#RolandMartinUnfiltered - DOJ KCMO PD Probe, FAMU Students Sue Fla. over State Funds, McClain Autopsy Amended, IL Cop Charged

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

9.23.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: DOJ KCMO PD Probe, FAMU Students Sue Fla. over State Funds, McClain Autopsy Amended, IL Cop Charged Kansas City civil rights groups have long known their police department had high incidences of violence against Black and Latino people and racist hiring practices.  Now the Department of Justice is investigating.  The President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, Gwen Grant, and Marc Morial, the President, and CEO of the National Urban League, are here tonight to discuss what they hope to come of this probe. An amended autopsy report says Elijah McClain's death was caused by being injected with ketamine by paramedics after being forcibly restrained. A former Illinois police officer is charged with murdering a black man after a brief car chase.  A white Mississippi man gets indicted on federal hate crime and arson charges for burning a cross to intimidate a black family.  Thursday, congress members met with faith leaders to discuss Congress's responsibility to act on voting rights, living wages, and healthcare for the poor.  I'll talk to California Representative Ro Khanna, who was at that meeting, to find out if they have come up with a plan.  In our Education Matters segment, Texas Southern University has a new Student Success Satellite Center in Arlington.  I'll talk to Ron Price, a TSU Board of Regents member.  And I'll show you some of my interviews from the screening of the Sidney Poitier documentary.   Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Kansas City's civil rights groups have long known their police department had high incidents of violence against black and Latino folks and racist hiring practices. Now the Department of Justice is investigating. We're joined by the president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, Gwen Grant, and also National Urban League National President and CEO, Mark Morial. Folks,

an amended autopsy report says Elijah McClain's death was caused by being injected with ketamine by paramedics after being forcibly restrained. We'll share those details with you. A former Illinois police chief is charged with murdering a black man after a brief car chase. In Mississippi, a white man has been indicted by the Justice Department on federal hate crime and arson charges for burning a cross to intimidate a black family. Thursday, Congress members met with faith leaders to discuss Congress's responsibility to act on voting rights, living wages, and health care for the poor. I'll talk to California Representative Ro Khanna, who was at that meeting, to find out if they have come up with a plan of action.

And in our Education Matters segment, Texas Southern University has a new student success satellite center in Arlington. We'll talk with Ron Price, a member of the TSU Board of Regents. And six Florida A&M students, they are suing the state of Florida for saying that Florida A&M has been cheated out of more than $1 billion from the state. Plus, we'll show you what Reggie Hutland and Oprah had to say from Wednesday's screening of the Sydney Poitier documentary that we can watch right now on Apple+. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Let's go.

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The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department is the subject of an investigation led by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. On Monday, the DOJ notified the Department of its probe into employment practices. We talked to Kansas City Mayor Quentin Lucas on Tuesday. Tonight, let's talk with the president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, Gwen Grant, and Mark Morial, the president and CEO of the National Urban League. Gwen, I want to start with you. We were there in Kansas City talking about Grant and Mark Morrell, the president and CEO of the National Urban League. Gwen, I want to start with you. We were there in Kansas City talking about this very issue.

Folks in Kansas City have been calling for the DOJ to step in. Just your initial reaction of that decision and also the mayor's interview on Tuesday where he was highly critical of this five-member commission. And they pretty much, other than him coming on this show talking about it, they've acted like nothing has actually happened. Yeah, you're absolutely right, Roland. The Board of Police Commissioners is a continuous disappointment for us,

and we're really excited about learning that the DOJ will conduct this patterns and practices investigation into discriminatory hiring and promotion practices within KCPD. As you know, when you were here, we do not have local control of our police department. So without the DOJ intervention and oversight, we don't have an opportunity to redress because we can't control the behavior of that board. We are in the process of hiring, looking to hire a new police chief, and the board is really not being collaborative or inclusive with the community in that endeavor. And a few days ago, the Kansas City Star published an editorial saying they should pull back. Like,

this is not the time to bring in a new chief when you have a department that is being investigated by the DLJ and the Board of Police Commissioners is not engaging in any form of community collaboration. Mark, you were the mayor of New Orleans. There were issues with the police department when you were mayor. Still are issues there. It is stunning to me, in the conversation we had with the mayor on Tuesday, it is still stunning to me that you have this commission, five members appointed by, first of all, four appointed by the governor, the mayor sits on it, and they have been completely nonresponsive to the citizens of that particular city.

And it is as if their whole deal is, we don't give a damn what any of y'all think. Oh, by the way, though, keep sending your taxpayer money to fund the department. We run it, you don't. Roland, the system in Kansas City is a modern form of colonialism where the state,

and this is a legacy of the 1800s and a legacy of slavery and the fact that Kansas City and Missouri were divided during the Civil War, with part of the state siding with the North and the rest siding with the South. That has led to the fact that the citizens of Kansas City do not control their own police department. It was that way in St. Louis and state law changed.

And the state of Missouri should voluntarily give the people of Kansas City control over their department so that their mayor, that their elected leaders can make the decision so that the people of Kansas City can hold them accountable. Now this investigation by Kristen Clark and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is taking place because Gwen Grant and I asked for this investigation to take place.

And I want to just say how pleased I am that Merrick Garland and Kristen Clark responded to a letter from the Kansas City Urban League and a number of community leaders in Kansas City asking for this investigation. Now, let's talk about the Kansas City Police Department. A high rate of excessive and deadly forced incidents against Black and Latino citizens, compelling evidence of constitutional violations, discriminatory patterns and practices in hiring, promotions, and the handling of community complaints, and the lack of accountability. So in this instance, this is why civil rights laws and civil rights advocacy is so crucial when we join with Gwen, who's been an outstanding

leader in assembling an impressive coalition, to call for this investigation. But it is time for the Kansas City Police Department to change, and it's time for the state of Missouri, its governor and legislature, to give home rule, or if you will, local control, back to or to the citizens of Kansas City. This is, go to my iPad, this is the Kansas City Star on Tuesday. And this is what is crazy to me here, Gwen, where the mayor says that that was a police board meeting on Monday. And they didn't even bother to discuss this. Here you have the Department of Justice sending you a letter saying, we are going to be investigating your police department

about its racial hiring practices. And here the mayor, and let's be real clear, the chair of the board is a black man, a pastor. Y'all pull his photo up and let me know when you have it. And they don't even discuss it. I mean, I'm sorry. This to me is an abomination. And have y'all heard from this brother? Now leave it on him because he's the chair of the board. Have y'all actually heard? And he's a

pastor. Have y'all heard anything from him? Is he talking to anybody black? No, not that I'm aware of. You know, not, no. He has been a huge disappointment throughout this struggle, this fight with the police department. He's been a gatekeeper. He has just been carrying the water of the racist police chief and the racist system over which he presides. And it's, that's, you know, it's really unfortunate. I do

want to put in here too, Roland, that the Missouri legislature, Mark is talking about how the state should pull back. Well, the state is doing the exact opposite. The Missouri legislature just recently passed legislation that would now require the city of Kansas City, Missouri to increase its level of funding to the police department and by a state mandate to raise our funding floor from 20 percent to 25 percent. So we have an initiative on the ballot on November 8th that to vote no against Amendment 4 to stop this egregious government overreach into the affairs of Kansas City government. It's just unconscionable that we would be required to fund a police department that we do not control and that the state legislature who actually

filed this legislation doesn't even live in Kansas City, Missouri. It's exactly as Mark stated, it's 21st century colonialism and it needs to stop. And that to me right there, Mark, is what I don't understand. I can't imagine being a taxpayer in a city and you have no control over who gets hired as the police chief, no control over anything in the department. And essentially, the folks down in the state capital, Missouri, they are in control of the police department. And the mayor was on the other day, and if I'm correct, he said that 70% of the general fund in Kansas City goes to public safety, police and fire.

Seventy percent. And the citizens of this city have no say-so over anything dealing with the police department. It's essentially four Republican governor-appointed people who control the entire police department. Well, I'm glad, O'Rolan, as you're spotlighting this injustice of, if you will, an assault on local control. But as you know, over the years, red state legislatures and governors have sought to mess with, undercut, undermine, and take power from, quote-unquote, blue cities, or predominantly African-American cities across the South. There was an effort years ago for the state of Georgia to try to take control of the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. There was an effort back in the 1980s in Louisiana,

where the state legislature passed a law to take the airport, take the zoo away from the city of New Orleans. It was thwarted because my father at the time, the mayor, had the presence of mind to sue the state and invalidate those statutes. This is a disturbing pattern, and this is egregious that the state of Missouri would continue to practice political interference. So Gwen and others have lifted this issue, and this issue has to be lifted because it is part of what is wrong with the situation in Missouri. I am confident that if the citizens of Kansas City, the elected officials in Kansas City,

had an opportunity, they'd clean up the mess at the Kansas City Police Department. They would clean up the corruption. They would clean up the discrimination. They would clean up the brutality. So we at the National Urban League joined with Gwen in an effort to elevate this issue to a more national stage. But make it clear that the local community is united. I was in Kansas City with Gwen. The local community across the board is united in saying we should control our own department. And they're also united in their

efforts to fix the problem that the Kansas City Police Department has become. Gwen, obviously, you have this investigation going on. You talk about that ballot initiative. And when we were there, that was one of the issues we talked about. How is that going in terms of mobilizing, galvanizing people? Are they responding? Yes, we are really gearing up to have a robust campaign. The challenge is it requires a statewide vote, and Kansas City is the only city targeted through this legislation, so it's hard to mobilize. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Okay, I want to be clear. So there's a ballot initiative that specifically applies to funding of the Kansas City Police Department. That's a statewide ballot initiative? It's because it requires a

constitutional amendment. It's tied to the Hancock Amendment of the Missouri Constitution. It requires a statewide vote, but it only targets Kansas City. But here's the key. The way the ballot language is written, it is vague, it is biased, and unfortunately the city of Kansas City, Missouri, missed its opportunity to challenge the ballot language, which is unconscionable as well. So this ballot initiative will require an increase of funding that goes to the police department from the taxpayers of Kansas City, but it's going to be voted by everybody in the state.

