#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Early vote surge; Rev. Barber rips GOP voter suppression; Shopify & Black biz; Black pols talk 2020

Episode Date: October 21, 2020

10.20.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Early voting numbers surge, Biden surrogate Symone Sanders talks about getting out the vote; Rev. William Barber calls out Republicans for their insidious attempts to suppress the vote; John Hope Bryant breaks down building Black biz with Shopify, Black pols in North Carolina talk 2020 electionSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Tuesday, October 20th, 2020. Roland Martin, Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Raleigh, North Carolina. Early voting has started. We'll talk to Simone Sanders of the Biden campaign. Five black women are running statewide here in North Carolina. We'll talk to all of them as well. Folks, we've got a jam-packed show. We're talking voting.

All this show, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Let's go. Let's go. Whatever the piss, he's on it Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics

With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rollin' Martin Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin Now

Martin Martez Folks, we're here at an early voting site here in Raleigh, North Carolina, where early voting began here on Thursday. North Carolina is a crucial battleground state. Remember, 2008 president, then Senator Barack Obama, won the state by 14,100 votes. Democrats have not won the state since, but it is in play this year. Let's go right now to one of the top advisors, senior advisors for the Biden campaign, Simone Sanders. She joins us right now on Roland Martin on the filter.

Simone, how are you doing? Hi, Roland. I'm good. How are you? Doing great. I know Joe Biden, as well as Senator Kamala Harris, they spent lots of time in this state. It is one that is in play. Democrats have made huge inroads over the last two election cycles, beating back voter suppression efforts of Republicans in this state. What is it going to take for the Biden campaign to lock down the Tar Heel state and put this state in the win column, depriving Donald Trump of a crucial electoral college state?

Well, look, Roland, we're just going to have to compete for every single vote. Senator Harris is heading back to the Tar Heel state tomorrow. Doug Emhoff was there earlier this week. Dr. Biden was there last week. Joe Biden was there on Sunday. The Tar Heel state is going to be seeing a lot of our campaign. We believe that Donald Trump and the Trump administration have failed Americans, specifically people in North Carolina. This virus, the pandemic, is disproportionately affecting folks in the state. And our message over the next two weeks, Roland, is really that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

are, in fact, the ticket that can truly help turn the corner, build our country back better, as we like to say, and get this virus under control. You talked about is also a key state, not just for the presidential race, but also for the United States Senate. Tom Tillis is running against Cal Cunningham. Tillis is the incumbent. Cunningham was up some four or five points. Polling data shows that Tom Tillis is polling around 14 percent among black men. What is going to be the message specifically from Biden, Harris and Cunningham to get those

black men who are deemed persuadables to shift to the Biden-Harris ticket as opposed to supporting Tom Tillis and potentially Donald Trump? This is really about the economy, Roland. You know, Black men in the state of North Carolina, much like Black men across the country, and all voters, frankly, want to know what the plan is for the economy. Is Joe Biden's economic plan an economic plan that will help put more money in the pockets of Black folks in this country, help them put food on the table, and close that racial wealth gap? And the answer to those questions are yes. So in North Carolina, actually, is where Joe Biden had a Black economic summit in Charlotte. CP3, Chris Paul joined us for that,

where we were talking specifically about the economic foundation and well-being of Black people in the state of North Carolina, but also across this country. So we have seen that message resonating, Roland. We are doing our shop talks, which are our targeted engagement to African-American men across this country. We have had a number of those engagements in North Carolina. And specifically, Joe Biden, on that debate stage this upcoming Thursday will be talking about his plans for folks, his family, his plan for black Americans. And we think that message is resonating. One of the critical issues for a lot of folks criticizing Joe Biden is a 1994 crime bill. People have also been critical of Senator Kamala Harris. Her term is D.A. and attorney general.

One of the things I'm still confused by Democrats, Donald Trump takes credit for the first step act, but the reality is it doesn't pass the democratic house. He can, there's no bill. It was improved by the Democrats in the Senate. Why, uh, why aren't Biden Harris talking more about the role that Democrats played and passing the first step act as opposed to letting Donald Trump take all the credit for a bill that frankly, if it wasn't for Democrats, there's no bill for him to take credit for. Well, the reality is, Roland, we're not going to, you know, have Donald Trump's conversation. He wants to talk about the First Step Act. And yes, Democrats did improve that bill. But to be clear, in his budget, you know, as Joe Biden says, show me your budget and I'll

show you your priorities. He has yet to allocate one penny to the First Step Act. And so what we are talking about when it comes to criminal justice reform is, you know, not what Trump likes to cheerlead about, but real issues and real results. And that is what a Biden-Harris administration would provide. And that's what this ticket is providing to voters as they're going to the polls over the next two weeks. And so, look, under a Biden-Harris administration, we are very clear that our Justice Department would have the resources it needs to root out, to seek justice in communities for families all across this country. You know, the Trump administration, even in the nearly four years as they've been in office, Donald Trump has not entered into one consent decree. And they have only opened one I believe pattern of practice investigation. In the Obama-Biden administration, the pattern of practice investigations and the consent decrees were mechanisms that the administration used to

help hold rogue police departments accountable across this country and really institute change. And so I think that Donald Trump talks a big game, much like he talks about his plan for his economic plan for Black Americans. But with less than two weeks to go to Election Day, I don't know how serious he is about a plan for Black folks. So the reality here is, is that voters in this election have a choice. Black people have a choice. And the choice is between the vision that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have set out of creating an equitable economy that works for everyone, a plan, an economic plan for Black America, or the leadership that they have seen over the last four years from Donald Trump and Mike Pence. And over the next two weeks, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be making a forceful case for why Joe Biden should be the next president of the United States. Well, the point I'm arguing is that Democrats didn't just make the bill better.

They actually made the bill a reality in the House. I just think you take credit for what you actually did, because that thing also resonates with a certain number of voters as well. Last question for you. We talk about making the case in these final two weeks. Obviously, health care, obviously education and economics is going to be going to be key. We're also seeing, again, what's happening in Michigan. John James against Garrett Peters, a down ballot race. We're seeing what's happening in Georgia as well. And that is how aggressive are y'all going to be with

boots on the ground when it comes to driving African-Americans? The reality is this here, there was a nine-point gap between black men and black women in 2012, a 13-point gap between them in 2016. Potentially, the Trump folks say they can get 20. How are you going to move those numbers to try to maximize that black turnout? And again, what folks are saying is, will there be a very aggressive ground game, door knocking, working with grassroots groups to make that possible in the final two weeks?

Roland, we have run an aggressive operation, I would argue, for the general election since June 19th. That's when we launched our African-American specific paid advertising program. As folks know, we have targeted folks on the ground doing door knocking and lit drops in targeted battleground states. And we have put, again, an unprecedented number of dollars into African-American paid media operations, digital, on television, on radio. We are organizing. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, and Dr. Biden are in the state. We've had a number of surrogates traveling into state. Magic Johnson, talk about Michigan, was in Detroit just yesterday. And so

unequivocally, we are fighting for every single vote. I'll end with this. In 2016, a 1% increase in turnout in Wayne County in Michigan, the county in which Detroit sits in, would have accounted for all the votes that Democrats lost in Michigan by a 1% increase, even though Michigan is majority white voters. And so what does that mean for us? That means that we have to have a strategy, yes, to turn out white folks and some suburban voters in Michigan, but we also have to have a real coordinated strategy to turn out Black people in Wayne County, Black people across the state. And that is launching our Shop Talk program in the state with Senator Harris. That means speaking directly to the issues that Black folks in Michigan care about. That's the economy, that's health care.

And making the concerted effort to communicate to folks that Joe Biden not only has a plan, he has made a commitment. And if you elect him and Kamala Harris on November 3rd, you can bet that when they take office in January of 2021, they're going to follow through on those commitments they have made to the African-American community. Hold us accountable, is what I like to say, Roland. Well, I can guarantee you I've done that. I did it with Obama. I've done it with Trump. And we certainly would do the exact same thing with Biden and Harris. Simone Sanders with the Biden campaign. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. All right, folks, I've got to

go to a break. We come back. We're going to talk with five black females running statewide here in North Carolina. We talk a lot about the presidential campaign. We talk about, of course, U.S. Senate races and congressional races, but state races are critically important as well. And we'll break that down next on Roland Martin Unfiltered Live from Raleigh, North Carolina. I think that we have to stop apologizing. We have to start bragging. Explain that. Everybody knows that I'm a Hillary Clinton girl, but I can tell you right now, if the one thing I could say about what she should have done is she should have told people what she accomplished.

She should have been up front and told people. No, no, no. You see that thing? That's me. Oh, yeah, in there? Yeah, me too. Hey, South Carolina, it's Magic Johnson. In 2016, almost 7 million black men didn't vote in the election.

And I get it. It's tough to believe in a system that keeps letting us down. But we can't push for progress if we don't vote. Bros, please vote early before November 2nd. If you need a free ride to vote, use promo code VOTETOLIVESC in your Lyft app. Visit VOTETOLIVE.org for more information. Paid for by Collective Future. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith.

What up? I'm Alana Wells, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha All right, folks, welcome back. We're here in Raleigh, North Carolina, in one of the early voting locations. Robert Clark here. One of the things that's important about this show is the importance of judo. Hugely important. Are you guys with me? Okay.

All right, folks. So, again, judicial races are critically important. And so we talk about this on the federal level, but also what happens on the state level. Joining me right now is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court here in the state. This is one of the things that, again, it's amazing. Start trying to connect the dots for people. A lot of people don't really think about that in terms of how critical judicial.

Look at. What? Judges. Oh, how you connect the dots together. You better pay attention to the judges. Please don't forget the judges. It is important. And all the very issues that people care so much about come before the courts often. You talked about racial gerrymandering and that case certainly has come before the North Carolina courts and gone all the way to the Supreme

Court of North Carolina. So, and those cases will continue to come. So it is hugely important for folks to not forget the judges on the ballot. We would start to pass in the state on the city level school board that have those judges. You see all the different voter suppression ones as well. Same thing. Again, trying to get people to understand that as well, how those races matter, how judicial races matter when it comes to the most brutal. Well, it really does.

