#RolandMartinUnfiltered - GA Trump agrees to Bond, AR Black History Hate, GA Stop Cop City Signatures

Episode Date: August 22, 2023

8.21.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: GA Trump agrees to Bond, AR Black History Hate, GA Stop Cop City Signatures Donald Trump's attorneys agree to a $200,000 bond and other release conditions after his lawyers met with the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney's office.  We'll break down those details.  And Georgia's "Stop Cop City" protestors say they have more than enough signatures to put a referendum to repeal Atlanta's lease with the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.  Two representatives from the Cop City Vote coalition will join us to discuss their efforts to move the campaign forward. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggests taking action against an African American history course was to prevent students from being taught "hatred of America." You'll hear her comments that have elicited widespread reaction and backlash.  President Joe Biden travels to Hawaii, where wildfires have killed 114 people and caused widespread devastation.  We'll examine how climate change may have played a part in the deadliest U.S. wildfire.  With students returning to school, we are acknowledging Children's Vision and Learning Month.  We will speak with a board-certified Pediatric Ophthalmologist about how good vision is essential for students of all ages to reach their full academic potential. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. It's Monday, August 21st, and I'm Candace Kelly sitting in for Roland. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Donald Trump's attorneys agreed to a $200,000 bond and another release and other release conditions after his lawyers met with the Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney's Office. We'll break down those details.

In Georgia's Stop Cop City, protesters say that they have more than enough signatures to put a referendum to repeal Atlanta's lease with the Atlantic Public Safety Training Center. Two representatives from the Cop City Vote Coalition will join us to discuss these efforts and move through the campaign forward. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggests taking action against an African-American history course was ready to prevent students from being taught the hatred of America. You'll hear her comments that have elicited widespread reaction and backlash. President Joe Biden travels to Hawaii where wildfires have killed 114 people and caused widespread

devastation. We'll examine how climate change may have played a part in the deadliest U.S. wildfires in the past 100 years. With students returning to school, we're acknowledging Children's Vision and Learning Month. We will speak with board-certified pediatric ophthalmologists and hear about how good vision is essential for students of all ages to reach their academic potential. It's time to bring the funk

on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, $200,000. That's Donald Trump's bond amount for the latest indictment. His attorneys reached the bond agreement in the Georgia case,

accusing former president of scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss. Now, in court papers filed today, this $200,000 bond was determined, and the filings also bar Trump from intimidating co-defendants, witnesses, or victims in the case, including on social media. He is also prohibited from communicating in any way, directly or indirectly, about the facts of the case with any co-defendant or witnesses, Except, of course, through his attorneys. Now, Trump and 18 allies were indicted on 41 charges for allegedly scheming to illegally overturn the 2020 election and stop the peaceful transition of power. And now I am joined by Dr. Julianne Malveaux,

economist and author, and Dr. Omokonga Dibinga, senior professional lecturer for the School of International Service at American University in D.C., and of course, Renita Shannon, former Georgia state representative. I want to thank all of you for being here today. You know, I want to start with you, Dr. Malveaux. What is it that you think is going on with this $200,000 bond? There have been other people who have had lesser bonds. Is this enough? Is this a number that actually makes sense or means anything when we talk about

what bond amounts could potentially be? Well, first of all, welcome. Glad to see you. Let me say that the bond amount seems very random. There's someone who got a million-dollar bond. There's some who've had as little as $20,000, $30,000. I don't think that $200,000 means that much to President Trump, whatever, or former president or about-to-be-convicted president. I don't think it means that much to him. It's symbolic. If he doesn't show up for trial, he'll forfeit the amount of

money. He will show up for trial. He can't hide anywhere in the United States. But I think that it's clear this is so unprecedented in terms of U.S. politics, a former president having to pay bond, but a former president being convicted or being indicted for these kind of crimes. So I don't see it as a big deal. I would have preferred to see more just to transmit the severity of the issue. But he's not going to disappear. He's not going to be extra. He can't go anywhere.

He'd be immediately extradited. He's not going to disappear. Yeah. So he's not going to be extra. He can't go anywhere. He'd be immediately extradited. He's immediately recognizable. So it's a symbolic gesture to suggest, as Fannie, the sister, said, he's going to be treated just like everybody else. Everybody else is going to have to pay bond. So is he. Renita, I want to go to you. When we talk about this bond and the warnings, especially that Trump was given when it comes to social media, which we know it's very difficult for him to follow directions in that regard,

what are your thoughts about those warnings and whether or not they will have any effect? Because it seems like in the past it has had none. Well, I think that we can expect that Trump is going to violate these warnings because we have, as you mentioned, we've seen in the past where he has intimidated witnesses. He has done things to sort of put a hit out on those who prosecute him. So I think that we probably will see that he will violate these and it'll just be interesting to see what will be done. I mean, I agree with Dr. Malvo on some parts where she said specifically that this is not a significant bond. It's really not for somebody like him. And although it will be embarrassing, I mean, here in Georgia, you only have to put up

15 percent of the original bond if you want to go through a bails bondsman. So if he wanted to, he could actually go through a bails bondsman, even though it would be embarrassing and not have to put up very little money at all. I do think that there's a risk that he could go somewhere. I think that there are countries that would not care to extradite him. I'm thinking Russia as one or any country that, you know, wants to sort of get access to the things that I think that he some of the documents that he took from the White House, even though many of them have been returned. He still knows that information and held it for a very long time. Who knows if he has copies or what? So I think that, you know, the bond that was set, I don't see this being significant for him. And I don't see it being

enough to ensure that he will not do the things he's not supposed to do while he awaits trial. Dr. Dabinga, it seems as though this bond was so low, it seems as if maybe Trump might make an issue out of this, make a part of his campaign as he has all of these indictments. What are your thoughts about this particular number? I mean, $200,000, not that much, certainly something that he'd be able to pay. What are your thoughts? I think that when it comes to Donald Trump, we just have to remember that when we're talking about Nixon, we're talking about a politician who became a criminal. Donald Trump is a criminal who became a politician. And so whether we're talking $200000, 100,000, 2 million or whatever it is, I think that the number is random. And I think it's more symbolic. The fact of the matter is Trump has a history of

not paying anybody, his lawyers, members of his own team. So it's going to be very interesting to see what he actually does. And that's why I look at it more of a symbolic thing, because I feel like they're giving him an opportunity to not pay, to really mess this up, because he just feels like he's so entitled. And so when people, if it was $2 million or $5 million or whatever, people will say it's so astronomical and he deserves better. So it's like, let's just set it really low comparatively, and then let's see what you do. Really, at the end of the day, I'm also concerned that all of these orders, he can intimidate people, so on and so forth. Even with the federal trial with Judge Shutkin, he's already been violating this. And I've heard lawyer after lawyer and legal analyst

after legal analyst say if any other person did what he did online, they'd already be in jail. So all of these different trials have placated him in some way, shape or form. And I feel like even though this 200,000 is symbolic, it's just another example of how the rules that apply to others just don't apply to him. It should definitely be higher just to send a message to the rest of us. I do like the judge's move where she said, if you do keep talking, we will continue to move this trial closer and closer, not push it further away, like you and your attorneys have requested. I wanted to turn to another symbolic thing that's going on, and that's the symbolism of Trump

not even being at this week's, uh, debates. Um, Dr. Malveaux, I wanted to... Malveaux, I wanted to start with you. When we talk about actually running for president, do you think that the cost of entry is to be a part of these debates? Or should Trump have his right to say, you know what the cost of entry is to be a part of these debates? Or should Trump have his right to say, you know what, I don't want to do it. You don't need to

hear what I have to say on any of these issues. It's my right. You know, it's very interesting. His hubris is going to catch up with his hind parts one of these days. Because it's just humorous. I'm going to do whatever I want. I don't care. You can't make me. It's like the kid in the closet. But the question is whether Republican voters are going to be willing to punish him. It's not what we think, really.

It's what Republican voters think about his failure to participate. This is a grand opportunity, I think, for two or three of the Republican wannabes. Certainly DeSantis or DeSatan will have an opportunity to stand out. Pence may have that opportunity. And so may Tim Scott, Mr. Optimism. You know, they may all have an opportunity to stand out, and the invisible man on the platform can be attacked rightways, leftways, and sideways, and he's not there to defend himself. Like Chris Christie said, this is a coward. This is someone who doesn't want to play. You know, I don't know what the answer is.

I think that the question you asked, which is really important, should participation in debates be part of the entry-level process? Should it be required that you participate in debates? Well, this is not an RNC debate. So the RNC can certainly create requirements. Others can create requirements. Whoever sponsored this debate has made some requirements about percentage in the polls, the number of donations you have, et cetera. So, you know, I don't think that necessarily at this point. Remember, we're a year out. So we're a year out. Now,

if we get closer and he continues to refuse to debate, I do think that there will be consequences both formal and informal, because I think right now we're just so early on that it's almost like a sideshow, frankly. Yeah, yeah. A lot of it certainly does seem like a sideshow. We'll talk more about that sideshow and more after the break. Stay with us on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hatred on the streets. 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

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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 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. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me.

Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org. Brought to you by

Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial.

This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have been killed, they have been killed. We have seen the rise of white people in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have been killed, they have been killed. We have seen the rise of white people in this country who simply cannot tolerate black

folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have been killed, they have been killed. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have been killed, they have been killed. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash.