Right. But it doesn't say that. So here's the deal, Roland. The ballot language does not clearly state that this applies only to Kansas City, which means that it is dangerous for all other cities across the state. In effect, this ballot language, if this passes, the state legislature has the authority for the next three years to set the funding levels for any police department in the state. But initially, it's written the way it's written in its narrow terms. After it passes, they will be targeting only Kansas City. But the language is so vague that, truly, they could actually engage in government overreach

across the state. They can go back and target St. Louis, which is another city where they were able to get their control of their police department about five years ago. We're talking about the two largest cities in the state, the two largest cities with the highest population of people of color. And they want to control only those. Now out here in the rural areas, in the predominantly white areas, there's no attempt to control the population

of the black people. And so I think that's a big problem. And I think that's a big problem. And I think that's a big problem. And I think that's a big problem. color. And they want to control only those. Now, out here in the rural areas, in the predominantly white areas, there's no attempt to intervene or any efforts at government overreach to tell the local people how to spend their tax dollars. Mark, I think you want to make a comment there? The only thing I'd say, Roland, is Gwen is so right. And Roland, you and black America and all people in this nation who favor and love fairness and justice should be absolutely outraged at the structure and the system in Kansas City.

I was shocked because this is so anachronistic. It's such a throwback and it robs the people of Kansas City from any say over the operations of the police department. This is why home rule for cities is so important and in many places you have rule, which protects the city from being intruded on by state government, by the state legislature, and prevents them and gives local control over police and fire and schools and other basic fundamental needs. So we are—we want to lift people up to understand this referendum. If you have friends, if you have relatives anywhere in Missouri, weigh in, ask them to vote on this referendum.

And when we want people to vote no. Correct. Vote no. No, no, no. On Amendment four. Vote no on Amendment four. And we need we need as much energy behind that as possible. So, Roland, we'll be mobilizing, we'll be supporting, we'll be doing everything we can on this. And I really appreciate you raising this issue and giving Gwen and I an opportunity to really explain to people that you've got a department with a history of brutality, a history of discriminatory practices, but the citizens of Kansas City can't hire nor fire through their representatives of police chief. It's left to a board run by the governor. Well, I'll say this here. I also fundamentally believe black pastors, they should be moving against this pastor, Bishop Mark Tolbert. Go to my iPad.

They should, because this black man needs to answer to black people. How can this black man be a bishop of a church and chairs the police commission, and he doesn't even bother to bring up this DOJ letter in the police meeting. In fact, it's been now four days since the DOJ made this announcement. He has made no public comment whatsoever about any of this. And so, again, I would really love to see black pastors across Kansas City, Missouri, but also across the country demand this brother say, when are you going to speak to the issue? And when are you going to represent black folks?

And you're the chair of that board. This is where we've got to be willing to check folk, because again, everybody who got the same skin as you ain't can. And so we got to be willing to challenge folks. And this so-called bishop needs to answer how he is not saying anything. Mark, that has to happen. No, it's good. He's got to be called out. I'm glad you're lifting up his name, showing his picture, because he's not being responsive.

He's being irresponsible to the community. And, you know, people like that should not be in positions of public trust. It's outrageous that the board wants to, quote, not talk about it with the idea that if we don't talk about it, it may go away. It will not go away. We will support this continuing investigation and do everything in our power to hold the Kansas City Police Department accountable. But let's get the mobilization on Amendment 4. That's right. Because that's how we can structurally change the system. And we need to continue to do this and recognize that this trend of states and Republican governors interfering in and controlling the affairs and activities of some of our great American cities is absolutely wrong.

All right, then. You're absolutely right. All right, Gwyneth. I was just going to say, Mark is absolutely right. Thank you, Mark, for your support. And thank you, Roland, for lifting us up here in Kansas City. Thank you, Roland, always. All right, Gwen and Mark, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Thank you. Take care. Folks, I'm going to bring in my panel right now. Let's talk about this very issue here again. And it really does piss me off that this brother, this pastor, has said nothing. Has literally said nothing. Matt Manning, civil rights attorney.

Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network show. Brianna Cartwright, political strategist. Matt, I'll start with you. I mean, nothing. Nothing. When the Kansas City Star did that big multiple part series on fundamental problems in the police department, nothing. It was as if, no big deal.

And this is, I mean, members of his church should be offended that he is the pastor of the church, the leader of the church, and he refuses to say anything publicly about the racism allegations in the Kansas City Police Department. I'm with you. And especially as a steward of the board and the board's work, I think that it's especially problematic that he isn't saying anything. As a lawyer, I do have to concede. I don't know what his attorneys have advised him to do, and I don't know if they've advised him not to make any public statement. The problem is this is an issue of public concern. And this is a public—he is appointed by the governor. This is a public commission. Right, that's correct. And that's another huge part of the problem, right? One of the biggest

parts of the problem that I think Mark was addressing is that, you know, you really have a federalism issue as it relates to the state trying to control a local, you know, jurisdiction in terms of their ability to oust their police and make sure that the police are doing the right thing. I mean, the fact that that's still the case in 2022 is abhorrent, especially where, you know, it's being weaponized against a city of primarily black people or where black people are running the city. So, you know, I think that's a huge issue. And I think Bishop Tolbert is probably hiding behind advice or, you know, some desire to not be involved in the fray,

but it really becomes a moral issue. Because if you are a religious leader, you're also a moral leader of the community, and you can't let your people be suffering at the hands of reckless and racist police and not doing anything to remedy that and speak to you can't let your people be suffering at the hands of reckless and racist police and not doing anything to remedy that and speak to the issue to let the people know that you're working on their behalf. The thing for me, Breonna, again, you are the chair of this commission. You are appointed by the governor, and your posture is, I'm not commenting on anything. And here's the whole deal, that there's nothing, there is absolutely nothing, I'm not commenting on anything. And here's the whole deal. There's nothing, there is absolutely nothing, I can't think of anything legal where, let's be real clear,

the mayor is a member of this commission. He talked. So clearly there's nothing, there's no legalities here where a member of the commission cannot talk when one of the five members has talked about it. Absolutely. As you stated, all skin folks aren't kin folks. Okay. And I think one of the main issues we have is the fact that they're appointed by the governor and for us to realize who the governor is. And so they pick out these Uncle Toms to reinforce discrimination among us. Now, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. I don't allow Uncle Toms, sellouts, or stuff along those lines.

And we can call him trifling. We can call him pathetic, sorry, no good for nothing. But I don't allow those terms to be used. Go ahead. Okay, well, you can take all those synonyms for what I was really saying. And the issue is this has been ongoing, not just in Kansas. This is ongoing a lot of places in America, including Florida. And so I hope that other states come against this. I do think that

elections, I do think they need to vote no, because it's important to have an election. It's important for the local community to get involved. It's important for them to decide who's the police chief versus appointed. We see these issues over and over again. And, you know, we talk about how there's the police decide who's hiring within the police force, and then there's discrimination within the community. And so there's a lot of, if the hiring and the promotion is in itself discriminatory, of course that's going to affect us being killed in the streets because there's not enough training and so forth, and it keeps going on and on and on. But they can say, oh, no, we weren't being discriminatory. We have a black

man heading this. And it's able to pass the buck. And really, as Matthew said, the fact is he's supposed to be a moral leader. He's supposed to pastor in the Lord's work. And so for him to be okay to be utilized in a way to uphold discriminatory practices, it's just awful. Well, I'm about to sit here and expand this thing just a little bit further here, Michael. Someone on our YouTube channel, Damon, thanks for pointing this out. This same Bishop Tolbert is the second presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the world with two million members. If your church is a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the world, you should be demanding. Here's his photo right here.

You should be demanding that the leadership of the Pentecostal assemblies of the world speak out against the racism in the Kansas City Police Department, since clearly Bishop Tolbert wants to be quiet as hell. Absolutely. This is this is leverage. So you come from the National Pentecostal Pentecostal organization. You have leverage there. You have leverage from his church members also. But let's keep in mind that the reason why outside of possibly his counsel telling him to not make any comments, which probably doesn't make sense, but outside of that, this is probably why the governor put him in the position in the first place.

They know how to pick them. The white supremacists know how to pick them. They know which one of us to put in place to oppress the other ones. So I remember a couple of months ago, two or three months ago, we talked about this similar situation. We talked about the same bishop, Mark Talbert, and we talked about the situation here. And, you know, this is going back to the article from CNN, and Washington Post also has an article on this, dealing with the Department of Justice investigating allegations that Kansas City police racially discriminated against black officers. This is extremely important because we're at a pivotal time where a portion of the White House budget is approved. It's about $35, $36 billion. Part of that line item is going to add 100,000 police

officers nationwide, okay, to about 18,500 police departments. And African Americans who want to be the type of officers we say we want to see, they need to apply to these police departments. But at the same time, we have to make sure that we don't have discrimination inside these police departments that disproportionately or wrongly discriminates against African American police officers, helping them out of the police departments or punishing them when they're in the police department doing the right thing also. So this is an example how elections have consequences. If Biden and Harris didn't win, we wouldn't have Merrick Garland, we wouldn't have Kristen Clark,

and they wouldn't be filing these charges here today. Yeah, but this is also why you need to oust that governor and appoint folks who are real. All right, folks, hold tight one second. Hold tight one second. Got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about Florida A&M lawsuit. Six students are suing the state of Florida,

saying the school has been cheated out of upwards of $2 billion in state funding. That's one story. Also, the autopsy of Elijah McClain shows some shameful details about what happened to that young man when he died at the hands of authorities in Colorado. So, folks, a lot we're going to be covering here on the show. Stay tuned.

