#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Fla. Passes New Congressional Map Dismantling 2 Majority Black Districts & Black Lawmakers sit-in

Episode Date: April 23, 2022

4.22.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Fla. Passes New Congressional Map Dismantling 2 Majority Black Districts & Black Lawmakers sit-in A coalition of civil rights groups, including Black Voters Matter, filed the first lawsuit against Florida's new congressional map, backed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, eliminating two majority-Black districts.  Co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Cliff Albright, will break down the lawsuit. Melenese Ford is just one of many who say they are victims of Darius "Cooks" Williams' doxing practices.  Tonight, a couple who says Darius posted their children and her social security number for all to see. While a former Philadelphia police officer faces assault charges of beating a black mother driving her car near a protest in 2020, she's about to cash a two million dollar settlement check. Get this, Santa Ana, California, police officers are playing music to keep videos of them on patrol from being posted online.  We'll talk to a council member who confronted some officers for doing just that. It's Earth Day, and we have an expert to explain how regenerative agriculture is a climate solution. About 20-percent of school principals are people of color.  In tonight's Education Matter segment, a non-profit's initiative to increase that number. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. You can't be black on media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Friday, April 22nd, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network, a coalition of civil rights groups, including Black Voters Matter, have filed the first lawsuit against Florida's new racist congressional plan signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, led by Governor Ron DeSantis that eliminates two majority black districts. Co founder of Black Voters Matter.

Cliff Albright will break down the lawsuit. Melodies Ford is just one of many women who say they are victims of Darius Cooks Williams. Of course, his doxing practices tonight. A couple who says there is posted their children on his social media accounts. Plus her social security number

would join us to talk about that. While a former Philadelphia police officer faces assault charges for beating a black mother driving her car near a protest in 2020, she's about to cash a $2 million settlement check. Get this y'all.

Santa and a California police officer are playing music to keep videos of them on patrol from being posted online. We talked to a council member who confronted some officers for doing just that. It's also Earth Day, and we have an expert explain how. First of all, regenerative agriculture is a climate solution. What is it? We'll find out in a second. About 20% of school principals are people of color in tonight's Education Matters segment, a nonprofit's initiative to increase that number.

And we've got a couple Republicans on the show. First, you know what? We're just gonna go ahead and put Kevin McCarthy and Marjorie Taylor Greene in our Crazy-Ass White People segment. First, Kevin McCarthy blasted New York Times, saying he never said he was going to ask Donald Trump to resign.

Little problem, there are audio tapes with him admitting that. Then Marjorie Taylor Greene took the stand today, y'all. If y'all want to see pure comedy, wait until you see this fool saying on the stand, I never called Nancy Pelosi a traitor. Then they played her actual comments. Then she was kind of like, yeah, I did say that.

Y'all, it's pure comedy. Gold. I can't wait to show you. It's time to breathe the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

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

Yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. A couple days ago, I talked to a woman from Atlanta who said that Darius Cooks-Williams, goes by the alias Darius Cooks, had doxxed her. A number of other people have said the exact same thing.

A Detroit couple, they say they too have been doxing victims of the Atlanta social media cook. Now, black entrepreneurs Don and Danielle Holland say Williams posted this private photo of their family on his social media. These were posts,

and I'll ask you a second where they came from. But again, this is, now, I asked Darius if he had posted the photo, and he responded that he had not. This is the tweet right here. I said, very easy answer, Darius.

Did you post her children? It's either yes or no. He says no. That is a lie. Williams even claimed to have Danielle's social security number. Yeah. I even asked him if the doxing accusations were true.

His response, their attempt is laughable. Don and Danielle Holland, who don't think this is a laughing matter, join me from the Metro Detroit area. Glad to have both of you. First off, I wanna start here, and that is, there have been a number of stories,

again, that have been done. Folks have made various complaints. The photo that was posted, did either one of you post that on your social media accounts? The pictures that he posted were, hi, Roland, how are you, by the way? Great.

The pictures that he posted were on my private Facebook page. My Instagram profile is private, and I have never posted those pictures on my Twitter. Now, when you say private, what that means is, first of all, there is no private page. You can lock it, but people can still join your page, correct? I mean, to my understanding, you have to send like a friend request or something. Right, right. Yeah, to be able to view your profile and your pictures and stuff like that. But the reality is, is that the moment you post it is actually public, even though it or something. Yeah, to be able to view your profile and your pictures and stuff like that.

But the reality is, is that the moment you post it is actually public, even though it can be labeled private. But, so how long ago was it when he took those photos that were on your Facebook page and where did he post these images? Because he was angry with you, but he chose to post photos of you and your children. How long ago was that? Yeah, so the date was February 16th, to be exact. What precipitated all of this?

Why? What was the anger? What was the drama surrounding this? Well, his anger was that I was helping to amplify his scams and predatory behavior and doxing of black women to be specific. So I took to my Twitter anonymously, and it was anonymous because I know that he's historically,

you know, known to dox people and put their private information out there. So I was basically just simply helping to amplify the behavior of a bad actor amongst our community, specifically amongst black women. That's his demographic. So I was taken to my Twitter to retweet, to help spread information, any public documents that were out there regarding him. And for some reason, I was like a needle out of a haystack. He honed in on me. And I guess I was an easy target for him to dox. And that's what he ended up doing.

All right. So what else has been published? So was it just these? Now, the allegation that he posted your Social Security number, did that happen? When did it happen? He did not actually post my Social Security number. What he did was imply that he has my Social Security number, which you just showed in the screenshot or the Twitter tweet that he tweeted. He said that, I said, why are you implying that you have my social security number? I said, I'm not trying to be employed by you.

Why is that something that you would need as far as a social security number and a background check are concerned? And he said, there is no implication. I do have your background check. Screenshot that. He never actually posted my actual social security number but he said that he he applied that he has so how long has this been going on um and how has this impacted the both of you and your family um it's been going on like i said since, since February 16th was the official day that he doxed me and put my picture as well as my husband's picture, our underage children's pictures out there. He has since every, just on there every day, antagonized us.

That day when he actually doxed me, he changed his profile picture on Twitter to my picture. He changed his Twitter name to my name. He listed three cities that I have lived in. Basically, he was trying to incite people to harass me. He has since, when people have said that kids are off limits, like if you have an issue with what I was doing on my Twitter and you want to come at me, that's one thing. But to bring our underage children into it is another. And when he's questioned about that, he has several times said F those children. He changed his Twitter name to my husband's name recently in the last couple of weeks. And I mean, it's been a lot. It's mentally draining. My daughter has been under a lot of

stress, having panic attacks. She knows what's going on. And it's a lot, you know. My husband. Yeah, yeah. So let me say this. First of all, how you doing, Roland? Thank you for allowing us to come on here. There's two different, there's two swim lanes here. There is spreading awareness and harassment. Darius has spewed that she had been harassing him, right? However, she was only spreading awareness to bring awareness to other women what he was doing.

And she had to do it under strict anonymity, right? Because what he does is when he finds out who you are, he doxes, right? So, and then what he does is he also blocks people. So he really picked her out of a needle in a haystack. And I've said this before, that I think why he did it in the fashion that he did it, where he hit so below the belt, was because she very eloquently was stating facts, right? She was never, from my understanding, and from what I've seen, and from what I've seen and from what I've researched, she was never posting lies or hypothetical things about him.

It was always facts. And I didn't know who he was. I didn't know what a Darius Williams was until February 16th. I mean, you know, again, you know, you know, when we were all in shutdown, from what I've been told now is that, you know, with COVID or whatnot, you know, he had really claimed fame when he was, you know, she would tell me about different people that she would follow. And, you know, everybody was just at home. I mean, we weren't doing, we had no other choice but to turn to social media. So when this all came about on February 16th, she kind of reminded me of who this guy was. But I would remember she had talked about the pattern that this one of the people that she was following would do.

Right. And the pattern was being disrespectful to black women, was being there was information about him being a scammer. If any customer, if anybody opposed him, he would block them. Well, at first he would ridicule. He would talk down to them and then he would block them. Right. So when this came about, light bulb popped in my head. I'm like, okay, well, this is the guy. But again, I had no clue of who he was, what he was, what he does. I mean, I'm not even in this space, right?

I mean, this was when I got involved in this thing. I mean, I hadn't sent a tweet in five years, right? So when all of this occurred, when he had doxed us, I went ahead and I actually was, Daniel, to tell you, I was like kind of irritated. I was like really irritated about it. I'm like, why are we even in this space? Like what happened? You know, why are my children on the Internet? Why is this guy coming at us? So I told her, I said, you know what? Shut. We're going to shut our social media down.

Let's go dark for a minute. But again, you know, he was going live. He was just ridiculing. He was ridiculing us. He was talking about I got her kids. I got her kids' information. Tell Don Vaughn I said hello, blah, blah, blah. I mean, he was literally just like just verbally like assaulting us over the internet.

And boasting that he figured out who I was. Yeah. And boasting that he figured out who, who she was. So I'd say about, you know, one 32 o'clock that morning, and then rolling, I was hot, man. I mean, I was hot. I'm like, you know, I'm like, I can't, I got too much to lose. You know, I got a household. I got family. I got people that depend on me to, you know, you know, people that work for me. You know, I can't go, I can't, I can't lose it.

Right. But that was your first instinct. I don't know if you have children or anybody that's that's watching that have children. You know, all bets are off when children are involved, young children. And so I had to master extreme emotion because I needed to go back to I wanted to go back to my old Detroit roots, but I couldn't. So about 1.30, 2 o'clock in the morning, I sent my first tweet that I hadn't sent. I hadn't, because I'm not a, I don't tweet. You know, I mean, I had a Twitter account,

but I hadn't sent any tweets for five, six years. So I sent a tweet and I says, and I posted a picture of us. And I says, you know, Darius, this is Don Von Holland, husband of Danielle. You posted my family. You posted me. I need to understand why you did this. Please give me a call. So I'm like, you know what? If this guy, I'm going to get ahead of this guy, you know, because I know he's used to posting telephone numbers. He's used to posting personal things. So I'm like, you know what? I'm a dox myself. telephone numbers. He's used to posting personal things. So I'm like, you know what, I'm going to dox myself.

So I says, I need you to give me a call. I put my telephone, my personal cell phone number out there. It says 313-330-4992. I need for you to call me. So, and I think I sent a couple other tweets after that. And then the next morning we got up we're moving around we're still hot trying to figure out what we're going to do about this

and I believe that Danielle had saw that he was live and this guy had actually was telling his followers that yeah I talked to her husband I had a conversation with him told her told him what her what his wife was doing and blah blah blah and I'm like this guy is just like this guy is

something's up with this guy so I did another video and I says you know um Darius you said that we had a conversation you haven't but what. But to rewind before that, actually, I remember I shut my Twitter down a few hours before. The night before because I was receiving, you know, crazy tweets and messages and stuff. So I shut my Twitter down for about five, six hours and we wake up to the morning. What Don just said happened afterwards. But the first thing we saw in the morning was someone sent us an Instagram post from him saying, that's how you clear a B-I-T-C-H out. So he thought his attempt was to basically, he wanted to threaten me.