And, I mean, the reality is most folks, when they go to court, they will appear before a trial court. And so most cases come before our trial courts. But those cases can be appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. And in a lot of states, judges are not elected, but in North Carolina, all judges are elected. So it is important that people look for us on the ballot. All right. One second. I'm having a slight audio issue here. So we're going to go to break, then we'll be right back. Fix that and we'll be right back this country was the right size in the prior centuries

for this next century it might be bloated to not handle itself it's like a seven foot three center who got a broken ankle gonna take a long time for it to heal i mean this is one of the reasons they call it the united states because it's so big, 2,000 by 3,000 continental miles. Then you got Hawaii and Alaska, two places it shouldn't have had that they all of a sudden assumed, well, with all those other areas, they imperialized. So with this large piece of land,

yes, geographically, it's beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful from east to west, north to south. I've been on every road everywhere. To fix this infrastructure, man, there's a trillion conversations that are going to go on. How do we fit in with it? How do we get a piece of it? And when we get a piece of it, what are we going to do with it?

Hey, it's Kerry Washington. Listen, I know that there's a lot that has got to change in our communities, and sometimes it's hard to imagine things getting better. And no, voting will not solve everything, but it is a step forward. So remember, in Ohio, you can vote early in person between October 6th and November 2nd. Plus, if you need a free ride to vote, use the code VOTETOLIVEOH in your Lyft app. Visit VOTETOLIVE.ORG for more info. Paid for by Collective Future. All right, so a lot of y'all always asking me about some of the pocket squares that I wear.

Now, I don't know. Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares. I don't like even the silk ones. And so I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago, and I saw this guy who had this pocket square here, and it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square. This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool. And so I tracked down, it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they're basically about 47 different colors. And so I love them because, again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear. So we don't have many options. And so we don't have many options and so this is really a pretty cool pocket square now what I love about this here is you saw when it's in in the pocket you

know it gives you that flower effect like that but if I wanted to also unlike other because if I flip it and turn it over it actually gives me a different type of texture and so therefore it gives me a different look so there you go. So if you actually want to get one of these shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors. All you got to do is go to rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares. So it's rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website and you can actually get this. Now, for those of you who are members of our Bring the Funk fan club, there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares.

That's why you also got to be a part of our Bring the Funk fan club. And so that's what we want you to do. And so it's pretty cool. So if you want to jazz your look up, you can do that. In addition, y'all see me with some of the feather pocket squares. My sister who is a designer, she actually makes these. They're all custom made. So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized feather pocket squares right there at RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares.

So please do so. And, of course, it goes to support the show. And, again, if you're a Bring the Funk fan club member, you get a discount. This is why you should join the fan club. All right, folks, welcome back to Raleigh, North Carolina. We're talking with Chief Justice, Chief Justice Beasley of North Carolina State Supreme Court. So one of the things that I've been covering the craziness in the state for a long time. And one of the things Republicans tried to do in this state was literally strip the Supreme Court of his power and try to move it to a lower court. I mean, how does it make you

feel as somebody who is supposed to be talking about the law and you're having to deal with politicians who want to play games with the law in order to gain a political advantage? Well, you know, the rules certainly do change and the laws change and it's important for us to all keep up with them. But the beautiful thing is that the courts really are the checks and balances. And that's why people ought to care about who's serving on the courts. That's why they ought to know the kind of experience they have. And it is important to serve with integrity. There's a whole lot on the line.

I mean, people don't come to court when things are going great. And so folks expect justice to be fair and impartial. And we're seeing this. We were seeing how important politics plays out, what's happening in Washington, D.C., when it comes to the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. And again, the cases that are going to go before the Supreme Court dealing with voting rights, dealing with Affordable Care Act and dealing with voting rights, dealing with Affordable Care Act, and dealing with voting issues. And so what I keep trying to tell folks is every single thing that we have, it's going to end up in a court system. So you better pay close attention to who's representing you on the bench, whether you're talking about Supreme Court, whether you're talking about

appellate, or even on the local level, when you're talking about mass incarceration, criminal justice, things along those lines. Well, and I'm glad people are paying attention to Judge Barrett's hearings, and I'm glad that folks were lamenting when Justice Ginsburg passed away, because the attention that folks are paying to the Supreme Court of the United States, you know, I hope will trickle down to the state courts. The reality is more disputes will be handled in our state Supreme Court than will be handled in our Supreme Court Court than will be handled in our Supreme Court of the United States. Because they accept very few cases. That's correct. So in an average year, how many cases does your state Supreme Court handle? We handle between, we probably have

oral arguments and hearings on about 115, but we have, we consider 400 to 500 cases a year. Yeah, that's a much heavier caseload than we see on the federal level as well. Got to ask you this. Might as well ask. People, first of all, how many Supreme Court justices here in North Carolina? There are seven of us. Okay, seven here. You have nine on the federal level.

Arizona, a few years ago, actually expanded their Supreme Court, which is why I sort of crack up when Republicans talk about court packing. I'm like, did y'all forget what y'all tried to do, and what you actually did in Arizona. Also, I think a lot of people have no idea how large these circuit courts are, how large the appellate courts are. And so when you hear the argument, people say, oh, no, leave the Supreme Court just as at nine, but then you have 20-plus on other levels.

Does it make sense, just your thoughts, does it make sense to have a court at nine, or should folks say you expanded to handle a higher caseload? I mean, how is that even decided when it comes to how large a court should be? Well, on the federal level, certainly it will be Congress who makes that decision. In North Carolina, there's certainly been talk about expanding our court, and here would be the legislature that would make that decision. I will tell you that North Carolina has the most diverse Supreme Court in the nation. There are three African Americans, three women, and the first Jewish member in 200 years.

And, of course, I'm the first African American woman to serve as chief justice. And so we've got to be mindful that if the makeup is not sufficient at this point, we've got to be thinking about why that might not be. Right. We've got a great court right now, and I'm hoping it will stay that way through this election. All right. Chief Justice Beasley, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Appreciate you. Thank you, sir. All right, then, folks. Again, what we're talking about, what we're talking about here, not just in North Carolina, but all across the country, when we begin to look at these races, we keep focusing on races up and down the ballot, not just, of course, what's happening on the congressional level,

U.S. Senate races and presidential level. We have to really stay focused what's happening in these state races as well. We see what's happening in Texas right now. Democrats could take control of the Texas House. That's nine seats. You have Arizona where it could flip as well. And so you're seeing the impact of how voting matters. There have been a significant number of people, of early voting in this state, a significant number of people early voting in this state. We have seen last week more than 500,000 in Harris County alone, Harris County, Lardis County in Texas, more than a million people voted early in Texas as well.

And also you've got to keep in mind, North Carolina is one of the states where you can also register when you vote. So, again, and we went over this on yesterday, the number of states where you can actually do same-day voter registration. There are some that allow for same-day voter registration during early voting, but not on Election Day. So a little bit later, we're going to actually have that graph for you so you're fully aware. A lot of states have actually ended registration. Only a handful left, but some still, about 20 or so, still allow for registration during early voting on site.

All right, let's talk to another candidate. How you doing? I'm doing well. Okay. See, you came on with the big button. You like vote Holly. See, you want everybody to know what your name is. All right, what's your name?

What you running for? I am State Representative Yvonne Lewis Holly, and I'm running to be Lieutenant Governor of the state of North Carolina. All right, so most people say Lieutenant Governor does nothing but just go cut ribbons. True or not? Not true. Not true. First of all, in North Carolina, the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate and determines the debate and gives people an opportunity to talk.

And this year, in particular, it looks like it will be a tie. And if it's a tie, it's the lieutenant governor who makes that deciding vote, which makes that one of the most important positions that we're going to have this time. Now, how long, I mean, Republicans have been governing the legislature for how long? How long have they controlled both? They used to have a super majority, correct? Yeah. And then they lost that. And so what is their margin in the House?

What is their margin in the Senate? Well, it's about 10 years that they've been in control. I've been in the legislature now for eight years under the supermajority in this last session. It was not. We need four, five votes to win the Senate, four to tie. And with my vote, that would be five. I'm not quite sure the numbers in the House because it fluctuates. We just recently had some people to retire, so I'm not quite sure what the number is in the House. But it looks very good for both of us to take the House and the Senate.

I also was born and raised in Texas, where that's one of the places where lieutenant governor is a powerful position because same thing, presides over the Texas Senate. And, in fact, it has long been argued that lieutenant governor is actually, in Texas, more powerful than the governor because of that. And so as you're traveling around the state, how are you making that case and getting people to understand why that matters? Because the current lieutenant governor is actually running against Governor Cooper, correct?

That's right. North Carolina has, they don't run as a team. And that's why we have, historically, we've had, right now we have a Democratic governor and a Republican lieutenant governor. We've had Republican governors and Democratic lieutenant governors. But this time we're going to have a Democratic governor and a Democratic lieutenant governor. Explain to the folks how difficult it has been in the last decade to witness the craziness happening in the legislature. I've been down here any number of times. And I would probably say out of any out of every state in the country, it probably is a tie between North Carolina and Florida. The number of times I've had to cover stories about what the GOP has been doing in this state, it has broken my heart to see some of the legislation, the rollback of some of the good legislation that we have done in North Carolina and in the country.

But that's one of the reasons why I'm stepping up to the plate to run for lieutenant governor. And I believe we're going to turn North Carolina blue this time. What role do you think Moral Mondays played in changing this state? Because 2008, it was a huge turnout for Obama. And then 2010 midterms, 16 legislatures flipped the GOP control across the country. And then all of those, all those gains went by the wayside. And then it was just sort of this constant drumbeat, and then the lawsuits and things along those lines.

