#RolandMartinUnfiltered - DMX dies; Chauvin trial; CDC: Racism public health threat; NYC charter school expansion blocked

Episode Date: April 10, 2021

4.9.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: DMX remembered; Chauvin murder trial update; CDC director says racism is a public health threat; Georgia State Representative Park Cannon speaks out; Former Florida official may cooperate as a witness against Rep. Matt Gaetz; Amazon may have enough votes to stop the formation of a union; Arizona couple may lose their food truck business because of an irate white man; NYC charter school expansion blocked by lawmakers; Black church may be able to bankrupt the Proud Boys; Roland sits down with Michael McMillan, President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Thank you. ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത്ത� Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and get started. Today is Friday, April 9th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, rapper DMX is dead. Passed away at the age of 50. We'll tell you exactly what took place and how entertainment fans all across the globe are mourning his death. It is day 10 of the murder trial of Derek Chauvin and the prosecution wraps the week with testimony from the prison pathologist who said that the activities by law enforcement were the immediate cause of George Floyd's death. The Centers for Disease Control's He centers for disease controls. Director Doctor Rochelle Walensky declares racism is a serious

public health threat. Also, Georgia State Representative Park Cannon speaks out for the first time since the charges against her have been dropped. And lawyer for Joel Greenberg, an indicted former official in Florida, said Greenberg may cooperate as a

witness against Congress and Matt Gates and a Department of Justice inquiry and in Alabama it appears that Amazon has enough votes to stop the formation of a union. And we'll be joined by the Arizona couple who may lose their food truck business because of an irate white man pulling a gun out on them. And in our Education Matters segment,

why are state officials in New York, Democrats, stopping the expansion of charter schools when parents want that? We'll talk with Dr. Steve Perry about that. And also, one of the oldest historically black churches in the country may be able to bankrupt the Proud Boys. We'll explain. A North Carolina man spent 44 years in prison, but he's only being compensated for 15 of those by the state of North Carolina. And my one-on-one with Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League

of Metropolitan St. Louis. Folks, if you want to see an Urban League chapter who is doing things right, you don't want to miss this interview. It is time to bring the funk. The Roland Martin Unfiltered, let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. 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 belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin.

Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, he's real, the best you know He's rolling, Martin Martin © BF-WATCH TV 2021 One week ago, many folks were shocked to learn of DMX being in the hospital after suffering a heart attack after an overdose. Today, his family announced his death. Of course, this is the statement they released to the public after the number of people speculating last night that he had passed away, that really he was removed from life support today. This is their statement right here. We're deeply saddened to announce today that our loved one, DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, passed away at 50 years old at White Plains Hospital with his family by his side after being placed on life support for the past few days.

Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with all his heart, and we cherish the times we spent with him. Earl's music inspired countless fans across the world, and his iconic legacy will live on forever. We appreciate all the love and support during this incredibly difficult time. Please respect our privacy as we grieve the loss of our brother, father, uncle, and the man the world knew as DMX. We will share information about his memorial service

once the details are finalized. He of course is known for hits like Party Up, X Gonna Give It, and just so many other songs with Rough Riders. And of course, historymaking artists. The number of consecutive platinum albums, just stunning. The production that he had in the 1990s cannot simply be ignored. DMX talked openly about the first time he smoked a joint, but it was laced with cocaine given to him,

it was laced with crack, I'm sorry, given to him by a mentor of his. It was that action that actually led to years and years of significant issues with drugs. He was in and out of rehab, in trouble with the law enforcement, fighting his demons. A man who believed in God, did an entire gospel album talking about faith in the demons and the devil and the battle back and forth. And so he was someone who had a

significant influence on hip hop. Again, lost at the age of 50 years old. All across social media, folks have been paying tribute to DMX. Individuals posting photos, encounters, their first time meeting him, videos as well. On Monday, we are going to have our hour-long special dedicated to the life of DMX. But right now, I do want to talk about his life and legacy with our panel. Joining me right now is, of course, Rob Richardson, host of the Disruption Now podcast. Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show. Johan LeBlanc, national security and foreign affairs legal analyst. Rob, I'll start with you.

Again, the influence of DMX is undeniable. The moment you heard his voice, you knew exactly who he was. He did not sound like anyone else. And he's been described as a tortured soul. And one tweet said, people often say, rest in peace when someone passes away. And one person said, if that was a phrase that was really meant for anybody, that they hope that DMX would rest in peace after really the last 30 years of his life. Yeah, DMX, I came of age during DMX. It was all the music we listened to at parties. And you knew who DMmx was his voice was undeniable

uh it was uh you knew it was just a powerful voice and you could feel in his music he was tortured he talked through his music a lot of it was literally you talk about the demons he battled he had a lot of his songs and a lot of the poetry in his songs was about the demons he was battling and you you can feel it and you knew that it was more than just entertainment. It was who he was. And yes, he struggled like a lot of us have, like a lot of people have with addiction. And it's a demon that is hard to fight.

I've had family members, I have family members that have battled with addiction. And once you're an addict, you're always an addict. And you just have to make sure that you step away from it so you don't put yourself in a situation. But it's very hard because once you, if you are an addict and you happen to have that gene and you have the encounter that something like DMX had where someone exposes you when they shouldn't,

it can really affect you. So I really felt his music to my soul. And he made an impact on this world, his voice will never be forgotten and you know who he is every time every time you hear a dmx song you'll know you'll know and i think people are going to get to know more about his music and relive some of the 90s those are my years in college and dmx is one of the people i think of mich Michael, Imhotep. You know, Roland, I remember working at a radio station when DMX was hot in the late 90s. A radio station, a popular radio station here in Detroit.

DMX had some club bangers. I'm telling people think I wasn't in the clubs. Oh, yes, I was. Oh, I had friends that owned clubs. DMX all comes on, whether it's a nightclub or a gentleman's club. People are, I mean, people know the song. You know, so I remember back in late 90s, it was a popular phrase, y'all gonna make me lose my mind up in here, up in here, that's DMX. I got DMX in the crates on cassette tape. I got DMX in the crates on cassette tape. I got a ton of, I have a ton of music, all different genres. But when you listen to DMX, as Rob was saying,

you can tell, and back then, I didn't know like his whole story we know more about it now because social media late 90s man you know it wasn't anywhere i mean google was founded in 1995 youtube wasn't founded in 2005 but when you listen to his lyrics you can tell he was a tortured soul he was fighting these demons. And a lot of people could relate to this. So it wasn't even though maybe some of the lyrical content, everybody might not agree with things like this, but you knew it was something deeper that he was fighting. And unfortunately, and I'll be 50 June 7th of this year, you know, and one thing I've talked about on my show, and I grew up with hip-hop, going back to Rapper's Delight, 1979. When we would listen to all these artists,

whether it's Run DMC, things like this, we never thought about them dying from heart attacks, drug overdoses. I'm still shocked by gray-haired rappers. I'm like, who the hell is this? I grew up with them, but still, I saw a commercial with Tag Team, and they had gray beards. I'm like, who the hell is this guy? I grew up with them, but still, look, I saw a commercial with Tag Team and they had great beards.

I'm like, who the hell is this? So we never thought about because we listened to them when we were younger. A lot of times we never thought about these rappers getting older and passing on. So, you know, this is this is a tragedy, brother. But, yeah, he can really rest in peace now. Well, the reality is I don't think anyone thinks about folks who, in essence, were peers doing that. We think folks are going to live forever. If you grew up with Aretha Franklin, if you grew up with Mary Wilson, if you grew up with any number of artists, that's what people think. I think also what is very difficult, Johanna, is for folks to really understand addiction, to really understand what people go through. That's just reality. Over the years, folks made light of the arrest, going to substance abuse counseling, going

to rehab, filing for bankruptcy, all of those different things. But when you're 14 years old and a friend hands you marijuana and you don't know his lace would crack, he has talked about how that set him on this 36-year odyssey that has tormented him him And we think about the overdose keep in mind Prince overdose mm-hmm Michael Jackson overdose Whitney Houston overdose Jimmy Hendrix overdose Diana, Washington overdose

There are a number of artists that we think of and that is addiction is an illness. That's what it is. Johanna? Yes, certainly Roland Martin. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of DMX. But you're absolutely correct. I think when it comes to the notion of addiction, it is a great concern in our community. And one of the reasons why DMX was so popular and was so loved by so many different people is because of his rawness in his music. As my co-panelist just indicated, he was real. He was authentic. He was genuine. He allowed us to understand and to learn about his pain and to walk this journey with him. And I think that's what made him such a, not just an icon here in the United States, but also internationally. And DMX had the type of

voice that you can recognize from miles away, even if you did not know his name. But the voice was just so unique. So his legacy will live on forever. But there needs to be a greater conversation about the addiction that is killing so many of our talented brothers and sisters. And the names that you mentioned earlier are the names that we know about. But there are so many people, everyday people, who are dying due to addiction, whether it be crack, cocaine, or drugs, whatever the case may be. And we need to ensure that as a society, we have the resources available to respond to the needs of those people and don't shun them. Because I know social media, people use it for different reasons and sometimes to embarrass people.

But we need to understand that addiction is a real concern that needs to be addressed with the highest level of seriousness. Well, absolutely. And like I said, folks, on Monday's show, we're going to pay tribute. There are so many artists who are still just raw over his loss, even though really folks expected this his last Friday when he was on life support. But it's still even more difficult to fathom losing. Rob, go ahead. That's the more thing. This is something you alluded to it. But we as a community have to also deal with addiction and also deal with our health and take it seriously. I think, you know, it did hit me hard because he's closer to appears like, wait, he's not that old.

At least that's how I look at it. Right. But this but he's no longer with us as specifically as black men. You mentioned an artist, but specifically as black men, we tend to die sooner. So we need to do everything we can to take care of our health. I mean, this is this is an unfortunate wake up call to that. You know, you're not too young to die. We can to take care of our health. I mean, this is this is an unfortunate wake up call to that. You know, you're not too young to die. We need to take care of ourselves. Well, that was a point. Your health is your wealth. So, yes. Well, that was that was that was a point that we we talked about, discussed the other day when we celebrated the life and life of a nitwin Charles who passed away at the age of 47. So, again, again on Monday we'll

pay tribute we'll have a number of folks artists on sharing their thoughts and reflections about DMZ excuse me DMX again passing away passing away today at the age of 50 years old. Folks let's go to the Derek Chauvin trial determining George Floyd's cause of death remained the focus today in the trial of the ex Minneapolis police officer. A forensic pathologist and the chief medical George Floyd's cause of death remained the focus today in the trial of the ex-Minneapolis police officer. A forensic pathologist and the chief medical examiner who performed Floyd's autopsy delivered riveting testimonies. This is what they had to say. So Dr. Baker, take into account the entire exchange you had with Mr. Nelson on Mr. Floyd's medical conditions,

on whatever testimony you gave, wherever you gave it, I want to bring our attention back to what's reflected in exhibit 193 and taking all of that into account, what today remains your opinion as to the cause of death for Mr. Floyd? So my opinion remains unchanged. It's what I put on the death certificate last June.

That's cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating law enforcement, subdual restraint, and neck compression. That was my top line then. It would stay my top line now. And so if we look at the other contributing conditions, those other contributing conditions are not conditions that you consider direct causes. Is that true? They are not direct causes of Mr. Floyd's death. That's true. They're contributing causes. And in terms of manner of death, you found then, and do you stand by today, that the manner of death of Mr. Floyd was, as you would call it, homicide? Yes, I would still classify it as a homicide today.

