#RolandMartinUnfiltered - FL Activist Arrested, Paroled Man still in prison, Trucker Clemency, Coffee & Mental Health

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Starting point is 00:01:19 And with plans starting at just $35, better cost less than you think. Hey, folks, today is Tuesday, January 4th, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. A black man spends nearly 50 years in prison in Louisiana. He walks out of jail today and is immediately rearrested. What the hell is going on? We'll talk with his attorney about what took place today. A Colorado man got sentenced to more than 100

Starting point is 00:01:50 years in prison after causing the deaths of several people on the highways there. Thousands protested. The sentence was reduced to 10 years. Some say that's unfair. We'll talk to a human rights activist in Colorado about that sentence. Also, today Senator Mitch McConnell says, how dare Democrats carve out a narrow exception for voting rights?

Starting point is 00:02:14 You mean like you did for two Supreme Court justices? Yeah, we'll talk about what's happening on Capitol Hill when it comes to the battle for voting rights. Also, Herschel Walker running for Georgia Senate You a senator from Georgia. We know he's a buffoon. We'll show you how much of a phone He actually is and also in our marketplace segment sponsored by Verizon Will meet a man who found a unique way to help people process trauma Through coffee, you know how we feature black-owned businesses. Y'all it's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks

Starting point is 00:03:08 He's rolling With some go-go-royale It's rolling, Martin Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's funky, fresh, he's real, the best you know He's rolling, Martel Martel Alright, so Black man spends 47 years in prison in Louisiana.

Starting point is 00:03:46 He is paroled. He is paroled. He is literally walking out of prison. And what do the idiots in Louisiana do? They arrest him on parole violations. Yeah, y'all. March 18th, Louisiana Board of Partners in Committee on Parole. You nationally voted that Bobby Sneed should be released from Angola prison.

Starting point is 00:04:09 But he remained in prison nine months after his parole date following two court decisions ordering his release. What's going on there? Thomas Frampton, an associate professor of law at the University of Virginia out of Charlottesville.

Starting point is 00:04:25 He is the attorney for Mr. Sneed. Glad to have you here, Thomas Frampton. So I'm confused. He's arrested, walking out of prison? That's exactly right. I don't know if you can see me, but yes. We actually can't see you. I don't think your camera's on uh

Starting point is 00:04:46 I'm trying to do what I can to get on here all right so you click something there all right let's see here like we're getting an avi so you probably have to what system are you using a skype what are you using I'm using a link that was sent to me by your producer so this is uh yeah so what you what you should do is you see the little you see the symbols on their cam mic yeah all right want you to click cam mic and then i want you to click camera yeah there's a drop down there's a drop down menu there and you need to click the drop down menu and whatever particular camera you're using click that camera Yeah, it should be a FaceTime HD camera trying to get it to work

Starting point is 00:05:34 I Apologize it's all good. It's all it's all good. It's all good. So what we'll do we simply just go full screen We'll just show me you can still try to try to try to make it work. But let me just ask you some questions. So when did this release happen? When did he walk out of prison? When was he arrested? So this whole ordeal actually goes back, as you said, till March. He actually should have been released nine months ago. But about two days before Bobby's release, after 47 years in prison, he collapsed. So he's in a prison. He has a heart attack. His heart stops. He's actually resuscitated and they bring him to the hospital. They save his life. It turns out that he had COVID. He had a severe case of hypoxia, of pneumonia in his lungs.

Starting point is 00:06:25 But then when his release date comes and goes, instead of releasing him, they just bring him back to the prison, alleging that he didn't have a heart attack, that he had a drug overdose. Now, he's cleared of those charges. He is. Wait, wait, wait. They said he had a drug overdose. That's correct. Which means that he was in the hospital, meaning that was a toxicology report. That's right. And there are a couple issues there.

Starting point is 00:06:50 One of them is that they injected him with opium opiates as soon as he collapsed. So toxicology reports showing opiates doesn't really tell you a whole lot. The other big issue, though, was that there was no proof that the sample that they actually tested was Bobby's. So he was cleared of wrongdoing related to that. But nevertheless, they kept him in a prison cell. We've been fighting that case for about nine months. And the Louisiana Supreme Court eventually agreed with us. They sided with us that Bobby has been held in violation of the 14th Amendment, that he has essentially been kidnapped ever since March 29th of this year. So we all yet again celebrated Bobby coming home. We had folks there at the prison gates ready to welcome him. But literally at the moment of his release after 47 years, the Louisiana parole board

Starting point is 00:07:46 rearrested him yet again and took him now to a parish jail. And they're arguing that he committed a separate parole violation at some point during these past nine months while he hasn't been out on parole, but while he's been a prisoner still in Angola the entire time. So this is a photo here of Bobby Snead that we have up right now. What is strange and crazy about this particular case is that so he gets rearrested. So where do we stand now? I mean, you literally have to to judicial decision saying release the man. What I mean, what the hell is Louisiana Governor John Bill Edwards is doing? What is he doing? I mean, what's going on? So Bob is just sitting there in prison like in limbo.

Starting point is 00:08:36 Yes. We are now in federal court. We're in front of a federal judge in the middle District of Louisiana. But to answer your question, it's become increasingly clear as this saga has gotten more and more absurd over the past nine months that until a federal judge sends in federal troops to actually enforce the US Constitution, it does not seem like Louisiana officials have any interest whatsoever in respecting the 14th Amendment or the First Amendment. I mean, part of what's the subtext here is that Bobby has been outspoken about his case. He has been critical of prison officials, especially after this ordeal over the past nine months. And so they're trying to teach him a lesson and they're going to keep retaliating against him until literally a federal judge sends in federal authorities.

Starting point is 00:09:25 I don't see any other end game here at this point. What was so strange here, I'm reading this particular piece here, and it says that in early May, Sneed was acquitted of a charge in prison. And this is what it's hilarious. It said, however, so he was acquitted. However, a single member of the parole board moved to rescind Sneed's parole. The following week, parole board convened a second hearing during which Sneed was not able to present evidence, call witnesses, or view the evidence against him. The board voted to strip Sneed's parole. I mean, first of all, what was he put in prison for?

Starting point is 00:10:08 Why are they so desperate to keep this man in prison when he's been there for 47 years? Right. So you might think that Bobby, based on sort of the way they've been acting as some kind of serial killer, 47 years ago, after serving honorably in the U.S. military and being honorably discharged after Vietnam, Bobby served as a lookout for what was supposed to be a burglary. Now, the people that actually went into the house killed one of the homeowners, and that's an absolute tragedy. Bobby takes full responsibility for his role in that. But he has been serving time for murder, for essentially being a lookout to a burglary ever since then. You brought up this hearing in May. One of the state court judges who ordered him released, a Baton Rouge judge,

Starting point is 00:11:01 one of the few Black judges that Bobby has been in front of this entire time, referred to that proceeding as, quote, I don't know if you want to call it a hearing or a lynching. And that's an accurate question. What has been happening to Bobby over the past nine months has the veneer of a legal proceeding. But in reality, it resembles nothing close to what we would think the rule of law should look like in America. Are there any state officials who are clamoring for the man to be released? I mean, who's speaking up for him? Every top level state official has been doing everything they can to clean their hands of this. We've talked to the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, reached out to the governor's office.

Starting point is 00:11:53 And at every turn we get, well, this is just up to the parole board. Now, I don't buy that, right? The governor, the secretary, they could make this end tomorrow. But a lot of the responsibility really rests here with these unaccountable bureaucrats that make up the Louisiana Parole Board, who just have incredible amounts of power. And frankly, I think have gotten accustomed to abusing that sort of discretion and power that they wield. You wrote this too in a briefing briefing, which is I mean, it's it's laughable. You said Mr. Sneed could not have committed a parole violation on November 9th, 2021, because he was not first ever parole violation in Louisiana history, as far as I can tell, where somebody is accused of violating their parole a month before they were actually released on parole. He didn't send monthly reports in. He wasn't paying his $63 supervision fee. And I have no doubt that he could be revoked for parole violations for each of those things too. Of course, that's absurd. He wasn't a parolee. He was a prisoner for the last nine months where he

Starting point is 00:13:15 was being held illegally by Louisiana state officials. But they don't seem to have any kind of interest in following the law. And the other really crazy thing about this case, throughout this whole time, even if you accept that Bobby used drugs on one or two occasions, which is one of the allegations, paying $25,000 or $30,000 a year of taxpayer money to keep him incarcerated, a man who just turned 75 years old, when we've lined up private charities, like, look, if they want him to go to a drug treatment, we'll pay for it out of our own pockets. But the level of vindictiveness of spite that is animating this is really just off the charts. Yeah, that is absolutely crazy.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Please certainly keep us up to date what happens in this case. Whatever we can do, we certainly would love to do that. But this is just crazy. Thomas Frampton, thanks a lot. Thank you so much for having me and for shining some light on what's going on with this case in Louisiana. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Now I'm going to bring in my panel. I want to bring in now Xavier Pope, who joins us. He, of course, host of Suit Up News, owner of the Pope Law Firm. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for the Abroad Justice of the EPA. Mario Solomon Simmons, civil rights attorney and founder of Justice for Green. We're glad to have all three of you here xavier start with you this is

Starting point is 00:14:49 nuts i i've never seen anything like this rolling what i wanted to ask of his lawyer was what was the cause of him passing out which required him to have some sort of treatment. I know there was a toxicology report that shows some use of amphetamines or drug use, but what was the cause that made him pass out? What was his diet like? What was he fed? Why did this cause him

Starting point is 00:15:18 to be in a position where this would begin? For example, he had a heart attack. Okay, got it. He had a heart attack. He said they had to revive him. Well, he first, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what this has happened and this was dropped from his case, the only reason that they are potentially keeping him in jail has everything to do with maybe some political motivations than it does than him actually getting out of

Starting point is 00:15:54 jail. Bro, this is Louisiana. This is Louisiana. This is Louisiana that incarcerates more people per capita than any other state in America. No, this is Louisiana. Louisiana is absolutely one of the most heinous states in America when it comes to prisons. And what you're dealing with, you're dealing with people who are petty. And for them, just keep folks in prison forever.

Starting point is 00:16:21 That's really what you're dealing with here. There's no explanation. This case went to the Supreme Court, DeMario. They kicked it back to a Baton Rouge judge. The Baton Rouge judge said, release him. They're like, damn that. You know, Angola, where he's incarcerated, is a plantation. It is a plantation. And so the Louisiana criminal justice system, or the prison system, grew up out of enslavement, which is a profit motive. And the sharecropping is a profit motive. And when they put these brothers and sisters in prison, it's a profit motive. They are there to work like slaves. I mean, literally picking cotton, picking corn, cutting sugar cane.

