#RolandMartinUnfiltered - DeSantis suspends Black state attorney; GOP prez candidate calls Juneteenth 'useless'; Niger coup

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

8.9.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: DeSantis suspends Black state attorney; GOP prez candidate calls Juneteenth 'useless'; Niger coup Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspends a second state attorney.  Monique Worrell's name gets wiped off the official website.  She joins us tonight to talk about why DeSantis is targeting elected officials.  The GOP continues its anti-woke campaign.  Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy calls Juneteenth a "useless" holiday, despite previously praising it as a symbol of the American dream.  We will show you the speech that has ignited a firestorm. There's an escalating crisis in Niger, where coup leaders are increasingly defiant.  We will speak with the president and CEO of Believe in Africa, who will explain why and how the situation escalated. The last former Minneapolis officer convicted for his role in George Floyd's death refused to accept responsibility for what he did at his sentencing.  I'll show you what he told the judge, who wasn't happy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Wednesday, August 9th, 2023, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The dictator in Florida, Ron DeSantis, has now suspended a second state attorney because he doesn't like the voters decided who they want to represent them. Monique Worrell joins us to talk about what took place this morning and how her replacements already fired two of her top deputies and put in place somebody who she beat. We'll also talk to Nikki Freed, who runs the Florida Democratic Party,

about this assault on democracy in the Sunshine State. The GOP continues its BS anti-woke campaign. You have a Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramsey, who's calling Juneteenth a useless holiday. How about you being a useless candidate? As an escalating crisis in Niger, where coup leaders are increasingly defiant, we'll speak with the president and CEO of Believe in Africa, who will explain why and how this has escalated.

The last former Minneapolis cop who was involved in the death of George Floyd refused to accept responsibility for what he did. Well, guess what? He's going to prison. The judge was not happy at all. And folks, continued drop in memes and videos tied to the Montgomery Brawl.

We'll show more of that as well, folks. It's a jam-packed show. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, Unfiltered, on the Black Starwl. We'll show more of that as well, folks. It's a jam-packed show. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine

And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling, best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now.

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. Central Floridians woke up this morning with the news of the person who they elected by almost 67% of the vote in 2020 is no longer the state attorney. Why? Because the dictator in Florida, Ron DeSantis, has suspended Monique Worrell from her position. Why? Well, he claims that she wasn't doing her job. She wasn't prosecuting crimes. Listen to this BS he said today.

The state of Florida is a law and order state. And that means we support the men and women who wear the uniform, who protect and serve. It means we have strong policies to hold criminals accountable for their misconduct. Prosecutors have a duty to faithfully enforce the law. One's political agenda cannot trump this solemn duty. Refusing to faithfully enforce the laws of Florida puts our communities in danger and victimizes innocent Floridians. Accordingly, I am today announcing the suspension of State Attorney Monique Worrell from the Ninth Judicial Circuit effective immediately. I'm appointing Judge Andrew Bain to take over as State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

Judge Bain is currently a judge in Orlando. He is a native Floridian. He attended University of Miami, where he played football, and he received his law degree from Florida A&M Law School, and I trust that he will be a prosecutor that faithfully enforces the law and will keep the communities of Central Florida safe. Monique Worrell's administration of criminal justice in the Ninth Circuit has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence. The policies or practices listed in our executive order suspending her that constitutes the grounds of suspension are as follows. One, a pattern or practice to avoid minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes. Pattern or practice to avoid minimum

mandatory sentences for drug trafficking offenses. Pattern or practice allowing juvenile offenders to avoid serious charges and incarceration altogether. Pattern or practice to avoid valid and applicable sentencing enhancements. Pattern or practice limiting charges for child pornography. Pattern or practice for seeking withholding of adjudication in situations not permitted under Florida law. If you want to see someone who is arrogant and shameless, it is Ron DeSantis. He says politics is not involved. Every action he has taken is directly tied to politics. Remember, he suspended Andrew Warren last year. Warren lost his case to be reinstated in June. Again,

now he's claiming that, oh, Warhol is not doing her job, even though what she was doing is what she ran on. And the voters clearly said they wanted to see that. Monique Worrell joins us right now from Orlando. Glad to have you here. A roller bar unfiltered. You said in your news conference today, y'all have been waiting for this to happen. Yeah. Good evening, Roland.

Thanks for having me. It's good to be back with you. And this is the day that we've been waiting for. It's the day that we've been talking about for months now. And so he lays out the all of blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, you're not doing this. You're not doing that. And he actually says incompetence. But the things that you were doing as the state attorney, you ran on. So it seems as if Central Floridians were fine with that because you got almost 67% of the vote. You dusted your opponent.

Yeah, the thing that I was doing is exactly the thing that I ran and was elected to do. And, you know, it's dereliction of duties because it doesn't align with the governor's politics. So I think it's very hypocritical for him to get up there and say that politics has no place in law and order because this is all about politics. This is all about his opportunity to restore a failed presidential campaign. And so this judge comes in. He immediately gets rid of your two lieutenants.

And my understanding, he brings in as the number two the person you beat or the person who came in fourth place. So a loser who the voters didn't want is now the number two in your office? That is absolutely correct. It's strange how these things work. You know, after I was elected, I met with Ryan Williams because he wanted to be my number two. And I guess he decided that he was going to become my number two one way or the other with or without me. He was going to be number two in that office and he has succeeded. And again, what this what this replacement has done, he's now gotten rid of

diversionary programs, the different sort of tactics that you and other states' attorneys have done to minimize folks actually going to jail because it's been costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands

of dollars to imprison people. And so you put in practices that frankly are saving folks money and individuals who frankly should not be in jail. You're creating different pathways to still hold them accountable. That's right, Roland. It's not only saving taxpayers' dollars, but it's diverting people from prison who don't belong there. Prison is for people who pose a

danger to our society. And the individuals who go through our diversionary programs are not going for violent offenses. And if the governor was really so concerned about community safety, why does he continue to enact laws that are contrary to public safety? We are now a state that has no restrictions for carrying firearms. So anyone can get a firearm. You don't have to get a permit. It's a permitless carry state where we've already seen an increase in gun violence in our communities. There are now more, not less guns. And there will continue to be more guns because every time you loosen the restrictions, people buy more guns. And these are the things that are a danger to our community, not pretrial diversion.

So I'm confused. Last I checked and I've covered city council, I've covered county government, I've covered state politics. Prosecutors have prosecutorial discretion. You don't have to do what a DA in another area does, nor do you have to do what the governor says. You get to make the independent decision as to how to prosecute cases in your area, correct? Well, obviously that's not correct anymore under this regime of this dictator. Prosecutorial discretion is under attack here in the state of Florida, but throughout the nation. And this has become a really hot button for political extremists to target individuals who realize that over-incarceration,

mass incarceration does not build public safety. Programs and diversionary opportunities increase public safety because they build stronger, safer communities. What's next? Do you plan to file a suit against the governor? So I have a legal team that has been assembled and they are looking at the executive order and we will be meeting to discuss our next steps in that regard.

This has an economic impact. You discuss it at the news conference. You're suspended. You don't get paid. No. So it's interesting, right? When law enforcement officers get caught in wrongful activity, they get suspended with pay while the investigation takes place. That is not the case for Andrew Warren or myself now that have been suspended.

We get paid for the last day that we worked. Our medical benefits will terminate. And, you know, my family's going to have to figure that out. There is a grave economic impact. And my kids are supposed to start school tomorrow. They don't deserve this. What do you say to the voters? And what is the community saying? Again, it's not like you won 51-49. I mean, you won with more than two-thirds of the vote. Well, unfortunately, if you are in a blue county in this state, your vote doesn't matter. And that's exactly what the governor has shown us by the removal of Andrew Warren, by my removal, and by the removal of all the other Democrats that he has removed in his tenure as governor,

our democracy is under attack. And it doesn't matter if you agree with me or don't. It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. Our democracy is under attack. And this man is running to be the next president of the United States. We have to stand together, everyone who believes in democracy, to stop that from happening. The campaign, first of all, your term is up next year. Are you running for re-election? I am absolutely running for re-election, and I encourage people to go to my website,

MoniqueForStateAttorney.com, to find out more about me and to support my campaign for reelection. When Tennessee Republicans did the exact same thing, removing representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, Vice President Kamala Harris came down there. There were a lot of people who were organizing. Do you want to see national Democrats put this on the radar and come down to support you, to support Warren and other Democrats who are under constant assault by dictator Ron DeSantis? Yeah, so absolutely. And again, this isn't about Monique Worrell, right? Monique Worrell is the name that we're discussing today. But this is about democracy. This is about individuals going to the voting booth, making their votes, and then having their votes stripped

away from them because other individuals put themselves in positions that allows them to remove democratically elected public officials. Our democracy is at stake, and everyone needs to be in support of holding on to democracy. Last question I have for you. Andrew Gillum lost by 30,000 votes to Ron DeSantis. There were very low numbers in Broward County, Miami-Dade County. I keep saying to people, don't bitch and moan today about what Ron DeSantis is doing

if you did not vote in 2020. The fact of the matter is, if enough folks had properly voted, DeSantis would never be the governor and you would not be in the situation. This is why votes, not just in your race, but the top of the ticket all the way down is critical. Yeah, I've been telling people elections have consequences and we are suffering the consequences of our actions in 2020. And we need to remember that as the ballot boxes open again in 2024. And this isn't just about me. It's about what's happened at the federal level. It's about what's happening on the

Supreme Court. It's about what's happening here in the state of Florida. We are suffering the consequences of our actions, and we dare not do that again. Monique, we appreciate you joining us. Keep us abreast of what happens down there. It is shameful that you have to go through this. But this is the kind of stuff that we've seen, whether it's the tax on CRT, the tax on DEI, the tax on professors. At the end of the day, what you have is you have an absolute dictator there, a person who also drew his own congressional districts, cutting in half the black representation in Florida as well.