Thank you, Dr. Baker. No further questions. So, Dr. Baker, we did find from the toxicology amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the results from the lab. That is correct. You didn't mention either fentanyl or meth in Mr. That is correct. You didn't mention either fendel or meth in Mr. Floyd's system. You mentioned those but you don't list either of them on the top line as causes of death. Why is that? Well the top line of the cause of death is really what you think is the the most

important thing that precipitated the death. Other things that you think played a role in the death but were not direct causes get relegated to what's known as the other significant conditions part of the death certificate. So the other significant conditions are things that played a role in the death but didn't directly cause the death. So for example, you know, Mr. Floyd's use of fentanyl did not cause the subdual or neck restraint. His heart disease did not cause the subdual or the neck restraint. All right. So these are items that may have contributed but weren't the direct cause.

Correct. In Mr. Floyd's specific case, the fact that he had been COVID positive seven or eight weeks before he passed away did not factor into my cause of death determination because I didn't see any signs of COVID at his autopsy. And his lungs did not have any of the stigmata of COVID that I would expect to see under the microscope. And sure enough, that came back with the exact number that would be consistent with Mr. Floyd having sickle cell trait. So it's really just a fluke that it got picked up at autopsy. In my opinion, it doesn't have anything to do with why he died. All right.

So if you put all this together, cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating, law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression, what does that mean? Well, what it means to me is that the activities of the law enforcement officers resulted in Mr. Floyd's death, and that specifically those activities were the subdual, the restraint, and the neck compression. And does this then also represent your own conclusion? Yes. A conclusion you have reached and an opinion you hold to a reasonable degree of medical certainty? Yes. Was the methamphetamine significant in your assessment of the cause of death? No. So then based on your review of the video and application of your work experience

and knowledge, did you rule out drug overdose as a cause of death? Yes. And that's an opinion you hold to a reasonable degree of medical certainty? Yes. So if the manner of death here has been determined to be homicide, does that, in your opinion as a medical examiner, rule out a death by accidental drug overdose? Yes. Rob, I've talked about all week, really the last couple of weeks, how the prosecutors,

how they have moved through this. They really haven't run away from the issue of drugs in George Floyd and really blunting the efforts of the defense to make that the cause. It's going to be a little hard to try to, I believe, convince this jury that that medical examiner is out of his mind when he said, nope, nothing changes my opinion. This was homicide. Yeah, I would hope so. I can say 20 years ago, almost to the day from yesterday, Cincinnati, we had an officer shot, shoot and kill an unarmed African-American man, Timothy Thomas. Then I was a student listening to DMX. I was I was I was head of the student chapter of the NAACP. And then I was in in the middle of election to become student body president.

But obviously, there were demonstrations, and there were some riots, and there was just all out, you know, just chaos. And the city of Cincinnati shut down for four days, and there was a curfew. And all the things you see happening right now before social media has been happening for a very long time. Happened when I was a student, happened before I was a student, and now we are seeing this play out once again. And I will say what the prosecution is hoping is going to work is what worked in Timothy Thomas' murder trial. It's what worked in Samuel DuBose when I became chairman of the board.

An officer shot someone and killed an unarmed African-American man. And their goal is to – they know it's not reasonable. Their goal is to try to get into the mind of one juror, if they can, and get this to be a hung jury to say and figure out a way to dehumanize him or to say he's the reason he died. That has worked before. We know it's a playbook that has worked very well. I will say that how the prosecution has litigated the case is some of the best I have seen in any of these cases. They did what you just said. They definitely addressed the issue just front of the matter to make sure that they didn't allow that force to be used. Next, they also did a good job of humanizing George Floyd, not as somebody that was a drug addict or somebody

that was a criminal, but someone that was a human, that was a volunteer. And that happened to, just like we just talked about with DMX, he happened to have an issue with drug addiction, just like many black and a whole lot of white Americans have issues with. And so they did a really good job of humanizing him and not allowing the defense to paint this narrative that this, the reason why George Floyd is dead is because something George Floyd didn't know. It's because this officer stood on his neck for nine minutes in the discussion.

Paula? Well, first and foremost, I agree with my co-panelist. Anybody who has eyes and has watched the video, you will see that it was straight up homicide, right? But defense, they have to play their part, right? You're paid to do a job that is to defend your client to the best of your ability, right? So trying to smear and trying to make George Floyd appear to be this less-than-perfect citizen or this person who is the cause of his own death, is nothing new in the playbook. It is something that prosecution defense use all the time when they're trying to win a case. You ruin the credibility of the person, and that way it's easier for you to win your case. But here we must remember that it is not George Floyd that is on trial. It is not him. He is someone

that was murdered. And when I look at this issue from a global perspective, what I can tell you is that the United States, as the leading country when it comes to human rights, cannot continue to police the human rights activities of other nations if we are violating the rights of our own citizens each and every day, especially the rights of our black and brown and poor people in this country. So I know that Secretary Blinken, after he was sworn in, he vowed to the international community that he was going to focus on human rights. He was going to ensure that countries do not violate the rights of others or their citizens. But we have to start at home. We have

to be the role model. We have to show the rest of the world how this is supposed to be done, because the reality is that, Roland, the world is watching this trial. I mean, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, they're watching this step by step. And I've been on television all across the continent giving my own analysis of this trial. And they're paying attention. And the outcome of this trial will impact America's standing. Michael Ahontap. Well, Roland, I've been watching every day of the trial. I've been talking about it every night on my show. I'm on six nights a week.

And there's been very damaging testimony, especially that's come out today and yesterday, Thursday, from the experts, from Dr. Martin Tobin, from the heart surgeon, Dr. Bill Smock, and then today from the medical examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker, and then also from Dr. Thomas. And what the prosecution has been doing is systematically going through step by step by step, based upon facts and evidence with expert witnesses, dismantling and disarming the defense of their argument, whether it's heart disease, whether it was the drugs, whether it's excited delirium. And excited delirium is rooted in racism. On day nine of the testimony, Dr. Bill Smock shut down the excited delirium argument as well.

Okay, so it's masterful what the prosecution has done, but I caution people, as I've been cautioning my listeners, the defense has not presented their case yet. Once the prosecution rests, then the defense will bring forth their witnesses, the defense will bring forth their witnesses. The defense will bring forth their their their case. Yes, Eric Nelson has done cross examination, but the defense has not presented their case yet. So even though this is damaging and hopefully Chauvin is found guilty because we all know he's guilty. But as Rob was saying, is extremely important for people to understand the burden of proof is on the prosecution. The prosecution has to prove, depending upon which charge that you're trying to get a conviction on or whatever, they have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt to 12 jurors.

It has to be unanimous based upon the evidence, not based upon feelings and emotions. If there's one juror who has doubt and Nelson is consistently trying to plant the seeds of doubt in at least one juror. If you can get one juror to say, well, I'm not sure, then you have a mistrial. OK, and it's up to the prosecution to try Chauvin again. So once again, we have to pay attention to this. But lastly, I will say this is a good opportunity for especially African-Americans to study law and to understand these whole legal proceedings and things like this. Because unfortunately, the two things we don't understand, one is history, the other is law. Yeah, I will say one other point on this. When you look at if this case was not an officer, this will be clear as day. Someone's sitting on someone's neck for nine minutes and they died. But the fact that it's so hard for us to convict an officer is the challenge

within this case because officers are allowed to get away with anything and they're assumed to have the benefit of the doubt. And so to Michael's point, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. It's even a higher standard when to Michael's point, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. It's even a higher standard when it comes to officers. You have to prove beyond any doubt. Like that's not even the actual legal standard, but the actual standard and how it is applied when a police officer kills a black person,

it's almost beyond any doubt, not even reasonable doubt. And we have to change that perception. So, and the defense knows that. So they're gonna to go time and time. And again, just to just figure out, is there any way we can just create a little bit of doubt? Cause that's all I need to do. All I need to do is say, well, Oh, it was just a little bit of excessive force. He didn't know that was going to happen or, or, you know, the officer was just so concerned about the crowd. Somebody might believe that because they're, they have some racist beliefs or they don't know they have racist beliefs. And they're speaking to that one or two people because I think the majority of the jury are going to find guilt in some way. But it's going to be very challenging

to find a unanimous verdict. I think this is clear as day. I think it should be. I think we haven't seen many clearer cases than this, but that doesn't mean it's guaranteed, just given the history of America when it comes to convicting officers. All right. Go ahead. Final comment. Final comment. That's why it's important to have legislation to address the qualified immunity, because we know oftentimes officers get to walk away because of this protection and that is the highest protection that one can have. While I do understand that officers are put in positions where they have to make an instant decision as to am I going to die or is someone else going to die, right? And they have to decide quick. And sometimes they are in

situations where if they don't act, they will die and other people will also die. But at the very same time, it needs to be done in a manner where people don't have this implicit bias. Because the reason why it's easier for you to pull that trigger on a black man versus a white man is because the notion of fear, is this person, do I find this person threatening to me, right? And if the answer is yes, because of your implicit biases, you are more than likely to pull that trigger or in the case of George Floyd, straight up murder the guy, right? So the qualified immunity needs to be addressed through federal legislation. And two, there needs to be addressed through federal legislation.

And two, there needs to be even more work done in the area of implicit biases and so forth. All right, folks, let's talk about what the CDC is now declaring that racism is a new serious public health threat. The CDC is the largest federal agency to acknowledge the issue as a threat, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement published on the agency's website. A growing body of research shows that centuries of racism in this country has had a profound and negative impact on communities of color. Confronting the impact of racism will not be easy. I know that we can do this if we work together. I certainly hope you will lean in and join me. The nation's leading public health agency established the WELLP Portal Racism and Health to serve as a hub for activities and promote a public discourse on how racism negatively affects health and communicates

potential solutions. This is important, Johanna, to acknowledge because when we look at health issues, when we look at the health of African Americans, the stress associated, all those things that go into this, the role that the racism plays. And again, for folks who are white in this country who don't have to deal with microaggressions, who don't have to deal with what we do, this is greatly significant. Yeah, and I agree. It is a crisis and it is something that racism in particular that we should really address and go to the root cause and not just put a band-aid on it. Because I think what we have been doing for the past decade or so is we've been putting a band-aid on the issue of racism. But when it comes to inequalities and disparities in this country, the numbers don't

look good for people of color. There was a Senate report released in 2019 about the state of Black America. And here are some daunting numbers, Roland. The median wealth of black families is $17,000, which is less than one-tenth of that of white families, which is $171,000. And we all know the quickest way to gain wealth in America is through home ownership. Well, this data shows that much less than 42 percent of black families white annually household incomes is about $29,000 per year. professional degrees and so forth. But you don't see that much shift in terms of the inequalities between wealth from white people. So the data is there. Even when black people take the appropriate steps, do the right thing, follow the law, you go to school, you are a law-abiding citizen, you go to church, right? You do all the things that society tells you to do. The inequality still exists, which is a serious public health crisis, because when you are faced with these challenges, guess what? It impacts your health. It impacts your ability to engage in day-to-day activities. And I know a Black woman, we are so strong and we are so brave,

but so many of us are dealing with these issues internally in the workplace. And it is impacting our health. And we bring it to the household. It impacts the way we interact with our families and with our children and so on. So I agree with the doctor. It is a serious public health crisis, and it should have been declared decades ago, not today. Rob? Yeah, I mean, I agree. I've seen a lot of these, and so I'm going to take a little bit of a different view. Like, water is wet, yes.