Starting point is 00:17:01 This is all what's going on. But one of the things I really want to focus on, Roland, on this very important segment is what the brother was in prison for. He did 47 years. They saved a lookout. This is something that I see constantly for young brothers and sisters getting caught in what they call felony murder. And this is something that our community needs to understand that these felony murder charges, you don't have to be the one that pulled the trigger. You don't have to be the one that killed the person. If you're actually there, I was watching another 48

Starting point is 00:17:31 hours, one of the shows showing people getting killed and the police trying to figure out who did it this past weekend on Mindless TV. Everybody goes in there and says, I didn't actually shoot him. No, I didn't actually stab him. I was there, but I didn't

Starting point is 00:17:47 know what was going to happen. You still get caught with felony murder. I don't think felony murder is a good doctrine, but it is a doctrine that most states have, and our people need to be careful about that, particularly our young people, who you're going around with, who you're hanging out with, and who you are getting in the car with. My grandma used to say, I need

Starting point is 00:18:03 to know who you're getting in the car with. So I think that's also a part of the story. I think Thomas Frampton is still with us. You sure there, Thomas? I am, if you can hear me. Yep, hear you. And I can see you as well. So we got you. Here's what I find to be real interesting. As Mario was talking, I thought about Wilbert Rideau, who gained significant fame by winning numerous journalistic awards in the Angola prison. And he was released. He served 44 years. He was convicted of first-degree murder. Now, again, here's what I find to be interesting. And again, I'm not, I'm not saying

Starting point is 00:18:47 Rito should have been kept in prison because he literally was a model prisoner, was rehabilitated and was eventually released from prison. Rito spent 44 years in Angola for murder that he committed. Sneed has spent 47 years in prison and he was the lookout. Sounds like it's some folks who hate Bobby Sneed and they want this man to die in prison. Well, they hate Bobby Sneed and they hate a lot of other people too. There's 5,000 people in Louisiana serving life without parole sentences. That's second only to Florida, which has about 9,000 people serving life without parole sentences. All the studies that we have, all the statistics show that when somebody gets to be that old, the chances of them ever committing another crime are absolutely

Starting point is 00:19:45 minuscule. But your other panelists were right to talk about this in the context of how criminal justice works in Louisiana, and specifically to talk about it within the context of race, right? Black folks make up 33% of the population of Louisiana. They're 52% of the jail population. They're 67% of the prison population, they're 67% of the prison population, and they're much higher than that in terms of the percentage serving life without parole sentences. So part of this is just that there's a class of people who the state of Louisiana has decided are disposable, and despite posing no real risk to any kind of notion of public safety, the state is happy to keep spending taxpayer money to

Starting point is 00:20:26 keep them in cages. In fact, Xavier, I'm trying to find, I'm looking through these tweets. Mustafa is there as well. Mustafa, I'm going to go with you. I'm looking for the tweet. ProPublica the other day posted a story that dealt with the number of folks who were juveniles who committed crimes and how Louisiana has gone back on their word, how they are keeping folks in prison. I mean, this is a state that is wedded to prison. It's a broke state. It's not like they've got significant resources and they would rather keep spending hundreds of thousands of dollars imprisoning people versus releasing them mustafa i think you're on mute all right keep talking uh we still can't hear you, Mustafa.

Starting point is 00:21:27 So, Xavier, you can answer that question to Kenan. You can work with Mustafa to figure out what's going on. Xavier, go ahead. This is just a violation of the Constitution. And it's also a breaking of the promise by a state that cares more about a governor. It was a judge. We just talked about a judge just recently using the N-word, and her case is being reviewed. And here we are, right back in the state of Louisiana, where there is a man in prison when he should be out of prison. And the state putting their resources more into keeping this man in prison than making sure that there is no miscarriage of justice by a judge who refers to those that enter her courtroom, particularly as N-words.

Starting point is 00:22:13 It is certainly an absolutely unbelievable story. And again, we're going to keep our eye on this story, keep people abreast of what's going on with it as well. Thomas Frampton, thanks a lot. Thank you again. Folks, man, let's talk about this. Let's see here. Mustafa, we got your microphone fixed? We're still trying to work it out.

Starting point is 00:22:39 All right, let me know Mustafa is back. Let's go to our second story, folks. Today in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been missing in action, he comes out his people to say, oh, he was missing for two weeks because he was with his wife for cancer treatment. Well, how hard it is to say that versus keeping him keeping mysterious. Very few people actually believe that was the case. So today he decided to have a news conference in the state capitol. And a Jacksonville activist decided, you know what? I'm a citizen. I need to ask some questions of the governor of the state. This is what happened today to Ben Frazier. Thank you. I might be arrested.

Starting point is 00:23:48 I might be arrested. And for what reason am I being attacked? You don't want to tell me. Is this an effort to prevent media? You know what? The governor is afraid to meet with the people. He's an enemy of the people. And he is an enemy of the people. He's an enemy of the people. He's an enemy of the people. He's an enemy of the people.

Starting point is 00:24:09 When it comes to public welfare, this governor does not care. When it comes to public welfare, this governor does not care. When it comes to public welfare, this governor does not care. This governor does not care. This governor does not care. Why am I the only person being detained? You can't arrest everyone that's been here with you. I've been here. Where did I get it?

Starting point is 00:24:37 I've been here. I've been here. Where did I get it? So where did I get it? Why are they all right with you? I need people to get on that vehicle. I do. I don't know why you have me with handcuffs. Why am I being handcuffed? Why am I being handcuffed? Why am I being handcuffed? Why am I being handcuffed?

Starting point is 00:25:12 I have not done anything anyway. Why am I being handcuffed? Why am I being handcuffed, Sergeant Gerald? I ask handcuffed, Sergeant General? I ask the question, why am I being handcuffed? Am I being arrested? Am I being arrested? I'm asking a question.

Starting point is 00:25:42 Am I being arrested? The other people here, why are they not being handcuffed? Thank you. Why am I being hanged up? Sir, my boss, please. Officer, I will show you the way out. Thank you, sir. so ben frazier kept um asking that question um why am i being handcuffed this was the statement from christina pushaw who is the press secretary for governor ron sanders the press conference is for credentialed media to cover information from the governor's office and state leaders that is important for the public to hear. Mr. Frazier is an activist, not a member of the press. Every citizen has the right to protest in public places, but not to trespass in a secured facility in order to disrupt

Starting point is 00:27:19 a press briefing and prevent information from being conveyed to the public. Kind regards, Christina Poushaw. All righty then. Joining us right now from Jacksonville, Florida, is activist Ben Frazier. Ben, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. First of all, were you actually arrested or were you detained? I was actually arrested. Allow me to say thank you so much for having us on the show this evening. I think it's also very interesting that I've spent 50 years as a credential journalist, a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Starting point is 00:28:07 But now I'm just an activist. So I guess I've been either demoted or they're simply ignoring my past credentials as a journalist. Yes, I was in fact arrested. The charge was trespassing after warning. They took me out, as you can see there in handcuffs, set me down in a patrol car, then said that they would give me some ticket that would allow me not to have to actually be booked into the jail, but arrested. Yes. All right. So and so they're saying that, well, only media could be there. The point that you kept making was I want to ask this governor some questions because it's not like he's been present for citizens to ask him questions. Precisely. The bottom line here is that this was a public official in a public building on public property. Fact of the matter is DeSantis has been running the state of Florida like a dictator for far too long.

Starting point is 00:29:06 Today, we said no longer. Today, we said hell to the no, no. To the contrary, this man does not have absolute power. Here in Jacksonville, the activist movement decided to check him. We said to the governor, check yourself before you wreck yourself. We will not allow him to have absolute power with no constitutional limitations any longer. We will not allow this governor to continue to trample and to stifle our rights. We know that this is a governor who wants to violate our constitutional rights to assemble and to protest. Jacksonville is now ground level zero. We're calling out on our

Starting point is 00:29:56 activist friends to join us right here in Jacksonville as we continue to turn it up because we have to look out for the rights of poor and black people. We cannot sit back any longer quietly with locked jaw. We're going to disrupt, yes, disrupt this situation just as Dr. King did and John Lewis did when they crossed over the Edmund Pettus Bridge more than 50 years ago. We're accepting the baton, Roland, and the relay race of history. A baton that was run with the race of our ancestors and other activists before us, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, John Lewis, Stokely Carmichael, and others. We are going to continue to stand up, speak out against any and all forms of social, racial, and economic injustice. Obviously, Ron DeSantis is desperately trying to run for re-election as governor of Florida, but also running to, he wants to run for president in 2024.

Starting point is 00:31:08 Right. Well, the bottom line here is that when politicians begin to put politics ahead of human life, then we, the people, must stand up. Throughout the entire course of this pandemic journey that we're all on, this governor has been asleep at the wheel, not paying attention to the important problems of the pandemic. And of course, as you mentioned, in recent weeks, he has been missing in action. We are suggesting, humbly so, that it's time for this governor to straighten up and fly right. Time for him to stop playing politics with the pandemic. Time for him, for that matter, to stop playing politics with the murder of George Floyd and this HB1 law where he's trying to stop us from protesting. The people of Florida need politicians who are prepared to provide us with trust, transparency, and accountability. This governor is not that person.

Starting point is 00:32:17 He is unreliable, undependable, not genuine, not good, not honest. He's corrupt. He's an enemy of the people. Questions from my panelists. Mustafa first. Can you hear me? Yeah, we got you. Go ahead. All right. Well, thank you, sir, for standing up. You had mentioned that you need other activists to come and join. What would that look like? How can folks be helpful?

Starting point is 00:32:43 Well, we want other activists throughout the United States to understand that Jacksonville and the progressive community down here is quickly becoming ground level zero of all places. We shouldn't be surprised. Places like Montgomery, places like Selma and Birmingham became that ground level zero for so many times in the past. We shouldn't be surprised at a place like Jacksonville, where Acts Handled Saturday took place back in August of 1960, when we attempted to integrate public accommodation down here. So we shouldn't be surprised. We need to hear from Al Sharpton of the National Action Network. We need to hear from Jesse Jackson, who we talked with a few weeks ago. We need grassroots community activists to go ahead and understand that we need help down here in Jacksonville,

Starting point is 00:33:38 that we must begin to speak out and push against all the economic disparities that so many of us are confronted with throughout the United States. Healthcare, housing, economics, we've got to address these issues. It's time for us to light this thing up again and not sit back and take it. I'm telling you that quite frankly speaking, as an activist, I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it anymore. We're going to stand up and we're going to speak out and we're asking others to join us. Our website you can go to national website is the organization, the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville. And our email address, of course, is NorthsideCoalition at gmail.com. I'm sure that's music to the ears of DeMario Solomon Simmons, DeMario.

