#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Fmr VA Lt. Gov. defamation suit, Facebook profiting off White Supremacy, Who Killed Cary Owsley?

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

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Starting point is 00:02:16 You dig? Hey folks, today is Wednesday, August 17th, 2022. Coming up, a roll of Martin Gunn's bookshelf. I'm broadcasting live from Clearwater, Florida. I'm here to address the Black Quintino Summit. Next on Black Star Network, the corporate lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, has filed a $35 million lawsuit against a public radio station in New York for the allegations that he raped a woman and that derailed his political career. We will talk with him in his first interview since filing that particular lawsuit.

Starting point is 00:03:14 Also, on today's show, we'll also hear from and talk to the sister of Carrie Olds. They want to know how did Carrie die. There's a documentary they're doing with regards to his death that you want to know about. One of these tragic stories that we've seen uh far too often also on today's show facebook how did property from a white supremacist group we will tell you about that on the show as well plus in um charlottesville had charlotte virginia had its first black female police chief get caught in the department, would not, would not, I repeat, follow her directives. The city council has now fired her. We will talk with her right here on the show.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Also, in our Tech Talk segment, we'll talk to two brothers who create tech space for those who want to expand the technology field. The first black residency hacker house and NFL players, gospel singers. They're in a choir. They're also competing on American Dictality. We'll talk with one of them. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Barton, I'm Phil Chittenden, the Black Star Network, let's go.

Starting point is 00:04:17 He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it blips, he's right on time. And he's rolling, best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling, yeah, with some go-go-royale. Yeah, yeah, he's go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, Martez! We make sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. I love y'all.

Starting point is 00:05:26 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 scary. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? All right, folks, as you see, I am here in Clearwater, Florida.

Starting point is 00:06:20 I'm here in Clearwater, Florida, folks, and I'm giving a speech here tomorrow morning. And so that's why I'm not in studio. So I'm hanging out on the balcony here. And so that's where I am. So, again, hopefully y'all saw the ocean and the beach here. So certainly glad to be with you right now. Roland Martin on the filter on the Black Star Network.

Starting point is 00:06:49 Folks, the saga regarding the former attorney governor, Justin Fairfax, has been going on for several years. He was in position. He was in position to lead, to lead the city of Virginia, being the person who was going to be at the top of the

Starting point is 00:07:05 ticket, yet he was then accused of sexual assault. Then it became two, two cases of sexual assault. And then that was what caused his career to be derailed. Although he remained in office, although he remained in office, folks, he could not recover from that. And so he has been fighting these charges. The FBI is investigating whether or not someone investigating the allegations behind him. He had been calling for this for quite some time. Now, what he has done further is he is now filing a $35 million lawsuit against New York Public Radio after they aired an interview calling him a rapist. This is his first interview following that lawsuit. We're now joined by the former lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax. First of all, Justin, glad to have you back on the show.

Starting point is 00:08:09 Thank you so much, Roland. It's great to be with you. And I think we're going to be live and video in a little bit, but it's so great to be with you. Okay. And, of course, we always do full disclosure. Justin is known to Alpha Phi Alpha, so am I. He's also been a beta new, a single Phi Phi fraternity that we lay out in the same chapter. And so it's always important to have full disclosure. So tell us this. Why are you now filing this lawsuit?

Starting point is 00:08:37 What is the most recent thing that happened? Yeah, Roland, well, right now we're at a point where we're finishing the process of fully clearing my name. As you know, for the past three and a half years, unfortunately, we have been going through a tremendous smear campaign. And we've had a lot of things that have been said about us that have been untrue. A lot of false statements have been made, defamatory statements. And, you know, it's unfortunate because it's all been a part of politics. It's all been about things that people wanted to achieve to try to block me from being governor back in 2019 and to do some other fairly nefarious things. And what we said is we're always going to stick to the truth. We're always going

Starting point is 00:09:21 to focus on the people of Virginia. And that's really what has kept us going forward. And so now what you're seeing is this smear campaign really unravel in so many ways. As you've seen investigations start to happen by the FBI, you're now seeing a loop action reports and so many people rushed to judgment on this. And that was something that was really incredibly unfortunate, and we're now seeing the results of that. And I think we need to now take a step back and we'll now see the danger of rushing to judgment, the danger of assuming, the danger of allowing people to make these claims with no evidence and demand immediate punishment results. And now the truth has come out that these things were false from the beginning and they were politically motivated. I think Virginians and Americans really want that reckoning with the truth. And that's what we're focused on. Now, again, the lawsuit specifically is named in New York Public Radio. What happened there? Was there an interview that was done with one of your accusers? Yes, a little over a year ago, there was an interview on New York Public Radio. And again, there were some tremendously defamatory statements that were made, provably false statements and also there had been some previous court rulings by

Starting point is 00:10:46 the Fourth Circuit by the Eastern District of Virginia where they clearly said that if these things which were known at the time were not put forward these exonerating pieces of evidence were not put forward at the same time that these false allegations were raised again then you would have actual malice which which is what the standard is for public figures. And then you can proceed with the defamation action. So, you know, this broadcast totally eviscerated the Fourth Circuit's decision and continued to carry out the inflammatory scare campaign. And so we want to really make sure that we're not only holding people accountable for what they've done here. I don't want this to be done to anyone else. No one in America is subject to this kind of a smear campaign to not

Starting point is 00:11:37 be given due process here. They're making it for three and a half years. This has gone on and it's been three and a half years too long. And and it's been three and a half years too long and I want to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else. Now again there were two allegations. One with regards to something happening at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. That was in 2004 and then the second allegation alleged that you raped a woman at Duke University. Now, the lawyers who are booking these women have criticized the reports of an FBI investigation. Stories have been done. They're set.

Starting point is 00:12:20 They've done it in the Washington Post, saying that they have talked to a number of people. They're talking to others. Also, the mayor of Richmond, Virginia, has come out on record stating that he had not been talked to. His name, LaVar Stoney, has been mentioned as a part of this. You have been highly critical of him, former governor Terry McCullough, and also, most recently, former governor Terry McCullough, and also most recently the former Governor

Starting point is 00:12:46 Virginia Douglas Plowman did an interview where he castigated those who he said were involved in targeting you and trying to keep you from becoming governor of Virginia. And so what do you say to folks out there who say your name has not been approved, it has not been defended, that there's still allegations right now that still hover over your head? Well, Roland, what I would say is that any allegation that someone would make and not want to have investigated for three and a half years tells you a lot about whether it's true or not. And so the fact that, you know, I've wanted this investigated for day one and those making the allegations, their attorneys, their PR firms, political actors have avoided investigation for three and a half years, really lets you know that these are false. And it

Starting point is 00:13:40 was all about a political smear campaign. You know, I'm so grateful to and proud of Governor Douglas Wilder, as you mentioned, a political hero of mine, first African-American ever elected governor in the history of the United States of America. He, Congressman Bobby Scott, an incredible leader, and Senator Mark Warner, they from day one said that these were accusations that needed to be investigated, that needed to be due process. And we needed to get to the truth. And now three and a half years later, as we're getting to the truth, which is that these were fabricated allegations to begin with, they were politically motivated. And the FBI has been given evidence of that fabrication of the claims and also evidence of a lengthy smear campaign. It vindicates what Governor Wilder, Congressman Bobby Scott,

Starting point is 00:14:25 and Senator Mark Warner said from day one. And it also vindicates what we have said from day one, which is that these things were false. And so we also have heard recently, you mentioned Duke University, Jim Coleman, who is an extraordinary professor at Duke Law School, he debunked Duke Lacrosse 1.0. He just weighed in in a great piece by the Raleigh News and Observer written by Kate Murphy and Steve Weissman, where Jim Coleman said that Duke University did exactly what they did in the Duke Lacrosse case once again in our matter. They rushed to judgment. And so that was absolutely wrong. It should never have been done. As you mentioned, Corey Maggette, former Duke basketball player, he also was falsely accused by the same accuser.

Starting point is 00:15:10 And again, this should not happen to anyone in America. And part of what we're fighting for is to ensure that no one else has to go through this, that their families don't have to experience this, their communities. And I'm proud that through faith and hope and our family and so many other people who have rallied around us, not only did we deal with this, but for four years we stayed in and we fought for the people of Virginia. Because I was there as lieutenant governor, we got health care for 700,000 people. I broke the tie of votes as lieutenant governor. And so you stay and you fight for the people. And so this is all, again, you're seeing a smear campaign completely unravel. And for anyone who would say, well, this is not resolved and the allegations are still out there, you should ask the people who have made them. And also you would ask, for instance,

Starting point is 00:16:00 the lawyers who continue to propagate these and say things in the media, would they want someone to accuse them and not let them resolve their allegations to resolve and clean their name in three and a half years? Would they want themselves to be treated in that way? Would those who have said these things in the past want people to rush to judgment with no evidence to say these things about them with with no due process, of course they wouldn't. And so we've had to stand up, you know, with dignity, with the pride that we have, and knowing that we are absolutely innocent, absolutely telling the truth. But also that, again, we don't want this to be done to anyone else. And in politics, as you know, Roland, I've been on your show now for many, many years, ever since I got in politics here in Virginia over a decade ago. You know, I've faced all kind of attacks, you know, from within the party, from figures within the party.

Starting point is 00:16:52 But what I've always done is what Doug Wilder taught me to do was to go to the people, trust the people, you know, really fight for what you believe in and never give up. And so that's really what we're doing. And so now the FBI has been given evidence of fabrication of these claims, evidence of a smear campaign. As you talked about, I've met with the FBI for over three hours with no attorney present because I had nothing to hide. And so for people saying that they've not met with the FBI or they have not been contacted, they could go voluntarily and do it. I think you have a lot of people now who, after three and a half years of smearing me, need to clear their name. I think they need to clear their name. And I don't know that they'll be able to do it because they won't take the steps that we have

Starting point is 00:17:34 done. And so with that News Observer piece, again, they talked about the fact that, you know, we have done everything that we could possibly do. The Washington Post editorial board has now weighed in twice. And they said that they can't think of another prominent man who has faced these kinds of accusations, who has done more, who has gone to greater lengths to clear their name. And I shouldn't even have to do it, frankly. We should live in a system where the presumption of innocence is honored. But I have done this to also show, not just by innocence, but to show a new way forward, to show that we can be better as a country.

Starting point is 00:18:12 And so this is all being resolved. I think Duke University, where I served on the board of trustees, I've served on the Sanford School Board of Visitors. And I started rolling, as you know, we've talked about this a lot. I was eight years old, dreamed about going to Duke from inner city, Washington, D.C., got a scholarship. A lot of folks believe in me, ended up on the board of trustees later on the Sanford School board. And it only took a press release and 43 minutes and a couple of false accusations for them to eviscerate 23 years of that relationship. But I do got no one love is going to do the right thing. They're going to do it sooner rather than later. And I think all those who rushed to judgment, as Jim Coleman said, this was Duke lacrosse 2.0, essentially. I don't want there to be a Duke lacrosse 3.0.

Starting point is 00:18:53 I don't want this to happen to anyone else. And I don't want this to be done to anyone else. So we're standing with pride, with love, and I'm really, frankly, very inspired. I've lived a life of hope, and that's how you get to where I started to where we are now. And so, Roland, I thank you for the opportunity, for staying with the story, to see it all unravel. You from day one talked about this. You were asking why is there not an investigation in the very earliest days. And now three and a half years later, you're asking the same question because these allegations were fabricated, because they were false. You know, they're looking for evidence of something that never happened.