It's been a crisis. Now, because I've seen a lot of state legislators, they do these little resolutions to say, like, racism is a public crisis. Yes, it's been. My next step is always, then what? Like, what are we doing about it? What specifically are we going to do? How much money are we going to allocate to this? What's our steps? What's our plans and policies that change? Because it's been a health care, it's been a serious crisis for a really long time. So yes, I'm glad they acknowledged it,

but I'm like, okay, now what? Because we have some issues that we need to get solved. And I'm glad they acknowledge it, but I'm now kind of over that. That's like people saying Black Lives Matter. OK, slow clap. Now what? Like what are we going to do to change things? That's kind of my perspective on this. And the reality, Michael. Yeah. Now you see the CDC. How are you now going to take this and integrate this into public policy? Yes, policy has to follow behind this rolling. Racism is a system of advantage and privilege distributed based upon race. It comes out of the ideology of European white supremacy. This is for the purpose of

preserving genetic white survival. This is significant here that the CDC director is saying this, Dr. Walensky. And also, the American Medical Association said something very similar back in November of 2020 as well. And that is the American Medical Association. President Susan Bailey put out a statement on Thursday, April 8th, basically backing this up and also talking about the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionately on African-American and Hispanic communities. So policy has to follow this. And this is why, and all this also ties into, a lot of this also ties into the $2 trillion plus infrastructure bill that Joe Biden just unveiled because Joe Manchin pretty much tried to cancel.

Go ahead. Joe Manchin. All right. Well, Joe Manchin is what is in West. I digress. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we know Joe Manchin's game, but there's a history behind racism and infrastructure and U.S. highways. Okay. The U.S. Interstate Highway Act in 1952 and 1956 drove somewhere around 41,000 miles of interstate highway across the country. But they ran right through African-American communities, wiping out a lot of our homes, wiping out a lot of our businesses, disrupting our community. So that this right here dealing with racism is is is we see this in all aspects of society. So you have to have policy that addresses this to correct this. OK, this is why this is so important. And lastly, you know, this ties into the study from Citigroup Bank. They came out September 2020 that dealt with how the U.S. economy has lost $16 trillion over the past 20 years, from the year 2000 to the year

2020. And it's because of policies dealing with racism. But one thing that's important that it says is that if you can correct these structural inequities, then over the next five years, the U.S. economy can grow by $5 trillion. So there's an incentive to create this. Something important that that Citigroup study shows is, is that how racism negatively impacts everybody, including many white people who think they benefit from racism.

It shows how it even negatively impacts you as well. So this is a good first step, but we have to have policy behind this. Absolutely. All right, folks, we're going to get you up to date on some stories we covered. Georgia House Rep. Park Cannon spoke out for the first time that felony charges against her

had been dropped. On March 25th, she was arrested for knocking on Governor Brian Kemp's door while signing the voter suppression bill into law. This is what she had to say. I want wanna thank God for it is by his grace that I can stand here today at our state capital after what has felt like the longest two weeks of my life. Free from the threat of eight years in prison for simply doing my job, thank you District

Attorney Fonny Willis and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and staff for the thorough and complete investigation of the facts that you performed that led to the dismissal of the felony charges that I faced. But today I have come to tell the world it is time to lean in. The joy that I feel for the dismissal of the charges I faced is tempered by the fact that I should have never been arrested in the first place. Two weeks ago today, Brian Kemp sat in his office surrounded by a group of good old boys and signed into law one of the most racist pieces of legislation in my lifetime. And as she said, the DA there said she is not

going to pursue charges against Representative Cannon. This morning, employees at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, it was announced they had voted against unionizing. The retail, wholesale and department store union plans to challenge Amazon's conduct during the election formally. Let's talk about that. First and foremost, Michael, this was a huge deal was made about this. A number of members of Congress went down there. This would have been the first union at any Amazon warehouse in the country. There were, we had three black Amazon workers on this show who disagreed with forming a union. And based upon the count, it looks like they lost, the union lost two to one in that particular plant. Some 58 percent of the 6,000 people who worked there voted.

You know, Roland, a lot of southern states are right-to-work states also. And there's been a concerted effort to attack unions and weaken unions. A lot of that has come from Republicans. And I'm neither Democrat nor Republican, but I see where the attack's coming from. I would be interested to find out from the people who voted against it, especially African-Americans who voted against this, what is it about unions that you're against? Is it because you don't want to pay dues to unions? Because oftentimes that can be a deterrence for some people. the history of unions. Even though it is true, after slavery ended, a lot of your national labor unions started, like the National Labor Union in 1866, and a lot of these large labor unions started right after slavery ended to protect jobs for white men and lock us out of those jobs.

That is true. But as we were able to get into these unions, it helped to, you know, going into the 50s and things like this, and, you know, 50s, 60s, etc., it helped to, you know, going into the 50s and things like this and, you know, 50s, 60s, et cetera. It helped to create an African-American middle class, especially in the auto industry. So I would be interested, based upon what I'm hearing about Amazon, I would be really interested to find out from them, what was it about organizing to the union to get better benefits for workers, better pay, et cetera? What is it that you what was it about organizing to the union to get better benefits for workers better pay etc what is it that you're against well i think we i think we got to recognize rob that in the last you know look in the in the last since 40 years really the last 30 plus years

um really beginning with ronald reagan um where the attack on unions has been unnecessary, has hurting workers, has been unfair. These things have taken place. And so when that has been embedded in the mindset of people, it plays a part of the deal for unions has been to rebrand themselves and to reassert themselves to get people to understand exactly the impact of, you know, of unions and the particular value. In fact, I was earlier today I was looking at I was on social media and media Hassan who was on MSNBC he posted a particular graphic and this is what he this is what he tweeted he said he said if you want to understand why the Amazon Union vote in Bessemer is so important and while the US economy is so rigged in favor of the wealthy so unequal this one graph that we aired on my MSNBC show on Sunday night should do the trick. And the graph that he showed was this right here, that if you see as union membership has decreased, you have seen

the gradual, the dramatic increase of income going to the top 10% in the country. That chart right there explains it. So what people have to understand, so if you look at that graph there, so really the downward trend really began to happen in the 1960s. So you really go from 1970 through present day. It's been going down, down, down, because we reached this point where corporate America and the Republican Party, what they did was they really actually, they were successful in making the two words that they made that were lethal in terms of being evil and wrong,

liberal and union. Yep. Yep. They did a great job of that. And as I think the only union organizer and probably third generation union member on here, I have a lot to say about this. So, you know, Michael mentioned right to work and that this was in a southern state. That whole phrase goes back to how long this narrative has been going on and how and how dedicated the right wing has been concerted in making union a bad word. You know, so Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to this. He said, don't fall for these false slogans. In all these so-called right-to-work states, there are no rights and there's no works. These are just false slogans used to make sure power is taken away from unions so workers have less power. However, marketing works. Marketing is very effective. And what corporations and what

the right did is they've been working to make sure they defeat liberals and they defeat unions. And you win by really starting a propaganda campaign. And the right wing is so effective. They're so effective on staying on message and with propaganda. And I'm not going to just blame the right wing because there are some Democrats that didn't have the heart and didn't fight enough. And there's a third area they focused on, too. They focused on black people and mass incarceration. Those three areas really help increase the power for the right wing, and they're holding on to that.

So looking at what happened and why the workers, you know, I understand how they made the why they why they made the decision, because corporations have so much power within the law right now that they overwhelmed them. And they're very effective in their marketing. They told them they were going to take all their dues. Guess what, Michael? And the so-called right to work states when there's really no rights and there's really no work, you don't have to pay dues. You don't have to, that's what it means to be the benefit to the union. Oh no, I'm familiar with the work because we have, I know, I know, I know, but I'm telling, I'm telling the people so they understand, because I think it's important for our audience to understand when. Oh, no, I'm familiar with the work because we have. I know, I know, I know. But I'm telling I'm telling the people so they understand because I think it's important for our audience to understand when they hear these things. Right. What it means to be a part

of the union is you're going to have a voice. It means that they can't fire you for any other reason. They have to have calls. What it means is that you're going to have a help that you're going to have health care. What it means is that you're likely to even have a pension. Let me say this. One of the greatest tricks that the wealthy class has tricked working people into is to doing 401ks. It used to be that you had a pension. If you work for a company for 30 years, the company would make sure that you had a stable retirement. Now, I think the average person when they retire has like $30,000, which is not enough to do anything. 401ks will not replace pitches. And so making sure that workers have a stake in the richest company in the world, one that doesn't even pay taxes hardly,

and it has made one of the richest persons in history, to get their workers to say, we want to make sure we make decent wages. We want to get paid a good living wage. That's something that they would have had the power to do, but they rejected it. And some of it is because they're in the environment that they probably think they're going to lose their job. And you know what? That's been the truth. So people are intimidated. People don't feel like, people feel like if they take this step, that they will actually lose their job. And there's a reason for that, because even if they had won this vote, Amazon wouldn't have to do the contract. because we've seen workers vote for a union,

and then they figure out a way to get rid of the workers for the next three to four years because they have to go and negotiate, and they never negotiate. We have a broken law in this country, but we also need to get people to understand that they have to take back their own power. No one's going to give it to you. Can I say something real quick? Hold up. John, go ahead. I'm sorry. I agree with my co-panelists, and this goes back to my experience when I was in law school. I worked with a number of migrant farm workers, and they faced a number of discriminatory practices, unfair wages, you name it. All the oppression that you could think of as an employee of a company they experienced.

And, you know, trying to help with some of my classmates in an organization that I worked with. And what I can tell you is a lot of those people, even though they were faced with a host of discriminatory issues, that they had a right to file lawsuits against the company. They refused because they were afraid of losing their job. This was in Indiana, where they were making $12 per hour. These are immigrants coming from countries where they would be making absolutely nothing if they did not have this job. So in spite of the terrible work conditions, they decided to not move forward with lawsuits against their employer. So I think it's the same thing here with the union. I think my co-panelist said this earlier

as well, that sometimes people are afraid of losing their jobs. You don't know what kind of negotiations that Amazon had behind closed doors with these employees, correct? And also, you just never know what their bosses were saying to them. Because at the end of the day, everybody wants to be employed. People want to be able to feed their children. People want to be able to take a vacation

at the end of the year. And if anything, like joining a union, may threaten that security and that safety, guess what? They're not going to sign up, even if it is in their best interest. That is the reality, which is why, you know, when we have these social movements, while I think they are amazing, but the movements that I want to see in this country is a movement towards economic justice. Let's pay people what they are worth. I understand why we want to take

this colonialist statute. We want to remove. We don't want it in plain view. But what's really important to me is paying people what they're worth and ensuring that everybody in this country has a fair shot, because we can do it as a nation. We can do it. We have the resources.

We have the ingenuity. We have the talents. Because if all of us are doing well, guess what? It is better for society. It is better for America. So we can do this. Because if all of us are doing well, guess what? It is better for society. It is better for America. So we can do this. And what I want to see again is I want to see a fight towards economic justice. All right. Folks, I got to bring up, I got this story here. You know, I don't care much about this Eddie Monster looking fool,

but Florida Congressman Matthew Gates is not having a good week. His dear friend, Joel Greenberg, is expected to take a plea deal. And that deal could have him become a cooperating witness against Gates, who was accused of having sex with. No, first of all, let's be real clear, y'all. He's not having sex, not accused of having sex with underage girls. That's rape. That's what that is. And so the conversation about the deal happened during Greenberg's court hearing Thursday. Greenberg pleaded not guilty to all charters, including bribery of a government official. The judge set a May 15 deadline for the two sides to reach a deal. Greenberg's attorney hinted that he is willing to cooperate with

investigators on Gates' case. Today, the House Ethics Committee announced it opened an ethics probe into allegations of sexual misconduct against Republican congressmen from Florida. I'm not at all concerned and bothered by any of this happening to Matt Gates, Johanna. He is absolutely worth being scrutinized because he is one of the most despicable people in Congress. Well, what's interesting about this is the hypocrisy, right? What the party stands for and to see over the years how many of their members have fallen to issues around sexual misconduct, rape and incest, and you name it. So if we're going to be, if you're going to have a party that is for certain morals and

certain values, you need to be consistent. You cannot be against abortion, but yet you're raping children, in essence, because you're not an adult until you're 18, the last time I checked in this country. So we need to be consistent. We need to stop with the hypocrisy. We need to address challenges impacting this nation from a place of compassion and sympathy and empathy. And instead of being this hypocrite that many of our politicians are, and I hate to say it, Republicans and Democrats in this case. Rob? Yeah, when people talk about cancel culture, if that's what they mean, he needs to be canceled.