How important was the people power to actually change the state? It was phenomenal. And to be in the General Assembly as they started, and they started with a few people, and watched it grow every Monday to the masses that they got there, it frightened a lot of the people on the Republican side. You know, they want to talk about it in bad ways, but it warmed our hearts, and we knew as Democrats that they had our backs. They had our backs on the issues,

and they were bringing these issues to the forefront, and that was a wonderful feeling. I believe it was instrumental in a lot of the people of North Carolina now knowing what the critical issues are and what they actually were doing in the General Assembly. Well, and look, it initially started off largely African-American, but as Reverend Barber and I talked about, as that thing began to spread across the state, there were rural whites in North Carolina who realized,

wait a minute, we're getting screwed too. Civil rights are civil rights. And people recognize that. And broke is broke. And broke is broke. Yes, that's right. Poe is poe. Right, poe is poe.

Poe is poe. So people begin to recognize that what Reverend Barber and the Moral Monday people were talking about were just common sense legislation and common sense issues that affect all of us, regardless of your financial post in life. We have seen significant early voting turnout. As you begin to look at the map, are there any particular areas where you think things need to be given a boost thus far? Or are you surprised at how the numbers have been increasing in various counties all across North Carolina?

Well, I am thrilled. I heard today as of 3.30 that 2 million people have voted already in the early vote. And that's phenomenal because in 2016 at this point we were only at, I think it was 700, maybe 750,000 people. So that tells me that people have had enough and they're coming out and they're coming out in large numbers to have their say in how their country is being run. All right, then. Well, we certainly appreciate you running. Look forward to covering the final two weeks of this campaign. And it is going to be quite interesting. Not just what was happening here in North Carolina, but also across the country. Thank you. I would like to say one last thing. and it is going to be quite interesting, not just what's happening here in North Carolina, but also across the country.

Thank you. I would like to say one last thing. If anybody is going to the poll to vote and they have any problems, they can call 866-OUR-VOTE. 866-OUR-VOTE. Nowhere, the way you are in the country, if anybody's giving you a hard time at the poll, that's just information that you need to know.

And I'm sure Kristen Clark, the Lawyers Committee, would certainly appreciate that. All right, thank you. All right, thanks so very much. Folks, again, we're talking about what happened here in North Carolina, folks who are running for statewide office, but not just that. We're also talking about what has been happening across this country. I told you yesterday, the Supreme Court ruling four to four, where they made the decision to allow a order to stand when it comes to votes in Pennsylvania, the ones that are going to be allowed to be counted as well.

And so we need to be looking out for that. Even though here we are two weeks out of the election, you still are seeing legal efforts. Republicans all across the country are still suing in states, trying to shrink, if you will, the electorate to try to narrow in terms of how many of those votes are counted in various states across this country. And so we'll be keeping you up to date of all of those different illegal maneuvers. Let's talk with another candidate. How you doing? I'm good, Roland.

How are you? Oh, good. What's your name? What you running for? I am Judge Laura Cuvage, and I'm running for the North Carolina Court of Appeals for seat number five. OK. So, again, folks, somebody's watching. They're like, okay, a court of appeals, what y'all do? What they do at the court of appeals is they review cases that come from the lower courts,

and they review the cases based on era of procedure, era of law. So they don't review for the facts. They don't take witness testimony. They're basically looking to see what the trial court judge did. So when we talk about when we cover these cases, then when someone appeals their case and they say they had bad counsel or they say evidence wasn't allowed or judicial errors, that's really what, when they appeal, it goes to the appeals court. That's what the court of appeals is looking at. Yes. So how when you, so how do you, when you're traveling around this state explaining to people this, I'm sure eyes are rolling back by saying, Oh my God, what in the world is she talking about?

Uh, and so, uh, what is the civic lesson you give folks where they can understand it as easily as possible? Well, what I'm going around the state, what I tell folks is because the majority of the cases that the court of appeals will review will be criminal cases. I often tell them if you are in a criminal case from the superior court, which is where I serve now, and you feel like the judge made an error or the judge did not give the proper jury instructions, then the court of appeals is where you would appeal that to. And they would review that and decide if in fact that happened. And if it did happen, what should the result of Appeals is where you would appeal that to, and they would review that and decide if, in fact, that happened, and if it did happen, what should the result of that be? One of the things that we've heard from so many folks,

and that is the belief that when you talk about mass incarceration, the role that the federal government plays. But the reality is there are only 10% of all folks in prisons, they're on the federal level. 90% are on the state and local level as well. And so what do you say to folks who might ask, all right, what impact do you have or would have on criminal justice reform or at mass incarceration? Well, the impact that judges have on mass incarceration is judges are the ones that incarcerate. So we have a large impact. On the criminal reform, judges are not legislature.

So we don't make policy and we don't make law. So that would be something that you'd have to discuss with your legislatures. And if something that they do gets challenged, then, of course, it will come to the courts. But as I said before, judges are the one that does sentencing. Even in North Carolina, we have a structured sentencing guidelines that come from the legislative branch. But we indeed, you know, we make those sentences. We hand out those sentences. And so if there is a mass incarceration problem, that is likely a judge problem. And that's why it's extremely important

to know who your judges are. As you said earlier, not just your judges on the federal level, but it's your judges on the state level that are making decisions that are going to affect your life for the rest of your life today. When you are, again, as you're moving all about around this state, are you seeing younger voters understanding and embracing the importance of voting in judicial races? Because what often happens is when we start breaking down election results, significant number at the top. But as you start going down that list, those numbers get smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. And what we actually seen over the last, I would say, 46 years, we've seen more people who will be understanding the role of district attorneys and voting in those races and voting when it comes to those judges, those municipal judges, but also those district judges as well?

I do believe that there is a shift in the younger voters getting out and trying to become civically engaged and understand how the powers of government work and the levels of government work. As I've been going around, and I just got off of a event today with young voters, and they're eager to know exactly what role everyone plays, and especially the judges. I want to say there was a shift in 2020 where our young people started really, really getting involved civically and really wanted to know, you know, what's going on in our courts. Well, again, it's important because I think when people start, that's one reason why we focus on it a lot,

because so many people don't really pay attention to judicial races until somebody is found guilty or until all of a sudden charters are not filed against someone or then all of a sudden everybody and their mom becomes an expert on grand juries. In a second, we're going to talk about the grand jury in the Breonna Taylor case where the jurors said they were not presented uh homicide charges so we're going to talk about that uh in a second but again I think what I think over the last uh four or five years I really think because of Black Lives Matter because of the activism in the streets uh you have seen a significant amount of education uh to lots of people who now realize I can't just focus

on who is governor or who's lieutenant governor or state senator and state representative. I better pay attention to these races that for the longest just got completely overlooked. And also, to be honest, not that many black folks ran for judicial positions. Well, that is true. And we are we have an increase in people of color running for these positions. And I try to encourage as many people of color to get involved and run for these positions. When you go into a criminal courtroom, you see predominantly people of color. And so it does them good to see someone in a position of a judge that looks like them. All right.

Well, certainly good luck. And we'll be following one of these races on election night. We're going to be on about eight hours or so on election night. And then we'll also be simulcasting our coverage on iHeartRadio's Black Information Network, 20-plus stations around the country. And so, again, unlike the other cable networks who only focus on national, we'll be paying attention to a lot of the races. Of course, the brother who is running for district attorney there in Hamilton County

in Cincinnati, Alpha Man. So we'll be looking at a lot of those races as well, the folks that we've had on this show as well. So we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We'll be back on Roller Martin Unfiltered Broadcasting Live from Raleigh, North Carolina.

I think that the millennials are now beginning to understand that there's a difference with elected officials and how they handle public policy. And there's a difference between those who just want a title and want some perks and a little upward mobility and those who are saying, hey, this is who I am, like me or not. I'm gonna tell it like it is. And if that means I don't win my election, then so be it. Hi, I'm Israel Houghton with Israel and New Breed.

Hi, I'm Karl Painting. Hey, everybody. This is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing your wobble. Yes, I am. Because Roland Martin's the one, he will do it backwards, he will do it on the side. He messes everybody up when he gets into the wobble, because he doesn't know how to do

it, so he does it backwards. And it messes me up every single time. So I'm working on it. I got it you got rolling all right folks welcome back rolling martin unfiltered broadcasting live from raleigh north carolina glad to have all of you here. I'm also checking out your comments. So if you've got any questions, let me know. Then I'll go ahead and ask them as well.

Joining us right now is Reuben Young. We're also running for the Court of Appeals. That's correct. Seat number seven. I'm a judge on the Court of Appeals currently, so I'm running to keep that seat. How many folks are on the Court of Appeals? Fifteen.

Fifteen. Fifteen. Fifteen. That was one of the points I was raising when I was talking about seven on the Supreme Court, 15 on the Court of Appeals. When people talk about also on the federal level, the number of appellate judges compared to Supreme Court justices. When we, the presence of black judges. Folks say the law is the law.

But the reality is a person's interpretation of the law varies based on their perspective. How have you seen that play out and why that matters? Well, I think it's important that we have judges that are on the bench from diverse backgrounds, not just as to race and to gender, but in terms of philosophies and perspective. And so while the law is the law, the interpretation of the law may be different. And much of the interpretation often depends a lot on what that person's experiences have been and the backgrounds that they come from. And first of all, look, we're seeing this now on the federal level. We're seeing where Mitch McConnell has made it clear that he wants to appoint largely 35 to 45-year-old, mostly white, conservative men to be federal judges.

There was one person that confirmed last week she finished law school eight years ago and has never practiced a case, yet is going to be on the bench for life. Let me ask about that, because that's another thing that people have brought up. Can somebody actually be an effective judge who's never tried a case? Well, I don't know. I've tried cases, and I think I'm an effective judge. But I've never been seen it from that vantage point. Effective, I think, is in the eye of the beholder. But you certainly want judges on the bench that have experience. You want to have trial experience. You want them to have various difference experiences in their lives.

And I think that lends to a fair and impartial judiciary. The thing that just look, it just always baffles me. Like, I can't imagine somebody being the editor of a newspaper who's never actually been a reporter. Right. I mean, it's sort of strange there as well. Same question I asked previously. As you are traveling around the state, as you are engaging voters, how are you? Do you find yourself having to give judicial lessons, civic lessons for the average person who says, I don't know what you do? Well, sometimes. But what's important for people to understand is that a lot of times judges are seen as the last defense with regard to a case.

