#RolandMartinUnfiltered - GA voting rights hearing: NC's new CRT initiative; IL cops barred from lying to kids; Biz Markie dies

Episode Date: July 17, 2021

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It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Friday, July 16th, 2021. Coming up on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Missouri U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is headed to Georgia on Monday to hold a field voting rights hearing. She'll tell us about it right here on roller button on the filter. Vice President Kamala Harris held a listening session today on voting rights with black women leaders arrested yesterday in D. has been charged will talk with his attorney. In Connecticut, the superintendent of a primarily white school district has resigned after parents complained about his strong liberal ideologies. In Oklahoma, the State Board of Education banned teaching critical race theory and will talk with the only black woman who is on the board who voted against it. And also, Dr. Cornel West has resigned from Harvard University Divinity School.

After 15 years, he joins us to explain his decision. Plus, yeah, you know, more on crazy Republicans and voting and the lying on Fox News when it comes to COVID-19 and their anti-vaccination emphasis. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all

It's rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with Roland now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin. Martin. The civil rights leaders are making it plain that they are going to continue the mass action, the civil disobedience, to bring attention to the issue of voting rights in America.

They're pledging that this will continue every single week until something changes in this country when it comes to Democrats voting for the For the People Act as well as the John Lewis Act. Now, some will say, I don't understand. What's the big deal? Why are you making a big deal of this? The reality is this is a fundamental issue affecting all of us. There are those who say, well, we already fought this battle. Why are we having to deal with it again? But I need to take everybody back to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

I need people to understand if you go back to Bloody Sunday, if you go back to Selma, what you're dealing with is you're dealing with a nation that really did not want to fully confront the issue of voting. First and foremost, there really shouldn't have been a need for the 1965 Voting Rights Act because if you abided by the 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments, then that wouldn't be the case. But there was a sunset provision that was put into that particular law that the Voting Rights Act

had to be reauthorized every 25 years. That's one of the reasons why you see this battle. Republicans typically, they had to understand what really went on. So therefore, did they really want to keep trying to filibuster the Voting Rights Act? So no, it really wasn't controversial. It wasn't that big of a deal. But the problem that we've seen now is that these scenes, these scenes from 1965, these scenes that we often talk about when we talk about what happened on that bridge THIS RIGHT HERE, FOLKS, THIS RIGHT HERE IS WHAT WE ARE STILL DEALING WITH.

WHAT WE ARE STILL DEALING WITH IS THE AFTER EFFECTS OF THIS. WE ARE STILL DEALING WITH A NATION THAT DOES NOT FULLY WANT TO RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS. WE ARE STILL SEEING THESE THINGS HAPPEN IN THE SOUTH WHERE YOU

HAVE THESE SOUTHERN STATES THAT CONTINUE TO EMPLOY STRATEGIES, these things happen in the south where you have these southern states that continue to employ strategies designed designed to hurt african-americans so after the shelby v holder decision texas immediately rushed immediately rushed to do what change laws. Now what we've seen is it happened over and over and over again. Now what we also are witnessing across this country, we are witnessing Republican legislatures doing the exact same thing, passing new laws. Now, today, you're not seeing that. You're not seeing folks being beaten, run over with horses, beating with batons. We're not seeing, of course, the fire hoses being placed on them. No, that's not what they're doing. Now what you're seeing is you're seeing attacks on

our people through the court system. You're seeing attacks on our people by lawmakers. And so what you are seeing in here, folks, is, okay, Democrats, what are you going to do? How are you going to stand up? Are you willing to properly challenge, challenge power. Yesterday, LaTosha Brown spoke outside of the Senate Hart Building. It's really important for you to understand the power in her voice and what she was saying. And what I want to do is I want to share that again with you because it's going to set up our discussion today.

Listen to this. Black folks have stood up, right? Whenever we work together, when we stand for what is right, it makes a difference. We have to recognize we have to resist. When people are coming at our community, when people are trying to deny us our right, when people are trying to deny us our humanity, it is up to us to take a stand. Now, we literally have to do something. You can't let people attack your community and there's no response. So we are here, we will be here every single week that we've got to be here because we

are not going to go back. That our people have fought too long, they're folks who have died. That where I'm from in Selma, Alabama on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where our people literally gave their lives, right, and were beat and we have blood still on the bridge because we stood for the right to vote. This place literally does not have the right to undermine our democracy. This place does not have the right to undermine our humanity. We're standing here not because we believe in a system, we believe in us and we believe in our own agency and we believe that in our, we have the right to make a decision.

Any decision being made about me and my family, I have to be a part of that decision-making process. And so anybody that's watching this, every day there are decisions that are being made in this place that are impacting our children, that are impacting our families, that are impacting our community. And you have a responsibility to stand for. You have a responsibility to stand for what it is that you believe in. So no, this isn't a matter of what is right or what? What should you do? Or does it matter? Not anytime. I've operated the fullness of my power because God gave me that not the U. S Constitution. It is God that says that I have agency that gave me

that because my life matters and all the people in my community, our lives matter. And if we believe that, we have to stand on it. We have to act on it. And so that's why we're here at the Senate and we'll continue to go to the Senate and we'll go to the White House and we'll go to the Congress and we'll go to the streets. We're going to go wherever it's going to take for us to go because we ain't going back. Well, today they did that. There were a group of black women who went to the White House today. They met with Vice President Kamala Harris.