We need to cancel people that are raping kids, people that are actually sex trafficking. People like Matt Gaetz should be canceled because it's called accountability. You do something wrong, you're supposed to be held accountable. That's not being canceled. That's how it's supposed to work. But apparently, if you're a Republican, this is, people are just trying to cancel you. The people are just against you. People are just mean. People are against men. No, people are against raping kids. I mean, it's not that difficult. He should be held accountable. He has no business in Congress. He has no business being a dog catcher. He has no business being anything but behind bars. That's where he should be. Michael. Oh, you know, I love this role. And sugar daddy Matt Gates is in some big trouble. And his dumb ass allegedly was sending money through cash.

OK, so, you know, I sit back and I told you before, we talked about this last Friday, this is the chickens coming home to roost. There's going to be a lot more of them. He ain't the only one. But I remember all these QAnon people talking about Donald Trump is cutting down on sex trafficking and child sex trafficking, all this stuff. Is this what they were talking about? This started under the William Barr administration.

I mean, under Attorney General William Barr, this investigation. Is this what they were talking about? This started under the William Barr administration. I mean, under Attorney General William Barr, this investigation. Is this what they were talking about? So you have this taking place. Then you have him, he hired this public relations firm. And I find it interesting. I think a lot of times, you know, when you hit with charges like this, then you have to go file a public relations firm. At the same time, you don't have a lot of Republicans stepping up to defend Matt Gaetz. I mean, you got a few, you got a few like crazy-ass Jim Jordan and you got Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Yeah, you got Marjorie Taylor Greene. These are some of the dumbest people in the House of Representatives for Republicans. This is who is defending him, okay? I don't think yet Donald Trump has put out a statement defending Matt Gaetz. Has he put one out? I didn't see one yesterday. So I don't think he's put one out yet. And Gaetz is one of the biggest Trump defenders. So this is karma, but at the same time, I think we may find out, if you find out that there was some drug usage he was doing, then, you know, that makes sense.

Because I told you last Friday, half the time I hear Matt Gaetz, he sounds like he's on drugs. He makes no sense whatsoever. So, hey, I'm all for this. Hey, but that would be consistent with most of the Republican Party at this at this point. So you really couldn't tell the difference. So because, I mean, they they engage in conspiracy theories and just crazy talk right now. This is nothing about like the Republican Party, which I don't agree with a lot of the philosophies of the Republican Party. But this right now is not about being conservative. This is just pure cray-cray crazy. This is just in a weird world.

This is where they are. These are Trump-gripped loyalists. These are Trump-gripped loyalists. Yeah, but you've got people like Marjorie, the person you mentioned, right? Marjorie Taylor Greene. She's raising a ton of money. There is a huge market for this right now. People want to believe this stuff.

Speaking of money. Well, look, bottom line is it's real simple, and that is this here. Matt Gaetz keeps running his mouth all day. Guess what? You're going to have to deal with this here. And if your boy flipped, that means he's got some stuff on you. And even the attorney stated, the attorney stated, Greenberg's attorney stated, he said, Gates is probably not having a good day. That means he's got some stuff on him.

All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. A black couple in Arizona, a white man who they were working with, tries to pull a gun out on them. They fight him off. But then his wife throws them out of their shared kitchen. They lose a ton of their food, of their product. They may go out of business with their food truck. Wait till you see this video and we tell you this story. That's next on Roland Martin

Unfiltered. Who needs a little love today? Who needs some love sent their way? Who needs love? Who needs love? Who needs a little love today? Who needs some love sent their way? Who needs love? Who needs love? Who needs love? What's up y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.V. James.

What up? Lonnie Wells. And you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. In February, the owners of an Arizona food truck, Whatcha Cookin, were assaulted by a white man during a business meeting. A couple of years, the man will not not be properly charged for the hate crime. Folks, where do you see this video? So in this particular video, we first saw this on NowThis. And I got to show you this video here. They were sitting in this meeting. Then all of a sudden, the man just pulls out a gun on them in the middle of the meeting. They call the cops. It takes the cops 11 minutes to get there.

Just shocking and stunning. Watch this. OK, so again, it's just an unbelievable story here. And joining me now, the co-owners of Whatcha CookingookinFoodTruck, Brittany and Solomon Odabajo. Glad to have both of you with us. First and foremost, so set it up for our audience. You were working with this shared kitchen, correct? Yes, so we were renting the refrigerator unit and a freezer unit. It's a commissary kitchen, and we were also prepping our meals so we can sell on our food truck with this kitchen.

And so y'all go there for a meeting. What was the purpose of the meeting? So after only using their kitchen for 10 minutes, my husband and I received a notice, a 30-day notice. They no longer wanted us in their kitchen. So Tom, too, told us that he wanted to meet with us on February 5th to discuss reasons of departure. All right. And so y'all go to this meeting and what happens in this meeting here,

Solomon? He comes in with an All Lives Matter and he starts complaining and ripping Black Lives Matter? So my wife was in a meeting. She can actually, that part, I was getting a food truck serviced before all that. It led up, I got there when it led up to you see me sitting at the table.

He put up a weapon. But my wife was there when he brought the All Lives Matter shirt. You know, he's banging on the table. And it had, you know, the words black crossed out, you know, first on a shirt. Then it has white and then it left straight and gay open. But, you know, this. For departure, that shirt. It doesn't have anything to do with, you know, departure.

So so just so just so. So, Brittany, you know, departure. So, so just, so just what, so, so Brittany, you're sitting there and all of a sudden, just out of the blue, he just comes in with his all lives matter shirt and starts ranting against black lives matter. Yeah. So I was just sitting there and I noticed when he was walking up to me where he wanted to meet at, I noticed he had a piece of clothing folded in his hand. And, you know, once we began talking and he started giving reasons of

why he didn't want us there, he became enraged and he starts unfolding the shirt and he shows me the shirt and he just starts yelling at me and calling me racist and pointing at me. And he begins telling me, you know, I can sit here all day, excuse my French, but he's like, I can sit here all day and tell you how shitty your business is. And I wouldn't get much, like, he just kept going on and on. He was just so enraged. And I told him, you know, I said, Tom, you need to remain professional and calm down. And, you know, at that point, I was like, you know, call your husband, get him here, because he was making me feel very uncomfortable.

So, okay, so had y'all before had any conversation about Black Lives Matter? Did y'all have BLM posters on your on your truck Did y'all have any previous discussions or run-in over the issue of race or one of these high-profile cases? We did not so all of a sudden dude just come in he just comes in just going nuts about black lives matter all lives matter Yes He just comes in just going nuts about Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter. Yes. The detective. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Go ahead. We met with the prosecutor on the 24th of March. And, you know, the detective stated, like, he actually forgot the shirt. So he went back and grabbed the shirt to bring it back to her from the video footage they had. So, okay. So, okay, so Brittany, this happens. All of a sudden, you call your husband.

Salomon, you drop everything to come over there and I was getting food trucks. How? I was in the middle of getting the food truck serviced. Our batteries had died because the ground wire wasn't connected to the power wire.

And so you so you race over. How long are you there before he pulls? He tries to pull a gun out. Oh, man, we was there. OK, so I walk in the door. It was like 10 minutes before he showed up. But then it was like 15, 20 minutes before he put a gun out. So you didn't. So neither one of you knew he was carrying a gun.

Absolutely. And he wasn't, he didn't have the gun until, um, after my husband, when we were looking for him, that's because when he had the meeting with me, he was sitting up, he was sitting up straight and everything. But if you notice, once my husband comes in, he kind of slouches because he has something in his back, which was found out to be the gun. So, so, so you're saying that when he met with you, the gun wasn't on him. And then when you decided to call your husband, that's what, that's what he went and got his gun and put it, put it his uh put it uh in uh in the back of his uh uh jeans yes so so all of a sudden okay you're sitting there two of you sitting there and britney excuse me solomon when he makes a move do you do you do your mind is you saying what is he doing i think he's going for a gun um so he took a deep breath

that alerted me off the back he took a deep breath and then he hesitated but i watched his eye contact the whole time and yes he had when he reached for his back so all of a sudden you jump up. You begin to wrestle with him. Brittany, he's telling you, call the cops, call the cops. But you're scared to call the cops. Yeah, absolutely. Because of the world that we live in today and you see, you know, African-Americans getting killed or minorities getting killed. And, you know, just because they have a weapon or just for

no apparent reason. And I felt as though the situation didn't look right. We're two African-Americans in a white establishment, and there's a weapon involved. I felt like we definitely are going to get stereotyped. This call right now, this can be it for both of us. So I was really nervous, and I just kept reminding myself, I kept saying, you know what, just keep on stressing and stating on the call that we're African-American and your husband's African-American. He's not the suspect. Just make sure you keep making that clear no matter what. That's my first thought. You know, there was also people, other tenants in the kitchen.

And I was actually thinking that ask them for help before calling authority honestly man them folks ran out the door yeah they they ran out the door they wouldn't give us the address so it was just like it was so scary like that was one of the scariest moments of my life it's like they not even cooperating with the like the detective you know asked them to write a statement or you know what happened they then, oh, we don't even know. We was leaving. But which was a lie because they all was outside. Right.

When the incident happened. I mean, they was inside, but then when the incident happened, when the cops got there, everybody moved outside. So, all right, cops come there. They finally arrive. They detain him. His wife comes, and then what does she do to y'all? That's right.

We're outside, and we were still writing our reports, and she comes out, and she's just like, it's like basically, it's time to go, come get your stuff, and we were just in shock because for one,

it is a weekend, it's Friday, and it was like 4.30ish, and now all of a sudden we have to get out. Like, where are we going to store all this inventory, you know? So when you say all this inventory, you're talking about food. Correct. Yes.

We have lost a lot of food. How much? How much food did you, did y'all have there in terms of what did it cost? It was it was like a couple of thousands were probably because we my husband, he travels to go get our meats. And so we had all that stored. We buy bulks of it so that we will have enough, you know, until we're ready to go back out out of town and so we are if i had to give an estimate uh i want to say what about a couple grand yeah probably a couple grand yeah like a couple grand and then that's not even including because you got to think we have to pay to get all this shipment back we have to pay to go there room you know so it's just it was just so inconvenient. And it was very I just. No remorse. Her husband literally just tried to kill us for no apparent reason.

And so talk about when y'all y'all said you did the interview, y'all said that y'all thought y'all were going to lose your food truck and lose your business. How so? Because you're going to find a commissary kitchen. Everybody wants $5,000 a month or $4,000 a month. I mean, that's ridiculous if you really ask us. So first of all, you're saying it's going to cost you for a shared kitchen $4,000 to $5,000 a month for the shared kitchen. What were you paying at this particular place here? He was only charging us $400 a month.

$400 a month? $400 a month? $450. Because they added $450. They had added a $50 fee because they had to add a freezer. Basically, y'all were spending $450 a month, but

you start calling other places, it was going to be 10 times that to use their kitchen. Correct. Their kitchen was actually more convenient. It was close. It's paranoid. Anxiety. actually more convenient it was close you know it was paranoid like anxiety it's like it gives us anxiety to be in public you know around a bunch of people we're always paying attention to make

sure like the first thing i look at is somebody hit you feel me why i gotta do that right you know i shouldn't have to live like that we shouldn't have to live like that it's like the trauma is affecting everybody not just us our kids you know once again like our daughter she's eight you know she woke up in the middle of the night 4 30 in the morning crying oh i had a bad dream that the guy in the kitchen tried to kill you guys or you know try to hurt us so you know that's like for an eight-year-old to feel that you know saying it's like nobody should fear at all. You know, and then you got to think it's like being in public. Y'all said that the so talk about what the police told y'all that this guy may.