He wanted to shut me up. He wanted to scare me. He wanted to send me into a dark hole somewhere. And he thought he successfully had did that so he boastfully made a post you know smiling and saying that's how you clear a b-i-t-c-h out right so um now we fast forward and then that's when the instagram live he was on instagram live and then he stated what he stated in regards to actually having a conversation with me. So I did a video.

I tweeted my second or third tweet. And I says, you know, Darius, you stated that you had a conversation with me. You stated that we talked. And I says, you know what? My phone has been ringing, but it hasn't been you. I says, you have an extreme, vivid imagination. I mean, this man actually imagined an entire conversation, and he actually verbatimly read that conversation off to his followers.

Well, he didn't imagine. He lied. Yeah, he lied. Right. That's what I'm saying. So the two of you never had a conversation, but he put it out there that he did. Have the two of you taken any action, any civil action? Have you taken anything asking to have him take things down? Has there been any action? Have you taken against him? Yes. As far as taking, I mean, I've gotten, I've went the route of, you know, with people that I know and whatnot where resources that I've been trying to use.

We've filed a local police report. It is currently in the prosecutor's office. I'm in the discussions with the prosecutor right now on a local level here in Michigan. Got it. We've also had conversations with some folks within the DOJ. And it's funny that I didn't understand that this actually falls in the guidelines of Homeland Security in this matter. And we've reached out to the FBI. And naturally, we followed the process of where you report things on Twitter, report things on Instagram, you report things on Facebook. However, that has not worked because my children's pictures are still on his Twitter. And he refuses to delete them.

And he refuses to delete them. So, and this is why, you know, I really kind of got into this battle. Number one, I got in a battle because of my children and my family, my wife. And then number two, as I started getting into the fat meat of this whole situation, there's really no real process that's in place on the local police department level because there was someone else that was here in michigan that had a certain situation with him and they had went and tried to file a police report but the detroit police department kind of just threw it out said you know what you don't have a case however um in in the zip code that we live in they are kind of like

really diligent on trying to push it through. I mean, and that's the thing. I started getting into the fat meat of this. It's like, what is the real process to report somebody on a local level? Where can people go instead of like reporting it, cyberbullying on, you know, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter?

Like, what is the actual process that's in place? Which really, it's almost like it's zip code specific, you know? Right. Yeah. So that's the thing. So again, so your complaint is still in the hands of the DA's office. Yes, exactly. And no decision has actually been made on that. Last question for y'all. Have y'all heard from other people

who have similar complaints with regards to Darius Cooks-Williams? Absolutely. I mean, we get flooded with inboxes of people that have had situations in dealing with him. As a matter of fact, there are people that have been coming

specifically in my inbox stating that they were afraid to come out because of what he does. I mean, they don't really have any, you know, I'm not going to say they don't have a fight in them. They just necessarily don't know what to do to try to fight this whole problem process. So that's the thing. I'm actually trying to figure out how i can help them and what do we need to do so it's like i'm kind of guiding the individuals right that's in my inbox on what they need to do and follow the steps and the protocols that we are trying to do you know that we're doing so yeah we gotta we get tons of people that reach out to us saying hey this happened to me hey Hey, this guy blocked me.

Hey, this guy owes me money. Hey, what do I need to do? You know, and that's the thing. It's like, man, I cannot really. It's like I got into the fat meat of this. And it's like, man, this guy is like a predator. He's currently on his best behavior, trying to issue refunds and do customer service on live because of the heat that's been under him recently as far as you know your show and um the hashtag Darius Crooks on Twitter as well as Randy Travis's

Fox 5 Atlanta two-part segment and so whereas people would normally get blocked or ignored when they're asking about a refund or products not received. He is on social media, refunding people and answering any inquiries, whereas that's not his normal stance. Right. And I want to, I want to, I want to touch, touch this point back again because his stance on his reasoning for going after Danielle was because she harassed me for nine months. Roland, you know as well as I do that the definition of harassment and the definition

of awareness is totally two different things, right? Danielle was literally spreading awareness to other women, right, about his hypocrisy. This guy is a predator to our aunts. This guy is a predator to our mothers, our grandmothers, our sisters, you know, and that's the thing. And again, she had to do it in strict anonymity because of the way he operates.

Yeah, I think in the week that I was doxxed, I was, I believe, the fourth woman that he doxxed, I was, I believe, the fourth woman that he doxxed. Or fourth, I shouldn't say woman, because one of, it was a couple, the people that owned the Airbnb in Texas. He doxxed them. He doxxed myself. He doxxed a young lady who did a charge back regarding one of his Dining with Darius events. He put her private information out there as well as her brother's. And he put a young lady who he hired to do the cleaning

services after one of his dinners, who he hired, I believe, off of Craigslist. He put her private information out there as well. So within a week's time, I was like the fifth person that he doxxed. Well, this is certainly disturbing. I've invited him several times to come on the show to discuss these allegations. Still waiting for him to accept that invitation. I do know about this court hearing for May 17th with Melanies Ford regarding that restraining order. So we'll be covered and see what happens as well. We certainly appreciate both of you joining us.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thanks a bunch and good luck with it. Folks, coming up next, we're gonna talk about the new Florida maps.

They are just simply gutting black people, trying to get rid of two majority black districts. We'll talk with Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter about what is happening in the Sunshine State.

You're watching Rolling Market Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach. And on the next Get Wealthy, you'll meet Jandy Turner, who took her love of sports,

expanded her network, and created a thriving business. I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which in and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds, if not thousands of golf tournaments is that business gets done on the golf course. All on the Next Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. This week on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Reparations. Is it finally time?

Two of the country's foremost authorities on the subject will join me to try to answer that very question. A powerful installment of The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, right here, only on the Black Star Network. Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grownups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. 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. Vladimir, you're not watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke. Republicans have been attacking Democrats all across the country, especially black people. Florida, they chose to raise them to a whole new level. Governor Ron DeSantis rejected the maps that the legislator drew up. So he said, you know, I'm going to drop my own. Getting rid of two majority black districts already.

Lawsuits have been filed against Florida as a result of this decision. Joining us right now, folks, is Cliff Albright. He is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Glad to have him with us. Cliff, look, we expect stupid stuff to happen in Florida. Now we see this. This is an absolute attempt by Governor Ron DeSantis to completely destroy black representation in Congress. So, yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right, Roland. By the way, happy belated anniversary.

Appreciate it. No, I mean, we're looking at, this is even worse than what we saw out of the recent situations in Alabama with their maps and Louisiana with their maps. In those situations, you know, the fight was really about whether or not the maps would be changed to give black folks the extra representation that we should have. In this situation, DeSantis, as you already noted, has gone out of his way, in fact, arguing with his own Republicans within his state, arguing to not just to not increase black representation, but to take away two seats, including carving up the seat that's in northern Florida, which goes from roughly from Jacksonville over to Tallahassee, which

includes some rural black populations in between, but literally carving up that one district into four separate districts, none of which would have the ability to elect a black representative, taking it from a district that has close to 50 percent black representation and carving it up into four districts, none of which have anything more than 30 percent and some as low as in the teens. And so he's been very clear about what it is that he was trying to do. In fact, idiotically clear, because he's basically announced that the reason that he was doing this is because he's trying to carve up this black district, just a clear violation, not just of the Voting Rights Act, but more importantly,

even of Florida law and a Florida amendment that was passed regarding fair districts back in 2010, an amendment that was passed because of what the voters voted for in the state of Florida. So this is an attack on democracy writ large, but obviously on black folks. This is squarely rooted in racism and anti-blackness, and he's not even trying to hide it. And look, the reality is, whether it's this decision, whether it's him leading the removal of Disney's favorite tax status,

we can go down the line. Ron DeSantis is trying to be Donald Trump 2.0. He's up for reelection as governor, but he also trying to be Donald Trump 2.0. He's up for re-election as governor, but he also wants to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. That's what all of these moves are about. And in fact, I dare say that Ron DeSantis, and I said this about Mike Pence,

is even more dangerous than Donald Trump. We knew Donald Trump was a buffoon. But these folks are even more dangerous than Donald Trump. We knew Donald Trump was a buffoon, but what these folks are even more dangerous than that idiot. Yeah, no, definitely. And he's demonstrated in a variety of ways. And you just mentioned some of the things, and that's why I always say people try to act like voter suppression is just an administrative act. It's just a white-collar crime, right? It's a bureaucratic crime. No, voter suppression is a violent crime. It has violent impacts on our lives.

And when you have somebody like DeSantis, who's in power because of voter suppression, and is able to do things like don't say gay and attacking LGBT rights and attacking black rights and literally killing people in the state of Florida because of the way that he's handled or mishandled COVID. And a protest bill, which has literally allowed people to drive cars over protesters. Let's not forget that. Voter suppression is a violent crime. It is having violent impacts on our lives. And he's using any means necessary to maintain that. Keep in mind that, and shout

out to the Florida legislators who, in the midst of this vote on this map, decided to do a sit-in, and not even just a sit-in, a full-out protest, because they weren't just sitting quietly. They had signs and were walking around. And so shout out to them. But keep in mind what they did, what the Republicans did in response to that. They cut off the internet, right, which, what the Republicans did in response to that. They cut off the internet, right, which is something that you see in these countries that people try to paint at as being so authoritarian, dictatorships and all that. They cut off the internet, and then they kicked out the journalists, right, which, again, is something that you see in all

these authoritarian states. This is what it's come to in the state of Florida. All of it is rooted in anti-Blackness. But as we often see with racism, structural racism and white supremacy, what starts off geared directly at us eventually infects their entire system. Again, the constitutional amendment that he is going against in Florida law is an amendment that was passed by the voters of Florida. He is going against, he's attacking black voters and the black community, but in doing so, he is attacking the very nature of Florida democracy and something that Florida voters

across the board had voted to approve. Well, I mean, these are the games that Republicans are playing. And this is also why many folks have been making it clear that Democrats have got to wake the hell up, pay attention to what's going on. You look at the polling numbers of President Joe Biden, they're down. They are not as low as Donald Trump's were at this particular point. And so Democrats are going to have to muster something to say to voters, especially black voters. Otherwise, they're going to get obliterated in November,

and they very well could take control of the House and the Senate. And if that happens, you're going to see all sorts of federal investigations. You may see Republicans attempt to impeach President Joe Biden. You're not going to see impeach President Joe Biden. You're not going to see the black judges that Biden has been appointing get confirmed by the United States Senate. They are going to declare war on black people and America if they are in control of the House and Senate come January 2023. That's right. And the only way to keep that from happening, one of the only ways to keep that from happening, and you mentioned it, Roland, Democrats have got to get, including in Congress as well as in the White House, Democrats have got to be just as ruthless about using their power. And yes, I said ruthless. They've got to be just as ruthless about using

their power for the good, right, as folks like DeSantis have been for using it for the bad in the name of white supremacy and racism and anti-LGBT and anti-women and anti-everybody else, right? That's their campaign model, right? Republican Party, we hate everybody. And so, but they don't hate anybody more than Black folks. So we need the Democratic candidates, those who are already in office, as well as those that are running for office, to be just as clear about their defense about Black folks and other marginalized groups, and to speak to our issues and to speak so unapologetically. That's how you mobilize a base. President Biden has got to be just as aggressive at using his power to protect students and

to waive student loan debt and to deal with police violence and whatever it is that they can do at the executive level. He's got to be just as aggressive at doing that as people like DeSantis are for using their power for the bad. That is the only way. We're not going to say that you counter hate with hate, right? But you've got to counter power with power. And you've got to counter power with power.