In a moment, we're going to be talking with Melanie Campbell, who is going to bring us up to date on exactly what took place in that meeting, what they're going to do next. But I dare say what has to happen right now is, this is on President Joe Biden. Let me say this again. This right now is not on Vice President Kamala Harris.

Now, there are somebody who's listening who is saying, well, I mean, are you simply giving her a pass? No. But President Biden, he wanted the job. This is where presidents must stand up. This is where presidents must be willing to use their power. See, you can't want the office but not accept the responsibility that comes with it, which means that this president needs to be going down to Texas. This president needs to be calling Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona

and Senator Joe Manchin to the White House and leaning on them and saying enough is enough. I need you to stand with me and with the people who put me in office. Will they do that? We'll see. Joining us right now is the leader of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and also the convener of the Black Women's Roundtable,

Melanie Campbell. Melanie, glad to have you back. Thank you, Ronald. You were one of the Black Women's Roundtable, Melanie Campbell. Melanie, glad to have you back. Thank you, Roland. You were one of the folks who was arrested on yesterday. First and foremost, you had the meeting with the White House today. How did that meeting go with Vice President Kamala Harris? I think it was a really engaging conversation, Roland. She was more listening, but we also met with some of the other staff, Cedric and others from both the president's senior team and vice president

team, I think was really important, because it is truly the one president at a time, and as well as vice president at a time. So it was good to have both in the meeting. And President Biden did stop through. Thanks, the sisters. Thank you for coming. I just wanted to say thank you for what Black women have done in the comments of all these elections. But the meeting definitely was with Vice President Harris. A little one down rolling, so I apologize if I'm a little loose tonight. But yes, it was engaging. We spent a lot of time really talking because we had some sisters who were in our delegation

who have worked in that White House. You know, the Mignon Moore and Leah Doshie were too. And just really making those suggestions and recommendations around using not just the bullet-pull pit, but using, let's say, all aspects of what they can do, the whole-of-government approach, if you will, like they've done for COVID, what was done with ACA, with the health care, with Obama administration, as examples of utilizing all means from the White House standpoint and the administration standpoint to think of ways that they can

get out into the community and really carry this all the way through and engage in the American public as Black women. And thank you, Roman, for all you do to put the story out there and for being there with us all day in that heat, as well as when we did our direct action. An intergenerational, multi-movement of sisters and brothers who came there to attempt to make our... I played that soundbite from Latasha Brown where she said,

look, this is not the end. What took place yesterday is the beginning, that there's going to be more of this. There's going to be more action. And, you know, when Vice, when President Biden was in Tulsa, he said he called on external forces to do more. But the reality is folks like you and Latasha and Tamika Mallory and others, they've done more. This is where the president must use the persuasive powers of that office to lean on these Democrats to do what's right,

because what we are looking at are efforts by Republicans to literally steal elections all across the South. Yes, and we won't have a democracy. We'll have a one-party rule if we end up having a situation of not having federal voting rights reform done because the redistricting is about to take place. You know, Roland, we had folks from your home state of Texas who were there from the Texas delegation, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus stopped by our speakout that was at United Methodist Building yesterday. And so we know that we are in a—this country is in a state of crisis, but we're not functioning

that way with what is actually—it's not there yet. And we have to engage in movement on this, so that, as I said beginning, yes, we're doing it because what's happening with Black people, but it's really the whole, the whole country is in trouble. And folks need to know they have to raise their voices and challenge, challenge these senators to just lead. That's all we're asking you to do, leave. It's not leading to hide behind a filibuster. That's a process. That's part of the legislative process that when times say it's time to change it so you can get some work done, nobody—I don't believe the people of West Virginia sent Manchin there to just hide behind that. But, you know, I don't live in West Virginia,

so the people of West Virginia are going to have to really challenge and speak up. They sent him to Washington, D.C. Mel, one of the things that, as we look at that video, that, being from yesterday's action, and it is important for people to understand why this matters, there's somebody who's watching right now and they're saying, all right, you've got these black folks.

And this was the point, I think, right here where the cops were telling us we had to get back. People are saying, all right, you know, I see these actions. But let me remind people, those checks that went out yesterday for child tax credits, those checks don't go out if Democrats don't control the Congress. Those checks don't go, the PPP, additional PPP dollars, all those things, those things don't happen unless you can't see, you can't get public policy changes unless you change the politicians. Polly is the root word of both of those, politicians and policy. It's the bottom line, Rolla. I mean, we took, can you still hear me? Yeah, we got you. We got you. Okay, sorry. Something was popping. I'm sorry, I'm on my Skype.

But look, folks were elected last year, and we risked our lives, a lot of us, to be out there, and many, many others to be out there, helping to mobilize and the people who showed up to vote. And so it's just, the reality is that if redistricting goes down the way, there are going to be a lot of folks in the House that won't be back. And if I see this, if the House goes down, there's surely a possibility of the Senate. For those, I'm nonpartisan. I'm just saying, when it comes to the shift of power that took place last year, it could just easily shift right back next year. And that would, in my personal opinion, I think that would be tragic, because people voted for change. They voted for justice. They voted for—I would not tell you—we

knew there would always be backlash, but there's forward progress for black folks. There's always a pushback. But I would not tell you that I saw that crystal ball that said that it would be this... Did we lose Melanie? I think her Skype froze. All right, then. We're going to... Hopefully, we'll get her right back.