So what's the status of the case? So basically, we are being told that he is not. He might not do any time. So basically, he's there trying to get him to plead out to one aggravated count. One felonious account with I mean, yeah, one disorderly conduct felonious or something like that. But this happened to two people. Why is he pleading out to one charge? And then later on, he put everybody in the kitchen in jeopardy, you know? So it's like.

So with that, would that mean no jail time is that is that what is that what they're saying yeah there's a possibility he might you know do no jail time of probation like how if the shoe was on the other foot this wouldn't it wouldn't be fair i have a hot bond they would have never let me out within anywhere from he went to the hospital right after the you know situation but then he was in hospital for five like six hours they let him out at 4 33 in the morning the next day and they told us they weren't gonna let him out until we filed a restraining order and they still let him out and he's still out so it's like a slap on the wrist it's like you can go around harassing minorities and then you don't nothing happens

you know wow yeah authority like power i feel like not only that we since our story went viral there has been other tenants that ran it from their kitchen, and they have come forward, and they are minorities. And they said they were harassed. As well. There's a camera. And just like we told the prosecutor, we asked her, why is he out? And they go, well, he has no history of this.

And it's like, well, look at all these mass shooters. Do they have history of this killings? No, they just snapped one day. And that's what's what he did literally he just snapped for no reason like you seen it in his eyes um when i when you see me go over there to try to make sure my husband had him secure he was to pull the trigger but finger was stuck in his shirt like the trick the gun was stuck in his shirt so he couldn't get his finger through the trigger. And it was like he was literally trying to shoot us. Wow. Folks, now this, the story got posted. Yesterday, and I saw the GoFundMe yesterday, it was at 95,000 when I checked yesterday, yesterday morning. Let's go to my computer, please. Right now it is at one hundred and eighty one thousand six hundred fifty five dollars.

A yellow trying to raise two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And you're trying to raise the two hundred fifty thousand to do what for your business? So we are either, we're trying to transition to a restaurant, um, because, you know, I, I feel safe to even be in a commissary kitchen. Like I w I think I would just be too paranoid thinking someone's trying to kill me or, you know, um, having our own restaurant space would just be way better. Um, before we even started our food truck, we were doing catering and our menu was much larger. So once we got a food truck, we had to limit it. So we feel, you know, right now is our time to, you know, be able to expand and have our menu that we originally had, you know, a variety of things, excuse me, instead of, you know, a shorter menu.

Well, folks, y'all could actually go to, if you go to, if you go to GoFundMe, go back, just put in Solomon and Brittany Odabajo, O-D-U-B-A-J-O right there. And you can see the GoFundMe. Solomon and Brittany, we certainly appreciate you for joining us and certainly good luck. And hopefully, hopefully this guy will face some jail time for what he tried to do. Absolutely. And can we just say, you know, we want to thank everyone who's reached out to us, whether it be a repost or, you know, the money we really appreciate it. And we feel truly blessed. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks. We care. So thank you. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you.

So we were talking earlier, Johanna, about racism being a public health threat. This is a perfect example of what just being black you go through. And so here you have these folks. Guy tries to pull a gun out. They're still there now. They are now dealing with PTSD as a result of an act of racism that has an impact on health. Exactly. And again, this is just one incident that we that goes viral. Right. And we know so many so many others. You know, when you have kids who are strip searched after school by police officers, when you have resource officers on campus handcuffing kids for just misbehaving, for

speaking too loud, for getting into altercation, which is what children do all the time. So this is what we're talking about, racism being a public health crisis, because it impacts every aspect of our lives. And one can argue that perhaps this man has a mental health issue. But based on the testimony of the young woman, she indicated that others have to come forward. Black tenants in particular have said they have experienced similar action by this landlord. So again, it is a clear example of racism and how it impacts our health. Because now these individuals are not even feeling,

don't even feel safe to be in the public. And as I'm looking at the young woman, you can tell this is someone who is very frightened, especially considering that they have released this individual from jail. And she doesn't know what this man will do again if he's going to strike back. So I am so sorry for what happened to them. And it breaks my heart. And I wish them much success. And it just shows how how how giving the American people are in this country, how so many people have rallied behind this young woman and her significant other to support her business and to help her to take her business to the next level. And I wish her nothing but the best. But this is also the rally is we shouldn't have to deal with that. We shouldn't

have to go through that. We shouldn't have to experience that. And as always, the case of people who just don't get it, who literally don't get it. Rob, here's that here's this idiot, Paris Denard, working for the Republican National Committee on Fox News, literally disagreeing with the CDC. Here we go. When I heard this statement from the CDC director, I was appalled because instead of focusing on health disparities, which we should do because they're real and COVID highlighted those. The CDC is doing the bidding of the Biden administration by once again inserting race, racism and calling people racist for no reason. That's the Democrat Biden Harris administration playbook. And they're doing this because they want to have the American people think that this nation is inherently racist or systemically racist. But it's not. And I think that all Americans should stand up and

ask the question, if these districts, if these communities of color who have been represented by Democrats for so many years are systemically racist, does that make the Democrats who are in control racist as well? I think the CDC should focus on the Communist Party of China. COVID-19 came over to this country and has infected the world, and they should be focused on that. That issue alone is why we have seen so many people die. Yes, disproportionately in the black community,

but it's not the fault of racism. It's the fault of China. Focus on that. Stand up to China and stop calling everybody, everything, and everywhere racist. It's wrong. This is what happens when you are stuck on stupid, Rob. Harris Denard is an utter idiot for what he just said. And they love to they love to prop up

these folks who are just dumb. The CDC or they're calling everyone racist. No. What they're saying is the racism that black people have to deal with on a daily basis has a direct impact on the health of black people. Yeah, he knows. He knows what they're saying. The only point I have of disagreement is I don't think he's dumb.

This is a dumbass statement he's making and he's doing it so he can get... Look, you can have a black man make the statement. It's profitable to do so. That's the game that's being played. That's the game he's playing. But he's so and he's doing it so he can get because look you can have a black man make the statement it's profitable to do so that's the game that's being played that's the game he's playing but he's so disingenuous there's so much just take apart in what he said so i could be on another hour because it's just so much garbage but let me just get to the basics he starts off by saying they should focus on health disparities how the hell do you focus on health disparities without acknowledging the fact that the disparities are there because of racism?

Racism is structural. So when he says, oh, well, are you saying Democrats are racist? The system is not individual. It is structural. It means it's built in over time. It's like a virus. Let me break it down for him. It mutates over time.

And until you actually get it out and you isolate it, it will stay there. So, yes, racism has been a part of America. It's not the only part of America. There are certainly good parts, but this is a part, if you want to improve America, you have to look at. I'd never get conservatives when you say like, oh, why are you so critical in America? You're saying all America is racist. What I'm saying is, if you actually love a country, I love the country. I want it to be better. You love your kids. Are you going to tell your kids they're great when they're doing things wrong? No,

we need to improve. I don't know why this is hard for him to actually put together. And the last part I want to get is he talks about not being racist and then says something racist. He says we need to blame it all on China. China is the reason why this happens. Knowing we have a rise in Asian hate right now, he adds that in. So he has to be the black man that throws in some racism at the end just to do the bidding of the Republican Party who wants to have this narrative that if you talk about racism, that's bad. I want people, and I specifically want people on the right, to get more offended by racism than they do about being called racist. Get mad about the racism. I can tell you I'd rather be called a racist than go through racism.

It is harder to go through racism than to be called a racist than go through racism. It is harder to go through racism than to be called a racist. People are so, they talk about cancel culture and people giving them a hard time and people not being tough enough and being snowflakes. They're snowflakes. Every time you call them out on stuff, they get offended and say, well, why'd you say that? Like, hey, suck it up, buttercup. Beyond nuts. Michael, real quick. Well, we all know Paris Denard is a professional white behind kisser. That's his whole game. That's what pays his bills. We understand that.

But what I find interesting is that he doesn't want to address specifically what CDC Director Rochelle Walensky talked about. A growing body of research shows the centuries of racism in this country has had a profound and negative impact on communities of color. He doesn't wanna deal with that research. And racism existed before the Republican party was founded in 1854 and before the Democratic party was founded in 1828. Racism existed in this country, it's a system of advantage and privilege distributed based upon race. And I'll wrap up with this. As Dr. Francis Cress Wilson and Nellie Fuller correctly taught us, if you do not understand European white supremacy and racism, what it is and how it works, everything else that you think that you understand will totally confuse you. So what Paris Denard is trying to do on behalf of the people, on behalf of the white people who pay him, is trying to distract and confuse us. So we can't go for that okey-doke.

Look who he worked for in the White House. And Trump says systemic racism didn't exist. Got it. All right, folks, going to go to break. We come back. Our Education Matters segment, why is it thousands of parents are demanding more charter schools in the state of New York, especially New York City? But Democrats say, no, absolutely not. We'll discuss that with Steve Perry next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Respect. Respect includes making a decent wage that reflects how hard you work for your community. So what's the best way to make sure you get the pay you deserve? Join a union. Union members are paid more than people with similar jobs who aren't in unions. For women and people of color, the union difference is even

greater. The respect you deserve, the pay you've earned. That's the union difference. Hi, this is Essence Atkins. Hey, I'm Deon Cole from Black-est. Hey, everybody, this your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, folks, in the state of New York, lawmakers are being slammed for blocking a charter school's budget expansion. The demand for more charter schools is rising, but in the state capital of Albany, lawmakers refused to lift the cap to open more. Joseph Bellick, chairman of the State University of New York Charter School Committee, said he found the opposition to the charter school

expansion especially incredible because the schools were a lifeline of students and parents during the coronavirus pandemic. The teachers union opposes charter schools, which are privately managed, publicly funded schools that have a longer school day in a year and whose staffers are mostly non-union. Now, the state lawmaker admits that, yes, the union pressure is a part of this. Joining me now is Dr. Steve Perry, founder and head of a school's capital prep schools, has a charter school there in Harlem. And the thing here is, Steve, that is interesting. So they the demand is really in New York City. They have this they have this cap across the across the the state. They haven't filled all of the the the schools in this whole deal. But but they but they want to cap it in New York City. But that's where the demand is. And a lot of that demand is black people.

Yo, boo woman. First of all, let me thank you, Roland, for having me on. And it's so important that anytime we have a conversation with you, that we acknowledge how important Roland Martin Unfiltered is to the black community writ large. So, brother, thank you so much for what you do for our people. Appreciate it. Now we'll have a conversation. The importance of this conversation specifically around school choice and charters. We know that this has nothing to do with education, with the public.

It has to do with a privately run, privately controlled fourth arm of government, which is the teachers union. Break this down. All right. Steve, hold tight one second because, OK, hold on, Steve. Your signal is breaking up. So, guys, I want you to fix that. Then let me know when we have when we're clear with Steve Signal, because I can bear he's breaking up there. Can't hear anything. So I'm going to go to the panel and come back to Steve. What shall let me know we have it taken care of? I'm going to start. I'm going to start with you. I'm going to start with you, Rob. Here's what I found to be interesting with this particular issue. The demand is there. The lawmakers are like, no, we're not expanding.

We're not expanding. And they admit because of the pressure. Here's what I don't get. If the people are saying we're not satisfied with the existing product, why would you not then listen to the people of New York. Yeah, and it's it's it's I've seen this. This is complicated. I do support charters like Dr. Perry's because they are ones that are that are serving the community. It is important to have black owned folks that are that are conscious of our kids are looking out for our kids. At the same time, I've also seen in Ohio where we have the other extreme where you can have for-profit charters. They're not even nonprofits.