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Really. It's Roland Martin. Six Florida A&M students are suing the state of Florida, saying their university is being shortchanged when it comes to funding. In a class action lawsuit, the students alleged decades of discriminatory underfunding of the public historically black university. They claim the University of Florida received a larger state appropriation per student than FAMU from 1987 to 2020, amounting to a shortfall of roughly $1.3 billion. This comes on the heels of a Forbes story that detailed the university not receiving or should have been getting about $2 billion. Joining us now are two of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the students,

Barbara J. Hart and Bobby Brown. Glad to have both of you on the show. So first off, let's sort of walk through this here. And typically we have these lawsuits, courts say, well, who has standing? So explain to us how these students, by them filing the lawsuit, they have the standing because Florida A&M hasn't filed the suit, obviously because they're a state university. Very similar to the lawsuit that took place here in Maryland, where a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the four public HBCUs. The schools were not involved, but I know for a fact the schools welcomed that particular lawsuit. I'm quite sure, privately, Florida A&M also welcomes this lawsuit.

Well, thank you for that. The standing issue will be litigated, I'm quite confident, but we feel that the students have an acute deprivation of the equal funding. And the students talk really quite tangibly about their experiences in the dorms and the way they see the facilities and the struggles that their professors have with getting basic equipment. So the students are really experiencing the underfunding, and that's a cognizable injury that gives you standing. And we feel that the students are the ones that are best able to really they love the school. They're proud of being at the school and they're actually experiencing

the disparity in the facilities, which is all the way that the disparity in the funding manifests itself. And so we feel confident that they have standing under the law. Bobby, I referenced what happened here in Maryland. They sued. During the testimony, it came out what experts said, they lost upwards of $2 billion. Eventually, that was a settlement that was signed. The state came up with $522 million. But also, I think back to the suit Alvin Chambliss won for Mississippi. As y'all have put this together, did y'all look to the Maryland suit,

the Mississippi suit, in terms of looking at how to file this suit in Florida? Absolutely. And I'll defer more to who is leading our litigation team, Barbara, and talking about just how much research we did with both of those cases. And what I will say is, beyond just the cases, in terms of understanding the student situation, getting to be in the environment, being right there in Tallahassee, where one university, Florida A&M University, is right across the train tracks from Florida State University, getting a true understanding and a feel for beyond just experiential knowing, growing up in Florida and knowing people that went to Florida A&M, knowing people that went

to Florida State. I wanted the firm also to have a really on the ground, the boots on the ground sort of feel to what this case was all about and the injustices that we were trying to overcome as a firm. And I'll allow Barbara, I don't know if you want to talk about the level of research, but indeed, both cases were examples for us, and both in terms of how we wanted to approach the case and sort of the standing question that you posed initially. Sure. Barbara, go ahead.

Great. Well, you know, Bobby's too modest, but the standing issue, I'm not troubled by at all. It really just requires actual injury, and we are confident on that. And, you know, I think in so many things, we all stand on the shoulders of what other people have fought before to establish. And so we do look to the history of other litigations. We didn't completely emulate it. And of course, we hope that we'll see resolution more quickly than the lawsuit in Maryland. I mean, it took 10 years for that to get right. Actually, it was like 13. Yeah. It was 13. And I covered it for the last six years. Yeah.

Forgive me. You're quite correct. So what I'm saying, though, is we'd love for it to come to fruition sooner. The students are really terrific people. You know, some undergrads, some graduate students, and they all talk about the ways in which this has impacted them, the stress that they feel, and the challenges in terms of housing and stipends for the graduate students and different things where they've experienced faculty that don't even have basic, like, you know, computers that are necessary, whiteboards, things like that that are commonplace in schools. So, you know, it's just it's just the goal will be to try to get somewhere quicker than what occurred in Maryland.

But they certainly plowed the fields for us in terms of establishing a lot of the law that we will look to. How did this lawsuit happen? Did the students approach y'all? So how did this all come together? And it was over a period of what, how many months? Well, I'll just say more officially how it came together. But even prior to the research that we did, you know, when we decided as a firm to put resources and put some of our intellectual property within the firm into really establishing a civil rights group, there were some obvious cases that we thought would be interesting for our firm, one that had worked so hard in different areas. But in this particular area, civil rights, I, along with some of the other attorneys, went to our partners, a group of partners, and said that we think this would

be an interesting case. We put a lot of research into it. The article came out subsequent to some of the research that was already done. And then the process started in order to formalize this and bring in clients. And Barbara, I'll throw it to you in terms of, from a civil procedure standpoint, how it came about. But we've been working on this for a while and the research that was done by the associates and our litigation team, we're very proud of.

So you were working on this for a while. So did you find the students or did they come to you? I'm just curious. Well, Bobby has a lot of family and friends in Florida. And it was just conversations that as we were examining the issue, conversations led to people that wanted to talk to us. And the students are very committed to this. You know, I welcome an opportunity for them to come back in and talk with you personally. They're very fired up to try to make it right at the school they love. I love your T-shirt, by the way.

Yeah, well, the first commencement I ever gave was at Florida Memorial, and that was the first, that also was the first honorary degree I got, one of the six, and so I decided to go ahead and rock this today. I do have a Florida A&M one, but I said I'd rock the Florida Memorial one today, since they were the first. I got some questions from my panelists. Matt, you're a civil rights attorney. I'll start with you. Let me first say I think this is brilliant how y'all brought this lawsuit.

And thank you for standing up for the students. I guess my question is from a damages standpoint, are you not only asking for, let me ask specifically, what are you asking for? Is there a plan in terms of what they want going forward and also recompense for what they haven't gotten since 1987? I know that was part of the model in the other states was, you know, a payback model. What is your thought in that respect? And what is your thought as it relates to a per pupil, you know, deliverable? Because at the end of the day, they want better dorms, comparable, not only better,

but comparable to what you would get at Florida State. So what is the damage model and how did y'all approach conceptualizing that? Well, one thing that we believe is that it's been underfunded for decades. The statute of limitations will be an issue in terms of how far back we can go on damages. But that is, we want past damages, the underfunding for the years foregone, the years gone past. We want the current years and we want future funding to be at parity. And, you know, the money would flow to the school. We're not, these students are committed to the school. They're not looking for their own. I'm not confused that you were saying per capita.

They want the money to go to the school to be per capita at parity with the other land grant schools. And, you know, they're not currently. How that will manifest, you know, it's a long road in terms of, you know, they're not currently. How that will manifest, you know, it's a long road in terms of, you know, housing seems to be something that leapt out really acutely earlier this year, both the under-availability of housing and the conditions in which the housing was made available to the students. So housing would certainly be one of the issues. We also see a duplication in programs, which cannibalizes the programs at Florida A&M, and we want to put an end to that.

We want the showcase programs that Florida A&M has developed to be not in competition with FSU programs that are in close proximity. But it's a little bit premature for us to engage in specific asks other than what we know the money needs to get square. Brianna. Yes. Thank you so much for this lawsuit and all the hard work that you're doing. I wish our students could just be students. Yeah, I'm so glad that change may come. From Howard to FAMU, I love to see that they're organizing on these campuses for bettering their schools and our future and our community. How can other students on other campuses start a lawsuit on the historical misallocation of state funding? They can call me or Bobby. Yes, please do.

How do they call you? You know, we are both on the Internet. We're at Grant Neisenhofer. I'm bhart at gelaw.com. They can emailfer. I'm B Hart at G.E. Law dot com. They can email me. I'll call them right back. I call my clients. I love my clients. And Bobby's, you know, Bobby is B Brown at G.E. Law. Same, same, same. Oh, first of all, hold on, y'all. Slow down. Barbara, give your email again. B Hart B H A R T at G.E. Law dot com. Barbara, give me your email again. B-H-A-R-T

at G-E law.com. Bobby? It's B-R-O-W-N at G-E law.com. All right, cool. That way, because trust me,

they're going to start cussing in the chat room like, slow down, I didn't catch it. All right, Michael, your question. Yes, great job, attorneys. And, you know, shout out to those six Florida A&M students who are filing this lawsuit. In reading the article from The Washington Post, it talks about duplication of programs and how this puts Florida A&M at a disadvantage. Then it also talks about in the lawsuit, it claims that the University of Florida received a larger state appropriation per student than FAMU from 1987 to 2020, amounting to a shortfall of roughly $1.3 billion. What was the formula that, have you been able to ascertain from the state what formula they used to allocate funds per student to the University of Florida,

as opposed to FAMU? I'm trying to figure out, okay, what's the rhyme or reason here? And is it possible you can give one or two examples of the programs that were duplicated also? Attorney Hart mentioned that before Brianna's question. The engineering program was duplicated. And, you know, at first blush, that doesn't sound like anything like a problem. But what happens is it undermines the success and the competitiveness of the program at FAMU. That actually was the basis of the Maryland lawsuit. The judge actually threw out unequal funding,

and she really locked and loaded on the duplication of programs. That's what led to that settlement. I'm with you. And I, you know, my colleagues really had to get me up to speed on that particular issue because at first blush, you know, it could really look like that's a good thing, you know, more engineering programs. What's the matter with more engineering programs? But what we find is it undermines the school that's already trying to play catch up and is also doing it with less funding. So it ends up undermining the program that's trying to thrive and increase the prestige of the HBCU.

So it's, it's considered the vestiges of a separate, but equal. And we know that was baloney and completely unacceptable. So the engineering program is the poster child of that. And then in terms of the underfunding, we drilled into the archives and the budgets that are published and the data that's online. Our number comes out differently than the Forbes number, which was 1.8 billion. But we believe that that disparity might have to do with inflation.

