#RolandMartinUnfiltered - GA Voting Groups warn Biden-Harris; 2 Black NC men killed; Remembering Guinier, Mtume, Simon, Craig

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

1.10.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: GA Voting Groups warn Biden-Harris; 2 Black NC men murdered; Remembering Guinier, Mtume, Simon, CraigPresident Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be heading to Georgia to speak on voting rights. Several voting rights organizations say the time for speeches is over. It's time to pass voting rights legislation. Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter, Cliff Albright, explains why the Coalition of Georgia Advocates is fed up with the pandering.Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death, and shedding those pounds could lessen your chance of dying from Covid. We have an expert who will break down a study that finds found people with obesity are 46-percent more at risk of getting the virus.Two black men are dead in North Carolina. One is shot dead in the middle of traffic by a white man, the other by a white off-duty police officer.  We'll tell you the details of both.Plus, a white teacher in Kentucky is fired for racially insensitive comments to a black student.  And we'll have some civil rights giants to pay tribute to Lani Guinier. We'll be joined by some musical icons and the daughters of James Mtume, Ife and Benin.  We are also paying tribute to one of the founding members of Parliament-Funkadelic, Calvin Simon, and film producer Carl Craig.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partners: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Să ne urmăm. Today is Monday, January 10th, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Voting rights activists say, we're good. We're not going to be attending the speeches of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris tomorrow in Georgia, dealing with voting rights. They say, no concrete plan, we're not wasting our time. We'll be joined by Cliff Albright,

co-founder of Black Voters Matter. We'll also talk with Joe Madison, Sirius XM radio show host, now on the 65th day of his hunger strike, focused on passing voting rights legislation in Congress. Obesity is the second leading day of his hunger strike, focused on passing voting rights legislation in Congress. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death, and shedding those pounds could lessen your chance of dying from COVID.

We'll have a talk with an expert about this very issue. Also, two black men are dead in North Carolina. One is shot dead in the middle of traffic by a white man, the other by a white off-duty police officer. We'll tell you the details of both. Plus a white teacher in Kentucky's fired for racially insensitive comments to a black student. Alright folks, also we'll pay tribute to two titans,

one in civil rights and one in music. Lonnie Guineer passed away over the weekend on Friday. We'll be talking with several lawyers including one of her former students, about her impact, and James Tumay. Of course, the musical giant passed away as well. We'll chat with two of his daughters, as well as Michael Bearden, who is,

he said James was a huge influence on his career. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's Roland. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. Yeah. Yeah. Sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling Yeah With Uncle Roro, yo Yeah

It's rolling Martin Yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah He's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's rolling, Martin Martin Voting rights groups are making it perfectly clear

to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris don't come to Atlanta tomorrow without a plan. The president and the vice president, they're going to be in Georgia tomorrow to speak on the campus, first of all, in Atlanta about the importance of voting rights. Well, President Biden has done that before. Vice President Kamala Harris has done that before. But the question is, what is the plan to get the Senate to move to end the filibuster

to pass these two bills? The House has already done their part. They have passed the For the People Act. But the Senate has not taken any action whatsoever. Let's go to Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, who joins us right now.

We're also joined by SiriusXM radio show host Joe Madison, who is on day 65 of his hunger strike, which he started in order to move the folks in Congress to act on voting rights. All right, Cliff, I want to start with you. So White House is making a big deal out of this speech tomorrow. The president and the vice president, it's very rare that they travel out of time together if it's not the conventions. And so it's very rare they're in the same place

at the same time. But they're going to be in Atlanta on the campus of the Atlanta University system, first of all, Morehouse campuses as well, to talk about voting rights. You and others say we can skip it because no plan, it's just more talk.

Yeah, Roland, exactly right. And first of all, let me say two things. First, let me say congratulations to you on a new studio. Absolutely amazing. And second, let me just say hello and I'll just give my thanks to Joe Madison who continues to be an inspiration with the hunger strike that he's been on.

Yeah, you know, we put out a statement. We just did a presser just about within the past hour or so just telling people that, no, Georgia groups, we were saying there's no need for you to come if all you're going to do is just say the same old thing that you've been saying, talking about how important voting rights is without actually having either a plan or a clear message, a strong message, calling for modification of the filibuster. He has not done that yet. He said that he could be open to it, that he could support it if it's necessary, and all this other conditional stuff. And so at bare minimum, what he would need to do would be to do a strong, unequivocal call for modifying the filibuster. That's what we've been asking him to do literally for eight months now. That's the bare minimum. But more importantly, what we're saying is unless you've really got a plan or making an announcement, like what we would prefer would be if you're going to come to Georgia,

let it be because you're coming telling to us that you've worked out the deal already with Manchin and Sinema. That would be worth a visit. But otherwise, he could deliver this speech in D.C. In fact, what he could have done is he could have gone to the Senate the same way he went to the House telling them to pass infrastructure last month. He could have gone to the Senate and delivered a speech there and got them to actually vote on it, because then they could have taken a vote while they're in D.C. But guess what? Because they're coming to Atlanta and bringing some other senators with them, in addition to our home state senators, guess what? That means they can't even vote on whatever they were already going to vote on in order to move this forward.

So we're actually literally losing a day of action because he's doing this speech. And so he's got to have a strong message tomorrow, but we won't be attending. We'll be coming together and doing a press conference after the speech to talk about the substance of the speech. And hopefully there'll be something substantive that we can talk about, but we don't see a need to attend because at the end of the day, they keep trying to test us to see if we'll show up for them. And we can't keep showing up for stuff until they deliver the same way we can't just continue to show up in these midterm elections under this notion that we're just going to out organize the voter suppression. So we want to hear what he has to say first before we decide on what

it is we're going to show up to next. Well, Joe, many people say to use the bully pulpit of the White House. Isn't tomorrow tomorrow speeches by the president and the vice president doing that very same thing? No. And I'll tell you why. And let's be real. And let's also understand the division of power. The president of the United States does not have a vote. There are two obstructionists, and that is Sinema and Manchin. There's no ifs, ands, buts about it. I absolutely agree with the strategy that I just heard. I'm not going to get off my hunger strike until this bill is signed,

sealed, and delivered. So I issued a statement today. I want a—I'm hoping that there will be a clarion call to tell these two senators to do what they did just a couple of weeks ago when they carved out the filibuster to raise or to pay the debt ceiling. Look, people, please understand, the filibuster has been adjusted, carved out more than a Thanksgiving turkey 169 times since 1960. And it is almost an insult to sit here and say, well, I can carve it out to get a Supreme Court justice confirmed. I can carve it out for 160 other issues. But when it comes to protecting the vote, I've got issues. And I've said to the senators directly and to the majority leader directly that I don't know if you're talking to consultants. I don't know who you're talking to. But you better go into the beauty shops and barbershops and listen to Roland's show and listen to my show and listen to people, because if you don't do this, if you don't pass this bill, you're going to lose the

midterm election in the House. You're going to lose the midterm election in the Senate. And you sure as hell won't win reelection. And it's not that we'll go vote for Trump. We just won't go vote. And that is what's being said, Roland, across the board. I don't care if you're a Morehouse Spelman grad or if you're out there working a construction site. This is what is being said in our community across the board. Cliff, the point that Joe just made, I've said the exact same thing to White House officials. Y'all have said the exact same thing you said earlier. Look, we can't out-organize voter suppression. Literally, the White House officials have actually said that,

you know, thinking that can actually happen. Do they have any idea of what the hell is actually happening out here? I don't think so, you know, and I think part of it is a result of when you've got this notion of American exceptionalism, you know, when you've got this notion of, you know, the good old days, this nostalgia for the way the country used to be or the way that the Senate used to operate before Trump as if he was the only problem, right? When you've got that kind of nostalgia and a misunderstanding, I've said it before, Joe Biden likes to talk about saving the

soul of America. You can't save the soul of America if you are unclear about how infected that soul has become. And if you're unclear about the origins of the infection, then you can't save the soul of America. And so I think that there's a lot of confusion around this that keeps him from coming up with strategies that will be effective. You know, to your point earlier about the bully pulpit, we are all in favor of using the bully pulpit. In fact, part of what we have argued over the past eight months is that he could have been using the bully pulpit for voting rights this entire time. He could have done a whole tour across the country doing a whole series of voting rights speeches in places like Arizona and West Virginia, but also in historic places like Alabama and Mississippi. He could have used that bully pulpit all throughout this

year so that we wouldn't be at this point now. The problem is that he chose not to because of this nostalgia that they have for the way things used to be. And that's why now at this point where he's talking about making a speech, what we're saying is that's not enough. We need you to have more at this point. But this would have been fine. This would have been good if when he gave his first speech to the joint session of Congress back last week, last spring, he could have used the bully pulpit for voting rights then. But go back to that speech, Roland. Some of us said it then. He didn't talk about it. It was an hour-long speech, and he didn't talk about voting rights until the last two minutes of the speech. And at that point, he only gave it two sentences. And can I add something you brought also to my attention?

In large part, I blame the mainstream media. I mean, you know, I've been sitting up here without solid food because I'm joining in solidarity. This is not about me. If this is the most important thing that we're vote before they left for the Christmas holiday. And, you know, it's like they're on somebody else's time frame. Now, look, I'm being, let me say, cautiously optimistic. I don't know whether they have a plan and they're just not saying what it is. I do know that I have been in conversation with members of the Senate and that they, They're trying to move to get this vote. I'm just, you know, and I've just made it very clear, and Roland, you've known me for years.

I made it very clear I'm not going to move on this. I'm going to continue my protest until this thing is signed, sealed and delivered. But if it's not, because I know Roland's next question is going to be, well, then what are you going to do? I'll cross that chasm when I get to it. But let me tell you, it will be a chasm. Cliff, on this very issue, you said this earlier when President Joe Biden went to the Senate, went to the House

to meet with him, to press upon them to vote for his bill. We've heard about the numerous times, 300 some odd times, they had folks to the White House on the infrastructure bill. I don't recall, maybe y'all do, but I don't recall a single time

where Biden has specifically called Sinema, Manchin, and the other, there are other Democrats who don't want to get rid of the filibuster, has called the leadership and those two to the White House specifically on the voting bill. So again, I get it. You want to give a speech, the backdrop, Atlanta, you're going to invoke MLK, you're going to invoke the people who marched and died and all this stuff along those lines. But if you're not

bringing them to the White House and looking them in the eye across the table and say, I want this done, then to me, you're not actually using all of your power. That's exactly right. It's not just that he's not doing the things that, say, LBJ did in 1965 to get the Voting Rights Act passed, actions LBJ took because movement forced him to. But still, LBJ would lean into it, bring you in his office, get in your face, right? It's not just that he's not doing the things that other presidents have done to pass key pieces of legislation. He's not doing the stuff that he has recently done to get infrastructure passed, as you just pointed out. And whether that's calling them in for meetings,

whether that's going to Congress to meet with the House caucus to tell them, look, I need you to vote on this and I need you to vote on it now, he's not done the things that he has done for other stuff. He's not done the things that I'm assuming he has seen done during his 40 years in the Senate. That's where the shortfall is. Now, we know at the end of the day that he doesn't get a vote on the actual legislation. But what we know is that what presidents do matter. The way that they lean into legislation matters. Obama didn't vote for Obamacare, but I'll be doggone, it's sure enough called Obamacare.