And I would say to anybody African-American and anybody else who's not African-American, if you don't like this, you cannot sit at home and be quiet. That's right. It's time to stand because if we don't, we're going to lose what our ancestors have fought and died for. All right. Well, Nick Worrell, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Folks, Nick Burrell, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, going to break. We come back. We'll talk to Nikki Freed, who runs the Democratic Party in Florida. Talk to my panel as well. Folks, you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Be sure to hit that like button on YouTube. Also, download the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV,

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We'll be right back. 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 multibillion-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,

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We continue our coverage in the assault on democracy in the state of Florida by dictator Rhonda Sanders. Joining me now from Miami is Nikki Freed. She's the chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Nikki, glad to have you back on the show. Again, when you look at, I mean, playing that video and listening to this man stand there, just flat out lie and to say, oh, the rule of law in Florida and keeping Central Floridians safe. They're the very people who voted. They voted in the exact same election where he got reelected and they voted for her. They rejected the person who he

endorsed. So they wanted the person who they put in office. That's right. And this is a true assault on democracy. And let's also be really realistic here. He targeted her. It wasn't like the community, you know, came to him with all of these complaints. It wasn't like law enforcement were coming to him. He intentionally targeted Monique. He asked for public records requests of all of her cases and trying to make an example out of her. And the reality is, is that the people in that central part of our state wanted Monique and wanted her policies. And as a past public defender, you wanted a state attorney that was willing to work in the communities and understand that this is a partnership in protecting our communities. It is not one way or the highway. And this is a direct attack on democracy, and this is why

we're fighting back here in our state against this guy. And not only that, I mean, this is, okay, losers lose. That's the real deal. Losers lose. You don't get to lose and then go, okay, you know what? Screw it. I'm going to throw out the winner and then bring in a person of my own liking,

including the person who she crushed. Yep. absolutely. And let's also, Roland, Ron DeSantis has never been president of the United States. And so you have seen for the entire summer, his numbers plummeting, not only in the country, but you're also seeing it here in the state of Florida. He's underwater in Florida. If he was to run for reelect today, he would lose in the state of Florida. And he's running for president just how he's governed for white America. Let's be realistic

about what is happening here. He is trying to get another headline and trying to show that he is, you know, strong and aggressive on law and order when all he's doing is trying to distract all of us against what's happening on the national level and the fact that he is losing his election, that he cannot compete with Donald Trump. And so he comes back home. He's only in the state of Florida for 24 hours, and it's an assault on democracy. In fact, I'd rather him stay on the campaign trail, because the more he's not here, the

better opportunities it is for us here in Florida to organize and to make sure that we are taking back our state. You said he's targeting white Americans. No, he's targeting white conservative Americans. What you're seeing in this country, and I keep saying this to young white voters who are progressive, do understand voter suppression ain't just about black people and Latinos. It's about folks in college campuses. We saw what happened yesterday in Ohio where they struck down this initiative where Republicans wanted to increase the threshold to pass a referendum. Same thing. They got crushed all across the state.

Ohio State, 98% of the people on that campus voted against it. And so I look at Texas, 75 percent of young people, 30 and under, did not vote in the 2022 election. There has to be a wake up call to young voters to say you cannot let this kind of individual stay in office, whether it's DeSantis in Florida or Abbott in Texas. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that's what's happening. We've created a generation right now that that is the most pissed off generation, rightfully so. They have seen their teachers being attacked. They've seen their community members in the LGBTQ plus community attacked. They've seen books being taken off of their shelves. If they're in higher education, they're seeing DEI in Florida

not being offered both inside the classroom and funding of programs outside the classroom. They've been doing active shooting drills every single year in their schools. And now it is important for us as Democrats to make sure that we are giving them a platform. And that's what we're doing right now in Florida. We are making sure that we are elevating this next generation. We're giving them tools for success. We're working on college campuses again, voter registration. But it is going to be this generation that is going to save democracy. And you're right, we are seeing it all across the country. We even saw it in Wisconsin. When Wisconsin had that special election for their Supreme Court judge, it was the youth that was able to get it across the finish line. And when the NRA filed for bankruptcy, it was March for Our Lives kids that caused that.

So this generation has the fight, has the grit. And now it's time for us old people, I can't believe I'm calling us old, to get out of their way and let them lead and give them opportunities. Where are national Democrats? We saw what happened in Tennessee. Are you hearing from the White House? Are you hearing from the DNC? Are you hearing from Democratic White House? Are you hearing from the DNC? Are you hearing from Democratic leaders there? Because at the end of the day, what took place in Tennessee, this is the exact same thing. This person is suspending her and throwing her out of the office she was elected to.

Yep. You know what? The vice president was, I mean, let's also go back to what is happening in Florida. The assault on the black community, and you and I have talked about this, this started, you know, when he passed the anti-protest laws, you know, when BLM was, you know, happening on our streets all across our country. He then went after, as you just mentioned, the congressional district maps and getting out Black representation. He's gone after those returning citizens that we all fought so hard for that amendment to pass. And then, of course, the attacks on AP, African American history, now the all-on assault of African American history in general.

And so we have seen the White House come to our defense. The vice president was here in the state of Florida now twice in the last two weeks after the changing of the black curriculum, came to Jacksonville, which we were able to flip that seat, that mayor's seat this past year, and then just now in Orlando last week delivering that same message that the benefit of slavery is undebatable. It doesn't exist. And the fact that she is continuing to show up, we are getting support from the White House, but of course for anybody who is listening to this inside the ears of the Oval Office, we always can use more backup. We are fighting hard here in Florida, Democrats. We are standing up. We are united.

You saw Democrats all across the state of Florida come to Monique's defense, not even as Monique even said earlier. It's not Monique per se. It is the situation and is making sure that we're protecting democracy. And I also am going to make this very black and white statement. She's also the only black female state attorney elected in the state of Florida. And this is something that is second in history, right? Just the second in history. That's correct. Who Rick Scott suspended as well. If you remember that, that she was suspended because she refused to ask for the death penalty. Again, something that she campaigned on and was elected overwhelmingly in this community.

And so this community has the right to get elected people that represent their community. That is the whole point of local government. And the fact that Ron DeSantis and this Republican Party of Florida doesn't understand the concept of people wanting their local government to function and be a true representation of their communities. We are moving backwards in Florida, and I know that we are going to continue to fight back. Last question for you. Are you seeing on the ground, are you seeing an increase in mobilization, organization among African Americans, among black men and black women, among Latinos? Democrats have had a hell of a problem, hell of a problem in Florida, reaching the Latino community, which is stratified,

different from a lot of the places. You know, is this happening? Look, insurance rates are skyrocketing in this state. You've got Miami population decreasing. I mean, are people saying, you know what, we're pissed off with what's going on with our state? Yes, people are pissed off. And when we started our Take Back Florida tour last week in Volusia County, which is a very red area in our state. Over 150 people showed up to our Take Back Florida tour. We then went to Orlando, Seminole County.

Today we're back in Miami-Dade, and we're hitting the ground. And people are coming to these events energized, excited about opportunities to volunteer, to make sure they're going back onto the doors. We are even in Miami Gardens today, which is one of the largest black percentage of the demographics there. And people are showing up and they're realizing that as these culture wars continue in the state of Florida, you're right. Property insurance is the highest in the nation if you can find it. It has increased 208 percent since Donald Trump, since the same person, Ron DeSantis, was elected governor. You also then have right now 9 percent inflation. That is more than double the national average. That is on Ron DeSantis. You can't find affordable homes. Now Ron's affordable housing director is suspended under an investigation.

You can't find teachers. We have the largest teacher shortage in the country. The state of Florida is on fire. And so the more that Ron DeSantis continues these cultural wars, they're having direct impact on the people that live here in the state. They are coming out. They are waking up to what is happening and we are going to make sure that they've got a voice not only at the ballot box but throughout the rest of the year and helping to reform this democratic party of florida nicky free chairs florida state democratic party we certainly appreciate you joining us thanks a bunch thanks for having me folks going to the break we come back we'll chat with my panel

about what's happening in florida and its impact across the country you're watching unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. 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 multibillion-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 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. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s

capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes

because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barn, the poetess, Alicia Morris is in the house. She's an MC, a recording artist, a hip hop historian, broadcast journalist, and an entrepreneur. The advantages was I got to do an album

and hear my music on the radio and travel around the country with a major label. I was labeled Mace with Tupac and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Welcome The Poetist right here on the Frequency in the Blackstar Network. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until tomorrow.

Let's get right to it. Our panel, Robert Tillow, host, People, Passion, Politics, News & Talk 1380, WAOK in Atlanta. Rebecca Carruthers, vice president, Fair Election Center out of D.C. A. Scott Bolden, attorney, also former chair of National Bar Association and D.C. Chamber of Commerce, Pat out of D.C. Glad to have all three of you here. Let's get right to it. Scott, when we see what is going on there in Florida, folks should be pissed off, mad as hell. And I dare say to black men, black, black women and everybody, this is why we cannot sit still, should be organizing and mobilizing to throw these assholes out. You're also, you're always so colorful, Roland, and I don't disagree.

I'm also direct. Yeah, that too. Let me tell you something. What's amazing about this, this is part of a broader onslaught on black female prosecutors. And the one point that your discussions about the Florida situation that did not cover is, is that in the ninth district where the state's attorney is operating and reducing crime, the facts are she's reducing crime. All of her programs show and indicate the statistics that crime is down, not up. The real problem in Florida is this crazy statutory, these crazy statutes that allow the governor to supplement or substitute their judgment for that of the voters. That ought to be unconstitutional. And so the attack or the appeal ought to be on the unconstitutionality of that particular

statute. But if you look in Baltimore, Maryland, with Marilyn Mosby, they brought federal indictments against her. They've attacked Kim Foxx in Chicago. There are other black female prosecutors who are doing their jobs rooted in discretion. The crime is down, and yet they're still being attacked by conservatives. Conservatives have to do this because they don't have the votes otherwise to win these elections, if you will.

