#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Ga. Jailers Watch Inmate Get Choked, Jontay Porter Banned, Sudan's Civil War, AI & Music Production

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

4.17.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Ga. Jailers Watch Inmate Get Choked, Jontay Porter Banned, Sudan's Civil War, AI & Music Production Three Georgia County jailers are facing a lawsuit for standing by as a restrained inmate gets choked by a chain. Civil Rights attorney Harry Daniels will be here to discuss the case.  #BlackStarNetwork partner:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase NBA player Jontay Porter gets suspended for life after a gambling investigation found he shared information and bet on games. A black Ohio Uber driver gets sent to a home to pick up a package and ends up getting killed by an 81-year-old white man who says he was being scammed.  It's been a year since Sudan's civil war started. With no end in sight, millions need humanitarian aid, facing acute levels of hunger and on the brink of famine.    In our Tech Talk segment, Isaac Hayes III, the Founder of Fanbase, will discuss the integration of artificial intelligence in music production. https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (link) and Risks (link) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black power. Support this man, Black Media He makes sure that our stories are told Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller I love y'all

All momentum we have now We have to keep this going The video looks phenomenal See, there's a difference between Black Star Network And Black-owned media And something like CNN You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? It's Thursday, April 18, 2024, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. A Texas judge rejects Attorney General Ken Paxton's claim that a Harris County program to help low-income households violates the state constitution. The Harris County attorney will join us to talk about the Uplift Harris program. A 12-member jury has been sworn in for Donald Trump's hush money trial, but not before two jurors get excused if they voice concerns about their safety because Trump and conservatives as well as mainstream media

put out a lot of details about those jaws. Black Voters Matter is teaming up with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network for the Sick and Tired campaign, which spotlights the 10 states that have refused to expand Medicaid eligibility. We'll be joined by Black Voters Matter National Field Code Director. A Tennessee Republican compared legislators to ugly strippers. Yeah, he actually said that about Memphis legislators. Wait till we show the video. Plus, I want to tell you about the future of the Black Start Network on four of the fast channels that we are on. All that and more. And it's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Stud Network.

Let's go. 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 breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics

With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yo It's Rolling Martin Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rolling Martin A Texas District Judge denied Attorney General Ken Paxton's attempt to block Harris County's implementation of a guaranteed income program. that the Uplift Harris program, which would give monthly stipends to more than 1,900 low-income residents, violates the Texas Constitution. The $20.5 million used to fund the program is provided by the Federal American Rescue Plan Act.

The county is scheduled to begin distributing the stipends by the end of the month. Joining me now is Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee. Glad to have you here, Christian. So here's the deal here. Let's just be clear. Republicans in Austin, the state capitol, they have been targeting Harris County for the last several years. Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, they cannot stand the fact that Democrats control the county. They did not give the county significant money when it came to hurricane relief. They stopped the county when it came to unique efforts to help people be able to vote.

And so this is a continuation of the assault on the voters in Harris County because Republicans do not like the fact that it's a blue county. That's exactly right. Thank you very much for having me on here today, Roland. You know, it's not just that Harris County is a Democratic county because, believe it or not, these guaranteed basic income pilot programs have been rolled out by El Paso County, by San Antonio, by Austin, all of which are Democratic cities and counties. But what's important to Republicans is that we are the largest county in the state of Texas, and we have the ability to flip the entire state if we get more Democrats voting. So what they've done is they've targeted the black and brown leaders who lead our Harris County jurisdiction, like our county judge, Lena Hidalgogo, our County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, myself as the Harris County attorney. And they're doing everything they can to undermine these black and brown Democratic officials to try to protect the

state of Texas, because we all know if Texas flips blue, that could change the presidential race for races to come in the near, in later future. Okay. but here's what's so silly about this okay so this idea of providing this stipend this is frankly no different than the federal snap program it's no different than other programs that provide economic relief uh to uh to people this is just simply a different way of doing it and And the flip side is these are people who are trying to tap into Harris County resources. And so if you're able to give someone a stipend, which keeps them from having to utilize other services that taxpayers are paying for anyway, this is another way to do it. That's exactly right. We all know the mantra of MAGA

Republican leaders. If you are giving free handouts to corporations, it's called economic development. But if you're giving an opportunity to have a leg up to common families, then it's called socialism, right? I mean, let's be serious. There are numerous programs that are supported by folks on both sides of the aisle that provide effectively no-strings-attached money to everyday people. The best example is the stimulus checks that came out. You go on the Internet, for more than five seconds, you will hear somebody talking about the stimulus checks and trying to tie them to former President Donald Trump. This is really no different than that. And we've seen multiple presidents in the past do it.

We've also seen state and local governments doing it. The only difference in this program is who's issuing it, and those are those black and brown Democratic officials that I talked about earlier, but also who's receiving it. These checks are going to go to folks who are in some of the most impoverished communities in Harris County. They are disproportionately black and brown, and I think state leaders don't like to see those types of folks have a fair shot at the American dream. And so instead, they would rather selectively prosecute the Texas Constitution, try to come into Harris County and block us from issuing these payments. And what's important is this money is 100 percent federal dollars. There's not a single dollar of state money embedded in these funds that are going to these families. This is nothing but hatred and cruelty from the Texas Attorney General being aimed at Harris County. Anthony, go to my iPad, folks. This is the website. If you go to uplift.harriscountytx.gov, you will see this

and explains it right here. And so here's the program overview. It says the COVID-19 pandemic magnified many longstanding health and economic inequities in the community. So what they did is they took this money and they would distribute $500 per month for 18 months to eligible households. The first cohort includes residents who live in the top 10 high poverty zip codes in Harris County.

The second cohort includes priority populations under access, a coordinated and client-centered safety net service delivery model administered by the Harris County Public Health Department, randomly selected through a lottery process. And so that's exactly what this is. Now, if you click the frequently asked questions, you'll see it right here. And so it explains the whole deal, how much it will cost, how will they measure success, and things along those lines are the plans to expand the program. And it says it right here, the continuation of Uplift Harris will depend on the availability of funding. Christian, the point that you made, what we saw during COVID, there were people who

needed help paying their rent, buying food, dealing with health issues as well. And so that is what this is. We also know the significant pressures we saw not only during COVID, but before COVID on food banks, things along those lines. And so if you're providing a $500 stipend, let's be real clear. When you talk about those 10 poverty zip codes, I guarantee you, if I had asked you to send me what the crime stats are in those areas, I would not be surprised.

And the education stats and the health stats, I guarantee you, you will see a correlation there as well. And so this is about making it easier for folks not to be involved in crime, for folks not to for folks to be able to improve education efforts, to be able to eat as well, because we know there are 30,000 Americans who die every year due to poverty. And what's important here is we don't have to guess about how folks are going to spend this money because we already know. These types of guaranteed basic income pilot programs have been rolled out across the country by local governments. We're talking Cook County, St. Paul, all across the entire country. And in each of those pilot programs, they have collected the

data and analyzed what folks tend to spend the money on. And what you've seen is when you're dealing with highly impoverished areas, folks tend to spend the money on basic necessities like housing, like food, right, like utilities. So the idea that, you know, this money, one of the arguments that was made by one of the attorney general lawyers today was, oh, what if somebody goes out and buys a gun with this money or goes on a trip to Las Vegas with this money? And, you know, these folks grossly underestimate how much these people want the opportunity to participate in the American dream, how hard they're willing to fight for equality in this country and to ensure that they have economic access, the same as everybody else. Instead, they look at them with the same old stereotypes of welfare queen or whatever it may be. But again, these are folks coming out from Austin who don't live in our communities, who don't lead our communities, trying to tell the world how our communities are going to spend the money. It's

always this attack. And if they're so concerned about somebody who's poor buying a gun, aren't these the same folks who made it so much easier to buy guns in Texas? That's exactly right. That is the exact response to such a nonsensical argument. All of a sudden, you're concerned about legal gun ownership in this country, right, after you have nonsensically broadened the Second Amendment and done away with any type of gun control restrictions here in the state of Texas. But we also know that this is really about targeting impoverished communities. These same people who say that it is unfair for a pilot group to participate in this program, they're the same folks who are trying

to push school vouchers here in the state of Texas that would allow even wealthy families to use taxpayer dollars to send their kids to the private school of their choosing. This is about welfare for me, but not for thee, right? This is about folks not having equal access to our economy and doing everything they can to misuse the government in order to keep out those people who have traditionally been left out of our economic systems. It is a shameful attempt by a disgraced attorney general here in the state of Texas to play politics on the backs of real families who could really use the help. If this was fine when Donald Trump did it, if this was fine when other Republican states and local governments did it, it should be perfectly fine when Harris County does it. Christian Menefee, we certainly appreciate it. Keep up the great work and certainly let County Judge Hidalgo as well as Commissioner Rodney Ellis know. I mean, this is called helping constituents. There are people who are in need. And so this is not helping out folks get tax breaks who have yachts and private jets.

These are folks who. And as you said, when they spend the money in grocery stores, it's helping the economy. When they spend the money, when it comes to electricity or paying their rent, it's keeping them from being evicted. And also now putting even more pressure on government to take care of those folks. So it's kind of basic, and that's why it's called a basic guaranteed income. That's exactly right. We need to rethink the way that we approach social policy in this country. We've created a system that is so skewed that we're perfectly fine with a pipeline company making $1 billion in profit while Texans freeze during the most expensive winter storm in the history of the state. But we somehow have a problem if lower-income black and brown families

get $500 a month. Give me a break. I in no way believe that these are viable, reasonable arguments. And that's why I plan to vigorously do everything I can to protect the Harris County uplift Harris program and you just make that point there and I just want to be able to show people this just give me a second and look I'm born and raised there in Houston so I'm proud of Harris County's doing Houston is a petrochemical capital of the world but just in case anybody wants to understand what Kristen said, and again, this is very simple. Go to my iPad, Anthony. Fossil fuel companies, fossil fuel companies get, look at this here, fossil fuel subsidies surged to a record $7 trillion last year as governments supported consumers and businesses during

the global spike in energy prices. The federal government provides subsidies to oil companies that have made billions of dollars in profits. But I'm sorry, those are called, as you said, economic subsidies, but they call it hand out and welfare when it's poor people. And what we really got to focus on is that when those subsidies are being granted, right, when there's tax relief that's being given to these corporations, even in the state of Texas, there's no governmental agency that's really ensuring that these organizations create jobs

in the way that they promised. That's always the argument. Yes, we're giving them tax breaks, but they're going to create all these jobs that's going to help your community. But nobody's actually going in and seeing whether they're creating the jobs that they say they're going to create. Instead, they're handouts that allow folks like the governor of the state of Texas or the lieutenant governor of the state of Texas benefit their CEO buddies, get more campaign contributions, and speak up for communities like Highland Park and River Oaks. But who's speaking up for Fifth Ward? Who's speaking up for Sunnyside? Who's speaking up for Acres Home?

My view is that is why I was elected, is to protect those communities. And so, you know, if we have to fight this all the way up to the Texas Supreme Court, I don't care who's on the other side, Ken Paxton or anybody else, we're gonna fight as hard as we can because these communities deserve a voice

and they elected us to be their voice. And so, of that money right here, this is a press release from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The United States alone, the subsidies to fossil fuel companies annually, $646 billion. But Ken Paxton, of course, is tripping about $20 million to poor people.

Chris Dimenife, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, going to break. We come back. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts binge episodes one two and three on may 21st and episodes four five and six on june 4th ad free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two 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. 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. 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. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. 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 Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code.

Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. I was just in my backyard. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. in the schools, I think. Even on TV. Yeah. Because people are scared of going to the high schools. You know, the high school, you know what I mean? I would love to bring it back, and I think we could bring it back. You know, what do you think? I think we'll just ask the people.

We'll ask your people. We'll do a poll. Y'all want to hang a Mr. Cooper? Yeah, I say let's go. We all look good. You know, Holly look good. You know, Raven look the same. Marquise, Don Lewis.

It'd be funnier than half the bullshit you see out there on TV Lewis. It'd be funnier than half the bullshit you see out there on TV now. Goddamn! What the fuck? What happened to TV? Yeah, yeah. It's some...