And so what presidents do matter, and he has not done enough. He has not lived up to his own knowledge, his own experience, his own skills, or his own words. That's why we've been frustrated with him. That's why we won't be attending. Not to mention that, you know, we got some other work to do instead of sitting there for two, three hours or however long it takes him to give his speech, because we're fighting some of this stuff in Georgia right now. As you know, Roland, in Lincoln County right now, some of our partners are out there right now because they're trying to close down six out of seven polling places. That's what these Georgia Republicans are trying to do as they're fighting

voting rights. They're not wasting a day. We can't afford to waste a day either just to hear another speech unless he's got a clear plan and a strong call. And like I said, preferably he's making an announcement that they've got a deal on the filibuster. And I'm sorry, just one time. I want to say this. You guys are so on target. Look, Manchin, find out what Manchin wants. Find out what Sinema wants.

That's what Johnson did. Those segregationists didn't want to vote for the 65 Voting Rights Act. But Johnson made it very clear. You want this bridge? Well, we're not going to give you federal money for a bridge and then you're going to segregate who gets to cross it. Find out what they want. Manchin wants something. And whatever he wants, it has to be worth the right to find what they want and cut a deal. Man, if you can cut a deal, once again, to get billions of dollars to pay off our country's debt, my God, you mean to tell me that you can't find what these two want? And I think you're absolutely right. Bring them into the White House, sit them down, and grab them by the lapel. But I'm going to tell you, these two better realize something. something, they will single-handedly end up putting the party in a minority position. And I suspect Manchin knows that he doesn't want to be a minority senator. And Sinema, maybe she's too new to realize how much power she will lose. So I, you know, I'll be honest with you. I'm not, I'm not going to be

in Atlanta. And you remember what Dr. Martin Luther King used to say, and I'll close, and he used to say, I'd rather see a sermon any day than to hear one. Very point there. Joe, I do want to get your comment on this here. A number of faith leaders as well as students have announced that their own hunger strikes when it comes to voting rights. Just your thoughts on that. Everybody can do something. That's my mantra always has been. I can't. You know, I was teasing your crew, Roland. I can't do what you do with social media, man. You are master at it. Um, uh, but I, I can do something. And that's why the two of us are here with you. Everybody can do something. And when, and, and, you know, my mentor was Dick Gregory. So people saying,

well, how are you doing? Look, I had the best mentor when it came to doing a hunger strike or fast than any human being on the planet had. And and and when I started this, I started because I realized history that when the first reconstruction ended, the first thing those folks went after was the vote. The Klan was born, South Carolina, they assassinated black elected officials, and I see the end of what we often call the second Reconstruction, and I'll be damned if I'm going to have my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren asked 25 years from now or whenever history is written, well, what did Pop-Pop do to protect our rights? And so, you know, I did what Dick would do.

I didn't ask permission to do. And if I can sacrifice and people and students can sacrifice food, let me tell you something. Just as food is essential to sustain life, this vote is a necessity to sustain and maintain this democracy. Absolutely. And that's one of the reasons why, Cliff, we have made this, long made this a priority. When I got Journalist of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists in 2013, it was because of my coverage of voter suppression. So for folks who want to act like this stuff is new, that was 2012, 2013, and it was going on beforehand. And I was watching, I saw this clip on Meet the Press

where it was a short conversation, Chuck Todd, Cornell Belcher, and this Republican who was saying, oh, this is no big deal. You know, everybody wants voter ID. They love Cliff to try to make this all out to be about voter ID when this is not wants voter ID. They love Cliff to try to make this all out to be about voter ID when this is not about voter ID. It's the closing of thousands of polling locations all across the South

since the gutting of Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. It's about changing of voting hours. It's about targeting the black head, the black brother who's a clerk in Harris County who put in some innovative steps. Is it stopping all of those things? They want to shrink the voting populace because when you shrink it, Democrats win, when Republicans win, when you expand it,

they will admit, oh, we lose because they don't want to appeal to, frankly, beyond white folks. They want to appeal to a sliver of black people, a larger percentage of Latinos. They want to appeal to white folks. And that's what this whole game is, Cliff. Yeah, you're exactly right. I think, you know, Florida, all those examples you just gave are accurate. Florida is a great example. You know, in Florida, Republicans have always benefited from the vote-by-mail system there. They've counted on it to win and sometimes

to steal elections in the state of Florida. But in the last election cycle, it was because black and brown folks came out and young folks came out and voted using record numbers using the vote-by-mail. All of a sudden, Florida had an issue with vote-by-mail and passed their voter's person bill to overturn it. You know, I think the challenge to this,

so as much energy and attention we pay to Joe Biden and Manchin and Sinema, the point that you're making is important. We got to be clear about the source of the problem. The source of the problem are these folks that are using all these means, including violence, which is what the insurrection was all about. There's a direct connection between these things. That's why they was inside the Capitol with the Confederate flag. All of this is connected. And so that is the source of the problem. The reason, though, we put so much energy into Biden and Schumer and the Democrats is because we put them in power.

We put them there. To make a difference for the folks like us who put them in office. The last thing I'm going to say real quick is Bernice King had a tweet today, a very short tweet. It was a quick video of her father, Dr. Martin Luther King, and it had just a couple of words talking about be maladjusted to injustice, right? And the point is that, you know, when it comes to injustice, we need to be maladjusted. We need not accept injustice. We need not become comfortable and accustomed to injustice. And too often we have become comfortable and we have normalized some stuff that we should not be insensitized to.

That's what it means to be maladjusted to injustice. That's what we need everybody to do in regards to this voting rights battle. And like Joe said, everybody's got a role to play doing media, social media, a tweet, a phone call, a text, cooking some food for the folks that are doing the protests. Everybody's got a role to play in this. Don't think that this is something for somebody else to take up. There's a role for everybody, including every single person that is watching this right now. You make the difference.

Absolutely. Cliff Albright, Joe Madison, I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Y'all take care. Okay. Be careful. Love you both. Alright, folks. Gonna'all take care. Okay, you be careful. Love you both. Alright, folks. Gonna go to a break. When we come back, my panel will join me to talk further about what's happening when it comes to voting rights in this country.

We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network in a moment. Mm. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm out. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punching! A real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland.

Be 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 be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? I'm Angie Stone. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Oh, Roland. Hey, Roland. I am so disappointed that you are not here, first of all. Where's our dance? It's like we get a dance in every time I see you. And so now you're not here for me to dance with, sir.

You and your ascot. I need it. I need that in my life right now. Okay. I love you, Roland. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

All right, folks. Let's continue our discussion regarding voting rights, voter suppression. Dr. Julianne Malveaux is the Dean of College of Ethics Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Omokongo Dabenga, professorial lecturer, School of International Service, American University. Reverend Jeff Carr, founder of the Infinity Fellowship

in Nashville, Tennessee. Glad to have all three of you here. All right, Julianna, I'll start with you. Look, one of the reasons the pressure's being ratcheted up is because if you don't pass this now, the window then begins to start on primaries, and judges are going to say, sorry, it's too late.

In fact, the last day in January is the last day you can register to vote in the Texas primaries. January, the end of this month. And so this idea that, oh, this thing could continue through March, April. No, it can't. Because even if you

pass the bill, judges might say, sorry, too late. Not enough time to inform people of all of these changes. That's why this week, max the next week to two weeks, is critical. It's absolutely urgent, Roland, and it's ridiculous

that President Biden has not put more urgency on this. He spoke on January 6th. He alluded to voting rights. He didn't say much about it. And Jen Psaki said, well, he's going to give a major speech. But Black people are tired of being props. You're going to go to Atlanta,

Dr. King's home. If you're just going to go to Atlanta, you know, Dr. King's home. You're going to, if you're just going to run your mouth. The activists are right. We don't need that again. That's a day we lose in agitating. So the timeline is short. In so many states, you see North Carolina is a prime example of some of the things that are going on. And while the activists have been on point, you know, the Barbara Arnwines. And while the activists have been on point,

you know, the Barbara Arnwines, the so many other people have been on point. What we know is that the president and the vice president have not given this sufficient priority. And people have pretty much said enough. President Biden said he had our backs. He said that when Black women took his chestnuts out of the open fire in South Carolina and took him over the hump. So if you have my back, how come I can't vote? How come we don't have our voting rights? And so this, it's infuriating. And at the same time, it's business as usual. Anybody who thought that President Biden was going to be a progressive or revolutionary was drinking the wrong kind of tea.

This man has been a centrist. He's a former senator. And he basically is playing by old rules while we have a new demography. The thing here, Omicongo, that we have to also understand, this goes beyond black people. This voting issue is not a solely black issue. When the Supreme Court took up a challenge to the Voting Rights Act Section 2, that was largely Latinos in Arizona.