You can have a charter. And this charter, we had a charter to lose $100 million, and there's no accountability. So we need to do what's in the best interest of kids. So one second. When you say there's no accountability, isn't that the state's responsibility? What's that? The accountability. That is the state's responsibility.

That's the state's responsibility. But they're not going to do it because they want to... So hold on. They're in Ohio, right? They're in Ohio. They're in Ohio. I'm talking about Ohio. Right.

So I've seen the other side where there's no type of accountability for, and I'm not talking about non-profit charters. I'm talking about there's also for-profit that make money, that do this like for-profit prisons. And so what I like to see is some balance, like places in New York have gone too far the other way. We can actually have something that's focused on kids and that works. And sometimes unions do exert too much control. I've seen that with police unions too,

and there needs to be balance really across the board. So I've seen the politics play on both of these sides. And certainly when you have, this is when you have too much power on one side and you don't have any checks and balances. And this is the case when things can happen that way. And we've seen that happen on the opposite side in conservative states where if you look at the numbers, the education is not moving forward because they're still not really trying to help kids. They're still not increasing the amount of funding. And sometimes it just goes to the contributors for ways for them to make money off of kids, too. But again, but actually, actually, it's not a complicated issue. It's really not. It's really not. Because what it boils down to is no matter where you are, accountability is accountability. Yes, there are some states that

have far more accountabilities than others. The issue that you're dealing with, again, with New York, we got Steve back, is this is very it is very simple. There are thousands success. The schools of even Moskowitz, they have some 20, 30 thousand people on waiting list to get into those schools. OK, we talk about schools that are successful. Here's my whole deal. If Steve Perry has a successful school, I want Steve to have five more. And if Steve has five successful charters

and he's kicking butt compared to a traditional school, hell, I ain't got a problem with Steve having five more. Me neither. The issue, Steve, that's crazy here is that the parents are saying we don't like what you're feeding me. They're saying you gonna keep eating what

I'm feeding you. Brother, brother, we just read in our school in the Bronx that just opened last year. We have 50 available seats. We had 500 applications. Our school in Harlem, we had another 700 applications for 50 available seats. When we talk about a public education, when the public speaks and the public moves with his feet, then we should listen to them. We need to stop with the dog

whistling of accountability. Almost no one who talks about accountability in public education knows what they're talking about. Because if we want to have a conversation about accountability, I would gladly put all of the neighborhood schools up to the same accountability measures that charter schools are up for. We have to be first approved to even be considered to open a school. Then after we're approved, we have to go through another process of submitting an application. And then after we go through another process, the union gets to get a... Not... The swing at the pinata is to come in every single year and determine whether or not

we get to stay open. Show me a neighborhood school that has that level of accountability. None. 90% of the children go to school... 90% of the schools, the children in the city of New York

go to traditional neighborhood schools. 90%. What's your beef with Black and Latin people making a decision, the public, that they want something different? Why do we keep saying that Black Lives Matter yet send Black children to the lowest performing schools in the country, when the highest performing schools in the state of New York are schools of choice, most specifically charter schools. So if you really care about black kids and black put them in the best position to be successful,

this notion about for-profit or not-for-profit, first of all, for-profit charter schools represent the tiniest of tiny small portions. But if you want to have that conversation, they're illegal in New York. So it's not a conversation. The reason why this is an issue, the only reason why it's an issue is because people have been drinking the union Kool-Aid. These are overwhelmingly white-run organizations that have been pumping foolishness, lies, and deceit into the Black community,

leading us to believe that somehow if we pick our kids up and go to a school that's better for them, that that somehow hurts our children, despite the fact that these organizations consistently keep teachers and principals employed who are not educating your kids. So we have to look at it very simply. The teachers unions in New York City in particular, there's 75,000 teachers in the city of New York. The teachers union received $1,500 in union dues per teacher. That's $112 million per year that they get in receipts. The 100,000 teachers, I mean, 100,000 children who go to charter schools have approximately 7,500 teachers. The 7,500 teachers represent a net loss in revenue to the teachers union of about

$75 million. They ain't trying to lose no money. This has nothing to do with their kids because the teachers union isn't even against charter schools. They're just against non-union charter schools. This has nothing to do with children. It has nothing to do with data. And more specifically, I want to bring up a point. In New York, we have black, Latin, and Asian educators who started our own schools in our own communities. We talk about black power. We talk about finally having self-determination. And this is an opportunity for us to open our own schools in our own community. We'll run our own regular side with the white-led teachers unions come on man what are we talking

because i think so that was directed at me let me just say this very quickly i want you to come to ohio and build some schools because that though that evidence is not in ohio okay they sound like they they are overreaching in in new york and and and i do think there should be more schools like yours like the kips of the world like uh like like many of the brothers I've seen in New York. I agree with that. But I also don't think that necessarily saying if we get rid of all teachers unions, suddenly we're going to solve systemic inequality within education. That's the problem I have. Right.

So like saying that unions are the problem with everything in entire education. That's the only thing. That's the only point I have a disagreement with you on. That's it. Let me say this to you. I want anyone to have an opportunity to be a part of any organization they wish, period. But let me make this clear. Compulsory attendance in an organization is unconstitutional. Making someone pay dues to an organization that they did not decide to be in by virtue of the fact that they actually just picked a profession is to me unconstitutional.

So what I think is that we have a deeper conversation. What is best for black children? And Roland Martin years ago, Roland Martin did a poll, Roland Martin did a poll, I'm not sure how many years ago, brother Roland, you can speak to it, where the question was asked, how do black people feel about charter schools and choice in general? 82% of African-Americans said that they supported it. So this is what we want. Why can't we have finally something that we want? Why are we fighting for the simplest things?

Right. So I'm not suggesting, brother, let me be clear. I'm not suggesting that you do. And so if it sounds like I'm coming for you, please know that I'm not. I'm somebody who deeply loves what I do. And so if it sounds any other way, please know that that's not what I'm not suggesting that you do. And so if it sounds like I'm coming for you, please know that I'm not. I'm somebody who deeply loves what I do. And so if it sounds any other way, please know that that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is this, too often the conversation shifts to union tropes. And I'm saying to you as a black man who is opening schools in our own community,

to serve our own community, to teach what we want. When I saw a brother on the breakfast club this morning who was talking about how he's going to work to teach brothers in the streets about how to use stocks and bonds, you know what I did? I reached out to him and I said, hey, brother, won't you come talk to our schools? I ain't got to talk to nobody about that. I ain't got to go down to no school district and have that conversation. I don't have to make sure I've run it up the curriculum ladder to decide what the hell that's going to do. I reached out to Charlemagne. Charlemagne said, here's the brother's

number. We have a conversation now. He's coming to charter my school to talk to black and Latin kids about how to use them, how to use the system and not have the system use them. That's the difference when we run our own schools. So, Johanna, your question for Steve Perry.

Yeah, I think that the conversation around charter schools is a great one. I when I was in law school, I was a substitute teacher. I stopped at a number of charter schools throughout the state of Indiana. And not all charter schools are perfect. Right. And what I can tell you, not all public schools are perfect either. But if we can create our own charter schools and have curriculum that will serve the needs of our children and have and have teachers and who came to this country at the age of nine, did not speak English, I am a beneficiary of a terrible education system. I grew up in Orlando, Florida, Pine Hills area. Some of you may be aware of it.

It's now called Crime Hills. I benefited from a very terrible education system, and I wonder if my parents understood or knew about charter school options when I was growing up, perhaps I would have gotten a much better education. And Brother Perry, I've been following your work for quite some time. You are a passionate man about the work that you do. Keep fighting the good fight. I don't have any questions for you. If anything, we are here to support you and support your cause. Thank you for what you're doing for our babies. Let's go to Michael,

please. Michael, you got a question for Steve. And I want to say, I want to stay on top of your term, what's happening in New York State again, them not wanting to lift the cap. And that is, Michael, go ahead. Yeah, just very quickly here. So what do you think, how do you think you get around this, Dr. Steve Perry? What do you think are the next steps for you all in the state of New York to fight against what's taking place with state lawmakers? To be honest with you, brother, it's about holding people accountable for what they receive for themselves. It's about saying to Black and Latin legislators in particular, brother, I know you send about saying to Black and Latin legislators in particular, brother, I know you send your kid to a magnet school, charter school, vocational technical school, private school,

but a school that is not your neighborhood school. All I want you to do is to extend that same thing to the people who you represent. It's about holding, in many cases, our own people who are in positions of authority in the legislature accountable. So it's about pushing them because we know that the white liberal arm of the Democratic Party is so deep in the empire. They wish not to hear what we're saying. I wish they could. Don't tell me that you support self-determination when, in fact, we're coming to you when a black parent says i don't want to go to this i don't want my child going to this school as the sister was saying i i don't want my child going to this school who are you to tell them that they must

why would you do that so we have to hold quite frankly some of the people who we care most about accountable some of our own black and lat Latin legislators who were in positions of authority, specifically in the legislature in New York State. There's a really strong group of brothers and sisters who are legislators in New York who could make this issue go away. I'll give you, for instance, we have an organization I mentioned. It is called the Black Latin Asian Charter Collaborative or BLACK, as we refer to ourselves. We represent about twenty five thousand children in New York City proper. And we are all founders of our own schools. And so you I'm one of the people who does this work and humble to be able to do so.

We've spoken to the legislature and we've spoken to the Black and Latin caucus as well as the Asian members in that group as well. And we've said to them, much in the same way that you would do an MWB, Minority Women Business Association, that you would open up more charters to that group, give those to us just the same way, because we're the least likely to get a charter,

African Americans and Latin leaders. We're the most likely to have our charter revoked and the least likely to win our charters in trouble to have that charter presented to another organization to have that charter saved. So what we have to do is we have to invite more people from our community to open more schools. There are so many pastors and community activists and business leaders and educators and parents who want to open schools in our community. We need the legislature to give the community what it wants. All right. We lost the signal there, but Steve, I appreciate it. Thank you so very much, man. We'll see what happens there in New York state and we'll keep following the story. Thanks a lot. All right. And I'll leave it there. Also want to thank Rob,

Johanna, as well as Michael as well for being on our panel today. Thank you so very much. Folks, show's not over yet because I was in St. Louis. I had the opportunity to sit down with Michael McMillan. He runs the Urban League in St. Louis. And folks, if you want to know what it looks like to have a strong Urban League chapter, what they are doing in St.

Louis is it. Check out this conversation. Mike, glad to be back in St. Louis. I was here, of course, for Check out this conversation. Mike, glad to be back in St. Louis. I was here, of course, for your MLK event at a good time, and then COVID has changed everything. And let's start there. How has this really impacted the St. Louis Area Urban League and the things that y'all do on an annual basis?

Well, really, first and foremost, it's good to see you. It's good for you to be back in St. Louis, even though it was just a year ago. It seems like four or five years since I saw you last. And just like we knew that you would when you came and gave that keynote speech for our Martin Luther King program, you inspired people into action. You inspire them to think differently and you inspire them to really take an introspective look at what am I doing as a person? What are we doing as organizations? What is the governmental system doing and how can we be better? And so I think all of that was good. You accomplished every goal that we wanted you to when you came. You know, this year, obviously, it's been really a nightmare for so many people,

and people have been reduced to their just basic survival. And so because of COVID, we have been doing these mass events to try to help as many people as possible, quite frankly, just get through this and then try to pivot so that they can get different types of jobs, get into a different industry. So we've been doing these huge food, toiletry, mask, gloves, sanitizer events, doing a lot to pay people's rent, mortgage, utilities, you know, do anything that we can for them with our Head Start program for child care. And then the ones that have lost jobs in industries that really won't return, and if they do, it'll be years from now, pivot them into jobs that exist today.