This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. on a next to balance life with me dr jackie summer is flying by and back to school is just around the corner and fall is here that's right a new season is upon us on our next show. We talk about jumping into action and putting procrastination in the rear

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On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. Have you ever had that million dollar idea and wondered how you could make it a reality? On the next Get Wealthy, you're going to meet Liska Askalise, the inventress, someone who made her own idea a reality and now is showing others how they can do it too. Positive, focusing in on the thing that you want to do, writing it down and not speaking to naysayers or anybody about

your product until you've taken some steps to at least execute. Lease got Ask a Lease on the next Get Wealthy right here, only on Blackstar Network. My name is Lena Charles, and I'm from Opelousas, Louisiana. Yes, that is Zydeco capital of the world. My name is Margaret Chappelle. I'm from Dallas, Texas, representing the Urban Trivia Games. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin on Unfiltered. In a recent interview, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that her administration rejected a course on African-American history to prevent students from being taught hatred of America. There's a little bit of controversy right now. There's

an accusation that the Arkansas Education Department removed credit for controversial AP African American Studies course. Let me just read to you what the NAACP said and let you respond. They said the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP is appalled at the recent decision of Arkansas Department of Education to make a hasteful decision at the final hour to do away with AP African American Studies. And they're not going to get away with AP African-American studies. Is that really what happened there? Absolutely not.

And one of the things that we have talked about so much, and Dana, I think the point that you made a minute ago about the staggering numbers that we're seeing across this country, we've got to get back to the basics of teaching math, of

teaching reading, writing, and American history. And we cannot perpetuate a lie to our students and push this propaganda leftist agenda, teaching our kids to hate America and hate one another. It's one of the reasons that we put into law banning things like indoctrination and CRT. We want our kids to receive a quality education. We want to make sure that every student has access to it and a pathway to prosperity, and that's exactly what we're doing here in the state of Arkansas. It was earlier this month when the Arkansas Department of Education gave two days' notice

that the advanced placement course on African American Studies would no longer be accepted for credit. The Sanders administration also said the state will not cover the $90 for the final exam, even though it covers that amount for other AP courses. Listen, I'm looking at this, Dr. Malveaux, and I'm thinking, what is going on here? She talks about teaching math and she talks about teaching English, but it doesn't sound like she wants to teach any history. Well, she doesn't mind teaching European history. The state of Arkansas does have a course in AP European history that they do pay the $90

for students to take the exam on. So if you want to learn about America, why would you give preference to teaching European history except for your own hypocrisy? Sarah Huckabee Sanders came into office when she was elected talking smack about critical race theory, of which she doesn't know what it is. But she said, we can't have critical race theory. Forty-four states, my sister, have actually introduced legislation to keep from teaching

anything that has to do with race. Only about 28, I forget the number, but 20-some states have passed, but 44 states, that's the majority of states. What's happened essentially is that the conservative right has taken over language. So critical race theory is a buzzword for race awareness. No one is teaching a legal concept in K through 12 or even beyond. This is simply hatred and not wanting people to know the truth. What's ironic about this, in Elaine, Arkansas, 200 black men were lynched simply because they attempted to come together.

They were sharecroppers and they want to get a better price for their produce. So they tried to come together and organize. Someone spread the lie that a white communist was organizing them. They were organizing themselves in a black church. 200 people were lynched. No, she doesn't want young people to know that story, but young people will surprise you because young white people want to know the stories too. They want to know what the origins of this are. I chair PushXL, which is the education arm of Rainbow Push, Reverend Jackson's organization. And we have two young people who come to talk to us, brilliant young. They were high school seniors last year. And one of those young ladies said, I think it's as important for me to learn about what happened in Chicago with the Red Summer, Red Summer of 1919,

where people were lynched and shot and all that, as it is for me to learn algebra. That's what many of our young people are thinking. I want to know the truth. But Sarah Huckabit Sanders and her ilk do not want to know the truth. No one is... It hurts your feelings.

Being enslaved hurts somebody's feelings. Right. So talk about hurting feelings. It's ridiculous. She's just wrong, but she's been wrong. I mean, she's feelings. So talk about hurting feelings. It's ridiculous. She's just wrong, but she's been wrong. I mean, she's a spawn of wrong. Let me stop. You know, we talk about learning history. That's what Dr. Malbeau was talking about. Renita, when we talk about learning history, there are a lot of people who are learning history on their own in freedom schools across the country, setting up in their own right, these schools where people

can learn. It is a shame that it would have to come to that. But when we look at solutions like that, what are your thoughts about these types of schools and the fact that different communities across the country have had to take education into their own hands? Well, as a Black person, I'm not familiar with any other Black families who ever believed that all of the education you would need about black history you would receive in schools.

I mean, this is terrible, obviously, but I don't think that anybody was under the illusion that you would receive proper black history education just from school. We've always had to know that we have had to talk to our elders. We've had to talk to folks in our family to get the true education that we need. Now, this is interesting for a few reasons, because some schools in Arkansas have said that they are going to teach AP Black History, regardless of what the state says. And so I'm glad to see these schools stand up and say, hey, we're going to do what's best for these students. We want them to be able to compete in the modern workforce. And a part of that is knowing and understanding the history of this country and understanding different perspectives just as much as it is knowing math and knowing science. And Arkansas, out of all places, should be willing

to teach AP history. This may be history that maybe Sarah Huckabee Sanders does not know, but she probably needs to learn some history because Arkansas was at the center of being one of the first to integrate schools in 1957. So they have lots of actual history right there. I would suspect living history that they really should be teaching. And so to your point, the more that they try to tell these students what they can't learn, all it's going to do is drive those students to want to learn more on their own. And I think that all of this that is happening across the country is just going to be, it's going to be reminiscent of what happened in the 80s when the government started putting the parental advisory on CDs,

and all that did was make teenagers want to listen to that music more. You know, Dr. Dabinga, I did a search when I put in the word slave earlier today, and it popped up, did slaves learn a lot or have a hard time while they were slaves? Because these are the discussions that are happening across the country, whether or not slavery was good or bad. And I'm wondering what your thoughts are about the fact that you really can't get around teaching history altogether with keeping major parts of it out and telling the story.

How do you think teachers can get around it or can that even actually happen? Well, first of all, you know, somebody who does work in schools across the country, charter public and private schools, and have been doing this for over 20 years, I'm very adamant about the fact that teaching accuracy is not activism. I had a situation where a white teacher told me she was doing a project on African civilizations. This was in Maryland. And the kids were all in majority white school. The kids were all involved and active about the project. But when they submitted the final pictures that they did of the African kings, they were all white. And the teacher was shocked. And she asked, why did they do this? And so it's because the students said they didn't want to get in trouble by being viewed as being racist.

So this idea that whiteness is the center is causing a true distortion of history that is throwing everybody off. And one of the things I talk about in my students at American University, they get so angry when they find out the truth, when they find out the real things that have happened that they were never taught in school. I was showing pictures of postcards of the lynchings that were happening back in the days, and one student started getting really upset in school because she was like, -"Wait a minute, that's my street." -"Hmm." Like, that's the block I grew up on,

and she never knew that history. So every single day in school, when we deny these students their history, when they find out the truth, they get really upset. Axios did a study that said majority of white Republican students want to know the true history. But one of the things I talk about in my book lies about Black people. I have some poetry in there. And some of the lines that I have in there, when I'm talking about us, I'm like, yo, where were your laws when I was learning about me? My history books taught that I only came from slavery.

When my mathematics classes left out Black contributions. When my science classes left out our contributions to evolution. When our history classes talk about America's hopes and intentions, but didn't lift my hopes by teaching me about Black inventions. You don't think that I felt guilty like three-fifths of a man when y'all taught me that I was only

civilized when y'all brought me to this land? So really, at the end of the day, we're doing all of this stuff to protect white kids, but white kids can handle the truth. But those who are not white, those who are particularly black and brown, we've always been taught negative history about our culture and society,

but nobody gave a damn about us. And so the fact of the matter is, we gotta speak up. And lastly, in Florida, you also see that they got rid of AP psychology because of its LGBTQ issues that they had. White parents out there who weren't speaking up right now, your whole school system, your college aspirations for your children are being jeopardized when you're not speaking up for us now. It's just a matter of time before they come for the other courses that your kids are interested in. So you might as well join us now because it's just a matter of time before your whole college aspirations

for your kids get messed up and there are no AP classes that teach about anything. Dr. Dubing, I wanted to stay with you for a moment because I am sure that as a teacher, you hear from other teachers. What's the sense around how they're feeling about these limitations and the 44 states that have passed legislation about AP?

And is there any fear or sense of fear in them? Because there have been teachers that have lost their jobs for showing a movie, for example. That was on a list of approved movies. What is your gathering of information in terms of how teachers are feeling these days where you are? There's absolutely fear and anger. I was in Florida recently working with teachers and librarians,

and there's places I'm speaking, they're crying, they're angry. And, you know, of course they're angry and concerned about job loss and the like, but they're also literally concerned about their students and what they can't share with them. And it's not just these red states. You know, in Maryland, I had a teacher say that now that parents feel so emboldened, a teacher literally came up to him and said, can you not teach about the bad guys like Malcolm X? Teach about the good guys like Dr. King. And felt emboldened to say those things. And these are in schools where teachers were teaching the history regularly with no problems.

So all of a sudden, they don't feel like they're being supported. In my book, I have a whole chapter on critical race theory, as Dr. Malveaux said, it's not being taught in schools. But one of the things that teachers are always saying, if we're teaching kids to stand up to bullies, we got to stand up to the bullies too. That's why more teachers are speaking out and protesting and they need our support. Renita, what are some of the solutions here? How do we go about making sure that that history is

taught? As you already said, it was already taught when you were growing up and it's safe to assume that a lot of people would understand that you have to kind of fill in some blanks. But what do we do with these school systems that have such a large gap in the teaching process? Well, as a former elected official, I'm going to talk to you about what people can do from the political side. And so that is, number one, make sure you're voting and you're knowing when you have school board races, because those are the folks whose actual job it is to stand up and make sure that the curriculum reflects what should be taught. You also want to, and those folks also, by the way, help in selecting the superintendent for every county.