And the statutory scheme in Florida just makes it ripe for this type of delusional leadership, suspensions. And now she's out of work, and she's running for reelection. What happens if she wins her reelection? Does the suspension carry over or does that terminate the suspension? No, actually, no. What should be happening next November, Rebecca? And that is no Republican should be governor.

That's what should happen. She should be reelected. No Republican should be elected. That's what should happen. She should be reelected. No Republican should be elected governor in that state. And people in that state who are Democrats, who are progressive, who are black, need to understand. I don't want to hear the bitching and moaning about education and what's being taught after the fact if you did not vote.

You know what's unfortunate? The governor's race isn't until 2026. But what can happen in 2024 is looking at the state house races. Because just like what Florida is doing now, just like what Scott just said, it looks highly unconstitutional. The same thing right now is happening in Georgia. The Georgia legislature just passed a law that allows for the governor to use discretion on investigating prosecutors in the state of Georgia. This is happening right now. I have friends who are prosecutors in Georgia, and right now they're being told that the cases that they try and the cases that they don't try, the folks that they bring charges against,

all of that is now subject to review by the governor. But what's different in Georgia is that the state bar and their prosecutors are working together and formed a working group to figure out how they could push back on this. So what I really want to hear in Florida is what is the Florida state bar doing about this? I want to see the big marquee law firms out in front and letting Governor DeSantis know that this is not acceptable. You can do whatever you want in the executive, but you're not about to F around with our courts. But here's what he's done, though, Robert. He controls the state Supreme Court.

They gerrymandered that. You had two Republicans, two Democrats who resigned. They ramrodded their people through. They control Florida lock, stock, and barrel. Supreme Court, legislative, and governor mentioned something has to give, but it only changes if people use their power. You're absolutely correct, but I also think there's a responsibility on the part of the Democratic Party of Florida on candidate recruitment. Why would you run the husk of Charlie Crisp for governor? Well, first of all, Robert, here's the deal. That's why the person who was the chair got a bounce.

That's why Nikki Freed is now there. The far Democratic Party statewide has been in shambles in the past eight to ten years. That's why she now is running, because people got sick and tired of those crazy yahoos running the party. And that's exactly the point I think we have to make. If you look at Georgia and Florida, often our politics run very similarly, but since 2018, they've been going in a very divergent directions. Why? Because Georgia, our candidate recruitment, we recruited people like Raphael Warnock to run for Senate, people like John Ossoff to run for Senate, Stacey Abrams to make two runs for the governor's mansion. And because of that strong showing in the grassroots efforts that have been put in place in order to enfranchise more voters, we've had a Republican party that has become more balkanized in many ways, but also that's had to start acquiescing

to some of the interests of minority communities. I think that if you have a robust voter turnout effort, if you register people to vote, if you get candidates to really motivate people to turn out, if you have policies to get young people and African-Americans and Latinos united against this culture where the Ron DeSantis is running, you can absolutely take over that state piece by piece. And the point of the election being in 2026, that means that there's plenty of time to ramp up. After Ron DeSantis loses by 50 or 60 points in this Republican primary, he's going to be in a position of injuring the entire Republican Party of Florida. There's no reason that Democrats should not be able to pick up

House seats, state Senate seats, as well as start beating back the Republican Party. It took him years to get to this point. It's going to take years to get out of this hole, but it is doable. But it's going to take a concentrated effort that we have not seen in Florida in many years. Look, Scott, the state has been an absolute mess over the last decade. Again, Nikki Freed was the last Democrat elected statewide. She lost when she ran for governor in the primary against Charlie Crist, who had no shot whatsoever. I don't know what the hell they were thinking. But the bottom line is this here. When you're rebuilding a party, it ain't going to happen overnight, but it also is going to need resources.

And what also has to happen is that national Democrats are going to have to go, well, you know what? Hey, Florida's off the map. They're not going to put any money into it. They've done that in Texas. They did it in Georgia. The folks in Georgia had to create a statewide mechanism to actually change what happened.

That's how Warnock and Ossoff eventually became now the state senators because that was a grassroots effort that was about targeting, micro-targeting folks in that state. It has to happen in Florida. And so this might not happen or might not change over the next one or two election cycles, but it has to start. But you have to be intentional about it. As a former state party chair in 2003, 2004, rebuilding, reorganizing, and raising money at

a level that you've never seen before, it takes intentionality from the state party chair to who serves in the state party to build in a strong relationship with Democratic governor associations all the way up to the White House. It starts with messaging and convincing them as to why they ought to invest at the state level, congressional level, senatorial campaign, as to why this state is winnable and why even if it's not winnable, it should be competitive. That takes resources. That takes communication. That takes relationship building and finding allies in the Democratic Party to say this is worth it because without the Democratic apparatus and without that investment and recruitment of strong candidates,

you cannot continue to roll over and give up Florida and say, oh, well, it's just not going to happen. It'll never happen. You'll never win the lottery if you never buy a lottery ticket. They just gave away a billion five if you didn't play the lottery. You've got to invest in Florida and in Texas because they don't have to be purple states. Why do I have to convince you that we're a purple state before the Dems invest money? And they better start investing money in black men vote, too, because they turn down organizations like Black Men Vote who want to do positive things in Florida, who want to register and deliver votes to the, during these elections. And the Democratic Party, many sections, factions of them won't invest in those organizations. It takes a continuum of care

to do this, but more importantly, it takes intentionality. The Democratic Party nationally just doesn't have that right now in Florida. Robert, go ahead. Just to Scott's point, the Democratic Party is going to have to just make a decision at some point whether or not they want black men to vote for them or not. They have to stop being afraid to address the issues of Black men and then just simply expect them to turn out on election day. Black men can't just keep saying racism, racism, racism without pushing any policies through.

They're going to have to show, look, if you really want them to turn out, look, we passed the George Floyd justice and policing act. We passed the Tyree Nichols duty to intervene act. We passed the John Lewis... 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 one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. So voting rights, et cetera, down the line, instead of simply saying, well, the Republicans are racist. We know the Republicans are racist yet,

but what are you going to do to actually change those? But here's the deal, Rebecca. One second, one second. Rebecca, facts are facts, though. The reality is black women are the number one voting bloc for Democratic Party. Black men are number two. So let's just be perfectly clear. It's not a question of are black men voting Democrat. They actually are.

They are looking at the policies. The issue that you see is you see the numbers going down or you see people sitting out elections. That's what happened in Florida. Massive numbers of African-Americans simply just did not vote in the last two election cycles. And so the point is you have to create an apparatus that is reaching those people to get them to understand that it's late to complain about actions someone did when the election is over and you set out the very election

because there was somebody who actually was running against that person? Well, Roland, I campaigned in Florida in 2008 and 2016. And one thing that I could do is talk about in 2022, leading up to 2022, when Nikki Freeh was running to become the Democratic nominee in the governor's race, one thing that she was criticized for from Black communities is that she did not engage often and early and enough with the level of engagement. There were many Black women who approached Nikki's campaign and let her know there's more you need to do to engage our communities if you expect us to turn out communities if you expect us to turn out and if you expect us to turn out for you. As you can see, she did not win the nomination.

Not saying that Charlie Criss was a better candidate because he was not, but I think it's very important here, like everyone's saying, Scott's saying, Robert's saying, you're saying as well, in Florida, you have to engage Black communities, period, whether they are Caribbean Black, whether they are African Black, or whether they are American Black. You have to engage with them often. You have to listen to them, and you have to speak to actual policies that Black folks are talking about in Florida. You cannot treat us in Florida as a monolith, just like you cannot treat Spanish speakers in Florida as a monolith. Your Cuban-Americans who are in South Florida aren't going to vote the same as your Dominicans, aren't going to vote the same as your Puerto Ricans, aren't going to vote the same as some of your folks who are up in Destin or who are out in the panhandle. And if the Democratic Party does not understand that,

then Florida will remain DeSantis land. Look, folks, Robert, 30 seconds, go. Just real quick, just on that exact point, as a resident Haitian American here, Joe Biden is going to have to do some aid to Haiti because there are many people in the Haitian American community in Florida who still remember the Clinton Foundation and the efforts to rebuild after the earthquake and still blame them for that and do not vote Democrat till this day. If Joe Biden sends a good aid package to help calm some of the disruptions going on in Haiti today, you might be able to win over many of those voters that currently are completely anti-Democrat, won't even listen to the words as many members of my family are. Just a piece of game for the Democrats if they ever wanted to win. All right, folks, hold tight one second.

We come back. We'll talk about one of the cops who was there when George Floyd was murdered. He gets hit to prison, and the judge was not happy with what he had to say. We'll break it down next. Roland Martin on the filter of the Black Star Network. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button, y'all. Okay, I see all y'all commenting. Why don't we have the number of likes as we do people who are watching right now?

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Speaking of white fear, folks, I'm going to be in Birmingham. I got to give a speech there on Saturday. Black Alabama is for education, but I'm going to also be there Friday. And so I want y'all to join me, Birmingham. Do me a favor, come to Harambee Room. My frat brothers, they own that. 11815 4th Avenue North. We're going to be there Friday. This Friday, 6 to 8 p.m. Send an RSVP. Look, I'm bringing 500 books to Birmingham on my speech on Saturday. It's going to be running out. So if you want to be sure to get your copy, an autographed copy,

Center RSVP is free and open to the public. INFO at RolandSMartin.com. Spread the word. I'm in Birmingham. I'm back in Birmingham Friday for a book signing for White Fear at the Harambe Room, 1815 4th Avenue North, taking place from 6 to 8 p.m. All right, folks, I'll be right back. I'm Faraiji Muhammad, live from L.A., and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics good the bad and the downright ugly

so join our community every day at 3 p.m eastern and let your voice be heard hey we're all in this together so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into it's the culture weekdays at three only on the black star network up next on the frequency with me. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. The poetess, Alicia Morris, is in the house. She's an emcee, a recording artist, a hip-hop historian, broadcast journalist, and an entrepreneur. The advantages was I got to do an album

and hear my music on the radio and travel around the country. With a major label, I was labeled Mace with Tupac and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Welcome the Poetess right here on the Frequency and the Black Star Network. On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles, and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others

on a next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. This week on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Reparations. Is it finally time? Two of the country's foremost authorities on the subject will join me to try to answer that very question. A powerful installment of The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, right here, only on the Black Star My name is Lena Charles, and I'm from Opelousas, Louisiana. Yes, that is Zydeco capital of the world. My name is Morgan Chappelle. I'm from Dallas, Texas, representing the Urban Trivia Game.