All right, Melanie, you there? Your Skype froze. Go ahead and finish your point there. Okay. I just wouldn't have believed, I wouldn't have said in November to see this level of backlash, but here we are. And so we have to step up and know that's why we have to not just push inside of the Congress, but we have to push from outside, right? And we have to keep challenging the administration to do more, more and more, as much as they can do. And then it's also the voters. It's also, it's not just left up to Black folks. It's not just left up to Black women, right? It's

left up to folks who know that they're benefiting from our vote as well and even their own. It's like this is, this,we will wake up to a situation that will be one-party rule, not just in Congress, but all the way in our local neighborhoods, where we're not even able to be in control of our local boards of elections, things like that, that we've talked about. But at the end of the day, for our people, you bring up the point. We're definitely not saying that the administration is not doing, but this particular issue crosses all, because you can pass something today and then lose it in the next two years, two to four years, and that's real. And who gets to sit on the Supreme Court who doesn't seem to be interested in voting rights

these days, again, from 2013 to what happened two weeks ago with that Arizona case. And so we know—my sister Cheryl and I, who breaks it down better than anybody I know, when you look at the history in this country when it comes to our voting rights, when we always have had to have federal intervention. And that's just a fact. And so we've got to fight and push until we win. Um, one of the things that I want you to speak to,

the key to having different voices out there, especially young voices, and there were young sisters who spoke yesterday who made it clear that this fight is also ours. Yes. One of the young ladies that was with us our young sisters who spoke yesterday, who made it clear that this fight is also ours. Yes. One of the young ladies that was with us is Arielle Singleton, who is with Georgia Stand Up, as well as Georgia Black You Vote. She was with us today in the White House meeting, and I was able to speak her mind about what's important and why this is important to her generation. And one of the things that was really moving to hear her continue to talk about is that

the level of trust, that young people trusted the process. And it's important that they see the process, that they went out and voted, and that it matters. And so that's that was a real concern she kept raising yesterday and again today in the White House meeting, and that young people need to see that this does make a difference. And to see voting rights attack like that says, well, what was the point of all of that if we all weren't going to move on and then to see voting rights being attacked and nothing being able to be done doesn't make sense. Where are

these white folks? Because I've been making the point that laws, they're targeting young white voters too. And so where are they? Who is talking to these young white folks and say, this ain't just us they're targeting.

They're targeting college campuses. They're closing down early voting locations on college campuses. This is not just a black thing. True, true. And I don't know. Well, who's talking to them? Is there a group that's dealing with him? Yes.

Well, I can speak. I know this week on the series, and I know you're serious about what you asked, but I know some of the groups that we are building this whole movement around that we're embarked on is Voter Latino, you know, with Maria Teresa Kumar. And Christine Chin was out there with API A Vote, because when you know Georgia, there were also a lot of Latinos, as well as Asian Pacific Islanders. And there was some level of also multiracial coalitions work being done in Georgia, as an example. But, you know, it takes—it's

going to take—like I said, this fight is not just, and we're trying to build this in a way, Roland, with what we're doing as a part of, because we know there's a lot of work being done and being done. So this is not saying, well, oh, we showed up this week and this is, because everything, we tried to bring in all of us who are doing work as much as possible to collaborate, to partner, to really connect the dots, because this is a hard... It is. And it is not an easy one. Melanie Campbell, we certainly appreciate it.

Thank you so very much for joining us. Keep up the good work. Let's go to my panel, Dr. Nambi Carter, Howard University Department of Political Science, Raji Mohammed, radio and TV host, Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show. Dr. Carter, Niambi, I want to start with you. The point there, there is more to be done. We can't just give up.

I've heard that consistently, and when I hear Latasha Brown say, no, no, don't think we're going to wait. Y'all are going to see us constantly. We're not going anywhere. That has to happen. Oh, absolutely. And I think if you look at our history, I mean, we know these are not easy fights. They don't take one year or two. They can take centuries. And I think one thing we know from Black people is, we have shown that we are in it for the long haul. And, I mean, we just lost one of our premier sort of examples of this, Gloria Richardson, who just passed away, right? You don't say no or you don't walk away because it's difficult

or because people are threatening you or because people want to try to dissuade you. That's all this is, is an attempt to frustrate. But they're very clear about what has to happen here. And this is an all-hands-on-deck kind of approach. It's not just showing up to vote when we can, because we know all of these states that you named, from Kentucky to Georgia to Arizona, Pennsylvania, are trying to obstruct and make it more difficult for people to do that. But you have to be in their face. You have to show up where they are, because, ultimately,

the House is ours. It belongs to the citizens and to the people. And if it's not serving us, then we have every right to show up in those places. It is inconvenient. It is uncomfortable. It is all those things. But I think what LaTosha Brown and also what Ms. Campbell spoke of, right, was that we need to make these people as uncomfortable as they are attempting to make us, because we will not go quietly along with these nonsense rules that are really put here to frustrate and to really obfuscate and circumvent our rights as citizens. That, Faraji, is important.