I'm like, oh my God. Thank you. I'm going to go. This is Essence Atkins. Mr. Love, King of R&B, Raheem Duvall. Me, Sherri Sheppard, and you know what you watch. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Introducing my panel, Recy Colbert, host of the Recy Colbert Show on Sirius XM Radio out of D.C. Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, host of The Black Table on Blackstar Network. Lon Victoria Burke, writer with Black Press USA out of Alton, Virginia. Anthony, go to my iPad.

This right here, y'all, is a breakdown of the top 100 companies that gets federal subsidies. Boeing, $15.5 billion. Intel, $8.3 billion. Ford Motor Company, $7.7 billion. General Motors, $7.5 billion. Micron Technology, $6.8 billion. Amazon, $5.8 billion. Alcoa, look at this here. Foxconn, Texas Instruments, Volkswagen, Semper Energy, NRG, Venture Global, NextEra Energy. You see there's a lot of energy companies.

Tesla, Elon Musk is always running his damn mouth, $2.8 billion. Walt Disney, $2.4 billion. Hyundai, $2.3 billion. Oracle, Shell, Samsung, Toyota, Nike, Facebook, Google, Alphabet, Comcast, Paramount Global, Brookfield, ExxonMobil, Apple. Yeah, Apple, the richest company in the world, $1.9 billion. Nissan, Berkshire Hathaway. Yep, the Oracle. Warren Buffett, his companies, $1.8 billion. General Electric, JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, $1.7 billion. The Southern Company, Energy Transfer, Duke Energy, Rivian Automotive, another electric company.

General Atomics, OGE Energy, SCS Energy. Do y'all see the pattern right here over and over and over? This is the reality, Lauren. This is what happens in this country. And folk get an attitude when you talk about how do you help poor people? Yeah, surely, as the gentleman already made the point, you know, so much of this money, this is federal money, this is us paying into the system with everybody else with regard to tax money. And when someone comes up with a program to help people, the average American, we have this issue where for some mysterious reason it can't happen. And by the way,

in the background, probably over this weekend, your Congress will be voting for billions and billions of dollars of your tax money to go into the war in the Middle East and in Ukraine and probably banning TikTok. So I'm not sure why it is. You know, I just don't know what Republican policy is, other than to shift money to their friends and to corporate actors. I mean, I guess that's what Republican policy is. The policy always seems to go to people who already have made it and really shouldn't be getting that type of welfare. I'd be remiss in not mentioning, too, that, what was it, two weeks ago that we found out that the mayor of D.C.

decided to give a billionaire quite a subsidy for a stadium. Five hundred and five million dollars after he got rejected, thank goodness, by Senator Louise Lucas in Virginia, where he wanted a two point billion, a two point one billion dollar complex that the taxpayers of Virginia would have been on the hook for those bonds. And so, yeah, we got no problem giving building palaces for billionaire sports owners. But oh, my God, how dare you use 20 million dollars for for nineteen hundred poor households? Right. At least with the Leontes thing, that's in the United States. I have a particular problem when I see billions of dollars of our tax money going outside of

the United States. Of course, I don't think the Leontes $500 million giveaway is a good idea. Certainly, particularly in the city of D.C., where you do have a quadrant of D.C. that everybody ignores, which is the black folks in Southie. Everybody wants to pay attention to Northwest all the time and DuPont Circle, as if that's the only part of D.C. But that investment that goes into that stadium could go into building state-of-the-art high schools, state-of-the-art learning institutions, and it does not. We see that all the time, and it is amazing to me. Recy, this is from the Cato Institute, a libertarian slash conservative, whatever the hell they are. They say there are eight types of corporate welfare. You see right here, quote, the federal government spends more than $100 billion a year on business subsidies,

including farm subsidies, energy subsidies, broadband subsidies, aviation subsidies, and small business subsidies. And so they go right, so they list them. They say corporate welfare is a complex phenomenon, especially today because government has become so large. So they say corporate welfare is expand sales, expand profits, receive bailouts, reduce competition, tilt the playing field, hijack benefits, offload costs, abuse contracting. And so you see right here, here's a perfect example. They say one company that caught the attention of federal auditors was TransDigim, which produces military parts. Defense News reported in 2019 the Pentagon paid contractor TransDigim $1,443

for a three-inch ring called a non-vehicular clutch disc, which is used in the C-135 transport aircraft, though it cost the company just $32 to produce. Auditors found that the company earned excess profit on 112 of 113 contracts they receive. Oh, but we are bitching that broke people are going to get $500 a month. Yeah, let's just be clear.

This isn't about trade-offs, the Republican policy of obstructing cash payments to lift people out of poverty, to make people who are the working poor more comfortable in their lifestyles. It's not about tradeoffs. It's not about our capacity as a nation to do something about the state that people are in, people who are largely working one or more jobs. This is about cruelty. The cruelty of it is the point. The subjugation of a group of people who, as long as they are subjugated, as long as they are just barely keeping their head above water trying to make ends meet, they're going

to be disengaged from the political process. And we know that Republicans, with Republicans, the more people are engaged, the more that people can connect the dots between politics and their own station in life, then the worse that Republicans do, unless you're talking about the very wealthy. So, sure, they're going to continue to support billions in subsidies for corporations who have lobbyists who keep them employed. And definitely, of course, they're going to support that. Are they going to support people who are working, who are poor, who are in poverty? Of course not. We had that opportunity with the first stimulus package that the Biden-Harris administration passed, where we saw 50 percent of children lifted out of poverty for one year, and that expired

because of Republicans and people like Joe Manchin. And so as long as we're having this conversation in terms of dollars and cents, as opposed to really the moral depravity of Republicans, the notion of not just Republicans, of people around this country, that poverty and being poor is an appropriate punishment, that it is something that you deserve and that you don't deserve. For instance, the lawyers against these payments argued people shouldn't be able to go take a vacation. People should not be able to do anything that doesn't have a direct stimulating impact to the direct area that they're in. And I don't buy that. And so we have to change how we view how people in this country should be able to live and not just survive. And then we have to recognize that

Republicans are doing these kinds of things because they want to keep a large swath of the population subjugated, disengaged, and disillusioned. I love these people who say I'm always criticizing Republicans. No, when they're Republicans who make some sense, I will actually state it. And so, Representative Mike Waltz, I saw this yesterday. He was questioning the secretary of the Air Force,

Frank Kendall, in a congressional hearing. And when I saw the video, I said, he makes a hell of a lot of sense. Watch this. This, Mr. Secretary he makes a hell of a lot of sense. Watch this. This, Mr. Secretary, is a bag of bushings. This bag of bushings, stamped out by machinists, don't need a high school diploma. There's not anything high tech about this. All of this bag is compliant with the FAA specifications. How much do you think the Air Force pays for this bag of bushings?

I don't know, Congressman. $90,000. This is a $90,000 bag of bushings that you need for any jet turbine engine just to operate. So the exorbitant cost due to DOD only buying commercial parts from the OEMs, which is essentially sole source, is literally driving us out of business. I mean, the interest on our debt alone is now exceeding, for the first time in American history the entire defense budget. We can't afford it anymore.

This, Mr. Secretary. Now, the thing here, Greg, that, again, it's crazy to me, that bag, 90 grand. Now, we know that bag don't even cost $50, okay? And what happens is then they laud, look at look at these great CEOs. And so what ends up happening is they're driving profits for their companies. They're paying the CEOs crazy amounts of money. CEOs today are making far more money. The gap between what they make and the workers make is at its highest in American history. And what we have in this country, we have people in this country,

and yes, mostly Republican, who attack, who denigrate, who trash, who dog poor people. When we know during COVID, who the hell were the actual frontline workers? It was the same poor people. It was the folks at grocery stores. It was the folks who were picking up trash. It was the folks poor people. It was the folks at grocery stores. It was the folks who were picking up trash. It was the folks who were working in hospitals. And so we love to sit here and look down on these people. And if a Ken Paxton, okay, who should be sitting his ass in federal prison

because he is corrupt, who should have been impeached, the Republicans in Texas have no guts. There were a few that did, but they also got bought off by billionaires in Texas. And because he is doing their bidding, this is what you have in this country. And how shameful and despicable for these folks to complain about a guaranteed income. We are guaranteeing income to a lot of companies, energy companies and defense companies in this country. Absolutely. I mean, Roland, I mean, we're at an inflection point, another one, another in a series of endless inflection points in the United States of America and in the global economy, people are in power around the world, in the so-called advanced economies anyway, by appealing to fear.

You see Modi in India. A billion people will go to the polls in India over the next month and a half. And Modi has played to the most base instincts in the Indian population, racist nationalist instincts. The United States is no different, because the rich don't have any respect for national boundaries. By that, I mean there was a recent article on what is being called passport diversity, diversifying passport, diversifying citizenship, the rich getting more than one passport, two,

three or more passports, to be able to move physically the way they move their money across national lines. These are the people who are subsidizing the politicians who make the policy, who are trying to insulate themselves from the will of the populations that elect them. And as you say, Recy, I'm full agreement with you. You know, the idea that, you know, as Adam Serrera, who had on this network many times, wrote in his book in 2018, the cruelty is the point. You've got to keep fear and division going. Elon Musk, who has multiple passports, of course, moved from Delaware to Texas, as you know and have talked about, because the Delaware court said you can't pick up your $56 billion

bonus. So he moved to Texas, because Texas invited him there to lure him there to be able to get this money. And he wants to stiff, by the way, his lawyers at Tesla as well, who are arguing that he shouldn't get that kind of a bonus. The point is that there are no laws that politicians don't make, but that those laws must be made by politicians who are elected. So what do you do in Texas? You keep appealing to a fantasy that somehow someone with no money, because of the color of their skin, aspire to become a billionaire, and one day they'll be a billionaire, so they'll vote. You suppress the vote. And then when things

like this universal basic income experiment come along, you stress the cruelty. You're giving it to N-words. You're giving it to lazy Mexicans. You're giving it to all the stereotypical things that you put forward to try to make your point. Finally, this. Listening to Counselor Menefee, and again, to the way that you're talking now, that's how we have to talk now. We have to be more confrontational. There is no appeal to anyone's common humanity. These people are enemies of the people. They want to continue to do what they're doing at the behest of the people who pay for them. Mike Waltz may have been right about that bag in that moment,

but this is the same Congressman Waltz who said he wants to get rid of all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the United States military. He introduced last year the warrior. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future

where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a 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. 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 Lott. And this is Season 2 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. 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. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

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.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Act to push back against what he calls left-wing indoctrination. They are using racism to allow themselves to go ahead and do the bidding of their corporate masters, their billionaire masters, who have no fidelity to any flag. Their only fidelity is to greed and profit.

This is why, folks, this is why you are seeing the Poor People's Campaign. This is why you're seeing what Reverend William Barber is doing in terms of what they're doing, raising awareness all across this country. And this is also why what they want to do is they really want to get these working class poor folks

to be engaged in the political process because the numbers are there. They can actually shift the politics in this country. This here is, this is their website. If you text moral to 38542, you can actually get information about the Poor People's March

and Low Wage Workers Moral March to state house assemblies. And you see it right here. Poverty is claiming 800 lives a day in this country. 800 lives a day. And so this is what's going on. Now, they had a campaign that was in March, but they also are planning a massive campaign in June.

We're going to be there broadcasting that. We were there last year as well. But I just need folk to understand. I need people to understand what you see here are people. And we see these Republicans in Texas, in Tennessee, in Florida, in Mississippi, in Alabama, in Georgia, in Arkansas, in South Carolina, in North Carolina. They are directly attacking poor people. And this is the moment where white poor people today need to be thinking like those broke white folks did during Reconstruction and say,

we need to be aligning with these freed slaves of African descent because guess what? Our quality of life gonna get better when theirs get better because broke is broke. And I'll say this here. President Biden, it's time for you to stop running away from Reverend Barber and poor people. Since he was elected, the White House has been wanting to meet with Reverend Barber. Reverend Barber refuses to meet with the White House individually. Reverend Barber, the way they construct it, they say,

if you want to meet with me, you have to meet with poor, what they call affected workers, affected people. See, the Poor People Campaign, they don't hold rallies and let all of the big-name celebrities and the big-name civil rights folks and the big name come in and come there and give a speech. And it's all show and tell. No, what they do is they have poor and affected workers who speak. And then they might have a big name come and speak after that. But they center the people who are poor and low wage.