Starting point is 00:34:33 Yeah, Brother Ben, I'm so glad that you're safe. I wanted to ask you about what are you going to do legally? I mean, I watched the video. It looks like you may have a violation of your First Amendment rights First Amendment rights. But also, my mother uses a walker. So very sympathetic and very concerned to see them not allow you to use your walker as you walked out the room. You may have a claim for ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, violation. Are you pursuing any of those claims to show these people not only from an activist standpoint, but from a legal standpoint, you will stand up and fight these claims on all fronts? We're going to fight the claim on all fronts. Yes, sir.

Starting point is 00:35:13 But there's one fish that's a bigger fish that we need to fry. And that is the HB1 law, which the governor has signed into law last May. We are fighting that. We are in the courts right now. The Northside Coalition, my organization which I founded, is one of six plaintiffs suing this governor. We have a preliminary injunction already and we're trying to understand that this whole law, HB1, needs to be thrown out. It is unconstitutional. And it was a violation of our first amendment rights. It clearly violates our freedom of speech

Starting point is 00:35:55 and our rights to assemble and to protest. This law is not what democracy looks like. We will not be stifled by this governor's brand of racist politics. You know, we have a very similar law to that in Oklahoma that's being challenged in the courts, also a preliminary injunction. They also try to make it legal. Maybe they're doing this in Florida where you can run over protesters and have any type of legal liability. And that certainly is targeted towards black and brown activists to keep us quiet and keep us out of the streets and out of utilizing our constitutional rights. So, Brother Ben, I'm excited to meet you and I'm proud of you. And we will stand with you and other people at the North Side Coalition of Jacksonville.

Starting point is 00:36:43 We're calling on activists everywhere. Use this as our reckoning, our wake-up call. It's time for us to stand up and speak out. No more silence. Let's stand up. Xavier. Mr. Frazier, I have a question about some of the legal wranglings that's there. Did they have anything posted about credentialed journalists?

Starting point is 00:37:10 Was that something that was in view? And how long were you there before you were arrested? Because they talked about giving you a warning about what the situation was. And it just appears as if they ad hoc kind of changed on the fly who was allowed and who wasn't allowed in terms of a public space. And that really speaks to your First Amendment violation. So where does that stand in terms of how you were warned in terms of any signage ahead of time? And also when you got to the facility, how long it took for them to to wrangle you up? Well, actually, I think that's a very good question uh they tried to prevent us going upstairs to where the news conference would be held from the very beginning a building manager

Starting point is 00:37:54 blocked the elevator door and stopped our entry going to the third floor uh he eventually moved out of the way we went up to the third floor There was no signage whatsoever They knew I think that Ben Frazier Was an activist Who was prepared to confront This governor And prepared to confront

Starting point is 00:38:18 This situation So they kind of like Were concerned They could have taken our questions, Roland, and simply answered them. The governor could have answered them and went on his way back to the state capital in Tallahassee. Instead, they escalated the situation and made it much more than anything that we had planned. It is unfortunate, but I am here to tell you that we will not put up with this

Starting point is 00:38:50 in a violation of our First Amendment right. It is absolutely imperative. Public expression is critical to a functioning democracy. What's up? What's wrong with you? Yeah. Seriously, I know you're not talking. I know you're not talking. I know you're not talking. Ben,

Starting point is 00:39:24 be sure to be sure to mute Demario. I know you're not talking. I know you're not talking. Ben, we certainly can't. Be sure to mute Demario. That's the kind of power I got when you were in Alpha. Ben, we appreciate it. We look forward to your next engagement with Governor Ron DeSantis. Thank you so much for having us, guys. Just

Starting point is 00:39:39 remember, Jacksonville is ground level zero. We need all grassroots activists to join us in the fight for social justice right here in Jacksonville is ground level zero. We need all grassroots activists to join us in the fight for social justice right here in Jacksonville, Florida. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. A guy got 100 plus years in prison in Colorado. Thousands signed a petition saying he should get less. The judge agreed, gave him 10 years in prison. A Colorado activist will join us to explain what happened in that case. Also, Hershel Walker, we know he's a buffoon, but wait till we show you what this fool had to say about Build Back Better.

Starting point is 00:40:17 We still know what the hell he's talking about. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network, owned by an alpha. DeMario. so Thank you. We'll be right back. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart.

Starting point is 00:42:01 Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Hey, everybody, it's your girl. And now. So what's up? This is your boy, Earthquake. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right. How many times have we told y'all elections matter?

Starting point is 00:42:57 Well, that is certainly the case in New York City where the new Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, is making some changes. He, of course, he took over just three days ago. He dropped this memo today sent to all of his prosecutors that they're not going to continue with these long prison sentences that you have been seeing. Check this out. This is what he said. He said that, look, only in the major cases, only in things such as homicides, domestic violence, felonies, some sex crimes and public corruption, are they going to seek what he called a carceral sentences. He said, quote, this rule may be accepted only in extraordinary circumstances based on a holistic analysis of the facts, criminal history, victims input, particularly in cases of violence or trauma, and any other information available. Assistant district attorneys must also now keep in mind the impact of incarceration, including whether it really does increase public safety, potential future barriers to convicts involving housing and employment, the financial cost of prison, and the racial disparities over who gets time. Tomorrow, conservatives are not happy.

Starting point is 00:44:10 They don't want to see this. They're already saying, oh, this is going soft on crime. In fact, this is, I'm going to pull it up in a second, the headline in the New York Post. Already they're screaming. Of course, this is Rupert Murdoch's newspaper. Crime and no punishment. Manhattan, the aid has stopped seeking prison in slew of criminal cases. We're seeing these critics across the country say this is why we're seeing rising crime. This is why we're seeing smash and grabs happening in in Los Angeles. You see the people saying this is what's causing problems in Chicago

Starting point is 00:44:49 and other places. But this is really a district attorney who is saying, look, we can't solve all these problems by just throwing folks in jail for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, we have to have a much different decision when it comes to, when it comes to how we deal with crime. Look, the reality is they've been doing this for 50, 60, 70 years throwing people away and it's not working. I just finished reading a book by the DA down in Philadelphia, Larry Krasner for the people. Great book. Definitely recommend it. And he's doing he did the same thing. And I really commend his brother coming

Starting point is 00:45:29 into office and within three days saying this is the policy of my administration. And that is what needs to happen when people are progressive or and they get into office. Move forward with your policies. Move forward with your your perspective and your philosophy. This is important. This is important for the people in Manhattan. It's important from around this country. There are going to be people that's going to undermine what he's doing. Not only the Rupert Murdoch's of the world who make money off of this incarcerated state that we have in America, but people within his own organization who do not want to see things done in a better, more efficient, fair, just way. So I applaud his brother.

Starting point is 00:46:11 He's going to need a lot of support. And guess what? Those individuals, like he stated, who commit violent crimes, who rape people, who kill people, who kidnap people, those people that should be put in incarcerated for a long time they will continue to be that way but what he's saying is we're not going to lock people up for 10 and 15 and 20 years for petty crimes we're not going to put people in like brother uh browder that was put in the uh rikers island and uh solitary confinement for two years for allegedly stealing a backpack. Those are the things he said we're not going to do.

Starting point is 00:46:51 He's trying to put people first, make sure he does his job, and make sure we can have a society that's more equitable and just for everyone, everyone, everywhere. Xavier, what do you make of this memo put out by the new DA? That's swift action being done to ensure that the people that are supposed to be in jail are in jail. The people who shouldn't be in jail, who should work towards more productive lives, be contributed to society are in the same people who criticize crime and punishment without any repercussions are the same people who supported Kyle Rittenhouse murdering people, same people who would support George Zimmerman for killing a Trayvon Martin, who don't support Letitia James in that same state of New York

Starting point is 00:47:32 going after Donald Trump for some of his crimes in that particular state, not willing to support going after insurrectionists and those at the highest level of office that invaded our democracy over almost a year ago today. So crime and punishment really depends on the politics of those who want it to change. And it should change from those who really want to live a successful life and move up in society. And we put our attention on those who should be in jail and those who are say they want to be able to save money as taxpayer dollars, this is how we do it. Well, Mustafa, again, he better get ready for the attacks. I guarantee you, NYPD, the police union, they're going to be going after him, Fraternal Order of Police.

Starting point is 00:48:25 Oh, this is why we're seeing crime. They've been saying that about Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore. They said about the new D.A. in L.A. I mean, that's that's their constant deal. It's the whole attitude to just keep throwing folks in jail. But you see, when you have somebody who's willing to stand up like the Manhattan D.A. is, then we have to surround them. We have to surround and protect them and uplift them. If we want more folks to be able to stand out there and move forward in transformational ways, in progressive ways. And we also got to make sure that we're also supporting holistic strategies. So DA Bragg is moving in the right direction, but we also have to make sure that that's tied to the resources that are necessary around education so that those individuals who sometimes make bad decisions have the foundation underneath of them. We also got to make sure that we're

Starting point is 00:49:11 investing in the mental health because we understand that that's significantly important also in the job training. So we have a responsibility to make sure that when folks are standing up and doing the right thing, that we are supporting them and uplifting them and making sure that when the attacks come, we're helping to protect them. And again, the attacks are going to come. We just need to understand that this is how these folks roll in these cases. And so it's going to be very interesting to see what happens. But again, I talk about this all the time. This is why I need people to understand why you got to why you got to understand voting matters. Again, when you elect DA, everything is not just about who's the president and who's the senator and who's the congressman. It's also about now not only about who's the governor, the mayor, these races matter. And the district attorney is at the is at the core.

Starting point is 00:50:08 That is the critical position when you talk about mass incarceration and criminal justice reform, because their decisions on what cases to pursue and what not to pursue alternate means of dealing with a crime. That's why the DA races matter. The DA is the most powerful person in the criminal justice system, bar none. Bro, I'm so glad that you're bringing this up. You know, the new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is another great book that discussed this at length.

Starting point is 00:50:39 But the DA can literally decide if he's going to charge a murder or not. He can decide if he's going to go out for the death penalty or not. He can decide he's going to look the other way or not. The DA races are the most important person. The DA is the most important person in the criminal justice system for our communities, bar none. All right. All right, folks, hold tight one second. I'm going to go to break. We come back. I'm going to talk about this case out of Colorado. This man got 100 plus years in prison for his involvement in the deaths of several people when his truck went out of control. Then thousands of people lit a petition saying this is an unfair sentence.

Starting point is 00:51:19 Well, a judge agreed and actually lowered it to 10 years in prison. Some people say, well, that's unfair. I'll talk to human rights activists out of Colorado who's been following this case, knows it very well to explain to us the details and to make sense out of it. You're watching Roland Martin on the Black Star Network. Be sure to download our app. It's available on all platforms. Of course, Apple, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox and also Samsung Smart TV. We also want you to support what we do, folks. And that is joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get annually 20,000 of our fans to contribute on average 50 bucks each.