And you got to counter it with righteous power that is rooted in love and is responsive to your base, the same way DeSantis, as you said, this entire move, he achieves two things. One, he gets to achieve his anti-Black fantasies. And two, he gets to establish himself as somebody who's Trumpier than Trump and as somebody who can even stand up to Republicans within his own party, the Democrats have got to find that kind of courage and be willing to use their power in the same ways, and to campaign in a way that speaks towards that, and not to campaign in a way that's speaking towards these unicorns that they think are

out there that are going to somehow be converted to voting for, much the way that one of the Democratic candidates in Florida, we're not gonna go into that, stepped on, you know, and stepped on her own toes and made some mistakes because she was trying to cater to some Trump voters. That's not a winning strategy. All right then. Cliff Albright, always a pleasure, man.

Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, gonna bring in my panel now. Glad to have them here. Let's start out with Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network, Kelly Bethea, communications strategist, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney. Let's get right into it. Michael, I'll start with you. It is crazy, I mean, just to literally watch what is going on, what Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida. I mean, he is really a mini Donald Trump.

This man is a menace to society. And you would think that Democrats are coming up with a consistent and coherent message to take this man down, but they're flailing in Florida. They have no leadership whatsoever. Yeah, you know, Roland, back in 2018, when Andrew Gillum was running for governor of Florida against Ron DeSantis, and they had the debate, and Andrew Gillum said, I'm not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist. I'm saying the racists believe Mr. DeSantis is a racist. And I was telling people on my show who were in Florida, we have to stop Ron DeSantis. And people were telling me, oh, Andrew Gillum doesn't have a black agenda.

They were saying they want to go vote because Andrew Gillum doesn't have a black agenda. I said, Ron DeSantis has a black agenda. He has an anti-black agenda. And an anti-black agenda is worse than not having a black agenda. So, yes, there needs to be something, an internal white supremacist detector that goes off and tells us, teaches us how to identify these threats, because we could see this coming. And DeSantis wants to run for president, and you look at the congressional maps, you look

at the stop the anti-woke bill, you look at don't say gay bill, all this nonsense. And at some point, I think we're going to come to the realization that we're going to have to leverage our economics to enforce our politics and target some of these corporations who helped finance the Santas and other Republicans and have nationwide economic boycotts against them. I know the boycotts have to be planned, but if we started planning them back in July of 2021 or something like that, or even we'd be ready to launch them right now. But we're going to have to, as Dr. King said, April 3rd, 1968, we're going to have to redistribute the pain through targeted, sustained economic withdrawal strategies.

Well, Matt, what we are seeing, we are seeing on the Democratic side a successful legal strategy. They have been racking up wins all across the country. The problem is that's preventing a lot of these maps from going into place. That's trying to stop these voter suppression bills, but you still have to excite voters as to why they should keep you in charge. You absolutely do. And you have to,

as Brother Cliff said earlier, you have to really explain the import of why these attacks on voting are so important. The average voter may not understand it, but as we talk about on this show every week, every level of government is important and every level of government is being attacked and leveraged by Republicans right now. So I think you're right in that the Democrats have to not only continue that push with legislation or rather with the litigation, excuse me, but they also have to make sure that people understand.

I think what he said was so brilliant that this is a violent crime. When voter suppression occurs, it affects every aspect of our life, and it generally affects us in particular. And for example, people may not know, but in the city of Miami, the exact same fight is going on right now with a Black enclave called Coconut Grove, where the city of Miami is trying to dilute their voting potential right there in Miami. So Democrats need to continue leveraging this point and they need to continue educating on

this point so people understand just how important it is to fight against this voter suppression. But Kelly, the thing here is you also have to deliver. And the major bills, the two major bills that African-Americans are interested in, George Floyd Justice Act, as well as the For the People Act, the John Lewis Act, those three bills, weren't passed. And so it's hard to say, oh, this is what we did, if you're not actually making it a strong narrative. That's the piece right there. You have to be able to explain to voters how the things you've done actually have impacted

them for good. You're absolutely right. But for me, the bills that you just listed, a large reason why they weren't passed is because they didn't have public support. Why? Because no one was talking about the bills. And this goes back to what I've been saying on your show, what you've been saying on your show for God knows how long now, the Democrats have a fundamental problem communicating not only their wins, but what they want to win, which is passage of bills that will make Black people safer, that will make America safer, safer to vote, safer to live, safer to function. And I know more about what's going on with the Amazon prime situation in that there's a possibility that Congress could do something in legislation that would take away

our two-day prime shipping. I know more about that through commercials that have been paid for by lobbyists and special interest groups. I know more about that than I do about the George Floyd bill, just on a communications level. Why? Because they have invested in the media space and the ad buys to make sure that we know about that issue. Democrats have not been doing that. I can't remember the last time they have done something like that, probably Obamacare. And it is frustrating to me because like you said, we have wins under our belt on a federal level. But in Florida specifically, what Floridian Democrat do you know who actually knows any type of win that Florida has, either on the local level or on the federal level? Because no one's talking about it. No one's communicating it to them.

And they're not even packed, like when it is being communicated, they're not even packaging it like it's a win. They're packaging it like it's a problem. Who wants to hear about a problem all the time when we, the people, don't even know how to solve it? That's what we're voting for you for. So that's why I'm concerned with not only what's going on here,

but what's going to happen come November, which is frankly, Democrats are going to happen come November, which is, frankly, Democrats are going to lose faith in the people who are already in their respective positions because they don't feel like the people in their respective positions have been doing anything because no one's talking about what they're doing in a positive light such that we can get behind them and actually support them. So until that happens, you know, in a phrase, we're screwed. Speaking of, in terms of how, the troubles they have, let's talk about the debate last night in Pennsylvania,

where John Fetterman is leading in all the polls. He's won statewide. He's the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. Democrats are high on his candidacy because he's a strong progressive. But there is a problem because of an incident that took place in Braddock, Illinois, when he was the mayor in 2013. Fetterman, with a shotgun in hand, confronted and detained an unarmed black man he suspected was involved in a shooting near his home. During last night's debate, Fetterman was questioned

if he would handle the situation differently if it happened today. This was the exchange with Pennsylvania Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, who's also running against him. The third candidate is Conor Lamb. Check this out. Both of your counterparts on the stage tonight

have criticized you for the 2013 incident when you were mayor of Braddock. You confronted an unarmed black man who you believe may have been involved in a shooting and detained him with a gun until police arrived. If presented with the same situation, would you do anything differently today? You have 60 seconds. Well, it's important that we first acknowledge the harm based on over-policing and profiling in the black community. It's important that we first acknowledge the harm based on over policing and profiling in the black community. It's important that we do that. But it's also important we contextualize Braddock as well, too. Braddock is a community that's 75% black. And I showed up in Braddock 20 years ago to teach GED classes because I wanted to help young people get their lives on track. And I ran for mayor 17 years

ago because two of my students were gunned down because Braddock had a significant gun violence problem. And after running for mayor and winning, I attacked the gun violence problem in Braddock. And we succeeded. My proudest accomplishment was going five and a half years, we stopped the killing. In 2013, I was outside on a cold January afternoon. I heard a burst of gunfire with my young son. I made a split-second decision to call 911, get my son to safety and intercept an individual, the only individual out running from where the gunfire came and

intercept him until our first responders arrived as Braddock's chief law enforcement officer and as the mayor. 15-second follow-up though, would you do anything differently today? It's not, it's certainly not a situation that anyone would want to be involved with with gun violence THE MAYOR. 15 SECOND FOLLOW-UP, THOUGH. WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY TODAY? IT'S CERTAINLY NOT A SITUATION THAT ANYONE WOULD WANT TO BE INVOLVED WITH WITH GUN VIOLENCE. BUT I'D LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT I'M THE ONLY DEMOCRAT ON THIS STAGE THAT HAS SUCCESSFULLY CONFRONTED CRIME AND GUN VIOLENCE AND HAS BEEN IN CHARGE OF A POLICE DEPARTMENT. DID YOU DO IT? MR. LAMB AND MR. KENYOTTA, I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU BOTH A CHANCE TO ANSWER ON THIS.

SO THE MAN IS SAYING. I'M GOING TO TAKE A LITTLE BIT OF AN ANSWER ON THIS. THE MAN INVOLVED IN THIS INCIDENT WHO IS INCARCERATED FOR A SEPARATE CRIME WROTE TO THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRY SAYING IT IS INHUMANE TO BELIEVE ONE

MISTAKE SHOULD DEFINE A MAN'S LIFE. I HOPE HE GETS TO BE A SENATOR. IF THAT MAN IS OKAY WITH IT, MR. LAM, WHY AR said that he believes to this day John is lying about the question of whether he pointed the shotgun at him. The man is incarcerated, and John is one of the people who holds the keys to letting him out. He chairs the Board of Pardons, so I'm not surprised by that statement in the least. And it's a kind thing for him to say. At the time, not only did Christopher say that John pointed the shotgun right in his chest, John said that to the police.

You know, as a prosecutor, I always look at a police report written at the time to understand what actually happened. And if you look at it to this day, it says Fetterman said he pulled the shotgun on the person in order to stop him. That's what John told the police at the time. That's what Christopher said at the time as well. But today, not only will John admit that he was pointing, he won't admit that he was pointing the gun at this person. He also won't really answer your question as to whether he did anything wrong and should have done it differently. And I just think that's disqualifying for any of us who have to work hard to gain the trust of the black community. Mr. Kenyatta, same question. If the man who was involved in that incident says it's okay,

why are you not okay with it? You have 60 seconds. So let me just be crystal clear because it's very rare we get John at an event. And so I'll say directly to the Lieutenant Governor, for somebody who has cut an image as an incredibly tough guy, you're so afraid of two little words. I'm sorry. You did take a 20-gauge shotgun, get in your pickup truck, travel into another town, and brandish that weapon at the chest of an unarmed black jogger. You did that. The problem is that John still, nine years later, refuses to do one of the most important things that you want from any leader. You want them to be self-reflective. And I think John has gotten away with this for too long, with this idea that as long as he didn't

know the jogger was black, it was fine what he did. It was not okay what John did. And John, I hope tonight you would say those two simple words. I'm sorry. Mr. Fetterman, 30 seconds to respond on this. I would like a lot to clarify. You know, I think it's important to mention that the people of Braddock who know me, that know my heart, know that 2013 had nothing to do with what they're saying today. There was no profiling or anything involved. They know that. And that's why they reelected me by overwhelming margins to two additional terms as mayor. And at the end of the day,

I want to be clear, that never happened. I never pointed the weapon at the individual. And everyone in Braddock knows. And not only does everyone in Braddock know what happened in 2013, we know what this is about here on this stage. Mr. Kenyatta, I'm going to give you 15 seconds. John, we get it. You have a black friend. The question is, did you point a 20-gauge shotgun at the chest of a black man? And you have an opportunity with all of Pennsylvania watching to say, I'm sorry.