And so the Biden White House has been, frankly, refusing to meet with them. I've been talking to Reverend Barber about this since the inauguration in 2021. They want to meet with Barber, but not with the people. And so this is the moment. Now, Biden, when he was campaigning, and we actually live streamed it, we could pull it up. He spoke

at their event in D.C. where the affected workers were there. But it's time for this president to not be afraid to say poor and not be afraid to say low income, the working poor. Because the reality is Donald Trump is appealing to broke white folks, broke Latinos, broke black people, and he's using the language of populism, but he don't give a damn about them

because while he tells them this over here, then in the fundraiser, he says to all the rich folks, oh yeah, I made a lot of y'all richer, and I'm gonna give y'all more tax breaks. See, this is the moment where this White House and the campaign has got to stop being afraid of poor people and the working class and working poor. They've got to have some guts to actually meet with them. You can't tell me, Mr. President, that if you go to North Carolina and you sit with a black family

that got $100,000 plus in student loan debt relief and you bring food and y'all sit down and break bread, why can't you do the same thing with poor and low-income and affected workers at the White House? Put a face on what they are dealing with. In fact, invite Harris County officials and other cities that have provided a guaranteed income.

But stop just talking about the middle class. Stop just talking about them. Because the reality is this country is not a country without those low-income folks. And they want the American dream. They want better wages. They want better health care. They want better dental. They want better outcomes. But see, when you got campaign folk around you who only want to appeal to white suburban voters, who think that abortion is the dominant issue in the campaign, well, then they are wrong. And you have to look those folks in the eye and see we've done that. We've been there.

We covered the march in Texas. We were with them in Washington, D.C. This is a moment when this president, if you were going to talk about growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and what it was like in telling us all the stories about your daddy, have the guts to have Reverend Barber and the Poor People's Campaign and affected workers at

the White House, put them around the table and have the cameras there so folk can hear their stories about fighting for fair wages, fighting for healthcare expansion and all their needs. But that requires political courage and that requires advisors to stop trying to play this thing safe and begin to speak to the needs of the very people. And don't think this is the last time I'm going to say this.

The White House and Democrats in the Senate had a black media roundtable yesterday. It was on the record, audio only. We couldn't bring cameras. I said, this don't do me any damn good. Talk about all the good things they've done. Well, if you've done all the good things you've done, we'll be willing to actually sit down and talk to poor and low-income, ineffective workers. Go into a break.

We come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered with Black Star Network. Please, folks, support us in what we do. Join the Breana Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. So you the funk flank bring the funk fan club your dollars make it possible to do what we do so you're checking money order the peel box 57196 washington dc 2003 7.0196 cash app dollar sign rm unfiltered paypal r martin unfiltered demos rm unfiltered zale rolling at rolling s martin.com rolling that rolling mark on filter.com. We'll be right back. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. The enormous impact of race, education, and affirmative action in America and how, believe it or not, white America is starting to feel a little bit of the pain. Dr. Natasha Waraku joins us with a case study of one suburban community

and how it reacted when the minority students started to excel. Most people didn't say this explicitly, but was that, you know, the academics are getting, standards are getting higher in part because of the Asian kids, and that is making our kids really stressed out. So we need to reduce the amount of homework teachers are allowed to assign. She shares a perspective that you don't want to miss. That's on the next Black Table, only on the Black Star Network. Fan Base is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest,

visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits on a next a balanced life with me dr jackie how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare we'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years and they're still going strong speed bumps and all i was all one one trying to hold back but he thinks he could do anything. He's like, no, we're going to do it. You know, let's do it. Let's just jump into it. And it has worked. It's a thing of beauty, literally.

That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepard Talk Show. This is your boy, Herb Quaid. And you're tuned in to Roland, Unfiltered. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a 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. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Dr Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two 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. 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. 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 It makes it real Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2

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. Black Voters Matter is partnering with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network to relaunch its Sick and Tired campaign.

The tour will spotlight the 10 states that have refused to expand Medicaid eligibility, affecting more than 2 million Americans. Fonika Miller is the Black Voters Matter National Field Co-Director. She joins us right now. I'm glad to have you on the show, Fanika. So first off, what are the 10 states? Hey, Roland, and thank you for having us today. The 10 states that we're working in and focusing on this campaign are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. And so walk us through what's going to be happening on this tour.

Yeah, so we are hitting five states in six days and eight stops. Everybody is familiar with Sick and Tired. It is the famous quote from civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. You know, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, which is a rallying cry for movements expressing the exhaustion and, you know, the continuing fight against injustice. And this quote serves as a reminder of the enduring struggle for equality and courage. And at BVM, we have adopted that mantra for our health equity campaign, and we refuse to accept the lack of access to health care in those 10 states that we're working in. It's also an affirmation from this country's inception that black folks have been propping

up democracy on our backs to the detriment of our very health and wellness. And so this campaign will kick off tomorrow in Memphis, Tennessee. We are taking it to the streets like we do best on the blackest bus in America with our partners and grassroots folks on the ground to raise awareness about the key issues that disproportionately impact black communities and access to resources. And so, first of all, when it comes to the American Cancer Society, how did y'all partner with them and what has been their interest on this topic? We partnered, I think we began our partnership with them maybe in 2021, because, you know, Black voters matter. We have a deep reach, right? We talk to our people differently.

We partner with folks in communities and on the ground. We give legs to movements and folks who are doing social justice work. And so we got on their radar, again, because of the disparate impact of health injustices and inequities in Black communities. And we just thought it was an ideal partnership. We have folks who are laser-focused on health equity. We have us who are trying to raise awareness about the issues that impact Black voters every single day. And so this partnership has truly blossomed. They are, have been really strong supporters and allies for us in this movement and allow us to lead this work

in the way that we lead it, the way that we talk to our community members. And so we're happy to just be on this train together, moving the needle. Questions from the panel. Reesa, you first. Yeah. So thank you, first of all, for the work that you do. I covered the lack of Medicaid expansion in my midterms books in 2022. Do you think this could be a bigger issue in 2024? It didn't really seem to move the needle with a lot of the Republican governors being reelected that are obstructing Medicaid expansion.

So how do you think that this could actually play in light of the other kind of issues around healthcare, like reproductive rights for 2024? Absolutely. So we saw the greatest growth in movement and momentum, you know, with the gubernatorial race in Mississippi last year. It was one of the top-of-mind issues in that race, and we saw black people lean into that election to the tune of just a 26,000-vote difference. We saw the bills reintroduced in Georgia and killed in committee by only a handful of votes. We see movement now in Alabama again. It may not be it may not be the perfect issue, but these things are top of line as people continue to suffer those disparate impacts.

The maternal mortality, because that has been—you know, a lot of scrutiny has continued to be on the maternal health and reproductive justice and reproductive rights. We're talking about cancer. We're talking about the environmental impacts of health. And so, yes, we do believe highlight the folks who are blocking it and also pull people in for a call to action to continue to advocate and apply pressure, then we'll keep the momentum going. And that's what this tour is about. Greg? Thank you, Roland, and thank pressure, then we'll keep the momentum going. And that's what this tour is about. Greg? Thank you, Roland, and thank you, Sister Miller. I saw that last month in Kansas, Governor Kelly was able to force a bipartisan Medicaid expansion proposal, at least to a hearing in the Kansas legislature, the Democratic

course there. How important in this ongoing work that you all now have renewed in partnership, how important is it to really engender folk to get involved? I think there was over 900 witness testimonies presented, if what I read is correct, in support of what Governor Kelly was trying to do. How important is it to get people involved in doing proactive stuff, like really pushing their legislatures, pushing particularly behind the cotton curtain, these racist governors in the South, not just Black people, but also other poor people who are poor people generally who are

affected by this? Absolutely. And thank you for that question. So it's a four tiered is community impact is the political resistance, the moral imperative and the economic impact. And so really, you know, breaking it down so folks understand, you know, all the myriad ways that it's going to benefit everybody. You know, not everybody is suffering right now under economic conditions. And we're talking about folks who, you know, work at Dollar General, who may work at the local Walmart, or may be our caregiver, not being able to access the care that they need and that they so freely give. So making those issues relevant to who pulls the lever of power around these health outcomes and quality of life, and then the political resistance. And as we connect those dots for folks, how do we bring our grassroots partners and our

allies in to expand that reach? Right now, we have been organizing at the very local level to apply that pressure to county commissioners and mayors and sheriffs to pass local resolutions that tell state lawmakers to do something, in addition to the moral imperative that you talked about. And, you know, a few years ago, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conducted a study that showed that for those states that refuse to expand Medicaid, you know, they were giving up $423.6 billion in federal Medicaid funds from 2013 to 2022. That's jobs lost, that's hospitals closed, that's families that are losing their loved ones for the medical conditions that they can't access care to. And so this tour is a call to action.

It's time for these states to prioritize healthcare over their ideological objections and close the coverage gap. Lauren. How many people do you think you're going to reach in the 10 states combined? What is the target goal for that? We have worked with partners and ACS CAN to produce this film. Hold tight one second.

Hold on one second. I need you to restart that because your video broke up. Go ahead, go. Gotcha. Okay. Our goal is to reach 50 to 100 people per stop. And then we also have a call to action. So as folks come in, you know, they have this party with a purpose. They see this film. It's called In Due Season that features grassroots partners across those states, in addition to

our co-founder, Cliff Albright, who shares his own story. And we don't allow, you know, we bring folks in. And when they, before they circle the wagons and take advantage of all the other fun elements that we bring, we're asking them to send out text messages or do the letter writing campaigns. So in addition to the people who are in the room, we're also planning to reach, you know, tens of thousands of other people across these states in order to let them know to join us in this fight. All right, then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate it. It's all about bringing awareness, driving media attention as well and getting people to understand that we have to organize and mobilize.

And that's a piece there. Folks, here are the dates right here. April 19th, they'll be in Memphis. April 20th, Jackson, Mississippi. April 21st, Montgomery, Alabama. April 22nd, in Atlanta. April 23rd, Macon, Georgia. April 24th, Albany, Georgia. April 25th, Tallahassee, Florida. Those are the dates right there for the Black Voters Matter Sick and Tired Medicaid Expansion Campaign. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Have a great day. All right, then. So, folks, you heard us talk about in the previous segment about the guaranteed income in Harris County and what you're seeing. And what I need everybody watching and listening to understand

and to listen to me clearly here, when I say that there is an attack, a very clear attack on workers, on poor, low-income workers, believe it when I tell you this. Go to my iPad. In Louisiana, lawmakers voted to remove a law requiring lunch breaks for child workers.

Florida and Texas passed laws prohibiting cities from passing laws requiring water breaks for folk who work outdoors. So we talk about Medicaid expansion. We talk about, again, who are these people? These are the working class, the working poor, low-income people. These are the type of attacks that Republican legislatures are leading. See, here's the whole deal. All y'all folk who like, ah, man, you sitting here, you on the plantation.

You shilling for the Democrats. You just trying to make us vote Democrat. I'm stating fact. Literally. The headline, boom.

Since the Republicans got a super majority in Louisiana, it's right here. Louisiana lawmakers vote to remove lunch breaks for child workers cut unemployment benefits. A House committee approved the bill along with others to reduce unemployment benefits and workers' compensation wages. So see, for all y'all, you're just trying to make us vote Democrat.

You're shilling for the Democrats. These Republicans, these Republicans in Louisiana, Democrats can't stop it. They got a super majority in the House and the Senate, and they got a MAGA Republican governor. See, some of y'all think I'm just joking. No, I ain't. I'm telling y'all what the real deal is, what's going on.

And the next segment, I'm going to show you what they're doing when it comes to cops. Not Democrats. Republicans. But see some of y'all playing games with this election. And some of y'all want to flirt with Trump. Y'all they are doing this state by state by state

and want to do it on a federal level. But again, go ahead and play games if you want to and see what I'm talking about. I'm going to go to a break. I'm going to play this video here. The Poor People's Campaign had their Kill the Music. The Poor People's Campaign had their, of course, March. Kill the Music, please. The Poor People's Campaign had their March.

Well, they went to state capitals. This was on March 2nd. But they're going to be doing this in June as well. But I want y'all to listen. I want y'all to listen to the video and I want y'all to listen to the potential voting power of poor and low income and working class people. And how poor and low-income and working-class people. And how poor, low-income and working-class people, if they, one, are targeted, if they are organized and mobilized, they can determine the outcomes of elections all across the South, the Midwest, the Southwest, hell, the whole country. The voting block is real if politicians actually pay attention to them. Play it. Yeah! Thank you. I have been struggling to pay my bills since I've been working at 16 years old. I work full-time 64 hours a week, seven days a week.