Starting point is 00:52:02 That comes out to be a million dollars to help us pay uh for our staff to be able to travel around the country covering the stories that matter to you uh and so uh that's four dollars and 19 cents a month 13 cents a day you know it's a whole lot of people out here uh who talk about being black media but they don't cover anything all they do is just talk about everybody else. And so please support us via Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. Of course, also PayPal, RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I know I promised yesterday to unveil our new studios, but because of the snow and ice here in D.C., our staff has been unable to get to the office. You know, you've seen the photos and the video.

Starting point is 00:52:46 People have been stuck for more than 27 hours on I-95 in Virginia. It's just a mess out there. And so hopefully we'll be able to unveil our new studios and show you tomorrow or Thursday, depending upon the road conditions here in the nation's capital. All right, folks, got to go to break. When we come back, more Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black's capital. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back more. Roland Martin unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Nå er vi på veien. so Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grown-ups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction.

Starting point is 00:54:30 Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention. yo it's your man dion co from blackish and you're watching roland martin unfiltered stay woke all right folks let's talk about this story out of Colorado, where a semi truck driver, he was sentenced to one hundred and ten years in prison for a for an accident. Now, Regale Luzario Aguilera Medeiros was convicted of several counts, including vehicular manslaughter, assault and reckless driving. Now, four people were killed when his brakes malfunctioned, causing the 2019 fiery car pileup. Now, he was very apologetic at a sentencing, said he wished he had died in the crash. When the judge handed down the mandatory 110-year sentence, millions of people signed a petition demanding that it be reduced. Well, the judge agreed. Some say that's wrong. Deaths of four people. Joining us now from

Starting point is 00:55:55 Denver, Colorado is Elizabeth Epps. She's the founder and executive director of the Colorado Freedom Fund. Elizabeth, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. So you know this case very well. And the judge heard the outcry. It's good to see you. It's good to see you. And I do know this case well. The judge heard the outcry, but just so we're super clear, it's not the judge who adjusted the sentence in this case, right? Our governor stepped in. And if anybody in Colorado in our legal system tells you they saw that coming, they are not being honest. We did not expect Governor Polis to intervene, certainly not this soon and certainly in this way. But he does have an executive power.

Starting point is 00:56:41 He exercised it. He commuted the sentence, right? There's two sorts of clemency, a pardon or commutation in Colorado. He reduced the sentence to 10 years, making Roel eligible for parole in five years, which astounded the legal community. And it highlights a couple of points. We we all most reasonable folks, I should say, understand that the sentence was excessive. But the points that it really highlights for us, one is that local elections matter. I'll say it again, local elections matter, both of our district attorney, but also of our state legislators who set our minimum sentences in Colorado. And it also really highlights that while you all know the name of Rojel Aguilera Medeiros,

Starting point is 00:57:19 and you should know it because the sentence was absurd and offensive. We can and should honor the grief of families who are mourning for men that they lost. That is heavy and unimaginable. And we can and should hold space for them and grieve with them and allow them to grieve without compounding the injustice by sending a now 26-year-old to die in a cage. And what it reminds us is that in Colorado, we have dozens, if not hundreds, we're working on getting the exact number of people in our cages in Colorado who are serving effectively death in prison sentences where there wasn't even a victim who died. So as outraged as we are and we should be, we have to know and we have to keep working for our folks who are serving sentences in the same range where there isn't even a victim who died.

Starting point is 00:58:07 You spend a lot of time talking about, as you're saying, freeing folks from cages and in the governor taking this particular action here. when you say it was surprising, why? Is he one of these trying to be tough on crime governors who believes in throwing him in jail, toss the key away? I'm not going to answer the second part of the question, but I'm going to answer the first part. It was surprising to us because Governor Polis, in three years of exercising that executive power, in 2019, he commuted the sentences of three people. In 2020, he commuted the sentences of three people. In 2020, he commuted the sentences of four people. In 2021, just before year's end, he issued three commutations, one of which was to

Starting point is 00:58:55 Roel, but of those three, only one person did he release immediately, a brother named Ronald Johnson, who we are very excited about. This is a governor who is very cautious with the use of this power. And I would not have expected him to be swayed by this amount of public response. The other reason, Roland, you asked why it's surprising. The other reason is because, and I don't want to get too technical and into Colorado law, but in Colorado, you have, if you go to trial and you lose and you are convicted of some of your counts, you have a right to an automatic appeal. So this case, in many ways, isn't all the way done yet in the way that his lawyers are going to treat it. There's a hearing that would have been coming up next week.

Starting point is 00:59:32 As you know, District Attorney King in Jefferson County, which is where I used to be a public defender a lifetime ago, she's requested a resentencing hearing. There's a bit of smoke and mirrors with that because she sought the sentence that she sought. I want to make sure we're clear that while everyone knows this number, 110 years, which should be eye-popping, that if he'd actually been convicted of all of the counts the district attorney in Jefferson County, Colorado, was seeking, his minimum sentence would have been 185 years. So what our progressive district attorney was seeking was 185 years, got 110. So there's something that's offensive to me about suggesting now when the district attorney's office suggests that an appropriate sentence may have been 20 or 30. That's also far too long. That's not a sentence that would have been made national international news and had millions of people signing a petition. But it's surprising to us because of the one factor that Governor Polis is very judicious with this exercise of clemency power.

Starting point is 01:00:28 He's very, very conservative when it comes to exercising it. And also that in this case, there was a possibility of some other reduction. I do think that it is absolutely the right result, but it is a nuanced one legally, and it really begs the question, do we want a criminal legal system where the way we reverse unjust sentences is by having public outcry for one-off cases? I'm going to submit to you and invite you to consider that the answer to that is no, that that's not how we want to operate. But it still gives us the right result for Rahel. But it is absolutely surprising.

Starting point is 01:01:00 While it's the right result, it is not one that is not one that reasonable folks saw coming. I'm glad you made that point there about the outcry, because the reality is that's why we're even here. And again, when these things happen, governors are praised for their actions. When, in fact, what we should be talking about is wholesale changing of our sentencing guidelines and also who we prosecute and how we do it. We were just talking about the story out of New York where the new district attorney in Manhattan has made it clear that we're not going to pursue a bunch of these cases and spending time to try to throw everybody in prison. And so that's also what happens when you have different district attorneys who show leadership. So I'm rooting for you. We're

Starting point is 01:01:47 talking about D.A. Bragg. We're rooting for him and we want to see good things. I will say that, right, you and I, we've been doing this long enough to know the proof is going to be in that proverbial pudding. Right. So we have 22 judicial districts in Colorado, D.A. King, in my estimation, and I probably spend more time watching court in Colorado than almost anyone you're going to meet, she could compete for the title of the second most progressive district attorney in the state. And she certainly ran bravely in a relatively conservative part of the greater area of Denver with those progressive values. What does that mean if it doesn't translate into appropriate charging decisions, right? I'm going to submit that this is someone who would have been a great candidate based on my understanding of the facts for a different sort of process entirely. We should be electing district attorneys,

Starting point is 01:02:32 and you know this, that the district attorney is the most powerful actor in the criminal legal system, is the most powerful law enforcement actor in our states and commonwealths. We should be electing folks who are going to run on progressive values, but also see them through in their charging decisions and in the sentences that they seek. None of us in Colorado, right, and I drive in Jefferson County weekly, none of us is safer with this young man in a cage. So the charging decision should have been one that reflected both the monumental loss of life in an appropriate sentence, but also on the reflects what keeps the community safe. And I'm not safer as a Colorado driver with him in a cage for the next 10, 20, 30, or 110 years.

Starting point is 01:03:14 So local elections matter, that district attorney election matters, but we have to see what folks actually do once they're in office, see what cases they're dismissing, see what cases they're changing the charging decisions on, and see what it looks like once those folks are actually doing the work they're elected to do. Questions, Mustafa, I'll start with you. You have a question for Elizabeth

Starting point is 01:03:34 Epps? Yes, Elizabeth, thank you for everything that you do. My question is, what does criminal justice reform look like in Colorado in relationship to sentencing? If there were two or three things that you feel would make the system more just, what would it be? So that's a great question. I often shy away from adopting the term criminal justice and especially criminal justice reform because I feel like we're risking reforming ourselves right back into the mass incarceration that we're living under right now. You asked for a top couple of things that can be underway. One is sentencing reform itself. And to be clear, we who are here and have been doing the work, last year, progressive legislators passed sentencing reform that addressed our misdemeanors and our lower level offenses.

Starting point is 01:04:20 Just next week in Colorado, our legislative session starts for 2022. And already on deck, already in the works is felony sentencing reform, which hopefully will impact a case like Roe Hill's. So number one is certainly sentencing reform. I direct I'm an abolitionist. And Roland's got to have me back on a couple of shows for us to have long conversations about that. But I direct the Colorado Freedom Fund, where we emphasize working on pretrial liberty. So folks who have not yet had that day in court, who are innocent until proven guilty. So the second thing that I'd name is really important on the criminal justice reform front, to go ahead and use that term, is that it's time for us in Colorado to become a state that ends cash bail. It's going to take us

Starting point is 01:04:59 a couple of years to do it, but we're going to do it. We've been chipping away at it, making big strides. Right now in Colorado, some 28,000 people tonight are going to go to bed. It's not a bed, but are going to go to sleep in a cage. And some 15,000 of those are folks who are pre-trial. Most of them have not been convicted of a crime yet and are in a cage only because they are poor and they cannot pay cash bail. So I really should have said this as number one, but we stand in the sentencing because that was our conversation. But the next, the most important thing that we want to do on the criminal legal front

Starting point is 01:05:31 is to rectify the wrong of cash bail and wealth redistribution. And it's really important when we talk about cash bail, that we're explicit in saying we're gonna end cash bail in Colorado without replacing it with carceral alternatives, right? So by that, I mean, we don't want a world where everybody's on papers. We don't want a world where everyone has a GPS shackle monitoring their movements. We don't want that. We want a world of liberty and

Starting point is 01:05:53 liberation. And most importantly, we want a world that's committed to real community public safety. And what we know is that excessive sentencing, so answer number one, and pretrial bail, answer number two, are not things that, answer number two, are not things that keep communities safe. They are not things that decrease crime in our neighborhoods. They are not things that decrease police violence against our people. So for me, for my work, and for the folks who are trying to advance progressive values in Colorado, we're committed to sentencing reform and we're committed to ending wealth-based detention. It's at the very top of our agenda. Xavier. Thank you, Elizabeth, for all the work you do. One of the most passionate people about

Starting point is 01:06:30 the criminal justice system that I see. What could have been changed in terms of how the law was written? He got convicted of 2741 accounts also had never he had never. He didn't have any driving offenses. What could have been done about the law ahead of time to prevent the type of sentence that came down his way? So it's a great question. And I mean, in the most basic answer to what could have been done in terms of what what in statute could have been done, would it be addressing getting rid of our mandatory minimums? So both changing via our legislature, changing the minimums or removing them entirely, but also removing the provisions that require the sentences to run consecutives.