Starting point is 00:19:29 And so we are clearing our name, but more importantly, taking us to higher ground as a commonwealth and as a country. You talk about three and a half years after the Russian judgment. You've been critical of the former governor, Terry McCullough, saying that literally, was it three minutes after the allegation came out, there were tweets calling for you to resign. And there have been others as well. We've now seen people, some Democrats who called for Al Franken to resign, they brought that back as well. That was a rush to judgment. And so talk about that, because when we talk about this smear campaign, you laid out this

Starting point is 00:20:17 theory as to what this smear campaign has been. What has it been? You're accusing a mayor of a city and a former governor of being involved in trying to keep you out of the governor's mansion if they were successful at doing so, in that you failed to win a Democratic nomination for governor when you came up. Right. Well, you know, Roland, it's pretty well documented and there's so much evidence to support this. And again, as you mentioned, Governor McAuliffe, three minutes after press release, called for my immediate resignation. He had no facts. He had no evidence. To my knowledge, didn't know these accusers or the accusations, unless there's something that we don't know.

Starting point is 00:21:02 He maybe knew it in advance. I don't know. But if he didn't know it in advance, then do you really want to have someone, as Governor Wilder said, in charge of the Commonwealth of Virginia, who in three minutes can attempt to destroy someone's entire career with no information and no evidence, no basis? And so, you know, I wouldn't want that for anyone, including him. And so I think that we've got to get to a better and a different place. And you mentioned the mayor of Richmond, who's, you know, very close to the former governor politically for many, many years. You know, again, there's been well-documented links and ties between him and actually really both accusers, actually. There's evidence that's

Starting point is 00:21:45 been presented. And so, you know, what are the odds? I've never been accused in 40 years of jaywalking. And then, you know, minutes before I might be elevated to the governorship, these out of the blue, totally uncorroborated accusations are then leveled. And then there are connections between the two accusers and the mayor of Richmond, who was then connected to the former governor, who then runs again for that office. It was pretty obvious from day one. And there's even more that's not even yet known to the public in terms of evidence of the smear campaign. And again, that's why I was very happy to meet with the FBI for three hours with no attorney. And I would ask anyone who weighs in

Starting point is 00:22:25 on this, particularly if they're making the accusations or wanting to propagate them, are they willing to go and meet with the FBI for three hours with no attorney? I bet you won't get too many takers because I was telling the truth and I was also very happy to get this resolved. And so we've done everything, as The Washington Post has said. We've called for the DAs. There's no known investigations. The News & Observer reported just the other day we have filed civil lawsuits to get everyone under oath. No one's filed them against me, and I'd be happy to be in court to get these things under oath. And of course, now the FBI being involved and

Starting point is 00:23:05 Duke University, you mentioned where this incredibly serious allegation was made with no evidence. And as it turns out, there's proof that it's false and proof that the same accuser has also accused Corey Maggette, former Duke basketball star and NBA star, who was also innocent. And so how many people does one person get to falsely accuse before we stand back and say, this is wrong and it needs to be rectified? And certainly in the Duke lacrosse case, Duke, you know, when they understood that there was no evidence that these were the wrong things to do to just allow these hoaxes to go on, these really not only endangering people's health and well-being and

Starting point is 00:23:45 safety and lives, but their futures and our rule of law. Duke stepped up to the plate. Former President Richard Broadhead, who I know very well and have gotten to really come to admire, he had moral courage. And he stood up and he talked about the danger of prejudgment. He said that the scariest thing about Duke Lacrosse was that there was instant moral certainty when the facts were not yet at all established. And so, Duke within minutes of a press release, after 23 years of my relationship with them, starting as a freshman all the way up to my time on the board of trustees at Duke, being elected as the only student on the entire student body that year to the Board of Trustees and the undergraduate students, being the graduation speaker in 2000, to then it only take a press release with false accusations with no evidence to then make that

Starting point is 00:24:34 kind of a rash decision. It shows that the lessons of Duke Lacrosse 1.0 were not learned, but I've been willing to fight for three and a half years through Duke Lacrosse 2.0 because I do not want there to be a Duke Lacrosse 3.0. And I think that's really, you know, where we are. I mean, you've got to fight for the next generation. And that's what we're here for. And you mentioned those no criminal investigations in the two locations where the allegations take place. There were black female DAs in both cities. One there, still one there in Durham. There was a black female DA in Boston.

Starting point is 00:25:10 She's now a U.S. attorney. And the question that I have always asked is that if someone wants justice and those two black female DAs have said, if someone files a complaint with us, we are going to investigate this case. To your knowledge, has a complaint ever been filed in Boston or in Durham by your two accusers? My knowledge, Roland, no complaint has ever been filed. And I'll take it one step further. As you know, we reached out. If I could have filed a complaint on myself, I would have done it because I would

Starting point is 00:25:49 have at least initiated an investigation, started due process. And this smear campaign would have unraveled three and a half years ago. And so, again, it's been very intentional, this effort to avoid any investigation of any kind. And what's also fascinating is the hypocrisy. The attorneys, very high profile, you know, multimillion dollar attorneys for these accusers, Deborah Katz and Nancy Erica Smith, you know, they have vociferously called for investigations in other very similar cases. During the Supreme Court hearings with Justice Kavanaugh, they begged for the FBI to be involved and said, you know, asked, why don't you want the FBI involved? Why don't you want this investigated? Why won't you take a lie detector test? And then months later, when these

Starting point is 00:26:36 accusations were made by these attorneys against me, these false accusations, they all of a sudden do a complete 180 and don't want any of that. They want no investigations. They want no FBI. They want no lie detector tests. And as you know, I took in past two lie detector tests, took them voluntarily. And in fact, I took them from the exact same ex-FBI agent that Deborah Katz hired to test Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. And so it's the rules change, right? Because the goal was not the truth on their end. The goal was to smear me, right? The goal was to block me from the governorship in an emergency situation, you know, in case of emergency, break out smear campaign. And that's what this was.

Starting point is 00:27:16 And I knew that from day one. But I really do think that there is something far bigger and more important going on here. And so even as we clear, you know, my name and my family's name, I think there's something so much bigger and more important going on here. I think that we are reestablishing in this country the importance of due process, the importance of the rule of law, the importance of elevating our politics. You think a lot of people would not have been able to survive this kind of an onslaught, but I survived it with a few basic things. Number one, the truth. Number two, faith. Number three, family. And number four, my love of the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Starting point is 00:27:55 And I've had such incredible, again, role models to do this. Governor Doug Wilder has really been a political North Star for me for a long time. He has been through horrific things in his life and in his career. And he's always come out smiling and fighting and fighting and trusting in the people of Virginia. He's always been for them. And he's always told me to trust the people. And again, Bobby Scott, Mark Warner, these are people who at the height of these accusations, the beginning of the smear campaign, they stood up with courage and they said, we're gonna stand up for the rule of law, for what matters. That I wouldn't want this done to me or my family member,

Starting point is 00:28:32 and I don't want it done to Justin Fairfax or his family member. I wouldn't want this done to Terry McAuliffe or to the mayor of Richmond. I wouldn't want someone to come out with a piece of paper and three minutes later call for their resignation and for them to lose everything that they've ever worked for. Because you know what? There's something more important than politics. There's honesty. There's integrity. There is uplifting people

Starting point is 00:28:55 rather than destroying them. And one irony, Roland, as you know, my last name is Fairfax. I got it because Lord Fairfax freed my great, great, great grandfather in 1798. I learned that right before I took the oath of office as lieutenant governor. My father, incredible man, Roger Fairfax, Sr., handed me the piece of paper 20 minutes before I took the oath of office. And what was really ironic about that was we first learned about the first false accusation right around that time. So just as I am learning how my family got this name from 220 years ago, you have people who are setting out to destroy it. And I knew that there was something bigger, that I was being called to do something way bigger

Starting point is 00:29:34 than just exist in politics and to just play political games and raise money and attack people. I think I was actually put there for a reason. And you got to go through things as a judge who I clerked for and I love, Judge Gerald Lee always tells me, you know, you cannot have a testimony without a test. And boy, what a test this has been over three and a half years. But I think we're coming out of it even stronger, walking prouder. And I should also say this, you know, it's been fascinating. You have the attorneys, Deborah Katz and Nancy Erica Smith. You know, in so many ways, they've silenced, you know, these two African-American women. You know, Meredith Watson has not been heard from in three and a half years.

Starting point is 00:30:15 It's just her attorney, Nancy Erica Smith, continues to make statements bombastically going after me. And, you know, I've sort of just let the truth speak for itself. And so the more they talk, the more they attack me. I think it just reminds people not only that these were baseless accusations and not true in a smear campaign, but I think it also reminds people that, you know what, it's worth fighting for when you believe in something, when you believe in the people, when you're in this for the right reasons. You know, we gave up a lot in the private sector to be in public service because that's where my heart is, that my heart is always with the people. It's what people did for me, right? Gave me spiritual wealth. I have a spiritual debt.

Starting point is 00:30:54 And that's what got me in politics. And that's what got me through the smear campaign. And so I know Duke is going to do the right thing. I frankly think New York Public Radio is going to do the right thing. I think all those who rush to judgment are going to do the right thing. I frankly think New York Public Radio is going to do the right thing. I think all those who rush to judgment are going to do the right thing. And Roland, let me just also just say, you were extraordinary, not just in this situation, in this moment, but really, you know, in America. I mean, you're providing a voice to so many people who don't have one. And you always stand up for the truth. You have courage. I remember when this first happened. You had so many media outlets just repeating,

Starting point is 00:31:28 baselessly, the accusations, throwing my name around with these horrific words, things I've never done. But you said, let's take a step back and let's look at due process. Why is there no investigation? Why does the accused ask for an investigation, but those making the accusations not want them? Why are attorneys for these accusers acting as essentially private prosecutors? And that's a fascinating

Starting point is 00:31:49 development. I used to be a federal prosecutor, as you know. They want all the consequential powers of being a prosecutor and none of the responsibilities, right? As a prosecutor, you are out to do justice about fairness. If you get evidence that something did not happen, you get exonerating evidence, you put that forward. If you don't do it, you don't acknowledge it, it's called a Brady violation. It's one of the worst things you can do as a prosecutor, to continue accusing someone when you have evidence they didn't do it. And so again, we're seeing this thing like to indict you with a press release, right? Rather than a grand jury, let me dash out an email to the press, get a headline, and that's your indictment, right?

Starting point is 00:32:29 No due process. They will convict you with a headline. So, Roland, thank you for standing up, and God bless you. This is all unraveling, and I think it's going to take us to higher ground. All right, Justin Fairfax, we certainly appreciate you joining us on Goldmark Uncultured, and we'll see what happens next year's case. Thanks so much. God bless you. Thank you all.

Starting point is 00:32:48 Thank you. Thanks a lot. So, folks, of course, we also are reaching out to attorneys, both women, who have been active in the case of Fairfax, inviting them on the show as well to share their thoughts with regards to this case. So, I'm so to break and come back. My panel and I, as I said, might be interviewed with former Virginia Department of Justice Fairfax.

Starting point is 00:33:10 You're watching Roller Marks and Culture, the Black Star Network. Folks, if you're on YouTube or Facebook, hit that like button. Hit that share button. Let's hit 1,000 likes. Let's not wait for the last two hours to do so. And of course, download the Black Star Network app.

Starting point is 00:33:22 Then we're on all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Rke, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Smart TV. And please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollar allows us to do what we do. Pure Box, 57196 Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. That's for checks and money orders. Cash App, Dallas Sign, our in-man filter. PayPay, our marketing filter. Venmo is our in-man filter. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Starting point is 00:33:58 Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion- dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Starting point is 00:34:34 It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Starting point is 00:34:59 I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

Starting point is 00:35:11 This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

Starting point is 00:35:35 NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

Starting point is 00:35:47 It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game.