I am exhausted. Our government finds it necessary to ban abortion, to say that they are saving our children. But more children die as a result of poverty in this country. We should not be cornered and forced to choose one necessity over another. This is the consequences that we face. So what our people say is that we are fighting the oldest evil. No matter how you call the holy, all of our sacred texts compel us to create a world in which there is enough for us all. In the face of a distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism,

we declare that silence is betrayal. We gather on these streets in the spirit of the prophet Amos, who declared hate evil and love good and establish justice. We heed the charge from the Holy Quran. Yeh yuhalladhina amanu kunu qawwamina bilqist. O you who have believed, be persistent, standing firm in justice, witnesses for God. Hope comes from the bottom,

from those most directly impacted by the profound evils of America. Our votes are not a show of support. They are a demand. We will raise our cry and we will call for change because nothing less would be a betrayal of our sacred commitment. We are here. We are the poor and dispossessed and we are here. Until children are protected, sick folk are healed, low wage workers are paid, immigrants are treated fairly, affordable houses are provided, until saving the world and diplomacy and living in peace is more important than blowing up the world.

We won't be silent anymore. If we've got to march, we'll march. If we've got to engage in nonviolent direct action. We'll engage if we have to ask workers to make Election Day a labor strike day. We'll do it. But until then, we won't be silent or unseen or unheard. Hear me. Oh!

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good

and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1.

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 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. 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.

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. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. We'll see you next time. 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.

Now, again, that's a 42-week campaign. and so the day of mobilization was March 2nd, but this actually continues all across the country. You can go to poorpeoplescampaign.org to get more information. Now, I told y'all what is happening around this country, and people keep playing games in this election. I see these polls, and I see all of these different stories. Oh, I'm not happy about this. I'm happy about that.

How many stories have we done on this show? About black folks being shot. And we sit in here waiting for the body camera footage. Remember, I told you Republicans are doing. Let's go to Alabama right here from al.com Alabama lawmakers vote down legislation to make police body cam footage public record See that Alabama legislation requiring the public release of police warrant body camera footage was defeated Wednesday in the Senate committee

Hmm the bill would have made body cam and dash cam video footage a matter of public record requiring release within 30 days of a request to view it. It also would have made the video accessible to families who requested to view it. It would have allowed the public to appeal to a circuit judge if law enforcement denied their request to review the footage. The judge would then have the public to appeal to a circuit judge if law enforcement denied their request to review the footage. The judge would then have the authority to decide if the footage should be released according to the bill.

And guess what? They were like, no, no. And guess what? You sit right here. The legislation was named after two black men who were killed during altercations with police last year, both of which sparked protests and demonstrations in two Alabama cities. Stephen Perkins was shot and killed by police in his front yard in the middle of the night on September 29th. He was 39 years old. Juwan Dallas was shot after an altercation that involved tasing by two Mobile police

officers on July 2nd. He was 39 years old as well. That's Alabama, okay? So you might say, okay, well, what else? Well, check this out. Right here, y'all gonna love this one here. Roll the video. You wanna wait resisting an officer.

For those people who are driving an automobile and is unable to produce identification, the officer can affect an arrest to be able to put the individual in an identification system so they can ID the driver. So again, if I do not have my identification, what will happen to me today? Under the passage of your bill. And the officer believes you're not given the correct information, you can't produce identification, and he can't verify what you're telling him, that he has the ability to affect an arrest on you so he can identify you through a computer system that we use based on fingerprints.

So you're adding the fingerprints to this situation. So if I give him my name and he does not think I'm giving the correct information, then he will arrest me? Yes, ma'am. During a stop. So what would that look like? No, this bill would allow them to take him into custody, bring them to a place where they have a system where they can use the fingerprints to identify them. It could be the jail. I think every agency is different.

It could be the police station. It could be the parish correctional facility. It could be a local police department, wherever that system is housed that for the parish. So basically, it would not necessarily be if you if the officer thinks that you're not getting the right information. It's technically for anyone who does not have an ID. Yes, ma'am. Anyone. Yes, ma'am. Members, this bill adds a section into 14-108 resisting an officer.

That's what's happening in Louisiana. How many black folks in Louisiana? How many? how many black folks in Louisiana how many some also say that they're doing this because they want to go after migrants who come into the country illegally but y'all know how this is going to actually impact us

now here's what's interesting this tweet right here says You know that's going to impact us. Now, here's what's interesting. This tweet right here says, Representative Fontenot from LaForge Parish, Louisiana, made many claims in his full statement that this was being aimed at illegal immigrants, but none of that is actually lined out in the bill. That's him right there.

A Republican from District 55. That's how you contact him. Right there. He got his phone number, his email. Phone number is 985-447-0999. Email is hse055 at legis.la.gov. Yeah, he Cajun.

He ain't Creole, so he not one of us. So here's the actual bill right here. Now, y'all tell me what you think is going to happen. If the officer, he don't believe you're giving the right name. He don't believe you're giving the right name he don't believe you're giving you don't have your ID you forgot it I've actually done that

I thought my wallet was in my backpack dang it was at home oh you get pulled over now you can get arrested take you down oh we're going to have a system we're going to have a system to figure out exactly who you are. Mind y'all, the law says not having an ID.

You can get stopped, and then you didn't commit a crime, but they're going to ask you for your ID. These are the type of things that are happening all across the country. And when we sit here, Greg, and tell folks why vote matters, it's a whole... Louisiana is passing a slew of laws. Since that MAGA Republican Jeff Landry took... They want to rewrite the whole Constitution, the state Constitution, in two weeks.

They have been passing laws left and right. And for all them black folks who sat at home, and let me be real clear, let me be real clear, the Louisiana Democratic Party was trashed. Katie Bernhardt didn't even get elected as the new chair.

It was a brother who got elected. I'm going to pull up in a second. But his, then people say, well, man, I ain't know about the election. And did nobody show up? Guess what? Louisiana, especially black folks, y'all are in for four years of hell. Because they are passing bills that are shameful and despicable and can't be stopped. That's what happens when we tell people why

voting matters. Greg, go ahead. No, you're absolutely right, Rowan. Of course, listening to you and listening to you walk through this activity of the white nationalist legislature of Louisiana, it's just a bracing reminder of why this platform matters so much. Even the conversation earlier with Finneka Miller and Black Voters Matter. It may seem like we're fighting an uphill battle, and we are, but we're not fighting a losing battle. To punch through the noise, to punch through the TikTok videos and the YouTube shorts, these are technologies that can be used, but there is no substitute for the slow work of organizing and building collective strength. These people are open enemies of our common humanity.

They have absolutely no interest in humanity. They have interest in power. They have interest in their own miserable lives and those of their masters who fund them. And they are running and they maintain their power through shrinking the electorate, for keeping people ignorant, and for appealing to the most base instincts in humanity, hatred and fear. As you talked about Fontenot there, and I won't traffic in stereotypes, but you can look at him and make some assumptions that could be rebuttable presumptions, of course. But when his behavior matches the appearance, what you're looking at is someone whose self-hatred, whose vile

self-hatred is projected outward toward people. In that same Louisiana legislature, when you talked earlier about this idea of not allowing children to have breaks, one of the key sponsors of that legislation in Louisiana is a dude named Roger Wilder. Roger Wilder owns 19 Smoothie Kings in the state of Louisiana. I hate to think that when I was down there last month with the Association of Black Social Workers in New Orleans, that I bought a smoothie in a franchise that was owned by him. I hope that wasn't his Smoothie King, but whether it is, isn't the point. He owns a number in

Mississippi as well. And in the debate over the bill, he said, I don't know why we have a rule in Louisiana that lets these children have breaks. They don't have that rule at my Smoothie Kings in Mississippi. These are the new plantation owners, friends. They don't give a damn about the poor, whatever color they are. And they are shaking in their boots terrified at the prospect of a William Barber and a poor people's campaign, because they realize, as they knew during Reconstruction, as their predecessors knew, that once poor people get beyond the politics of hatred and fear, they can overwhelm these enemies of our common humanity. And I'll end with this.

People wonder, you know, and these same people who will say, you're always chilling for the Democrats, to you or me or anybody else, to Reese or anyone else, you know, to Lauren, to any of us. These are the same people who say, you're always talking about, you know, you're begging for money and support the network. Do you know why these same corporate interests are not going to plow millions of dollars into the Black Star Network? because they understand that as the people who watch this network, the base is black, but it is hardly exclusive in terms of the viewership of this network, continue to educate themselves and educate themselves relative to the people who come on this network and share information, who understand the

relationship between politics and education and informing oneself. They understand that that is what will threaten their ability to attack our common humanity. That makes this moment more important than ever because they're on the verge of eliminating the ability to participate in the electoral process in this country. They're beyond it. And you know how you know they're on the verge? Because they are acting now with impunity. They are not even trying to pretend as if they're doing something different.

Ray, see, this is what Landers also doing. Go to my iPad, Anthony. Bill stripping public access to government records advances in the Louisiana legislature. They're trying to stop journalists from being able to put in freedom of information requests. And he's saying, oh, they're just, you know, well, we can't access the reporter's notes.

I'm sorry, y'all are public officials. The reporters are not. And so they want to hide that information. Louisiana is a major, major state when it comes to the environment. Of course, a lot of petrochemical companies. Look at this here. Top employees at Louisiana Environmental Agency resigned in clash with new leader. And sorry, this just popped up that the new leader is a black MAGA woman. And that's who that is. And so, again, what you're seeing here, what you're seeing here is the type of things that are happening because folk don't vote. In fact, I'm going to try to find it. Landry actually had posted a note about how he overwhelmingly got support from the state. He got 52 percent, but only 36 percent of people actually voted.

36 percent of people in Louisiana actually voted. That means 64% stayed at home and he's running roughshod with this MAGA agenda. But folk want to criticize us for raising the awareness of this sort of stuff. Yeah, you're shilling for the Democrats. Okay. Hey, knock yourself out for living in New Orleans. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, for living in Louisiana under this MAGA rule? Well, first,

to anybody who wants to throw out shilling for Democrats, fuck you very much. I don't give a damn if that's the way you want to put it. To be dismissive of pretty much objective facts on which political parties are doing what.

If you have a problem with that and you can't accept that information, then I think that's a personal problem. That's not a reflection of me or anybody on this panel. So let's just start there. But citizenship is always on the ballot in this day and age. It was on the ballot when 60-something percent of people in Louisiana decided to stay home. Landry was not given a mandate by any means. But unfortunately, a majority of votes, in terms of the votes cast, is all you need to become a governor. And so that's what he got. And he has the basic authority to do anything that he wants to do because of the majority having a Republican trifecta in Louisiana. And so when you see bills

like the one that you were discussing about now how, you know, basically people can stop you and arrest you if they suspect you of being an undocumented immigrant, that is the reason why it's not limited in the language to that specific demographic is because it is a free text for fucking with anybody. And who do they normally choose to mess with? Black people. So if you notice, you know, now the rhetoric

around Haiti is ratcheting up. See, now that they got enough Black people on their side with the anti Northern Triangle immigrants or anti-Northern Triangle immigrants, anti-Northern Triangle immigrants or anti-Mexican immigrants, now they're starting to pivot to talk about Haitian immigrants and ratchet up that rhetoric around them. Because as they're starting to put these laws in place that allow basically omnipotent powers for police to make you have to show your papers,

prove that you are an American citizen, prove that you are who you say you are to their satisfaction, which is subjective. Arrest first and then figure it out later. Meanwhile, y'all ass in jail and so you done lost your job. You done lost all kinds of other stuff because you missed work and whatever else is going on. Car got impounded, whatever.