So when you have conflicts between the executive and judicial branches, it's the judges that will make determinations with regard to the law and that interpretation. So it's critically important that we have people on the bench that are not predisposed to a particular philosophy. They're not conservative. They're not liberal. But they interpret the law based on how they view the law. And it's important that we have people on the bench that are of diverse backgrounds because they offer a different perspective than what you may normally see in the courts. But is that reality? Because, I mean, look, we hear all the time conservative-leaning judges, Democrat-leaning judges,

and how oftentimes we see it on the federal level. I once said this is a Trump appointee, this is a George W. Bush appointee, this is an Obama appointee. I mean, that sort of viewpoint is often seen based upon who the judge is. Well, but we got to struggle with that every day. Those of us who are on the bench that are committed to a fair and impartial judiciary

have to fight it every day. Do you run as a party, or do you run with no party affiliation? No, in this state, we are running as partisan. So I'm running as a Democrat. My opponent is a Republican. Right. partisan so i'm i'm running as a democrat my opponent is a republican right and that and so that plays that plays into it in terms of how folks view sort of uh who judges are i think so but you know i'm a democrat i'm a lifelong democrat but i'm not a democratic judge you know

i'm i'm fair and so when people ask me whether i'm liberal, whether I'm conservative, my response to them is that I'm fair. And that's what we want to have our judicial system reflect. Because when people walk into that courtroom, they feel better when they see somebody that looks like them and not somebody that they have not seen before, communicated with before, or have no perspective about. So that's why it's important that we have a diverse judiciary. All right, then, Reuben Young. We so appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Appreciate you.

And also told me that you can wear one of these shirts. I can. All right, then. So that's kind of important. It is. Being an alpha. So you got to say that, you know, because you got to, like, use everything to get votes. So you got to say, being an alpha man, so when a brother north carolina hears that then you could pick up that

vote well there you go there you go all right i appreciate it thanks a lot all right folks let's talk about uh another job that is uh commissioner of labor uh we want to go to uh she couldn't be here with us uh but we do have her uh via uh skype And so, Jessica Holmes, are you there? We should. So, guys, let me know when we have Jessica Holmes. Again, let me know when we have Jessica Holmes, please. And then if we're not going to have her, then let me know with time. And so let's just do this here.

I want to do a quick conversation. Come on up here. I'm going to talk to General President of Alpha Phi Alpha, Dr. Everett Ward, who is here. Doc, how you doing? How's it going? I ran Benny Boom's video yesterday. He said you asked him to put that together because you wanted a video that was specific for black men who are out there, who are not necessarily. Some people say they're not going to vote, but you said you wanted something specific to them. That's exactly right.

One million point eight African-American men didn't vote in the last election. We want to change that paradigm with this election. What? American men didn't vote in the last election. We want to change that paradigm with this election. What, well then how do we do that? Because is it a question of what the candidates are saying? Is it a question of listening to what they are concerned about? How has the Divine Nine been doing that? How have the attorneys been doing that to speak to those men to get them to go from not voting to voting? Well, I think the first thing

you said it right, Brother Roland, is listening to what the men have to say. What are the important issues? And then making sure that the candidates and elected officials are speaking to those issues. We found that pulling forums together and making sure that those issues are the priority, we see the numbers turning around. But the main thing we want to make sure is that our community is equipped with the information and the knowledge so they can make informed decisions and not get caught up in political propaganda. You've seen it. And we want to make sure people understand that this election is about economic development, about education, about health care, about COVID-19,

and not about, you know, who salutes the flag and the so-called American propaganda around patriotism. Black men have been patriotic ever since we fought in every war in this nation. So we understand what's important. COVID obviously presents different challenges. A number of organizations typically would have a lot of outdoor events trying to reach people. Now it has to be pretty much digital, reaching folks. How have y'all been dealing with that?

How have the other fraternities been dealing with that in terms of not being able to touch people directly, but having to reach them? Has it been through text messages? Has it been through email? How has that gone? Well, I think one of the things that's happening I'm so pleased about is the Council of Presidents, which consists of all the Divine Nine Presidents. We immediately came together beginning last year in September of 2019, understanding that this election and the 2020 census was two of the most important things that we needed to address collectively. Doesn't matter what years we were founded or what colors we wear, there's only one color

that's important, and that's the color black. And so we decided that we were going to be united, we were going to speak to the issues in a collective way, and our synergy was going to be around those important issues. Around technology, once COVID hit in March, all of us changed our approach to reaching our members, and then we asked our members to change their approach to working in the community. So webinars, being COVID-19 protected, still knocking on doors and doing what we need to do because this election is so important that we cannot afford not to be involved.

I often talk about this in Dr. King's book, Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos or Community. He said there were four institutions that are primarily positioned to move black America forward. He said the black church, the black press, Negro fraternities and sororities, and he said Black professional organizations. And you've heard me say this when I gave the Brotherhood speech to the brothers at the convention in Baltimore, that the biggest thing for me is that you have more than two million members in Divine Nine. We have a sophisticated infrastructure, but I don't believe that we are maximizing the infrastructure in order to have maximum impact.

How have you been making that clear as well to also move folk outside of the walls of the organizations to realize that people who haven't even seen us outside of the community, they might see the colors but don't know what they're looking at? Well, I think this election has shown, if you look at evidence now, there are no lines between the fraternities and sororities. We are all together, and we're using our infrastructure. We're using our chapter structure. We're using our district structure. They are involved in the elections in ways that hadn't been seen before. The other thing, too, is I think it's important for us to understand

that this election is about ending racism, and that's what we've got to understand, that we are not taking any backward steps. We are not going back to days where there's one segment of society that's dominant over others. So educating the community, using our infrastructure to do that. And another thing that you'll see is that all of our organizations now have formed political action committees, 501C3s, that's a new paradigm.

So now we're endorsing candidates. We have adjusted. 501C4s. 501C4s. Right, 501C3s can endorse. Yeah, that's right. 501C4s. I ain't trying to get us sued by the IRS, but go ahead.

That's right. But you will see that most of the organizations, Delta Sigma Theta, Omega Psi Phi, Alpha Phi Alpha, a group of us have formed the Alpha Pac, Phi Beta Sigma has formed the 501C Political Action Committee. So we understood that based on the current situation, we could no longer just have chapter meetings, love each other, sing to him and go home and have step shows. So we voted as an organization.

We're going to stop these step shows between now and the election. Our priority is getting people to the polls and making sure we elect the right people in America to represent this nation. All right, Dr. Everett Ward, I appreciate it. And so just leave me that sweater because, you know, I got the same shirt, but I need the sweater. But, you know, this is designed by a good alpha brother, Darren Thomas, out of South Carolina.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yes, sir. Absolutely. We got to represent. All right, Doc, I appreciate it. Thank you, my brother. Thanks so much. Appreciate all you do. Yes, sir. Let's give Roland Martin a round of applause for what he does. I appreciate it, absolutely. Yes, sir. We got to represent. All right, Doc, I appreciate it. Thank you, my brother. Appreciate all you do.

Yes, sir. Let's give Roland Martin a round of applause for what he does. I appreciate it, Doc. My brother. Keep doing it. We'll do it. Always good to see you. Yes, sir.

Welcome to my hometown. All right, glad to be here. Glad to be here. Good to see you. Folks, going to go to a break. When we come back, John O'Brien has a huge announcement, a multimillion-dollar plan to help upwards of a million black businesses. That is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. a multimillion dollar plan to help upwards of a million black businesses.

That is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. A society of male domination and chauvinism in a society where there's been for 400 years so much sexism and racism, so much economic cruelty and oppression. The conventional perspective of history excludes too much of the history of cruelty. James Baldwin spoke about the bloody catalog of our history. That bloody catalog is more influential today in many, many people

than any other facet of American history. And it's blind, it is invisible, it's unseen, and therefore many people yield to it. Hey, I'm Deion Cole from Blackest. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Every Tuesday, we normally feature a black-owned business.

Today, though, we want to talk with John Hope. He is the founder of Operation Hope. There's a major initiative that he is announcing and exclusive right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. John has been doing amazing work of raising credit scores of people through Operation Hope. They've been helping thousands across the country. John, how you doing? I'm all good, man. And as you know, we've had thousands involved in this Hope Global the last two days. I'm worn out, but I would not think about stopping or falling out without having a conversation with Roland Martin and announcing this to your audience exclusively for black content,

a black content creator for which you are, in my opinion, the premier. Well, first of all, I'm a little worn out, too. I've done a couple of party Zooms for Global Hope Forum the hour before my show. I had to do it from the car yesterday. I did it from the car here because I'm here in Rye, North Carolina. So, look, we're going to get it in how we need to get it in. We've had you on talking about black businesses, PPP. How do we

stand up black businesses? How do we grow capacity? What's this major announcement that you unveiled today? Yeah, coming to you exclusively for black America, for the video voice for

our community, the Roland Martin. We've been talking about what needs to happen, but now we need to move from talking to doing. So I am proud to announce today that, as a means of achieving social justice through increased parity of ownership of business, that we have, Oprish Hope has today announced a partnership for $127 million

with the second largest e-commerce company in the world, Shopify. As our first partner, it's not our only partner, but our first partner, our first signature partner, Shopify has committed $127 million. Oprish Hope is adding some numbers on to that, so it'll be about $150 million when we finish, but $127 million to stand up 1 million new black businesses

over 10 years. So this is not a one-day initiative, Roland. It's not Black Business Month. It's not Black Business Month. It's not Black Business Day. It's not. We're going to try. No. It's a decade, but serious. Ten years, which we, as you know, we, you and I talked about

this. I call this, we call this the third reconstruction period. It's next period of 2030 or 2020, 2030. It's the one MBB initiative, 1 Million Black Business Initiative. People can go to hope1mbb.org. The website is up. And we're going to ladder up new black businesses

and support them to be real and substantive. We can get into the details of that if you like. One of our partners, our community partners, national community partners, is the 100 Black Men of America. Our brother, Tommy Dortch, chairman, where they will provide black mentors to these black businesses.