Starting point is 00:36:20 We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you see the headlines. All frightening, right? Interest rates are going up.

Starting point is 00:37:14 The recession is on the way. The stock market is up and down. But you know what they say, scared money, don't make money. That's why i'm excited on our next get wealthy to have a conversation with someone who has written a new book fearless finances and she's going to share exactly what you need to do to secure your bag regardless of the ups and downs of the economy or the stock market oftentimes you can start with as little as $5. That's right here, only on Get Wealthy on Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine.

Starting point is 00:37:59 Together, we are Black beyond measure. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hey everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Starting point is 00:38:44 We were just again having that conversation with Justin Fairfax, and now I want to bring in my panel who joins me right now. I'm glad to have them here. Let's get right into this breakdown here. Let's see here. Sorry, y'all. The glass is off. It's a little bright out here in Florida as I'm sitting on the balcony here. Let's see here. Sorry, y'all. Glass is off. It's a little bright out here in Florida as I'm sitting on the balcony here. Let's see here. Glad to have my folks in the house. Let's first up. Hello,

Starting point is 00:39:17 Nola Haynes, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Nola, how you doing? Robert Portillo, Executive Director of Rainbow Push Coalition Street Street Project and Larry J. Walker, Assistant Professor of the University of Central Florida. Glad to have you here. Robert, I'll start with you. You'll be the resident attorney on this panel. Just your thoughts and assessment of what you heard there, this lawsuit that Justice Bradford filed against the New York radio station, and also what he is calling this rush to judgment against him from so many different people that derailed his once promising and bright political career.

Starting point is 00:39:57 Absolutely. And I think it's a very important lesson that we learned. We did this topic a few years ago when the allegations first came down. And this is very much what I said Justin Fairfax should do. Fight this to the ends of the earth. Take it to the mat. Far too often what we've seen in public life is individuals simply slink away and not want to fight in the public arena. If you're innocent, get out there and fight for your innocence and clear your name. And I want people- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

Starting point is 00:40:22 wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

Starting point is 00:40:29 wait, And the accusers said they were willing to participate in an impeachment hearing. And that's also what caused a lot of people, like, wait a minute, hold up. You say you don't want to engage in a civil suit, but you will engage in an impeachment hearing. So why not file a criminal complaint? Go ahead. Yeah, that's the point that I was just going to make, that I felt that he should have stepped down because it was clearly a political hit job and there was clearly something coming from inside of the Democratic Party where Terry McAuliffe, for some reason, thought he could win another term by kneecapping Justin Fairfax. I thought that he should have stepped down, fought this out

Starting point is 00:41:18 through the court system, had a judgment on his side, and then ran for governor last term. And we wouldn't see Glenn Youngkin in the governor's mansion right now if that had occurred. He chose to stay in there and continue to fight and continue to clear his name. And I think we're seeing this more often. Last night, Al Franken, who you brought up, was hosting Jimmy Kimmel because what he did was step down from office, fight to clear his name, and now he's reemerging into public life. I think that's part of what separates Republicans from Democrats, that Republicans, you have Donald Trump, who's accused of 26 separate accusations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault.

Starting point is 00:41:51 Nothing happens from it. Herschel Walker, who is accused of beating several women, stalking multiple women, assaulting multiple women. And there's absolutely no consequence because on their side of the aisle, that is not disqualifying. But I do feel that we have to start allowing individuals to fight to clear their names because if there's no evidence against you, we can't simply say, well, an accusation is a conviction. And we're seeing this more and more.

Starting point is 00:42:18 We see this with Deshaun Watson, who took a year off from football, fought to clear his name the best that he could, and now he's returning with a $230 million contract. I think that the lesson is that if you are innocent, don't just lay down, don't just take it. Fight for your innocence, fight for your name. I think the American people are seeing more and more that when people are innocent, they are willing to fight to clear their names. Nola. NOLA. As the only woman on the panel and thinking about it in the context of Me Too, because

Starting point is 00:42:51 I think that you definitely have to bring that into the analysis and the timing of all of this. And during the Me Too movement, one of the slogans were, I believe the victims. And so because that was such a moment where women were coming forward and they were speaking up, and oftentimes when we do speak up, we're still not believed. And if you have any level of a platform, if you have resources, you know, it's pretty easy to silence women. It's pretty easy to also have, you know, hit jobs against the accusers. But with that said, I also do believe in innocent until proven guilty. And so I think that one of the criticisms of the Me Too movement was that as soon as someone came forward and said that something happened,

Starting point is 00:43:50 then that person just completely lost all credibility and pretty much their entire professional lives without any level of investigation, you know, with just a simple accusation. And with the fervor and with the energy of social media, once people hear that call that goes out, people pile on and people pile on, and then they add to it and it snowballs and it becomes something, it becomes a life of its own to where the people that are caught up in it, you know, their lives are no longer their own because other people are kind of creating narratives for them. So, you know, it's kind of an interesting situation. I did read the case,

Starting point is 00:44:38 you know, before we all came on, and some of the people that are involved are, you know, people that also have sterling reputations, you know. And so I'm just I'm just eager to see, you know, what the legal process will be, what the outcome credibility and to lose our steam because people are fighting back, mostly men are fighting back. But I also want to say one last thing to that point. I'm very curious about the motivations of the women that did make the accusations because if we're saying that it's not true, then what motivated them to do it? You know, and so that's something that I'm very interested in

Starting point is 00:45:30 to hear going forward. But I'm not going to draw any conclusions the way that I haven't drawn any conclusions. I want to see, you know, what the kind of final legal result will be. And I'm very curious about the motivations of the women, if it's not true. Larry, I think part of the problem here is that there's no clearly defined legal route. For instance, as I said, allegations were made and that the lawyers for the women, the two accusers, said they were willing to participate in an impeachment hearing. And some Republicans wanted to do that. What I still to this day don't understand, and I really don't, what I don't understand is that if the goal was to hold Justin Fairfax accountable, and you had two black female district attorneys in Boston and Durham who both were on the record.

Starting point is 00:46:42 We lost Roland. Well, I guess while we're working on getting Roland back re-established, Larry, could you chime in what you think should happen in the Fairfax case? Because I think many people have these questions about the logical inferences that can be drawn from the accusations. But the problem that is established is that there's a lack of proof there. How exactly do you prove yourself innocent in a case like this? What do you think should be the standard going forward? Yeah, I think this is a complicated issue.

Starting point is 00:47:22 And as my colleague just mentioned, what would be the motivation for these women making these accusations. And so I think there's a few things to unpack as we dealt with this issue the last couple of years. And I think also we have to note that, you know, women historically have not – don't feel like the system works towards the truth when it comes to issues relating to these kinds of sexual assault. So I think that's really important to highlight. But the counter to that is also in terms of justice and how to ensure in this social media age, when these kinds of accusations are made against a well-known politician, how do you ensure that it plays out, that the wheels of justice turn in the right

Starting point is 00:48:05 direction? And I would be really interested if, you know, Roland talked about reaching out to the attorneys for the two individuals who made their accusations. In terms of coming on the show and unpacking for us, you know, some of their, where their, the individuals that they're representing, you know, in terms of talking about their story and maybe some of the reasons why they decided they talked more about impeachment and less about, you know, civil suits. So, but once again, I think this is like a puzzle with a lot of missing pieces. And ultimately, like I said, you know, Mr. Fafix highlighted his case for it. But I think it's important, once again, to acknowledge that historically powerful men have had, in their position, been able to, in many respects, ensure that there are ways in which

Starting point is 00:48:53 victims don't speak up. And like I said, that's really important to highlight. But I'm ultimately interested in the truth. And I'm also interested in terms of Mr. Fairfax, in terms of what, for him specifically, because of what's happened to his reputation is obviously his political career. What is the, what is the end game in terms of if there's a verdict, what if this was never resolved and these accusations are just out there? What's the next step in terms of his political or professional career? But like I said, this is a jigsaw puzzle with a lot of missing pieces that none of us have. And that's why I think it's really important to

Starting point is 00:49:30 hear those that made the accusations. If not them, there's certainly their attorneys to come out and come on the show or various other platforms and talk about some of their, tell their story. So we have something to compare it against. And listen to Mr. Fairfax today. Absolutely. And I think the part of it is just this evolving legal system. It's traditionally been innocent until proven guilty. But with the context given currently, we have to evolve those standards. We're going to go to a quick commercial, try to reestablish rolling. We'll be back after the break. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing, creating, making moves that move us all forward.

Starting point is 00:50:12 Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, summer is flying by and back to school is just around the corner and fall is here. That's right. A new season is upon us. On our next show, we talk about jumping into action and putting procrastination in the rear view mirror. That's on a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. A conversation with Professor Toyin Falola, a man described by many as an African intellectual legend. He is without a doubt

Starting point is 00:51:08 the most important and prolific writer thinker teacher and servant of African studies in the modern world. And then today. We have just right. The black side, my task and the reimagines of radical Black talk. We're honored to welcome him to a very special, can't miss episode of The Black Table, only on the Black Star Network.

Starting point is 00:51:39 Hello everyone, it's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up y'all, it's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Starting point is 00:51:55 All right, folks, welcome back. Sorry about that. I had a slight technical issue, so I had to switch phones. So here's the thing that, before I go to our next guest, that I think that it has to be said. I'm taking into account everything that Robert said, Nola said, Mary said. I'm taking into account the allegations from these women that were just in Fairfax that said. What I am still confused by, and I would love to hear the attorneys for these two women answer this question.

Starting point is 00:52:25 If you had two black female DAs in Boston and Durham who both were on record as saying if a criminal complaint was filed, they would investigate fully, why did these women and attorneys not file a complaint. Because if you say you participate in an impeachment hearing, which is testimony, which is public, then why not file the complaint? The statute of limitations didn't apply here. And that's the one thing that I still don't understand why that didn't happen. I'm still confused by that. And absolutely, I get the concept of believe the women. But also, you have to have a situation where there is due process because you don't want someone making an allegation that simply isn't true. I bring up the case that were the days before the Super Bowl. There was a woman who accused Snoop Dogg of raping her. That story, that fell apart literally in days.

Starting point is 00:53:32 Same thing with Chris Brown. And there were attorneys who actually came out publicly and made statements. And so the problem here, because no one was asked about where do you go, where do you go next, the reality is there is no legal roadmap. There's no, so there's no civil suit

Starting point is 00:53:53 that's been filed. There's no criminal complaint been filed. So what you have here is an allegation that's just sitting out there in the public space. And so the women can't get it affirmed

Starting point is 00:54:07 and Fairfax can't get his name cleared. So in essence, it's just sitting there. And if I'm Justin Fairfax, I'm doing exactly what he's doing. I can clear my name. If I'm those women and they're attorneys, then I'm holding my position. But that's sort of where we are.

Starting point is 00:54:28 You literally have no legal pathway moving forward because no. And as Fairfax said, if I could, he said, if I could have filed a criminal complaint against myself, I would have. But he can't. And so this case right now is just sort of sitting here. And if you're him, that's always over your head. And it's probably, it clearly cost him the Democrat nomination,

Starting point is 00:54:54 cost him the governor's mansion. It probably cost him financially as well. And so that's what, but I, and so again, we're reaching out, we're going to reach out to the attorneys of both.