It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right, folks, we're going to be breaking down Montgomery. People are still talking about the Montgomery Brawl. We'll do that in the next hour. And so we just want to give you a shot of our studio chair because that goes for any people who have any stupid stuff that they say on this show. So my producers put in the script that dude Vivek, who's running for, who's running on the presidential side, y'all can show his photo. So he made some comments about Juneteenth

and took some people off. Guess what? He means nothing to me. I don't give a shit. I'm not wasting any breath on him. He's not going to win. He's not going to even place. All he does is want attention.

I'm ignoring him. Next. The last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd gets 57 months in prison. Before Judge Peter Cahill handed Tal Thao his sentence, the convicted former officer

stood in court denying he did anything wrong. Thank you, God, for this opportunity. But there isn't anything that's hidden from him. You know, one year ago, I said, you know, I promised that I would come witness here for Jesus today. And that's what I'll do. You know, obviously, on that day, we didn't intend on, I didn't intend on doing any malice or anything like that or try to hurt anyone. That was never my intent. I did the best I thought I could. Obviously, the outcome didn't come out the way I wanted it so I'll

leave it at that I'll move on here I'll start with if you have your Bibles go ahead and pull it out I'll go with Gospel Gospel of Luke, chapter 21. Jesus said that to give us the opportunity to share the gospel and our testimonies to government authorities. And I should say that I hope that everyone that's baptized in the Trinity will appreciate that. I know God isn't relegated to just sundays or boxed in um you know on june 11th uh 2020 you know through the providence of god uh why heaven county jail troubled. I was troubled how the false narrative started, the slander, how as a police officer you know you try to go in as a initially as a fact-finding type investigation and I really saw a narrative type investigation that deeply disturbed I'm sorry was was he preaching a sermon well judge Cahill let's just

say didn't take too kindly to towels preaching Chitao's preaching. Chitao, to be perfectly honest, after three years of reflection, I was hoping for a little more remorse, regret, acknowledgement of some responsibility, and less preaching. And I'm not going to rehash all the facts from my order, which I found that the things you did and the things you didn't do make you guilty of this crime. I'm not going to rehash all that. Suffice it to say that I think your culpability is less than Mr. Chauvin,

but well above Mr. King and Mr. Lane as an experienced senior officer who was in the best position to save George Floyd. Accordingly, it's my belief that a sentence at the top of the range would be condign punishment. So as to count two, having been found guilty by the court of aiding and abetting manslaughter in the second degree, after a trial pursuant to Minnesota Rule of Criminal Procedure 26.01, Subdivision 3, judgment of the court is that you are convicted of that offense. Count one is dismissed pursuant to the negotiation. You are sentenced to 57 months in prison with credit for 340 days already served.

This sentence will be concurrent with your federal sentences. I apologize, Your Honor. And will be served at a federal facility designated by the United States Bureau of Prisons. Upon release from your federal sentence, you will be transferred to the Minnesota Department of Corrections to serve the remainder of your state sentence unless alternative arrangements... 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 multibillion-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. ...made with the United States Bureau of Prisons. Your provided DNA sample is required by law, and you are prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition for the remainder of your life Pay a $50 fine

$75 surcharge and $3 law library fee From prison wages Any questions? No, God bless you sir Alright, we're adjourned Thank you Rebecca, he's going to try to slide in there. God bless you.

This is so, this is so phony. This is so American too. Like in this country, when bad things happen to black people, white supremacy tells us, well, oh, if you just wrap yourself in white people's blonde hair and blue eyes, you're absolved of all of your, of all of your wrongs, and black people just got to accept it. I mean, this is classic America. It's phony.

It's to be expected. But, I mean, if he was going to preach or give a sermon, I wish he would have put a little bass in his voice and made it a lot more interesting, but it was weird. Scott, you stood next to a lot of guilty people. Yes. You have. Yes. By the way.

I've saved a lot. Saved more than have gone to jail under my Okay. Okay. Alright. Okay. Whatever. Okay. There you go. There you get pat on the back. Okay. My point is, you stood next to guilty people and sentencing. That is not the time to be Mr. and Mrs. Defiant, especially when your ass did it.

This dude said he was just a human traffic cone, as if he couldn't do anything. And the judge was like, no, no, no, no, no. Your ass was a senior officer. You could have done more. And, you know, he and his lawyers had experience with this judge. He was a very, very good judge for trial and then also sat on the bench trial for Thao. Thao's in jail already.

And so as a result, the judge actually told you after the fact that I was looking for a way to give you less time. Right. I was looking for some contrition. I was looking for some apologies to the family. I was looking for you to say, you know what? It wasn't just a bad day. I drove the negative narrative, and I'm the senior officer. I should have stepped in.

I didn't, and I apologize to the court, to the police and law enforcement of this country, and to the George Floyd family, and I'm ready to stand and serve the sentence upon which this court is going to bestow upon me, right? He could have been emotional. He could have apologized profusely and asked not for forgiveness, but for mercy from this judge. That's what I would have coached him to do. And even if he still gets five years, he's at least shown that he understands and appreciates and gets it, that he killed a man and had a big part in killing this human being. And it just didn't get there. The preaching part had nothing to do with his remorse. The preaching part was he wanted to spread the word of the gospel before he was

going to jail. Well, he won't go to jail anyway. And he got just what he deserved. I don't know whether his lawyers didn't coach him the right way or not, or whether he was even coachable, but some contrition and apology probably would have got him a year less than what he got, maybe a little bit more. You never know. Because he's in jail already on the federal side. Hey, trust me. He must have had the same

coach as Tory Lanez because both of them acted the same. The judge was like, okay, all right. Let me show you how this works. That's right. That's what I say. These judges are not BSing with this.

Once you get convicted of killing somebody or manslaughter, aiding and abetting, I don't care whether you go to trial and you've never been in trouble before, right? Let me tell you something. You're going to be sentenced to jail. Your liberty is going to be at stake. This is no joke. And it's even worse at the federal level, because they've got federal sentencing guidelines. But the federal judges have a lifetime appointment. They can go up or down. They can downwardly adjust or upwardly adjust from those guidelines and stuff.

And so even when we talk about the 80 felony counts Trump is facing at the state and federal level, this is far more serious than running for office, being nominated, and then running for the president. The criminal justice doesn't care about that. And while Thar is going to jail for a much longer time than he could have gotten, the real issue, even in the presidential circumstance, is, is he going to be tried and is he going to get convicted? Because if he's tried and convicted, state or federal level, he's going to jail. He's going to be sentenced to jail. I don't know what happens after that, but those judges are going to sentence him because it's their judicial oath and duty to do so.

Look, if you didn't do it, I say remain defiant. If you know, if you did not do it in this case, we got his ass on tape. Oh, yeah. We all saw it and not do it. In this case, we got his ass on tape. Oh, yeah. And we all saw it, and he did it. And he wouldn't let EMS, Emergency Services, who was there from the fire department, said, I've got to give this man aid. Let me do it.

I'm trained in this. You're killing him, basically. You heard that on the video. And Thao was the one who would not let EMS come in while the process of killing was going on, would not let them intervene. A fellow government worker and employee. He deserves to be in jail for that alone. That's aiding and abetting.

And there you go. All right, folks, hold tight. One second. We come back. We'll talk about what's happening in Niger. A military coup is causing significant problems in that country. Many other African nations are coming to their aid. Also, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

The Montgomery Brawl, folks keep talking about it. You see me paying homage to them in our studio right there with the chair. And so we'll show you some of the other memes, photos, and videos that folks have been putting together to commemorate August 5th, 2023. And that is... 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. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Lift every voice in swing day. All right, you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. This week on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, reparations. Is it finally time? Two of the country's foremost authorities on the subject will join me to try to answer that very question. A powerful installment of The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, right here, only on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh. I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania,

just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. The military coup in Niger continues as reports of the country's president is running low on food and time. Since July 26th, the country has been under military control with the head of Niger's presidential guard declaring himself head of state. Well, that has not been greeted well by a number of countries. In fact, they have made it clear that if they don't step down,

there's going to be military action taken against them. They do not put the president back in office. Joining us from D.C. is Ajeel Cremo, the president and CEO of Believe in Africa Group. Glad to have you here. So what is exactly going on here in Niger? And explain to people why this is a critical country in the motherland. And speak to American interests, because any time we talk about America, look, we don't get involved in anything unless there's American interest involved. Thank you very much, Roland, for having me on this important show.

Yes, it's true that Niger is of strategic importance to the U.S., not just because of the economic interest, but also for the stability of the region. So we have more than 1,000 troops there. And then in terms of economically for the region, for the U.S. and even for the France, you have natural resources that are coming from, strategic resources that are coming from Niger. Just last year, there was a huge pipeline of gas pipeline signed between Nigeria and Morocco. They will be building a department from Nigeria to Morocco, and half of it is going to Niger. So this is really important for global players,

and that's why it's really critical that we maintain stability in that region, and particularly in that country. Niger, to me, is almost a case that reflects the growing sentiment that you have in the region on what democracy is about. The will of the people, we're facing several coup d'etat, but how do you define democracy? How do you define coup d'etat? Is it military coup d'etat alone or constitutional coup d'etat? So now the reason why we have a lot of stress in the region right now and it's a result of

the stance of the French government and also the ECOWAS and the EU region. The stronger they come and the stronger the population, the youth particularly, are standing on the side of the junta. Not necessarily because they like coup d'etat

but because for them it's almost like the time for them to exercise their freedom and their independence. And that's what we have at stake. And it also creates a huge opportunity for the U.S. as a leader of the region and as a strong partner, respected partner, because the Americans are still enjoying a lot of popularity in the region.