A half of 100 black men members, I believe you're a member, are also business owners. So you sort of, you follow what you see or you model what you see. So we think it was good to have black business owners as part of this mix. John, you said stand up one million black businesses. We hear a lot of people in Trump's so-called platinum plan, I call it the aluminum foil plan, talks about creating more black businesses. We hear a lot of people in Trump's so-called platinum plan, I call it aluminum foil plan, talks about creating more black businesses. Joe Biden's lift every voice plan talking about creating more black businesses. You and I have talked about this here. My problem is not the question of do we need more black businesses. We need black businesses that have

the technical skill set and can build and grow capacity. The last thing we need are more black businesses that have one employee and that are doing $54,000 in revenue. And that's it. No, we need businesses that have 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 employees or even more. That is the key. How do we grow black businesses? Yeah. And you're one of very few people in the media who actually understands the details of what they're talking about versus giving a sound bite. You actually are classically trained or you've self-trained yourself in business and you're almost like an unofficial economist. You understand you've got underneath these numbers, you understand when something's real and when something's not. Ninety six percent of all black businesses today are sole proprietorships with no employees. So you're really a self-employment project.

And when PPP comes along, you can't take advantage of it because you don't have employees. There's no overhead for you to offset. That's what PPP covered. You don't have books and records that you can grab from. You don't have a banker that can get you in the front of the line because we think a banker is the teller at the bank branch, not a private banker or somebody that's assigned to you. We don't have a business manager. We don't have an accountant. We have no support system. We can't really build generational wealth, and we can't create jobs and that's uh we're winning the battle and losing the

war and when that person passes on or when that contract work wears out when they got a contract from the city of whatever when they let they retired there to do graphic work when the person who hired them retires or they pass on the contract's over the business is done uh you're back to zero we're gonna step back from this, Roland. Would you mind explaining how this works? No, go ahead. Absolutely. That's why we got you here. Because there's somebody who's watching right now

who is in desperate need of these resources to grow their business. Yeah. Now, I know people are going to sit here and go, did I just hear this right? Did this brother just say he's going to help me stand up a business? Is there a catch? No catch. Won't cost you a dime, but you've got to invest your time.

You've got to be serious about this paradigm shift. Here's how it goes. You get a hold of Operation Hope on the Hope in Hand app, on our 1MVB website, 1MVB, 1MeAndBlackBusiness.org, on OperationHope.org, on our 1-800 line. But I prefer you do it online so that your information is properly registered.

Excuse me. And now you're in our system. Then you go into our Hope Business in a Box small business training program or our entrepreneurship training program. As you know, Roland, those two things are different. Entrepreneurship and small business are parallel, but they're different. We get you trained up for free.

We help you to create a business plan for free. When you graduate from that 700 credit score program, get your credit score up for free, all sponsored. Then you graduate from that program and you now can start an e-commerce business. Shopify will give you a domain name for free.

Website for free. E-storefront for free. Digital storefront. Of course, the world has changed where everybody's gone digital, so we need to catch up. You cannot be a growth company without being a technology company. They will then give you a payment system for free.

So Shopify payment system. A license for four months for free. Shopify license. Fulfillment through Shopify for free. Delivery of your product for free. I'm going to get ahead of myself. I love this part. Black folks were really good at selling.

That's one of our brilliance. We can sell anybody anything. We can sell ice to Eskimo. You make your first sale, you get a credit line. I will say this one more time, slowly, so folks in the back of the room can hear. This is not about your credit score. It's not about how much money you have in the bank.

It's not any of the traditional criteria. You get your first sale of this business, and you get a credit line against that sale. You get a second sale, fourth sale, fifth sale, tenth sale. You're now being evaluated based on your ability to grow the business, not on other criteria. Now, that's not enough, as you and I both know. So we have a CPA firm here in Atlanta, Aprio,

committed $1.8 million in accounting services today, 50 hours a month for 10 years. That's just one of many firms. So we're going to give each of those businesses two hours from the CPA firm, two hours from a legal firm, two hours from bankers. So First Horizon Bank committed a bunch of bankers, and others will lean in. Now, the bankers not trying to help you with a loan application because you probably declined. The banker's going to counsel and coach you on how

to get your loan application approved on the front end. In other words, designing your business and structuring it so that you can get approved, helping you understand how the game is played. Business management on the front end, two hours. Business mentoring through 100 black men, two hours. And so now we've wrapped a team around you to help you ladder up and to strengthen your business to hopefully be successful. And even if that business happens to fail, Roland, the community still wins because now we've got a resilient mindset. Now there's somebody in your neighborhood, after a decade of standing up a million black businesses and 40 million black people, somebody's got somebody in their neighborhood who started a business, run one.

By the way, we're going to find a Steve Jobs in that pile somewhere. And that million businesses are going to be some outliers. John Johnson and all the heroes and sheroes that we admire in business are going to jump out of that group. But we're going to create a group of African-Americans who are like you, resilient, high confidence, high self-esteem about, you know, the James Brown version of affirmative action, open the door, I'll get it myself, a winning attitude. It just changes the way we see

ourselves, which is what I focus on in my new book, From Nothing. It came out a couple weeks ago. So this is wrapping success and a success team around all our aspirations at scale. In your previous book, you talked about us not getting the memo.

One of the things that when we've talked, Reverend Barber and I have said the same thing, that this moment we're in since the death, the murder of George Floyd, I keep people some call it the reckoning. I keep saying, no, we should be we should be framing this at the first reconstruction when we did the event, 150th anniversary of Freedmen's Bank, what that was meant 60s, the Three Civil Rights Act, King's assassination, Nixon's election and affirmative action. The failure of the first reconstruction and the second reconstruction was economics. That if you look at what came out of that, wasn't 40 acres in a mule. It wasn't a redistribution of land. It wasn't any of that, wasn't 40 acres in a mule, it wasn't a redistribution of land, it wasn't any of that, laws

were passed in the second reconstruction, this one has to be about money. This one has to be about how do we change this conversation and not just say, again, say, oh, we went from 1.9 million black-owned businesses to 2.6

million black-owned businesses. When we had 1.9, went from 1.9 million black-owned businesses to 2.6 million black-owned businesses. When we hit 1.9, we had 1.8 million that was sole proprietorship doing $110,000 in revenue. Now we've got 700,000 new black-owned businesses, but they're doing half of the same revenue. This has to be a moment where what you're doing with Shopify and what's happening with others, we're talking about multimillion- dollar deals, billions of dollars, because we're becoming a changing nation. 23 years, we're going to be a majority of people of color. The money got to change too.

Yeah. We failed, as Ambassador Young said at the forum today. We had Killer Mike, we had T.I., Tony Ressler, the billionaire, Ambassador Young, Lisa Borders at the closing of the Hope Global Forum. Folks can go online and still watch the content all week. Ambassador Young said that he and Dr. King and others in the second Reconstruction

succeeded in integrating the lunch counter, but they failed to integrate the money. They failed to integrate the dollar. And the dollar escaped our community, and frankly, with integration, there was no need for just black doctors anymore or black lawyers anymore because the community was not closed anymore. It was opened up. But we didn't get the self-esteem and the confidence and the resiliency and the belief system and understanding how, as you said, the math and economics and entrepreneurship and the wealth creation works. So we became great consumers, not great producers and owners.

And now we're a trillion-dollar consumer buying force, but we don't own anything. Roland, I'd argue, you say that it's about money now, and I'm being provocative. I know you know this already. I'd say it's always been about money. Slavery was about money. The word billionaire was created in the slave era. The wealthiest city in the world,

as I put in my new book, Up From Nothing, was Noxious, Mississippi in 1850. That was about cotton. That was about slavery. That was about money. Bringing us over here from Africa here as agricultural geniuses, because we were not dummies. We were brilliant geniuses of the land. That was about money. The Europeans coming, British coming over here and settling here was about money. They didn't give them titles. They gave them land. That was about money.

I'd argue that the first Reconstruction was about money. We missed the memo. The second Reconstruction, the 60s, was also about money. We missed the memo. But Dr. King actually was shutting down the economy, Roland, as you well know, in these small towns. The one guy he didn't want arrested was Andrew Young, because Andrew Young was a negotiator. And he'd have Andrew Young go in to meet with the business leaders after the sun went down, after a week or two of successful protesting, where the majority of blacks were in that town,

quietly, dignified, no anger. We shut down the economy because it's an unjust law. And they meet with 100 business leaders, Andrew Young would, and cut a deal to take down the whites-only signs, not the government taking down the sign, the businesses, the JCPenney's, Woolworth's, and the department stores and the bus companies which were privately up, they said, look, this may

be about white or black, but the color of the currency is green. I mean, we were probably the first Uber because we had that group of unofficial taxis, black folks who were giving each other rides around town when they wouldn't ride the bus in Montgomery. We probably inspired Uber 50 years ago. And when mainstream and white business owners saw the power of us organizing our dollar,

they stopped and looked at the issue and said, this is morally wrong. Racism is also bad economics. Let's stop this. And they forced the mayors to knock it off. The governor knocked it off in the 60s. So we got that piece. We got the right to vote. And thank you for wearing and encouraging people to vote today. I want to come back to that for a minute. We got the right to vote. We got middle class jobs. But we start. But still, we're writing checks. We're not cashing. So we're cashing checks. We're not writing. In other words, we're the employees, not the employers. And when we became the employers, we're not cashing. I'm sorry, we're cashing checks, we're not writing them. In other words, we're the employees, not the employers. And when we became the employers, we were not building wealth.

At most, we're getting rich, getting paid. I hate this phrase we love. I want to get paid. I want this money. I want this paper. What does that mean? That's what you do from 9 to 5. Building wealth is what you do in your sleep. And you need compounding in your sleep to build wealth. You need employees to compound.

You need business ownership to compound. You need stocks and bonds, real estate, education, something that is bigger than you that allows you to build wealth in your sleep. So we're at a moment in history, Roland. What are we going to do about it at scale? The guy who made your shirt, can I go on the Shopify? Can I go to his website? Can the gentleman who was just on? Okay, great. Love this shirt. Can I Google search that and get it

and buy it online? Greekdesigns.net, yes you can. But as you know, as you, and I love that that's a yes. As you well know, most of our plumbers, electricians, artisans, you can't find a Facebook page, a website, e-commerce. You can't find a Facebook page for me. Right. Yeah. We're not part of the new economy yet. One of the things I want to go back because there's some people who I'm looking at some of the comments and they're like, man, there's got to be a catch here. John, there's got to be a catch here.