When you look at how they've been moving early voting locations away from college campuses because white kids have been voting largely Democrat as opposed to Republican. Uh, and so the attack on voting rights is not a tech solely on black folks. It is a tech on America. Absolutely. And that's been one of the greatest hustles of the Republican Party, always knowing that as long as they put it

in a context of race, they can pretty much get away with everything. And shout out to there's one of the groups, an Asian voters coalition. That's part of the group down there that signed this letter because they know that it's not just about, you know, the black and brown community. And really, at the end of the day, you also mentioned this last week on your show, Roland, in places like New Hampshire or Maine, where you have to be able to you have to have a car if you're a college student to be able to register to vote. I mean, that's the 2022 version of a poll tax. And so, yes. And let's talk about people who are part of the disabled community as well. We've had people talk about, oh, now they literally put precincts up on hills. I can't get

up there with my wheelchair. Like, literally, these things have happened. And so people have to realize, like you said, this is an assault on voting for all people of all backgrounds. Look at what's happening in our senior citizens' homes, where people can't bring ballots to their grandmother and their grandfathers and their great-aunts. You know, they have to come down themselves to their precincts. People need to get more educated on this,

because whenever people want to think about in purely racial terms, they finally, they just say, I don't really want to mess with it. We're over it, so on and so forth until it hits them in the face. Just like with unemployment, just like with anything, whenever it hits Black people, it eventually comes to everybody else. Crack epidemic, the heroin epidemic,

the, you know, we don't have, we didn't have the resources in place for the heroin epidemic because we didn't take care of black and brown people. We were struggling. They locked us up. People need to wake up. And what happens to us happens to everybody. And look, Jeff, you're there in Nashville. Republicans have been using their power

where they control all levers of government to pass voter suppression bills to impact folks in that state and to keep them in power. Oh, yes, absolutely, Roland. And in the same vein that I launched this comment, I also want to say congratulations on the new studios and to Dr. Malveaux and Dr. Dabenga. What an awesome opportunity to join you tonight and to share in the tradition of struggle. We hear what's going on from Brother Cliff, from Brother Joe, and I just want to remind you all, I want to remind them that we are going to win this. This is going to happen. It's going

to win. Your struggle, your sacrifice for your not eating, your hunger strike is not in vain. I've seen it happen. I know it can work. The great Dick Gregory, we have models for this. When we talk about what's happening in Nashville, it's a microcosm for what's happening all over the United States. Right now, using the census results, the overwhelmingly red majority in Tennessee is redistricting. And they're redistricting Congressman Jim Cooper, who many people will say is a moderate. He's always proclaimed that he is a moderate Democrat. He's been that for several decades, but he's highly respected here in Middle Tennessee, which, if you demographically

look at it, is a blue oasis in a sea of red with the rural counties surrounding. They are now completing a plan to redistrict all of this metropolitan area of over 750,000 people into three districts that will be primarily Republican. So with that, you have the cacophony, over 400 bills in 48 states over the last several years that have been focused on voter suppression. We're coming to a nexus now where the people are getting tired, people are getting sick. And what's happening in Atlanta is also a microcosm. Joe did not deliver on Build Back Better yet. He has not delivered on student debt. There's an old gospel song that says, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Well, listen,

with this election, Georgia paid it all, all to them we owe. And this is an opportunity now to put Joe, President Biden on front street, to put the administration on front street. And as I was doing a little bit of math here, I came up with a curious number. That number was 45. It had very little to do with the last president, but it had everything to do with the number of years Joe Biden has been in some political office in D.C. You mean to tell me that after 45 years, you can't figure out how to make a deal to make one broad initiative go through and to protect voters who laid their lives on the line to put you in. This is nonsensical, and this is why it's coming to a head right now.

Well, again, we're going to be seeing a lot of action take place over the next few days. Senator Chuck Schumer has promised that he is going to move legislation. But again, what we have not seen, we have not seen exactly how that's going to happen. We have not seen in what way that is going to happen. How can you get all 50 Democrats to step forward and actually vote in this case? That's really what this thing all is gonna boil down to.

All right, folks, gotta go to break. We come back, we're gonna talk on a FitLiveWin segment about the impact of obesity when it comes to COVID. That is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here on the Black Star Network. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm going to go to the front. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the front. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back.

I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go to the back. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grown-ups did.

I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention. 007 and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Could losing a few pounds keep folks to war, keep them from first awarding off COVID as the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States? Obesity increases the risk of developing severe symptoms or dying from the virus, according to a new study.

A 2020 study published by the Critical Journal of World Obesity found that those with obesity have a 46% increased chance of getting COVID, a 113% increase in being hospitalized, a 74% chance of being treated in the ICU, and a 48% increase in death from COVID. In 2018, the CDC reported 42% of Americans were classified as obese. Now 2020 self-reporting obesity map shows the highest rates of obesity are in the south and the midwest.

In the United States, more than 60 million reported cases of COVID and more than 836,000 people have passed away as a result. Joining us now is Dr. Joseph Graves, Jr., professor of biological sciences at North Carolina A&T University. Doc, glad to have you back on the show. When we talk about comorbidities, this is one of the issues here that we often hear from the beginning of how COVID attacks folks. And so in what way does losing weight keep you from being able to possibly warding off COVID? Well, the important thing to understand is that being overweight impacts the immune system, and it causes you to be in a constant state of inflammation. Inflammation actually is one of the ways that the body fights off viruses, but the problem is there's a cost for inflammation.

And so the more inflamed you are, the more tissue damage occurs. Now, when you get an infectious agent like COVID or any other virus for that matter, if you're in that state of constant inflammation, while you're fighting the virus, you're also doing more tissue damage. So it becomes a vicious cycle. So the bottom line is for a number of health-related outcomes, you're better off losing weight across the board. Now, of course, there have been people who are not overweight who died from COVID. So we're talking about relative risk. A person who does not fall into the category of being overweight has less risk of having a severe—one, contracting COVID, and of having a severe case of it, which requires you to go to the ICU. And so we don't want to be that person. of the benefits that come from being essentially under the obesity profile. And if you do that, there are just so many things to gain from basically being healthy,

you know, less risk of hypertension, less risk of diabetes, less risk of overall metabolic syndromes, stronger immune system. It's really one of these no-brainers to make an argument for people getting in shape. And this really isn't that difficult to do. It doesn't require a whole lot of vigorous exercise, but it requires consistent exercise. It requires watching what you eat. And then the biggest issue for most people is that we've created a society where food is marketed to them that leads them to obesity. And that's why beginning in the 1950s, we began, you know, worldwide, you know, obesity epidemic. Now, where we are now, we are seeing Omicron spread rapidly.

We're seeing, I mean, just case after case after case. And one of the things that has really jumped out, you now have medical experts saying, hey, we're simply going to have to get used to living with COVID. When you hear

that, what does that mean? Because, again, there was a thought that, okay, how do we get beyond COVID? So are they suggesting that from this point forward, COVID is always going to be with us? It's now highly likely that COVID is always going to be with us. And again, you remember our conversations now two years ago when I pointed out if we didn't have a concerted national plan, if we didn't act judiciously to get people vaccinated across the country, if we didn't move to get people vaccinated across the world, that we would begin to get more and more dangerous variants. And that's exactly what's happened.

And so now we're in a situation where, with Joe Biden becoming the president of the United States, he attempted to enact a national plan to control COVID. The problem was, however, that the Republicans decided that they wanted to torpedo a national plan. And they're doing so because they think that by making the situation worse, that people are going to turn out in the 2022 elections and vote against them. And they may be right about that. So we have a situation where people's lives, once again, are being placed in danger because some people refuse to act in the nation's good and are simply acting for their own narrow interests.

So with that being the case, what does that mean, that we are forever going to be wearing masks, having to use hand sanitizer, having a social distance? Unfortunately, unless we turn around, unless we decide to act in the interests of the human species and not in the interests of those who want to retain power in Washington, that's exactly what may happen. And you also know that I have cautioned folks on this show that even though COVID is bad, it's not as bad as some of the other viruses which are on the horizon. And so if we can't solve the problem of COVID, what exactly can we expect will happen to this nation and the world when a more dangerous virus goes pandemic? My argument would be we could be looking at hundreds of millions of people dead like we did in the 1919 H1N1 influenza pandemic. taking how we address what we do with COVID as a cautionary lesson for how bad things can get.

And unfortunately, once again, we have a whole bunch of people in Washington who have made it very clear that they really don't care about the lives of the American people and that all they care about is lining their own pockets. Questions from the panel. Jeff, I'll start with you. All right. First off, thanks, Dr. Graves, for all the work that you're doing. Thank you for everything that you're putting into the world. And thank you for being on the front line, not only of research, but of implementation to try to save people, starting with our people and moving toward humanity. We know we're living in a space where something like an infectious disease has been politicized, and yet we still

have to be able to look out for each other. Weight loss goes across all spaces when you talk about health, whether that's blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, any number of things. What can we say in a general way to get Uncle Ricky and Grandmama and Cousin Jeannie, what do we say to them to say, listen, this is the time to get off the couch and do something that's going to help save your life? Well, I think one of the problems that we have is viewing the causes of obesity as simply, you know, inadequacies of individuals. And if you think the issue is, oh, just convince Uncle Ricky to get off the couch, then we're never going to solve the obesity epidemic. The problem is systematic. example, in the 1950s, food companies began to add sweeteners to virtually every product we eat in the form of things like high fructose corn syrup. And they created a market and they created

a society that was essentially addicted to these high sweetened foods. And they became part of American culture. And, you know, as Malcolm X said, you know, he was never surprised when chickens came home to roost. That's exactly what we have in the obesity epidemic. We have a systematic change in the way the nation eats and the foods that are made available to them in the pricing of foods where it's actually cheaper to eat, you knowbohydrate, high-sweet-level foods than it is to get healthy foods. And again, these things were differentially propagated in black and brown communities. And so now we have an obesity epidemic. And then you add to that an infectious agent like COVID.

And once again, we have a perfect storm that's destroying people's lives. So again, we want to convince our loved ones that they should do something to improve their diet. In fact, my doctor told me the same thing over the Christmas vacation, that I had to take more time to exercise and I needed to change my diet. And I've been doing so. But the simple fact of the matter is it's much deeper than that. When you turn on the television at 8 o'clock at night to watch the football game and then there's Pizza Hut and then there's McDonald's and on and on and on. And so that's a problem we have. It's not simply an individual solution. It's a systemic solution. Julian. It's a systemic solution. Julianne? Doc, I'm so glad that you made that point about the systemic solution.

And, brother, my brother, I'm glad that you raised the question about getting somebody off the couch because it is systemic. And it's really about predatory capitalists extracting surplus value from people. As you say, when you turn on the television and you're barraged with candy commercials, pizza commercials, you know, and some of that food looks good, but you know it's not good for you. But it's not just about an individual and their diet. It's about the individual who lives in a predatory capitalist structure that is designed to exploit them. Among the most exploited, which I'm very concerned about, are African-American women. According to some statistics, four in five of us are either overweight or obese. Another statistic says 56 percent of us have a body

mass index of over 30. We know that African-American women carry the burden of our people on our backs, and we know that many, because of depression, overwork, whatever, are self-medicating. Do you have, and that self-medication comes with food. I have a colleague one day, I said to her, what are you doing? She said, eating. I said, what are you eating? She said, a cheesecake. I said, surely you mean a slice of cheesecake. She said, no, I'm going to eat the whole thing. I'm like, all right, no comment. But what can we say to Black women specifically about this? Because not only are we killing ourselves through what we eat, but we're also modeling certain kind of behavior

for our children and especially for our daughters. Dr. Melvo, again, I'm really happy that you made that point because, again, this goes to the systematic oppression of black and brown people in the United States. We know full well that the brain is wired to respond to oppression in bad ways. One of those ways is to seek immediate pleasure. And food is one of the most addictive forms of pleasure, in many ways more addictive than heroin. And so therefore, when you make this high-fat, high-sugar, high-carbohydrate, dense foods available to people on a regular basis, and at the same time, you drive

them into despair by the social conditions or cultural conditions that they're forced to face every day, once again, the result is not surprising. In other words, this is a computer algorithm that provides an answer, and it really can't provide another answer. So the question of, you know, how do we respond to that? We have to be aware of the things you just pointed out. If we let them kill us, they win. And so therefore, we have to take the initiative to do a better job of modeling appropriate behaviors to deal with stress, to deal with depression. This has to be a community effort.