And, you know, I think back to... I think back to when President Obama was in the White House. I remember I was at a meeting at the White House and I came out and there were a group of LGBT activists, and one of them was a former member of the military who chained himself to the White House fence. And they had another rally that was taking place elsewhere. So basically, this one was interesting. You had the, quote, official respectable protest. Then you had this rogue protest where they

chained themselves, where they handcuffed themselves to the White House fence. They got arrested. But don't think for a second that they were not aware of what both were doing. While you still had folks like HRC, who on the inside negotiating with the White House. I really do believe that what has happened is too many of our traditional black leaders are playing an inside-ins inside game versus the inside outside game where outside is actually helping inside president Biden needs to wake up

in here the chance of people in Lafayette Park demanding for voting rights sender Joe Senator Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema need to be met at every town hall, at every gathering. They need to have folks showing up at their district offices and their D.C. offices demanding this here.

Public pressure works, but you can't do it sitting your ass at home. So here's the thing about that inside-outside strategy, brother Roland. The big thing is, is this the will of the people? And I think that this is the kind of like the underlying issue as to why we're not seeing the level of urgency and the level of engagement that we want to see. The fact is, is that as a people in this country, we have been broken. Our political will, our social will, our individual will to try to continue to fight and to continue to engage when there are forces and men and women who are stopping us from being, from realizing our humanity, that will has been broken.

And so when your will is broken, that means that your faculty of conscious and deliberate action becomes interfered and interrupted with. Let's just talk about that part, because this is not just about voting as much as it's about our attitudes and our mindset about seeing ourselves as part of a country that is on the decline and then at the same time fighting for our humanity. Latasha Brown said it best.

She said, I'm not out here fighting for democracy US. AND I THINK THAT HAS TO JUST RESONATE WITH FOLKS. TO SAY THAT YOU'RE FIGHTING FOR US IS LIKE, THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW LAST BATTLES THAT WE CAN BECOME ENGAGED IN TO BRING THE GENERATIONS TOGETHER, TO BRING OUR INTELLIGENCE TOGETHER, AND AT THE SAME TIME, WITH A WILLFUL, DELIBERATE, CONSC willful, deliberate, conscious, intentional force,

say enough is enough in this country. Now, you may not, folks may not want to fight for quote-unquote democracy, but you should want to fight for one's humanity, one's citizenship. And I think that's part of the problem. And I got my shirt on. I got my shirt on. Because what I see with these sisters is consistency. Consistency of action. Consistency of will. But black women have been taking the brunt of that consistency for way too

long. And now it's time for black men and the next generation to step up to engage. And most importantly, to bring the power that we have the ability to bring. Before I go to Michael Inhotep, Cora Masters Berry, a long-time activist, also the widow of former D.C. Mayor Mary M. Berry,

she was there yesterday, and I wanna play what she had to say, and I want you to see and hear the emotion that she exhibited. Listen. And here we are, 40 years later. Will you be back at the Senate? I will be back as long as I can. This is what democracy looks like.

This is what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. Keep fighting. This is what democracy looks like. Don't give up. This is what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!

This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!

This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!

This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! And they—everything they gave us, they took away. Every law you can think about, they can just write up—just—just with a pen, take our rights away. We appreciate you not filming these security measures. Thank you. I'll be back. I'm never going to back down.

Never going to stop. That's what I'm saying. Fighting to my death. And my kids are going to fight. Come on! I'm not going to do it to us again. Sixty years of this. never gonna stop fighting to my death and my kids are gonna fight come on not going to do it to us again 60 years of this all the bills 13 14 15 amendment 1964 65 and we're back here again are you kidding me i'm madder than i've ever been death or vote you're gonna have to

vote and i'm telling, if the black people stop voting, everybody loses. It's not a black battle. It's a democracy battle. All the Democrats need to be out here. All the people of color and all the people of righteousness need to be out here. It's not a black battle. It's a moral battle. It's a moral law. They're trying to take everything from us. If we don't vote, we die. If we don't vote, Jim Crow. If we don't vote, separate bathrooms.

If we don't vote, slavery. Michael, I'm sitting here and here's what I'm wondering, and I'm gonna be, look, I'm sitting here, and here's what I'm wondering, and I'm going to be, look, I'm wearing my Alpha shirt. I was text messaging today our general president saying, what day are Alphas going to join the eight Alphas in Congress to do the same thing yesterday? Sigmas. Congressman John Lewis was a sigma.

I wanna know when is Phi Beta Sigma going to call their members to have a civil disobedience in the Senate Hart Building like you saw yesterday with Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Delta, and the Deltas who were there yesterday. I wanna know when the Omegas going to want to know when the Omega's going to do that, when the Iota's going to do that. I want to know when the Masons are going

to do that. I want to know when the black men going to show up. You know, good questions, Roden. I talked about this, the protests on my show last night. And also, there were African- American men there.

Okay, now I don't know how many got arrested. I think 10 black men got arrested. No, no, no, I'm gonna be clear. There were black men who were there. We walked along with them. I can roll a video, but follow me here. Right, I agree with what you're saying. Right, I don't wanna, here's my,

this is what I'm saying. I don't wanna see a sister at the next one. I wanna see a hundred, what I'm saying is, I wanna see a hundred brothers. I want the cappers to say to the cappers who are in Congress, we gonna stand with you and we gonna have a hundred, two, three hundred there. I want the Masons to be there saying the same thing.