Are you going to say I'm sorry today, John? That never happened. So you're not going to say I'm sorry? That never happened. So you still refuse to say I'm sorry to this day? I'm the only Democrat that successfully- You're the only Democrat who used a shotgun to chase down an unarmed black child? Gentlemen, thank you. Lisa? So that was a lot of back and forth there, quite contentious.

I'll start with you, Kelly. Look, Fetterman is leading in the polls. Many Democrats believe that he is the best candidate to represent the state because, frankly, outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is Alabama. They say that he casts an image that can appeal to those independent, conservative, Republican voters in terms of how he talks to them, how he represents himself. President Biden comes to Pennsylvania to deal with some bridges there. He meets him in some

shorts, they look at that. But this, the question is, will it be problematic for black voters? He needs significant black turnout in Philadelphia. What I don't understand, if Conor Lamb says that the police report says that he said that he pointed the gun at him.

Why is he saying now that he didn't? I am not in the mind of that man to, you know, figure out that answer. What I can surmise is that it just simply doesn't look good on a national level to admit that, which is probably why he didn't say those two simple words that Malcolm Kenyatta was basically giving him on a silver platter to say in that debate, I'm sorry. You would think that those two simple words would be easy enough to say given the circumstances of the case and the history there, but it will tarnish his image if he says that. And he is more worried about his image than his integrity at this point to say those two simple words.

Now, when you're talking about Malcolm Kenyatta and the sense that he does need the Black voter turnout in order to get this done, I absolutely agree with that. And my concern is that we still have this underlying homophobia in the Black community such that we can't fully support Malcolm Kenyatta in his entire being to get to the Senate because he is a gay Black man. And that is very frustrating to me because who he loves has nothing to do with how he is going to govern, how he is going to represent the state, which I think he would do phenomenally well, certainly better than somebody who put a 20 gauge shotgun in the chest of a Black man that he didn't know and went out of his way to do so.

Um, I hope he wins this race, Malcolm Kenyatta, but my cynicism is overriding my optimism at this point, simply because I know just how deep-seated the homophobia is in the Black community, such that it doesn't matter how good he is, how much he does, so long as he is a gay Black man, Michael, is that he's running for the Democratic primary for the United States Senate. You're going to have Democrats all across the state of Pennsylvania who are voting. So it's not Malcolm Kenyatta

is not just appealing to African Americans. He's trying to appeal to white voters, Latino voters, Asian voters, Native American voters. Again, when you look

at the polling data, Fetterman has a huge lead. Representative Conor Lamb is a member of Congress who won a so-called red district. They say, oh, he's the kind of centrist center right that could actually win. A lot of establishment Democrats actually believe that Conor Lamb should be the U.S. Senate nominee. But the reality is Fetterman is doing quite well in the polls. So right now, actually, the top two candidates based upon polling are Fetterman and Lam. And then Kenyatta is coming in in third. But I think, Michael, what Fetterman is doing is he's doing a page from Donald Trump.

Never apologize. Yeah, never apologize. And what happened? Trump won. Right. Never apologize and never admitting to it happening as well. Never apologizing, never admitting to it happening. And he's doing, he's leading in the polls. But, you know, this is, when you deal with statewide races, this is one of the problems oftentimes that African Americans run into in statewide races, like for U.S. Senate, for instance.

Because when we look at, say, the Congressional Black Caucus, I think it's about 57 are in the House. A House district is 710,000 people based upon the 2010 census, the redistricting from the 2010 census. But when you run for Senate, now you got to appeal to millions of people, statewide race, to different ethnicities, religions, different know, different things like this, races. So it's a different ballgame. So I like Malcolm Kenyatta's enthusiasm. I watched some of the debate, and it was actually, they showed some of it on MSNBC today as well. I also want to hear some of their platforms also, their policies beyond this 2013 event,

incident, beyond this 2013 incident. I want to also hear some of their policy platforms as well. But, you know, this is, yeah, this is what happens when you run statewide. This is a different ballgame than running in a district for like the House of Representatives. The Franklin and Marshall College poll came out just the other day. And what it says here is that according to this polling here, 26% of the voters say they will support, first of all, his deal. 20% of the Democratic voters said they support him and 44% said they were undecided.

That was last month. Now it's changed. Now you're now dealing with a significant number. Fetterman is at 41% in Pennsylvania. Conor Lamb is at 17% in Pennsylvania. State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta is at 4% in Pennsylvania. And so, again, I just think what you have here, I think if you have Fetterman, I think that is this notion of, no, I'm not going to apologize, knowing full well that that appeals to a lot of voters. I think that's true. I think it does appeal to a lot of voters because we've seen that a lot of voters now like that Donald Trump brand of brashness and of lack of apology. Look, I'm not going to ever say I'm wrong. I'm not going to ever say I did wrong. The problem, I think, for Fetterman here is that he's actually said publicly a number of times that he did, in fact, pursue the person, that he had

reason to believe the person was involved. And as Mr. Lamb said, that he indicated he did point the weapon. I guess his thought now is that he has nothing to lose. And really, you know, by not admitting it, and he has, I guess, something to lose by saying he did, in fact, point the gun considering the national zeitgeist. But I really don't understand why you backtrack on that, because I found an article as I was preparing for the show today where he indicated that he did, in fact, pursue him. So he might be concerned that this looks enough like the Ahmaud Arbery case in Georgia that he doesn't want to admit it and have any of the flack related to that. And I think that might be the concern. But, you know, he's so far ahead in the polls, maybe he's thinking there's just no purpose in admitting it at this point. All right, folks, I got to go to break. We come back.

Kevin McCarthy, your punk ass busted for lying. We're going to talk about that. Plus, Marjorie Taylor Greene is on the witness stand today. She is fighting for her political life because her constituents are suing to keep her off the ballot because of her involvement in the January 6th white domestic terrorist incident at the U.S. Capitol. We're going to talk about all of that and more next on Rolling Mark. Don't forget to download the Black Star Network app. Folks, we're trying to hit 50,000 downloads by May 1st. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, please join our Bring the Funk fan club.

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If you're raising a child, you know that it's a blessed challenge like no other, even more so if your child has a disability. We'll talk to parents and our expert panelists about the best way forward for your child to help you maintain your own sanity on a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on The Black Star Network. We'll be right back. Thank you. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? I'm Angie Stone hi I'm Teresa Griffin oh Roland hey Roland I am so disappointed that you are not here, first of all. Where's our dance? It's like we get a dance in every time I see you. And so now you're not here for me to dance with, sir. You and your ascot. I need it. I need that in my life right now. Okay. I love you, Roland. What's up? I'm Lance Gross and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Okay, if y'all want a great laugh, whoa, I got a good one for you. So, there's a new book coming out by two reporters for the New York Times. And in that book, they talked about a conversation that Republican minority leader in the House,

Kevin McCarthy, had with other Republicans, where he said that he was going, he was disgusted at what happened with Donald Trump on January 6th, and he was going to ask Donald Trump to resign. Now, the book comes, so they release an excerpt of the book, all right, so it comes out. Well, Kevin McCarthy, being as arrogant and indignant as he possibly can, he decides to release a statement just condemning, just condemning the New York Times. I mean, angry as all get out. So I got to show this, y'all.

I'm telling y'all, this is so hilarious. This is what he put out. The New York Times reported on me is totally false and wrong. It comes as no surprise that the corporate media is obsessed with doing everything it can to further a liberal agenda. This promotional book tour is no different. If the reporters were interested in truth, why would they ask for comment after the book was printed? The past year and a half have proven that our country was better off when President Trump was in the White House.

And rather than address the real issues facing Americans, the corporate media is more concerned with profiting from manufactured political intrigue from politically motivated sources. Our country has suffered enough under failed one-party democratic rule and no amount of media, no amount of media, y'all, no amount of media, no amount of media, ignorance and bias will stop Americans from delivering a clear message this fall that it is their time for change. Okay, y'all, that's the deal. That's what he said. Okay, now check this out, y'all. I got a good one for you. So last night, last night on Maddow,

last night on Maddow, y'all, check this out. They had reporters from the New York Times on the show. Well, they kind of released the audio of the conversation. And let's just say the conversation didn't quite go exactly like Kevin McCarthy thought it was going to go. So this is what was played last night on Rachel Maddow's show. Go. Here it is. Liz, you on the phone?

Yeah, I'm here. Thanks, Kevin. I guess there's a question. When we were talking about the 25th Amendment resolution and you asked what happens if it gets there after he's gone, is there any chance, are you hearing, that he might resign? Is there

any reason to think that might happen? I've had a few discussions. My gut tells me no. I'm seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight. I haven't talked to him in a couple days. From what I know of him, I mean, you guys all know him too. Do you think he'd ever back away? But what I think I'm going to do is I'm going to call him. This is what I think. No one will pass the house.

I think there's a chance he'll pass the family even when he's gone. And I think there's a lot of different ramifications for that. Now, I haven't had a discussion with him that if he did resign, would it not happen? Now, this is one personal fear I have. I do not want to get into any conversation about Pence partying again. I mean, the only discussion I would have with him is that I think this will pass, and it would be my recommendation we should move on.

I mean, that would be my take, but I don't think he would take it, but I don't know. Mmm. Y'all, it gets better. They got more video, excuse me, audio where he says, I don't understand why these had a good night's sleep last night when they dropped this audio on his punk ass. And so now all of a sudden, we know he lying.

We know he making stuff up. We know he's sitting here. Just dog. Republicans are living because he's sitting here. No, I haven't. Dog, they got you on tape. And the folk who gutted his ass is a fellow Republican. Matt, this is straight up manna from heaven. Served up on a platter. You're right. Look, I mean, how are you going to lie about something as unequivocal as it would be my recommendation that he should resign?

I mean, that's clear as day. And I think it's part of that same playbook of just keep lying, try to act like it didn't happen, and hope people forget about it. But this, I mean, you're saying, look, the corporate media and all this BS. No, you clearly said it would be my recommendation that he should resign and express that you didn't think that he would do that. I don't know why you would even lie about this instead of trying to spin it in some other direction. But I'm glad that it's being served up because he looks like a fool, as he should. I mean, I'm just sitting here, Michael, just hollering, laughing. And these Republicans who are just sitting here. And this is what I need everybody to remember.

When I was on ABC this week, what did I tell y'all about these Republicans? What did I tell Chris Christie to his face? Y'all are more concerned with power and party over principles and patriotism. Exhibit 3978. Oh, absolutely. These are traitors who violated their oath to defend the Constitution against enemies, both foreign and domestic. And they're trying to protect the domestic terrorists who incited the January 6, 2021 insurrection, which is a continuation of the Civil War and

the end of Reconstruction. So I watched Rachel Maddow's show live last night, recorded it also, watched The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. He continued the discussion. And there's more. The other thing is, Roland, there's more audio. The authors of the book, This Will Not Pass, they said they have more audio. Oh, no, oh, no. Hey, dawg, hey, dawg.