They already saying, John, I can't trust we can get all that stuff for free. What, $127 million deal with Shopify? Again, reiterating there's no catch. There is a catch. Yeah, you got to do some work. That's the catch. Well, but also what I've said to banks, listen to me very carefully. What I've said to banks, what I've said to corporations, what I've said to Shopify, we are a future gold mine.

Don't you want us as customers? Don't you want to invest in us before somebody else does? Don't you want to platform these businesses and take a risk on us? It's not just good philanthropy, it's good business. What if a few of us catch

fire? What if we do good? You're going to benefit from us being sustainable on your platform. As we grow, you go. You grow. Shopify has one black business that they gave like $1,000 line of credit to. And now the last transfer was $500,000. That's four years. That business has now gone from doing good to doing well. Doing good was a $1, dollar hookup, but doing well was

when somebody's doing a half million dollars every two weeks. But that's a real business, and Shopify is benefiting from that. So it's doing well and doing good. So let's take the accountancy firm. They've donated these hours. Well, what's going to happen after? So when I was 10 years old, Roland, you know, I started my first business. There was a banker over there from Bank of America. They taught me financial literacy in my classroom for free. But where was my first bank account once I made some money? Bank of America.

Because I remember they were in my classroom. So if the accounting firm gives you two hours, four hours of free time, and you, a year later, 18 months later, you're killing it, who are you going to now pay to be your accountant to continue to grow that? Probably their firm hooked you up and got you into business. So it's a great deal because we're moving from philanthropy and handouts to teaching folks to fish at scale and putting some fish in the lake and then showing them there's an ocean outlet that comes from the lake that you can now not just go from just being a rowboat but own the yacht. And when you own the yacht, you're going to have a crew. You're going to pay for fuel.

You're going to, you know, I mean, everybody benefits when you grow. So there is a catch. And one, they're banking on the fact that a good portion of these businesses will prosper. And that's exactly what we want. We want people to see us as good investments. And when you have a 700 credit score, by the way, so let's say the chopper bike does this deal, but they're not going to finance your truck. They're not going to finance the delivery vehicle you need or the building you that so we can get your credit score up so that the banks now come in and go wait a minute there's a whole pipeline of businesses coming here we want that pipeline well slow down you got to give roland martin uh in his business you got to

give them prime rate you can't give roland martin eight percent you know like roland has a 700 credit score now or except 680 to give Roland a 3%, 4% loan like everybody else. That's prime. Okay. All right. What do you do? Okay, now you're not a black customer now, Roland. You're a green customer. You win and they win. You get access. They get prime loan that

will pay back at prime rate. I hope I answered the gentleman's question or the person's question. Well, I'll tell you what, I got one sister here. I'm about to read it. Where is her? She, this person said, I forwarded the info to my son. He's working on some things.

Another person said, I have already downloaded Cougar Lady 1 on YouTube, said, I downloaded the app and submitted my info. I'm with John. I work my business in the evening. She is not waiting until this interview is over. Hey, look, you make money 9 to 5. You hustle your dream 5 to 9. You build wealth in the third leg, which is, you know,

I guess you're 10 to 5 the next morning. Or you would say 9 to 5 the next morning. So 9 to 5 during the day, that's when you're getting paid. That's when you're taking care of your family. From 5 to 9, you're building this dream. You may have to do it part-time. We're going to help you. We're going to be your partner.

We're investing in you. And then you're going to sleep and let that compound, and you're going to help you. We're going to be your partner. We're investing in you. And then you're going to sleep and let that compound, and you're going to have compounded hustle. You don't have compounded capital. We know that. Black folks don't have the money. But we're going to bank on you being that there's a winner. There's a Steve Jobs,

what's our guy, Reginald Lewis. That's it. There's a Reginald Lewis waiting in one of your viewers. If you don't know who Reginald Lewis is, you need to Google search it. First black man to do a billion dollar deal on Wall Street. There's an Oprah Winfrey. I don't mean the

TV personality. I mean the business owner, Oprah Winfrey. She is both. There's a Janice Bryant-Hallroy, billion dollar black woman. Business. Embedded in somebody watching your show. Who's going to create hundreds of jobs or thousands of jobs and wealth for themselves and others.

The best way to stop a bullet in our communities is a job. That's a Van Jones quote. Next, that comes back around to social justice. John, tell us, folks, again, where they can go to get more information on this major deal you're doing with Shopify to stand up one million black businesses. Yeah. So you can download the Hope in Hand app. That's free.

You can go to OperationHope.org. That's free. You can go to Hope1MDB.org. That's free. You can Google search me and find a link to all this. That's also free. You can call us. I encourage you don't because we may miss the phone log. I want you to be registered, right? And get in the program. Again, everything we're doing, there's no registration cost. There's no application fee. There's no hidden financing cost. We got Shopify to take the basis. I'm basically using Shopify's balance sheet, Roland.

Basically, we convinced them to let us borrow one of the biggest balance sheets, $130, $150 billion company, MarketCap, to borrow their balance sheet for $130 million worth of in-kind for everybody we believe in, because we are making

a bet on you. And if the government tried to do this, Roland, by the way, and we want the government to come up with different plans, we want to encourage the government to rip off this idea, it would probably cost them $25 billion to do what this nonprofit has done with a leading e-commerce company for a fraction of that cost. But we think that that's what the government should do as a partial appreciation for what they got for us for free, which was 300 years of reverse transfer of wealth during slavery. But I'm not going to wait for that. That's a new Marshall Plan. We're not going to wait for that. We're doing this right now. Sign up right now.

And within six months, you can get this entire process done. I mentioned to you, probably three months on the inside, six months on the outside. And no matter what happens, you're better off on the other side. And for the folks out there, I see y'all comments. comments no john is not a mom and

pop so when you call you are not going to talk to him that's why he has staff all right john o'brien operation hope folks we have been restreaming uh the global hope forum sessions uh for the past two days we're going to to continue doing that throughout the rest of this week and the weekend as well. Some great information displayed there. But please be sure to download the app and pass it on. You know black business owners who need the support. So pass the information on. The goal is to stand up one million black businesses.

John, I hope Brian will appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Congratulations on this deal with Shopify. Thank you for all you do, Roland. And I do appreciate that folks like me. This can't be this simple. Well, sometimes it is. Sometimes good things actually are simple.

What we got to do is not miss the memo. It's time to lean in. It's time for us to come up, up from nothing. Thank you, Roland. I appreciate it, sir. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, we're going to go from John O'Brien to Jessica Holmes. She was supposed to be with

us, but she couldn't make it for us. She's a candidate for Commissioner of Labor here in North Carolina. She joins us via Skype. Jessica, how you doing? I am doing well, and I appreciate what the brother said, that it is indeed time for us to come up. See, you miss all the fun.

Everybody else is here. Where you at? Well, certainly glad to have you with us. Let me ask you this question here. And so we were just talking about, of course, talking there with John about black businesses. You're running for commissioner of labor. What does that position do?

What do you facilitate? Talk to us about that job that you want. I'll first start by noting that I appreciate your shirt as a woman of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated. I appreciate you representing so well.

And just to tell you a little bit about the labor commissioner role. Many people in North Carolina know the position because it has its face. The commissioner of labor has her face in every elevator in the state of North Carolina. But statutorily, the role of the commissioner of labor is to ensure the safety, health, and general well-being of North Carolina's workers. And what could be more important than doing that right now in the middle of this global pandemic? And so when you talk about insuring those workers, we have seen a lot of this in the last several months when it comes to workers and the issue of coronavirus and having proper protection, PPE, on their jobs. Social distance. Those are all issues. I grew up as a first-generation college student,

worked my way through college, everything from being a waitress to working at the mall and becoming the first person in my family to also go to law school. I've spent the majority of my legal career focusing on labor and employment law and representing employees all across the state of North Carolina. So not only do I bring experience as someone with lived experience, but also someone with the legal experience to enforce the regulations of the Department of Labor. Also, in 2014, I made history by being elected as the youngest county commissioner ever elected in Wake County's history.

Where you are, we're happy to see you in North Carolina. I represent all one million constituents here in North Carolina, over a billion dollar budget. And God willing, with the support of North Carolinians, I will make history again this November as the first woman of color to ever serve on our Council of State,

along with Representative Yvonne Holly, but also being the first woman of color to ever be Labor Commissioner in our state. All right, then. Well, Jessica Holmes, certainly good luck with that. We thank you for joining us here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. All right. Look, folks, how to make all this possible. The reality is it requires us getting out to vote as well. We've long heard about souls to the polls that churches conducted.

In addition to some people use the other souls to the polls, S-O-L-E-S. We've seen it happen on HBCU campuses as well. Earlier today, I had an opportunity to go to North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central. We're going to have some of those interviews for you on tomorrow's show. But right now, we want to talk to Pastor Hen Riley, who has been focused on that. First and foremost, your name and what church you're pastor? Pastor Mitch Summerfield right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. Word of God Fellowship Church. How has the faith community been mobilizing and organizing beyond just encouraging people? Are they taking advantage of also their own resources with church vans and buses

and getting folks to the polls safely? Well, one of the things that we did, well, a lot of churches that I've been talking to have been actually setting up polling sites in their church locations. One gentleman, really good friends with, right in Durham, North Carolina, had a polling site right in his church.

And he actually set that up to make sure that he gave his people the best way to get there and vote. For us, we actually had an event this past weekend, a motorcycle group. We actually brought them in and we actually rode around to the polling sites in Orange County, Durham County, and Wake County. And then right at church this past Sunday, we caravaned as many cars as we could down to the local polling site. And we had, you know, countless numbers of people who were in line, ready to vote. And look, we've seen that level of mobilization, you know, all across the country. We've also seen efforts by Republicans to attack that. Some places they actually have stopped voting on Sundays because they're like, no, we can't have all these black people showing up on voting on Sundays. And so how else, you know, what other efforts are there?