I want the Alpha saying, we're going to pick this Thursday. I want the—I'm saying—what I'm saying is I don't just want to hear brothers make statements or send out press releases. I want to see them on the front line. Oh, no. I agree with that. I agree with that. And the show off force from those organizations as well. In their colors.

In their colors. Absolutely. I agree with that. You know, it's a few things. I talked about this on my show last night. The first question I asked is, why were these sisters arrested and the domestic terrorists on January 6th weren't arrested? Who attacked the U.S. Capitol building? That's the first thing. First question I asked, number one. Secondly, when you talked to Melanie Campbell about where the white people, one of the critical things here, and we talked about this last Friday, Roland, is we we have got to expand this beyond just, in general, a Black thing. Because, see, when we talk about the 1965 Voting Rights Act, that automatically gets associated

with African-Americans. But what is at stake for white college students? What is at stake for elderly white people who vote through mail-in ballots? What is that state for Latinos and Asian Americans? Largely in this conversation, it's not talked about. So we have to expand that conversation beyond that and have that outreach to those different groups that are also affected, because the Voting Rights Act gets associated with Dr. King, John Lewis, things like this. Secondly, you talked about it here. I talked about it on my show. Wednesday, 150-plus corporations signed onto a letter supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. But what they didn't say is any Republicans that vote for these voter restriction bills, we're not going to give you any more funding.

That's what I'm—see, your letter don't mean a damn thing if you keep sending a check. Exactly. So now look at this. Compare the stance from corporations that they took Wednesday in that letter. And that's a little start, but we got to go harder. Compare that to the stance they took with the Indiana transgender bathroom bill in 2015, when corporations were talking about canceling conferences in the state of Indiana. NCAA came out.

All these corporations came out. They were talking about withdrawing economic support. Not only did they do this, if you go study what happened, Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana. Corporations put so much economic pressure on Indiana, the state legislature within a week changed the law. That's how much economic pressure they put on. So how is it you put—you come out hard for LGBTQ, but you silent for BLCK?

And the same thing with North Carolina, when North Carolina had their transgender bathroom bill. You saw corporations take a much harder stance. So the second thing that has to happen is, we have to collectively put our foot up the ass of these corporations that are taking these little baby steps, when we see a history of them taking a much more stronger stance when it comes to transgender people choosing which bathroom they want to use. And lastly, to piggyback on or veggie back on Faraji's point, the reason why many of our people don't fight back is because many of our people don't think that we're fighting for. So we got to deal with the self-esteem issue and how we see ourselves as well. Bottom line, folks, is the pressure has to continue. Otherwise, we can't give up. I don't care if you talk about giving up. Well, bottom line is that simply cannot happen because that has not been the case for black folks. On Monday in Georgia, Senator Amy Klobuchar is going to be taking the Rules Committee to

Atlanta to have a field hearing on the issue of voting rights. Earlier today, she and I talked about that. All right, Senator Amy Klobuchar, talk about this field hearing that you're going to be holding in Atlanta on Monday. What's the purpose? The purpose is to make clear to the people who work in the United States Capitol how bad the Georgia law is, how they are literally, the legislature and the governor did everything to try to limit people's freedom to vote and try to change it. It's on us now. Those Texas legislators came to Washington. I met with them last week. They came to Washington for salvation, and we've got to deliver. And that means using the tools we have. The Constitution

is so clear. It says that Congress can make or alter laws that govern federal elections. And that's our job. And so, Reverend Warnock will be there testifying. I'm doing also another voting event with Stacey Abrams. And then John Ossoff is on the committee. Senator Padilla is coming, going back from California to be there. We're going to have a number of senators there. Senator Merkley, the author of the bill. And we're doing this to shed some light for the country on what's happening. The Rules Committee has been this basically backwater, hasn't gone—had a field hearing for decades. And to me, this is the issue of our time.

It is a continuation of what happened in that insurrection on the platform at the Capitol, where a bunch of people that wanted to uproot our democracy and use racism to do it, that torch has been passed, sadly, to a number of legislators across the country who are now trying to pass these laws to stop people from voting. What do you make of folks like Megyn Kelly and others who say, oh, the media really made this thing out to be something bigger than it really was on January 6th? Completely wrong. I spent a lot of time looking at this. We had hearings and issued a report, and I'm glad more work is going to be done over at the House to really look at the root of what happened here. But these people literally came with bear spray, with weapons. My most memorable person that I talked to out of all this was, of course,

the guy that was basically sitting in the Capitol when it was all done looked at his buddy, told him that the N-word was used against him 15 times, and said, is this America? Is this America? You have Eugene Goodman, the brave, brave man who literally fended people off to save the lives of senators. So many officers who were there firsthand will tell you what happened. This was a prepared assault with weapons, but they were trying to kill people. Beginning, middle, end of story. The thing that really jumps out at me is you have a Republican

party that wants to keep making excuses. We had Mitch McConnell stand up after voting against impeachment and give this speech, oh Donald Trump is to blame, and I'm sorry, those were empty words. This refusal to have a bipartisan commission, empty words. Now when we look at the attack on voting rights, what is actually happening? You know, really, what is it going to take to get your holdout Democrats over the hump? At the end of the day, Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin simply do not want to get rid of the filibuster. And I'm telling you right now, Senator Klobuchar, a lot of black folks are sitting there saying, we went to the polls, we put in Ossoff, put in Warnock, did all that hard work.