One of them tweeted me today. One of them texted me today. Get them on the show. Get them on the show. Get them on the show. There's more. And see, this is why we have to understand. This is why these traitors, traitors, Republicans have to be destroyed in the 2022 midterm election. If these domestic terrorist sympathizers and traitors to the Constitution, if they take back control of the house and the senate do they're trying to take us back to 1890 the mississippi state convention where they with

a with a white supremacist in the in the state in the state uh uh legislature institute of poll tactics and literacy tests and african americans were the majority of the population and the majority of the voters in the state of Mississippi. We have to connect all this history together and understand why these domestic terrorist sympathizers have to be stopped, period. All they care about is power, Kelly. And again, with all of this, let me remind people what I told Chris Christie to his face and Sarah Isker, who worked for the Jeff Sessions Department of Justice. And they were like, well, we, you know, we worked against him.

Yeah, but y'all supported his ass and you work for him. Here we go. But the real I appreciate the speech, Governor, but the reality is this. You have to admit, Sarah, you have to admit the role that you played in putting the person in leadership who is driving conspiracy theories. It's one thing to condemn them after the fact, but you have to own up to the role that you played in putting the person in power. We both ran campaigns against it. No, no, no, no, no. after the fact which we have to own up to the role that you played input in the person in power the time campaign and i don't know the this thought i don't want that

that i want to have anything to you know i think it's just a part of the new and second i ran against donald trump it's also close to i really think that i really think that you know you ran against them but when a person has principles, morals, and values, they do not support them even if you lose. And what they say is, I choose

patriotism and the country over party and power. And the problem was, too many Republicans chose power in riding with Donald Trump as opposed to patriotism and America. I'll sleep fine tonight with you judging my morals. Well, guess what?

As a voter who has 13 nieces and nephews, what I also want to see in America are Republicans and Democrats who have the guts to stand up to narcissists, to folks who lie, to folks who sit here and live a country in the wrong direction. And what that man has unleashed on this country, any Republican who stood with him has to own it and accept the role that they played. Yeah, well, that's fine. I'll accept the role that I played in the 2016 election running against him. And I'll accept the role.

Let him finish his point now. Let him finish his point. And I'll accept the role that I played in my belief that Hillary Clinton was not the right person to be president. We all get to make choices, Roland, in this democracy. I made my choice. I'm on record of my choice and I'm not walking away from my choice. But it does not preclude me from being able to be critical when the person that I did support does things that I am against. And so this false choice that you're trying to set up, it's a false choice and one that the American people are not going to buy either. Mm-hmm, Kelly.

They put that punk fool thug in power, and guess what? We're seeing Kevin McCarthy, who gives a speech condemning Trump, but then took his ass down to Mar-a-Lago, sucking up to him with a phone and everything. That's what all these Republicans do. They suck up to Donald Trump. They do not stand up for principle. They stand up for principle. They stand up for power. And that's exactly how Trump came to be. I mean, what Chris Christie said was valid in that, yes,

he did make his choice. I don't think that he thought that Donald Trump would do what he did. I don't know if anybody really thought that. If anything, I think that he thought that Hillary Clinton was the worst choice, and he thought that Donald Trump could be controlled. Like, somehow, once he got into office, all of a sudden, he would be presidential and statement-like. I don't know why he thought that, but most people would think that. First of all, he showed his ass before he even got in there. We knew exactly who he was. And black people knew exactly who that thug punk was. And that's my point.

It's like when you see somebody do the same thing all, you know, over and over again and you don't believe it, you know, that's on you. But I also have to, you know, defer to his own line of thinking and that he really thought that this man could change for the sake of power, like you said. But that's not what happened. But going back specifically to the call between Liz Cheney and Kevin McCarthy, when I heard the tape the first time, I just cried laughing because, you know, outside of the political bubble, just looking at it objectively, this is a receipt. And the fact that he lied to the, what was it? Post? New York Times?

He lied to a newspaper about what they reported. No, he lied to America. He put that on his Twitter account. He lied to everybody. He thought he could lie until they hit his punk ass with the tape. But what's ironic to me, and I agree, but what's ironic to me, and I agree, but what's ironic

to me is that for months now, if not over a year, because Liz Cheney is part of the January 6th committee, Liz Cheney has been telling us that these Republicans were like, you know, anti-Trump for the longest time. So the fact that

we actually have something on tape proving her point, and then what's further, he is the one who's saying it to Liz Cheney, who is on record on the news, in papers, and God knows what other kind of media is saying. Hey, they're saying one thing on the outset, but to me they're saying something completely different, and everybody just kind of brushed her off,

whether it's because she's a woman or because she, you know, is the daughter of another politician, whatever. They just kind of brushed off that sentiment that she has. She was firm in it. She was like, hey, I'm not the only one who thinks like this. I'm just the only one who's saying it out loud. And Kevin McCarthy is proof that she is not the only one who thought like that, but she is the only one who thought it out loud. And then for him to double down and lie on it with this receipt, I mean, like you said, manna from heaven. Well, bomb lines is here.

We know doggone well they some damn liars. And now they're getting busted. All right, y'all, we got to go to a break. We'll be back on Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. All right, fam, Patrol Grooming, that's right, is a men's grooming company that delivers on this promise every day to men everywhere. Everything we do, every product we make is designed to help you to present your best self. It's a promise they've kept since 1991 when they first introduced the Bump Patrol brand, the number one men's product for smooth, bump-free, shave, and silky skin. Millions of customers count on their exceptional skincare products, which can be found at more than 30,000 retail stores in more than 50 countries around the world.

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I'm Dr. Jackie, and on a next A Balanced Life, it takes a village to raise a child, and truer words have never been spoken. If you're raising a child, you know that it's a blessed challenge like no other, even more so if your child has a disability. We'll talk to parents and our expert panelists about the best way forward for your child to help you maintain your own sanity on a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie

on Black Star Network. This week on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, reparations. Is it finally time? Two of the country's foremost authorities on the subject will join me to try to answer that very question. A powerful installment of The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, right here only on The Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shante Moore. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, the one thing holding police officers accountable is the ability to record them. It was a video that helped convict the officers who killed George Floyd. It was a video that helped convict the officers who killed Laquan McDonald. A Santa Ana, California council member says police are now playing loud copyrighted music to keep videos of them from being posted. Check this out. Los policías ahora toman música de copyright sonriente para que los videos de ellos no sean publicados. ¡Miren esto! Have you seen videos where they say, oh, I don't have rights to music? Really. They don't love me. These don't love me.

They don't love me. All right, folks, Santa Ana Council Member Jonathan Ryan Hernandez joins me now. The Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentine also released a statement about the incident. We're going to read that in a second. Well, I read that nonsense first, so watch this. Santa Ana Police Department is aware of a video that has surfaced involving one of our officers. We're committed to serving our community, and we understand the concerns as it relates to the video. The Santa Ana Police Department takes seriously all complaints regarding the service provided by the department and the conduct of its employees. Our department is committed to conducting complete, thorough, and objective investigations.

My expectation is that all police department employees perform their duties with dignity and respect the community we are hired to serve. Yeah, okay, that's great. But, but, Councilman, let's just, let's just be real here. By, by them playing the music, what it does is it keeps, uh, those, the videos gets blocked when you post on Instagram because of the, uh, rights, copyright management. That is correct. Yes, it does infringe upon our First Amendment rights. And as an elected official and somebody who grew up in that neighborhood, it's important for me to to protect our citizens and to make sure that I do everything I can to protect our First Amendment rights. You know, I just sit here and again, you watch what is going on here. And what you have is you have these cops who are clearly playing games. They got together and decided, oh, we know how to stop these videos

from going viral. This is exactly what, so what can you do? How can you change this? How can you impact this? Well, for one, I want to inform the public that you are well within your right to film the police. If it wasn't for those brave community members that recorded the murders of people like George Floyd, if it wasn't for those brave community members that recorded the murder of my cousin, Brandon Lopez, who was killed by Anaheim Police Department in Santa Ana on September 28th of 2021. I was on site that day, but many members of the public recorded. The point that I want to share is you are within your right as an American to film. And in the instance that occurred on April 4th, I was getting ready for bed. It was about 1045 at night. And what a lot of people

don't know is I was already on very high alert at 1045 at night because prior to this incident that was being filmed about closer to maybe 10 o'clock, there was nine officers parked in front of my house, nine patrol cars. I ended up walking up to the patrol cars and asking if everything was okay. They instructed me that there was an investigation. My street was closed from 7th Street and Raitt down to Civic Center. Eventually, the cars dispersed, but given the most recent experience I had in losing my family member, I just had a feeling of uncertainty. And as I was getting ready for bed, I heard the Disney music outside. I do have a 12-year-old daughter, so Disney music is pretty common in my household.

And I walked out of my household, and to my surprise, you know, the footage speaks for itself. I walked up to this investigation that was now concluded at this point to find these officers playing music to deter members of the public from recording. Has there been any response from the police union? No. As far as I am aware, there has not been an official response. Well, this is certainly quite interesting in terms of how these cops are behaving. Matt Manning, this is I mean, this shows you how pathetic police officers are by trying to stop. Look, if you're not doing anything wrong, guess what? You have no worries about getting videotaped.

I think you're out. Matt, go ahead. I just think this is dastardly. I think they, especially with as much as police post on social media now to try to garner support, I think this is obviously very intentional with the intent of keeping it down. And it's interesting because I think it's going to potentially open them to liability in terms of the very obvious intent to infringe upon the First Amendment right. Not only do you have the right to record, but you have the right to disseminate it, right? You have the right to speak. So them taking affirmative steps to try to prevent that, to the councilman's point,

I think they may be bringing liability upon themselves. And it's really a sad thing that somebody would intentionally find a way or at least try to find a way to keep these recordings off, especially with as often as you hear police say things like, well, we don't have a problem with recording because it shows that we're usually doing the right thing. This is intentional, obviously, and it's dastardly because somebody really thought about a way to keep from the public eye the doings of this police department. And I think it's just a horrible thing. But it's a part of the course, Kelly, when we see how police in this country do all they can not to be held accountable. If I may share. Yeah, Jonathan, go ahead.

My sincerest apologies. I just felt it was important because you mentioned that this is starting to be a practice we're seeing more commonly. And what exactly is the goal of this? What are you trying to hide? What is more sinister about this act is that the officer's body cam was off when I approached, and that's not good practice. It just makes me concerned about what could this have potentially escalated to. And so I have to remind members of my city that we as a city are having a response um to these issues of

misconduct where other cities have tried to sweep them under the rug we are looking to introduce an ordinance that will ban this practice um and uh it should have already been banned by our department um i i don't have a response as to why they didn't immediately ban it, but I did my due diligence in introducing this ordinance, which we did over the last meeting that we had, and it will be finalized, I want to say, by the second meeting of May. But to remind the members of the public why is accountability so elusive when it comes to police departments, I'll tell you why. There are over 19,495 incorporated cities, towns, and villages in the United States. To date, there are nearly 200 verified oversight commissions in the United States. The need for accountability and change could not be more clear. There were two other officers there with this officer, and those two other officers were unwilling to stop this behavior. So much so that at nearly 11 o'clock at night, an elected official had to get involved.