We have to do it at our workplaces. We have to do it in our churches. We have to do it in our universities. And there is definitely a role for the historically black institutions who are leading the way in much of the biomedical research associated with health disparity to come to the forefront on this issue? Omokongo. First of all, Dr. Grace, I really, really want to commend you for your work. I remember

that show when you talked about new variants that could be on the way, and how we wouldn't be able to deal with something that was worse than COVID. I remember that from years ago and it's been seared in my head. And I can't think of anything that you've said about this pandemic that has not turned out to be true. So I just appreciate your continual service to everybody on this. The question that I have is kind of on the flip side of the diet issue, right? I'm seeing that in our efforts in this country and beyond to do things like not have fat shaming and body shaming, which is extremely important, and we understand how that has been problematic, particularly how the way people have viewed, you know,

black women's bodies compared to white women's bodies, and we understand that. But part of me feels like as a society, because we've been on the side of promoting kind of everybody being comfortable in their own body, we haven't really talked about the importance of healthy lifestyles and whether we're talking about someone who's severely overweight or somebody who's severely thin, right? It's kind of just a, everybody kind of do you mentality, which I feel kind of promotes more negative health styles. What are your thoughts as it relates to that? Yeah, I mean, again, this is a question of us taking responsibility for how we organize our

fight back. And we are, as I pointed out in the last response, we are fighting against something that's deeply evolutionarily wired into our brains. Food is something that makes people feel better, particularly oil, high oil content, high sugar content, high fat content foods make people feel better. And so we've got to find better ways of making ourselves feel better. One of those ways is to take on, as Dr. Malveaux, you know, racial capitalism. If we dismantle this system, then we're going to make ourselves healthier. It's one of the arguments, by the way, and again, you know, I was listening to the last segment of the show that was discussing voting rights and how this attack on voting rights was impacting more than black and brown people. It's impacting everyone.

So the same things we're talking about are happening to the white community. in which he points out that racial resentment against the very programs that would help the vast majority of white people in this country are getting them to turn against the kind of health-related programs that would make them healthier and at the same time make all of us healthier. What's the name of that book? The title of the book is Dying of Whiteness. Got it. And so that's what we need to do. We need to unite around issues that

are beneficial to all of us. And one of these things is fighting the obesity epidemic. And that means we have to hold accountable these corporations which are marketing foods which make people sick. And that's exactly what they're doing. And they're doing it to make a dollar. All right. Dr. Graves, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, so we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

our Black and Missing segment of the day. Also, we'll pay tribute to two legends, Lonnie Guineer, when it comes to the law and civil rights, and James M. Toomey, of course, music legend. That is next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now.

Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Hey, 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 be scary. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Hi, how are you doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What's up? Lana Wells.

And you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. DENERIA HALL WAS LAST SEEN ON DECEMBER 24, 2021 IN SARASOTA, FLORIDA. THE 16-YEAR-OLD IS 5'9", WEIGHS 125 POUNDS WITH BROWN HAIR AND BROWN EYES. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL THE SARASOTA POLICE DEPARTMENT AT 941-316-1199. IN NORTH CAROLINA, A ROAD RAGE INCIDENT LEADS TO THE FATAL SHOOTING OF A BLACK MAN. 9 9 4 1 3 1 6 1 1 9 9. In North Carolina, a road rage incident leads to the fatal shooting of a black man. Folks, we want to warn you, this video, although short, is quite graphic. And so we're giving you a little enough time to turn away or to get your children out of the room. Here is that video. Folks, last week, Stephen Addison was shot by 51-year-old Roger Dale Nobles Sr. during an argument with Roger Dale Nobles, Sr. doing an argument with Roger Dale Nobles, Jr.

Police state Nobles, Sr. fired at Addison from the driver's seat inside his 1992 Chevrolet pickup after his son got out of the vehicle at a stoplight to confront Addison. Nobles, Sr. was arrested and is charged with first-degree murder. The son has yet to be charged. Also, folks, in North Carolina, protesters have marched to protest the death of a black

Fayetteville man killed by an off duty deputy over the weekend. The officer claims a man named Jason Walker ran into traffic and jumped on his truck Saturday afternoon. The off duty Cumberland County deputy responded by shooting the man before dialing 911. The shooting victim died at the scene. The off-duty Cumberland County deputy responded by shooting the man before dialing 911. The shooting victim died at the scene. Sunday, the Fayetteville police chief said investigators are having trouble gathering evidence in the case. What is considered the technology of the truck, the black box computer, which logs speed, braking, impact, and other events.

That computer did not record any impact braking impact and other events. That computer did not record any impact with any person or thing. We currently have no witnesses who claim that anyone was hit by this truck. We went back and reviewed body worn camera footage and individuals at the scene indicated they did not witness the incident. The name of the off-duty deputy has not been released. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is now in charge of the case. So a guy jumps on your truck, Julianne, and you shoot him?

You don't call cops first? Hello? These white folks have gone trigger happy and basically they've been given permission to go trigger happy by a number of guns that have allowed them to do this. This is crazy.

This man did not run on this man's car. This white guy just decided that he was going to shoot somebody. He may have had some provocation, just like the previous one may have had some provocation not run on this man's car. This white guy just decided that he was going to shoot somebody. He may have had some provocation, just like the previous one may have had some provocation. How do you get out of your car so let your daddy shoot somebody? I mean, this is just the fullest extent of the law has to come down on these people. They have to start serving serious jail time. I'm glad they got the guy who shot the brother over the little argument. But this one here, it's horrifying.

And it's horrifying for those of us who understand that law, there is no law enforcement. It's so-called law enforcement. Law and order is justice for some and not for all. It's disgusting, but it's where we are right now. Well, the thing here is we talk about these road rage incidents when you have places like Texas, Jeff, where they're changing the law, where you don't even have to have a permit to even carry a gun. Well, actually, I'm going to go to Omicongo. I mean, this is the kind of things that we see and what happens. Yeah, absolutely. And they're trying to pass the same law in Georgia, and it's going to be coming across the country as well. Look, the tragedy of what happened with Ahmaud Arbery is what reconnects with these cases as well.

For every Ahmaud Arbery where we get a life sentence for people like those murderers, there are cases like these two that we just saw, hundreds of them across the country that involve average citizens, law enforcement, retired law enforcement officers that don't get noticed, that don't get their recognition. And that is the saddest part about this. And I'm hoping with these two brothers who were slain that we get the same type of justice, or I should say accountability, that the Arbery family had. But it's sad, Roland, because this is just happening so many times. And it's like, if you don't have the camera, your chances, remember what Arbery's mother had to do even to get to where she got, right, in the beginning.

If you don't have the cameras, like, your chances of getting noticed on these situations is just ridiculous. And so I applaud the brother, former military man, 32-year-old, father of three, you know, for standing up for himself. Clearly that is from what we can see that the son who was right next to him when he got shot didn't even flinch, didn't even offer any assistance.

They just blew his life away as well. And we need to stay on this to make sure that in both situations we get the accountability that that family deserves because there can never be real actual justice when our people are taken like that. Absolutely. Let's go to Kentucky where a teacher is out of a job after footage shows him assaulting and racially attacking a student last year. William Bennett was a science teacher at Marion Seymour School in Louisville. The investigation by the school district found Bennett escalated the situation and made inappropriate comments. The student involved alleges Bennett said,

you're just going to be another black boy shot. Before losing his job, Bennett was assigned to non-instructional duties. The team was suspended for 10 days and faced an assault charge over the incident. Okay. That's sort of what happens when we have our folks in our classrooms.

All right. Some people don't need to be in our classroom teaching our children. New Orleans City Council unanimously voted to honor musician Alan Toussaint by changing the name of Robert E. Lee Boulevard in Toussaint's honor. Alan Toussaint was a musician, producer, and songwriter who heavily influenced New Orleans rhythm and blues. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2013.

He passed away on tour in Spain in 2015. The renaming will take effect on February 1st on the 4 1⁄2 Mile Street. It was Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Julian, who made the effort to start removing these Confederate monuments. White folks there were not happy, but bottom line is, it's a good thing that he's here. Landrieu, Julian, who made the effort to start removing these Confederate monuments. White folks there were not happy. But bottom line is, it's a good thing that these Confederate monuments are coming down and named after Black heroes.

I was excited to hear about this, first of all, because Alan Toussaint was just such a great musician. I had the honor of hearing him play a couple times in New Orleans. But secondly, there should be nothing, nothing, nothing, not a toilet named after Robert E. Lee. The man was a traitor. And the fact that the Confederates or Southerners are so fascinated with them is really their fascination with enslavement. There are a whole lot of other names that need to come down, a whole lot of other statues that need to be shattered, but more importantly, a whole lot of other structures, structural racism that needs to be dismantled

so that we can move forward as a free people. All right, Omicongo, you can now get a black woman on your money. Maya Angelou is going to be on the U.S. Quarter as part of the American Women Quarters program. The Poet Laureate, artist and activist is the first black woman featured on the

quarter. The other women minted through the program. First Cherokee Nation Woman Chief, the first Chinese American Hollywood star, a voting rights activist, and the first American woman in space. The quarters will be available from now until 2025. Still want that Harriet Tubman $20 bill though.

Yes. Most definitely. We still need to get that. I'm going to be getting a hand on that coin. I mean, Dr. Maya Angelou, you can't honor her enough. I mean, I credit her for saving my life as a child by discovering her work. And so it's such a pleasure to see, as well as the other people that you mentioned as well. We don't do enough in this country to honor women, especially Black women and Native American sisters as well. And I appreciate this effort. More needs to be done, but it's just a beautiful thing to see. Julianne?

You know, I'm excited. I'm very excited. As you say, we want to see that $20 bill. And certainly that man who preceded President Biden and his team at the Fed slowed that down, at Treasury rather, slowed that down considerably. But this quarter thing is really great. I'm going to try to get every single quarter they put out there. And Dr. Maya was one of my mentors. She was on my board when I was at Bennett College. I fought the world of her. And as you said, we can't celebrate her enough. She is the epitome of the American dream. All right, folks, going to a quick break. When we come back, we'll pay tribute to civil rights and legal pioneer Lani Guinier, who passed away on Friday.