And what do we have to show for it if Republicans are just going to keep passing these bills on a state level? What is it going to take to get them over the hump? That's why I'm going to Georgia. I want these senators to know that we're not giving up. I personally, as you know, would abolish the filibuster not only just to get voting rights legislation done, but to get police reform done and to get climate change, immigration reform. We have been waiting too long on these issues. It is time to move. I think that by putting the pressure on, by making very clear—you've already seen changes. You saw Senator Manchin being willing to negotiate a product that wasn't everything I wanted from the beginning, but at least it had same-day registration.

We had significant basic federal rights that would have been put into law for the first time when it came to voting. The next step is, how do you get it through the process, that archaic filibuster? He has signaled a willingness in the past to talk about a standing filibuster, which means we would make our colleagues not hide under their desks, but actually stand up and argue and debate and have to be in that chamber day after day after day. That's, by the way, how the civil rights legislation finally broke through in the 1960s. We have the John Lewis bill, which is going to be separately making its way through the

House and Senate this fall. You could add provisions to that bill. Senator Manchin's already indicated a willingness to look at that to support that bill. Third thing you can do is with this reconciliation package that's coming up, which is a long word, which just means the Build Back Better, the part of it with child care and housing and the like. Put election infrastructure in that. Tie it to some requirements and provisions, policy provisions. That's going to be a lot harder to do. But I am literally, Roland, not giving—I'm going to look at every vehicle there is. Reverend Warnock and I met with—and Senator Merkley met with the Texas legislators, along with, of course, the vice president did as well—met with them. And they said to us, the head of the Black Caucus in the Texas legislature, she said

to me, we came all here looking for salvation, and we're giving you the torch. We cannot get our governor to do it. And so these are the cases that I am making to our colleagues. And I will—Senator Manchin, in the past, has listened to his colleagues. And you've got people like Warnock saying, these guys are literally trying to steal the election from him. They changed the runoff. This is one thing that isn't well known. You know they have those runoffs in Georgia, not to have them. But what do they do? They're going to have them. They won't stop them. But they're only giving 28 days for the runoff.

And then they say you have to register 29 days before. So, in other words, you will not be able to register to exercise your right to vote for this final election in Georgia if you didn't do it before. They said that drop-off boxes can only be at the early voting places. Well, that kind of makes it ridiculous, right? And they can only be there and operating during the hours of the early voting, when that was a very, very helpful way for people, especially in Atlanta, to vote. There were hundreds of those drop-off boxes in the area, and they've severely limited those drop-off boxes. All of this is designed to hurt African Americans. That's why Jim Clyburn called this Jim Crow

2.0. All of it is designed to try to go after poor people and make it harder for them to vote. I really, truly believe that. All these complexities with—you've got to put in Georgia your birthday on the envelope that is inside the other envelope, on the envelope. And so in the past in Georgia, when they had that requirement, people were understandably putting that date on because they thought, oh, it's my ballot. I better put the date I'm signing the ballot. Then those ballots were questioned. So they got rid of the requirement. Guess what they're doing now? Putting it back in place. So while you hear a lot about the water and the lines, which is atrocious, it is much more than that. And that is why you've seen major

corporations come out against this legislation in Georgia and why we are so focused on it? For the hearing on Monday, first of all, is it going to be televised to? What is going to, who will be testifying, who will be appearing, how long is it going to last? Sure. It's going to be in the morning. We have votes in the late afternoon. It's going to be at the Civil Rights Museum in Atlanta. The center is actually going to tour that museum. I'm sure you've been there. It's incredibly moving with the lunch counter. And I thought that was very important for them to see that. Then we'll have the witnesses are going to be a state legislator, a leader in the legislature who understands the bill, knows exactly what happened, what they were up against,

why the Republicans put it forward. We are going to have a Ms. Butler, who's been a longtime local election official, advocate for election reform from a rural area, and then a voter who's a veteran who has stood in line for three hours and saw and knew seniors and elderly people who literally could not stand in line in the sun for that long. And so that's what we're doing. It will—I don't know exactly how long it will last. If it's televised, of course—now, these things are always televised in some way, but I hope that it gets the attention that it's due. And then Stacey Abrams and I are doing an event the day before with a number of other voters because we couldn't.

We had limits on how many witnesses we could have. So we're having other voters as well. Well, look, I mean, it is certainly an important issue because what we're seeing in my native state of Texas is an abomination. And I really hope Senate Democrats recognize that if they don't move on this, they literally are guaranteeing that they will be in the minority after 2022. And Democrats could very well lose the House as well. Yeah. And anyone that talks to these people who are up in these seats, like Reverend Warnock or John Tester—there's a completely different state, right, in Montana—he knows exactly—and he's not up this time, next time—everyone knows what they're doing here. They are, in the words of Reverend Warnock, they just—there are some people that don't want some people to vote.