And so my team has been amazing you know we've been working right in the middle of it every single day we've stayed at the forefront in the past year we served more people than ever so we did 90,000 individuals that drove through 27 of these large-scale events and then are continuing on this year because of course the crisis is not over i was talking to someone um i said i'm coming to town uh she said oh you said you got you got to do an interview with mike i said why i said i said i want you to explain. She said, no, seriously. She said the stuff she said, I am seeing. The St. Louis Area Urban League do stuff that I'm not seeing from other urban leagues. She said it is it is really redefined in many ways, the mission.

And she said. It's probably going to be the future mission because what COVID has done. We knew there were people who had issues with food. We knew there were people who had issues with evictions, things along those lines. But it's really put organizations to say we were doing these things before, but we really got to go much more granular and deeper to be able to touch people where they are. Oh, no question. I mean, so the people we serve, quite frankly, on average had a ten thousand dollar annual income anyway before covid. And so then now you take that away from them so all the people in the food service industry all the people that work at the convention center the retail jobs the airport jobs and all these other positions that had great you know careers

ideally and or just a general sense of stability that just got wiped out and then other people that you wouldn't even think about you you know, musicians that play at churches and pastors of small churches themselves that had no digital capacity and quite frankly, an older population that now we're not able to have church. The senior citizens weren't able to tune in, so it couldn't go digital. So we even had pastors driving through the line for themselves because they had been reduced to basic survival. And so what we really decided to do bluntly is to take an introspective look and say, this is the time that people needed us the most. So what are we going to do? You know, a crisis defines your character. And so we got to do more

than we've ever done before and try to do it as safely as we can for the staff and of course the clients. So our outreach centers that we would have normally given things to you, you know, one-on-one, we couldn't do that anymore the way that we used to. So we set up these church events. So in these local churches in the African-American community, we also put food, toiletries, masks, gloves, sanitizer there. And then we did home deliveries for seniors, shut-in, and individuals that didn't have transportation and the large-scale events because we were just bombarded with and continue to be every single day. You know, Facebook requests, Instagram, LinkedIn. I would have never thought that LinkedIn would have become a place where people would be asking for their rent and gas bill to be paid. But people are just so much in need. They're reaching out every way they can. One of the things I have been really just, really for the last decade, and I talked about it when I spoke here, is how I think we have to redeploy our organizational infrastructure.

When I look at, when I speak to the alphas, I go, yeah, we're doing things, but I think we're too insular. I talked about how the Vine 9, I said we're vertical and we're horizontal. I'm challenging Masons. I said we have all this infrastructure, but I really believe that we're not maximizing the infrastructure. We're doing things. We're helping people. We're having scholarship but I don't think we're maximizing it. And I think we're not looking at our infrastructure in a way that causes us to say.

And I just give you a perfect example. For a book to make the New York Times bestseller list. Typically, you're talking about sales of 20,000, 30,000, whatever the number is. I've said this, that imagine if you take your, just your paterns and sororities, you put in the links, you put in the masons, you put in Eastern Star. Email goes out and they say, we're going to buy this one book this particular month as organizations. I said, we literally could create black bestsellers every single month.

Yes. Every single month. Now apply that same concept to what I talked about at the State of Black America report of gentrification and us owning our community. Same thing. Okay, how do we then take out organizational infrastructure to create real estate funds, to create crowdfunding, if you will, to say we want to sit here and go out and raise X amount of dollars and we're going to begin to buy land, develop land. That's where I think where we really have to be to say people think but we individually black people don't have money i'm

like no but organizationally we've got infrastructure we've got leadership but it's how we use it and deploy oh no doubt and when you look at the community i mean quite frankly we have to change the paradigm where people get rewarded and patted on the back for leaving the hood. We have to invest in our own community and own our own neighborhoods. And so that's why since I saw you last, we actually moved our headquarters. So, yeah, we did. We were right around the corner from here at a great spot on Del Mar. And we had been there for almost 50 years.

But we went and bought the old Sears store that's in North St. Louis at the heart of Martin Luther King, Kings Highway and Page. It's a 205,000 square foot facility. It's the only single standing department store left in the city. And it really was a beacon in the black community because it was the only department store that we had. And after that, the Roberts Brothers, which is an African-American media and real estate company, they then had it for 40 years and we bought it from them. We moved over there. We're renovating it as we speak in stages with an enormous amount of minority participation in terms of obviously the contractors. And it'll be the first time that we'll take all of our 55

programs and put it into one location. Wow. Yeah. So that we'll be the first time that we'll take all of our 55 programs and put it into one location. Wow. Yeah, so that we'll be able to help people with everything that they need by coming to one space. And more than likely, it was a strong value proposition, massive amounts of space, which now allows for you to think far more creatively how we can use this space uh and to be able to do more things also if it was a shopping place it probably also has a massive parking lot so now how do we also now utilize this it probably helped you with covet yes because now you can say we can run as many cars through here or whatever they had. That's right. That's rethinking resources.

Yeah. No. So just to your point. So we've been able to have many of those different 27 distributions right there at the headquarters, because, as you said, you know, having a department store, you have a huge parking lot. There's a plaza behind us that's going to be phase two of the capital campaign. So the 205 plus 45 will give us a quarter of a million square feet to not only do our programs, but also we have a free health clinic. We're going to have the St. Louis American to partner with us and come into the space as well. Also, we'll have some free legal work. And then we have BIPOC businesses. So they're either all black or people of color and then other resources as well. And we have a TV studio in there. So when you then happens is all that land that's surrounding that now is

increasing in value. Yes. Which means again, for African-Americans buy it. So therefore when it increases in value, now you actually have, have, have something that was at a low price before.

Now all of a sudden value goes up that we, that again, a low price before. Now, all of a sudden, value goes up. Again, that we are owning. Exactly. And we have a program in our newly created Division of Public Safety that we also created since I saw you last, where we go out into low- to moderate-income black communities that need help, where you have these vacant, abandoned, derelict homes that are beyond saving. And we've been tearing them down because in many cases, sadly, they've been used for drug activity and all types of illicit activity and taking down the value for the homeowners and the businesses in that community.

So we did that around the headquarters and tore down about a dozen buildings, cleaned up that whole area, and it prepared it for development, which we also did on North Grand right around the corner from here and lit the most significant, quite frankly, public monument in the black community, which we call the old water tower on North Grand. So we lit that and we also painted it. It hadn't been painted in 26 years. It was really an eyesore and something that would cause really trauma for young people. When you go through your neighborhood and you see vacant and abandoned buildings, trash, and then public monuments that the city, you know, hasn't had the priority or hasn't had the capacity or hadn't had the budget to paint. And it's just sitting there as a derelict example of the neglect in the black community. So we're trying to do things, as you

mentioned, really from a development standpoint on top of the human side as well, so that you can have both where you have a better person, but a better neighborhood to be a better person in. What was it like presenting the vision? You know, it was one where everybody was unilaterally supportive. We're also working with a CDFI and a real estate development, not-for-profit in St. Louis as well, on the potential of even a merger so that you would look at how you can really invest in these communities in a way. Because sadly, as you know, we have not had any type of federal policy for urban America. HUD's budget has been reduced. It hasn't been prioritized. And when you look at renovating these buildings, it doesn't make business sense

for a lot of people to come in without some incentives. And since we haven't had the same level of incentives, then you haven't had the capacity to get these projects done. And then the community languishes and just gets worse and worse and worse. And we've got to stop that. We have to change that trend. See, this is what, this is what, when I was, when I was critical of Trump's enterprise zones, I told people, I said, I said, I have a problem with enterprise zones. I said, I mean, no, they call them opportunity zones. When Jack Kemp was HUD secretary, they called them enterprise zones. I said, first of all, I said it's not new.

I said, the problem I had was they couldn't support any data that showed me that black folks were benefiting. So every time it was like, oh, this will trump it over black people. It would bring up these opportunity zones. And I would go, okay, could you show me the data where the black people are benefiting other than the developers who are able to sit here and park their money for periods of time and derive tax benefits? Same thing with tax increment finance districts. These cities do these things and developers with massive amounts of money, again, they can afford to park money for a decade, hoping an area turns around. And then when it does, oh, mixed-use development, all of a sudden, so-called affordable housing, really putting up condos, things along those lines, driving out poor people, people who are black, who are white or Latino, bringing in young white folks who can afford to live there. And now, oh, this is great. This is wonderful. But then those same, this is great, this is wonderful,

but then those same people are still broke, got to go somewhere else, typically further out from the city core. And now their lives are even worse. To me, this is what you're describing is exactly what urban leagues around the country should be doing, what other black organizations should be doing. Again, maximizing our capacity or maximizing our infrastructure to actually build capacity. Yes. Yeah. No, we have to build on what we have because the sad part is individually, in many cases, we don't have it. But collectively,

we do. And really, that should be the point of black organizations. How do we take our collective capacity, put it together and then use that to really make a difference? And, you know, quite frankly, sadly, you know, having been doing this since I was 16, we're not nearly where I thought we should be. And that's why I said this year and going forward and the rest, we really have to do some bigger, bolder things. Like we merged with a legacy organization named Grace Hill. The other part is we have too many not-for-profits. We have, you know, quite frankly, too much need for back office and infrastructure and PR,

and we need to come together. There you go. That is interesting you say that because I've had, look, over the years, numerous people come to me, and I want to start a nonprofit. I said, I can guarantee you that whatever it is that you want to do, there's already a nonprofit that exists that's doing that. They're just waiting for you to show up. And I tell folk, you've got to resist the urge where you need to have your name on the business card.

I said, as opposed to, because the thing where I am also, it's the same thing with black business. I'm like, y'all, it's capacity. I said, it's not that we need more black businesses. I said, no. Problem is, we got pre-COVID 2.6 million black-owned businesses. 2.5 million only have one employee. I said, we got no capacity. I said, so you got a whole bunch of small entities. I said that, again, silos, operating in silos. And yeah, how many offices are we renting? How many light bills are we paying? How many phone bills are we paying? All of that versus how do you say, no, no.

If I'm able to merge, combine, now we can actually do more because you're not spending money. Yes. On, frankly, the same stuff as other people are. It's capacity. Yes. Yeah. And you never want to. And I'm sure you in those conversations you've had, you're doing the same thing I am. You're not trying to kill anybody's hopes or dreams or aspirations, but you're trying to be realistic because bluntly in St. Louis, we have 17,200 not for profits. And if we could have fixed everything, we would have done it by now. See, Mike, what you're laying out is music to my ears because it's doing the work. It's doing the work, and it's actually having a grand idea. And when our people actually, I use Nehemiah.

Leader said, here's the vision. The people said, let us rebuild. And then when people see it actually being built, they get excited. Now, all of a sudden, even the haters, the people, the doubters are seeing positive progress. Is that what you've seen as well, where people said, yeah, okay, all right, yeah, okay, Mike, that's cute. You said you're going to do this. Y'all going to do that. Then all of a sudden, it's like, whoa, they're actually doing this. Yeah, you know, St. Louis, I would say, as a market, is very charitable. In the

black community, we receive an enormous amount of support from black professionals, individuals, business people, et cetera. And so all of that combined with what we're trying to do for our actual clients, we really have received an enormous amount of assistance because bluntly, we couldn't do this without that. We cannot give anything that we don't have. We can't buy anything without any resources. And so, you know, luckily, we really haven't had any public haters in terms of what we've been trying to do. And if you look at the history of the Urban League in St. Louis at 103 years old and now with 20 different locations throughout the whole community, North City, North County, parts of South City, and then East St.

Louis, you see that we have an enormous network of support. And as you talked about earlier, how do we take that infrastructure? And really, our goal is to be the most impactful Black institution in St. Louis, period. That's the goal. Black excellence. How do we implement that? And how do we do it every day? We don't always do it, but we try our best to do it. You mentioned when you talked about merging then with others as well. Yeah, that to me, that's also how we expand the capacity. So if the Urban League. So you're not in education, which means that you should be partnering with Harris-Stowe. Yes.