Starting point is 00:55:02 I would love for them to answer that question. Why was no complaint ever filed when you had black women who were the DAs who said they would investigate? That's the one thing that still is mind-boggling to me, why that hasn't been done. And I'm not quite sure why. Folks, let's go to our next story, and that is Facebook. It is profiting from white supremacist groups. Now, anybody who understands technology, we know that when you look on social media, how

Starting point is 00:55:32 the hard right and how white supremacists, how they have been highly involved in using Facebook to spread their nonsense, to spread their message. Well, last week, the folks at Tech Transparency Project found ads monetizing search results from over 80 white supremacist groups. The organization discovered that Facebook searches for some group with Ku Klux Klan in their name generated ads for black churches, highlighting minority institutions to a user searching for white supremacist content. In 2019, Facebook announced that it would ban white nationalists and white separatist content,

Starting point is 00:56:11 adding to its existing ban on white supremacist content. Katie Paul, the director and spokesperson for the Tech Transparency Project, joined us from D.C. So, Katie, glad to have you here. So, essentially, y'all are saying that Facebook is profiting from white supremacy, from racism. Yes, absolutely. Facebook's not just profiting from racism, but it's also creating potential dangerous situations for minority groups that unknowingly are having their ads surfaced in searches for groups like the KKK. So how does that work? So if you type in KKK in Facebook, what's coming up? So when we conducted this experiment, Facebook is trying to be like Google

Starting point is 00:57:00 and trying to monetize every aspect of its service. And in doing so, it monetized searches, suggesting to advertisers that those searches would be, the ads would be contextually relevant to the searches. So when you search honorable sacred knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the searches that were popping up were for black churches. Now, of course, Facebook pulls from data you have

Starting point is 00:57:24 and tries to serve up ads, things that are relevant to you. So important context here is that we conducted this experiment on a militia-styled account that we've been monitoring for years to mimic the far right. So there's no reason, even in terms of the historic data of that account, that that content should have been showing up, which was deeply concerning. Has Facebook had any response to your study? When our study was published by the Washington Post, Facebook said that they immediately rectified the situation. And we have gone back and checked.

Starting point is 00:58:05 Some of the searches have been demonetized. certainly not all of the searches in our study. But the fact that Facebook did move quickly to demonetize searches after this report is notable because anybody who's been watching the Facebook space for a while knows that the company is usually quite defiant and doesn't move quickly on anything unless they think there's going to be some sort of serious blowback. And that's clearly what we're seeing happen here. The bigger question is, with a system, one of the most sophisticated social media platforms in the world, why were these searches monetized in the first place? Facebook has its own list of dangerous individuals and organizations, and one of the images you're showing right here shows that their own systems recognize some of these searches as violating their

Starting point is 00:58:53 terms of service, yet they were monetizing them anyway. And the question is why? And how much money are they making off of these businesses and churches and other organizations whose ads are being pushed in searches for this extremist content? Questions from the panel. I'll first start with you, Larry. Yeah, thank you. This is a very interesting study. My question is, first of all, we know that Facebook has been wink and nod, you know, monetizing or in various ways, you know, making money off of these groups that espouse,

Starting point is 00:59:33 you know, racist, homophobic, you know, views, et cetera. But my question is, have you looked at other platforms to see is it, does the, what's Facebook doing? Does it mirror other platforms? And if it does, when you reached out to them or published your research, what was the feedback from those entities? So we ran the exact same set of searches that we ran on Facebook on Google because Google also monetizes searches.

Starting point is 01:00:03 And while some of the searches on Google were monetized, because Google also monetizes searches. And while some of the searches on Google were monetized, the searches for hate groups, the rate of monetization was more than three times higher. Really, it didn't even come close. And so Facebook was far, far worse in this space. And it's just another example of where the company has worked to move fast and break things without any consideration for the consequences or potential safety. And I think it's important to note Facebook is aware that this search monetization issue is problematic because we raised it months ago with the New York Times when Facebook had monetized searches for the full live stream of the Buffalo Shooters video. They actually ran the video in searches right alongside ads for

Starting point is 01:00:52 things like a masterclass in live streaming. So the platform is aware that it has these problematic search monetization features, but it's not moving to address them unless directly called out in public spaces. NOLA. Thank you so much for this particular project. As a social scientist, this is very exciting to me. So my question is a little broader. I tend to think about these things in misinformation and disinformation context, or even this particular issue. I have some very strong feelings about the

Starting point is 01:01:32 First Amendment. And when it comes to the lack of protections regarding hate speech, it's there, but I don't think that the exception is strong enough. So I'm curious if some of the resistance that you received from Facebook, is it couched in this language around protection of First Amendment speech? Well, that's a fantastic question. And absolutely, the First Amendment issues are something that Facebook has used to hide behind as a shield when pressed by Congress as to why they shouldn't be regulated. And, you know, we're not just talking about issues of hate speech. You know, Facebook also platforms terrorist groups that are designated. It allows the trafficking of a variety of endangered wildlife. None of these things can be protected by free speech,

Starting point is 01:02:26 but they all have the commonality that the platform makes no effort to moderate them. And as a private company, Facebook can certainly address free speech. We see that it does clamp down on certain groups. Famously, before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which was organized through a Facebook event, Facebook removed the event for a counter-protest, but not the event for the Unite the Right until

Starting point is 01:02:51 the day before. So there are plenty of times where they've made the decisions to remove content that they deemed violating. And this is just one other example of where they're really dropping the ball in the name of profit. And I think it's also important to note, you know, Facebook has its own list of organizations that are banned, whether it's terrorist groups or white supremacist groups. And that's one of the lists we drew from for this research. And Facebook actually auto-generates business pages for some of these groups. So we identified a page for the Proud Boys that had been auto-generated by Facebook two months after the insurrection, despite the fact that that group has been banned on the platform since 2018. Wow. Robert. This is absolutely great work. We've been here since, I think, 2015, both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren calling for Facebook

Starting point is 01:03:46 and other social media companies to be regulated as a public utility because of the amount of disinformation that we were seeing in the 2016 campaign cycle. Similarly, and for different reasons, we've seen many of the conservative side of the aisle claim that big tech is now censoring them and have called for additional regulations. What are the chances for there being actual legislative action taken to regulate some of these large tech companies as public utilities so they will have to answer and address the First Amendment to stop many of these deleterious actions from taking place on their platforms? Well, in terms of regulating them

Starting point is 01:04:22 specifically as a public utility, I'm not sure about the chances of that. But I will say, having watched this space and been in Washington for a long time, this is probably one of the strongest bipartisan issues we've seen in many years, particularly when we get to issues like children and the effects of social media on children. This is a group that regardless of party people are interested in. And we are starting to see a lot of bipartisan interaction to push for regulation. We see Senator Blumenthal and Senator Blackburn really coordinating and working together following the release of the Facebook files, which essentially was a whistleblower proving that all of the things researchers like those at the Tech Transparency Project have been showing from the outside for years, Facebook has been well aware of and buried the effects rather than address the problems in the name of profit. So I think that when you have the combination of outside research and the investigative research that our group and

Starting point is 01:05:21 others do, as well as these whistleblower documents, there's a very strong chance that the company is going to be further regulated. And I think it's also important to note in the recent FTC filing against Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg himself was actually named as liable in that particular case. And Facebook just several years ago paid an extra multi-billion dollar fine to the FCC to ensure that Mark Zuckerberg was not being held personally liable. So it's clear that regulators are starting to really kind of crack through the veneer and not buying the kind of PR window dressing they're getting from these tech companies anymore. I think Congress has wised up to the broader business

Starting point is 01:06:03 model and the effects on society. All right, then. Well, Katie, we appreciate you joining us right here on World of Modern Influence. Thanks a lot. Thanks so much for having me. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

Starting point is 01:06:44 From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's

Starting point is 01:06:59 bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

Starting point is 01:07:26 I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

Starting point is 01:07:41 It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

Starting point is 01:08:04 MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Starting point is 01:08:22 And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Starting point is 01:08:49 Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. All right, Dan and folks, let me remind y'all, we continue to have our own issues with Facebook. I told you a few weeks ago,

Starting point is 01:09:16 I sent an email to several folks at Facebook trying to get an understanding as to why our, our page has been prodded. What I mean by that is many of you who follow this show on Facebook, you no longer get your live notification when we go live. We used to have, literally, at the end of the show, we might have anywhere from 60 to 70 or 80 or 100,000 views on Facebook. We would have a number of folks, and I'm talking about, I'm looking right now, looking at the numbers.

Starting point is 01:09:49 I mean, I'm talking about the numbers are, you know, they rarely ever exceed 250 views. So what has happened is, so what Facebook is doing is, I mean, and again, I've had two different people on Facebook email me to say, hey, we know there's a problem, something about numbers, there's a glitch in our system, and I'm sitting there going, y'all keep telling me there's a glitch. Why in the hell the glitch ain't fixed? And so what the strategy is, so literally I got 1.3 million people who follow me on Facebook.

Starting point is 01:10:20 So really what Facebook wants me to do, they want me to pay them to post to the folk who already follow me. The people who already said, click my live notification. And that's for real. And they can't say, well, you know, well, maybe it's just, you know, sort of content. No, that's not what it is. Because when I used to even go live just to do a live stream, when we would hit 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, that was a point when we would have, I think we ran a Jane Elliott, Tom Halsh, and I did, apparently at the University of Michigan. We had 10,000 folks on Facebook

Starting point is 01:11:03 watching, I think, live at one o'clock in the morning. That doesn't happen now. So there's no doubt in my mind that Facebook's algorithm is purposely throttling us down and forced us to pay to reach the people who are already reached. And so that's why I told you all we created the Black Star Network app. That's why we're doing our own thing because we can't sit here and afford to have these tech platforms determine who gets to see our message and who doesn't. With that, I'm going to go to a break and come back. More on Roland Markham Filter. Please follow us and support us. Again, download the Black Star Network app, all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

Starting point is 01:11:47 And also, join our Brain the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to be able to cover stores all across the country. You can send a check at money order to Fieldbox 57196. Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMarket Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. I challenge myself as an artist and knowing that I'm going to challenge the audience. So oftentimes you come into this business off of one project where everybody's like, ooh, ooh, you stand out. Okay, for me it was Barbershop, Ricky, da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Starting point is 01:12:40 Ricky was nothing like me, right? Nothing like me growing up. But if that's people's first experience with you, right, as an audience member, they tend to think that's the real you, right? So, you know, for me, after that, I got a whole bunch of offers to play roles just like Ricky, right? This Tupac-esque type of thug, right? And I just said no over and over again.

Starting point is 01:13:07 And then you keep trying to do other things. Then I went through a series of romantic movies and romantic leads, and, you know, I always try to bring some sort of gravitas to those roles. And then it was like, okay, well, but before I get into all of that, let me hit y'all with, you know, for color girls and, you know, step outside of the realm of, you know, what you expect of me to do as an audience member in terms of being this romantic lead. Because I didn't get into this business to be the romantic lead, you know, that dude.

Starting point is 01:13:44 Because you can get locked in. You can totally get locked in. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. A conversation with Professor Toyin Falola, a man described by many as an African intellectual legend. He is without a doubt the most important and prolific writer, thinker, teacher, and servant of African studies in the modern world. And then today, we have George Floyd, the Blacks' Life Matters,

Starting point is 01:14:37 and the re-images of radical Black talk. We're honored to welcome him to a very special can't miss episode of The Black Table only on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us.

Starting point is 01:14:59 Growing. Creating. Making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Hey, I'm Arnaz J. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy Jacob Lattimore,

Starting point is 01:15:15 and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke. All right, folks. Welcome back to RoboMart Non-Filter. Glad to have you here on today's show. When we look at news of the day, we cover a lot of these stories, and we spend a lot of time focusing on, again, how we are impacted and dealing with police cases and how folks have loss of life. And it is always shocking to us in terms of when we see these cases. And one of the things that happens is that we often talk about the victim. We don't talk about the impact on the family. We don't talk

Starting point is 01:16:15 about what it means to them. We don't talk about how they have to go through life and are dealing with these cases. And one of them that got our attention and we want to talk about is a documentary that's being done about this particular case. And it deals with a young man who lost his life. His name is Kerry Owsley. Or Owsley, I'm sorry. He was found dead in the home he shared

Starting point is 01:16:58 with his estranged wife, Lisa, on April 7, 2013. Now, his death was ruled a homicide. The first officer on the scene was Lisa Owsley's ex-husband, Dwayne James Sr., and the father to her two adult sons, Dwayne Jr. and Joshua.