Are churches also, are they doing civic engagement where they are also walking folks through the issues and the candidates as well? Because there are a lot of folks who on the Facebooks, they say, look, I don't know all these people. I don't have time to study it. Is that voter education happening too? Yes, especially at my church. A year ago, started the conversations right there in the pulpit on Sundays as much as I could, getting the people to understand exactly who they're voting for, understanding the importance of knowing what people, what candidates are running, what their issues they're standing firm on, not really trying to sway them any one way.

Not really. I want them to get educated themselves and even bringing people in in my pulpit to actually help educate the people as well. So I've been using my platform to be able to do that. We have seen in other states, I mean, a tremendous amount of energy because a lot of folks don't like Donald Trump. We've seen that. Are you seeing that as well, that are you seeing folks with a higher level of motivation than four years ago in 2016? Yes, I am seeing that. It is something that a lot of, I'm seeing that it's kind of almost like a great divide, especially amongst the church congregations. You're getting a higher number of people who are extremely adamant about not being for Donald Trump.

And we're really trying to pray our way to the right decision. I'm believing that if we unify together, I've really been trying to get the church to understand that we have to exercise our right, and that is getting out there to vote. If we could do it as early as possible, that would be even better. You also see a generational divide. I mean, what are you seeing from younger voters?

We've done a lot of stories on the polling data. One particular poll, what, 37 percent of voters under 50 said that they did not believe their vote actually leads to change, even though they've been out there protesting as well. And so what has that engagement been like? I think, well, and I can only say, you know, in my demographic at my church, my younger demographic, I talk about it so much that it's so difficult for them to feel any other way. They're very, very sure that their vote will matter, their vote will count, and they're very, very sure that their vote will matter, their vote will count, and they're very adamant about it as well. So what you're saying is that if you have an engaged pastor, if you have an engaged leader, look, I've been arguing that really what we have to return to, we have to return to,

you know, SCLC has citizenship education classes. That's really what Rainbow Push did every Saturday. Same thing. And I think that we make assumptions all the time that people know. Right. I got you. I keep saying, no, folks don't know. Yeah, they don't. The people who are busy with all kinds of stuff, they don't know the ins and outs, the minutiae of public policy and politics.

And I think we have to get back to basics of walking folks through so they understand, you know, this is what the city council does, what the county commissioner does, state legislature, what Congress does, what judges do, what the DA does. I suppose the folks just thinking it's all sort of one big confusing thing. Right, right. And I think one of the things that having a pastor that is engaged with these levels of leadership, especially within the General Assembly, if you have a pastor that's engaged with these people, my relationship with a lot of these people allowed and afforded me the opportunity

to have them come through, especially on Sundays during church, and for my people to get to know these people and actually see, and they can go do their research on their own after they've seen them in the physical. Well, again, I really hope a lot of class, really hope a lot of churches, even after the election, put this in place and don't do it just around elections.

I think it has to be a continuous thing because there's going to be a lot of energy around the presidential election, but there are going to be upcoming school board races and local races that oftentimes see turnout of 10 or 15 percent. If we vote our numbers, we could take over and run the table. Absolutely. I agree with that 100 percent. But I mean, one of the things that we're even this coming weekend, the 25th, we're going to actually do another another push, another rally. Not when I don't want to call it a rally, but we're going to do another push getting souls to the polls this coming weekend as well from 1 to 4.

So we're inviting as many people as we can to come out and turn up. And we're giving away food. Everyone that gets a Vote Early sticker, they'll get a box of food. We're trying to help the community at the same time. Right, right. Absolutely. Well, nothing wrong with free food. Yeah, 100%.

Nothing wrong with free food. Yes, sir. Vote, get some free food. All right. Good trade-off. Let's go. Okay. Well, nothing wrong with free food. Yeah, 100%. Nothing wrong with free food. Yes, sir. Vote, get some free food. All right. Good trade-off. Let's go. Okay. I certainly appreciate it.

Thank you, sir. Thank you so very much. All right, folks. Got to go to the commercial break. We come back. We'll chat. Remember, that's William Barber. Next on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

And I think that's why what we're seeing so much, especially when you look at who's controlling the country and how the country is being controlled, it is because the powers that be and those that know how the system works are taking advantage of the system for their own interests. So part of it when it comes to this millennial generation is education. You've got to understand why it's so important, understand what's really at stake. So the things that you're seeing that they may be seeing right now that make you angry, here's how you can affect change. I'm Chrisette Michelle and you're watching

Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay woke. So this is Roger Bob. I got a message for Roland Mascot. Oh, I'm sorry, Ascot Martin. Buddy, you're supposed to be hooking me up with some of these mascots. I'm sorry, ascots that you claim to wear.

Where's mine, buddy? Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I think that the millennials are now beginning to understand that there's a difference with elected officials and how they handle public policy. And there's a difference between those who just want a title

and want some perks and a little upward mobility, and those who are saying, hey, this is who I am, like me or not, I'm gonna tell it like it is, and if that means I don't win my election, then so be it. This country was the right size in the prior centuries. For this next century, it might be bloated to not handle itself. It's like a 7'3 center who got a broken ankle. It's going to take a long time for it to heal.

I mean, this is one of the reasons they call it the United States, because it's so big, 2,000 by 3,000 continental miles. Then you got Hawaii and Alaska, two places it shouldn't have had that they all of a sudden assumed, well, with all those other areas they imperialized. So with this large piece of land, yes, geographically, it's beautiful. Probably one of the most beautiful from east to west, north to south. I've been on every road everywhere. To fix this infrastructure, man, there's a trillion conversations that are going to go on that how do we fit in with?

How do we get a piece of it? And when we get a piece of it, what are we going to do with it? All right, folks, welcome back. Roland Martin here, unfiltered, here in Raleigh, North Carolina. I have spent time today going to various polling locations, going to North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central as well. So how did this happen? Well, last week, early voting started on Thursday. Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, of course, convener, repairs of the breach.

He hit me up. He said, he said, Doc, I need you to come to North Carolina to do Roland Martin unfiltered to encourage folk. Talk to folks. He said, we got people running statewide. We need to encourage folks to vote for them as well. And I said, OK, cool, we'll do it. So this thing was put together real quick, as in yesterday we made it happen, and so we certainly appreciate it. And he joins us on the phone right now, Reverend Dr. Barber. What's up, Doc? Man, I'm so glad you came. I'm sorry, Mr. Earley.

I was actually on a national labor call pulling together the Poor People's Campaign, the AFL-CIO, moving people out to vote. You know, you and I have been talking about you've got to have more than a mouth. You've got to have a method. And so, you know, we've got 3,000 people now that we've organized to make 2 million calls to poor and low-wealth voters in eight states that are infrequent voters. And we're looking at the percentage. But let me tell you how important it was, Doc, for you to be here and why y'all need

to support Roland Martin and what he's doing, because only he could pick up and do this and get where we need to be. North Carolina, all those lines you see, all those folks you see in line, that's because the movement in 2013 took on the state legislature when they filed the worst voter suppression laws, and they rolled back early voting and same-day registration, and they wanted to put in a photo ID. And we took them on. We filed a suit within 47 minutes of the bill that they passed rolling. We put folk in the street for four years, 1,200 people, civil disobedience, white, black, and otherwise. We registered 10 percent of unregistered voters, black voters. We beat them at the ballot box. They spent $6 million of taxpayer money. We had pro bono lawyers, NAACP, Mall Monday,

Forward Together Movement. We beat them in the court. We proved that what they did was surgical racism, racism with surgical intent. We beat them in gerrymandering. Now, these 17 days of early voting, that didn't come just because the Board of Elections said they wanted to do it. That's a victory, Doc, of the movement. Sunday voting, Saturday voting, that's a victory. The fact that we don't have no photo ID, that's a victory. The fact that we don't have no photo ID, that's a victory. The fact that a felon is a felon in this state, even if they haven't paid all their stuff, if they're out, they can vote. That's a victory.

Now, what we need folks to do, Roland, is use the damn victory. You know, I'm just straight up. I'm like you sometimes. Yeah, we won the right. Now, you. Shit. I do want to go back. I do want to Well, but I do want to go back. I do want to go back.

I do want to go back to what you're saying. Now, you know I cuss, so I ain't got a problem with that. I do want to go back to what you said. Because it's all good. I learned how to cuss from a Catholic priest, so it's all right. So I do want to go back to what you said, Doc, because this is the thing that I keep saying to our people over and over again. What y'all did with Moral Mondays, you mobilize and organize.

I think too often we're operating on emotion, but we're not focused on mobilizing and organizing the people and then create people power, as Ella Baker said, from the pew to the pulpit, as opposed to waiting on pulpit to pew. That's right. And you won't ever hear us say in the way we do movement that we got to move from protest to policy. You don't move from protest. But protest is about policy. The policies we fight for is a matter of protest.

When I fight, when we pass living wages, we are protesting having living wages. When we pass voting rights, we are protesting voter suppression. So it's not either or. It's not like these false dichotomies. You get in it, and you got to stay in it. And anything you march about in the street, you want to get in the courts. You want to put about in the street, you want to get into courts. You want to put it under the Constitution. You want to register enough voters to do it. We had a governor that signed this crap. He's home now. We sent his butt home. We didn't take but 10 percent of unregistered voters. We looked at the numbers. We knew if we got 10 percent of unregistered voters to vote, he could go. He's gone. Now we have a new boot gerrymandering.