And so the superintendent is the person who ultimately is controlling what curriculum looks like within school districts. And so everybody has got to make sure to start paying attention to these school board races, make sure that if you don't see what you want to see represented, and that somebody who's willing to stand up and say that we need accurate Black history taught, then you yourself consider running for school board. The other thing that folks can do as well is make sure to stop voting for people who want to just highlight this issue. Because at the end of the day, fighting over what is going to be taught in schools does not add, does not allow you to pay your bills better. It is not, these are not the basic things that should be at the top priority of what any elected official is working on. And so

what this is, is really just another cultural war niche issue that the Republicans are using, hoping to really gin up their base, the base of the folks that actually care about this, and to get them out to vote. And so at the end of the day, every person who votes and pays taxes should be mad about this because this is not what you send elected officials to do, which is ruin education for children. That's not what you vote for. I don't believe anybody votes for that, and nobody votes for this to be anybody's top priority. Dr. Malveaux, do you expect to hear this particular topic, I would imagine, on Thursday's debates? It will come up, absolutely, because it's become a wedge issue and it shouldn't be. Renita is right.

We don't have elected officials. These are people are not experts in any kind of education, but it'll come up because they've turned it into a wedge issue because Ron DeSantis has made it an issue in Florida where basically they've taken away the AP. I have a former faculty member who actually took a job, I begged him not to, at the University of Florida, and they sent him a letter after he accepted the job saying he can't use the term diversity, equity, or inclusion in his classroom. This is an ethnic studies professor.

I don't know how he's going to be able to do his and to get but he he and he had to sign this piece of paper they gave him a huge raise so i kept saying dude you're not going to be happy there but i i hooked him up he can come back in a year if he wants to and i keep that door open i bet that he will want to you know the thing that's really going on here is that they changed this Chris guy, Chris Ralph, I think his name is, Chris Rufo. He's among those who basically are fighting against affirmative action, bringing lawsuits against private companies who want to do affirmative action type initiatives, and now dealing with the whole education piece and talking about what can be taught in schools.

Renita's right. We have to revive our Saturday schools. We have parents have to do what they're doing because we, how, you know, who said, was there an African philosopher who said, you know, you cannot let the master or you can't let the oppressor teach the children how to think. And understand

that we don't run school boards. We may be on them. But my last thing I would say, though, is I am very frustrated with academics, with professors of ethnic studies, Black studies, Latino studies. Those are the folks who need to be out there. I am frustrated with these black folks, even K-12 teachers. Now, they have a lot to lose, but why can't we educators push back on these people and say, oh, hell no? I mean, we're the ones who are in the classrooms. We see the young people. We see what they want to know. Omokongo talked about the young people.

He said, that's my street. She had to be totally stricken to realize that lynching took place on her street. So if educators are not willing to stand up, ignorant people, Sarah Huckabee Sanders probably couldn't read a curriculum, much less adhere to one. But if ignorant people take over education, they'll teach what basically promotes their myth. And the only reason why we use terms like white supremacy, which I try not to use, is because a system was set up to reinforce the inferiority of Black people. And that included the education system. We cannot have that. We must fight back on that. And professors, teachers, you see this day to day. Y'all have to be part of the resistance. Yeah. And you're right. The teachers are in the

classrooms. They have the power. They're the ones who are actually in that moment teaching and they are in charge of what they actually end up saying in that classroom. I also think the parents have responsibility in that, too. All right. We're going to go to a break now. Roland Martin, Unfiltered, we'll be right back. After this break, you are watching The Black. 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. 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. 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.

I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Star Network. And we'll be right back. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine

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Zelle is Roland at Rolandsmartin.com. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be free. White people are losing their damn minds. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the US Capitol. We've seen shouts.

We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America,

there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Bye-bye, Papa. What's up, everybody?

It's your girl Latasha from the A. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stop Cop City protesters say they have collected more than enough signatures to move its referendum campaign forward. They're trying to get the Cop City issue on the ballot. They argue that the lease to build the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center can be broken. And they scored a small victory when a federal judge said they could move forward and collect those signatures. Well, joining us from Atlanta are Kurt Kastorf,

General Counsel for Cop City Vote Coalition, and Mary Hooks, who is the tactical lead for the Cop City Vote Coalition. I want to thank you guys for being with us today, this evening. Listen, this really was a small victory, was it not? And I want to go to you, Mary.

This was a small victory when the federal judge said you can get the signatures. And now, from what I understand, the coalition has more than enough signatures that are needed to get this referendum on the ballot. That is correct. And, you know, we're talking about Georgia here. So this was no small victory in terms of what it meant for a judge to side with us on this matter. And yes, we have collected over 100, we have 104,000 and counting signatures. And so we hope that the city matches our energy in terms of what the people want. People want to be able to engage a fair, transparent and democratic process. And we want the city to match our energy.

And today they released their process to show us how they're going to be going about verifying. And unfortunately, they took it from the playbook of the GOP in terms of voter suppression and using, and they want to use signature matching to do that. And so we are, yeah, we have some concerns. Right, but, and that is the reason why you have the extra signatures because of what you said would be this approach that would knock some of those signatures off of your list. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty standard in a referendum campaign

that you typically get more to account for a margin of error. And we also know that there are, you know, folks who want their vote to be counted, want their petition, their ballot to be counted. And for reasons like a shaky signature, they may not be able to be counted. And so I think like that's a big part of this. You know, when I was out here in 2018, when we were calling to count every vote

on behalf of Stacey Abrams. And so we want that same level of consideration for everybody who's attempt to sign this petition to be counted. And again, we know folks are going to be thrown out. That's part of the process. And at this point, we know that the city can do all that it can to make this process one that is fair, that is transparent, and get most of those signatures in. And by doing this signature match, that would, you know, create a condition where that probably wouldn't be possible. You know, Kurt, this question is for you, for those people who need to kind of recall what happened here. We're talking about 90 acres of land.

We're talking about a council meeting that lasted 14 hours with hundreds and hundreds of people who made sure that they had their voices heard. But still, by what I believe was an 11 to 4 vote, the council said, no, we are going to give the money for this particular area that was going to be preserved at one point. Here's the money and we're going to create what is now being called Cop City. Now, the legal argument that folks are making is that, hey, you know, this is a contract. We can't break that contract. What are your thoughts and how does that kind of play out in your real world? Well, I think the contract contemplates the fact that it needs to be a legal

contract. You know, there are a lot of state constitutions and the federal constitution have provisions protecting the right of contract saying a government can't go back on a contract. But what Atlanta did in this contract and most of its contracts is it builds in protection terms saying that the contract needs to be legal. And if a referendum passes rescinding the authority for the mayor to enter into that contract, it is no longer a legal contract and there's a basis for exiting it. So I think that Atlanta is going to make arguments, potentially, based on the language of the contract or based on the state constitution.

But we think it's pretty clear. If the voter is acting, if this referendum gets on the ballot, voters approve it, that is effectively a statement by the city of Atlanta that the contract is no longer legal, and that is grounds for rescinding the contract under the terms of the contract. And, Kurt, contracts are broken all the time, are they not? Right, right. And there are some special obligations on governments to honor their contracts. And that's why the city of Atlanta has good attorneys and they build provisions into the contract to make sure that if there's a reason why a contract becomes illegal, it becomes against public policy. It becomes against the will of the municipality that exits it. There are circumstances where you can exit it. And certainly a referendum saying that the city of Atlanta no longer has authority to enter into that lease is a very strong basis for saying the contract can't be enforced.

So, Mary, I want to talk about Cop City specifically. I want to talk about, you know, what it is planned to look like. This is going to be the creation, recreation of a fake town. It's going to have gas stations and homes and is a big training center for police to come to. Now, the argument, Mary, that's being made is that, you know, the police officers that everyone is saying need more training, they have to go very far to get this training. This will make it amenable for them to not have to travel so far and get the training that they need. What do you say to that argument? I have a few things to say about it. One, they are mostly getting trained in Forsyth County, which is about an hour away. Most people spend that, you know, it's Atlanta traffic. Most people are spending an hour in traffic, okay? That is just the condition of how we live here.

And I would also say that, you know, the officer who cured Rayshard Brooks had 2,000-plus hours of training, including de-escalation. We also know that Atlanta has some of the most, like, in terms of training hours, Atlanta police training hours. And that has not materialized into, you know, safety for our communities. That did not stop them from killing Johnny Holloman on August 10th by the taser just the other day. And so I think that we have to be honest. Most studies show that no matter how much training police get, it has not reduced the level of excessive force, police misconduct, police violence, like that has not shifted the conditions on the ground. And so the money that they're putting toward it does not, it's bad governance in my

opinion. And I think that, you know, when we talk about the city wanting to, you know, have a better training facility for officers, I've talked to some rank and file officers. And what I've heard from the rank and file is that if we actually want more money, we actually want better pension. And that is the same line that many of the rank and file of the fire department and the EMTs are also holding. And so I think that when this claim that this training facility is actually going to make policing better, I don't think that it statistically proves it, nor do I believe that the folks who are in my community and folks that I know and people and Mr. Holloman's family who did a

press conference just last earlier this week would agree with that statement. Kurt, the killing of Manuel Piaz Teran, who camped in the forest as a protester, I wanted to talk a little bit and just get any latest update on that. The autopsy showed that his hands were up when he was shot for those people who do not know that there were a group of protesters who took control of the land and they were in trees they were on the land itself where this facility was to be built in protest do you have any latest information on that unfortunately we don't have a lot of information on it I mean and

unfortunately I suspect you know I'm hopeful that there'll be a thorough investigation and a publicly released report that answers a lot of questions. With that being said, there's been a lot of high-profile police shootings in Atlanta. And what's typically happened is there's been an investigation, a potential criminal prosecution. Until that process concludes, there's not much public sharing of information. When civil lawyers get in representing the family, they're not given a copy of that report until the investigation is concluded. So we will eventually learn more about the surrounding facts. But my suspicion is that's not going to happen until the civil lawyers who represent the family get a chance to actually have access to documents and start asking questions.