And it also, you know, we need to err on the side of conservatism. We're not that there's anything the matter with the press. We love the press. We're allies with the press. But we're saying something in a court filing. anything the matter with the press. We love the press. We're allies with the press. But we're saying something in a court filing. So we needed to tick and tie our numbers. So we felt more comfortable with the $1.3 billion. Okay. All right. Then Matt, you have a question, right? Yeah. One more question. So, Attorney Hart, you kind of alluded to this, but the moment I read this lawsuit, I thought about Sweat v. Painter.

And you kind of have already referenced that. I was interested in your methodology as it relates to the mediators. So I know you all are asking for a mediator right, the idea that people may choose U of F as opposed to FAMU on the basis of prestige and other opportunities that FAMU is not able to offer due to the funding disparity. So with particular respect to the mediator, how are you all approaching giving that mediator information to help determine how to make it more equitable? I'm very interested in that. Well, unfortunately, this isn't running on a racetrack the way that we have seen the mediator happen in some other litigation that people are following related to confidential top secret documents. This will be a slow process. And as I said, ideally not as slow as the Maryland case. But I would expect the first issue will be a motion to dismiss from the Board of Governors and the state, where they will contest that we don't have standing or that we haven't stated a claim and that there's no underfunding,

and they will challenge us. So we are a far cry from the mediator. But we do see that as somebody that could facilitate an outcome where we could address the disparity in funding. And I don't want to suck up all the airtime. I mean, Bobby, if you want to talk about your vision for the mediator. But all I'm trying to say is it might be a long time until we get to a mediation. We are at, we're not out of the starting blocks, really. We're serving these papers on the defendants, and they're going to have their counter say, and one might think that they're not just going to say, oh, we totally agree, right? They're going to contest what we've said. All right. Sorry. No, no, Bobby, go ahead. Go ahead. I was just going to add to that. And it's worth noting that regardless of how we get there, there are

six amazing, amazing plaintiffs here, students that, you know, are working hard in class. A lot of them have jobs that are standing up to do what's right. So, whether it be through the, however the mediator is chosen, we talked about relief, I think the injunctive relief and the idea that things are being put in place to make decisions regarding state funding that are sort of like we all understand the concept of the fruit of the poisonous tree is sort of the same thing here. Some of the same metrics you're using to determine where the funds are allocated are really the sort of the fruits of the seeds being sown for disparate treatment. And so, with this circular manner in which this is happening, the injunctive relief is just as important.

And these students are standing up for their peers, for their current students that they're in class with, but also for the student that is going to apply 20 years from now. And I think that is the thing to celebrate. And they are very proud of Florida A&M. They're very proud of their university institution. And this is just a way to make things, in our opinion, more fair. FAMU and other HBCUs have done more with less. But just imagine, because FAMU has produced some amazing individuals, just imagine what they could do with more when more is just really, in this case, fair. And we say fair. Black folks in Florida have been paying taxes for a very long time. And so what you have is you have resources going to build up Florida State, build up University of Florida, build up other institutions.

And they have been neglecting black institutions. And we have seen this all across this country where you have HBCUs. And so when I was in North Carolina, I connected officials there with Alvin Chambers and others and saying, hey, you should be considering suing the state. And I believe that this should be the objective of lawyers all across the country going after every single state where you have a public HBCU and examining the funding issue. A committee in Tennessee ruled that Tennessee State had been underfunded to the tune of $500 million. I'm quite sure that number is actually higher.

But again, someone should be filing suit in Tennessee on behalf of Tennessee State to ensure they're able to get that money. And so we appreciate the work that y'all are doing. Certainly keep us abreast of this. Like I say, I'm quite familiar with these stories. We've had Alvin Chambliss on this show. We covered extensively the Maryland case. I even led a rally in Maryland. So just let me know if y'all need us to come down to Florida to bring in a little public pressure.

I own my camera, so I don't have to ask anybody. So we'll be happy to come down there. That's very generous. Thank you. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Folks, thank you.

Going to a break. We come back. We're going to talk a bunch. Appreciate you. Thank you. Going to a break. We come back. We're going to talk about the case of Elijah McClain. What was he shot up with by paramedics? What the autopsy reveals. Also, a former cop in Chicago. Guess what? Gets indicted for the shooting of a black man.

And we'll also tell you about the DOJ going after a white man for cross burning in Mississippi. Some things change, some stay the same. Folks, please support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, available on all platforms. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, we would love for you to support us in our Bring the Funk fan club.

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

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, are you trying to figure out how to earn more revenue in your business during these volatile times? Learn how to tap into the largest marketplace in the world through government

contracting. Our next guest, Akia Hartnett, will be sharing how you can get wealthy through government contracting. We've got a young lady, government assistance to government contracts. She literally was on government assistance when she came to us. And in less than a year, she has been winning multiple government contracts. And it has changed the trajectory of her family. That's right here, only on Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not. White people are losing their minds. seen a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

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

This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white beat. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision,

our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ascot on. He do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling.

Right here. Rolling. Roland Martin. Right now. You are watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really.

It's Roland Martin. Destiny Rockwell-Chapelle was last seen in Milwaukee on July 23rd. The 17-year-old is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Destiny Rockwell Chappelle should call the Milwaukee Police Department at 414-933-4444, 414-933-4444. All right, folks, we talk a lot on this show about the poor in this country. We talk about what is happening. On Capitol Hill right now, you see Democrats amassing the votes to pass a bill that will deal with funding for police. We saw the previous bills that were passed. And Reverend Dr. William Barber has been asking this question, which is, I think, is a critical one, where he talks about what folks can do. And this was a tweet that he sent out a little bit earlier today. And this is what he said. He said,

why is it that Dems and some Republicans can come together to pass a policing bill, but can't pass living wages, voter protections and extended child tax credit. Well, that was a meeting on Capitol Hill about this very issue with faith leaders. My next guest was actually in the meeting. He was giving us an update on what happened there. Can we actually see some movement on that? Congressman Roe Conner, glad to have you back on the show. So, all right, what happened? What was the conversation? What's the outcome? Well, I'd gone down to Reverend Barber's church and he said, why don't you call up 50 clergy leaders and have members of Congress listen to what people actually want? And they were very clear that we've got to get a living wage. We got to at least get a vote on it, that we need to get the child tax credit.

As Reverend Barber put it, we tried it. We did it in the American Rescue Plan. It reduced poverty 50 percent. And it's as if we're teasing people that we're taking it back. I mean, we know it works. We know it reduces poverty. We need to make that permanent. And then we need voting rights. And he was very blunt. We heard the testimony of a young woman in Baltimore who talked about a sheriff coming to her apartment, a single mother, her being basically evicted, staying in a motel room because the child tax credit expired. So those of us who listened and participated are really going to push for another vote with the speaker. And then, of course, the issue is the Senate.

We've passed some of these policies in the House. We need the Senate to vote on it. And the point that he makes, I think, is a critical one, because when you hear Senator Schumer and others say, oh, we're going to keep, you know, another bite of the apple, another bite of the apple, well, let's see the same thing when it comes to the poor in this country, when it comes to voting rights. People, I can tell you right now, African-Americans want to see some movement, especially on the voting bill. Also, I've been saying, why in the heck aren't Democrats coming back and putting the George Floyd Justice Act on the table? It already passed the House, but now the challenge should be, and I've said this to even some of the family

members, they should be publicly saying to President Joe Biden, call a meeting at the White House, tell McConnell, tell Lindsey Graham, tell Tim Scott to be at that meeting and sit across from those families and say why they're not moving the George Floyd Justice Act. Well, that would be powerful. And here's the thing, the Republicans, you know this, when they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they don't just vote once. They repeal they vote on the repealing 70, 80 times. And I don't understand why the Democrats can't have the same passion. I mean, we ought to vote on voting rights, not just once out of the House. Let's keep passing it. Let's keep telling the Senate to put pressure on it.

Let's vote on the George Floyd bill and put pressure to get that passed. And let's vote on living wage again. Obviously, you're going to hear folks say, oh, well, you know, we're now in the fall and we don't have much time. Well, let's see here. Today is September 23rd. Last I checked, the United States Senate confirmed a Supreme Court justice pretty damn quick before an election. We have time. We figure out how to get things done when we want to get things done. And we certainly have the time. I mean, it doesn't take that long to put something on the floor. I think let's just be candid, Roland, and this is about what is the message that we want to go into the midterms with. And those of us who are saying

that we can't take people's votes for granted who are poor, who are low income, those are our voters. We can't take black people for granted. And yeah, OK, fine, the frontliners wanted a police funding bill. But we also need to deliver for working people and for the African-American community. And that means let's go into the midterms of voting on these key issues. And I think that's the key thing, is to convince the party that these are issues we need to highlight going into the election. And on that particular point you just made there, you have a lot of those frontliners. Again, the Democratic Party does a whole lot to protect them, but here's the whole deal. They aren't the only people represented in Congress. You also need voters voting in these statewide races for the United