That's for you to figure out all that fallout. So I want people to be very aware of the fact that the lot of these things that you might think are fixing a so-called immigration problem are really just a pretext to strip you of your citizenship. And to your point about the public records, again, citizenship, when you do not have transparency or accountability for your government officials while they're passing laws that are detrimental to your way of life, that is not citizenship. So I need people to wake up. You already lost the ballot box when Landry was elected, but that doesn't mean that you can't hold him accountable. And as these elections are coming up this year, continue to do your part and just go out and vote. If you don't vote, then you're just at the mercy of everybody else. And Lauren, here's the whole deal. You want to understand how this MAGA Republican,

what he's doing, and we're seeing this across the country, especially in the South, where a majority of Black people. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the country, especially in the South where a majority of Black people live. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer

will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a 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. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. 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. 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-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corps vet. 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Go to my iPad, Anthony. This was in November. Lantry literally threatened to withhold money

for New Orleans to fix its crumbling water infrastructure unless the DA prosecutes abortion cases. My God. So he's saying, hey, yeah, DA, you don't prosecute abortion cases. Y'all keep having that raggedy water, keep having messed up infrastructure. That's what he's threatening. That's sick. Yeah.

Wow. The name of their game, obviously, is control. The name of their game is to panic, really, over the fact that the changing demographics in the United States means that they're not going to be in control for too much longer. And they understand that. So they're setting the groundwork for trying to stay in control. And, you know, when you see things like officer discretion stop involving not having an I.D. as a pathway to an arrest. That's a pretty amazing scenario that you could actually be arrested for not having an ID or proof of who you were,

because it happens all the time that people don't have their IDs. So that's an officer discretion thing like failure to obey, which is another catch-all where effectively the officer can decide to do whatever they want. But all of these things disproportionately, of course, impact poor people. And in so many jurisdictions now, it's all but illegal to be poor, because now you—if you're sleeping out on the street, if you're in a public area and you're homeless, you know, the police have sort of a blanket right to, frankly, harass you or try to get you to move along.

I'm in one of the five boroughs of New York right now. And I was in Manhattan earlier. And it's amazing to me. So many of the interactions I see with law enforcement are typically with somebody homeless in law enforcement. It's not somebody really breaking a law, as it is law enforcement trying to move people along. I will give New York some credit. They do have folks walking around in public places that have sort of—they're probably volunteers. I don't know that there are city employees that are geared toward the homeless to speak

to the homeless. But that's not enough in a city of eight million people. But, at any rate, the Republican Party and also this idea that I really don't ever feel like I have to explain anything when we talk about the politics of the details of what the Democratic Party does versus the Republican Party. To me, if you're not smart enough to figure that out by now after the Capitol gets attacked and all this other mayhem when Donald Trump showed up, then you're not very smart. But there's an industry, particularly online, in being contrary. And there's an industry in just saying the opposite of what everybody else is saying, because it's an attention-getter.

So you have that. But, you know, really seriously, anytime I have any sort of discussion with anybody who wants to question me about the Democratic Party, I just basically say, what is the Republican Party doing? What exactly is the Republican Party doing for you that benefits your life? Tell me what that is. And typically I get no answer. So that's how I would deal with that. Absolutely. All right, folks, I've got to go to a break. We come back. Lots more to talk about, including what the hell is this dude in Tennessee talking about comparing the work on a bill to ugly

strippers? Gonna play that video for you. Got some other stuff we're gonna talk about as well. You're watching Roller Martin on the filter on the Blackstar Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million, and now is your chance to invest.

For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, financial literacy. Without it, wealth is just a pipe dream. And yet, half of our schools in this country don't even teach it to our kids. You're going to hear from a woman who's determined to change all that, not only here, but around the world. World of Money is the leading provider of immersive financial education for children ages 7 to 18. We provide 120 online and classroom hours of financial education.

That's right here on Get Wealthy on Blackstar Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Cawley. Dr. Kwasi Kanadu, author, scholar, and healer. He is one of the truly representative thinkers and activists of our generation. I had a dream, you know, a particular night. And when I woke up, several ancestors came to me. And they came to me and said, we really like what you're doing, but you have to do more. His writing provides a deep and unique dive

into African history through the eyes of some of the interesting characters who have lived in it, including some in his own family. The multi-talented, always fastening Dr. Kwesi Kanadu on the next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. What's up everybody? It's your girl Latasha from the A. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. You know, we talked about how Republicans

are absolutely failing this country. You don't have to take my word. They said it themselves. Another member of Congress resigned today. So now I'll be told, Chip, we only have a one-seat majority or two-seat majority. I don't even know what it is anymore. Let me ask you a question. Does it matter? In 2018, we had the House, we had the Senate, we had the White House, and we had a bigger majority than we have today. And we utterly failed to secure the border. Totally dropped the ball. Didn't do it. We have nothing, in my opinion, we have nothing to go out there and campaign on, Chris. It's embarrassing. Right? Well, I know the Republican Party,

the Republican Party in the Congress of the Majority has zero accomplishments. Now, of course... This place just keeps going downhill, and I don't need to spend my time here. We've taken impeachment and we've made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept. Mike Johnson's ability to talk me into staying here

is going to be about as successful as his ability to talk me into unconstitutional impeachments. Republican voters across the country are sick and tired of Republicans because they never do anything. I can't blame Joe Biden or the Democrats for why the Republican-controlled House of Representatives hasn't passed single subject spending bills. One thing I want my Republican colleagues to give me, one thing, one, that I can go campaign on and say we did.

One. 2024 is Donald Trump. If he's the candidate, it's very scary. A few moments later. Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs that is actually finishing what FDR started that LBJ expanded on. And Joe Biden is attempting to complete programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, labor unions, and he still is working on it. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message.

So the folks, they put that video together. But check this out. You know all these Republicans running around talking about Joe Biden's policy. They're hurting the working people. And when you hear Tim Scott running his mouth, did y'all see this story? Remember when Biden's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced they

were lowering credit card junk fees, which ranged from $30 to $41 a month down to $8? Go to my iPad, Anthony. Republicans want to repeal that. In fact, I'm going to find the video.

One of the Republicans actually said, Americans have no problem with credit card junk fees. Right here in the House, they have put the House Financial Services Committee voting to advance a bill that would repeal those rules capping the fees. Ah, guess who proposed a similar bill, a similar bill, a similar bill. Now go back. Guess who proposed a similar bill in the United States Senate. Timmy Scott.

All of these folk love talking about how they fighting for the working people. They're fighting for the working people they're fighting for the working people Lauren we're sitting here want to put more money in their pockets but Timmy Scott I love you Donald they're sitting here saying no let's charge them more

we got no problem with them paying all the junk fees. This shows you how fraudulent they are about folk in America. Lauren. Greg said it earlier with regard to the fact, there's this circular thing happening. Basically, the donors of the Republican Party are getting served by these policies. There was a very similar bill to this in Virginia that the Virginia legislature was supposed to pass that failed as well.

And of course, you ask the obvious question, which is, who benefits from these fees, which is a multimillion-dollar proposition, these fees on things, particularly for credit cards? And, of course, who benefits is corporate actors. And those corporate actors are paying off these politicians and giving them donations. And they're doing exactly what you would think when you're getting all this donor money, which is why the Republican Party is pushing so hard to flip the law, which the Supreme Court, of course, helped them with, with regard to endless donations and shadow donations and everything else. So, what you're seeing is a direct result.

I guarantee you, if we were to look at Tim Scott's donations, we are going to find financial companies that would benefit from this happening. And that's why he offered it. I mean, they're not even trying to hide it anymore. Right. It used to be that it was sort of like it was embarrassing to be caught out like this. But part of the problem here is when you have the media failing to report some of this, and you have a media that's more interested in sort of horse race nonsense or flash in the pan type news and less investigative type of pieces, you don't get, I mean, you get a

few people like Jane Mayers of the world, but you don't have the level of investigation that we used to have, certainly not when I started in journalism. And so you don't call these people out as much as they should be called out. Now nobody's embarrassed. Nobody's embarrassed that there's a direct link from the donations to your political and policy activity. That's amazing. This is actually Chairman Andy Barr. Y'all, he actually said this.

This one you got to love. And by the way, the majority, the vast majority of Americans agree that they're legitimate. They don't think they're junk. And by the way, the majority, the vast majority of Americans agree that they're legitimate? They don't? You know what? I will say this. A lot of people in the reactions that I've seen to this kind of story, for instance, when the Biden-Harris administration announced they were capping junk fees, a lot of people kind of shrugged their shoulders at this. There is a sense of, I saw a lot of reactions along the lines of, $8? I don't care about this fee. Cancel my student loans, Joe. What happened to canceling student loans? See, the difference between a lot of Democratic or would-be Democratic voters and Republicans is Republicans leave no stone unturned when it comes to fucking over the American people, okay? There is no policy too small,

no improvement too small to try to obstruct and roll back if it will do anything to offer relief to the people that don't fill their pockets, their campaign coffers, and keep them in business, because that's really what it is for a lot of these elected officials is a business. That's how they get rich when they get to Congress. They leave no stone unturned on that. And yet on our side, we have too many people who shrug their shoulders off if the top big thing that they want to see is an implement. They're not paying attention to these incremental policies.

And I'm not saying that these incremental policies alone are enough to make a transformative change, but we should have the same level of persistence and concern about anything that can be done to improve our conditions, as opposed to, well, fuck all that. That ain't my $100,000 bill. That ain't my $20,000 bill getting canceled. I don't care about little things. Those little things add up. As people are complaining about inflation, rightfully so. Prices are high. These are the kinds of things that do help provide relief.

And there are some of us that are fortunate enough to, well, okay, maybe $8 versus $12, maybe that's not going to make a difference for you. But these predatory fees are making a difference in the lives of a lot of people. And the fact that something can be done about it or has been attempted to be done, but Republicans are, to Lauren's point, gleefully and brazenly overturning it or trying to block it should be political malpractice, but it's not. They're not paying a price for it, and that's why they continue to serve their interests, which is not the interests of the American people. Uh, and for anybody who says that, man, this eight dollars, that's like no big deal. Add it up.

Robert Rice did. Watch this. If there's one thing that brings our divided nation together, it's our hatred of junk fees. Watch this. If there's one thing that brings our divided nation together, it's our hatred of junk fees. Junk fees are extra charges you don't know you're paying until you get the bill. They hide the true cost when you buy a good or service, so it's impossible to comparison shop. For example, say I want to travel

to go see my favorite musician, Dolly Parton, play at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. When I book my plane ticket, I have to fork up extra cash to bring luggage or change my flight. My grandkids are more into Blippi than Dolly. Blippi, Blippi. So they won't be traveling with me. Otherwise, I might have to pay a fee just to sit with them.

I need a rental car once I land, so I'll be stuck paying an extra fee to pick up the car at the airport. And another fee they never told me about to cover the rental company's costs for disposing old tires. Seriously? When I pay my hotel bill, the price is way higher than I thought I'd pay

when I booked the room to cover Wi-Fi, pool access, a gym, state and local taxes, and other special fees. Before I get to the show, I better look at my checking account balance if I want to buy a record, even if I see that I have enough money to make a purchase, the timing of other charges hitting my account could result in me getting slapped with a surprise overdraft fee. It's a simple mistake, but could make a $20 record end up costing $50. Oh, and don't forget the concert tickets themselves. Major ticket sellers like Ticketmaster tack on fees to attend shows,

which can drive up the final ticket price as much as 78% higher than what I was told the initial price was. It's all bait and switch. You thought you could afford to see Dolly Parton, but it turns out it's going to take a lot more than working nine to five. Corporations often label these types of charges convenience fees or service fees, probably because they conveniently serve to pad their bottom lines, costing Americans at least $29 billion a year we didn't expect to pay. This is a huge problem spanning many different industries,

not just the ones I'd encounter on my trip. But there is good news. President Biden has urged Congress to draw up legislation to prevent these outrageous fees. We're tired of being played for suckers. Pass the Junk Free Prevention Act, so companies stopped ripping us off. Turns out one of the few things as popular as Dolly Parton is tackling junk fees. It's time for Congress to act. What are some of the worst junk fees you have ever paid? So clearly there Andy Barr was lying, Greg,

when he said the majority of Americans overwhelmingly say no problem with these fees. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. They're absolutely lying. They're lying. And for people who say this is no big deal, $29 billion? Sound pretty big to me. Huge.