So for people who don't understand the process, you get the signatures. It could potentially go on the ballot. In your ideal world, Kurt, what legally are the next steps in terms of that referendum? And then if a vote comes out one way or the other, what's the potential that could happen? Well, the first thing we need to figure out how to actually get that referendum approved and what the city's process is going to be. It's the reason we're submitting so many additional signatures above and beyond what is required is because we're concerned some aspects of the process. First, the city is going to try to match those voters to voter names in the voter files. And people familiar with Georgia's history of voting, there was a considerable piece of litigation after Stacey Abrams' loss in 2018 related to exact match and how strict the match to the voter file needs to be.

And on that issue, we need to have public observers. The city needs to commit to transparency during the process, not just at the conclusion of the process, and give people a chance to observe. They've also indicated that they're planning on engaging in a signature match, which is a really fraught exercise. It's really tough to confirm signatures. And the process of observing signatures is difficult in itself. And what we really need there is the city to publicly commit to a robust cure process. For those who aren't familiar with what a cure process is, if in a regular election, if an absentee ballot or any ballot gets rejected, there's an opportunity for folks,

partisans on either side to go out, locate that voter and help get that ballot fixed. Well, Georgia has a cure period. It's a cure period that was written by the GOP and that a whole lot of Democrats would say was voter suppressing and didn't go anywhere near far enough. But the city of Atlanta hasn't even committed to using that cure process yet. So I'd hope at a bare minimum, the city of Atlanta is going to commit to using the cure process that's provided by law. And in fact, they really ought to go a step farther because the cure process for elections normally has a three-day cure period, which is incredibly short. And that's driven by the need in a federal election to certify election results quickly so you know who the

president and who the U.S. senators are. Here, the city has 50 days to consider these petitions. And what we really hope and expect they're going to do, if they're serious about respecting the process, would be as soon as signatures begin to be rejected, immediately provide those names to the coalition and start a cure period that runs for the length of that 50-day period. All right, Mary, listen, we have about 20 seconds left, but I did want to end on you so you could just explain how anybody who might be out there who wants to help in your journey, how can they do so? Yeah, folks can go to copcityvote.com and get all the information

where they can sign the petition, how they can donate, how they can volunteer. We didn't take this fight on to lose. We intend to win. And so we need all hands on deck because this is about the future of Atlanta. All right, Kirk Kastorf and Mary Hooks, I want to thank you for being with us today

and giving us an update on what is going on. I'm sure that we will have you back and good to see you. All right, Roland Martin, Unfiltered. We'll be right back, right here on the is going on. I'm sure that we will have you back, and good to see you. All right, Roland Martin, Unfiltered. We'll be right back, right here on the Black Star Network. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Cox. The United States is the most dangerous place for a woman to give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet. Think about that for a second. That's not all.

Black women are three times more likely to die in this country during childbirth than white women. These healthcare systems are inherently racist. There are a lot of white supremacist ideas and mythologies around black women, black women's bodies, even black people that we experience painless, right? Activist, organizer, and fearless freedom fighter Monifa Akinwole-Vandele from Moms Rising joins us and tells us this shocking phenomenon,

like so much else, is rooted in unadulterated racism. And that's just one of her fights. Monifa Bandile on the next episode. 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 multibbillion 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 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 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. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back

over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council.

Next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. The shooting of Megan Thee Stallion and the subsequent trial of Tory Lanez. Megan has been treated like the villain. The experience that Megan went through is something that all Black women face when we are affected by violence.

This is something that's called massage noir. There's a long history of characterizing black women as inherently bad in order to justify our place in this society. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. Hello, I'm Jamea 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, let's talk about Cop City. Certainly a lot going on as those signatures are being collected. They are well over the amount of signatures that they need just in case somebody starts playing games with them. Renita, I want to start with you. This Cop City, I mean, it seems as though they're, you know, they're at a standstill. On the one hand, we have the lease that some say can and cannot be broken. But then on the other hand, we have the attorney who said, listen, it can be broken.

What are your thoughts about Cop City and what ultimately might happen to that? Because as you know, in your position, the power of the people certainly rings very loud. And these people have been on the forefront for two years now. Okay. Well, so I have been vocal about the fact that Cop City is a horrible idea for the last two years. And so when you say that the power of the people rings very loud, that's exactly the problem here. The power of the people has not rung very loud in reference to this idea about Cop City. And I say that because over and over again, you are seeing folks from the community show up and say that they do not want their tax dollars being spent on Cop City. They do not believe that this

is going to lead to more safety for their communities, and they do not want the space used in this way. And so when the hearings for Cop City happened at Atlanta City Council, more people showed up to speak against Cop City and showed up to be a part of public testimony than any other time in Atlanta City Council history. And so people over and over again who live in Atlanta are showing up to say that this is not how they want their resources spent. And what you're seeing time and time again is a mostly Democratic city council that is doing everything from ignoring what people are saying to outright working against what the public wants.

And so what that looks like is, in court, Atlanta City Council making it its business with its attorneys to fight the ability for a referendum to even happen. Roland has had guests on his show to talk about cop city who are from, from those who support cop city and elected officials. And they have not even been able to commit to the fact that the public should get to vote on this. And so I agree with the attorney and both Mary Hooks has been, who has been doing excellent work on this issue, in that what we are seeing over and over again is elected officials who are just basically telling local Atlanta residents that they need to shut up and allow them to just move forward

in moving forward with Cop City, regardless of what they actually want. Dr. Malveaux, we have been seeing pictures about, you know, as to what Cop City will ultimately look like, a fake town, as I described it before, where police officers, EMS people can come and train, learn more. Is there any utility in a training facility like this at a time when people are often calling for cops to be trained? I know the location, certainly there's a climate issue and an environmental issue. But I'm talking about the utility of a new training facility at all. What do we do in this situation when we are saying cops do need more training? Well, cops need more training.

But as I think Renita or Mary either mentioned, the cop who killed a young man had over 2,000 hours of training. So I would, before you would go into something like a cop city, I would want to look at the efficacy of the training, what kind of training is it, what are they being trained on. I quite frankly think they need to change the rules about who gets to be a police officer. There needs to be more psychological screening. They need to have more ethnic studies classes, if I might say. Learn more about other ethnicities, because you have, all too often you have these

young white boys, 19, 20, their testosterone is rolling, and they get agitated next thing you know someone is dead. Too many cities do not have adequate requirements for people to be part of police officers. Now, the other thing that concerns me about this cop city is the agglomeration effects. Again, you get a whole bunch of, especially men, there are very few women, women represent less than 10 percent of any of the protective services, police or fire. You get these guys with their testosterone running, are they reinforcing each other's racist and other attitudes? Who are the instructors here? So you put all this in this place called Cop City, what do you expect to come out? I mean, if you squeeze an orange, you're going to get orange juice. If you squeeze police

culture, you're going to get pigs. Excuse my language. I'm a seven-child. I mean, if you have all these folks on top of each other, what are they going to be dealing with? I'm enormously concerned, and Renita's right. Roland has had several of these people on, and they've been almost obdurate in terms of saying that they refuse to hear the people. Fourteen minutes of testimony, and they don't want to hear it. So that lets you know what kind of elected officials they are, and that lets you know why an objection to Cobb City is a reasonable objection. Like Dr. Malvo was saying, Dr. Dabinga, when we talk about not hearing the people or hearing the people, a lot of people have said that when you look back at this case,

if the community was involved from the beginning to get their input, that that might have made a change. Do you believe that that if they were involved in the beginning, that this might have made a change in the outcome of where it is now? Or ultimately, you know, a lot of people in the community, they just don't want it. Well, I think not with the type of city council that's there. You know, as Representative Shannon was saying and as other guests, as we've seen them on the show, with that type of city council, I don't really feel like the input from the people would have been respected if there was. It would have been superficial at best. And so we've been talking this whole, you know, first hour about the importance of voting,

whether we're talking about school board and so on and so forth, I hope that people, they are really taking note of what this city council has done and other black politicians outside of the city council space, because I believe it has the support of former Mayor Bottoms and other people. And so we really have to be mindful of that. And so the next process as we go on in 2024

is really looking at who's up for office and keeping the record of what they did as it relates to Cop City. And so when I plan to go to copcityvote.com, I believe is the website Ms. Hooks talked about, people should be paying attention to what's happening there. And we also have to be mindful of places like Florida and learn from Florida, because in Florida, we had the situation where the brother, I believe Desmond something, or I forget his last name, you know, fought to get former incarcerated individuals their right to vote back, got the referendum. They won, supposed to get their rights to vote back. And then DeSantis and those Republicans, they're completely undermined and are continually fighting

to make it harder for people who are incarcerated to vote. And so these guys already have a strong infrastructure in place. And so hooks and all of the people out there, they really need our support. They need our resources in any way, shape or form possible. The people have been played. The people have been lied to. And really quite honest, lastly, on Dr. Malvou's point, when she was talking about, you know, possible racist culture. Let's be honest. These racist and white identity extremists

are joining the military and the police so that they can get the training to better oppress Black people. So that can really end up being a training ground for some of these guys. You know, you see them in the pictures with the white power symbols and salutes and all of that. So this could be a breeding ground

for those types of situations as well that will spread all across the country. We have to continually support Hooks and all of those who are out there fighting this. a breeding ground for those types of situations as well that will spread all across the country. We have to continually support hooks and all of those who are out there fighting this. Dr. Dabinga, I want to stay with you because one of the things we haven't discussed is the environmental concerns of this land that at one point was going to be preserved. And another argument that people are making is the argument that this was supposed to be a place where young people could have to their own in order to live freely, right, and breathe clean air and go on open grounds.