We'll also pay tribute to a legend in music, the great producer, musician James M. Tumay. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Norske Kulturskapital I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 On Friday, we learned the passing of Lani Guinier, the age of 71. The announcement was made that she was surrounded by family and friends. Lani Guinier, of course, was the first woman of color who was a tenured at Harvard Law School. It was a very contentious issue when, of course, you had leaders there who were demanding for women to finally get their just due, and she became the first woman of law. She was the Bennett-Boski Professor of Law Emerita at Harvard Law School.

She also, remember, was nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, but Republicans objected due to her legal writings and various speeches, and her nomination was withdrawn. It did not sit well with her, but she was more than just that nomination. A distinguished legal career teaching so many different people over the years

and also having a tremendous impact on multiple generations of lawyers. Joining us right now to talk about her life and legacy, Ellie Mistel, who is, of course, a justice correspondent at The Nation. He also was a student of Lonnie Guineer. We have Barbara Arnwine, the founder and president of the Transformative Justice Coalition. Lur Daniel-Favors, the executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College. Ellie, I want to start with you. Being in her classroom, what was that like? Yeah, well, I mean, she's a real intellectual giant. And when I showed up to her class, look, she taught at Harvard. That's where I met her. You know, you're a black kid.

You go to Harvard. For the most part, things have worked out for you, all right? Like, that's just being honest. Things are going well in your life. And then so you get there and you kind of have this sense that what if I just keep doing the right things and, you know, checking the right boxes,

things will continue to go well. The fights that my parents had to fight for representation, for equality, those are my parents had to fight for representation, for equality, those are my parents' fights. I have all these different battles, right? Me and Chet, we're going to like hang out. Lonnie Grenier was one of those people that you meet in life that tells you, no, no son, no young buck. We still are fighting. We still have battles to fight. I got there. I didn't know about her history before I took her class. Literally, my mother was just like, take that woman's class. Take that woman's class now,

right? And so through her class, I really learned about the ongoing attacks by conservatives against full equality and especially voting rights for African-Americans throughout this country in ways I had never heard about at that point as a 22, 23-year-old student. And so she really taught me about that. She taught me how to defend voting rights passionately, how one person, one vote is the floor, but not the ceiling. And really, Roland, that's what got her in trouble with the Clinton nomination, is that her writings and her intellectual philosophy was that one person, one vote was the floor, but that black people should strive for equal proportional representation in this country. And that's what pissed off the white conservatives. That's what they couldn't

deal with. But there are so many people like me, Sherrilyn Ifill, so many so many people who are in the voting rights fight now either literally learned at the foot of Lonnie Guineer or were inspired by her work and her writings. Barbara Arnwine, why was Lonnie? Why was Lonnie Gu Guinier so important? Well, she was important because she was one amazing litigator. Think about this, Roland. She litigated, of the 32 cases that she litigated, she won 31. Think about this. She was a theorist, as Ellie was just talking about. Just amazing because she took the international experience of proportional representation and applied it to the United States.

Imagine if we actually use that. You know, the average state legislature to this day is about 25% women, with Nevada and one other state being an exception. But in any other, quote, Western democracy, that would be unacceptable. You would have to have had, you know, some proportional representation. She talked about, you know, people doing different kind of

balloting, using the ballot. Now San Francisco uses that balloting measures. So she was way ahead of her time. She was president and she was bold. And of course, you know, to those who knew her, she was an incredible friend. She was gorgeous. She was beautiful. She was really a kind and gentle spirit. You know, I felt, you know, I enjoyed her sharp intellect. I enjoyed working with her on so many acts. And people got to remember that as recently as July 1st of 2021, the Supreme Court took up the question of the vitality and the scope and the liability standard underneath what is called Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. And she was instrumental in litigating and fighting for the broadening of the act in 1982 after the horrible decision in Mobile, where the Supreme Court said you had to have intent in order to violate the Voting

Rights Act. And she was amazing in her leadership in fighting in Congress for what became the 1982 amendments, which then the Supreme Court last July tried to eviscerate and say that that has to be the floor standard 1982 and pretend like we've had no intervening law in the subsequent decades. Unbelievable. I mean, I wish Lani, you know, had been able to really give us the full import of her thinking when she read the Brnovich case or heard about it. I just think that people really need to understand that she was a continuum. She meant to walk in the tradition of Constance Baker Motley. She was inspired by Julius Chambers.

She tells the story of, you know, while she's interning, working with Julius Chambers, she tells the story of his being so bold that he, while he was giving a speech, his car was blown up. He kept on speaking. when she was only 12 years old, watching Constance Baker Motley actually escort a Black student to desegregate the University of Mississippi. But she also was moved by Elaine Jones. And anybody who knows Attorney Elaine Jones knows that she's one of our nation's treasures as a lawyer. So she stood on the, not shoulders, but she stood on the tradition. She stood on the integrity of those lawyers that had come before her. What an amazing lawyer. What an amazing writer.

Her legal books are worth reading. Just everybody should read them and understand, you know, what she was saying to us many years ago. And we're just catching up now. Obviously, Lori, with the passing of Sidney Poitier Thursday night, his death overshadowed that of Lana Guarnere. That's one of the reasons why, of course, we had our tribute to Sidney Poitier on Friday. We wanted to be sure that we took the time today to let folks know who this woman was and why she mattered for you. Why was she so important? You know, I came to know her more intimately. Like Ellie, I did not know of her prior to entering law school. And when I attended NYU and studied under Derrick Bell and worked with him as an assistant, she was one of the scholars who I was most intimately introduced to. You've already identified her history. But, you know, Derrick

Bell left his position at Harvard because they would not hire women like Lani. And so the circles are small. And, you know, even though her arguments are now technically decades old, particularly as they apply to voting rights and voter suppression, they are directly applicable to exactly what it is we are facing right now. As was noted earlier, she talked about the fact that just having the vote wasn't simply enough. That was not going to work, particularly because we live in a society where the majority, the group that created the voting structures under which we now operate, was also most adept at manipulating those structures for their own benefit.

When you consider the fact that black people have only had the right to access the ballot since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, that means anyone in the audience who is now 58 years or older is literally older than one of the bedrocks of integration as a policy in this society. And for the 340 some odd years prior to the Voting Rights Act, this society was ruled by a white supremacist, a plantocracy or slavocracy that was specifically and very intentional and proactive about manipulating the electoral process to ensure that benefits would always end up in the hands of white Americans. And Lonnie Grenier's arguments, which literally are directly applicable to the voter

suppression we see right now, to what's happening with redistricting all across the country, where Republicans are intentionally packing as many Black people into as few districts as possible, or conversely cracking our communities into as many districts as possible, or conversely stacking our communities so that you take the most economically and electorally vulnerable and place them in communities where they are outnumbered by those who are most adept at manipulating this system and you realize that her arguments about proportional voting and representational voting are Exactly relevant to the harms that we are facing right now and quite frankly here in New York City We saw the benefit of that with ranked-choice voting one of the first elections that we've ever had with ranked-choice voting

And the Latin two years ago and we were able to see what it could look like if her arguments had been taken more seriously when she was being considered and had been put up by the Clinton administration. Had she been allowed to defend those arguments on the Senate during those hearings as opposed to having that opportunity taken from her? And I was a bit too young to know the full impact of what Bill Clinton's treachery really indicated. But now that I am older and I no longer think and speak as a child, I'm quite clear that had she been given the microphone at that time with the ability to speak that truth to that power, it would have been so disruptive to what the good old boy network and

the voter systems were able to tolerate at that time. But I would have loved to have seen what our world would look like had she been given a chance to really articulate what it was she was advocating for before that opportunity was taken from her by the Clinton administration. You know, Ellie, for all of the people who whine and complain about critical race theory, they really have no understanding of the role that legal theories play in our society and how these legal theories that are taught in classrooms and taught on university campuses, how they then do have a direct impact in real life. And so Lonnie Guineer was an example of that.

I mean, as one of the leading voices on voting rights, when you look at what's happening now with voter suppression, you look at what's happening now with Republican efforts. I mean, she was one of those folks who was warning us against this type of treachery for a very long time. Critical race theory is but one way to think about the law, right? That's really all it is. How to think about the law, how to think about the structures of the law and what you as an African-American person, as a Black person, as a new immigrant person, what you might be up against in this society. It should be lost on nobody that the Voting Rights Amendment, the Voting Rights Act, the 1982 amendment was largely written and thought of by Lonnie Guineer. And that is

that same amendment that Lonnie Guineer kind of thought of and helped intellectually push forward is the amendment that John Roberts, the current Supreme Court Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, that's what he cut his teeth on arguing against. He was brought in by the Reagan administration into the Reagan attorney general's office to argue against the 1982 voting rights amendment. So our current chief, you want to talk about critical race theory, our current chief justice has been the guy fighting for white supremacist view of voting rights, fighting against the advancement of black people and voting rights for his first job out of law school. That's this guy. So literally in 2005, when I am a lawyer, when I am not on TV or anything like that, and I hear that George W.

Bush is nominating a new guy to be chief justice. I email Lonnie Guinier and I'm like, what can you tell me about this man's voting rights history? And boy, does she have, you know, does she have some thoughts about about about John Roberts in 2005? Right. So like this is the kind of not just like a kind of intellectual history. This is the institutional memory that we lose sometimes when these giants pass away. But the last thing I just want to say, Roland, is like, fear not, because not only does Lonnie Guineer have just, you know, just the, you know, you talk about the NFL, the coaching tree, Lonnie Guineer's coaching tree is deep, yo. But not only that, she has, you know, she has a son, Nicholas Bowie. Right now, her son

is also a professor at Harvard Law School, and he's one of the real ones. I mean, Nicholas Bowie is out there doing the work and putting those, the next generation's, you know, hard-hitting theories out there for public consumption. So it never stops here, but it's great that we can take a moment and just remember the giants and remember the history and knowledge that they brought and how they helped kind of push the ball forward and how we, the ones position of power, when you have the ability to influence people, that you literally about the great leader, John Maxwell, you know, he has told preachers, it's time for you to go. It's time for you to leave. And a lot of times people want to hold on to it. But no, what makes people great is not just what they did, you know, with their particular life, but how they were able to sort of create acolytes and create more folks to be able to, as Ellie said, to carry the torch forward? You know, I mean, that was her life's ambition.