I mean, all of us, this week, if you're in the United States of America, had to file either an extension or filed our income taxes this week or before this week. Those dollars going into public coffers, and if you got a

refund, it's because you paid earlier through withholding. Those trillions of dollars will go into the hands of policymakers who do not have our interests at heart, many of them. This is why, as you said, Lauren, these billions will be going into the hands of their contributors, not overseas to the 51st state, Israel, not overseas to the Ukraine, but to corporations with contracts to manufacture weapons, to provide meals, to provide fuel for transportation, and in fact, the vehicles that the transportation things will be used to transport in the theater of war, to enrich the people who have bought

these politicians. Now, in the case of Garland Hale Barr IV, conveniently known to the hillbilly voters of Kentucky as Andy Barr, fourth generation, three generations military, including his grandfather, who was, I think, some kind of major or something in the Army Reserve, and his father was a military man. The cosplay that he's engaged in is the typical cynical cosplay of saying he's for the people. I don't know about a name, Garland Hale, anything but fourth, who would be for the people. You're part of the oligarchy, and you're a wholly owned prostitute for your owners,

which are the corporate folks, the folks who are right here across the river at Carlisle Group and everywhere else, Blackwater, you name it, the investment funds, even as the front page of the Financial Times yesterday said that the United States is to grow at double the rate of its G7 peers this year, says the International Money Fund, the rich are not only getting richer, they're getting richer than at any time in the history of humanity, while the people who make up most of the people in the world and in the United States specifically in this context suffer more and more. Where am I going with this? Then you have a blackface minstrel like Tim Scott, an exquisite minstrel. I don't mean exquisite in terms of

finely crafted. I mean exquisite in terms of the level of force, the level of strong minstrelsy, which we find offensive, but we should probably pause and think about why we find his minstrelsy so offensive. It isn't because we don't understand the politics of cynical politicians. We expect more if your skin is black, and we should not. The time for thinking about racial solidarity simply because you look a certain way is long past us. Tim Scott is a blackface political minstrel. He is as much a prostitute as Garland Hale Barr IV. What we find offensive is that we're supposed to be better than that. Finally, what you just showed with former Secretary Rice there, it's very important

for this reason. What was it? I think, like you always tell, it was Maya Angelou, right, that said that you missed your column. You should have been a teacher. What this network does and what this show does in particular is teach. It's not just covering the news headlines. It's helping people understand that we have to understand the world we live in, and then we must act. He can say the American people are against this because not enough people in the bluegrass state have decided to turn this prostitute out of office. But there always remains the ongoing fight to educate folk and then to have people act in their best interest. Repetition is key to that.

As a teacher, I know we're in the season of graduation and students are coming now. What was that assignment again? Some of them haven't seen since January. I know how this works. I can get mad at them. I can clown them or I can recognize that the forces that have conspired to create a higher education system that is emphasizing dumbing students down has set them up. So I pause, take a breath, smile, and repeat myself for the infinite time. You do this day after day, show after show, here in this space, because it is going to

take repetition to reach those folks who can get rid of the Andy Bars and the Tim Scotts of the world. It's going to take repetition to reach those folks who can get rid of the Andy Bars and the Tim Scotts of the world. It's going to take repetition. It's going to take repetition. It's also going to take resources to be able to actually do this work. I'm going to go to break and we come back and I'm going to talk about some changes that we're making here. But I'm also talk about what's happening in this world of if you want to say progressive or, you know, non right wing media, because what's happening is real. It's real. And you have contraction.

You have things that are just changing massive layoffs. And so we'll talk about that when we come back right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. I was just in my backyard. I just said I was manifesting about life. I said I would love to come back because it was a great time. And these kids need that right now. They need that male role model in the schools, I think. Even on TV. People are scared to go into the high schools. You know, the high school, you know what I mean?

I would love to bring it back, and I think we could bring it back. You know, what do you think? I think we'll just ask the people. We'll ask your people. We'll do a poll. Y'all want to hang a Mr. Cooper? Yeah, I say let's go.

We all look good, you know. Holly look good, you know. Raven look the same. Marquise, Don Lewis. It'd be funnier than half the bullshit you see out there on TV now. God damn. What the fuck?

What happened to TV? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's some. I'm like, oh my God. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare. We'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years and they're still going strong, speed bumps and all. I was all one trying to hold back,

but he thinks he can do anything. He's like, no, we're going to do it. You know, let's do it. Let's just jump into it. And it has worked. It's a thing of beauty, literally. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh. I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania,

just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. All right, folks, black and missing. Of course, a segment that we know is critically important because too often these stories don't get any attention from mainstream media. Lamar Wilson has been missing from Walter Burrell, South Carolina,

since February 2nd. The 17-year-old is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Lamar Wilson should call the Walter Borough South Carolina Police Department at 843-549-1811. 843-549-1811.

Alright folks, Republicans in Tennessee never cease to amaze me, so check this out. The focus of Tennessee hollow dropped this video. This is Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor, and he said this during a debate about the state's hotel motel tax bill. But when he's talking, check out the sister reaction from Senator Charlene Oliver. Watch this. A lot of people in Memphis have worked on this legislation.

I mean, they have worked harder than a bunch of ugly strippers to try to get this done. And I want to make sure that we don't drop the ball here. So I'm willing to roll this to next week to give me opportunity to get with the chairman of the finance committee. Without objection. Some of y'all might have missed that. Right about it. A lot of people in Memphis have worked on this legislation. I mean, they have worked harder than a bunch of ugly strippers to try to get this done. And I want to make sure that we don't drop the ball here.

So I'm willing to roll this to next week to give me an opportunity to get with the chairman of the finance committee. Without objection. Without objection. What the hell is wrong with these people, Reesey? I don't know, but I'm here for Senator Oliver's reaction. It was one of those, like, I'm trying to let it go, but I can't let it go because that was just too out of pocket. And did anybody else hear that?

Because nobody else was reacting. What the hell? You know, for all that Republicans like to go on about and ramble all about, about decorum and civility and, you know, all of these other things, they always saying some stupid shit, you know what I'm saying? And so, I don't know what happened after that, but shout out to her for at least keeping it real. And everybody else who didn't seem to even flinch, maybe

y'all have too close of a relationship with a bunch of strippers for you to not think that that was an odd analogy to make. And without objection, I was, Lauren, you would think, first of all, Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, he's always shooting down Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson

and cutting their mic off. Have some decency to say, I'm sorry, you don't use that language on the floor. They love talking about decorum in the Tennessee legislature. What the hell? Clearly wasn't on there. Yeah, well, that's because Justin Jones and Justin Pearson talk about poor people, talk about gun violence after a bunch of kids are slaughtered out of school,

talk about real issues that people really care about, and they know that, and they don't want that catching on. They don't like the attention that they get. I think a lot of the things that you hear from the sort of, you know, wing of the MAGA wing and the Republican wing of the party, the sort of Marjorie Taylor Greene wing, is the product of being addicted to attention at any cost whatsoever. And so whatever stupid thing you have to say or do to get that attention, you're going to say it and you're going to do it. And we see it all across the country. It works, quite frankly, because we have a media desperate for clicks. And so there we are. So he does it. There's no punishment for it. And it'll happen again. Greg?

Um, I don't know. I wish I could read Senator Oliver's lips. I could read her face. I just keep it to this pornography from the Greek porne, which is the same root of the word prostitute, graffia, as in graffiti or writing, the literal writing of prostitutes. Why do I break down the etymology of the word pornography? There's a cultural attitude among far too many human beings in the world that has, I think, its strongest roots in Europe, Western Eurasia, that women are not human beings. Behind the cotton curtain, it is illegal to

terminate a pregnancy in most of the states. And in the states where it's not illegal, they have, roughly speaking, about a six-week ban in place now. That's because white men, and far too many others, believe, too many white men, that is, including in these legislatures, that women are not humans and they have control over them. What are women for? Women are for entertainment. Let's go to Brent. I would bet the hundreds of dollars I have in my savings account that that man has been in a strip club. You see, when you talk that way, you're used to objectifying women. You're used to the writing of what you would think of as prostitutes. You're used to pornography. And Senator Oliver,

the look on her face communicated something that I think black women have perfected by taking a word that means one thing and elevating it through black speech into another form of meaning. Young people here looking at her face and all of us might have looked at that look on her face. And what I heard her saying through her face was, you nasty. You see, when a black woman thinks that somebody is nasty, you see, she passed judgment on a nasty man. That's a nasty man. And the reason the rest of them didn't say anything? Because they nasty, too.

They're nasty over the control of women's bodies. They're nasty over the control of everything about women except in their heart of hearts when they're sitting there watching a sister or anyone else be naked on stage trying to earn enough money because she's got to get health care and take care of her children and family. And they done passed laws to make that increasingly difficult. They don't care as long as they... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Apple Podcasts. 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 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. 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 Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sit there in the dark and fantasize, which is why he is obsessed with hard-working strippers and let it come out of his nasty mouth

in the Tennessee legislature. I think her face exactly said that. He nasty. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, folks, let's talk about some business here at the Black Star Network. We launched this show September 4th, 2018.

We launched the Black Star Network September 4th, 2018. We launched the Black Star Network September 4th, 2021. And it's really been about building, methodically building a network and a series of shows that really speak to the interest of our people. Now, understand we're living in a changing media dynamic. We're living in this different media world where you have to make real life business decisions. When you look at a lot of these companies out here, what they have done, how they sort of operated, a lot of these folks have raised a lot of money and really made some dumb decisions.

So first, on a programming note, the frequency with Dee Barnes, that show has come to an end. That show has made its run. We launched it a year ago, and so we've decided to end that particular show. Also, Farraji Muhammad has announced that he's going to make his last show April 26th. And so Farraji's show, his last show will be on April 26th. Now, independent of those decisions, I was looking at our various fast channels. So now when we announced that the Black Star Network was available on these platforms here,

you often heard me promoting, you can catch us on Amazon News. You can catch us on Amazon Fire. If you tell Alexa, play news from the Black Star Network, you can do that. You can also catch us on Amazon News. You can catch us on Amazon Fire. You can if you tell Alexa play news from the Black Star Network, you can do that. You can also catch us on Plex TV, Amazon Freebie, Amazon Prime Video. Guys, pull it up. Come on, pull it up. So you actually see that. And so we've been we started I think it was January of last year. And there were a lot of other fast channels that wanted us to come on the network. But I was, I said, you know what, I think it was probably in the fall. I said, you know what, let's pull back. I want to see how we do, how we do with

these fast channels in terms of what does it require financially? What do they actually, you know, what do they actually generate for us? And so that's one of the things that we did. And so, and again, I told some other people, I'm just going to wait and see, you know, what happens. So what ended up happening was I began to look at it. And what happened in order for us to send the signal, guys, pull the graphic up. So in order for us to send the signal to Plex TV, to Amazon Freebie, to Amazon News, to Amazon Prime Video, you have to get another company. You have to get a company that actually sends the transmission. So if you

take this show right here, we actually send our signal direct to YouTube. So what we do with our show is we send our show from our control room to a company called Switchboard Live, which is Black Owned. And then the show is then distributed to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, the Black Start Network app. But then we had to hire a separate company to actually send our signal out to the fast channels. And so they have various requirements for you to actually do that. And so we hired a company called Mux IP. And so what they then was, they then sent out the signal. Well, there was some issues with Amazon. So Amazon hit us up about a month ago saying, hey, the signal has been failing. Y'all got to switch providers. And so I said, okay, fine.

So we found another provider. So Mux sent the signal to them, and then the signal goes out. The bottom line is this here. With the fast channel, the fast channels were generating about $2,000 in revenue a month. Now, it was costing me more money to send the signal to the fast channels we were generating in revenue. So I was then going to have to hire another company to actually send the signal out. It was going to be about $7,000. So do the math. So we're going to spend we're going to spend seven thousand dollars

sending the signal out and then we're getting back two thousand dollars. It's a five thousand dollar monthly loss at sixty thousand dollars over the year. Well then you look at the amount of time that it takes for us to load the content. So now you're losing hours there as well. So I was having a conversation with my digital guy, Kenny, and I said, you know what? If we bust our butts, because what they want you to do, where the fast channels work, they want you to promote them. Say, hey, come watch the Black Star Network on Amazon News. Come watch the Black Star Network on Plex TV. Come watch the Black Star Network on Amazon Freebie. Come watch the Black Star Network on Amazon News. Come watch the Black Star Network on Plex TV.