It's an opportunity for the U.S. to really re-engage and reconsider the way we approach our diplomacy with Niger and the region. So when you hear these other countries saying that they're going to take military action, a lot of times you don't actually hear that. So clearly the surrounding nations realize that this is crucial. Yes, absolutely. And it's crucial. And that's also where the problem starts.

The problem is because if you look at the public opinion, the Africans are saying there's a double standard. We created the president, but not having a strong stand when they have free fiscal data. Why are we doing that with Niger? So under the leadership of Tinubu and Ekoas, they were fast on condemning, and they have to condemn. We all agree that we have to condemn the coup d'etat in the strongest possible way.

But it requires more legal authority for them to exercise the military power with the country. But now, keep in mind that Africa is intertwined. We have those virtual borders. For any country to engage in Niger would be almost like engaging other countries as well. I'm not just talking about Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Mali, who had a similar situation, and they exercised the solidarity,

but also because, look at the neighboring countries, for example, Benin and Niger. They've almost completed building a pipeline from Nigeria to the country, to Benin. This pipeline was supposed to go to testing the end of this year. It's going to flame.

Nigeria and Niger have six or seven states, same people, same families, same culture. So it's really difficult to imagine any military action in the region without putting the entire region into flame. I don't think anybody wants that. The U.S. does not want it. The French don't want it. Obviously, the Africans don't want it. So I think the diplomatic route and the political route is the only way out. Questions from the panel.

Rebecca, you're first. Thank you so much for talking to us tonight. What do you see as the future of Niger? It's going to be very difficult because, as you see, since yesterday, they're not really, unfortunately, I don't know why, probably because they have another support that we have not identified yet, probably Russia. But they tend to be not really open to negotiation. The fact that they did not engage the leader, General Chiani did not engage with the assistant secretary when she was there. All the EU leaders, ECOWAS leader, none of them were able to meet with so-called President Chiani. This is concerning diplomatically, because how can we negotiate if we don't engage with the so-called President Chiani. This is concerning diplomatically,

because how can we negotiate without engaging with the leader? But the future of Niger is very sad. I have a lot of concern because the country is landlocked. But obviously when a country like that is very poor, when the youth who represent 70% of the population are that desperate, it's almost like do or die. You either die here or die at the sea. So anyway, so it's really a time for all of us, all the Africans and the friends of Africa and the partners of Africa to really rethink about a diplomatic democratic system. Because we are countries where

even elected leaders do not reflect the will of the people. And sometimes we see instances where the leaders are more accountable towards the biggest donor or the former colonial power, like the French. For example, they have the impression that ECOWAS

action was dictated by the French. And that's really concerning. So we really have to take into consideration all those elements, the use of the youth, the growing sentiment, anti-French sentiment, not sympathy for Russia, because I don't think the leaders, the African people, the one on the street, pro-Russia. But in Africa, you say, when you are sinking, you can even hold the tail of a snake. So if you don't, if the US is not taking the leadership to really pause and revisit the way we exercise

our democracy in Africa, I think it's going to be the beginning of terrible things happening. Not even a proxy war in the West, because if you go to the National Security Council now requesting a resolution to go to a military action division, I'm sure Russia and China will oppose it. So it's really a dilemma, but it's come down to how do we define democracy,

how do Africans have to define their own political system to make sure the leaders are representing the will of the people. Scott? Yeah. But the—that being said, but the military junta certainly has to negotiate. To date, they have not been willing to negotiate, even with the U.S. and France and the Japanese and the strategic importance of Niger. They're bigger and broader geopolitical influences and interests in Niger.

Do you see the military opposition that's in office right now, or at least arguably in office, do you see them coming to the table in good faith or risking military intervention or some level of military intervention, notwithstanding how difficult that would be? They've got to negotiate, don't they? Absolutely. That's why I'm saying that it's unfortunate that they were not able to, they refused to engage with all the leaders who came to them. So I don't know why. Hopefully we will know very soon.

The only thing— Change that. Yeah? What's going to change that? What's going to change that? Maybe now that they have elected a prime minister, they did last yesterday, maybe General Chinese will give a mandate to that prime minister to negotiate, that would be a sense

of recognition for him. So the thing is, the promise of negotiation was for you to release President Basum. And I think that's why they don't want to engage, because they don't want to give back the power to Basum. They want to embark

into the traditional way that what you saw in other countries where the general will take the government, control the country, they put a transitional president, and they organize election. They want to see that scenario. But what we are telling them now is release, we are state the president, and let's

engage. So the premise of negotiation in my view may be why they are not engaging. They want to be recognized. All right, then. Well, look, we appreciate you joining us to break it all down, and hopefully this will come to a peaceful resolution. Thank you very much. We all hope so.

All right. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks, I'll be back. We come back. Boy, people are still talking about Montgomery. We got more great videos to show for y'all. The River River Riverfront Rumble. And of course, I know Scott, Robert and Rebecca can't wait to weigh in on that as well. Folks, you're watching on YouTube. Hit that like button. Also, download our app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

You can also support us with your resources. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average $20, $50 each. That's $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. You get this show. You get six other shows. We're doing stuff ain't nobody else doing. Taking the show on the road, broadcasting from around the country. Trust me, folks, the revolution ain't going to be televised. It's going to be streamed. Senior Check and Money

Order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sat, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Brownie of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. We'll be right back. 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. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and six on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Question for you. Are you stuck?

Do you feel like you're hitting a wall and it's keeping you from achieving prosperity? Well, you're not alone. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you're going to learn what you need to do to become unstuck and unstoppable. The fabulous author, Janine K. Brown, will be with us sharing with you exactly what you need to do to finally achieve the level of financial success you desire through your career. Because when I talk about being bold in the workplaces, I'm talking about that inner boldness

that you have to take a risk, to go after what you want, to speak up when others are not. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A., and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. This week on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Reparations. Is it finally time? Two of the country's foremost authorities on the subject will join me to try to answer that very question. A powerful installment of The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, right here only on the Black Star Network. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder.

Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? There's your finance, baby. I ain't got nothing but time but to sit here and just clip my nails and file my nails watching all of these wonderful Montgomery videos. Let's go ahead and get this thing started.

Roll it! Hello, and welcome back. A lot of you all have said, Rashonda, you're not a black fitted cap tossed in the air, but you stay bringing us together. And today I say thank you. Today we're here to discuss the ABB, oh yes, the Alabama Broke Bra. National Fuck Around and Find Out Day, August 5th. It's really very simple. Let's check the board. Quick recap before lesson. There's a dock worker standing here. Looks to be in his late 50s, early 60s. Ask these people who owns this boat, happen to be Caucasian, move their boat. Because therees his black cap in the air, signaling our ancestors that were dropped off in this very area hundreds of years ago, and every black person in the area. A young man over here, Michael Phelps, he swims over here, wrings himself off, and then we see the most beautiful thing ever.

There are black men skipping with no shirt on anytime you see a black man no shirt on skipping with his jeans and belt and shoes still on he's not coming to jump rope with you he's going to take your soul now some older gentlemen show up giving old school big big big things to everybody now i'm not sure if they came from the VFW or they crossed line for cues in 1993, okay, but they weren't playing with anybody, okay. One of them picks up a chair, white folded chair, hits Susan B. Anthony over the head. Police then arrest some people, detain some people, and here we are, okay. The lesson in this is um number one violence is the answer when the question is can you put your hands on me it's a sweltering hell no and i'm gonna

answer you with my left and my right okay i want you all to get this if you get nothing else we are tired we're the type of tired that sleep can't fix. And we're not fucking around anymore. Okay? Thanks. The type of tired that sleep can't fix. Ha ha! Rebecca, you got a kick out of that

Susan B. Anthony line. Yeah, so I'm on the road. I'm actually in Chicago. And I was trying to catch up on what happened. I started to get all these memes and texts from people of just folding chairs. So shout out to our ancestor who invented the white folding or the folding chair period. Brother Nathaniel, we appreciate you for this moment. But just like all the jokes and the memes, there's a Spotify playlist that's like two and a half hours.

It's called the Alabama Brought F-Round to a half hours. It's called the Alabama Broad. F-Round to find out playlist. It's knock if you buck. It's everything for two and a half hours. You need to get pumped up. But I will always recognize August 5th as Cinco de Negro. And I will never not recognize August 5th as that. I guess it's amazing. The Montgomery Sweet Tea Party.

All right, let's roll out next video. The thing I want to say about this Montgomery, Alabama brawl down there on the riverboat brawl is that I'm just very worried and very concerned for Jason Aldean and all his fans and followers. And what they going through emotionally right now when they see black people beat up some racists. I mean, that must be hard. It's got to be hard for them to see that. Those poor redneck motherfuckers, man. I know it's hard. Y'all watch that happen.

It ain't supposed to go like that. Racists ain't supposed to get into karma. No. Don't try it in a small town, Jason Aldean said. He was warning black people, don't try justice here. Don't protest for your rights here. And then to see them four or five, six, seven seven whatever the hell many erasers down there just get the fuck beat out of hit old white lady hitting the hair head with a chair oh my god

can you imagine i'm just worried about jason aldean and all his fans what they must be a feeling right now can you imagine how ron de santantis must feel when he saw this shit? Why y'all think he had that Stop Woke Act? To stop woke is to stop black people from being unity. Stop white and black people being unified for justice racially. He is trying to stop racial justice in his tracks and then this fucking Montgomery Brawl happens. What the fuck is Ron DeSantis gonna do now? His poll numbers is down. I mean, it just, it must be hard for these fucking racists out here

in America. God knows what Trump is doing. I'm worried about him, y'all. It must be real hard time. And I just heard that Ron DeSantis, now he's gonna ban the folding chairs in Florida. And they hit that poor white lady in the head with a chair. I mean, they hit a woman, y'all. That's right. They hit a woman who was trying to defend her racist husband. So she deserved it. She literally deserved it. I'm sorry. She deserved it. She literally deserved it.