She taught at the University of Penn before she taught at Harvard. She loved her students. She fought for diversity. She was, I mean, really beloved by her students. I can't even begin to tell you. I gave the commencement address for the University of Pennsylvania's law school right before I think she left. And it was really touching to hear so many tributes and accolades and love for her. But I also want people to understand her graciousness. I mean, when we fought that battle to try to get her confirmed for that nomination as assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division for the U.S. Department of Justice, when we fought that battle, I mean, Elaine Jones, all of us were there talking with Lonnie, doing everything we could. The NBA, the National Bar Association,

that is, and so many others were there. And it was, I mean, we fought with everything we had because she deserved that job. And she would have, I mean, let's imagine what America would have been if she had been able to have done that leadership. And it was a cowardly act for Clinton to withdraw her nomination. And we were furious and we were so upset. But guess what she did? Weeks later, Alan Poussaint called us, Dr. Alan Poussaint, and said, we want to have all of you who are involved in this fight gather with Loni at the Watergate. And that dinner that we had that night was so beautiful. I mean, it was painful, but it was beautiful

because she was just, it was like she was trying, like we had all lost the nomination, not her. She was just so wonderful and beautiful in that moment. And people, I know you don't want to hear this, but that dinner was paid by Bill Cosby. He paid for that. And he paid. I don't know who doesn't want to hear it. If it's a fact, it's a fact. It's a fact. And she really, I mean, it just shows you how much she meant to so many people who understood what her leadership was and how she actually was so magnanimous in her thinking, in her loving,

and in her fighting. She was amazing. We're going to miss her. Lori, final comments. I just am, I would be remiss if I did not say to one of our newest ancestors, thank you for creating pathways that were being well-worn before I even knew for certainty that I was going to law school. To one of our newest, most vibrant, powerful ancestors. We appreciate all that you have done.

And we are so graciously in anticipation of the wisdom that we now have access to, because you have joined the ancestors. And so we will, in your tradition and in the tradition of all of the great activists and scholars who were truly African-centered, regardless of political affiliation or geographic location, but those who truly had the heart of African people, we are grateful for you. And it will be our life's work to carry on your legacy and to create even more opportunities and pipelines for those coming behind. Lori, Ellie, and Barbara, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. Thanks for doing this role. Thank you very much.

Absolutely. I do want to give Julianne and Omokongo an opportunity to share their thoughts with Lana Gordillo. Julianne, you first. You know, I knew the sister not well, not as well as Barbara or the others, but admired her tremendously, loved and appreciate her courage. And as Barbara Arnwine has said, if you look at some of the things she'd been saying about voting rights back in the 90s, there are things that we're still grappling with today. The whole issue of proportional voting, cumulative voting, these are things the right went after her about. They called her a quota queen, which was just a lie, but that was their way of besmirching her. And I still think that although many Black people, many of us actually do appreciate and admire Bill Clinton, that was one of his most cowardly acts as a president. He should have at least given her the opportunity to defend her record, to have a hearing. And he ought to be, even to this day, ashamed. It was both a personal and a political um betrayal he was at i'm gonna go ahead

no absolutely so for me i can't speak anything better to the legal titan that that she was but one thing i would like to share is that i was a kid you know growing up in boston you know while she was up there and she was up there. And she was somebody who, for us, she was recognizable in the community. She reached out to people, not just in the legal world, but just in the hood. I was part of a poetry collective called the Blackout Arts Collective,

and she supported us. And when I did my first poetry book, From the Limbs of My Poetry, she wrote one of the endorsements for my book. And it's talking about what the arts could do for people. So she was somebody who invested in young people, invested in next

generations, not just in the legal world, but all throughout the community where she saw people fighting for the betterment of our people, and by default all people. Rest in power. Reverend Jeff Carr. Yes, indeed. Every Sunday at Infinity Fellowship, we have the distinct honor

of pouring libations as part of how we open up. And pouring libations has been pretty fascinating, interesting lately. We've lost a lot of greats who have transitioned from the space of life to the space of life after life and have left their earth suits but have joined all creations. And this past Sunday, we got to pour out for Sister Lani Guinier. And in doing so, being able to have conversation with younger people, particularly millennials who may not know who she was, who may not know what she fought through, who may not have known how big of a winner she truly was while she was walking around in the body. But I can say that all of the great tributes have been said today. It's important and

incumbent upon all of us to focus and align on our life's purpose as well. Because with Sister Lonnie Guineer, she is definitely someone who walked in her life's purpose. 31 of 32 victories with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, moving past Bill Clinton, nominating her for Assistant AG, and then pulling that nomination a few months later. And then the entire community standing around her, embracing her and saying, no, she is ours. she is our shining light.

And we're going to continue to love her as we continue to do that. I know that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit or the other way around. So she has influenced generations for generations to come. And we say to her spirit, rest, rise, live, continue to shine. And so it is, Ashe. All right, then. We certainly, again, want to pay tribute to Lonnie Guarnier. Again, died Friday at the age of 71.

We come back. One of the greatest producers, artists in music. We lost him just yesterday. At the age of 76, James M. Tumay will talk with his two daughters and also, of course, artist Michael Bearden will talk about his legacy that extends far beyond, of course, the songs that he wrote and produced all the way through present day in hip-hop.

He's one of the most sampled producers. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. ¶¶ Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА It's time to be smart. Roland Martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punches! Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving voice to the issues. Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again.

The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I gotta defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network.

I am rolling with rolling all the way. I'm going to be on a show that you own. A black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Rolling was amazing on that. Hey, Blake, I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform

that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be Black on media and be scared. You dig? What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D.J.

What up, Lana Well, and you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Folks, one week ago, James M. Tumay posted this on Instagram when he turned 76 years old.

Y'all pull the tweet up. That'll be great. It was, again, a joyful tweet talking about, of course, him celebrating a birthday. And in that particular tweet, as you see there, he said, kicked it all the way to 75, feeling amazing and surrounded by family. And then there were multiple photos that he had posted. Then, of course, many of us were shocked yesterday when we got the news that James Ntume had passed away at the age of 76. He was born James Foreman in 1946, grew up in a musical environment with jazz musicians frequently his parents' house. He learned to play piano and percussion despite having an athletic scholarship for swimming to Pasadena City College in 1966.

He also, of course, cut his teeth as a drummer for the great Miles Davis. M2 may rose to national prominence in 1983 with the number one hit song, Juicy Fruit. The song was eventually reworked by the Notorious B.I.G. for his debut single, Juicy, 10 years later in 1994. Folks, in addition to being a performer, he also was a writer, a producer, and of course, so many different artists and entertainers. They sampled his music. You look at the songs that he wrote. He wrote hits for just a number of other artists, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway.

We can go on and on and on talking about, again, the life and legacy of James M. Tumay. Joining us right now, he had two of his daughters who join us right now. And certainly glad to have them with us, Ife and Benin. Glad to have both of you. Again, our condolences to you and your family for such a tremendous loss. Thank you for having us. You got us with that photo montage. Yes.

You're doing all right. Well, it was. It's an honor. It's an honor. Thank you. It was. So, I mean, obviously, when you look at that post from a week ago, he was excited to hit his 76th birthday and sharing with the world images of his family.

Yeah, it's still a shock to all of us. We're still adjusting. It's still very fresh for all of us here. But he had a wonderful birthday. We played some videos of some of his friends that sent over some messages of well wishes. We were laughing. We were crying, thinking about old memories, listening to some of his old music. It was a wonderful day. And, you know, unfortunately, you know, we were not expecting things to happen

as quickly as they did. But my father always prepared us after him. And so, you know, as a family, we're getting through. And obviously, many people have asked the question, you know, had he been ill or did this simply just occur quite quickly in the last week? I mean, you know, he's had some health problems. I wanted to, you know, rely on that as an excuse to not do the work. And, you know, it was certainly a private family matter. But, you know, what happened yesterday was sudden for us, for sure.

But I'll tell you this much. He was a fighter to the very end. Absolutely. Absolutely. And he was surrounded by all of us. And, you know, it was love, and couldn't have asked for any other way to go. You know, who else, you know,

you want to be surrounded by the people that you love, your family, your children, your grandchildren, your wife. It was a beautiful moment. Obviously sad, but a beautiful moment. Yes, and we're honored, honored to have been his children. So, thank you. You have been his children. So thank you. You have been seeing the tributes pour in from so many people.

Just share and talk about just so many people who have been impacted by his music, folks in the industry, and, of course, fans. I think for me, because he's just Baba to me, you know, I know that he is the James and Tume. And through the stories people have been sharing about how my dad impacted their lives has been overwhelming. And the fact that we were able to share our father and that he was able to give so much and still be there for his kids every step of the way, no matter what. So he was always Baba first to us. A lot of people may not realize that in addition to the music,

he hosted a radio show with Bob Slade there in New York. I actually was on that show several times. And so his voice was also important on community issues. Oh, yeah, very much so. I mean, you know, people do know my father for his, you know, creative work and for being a musician. But we were, you know, I don't know how many people know that my parents were black nationalists. And we grew up on a foundation of understanding what it means to be black in this world and understanding exactly how the world will view us

and being, you know, having a front row seat to his activism. And he brought us along to rallies and we had to watch Farrakhan. Every time he came to town. Yeah, we had to watch him. That was a family thing we had to do. Yeah, Saturday mornings you had, you know, Soul Train and then we were going to watch something political and talk about it as a family. You know, him being on Open Line, you know, I think it was a pleasure for him

and certainly wonderful for us to witness as well. So he was very proud of that part of his career. So were we, obviously. He was a son of Philadelphia as well. You talk about that influence, the Philadelphia influence. Of course, we know about Gamblin' Huff and so many others. And so he's in that lineage as well. Oh, yeah. I mean, first and foremost, you know, right down to our grandfather and both of our grandfathers.

You know, biologically, our grandfather is, you know, a famous jazz musician, Jimmy Heath, also from South Philly and the Heath brothers. But the grandfather that raised us was also a jazz musician, James Hengate Foreman. And, you know, so in addition to all the other musicians that you know that have come out of Philly, you know, your Quest Loves, your Jill Scott, the list goes on and on. But that richness started, you know know for us right at home and when i say at home i mean at my grandparents you know dining room table when you know dinah washington or someone would show up for dinner so um it's very rich and very personal

to us you know philly is our second home and you know we didn't grow up there on a day-to-day but we that that's our home and so yeah, he is very much ingrained in us. Philly is very much ingrained in us. And so he was very, very proud of where he was from. Well, certainly keep us abreast of funeral services, memorial services, and we certainly can pass it on to our audience. And, again, there's a lot of folk yesterday. My man D-Nice did a tribute tribute to James Ntume on his club

quarantine playing his music. So many people were listening to that and going, man, I didn't know he wrote that song. I didn't know he did that song. I didn't know he did that. And that's just one of those things that, you know, that, you know, unfortunately we live in a society where folks don't necessarily think about our older established artists, but the reality is the sound today in many ways is a result of their sound with the constant sampling that goes along. Absolutely.