Starting point is 01:07:16 You all know what we mean by that, right? So that in certain cases, felony threes, F3s we call them, the highest level of offense he's convicted of, that the law says currently that those have to run, the highest level of offense he's convicted of, that the law says currently that those have to run, the sentences have to run one after another as opposed to at the same time. So our legislators, the progressive ones, are already coming for that this session, so that could have been in place. But I think it's really important to amplify that while it's a great question to say what could have been different about the charging matrix, as it were, or the sentencing matrix, is that the district attorney already has that discretion.

Starting point is 01:07:50 We've talked about her outsized power and her being the strongest, the player with the most power in the criminal legal system. This case didn't have to be charged this way. What we don't yet have a statutory fix for, and am I allowed to mention that I'm running for office Rowan? I'm not sure. Okay, then look, I'm telling you this is my damn show. Sorry. Go on, go ahead. I'm just figuring out.

Starting point is 01:08:16 Go on ahead, go on ahead. Go on ahead and let all your Delta Saras know you're running, go on, go ahead. All right, oh, she's a Saras too? Hey, hey, hey, hey, Demario, Demario, you're not a Delta, so stop saying Saras. Elizabeth, go ahead what I was gonna say I'm so sorry what I was gonna say that when I'm elected and when progressive colleagues of mine are elected to the state legislature one of the things that we're going to have the trial I hope trial. I hope y'all have heard of that, right? Yeah, we got you. The trial penalty is really, in addition to being,

Starting point is 01:08:53 the victims here, I want to be very explicit, the victims are the four men who are gone. The victims are the families who are mourning those men. The victims are the folks who are recovering from their injuries. And yet we also have Rahel, who was a victim of a criminal legal system that is racist, classist, punitive, and imposed upon him what we call a trial penalty. And what that means is, right, I don't, there was some degree of negotiations between his defense counsel, his defense counsel changed over time, but his defense lawyers and the district attorney had negotiations and there was some offer. He didn't accept the offer. He exercised one of the most important rights that we have

Starting point is 01:09:30 constitutionally, his right to a trial. And the district attorney and her team saw fit to seek a penalty of 185 years to essentially bully him as it happens every day in municipal court, county court, district court, federal court, every day, prosecutors, district attorneys, Commonwealth attorneys, state's attorneys, they use that power, that trial penalty to threaten folks and bully them into taking bad pleas. So, you know, Pope, you asked a great question about what could have been different about the law. One is the charging matrix itself, the sentencing matrix itself, but also as legislators, it's important that we actually address what's going on with the trial penalty, figure out how that committee be addressed in statute. And if not, you know, elected officials work for us.

Starting point is 01:10:17 Primary everybody, right? These are democratic DAs in our big cities who are making these decisions and he fell victim to a trial penalty. And it's really unacceptable. Demario, question. Yo, I have a question. I mean, we've talked a lot about the young man getting a sentence. But I've just read a little bit about this case. Maybe you can help me with this. But I understand that his company he worked for had a history of having these type of

Starting point is 01:10:43 problems with their reporting and their trucks. What is happening to the company? Because I think the individual you said earlier, Elizabeth, about one off. How are we holding these companies accountable and responsible for allowing the type of vehicles and things on the road that this could even happen? Is anybody having that discussion in Colorado? So the short answer is yes, they're absolutely having those conversations. I'm going to hesitate to give too many specifics because most of what I've heard has been conjecture and speculation. And I'm a big believer that if you don't know, it's okay to say, I don't know. What's also important is that we do have to hold these companies or this company,

Starting point is 01:11:23 in this case, accountable. That word gets tossed around a lot, right? Accountability, what does that mean? And what it's gonna mean is making sure that our young drivers, any age drivers, but he's particularly young, are appropriately trained, that they have someone with them when they're learning how to drive

Starting point is 01:11:41 in our very complicated mountain passes, that they understand, right? All the mechanics, just driving in the mountains is hard, y'all. It is hard. It is fun to play in, but difficult to drive in. So what accountability looks like for the company means really doing that sort of deep dive. It's my understanding that the company is not actually based out of Colorado. It's also my understanding that some day after the incident, there were some issues relating to reincorporation or changing of names. And I know that good folks who are thoughtful are looking into it and that it will be addressed.

Starting point is 01:12:15 All right. Elizabeth Epps, look, I told you again, you know, I own this show, so it ain't like you're going to be on one time. So don't be talking about it if I come back so we'll definitely have a conversation about being an abba I'm here if folks want to reach out to you the folks want to reach out to you what why do they do so so they should should do so. My first name is Elizabeth and I'm old enough that my Twitter

Starting point is 01:12:47 is just at Elizabeth. My whole name is Elizabeth Epps and my campaign Twitter is just at Elizabeth Epps. My people, my team, I haven't looked at my phone, but I'm sure they are blowing me up to remind me to tell you to remind your folks to go to electelizabeth.com.

Starting point is 01:13:04 I'm running for the Colorado State Legislature because my community has asked me to because they know that when we have folks like myself in office who are closest to the pain and need to be closest to the power, as Representative Presley says, that things like fixing sentencing reform will be underway when I'm in office.

Starting point is 01:13:20 So electelizabeth.com is how they'll find me or just at Elizabeth with an S on Twitter. It's really great. I'm so thankful. Thanks a bunch. We'll chat soon. See you soon. All right, folks, go on to a break. We come back. The before the Hershel Walker talks. We still know the hell you're talking about. We'll show you that video next. The Roland Martin unfiltered. The Black Star Network. Thank you. folks black star network is here

Starting point is 01:14:58 a real uh revolutionary right now support this Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart

Starting point is 01:15:26 bring your eyeballs home you dig Thank you. All right, folks. 15-year-old Elyse Payne disappeared from Virginia Beach, Virginia on New Year's Eve. Elyse Payne is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 180 pounds, has black hair, brown eyes, wears glasses. When she was last seen on New Year's Eve, she was wearing a yellow neon shirt and gray sweatpants. If anyone knows of Elise's whereabouts, please call the Virginia Beach Police Department at 757-385-5000, 757-385-000. Again, Elise Payne has been missing since New Year's Eve. And so she's 15 years old. Again, it's 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Starting point is 01:16:55 And so please, if you've got any information, be sure to call the police department. All right, y'all. Hershel Walker is running for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. And the other day he did an interview. I guess you can call it that. He was talking about the Build Back Better plan. I think. I don't know what the hell he was talking about.

Starting point is 01:17:15 I really have no idea what the hell he was talking about. Watch this. Republican Senate candidate for Georgia, Herschel Walker, joins us now. Herschel, thanks so much for being here. I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE

Starting point is 01:17:29 BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE

Starting point is 01:17:33 BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING

Starting point is 01:17:37 TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO THE BOOK AND I'M talk about build back trust instead of build back better. What do you mean? Well, what I mean by that is I don't think anyone really trusts this administration. You know, right now with this new variant coming out and and, you know, I think the biggest problem now is, you know, we're not energy independent no more. And you talked about the chicken business a few minutes ago. Well, I'm in that business and the supply line has gone down, you know, price of everything has gone up. And, you know, you look what he did in Afghanistan.

Starting point is 01:18:11 No one want to talk about that anymore. But do the military trust in him? Do all the police trust in their people that lead in their cities? Look at no one is talking about the border anymore. Where is the trust in the administration anymore? And that's the reason I'm running for this Senate seat because I wanna bring some trust back in this, back into this country, the greatest country in the world. Herschel, I couldn't agree with you. Okay, all right. So all you heard that was a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo

Starting point is 01:18:40 from Herschel Walker. That was a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo from Herschel walker uh this is we posted online that has a bunch of us going uh the boy done bumped his head like he got cte watch this so we started let me start it over. Here we go. Build back better. You probably want something written like Lord of the Land stating all men are to be treated equal. Oh, we have the Constitution.

Starting point is 01:19:15 So you probably want to put people in charge who's going to fight for the Constitution. Just thinking. God bless you. Build back better. Yeah, I'm going to fight for the Constitution? Just thinking. God bless you. Build back better. Yeah, I'm going to play it again just so y'all can try to figure out what the hell he's talking about. State and all men are to be treated equal.

Starting point is 01:19:35 Oh, we have the Constitution. So you probably want to put people in charge. Who's going to fight for the Constitution? Just thinking. God bless you. Well, the Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, I don't really know, Mustafa. I don't know what the hell that fool talking about.

Starting point is 01:19:54 It's such a shame when you see folks who have been successful in other parts of their life to just be put in positions where they're not prepared. You know, and I'm not going to blame it on brain trauma or any of the other kind of things that maybe is a part of the mix. But that was just so unintelligible. And it was also the things he said earlier before that particular clip were just flat out wrong and full of misinformation and lies. And if he cares anything about the

Starting point is 01:20:27 representative or the folks who are there in his state, then he would know that the Build Back Better, if implemented properly, will actually bring jobs. It'll address the environmental issues that are going on. It helps to make sure that there's housing for folks who have been housing insecure, make sure that healthcare expanded. So many different types of things. So it's such a shame when you see someone like Herschel Walker who is just out of touch and continue to feed misinformation to folks. I just sat down like, really, Xavier? I mean, I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really.

Starting point is 01:21:03 I mean, and again, and then the whole, you know, the military, they trust this guy. It still trips me out that we're living in a country where President Joe Biden has not been able to recover his approval ratings since the decision to pull out of Afghanistan. when all the people who were talking about let's stay in Afghanistan had no kids in Afghanistan? We were spending billions upon billions of dollars and we're getting nowhere. And so now you want to blame Biden for actually saying, no, we're leaving. We're getting the hell out. This makes no sense whatsoever.

Starting point is 01:21:38 Rolling. Herschel Walker is a joke. And he symbolizes the Republicans' desire to put in people who represent this false sense of symbolism of their ideals without any demonstrated ability to able to serve the public that they're running for office. You just had Elizabeth Epps on here who has demonstrated her ability to serve the public, who understands the laws, understands the stakes, has put her money where her mouth is. And she's done that and she's running for office. This Black woman, this brilliant Black woman running for office. And then you just come to the next segment and

Starting point is 01:22:21 put this ignorant Negro, lawn jockey himself herschel walker who was so willing to carry white man's water who was racist against us with no real platform of understanding or concept constitution law logic science any form of common sense common sense ain't common. Whatever he took when he left the field, he took his brain with him. Demario, would you like to follow that? I mean, Brother Pope, I just coincide with everything he said. You know, as a former football player, Hurst Walker, I really looked up to him. He played for the Dallas Cowboys. He's one of my favorite players.

