And he was, you know, he was like, you know, man, I see how you built this. I said, stop, bro. I said, the first check we got from a fan was a 92-year-old black woman in Long Island, New York.

I said, she saw what the TV one show, she said, hey, I believe your voice matters. She gave a check. I said, and so he said, you know, I got a problem. This is what he told me. He said, I got a problem asking people for money. I said, first of all, they don't have to give you anything. I said, but if you ask and they do, that means they're buying into your vision.

They're buying into what is you want to achieve. I last night, and this is, and I didn't think people understand. This is not about, this is not about go take the shot, Anthony. I mean, this is, this is real. This was just today. This is in the last three weeks. All of these are just people. They don't believe in cash app, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle. But here's the point. If we never built this, if we never worked at it every single day, if we never just said, y'all keep plugging, then they wouldn't be buying into the vision. And that's why I keep telling people, you have to,

when you hear the phrase, if you build it, they will come, it's like anything. There's nothing that has ever happened in the history of the world that did not start with an idea from one person. One person. There's no such thing as a group idea. A group don't come up with one idea.

No. One person and said, say, man, I was thinking about something. And then they said, and all of a sudden they're like, that's a good idea. They might call a couple other friends, all of a sudden they think it's that's a good idea. They might call a couple other friends. All of a sudden it's the mushroom. The greatest failure, and Les Brown told me this, he said, he said the place with the biggest amount, he said the place with the largest number of great ideas are cemeteries.

He said because people never actually took those ideas and acted upon them. And that to me, I think is one of the greatest frustrations for a lot of people. They never act on it. They never, I should have said something. I should have, well, I just, I, you know, I should have did that. Should have did that. My whole deal is if it's in your spirit to do it, you just got to go do it. That's right. I mean, look, Roland, I just, you know, I should have did that, should have did that. My whole deal is if it's in your spirit to do it, you just got to go do it. That's right.

I mean, look, Roland, I agree with you. And for me, writing this book is that piece of all of these ideas that just die with people, right? That could have liberated a whole community, right? That could have started whole movements and someone just decided to just get started and operating with an urgency of now, I believe that our gifts are on loan for us, right? And so the closer we get to our purpose, we understand that I do believe that God has created us to be connected with one another, to advance society. And when you understand that purpose, you do move with a sense of urgency to get that vision out there and understand that, you know what something even beyond what I can potentially see. But it is what is required for us right now. And I want more people to be inspired to get up and act and continue to keep going and understand

that, look, you might not make, you will not make every shot you take, right? Use the sports analogy, but you kind of keep going and the batting average gets better with the more shots that you take, right? Every single thing that you've done, every single thing that I've done hasn't been a huge success by society's standpoints, but they are proof points that we can actually do something, that we can put

something out there, and it gives us more confidence to try in public and putting a vision out there and asking people to buy into it and be part of it. On my Congo, I'm going to go to you first. What blows me away is when I meet people and they say, man, I ran for office after watching your show. Somebody says, brother, I mean, I was in the airport and I can't remember. He said, brother, thank you. I was like, I mean, when they do that, I know what they're talking about. And he said, no, no, no. He said, he said, brother, thank you. I was like, I mean, when I when they do that, I know what they're talking about.

He said, no, no, no. He said, I went to college because of you, because something that you said as a brother last night, he pledged alpha. They crossed last night and his brother was the brother was in tears because he said he's a Jamaican immigrant. He said he never felt accepted in this country as it as it as a black immigrant, as a black man, until he started watching my TV One show. And he recounted this story to his line brothers, and he was just in tears. I'm saying that to somebody that you don't know, you never know who you're talking to, and you never know how what you say and what you do will be received by somebody else. But it's guaranteed that you never open your damn mouth, you'll never be received by somebody else. But it's guaranteed