Which he was a champion for. He always wanted to have the torch. He always wanted, that's right. Absolutely, which he was a champion for that. I always wanted that's right that's right. You have to go on and he was not opposed to people sampling and trying trying new innovative ways to to all. I read somewhere they also on his masters. Absolutely much so so when you all. So when you own your masters, you don't mind being sample because you get paid.

And that's right. So when you own your masters, you don't mind being sampled because you get paid. Handle your business. That's right. That's right. Business first. That's right. That's right. All right. That's right. All right, then.

Well, we certainly appreciate the two of you joining us, sharing your thoughts and reflections about your father. Again, it is, look, it is difficult to lose a sibling and, you know, to come on, you know, the next day to talk about him. We certainly appreciate that. You sharing thoughts and reflections about your dad. He certainly just turned so many people on again with music. Music lives on and on and on. And so folks will always be thinking about and talking about the great James M. Toomey. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much. Now I want to turn to Michael Bearden. Michael, of course,

has been involved in music for quite some time. He has worked with some of the biggest artists, Michael Jackson, Prince, and others. Michael, just give folks a perspective of how significant James M. Tumay is to music. Well, you just really touched on it with his daughters as far as, you know, the new younger generation sampling his music. But his legacy is from, you know, the lineage of his dad, Jimmy Heath, and the whole jazz idiom. And, you know, with James having worked with Miles, and James used to tell me a lot of different Miles David stories. And so just from him writing with his partner, Reggie Lucas,

and just, you know, the closer I get to you, and You Know How to Love Me, Holiday, like all these songs that are just in the ether and I find I know Dean you know did a set you know the other night and a lot of people were just didn't know that that tunes had done all of these things so his lineage and his legacy is probably too fast to even just speak about right now on the on this on this broadcast is just so it's so much that he did. Are great artists. But then when you have someone like him

who's a great artists, a great writer and a great producer that's that's a different that's a whole different thing there. Yeah, you know well, but it is and it isn't because it used to be a bar. It used to be that you had to learn all of these things. And I know how he came up as a young musician. He was taught all of these things.

And he had the curiosity to know and want to know more and want to do more. And then, you know, obviously he had the talent to know and want to know more and want to do more. And then, you know, obviously he had the talent to do so. Now, you know, I never really like to compare eras because it's just a different thing, different tools, different ways that young people work now. But what I am a little bit disappointed about now is just the curiosity to know more and to really get inside of being a great songwriter, not just a writer, a great songwriter, not just a producer, a great producer, not just an artist, a great artist. So that used to be the bar and the level. So for Toombs, it's just what it is. You know, I asked that question to his daughters about sampling.

And we think about that. Look, hip-hop is a tremendous genre in terms of what they've done. But if you don't have those songs from the 60s, 70s, you hip-hop I mean right in many ways it is the foundation though all those songs whether it's James and to make with his James Brown was part of the public whether it's Ohio players and on and on and on. Absolutely no absolutely right. You know just coming from the Bronx in playing the records they had to have some kind of

source material to start there,, the incubation of hip-hop. And they found that in these old records. And the way you get to the records is you become a musician, and you create, out of nothing, these records into something. But I used to have conversations with, with Toombs about this and, you know, for, for, besides the obvious reason of getting paid, you know,

when they sample your stuff, he really looked at it as a way for the young people to, to discover something that didn't, you know, was living, not nostalgic, not museum-like. It was living and they were doing it in a way to remix, for lack of a better word, or just to, you know, reintroduce the source material to some of these young artists and people who weren't born when we were and who didn't pick up an instrument when we did.

So he never really looked down upon that. But you're right, like, there would not be hip-hop without the source of where all this music came from. Absolutely. Michael Bearden, always a pleasure to have you, my brother. I always love talking to you, Roland. Thanks a bunch. I do want to ask Benin and Ife. I want to ask him this.

You know, you talk about your grandfather, but also what did your dad say what it was like to work with and study under the master, Miles Davis? Oh, my goodness.

I'm quite sure he had a few Miles Davis stories. Tons of them. He had tons of them. And I have to say, Miles was not only a mentor to him. He was really like family. Miles, you know, people don't know.

My father had knee surgery at one point. And Miles stopped the tour and said, i'm not going on tour without you and he took him away and helped him get better and got him re you know back up on his feet so that he could get back on the tour with him that's how tight they were wow they were took him to his home in um in brooklyn and as a matter of fact, there is a song that they recorded. And when they were finished recording the song, Miles turned to my father and asked him, how do you spell your daughter's name? And my father spelled my name to him. So I am so honored that there is a song that Miles Davis did. And it's called Ife. It doesn't get any better than that. Like,

they were brothers. That's it. They't get any better than that. Like, that's it. They were brothers, they were family. Like, we loved him like no other, like no other. There are tributes all over. Absolutely. We grew up hearing those stories every day. Absolutely. Wow, well that certainly is absolutely amazing.

And again, we thank both of you for sharing that with us. Thank you for letting us share. Thank you. I appreciate it. I want to bring in musical conductor Ray Chu. He joins us right now. Ray, first and foremost, just your thoughts about James and Tumay, man. Oh, man. So first of all, you know, it's my honor and pleasure to talk about James and Tumay James. I met him back, you know, before I met him, I was an admirer of his work when he was working with Miles. He inspired me by the way he brought his whole another dimension to Miles. And that Miles had embraced him to the degree that he really wanted to help that elevate

what Miles was doing at the time. I saw this as a young man. And I was like, well, who is that guy? Miles would just stop the show and let him go for like 10 minutes, man. And it was just incredible to watch. And when I met him years later, you know, just hearing his voice and his, you know, he was an activist. His political voice meant so much. And so I called him my warrior brother.

Every time I saw him, I'd say, what's up, warrior? Give him, you know, give him the hearts. Now, you know, we had, you know, we started seeing each other a lot while he was producing Stephanie Mills and Phyllis Hyman at Sigma Sound. And I'd be in the next room with Ashford and Simpson and recording and Don Ross and stuff like that. And we became, you know, really close friends then. And then when he started doing that New York undercover, he hired me as an arranger and as a player.

And so getting to work with him up close and personal, that was really great. And then we also worked together on Donny Hathaway's latest appearance with Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack doing Back Together Again. Two men and I worked together on that. And that was a wonderful, great piece of art that we got to speak about. That was my warrior brother, man. You know, I speak about him, and I want to speak about him in the present because his spirit lives, like, right now. We need him. We need his voice.

And I'm going to be calling upon them. The, you know, what you laid out there when you talked about in terms of what he meant, I asked Michael Bearden this question. I want to ask you the same thing. Again, for someone to be, you know, a drummer with Miles Davis and then a performer himself with their own hits and then to be a master writer and a master producer, that's using all of your musical talents. You and I sat down for a great conversation for Rolling with

Roland. We're going to be airing that later this year in the Black Star Network. But again, not everybody has that multiple skill set to be able to be excellent in different phases of the musical genre. That's right. And he's a, well, see, not only as a percussionist, you know, he was an arranger, he was a writer, and he was a visionary. When he wrote The Close I Get to You, you know, and he did that for Roberta Flack, I remember him telling me the whole journey of that song and that it didn't just land on her desk as it was. It was something that evolved.

And when you're working with a great artist like Roberta Flack, convincing her to do something that she might not have previously saw means that you have a great deal of cachet. You have a great deal of, you know, commitment to the art. People have to trust you. That's what I would say that a lot of people, a lot of artists, and a lot of musicians trusted Toon Baby. They trusted his integrity with music. They trusted

his integrity when he had a voice in the community. He had a huge voice in the community. Much respect to him. Ray Chu, I appreciate you, man, joining us, sharing your thoughts and reflections about James Ntume. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I'm going to give a final word to my panelists for today.

Let me start with, I'm sure, Jeff, you've had Lil' N2 May playing on your speakers the last 24 hours. Man, my wife and I did yoga together today, and we were laying out in the final position, and one of the great 1984 M2 May hits came on,

and she got really excited, and I didn't really like that she got that excited, because it was the song, you, me, really excited. And I didn't really like that she got that excited because it was the song, you, me, and he. And on the Google playlist, they actually have a polygamy mix of that song, of the whole thing. I said, wait a minute. Okay, okay, baby.

Now, I love this. But, you know, let's analyze this a little bit and see where this is, you know, where this is because I remember that. And when you're talking about a great like M2 May, you're talking about somebody who's also has a scholarly background. You find that he was studying on the West Coast under someone who was on the show three weeks ago, Milana Karenga. He was working in the early days of the development of Kawaida, this philosophy, if you will, that produced what we call Kwanzaa now. So we're not talking about a lightweight brother here who's just a talented

musician or even a talented drummer. It's important to point out that he was also a percussionist. When you deal with a percussionist, that is someone who is speaking a different language using every available means. When you talk about Maurice White, Earth, Wind & Fire, which was a band of percussionists, you see and hear everything from the bottom, which is the drum, the jing-jing, all the way up to the high spaces of the djembe that represent the entire energy of the divine feminine and the masculine coming together. You hear it when you hear you, me, and he start. Normally when a percussionist starts, they will start with the bass drum. Boom. And a snare. Representing the higher tones, the lower root energy, the higher

tones. Boom. But if you listen to that tune tonight, I encourage everybody to do so. When you listen to it, there is a low tenor drum. That is the second beat. So when you hear that, you hear low masculine energy. Two male forces with the top being the hi-hat. So you hear these two low masculine energies come in. Cha-doo-doo. Tss-tss-tss-doo. Cha-doo-doo. Tss-tss-tss-doo. So you hear these two low masculine energies come in. And then the song begins. And it's a song about a woman who is dealing with two masculine energies in torn between.

So you begin to see all of this and you hear all of this in the tones that are there you hear the difference between the roberta flack and donny hathaway energy in the 1977 version that he produced and he put out there with reggie lucas you hear the energy in the light spaces with roberta flack with her voice coming in and when it starts with the cp-60 piano and that little bell. Da-ding-ding-ding-doom-doom. Really soft, really gentle. Donny Hathaway coming in and blending with Roberta Hathaway. Over and over again, I try to tell myself

that we could never be more than friends. But a year later, M2 May releases another version of the song. He releases in 1978 a version with him in town with the AG singing, and it's operatic. And you see the rumble at the beginning of the song, and you hear that. And then everything starts to feel out. And then she comes in with an operatic version of it. Closer I get to you.