States Senate. You know, and you need a turnout in their districts. I mean, many of them need poor people, low wealth folks who in many parts comprise a third of the electorate in our districts, half of the electorates and in the states. They need them to turn out and they're not going to turn out if they don't see that we're fighting for a livable wage. They're not going to turn out if they think, OK, we did the child tax grant and now that money is not coming back. And they're certainly not going to turn out if they don't see us fighting like hell for voting rights. I mean, you know, as Reverend Barber said, we promised John Lewis that we would do this. We promised. He was, as you know, sick the last few months of his life. We said this is going to be his legacy. And so, okay, so we took a vote and then the Senate hasn't voted on it. And we said, okay, they're not going to be his legacy. And so, OK, so we took a vote and then the Senate hasn't voted on it. And we said, OK, they're not going to do the filibuster. It just seems

we don't have enough fight on it. This is such a basic issue. And, you know, they rewrote it, they weakened it, and they still didn't vote on it in the Senate. That is absolutely crazy. So, OK, you had that meeting with 50 members. What's next? Well, the meeting, I think the president should meet with the clergy. I mean, the clergy in that room who are 50 leaders, and I appreciate that they met with us in Congress, it would take back faith for the Democratic Party, the real faith, the faith that Dr. Barber and others talk about, which is standing with the poor, standing for justice. We need to be talking about that, not let just the Republicans have faith. And I think the president needs to look some of these folks in the eye and say, here is our plan. Here's what we're going to do before the end of the election. Here's what I'm committed to doing in the next two years. But he should have a meeting with them. And that's what I have been pushing for with the White House. All right. Well, look, hopefully it happens and we see some action. Representative Rochon, thanks a lot. Appreciate it. Thank you, Ron. Thank you for having me back. Go to our panel here. Brian, I want to start with you. The point that he made there,

Democrats are so protective of these frontliners, these Democrats who are in, you know, purple districts or some that lean Republican. And frankly, it pisses off a lot of other people that they are just, you know, giving everything to them as opposed to really looking at the broader agenda. I think that we, talking about the broader agenda, I think that we can say everybody should get behind helping children. I think it's too divisive. And I do think even in, you know, you say the red districts and trying the purple that we're scared and we're going to just promote what we have done and not get behind in these last months to do even more. I don't think it needs to stay that way. I do think that we can move the needle more with an actual welfare net. And I think that you can understand, we, as Democrats,

can also talk to Republicans to make sure they understand the commonality of it. As it was stated in the beginning, we talked about how we can get around gun control now barely. But, you know, we have conversations about that, where we should be able to have conversations about helping our poor. And I think when they realize that, you know, it's the Christian thing to do, and Republicans love to be Christians, we can have different sort of conversations. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts binge episodes one two and three on may 21st and episodes four five and six on june 4th ad free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts but it doesn't need to necessarily be about um red blue, purple, but us as family members, right, and helping our community. Michael. I don't have that much faith in white people, but okay. So when we look at the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and Representative Roe Connan,

thanks for having this interview also, Roland. Yes, it passed the House of Representatives in March 3, 2021, by a vote of 220 to 212. They should try it again in the Senate. I think they should use the strategy that Representative James Clyburn said. Clyburn said if qualified immunity is the sticking point, he said take qualified immunity out of the bill, get the rest of the bill passed now, come back and get qualified immunity later, because you need 60 votes in the Senate, which means you need 10 Republicans. So, yes, they should try again. but there's a difference between trying to just say

to voters that you tried and actually really trying to get the bill passed. Those are two different things. You need 10 Republicans. So if you're going to get the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act passed in the Senate, you're going to have to do it a different way, okay? And then after the 2022 midterm elections, then you could come back and get qualified immunity passed. But we have to use a different, the structure of the Senate is much different than the House. So you're going to have to use a different strategy oftentimes in the Senate to get that 60 vote threshold than you do in the House of Representatives, which is just a simple majority. Matt? I think it's abhorrent that we even have to have this conversation.

People shouldn't have to beg for basic stuff. If, you know, 10% of the population is living in poverty and one in six are not getting a livable wage, it's absurd that we have 500 people holding us hostage in Washington. And I understand we have to talk about the mechanisms about how to address that. But one, I think this harkens back to our first conversation about Kansas City, Missouri. I mean, this is exactly what faith leaders are supposed to do, be moral leaders and stand for the least of these, irrespective of their respective religion, number one. But beyond that,

the idea that we allow political jockeying to upset the idea that, you know, we still have a large percentage of our population that doesn't have what it needs and is working every day and not making a livable wage, it should make all of us sick. So I think we need to have a systemic conversation about us as citizens and allowing these representatives to hold us hostage. The fact that we should have to beg for basic things is abhorrent in a country that touts itself as one of the wealthiest countries in the world and one that is guided by rights and a respect thereof. And it just makes me sick that we have to hope that they come around to vote the right way. It should be we get what we need, period. I think about what A. Philip Randolph had to do when he was at the White House

and he was challenged when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was challenged by A. Philip Randolph. And he said, you know, Philip, make me do it. He was like, OK, I got something for your ass. And when he threatened to bring 200,000 people to the nation's capital, FDR signed an executive order. But see, this is what I'm talking about when we are talking about how we use our power. And let me see. Did I take the picture of it? Let me see if I did.

As a matter of fact, I'm glad I did. Because y'all often hear me talk about chaos or community. Dr. King's book, which really is one of the most important books. Everybody should have a copy of it. And one of the things that you often hear me refer to when I'm talking in my speeches on this show, I'm referencing this particular section of the book where he's talking about black leadership, where he's talking about what needs to happen. And this is what King writes in the book. He says, there are already structured forces in the Negro community that can serve as the basis for building a powerful, united front. The Negro church, the Negro press, the Negro fraternities and sororities and Negro professional associations.

We must admit that these forces have never given their full resources to the cause of Negro liberation. There are still too many Negro churches that they condition their members to adjust to the present evils over here. away from their traditional role as protest organs agitating for social change and have turned to the sensational and the conservative in place of the substantive and the militant. He says too many Negro social and professional groups have degenerated into snobbishness and a preoccupation with probabilities and trivial activity. But the failures of the past must not be an excuse for the inaction of the present and the future. These groups must be mobilized and motivated. And on that particular point, that's what I'm talking about, folks.

And so you heard me say on numerous times, you've got more than 2 million members of the divine nines. You've got alphas and capas and omegas and sigmas and iotas and deltas and AKAs and zetas and sigma gamma rho. You've got Eastern Star. You've got Prince Hall, Mason. You've got Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, the Boulay. You've got the Lynx. You've got all these different groupsnity, the Boulay, you've got the Links, you've got all these different groups. But the question is, how are they using the collective membership to be able to sort of drive this issue? And this is where I believe that when you begin to have not just the leaders, see, I'm not interested in the leaders meeting at the White House. I'm not

interested in the leaders meeting with President Biden or President Joe Biden. What I'm not interested in the leaders meeting at the White House. I'm not interested in the leaders meeting with President Biden or President Joe Biden. What I'm interested in are them coming back and pressing that button saying to every member, I want you to send an email to your House member. Send this. Hit corporations. How do you take that collective power to be able to advance the black collective? But unfortunately, too many of our organizations are concerned about their own internal politics and their own meanings internally, as opposed to how do you begin to advance and change things for the black community?

And so I would hope that they would use their power to listen, to do what Reverend Barber has been talking about, to do what others have been talking about, and that is to be able to effect this change. And in fact, I was, when I was, I showed you that tweet earlier from Dr. Barber, and one of the things that he posted, and this is what he posted here, he said the Poor People's Campaign,

they are organizing to reach five million poor and low-wage people and low-propensity voters across the nation. Our votes are demands. Folks, numbers don't lie. When you're able to reach those low-propensity voters, you can change whole elections. And that's how groups must be using their power. When we come back, we're going to talk about Elijah McClain, the results of his autopsy. Also, a cop in suburban Chicago who has been charged with the murder of a black man and

the DOJ indicting a white man for burning a cross in Mississippi. All of that is next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Please download the Black Star Network app, all platforms, phone android phone apple tv android tv roku amazon fire tv xbox one samsung smart tv also please join our bring the funk fan club your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do uh p.o box five seven one nine six washington dc two zero zero three seven uh dash zero one nine six cash happens dollar sign rm Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash happens. Dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartinUnfiltered.

Venmo is RMUnfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And don't forget to get your copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Folks, I speak to the issues we talk about all the time, lay out the historical realities of what's going on. And here is a quote from Reverend Barbara on this issue.

Fear is at the root of almost every injustice, fear of the other, fear that is created by false assumptions or fear created by a desire for power. Roland Martin's book addresses a particular kind of fear that has been both the backdrop and forefront of racism in this country. This is an important read for all people, regardless of your race and color, understand white fear so you can release and resist it. If you want to get your copy, you can download a copy on Audible, available on their platform.

You can also get your copy from the publisher, Ben Bella Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Bookshop, Chapters, Books A Million, Target, or order it from your favorite black bookstore. I'll be right back. We all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. I remember being with the view when they said,

we want to extend your contract. And I knew God said, it's time to move. It's time to go. And everybody was saying, Sherri, you got a great job. You're making all of this money. And I said, no, it's time to move. It's time to go. And everybody was saying, Sherri, you got a great job. You're making all of this money. And I said, no, it's time. And they said, you ain't gonna be able to, you've been away from Hollywood.

And I said, it's time to go. And when I didn't, that's when I realized I was about to go through this divorce and it was gonna be expensive, it was gonna be a lot. And I said, I'm gonna stay. I said, I'm gonna stay for a couple years. So you make this money. See, go ahead. I'm gonna make this money and stay for a couple of years. So you make this money. See, go ahead.

I'm going to make this money, and then I'll get out lower. So I didn't do a compromise. I'm going to do what you say, but I'm going to do it on my thing. And he went, really? He went, really. And you know when he went, really? They said that we were heavy in contract negotiations. And they came, my manager called.

She said, they're not going to renew your contract. And I went, hey, wait, what? Just yesterday, they was offering me more money. She said they just decided not to renew your contract. And I remember sitting in front of the mirror at the view, and I went, what happened? And it was very clear. God said, I told you it was time to go.