that you never open your damn mouth. You'll never be able to touch somebody. Makongo, go ahead. Congratulations, Mr. Johnson, on the publication of your book. I'm really looking forward to diving into it. I was on a podcast today and a person who was the host asked me about books I would recommend for young people. So my question is, what age level would you say this book is for? I'm a college professor, but I also deal with high school students and the like. Could they also glean some lessons from your new book? Listen, I do think some of the content in the book might be a bit mature, but definitely college students, I made sure to actually include some of my college experience,

especially when I, like Roland's been talking about him, pledging out. He's a member of Alpha Alpha. I'm a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. And I was an overachiever. And I wanted to be, excel at every single thing, academics and every single thing as well as my extracurriculars, but I was burned out. And I ended up talking about when I had to, I had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized before my senior year in high school. And I actually, excuse me, in college. And so I talk about the ways that we are able to move through the world, releasing some pressure on ourselves, particularly as Black students. And so I think it is best fit for

college students and then obviously young adults and even some of our peers here. But this question has also been raised several times on the book tour. And I said, OK, we need to do a young readers edition because a lot of our high school brothers and sisters could actually use this encouragement, especially as they have a lot of energy to navigate a world that needs more courageous disruptors. Thank you. Donna. My soror. My soror.

I am so happy to see you here and happy to learn about your book, for looking at it, reading it, and to marinating it. Because I think that a whole lot of what's going on, with especially Black women these days, is that sisters are holding themselves to extraordinarily high standards. And those high standards, we can't always meet. You know, we can't always meet them.

We have stuff going on, juggling on, et cetera. I just had to put a email on my family website everybody has gone actually my mama my aunties and they said so who's the elder i'm like me and i said oh no that's all right uh somebody else can have that i don't act like an elder so my baby who acts like the elder can have it. But what do we say when we flip the script and we talk about self-care in these times? Self-care is different than it was four years ago, but it's almost the same. And maybe we talked about Woodrow Wilson. What do you say about these times, which are very different and

challenging times, and how many would be a million people who get laid off from the feds? You know, what do we say to people? How do we flip the script to lift people up? Well, thank you, my sorority, Soror Melvo, for that question. I actually have a chapter in the book, Chapter 7, about less really is more and disrupting the notion of the strong Black woman trope or the girl boss and how that actually hasn't served so many of us when we see, unfortunately, the suicide rates among women going up, among Black people going up, and just really dismantling society and the way that capitalism has forced us to understand what success and

worthiness looks like, right? And it's so divine that this book came out after the 2024 election. I was actually editing it towards the end of the election, which I don't know how I was doing that with trying to at least take care of myself. And Alice Walker's quote came to me where she said, you have to keep a healthy soul to face constant oppression. And what that looks like for each individual is going to be different. But in order for us to continue to face the constant oppression that isn't going to change with just one election cycle, it's not going to change actually just because of electoral politics, we have to figure out how to sustain ourselves within this. But we also have to, as disruptors, understand the very real pain that is day to day, the trauma that is inflicted upon it. And some of

that is actually naming it for what it is. You mentioned the federal workers. I live in the DMV area where the majority of Black people are federal workers. This is a traumatic experience that people are talking about. And so how do you create community, right, amongst each other? Because I'm also realizing we don't know what real community is looking like. It's not necessarily social media. I look at the way that my grandmother and the elders of my family built community to take care of one another while we were facing all of this oppression. And I may not be able to take time off, or I may not be able to really have actual

deep rest while I'm working 10, 12 hours a day under this regime that's trying to take care of my job. But what does it look like for my community to take care of me and for me to ask for that help? So I actually spent a lot of time touching on these issues because it's incredibly important for us to take care of ourselves physically, mentally, in our soul in order to face what is happening in very real time. Man, I hear in your last few words, you would that we would prosper and be in good health even as our soul. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the

things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real

from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter. Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to it makes it real listen to new