Starting point is 01:23:06 It's really sad to see this. I thought, I think Brother Pope really hits it. But a couple of things. One, the sunken place really came to my mind. And two, this clip with Denzel Washington, when he's talking about doing the movie Fences, and he makes a comment that it's not color, it's culture. He says, and they were talking about it. It's not color, it's culture. He says, and they were talking about it's not color, it's culture.

Starting point is 01:23:27 I'll say that again. And so oftentimes in our community, we fight for diversity. We need more black people there. But not black people like Herschel Walker. Not people that don't share our culture and our values. And as Brother Pope said, Herschel Walker, the power structure, the white supremacist anti-Black power structure are happy to put someone like Herschel Walker, who they're laughing at. They're literally laughing at him when he goes off air. They don't care because he will carry,

Starting point is 01:23:57 as Brother Pope said, carry their water. And so we have to be careful to think about culture, not color. We have to be careful to fight for people that care about our value systems and what we need as a people. So I saw somebody in the chat rolling. We was on a break and we were talking about D.A. This is why we need more black D.A. This is why we need more black police officers. No, we need more police officers who believe in our value system and our culture. We need more DAs that believe in our value system and our culture. It's culture, not color. And Tershaw Walker proves that as well as anybody. Well, I mean, again, what you're dealing with here, you're dealing with somebody who is not,

Starting point is 01:24:42 as I would say, the brightest bulb in a dark room no no well no no nobody but it but if you actually again see I gotta help you Omega's what I just said was he ain even a role. He a black light. No, no, no. He ain't even a black light. A black light still emits something. Alright, y'all, let's talk about voting rights. That all of a

Starting point is 01:25:15 sudden, you know, people talking about it. It's, you know, top of the order. Democrats claim they can do something about it. I don't see how they've gotten Manchin or Sinema to move off of their refusal to do a carve-out with a filibuster. Mitch McConnell

Starting point is 01:25:32 has been whining and complaining today. We'll tell you about that in a second. But there was a news conference today that Senator Raphael Warnock and Senator Amy Klobuchar had talked about voting rights. Here's some of what they had to say. Look, we all know on Thursday, we're going to observe a dark, troubling milestone in this country's history. And that's the one year anniversary of January the 6th. That day,

Starting point is 01:25:54 thousands of rioters egged on by a disgraced former president waged a violent insurrection by attacking the U.S. Capitol. And January 6th was not a random event. It did not materialize out of the blue. It wasn't just a group of people being swept up by the moment. January 6th was an effort, a result. January 6th was the result of an effort by Donald Trump and his supporters to delegitimize our elections and perpetuate the big lie. Trump couldn't stand it that he lost.

Starting point is 01:26:31 He couldn't deal with it. So he came up with the big lie, and unfortunately, he's had so many people across America join him in perpetrating that lie for their own usually bad, malicious purposes. The election subversion efforts we're seeing all across the country today are a direct continuation of January 6th and the big lie. They come out of the same thing. They're all directly related to the same anti-democratic poison as the big lie. People invaded the Capitol because of the big lie.

Starting point is 01:27:05 Republican legislatures are changing the rules and preventing poor people, people of color, people who live in cities, older people, disabled people, young people from voting. It's not aimed at everybody. It's aimed at particular groups, and we all know to achieve political advantage. Republican state legislatures are promoting the big lie to justify disenfranchising legitimate voters. And the violence that we saw on January 6th we're seeing throughout the country by the same types of people.

Starting point is 01:27:39 Local legislators, local election officials are being threatened. Some have police guard simply because they stand for counting – making a legitimate count of the vote. MS. This week, many of you were there. I go back to that day, the officers with the scratched faces, people standing between us and DAP, the members in that room, and then at the very end, when Senator Blunt and myself and Vice President Pence walked down that long walk with strewn glass on all sides, spray-painted columns with the two young women

Starting point is 01:28:24 with the mahogany box filled with the last electoral ballots ending in Wyoming. And I vowed at that moment that this can never happen again and that so much of our country and our foundation of our country and the reputation of our nation around the world is about this peaceful transition of democracy and that we are a democracy we should be proud of. And in the words of – I think it was President Biden that quoted Bob Dole at Bob Dole's funeral, he once said when looking at civil rights legislation, no first-class democracy

Starting point is 01:28:58 can treat people like second-class citizens. So that's what this is about. And I think you know that what happened that day really didn't end that day. I naively thought on that beautiful blue sky inauguration with all of the leaders of both parties up on that stage that the torch had been passed and that this was behind us. Far from the truth. Over 400 bills introduced across the country. We have bayonets replaced by legislation that basically says you can't vote on weekends in the last month, as Senator Warnock will tell you, in Georgia, or that you can't register to vote, or that the bill that was

Starting point is 01:29:41 passed in Wisconsin, which was by one person's veto pen – and that would be Governor Evers – would have been put into law that meant one ballot drop-off box in the entire city of Milwaukee, or votes not certified or counted, or nonpartisan ballot commissions replaced by partisan state legislatures. That's what's going on. The Freedom to Vote Act sets basic federal minimum standards that says it's safe to vote, that you don't have to go get

Starting point is 01:30:13 a notary public in the middle of a pandemic in order to get in a mail-in ballot, which is exactly what you have to do right now in South Carolina. Basic minimal standards that are consistent with the US Constitution that says that Congress can make or alter federal election laws. South Carolina – basic, minimal standards that are consistent with the U.S. Constitution that says that Congress can make or alter federal election laws. All right, folks, we have some audio issues there with Senator Robbie O'Warnock. I'm going to do this here. Y'all let me know when y'all get that problem fixed. Y'all want to see a liar talk. Listen to this fool.

Starting point is 01:31:14 Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell whining, complain about what Democrats are doing. It appears that the majority leader is hell-bent to try to break the Senate. Come on, go full screen, Kanan. His argument that somehow state legislatures across the country are busily at work trying to make it more difficult for people to vote. Of course, that's not happening anywhere in America. Ninety-four percent of Americans believe it's easy to vote. We had a record turnout last year, the biggest turnout since 1900. It's already against the law to prevent people from voting based

Starting point is 01:31:57 upon race. The Voting Rights Act is still intact. So it's appropriate to ask the question, what's going on here? Well, there's been a lot of talk about big lies. Well, the big lie on the other side is that state legislatures controlled by Republicans are busily at work trying to make it difficult for people to vote. If you actually read the legislation that's been passed, that's clearly not the case. And so I think this is an excuse to try to break the Senate. Hypocrisy is not unheard of in politics, but about half the current members of the Democratic Party when Donald Trump was president and we were in the majority, believed that the legislative filibuster was the essence of the Senate. So I guess where you stand depends upon where you sit.

Starting point is 01:32:55 We anticipate, based on what the majority leader said, that you're going to try to break the Senate, break the legislative filibuster, make some kind of narrow exception. There is no such thing as a narrow exception. No such thing as a narrow exception. I really don't want to hear a damn thing, Mustafa, from Mitch McConnell after he confirmed the Supreme Court justice with nine days before the election and then refused to even have a hearing for for Merrick Garland 10 months before the election. I don't give a damn what he got to say. You know, we know that Mitch McConnell has a hard time with the truth. You know, so when he speaks, you automatically know that what he's sharing with you has little value or should have little value. Over 19 states, I believe, have passed

Starting point is 01:33:46 restrictive voting requirements or laws to date. So he knows what the reality of the situation is. And he also knows that there has been a very concentrated effort to limit. And he called out the reason why, because so many people voted in the last election and they understand that their policies are not reflective of what most the majority of Americans are looking for. So they have to continue to rig the game. So when Mitch McConnell speaks, we know that there's not much value for what he's sharing with us. The thing here, Xavier, when we talk about what is going on here and guys guys, let me know we have that audio fixed of Senator Raphael Warnock. The thing we're dealing with here is McConnell's exactly what Republicans are doing. They want to make it harder for folks to vote.

Starting point is 01:34:37 They are lying about the big lie, the whole big lie. And, oh, Trump, oh, my election was rigged. No, you got your ass whooped. And so they want to steal future elections because they want to satisfy Trump and his crazy nutcase supporters. All of those deplorables. I think Hillary Clinton was right.

Starting point is 01:34:58 They are deplorables. Republicans are lying, Roland. I have to read this poll that just came out for CBS News a couple of days ago. There's a question. What happened at the Capitol on January 6th? 47 percent of Republicans said it was over patriotism and 41% of Republicans say left-leaning groups. But then asked again, why do you think if there was patriotism, what was it about? 82% of Republicans said exercising the right to vote. And then another 79% said drawing attention to fraud in the elections. So those polls taken together said the republicans are lying you

Starting point is 01:35:45 can't say on one hand that the people that were there were defending freedom and patriotism and on the other hand blame left-leaning groups which lie is it that you're trying to believe yourself so you can carry on a lie on the american public because you can change the right to vote for those who don't look who don't vote or think like you it's also funny uh demario because so black lives matter and antifa were they at the capitol trying to get the vote count stopped for the person who they voted for yeah okay right but we all know that if it was black black people in the capital they would all have been mowed down before they even got to the steps that have been shot on site. So we know that. But let me just change the subject just a small bit. I wish that we had a Mitch McConnell on thenell who was willing to stand up and use the power that he has to make his agenda and the agenda of those he represent to move forward i wish we had someone that was

Starting point is 01:36:52 gangster enough to say i don't care what you say president i'm gonna hold up this this this hearing from garland for 10 months i wish we had someone that would say i don't give a damn if it's not you ever wondered what? Actors and actresses do when they have What was that? No, go ahead. Keep going. Go ahead I wish we had someone like that That was in power that can move the George for that that could move the Voting Rights Act that could move the act Get rid of qualified immunity and say I don't give a damn what it takes. I'm going to do it. I'm going to say with a very clear, with my chest, I'm going to get rid

Starting point is 01:37:30 of the filibuster, not this whole stuff. Oh, I think we should have some type of carve out. No, this is wrong. Yes, I want to break the Senate because the Senate is a relic of white supremacy. I wish we had someone like that on the side of true justice and equity. No one, like that on the side of truth, justice, and equity.

Starting point is 01:37:56 No one, no one on the Democratic side speaks as clearly and uses their power that they have as forcefully as Mitch McConnell. I think he's an evil man, but I wish we had someone on the side of truth, justice, and equity that would utilize the same powers that he's utilizing. You know, they could actually take a vote when they had less senators there, but they still had a quorum. There are things that they could actually do that you see Republican legislators do all across this country. I'm in Oklahoma, totally dominated by Republicans.