And mind you, I don't carry a badge and a gun. The only thing I bring with me are people's voices. But in this case here, the public is engaging in oversight for our city because we don't have that yet. But something that I am very proud of is we will have police oversight in the coming months. Well, that's why, Kelly, I have long maintained if an officer does not turn on or turns off their body camera, that should be a part of the hiring practices that they would be immediately fired. Absolutely. It should be in all protocols to make sure that your body camera's on,

to make sure that anything that you have to do in order to either apprehend somebody, approach somebody, whatever, like it has to be followed to a T. Otherwise, there should be, you know, serious repercussions for those actions. My issue on top of everything that the councilman has said, as well as Matthew, is that not only is this, you know, a despicable act, it is dangerous for all parties involved. I mean, can you imagine, you know, God forbid something happened to the councilman as he was trying to cross the street to approach the officer and the officer can't hear what's going on with another citizen because he's trying to cover his own butt in something that he's not supposed to be doing anyway. So this is just bad practice overall.

It's not even about, you know, the lack of accountability or trying to evade accountability. You are putting people in harm's way trying to cover your own ass. That is an issue. And if you have officers on your force who would rather cover their ass than cover the person, you know, protect the person to protect and serve, then you have a problem with not only yourself as an officer, but the entire department. If they do not, you know, reprimand such behavior and change the policy so something like this

won't happen again, you have an issue from the root of this tree, not just one bad apple. Well, and that's exactly what we're seeing. And I think if we have more council members like Jonathan, Michael, we will see something happen. You have to change those contracts and city councils have that authority. Yes, and this is an example of why elections have consequences, Roland, and council member Hernandez, thanks for coming on and sharing this information with us.

This is one of the reasons why elections have consequences, because, as you said, the police union's contract, right, that's usually oftentimes in many municipalities controlled by the city council, okay? And what the city agrees to is the city council that votes on the police union's contract. I just had a quick question for council member Hernandez. Um, any idea how long this practice has been going on one and two, have there been any incidences where you've had shootings or robberies or something like that, where the body cam footage is tampered with because of this copywritten music being played? Thank you, that's a great question. Number one is, I'm gonna start first with the question of,

is this something that we have seen in Santa Ana? This is my first time as a policymaker and as a community member seeing this practice firsthand. I've seen it on the internet. I really, to be honest, I really didn't understand what was happening. I saw the Always Film the Police, Mr. Check, had posted a video some time back. And it was, I believe, a Beverly Hills officer playing Sublime, Santeria. And I also saw one of an officer playing Taylor Swift. And I didn't really understand what the goal of these officers, what were they trying to accomplish?

Because it's such high-level knowledge that you would have to have a strong understanding of IPs and computer technology and copyright infringement that your common citizen, I mean, even your common public servant, isn't going to be up to speed as to what this practice is really about. And it's very sinister because we're trying to build bridges with communities that have been disenfranchised and marginalized through police violence. And this is the response that we're getting. And what's ironic to me is the demographic of the community that I live in. It's a very Latino community. And this officer was using two films used to bridge to the Latinx community, utilizing Encanto and Coco to now silence them. So irony at its finest. It's childish. It's despicable. And as a policymaker, I could never stand for it. And to answer your other question, I have done some research, and I have found that there have been multiple instances across this country where police have been utilizing this tactic.

However, I have not seen any local body of government do anything about it. So I wanted us to be at the forefront of making sure that we stick to the demands of the people and fight for accountability and transparency. Matt, final question. I just wanted to actually say something regarding the oversight committees. I think one of the big issues, and Councilman, please elucidate us if I'm wrong, with those oversight committees across the country is they usually don't have any teeth. So you have a group of citizens that get to look at a police shooting or a police incident, but they don't actually get to recommend anything that would have any teeth or any kind of consequence on the police department. So my question would be,

in Santa Ana, how are y'all considering giving that oversight committee some actual teeth so there can be a measurable consequence if officers do something like this? Yeah, that's a phenomenal question. For starters, I have been part of the police oversight committee that helped create what will then become the actual policy we adopt. And I've been on this committee since last year, and it has been a journey where we've met with members of the community, we've met with experts of POBAR, Police Officer Bill of Rights, we've even met with law enforcement

to create a model of oversight that we felt was gonna to be the strongest. Our goal is to have one of the strongest and ethical oversight commissions in the country. And in the city of Santa Ana, what we are proposing is to have a commission with subpoena power, investigatory power, and the ability to hire and fire police chiefs. We are also making it very clear as evidenced in the video law enforcement have been investigating themselves and they're not willing to step in and correct themselves. So something that's very important to members of our community is having a oversight board that excludes law enforcement for that very reason. In the city of Santa Ana since 2016 to today we have had over 207

civilian filed complaints against officers. Only six have resolved in favor of civilians. Clearly police overseeing themselves is not working. In addition to that, our commission, I will be fighting for these commissions to be justice impacted friendly so that members that have been through the justice system, members that know the difference between an officer doing his job correctly and an officer abusing his power, that members of these communities that have experienced injustice firsthand can have an opportunity to also serve on these commissions. I am a true believer that change starts at the bottom and you know

I have been impacted by police violence myself but I didn't let that take the hope that I have away from my heart and from how I serve my community. And for anybody who thinks that my fight for accountability and justice is anti-police, I want to remind them that they're wrong. To be bold in the face of injustice isn't to be anti-anything. That's what the people deserve. I am not going to blindly serve a political party or a ideal, you know, set of rules that, you know, a political party says is important. What I am going to do is always meet people where they're at and fight for the disenfranchised and marginalized. And in Santa Ana, unfortunately, we have a lot of fighting to do. All right, Councilman, we surely appreciate

it. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you. All right, folks, coming up next, the Roland Martin unfiltered, we'll talk Earth Day. And yeah, we should be caring about the environment as well. So look forward to having that conversation. And then also, I got my crazy as my people segment, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. How you gonna try to lie on the stand? See, y'all can lie in person, but you can't lie on the stand because that's called perjury. Ooh, I can't wait to show y'all the video. You're watching Rolling Bar Unfiltered

on the Black Star Network. When did you know that this is what I wanted? I think right after high school, because in high school I was in all the plays. I was always funny, but I didn't know nobody would pay me for it, you know? And then I saw Eddie Murphy. This was like 84 when I saw Eddie Murphy.

Eddie Murphy was the hottest thing in the whole wide world. Not just comedy, but anyway, he saved Saturday Night Live. If he hadn't started that, that show would be gone. He had done 48 hours, trading places. His first Beverly Hills top could wear the hell out of a red leather suit. And he wasn't but 23 years old. He was rich enough to pee cream. And he got all that telling jokes.

I said, shit, I've been funny my whole life. I didn't know people gave money like that. So I went and got some Red Fox albums. I went down to my mama's basement where I was living anyway. And I stood in that mirror and played them albums and them jokes until I could tell them like they were mad. Wow. And that started me doing jokes.

And then I went and did comedy in the street. I was standing on State Street, tell jokes would pass my hat, and white folks would come up and just hand me money. And I liked it. Hey, everybody, it's your girl in now. So what's up? This is your boy, Earthquake. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, we've got some breaking news. Remember Pamela Moses, the black woman who was hit to prison,

was hit to jail in Tennessee for illegally voting, then a huge outcry? Well, guess what? The prosecutors have decided to drop all charges. Sam Levine put this tweet out a couple hours ago. Prosecutors are dropping all criminal charges against Pamela Moses, the Memphis woman sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. She was granted a new trial in February, but prosecutors said today they won't pursue it. Well, thank goodness. It only makes sense for them to actually do that.

So, hello. But also keep in mind, while that's happening, Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, he's registered to vote in three states, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Oh, Republicans love talking about voter fraud. How about one of your own? One of the biggest voter fraud cases happened with Republicans in North Carolina. Oh, remember the two Republicans in the villages in Florida who voted for Trump? So ain't it amazing how Republicans love talking about voter fraud? But it's always their people. Yeah, we see what's going on there.

All right, folks, let's talk about Earth Day. That's what today is. And so, folks, all across the world have been celebrating Earth Day. And look, it's interesting to have people, especially all these Christian conservatives who love talking about Jesus and being stewards, but they never really want to focus on the reality of this planet and how we are destroying it. He actually voiced, there was a documentary that was on Apple Plus, that's an amazing documentary, that showed how our planet changed during COVID. And it showed literally how species that before were not doing well, all of a sudden began to do well, how plants began to regenerate, how all of a sudden so many things began to happen in our society because we weren't always flying everywhere and driving everywhere. It was an incredible, incredible documentary. And so I'm going to pull the graphic up so you can actually

see it in a second. But again, it shows you what happens when we take care of Mother Earth. So let's talk about regenerative agriculture. Well, what exactly is that? Joining me right now is Ravashi Rangan. She's the chief science advisor at Grace Communications Foundation to explain exactly what this is. And so, Ravashi, regenerative agriculture, what is that? Yeah, regenerative agriculture is sort of actually an old way of doing agriculture. It's the way a lot of traditional cultures farmed and indigenous communities actually grew food, which was people who were really knowledgeable about the lands around them, and really it was regional expert land stewards, who were farming

their food in a way that was really efficient. They were looking for how to grow best, what were optimal conditions, and they did it by using nature's force. Nature's force to protect against pests and diseases. Nature's force to fertilize and nature's forced to actually give us nutrient dense food. With the industrial revolution after World War II, we really started turning to industrial agriculture, the use of lots of chemicals, lots of drugs on a daily basis, millions and millions and millions of pounds of it going into our earth every single year just from farming. And it turns out it's not such a great idea. And more isn't more, actually.

More without the natural biology just sort of flows out and pollutes waterways and even pollutes our air. And industrial agriculture has actually ruined much of our topsoil in this country and continues to do so, which takes away our fertility. It takes away soils holding capacity for water, for nutrients, and also for carbon. And a lot of the greenhouse gas emissions that we see as a result are because we've lost the carbon from the ground. We've lost it from the soil. And our industrial farming practices simply have not helped at all. And regenerative agriculture really offers an interesting hope. We can actually reverse this tide. Nature's been gracious enough to let us be able to do that. And that's what regenerative agriculture is really all about, is how do we farm with nature, with its biology, and preserve that system so that we actually increase fertility, increase nutrient density,

increase soil carbon holding capacity over time. So where is this done? We've seen an increase in urban farming. And so where and how this can be done? Regenerative agriculture can actually be done in multiple different places. If you look at livestock production, for example, we have a lot of grasslands in the United States. Those lands cannot be used to grow crops, but they're great for animals. And it turns out next to forests, they have the second largest capacity to sequester carbon. So raising animals regeneratively out on our grasslands is an excellent way that we can actually be regenerative and regrading our

lands. You mentioned urban agriculture, and that's sort of the other side of things. And there are also ways that even within our urban centers, we can think about farming in a more regenerative way. And again, we have loads of rooftop gardens, school gardens, and it's really thinking, how do you add fertility? Are you going to buy chemical fertilizer or maybe compost your food scraps and then use that as the sort of liquid gold or black gold in your growing in urban centers? So there's lots of opportunities to grow regeneratively and foster your regional biology wherever you are and in a lot of ways it's kind of celebrating our region's terroir in many ways because every region is a little bit different every region has its own biology and its

own conditions and in that way regenerative agriculture is not a one-size-fits-all sort of program, but really celebrates that regionality, allowing people to grow food in the best way for their region. Let's see here. Kelly got a feeling like she's trying to be an urban farmer. So, Kelly, your question first. No. You know you all stuff run. No, I do have a green thumb when I try, but I do prefer grocery stores. But speaking of which,

given the food deserts that we have in urban communities now, how do you reconcile that with this initiative? Meaning, yes, we need grocery stores that are sustainable you know, sustainable and the like, but how do you reconcile that need with also the need to, you know, grow your own food, regenerative, like many ecosystems, like you said? Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot in there. I mean, one is if you're growing your own food, and obviously most people in urban centers don't grow their own food, but should people in urban centers have access to food that is produced really well without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and lots of chemicals

and drugs? I mean, everybody deserves access to that. And in a lot of ways, we're talking about why we have to change the current agricultural system that we have that produces 95% of our food and how degenerative that is to our environment, to our landscape, to our people, to our health. And so it is really a question of how do we increase access to these better produced foods? It's a bunch of different ways. And, you know, your point about food deserts is a valid one. And this doesn't necessarily solve the food desert issue, but nor does industrial agriculture either. And providing food to people that is nutrient dense, it's almost like a human right.