episodes of the war on drugs podcast season two on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content subscribe to lava for good plus on apple podcast Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at this is pre-tirement.org brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Prosperous. And I feel that energy coming from you as you speak. And I'm looking forward to reading the book, But I am curious into what you were just saying a moment ago about the traumatic experiences that so many American, Black Americans are experiencing right now, particularly the federal workers. How do you see your voice and not only your book, but all of the other efforts? I hear your critique

of capitalism in there. I hear the nuances that you have in terms of the regime that we're living under and the impact that that has. Are you how do you feel your calling, your ministry and your book and your role as a disruptor plays into bringing more attention to that and help fostering and building that community that we need. Thank you. Thank you for that. Well, I believe that this book, as well as a lot of the other work that I do to amplify so many of the issues, creates the conversation that so many do not have the platform to do that. And it's such a time as this. And it's interesting because, and I've known Roland for many years and many iterations of my career, and the choice to be an entrepreneur, I'm an accidental entrepreneur in political and advocacy spaces, also has allowed for me to have a freedom of voice in a way that so many of our brothers and sisters

do not have. And so how do I stand in the gap and speak truth to power in the ways in which they are not able to? How am I able to sit on some of these panels that are extremely privileged? When I was on a panel on a major network and there was a Republican that repeated the talking points of people have to feel the pain just a little bit for us to get America back to where it needs to be. And I said, hold on, wait a minute. All of us are sitting here

in this beautiful New York studio and everybody around this table can afford $12 a dozen eggs. But the people who are feeling this pain can't even decide whether or not they are going to pay their light bill or provide lunch for their kids because now our schools no longer have free lunch programs. And it is important for me to use those positions to uplift those stories of people who are actually scared and vulnerable in this moment in spaces where no one's thinking about that, right? Where we're having this highbrow, educated conversation and we want to theorize things, but these are people's lives. And so I believe that is my calling right now, while also sharing with folks this playbook that will guide them as they're trying to navigate this very uncertain time that we're in

and this critical moment, I think, in our history where it's requiring us to do things that we had never thought that we possibly had to do. But they also feel as though that they have a partner in this and that they have someone who is amplifying what it is that they're going through on a daily basis. Last question before you ask this question to every author, what was their wow moment when writing or researching this book? Something that caused them to even go, wow, I forgot that, or I didn't think about that, or man, that thing there blew me away. Well, Roland, honestly, it was, there's a chapter in the book where I talk about the power of storytelling.

And so this conversation you were having about the macro versus the micro. I'm talking about it in a very macro way. And as I'm writing into the book, I end up disclosing a lot of my own personal story connected to the topic that I'm talking about. And I didn't realize how powerful it was for me to really talk about the process it took for me to be courageous enough to share this story amongst my family, and how much more powerful it is for us to share these stories with our loved ones and in our communities,

versus just hearing about them in the media and TV and film. And I was surprised at how vulnerable I was, but how much more courage and confidence I have in being that vulnerable and sharing my own story, which is, I think, the key to being a disruptor, right? And having your story and telling your story doesn't require any money. It actually just requires you to get a little bit uncomfortable, but have confidence in that your story can open up so much in your community and beyond. And that was a transformative moment for me,

Roland. And even reading the audio book back to myself, I was moved myself to tears that I couldn't believe that my own story had that much power on myself. All right, folks, pull the book up. The book is called Flip the Tables. That's right. You see it right there by Lyncia Johnson. Y'all be sure to get it out. Lyncia, we appreciate you joining us on the show. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. Folks, that is it for us.

Let me thank, first of all, let me shout out Fayetteville State University. Their colors are blue and white, but they gave me this black and gold shirt. So I appreciate that when we were there last year. So what are you shaking your head for, Julianne? Look, you know there's only one fraternity. You know why I'm shaking my head. Why? Don't say that there won't be none, Roland.

If their colors are blue and white, why didn't they give us your black and gold? Come on now, brother. What's the problem? First of all, you can't hate on daddy. Daddy? You tripping, bro. You can't hate on daddy. Daddy? You're tripping, bro. You can't hate. Even when you pledged.