And I wanted you to talk about the environmental concerns that many people have about this 90 acres of land? Well, you know, I think part of the problem, it almost feels like, you know, growing up in our communities next to, like, toxic waste dumps and power lines and the effects that it has, but this is kind of a mental, social type of effect. When you look at these lands, you know, these lands that have been, you know, taken by,

that belong to Native people, when people are talking about, you know, the preservation as a reason to preserve land. And across the country, we're seeing in situations like this, that there's not a real care for the land. And I think that's another reason why the people were excluded in the first place. When people talked about the promise of this area and what was possible, and people say, oh, well, you know, our people don't have resources. They're not able to get out. They're not able to do this. They're not able to do that. This was supposed to be that.

This was supposed to be another example of that. But we see when corporate greed comes into play, when police unions come into play, and you mesh that in with politics, it's like land be damned. People don't really care. And so there's a real environmental impact. But just as I was talking about with the telephone polls and other things that gave us a chemical impact, increases in asthma and things like that. There's going to be a social environmental health effect of having these policing communities so close to us. There's going to be a real documentable issue that's going to occur, and we have to be mindful of that as well. Renita, I know that you have seen a lot of events unfold in this way where the people are speaking, protesters take the street, and you've been

in a position, you know, and wielding power to make things happen. What say you about what you think the outcome of this might be so far based upon the protesters, the years they've been involved, and how it's going so far? Well, the protesters and those who are against cop city, including myself, have done a great job in showing up and making their voice heard and coming together with strategy to really try to stop cop city. One of the, unfortunately, one of the things that I do see is similar to what the, from having served on governmental affairs committee at the state level, which deals with election law, I'm very familiar with the curing process in Georgia. And that is the opportunity where Republicans typically would take that as a way to throw out signatures.

And so I'm very concerned that you're going to see Atlanta City officials make sure that those who are comparing signatures will be doing things like using possibly your signature from the DMV, which here in Georgia you're signing an electronic pad to, you know, as your signature from the DMV, which here in Georgia you're signing an electronic pad to, you know, as your signature. And we all know when you sign those electronic pads, that doesn't look like anybody's actual signature. That's right. So if you match that to anything else,

you're going to be able to throw out the signature every single time. And so, you know, I'm very worried about tactics like that that are literally being levied on what is a Democratic voting population by those who are proclaiming to be Democrats. And, you know, not that there hasn't been, this hasn't been talked about from a partisan perspective a lot, but I think this isn't really important because you asked me what do I think the consequences will be? Well, beyond the horrific consequences of building a cop city, both from the criminal legal reform perspective,

as well as the environmental perspective, I actually think that this is going to have far reaching consequences when it even comes to the next presidential election and elections coming for Georgia soon. And the reason I'm going to tell you why, here's the reason. A lot of the folks who are against cop city are those same people who are heavily involved in elections, who are seeing what Democrats are doing, meaning the Atlanta city council who are ramming this down the people's throat. And those are the same people that you're then going to turn around and call on after you have ignored them and you've told them to shut up and you want to move forward with this. You're going to turn around and call on

these same people to get out the vote and these same people to try to make the case for Joe Biden and make the case for why people should come out and vote for Democrats. And so this is as someone who has been an elected official, I never talk about, you know, making anyone feel bad if they did not vote, because I know it's on the elected official to make a person's vote count. And what that means is when you get in office, you need to listen to the people who have put you there. Right. The first thing that you need to be doing. And then second of all, you've got to make people's vote count, which is also by listening to what they ask you to do. And so all of this is in direct contradiction to what you elect people for. You elect people hoping that they will listen to the community and that they will follow

through with what they were, listen to those concerns and follow through with what they were elected for. So I think that this is going to have consequences attached to it that people are not going to see in a very, it's not going to be obvious that there is a connection, but I would bet money that we are going to see problems coming up in the next, you know, think U.S. Senate presidential elections, these same people who you want to get out and turn out the vote, well, you disrespected them and you told them to shut up. And so how do you think that they're

really going to be interested in working for a party that just disregards them when they don't need them? All right. A good takeaway there. Listen to the. 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 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 ban. 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. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tayetherpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. People, that certainly is the whole point when we talk about a democratic process.

You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. And we will be right back after this break. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. Have you ever had that million dollar idea and wondered how you could make it a reality? On the next Get Wealthy, you're going to meet Liska Askalise, the inventress, someone who made her own idea a reality and now is showing others how they can do it too. Positive, focusing in on the thing that you want to do, writing it down and not speaking to naysayers or anybody about your product until you've taken some steps to at least execute. Lease got Ask a Lease on the next Get Wealthy right here, only on Blackstar Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Cox. The United States is the most dangerous place for

a woman to give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet. Think about that for a second. That's not all. Black women are three times more likely to die in this country during childbirth than white women. These health care systems are inherently racist. There are a lot of white supremacist ideas and mythologies around Black women,

Black women's bodies, even Black people that we experience pain less, right? Activist, organizer, and fearless freedom fighter, Monifa Akinwole-Bandele from Moms Rising joins us and tells us this shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted in unadulterated racism. And that's just one of her fights. Monifa Bandile on the next Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Marissa Mitchell, a news anchor at Fox 5 DC. Hey, what's up?

It's Tammy Roman, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are in Maui right now. They are surveying the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that have killed more than 100 people, with more than 850 still missing. Now, the Bidens, they are getting a firsthand look of La Hena, a historic town of 13,000 people virtually destroyed by the flames. They will also meet with first responders. They're being briefed by state and local officials about the ongoing response. Now, joining me now is Angela Villaomez, and he's a senior fellow at the Center of the American Progress, and he's joining me from D.C. to discuss the president's visit and how climate change, of course,

may have played a part in these deadliest U.S. fires in more than a century. Angela, thank you so much for being with us today. Hey, thanks for having me on the show. You know, first of all, it's just so hard to talk about what's taking place in Hawaii. I have friends and loved ones in Lahaina who have lost everything seemingly overnight. And so, you know, my heart goes out to the people who lost their lives, to all the missing and to the people who lost their homes and all of their belongings. Yeah. You know, can you can you take us closer to those people who you're talking about in Lahaina in terms of what they are feeling right now?

What are you hearing in terms of their firsthand stories? And also what you're going through in kind of dealing with this aftermath? I mean, you know, it's simple for me. I mean, I'm thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C., and I'm experiencing it through a TV screen and through a telephone. But for the people on the island, you know, they're experiencing trauma and shock. We've all seen some of these videos of, you know, it looks like a video game. It looks like a nuclear bomb went off and just completely flattened. Houses burned to the ground with only melted steel as the

only thing left. And these were people's homes. My good friend Saul, he grew up on a house in Lahaina. And seven generations of his family has lived there. There were memories. There were belongings. I think, thankfully, nobody was harmed in his particular case. But it's just a tremendous loss and trauma that they're all experiencing right now. What is your take about the climate change? This is certainly on everybody's tongue. How and what role did climate change play in all of this?

And for someone who's really been close to the pulse of this, what would you share with someone about how climate change perhaps did play a role in this? Yeah, I mean, like, man, it's hard. Now is the time to actually talk about climate change in difficult times like this, even though folks are dealing with trauma. You know, I can give you sort of the scientific reasons. This was the driest part of the year, and even though it's normally dry this time of year, but climate change has warmed the ocean, it's warmed our atmosphere, and they were actually experiencing a drought. So it was more dry than normal. There was also a typhoon passing south of the island. And there were 80 mile per hour winds that were just, you know, whipping down the island, whipping over these hills and these grassy things. And then just kind of maybe the third thing, I would like to call it colonialism. colonialism, but the way that the modern world has changed the actual land in Hawaii from bringing in invasive species to changing the hydrology, diverting water away from rivers and streams and towards agriculture, it was just this big mix that when you added it all

together where you have dry conditions, you have these 80 mile per hour winds, and you have this invasive grass, you know, it just lit a match and just burned right across the island. You know, and it's, climate is more of a, it's data. You know, the way you understand climate change is not by putting your hand out the window and seeing whether or not it's raining or telling what the temperature is. It's long-term data. But man, we're seeing this all over the world right now. We're seeing natural disasters, not just in Hawaii. You know, here in Washington, D.C., the sky is hazy today because there's fires in Canada that are blowing over Washington, D.C. And, you know, a hurricane just hit Southern California for the first time in 100

years. Hillary. I was, you know, scrolling through Twitter and there's a picture of Dodger Stadium and it's completely flooded. And like we're just experiencing nature and weather that just isn't supposed to happen. It's just it's more extreme. Things are happening in places where it's not supposed to happen. And, you know, flashing red lights. All of the evidence is pointing towards climate change. Yeah. You know, it is like walking into a movie every day. You turn on the TV, see what part of Revelations we are in. You know, Joe Biden, the president and his wife, they are now, as we know, they are making their way through the destroyed area. What are your hopes about what they say? Certainly, we want them to talk about climate

change. There was certainly a lot of criticism about perhaps how long it took him to even get to Hawaii. But what are some things that he could say that you think would be or make a good outcome for what people are experiencing on the ground? Because they need help. Yeah, I mean, on the ground, I think right now people just need to know that we love them and that help is on the way. And everything I've seen is that help is on the way. And it's important to remember that this is gonna be a long journey for folks. The most important thing right now is we've gotta get baby formula and diapers and blankets and clothes

and to get people housed. They're still looking for 850 missing people. So the recovery is still happening. But the Red Cross is doing work, getting money to the front lines, and I've seen communities are coming together. My friend has Venmo, so we're organizing our communities on the mainland,

sending money to the islands so that they can meet their immediate needs, which is food, diapers, shelter. But they're going to be in this for the long run, though. Once the recovery actually begins, you know, we're going to have to start sending them plywood and nails and the rebuilding is going to have to happen. But for me, the saddest part for a lot of this is just the loss of your life. I mean, like, I've got a couple of baseball hats behind me.