Starting point is 01:17:25 Though there are those who believe the investigation was botched and Osley was murdered. Joining us right now is his sister, Cheryl Jackson, and Andrea Moorhead Allen, Clover Lane media executive producer from Brayton, Florida. Glad to have both of you here. First question, So how long was Carrie and Lisa married? They were only married for less than three years from the moment. To be clear, Carrie Owsley is the only person of color in this story. He was married to a white woman briefly for about two and a half years. Her adult sons hated him from the jump.

Starting point is 01:18:09 They were on social media talking about how much they hated him, threatening to kill him, calling him the N-word. They, from the very beginning, started to harass him. Later, she kind of turned against him as well. And so the day Carrie dies, he's actually moving out of the house with his truck backed up to the door. He calls his own son to come and help him move. And when my nephew gets out there, my brother has been shot to death, gunshot to the heart. And the cop dad is the first guy on the scene. He's off duty. My brother dies with his personal gun.

Starting point is 01:18:48 His death is then ruled a suicide. The cop dad admits in his own police report that he watched someone burn the chair my brother died in, that he took the bloody rug from under my brother's body and put it in his own car, even though he was off duty and led an investigation that ruled his death a suicide. Wait, wait, wait.

Starting point is 01:19:10 I'm sorry. Hold on. So I'm trying to understand here. So her ex-husband is first on the scene, but he's not on duty? Not on duty. Called there by one of his sons. Okay, so one of the sons calls the ex-husband,

Starting point is 01:19:31 who's a cop. Yeah. So no one called the actual cops? No, not until, we believe, hours later. So, you know, in the end, what happens is they won't do an autopsy on his body, even though it's protocol in Indiana. But later we earned the right, because Harvard Justice gets involved, Ron Sullivan from Department

Starting point is 01:19:52 of Justice, you may know him, Trent McCain out of Gary, Indiana, they get involved. And we exhumed my brother's body a year later. And there is a forensic expert who was called as a witness on the George Floyd case who says flat out, I do not believe Kerry Owsley killed himself. Kerry Owsley would have been standing on his head to have shot himself. And again, why are there two bullet holes behind Kerry? So this has been a nine-year fight. And as Andrea and I have been on the phone discussing, your show is the first show that we've been on where we are going to be talking about what happened yesterday.

Starting point is 01:20:29 And that is the appellate court in Indiana threw this case out again. And they are not allowing my brother's only heir to continue a federal civil rights lawsuit that we have been in the process of creating for more than a decade. So, okay. So, an autopsy wasn't done on him? No, not at the time of the—both my mother and I— So, who, who ruled in the homicide? I'm sorry, who ruled in the suicide? The coroner on the scene, and then when we interviewed him later, when a news team caught up with him, he said, hey, I could tell by looking it was a suicide. So I say, you know, hey, you can't determine, we wouldn't even need autopsies, right? If you can determine by looking at someone that this is a suicide. So there was no-

Starting point is 01:21:17 Well, first, okay. Okay. So, okay. So as somebody who's covered many stories, if he killed himself, that means there'll be gunpowder on his hands. That's why you do an autopsy. You check the trajectory of the bullet. That's why you do an autopsy. You check blood splatter to determine all of that. So this corner on the scene

Starting point is 01:21:45 looks at it and goes, oh, suicide. We're done. That's it? That's it. That's it. Now, being a journalist... The ex-husband shows up.

Starting point is 01:21:58 Okay, I'm trying to... The ex-husband shows up. Are there any records as to it was a 911 call ever placed and how much later was it placed? And like, what's the timeline of when the police showed up? Not the ex-husband cop who's off duty. Yeah, that's what we don't know for sure.

Starting point is 01:22:18 But we do know that when she calls 911, his wife, she's not concerned at all with saving him. To be clear, my brother is gasping for air. She calls. She thinks he's dead. And then you can hear him gasping for air for almost five minutes. Neither she or the 911 operator ever say how they might help him. She says every now and then, hey, he's gasping again.

Starting point is 01:22:43 The 911 operator says nothing, to which I believe that tape has been altered. So she talks about getting the dogs out of the blood. She talks about a window screen out, some windows down. She talks about everything except saving him. And so she finally calls 911. She thinks he's dead. She tells the 911 operator he's dead. And then he gasps so audibly that the 911 operator can hear him. And so she begins to talk about him gasping. And then because I'm a journalist, I know that she can't, the cops will not go inside because she says she can't find the gun for almost five minutes until he dies. So until that gun is secured, police won't go in.

Starting point is 01:23:24 But I say, how far can a gun go when you supposedly shot yourself with it? It has to be right. If you shot yourself, the gun likely falls right next to wherever you are. This is so, Andrea, y'all have been working on this, and so you've been following this, and literally, there's no one is curious, and no court system is saying, hey, this don't sound right. You know what, Roland, your first reaction was my reaction. And you're right. It don't sound right. It ain't right. The facts and the evidence and what we've been told, they don't match. And, you know, as journalists, you know, we're in this business to hold people accountable.

Starting point is 01:24:16 We're in the business to speak truth to power. We're in the business to make sure that we're fair and accurate in our reporting. And when this case first came to me via Cheryl and another journalist, I sat there going, how could this happen in America? But yet we do know that justice sometimes is denied for people who look like us. And I told Cheryl that I would join her in this fight. You know, I have a heart for cases like this, being a 30-year seasoned, you know, veteran journalist back in Indianapolis for over 21 years. You know, these kinds of cases that typically come into our newsrooms, they are, especially if the victim is white, those cases are adjudicated pretty quickly. They have the victim,

Starting point is 01:25:06 they've got the suspect, and they're arrested, and then they're on the news announcing, hey, we found the suspect, and this person's going to be held accountable. This case here is about as simple as it comes when we look at the evidence and we look at the truth. And for no one to hear Cheryl, she has been asking, begging, pleading, protesting for the last almost 10 years. For no one to look at the information, to look at the evidence and say, something's not right here. And to do something about it, it's just unconscionable. And here we are with a CNN reporter, Cheryl, former CNN reporter, veteran journalist and educator teaching journalism to students across the nation for the last 15 years.

Starting point is 01:25:53 If this can happen to her, it can happen to any of us. And so we have been pleading to somehow get this case in front of Attorney General Merrick Garland. And I can tell you last week, a couple of weeks ago, when we found out that they decided to go ahead and file charges against those officers in the Breonna Taylor case, Cheryl and I said, yes, maybe now we can possibly get this case in front of them as well. And for them to look at this case and to have an independent investigation, everything that should have taken place as it relates to this investigation didn't happen.

Starting point is 01:26:29 That's a problem. And, you know, Roland, the details are egregious. They're not superficial. You know, I started collecting information like a journalist from the beginning. It's not hard to look at and say there's something wrong. To be clear, my brother, again, dies with this cop's personal gun. How is that gun on my brother's property? He admits that. He admits in his own police report. He touches the body. He touches the gun.

Starting point is 01:26:57 He takes the bloody rug home. He watches someone, he puts in quotation marks, burn the chair my brother dies in and helps lead an investigation that rules as a suicide. And then we exhumed the body after a fight. We hire a Dr. Werner Spitz, who is a world-renowned forensic expert. And when we exhumed his body, we find out he is one year later in standing water, which means the vault was not closed and his body was not preserved correctly. And so, you know, you can exhume a body 20 years later and it's preserved. And so that's what we thought we were getting.

Starting point is 01:27:36 Nobody works this hard to cover up a suicide. So when we find out that not only is his body in standing water, they have literally scraped over the wound after death. Both the court-ordered pathologist and the one we hired said they have scraped over the wound after death. So that you cannot determine how close the gun was when he killed himself. So again, I say nobody works this hard to cover up a suicide. It's a classic case of cover up. And go back to, and I know my panel has questions. So Robert, Nolan, Larry, I'm coming to y'all after this.

Starting point is 01:28:16 So he, so the ex-husband cop admits to disposing of evidence? Yes. In his own police report, he admits that he took the bloody... Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute. Why is he doing the police report? That's what we want to know. He wasn't on duty.

Starting point is 01:28:39 That's what we want to know. You're right. So what did he admit in the police report of disposing? He admits that he took the bloody rug from under my brother's body and put it in his own car. He admits, and he has in quotation marks, he watched someone burn the chair my brother died in the backyard like this is the 1960s South. He admits to touching every piece of evidence in the crime scene. And to be clear, when I find out about this, I'm on a Match.com date in Chicago. I was living in Chicago at the time.

Starting point is 01:29:09 And the guy happens to be a Chicago detective. He ends up being the key to me understanding the evidence. He and I are at a coffee shop. We're talking. He goes to the restroom. When I turn my phone over, everyone in my life has called me to tell me my brother is dead. This cop starts telling me. He said if I did what this cop did on the crime scene, I would be in the Cook County jail in my uniform. He said he touched

Starting point is 01:29:29 every piece of evidence in the crime scene. And when I asked him why he thought he did that, he said, to make sure that you understand this crime scene is contaminated and you'll never find the truth. Documents. Questions, Robert, I'll start with you. This is an absolutely harrowing tale and I hope we find justice in this case. Has there been any effort by the family to hire their own private forensic investigator to compile a report on this case? And beyond the local authorities, have you talked to the state level authorities to investigate or even to the Federal Bureau of Investigations?

Starting point is 01:30:08 Yes. So I mentioned earlier Dr. Bill Smock, who was called as an expert on the George Floyd case, is out of Louisville. He's called a police surgeon. He happens to be teaching a gunshot wound and trajectory workshop in Indiana to Indiana State Police. That's how much the system trusts him. He's also been an FBI consultant. He looks at our case. One of the police officers in the workshop says, have you heard about the Kerry Osley case? And he said, no, but if they'll send

Starting point is 01:30:36 me the autopsy video, I'll take a look at it. And he says, he goes on the news. I mean, never paid by us. He's not hired by us. And he says, this, I believe this crime scene is staged because my brother's chair was turned over. And he said, in life, no gun blows you back, like in the movies, especially not a Cal Walter PPK, which is a very small, small gun. So yeah, so then the authorities, after badgering them, they say they'll turn it over to the FBI. And the state-level FBI agent told me that the sheriff handed him a box and said, this is all that was left when I got here. The gun is lost. The bullet has been lost.