If you're not in health, I should be partnering with entities. That's the other thing that also having what I call just a cross-organizational leverage that we have to also be thinking about versus saying, well, no, we're going to create our own education piece and health piece. And no, that goes back to the problem of having four or five or six or eight different things versus, no, no, we're going to do this well and we're going to partner with folks who do this well to work together. No, absolutely right, because we know what we know and we know what we don't know. And the truth of the matter is we can't be everything. And there are already people doing good work. So on most of the big projects that we have, we partner with someone who is an actual expert in that field,

whether it's education, health care or any of the other things that we need to do that we don't really do as a social service agency and a human capital agency. So we have to do that we don't really do as a social service agency and a human capital agency. So we have to do that. And quite frankly, going back to that whole concept of mergers in the way. And there are 17,200 not-for-profits, as I mentioned in St. Louis. 17,000? 17,000 in our whole region. And if all of us collectively were able to fix all the problems, we would have and we haven't. And so bluntly, we got to come together and work harder than smarter, especially when you look at

drying up funding, when you look at changing times, when you looked at, as we talked about earlier, the evolution of events. You know, so many of us in the not-for-profit world, Urban League included, have a line item for what is the event revenue for your annual gala, for our women's tribute, for our this, for our that. And then now that that is gone, you're trying to get people to just hold on with you and contribute as much as they used to, and some do and some don't. And then you look at different companies that merge, and the moves out of town and then they no longer give. So how do you try to create multiple streams of revenue and then reduce cost as well, which is where these mergers come in that make the most sense. And the good thing about the Urban League is, as you mentioned earlier, it's not the Michael McMillan Foundation. So if something happens to me, which of course eventually it will,

that then the whole organization goes away. The Urban League has been here for over a century as part of a national organization. It will last. And so coming together under the umbrella of the Urban League gives the continuity that people need, quite frankly, to have the confidence to want to support us. See, that's why I think just the reimagining of when you say 17,200 nonprofits, I mean, that is massive. And I think that you start sitting down and going, OK, but what are all the core areas and what's the level of duplication and how many people are we talking about? And now, well, heck, most of your money is going to staff and buildings and not the actual work in the community.

I just think in many ways what you're describing here has to be replicated because it's a whole lot of stuff and a whole lot of things and a whole lot of moving parts. But at the end of the day, are you moving the needle? If you're not, it's time to figure out what's a new way of doing this thing because just keep saying we're just going to keep supporting the same infrastructure, keep supporting the same plan that's not changing things. That ain't going to work.

No. And you have to learn to change with the time. You know, earlier when we were talking about media, we've had to totally evolve to a very consistent social media platform, our website, how we send out digital information, how we communicate with the people under 40. That's a whole different world than how we came up. Like when we first started our career, there was no Internet, there was no email, there was no texting. And so how do we get that word out and engage them? Because if we don't do that, the organization will die.

And I tell them in the office all the time, we do not need to be part of a black history exhibit about an urban league that used to exist. And it was a great organization. And now they don't exist anymore. And if we don't get more young people in and change and evolve, that's exactly what will happen to us. How are you also using your leverage, your your your influence as someone who spent time in politics to also change politics and the dollar. What I mean by that is when I think about Maynard Jackson and contracts, when I think about how Atlanta was built, how black Atlanta was built economically, and how that then has impacted around the country, those companies being able to grow and prosper. One of the things that I just keep telling people, we've got to follow the money.

And how are we pushing and leveraging political power? Or as Mayor Jackson said, the three B's, the ballot, the book, and the buck. How do you use the ballot, which is politics, to impact the buck? Because the reality is, in many ways, we're not getting our fair share. And I think not enough of us are demanding fair share and explain to people why. We're taxpayers. There should be a return on what we're actually getting. Yeah, no, you're right. I mean, we've constantly been advocating for city, state and federal programs and corporate programs because these public companies that we all support, that we are customers of, sadly, in many ways, do not have procurement programs. And then if they do, they don't have the staff to enforce it.

And so frequently, especially past George Floyd, right, so there have been a lot of announcements about diversity, equity, inclusion, getting out there and trying to do more. And so what I've told all the companies in St. Louis, do not hire a vice president of diversity and inclusion and not give them any staff, any budget, any authority, and just make an announcement and have them go to various banquets. All you guys in the system. That is not a real program. You know, that is a start. But that person has to have autonomy. That's right.

They have to have a budget. They have to have some control and some power because otherwise it's really just more of the PR department than it is a real systemic change. And the government policy, you know, we have to keep working on that. And sadly, you know, at this age, we're still talking about this same thing and it needs to happen. And you mentioned Atlanta and Maynard, of course, really is like the quintessential example of how you can have a black mayor and he or she can be transformative in terms of the lives of black people. And I mentioned Atlanta all the

time and say, really, St. Louis should have the goal to be the Atlanta of the Midwest, because now at around three million people here, we if we had kept up with the same pace of Atlanta, we would be eight or nine million because of Atlanta can grow a million people per decade and still be the beacon of black opportunity. Then that shows that that's the path. That's the model. Not trying to hold things back to the way that they used to be, because then you're just meandering about and not even growing. And sadly, in St. Louis, we all love this city.

We appreciate it. I'm going to spend my whole life here. I've dedicated my whole life to it. But we have not grown at the population of the nation's percentage. Our growth has been below that. And so I think that people, quite frankly, don't see this city in many ways as a place for black people to have a great career and to be able to do something to thrive. But it can be, it can be, it is in many ways, and it could be much, much better. I know that you had a town hall and, you know, the conversation about the mayor's race is coming up. And I know that earlier you and I talked to Pat

Washington and I had the privilege of working for our first black mayor. That was the only black mayor that was ever elected by a majority of the black community. And really, if you look at the evolution of this city, it appears as though we will have a black mayor again, either Tashar or Louis Reed. And the question for all of us as organizations, as citizens, as government elected officials, is how do we take the power of our position to really make a difference long term? And it's going to be up to all of us to do that. or five when you come back and have your show at the Urban League studio up there at Martin Luther King and King's Highway, we'll be able to really sit down and say, these are the things we did. This is where we move the needle.

And we're not just talking. We're actually doing something. And people can see it and have the faith and confidence in black organizations, black leaders and black organizations that are emerging as well to come together and try to be on the same page as much as we humanly can. What you said about the D&I, that is so spot on because I always say, look, if you have no P&L responsibility in the company, you are not a priority. You are simply not a priority. And too many of those positions are. And I was talking to a sister.

She's been recruited by a company. And she said, this is the commitment I want to black organizations. It was a substantial number she put on the table. She said, if your company, and it wasn't a million, it was multiple millions. She said, and I want to be the person responsible for handing this out. So I need you to prove to me your commitment up front. She never went to the

company because that was her way of saying, I'm not about to leave where I am. Put my credibility on the line just for you to be able to say, hey, we hired so-and-so and so-and-so and things look good. And we have to be willing to challenge them. It's just like, to me, whether they're on the National Urban League Board, NAACP Board, they're working with the Image Awards, they're working with Rainbow Push, National Action Network. To me, there should be a race equity index. It should be, okay, you want to come serve on our board? What are the contracts your company is giving out?

Who are the people? Do you have black ad agencies that you're working with? What are the media dollars you're spending with black media companies? What is your supply diversity with black media companies? Because if you want to come and basically draft off of, you know, here's I'll work with the Urban League. I'll work with the NAACP. I'll work. No, no, no, no, no. We need to make sure that your company is doing the stuff, too.

And you're just not happy. Hey, here's a fifty thousand, a hundred thousand dollar check for the organization. But your spending is one percent or less with black with black companies. Yes. Yeah. And do you have any blacks on your board of directors in the c-suite and then also as i tell some people and you know corporate st louis is you also need to have black people in your leadership and on your board that have a strong relationship right with the black community there you go so that when i'm not everybody they picked yes no black people yeah because if i see roland is on the board of directors then i know the right thing is going to happen right but a lot of times if i just get a person that you know has a great

job and has had a great career and they live in the more affluent part of town and really have no relationship with the black community that really didn't do anything for you right right well and but they do think it doesn't mean anything for us because what it actually it did do something for you what you got is you got the black check off and you got to be able to say oh no we have a diverse board well no how are you leveraging it and see that that that that's what i'm looking at and that's why when when I interface with some companies and I hit the black board, my whole deal is, let's see if you're going to respond. What are you doing? What are you saying? See, and that's what and that's why I think there's a level of activism. That's also important where we have to be, where we have to be willing to demand and put respect on black.

And I think a lot of times, and I've had to check some of our people in organizations I'm in who say, no, we need to re-represent people of color. I'm like, no. We're only here for black people. I'm like, this should be real clear. When I walk into the room, I'm here for black people. Now, if other people get some opportunities as well, that's fine. But what I'm not going to do is walk in saying I'm representing people of color. And then you go out and hook up people of color and nobody who gets hooked up is black.

I can't say nothing because I only walked in asking for you to help people of color. Yeah. No, you are not the ambassador of the United Nations. That's not your job. No. Yeah, and especially in markets like St. Louis, where you've got almost 3 million people and 500,000 African-American. And, of course, happy to see all races succeed. You know, that is definitely, you know, something that would be a good thing for everybody. But when you look at the demographics and who the real minorities are, who has been the beneficiary of these contracts when they are given out is something that has to be analyzed

because the real question is the policy has been put in place based on who has been kept out. And we know who that has been. It's black people. So there is no reason to sometimes conflate these whole diversity programs and conversation that it has to be for everyone all the time in a market that has half a million black people as one out of six individuals, and you look at the concentration of poverty, the concentration of every disparity there is, that's where we have to focus our resources.

Ten years, let's say, my final question for you. Ten years from now, what do you want people in St. Louis, black people, political people, business people, and then what do you want others not from here to say about the St. Louis Area Urban League? Well, in our case, you know, as an institution, as an organization, my goal is for the Urban League to be the most impactful black institution in St. Louis that ever was or ever will be. That's my goal. And if the Lord blessed me to have this job for 22 or so more years, when I walk out the door, that is what I want it to be. And that we are so secure in terms of our resources, our land, our endowment, our status, that there is no way that the Urban League could ever go out of business.

Because sadly, in St. Louis, we've had a number of different effective NGOs and then also black not-for-profits that just simply don't exist anymore. Or places that are now just a shell of themselves. And they used to be very impactful. And now they have one person at home working in a bedroom as the only staff that represent that entire organization. And then I would say in terms of the community as a whole, really, their goal of being the black Atlanta of the Midwest. You know, how can you make a decision that everybody is welcome to the table? Everybody is valued. Everybody has the resources to succeed. And as St. Louis starts growing above and beyond and that young black people and all people, but especially young African-Americans feel like this is a place that I can live and I can

raise my family. I can have a great life in St. Louis. I don't have to move someplace that I've never, ever been to and think that I, as a black person, I have a better life someplace I've never even visited versus the very place that I was born in and spent my entire life. And sadly, there are too many of us that are doing that to this very day and that we can see it in the numbers. That it's not just a conversation and a feel good, but when you look at the statistics on unemployment, that young black men, 18 to 24, are not so drastically unemployed compared to everybody else. And when you look at the high school attainment, college degrees, and MBE, WBE, I don't need to be able to have you to come here and say, well, you know,

there are only two black owned locations downtown that are actually owned by black people. Out of all of these hundreds and hundreds of buildings that are there, only two are owned by black people. I want to be able to show you an enormous amount of land and contracts and stable companies that are black owned and operated and that the staff reflect the community input output in what we're doing all right looking forward to that that's the goal michael mcmillan i appreciate it thanks a lot thank you thank you all right folks i want to thank michael mcmillan for sitting down having that conversation folks if y'all want to support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered,

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