And when political parties lose an election, like the Republicans did, what they're supposed to do is find new candidates. These guys are doubled down on Trump and his friends, or change their policies. As you could see at CPAC, they're doubling down on their policies and their anti-vaccination rhetoric just at the time when we need the vaccine out there with that variant coming out. Or you're supposed to change your message. They've done none of that. They have one strategy. Let's make sure the people that voted last time don't vote. It's outrageous, and that's what the world needs to know. And remember, in Georgia—and I know you know this—when they started messing around and Trump went after the election, a lot of independents, people in the middle, saw through it. And they did not like what was going on, and they voted for Warnock and Ossoff. So there is danger in this, aside for them, aside from the efforts

that we're undertaking right now to take this on legislatively. The voters have seen through this in the past. And if we just pretend it's not happening because it's hard to do or because we have a few senators that aren't with us right now, and I emphasize that right now on filibuster reform, then we're just giving in to them. And I refuse to do that. All right, then. Sarah and Amy Klobuchar, we certainly look forward to it. And again, last one, will it be televised on Monday? Is it C-SPAN or somewhere else?

It will be televised, but I would hope that at least cables will be carrying it, and then we will always have it available for people, and I'll make sure I get it to you. All right. Well, let us know that, and then we'll be sure to live stream it and make sure it goes out in real time. We'll find a way for you to live stream it. All right.

We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Congratulations on your new studios and everything else. You're doing great. Thanks a lot. You take care. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back. We'll talk with an attorney of a black man who was shot in here in Virginia in a very strange case. We'll explain when we come back on Roland Martin unfiltered. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus

the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex. And we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out, Tiffany.

I know this road. That is so freaking dope. I'm going to say, watch out Tiffany. I know this bro. That is so freaking dope. Hello, I'm Nina Turner. My grandmother used to say, all you need in life are three bones. The wishbone to keep you dreaming, the jawbone to help you speak truth to power, and the backbone to keep you standing through it all. I'm running for Congress because you deserve a leader who will stand up fearlessly on your behalf. Together, we will deliver Medicare for all.

Good jobs that pay a living wage and bold justice reform. I'm Nina Turner, and I approve this message. George Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force. Right. Hey, I'm Amber Stevens. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis and you're to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Three months after a Spotsylvania County deputy shot and severely injured 32-year-old Azea Brown here in Virginia,

a special prosecutor has announced two felony offenses against the officer. Deputy David Turbyville is charged with one count of felony unlawful wounding and one count of reckless handling of a firearm with a serious injury. Turbyville faces one to five years in prison and a fine up to $2,500. Joining us right now is the attorney for the Brown family, David Haynes. David, welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. Take folks through this in terms of what happened here that has led to this officer actually being charged. Well, this is an extremely strong case. We're pleased that at least we have, you know, the grand jury did return a bill. We would like to see stronger charges. But what

happened was Isaiah Brown had gotten a ride home from a deputy. His car had broken down and it was late at night. He needed a ride home to his grandmother's house to retrieve his other vehicle. And he was called that car. He couldn't get the keys to that car. Long story. He got on the house phone, called 911 again. And then he was outside, out front of his house, his grandmother's house, in the middle of the street, on the House phone with 911, when the deputy showed up, made an irrational decision, thought that the House phone was a gun, told him to put his hands in the air, the dispatcher had, which he did, and he fully complied with. and the deputy shot him

eight times. He was unarmed. He had a house phone. And, you know, it's a miracle that he's alive. Wow. And also, I remember this story, and when they called him, was he arguing with the brother and the dispatcher? They sound like they called him, was he arguing with the brother and the dispatcher? They sound like they knew him, like that there was history here. There was some history. In fact, his car had broken down. He'd gone to a gas station. They weren't able to get the car.

So he'd actually been given a ride by another deputy for 30 to 40 minutes over to his grandmother's house, which was a nice deed that this other deputy had done. Isaiah was very calm, cooperative. He was listening to music on his phone in the back of the car. So the 911 operator knew him from earlier that evening. It was not five or ten minutes later that he called 911 again. He tried to get into his house, get the keys. The keys were locked up.

Grandmother was out of town. He had a little bit of, he had an argument with his brother. They asked him if he had any weapons, that he had any guns on him. He clearly said no. Walked out into the front, in the front yard. He was out in the street. At this point, the officer pulled up. There had been a miscommunication, we believe, with dispatch due to some earlier comments. And he sees this house phone, you know, sort of a larger cordless phone, much bigger than a cell phone, I guess, up to his head. And he says he's got a gun to his head. He says that to himself to dispatch.

But the dispatch officer had told him to put his hands in the air, which he did. So he was clearly no threat at all, unarmed, has his hands up in the air. He's obeying all commands. And this officer jumped, didn't wait for backup. HE WAS ON THE FORCE FOR MAYBE NINE MONTHS. HE WAS ON THE FORCE FOR MAYBE NINE MONTHS. HE WAS CLEARLY NO THREAT AT ALL, UNARMED, HAS HIS HANDS UP IN THE AIR, HE'S OBEYING ALL COMMANDS, AND THIS OFFICER DIDN'T WAIT FOR BACKUP.

BY THE WAY, NOW WE KNOW THIS OFFICER'S NAME BECAUSE IT CAME OUT YESTERDAY. HE HAD BEEN ON THE FORCE MAYBE NINE MONTHS. AND INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR BACKUP OR, YOU KNOW, FURTHER SURVEILLING THE SITUATION,

TAKING COVER IF HE THOUGHT THERE WAS A THREAT, WHICH, OF COURSE, THERE WAS NONE, HE ORDERED HIM TO if he thought there was a threat, which of course there was none. He ordered him to drop the gun, which was a phone. And he kept his hands in the air because that's what he'd been instructed to do by 911. And so because the phone was up in the air, he shot him eight times. Six of the bullets are still in his body. It's a miracle that he's still with us. And these are the kind of stories that are absolutely crazy. When you hear people talk about training, when you hear them talk about these sort of these split decisions, I mean, you're right. It's a miracle that Brown is still alive.