Starting point is 01:31:16 The clothes were destroyed. My brother's body was in standing water. The only thing they didn't destroy is the trajectory of the bullet. And that makes Dr. Smock believe that Kerry did not kill himself. So the FBI at the federal level rejects to move forward because they said they have no evidence. But the trick bag is, is that the Owsley family didn't destroy the evidence. The police did. So the evidence, they don't have it. So what is our remedy now? Because they destroyed the evidence. This is how a black man gets murdered in America and people get away with it. It's all this. And Andrea and I, as journalists, are breaking down the evidence. We're not, you know, the average person is not equipped to do this. And we're breaking down this evidence. And Roland, I know

Starting point is 01:32:03 you know my former student, Jasmine Minor, who works in news. She heard about this case when I was teaching her. And she also has been looking through the evidence. And so we've been trying to figure out how to get someone on board. Even though we have a team of attorneys, Lobey and Lobey, I don't know if you've heard of them out of Chicago, they are the ones who have gotten awards for people who have been the John Burge police officer who forced, tortured people into, black men specifically, into confessions in the 80s. They have been our attorneys working on contingency without pay for five or six years. And so attorneys don't do that if they

Starting point is 01:32:47 don't believe there's something there. And Andrea and I got connected by Jasmine and Andrea just said, I want to tell this story. And that's how we end up here. And let me tell you a big part of the story, not to bury the lead here, is that, you know, Cheryl went through all of the procedures to try to have this case independently investigated. And in the state of Indiana at the time, the governor was our former vice president, Mike Pence. And just keeping it real here, Cheryl, he could have called for an independent investigation, and he did not. So we have a lot of questions we want to know why not. If it is as clean as they say it is then let us have an independent investigation. If these people are as innocent as we keep

Starting point is 01:33:36 being as we've been told they are then let us open an independent investigation because we don't trust what they have done during this process. It's all been the worst of the worst in terms of procedure. Everything that should have been done was not done and it was not done properly. The behavior from all of the participants in this case, unethical, unconscionable, against humanity. And that's what we're fighting for. This case must be held. These people must be held accountable for this heinous crime. And we believe that they are all sitting there in Columbus, Indiana, because they are aware that we are now moving forward with trying to get more people to hear about this case so that we can hopefully get an independent investigation by the Attorney

Starting point is 01:34:25 General's office. And so we believe that they're scared. We believe that there are one or two of these people who are, you know, some of the characters, if you will, in this brazen crime, that they want to tell the truth but have been afraid to tell the truth. They know what happened. And we're going to work as diligently as we can, as long as we have to, to find justice for Carrie. And to be clear, the Mike-Kent's connection is not a superficial one. Mike is from my hometown.

Starting point is 01:34:57 Mike and I are about the same age. I wrote a diversity column in the only newspaper in that town for 10 years. Mike knows exactly who I am. I was the diversity trainer for the police department, the mayor's office, the first diversity trainer ever in the school system in Columbus, Indiana. I'm not unknown to him. I went to see him five times. Mike Pence would not see me. Mike knows exactly who I am. And so he would not see me. He would not help me. In fact,

Starting point is 01:35:21 former Representative Lee Hamilton, who works at Indiana University now, I went to see him. He called the Attorney General's office directly when Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana. They called me back directly and said they were going to look into it. Within a week, they called me back and said they were not. The only person that can call down the Attorney General's office is Mike Pence. Now, Mike Pence is connected to the people that we have involved in this federal civil rights lawsuit. They are people that he is at the county fair with. One of them says that when he gets chosen by Trump, they call him on his personal cell phone. They quote that in the newspaper. So Mike Pence did not miss the story about his hometown when the Indianapolis

Starting point is 01:36:03 star broke a series of stories called with my mother's picture holding my brother, my brother's senior picture saying tainted evidence, the headline on a Saturday and Sunday series. And they threw that on the governor's mansion front porch. Mike did not miss that. And we and Andrea has always already reached out to Mike for an independent interview. She's interviewed him throughout her career there. Mike knows who I am. He knows who I am. And so far, Larry. Larry? Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Roland. First of all, thank you for bringing this important story on the show and talking about it in detail. I want to go back to the Suns. You know,

Starting point is 01:36:44 you talked about they were posting a lot of hate speech. I'm assuming, you know, Facebook or some other social media platform. And obviously you highlighted how they felt about them and they made it clear. And I wonder what they said in their statements, you know, in terms of what happened, were they present first? And also they were what statements they gave to authorities? So both of them have superficial and multiple alibis. The one that I believe is likely to kill my brother, I've spoken public about it. I believe the younger son who's in his late 20s at the time, I believe Josh James likely killed my brother. My brother was moving out. Josh was moving in again and again.

Starting point is 01:37:26 He had a drug problem. There are numerous calls to police where my brother is fighting with them, physically fighting with them. My brother had enough of it. After a couple of years, he was moving out. The younger son says he was not on the premises, And yet his alibi witnesses, there are two different alibis. The other son says that he's going to go for a ride on his motorcycle with another person. That person says, he shows up and says, oh, he gets a call from his mom within five minutes saying, my stepdad killed himself. When I post that, someone else calls me and says, he was out to our house smoking weed and gets the same call and says my stepdad killed himself.

Starting point is 01:38:08 So this is all creating alibis on this day, so we don't actually know the timeline. What I can tell you is they have multiple alibis, and I have those. I've collected every single thing that has happened. And I'll tell you this, not one person or official in that town has said Cheryl Jackson is a liar about anything I've said, because all I say is truth and I can prove everything I say.

Starting point is 01:38:31 So nobody ever just posts a story that says Cheryl Jackson tells lies because I'm telling the truth. So both of them, yes. One of them says he wasn't there. I believe that's the one that killed him. There's a, there's a fury of phone calls back and them says he wasn't there. I believe that's the one that killed him. There's a fury of phone calls back and forth between he and his mother, and then suddenly no calls, and then 911 is called. So I do believe he killed my brother, and he says he wasn't on the scene. The cop dad stays on the scene through the night, witnesses will say. Helps clean the scene, sends the wife for bleach. The drywall truck stays out there for a week and repairs the drywall. And Dr. Bill Smock, the forensic guy from the George Floyd case,

Starting point is 01:39:12 calls our sheriff and says, hey, I believe this crime scene is staged. Let's go in there, take another look where the bullet holes are, whatever. And the sheriff says, I'm not going to invade the privacy of this family. Absolutely not. No, are you there? I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Starting point is 01:39:47 Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Starting point is 01:40:16 It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott.

Starting point is 01:40:43 And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Starting point is 01:41:02 Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

Starting point is 01:41:21 What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to

Starting point is 01:41:43 Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We gotta set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We gotta make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them.

Starting point is 01:42:08 Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I don't think you can hear me. Oh, hi. What's your question? Oh, you're on mute. I think you can hear me. Oh, hi. What's your question?

Starting point is 01:42:26 You're on mute. I think you're on mute. Yeah, you're on mute. Control room, let me know what's going on. I can't hear her. Did we ever meet her or is she on mute? Control room, let me know what's going on. I can't hear her. Do we have her muted or is she unmuted? I want to get her question, but we'll be done.

Starting point is 01:42:55 All right, for some reason, we're not getting Nola's audio. So let's get that fixed. Y'all are working on a doc. What's the status of that? And is it near completion? Have you pitched it? We're on the air. Any details?

Starting point is 01:43:12 Andrew, you want to take that one? Yeah. Well, you know, we've been working on, the three of us, Jasmine, myself, and Cheryl, you know, we've been in a conference room for the last, oh, gosh, five or six months and just kind of poring over all the information, the evidence. And, you know, our idea is to really speak about, not just about this case, but really race relations and how the justice system sometimes, for the most part, fails African-Americans, especially when it comes to crimes like this. And so we have a comprehensive nine-part documentary that is slated. We have been in touch with some

Starting point is 01:43:45 of the biggest powerhouse production companies across this nation. We have been in touch with other networks who know about this case. But yet, no one so far has said definitively, yes, we want to cover this case. We want to be part of this documentary. We want to find justice for Carrie and justice for Carrie Osley's family. And so this is where we are. We want to be part of this documentary. We want to find justice for Carrie and justice for Carrie Osley's family. And so this is where we are. We're trying to appeal to the masses. We're trying to appeal to the nation for them to hear the facts of this case and to help us push it forward. So we are still in the infancy stages, but we are prayerful that with, thankfully, with your help, Roland, and everyone who is watching

Starting point is 01:44:26 that they will look at this and say, you know what, we as a people need to do something about this. This has to stop because if we don't hold people accountable, it will happen again. And I'm sure that we are not the only story where there are people out there who are looking for justice, people who look like us, who have not been able to have their stories be told, whose voices haven't mattered. And we want to be the conduit to let them know that, hey, if we can do it, you can do it. We have to press people to do the right thing and to not back down. So as it relates to the documentary, we are just waiting for that phone call to come through. But in the meantime, we are still going to talk about this case. We are going to be on social media. We are bringing people to join us and to be in protest with us back in Columbus, Indiana. And we're also going to hopefully have people begin to sign a

Starting point is 01:45:15 sheet to say, you know what, Merrick Garland, please open this case back up and have an independent investigation. So the ball is rolling, and we want everybody to join us and to help push us forward so that we can find justice for this family. And I want to thank you. And I want to thank you. And I want to thank you. Can I just say one other thing?

Starting point is 01:45:34 Ron Sullivan from the Harvard Justice Institute, he's formerly of the Justice Institute, said to me, this may not be the most egregious civil rights case in America, but it may be the one where we have the most egregious civil rights case in America, but it may be the one where we have the most evidence. We have investigative files that prove what we're saying. And in America, if you can have a hundred pages of evidence, and Andrea and I, I've been on TV all over this nation and we still do not have justice nine years later. Today, I want to say that today, the appellate court in Illinois threw this case out without even hearing my attorneys who've been preparing for it for years.

Starting point is 01:46:11 I heard nothing, no evidence, and just made a blanket decision to say no. Got it. Cheryl and Andrea, we appreciate you coming on the show. Certainly let us know what happens and what is moving forward. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for your time. Thank us know what happens and what is moving forward. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Starting point is 01:46:29 All right, folks. Going to a break. When we come back, more of Roland Martin on the field. We'll talk with the fire and police chief of Charlottesville, Virginia. Why do cops in the department not want to work for her? And why does the city council fire her? She'll tell her story. We also have, of course, Tech Talk.

Starting point is 01:46:47 And we hear from NFL players who are competing on America's Got Talent. All of it right here on RollerModels.com. Download the app, Blackstripe Network. They're all platforms. Apple Phone, Apple TV, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Prime TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

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Starting point is 01:47:37 our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. On a next to balanced life with me, Dr. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, summer is flying by and back to school is just around the corner, and fall is here. That's right, a new season is upon us.

Starting point is 01:48:00 On our next show, we talk about jumping into action and putting procrastination in the rearview mirror. That's on the next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Next, on The Black Table with me, Greg Koch, a conversation with Professor Toyin Falola,

Starting point is 01:48:48 a man described by many as an African intellectual legend. He is without a doubt the most important and prolific writer, thinker, teacher, and servant of African studies in the modern world. And then today, we have George Floyd, the Black Lives Matters, and the re-images of radical Black talk. We're honored to welcome him to a very special, can't miss episode of The Black Table, only on the Black Star Network.

Starting point is 01:49:30 Hey, I'm Deion Cole from Blackest. Hey, everybody, this your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, y'all, the first Black woman to lead the Charlottesville, Virginia Police Department has been fired. Rochelle Brackney, she joined the Demolitionist Department after the Unite the Rally, of course, was left one person dead, other injured in 2017. She was trying to reform the police department, regain the public's trust, but before she could, she said she was wrongfully terminated. She's a journalist right now. She's a distinguished visiting professor of practice at George Mason University,

Starting point is 01:50:16 Missoula, Virginia. Glad to have you here, Dr. Brackney. So I was reading several stories, and you were dealing with cops who, frankly, did not want to listen to you, did not want to follow your directives. They fought you at every turn. Explain your tenure as police chief. So I wish it was as simple as that they fought me and didn't want to listen to me at every turn. It was actually much more vile. I started there in 2018 after the Unite the Right rally. The purpose that I was brought in for was my area of expertise in restorative justice, procedural justice, and my understanding that I

Starting point is 01:51:00 was attempting to fuse justice into the criminal legal system when typically that does not happen in minority community. So that would have been fine. But what happened is, is I literally started investigating white male officers for racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, homophobic behaviors. And that led to the city deciding that I was no longer fit to be the leader of that department. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait. You are literally investigating these things and the city goes, uh-uh, no, no, we're good. Even though you would want that stuff not in your police department? You would actually think that is the case, but you're exactly right. I had been there for about three and a half years, and in June of 2021,

Starting point is 01:51:57 I received a video about one of our officers in uniform on city cell phones, basically saying that they wanted to get back to the hood so they could do hood gangster shit. And I started an investigation. All the things they were doing were doing them on city phones. And not only were they on the city phones, they were sharing these recordings. They were recording nude women passing those around, using racial slurs that officers' skins, Black officers who were recruits, their skin was getting whiter and whiter the more they worked with the field training officers. They had text messages that they wanted to take out officers who they believed were snitching.