They don't have the advantage of racialized gerrymandering. Now if people vote, there are 450,000 African-Americans who didn't vote the last time in North Carolina. Trump only won by 1,700 votes per county, 170,000 votes. Black folk, you all can change that. You don't have to just get mad. You can change that. You don't have to just get mad. You can get evil. There are 920,000 poor and low wealth people that didn't vote last time. If just 19 percent of them vote this time, then you overcome the margin of his victory last time. Tom Tillis, who was the architect, Roland, of all of this craziness, the voter suppression, he only won by 30,000 votes in 2014. So you don't even need a

lot to get him. The point is, you got to have a movement. You got to have strategy. And not only that, watch this. And this is critical. You talk about this all the time, Rose. We now have five black women running statewide, five black women. But they're not just running for office. They're running for strategic office. So one of them is running for chief justice of the Supreme Court. We're the only southern state that has three members of the state Supreme Court that are black, and the chief justice is black. We got one running for the appellate court. The secretary of labor is a black woman. The

secretary, the light governor, the lieutenant governor running is a black woman. The person that Tom Tillis denied a hearing for a federal judgeship, Patricia Goodman, she's now running for Congress. You've got to have it all, right? In other words, in our fight, we don't put up any aspect of our battle. We don't silence any part of our voice. We don't keep any of our arrows in the quiver. If we're going to be in the fight, we got to be in the fight all the way. And so, brothers and sisters, these 17 days that we have, Monday through Friday,

they were won by fighting. We now need all of you, black folk that are right, white folk that are right, because you called me this morning, and you hooked me up, said there's some black folk we can't trust even now, like that boy in Michigan. And we got one running for lieutenant governor in North Carolina. He's terrible.

He's just, you know, he's taking on a black woman. And the sisters ought to just shut him down just because of the way he's talking to the black woman. You ought to hear him. He's running. I don't even call his name. But the bottom line is the sister is the one we should be voting. She's running for lieutenant governor. So the Republicans put this nasty-mouthed black man up against her.

You know, that's basically kind of—he's just like the boy out of Michigan and kind of cutting the mole of Tim Scott and so forth and so on. But the bottom line is we don't have to take any of this, Doc. We are millions strong. There are 44 million of us black folks that can vote. There are elsewhere. 18 years older, born and naturalized in this country. Forty two million of us. Trump didn't win by 80,000 votes.

Forty two million of us. And even last time, about 30 percent of us didn't vote. So now is the time to stand up and vote. Use these tools that we have. Use this opportunity that we have. And North Carolina, Roland came here because Roland understands that if North Carolina can break the back of this control of the Senate, North Carolina can change the presidency, right? And so we need to do it, y'all. We need to do it. Yeah.

Now, Reverend, you got me in trouble here because they told me it's four black women running statewide and one brother, an alpha man, Ruben Young. Oh, yeah. I know Ruben Young wanted to holler back at me. That's my frat brother, our frat brother. I apologize, Brother Reuben. And I say Patricia Goodman is running five because she has a – I consider her rate even though it's a district rate.

But that's right, Brother Young. You're right. You're right. I stand back, frat brother, running for the appellate judge. So we got a black man and a black woman running for the appellate judge. We got the black woman running for chief justice of the Supreme Court. And by the way, y'all, if we're going to deal with these issues of laws around policing, you've got to have judges. You've got to have DAs.

That's right. Right, Bowler? That's right. That's right. You've got to have folk in place, right? They can review the law, call laws unconstitutional. You got to have folk that have come up through the ranks. They know what's going on. They know how to apply the law. You know, you don't need nobody like Amy who wants to talk about she's an originalist. But I know what she's an originalist

to. She's an originalist to the 1787 Constitution, not the 1868 Constitution or the 1872 Constitution. That's two different constitutions because in 1787, you didn't have 13th, 14th, or 15th Amendment. You know, you got to watch this language, Roland. These folks got slick language. You know, I'm an originalist. Originalist about what? Well, first of all, if she was an originalist, if she was an originalist, she wouldn't be on the Supreme Court.

She wouldn't be. That's right. That's exactly right. You wouldn't even be there because women couldn't vote, nor could their whole office. That's exactly right. So we just got to wake up now and use the power that we have. And, you know, I'm not encouraging violence.

I encourage violence. And I wouldn't dare do that. So don't y'all hear this metaphor. But I come from that home where Big Mama would slap me in the mouth every now and then. You get getting grown folks. And see, Trump and all them, they've been messing in grown folks business. Because my health care is grown folks business.

They may be saying it's a game, but it's grown folks business. I live in wages, grown folks business. Hold him right. It is grown folks' business. They may be saying it's a game, but it's grown folks' business. I live in wages, grown folks' business. Hold him right, it's grown folks' business. And so every now and then when folks get messed in, grown folks' business, that they ain't got no business messing in, they don't have any business time to take away, you got to slap them in the mouth.

Tell them to go somewhere and sit down. Our vote is the way we slap some folk in the mouth. I agree 100%. Rembarber, I appreciate it, man. Glad we came down here. We're going to run a lot of the interviews that we did with some of the students and others on tomorrow's show.

We'll be pushing on social media as well. We're going to keep pressing and we're reminding people, you can not only vote early in North Carolina, but you can also register as well. Same day. We can't overlook that. Same day registration. That's right.

We want that too down here. You know, you get up in the morning, you're not registered to vote, but you said, dog, I would like to vote. All you got to do is go, brother. All you got to do is go. And you can register and vote the same day in the same line at the same place. So, you know, now, Roland, I got to say this as I go. Somebody said, well, we don't hear you talk a lot about love. I said, yes, you do.

I talk about love all the time. I said, but there's one difference about it. I talk about it, but I know something. My grandmama talked to me something about love. One day I came home from college, and I said, Grandmom, let me kiss you and hug you because I love you. She said, you love me, go out there and pick that hoe up and chop my corn and my collard greens and make

sure they grow. She said, love is an action word. And so, you know, if you love this country, vote. If you love folk that need healthcare, vote. If you love living wages, vote. And even if you love the folk that are misusing their power, if you know, you're not a

hateful person. You don't hate Trump. You don't hate so you, you know, well, love them enough to send them home to get it. Because they really don't need the power that they have. Just send them home and let them have time out or something. Love them enough to stop them from hurting themselves and hurting

us. But for God's sake, vote. Vote. Well, I sort of frame it this way. A prophetess, a friend of mine, Prophetess Edna, she said there were some people I was working with at a magazine in New York, and she said, I want you to get some blessed oil, and I want you to pray them to their own divine good, which means away from here. And so we need to pray Trump and Tillis and all the rest of them

to their own divine good out of public office. They can go somewhere else. So, Reverend Dr. Bob, you can use that one. Pray them to their own divine good, because it ain't here. I've already got it, though. I got it. I'm going to give you credit the first two times, and then I'm going to say the Lord told me.

That's fine. Ain't no problem. I appreciate it. Reverend Dr. William Bob, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Take care now. Take care. Bye-bye.

All right, then. All right, folks, that's it for us. If you Take care now. Take care. Bye-bye. All right, then. All right, folks, that's it for us. If you want to support what we do here at Rolling Modern Unfiltered, you can, of course, join our Bring the Funk fan club. 13,100 people have already signed up for our fan club. Look, your dollars will make it possible for us to do what we do, to be able to travel here, broadcast the show. On Friday, I will be in Orlando with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

They're having a huge event on Saturday, 24 simultaneous events happening all across Florida to emphasize to folks who are formerly incarcerated for them to vote in this election. So I will be there. We'll be live streaming that event on Saturday as well. You can support us via Cash App, which is dollar sign RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. You can also send your money order to New Vision Media,

NU Vision Media, Inc., 1625 K Street, Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006. And so, again, D.C., 2006. And so, again, all of your dollars that you give go to support this show and what we do. And so I want to thank all of you who have given, all of you who continue to give because you make this thing possible. And so for the people who give 50 bucks or more, I do give you all a shout out. So here we go. LaRoche, David Cooks Enterprises, LLC, David Wade, Demetra Jones, Dennis McGrew, Dinner with Bevy, LLC, Donna Jackson, Dilester Palm, Earl Young, Edward Garcia, Eric Cockrell, Folletta Simpson, Felix Alibatui, Floretta Gibbs, Frank Pollard, Gail Triplin, Gregory Truly, Henry Hall, James Summers, Jerry Harness, Jesse, Jesse Thomas, Jewel, Jimmy Pierre, Joy Griffin, Joseph Powell, Juan J. Obear, Keith Crutchfield, Kenneth Gooden, Lelisha Watkins, Lawrence Prescott, Lawrence Bell, Matt McConnell, Mary Gates, Midtown Fire Extinguisher, Michaela Harris, Mo Tho, Monique Bell, Neville Lewis, Otis Coates, Paid for Fun Travel, Patrice Irving, Patrick Wiley, Pierce Johnson, Ray Malone, Rebecca Gutierrez,

Richard Means Jr., Robert Jones, Raleen Price, Sheila Owens, Shanita Lee, Stephanie Hathaway, Terry McClellan, Talicia Burnett, Valena Glenn, Wanda Green, Wendy Jordan, William Best, Yolanda Jackson. So I want to thank all of you. We told those of you who give folks $50 or more, you get a personal shout-out here on the show. And so we appreciate all of you. I will be back in the studio tomorrow.

Also, tomorrow at noon, I'll be live streaming. I am giving a lecture, guest lecture, at Virginia Union University at noon tomorrow. You don't want to miss that. I'll be doing that for the next two Wednesdays. Yeah, two Wednesdays. And so we're looking forward to that particular lecture as well. And so I'll be back in the studio. And again, folks, we've got lots of things happening next week, next Thursday.

I'll be in Detroit interviewing Senator Gary Peters, Democrat who's running against John Jaynes, a Republican. Now, he ain't been telling nobody he's Republican. He's black. He don't want anybody to know he's Republican, but he also John Jaynes support Donald Trump 2,000%. That's all I need to say, huh? So, we'll be

talking about that race and others, and don't be surprised if we end up in South Carolina next week with Jamie Harrison in Atlanta with Reverend Raphael Warnock. And next Sunday, November 1st, we'll be live streaming a GOAT, a GOATV rally with Mike Espy in Mississippi.

He is down one to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. He can win in Mississippi. Our folks have got to turn out and vote. So we're going to be covering all of this stuff in the election over the next two weeks. Y'all want to stay tuned right here. RollerBark Unfiltered. We keep it real, we keep it black, and we keep it unfiltered. I want to thank everybody who's helped us here in Raleigh, helped us go on to Greensboro and Durham as well. Thank you so very much, Reverend Barber's team,

everybody who helped us. Thank you so very much. And folks, we thank all of you for watching as well. Y'all know how we end it. I got to go. Holla! I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper.

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I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that in a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.