I like my stuff and I, you know, I assign, I assign meaning to my belongings. Um, and for folks who have just lost everything overnight, it's just a truly devastating thing. Um, and so, you know, I, I encourage people to help as they can, um, and to keep that, that, that drum beat of empathy going, not just for the next couple of days, but for the weeks and months ahead, years. Yeah, because this certainly is going to be a long journey. And you mentioned the building up, and this is something that you know of in terms of the building process, in types of acts that have happened. How would you compare what we are seeing right now? Because it just looks so tremendous and overwhelming, even when I think of some of the other storms and natural disasters that have happened.

Yeah, well, I'm from an island called Saipan. It's a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific. In the last couple of years, we've been hit by a couple of typhoons. And, you know, a couple of years ago, Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria. I understand this is actually the worst wildfire in United States history. More people have died, or at least in the last hundred years. So this one is truly horrific. But what we're seeing with climate change is that it feels like every six months we're experiencing the worst hurricane, the worst wildfire.

It's just happening in different places. And all of these communities are being affected. And in my community back in Saipan, it literally takes years to recover from this kind of stuff. And a lot of the folks who are the most affected by these wildfires, by these hurricanes, by these typhoons are not the people who caused it. And they're often the people who are least able to afford it. You know, the areas that flood tend to be the areas where poor folk live. The areas that have the hardest time getting federal funds tend to be, you know, poor communities, Black communities, Hispanic communities, Indigenous communities.

You know, I want to jump in, Angelo, right here, because I understand that we do have some sound. The president has spoken, and we're going to go to that right now. 114 dead, hundreds of people unaccounted for. I remember when I got the call, my first wife and daughter. I was a young senator, and I got a call in Washington. I hadn't been sworn in yet. I wasn't old enough. And I was hiring staff in the Capitol at Teddy Kennedy's office. And I got a phone call saying from my fire department,

and a young first responder kind of panting, you got to come home. There's been an accident. I said, what happened? He said, your wife, she's dead. Come home. Come home. The tractor trailer had broadsided her and killed her in a car accident along

with my little daughter. And I remember all the way down from Washington home wondering what a lot of people here are wondering. What about my two boys? How are they? They were in the car. I never got a read on that. Were they going to be all right? They were badly injured. Were they going to make it? Had they made it? Until I walked into the emergency room and I saw that they were there. The difference between knowing somebody's gone and worrying whether they're available to come back are two different things. You know, and I remember one of the people who helped me the most was Danny Inouye. He helped bring me back.

So I know the feeling that many of the people in this town, this community, that hollow feeling you have in your chest like you're being sucked into a black hole, wondering will I ever get by this. You know, it's one thing to know, but it's quite another thing to have to wait to wonder whether your family member is going to be okay. All right, and that was President Biden, and he was really trying to make a connection with those who he was speaking to, the loss that he experienced in his own personal life and the loss that so many families are going through right now. They have bodies that have not even been identified, Angelo,

and we certainly know that that's going to be a process. Or they have bodies that have been identified, but they have to contact the families in order to bring closure to that process. Just your reflection about Joe Biden and his ability to reach the audience by really showing some not only sympathy, but empathy, because he's gone through some of the same emotions.

I do. I really feel for the folks in Hawaii. It's such a difficult time for them to be going through. And so I guess all we can ask is to keep up that drumbeat of empathy and continue to send them our help and our love and our aloha, as they would say. All right, Angelo. Well, I want to thank you so much for being with us and really shedding some light, not only on the climate change and what the effects that that has had and what we need to really keep our eyes on, but also some of the personal things that you are going through, even from thousands of miles away. Thank you for bringing that home. Very good to see you tonight. All right. Thanks for bringing attention to this story.

All right. Absolutely. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, and we'll be right back after this. Hatred on 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 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 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-stud 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. 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 podcast. I always had to be so good. No one could ignore me, carve my path with data and drive,

but some people only see who I am on paper, the paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. White people are losing their damn lives.

There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. The shooting of Megan Thee Stallion and the subsequent trial of Tory Lanez. Megan has been treated like the villain. The experience that Megan went through is something that all black women face when we are affected by violence. This is something that's called massage noir. There's a long history of characterizing black women as inherently bad in order to justify

our place in this society. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. Hi, everybody. I'm Kim Coles. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. Yo, it's your man, Deon Cole from Black-ish, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right. I just want to talk briefly about President Biden and his wife and their trip down to Hawaii. I want to start with you, Dr. Malveaux. What is your sense in terms of what the president needs to do in order to make sure that not only he does what he needs to do in terms of helping the people, but this is also he is campaigning, right? He has to do the right thing

and get this right. He's absolutely got to get it right. And from what I understand, people in Hawaii are not real pleased that it's taken him so long to come out. He usually is very good about empathy. And I think his statement there was good. Not the best that I've ever seen from him, but good. He basically did, you know, tried to make the parallel between what he went through and what people are going through now in Hawaii with their missing relatives. But from my perspective as an economist, it would have been more effective had he talked about some repair. What are we going to do about this? How much money are we going to put on the table?

There's especially something going on there now. I think they're calling it, I forget the word they're using, some kind of capitalism, but where developers are coming and offering people pitifully little. Yes, for their land. So that they can then come and take their property. I don't know that a law can be passed. Renita is better at laws than I am. I don't know that a law can be passed. Renita is better at laws than I am. I don't know that a law can be passed to prevent this,

but there has to be a way to protect these people, perhaps to put a freeze on any kind of land transfers or something like that. And this has been, people have been talking about it since the fire, and so the president would have made a lot of points if he had addressed this because it's happening, and people know that it's happening. So I think that what he has to do, he has to bring some dollars. He has to, I know FEMA has already been there. That's

good. That's very high profile that talks about making this community whole and that talks about preventing them from predatory capitalism and exploitation. Yes. And they did the same thing in Katrina in terms of the aftermath and taking advantage of people in vulnerable positions. And you also mentioned FEMA. We know that the president, his intentions were to assign someone to take over and overlook the aftermath of that because there's so much, so many moving parts going on there. I did want to talk to you, Renita, when we talk about being an elected official in a position, because we have seen this before, vulnerable people being taken advantage of. What does what does one do? What does a mayor, a legislator, a president do in this situation to make sure that people are not being taken advantage of? Dr. Malveaux and I are sharing a brain on this because my mind went to the same thing about how President Biden needs to be there, making sure that he is backing local elected officials and saying himself that he will make sure that the

people who actually live there are protected and are given space to be able to rebuild and keep ownership of their properties. And so what that looks like is making sure that land transfers cannot happen. It looks like getting rid of the barriers to rebuild for everyday folks. So whether that is tax exemptions that can only be given out to people who are going to use the home as a homestead, like you would regularly see like a homestead exemption, there are a lot of tools that local government, and we're thinking about the city elected officials as well as county officials,

can, a lot of tools that they have and can use that need to be financially backed to make sure that real estate vultures do not come in and turn Maui into a place that's unrecognizable than what it was before the wildfires. So there are definitely tools that are there. And especially in campaign season, Democrats, you know, even out of campaign season, everybody knows my values, but this is a great opportunity for the Biden administration to say, we stand with everyday working folks. We are not here for the elite. We are not here for the rich and we have your back. It's a perfect opportunity. All right. And in all fairness, that was a soundbite taken out of, you know, a whole of what he said.

And we might have some more sound later. Dr. Dabing, I want to just give you the last word on this before we move on to an update on the Tyree Nichols officer trial. Want to wrap this up for us? I believe that there needs to be more accountability from the top to bottom. Everything that we are saying as relates to President Biden, I agree with. I think in terms of where he when he showed up, there's always a debate, however, about whether they take up a lot of resources when the president shows. So it's never really the right time. But you also have to look at the governor and what he's doing as it relates to what's happening there. I also saw that the emergency management administrator, who people say would be responsible for the siren system, resigned because of health reasons. But I think that's really problematic that he could just leave like that. Now, he was

saying that one of the reasons he didn't get the siren system going because it could have caused people to run towards the fire, but whatever. We need more accountability from top to bottom in the situation because so many people were let down. When you look at these pictures and videos, people are not just walking over cars and burned buildings. They're walking over bodies that were burned beyond recognition. And then lastly, we have to talk about the traditional, all of the monuments, all of the things that represent their traditional culture that are just gone as well, that what are people going to just buy and put a Starbucks over it? So, you know, more needs to be done to support the people, more needs to be done to support the maintaining of the culture, and

there needs to be more accountability from top to bottom. All right, well, certainly we're going to be covering that as everything unfolds. Moving on to Memphis, three former Memphis police officers charged with Tyree Nichols' death want to separate their trials. Now, these officers are really making their stand, and here's some sound about the latest on that. All right, no sound there, but to Darius Bean, Desmond Mills, and Justin Smith requested to have separate trials ahead of a hearing on September 15th for the death of Nichols Mills. He was not president at the time of the beating that led to Nicholas's death. He says that a joint trial would have him on the stand for crimes he was not involved in.