And we need to start thinking about our food in a much more thoughtful way so that we can produce food that is truly healthy for everybody. Matt. Matt So my question is what the legislative component is to this if there is a thought in that respect are there any states or local governments or even governments abroad that have mandated this who've looked at the science

and said you know we really need to intervene and as such we're going to require commercial producers to institute regenerative mechanisms. Is there anything like that that you've seen? That's a great question. And the answer is we've started to do that in some ways, and we've got a long way to go. On the national front, we've got the organic food production standard. It isn't the end of the story, but it's really a fantastic foundation for what regenerative needs to look like in the sense that it actually is the only federally mandated policy program that bans the use of most industrial pesticides,

that bans the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer, that bans the use of synthetic fertilizers in producing agriculture. So those are just some of the things organic does, as well as how that land is managed. Now, to do that, we can do it even better, and we can probably get policies in place that can do that. A lot of those policies revolve around where science currently is right now, which is understanding this incredible microbial world under our feet in the earth, that dirt is not dirt, it's alive. And the more we steward it, and the more biodiversity it has, the better off the system, the better off its resilience, the better off our nutrient density. And so you're seeing in a lot of states, soil health policies that are being introduced and bills that are being introduced at the state levels, at regional levels, at local levels that are trying to take these practices even further.

So there's a lot of opportunities going on right now. You should pay attention to what's going on in your own region, but also make sure to pay attention to what's happening to organic. It's definitely a foundation for how we need to approach how we are producing our food. All right. Look, we appreciate it. Celebrating Earth Day. Thank you so very much for joining us. Happy Earth Day. Thank you. All right, folks. Coming up next on the show, we are going to Education Matters segment. We're going to talk a little bit about Marjorie Taylor Greene. But go on to break, folks. Earlier today, I was in Maryland for the 75th birthday celebration for Radio 1.

Go to the video, y'all, please. Thank you. The 75th birthday celebration for Radio 1 founder Kathy Hughes, of course. And so she had an event at her home there, and so a lot of people she invited out, of course, Pastor Charles Jenkins performed, and so we had a great time there, a party and dancing, of course, Radio One now is Urban One, owns TV One, more than 50 radio stations, digital assets as well. And so a great time had by all there. And so I just wanted to give her a birthday shout-out. It must be like April, like a really good month for the birthday shout-outs because I'll be in Dallas tomorrow celebrating my dad's 75th birthday. I'll show his photo a little bit later.

And so, again, we had a great time. That's She Tom Joyner. Yeah, he was out there as well. And then there are a lot bit later. And so, again, we had a great time. Let's see Tom Joyner. Yeah, he was out there as well. And then there are a lot of dancers. That's Theo, of course, the owner of Ben's Chili Bowl right there. And Alfred Liggins is her son. He is not a fan of dancing, but I made him get out there and dance with his son, Charlie. And that's what you're seeing right there.

And so, again, happy birthday to Radio 1 founder. 75th birthday to Kathy Hughes. We'll be right back. Black Star Network is decent. Hold no punches. A real old revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, black media.

He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Hey, I'm Antonique Smith. Hey, I'm Arnaz Jane. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way?

Really, it's Roland Martin. Wait, wait, wait. All right, folks, our black and missing for the day. And again, we're always, of course, keeping our eye on these critical stories. John Flowers has not been seen since October 3rd, 2021 from Bloomington, Indiana. He's 5 foot 10 inches tall, weighs 200 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about LaJohn Flowers should call the Monroe County, Indiana Sheriff's Office at 812-349-2781, 812-349-2781. All right, folks, time for Education Matters. All right, folks, 54% of all students in public schools are people of color,

yet only 20% of principals are people of color. The national nonprofit New Leaders is partnering with two Atlanta historically black institutions, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University, to launch the Aspiring Principals Fellowship. It's programmed geared to boost the number of principals of color leading K-12 schools. Gene, is it Dress for Veins? Dress for Veins? Dress for Veins.

Dress for Veins. The CEO of New Leaders joins me from New York. So is it Jean or Jean? Jean. All right, Jean, glad to have you here. Here's the thing that I need people to understand when we talk about principles. We also talk about money. The reality is you look at the salaries of principals,

so when black people and others are being kept out of principals' positions, that's also impacting us economically. That is absolutely right, Ronan. So on average, a principal makes $25,000 more than a teacher. You multiply that over a 20 year career, you're talking about over half a million. So not only are we talking about the opportunities that are afforded to ensure we can better educate our kids,

there is a major economic component to this where you have an opportunity to meaningfully increase your earnings both annually and over the course of your career and and that's and i know some people like dang roly you always bring up the money but that's the key you just said it half a million dollars that's money black people can be investing that's money people give and this is this is the example of when we are frozen out of positions how it impacts us but also our lineage, the ability to build and create wealth. You are absolutely correct. a road to middle income lifestyle,

oftentimes we tend to want to push our people of color, our black and young X people into teaching, and we absolutely need more teachers of color. What we don't do, we don't spend enough time talking about the importance of moving them into the principalship and into system leadership which is often much more lucrative in terms of how much they can make so not only can they help impact the life outcomes of children but

they can be helping to close the wealth gap that exists between whites and blacks, and that is often overlooked when we talk about K-12 public education. Questions for the panel. Michael, you first. Hello, Gene. Thanks for coming on today. So I was wondering, reviewing this information, it talks about equity-focused school leaders. This is one of the things that you all create in the online certification program. Can you explain what are equity-focused school leaders? What does that mean, equity-focused? It's an incredibly important question. If you look at all the research, one of the number one indicators that dictates a child's ability to be successful stems from whether or not the teacher, the principal, whether or not they have high expectations for that child, whether or not they can create a sense of belonging within the school community. When we talk about

equity focused leaders, we're talking about leaders who have high expectations, willing to hold themselves and their teachers accountable, and who sees the brilliance and potential of our children, particularly our Black and brown children, which is often not the case right now in public education. Kelly? Sure. We know the importance of having Black teachers in the classroom, right? That is definitely something that we hear a lot more of. And it makes sense because the teacher, him or herself, but in this case, Black men, have more time with the child, right? And that is important, especially with Black children. But what we do not see or hear about as often is the importance of having a Black principal. And again, as I've said on this show before,

I grew up in D.C. and had almost nothing but Black administrators, Black principals, Black counselors, all of it. And I took for granted just how many school districts don't have that experience at all, whether you're in the urban area or a rural area or a suburban area. So can you explain the importance of having Black administrators in the school system and why that is just as important, if not more so, than having a Black teacher in the classroom? Yes. So think about this for a second. We know in every industry, leadership matters, whether it's government, nonprofit sector, for-profit sector, schools are no different. The principal is tasked with creating the culture, setting the vision, hiring the teachers inspiring the teachers so if you want to

have great teaching at scale you need to have a great principal there is not one example of a great school without a great principal and while you are absolutely right we spend a tremendous amount of time focused on teachers. We don't spend nearly enough time focused on ensuring we have a great principal in every school. And we will never have great teaching at scale without ensuring we have great equity-focused black and brown principals serving our kids.

Matt? I have two questions very quickly. So the first is, how does the actual fellowship work in relation to Morehouse and Clark? Is that where the educational programming is done? If I'm a part of the fellowship, that's where I actually do my classes. Is that kind of how it works? And then the second question is, I know that New Leaders does coaching for principals. So I'm interested in what that means. Does that mean you continue supporting them once they actually

become principals? Both very good questions. First, in terms of how the program actually works. We're working with two preeminent historically black colleges in Morehouse and Crockett, Yancey, where we've co-designed the curriculum. We've worked in tandem to identify the instructors, and we will be working in partnership to deliver the program. Your second question is so critically important. What often happens is that a principal goes into a school and they're left alone to try to figure it out. To your point, at New Leaders, we provide ongoing coaching. So the vision, once you become part of this scholarship, you will get ongoing coaching and support to ensure that you will set up for success.

All right, then. Well, look, it sounds great. How has it gone thus far? How many principals have you placed? So we started with a pilot. The goal was to really see how do we ensure we are fine-tuning, we're setting up the program for success. Just to give you a sense, we launched the pilot in January, and the goal was to just have 20 students. Given the level of demand and excitement, we had to roughly double

the amount for the pilot, represented in over 12 states, 100% of the participants are fellows of color, black, and Latinx. We will launch the full program in January 2023. The response has been overwhelming. Just to give you a sense, when we first made the announcement, within the first two days, we received interest from over 500 potential fellows who wanted to learn more about the program. And our goal is to be the largest provider of equity-focused leaders of color in the country. So when we are at scale, we're envisioning serving five to 750 leaders a year. All right, then. Well, Gene, look, congratulations. Keep making it happen because it certainly is vital for our future. Thank you so much for having me. And it's such an important issue. I commend you for continuing to focus on education.

All right, then. We certainly appreciate it, sir. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. All right, folks, when we come back, a quick break. Y'all, crazy as white people segment is a trip. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, it's amazing when your ass start lying and you've got to go to court. Oh, it's about to be good. Be back in a moment. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. And on the next Get Wealthy,

you'll meet Jandy Turner, who took her love of sports, expanded her network, and created a thriving business. I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which in and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds, if not thousands of golf tournaments,

is that business gets done on the golf course. All on The Next Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R.B. Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. No charcoal drills are allowed. I'm white. I got you, girl. Illegally selling water without a permit. On my property.

Whoa! Hey! Give me your ID. I'm uncomfortable. Oh, man! So a group of voters in Georgia are suing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying that her involvement in the January 6th insurrection, she should get kicked off the ballot as a result.

So it took her to court. Well, today she took the stand. And see, when you are a liar, Matt, it ain't never good to try to lie on the witness stand, especially when they bust your ass with the evidence. So this actually happened today in court. Ms. Green, you've had your disagreements with Speaker Pelosi. Isn't that right? I'm not sure what you mean.

You've had political disagreements with her. You don't agree with some of the things she's done in her career, right? Politically speaking, that would be correct. You don't agree with a lot the things she's done in her career, right? Politically speaking, that would be correct. Right. You don't agree with a lot of things she's done, right? Politically speaking, that would be correct. In fact, you think that Speaker Pelosi is a traitor to the country, right? I'm not answering that question. It's speculation. You've said that, haven't you, Ms. Green, that she's a traitor to the country?