Starting point is 01:38:22 They do what they want to do within the confines of the rules and guess what if the rules doesn't allow it guess what they change the rules they're not going to let some parliamentarian some unelected uh bureaucrat tell them what to do when they're elected officials so that's what i got to say about this um here is um senator rafael warlock today uh the u.s senate everyone and thank you, everyone, and thank you, Senator Schumer, for your leadership on this issue and to all of my colleagues. Thank you so very much. Let's be really clear. Our democracy is in peril

Starting point is 01:38:55 and time is running out. This is a moral moment. If we fail to protect the voices and the votes of the American people, then we have fallen way short of our responsibility as members of this body. In the state of Georgia right now, as the state legislature comes together for a new session, there is an effort to get rid of every drop box in the state. Think about that. In the middle of a pandemic, with the Omicron variant, and we don know uh what the days ahead will bring something that that their duty is to get rid of drop boxes what will that do for rural voters who are trying to exercise

Starting point is 01:39:54 their vote what about workers on the night shift it's very clear what the republican party is up to they they are trying to make it harder for some people to vote and easier to cheat. We're trying to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. And I predict that over the next few days, you're going to hear the same Republicans give a lot of lip service to bipartisanship. I believe in bipartisanship. I'd like to see us participate in a bipartisan way, which is why I had hoped they would have allowed us to have a debate on the voting bills that are in front of us. That's what they blocked three times in the Senate, our ability to have a bipartisan debate about an issue that the American people are debating over right now.

Starting point is 01:40:56 I don't usually do this, but I happen to be sitting in the chair presiding over the Senate this morning when one of my colleagues from Texas Senator Cornyn began to attack our efforts to push forward these reasonable voting laws the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. For the people, the Freedom to Vote Act. And he tried to mischaracterize what we're doing. Let me be very clear. The elections are still run by the states. We're just trying baseline that says every

Starting point is 01:41:49 every eligible american h the ballot. And I find it usually do this, but I fi the senator from Texas wo stand here and push against these proposals and give lip service to bipartisanship when members of the state legislature in Texas had to come here just a few months ago to break quorum to keep their colleagues from passing some of the most repressive voting anti-democratic measures that we've seen in the state of Texas in a long time. Members of his own legislature had to come here, leave their families, leave their children, to keep them from passing these terrible voter suppression bills, which are not bipartisan.

Starting point is 01:42:46 They're not bipartisan in Texas. They're not bipartisan in Georgia. And then at the same time, they're saying to us, we can't pass these because, you know, this happens at the state level. I'm the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached. And I take great umbrage when members of this body would use old trite states rights arguments. The same kinds of states rights arguments that were used against Dr. King back then to push against reasonable access to the ballot right now.

Starting point is 01:43:39 And many of these same politicians will stand up in just a few days and they will give lip service to Martin Luther King Jr. Well, you cannot remember Dr. King and dismember his legacy at the same time. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the Freedom to Vote Act is the legacy of Dr. King and if you would give lip service to his name, you need to find yourself on the right side of history, pushing to get these bills done. And so I urge my colleagues to do the right thing. If those on the other side

Starting point is 01:44:18 refuse to do it, the Democrats will have to act alone. But by all means, we have to act. Dr. King's words are as true now as they were back then. Justice delayed is justice denied. Time is running out. Let's get the job job done and i think you can see the passion all right folks um that right there uh says all that needs to be said mustafa uh in terms of where we need to be moving forward uh fighting for voting rights i mean it's the most important aspect that's going on in cap Hill. Folks talk about the Build Back Better. They talk about a number of these other pieces of legislation. There's nothing more important than voting rights. If we don't get voting rights correct, then none of the other

Starting point is 01:45:17 things are going to pass that are actually going to be a part of creating real change on the ground. So we have to be 100% in. Folks on Capitol Hill have to get serious. We got to get serious about the car melt if necessary. And if we're not, then our democracy has little meaning. And in a mansion. Bottom line is I don't believe, and again, I just don't. I don't believe the votes are there to do the carve out, Xavier, which means the focus has to be on taking those critical Senate seats that are that are there,

Starting point is 01:45:55 that are going to be there in 2022. Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania. That's where the focus has to be, and Ohio and Florida. Yeah, Roland. I mean, going after their 10 competitive races right now, that's going to happen in the 2022 presidential, I mean, sorry, the senatorial election. And there has to be some sort of really strong ground game by Democrats to really try to pull those races out. So to increase the advantage that they have in Senate, or else we're going to see some weird stuff happen. They already have Republicans talking about putting Donald Trump as a speaker and all these other crazy things. This sounds absurd, but Donald Trump's election sounded absurd.

Starting point is 01:46:37 All their plans are absurd, and they plan on carrying them out. So with the same intensity, with the same focus, with the same amount of effort that is being paid by Republicans to strip the right to vote, to be able to put negative, terrible, lying propaganda out there that has increased the amount of Republicans who believe in the big lie, Democrats have to have the same amount of force, the same amount of effort, the same amount of energy to be able to make sure that we're just not relying on folks to get to the ballot box, but are making sure

Starting point is 01:47:09 that the fundamental structure of our democracy is changed for the better. Demario, final comment before we go to break. Look, I'm not convinced that even if the Democrats get more seats, they'll do the right thing. They need to do go all in right now.

Starting point is 01:47:25 This needs to be the first and only thing that's on the table as voters. Yeah, but here's the deal. Here's the deal. Okay, but here's the problem. It's tied. It's 50-50. If one senator says, I ain't down with it, it's over. If you pick up three or four seats, you now diminish that one.

Starting point is 01:47:44 You're now at 53. So if cinema and mansion say, Hey, no car about you're still at 51. So the problem is, so you don't actually have the votes right now. Right now you have no choice, but to hope mansion. And here's the deal. Cinema cinema could say, all right, all right carve out match can still say no now you can't do anything no no you said i'm not convinced if they get my boss to do the right thing i know it's not because you you're not you're not right now you're totally beholden

Starting point is 01:48:16 upon one to every person you gotta have all 50 i i no i i don't agree with i don't believe that there's only one or two people that don't believe they want to get rid of Lashley and Filibuster. I believe that they're utilizing Sinema and Manchin as cover. That's my belief. Because I remember a time when the Democrats had 60 senators and 50, 60 majority in the House, and they still said, we can't get anything done because we need bipartisanship. No, no, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait.

Starting point is 01:48:49 When was that? During the Obama administration. And what was the bill? Several bills. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. Hold up. But go back to that.

Starting point is 01:49:03 What did you have? 60 senators,y Democrats. And who did you have of the 60? Who did you have? People like Lieberman. No, you had like who? People like Lieberman out of Connecticut. And who else? But you make it my point. You had you had again. But but but you had it my point. You had, again, but you had conservative senators who no longer there. Okay. Democrats have lost those seats. And so that's part of the fundamental problem here.

Starting point is 01:49:39 Part of the fundamental problem. But we know right now it's 50-50. You ain't got no shot at getting it. But you put a black woman in North Carolina, Sherry Beasley, now you're at 51-49. You put a black man in Wisconsin, who's on the Democratic side, now you're 52-48. So you put a black woman in Florida, now you're at 53-48. Who's the majority leader? No, no, no, no? No, no, no. Follow me here.

Starting point is 01:50:08 I just told you. You put a black woman in North Carolina, a black man in Wisconsin, a black woman in Florida. Hell, you might have a brother who runs in Pennsylvania. You could potentially put in four black U.S. Senators.

Starting point is 01:50:23 Now, it's 54-S. Senators. Now, now, now it's 54-46. Different equation. I support all of that. What I'm saying is, I haven't seen them fight hard enough in this environment to make me believe that they would fight harder if they had

Starting point is 01:50:38 three or four more seats. I think if you had three, if you had four more Senators and they black, that changes the ballgame. Well, it remains to be seen, Roland. You have more optimism in these folks than I do. No. Are you telling me if you have Val Demings from Florida, Sherry Beasley from North Carolina, Mandela from Wisconsin, Kenyatta from Pennsylvania. That ain't going to be a difference?

Starting point is 01:51:06 I'm not saying it's not going to be a difference, but that's still not 60 votes. My point is this, Roland. I need them to roll and move and fight as hard as McConnell will be fighting right now. Would McConnell be saying, oh, I only have 50? But it's easy for

Starting point is 01:51:22 McConnell to fight. I don't know how he gets it done. I'm not a senator. No, no. I can tell you how. I can tell you how. DeMario, I can tell you how. This ain't hard. DeMario, this ain't hard. This ain't hard. This is real simple. Tell me. This is the Republican Party.

Starting point is 01:51:38 Okay? So, if this is the center, this is the Republican Party. Right? Far right. That's it Party. Right. Far right. That's it. That's all I got. OK, this is the Democratic Party. You got centrist. Moderates, forget progressives, far left. You got to go through all of that. Republicans, far right. That's it. You ain't got to do

Starting point is 01:52:06 nothing else. That's the difference. So McConnell can play hardball. He ain't got no moderates. There ain't no moderate Republicans. No progressive Republicans. You either right or far right. That's

Starting point is 01:52:22 it. That's why. So why are we up there talking about we want to work in a bipartisan fashion because who are they well brother warwick who i'm a big fan of he just was saying we want to work in a bipartisan fashion because that uh that non that nonsense because because first of all that nonsense about all about first of all you did pick up lisa murkowski one Republican who said she would support a car. She would support one of the voting bills. That's why. But the bottom line is we all know what's BS talk about. Oh, bipartisanship. We all know that's just nonsense.

Starting point is 01:52:56 You ain't look not one Republican voted to extend the child child care tax credit. Hell, they ain't supporting this. So we already know that game. Stop saying it. Stop playing those games. That's what I'm saying. Are they going to be strong enough, gangster enough, to fight hard enough for our lives? They're talking about democracy. Our democracy is in peril. Our lives are in peril

Starting point is 01:53:18 as black people. Our lives are in peril. The problem is, when you're 50-50, if one person says, nope, you're 50-50, if one person says, nope, you're toast. I understand the math, I get that. And Manchin ain't budging.

Starting point is 01:53:33 Manchin ain't budging. Manchin's not the only one. No, no, no, I know that. But I'm telling you, the problem is you could have 48 on record. Still gotta have the other two. Put them on record, though. Put them on record. Still got to have the other two. Put them on record, though. Put them on record.

Starting point is 01:53:47 Which is why Schumer wants to vote. Well, he needs to do it. Good. I'm glad he's doing it now, but they wasted a whole year of our time. No, no, no, no, no. Actually, no, they previously, no, actually, there was a previous vote. They've had votes before to end closer to advance the bill. They simply didn't do it. So this is the first vote.