I'm sorry. She deserved it. And it was hard to watch all that violence. And the main reason it's hard to watch is because it's so fucking funny. You laugh at hard, it hurts. But, no, seriously, honestly, I was really happy as a white guy to see racists being held accountable, to see an innocent black man attack before five white guys, and then that fucking instant karma.

It was a beautiful day, a historic day. And most importantly, not only just the accountability part. The man said instant karma. I am not a proponent of violence under any circumstances, but extraordinary circumstances, extraordinary times. But what I couldn't get past was, and I'm so glad the brothers came together to do justice, right? But the security guard who told him to move,

but what I couldn't get over was, there was clearly some conversation between him and the white racist. They threatened each other. And then the brother just looked like, OK, we're going to do this. Let's do this. Right. He takes his hat off and tosses it in the air. Right.

And then squares up in a very defined way. What was the conversation between him and the white boys before they got the boat he got some punches the boat to harry they were waiting for 45 minutes right right man that i'm telling you it was crazy that hat is gonna sell for a million dollars you gotta find. No, that's the new black. That's the new that's the new black back signal. Who didn't go down? Hat go flying in the air. Let's go. That's called a black 911.

Help! That's what that is. All right. We should not be laughing about this. Scott, I know you guys. We should not be laughing about this. No, we should you got it. We should not be laughing about this. No, we should not, but we are. So I know you got to leave in five minutes.

I'm going to squeeze in one more video before you leave. Go. For a second. Had it been a couple of black guys on that boat and... All right, bud, let's talk about what you're really upset about. What you're really upset about is the fact that white people are the villain in this story. Shut the fuck up, Chris. Black people do not have to imagine if the rules were reversed when our ancestors enslaved their ancestor for damn near 400 years. We all saw what happened. A lone black

security guard doing his job was ignored, disrespected, and attacked by a group of white people. Those are the facts. We are not going to flip the script on this one. Bro, do you watch the fucking news? Are you aware of anything? What do you mean flip the script? All those white people jumped that man. Talk about that shit.

Christopher, first of all, this is for you and every other white person who's like, let's just flip the script. Look me in my eyeballs when I say this. We are not going to change the narrative. What we saw was a single black man get jumped by a group of violent white thugs. You want to talk about embarrassing do you hear yourself this is not the take not the take being said it was the white privilege way of thinking people white supremacist ideology thinking people started that whole fucking mess. Hey Rob, I love to see the white folks checking they own. And you know to this

point that Scott was making, I've heard other people saying that I don't support violence, I don't support violence in any form. I support violence. Oh, we know your ass. Hold up. We know you got a whole gunshot under your chair. Look, in the words of H. Rat Brown, violence is as American as cherry

pie. In the words of Frantz Fanon, colonialization by its very nature is violent, and that any group that has been oppressed, they have every right to use violence to throw off those chains of oppression. Fanon even said that this is part of the cleansing nature of the revolutionary narrative. The reason that they have told us that black folks are supposed to turn the other cheek and smile and sing and walk down the street and get beat upside the head and dogs sick on us, because they don't want us to know about the Stonewall rebellion. They don't want to tell us about Nat Turner. They don't want to tell us about John Brown. They don't want to tell us about Nat Turner. They don't want to tell us about John Brown. They don't want to tell us about Elaine Arkansas in the bloody summer of 1919. They don't want to tell us that the SELC had a gun cellar below the building when it came to those revolutionary

battles. They want us to think that maybe if we just sing enough songs and hold enough hands, maybe after four, five, six, seven hundred years, white folks will decide that we are allowed to have equality in this country and to see brothers stand up and fight back in the true revolutionary spirit is something I think codified black folks. One of my radio listeners today said this is the biggest moment for you to unify black folks into O.J. verdict. And a big part of that is we need to have this idea, this conceptualization around that black folks fought for our independence.

It was not simply handed to us because we sang songs. We fought for it and they decided, well, maybe we should talk to Dr. King before these panthers and the nation of Islam burned this damn country to the ground. So as I said, violence is as American as cherry pie. Our damn national

anthem has rockets and bombs in it. When they're celebrating the creation of America, you don't see them reenact Ben Franklin writing papers. They reenact the Battle of Concord. They reenact shooting and rockets, red glare, the bombs bursting in air. Be part of that tradition of America and understand who we are. 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 multibillion-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 One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. And what we are, and we are a colonized people working through a decolonization struggle, just as others around the developing world. Scott. Drop the mic. I'm done. Oh, damn!

Yeah. That's how you shut you up? I just, I couldn't say it better baby boy I couldn't say it better shocking shocking that Scott is literally quiet Robert has rendered

Scott speechless oh my god mark this moment in history. It's August 9th. It's August 9th at 7.29 p.m. Eastern. Hail just froze over. Scott, I know you got to go. Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it.

Hey, man, appreciate you. Love you guys. Thank you. All right. Y'all, we got more videos. Roll it. We saw what happened in Montgomery. My brothers and my sisters, we got more videos. Roll it. We saw what happened in Montgomery. My brothers and my sisters, we saw what happened in Montgomery, where there was four white boys and four white girls ganging on one black man.

And we want you to know that trouble don't last always. Trouble don't last always because as the young man threw his hat in the air, it seemed like it was the universal sign that I'm going in for the fight. I may get beat up in this fight, but I need your help. And your help came running from the east, from the north, from the south, from the west, and from the river, because somebody's swimming.

That's something that you have to know about black people. We going to talk about you when you act like you done kidnapped yourself, but we will come to gather when you swing on us. Come on, somebody. Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty! I didn't have to pay to watch this fight

because that was better than Smith and Crawford, but that was a knockout in the first round. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right! Roll the next one. Lift every chair and swing Till earthen noggins ring

Ring with the harmony of liberty let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies let it resound loud as the rolling

sea swing that chair full of the might of the ancestors behind us. Swing that chair full of the strength that the presence has brought us. us facing the rising sun of our new day begun

let us swim on till victory is won So Rebecca you should always stand up and lift your voice and sing. Look, shout out to Aqua Maine. If there is never a reason for black folks in this country to learn how to

swim, this is the reason why. Make sure you know how to swim because you never know when you're going to get the hootie-hoo or the hat is thrown or you're going to have to go across that river. All right, roll it. Not one person recognized the fact that a grown-ass fucking man hit a woman over the head with a fucking folding chair. But did she die? What do you mean?

We all recognize that, Mr. Jean Jacket Jeff. I don't know about anyone else on here, but I've die? What do you mean? We all recognize that mr. Jean jacket Jeff I don't know about anyone else on here But I've watched her probably at least 48 times and it keeps getting funnier every fucking time because you see what happened here Jean jacket Jeff is that that old woman she felt froggy and you know, she decided to do she decided to jump and you know What happened she got fucking dumped and that's what happens if you want to go out there and you want to try jumping in Fighting with the men and everything like that, then prepare to get your shit rocked. Zero sympathy.

Zero sympathy for those entitled fucking assholes that just thought that they could do whatever the hell that they want to do. You mean to tell me you watch that whole video and you're just like, the grown man hit the woman. That's right. And that grown woman hit the man too. That's why she was laid the fuck out on the ground. Did you see that man that got beat out of his Crocs though? Did you did you see that Jean jacket Jeff? Cause that shit was that, that was equally as funny. You see, I'm not a violent person, Jean jacket Jeff. That's the old me. Okay. I'm not a

violent person anymore, but I'm also not above fucking violence. Let me ask you this. Could you imagine, can you even begin to imagine what would have happened to that man? If all those other people didn't come jump in and have his back, don't worry. I'll wait. Go ahead. Answer. Never mind. You don't have to answer because we all know what would have happened. I am glad that karma instantly got them. I'm glad that all of those people had that man's back. And I am glad that that man got beat out of his fucking Crocs. Oh, Robert, it's true.

I got to holler. She said, first of all, Jean Jack and Jeff. And then she said she felt froggy. One, we gotta stop allowing our culture be so easily exported to everybody else. The black folks who create these terms and these ideologies, they never make a penny off of them.

They just simply get incorporated into the modern society and then five years from now, we'll be getting sold, getting froggy by Bud Light or something along those lines because they love civilly our intellectual property. They love our culture. They don't love us. And I think the bigger point that we also have to think about in this situation is what happens if the cameras aren't there? What is the story and the narrative that comes out of this quote unquote brawl, the battle for Montgomery, without 4K video in real time being uploaded to the Internet? As opposed to the reality of what happened, we'll probably get a story of a group of young black men attacking a boat full of patrons on the docks, all of whom are armed and X, Y, Z, and there will be a very different situation. So it's important for us to make those types of systemic changes to the criminal justice system that we were talking about earlier in the show, to make sure that we have

black prosecutors, that we have black police chiefs, that we have people in police positions of power so that black men can be believed. Because this isn't the first time these things have happened. It's not the first time that we have real-time live streams and 4K video that we could actually see what actually took place. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of black men in jail right now for doing exactly what these men did, defending another brother or sister from a racist white attack, but they did not have the benefits of video, which is why when we talk about election day, we need to say, throw the hat. But don't just throw the hat when you're being attacked directly by white racists. Throw the hat for

economic development when we need to come together and rebuild our communities. Throw the hat on Election Day when we need to show up at the polls and get everybody together. If you can swim to a fight, you can swim to the polls on Election Day. Throw the hat when it's time to make sure we're providing the type of mentorship and the type of pressure on corporations and our government that will rebuild the communities that we need. So I completely support the brothers and sisters. As I said, I support violence in most situations. But let's make sure that we take this from a moment to a movement and use this attention and this energy that we have with young people right now around this issue to push for true and real systemic changes. Roll it. Roll the next one i held my breath when that boat pulled up cause i know how real niggas do i almost shed a tear when he jumped in the water to swim to a brother's rescue down by the river

Where white folks got their ass whooped for acting a fool Just like the river runs to the ocean They was running right after you They running fast, they on your ass This ain't gonna work out well. Chippin' checks and assholes, one by one on their flat, but they fell. And you know we don't discriminate, so they beat on their women as well. The whole family was evil.