When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Creating. Making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Next on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. Believe it or not,

we've seen it all before. You people in the North, you're so sympathetic to Black people, you take them. 60 years ago, they called it the reverse freedom ride. Back then, Southern governors shipped Black people North with the false promise of jobs and a better life. It's a part of a well-known playbook being brought back to life. So what's next? That's next on The Black Table, a conversation with Dr. Gerald Horne

about this issue of the reverse freedom rights right here on the Black Star Network. Hey yo, peace world, what's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon. Hey, I'm Cupid, the maker of the Cupid shuffle and the Wham world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon. Hey, I'm Qubit, the maker of the Qubit Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevillian. And if you ready, you are listening to

and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Folks in Colorado, the autopsy of a black man who died at the police of a police encounter in the Denver suburb three years ago now says the cause of death was due to potent sedatives that were injected into him. Elijah McClain died after being forcibly restrained and injected with ketamine after being stopped by police in Aurora for being suspicious. The original autopsy report of the 23 year old was written soon after his death and did not conclude how he died or what type of death it was, such as if it was natural, accidental, or a homicide. That was a significant reason why prosecutors initially decided not to pursue charges against the cops and the EMT officials. Last year, a state grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics on manslaughter and reckless homicide charges in McClain's death after the case drew renewed national attention

following the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Now we see exactly what caused the death, and folks are still saying, why was he even injected in the first place now let's go to uh to illinois where former suburban chicago cop fired after he shot into a car killing a black man and seriously wounding the man's girlfriend has been indicted former waukegan police officer dante salinas is charged with second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter related to the October 20th incident.

Salinas was indicted. First of all, October 20th, 2021 incident. Salinas was also indicted on felony counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and official misconduct. Officer James Keating pulled over 19-year-old Marcellus Stinnett and his girlfriend, Tafara Williams. The officer told the couple Stinnett had an outstanding warrant and he was going to be arrested. The couple fled the scene. Officer Keating called for help and Salinas responded. Salinas located the pair and pulled them over. He then fired the shots just 12 seconds after walking up to the vehicle. Stinnett was a passenger and Williams was driving.

Salinas was fired three days after the shooting for multiple policy violations during the incident, including failing to activate his body-worn camera until after the shooting. Salinas is also facing charges for using excessive force while arresting a man at a family baptism in 2019. Let's go to Mississippi, folks, where a Gulfport, Mississippi man faces more than 20 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines

if convicted of a hate crime. Axel C. Cox, 23 years old, has been indicted on federal charges of criminal interference with the right to fair housing and using fire to commit a federal felony. Authorities on December 3rd, 2020, say Cox burned a cross in his front yard and used threatening and racially derogatory comments toward his black neighbors to intimidate them. It's suspected that cops chose to burn the cross because of the victim's race. See, this right here, Matt, is what I keep telling people. One, when I wrote the book, White Fear, what's going on here, these reactions that we're seeing, and this is why you have to have aggressive action. Now, it's amazing how the previous two stories, we see aggressive police, aggressive law enforcement when it comes to folks being pulled over.

You've got to have aggressive prosecution of these racists and these bigots to send the signal, you do wrong, we are going to put you behind in prison. Absolutely. You absolutely have to have it. You have to swing for the fences on sentences. And you have to make sure that, especially where it's the most blatant and the most obvious, because a lot of what we talk about on this show, Roland, is somebody says something horrible that we all know is racist, but they try to do it in a nebulous way or they're kind of, you know, they couch it in certain terms. Burning a cross is per se clear. Everybody in the United States of America knows exactly what you intend to communicate as a message with that action. And the reason that's important is a prosecutor has irrefutable evidence as to what this guy intended to do. With that, she should be able to stand up in front of a jury and say whatever the maximum penalty is, he needs to get. Because we cannot countenance this in our society.

And when we have evidence like this, we've got to throw the book out. So I agree with you completely. Breonna, again, it's amazing when you look at these statements that we get nearly every week now from the Department of Justice, almost every day, of actions being taken. When you see the brutality that's happening in state prisons, largely against black and Latino folks here, this is the reality of what it means to be black and minority in this country,

where we still are dealing with brutality against black folks and other people of color. Absolutely. As it was stated, when there's this much evidence, we need to throw the book at them. It's done over and over and over again, excuses. We have vigilantes in the streets that we try to get away. We say that we're okay with the death penalty and they can kill us. And they want to bring back the crosses and so, well, it never went away, but they want to have the crosses on the lawn and think that's okay. And honestly, there needs to be just as drastic measure in dealing with these officers and these issues, whether it's a firing squad, whether it's locking them up or not locking them up,

which is what usually happens, is not enough. I do think that we see this over and over and over again because there hasn't been enough strict policy uniformity for it to keep occurring. The same thing should happen no matter what, especially when it's enough evidence and it should be so grave they won't want to do it again. And again, Michael, we talk about this all the time. Elections matter. This is a perfect example why you've got to have aggressive. We talk about aggressiveness, aggressive action from a DOJ, Civil Rights Division, aggressive action when it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency. You have, in many cases, Republicans, they want lies, they fear,

oh, we don't want all this overregulation, oh, we don't want any of this sort of stuff happening. Well, say to the people who are on the receiving end of this blatant racism and bigotry. Well, criminals usually don't want regulation so they can get away with what they are doing. OK, when you look at, you know, Washington Post just published an article dealing with this case. Mississippi man gets hate crime charge and cross burning. So what's really interesting here is when you look at this, number one, these are federal charges, as you stated. But, two, the law that they're filing the federal charges based upon is the Civil Rights

Act of 1968, which, within that, that was part of that Fair Housing Act of 1968 that you've talked about, we've talked about here on the show before, Roland, there was a Hate Crimes Act within that. That was the first. I want all the people who keep saying we need an anti-black federal bill or whatever the hell you say it is. The first Hate Crimes Act in the history of this country was passed in 1968 by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, and that was part of that Fair Housing Act. That was a result of the modern-day civil rights movement, OK? So, when I hear people talk about the miscult... they call it the Asian Hate Crime Bill, which

it was not. It was the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. You can go to congress.gov and read it. That applies to African-Americans also. But you have to understand, what the Department of Justice is doing is why the Department of Justice was founded in 1870 during Reconstruction. They were founded largely to enforce the rights of newly freed African-Americans and enforce their voting rights. This is in the tradition of the Department of Justice. So, once again, this is another example of how elections have consequences and why we need to understand law and why we have to vote strategically as well. Indeed, indeed. And so, you know, it's just, again, I think when you look at these stories, Matt, when you look at the case of the officer firing the shots, again, you're on the scene for 12 seconds.

Twelve seconds. Okay. A video was circulating this week of a white cop pulling, pulling the white person over. And boy, the amount of restraint that was shown is stunning. And it just happens over and over and over again. And then when you see these cross burnings, when you see these things happen in these states, when you see the DOJ indicting and prosecuting and convictingens and corrections officers for brutalizing inmates, folks need to understand

that there still are heinous individuals who have the power and the authority to subjugate people and how they are abusing them and in many cases, killing them. Absolutely. And I think at least as to the first story that we had today in Kansas City, Missouri, what's really important for people to know is those DOJ patterns and practices investigations can yield indictments.

I mean, that's what happened in Louisville in the Breonna Taylor situation at. And for that to yield criminal responsibility is very important. But what's particularly tragic about it is, one, it's so pervasive across the country that no matter where you go, you have these issues, and you have these issues going on for decades before you have Kristen Clark and an aggressive DOJ stepping in. So I think we're going to see, you know, going forward, a lot of like stories coming to light, showing that these kinds of things have been going on forever unavenged. And that's the real reality of it is, you know, we like to talk about civil rights, but

it is so difficult to hold accountable these people as a private, private citizen. I got today a notice of appeal in a very obvious case where they let my client's son die in jail by not giving him insulin for three days. That's absurd, right? But I still have to fight that at the Fifth Circuit. But when it comes to DOJ, it's different because they're bringing criminal actions based on civil rights violations, which makes it a prosecution. And that is one of the best ways to hold accountable people doing these heinous acts. So I'm glad to see Ms. Clark and her team are really working as hard as they are because we're better for it as Americans. And, of course, it was on this day in 1955 when an all-white jury acquitted the two white men

for killing and lynching Emmett Till. Of course, that was Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. And I saw a couple of weeks ago, a couple of Thursdays ago, the movie Till, Of course, that was Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. And I saw a couple of weeks ago, a couple of Thursdays ago, the movie Till, the New York screening with Whoopi Goldberg. And I'll say this here, and I fundamentally believe it. I don't give a damn how old Carolyn Bryant is. I don't give a damn how sick she is.

She should be brought to justice and locked up for her culpability in the murder and the lynching of Emmett Till. And so if you can put Bill Cosby in prison, if you can put old folks in prison who were Nazi guards, well you damn sure can put that racist white woman, Carolyn Bryant in prison for what she did with

Emmett Till. And I ain't got no problem with her dying in prison, just like Byron Della Beckwith died in prison. And so y'all can talk about forgive all you want to. Yeah, okay. Guess what? I don't forget. I don't forget. So unfortunately, that has not been the case,

but it actually should be the case. Folks, going to go to a break. We'll come back. Apple Plus today debuts the Sidney Poitier documentary called Sidney. It is an unbelievable doc, and I was there on Wednesday for the Los Angeles screening, and you'll hear from Reggie Hutland and Oprah

Winfrey about it. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, where we keep it real, keep it black. We cover the stories that nobody else talks about. If you want to support us in what we do, please download our app the black star network app available on all platforms apple phone android phone apple tv android tv roku amazon fire tv xbox one samsung smart tv also please join our bring the funk fan club where all your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. Cash app, excuse me, you want to send a check or money order to

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thank all of you for supporting us on Roller Mark on the Filter. I'll be right back. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are black asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Jackie Hood Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders well let me tell you living a balanced life isn't easy join me each tuesday on black star network for a balanced life with dr jackie we'll laugh together cry together pull ourselves together and cheer each other on so join me for new shows each tuesday on black star network a balanced life with dr jackie each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine.