Starting point is 01:52:43 They had text messages that they wanted to take out the command staff, myself, the top four, and let God sort it out. They were making comments about Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd marches, that they were interested in letting off some steam through violence. They were recording their body-worn cameras and blocking views when they were committing violent acts. And they used each other's bodies to block the views so that you couldn't see the type of violence they were committing. And these were all supervisors and field training officers and all part of the SWAT team. I started investigating them. And the minute I terminated the officers, their police union got involved and said that I was incompetent and the city manager went along with it. Although I've never had a single evaluation that said I was not.

Starting point is 01:53:39 You know, I hold a PhD. I have been in policing for 38 years. Have a stellar career and nationally recognized in the work that I do. But I was a black female who had the audacity to fire white males. Wow. That is crazy. Let me bring in my pal, Larry. Uh, you get a question for Dr. Bratton. Go ahead. Yeah. So, uh, thanks for coming on. I've had a chance to, you know, read a few different articles about some of the challenges you, you encountered. And I wonder what

Starting point is 01:54:21 the challenges you had to deal with. So, you know, you talked about your role in your work in law enforcement, but you're also an academic. So you're not only in terms of, you know, what you bring to the table in terms of, like I said, your role in law enforcement, but understanding statistics and various other methods in terms of addressing some of these issues. What does this say that we've seen this racial upheaval over the last couple of years. And there are a lot of individuals like yourself who've been brought into law enforcement and various other institutions to solve longstanding problems. But overall, what do you think it says about what happened to you and then the true commitment to address systemic issues, particularly in law enforcement? So what I think it says about it is, one, policing is not an institution that can be reformed. It must be, it is operating solely as it was designed to operate.

Starting point is 01:55:14 And we are foolish to believe that we might be able to reform this system. This is a system that must be deconstructed and imagined, not reimagined in its current construct. It also says that racism and white supremacy, it adapts faster than any COVID variant. It adapts, it's more deadly than any sort of virus that we face in our communities. And the interesting thing about it is we as black folks aren't eligible for any vaccination or inoculation against it. It's going to continue operating the way that it operates. I also say that if we could not get it done after the public execution of George Floyd, through any of the George Floyd policing acts or any of the reforms, that that movement that was there, if we couldn't get it done then, then all police most police are going to do is hold

Starting point is 01:56:09 their breath and wait until the next moment passes and and let them oh and let the movement pass by them both as an academic and as a practitioner I understand it in my head what's going on, but, you know, the fear of what could happen to my black male husband who stands six foot two, who's also an academic from Jackson, Mississippi. If they can make those kind of threats against me and I carry a gun every day, what does it look like with black males and minority communities who are out there? When your own department threatens to kill you and you have to leave your station with your gun at your side because you don't know what's going to come out at you, what does that say for the rest of the community? Robert? This story is absolutely just mind-boggling, but it's not uncommon. What we've seen the last couple of few years, particularly since, as you said, the murder

Starting point is 01:57:13 of Judge George Floyd, is law enforcement going after Black women in Comer, be it DAs like Marilyn Mosby or mayors like Kiesland Bottoms or Lori Lightfoot. What is it about the police power structure that has something against Black women telling them what to do or questioning their judgment and questioning their actions? Well, it's because they're completely empowered. You know, policing in America is 800,000 different police personnel. I'm sorry, 18,000 different agencies with more than 800,000 individuals. And the majority of it is a white male institution. So the audacity of this Black

Starting point is 01:57:54 woman who Malcolm X says is the most disrespected person in America, the least protected person in America, they feel very comfortable coming after us. And very seldom does anyone stand up and say, this is unacceptable. I filed a lawsuit in June of this year, and it isn't until The Washington Post comes out and says what I have been screaming from the rooftops to the DOJ to come in to investigate Charlottesville Police Department. I filed it with the Civil Rights Division in Richmond. And I hear nothing back. And if I have the documents, like when I tell you I have receipts, I have the videos, I have the text messages, I have all of this evidence

Starting point is 01:58:38 and have been slowly posting it on my Twitter accounts, what it says is it's okay in America to treat us that way. And the ironic part about all of this, if you've been following Charlottesville, I exposed an insurrectionist who was at the insurrection in the Capitol, did security for Alex Jones and Rico Tarrio, works in the city of Charlottesville's IT department in public safety. And the city has said, oh, we'll keep him. We can't terminate him for his behaviors, but we can terminate the chief without cause. Now, let that sink in. I was terminated without cause. And that was in the contract,

Starting point is 01:59:19 that they terminate me without cause, but they'll keep an insurrectionist. And I'm going to let you guess what that person's gender and race is, and they don't look like me. Looks like we have the technical issues solved, but Nola, Nola, go right ahead. Can you hear me okay? Cause I think I'm frozen. Yes, you can, go ahead.

Starting point is 01:59:43 Okay, so first of all, thank you so'm frozen. Yes, you can. Go ahead. Okay. Okay. So first of all, thank you so much for being vocal, for standing up for yourself. When I first read this story, I was apoplectic. I was so annoyed. You know, as a black woman and working in spaces with a lot of white males, I find that the moment you open your mouth, the moment you have an opinion, you know, the eyes start to roll and you hear the sighs and like, here comes this hypercritical black woman and, you know, she's going to have an attitude and it's going to be all these things. And so one of the things that I feel like that I've recognized, you know, especially since George Floyd, and thank you so much for putting it in context. So you had this rush to, you had this

Starting point is 02:00:26 rush towards DEIA, right? You had this rush towards diversity. And then in a split second, everyone immediately got exhausted. And a lot of black women were put in positions of power. And so my question to you is, how did you feel when you first got hired into your role? Did you think that your identities had something to do with it? And if you did think that, how did you handle it? Like, what was that process? Because I know how I feel in some of the positions that I hold in my own life. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm okay if diversity is one of the reasons why I am

Starting point is 02:01:06 here. But then on the other hand, am I okay with that? So I'm just very curious, like, you know, what was your process and what was your thinking? And lastly, I hope that you have some level of security for yourself. And I hope that you and your family are okay going through this. Let's do the first part, security. We've had to install alarms all over our home. I have a weapon in every room of my house. We do not open our doors without checking them first. I live in the district where the

Starting point is 02:01:42 Police Benevolence Association union member who brought all the you know charges against me this is i live in that police state um but i i applied for the first time in 38 years for concealed carry so it is coming out if you won't let you know it is in the louis at all times you know i'm pulling it out the bag Don't let the lip gloss fool you. So our security is tight. But let me just say this. I understand I live in central Virginia in Charlottesville, and the likelihood that someone will do something foolish is great. And I listened to your prior story. Cops will cover up those kinds of incidents. They talk about the thin blue line and I don't see black or white. I only see blue. Boo, they see shades of blue. And I have never been the right shade of blue.

Starting point is 02:02:40 When I was first brought on to Charlottesville, I think, so the mayor was out of the activist community. You know, Mayor Nakia Walker had been part of the community that was fighting white supremacy. And then was the mayor. She hired me with Dr. West Bellamy. And, yes, I was hired for qualifications that I was a black female. I did fit those demographics. But like I said before, I hold hired for qualifications that I was a black female. I did fit those demographics. But like I said before, I hold a PhD. I have been in policing for 38 years. I've gone through the FBI National Academy, the Secret Service National Academies. I've gone through bond schools. I ran

Starting point is 02:03:17 our SWAT teams. I headed up our investigation. I did 31 years in the city of Pittsburgh, retiring as a commander there. So yes, people like to say that I was this affirmative action quota hire. If that's what a quota hire looks like, then, yeah, I'll take that. The sad part is that in 2021, 2022, the fact that we're still saying the first, the only, the one should set in every single one of us. And remember the trauma. And so I appreciate, Nola, your question. The trauma, when you are that first one who breaks through a ceiling, think about the metaphor. You're coming through glass and shards, and it's being dug into your skin, and you're being scarred. And then you're going to land on some shaky ground because that ceiling that you broke, and nobody's often there to support you.

Starting point is 02:04:10 All right, Dr. Brown, we appreciate you joining us on the show. This story is absolutely crazy. Hopefully the Department of Justice will look at the information that you've already uncovered and then we'll do a patterns and practice investigation into the Charlottesville Police Department. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot and stay safe. Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me.

Starting point is 02:04:32 All right. Folks, got to go to break. We come back. We'll talk tech talk segment. Thank you. Martin. Martin. Martin.

Starting point is 02:04:40 Martin. Martin. Martin. Martin. Martin. Martin. Martin. Martin. Martin. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Starting point is 02:05:08 Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

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Starting point is 02:06:32 Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

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Starting point is 02:07:27 to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash this is the rise of the proud boys and the boogaloo boys america there's going to be more of this there's all the proud boys this country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors

Starting point is 02:08:36 and its attitudes because of the fear of white people the fear that they're taking our jobs they're taking our resources they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, you've heard of these Black creative houses for folks who are on Instagram and TikTok. What about a hacker house? Two brothers have launched that in New York.

Starting point is 02:09:34 It is a truly interesting concept. Co-founders Rusty and Riverfields join us from Brooklyn, New York. Gentlemen, glad to have you here. So what is a hacker house? Yes. First off, thank you so much for having us. We're super excited have you here. So what is a Hacker House? Yes, first off, thank you so much for having us. We're super excited to be here. So Hacker House is, and our house, which is named Bar Project, is a community built for Black engineers, founders, creators, and they're always to come together, co-live, co-work, and launch, work on startups together. All right. So are you housing hackers or is that just simply a nice

Starting point is 02:10:09 marketing name to get attention? Yeah. So the concept, so our project is called Our House and the concept of what it is, is a hacker house. And there's different iterations of these, like in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Austin. It's just these places where software engineers, they come together. You leverage the power of collaboration community. You exchange resources, networks, and backgrounds that each help promote each other's growth and development and contribute to each other both personally and professionally. And so how does it work? How long does someone stay there? Is it, you know, just walk us through what one of 13 engineers, designers, artists, product devs to co-live, co-work in a three-story Bed-Stuy brownstone and launched an ambitious Web 3, Web 2 startup. So during the four weeks, they were spending most of the days working on their projects.

Starting point is 02:11:18 Then we had fireside chats, panel discussions, lots of networking events, and then also really awesome guest speakers. For example, Ryan Hoover from Product Hunt, founder of Product Hunt, spoke with the group. Also, Robert, what's your question for these two brothers in Tech Talk? All right. Don't have Robert there. I've got Larry. Yeah. So, first of all, congratulations. It's a great concept.

Starting point is 02:11:57 We know that there's a need for more black engineers. What I also like is this idea of collaboration with engineers coming together in one place over a period of time to work on concepts and support each other. I wonder if you talk about, I know that you've been offering some individuals rewards, right? So they have an opportunity to have startup, receive some startup money. So can you talk a little bit about who, you know, some of the other entities, organizations you've been collaborating with that kind of give you seed money so you can support some of these other engineers? Yeah, so we've been supported by Citizens Committee for New York City, which is a nonprofit organization, major nonprofit organization in New York City that supports microgrants to grassroots organizations doing impactful work. And they gave us a $5,000 check to support our work with our house. Yeah. In partnership with Wallace Fargo.