It ain't hard to tell, no So I held my breath when that boat pulled up Cause I know how real niggas do We ain't forgot about that walk up to Commerce Street Where I took our great-grandfathers too Right from this river where white folk got their ass whooped for acting a fool just like the river runs to the ocean we'll be running after you i know robert wants us to be so serious, but I really appreciate these moments of Black joy

because this could have easily turned in the opposite direction. This could have been a hashtag because just hours before, Donald Trump was in Montgomery spewing hate, and this really could have took a different turn. But I really appreciate these moments of Black joy because we don't always get them, but we could run this through the rest of the year. That's how good this is. And I mean, it tastes delicious. Oh, it absolutely is. By the way, go to my iPad. Two of the three white men who have been facing charges have not turned themselves in. Let's see here. Two of the three suspects. Again, one of them has turned himself in, Richard Roberts. But Alan Todd and Zachary Shipman have not. The mayor, Mayor Stephen Reed, says they should be doing so by the end of the day.

Well, we're at the end of the day and ain't happened yet. And look, Rebecca, all these people out here who are running their mouths, who are upset by all of this. Again, as I said last night and I said on Monday, black people have had to deal with bullshit since 1619. But the last five years, we have seen black people accosted a young girl in the Bay Area for selling some damn lemonade. We've seen black people

working for FedEx and UPS question, what are you doing here? I'm delivering damn packages Matter of fact, who was a FedEx worker Brother was shot at In Mississippi and somewhere else And so we can go on We've run a lot of these stories

Over and over and over again And again, black folks chilled out The brother who was fishing Three white folks roll up on him. They call the cops. You got to keep showing his ID. This is the stuff that we've had to deal with. And black folks are like, you know what? We sick and tired of being sick and tired. And it's good and it's glorious. Like I go back and forth because there are times when I'm like, hey, just get home alive at night so you can live to see another day. But, you know, listening to what Robert said earlier, which rendered Scott pretty speechless,

but it was very on point, is that we are in a violent country. It was rooted in violence. And for some people, they only understand violence. So it is good to see that people are defending each other. And it's like, don't believe those narratives that black folks aren't unified and black folks don't look out for each other because we clearly saw black folks looking out for each other and making sure that everyone got home safe that night. Robert. And Roland, also remember, Alabama is a constitutional carry state. Those rednecks getting off that boat, all they would have had to do was say, I was in fear of my life. We were being ganged up on. We saw Negroes coming out the water and

jumping down. So we had to pull out our guns and defend ourselves. This is why it's crucial for as many black folks as possible to own, be trained, be licensed where necessary with firearms, because that is a situation where you need to have your everyday carry on you because you never know how the situation will escalate. And the last thing you want to do is be trying to defend another black man and you end up being a hashtag yourself. We just had the Niagara Convention in Atlanta last weekend. I highly recommend people to get involved with Second Amendment organizations. They have the exact same rights as everybody else.

If you don't be a second class citizen, exercise them as necessary. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. All right, folks, hold on one second. I got to go to a break. We're going to come back. We got some other news today we want to cover. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. This week on The Black Table with me, Greg carr reparations is it finally time two of the

country's foremost authorities on the subject will join me to try to answer that very question a powerful installment of the black table with me greg carr right here only on the black star network on a next of balanced life for dr Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Blackstar Network. Question for you. Are you stuck? Do you feel like you're hitting a wall and it's keeping you from achieving prosperity? loan on the next get wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach. You're going to

learn what you need to do to become unstuck and unstoppable. The fabulous author Janine K. Brown will be with us sharing with you exactly what you need to do to finally achieve the level of financial success you desire through your career. Because when I talk about being bold in the workplaces, I'm talking about that inner boldness that you have to take a risk, to go after what you want, to speak up when others are not. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. This is Essence Atkins. This is Love King of R.B. Raheem Duvall. This is me, Sherri Shebron, and you know what you're watching. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. uh naja nace gosboro has been missing from wilmington delaware since march

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. 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. The 16-year-old is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about Dajani's Goldsboro is urged to call the Newcastle County Delaware Police Department 302-573-2800, 302-573-2800. The two white Mississippi men who allegedly shot at a black FedEx driver in January 2022 will face a jury next week. Brandon Case and Gregory Charles Case are charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy, and shooting into the vehicle of DeMontario Gibson while making his deliveries. Gibson was not physically harmed in the incident. We previously had him on our show in January. Gibson filed a $5 million lawsuit against the city of Brookhaven, Mississippi.

Police Chief Kenneth Collins and the two men who allegedly fired shots at him. Gibson says the defendants, the city and Chief Collins, delayed the proper investigation of his claims and the defendants arrest. This right here is what I'm talking about, Robert. The kind of stuff that black people are just simply sick of. You're absolutely correct. And when I will talk to some of my white friends about why black folks were going off so much about the the Battle of Montgomery. And this is part of the reason we're so used to not having justice.

We're so used to not being believed. We're so used to this striated culture that we have in America, where we still never judicially overturned the Dred Scott decision and the conceptualization that black men have no rights and a white man is prone or required to respect, that when we see a win for our team, for our group, for our ethnic group, of course, we're going to take this and move forward with it. And I think that part of the problem that we have in this country is that justice is so often delayed for Black Americans. And now we've created this environment, this environment of white victimization, where you have Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis and the entire cable news apparatus surrounded by this idea of

empowering poor white people in this country to believe that the way that they can exert power and regain their status in America, that leave it to be for conceptualization of what it was to be white, is to have power over black people in this country. And I think that in this case, I hope that brother gets every penny that he's suing for, plus triple punitive damages, because that's the only way we can send messages that we are not going to tolerate white supremacy in this country any longer. Rebecca? Yeah, just like what Robert said, like bottom line is that there's a lot of bad things are happening to black people in this country, and it's not appropriate. What I would like to see is more of these corporations that black people work for stepping up when these things are happening.

I would love to have heard with whether or not FedEx was providing legal support or providing financial support for this person to be able to move forward and get justice. Because these corporations have to understand that part of being good citizens is also protecting your workers, especially when racial harm is targeted towards them. All right, folks, a black mother is soon the seat of the Detroit and the Detroit Police Department after being falsely arrested by officers using facial recognition technology. The federal lawsuit claims Portia Woodruff, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was handcuffed, taken to jail and booked booked in February 2021 on carjacking and robbery charges, all based on a faulty facial recognition match. Woodruff's complaint says facial recognition alone

cannot be probable cause for arrest. Facial identification software is prone to errors that humans might also make. Woodruff was later released for insufficient evidence. This is not the first time the Detroit Police Department has faced accusations of the misuse of facial recognition technology. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint against the department in 2020. In 2019, a U.S. government study found racial bias in facial recognition algorithms with Native American, Black, and Asian people disproportionately affected. No shock, Rebecca.

If you're white and you're the one who's setting the standard, guess what's going to happen? Racism. You know, until racial bias is removed from this technology, this technology should be banned within the United States for law enforcement use, full stop. If I'm going to a public restroom, I can't even get the soap dispenser to properly work because it doesn't properly sense my black skin, then I should not be arrested using the same technology. We all know that there's inherent

biases. And for law enforcement in this country to use that particular tool when we know the disproportional impacts on ethnic minorities in this country is simply irresponsible. Robert? You know, when we talk about systemic racism, a lot of people in the majority community act as if we are speaking some foreign language

that they don't understand. Or people like Tim Scott. I think he identifies with the other team, so we'll lump him in there also. And when we're talking about systemic racism, you can trace it back and say, well, 50 years ago, we didn't allow black folks

to have the same access to equal education. Therefore, 30 years ago, we have fewer black people entering computer science. Therefore, 10 years ago, when you're developing this technology for facial recognition, there aren't black people in the room,

therefore not black people who can be part of the programming. Therefore, in 2023, black folks get arrested as a result of software not being able to properly identify people. There's a system that is put in place. So did the individual person programming that software, did they individually have a bias against African-Americans? Probably not. But because we exist within a system that is built upon the conceptualization of putting Black people in a second-class status, that trickles down into the very fabric of America. This is why it takes, quote-unquote, affirmative action, not simply enough to say we're going to passively allow these things to go away, but rather to say that we're going to take the type of affirmative steps necessary to invest in putting more black people into computer science, to invest into getting more

black people into higher education, to invest into getting more black folks into engineering so that we can fix the issue going forward. And as Rebecca said, until you perfect it, it's not be rolled out in any way that can materially affect individuals. It's one thing not to be able to get soap out. It's another thing not to be able to get out of jail. So folks, earlier I mentioned what happened last night in Ohio. Republicans want to make it harder to pass a ballot referendum. So what did they do? They put it on the ballot to raise the threshold from 50 to 60 percent. Why? Because they do not want

voters in Ohio to put reproductive freedom in their Constitution. They got pimp slapped with a lot of chairs last night. Voters rejected that proposal in a huge, huge way in this special election. They came out in big numbers. Now, mind you, there's a lot of Republicans elected statewide in Ohio. This lost by more than 60%. Voters still have to

decide on a constitutional amendment scheduled for the November ballot that would guarantee access to reproductive rights in that state. That right there, Rebecca, I love how people keep framing this as, whoa, this is bad news for Republicans. It's actually good news for Democrats. So I want Ohio voters to understand that it was the Republican legislature with the current Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, who wanted to make it harder for you to be able to have your voice heard. I want people to understand these are the people that are trying to take away your rights in Ohio, and you need to do something when you have an opportunity.