Together, we are Black beyond measure. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What's up, Lana Well, and Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What up, Lana Well?

And you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Wednesday, I was in Los Angeles for the screening of the Apple Films documentary on the great Sidney Poitier, the longtime friend of this man, Harry Belafonte. He's actually in doc as well. It tells the amazing story of Sidney Poitier's life, all the stuff that he had to endure. Here is the trailer. I didn't know there was such a thing as electricity or that water could come into the house through a pipe. I never thought about what I look like. I didn't know what a mirror was.

When you grow up in a community where everything you know is powerful and good and it's black, there's no concept of race that defines Sinti Poitier. I left the Bahamas with this sense of myself. There's no concept of race that defines Sidney Poitier. I left the Bahamas with this sense of myself. And from the time I got off the boat, America began to say to me, you're not who you think you are. I'm a black man in a white...

There was a habit in Hollywood of utilizing blacks in the most disrespectful ways. And I said, I cannot play that. I don't think Sidney ever played a subservient part. Never plucked his eyes, never ducked his head. They call me Mr. Tibbs. I'm a black man in a white bow. I'm a black man in a white bow.

It was the first time I had seen a black man assert his power. I'm a giant, and I'm surrounded by ants. I wanted to marry Sidney Poitier. He was like, wow. Movie stars should be wow. Biggest box office draw, Black Man, 1967-68. And the whole country is spiraling around him. We're hanging together by a few cultural threads, anddney poitier is one of those cultural threads the winner is sydney poitier it's not easy being the first when you have to represent

the entire race he had big shoulders he was given big, but he had to carry a lot of weight. If there were equality of opportunity in this business, there'd be 15 Sidney Quachies and 10 or 12 Belafontes. But there is not. Or maybe the other way around. Watch it, watch it, watch it. He's going to put black people in positions where they can have a career behind the camera. He came to this earth to move it, to change it, to shake it. You think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.

That's the summary of him. I love him so much. My life has had more than a few wonderful, indescribable turns. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, and I have lived them. Oh, mercy, mercy be. It really is an incredible documentary. And one of the things that was interesting, and it deals with

how some people perceived him, talked about how he was, you know, people called him an Uncle Tom. He was making white folks feel good with his movie roles. But there was a news conference that took place where let's just say he was not too particularly happy with a questioning that came from the media on the issue of race and the riots. This is also Sidney Poitier. What do you feel Ralph Brown's purpose is now? I figured that question would come. I am not familiar with all of Mr. Brown's methods, except that Mr. Brown suggests violence. Well, I am, by definition, in opposition to violence, particularly violence for violence' sake. Do you think the urban riots have affected the government?

I would say that the urban riots have had effects in every corner of the country and in every arena of life. Do you feel it's creating? country and in every arena of life. I would like to ask you a question. Why is it that you guys are hounds for bad news? Why is it that you know it seems to me that at this moment this day you could ask me many questions about many positive and wonderful things that are happening in this country. But we gather here to pay court to sensationalism. We gather here to pay court to negativism.

You guys have a job to do. I'm a relatively intelligent man. There are many aspects to my personality that you can explore, I think, very constructively. But you sit here and ask me such one-dimensional questions about a very tiny area of our lives. You ask me questions that fall continually within the negroness of my life. You ask me questions that pertain to the narrow scope of the summer riots. I am artist, man, American, contemporary. I am an awful lot of things, so I wish you would pay me the respect due and not simply ask me about those things. That is what we call a read.

Great job there. As I said, folks, the movie, excuse me, the documentary is produced, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, executive produced and directed by my buddy Reggie Hutland. And on Wednesday before they show the doc, they actually address the audience there. And thanks to the Academy Museum. And if you have not visited the Academy Museum, please do.

It's an extraordinary space. I'm here with my colleagues on this film, Derek Murray, of Network Entertainment, who called and said, did you want to do a movie about Sidney Poitier? So I think he got to the P in Poitier. Yes! And then I did the smartest thing I could ever do

for a project like this. I said, let's call Oprah Winfrey. Good idea. Take it. You take it. That's it. I can't top it. I'm going to mention your name. No.

Look, we're here out of love. This is, we love Sidney Poitier. We love what he represented for us individually. We love what he did for the planet. And, you know, this movie is for a lot of people. It's me attempting to pay back what he did for me, because if not for Sidney Poitier, I'm not standing here. I'm certainly not standing here, yes.

And let's be real, none of y'all are here. And it's also for my children, who my wife and kids are here, and they have not seen the movie yet. I'm like, how is that possible? It's just daddy stuff. They have no interest. Got it, got it. Um, because we want to make sure that our titans, our heroes, are remembered for generation after generation after generation. And speaking of titans and heroes, I'm going to pass the mic to Ms. Oprah Winfrey. Say a few words.

Say something before I speak. All right. No pressure at all, right? Yes. Zero pressure. I think it's actually important to say that this project started right back in 2018. It started with the full support of Sydney and Joanna and the family and embraced the concept of bringing this project to life.

It was long overdue, right? It was long overdue. So it started in 2018 and four years later, here we are together. This is epic. Well, when I got the call, I couldn't say yes fast enough. So thank you so very much for the call. I wanna thank John Sincinclair who's here tonight who was a part of my team at OWN. John Sinclair and I had done a two-day interview with Sidney Poitier for OWN and

those eight hours became a part of the grounding field for this documentary. I also want to thank Terry Wood and I want to thank Catherine Orr. Thank you so much as my field for this documentary. I also want to thank Terry Wood, and I want to thank Catherine Orr. Thank you so much as my colleagues on this film. Thank you so much. Appreciate all of the many looks and all the attention to detail that has gone into this film.

I believe love is in the details. And as Reginald said, this is an act of love. I have loved him since I was 10 years old. And to be able to be a part of sharing our vision of how we see him and allowing the rest of the world to see him as we see him is our offering. And you are one of the first, Toronto was the first, but you are one of the first, Toronto was the first, but you are one of the first audiences to see him. We have not publicly mourned him yet, our country has

not publicly mourned him, there has not been a public memorial service for him. So this film in many ways is its memorial and celebration of his life and you know all of the extraordinary things that he did, the thing that was most important to him was becoming the measure of a man that his father intended for him. And that's why his second autobiography was called The Measure of a Man. And his father had said to him that the measure of a man is how well you take care of your family." And that is the thing he treasured the most, his family. We know him as actor and legend. And so the thing that he loved most about himself

was that he was a father to these daughters, Pamela, Anika, Sidney, Sherry, and Beverly. The Torbj all the daughters. What does this moment mean to you and the family? It's a great moment, great moment for us to be here and share the film with you. I appreciate all the energy and love that everybody is giving us. I wanted to say a couple things. One, many people confuse the characters actors play with the actual person. In my father's case, he chose roles that reflected his values. So my sisters and I are very proud of him

and his commitment to leave the world better than he found it. So to honor him, I would like to ask each of you to leave the world better than you find it. Beautiful. Enjoy the film, enjoy the film everybody. Thank you so much. It really is extraordinary. I wanna start with you, Michael.

The thing that Reggie Hutland said I think is important, we talked about how we have to honor our giants. When Opie said there's been no public memorial, that was one of the, you know, we did an extensive tribute to Sidney Poitier, I think over a couple of days

on our show, and that's one of the reasons why, because I was actually greatly offended, if you will. Granted, he had been retired for 20 plus years with the type of coverage or the lack thereof really focusing on his legacy in his career from mainstream media, which is why, as Reggie said, we have to tell our own stories. Absolutely.

Power is the ability to define and shape reality and have other people accept your definition of reality as if it were their own, as one of our great African Senate scholars, Dr. Wade Noble, says. I did a tribute to Sidney Poitier on the African History Network show. I remember going to the movies with my parents in the 1970s, seeing the Bill Cosby, Sidney Poitier movies. We went to the drive-in. I was sitting in the back seat. I remember a piece of the action, Uptown Saturday Night, and a piece of the action, that was Cheryl Lee Ralph's first acting role. She was one of the teenage delinquent students in the youth program. So you have Uptown Saturday Night, a piece of the action, and Let's Do It Again. And then I remember seeing on television in 1970s, I remember seeing In the Heat of the Night, where he

was a homicide detective from Philadelphia, and Rod Steiger was the police chief. And I remember my dad explaining to me, because my dadiger was the police chief. And I remember my dad explaining to me, because my dad's family's from Mississippi, and I remember my dad explaining to me about racism in Mississippi and how significant that movie was. And he had three big movies in 1967. In The Heat of the Night, he had Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and then the other third movie, I can't remember the third movie that he had in 67, but that was like his breakout year. He had three big movies in 1967. So he's definitely missed.

He's a giant. He inspired so many. He's countless. And, you know, we need more like him. He was an activist, active in the civil rights movement. We need more like him as well. So I'm going to check out this documentary. The thing here, Breonna, that for me that has to be talked about is that I think that

this was the case then, but I also think we still see it now. Well, you got some black folks who don't understand lanes. And you have folks who didn't like the roles that he played and he was too subservient and he was he made white folks feel too good and too happy. I mean, we still hear those things. And I think part of this is not understanding that one, not everybody does the same thing. Not everybody is an activist, can be an activist. Not everybody should be an activist. And so when we look at African-Americans, we look at folks in our totality, how we all are contributing. The reality is, and the doc talks about it, Sidney Poitier made sure that he had hundreds of black people who were working on his films.