Even when you pledged long ago, when y'all had to recite the Greek alphabet, you had to start with alpha. No, we start with delta. That means y'all can't spell. No, we started with delta. Nope, that means y'all can't spell. We started with Delta. Nope. That means y'all can't spell. Delta because Delta comes first.

No, boo. No, actually you don't come first. Yes, we do. You ain't the first black college Greek organization. You're not even the first black sorority. So, come on now. Stop it. Calm yourself. Calm yourself. You're not. Calm yourself. You're not.

I'm very calm. Stop hating on the fact that Fayetteville State hooked me up with this black and gold shirt just like Edward Waters. They gave me one as well, so I'll rock that one next week on the show. They ain't gonna give you none. They ain't gonna give you none, but you enjoy what you got.

Darling, please. You know doggone well I can go through the Delta Sigma Theta convention. I'm more popular than you. Don't even start. Don't get me started. Don't get me started. You know. You know. You just like ancient for a fight today.

No, look. I just shouted out Fayetteville State. You the one shaking your head because I said it was black and gold. I didn't say nothing. I shook my head. You decided to take my head shaking as to into your state.

Well, you should not have had a response then. Just sit there and be stoic as possible. Macongo, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. That's what I have rolling, Mark. Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, whatever. Pastor Ben, thank's what I have rolling, Mark. Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Whatever. Pastor Ben, thank you very much.

And that child who's a Delta, no fool will. She got to bow down to alphas. Julianne, thanks a lot as well. Y'all, don't forget, if y'all want to join our Bring the Funk fan club, y'all want to join these folks, of course, who have sent us their checks and money orders, y'all please do so. Anthony, come on. Get the shot, bro. Come on.

If I'm pointing to the stuff, get the shot. Come on. You're too slow. Switch shots. Switch shots. Let's go. Thank you very much. Come on. You should be ready. All right. Y'all want to join these folks. Do this here. Cash app. You want to use Stripe. Go to the Stripe QR code.

That's right there. Stripe QR code. You can check it out. Click Cash app. Pay to contribute. You can also use the Stripe QR code. You can check it out. Click Cash App. Paid to contribute. You can also use the Stripe QR code for credit cards. So your check and money order, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196. PayPal's R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo RM Unfiltered.

Zelle Rowland at rowlandsmartin.com. Rowland at rowlandmartinUnfiltered.com. Be sure to download the Blackstone Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Smart TV. You can also be sure to get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Get the audio version I read on Audible. Also, folks, if you want to, you can get your Roland Martin Unfiltered swag.

That's right. Go to get our merchandise. Also, Blackstar Network merchandise. We got t-shirts, hoodies, wall art, mugs, and more. Get your shirt. FAFO 2025. Also, don't blame me. I voted for the black woman. Go to RolandMartin.Creator.Spring.com. The QR code is there as well.

And don't forget, if you want to download the app Fanbase, get Fanbase. You could also participate in the crowdfunding. About 10.4, 10.5 million has been raised. Almost there to the goal of 17 million. Go to startengine.com forward slash

Fanbase, startengine.com forward slash Fanbase. Folks, that's it. I will be broadcasting for the rest of the week from Texas. I'm traveling. I'll be in Houston tomorrow. I'm in Austin on Wednesday, where the Texas Legislative Black Caucus is honoring me with an Outstanding Texan Award.

So look forward to that. So thanks a bunch, folks. And we'll see y'all on the show again. Shout out to Fayetteville State, Edward Waters University. I'll wear y'all on the show again. Shout out to Fayetteville State, Edward Waters University. I'll wear y'all's stuff next, let's see, when we're on the road. I'll wear it next week.

I'll wear it next week. So I'll have y'all next week. So, all right, that's it, folks. I'll see y'all right here. Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Holla! Blackstar Network is here. Oh, no punches!

A real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be black on media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Thank you. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith.

So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year,

a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes

that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.