Starting point is 01:54:09 OK, well, great. So, I mean, well, again, what I'm saying is I absolutely believe that you had a black senator from Florida, from North Carolina, from Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. This would be a different conversation. Not just's not just because they're black, remember, but we know culturally how they vote. Right, right. What the sister from Denver said is not how they campaign, but how will they actually vote. And what I'm saying is, if you got those

Starting point is 01:54:38 four who are Democratic senators, they're not going to be Tim Scott. That's what I'm saying. There ain't going to be no Tim Scott. There ain't going to be that. It's your show right there. It's your show. No, to be no Tim Scott. There ain't going to be that. No, no, no, no. I can't end the show there because I got a black business segment that we do every Tuesday because we support black-owned businesses. So you need to just

Starting point is 01:54:53 pump your brakes. Stop trying to play host. Be an Omega. Sit there and be quiet. All right, y'all. We're going to take a quick break. We'll come back. Our Marketplace business segment sponsored by Verizon. A brother who's over opened a coffee shop to also deal with mental health for african americans that's next the roller mart unfiltered Kanskje vi kan se utvide om det. This holiday, Verizon has the deal that gets better and better and better.

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Starting point is 01:56:43 The new iPhone, the entertainment, end up to $1,000 when you switch! This year, holiday better with Verizon, because everyone deserves better. All right, folks. Our Marketplace by Verizon segment we hold every Tuesday where we feature black businesses. There's a new coffee shop out of Chicago that is focusing on coffee, hip hop and mental health. Really? How's that going to work out? Well, let's talk with the owner of that. Christopher Lamarck is the founder of Coffee, Hip-Hop, and Mental Health. He joins us right now. Christopher, how are you doing? I'm doing good, sir. Thanks for having me. All right. So what is this concept?

Starting point is 01:57:40 A very beautiful concept that happened. You know what? I had a mental and emotional breakdown inside of a Starbucks in October of 2018. Look, Roland, sir, I grew up on the south side of Chicago. I endured tons of abuse, childhood, being a kid at a state, foster kid, group home, shelters, no mom, no dad. Being abused, I walked around as an adult carrying a lot of this pain, a wounded boy. But on that day in Starbucks in 2018, I had a mental and emotional breakdown, just fell apart, started crying. It's because I had dealt with so much, a lot of the unresolved childhood trauma, right? Walk around as a grown man with this wounded boy on the inside, not knowing what to do, didn't know how to live. And I had wrestled with three different bouts of suicide attempts. But in that moment, in that coffee shop, it was the safest place I could be. And that pushed me to finally go to therapy to deal with all of the unresolved trauma

Starting point is 01:58:44 that I carried around for close to 40 years. And so after I started going to therapy, I had some breakthrough moments. And I went home one day and I wrote down three words that changed my life and also the city of Chicago. Coffee, hip hop, and mental health. Coffee, because hey, when you think about coffee, it's about a conversation. Hip hop, as a hip hop artist for a long time here in Chicago, hip hop gave me a voice. It saved me from suicide. And it also gave me a peace of mind to push through.

Starting point is 01:59:21 And mental health, because I wanted to normalize mental health in the city of Chicago. So how does it work? All right. So if somebody has some mental health needs, I mean, what's what are they? What they could they come in for a cup of coffee? Then what happens? It's a little different than that. So we created the coffee shop as a way to raise money so we can pay for people to go to therapy. Right.

Starting point is 01:59:41 Got it. It's super expensive. Right. So we take the merchandise in the coffee shop sales and we put it towards a fund called normalized therapy University right so when you come buy a cup of coffee let's say a latte is $10 $5 go towards operations another three hours go towards the normalized therapy fund for the free therapy and then the two dollars go towards of fighting food insecurity

Starting point is 02:00:05 fund, right? And so the whole coffee shop is all about building the finances so we can go into those poor black and brown communities and say, you know what, if you're dealing with stress or depression and you don't have the finances or the insurance, we'll go ahead and pay for it for you. So that's the whole point of the coffee shop to help remove the financial barriers. Questions for my panel. Let me first start with Mustafa. Mustafa, what you got? Brother, thank you for what you're doing. We know that mental health, there's so many different issues that are impacting our community. The question is, do you have folks who are partnering with you or other therapists also connecting or giving pro bono support? What's that look like? Absolutely. And that's a great question.

Starting point is 02:00:56 So we built a hub of more than 800 therapists who are currently in our database. Right. So to answer Roland's question earlier, when someone comes to our website and they click on get therapy, they would fill out a very detailed intake form. And that would go to our case manager team with our therapists who work closely with us. And we'll go ahead and send them three therapists so they will get the autonomy to choose the therapist based upon what they're currently dealing with. And initially for the last year, we were paying for the first five sessions to get people started with their healing journey.

Starting point is 02:01:32 And if they still needed support, we'll work with the therapist of their choice and also our team to continue to help. And yes, we do have people that offer free services, but it's really up to the client, the person who signed up to choose them. We never want to just give anybody a random therapist. So it's really important that we allow them to choose a therapist that's in our database. I hope that makes sense. Demario. Yo, brother, this is a great concept. Personally, I was one of those brothers that grew up thinking, hey, man, I'm not crazy.

Starting point is 02:02:06 I don't need therapy. But I really related to what you stated because I had some of those same traumas. And for the last two and a half years, therapy has helped me tremendously. And I'm a big advocate as brothers that we need to do it. So I really appreciate your vulnerability to come out and say how you got to where you got with the breakdown. I've been there. I get it. And how important it is to make sure we're working on our mental health. How have you what's been the reaction to your friends and your family? Those who grew up outside who say, hey, why are you talking like that? I mean, talk about about that, because I'm interested to see how your journey is being, because I know how that's been for me.

Starting point is 02:02:48 Oh, man, sir. It's been amazing. Right. Because now my friends reach out to me and they say, hey, Christopher, look, I need help. So I help find a lot of therapists for my own friends. It's one thing about your story. Right. If you tell your story very passionately, you give people permission to tell their stories. And if you talk about the pain and frustration that you deal with, it also gives people permission to say, you know what?

Starting point is 02:03:16 It's okay to tell somebody that I feel like powerless, that I'm struggling with depression, that I thought about ending my own life, right? But if you keep that in, you're not allowing people to get the help that they need. A lot of people need you to show up and tell your story. So it's been amazing, not only with my friends, but the community here in Chicago, not just the black or the brown community, but all people all over Chicago have been knocking down our doors, not only to support, whether it be

Starting point is 02:03:45 financially or through resources, but even therapists lending their hands and saying, you know what, we'll give you a sliding scale or a discount, or we even do it for free, because you all are changing the narrative here in Chicago. So it's been a great response. Man, I salute you, brother. I salute you and just the good work. And you stated we need help as black people. We are the most common people in the nation, in the world. Yes. I just appreciate you and shout out to Dr. Siri, not that nom out there in L.A. My brother, Resema, who are black male therapists that are doing a lot of great work in our community. Thank you. Thank you. If folks want more details, where can they learn more about the coffee shop?

Starting point is 02:04:30 They can go to our website, chhamh.org. You can find us on all social media, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Just put in coffee, hip hop, and mental health. I'm currently sitting inside of our beautiful space here. And what you all see on the screen right here, that is a 3D rendering of what the new coffee shop is going to look like. We're set to open up in the spring of 2022. I'm so excited.

Starting point is 02:04:57 We're raising funds right now. You can find us on GoFundMe, building coffee, hip hop and mental health. We're looking to raise $200,000 because, look, in the last three months, we already spent $80,000 on free therapy. And we're looking to put 250 Chicagoans every year in therapy so we can change their lives. So find us, look for us, and we appreciate your support. Thank you so much, Roland Martin, and all you gentlemen as well. And we'll be happy to come by, but not in the damn winter.

Starting point is 02:05:29 So I spent six years in Chicago. I'm telling y'all, I do not miss Chicago from October 1st through May 1st, sometimes June 1st. It's too damn cold. So, yeah, so you see me in Chicago, it'll be July, August, September. All right, Chris. All right. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, y'all. That's it for us. Let me thank

Starting point is 02:05:54 Xavier. Let me thank Loud Omega DeMario and, of course, my alpha brother, Mustafa. See, alphas know how to act when they're on TV. We appreciate that. Thank you so very much uh uh good show here uh and folks don't forget download our black star network app all platforms uh apple phone android phone apple tv android tv roku samsung uh smart tv xbox amazon

Starting point is 02:06:21 fire and of course support our brain to Funk fan club. You can support us Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R Martin Unfiltered, Venmo, RM Unfiltered, Zelle is rolling at rollingmartin.com, rolling at rollingmartinunfiltered.com. Let me give a shout out to Danella

Starting point is 02:06:39 Houston Dean. She gave during the show. Let me also, let me just scroll down here, y'all. Anita Nickens, Latoya, Paula Ogbon, Arkina Daly. Let's see here. Who else? I'm just scrolling down. Folks who have given during the show. I'm going to give y'all a shout out right now. And I'm looking for some other ones. Let me see here. I know I had two more I saw two more uh that I want to go ahead and mention uh as I'm scrolling down and uh don't see them I'll do I'll give them shout tomorrow and also y'all uh we're going to have what we got some new features we're

Starting point is 02:07:19 going to be debuting if you're a fan club member and we do not have your email, a lot of people who give us give on cash app, they have not emailed us. I want you to send us an email to info at Roland S. Martin dot com info at Black Star Network dot com. If you are a member of the show, there are benefits that you get and we're going to be unveiling one of those new benefits. I talked about it on social media. We're going to be announcing a call-in feature on the show. That's right. We're going to be taking phone calls on the show. I haven't decided. We're going to do them every day.

Starting point is 02:07:53 But we're going to have the opportunity to take phone calls. The first month of the show, only fan club members will be able to call in. We've had more than 30,000 people who have supported our show since we launched uh actually more than that keenan give me whatever that number is uh but uh the first month only those of you who were members of our brain to funk fan club will be able to call into the show sorry folks that's the benefit uh and so if you have supported us uh via zelle via cash app via paypal uh via uh venmo or even on youtube um we we have some of your emails we don't have all of them so just send an email to info at just my back just send to info blackstarnetwork.com send the info at blackstarnetwork.com just to

Starting point is 02:08:42 make sure that we have your email now y'all know we're going to cross check uh so put your name your email on there so we'll be able to take your phone calls when you're on the show folks that's it i appreciate it hopefully we'll be back in the studio tomorrow hopefully the roads will be clear here in dc my staff can get in and i can't wait for us to unveil our new studio and show you what we've been up to for the past six months folks i'll see you tomorrow and also shout out to more house i'm rocking this shirt today here in roller six months. Folks, I'll see you tomorrow. And also shout out to Morehouse. I'm rocking this shirt today here in Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! Thank you. I know a lot of cops.

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#RolandMartinUnfiltered - FL Activist Arrested, Paroled Man still in prison, Trucker Clemency, Coffee & Mental Health

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