Come watch the Black Star Network on Amazon Freebie. Come watch the Black Star Network on Prime Video. So they want us to like push, push, push to market to come sit on their fast channels. So if we got uber aggressive on saying watch it there and let's say the revenue increased 50%. That means the revenue will go from $2,000 to $3,000, so now we're losing $4,000 instead of $5,000. And I'm like, that's not going to happen. And so, as of April 30th, I'm pulling the network from the fast channels. So as of April 30th, I'm pulling the network from the fast channels. So as of April 30th, it's the last day, you will not be able to access the Black Star Network on Amazon Freebie, Amazon Prime Video, on Plex TV, or Amazon News.

It simply doesn't make any financial sense. Makes no financial sense. And see, the reason I want y'all to understand that is, look, we did it. We want to see what it could do, what it could generate. But the bottom line is the money is not coming back. And I'm not going to purposely lose money every single month when I can reallocate that money and hire another producer or hire a booker or hire a writer for the website. That's what I actually would do. And so what I need you to understand is what's going on.

It's a perfect example. The folks at Semaphore put this story where the Intercept, the Intercept was launched by the billionaire co-founder of eBay, Pierre Amirian. According to this story, they're losing $300,000 a month. They are at risk of going out of business. Now, when you look at these other stories right here, guess what? BuzzFeed News no longer exists because the company shuttered BuzzFeed. They said BuzzFeed was losing $10 million a year. Okay? Got rid of them.

Vice News has been going through all sorts of drama. You see right here, former digital media darling Vice to end website lays off hundreds. Not only that, folks, you take that was one site. You heard me talk about the recount. John Heilerman is you see him on MSNBC. And, you know, he used to be part of with Mark Halperin. And they had raised. Y'all gonna trip out.

You've heard me mention this before. They had raised. They lost the same year we did, okay? The recount raised all this money, $32 million they raised. And matter of fact, here was a story from 2020. Scoop, the recount raises $13 million in Series A funding. And it was John Patel and John Heilman they were all touting this whole deal and they

Strategic media companies as partners blah blah blah blah all the sort of stuff like that all the great things they're doing. Guess what? December 23 they want a business They raised 32 million dollars burned through their money never figured out of business. They raised $32 million, burned through their money, never figured out a business plan. The only asset they had was a Twitter feed of 300,000 people. They were sold for pennies on the dollar to an outfit out of London, I think. And so you only see that they still exist, but it's really their Twitter feed. So why am I explaining all of this to you? It's because I don't just sit in front of this camera. I don't just shoot behind the camera. I also understand business. And I understand profit and loss. I understand how do you stay in business.

I use this example all the time when I'm talking to potential advertisers and other people. My experience to understand how I see business, I sat and witnessed it. My grandmother had a catering business. My mom had a cake business. I would sit on my grandmother's couch. They live eight blocks from us. And I would sit there and grandmother's couch. They live eight blocks from us. And I would sit there and I would watch, I'll be on the couch and I'm on the couch with the bride's daddy or the future

groom and we watching TV while my grandmother's in her dining room with the bride and the bride's mama booking the wedding. And I would sit there and I would watch as they would sit there and they would go through everything. Yo, aisle runners, invitations, plastic cups, glass plates, silverware, fresh flowers, silk flowers, candelabras, globes, everything. Are we going to use silk bowls? Are we going to have flowers? Y'all, I started catering when I was seven years old.

And you know what I would see? I would sit there and I would, my grandmother would have a legal pad and she'd be sitting there and all of a sudden by hand and they'd get to the end. Sometimes they'd be sitting there for three, four, five hours. And they'd get to the bottom and they might say $18,000, $21,000

and they would go, oh, Ms. Lamont, we only have $7,500. Why y'all didn't walk your ass in Miss Lamont, we only have 7,500. Why y'all didn't walk your ass in here and tell us you had 7,500 hours so I can put together a 7,500-dollar wedding package for you and you didn't just waste four or five hours of my damn time going over all this stuff, knowing your ass couldn't afford none of this stuff? I witnessed it.

And you know what I witnessed? Because my grandmother wasn't charging what she should have been charging, we put on top-tier weddings, guess what? She couldn't pay my family. She couldn't pay my daddy, who was a cook. At one point, he actually stopped cooking. He was like, I got to pay more. My grandmother lasted two weeks with that, then she had to hire him back to get more

money. But she couldn't pay him, couldn't pay my mama, couldn't pay me and my brother. Now, listen, that $30, couldn't pay me and my brother. Now, listen, that $30, $40 we were getting at seven to eight years old was big. But frankly, it should have been $100. And as we got older, it should have been more. So when you understand business, when you understand you can't get ahead of your skis, when you understand that, hey, you got to be able to project and understand where you're going. And so that's why these decisions are being made. I remember after 2020, we had a $600,000 profit. And a

colleague of mine I used to work with said, you should give your staff bonuses. I said, no. She says, why? I said, because guess what? It's always an ad downturn after an election year. And so the money we get from YouTube is going to drop by 30, 40 percent. So if you give all your money away right now, you're going to be laying off people in four months. See, folks, it's called business. And so it's great to walk around and say, hey, man, you can watch this on Amazon Prime Video. And it was great. And Amazon News. And it's great to sit there and pull it up and see it. But guess what? I'm not in the business of losing money.

Because what I'm not going to do is be like these people right here. I'm not going to say, oh, man, we had a great 10-year run. Past tense. No. We want to be here the next five years, the next six years, the next 10 years. We're trying to build something. And so the lesson that people have to understand is you have to make decisions that are smart financial decisions in order for you to still be here to do the kind of news and the coverage. We want to be able to grow. We want to be able to build.

But you don't do it by making bad financial decisions. And when I ran the numbers, bottom line for me is, I'm not going to lose $5,000, $6,000, $7,000, $8,000, $10,000 a month for ego to say, hey, we're on this fast channel. So here's the reality. All of you could still watch us on YouTube. If you watched us on those apps, guess what? You can watch YouTube on your TV.

You can download the YouTube app and watch us. I need y'all to understand, when you watch us on YouTube, we're generating revenue. When I'm telling y'all to understand when you watch us on YouTube, we're generating revenue. When I'm telling y'all to hit the like button, that impacts the algorithm, that impacts our show being referred in other people's feeds, and that drives revenue. And I know people get all of people like, oh man, oh man, y'all got, you got 1.25 million subscribers. Well, guess what? There's a thing YouTube has called YouTube Studio.

And what they do is in YouTube Studio, they allow you to actually get a 28 day snapshot of where you stand in terms of viewers, in terms of revenue and all those things. And y'all know, I ain't got no problem with y'all being transparent. So this is our YouTube studio. I want to show y'all something that you may not realize. Here are demographics, here's gender, here's geography, here's watch time, and let's stay right there. What do you see right there? Watch time from subscribers, not subscribed, 60%.

Subscribe 40%. That means that 60% of the people that watch us every single month on YouTube don't even subscribe to the channel. So don't get caught up in the ego of, oh my God, we got 1.25 million subscribers. When 60% of the people watching don't even subscribe to the channel.

I'm saying all of that for you because we want to be able to cover the stories. We wanna be able to travel. When you give money to this show, and I appreciate y'all up front. Y'all said it. I told y'all. We're not sending out swag.

I would love to be able to send out people hats and shirts and mugs and all kind of stuff. That stuff costs money. The postage costs money. Makes no sense. We probably had about 100 people who have filed reports against us with PayPal. I'm not getting anything for my money. We've had 20 plus thousand people give on full will that are investing in this.

So when I spend money at this network, I understand where the money comes from. And so I'm not going to just burn money for the hell of it. We're going to make smart decisions. So I wish we could stay in those fast channels, but they... I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution.

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

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. 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. 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. 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 Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts make no economic sense there's no return on investment there's none If other companies want to lose money and say, hey, we're on those channels and we hope in the future that turns around, great. And you know what? I'm not saying we may not come back on those fast channels in a year

or two years. But today, what I'm not going to do is waste resources and lose money when I know I can reallocate that money to either staff or in other areas. And so I just wanna let folks know that. And so when we go dark, y'all say, man, what happened? That's why.

So April 30th I've given is the cutoff day. We gotta give 90 days notice. So I gotta pay for services for another three months, but I'm not gonna lose money for the next six, nine months to a year. And so that's what we're doing. The thing here, but final comment from our panel here. So the thing here, you know, Lauren,

I have seen this too often with so many black-owned media outlets where folk make bad economic decisions, where they're spending money on stuff ain't nobody watching, where they're doing all sorts of different stuff and nobody's showing up. being here for the long term. And that's really an unfortunate lot of these people in digital media. They burn through millions and millions and millions of dollars and ain't got nothing to show for it except laid off staff pissed off. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's millions that are donated to so many sites, you know, angel angel investors and all of that. And it doesn't work out. It's an endless story. And of course, the level of competition in the media right now is not just media versus media. It's the fact that we do live in an age of technology that allows anybody, literally anybody, with the phones that they have to report something via social media in seconds from where they're standing anywhere in the world. That has become a level of competition that has really meant that supply has sort of met demand in the business of news.

And that, I think, has been a big challenge for a lot of these news organizations. There are several news organizations that are using a subscription model that's been pretty successful. If you have a broad topic that a lot of people are interested in and are willing to pay for. Punchbowl News comes to mind, and Barry Weiss comes to mind, and several others that are doing fairly well. At some point, that will probably run its course, but right now, that's doing particularly well. But your point is well taken. There's a lot of people who invest a lot of venture capital money in the millions that have been wasted. The messenger situation that just happened is a great example.

And it is amazing to think about a lot of these examples. They involve people who've been in the news business for a very long time. But unfortunately, they do have, in a lot of cases, ego making the decision making. They wanted the big office in lower Manhattan, the big staff, the big, you know, fancy look. And it's very expensive to do that. And a lot of times it really doesn't lead to anything. You see on YouTube, there's so many people who are getting a lot of traffic with very low budget situations and very low budget presentations. And they're just telling a compelling story and people are responding to it? I mean, again, a lot of people just don't understand what it requires, what these things matter.

And what we try to do, Recy, is just be upfront, honest, and transparent people so they understand what's the real. Yeah, and I think that transparency is really revolutionary in this environment. And the reality is it is a tough environment. You know, you would think with there being an election year, it will be a boom to shows like Roland Martin Unfiltered and other institutions, but it's not. There is a certain

level of apathy. I don't know where all this fundraising money is going. And there's a certain level of people being checked out of getting real content, content that is compelling and actually impactful to their daily lives. And so I think that this channel, your brand is very strong because you have built up that cumulative credibility as opposed to trying to get instant followers, trying to focus on the glitz and the glam and the appearance, even though there's your no slouch there, be clear. I'm not saying that, but I'm saying the content is really king here. The credibility is really king and that's what keeps people coming back. But the reality is

this is a business and you know, the fact that you have made access to your content free, there is a lot of money and subscription. Everybody can have a subscription on Instagram or whatever else and Patreon or whatever. Your content is free and it is enriching our community. And so I applaud you for being the businessman that you are and putting our community first and still making sure that people have access to this information that they truly aren't getting anywhere else at the consistency, quality and volume that the Black Star Network brings. And the thing that I need people to understand, because I don't think folk actually realize this.

So you take so take this here. So, folks, this is called an LU800. This is the top of the line streaming unit. That's what this is. When we go on the road, local stations, ABC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox News, all of them have this. It is top of the line. And so this particular unit allows for you to actually, if you pay for the license,

allows for you to actually have four cameras coming into here. So in the control room, they can see all four cameras. So you don't need somebody on the ground live switching in the cameras. They can actually do it in here. Well, we own two of these. Now, again, folk have to understand. I ain't got a problem showing you.

Go to my iPad. This is literally the invoice, okay? It costs right here. You got to, you got to pay for upfront 75 gigs per month. And you see right there for eight months, it's $6,000. The audio license is $938. The IP pipe license is $966. The maintenance and support is almost $2,300. The multi-camera license, which allows for you to do four cameras, is $2,917. So the cost, this ain't the cost even of the unit. The cost right there shows you, folks, is $13,903. So you got to actually have the unit. You got to have a rack mount unit to receive the signal.