No, I haven't said that. Okay. Put up Plaintiff's Exhibit 5, please. Oh, no, wait. Hold on now. I believe, by not upholding the... securing the border, that that violates her oath of office. Fair enough. I'm not interested in her oath of office. I'm interested in that you said that she's a traitor to our country, right? I object, Your Honor. She is. This is, I don't see the relevance. So then what happened was they actually played the video where it was like, here it is, here it is, this is what she said. And then they also asked her about liking a particular comment on Facebook as related to whether or not Nancy Pelosi should be shot.

Well, check this out. And you're using a CNN article. I'm asking you to answer my question. Did you like a post that said it's quicker, that a bullet to the head would be a quicker way to remove Nancy Pelosi from the role of speaker? I have had many people manage my social media account over the years. I have no idea who liked that. Okay. Are you testifying under oath it wasn't you?

I just want to be clear on that. I am testifying. I have no idea who liked that comment. Fair enough. It could have been you. And you're using a CNN article. I'm asking you to answer my question. That was funny, Michael. All throughout today, it was, I don't remember. I can't recall, all kind of stuff. Here's when the issue of peaceful protests came up. Watch this. And in your tweet, you mentioned earlier that your words, join hashtag March for Trump in D.C. on January 6th to fight for Trump,

that you were urging people to come to Washington for a peaceful demonstration, right? Peaceful demonstration, absolutely. Yeah, that word peaceful is nowhere in this tweet, right? Have a look. That word peaceful is not in this tweet. I can't read it. There's only half of it there. Let's give the representative a paper copy of that one.

I just want to make sure I'm not missing. No, I can see it now. It was scrolled up just a second ago. Okay. Peaceful's not in there, is it? Well, you know, like... Is the word peaceful in there, Ms. Green? It does not say peaceful right there.

That's my question. But you're asking me, and I said for peaceful demonstration, just like people have the right to do in their First Amendment. I'm asking, you didn't, there's not a secret code in there that's supposed to be peaceful, right? Well, I never mean anything for violence. I don't support violence of any kind, and I've said it over and over again. So I'm telling you. You just didn't say it on this occasion, did you?

I never mean anything for violence. All of my words never, ever mean anything for violence. We of my words never ever mean anything for violence we'll we'll examine that question i mean it was question after question matt this woman is a straight-ass liar straight-up liar and in georgia you can get up to 10 years for lying on the stand and up to a thousand dollar fine so i mean she opened opened herself to perjury charges, which is extraordinary, particularly because the really important context of this testimony is that it comes in light of some of her own citizens challenging her ability to seek office because of her involvement or I guess support of the January 6th insurrection. So it seems like

this would be the time where if you're facing your challengers, you would realize that the writing's right there. You got the receipts. Go ahead and admit it. But as you see, she's trying to spin, as we know, Republicans like McCarthy did and others have done. I got to play one more, Michael. I got to play one more. Watch this. Now, you actually talked publicly about the Declaration of Independence calling for the overthrow of tyrannical governments, right? That's something you discussed publicly. Are you referencing to something I said somewhere?

Well, do you recall talking about that topic? I've talked about the Declaration of Independence, but I don't know what occasion you're referring to. Okay. Well, one of the occasions where you talked about the Declaration of Independence was in connection with January 6th, right? I don't know. Okay. Let's go to Plaintiff's 15. Please. Which one was, which one is this one, Mr. Chau?

Planus 15. P15 and P15? Yes. Hang on a second. Ms. Green, I'm going to play the short clip and ask if that's you speaking on video. What's the date on this? I can't read it. October 26, 2021. Sorry. October 26, 2021. October 26, 2021. Sorry. October 26th, 2021.

October 26th, 2021. October 26th, 2021. Right. If you could play the clip, please. It's a riot at the Capitol. And if you think about what our Declaration of Independence says, it says to overthrow tyrants. That's your statement. I don't believe it was finished, but that was me.

I don't recall. I don't know what the rest of what I was saying. I don't recall. I can't remember. I mean, it was just like, busting a lie, busting a lie, busting a lie. I felt hilarious, Michael. Marjorie Taylor Greene makes dumb blondes look like Rhodes Scholars, number one. This is how stupid this is.

Two, this is dangerous because she's a sitting member in the House of Representatives. Now, the case is based upon Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1868, which was put in during the Reconstruction era, and it was targeting those members of the Confederacy, and it bars anybody who participates in a rebellion against

the country or insurrection from holding elected office, federal office, things like this. So hopefully they're successful with this. Now, this has never been tested in court. This is the other thing, okay? This section of the U.S. Constitution has never been tested in court to keep somebody from holding public office. But if they are successful, there's a lot of these domestic terrorist insurrectionists that they need to go after as well, which is another reason why these Republicans have to be defeated in the 2022 midterm elections and in 2024. Kelly, she also said in the witness stand, I did not talk to anybody at the White House about any of the events on January 6th.

Except she posted this. Just finished with our meetings here at the White House this afternoon. We had a great planning session for our January 6th objection. We aren't going to let this election be stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats. President Trump won by a landslide. Call your house reps. Call your senators from your states. We've got to make sure they're on board, and we already have a lot of people engaged. Okay, stay tuned. You ain't talked to nobody at the White House, but your dumb ass put a video out on January 5th saying we had a great meeting. Right.

Kelly, I'm telling you, she is a barrel of laughs. I wish I had the confidence of a mediocre white woman such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, I feel like I would go really far in life, even further than I already am, which is, you know, moderate, but I feel like I would, I would be moving like mountains at this point if I had that kind of, that, that kind of hubris. Like it is astonishing to me how you can lie with a straight face as though we do not have receipts. I mean, it's the same thing with Kevin McCarthy, as if you are just so sure that no one is going to find out the truth, that you are willing to put yourself in such a compromising position such that you literally cannot be trusted and you run the risk of going to jail because you lied on the stand. It is just, I just wish I had the gall and the gumption of a mediocre white person.

It is absolutely hilarious. It's wonderful. It's absolutely hilarious to me. So we got lying Kevin McCarthy. We got lying Marjorie Taylor Greene. Oh, and I forgot. I got to go ahead and just show this here. So you remember when that crazy fool Republican, Carl Thorne, out of North Carolina, Madison Carl Thorne, accused the Republicans of having orgies.

And he said they said all kind of stuff, and, man, they were just, you know, doing all kind of wild and crazy things, and what he was invited to, and he was just shocked and appalled, and then later turned to backtrack. Well, Politico just dropped this story while we were on the air. Here's Madison dressed up in lingerie at a freak party. No! This is the dude in the wheelchair.

He's in the wheelchair also. He's in the wheelchair as well. Hey, you might as well just roll your ass on off the stage, man. Just resign. You gotta warn us before you on off the stage, man. Just resign. You gotta warn us before you do something like that, man. Come on. I told y'all they just released it.

I'm just saying. Hey, expose all these traitors. Expose all of them got pictures. Expose all of them. I'm all for it. I'm just saying. Say that again, man. I'm all for it. I'm just saying. I'm all for it. These are domestic terrorists.

We have to understand this inflection point that we're at in history. This is a continuation of the Civil War and the continuation of the Compromise of 1877, which ends Reconstruction. And then go back to the

story about Florida. Florida was the first state to have poll taxes in 1889. They were the first of the Confederate states to institute poll taxes. Destroy, break their political backs. Destroy all of them. I'm just saying. Yeah. Birds of a feather flock together. They all have pictures. The humor comes in the gaslighting, too, because what they do is they say, you didn't see what you're looking at. You didn't hear what you heard.

You didn't see what is on video. So, I mean, that's the humorous, to use Kelly's word, which I think is the video. So, I mean, that's the hubris, to use Kelly's word, which I think is the most perfect word, is it's extraordinarily arrogant to assume that people are just going to overlook what they're looking at. And that's what Republicans continue to do, I think, trying to leverage this idea that, you know, everything is a liberal conspiracy or what have you. Like, no, you said it. But this is at the same time where they're trying to target pedophiles with the fake q anon conspiracy theory and then these domestic

terrorists went after jessica tanya brown jackson uh because she was the one who can who convicted the uh the shooter who shot up the comet pizza uh place in washington dc in 2017 she said it's him to four years in prison. And he was tracking down this Internet conspiracy theory about child about child children being kept in the basement of the pizzeria and molestation of children, things like this, Hillary Clinton, all this stuff. All this stuff is connected together. Destroy break their political backs. Got a comment, Kelly? I could have gone my whole life

without seeing that. My whole life. I don't kink shame. Love is love. All of that. But I could have gone my entire life. That needed to come with the trigger warning, Roland. I don't... That entire life. That needed to come with the trigger warning, Roland. I don't, that was mean. That was mean.

But the hypocrisy of it all is what's getting to me because we're coming, we're looking at the legislation in Florida about the don't say gay. We're looking at, you know, Republicans attacking critical race theory. That's not even in schools about the don't say gay. We're looking at, you know, Republicans attacking critical race theory. That's not even in schools in the first place. We're looking at the Supreme Court that is, you know, gearing itself to strip away the rights of the LGBTQ

plus community. And then you have a differently abled man in semi-drug, enjoying his life as if you are not part of the party that is trying to take the party away from you? I just want to share it with y'all. I just want to share it with y'all. All right, y'all. We're going to end on that note. Really? Kelly, Matt, Michaelael i appreciate it y'all i hit the dallas tomorrow uh celebrate my dad uh his 75th birthday was actually on monday but i'll be

uh there uh on uh tomorrow so i'm looking forward to that come on come on show thank you thank you so we'll be there tomorrow birthday is on Monday. Looking forward to it. Monday I'll be broadcasting from Las Vegas. I'll be attending the National Association of Broadcasters Convention. So I'll be there Monday, Tuesday, then off to L.A. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Next Friday is the 30th anniversary of the Rodney King riots, so we'll be broadcasting from near the scene where things happened there in L.A. So a lot of things are happening, folks.

We appreciate all the support that you have for us. Download our Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Roku TV, Amazon Fire, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, and of course, join our Bring the Funk fan club, where every dollar you give goes to support this show. PO Box, send your checks and money orders, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal's RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo's RM Unfiltered. Zelle is rolling at rollinglessmartin.com.

Rolling at rollingmartinunfiltered.com. Now, of course, we always end the show on Fridays showing all of our fan club members. Don't forget the eighth installment of our Gone with 1619 2019 series is airing right after this show, so you don't want to miss that. You two, while you're tripping, we should get 1,000 likes by now. I don't understand, okay? Y'all sitting here for the last two hours, messing around, more than 2,000 folks on, and why are we sitting at 783?

So, look, I ain't getting off until y'all get to 1,000, so let's go. We got 237 to get to. It's 1,600 y'all watching. Hit the damn like button. We should be doing 1,000 likes every single day. Why do I have to ask y'all to hit the like button? That's all I'm saying. Hit the like button.

Come on. Let's hit 1,000 before we get off of here. Facebook, you should be hitting the share button as well. Now we at 873. Let's go. All we need is another 127. So let's go, y'all. I don't need to be asking y'all. So that's right. Hit the like button so we can get on out of here and in fact we had more than 2 000 folks watching we should have 2 000 likes uh we've got a few haters but i go ahead and accept that finally we hit a thousand likes so go full screen with the with the fan club members i gotta go i'll see y'all on monday Thank you. this is an iHeart podcast