Starting point is 02:12:55 Nola, your question. This is so amazing. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. We got you. Go ahead. Okay, awesome. So this is so amazing. I'm so excited about this. I think it's a wonderful, wonderful idea. And so I think I have a little bit of a different question that's not about the actual tech. I'm very curious about the co-living situation and how that has been going. And do you think that this model will, that the result will be, you know, a greater result in terms of creativity and how people are collaborating together?

Starting point is 02:13:41 I'm just very curious about, you know, that type of model that you all have set up. And so far, what are you finding? Like, what are some of the pros? What are some of the cons? I mean, are we going to get a reality show, like, you know, going forward one time, you know, in the future? I mean, so what is that environment like? I'm very curious. Yeah, so just to your question on the co-living. So it's been, I think it's really awesome experience. And what we've heard from the court, it's been incredibly impactful, especially coming off of the back of COVID-19, you know, this period where everyone was quarantined. And so it's really leaning into this idea that there's power in collaboration, there's power in community, and that when you're building in isolation, it's much, much harder. You're navigating this process on your own. And when you come in community, you get to leverage the idea, get to leverage the experience of everyone else in the house. Yeah. All right then. Gentlemen, if people want to get more information, how do

Starting point is 02:14:39 they reach you? Yeah. So you can reach us online at our house. So our house, the letter our house dot NYC. Follow us on Twitter at our house NYC and on Instagram at our house dot NYC. And so there you can stay tuned with updated information about events we have coming up, the upcoming applications in October for the cohort in Bed-Stuy. And then we're also doing a cohort in November, a four-week residency around Afrotech in Austin, Texas. And so information on that will also be on the website, Instagram, and Twitter. All right, then. Rusty and Riverfields, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. All right, thank you so much.

Starting point is 02:15:16 Folks, quick break. We come back. NFL players in the choir performing in America's Got Talent. We'll talk to one of the next. I'm Roland Martin. I'm a coach on the Black Star Network. I challenge myself as an artist

Starting point is 02:15:36 and challenge knowing that I'm going to challenge the audience, right? So oftentimes you come into this business off of one project where everybody's like, ooh, ooh, you stand out. Okay, for me it was Barbershop, Ricky, da-da-da-da-da-da. Ricky was nothing like me, right? Nothing like me growing up. But if that's people's first experience with you, right, as an audience member, they tend to think that's the real you.

Starting point is 02:16:05 So for me, after that, I got a whole bunch of offers to play roles just like Ricky. This Tupac-esque type of thug. And I just said no over and over. And then you keep trying to do other things. And then I went through a series of romantic movies and romantic leads. And I always try to bring some sort of gravitas to those roles. And then it was like, okay, well, but before I get into all of that, let me hit y'all with, you know, for color girls. And, you know, step outside of the realm of, you know, what you expect of me to do as an audience member

Starting point is 02:16:45 in terms of being this romantic lead and everything. Because I didn't get into this business to be the romantic lead, you know, that dude. Like I didn't get into this business. Because you can get locked in. You can totally get locked in. Hi, I'm Gavin Houston. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore,

Starting point is 02:17:14 and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! All right, you know, you got professional football players who are excellent on the field, but what about in the choir? That's right. For years, the NFL players have actually had their own choir. They've been performing all across the country. Now they are also on America's Got Talent.

Starting point is 02:17:41 Joining us right now from Atlanta is Brian Scott, a former Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills player and a member of the Players Choir. Brian, glad to have you on the show. Thanks. I've been to, there's always a gospel event every year around the Super Bowl, and the Players Choir has performed there. And so how long has this choir been around? Well, you know what, first, happy Wednesday.

Starting point is 02:18:05 It's great to see you. We've been around 14, so the choir's been around 14 years. And it started with the vision of the executive producer and founder, Melanie Few, had this vision and put together this show called the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. It's always held at the site of the Super Bowl. And you know what, one year it was Miss Patti LaBelle was there, and she was looking out in the crowd, and she said, you know, I see some really handsome guys out there that play football, but I bet none of them can sing.

Starting point is 02:18:32 And when she put that challenge out there, there was a couple of guys that came up, and they took the mic, man, and they started singing. So that was the vision to say, you know what? There actually is some musical talent inside the NFL, and we formed this choir. So Patti had to play y'all, huh? That's right. So, and now, and now how often do y'all perform? So we really would only get together maybe one to two times a year because guys, we live all over the country and really hard to practice making sure we take advantage

Starting point is 02:19:07 of the virtual platforms. But this year we performed at the Pro Bowl, we sang the national anthem and it caught wind of that. And they said, you know what? It might be an interesting audition if you audition for AGT. So we decided, we first said no, then said yes, then said no, then ultimately said yes and took the shot.

Starting point is 02:19:28 So let's talk about this America's Got Talent. How has that been going? So it went really, really well. You know, we went out there for the audition, and we sang Bill Withers' Lean On Me. And, you know, honestly, a lot of us of us we can't really dance so trying to dance and sing at the same time listen if it was a reality show we would have just seasoned rated really high ratings but uh at the end of the audition simon threw us for a loop and he says you know what

Starting point is 02:19:57 i didn't really like the track let me hear y'all sing it out the pelican and we just kind of looked at each other like you know what all right here we, here we go. One, two, three, and sang it. And we got a standing ovation, man. And it was a really cool feeling. All right, so what's next? Obviously, it's a competition. So are you guys moving forward? What's next?

Starting point is 02:20:17 So we just were on the live rounds last week. And we finished in the top five, but not in the top two in order to move on and uh so because of it now hopefully we need everybody to get behind us because there's a wild card spot out there and for us to continue the journey we need america to vote for us to continue on in the wild card so please follow us man we would love the support um real quick questions from Robert had to leave so Nola I'll start with you Nola then Larry go so this is such a beautiful story and I'm just sitting here smiling so in terms of it's it's such a feel-good story like the the other stories have been pretty heavy so this is a nice you know nice timeline cleanse so to speak so what do you want to do with this?

Starting point is 02:21:07 Album in the works? Like, you know, deal? We talk about that a lot. You know, the reason we come together, it really is to just bring joy and laughter. It really, it shows a completely different side of pro athletes, especially football players, because people think that we're mean and aggressive, but ultimately we are some big kids up there and we perform at different charities. And even during the live round, we said, you know what, even if America doesn't like us, we're going to entertain ourselves. And hopefully people at home, they'll be snapping their fingers,

Starting point is 02:21:38 clapping their hands, tapping their feet, and just smiling the whole time that we're up there. Larry. Yeah, so, you know, first of all, as a big NFL sports fan, I didn't know about the choir, so, you know, thanks for coming on the show and talking about it. The second, my question really relates to current players. What are you hearing from current players that, you know, when they see you guys perform or in terms of, you know, obviously you've been on national television,

Starting point is 02:22:04 what are you hearing from current players? Yeah, you know, a lot you guys perform or in terms of you know obviously you've been on national television what are you hearing from from current players yeah you know a lot of the reaching out and saying man way to represent up there it was really entertaining uh we've actually had some guys they call us and they email and they say hey how can i get on i can sing just a little bit so it's really encouraging but the biggest takeaway is when we tell guys all the time it's not about necessarily the singing aspect of it. We have created an extension of the locker room. And for a lot of the guys, even though it's both current and former players that are in there, when you're done playing, the biggest void that we have is that camaraderie.

Starting point is 02:22:37 And we have actually just developed that. So it's our safe space. It's our place to where we can be transparent with one another. Because there's a lot of things that we deal with that, you know, the public might not know or see and man, we, we, we take it from there. So it is very, it's, it's a mentally wellbeing place for us to be. If that even makes sense. All right, Dan. Well, when is the next, next AGT appearance?

Starting point is 02:23:03 So we don't know. We won't know. We got voted off last week. And hopefully once these rounds go in about four or five weeks, we'll learn if we're in the wild card round. So please stay tuned. Follow AGT. And if we get to that level, we need the votes.

Starting point is 02:23:21 We need the support. All right, Brian Scott. I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much, man. Thanks for having me. Happy Wednesday. All right. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, that is it for us tomorrow. I will be speaking here in here in actually Clearwater, Tampa area, if you will. We'll be addressing the Tampa National Black and Latino Summit. Of course, it is there, is the National Black and Latino Organization Economic Summit. So I'll be speaking and we'll be, of course, also live streaming that speech as well. You do not want

Starting point is 02:24:00 to miss it. Erica Savage is going to be filling in for me tomorrow because when I'm done, I'm flying to the Bahamas for the Grand Roulette Conference. And so Erica will be holding this thing down. So I appreciate everyone being here. Nola, thank you so very much for being with us. I know we had some technical issues. We fought through those things. We'll blame those West Coast bugs.

Starting point is 02:24:20 Larry, thanks a lot. Robert had to leave early. We appreciate him as well. And yeah, Noah, I know you didn't get to be a little spicy today. Can I just say one quick thing? I just want to say one quick thing. Go Saints.

Starting point is 02:24:34 That's it. I said it. Go Saints. Nah, go Eagles. See, we're not about to have this conversation. Go Saints. That's all I need to say. That's it. I'm done. We ain't talking football. We just talked football. I didn't want to say it to the former-

Starting point is 02:24:57 No, we didn't. No, we talked to choir. We talked to choir. We talked singing. We ain't talking football. Go Saints. That's football. Go Saints. That's all, that's it. That's, go Saints. You done? Have fun on your trip, Roland. You done? I'm done. Lord have mercy.

Starting point is 02:25:14 All right, y'all. See, that's it. See, she trying to act. She trying to get a little extra, like she got some spicy gumbo. All right, y'all, that's it for us. I appreciate everybody for watching, for joining us. Thank you so very much.

Starting point is 02:25:26 Don't forget, folks, download the Black Star Network app. We need to hit 50,000 downloads. Let's get it going, y'all. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And, of course, we're also trying to get 2,000 of our fan base to contribute at least 50 bucks for the year in this month to raise $100,000 behind in our giving from last year. Your dollars make it possible for us to be able to launch new shows,

Starting point is 02:25:58 to cover different news. Again, you've got this show, Farage's Daily Show. You've got weekly shows from Debra and Jackie and Stephanie and Greg. They're by the way, every two weeks, rolling with rolling. Great interview with Michael Ealy. I want y'all to definitely check that out. Man, lots of stuff going on, folks. We want y'all to support us in what we do.

Starting point is 02:26:18 So check in. Money order is going to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 200, 0, 0, 3, 7, dash, 0, 1, 9, 6. Cash App is down the side of RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartin.com. Don't forget, pre-order your copy of White Beer.

Starting point is 02:26:38 It is out now. White Beer is out now. Pre-order your copy. Drop September 13th. I would love for us to debut with about 25,000 copies of that book. So, of course, I'll be traveling around the country talking about it. And you can get it from Ben Bella Books. All these websites, Ben Bella Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

Starting point is 02:26:58 Indie Bound, Bookshop, Chapters, Books a Million, Target, of course. Of course, if you're in Canada, you can get the book there as well. You can order the book online. Why fear how the Browning of America is making white folks lose their minds? It's basically to serve the Republican Party. You don't want to miss it. I'll see you guys later. Y'all take care. Halt! Thank you. I know a lot of cops.

Starting point is 02:28:04 They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated

Starting point is 02:28:25 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of

Starting point is 02:28:44 starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

Starting point is 02:28:57 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. or wherever you get your podcasts. the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart podcast.

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