More of the vibrato. And then he comes in, and it's a percussive sound. It's not smooth like Donny Hathaway. It's strong. Over and over again, I try to tell myself that we could never be more than friends. You hear that strong bottom strength. So when you hear Entoumeh, and you go through his music, Could never be more than friends. You hear that strong bottom strength.

So when you hear Entoumeh and you go through his music, you hear the cacophony, the symphony of Black excellence. You hear the symphony of humanity. You hear the chakras of the body moving from the root to the crown. And that is the gift that this massive intellect has given us. And we can say that we are grateful for that gift. It lives on in generations from Biggie Smalls' music to everything else that has been sampled.

And in the most important way, he was able to balance something that many artists for generations have not been able to balance. And we give thanks for him. As Sister Benin, Sister Ife has said. In the end, he can also just be Baba. Ashe, my brother. Ashe. I don't know, Julianne and Omokongo. I don't know if y'all want to follow that, but

one of y'all go ahead. We cannot follow Brother Carr. I'm not going to pretend and try to sing on the air or do anything like that. What I want to say is that Benin and Ife, we are grateful to you for sharing your dad and sharing your recollections with us. More importantly, I think that when I saw the pictures of you two young ladies as baby girls, the smile that came to my face was about the bond between fathers and daughters. And y'all clearly had that bond.

And it's really important because in our community, all too often, we don't talk about the relationship between fathers and daughters. And we don't talk about that. We leave something out. Single moms are single moms because they are. My mom raised five kids by herself, and I bless her for that. And my dad wasn't in the picture. So I have a little bit of envy for y'all. But I also think from a policy perspective, what we really have to talk about is lifting black dads up more.

A few weeks ago, Roland, we had the King Richard film, and we talked about Richard Williams and the relationships he had with his daughters. And I'm looking at Brother Entume and thinking about the relationship that he had. They would not have been able to speak so lovingly had there not been such a tremendous and amazing bond. And so he lives on through the sampling, but he also lives on through them. Sisters, I'm grateful to you. Thank you for sharing your dad. Omokongo. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your dad. I'm a Congo. Thank you. I want to continue in that light to you, sisters Benin and Ife. As somebody who's raising two daughters now who are teenagers, 15 and 13, and a 7-year-old son, if I can have them, when my time is up, say like 10% of what you said, you know, about your dad.

I will know that I have lived a life well lived because it's all about them and helping them be their best selves. So I appreciate everything you've had to say. As a musician myself, part of the hip-hop generation, you know, I definitely would be, you know, freestyling and juicy. I'll be playing it tomorrow morning in our yoga studios. I teach a lot of classes so I'm going to play that tomorrow. But I think what was definitely, you know, what was

beautiful about it is how his work is timeless and connects to future generations. It has to be beautiful to know that your dad's work is going to live on forever. You know, my children ask questions about his music

and it's living on. And so, for everything that you all have shared with the world, everything that he has shared with the world, we throw these terms around too lightly. Genius and icon. And there's no better example of this than what he has done. And so I hope he

forever, he has to rest in peace and power because look at you two and everything he's given to this world, but definitely through the family. And so I just want to echo Dr. Malvo and saying, thank you for sharing them with the world. And I know in this family, my 15 year old, my 13 year old, my seven year old, they're going to know the world. And I know in this family, my 15-year-old, my 13-year-old, my 7-year-old, they're going to know the legacy. So it's just going to continue to live on. And I'm just happy that we've been able to be a part of his experience in just a small way.

Thank you so much for letting us be a part of this. So thank you for letting us share. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. And with that, folks, that ends today's show. If you want to understand why Roland Martin unfiltered and the Black Star Network matters, and that is when our elders transition to ancestors, we pay them proper respects. In fact, actually, we're not ended.

My apologies. I'm sorry. We did lose a couple of more of our elders. One of the founding members of Parliament Funkadelic and the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has passed away, Calvin Simon. The West Virginia native was a barber before joining the group he created with fellow barbers, George Clinton and Grady Thomas and customers Ray Davis and Fuzzy Haskins.

Simon eventually parted ways with the group. He was a member of the West Virginia Native Barber Association and was a member of the West Virginia Native Barber Association before joining the group he created with fellow barbers George Clinton and Grady Thomas and customers Ray Davis and Fuzzy Haskins. Simon eventually parted ways with the group due to financial disputes. In 2004, Simon recorded gospel music under his label, Simon Says, releasing the album Share the News after he was diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer.

He released two more gospel projects, 2016's It's Not Too Late and 2018's I Believe. Calvin Simon passed away at the age of 79. Also, folks, film producer Carl Craig has passed away. Over the weekend, I saw a number of photos and posts about this brother, and I was not familiar with him. D'Angelo Proctor, I work with the TV One,

reached out to me and said that she worked with him on her first movie and he also gave Chris Spencer recently his first directing opportunity. Carl Craig, he was a writer, producer, an actor. He produced the Bobby Brown story, American Soul and Real Husbands of Hollywood on BET. He's probably most known for his work with Robert Townsend, I'm Gonna Get You Suckin' Hollywood Shuffle. Y'all, I think, is that the right photo, folks? Because there are two

Carl Craig's. One is a musician. Okay, I want to make sure that's the right photo. That is not the right photo. That is not the right Carl Craig. If y'all go to, please, pull up Robert Townsend's page, you will see it. And so, sorry about that. That is not the right photo of Carl Craig. That should have been double-checked, folks.

Robert Townsend posted this tweet earlier today. Rest in peace, Mr. Carl Craig, one of my oldest friends and producer. I couldn't have done Hollywood Shuffle without him. This photo is the money shot. We were on the European PR tour for Shuffle in Norway. My prayers go out to his wife, daughters, and family. I miss you. And again, if you look at a number of others, people have talked about this brother. Someone many folks, and again, I did not know of Carl Craig, but so many talked about the opportunities that he gave people as a producer.

And one of the unsung gems in black Hollywood, Carl Craig, was 52 years old. And so, again, we wanted to make sure that we also remembered those two. And as I was saying, we don't only just focus on people when they pass away. We like to give people their flowers when they're alive as well, which is why this show matters. And so you turn on cable news today, you're not going to see anybody mention Carl Craig. You're not going to see them have a discussion about James M. Tumay or Lonnie Guarnere. You're not going to see them talk about Brother Simon. And you also, a perfect example, I looked at this weekend, and the only black network,

the only black-targeted, black-owned network that even paid any tribute to Sidney Poitier in a real meaningful way was Oprah's own. She showed two of the interviews that she did with him. She also showed the Legends Ball that I got a chance to attend in December of 2004 around Selma, where he was one of the folks who was saluted. And how shameful is it that we have black networks, black targeted and black-owned networks that don't find time to stop playing their comedy shows and playing their award shows and playing the same stuff they always do and not honor our greats? How do you not honor Sidney Poitier? How do you not honor James M. Toomey? And so now you understand

why we created this. And you also understand, I love these people. I love these people who go on social media. Oh, you just trying to get a job with these white networks. Yeah, show me which network did a two-hour Sidney Poitier tribute and brought on people who knew him and

black male actors and others to share their thoughts and remembrances about him. Folks, that's why this show, this network matters. When I announced the unveiling on Thursday, I told you we're going to be debuting on beginning February 1st, four new shows on the Black Star Network. In addition to Rolling with Roland, that's going to be five shows that we're launching. We are not interested in, again, asking somebody else to tell our story. Again, when you look at this Ida B. Wells

piece right here, she says, the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. Well, you can't do that if you're asking somebody else, can you please cover us and to tell our story? You can't do that if you're asking somebody else, can you please cover us and to tell our story? You can't do that when you see that mural right there, Freedom's Journal, the nation's first black newspaper, where it says we wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.

Why in 2022 are we still asking somebody else to tell our story? And so that's why we are here. That's why we do what we do. And so we want you to support us. We want you to download the Black Star Network app. We want you to tell your friends. We've already surpassed 25,000 downloads. We now want to hit the next milestone is 50,000 downloads.

And then we want to go to 75,000, then 100,000. And so Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Samsung, Smart TV, Amazon Fire Stick, also the Xbox. You can download our app on all of those platforms. You can see our interviews with Reverend Dr. James Lawson and Richard Lawson, and you can see the Fred Gray interview. All these things are on the app as well. We also want you to support us financially.

The reality is we don't get the amount of money that MSNBC and CNN, they get $600, $700, $800 million, a billion dollars in advertising. We don't get that. So your dollars matter. The support that you give matters as well. And so please join our Bring the Funk fan club where every dollar you give goes to support this show, support our travel, support our staff, allows us to

buy more equipment, buy more lights and more cameras and things along those lines. And so Cash App is dollar sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Don't

forget when you give on YouTube we're only getting 55% of what you give. They're getting 45%, so we ask you to actually give to us directly via those platforms as well. And so we appreciate our panelists. Jeff Carr, thank you for being here. Julianne Malveaux, I'm a Congo. Thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts and remembrances. I want to thank all of our guests today as well. We will have live coverage tomorrow of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris' speeches in Atlanta.

We'll have full analysis of what they had to say right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So you want to stay tuned. Turn your live notifications on on Facebook, on YouTube, and on the Black Star Network. So when we go live, it pops up on your phone. You can actually see the new content that we have as well. If you missed our Sidney Poitier tribute, you can go to the Black Star Network app, go to our YouTube channel.

You can see that two-hour program. We're going to be live streaming also. We'll be separating the Lonnie Guarnere tribute and the James M. Tumay tribute as well. And then pushing that out to our platforms as well. Look, I told y'all, it's a whole bunch of haters out here. And they out here, they tweeting, they posting all kind of stuff. They dogging me.

But I told y'all, we don't worry about haters. All we do is keep stepping over haters. And we love for them to keep hating because as the Bible says, the God will simply prepare a table in the presence of thy enemies. It's driving our haters crazy that we debuted this new studio. It's driving them crazy

that we are still here three years after launching. And all these haters, a lot of them black, were saying y'all ain't gonna survive. You're not gonna be able to get anybody to watch. You going broke. We still here. We still here.

And so we're gonna continue to be here. We got some great stuff lined up and we can't wait to unveil more stuff for you, for you to be able to see. And so again, folks, we appreciate all that y'all do. Thanks a lot. And I'll see you tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network.

Y'all like the outfit from Ghana? And also the Nagas shoes. I got the Nagas tennis shoes over here, the red, black and green. Alright, y'all. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Ho! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

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Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.