When he transitioned from an actor to a director, that's what he did. You talk Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby is the reason there's a black stuntman's association. He said, I'm not going to have somebody white with shoe polish on their face as my stuntman. He said, ain't no show unless y'all go hire somebody black. And so that's the thing that people have to understand.

Cosby wasn't Dick Gregory, but Dick Gregory wasn't Cosby, but folks play different roles and serve different purposes. Yes, absolutely. And I love to see, especially this year more than ever, the end of this year with Women King coming out as well and other documentaries. We had the Dr. Mary McCall Bethune statue showing and more documentaries coming from her. I love to see the overlay of arts and social action. It's a beautiful thing that we're showing our community now. And you're absolutely right.

Talk about a little bit more of the name we're not allowed to say on this show. He showed that he is not that, right? His life shows that what he was about was standing up for himself. And that slap that he gave back was everything. Made me happy. And so, yeah, we do need a little bit more of him. But, you know, do unto others as you want to be done. And when you do that to me, this is what you're going to get back.

And so I'm glad that he was able to have a life to stand up for himself and help so many other people. And I'm excited to see this documentary soon. Matt, last point here. You know, Sidney Poitier died January 6th of this year, and 94 years old, was turning 95 in a couple of months. He and Harrah Belafonte, their birthdays are literally nine days apart. And the doc talked about their relationship and how it is highs and it's lows and how they literally were linked.

It was Sidney Poitier got his start because he was the understudy to Harry Belafonte in the Negro Ensemble Theater. And what happened was he had to work that night. He had his janitor's job. And the night that Sidney Poitier filled in for him, it was a Broadway director who was in the audience. And that's how he was cast. And so his career took off because of that.

Then the funny part, which I did not realize, Harry Belafonte turned down the role in Lilies of the Field. He felt it was a horrible, horrible script. And he said how Sidney took it and how he put his touch on it. And that's how he wins the Academy Award. And so it just, but it just really tells you, it doesn't focus on those two. And in fact, I'll tell you right now, it would be one hell of a documentary. I'm obviously reading this text.

It would be a hell of a documentary, literally a doc that focuses exclusively on Sidney Poitier and Hair Belafonte and that relationship and how it was so intertwined. What's your thoughts, Matt? My thoughts are that, you know, one, that's our natural aesthetic as black people, as Africans, as Africans in America, is my opinion, number one. Number two, I think we have that onus on us always. You know, that's a beautiful story born from necessity, but one that shows that, you know, luminaries recognize the necessity of banding together and making sure that they put each other on and they checked in and they were with each other on and they checked in and they were with each other as they walked that journey. So what I would say is instructive to us as people,

as contemporaries now, is to make sure we always do that in every respect. And I think you say that a lot here on the show, but, you know, it's a beautiful thing to think that the same thing we do as Black professionals, as Black people in any respect, they are doing at the highest levels of entertainment and the longevity to their lives as well, that we've had them here, you know, as giants as long as we have. And one thing I wanted to say, too, I know there wasn't a public memorial, but I think sometimes we put way too much emphasis on that. Who cares if there's a public memorial when we know the stature of this giant and we are able to give the appropriate memorial. I mean, there should be. Don't get me wrong. But what they meant to us and what he meant to us is

something that we allowed to lose its import. And I agree. But I think I think the reason I think what Oprah was saying was by not having a public memorial, you didn't have the sort of the center of attention on Sidney Poitier, his life and his career, what he meant. And so the documentary sort of serves as that purpose. But that's also, again, why on this show, we don't wait for mainstream media to show appreciation for our icons. That's why we do that with our memoriams. We do that with our hour or two hour tributes as well, because we saw during COVID when there were not public memorials or in funerals, when Reverend C.T. Vivian passed away, when you had Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowry,

who passed away, you know, there was no public funeral for Reverend Lowry. And but we ensured made sure that we paid tribute to him. Same thing when Earl Graves passed away. The public memorial really was several months, a few months ago at Morgan State for him as well. And so so she's absolutely right. But again, this is why black owned media matters, because it's about us not waiting for someone else to tell our story. And so this documentary took four years to put together. And so we wanted to make sure that we honored him in due time. And I was talking to Ridge and I was sharing the story.

I was talking to Steve McKeever and others about Sidney Poitier, and I actually happened to run into someone who worked with him, and she said, you know, we talk about you all the time because what happened was we were, so the first time, so there were three different occasions I got a chance to meet Sidney Poitier and talk with him, and the first time was when Ben Jealous told me that Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier were gonna be presenting at the NWCP Image Awards. And I said, well, I absolutely have got to meet him.

And I called Mr. B and he said, you hadn't met Sidney? I'm like, no, I had not. And so I go backstage. And so when they present, they both come out. And everyone stands up. Everyone in the audience stands up. And they're applauding.

Well, that's when I got up and went backstage. Because typically at those award shows, you know, they bounce out as soon as they walk off the stage. And so I'm waiting backstage for them to finish. And they come out. And Mr. B introduces me. And I said, you know, Mr. 48, good to meet you. He goes, we've met before. And I'm like, we ain't met before. He said, oh yes, we have. He said, I know you through television. And so he begins to talk about appreciating my work on television.

And so I'm standing there like, hold up. Hold up. I'm supposed to be appreciating your work. And so we had some good laughs backstage. And then we took pictures, took a bunch of pictures as well. But then the next time, the next time that Image Awards, they were honoring Mr. B. And Sidney Poitier presented him the award. So, again, I go backstage, we're taking pictures, and we're walking, and all of a sudden, he stumbles. He literally

stumbles, and I catch him, and then I hold him up, and I brace him, and I walk him outside to his person, and they hand him, place him in the car. So probably about three, four weeks later, all of a sudden, my phone is blowing up. TV One has called me saying, Roller, I'm sitting at the point trying to reach you. And I'm like, all right, give me my phone number. And so the people are calling me on the network. And I'm like, y'all, just give me my number. And so I said, just give me his numbers.

I went ahead, called his office, and he wanted to thank me for catching him because he had had surgery a few weeks earlier for his heart, and he lost his balance, and he was telling me about what he had gone through. But then he began, and I never forget, I was at my brother's house in Houston, and then he began to talk about my work. And began to tell me, he said, one of the lines, he said, there is no backup in you. And so as he's talking, I mean, first you're sitting there, you're like, oh, look, Sidney Poitier is saying this about me. And so I'm literally about to just start breaking down.

And so I then go into what we call reporters mode. So when you cover the news for so long, you literally go into a space where you completely just drain yourself of all emotion because you're trying to focus on a story. And that was the only way I was going to keep it together. So I begin to just, I just, I was on my laptop and I just started typing what he had to say. And, and when we did the tribute show, I actually revealed what he, I read all of what he had to say, because I kept those notes, but it was just, it was just amazing to listen to him, and because, again, you don't assume someone watches you and knows what you do, but to listen to him talk about how I operate in my work and how I don't back down from anyone certainly just blew me away that Sidney Poitier had those things to say.

And it was just a great conversation. The last time was when we were at Oprah's house for the civil rights leaders for her Legends Ball. the civil rights leaders for their, for her legends ball. And they had the brunch on that Sunday. And I saw him, had this huge smile on his face and just sort of grabs me and gives me a big hug. And we take a picture. And so he, I mean, and anytime you walk in the presence of Sidney Poitier, it literally, it literally was like walking in the presence of a king or a queen that was literally

how people would approach him uh sort of uh you know with reverence uh and there are very few people i would say certainly a sydney porty and cicely tyson i mean you know there are very few people who command that level of respect. And that certainly was how folks in Hollywood viewed them. And so it's, I really hope folks watch this. Unfortunately, it's only on Apple plus, but for a week is going to be in theaters. There was a, a, a send it out. Reggie Huffman posted posted this. Do y'all have where? Because is it nationwide? I know Reggie posted it. And he mentioned where.

I'm not sure. Let's see here. It's the Lamel Theater. I don't know. Actually, they're in L.A. So I don't know if this is only going to be in Los Angeles, but it is in theaters. It's laemmle.com. It says forward slash film forward slash Sydney. And it says one week only for September 23rd to September 29th. It will be in theaters. I wish it wasn't just at that movie theater, but it is available on Apple Plus. And so, no folks, not Netflix, not Hulu, not Peacock, not all those streaming services. Apple Plus is a separate streaming service. And so check that out. And then, and if you do, and I know some of y'all

might do, y'all might just get Apple Plus for a month. It's all good. First of all, if you have bought, let me help y'all out. I think they're still offering. If you bought an Apple phone or iPad in the last year, you get Apple Plus for free for a whole year. So one, double check that. But if y'all do buy for one month just to watch the Sydney 48 doc,

also watch that movie The Banker with Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie, a true story. Two black men who were real estate visionaries in the 60s. But Jim Crow sent them to prison. They literally could have been. If Jim Crow hadn't gotten in the way, they probably could have created one of the country's largest real estate empires. Not black. Real estate, period, if Jim Crow wouldn't let them. So that's another movie that was

financed by Apple Films. It's on Apple Plus. Phenomenal movie. Hope y'all check it out. Michael, Brianna, and Matt, we appreciate y'all joining us on the show today. Thank you so very much. Thank you to everybody who actually watched the show today who contributed as well. Thank you so very much. Don't forget, tomorrow we're going to be broadcasting live from Warren County, North Carolina, the Environmental Protection Agency.

They're opening up a regional office there. We're going to be broadcasting that event. I'll be there on the ground. So we will see you all tomorrow from 1 to 3. We'll be live streaming from 1 to 3 p.m. in Warren County, North Carolina. So that is tomorrow. All right, folks, that is it for me. I hope y'all have a great weekend.

Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, and, of course, you can contribute to our Bring the Funk fan club. PO Box, check in money orders. Go to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is rmartinunfiltered.

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