And so total cost of both live using a rack mount, I think, was around $60,000. So this is what allows us, when we go on the road, to be able to live stream by using the bonded technology. So when we're from the capital and we're from all around the country, now we can also plug up Ethernet as well because sometimes you can't pick up the technology. So when we're from the capital, we're from all around the country. Now we can also plug up ethernet as well, because sometimes you can't pick up the signal, but that's what this is. So I'm saying all of that. So now folks now understand these are hard costs. These are hard costs. Our app, our app to get to Blackstar Network app, which we control, y'all, that's $160,000 a year. That's a real cost. Okay?

$160,000 a year. So, this is why I'm making these decisions and what I've said to everybody working on this show is that, listen, here's the deal, and I can tell you right now, it's a bunch of startups that can't say this. There's not been a day where our staff was paid one minute, one second late on time.

Most freelancers, contract workers for companies, they get paid on 30, 60 or 90 day term. Meaning, when you turn in your invoice, you may get paid 30, 60, or 90 days later. I pay on 15 days. That's how we do it. So understand how we're trying to build, and we were trying to do this, and again, a lot of people don't get it. And so when I hear these yahoos, man, you're always begging for money.

Guess what? Ain't no billionaires. Pierre, I'm telling you right now, I tell you right now, all these other companies, all the millions in money that they got, I know what the hell I could have done with that. The recount got $32 million. I guarantee y'all we would still be in business with $32 million. I started this with 350 grand of my own money and one sponsor. And we methodically built this thing up and we're

still here. And we've been profitable since March, 2020. But you don't do that if you are stupid when it comes to how you spend your money. Greg, final comment. Roland, I'm sitting here listening to you, brother, and I want to be very, very candid here. That last comment you made reminded me 40 years ago was the first time I saw Jesse Lewis Jackson speak in person. He was in Nashville. He was running for president the first time at Vanderbilt University. And he was on that stage, majority white audience. We'd come over from Tennessee State to watch him. And he said, if I had the budget of the other candidates, they could not compete.

If the other candidates had my budget, they could not compete. And there was a beat, and then this cheer went up. You don't have the budget. You don't have an angel investor, as Lauren said. We got news this week I saw in the paper that the billionaire Jeff Skoll told the employees, the 100 or so employees

at Participant, that he's shutting it down. They won Academy Awards. Sending a shutter through the whole documentary field. No question. An inconvenient truth. All of those. And they were doing better than ever, but they were still

losing money. He's a billionaire. He could have continued to fund it. That is, I mean, you don't have an inconvenient truth if you don't have that outfit. But participant is going out of business. And that's with an angel. You don't have any. Actually, you have the ultimate angel. Yep. It's just that you have us. You have the people. This is Carter G. Woodson's model. And this is where I really want to go with it here at the end here at the second. There's one word that is operative in the Black Star Network, and it is the

word that you have lived by, and that is sacrifice. You could have easily gone back into another place where you could have been an employee or negotiated a deal for yourself and been on a relatively easy street, certainly in black communities, and maintained that profile. But you took all of that cultural capital, all of that political goodwill, all of that trust that your viewers have, and emptied it into institution building. That is the ultimate stepping out on faith. Now, has it made the quantum leap that it will make as we move forward? Not necessarily. And, you know, to Miss Faraji,

to Miss Deborah, that's an important thing. And I know when you reached out to me and said, you know, write a proposal of what you want to do. In my mind, as a college professor, and then as COVID hit, and I said, this is an opportunity to contribute to this vision in a way that our people need. So immediately I thought, OK, you had this white boy, Charlie Rose, you had Nightshade. If we could do something that's not a model of that, but that could be anchored in our community, then we could do that. And that's what the Black Table was envisioned to be. And you provide that platform and said, well, let's do it. Now, you know, folk, y'all can stop complaining to Roland. We're going to get some more shows.

But the point is this. We couldn't do it if there weren't a place. And this place, this is where I really want to end with and go to it. Everyone listening, all three of us, you know, not just me and Lauren and Recy and everybody else who has been in this space, Erica, everybody. I mean, you just go down the list, Julianne, everyone. When you walk into the studio in Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street, a rock throw from the White House, there is a physical studio for the black star network. When you come in there and greet Carol and you see everybody, you see Henry and you see the folk, these are paid employees at a black star network.

When you give to the black star network, you are literally employing black people who are at the top of the game in news, in television production, in technology, and just walking through. I know, cause I'm not a businessman and I don't know how much this stuff costs. I just know it costs a lot.

What you just saw, Roland, show us all there is a regular bill. And when you walk in that studio, you realize everything in there, not only was it designed by black people from the couches and the stuff on the walls to how the thing is designed and rigged and the lights and everything else, the equipment in there alone would bankrupt most of us. When you put your money down, when you put that annual contribution down, which is a fraction of the people who benefit from this space, you are literally subsidizing your ability to absorb information, to have it presented in a platform where people who have

been assaulted by the police, people who are organizing for our liberation, people from Africa to the Caribbean to all over the United States and beyond have a platform to come and make us aware of things. You are literally subsidizing our freedom, subsidizing our liberation. So for a business decision to be made to retreat temporarily from a space that you will not only enter it again, but overwhelm at some point, it is a testament to the fact that once again, through sacrifice, you are stepping out on faith and saying, we as a community have the ability to be the ultimate angel investors, not billionaires, but billions of people. When we all do a little, nobody has

to do a lot. Absolutely. Final comment is this here, folks. And just understand. And again, I keep telling y'all, I don't have any problems, because I need our people. I think one of the problems is because we don't talk about things in a transparent way, business wise, we don't really get it.

There were ad agencies that promised us advertising if I launched the shows on the Black Star Network. We announced the network on September 4, 2021. We didn't launch the shows until that February because there were ad agencies that said, oh, we see the concept, but we want to see the actual shows. They never came with any advertising. So just for everybody to understand,

I need everybody to understand, my show is a show. Black Star Network is a network. To do the Black Star Network was $500,000. That's producers, that's hosts, that's the digital, that's all the added stuff. We don't have to actually be in the studio.

I just want y'all to understand. I know how to actually do this show from the crib. We've done it at home. We could do the show via StreamYard. Studio is $15,500 a month. The fiber from Comcast is $2,000 a month. We don't have regular Wi-Fi here. We have fiber. It's $2,000 a month, okay? So now, I'm explaining this to you because I could shut all this down, literally go home and keep that $500,000 myself, but we launched a network because we're trying to build

more shows, more voices, create more opportunities so we can be able to do more. So that's why we're doing this. That's called an investment. So the network hasn't made any money in the last three years. But that's why you also make the investment. That's also why I'm giving these ad agencies hell about y'all made promises, but you ain't came back with any checks. And so we have been meeting with a number of these ad agencies saying, okay, it's time for y'all to start spending money.

We created a financial show. We created the healthy living show, the balance show, the history show, technology entrepreneur show. We created all the shows. Did y'all say, oh, we don't want to buy news? Really? But I see these ads running on Fox News. And that's all opinion.

And so we're challenging them on that. But folk need to understand what the costs are and then how real they are. And so when I'm talking about this here, I give you those numbers because the same way I gave, told my nieces, that laptop cost $2,000. Don't think it's a toy. That's the most expensive item you ever had in your life.

I did the same thing because I want them to appreciate it. Because again, if I did not see my grandmother and how she did her business and my mom did her business, then I would not have the business sense that I have because I saw it in real time. We make more. We can pay more. We make more. We can do health care benefits and dental benefits, and we can pay more. We make more, we can do healthcare benefits and dental benefits, and we can do those things.

But the reality is when you don't, you gotta make decisions. And so that's what our folk have to understand because I'm not interested. And even when we first started, listen, I could have went out and bought the C300, the Canon C300. Matter of fact, Brandon, this is the last point.

Grab me an XA25 and a C300. Y'all, the Canon C300 is $20,000. The body and the lenses are $20,000. I couldn't afford to buy three of them damn cameras. So you know what we did? We said, I said, all right, I need three HD cameras that I can use on the road, I can use in the studio, I can use traveling, and so that's what I did.

So I bought the Canon XA25. You know, it gave me two XLRs. I studied the camera to say how many uses I can get out of this, and that's what we did. So this right here, y'all, this right here is a Canon C300. This is a cinematic camera. This bad boy is 20 grand.

20 grand. When we launched this show, all we could afford is the Canon XA25. It was $19.99. We bought three of them so we can have a three-camera shoot. Remember that. Five and a half years later, we still got three Canon XA25s. We got five of these. And we got the Canon C70 film camera, plus I got a Canon XA45 that I travel with,

plus we got three Canon X XL405 4K cameras. That's called growth. You can't get to this if you don't start with this. And too many folk don't understand that. So we appreciate y'all being on today's show. We thank y'all being on our panel. And to Greg's point, when you create the

platform, you provide opportunities. And I remember a bunch, I keep telling y'all, me and Greg almost fought when we first met at the 12 Years a Slave movie screening.

And his Howard University students were hitting me on Twitter. I was like, man, I ain't scared of no damn Greg Carr. I don't know who the hell that is. And you know what? That child that started to fight, to be, she has a PhD now. She's on faculty at Bowie. She was a freshman. She set it off, bro.

Man. And they learned and they learn. I wasn't scared of nobody. And then people were cussing me out. Man, how you putting that foul mouth, that nasty woman Reesey on your show. And then Reesey comes on the show trying to be all prim and proper.

I'm like, hey, hey. I'm like, that ain't who in the hell I book. Y'all asking to be who you are on the damn show. Yeah, that's true. True story. I literally was like, I said, what you doing? I'm like, no, do you. And so now she got book, card, game on SiriusXM.

But y'all, look, the stuff Lauren does, Lauren got her sub stack deal, y'all, you create opportunities not just for you but for other people as well. So their voices also can expand. That's why there's a whole bunch of them Negroes you see. Let me tell y'all something right now.

April Ryan, her first place when she got paid to be a contributor was on my show Washington Watch. Nia Malika Henderson, her first place where she got paid to be a contributor was on my show, Washington Watch. Nia Malika Henderson, her first opportunity to do television was on Washington Watch. Laura Coates, the first time she ever actually hosted a national show was my show, News 1 Now. Gianna Caldwell, Shermichael Singleton, Paris Denard. I can go all down the road, Republicans and Democrats. That's why you create black platforms, black-owned platforms, to create opportunities for people to be able to have a voice

and then build from there. But you cannot do it if you broke and out of business. Lauren, Greg, Reesey, I appreciate y'all being on the show. Thank you so very much. Folks, if y'all want to support us in what we do, and it's real, I lay it out to y'all being on the show. Thank you so very much. Folks, if y'all want to support us in what we do, and it's real. I'll lay it out to y'all. Our Brena Funk fan club is real. I'm telling you.

If 20,000 of our fans say we're going to give $50 each every year, that's a million dollars. That's a million dollars. Huge for us. If you can't give that, give less. Understand, you can give more, great. But if we raise, if 20,000 fans give $50 each, y'all, boom, we're there. Somebody in the chat goes, maybe Oprah can support.

That's the problem. Greg told y'all that. We ain't got to wait on Oprah. Not when we move as a collective. So $50 a year is $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. I'm already talking to three or four other people who want to carry their shows on the Blackstar Network. Trust me, we're going to have other shows.

We are not going anywhere. We're building this. And so, you can see your check and money order. P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash Shepherds, Dallas, San, RM, Unf.C. And download the Blackstar Network app. Y'all, we should easily be at 100,000 downloads. So please download on your Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku,

Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds available at bookstores nationwide. Get the audio version on Audible. And beginning next week, we're going to have the commercial ready. A lot of people have been asking me this. I had the whole version on Audible. And beginning next week, we're going to have the commercial ready.

A lot of people have been asking me this. You know, I had a whole book on the 2008 election with President Barack Obama, all of my reporting. And so we're going to have that at a special rate for all of you beginning next week. And I will personally autograph every single one of those, every single one of those uh books and so we'll tell you all about that um uh we'll tell you all about that uh on uh next week and so y'all we are making we're making this thing happen you know what we're doing it's all about going to the next level so we appreciate your support if you've given to us already man we absolutely appreciate it uh because again y'all have been amazing our fan base has been absolutely amazing but trust me your money is well spent and we appreciate every single dollar that you give

if you give us on youtube we appreciate that but they get a cut of that give to us direct cash app venmo paypal square or check-in money order, because that way we can take advantage of all of it. I'll see y'all tomorrow, folks. Holla! Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now.

Thank you for being the voice of Black America. 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 scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? Dig?