They will each face Judge James Jones Jr. in individual cases if their request is approved. All five of the law enforcement officers pleaded not guilty, and all of them were fired for the extreme and gross mishandling of the situation. No evidence has been released publicly as to why Nichols was stopped in the first place. A lot going on here, Dr. Malveaux.

I mean, we have these officers who are talking about separating the case. They're concerned that they are affiliated with the other officers. What are your thoughts about their request? Well, they acted in concert and they should be tried in concert. That's my opinion.

I mean, it is to some of their advantages to say, let's sever this. But the fact is that severing it is very expensive for the state, and we'll have the same evidence coming up again and again and again. I think they reinforce each other. When you look at that tape, first of all, there was no reason. We still don't have a reason why the brother was stopped. No one has yet identified why the brother was stopped. That's number one. Number two, I mean, he clearly co-operated, he did run, but who wouldn't run after what had happened with him? And then they, look at that brutality.

And so I believe they acted in concert. You don't see anybody, as with the George Floyd case, there was one police officer who seemed to stand back. He was a rookie, and he seemed to stand back. You don't see anybody kind of standing back. You see, they're all in it. But, you know, I'm not a lawyer, and the lawyers are going to do what's most advantageous for their clients. I want justice for this young man who was brutally murdered on the street for no reason. Dr. Dabinga, what do you think about this request to separate this because they think that they have different levels of accountability? Ultimately, we have somebody who died here. Where would that accountability fall if they separated this?

You know, at first I was thinking that, okay, people are entitled to do that, you know, it's their right. But what Dr. Malvo said, you know, really did change my mind. You know, they acted together and they should really go down together. They should all be going on trial together. And I know that when we talk about police brutality and the like, you know, we talk about how it's not black versus white, it's black versus blue. And, you know, and it's represented by this. But to see these five black men and, you know, what they did to another black man, it just it's always going to be something that just sticks me, you know, in my heart in a particular way. And everybody's, you know, entitled to due process. But we also have to be mindful of the fact that they have had a pattern of this,

which is why that whatever that unit was called, I forget what the name was, it was disbanded shortly after this video became public. And so these guys had a history of doing this work, of doing these practices and terrorizing the community. And really, at the end of the day, they are going to hopefully get what they deserve because they took another man's life for, as Dr. Malveaux said, we still don't know why. But there's nothing that Nichols could have done to justify him not being here today. We talk about these officers acting in concert, Renita. Is this something that I would imagine you would say they need to be tried together?

Or when we look at the legal system and one's level of accountability, this is why we have first and second degree murder, for example, different levels of accountability as well as intent. What makes sense to you here? I agree with the other panelists. I hope that they are all tried together because they're saying that they don't want to be tried for another person's crimes. But what you don't see is any of them rushing to stop the other officers from committing any of these crimes against Tyree Nichols, which ultimately ended up in his death. I mean, the five of them disgust me. I wish nothing but the worst for them. And I think that this situation just really makes the case as to why so many people like myself say it's not about the training, because you do not need

training to know that it is not appropriate to hold a man's arms behind his back while another officer runs up and kicks him. That is just common sense. That has nothing to do with training. And that is why so many people are fed up, as we just talked about with the Cop City referendum, with governments and elected officials continuing to spend all of communities resources and more and more money on what is not a training problem. Training and accountability. That seems to be a theme throughout this evening show. Listen, Roland Martin, we'll be right back. We'll continue these conversations right here on the Black Star Network. network.

When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us.

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Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, summer is flying by and back to school is just around the corner and fall is here. That's right. A new season is upon us. On our next show, we talk about jumping into action and putting procrastination in the rearview mirror. That's on a next A Balanced Life with Dr.

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. Ad-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. 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. 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. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree.

It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Jackie here on Blackstar Network. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from LA. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation.

You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. Trinity Wallington has not been seen since June 7, 2023.

The 17-year-old Boise, Idaho native is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. Trinity has multiple piercings in her ears, tongue, nose, and in one eyebrow and under her left eyebrow. Trinity also has tattoos on her arms, legs, and one finger. Anyone with information about Trinity Wallington is urged to call the Boise, Idaho Police Department at 208-377-6790. All right, in other news, the owner of a California clothing store is shot and killed for displaying a pride flag. Lauren Ann Carlton, the owner of Magpie, was harassed by a man who disparaged the flag before fatally shooting her. Authorities have not released the suspect's identity and are searching for him. Witnesses reported seeing a man arguing with Carlton

before firing multiple shots and fleeing the scene. Carlton did not identify as LGBTQ, but her display of the pride flag demonstrated her support for the community. Lake Arrowhead LGBT community members praised Carlton's advocacy efforts for the community. Uh, Lake Arrowhead, LGBT community members praised Carlton's advocacy efforts for the community, saying that she will be genuinely missed. On to other news in New Jersey.

A New Jersey jury indicts a Virginia man for the murder of a Black Republican councilwoman. Rasheed Ali Bynum is facing multiple charges, including first-degree murder and the February 1st killing of Eunice Drumfore. She was found shot multiple times in her car at her town house. The indictment did not come with any explanation as to why Bynum allegedly killed Drumfore. She was elected Saraville's first Black female councilwoman in 2021. A convicted Proud Boy is missing days before his January 6th sentencing. The FBI is on a hunt for Christopher Worrell, who was said to be sentenced in a D.C. federal court for seven charges related to the Capitol assault and was under house

arrest in Florida. He is now the subject of a federal arrest warrant for violating the conditions of his release. Now, prosecutors are seeking a 14-year sentence for Worrell. His attorneys have declined to comment on his whereabouts, but the public is urged to contact the FBI, the nearest American embassy, or the consulate if they have information about Worrell's location. Starbucks must pay an additional millions to a former white manager in a discrimination lawsuit. Former white regional manager Shannon Phillips just won another $2.7 million for lost compensation in taxes. In June, a jury awarded Phillips over $25 million in damages for claims that she and other employees were unfairly punished for their response to the arrest of two black men

at a Philadelphia location in 2018. Now, remember back in 2018, it was April, when these two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks for sitting in the store without ordering anything, sparking a national outrage? Well, Phillips was not involved in these arrests, but her lawsuit claimed she was ordered to place a white manager on administrative leave. Then after she refused, she says she was fired. Starbucks, however, maintained Phillips was fired due to the need for stronger leadership following the arrest. Starbucks is seeking a new trial, challenging the jury selection process and the damages award.

Dancers for Lizzo. They are standing by Grammy winner Lizzo because of the accusations of the three other former backup dancers. Now, these dancers showcased their unwavering support for the singer and expressed deep gratitude for being able to join Lizl on this special tour. They described the experience as an honor to share the stage with such an exceptional talent. And in a statement they say, "'We have had time, the time of our lives,

"'this special tour that we have been on. "'We've been so honored to share the stage with such an amazing talent. This tour experience has been beyond just hashtag special. The commitment to character and culture, taking precedence over every movement and moment has been one of the greatest lessons and blessings that we could ask for. Thank you, Lizzo, for shattering limitations and kicking in the doorway for the big girl and big boy dancers to do what we love. You have created a platform. We

have been able to parallel our passion with purpose, not only for us, but for women and all people breaking barriers. We've been traveling and exploring new horizons in the world, so many advantages to prevailing over hardships that society and the entertainment industry and beauty industry can bring. We are so, so grateful that the standards and the existence of beauty in this team goes beyond the surface. Our collective gifts have authentically powered

the type of energy, love, and support that psychologically can help heal the world. We are a unit of unicorns, undeniably resilient, and this statement comes after three former backup dancers allege numerous instances of sexual harassment, false imprisonment, and hostile work environment. Lizzo denies the allegations, of course, and she says that the former employees admitted to inappropriate and unprofessional behavior on the tour. That certainly is quite a bit

of support for Lizzo. Now, 13 years after Michael Jackson's death, two sexual abuse lawsuits are revived by a California court of appeals. A recent change in California's law broadening the scope of the alleged abuse revives Wade Robson and James Safechuck's sexual abuse lawsuits against Jackson-owned corporations MJJ Productions, Inc. and MJJ Ventures, Inc. for failing to protect them. Robson and Safechuck, whose lawsuits gained international attention in the 2019 HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, alleged that Jackson sexually abused them for years as children.

The appeals court found that, quote, a corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because of the perpetrator, merely because the perpetrator of the abuse solely owns it. The court's decision paves the way for the trial on merits of the allegation. All right, you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We're going to be right back after a break. 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. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. 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-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.

I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperSealing.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be replaced. White people are losing their damn minds. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. The shooting of Megan Thee Stallion and the subsequent trial of Tory Lanez. Megan has been treated like the villain. The experience that Megan went through is something that all Black women face when we are affected by violence. This is something that's called massage noir.