In fact, Secretary of State Frank LaRose is running for the U.S. Senate seat next year. I want you all to remember that he's trying to take away your rights. What's also interesting is that the current requirement is that out of that 44 out of the 88 counties, at least 5% of the signatures for a ballot initiative needed to be from 44 out of those 88 counties. If this would have passed last night, it would have raised it to all 88 counties, would have had to have a certain percentage in order for a constitutional amendment to be adopted in the state. It's not just reproductive rights that's on the ballot this upcoming November, but next year there's going to be a movement to actually increase minimum wage in Ohio. So it's workers' rights as well as, and even more additional rights in Ohio.

So it was good to see that Ohioans were smart enough to say, hey, we're not going to let the Secretary of State make it harder for our voice to actually be heard in the state of Ohio. Robert? And I think beyond the issue of pro-choice versus pro-life, we have to understand that I've talked about for over a year, the slow moving fascist coup that is taking place in America. And this is part of it continually. We saw this with Ron DeSantis earlier in the show, and we're seeing it now. The Republicans have simply decided if you can't beat them, change the rules. As most of us said, if they start keeping pace, you start switching up the tempo because they understand they are no longer a majority party in America. They are no longer the second largest party in America.

Indeed, Republicans are becoming a third party and in many cases a fourth party behind the MAGA party. And because they know for a fact they cannot get the majority of people to get on board with their legislative agenda or the issues that they are promoting, they have chose to just go by and start changing the rules. If you want to get rid of abortion in the state, then just put it on the ballot, and whoever wins, wins. Instead of saying that, they say, well, let's change the rules. So instead of needing a simple majority, you need 60 percent to do it. The same way the United States Senate, we used to be able to pass things with 50 votes, now you need a filibuster-proof majority in order to get anything done. The same way that we're seeing this entrenchment in judiciaries around the country that Republicans are doing,

pushing out progressives, making sure that they can make the changes down ballot and trying to remove power from the federal government through many of these conservative judges. So when we talk about this slow-moving fascist coup, it's one thing to celebrate these individualized battles, but don't forget that there is a bigger battle ahead, the battle for whether or not America will remain a republic or whether we will fall into authoritarianism. If you don't believe me, look at Ron DeSantis in Florida and Matt Zell at the national level.

All right, folks. Earlier this week, we told you about a couple of things that we're focused on. One, we want all of you to send a signal to Democrat Dick Durbin to stop allowing Republicans to use the blue slip to stop nomination going forward. Here are the phone numbers to all of Senator Dick Durbin's offices. Y'all, obviously the offices are closed right now. Leave a voicemail. Call tomorrow during working hours, beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern. Clog the phone lines up. Let him know it's time for, as a Democrat, they're blocking judges, U.S. attorneys, U.S. marshals. It's time for him to stop this abuse of the blue slip.

Enough is enough. Stand with the Congressional Black Caucus and call Democrat Senator Dick Durbin. The phone numbers are right there. 202-224-2152 is his Senate office number. That's the one in Washington, D.C. Call any of those four numbers, but especially five numbers, but especially call the D.C. office and let him know where you stand. Also, I'm calling for two Texas A&M Board of Regents members to resign because of because of them, their treatment. They were the ones who led the fight against Kathleen McElroy.

Pull that graphic up. These two got to go. It's time for them to go. And so I want you to do the exact same thing. Call Texas A&M. Call the system and say, they got to go. We're going to be giving you the numbers as well. But those regions have got to go.

Jay Graham, David Beggin, they have got to go. What they did by simply saying that, oh, I thought we were creating a journalism department to have more conservatives in the media. I want you to call 979-458-7700, 979-458-7700. Call that number tomorrow. Again, blow those phone lines up and let them know those two must resign. Hashtag I'm not satisfied. Rebecca, Robert, I appreciate you all being on the panel today.

Thank you so very much. Thank you for all the laughs and the great knowledge as well. Folks, when we come back, I was at Cincinnati Music Festival, courtesy of P&G. I stopped by a number of their activations. We're going to show you some of those we like. We'll do that when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us.

White people are losing their damn minds. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University

calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Question for you. Are you stuck? Do you feel like you're hitting a wall and it's keeping you from achieving prosperity? Well, you're not alone.

On the next Get Wealthy with me,orah owens america's wealth coach you're going to learn what you need to do to become unstuck and unstoppable the fabulous author janine k brown will be with us sharing with you exactly what you need to do to finally achieve the level of financial success you desire through your career because Because when I talk about being bold in the workplaces, I'm talking about that inner boldness that you have to take a risk, to go after what you want, to speak up when others are not. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla! on Blackstar Network. uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. Bam! A couple weeks ago, we were in Cincinnati for Cincinnati Music Festival, courtesy of Procter & Gamble.

Had a great time there. They had a number of activations all across the stadium. One of them is what they call a house party. We dropped by that activation a couple of times. One, they had a rap battle. But then also, I visited some of their activations. So we checked that out. We'll show you the rap battle one another day, but here is part one of us kicking it with P&G at the CMF.

All right, folks, we're at the Cincinnati Music Festival, and this here is one of the P&G activations called House Party, where as you see this walking on down here, so you got some fun things, what you see all over the place. We're walking on through, so if you look at over here, you can see on walk on down here, so you got, so one of the things what you see all over the place, the walk on through, so if you look at over here, you see on the wall over here, you see how they have all of looking like this here. That's what they have it here. Sort of give you that New York City feel. That's why you have sort of this graffiti as well. So all this is paying homage to the 50th anniversary hip-hop. So that's why you see all of this. So here over here, you've got this house party set up for that. And so we're about to head up in here.

They're going to have a rap battle. They've got folks that are doing break dancing. And so all of that is all tied, again, to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. And so that's why we're here. How y'all doing? And so all the folks in the line, let's go check it out. All good? And so, again, how you doing? So you see all the sort of stuff they got going over here. So you got, again, stuff happening over here. You got a Febreze over here. Of course, you got the dance floor over here as well.

And then, of course, you got the dawn setting over here. And so, again, check out these sw sitting over here. And so, again, check out the Swiffer. Let's go over here. The young lady with the glasses. Okay. How you doing? How you doing? Yeah, they got you.

All right, so what are y'all doing? Okay, they have to take a picture in order to get a Swiffer. Okay. So they got to match his moves. Okay, got to match his moves. Match his moves. Okay, gotta match his moves. Match his moves. All right, let's go. Are you recording too?

No, we recording. Okay, okay. I already did, I already did. So what we gonna do is, one, two. Roll, okay. Yeah. That's hot, three, four. Rolling.

Look it up. Five, six, seven, eight. That's it, that's it. There you go. That's one. That ain't complicated. That's why I asked him, you doing it? Man, that's easy.

Come on in here, get him with you. All he did is just. You want a mile? I can do a mile. All right, come on, let's go. Go ahead, go ahead. Five, six, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

All right. All right, she won. All right, so what they're doing is you guys are going to win in one of the swippers here, so that's what they're all doing in here. Five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Woo! Swipper!

Okay, this is the new dog. Easy squeeze, five times strong. I'm trying to get a little bubble action for you. What's that gun do? It's just a bubble gun. It's the ambiance. Oh, I thought that was like... It's supposed to sit down and get a picture with it.

I thought that was for cleaning the counter or something. No. This is for cleaning the counter. Oh, okay. You only need just a bubble gun. It's the ambiance. Oh, I thought it was like this. It's supposed to sit down and get a picture with it. I thought that was for cleaning the counter or something. No. This is for cleaning the counter. Oh, OK. You only need just a little bit. Five times as strong. All right. I use it every day in my kitchen, so.

Cash Kade. Cash Kade. Yes, sir. All right. What you know about Cash Kade? Well, I know that. It says it right there. Scrape, load, and done.

So all you got to do is put your dishes in the walk in the dishwasher Load them and turn it off. You know black man created this. Yes Ha I had to mess with him Yeah, Dennis Weatherby is the brother who created Cascade to the shot that brother out of it I like me you guys want to leave with that So the great time there. We got lots more videos from Cincinnati Music Festival we have not shared. We're going to be sharing those with y'all

over the next few days as well. We had a great time there. Looking forward to our next engaging with Procter & Gamble. Again, we thank them for partnering with us here at the Black Star Network. Alright, folks, that's it. I'm going to see you guys tomorrow right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Don't forget, we're almost at 2,000 likes on YouTube,. Y'all it's just 200 more. Hit the doggone

button. Hit the like button. By the time I get done, I should see 2000 likes on the channel. All right. Download the Blackstone Network app. We're at 72,000 by 73,000. Y'all let's get to a hundred thousand. Okay. Let's get this thing done. We're at 1.1 million on our YouTube channel. I'll give you the actual number. It's 1,100,012,876. And so we should easily, y'all, be at, again, 100,000 downloads of the app. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

Also, we appreciate if you contribute to our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do each and every single day. So you're checking money over the PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. That's right. PayPal, RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com.

Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Y'all, come on. Just 100 more likes. We have 2,000. Hurry up. Let's go. Hit the like button, y'all. Don't forget to get a copy of my book, White Fear,

How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Available at bookstores nationwide. Download the copy. Audio and Audible. Get your copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Target, all of those bookstores. Don't forget, we now can be seen on Amazon News, our 24-hour streaming channel, on Amazon News.

So simply go to Amazon Fire, go to Amazon News, or say, Alexa, play news from the Black Star Network. You can also catch our 24-hour streaming channel on Plex TV. Check us out there as well. And Birmingham, I'm going to be in the house on Friday. Looking forward to that. And so book signing at the Harambee Room, 1815 4th Avenue North in Birmingham. I want to see you there.

Guaranteed you get your book, folks, by RSVPing. It's free and open to the public. But send an email. And anybody who emails, you're going to be guaranteed to have your book, okay? I'm going to sell out. So send an email to make sure you have your book. Info, info at RolandSMartin.com. We'll have a list. So all the people who RSVP are going to be on one line and the other people are going to be on another line. I advise y'all to RSVP. That's it. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holler!

Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. I support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller.

I love y'all. 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 scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Pull up a chair. Take your seat. The Black Tape.

With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering in the weight and pressure of the world that's consistently

on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Farajit Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things

that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Blackstar Network.