There's a long history of characterizing Black women as inherently bad in order to justify our place in this society. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. Hi, my name is Brady Riggs. I'm from Houston, Texas. My name is Sharon Williams. I'm from Dallas, Texas. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me?

All right. Well, kids are returning to school, and of course, parents want to be sure that their children have everything they need to be successful in the classroom. Well, one in four children has an undiagnosed vision problem, and experts estimate roughly 80% of what a child learns in school is information presented visually. So visual problems are often confused as laziness or learning disability or even ADHD.

It's National Children's Vision and Learning Month and joining us from D.C. to discuss the intimate relationship between vision and learning is pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Janice Smith Marshall. As you see, I'm having problems reading because of my contact lenses. It is so good to have you here today. You know, I think what's really interesting is that many children can actually have 20-20 vision and parents will walk out of the doctor's office and think that everything is okay, but it actually could translate still into problems even if you come up with up with a 2020 result. How is that possible?

So there are a couple of things that go into good vision. Of course, your visual acuity, which is whether you're a 2020 or 2040, 2030, but also your ability to use your eyes together and your ability to focus your eyes, which means that you can change your focus from distance to near. And if those things are not working properly, then you can certainly end up having vision problems, even though your distance vision Distance vision is recorded as 20-20. Wow. So what is the proper test that one should have? I mean, we know about the test and you cover one eye and you see if you're nearsighted or if you're farsighted. But what's the difference when you're talking about a child who's going through that process? And what should parents be aware of to make sure that they're getting to properly assess their children? So the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends yearly vision screenings in the pediatric home,

which is with the pediatrician or the family practice doctor who normally sees children. So typically at their yearly exams, children are going to be checked by the doctor who knows them the best. Many pediatricians and family practitioners have vision screening devices that have been validated through randomized controlled studies. And they'll also do visual inspection of the eye to ensure that the eyes are nicely aligned, that they're moving normally, and that the eyes are healthy. Now, when it comes to symptoms, I know when I was growing up, as I said, I wear contacts, I would be so close to that TV. You couldn't tell me I wasn't on TV at that point. I was so close. So obviously my parents recognized that there was a need, that I needed glasses. What are some of the other symptoms? Because I mean, when there's a real strain, kids can get headaches, for example.

But what are some of the things that one should look for in So oftentimes kids will be squinting. They'll also tilt or turn their head when they're trying to focus. They can rub their eyes. They can have tearing. They can complain that their head hurts or their eye hurts, especially when doing visual types of tasks. You'll notice, like you were saying, that they get close to the TV, hold the tablet close, or hold different reading material close. And in general, if there's anything that seems off with their vision, the parent should discuss with the pediatrician who will refer for an eye exam if it's indicated. I would imagine, because you mentioned tablet, and when we talk about computers, we talk about phones and handhelds, I would imagine that there is some real 2023 advice

about what children and parents should be doing when it comes to how you hold a phone. How long should you have a phone before it really is detrimental? You know, you're going to bed with your phone, you're waking up with it. What's the word of caution or advice or rules that one should follow in terms of a young child, especially whose eyes are developing and how long they should really be on the phone and during what parts of the day? Yeah, so there really is an epidemic of nearsightedness worldwide, and it's because kids are spending more time inside, less time outside. So in general, we should recommend that kids put down their devices,

go outside and play at least an hour to two hours a day when the weather is nice. In terms of the devices, there's kind of controversial evidence as to whether using devices is something that causes nearsightedness to progress more quickly. We do know that kids who spend more time on devices spend more time inside, and there's definite evidence that being inside for most of the day increases nearsighted progression. We also do know that using tablets, using technology increases significantly eye strain and headache. And so we recommend what's called the 20-20-20 rule. So every 20 minutes, close eyes for 20 seconds, and then refocus about 20 feet away. So at the end of the room, out the window, down the hall, that's going to break that stare that kids get into,

that where they lock their focus in, which can really significantly increase eye strain. I like that. 20-20-20 rule. I'm sure a lot of people are writing that down. Listen, two of our panelists have glasses. I'm going to start with one of them. Dr. Malveaux, what's a question that you have for Dr. Smith this evening about eyesight, the importance, and how to make sure that children don't fall prey to the wrong diagnosis? First of all, Doc, thanks a lot for sharing. I've been wearing glasses since I was three years old. There you go. I read glasses stories. One time I hit this dude upside the head with my book bag that had the glasses in it because I was trying to be cute,

and then the glasses broke. So my mother made me wear glasses with tape on them until, I guess, I redeemed myself. I don't know. But we require young people to have tests, you know, allergy tests. We require them to have vaccinations. From a public policy perspective, I mean, we know if we're looking at the lower end of the income distribution, a lot of parents are not, you know, going to go to an ophthalmologist unless they're absolutely forced to. Does it make sense from a policy perspective to require an eye exam before young people come back to school? So, like I said, American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend yearly vision screenings within the pediatric home.

And so it's not necessary to require an eye exam per se, but all kids should be screened multiple times before the entrance of school. And then either once a year or every other year during the school age years, depending on how the vision screening the year before went. All right, Dr. Dubingo, what's the question that you have for Dr. Smith? So I'm thinking about schools, Dr. Smith, and discipline and other issues that occur in school and how some schools who wanted to get rid of the stigma of children on free lunch just made free lunch available to everybody. I'm thinking of the discipline issues that arise from the behavior that can come that

you've been talking about. What should schools be doing as it relates to making sure that kids are getting these types of eye exams so teachers can know that they may not be acting up, quote unquote, is more likely to get kicked out of class, but they have the tools to actually get them to help as well. Yeah, so actually, we work closely with school nurses to ensure that they have the tools that they need to also do vision screenings. And you're correct, children who are unable to see have a decreased attention span in the classroom. And when you have a decreased attention span in the classroom, of course, that can lead to behavioral difficulties and difficulty with doing your work and learning. Renita, another glassware question for the doctor. Yes. Two questions. Number one, what age should children formally have an eye exam? And then the

second question is, what resources are available for families who may not be able to pay to have an eye exam? Because we know that when families are struggling to make ends meet, anything that's not emergency care is probably just going to not get done. So that's dental work, eye exams, and things like that. So what resources are available for those families? And also, when does it need to start for children? Yeah, so like I said, we do recommend eye screening yearly with the pediatrician. They're actually doing it multiple times a year if they're following standard of care with the regular eye exams, so multiple times in infancy and then at least once a year or once every other year. Most states will cover vision screening for pediatricians and that's, you know, with private health insurance as well as Medicaid.

There are some states where Medicaid doesn't cover it and states, it can be a little bit more difficult. We do recommend a complete eye exam for kids who are unable to be screened, kids who have a history of prematurity, developmental delay, children who have autism, who may not be able to complete a screening with the pediatrician. When it comes to schools, what is their responsibility in terms of where eye examinations fall and the requirement of schools? Let's say somebody gets a diagnosis for ADHD. Is there a checkbox there that says, hey, has this child's eyes been checked? Is it that simple in terms of how it's integrated into a child's needs in terms of

how they should be met in school? Unfortunately, I think this is something that is left up to the school districts. Typically, most for students who have known eye issues, and then their IEP will have specific recommendations in terms of their vision. However, oftentimes the resources of school systems can be stretched very, very thin. And your organization specifically, I know that this is a month that you have been focusing on in terms of spreading this type of information. But what do you do as a whole? Because this is really important information because a lot of young people have problems with their eyes. And it's one of those things that we kind of take for granted. We don't think of that at first when we talk about someone's behavior inside of the classroom? Yeah, so the American Academy of Pediatric and

Ophthalmology is a group of pediatric ophthalmologists, which is a national organization. We work with the American Academy of Ophthalmology, which includes ophthalmologists of all specialties, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics to ensure that vision screening is done on a regular basis in the medical home and that patients who need to be referred are able to be referred promptly. There are also programs from the American Academy of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, as well as the American Academy of Ophthalmology, where if patients are uninsured, they can get free eye exams. All right. And as we close, I have one more question, and that is this. You know, Dr. Malbeau talked about she was three years old and she had little glasses on her face. What about a baby who we, I will see a baby

that has glasses, who's unable to express whether or not they have a headache or whether they're dizzy or, you know, they can't express themselves. How does one know with a small child if they actually need glasses? Yeah, so refractive error has to do actually with the shape of the eyes. So when you're nearsighted or you have astigmatism or you're farsighted, it means that the shape of the eye is a little bit abnormal. So farsightedness means your eyes are smaller than they should be. Nearsightedness means your eyes are longer

than they should be. And astigmatism mean there's a curvature so that your eye, instead of being shaped like a sphere, shaped more like an egg. So we're able to, without the child being able to tell us, measure how the light is reflecting off of the back of the eye to accurately measure the focus. All right. That is some great information, Dr. Smith. I want to thank you so much for being with us today and letting us know what we can do for our children to make sure that their needs when it comes to vision are met, especially when they are inside of the classroom.

Good to see you. I also want to thank Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Dr. Dabinga, excuse me, and also Renita for being with us today. And I also want to thank all of you for watching us here on Roland Martin. I will be back tomorrow filling in for Roland, Renita for being with us today. And I also want to thank all of you for watching us here on Roland Martin. I will be back tomorrow filling in for Roland.

So I will see you next time. Goodbye. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told.

I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay black. 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 media and be scared it's time to be smart

bring your eyeballs home you dig pull up a chair take your seat the black tape with me dr greg carr here on the black star network every week we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering in the weight and pressure of the world that's consistently on your shoulders? Let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie.

We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives, and we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network.

I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you what you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Blackstar Network. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.