Training, training's huge. As I mentioned, you know, until yesterday, we couldn't get his name. We have asked for some basic employment information. When did he join the force? When did he graduate the academy? Has he ever discharged his firearm before? Has he ever been involved in any use of force? We don't know any of that. Until yesterday, we just got his name. It appears that he's a 2020 graduate of VMI, which is a military college in Virginia, had been on the force probably nine or 10 months, and raises a lot of questions about training. It raises questions about training.

It raises questions about crisis intervention. This was an individual that, you know, he did need some help. It was basically just basic assistance. He's got some mental health issues. And so instead, we're dealing with these issues, particularly among individuals of color and our communities of color. You know, this is no coincidence, right, that this is happening all over the country to a particular group of people. And instead of dealing with this on a crisis sort of situation or helping them out, we're dealing with it with a gun and bullets from a law officer who's holding a service-issued weapon by the Commonwealth of Virginia. It's just totally unacceptable. It's got to end. We've got to do better. We've got to do better for our communities. We've got to do better on training. We've got to do better on police practices and procedures. We can't continue having

these incidents in our country. Amazing. Well, look, we certainly will see what happens in this particular case if it goes to trial. But it's just, again, we're thankful that he wasn't killed in these actions. It's true. And he'll live with it mentally, physically, psychologically. Of course, his life will never be the same. He's very strong. He's a fighter. I'd like to thank everyone out there, all your viewers, his life will never be the same. He's very strong. He's a fighter. I'd like to thank everyone out there, all your viewers, for the prayers and the well wishes. And he's got a great attitude. He's an inspiration. He's going to keep fighting. And

we're fighting for justice for Isaiah Brown and all the other victims. All right, then. Look, please certainly give him our regards as well as his family as well. David Haynes, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks. In Maryland, an Ann Arundel County Police Board allows Officer Daniel Reynolds to keep his job after being caught on video kneeling on the back of a 27-year-old black man. In the video, in this unwarranted traffic stop, Reynolds is seen pinning Daniel Jarrellis to the ground as both men scream profanities. The Anne Umrendale County Police Department

initially suspended Reynolds with pay last summer after Jarrellis alleged in a lawsuit the officer placed a knee on his neck during a February 2019 arrest. An internal investigation initially recommended firing Reynolds, but he requested a trial board to appeal the recommendation. The board found him guilty of excessive force, but announced they are not recommending firing. Instead, they suggested Reynolds should take anger management classes.

Faraji, the last damn thing I want is a cop taking anger management classes. I don't want his ass on the police force. You're on mute. You're on mute. I'm still trying to reconcile, Brother Roland, the fact that we're talking about anger management classes when this is part of their training. So where is the classes sitting into the situation? Look at, if you look at this

video, he clearly has the ability to take this man's life, clearly. So anger management is not the issue as much as this is just a power move that police officers have continued to use day in and day out. With the sad part about it, and as I was listening to Mr. Haynes, the sad part about it is you don't get any real punishment. And when I read about this case, Brother Roland, the fact that they talked about not—they see him—now look how crazy this is they see him as being using excessive force but his excessive force is not enough to put him off the the police department this decision was made after mike brown after uh philando castile after freddie gray after mean, go down the line. George Floyd. This decision is made. So this shows us that there still needs to be a lot,

there's still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of policing. This is not about community policing. I don't even think this is about training. This is just about simple logic, simple humanity. And what we're seeing in these cases, especially when you're talking about these trial boards, is that there's, I'm at a point, Brother Roland, where I feel like it's just corruption all under everything. And I try to be an optimist to God. But at this point, I'm like, are you not seeing the same thing that we're seeing as citizens? And are you not

understanding the implications of allowing certain jokers on the police force to continue to do this work? Like Mr. Haynes said, that officer was only on the force for less than a year. Now we got this. It's absolutely insane. Fire their asses.

Anger management classes, Neomby. Anger management classes for a person who has access to multiple weapons that can take a person's life at any moment. And all he has to say is, I was afraid. Right? There was nothing there

that required him to put his knee on that man's neck. And then he's gonna say, well, the coarse language was out of character. Really? Because this looks like you are very comfortable doing it. Nothing suggests that he is uncomfortable doing any of these things. And I agree with Faraji. I mean, we keep treating this like these are isolated incidents. This is about how police officers are not just trained and then unleashed on the community that they serve. And one of the things that we know that police officers do quite well

and with impunity is abuse the public. And then everybody sits around and says, well, it wasn't so bad, until that officer kills someone. And we know in many of these cases where officers actually murder people, that there have been a series of escalating events that lead to this murder. They don't start with the murder. They usually end up there, because they continue to do things that are dangerous, and that people in positions of power and that people who are there to really control them sort of turn a blind eye to and say, well, this is fixable, right? They treat it like a glitch in the system, as if it's not built into the process. And the very people that they seek out and the people that they recruit to the force

are people who, in many cases, some cases, are aggressive and who seek, you know, these kinds of moments, right, to unleash that aggression on the public. So I am here, like everyone else, just stunned that all he got was a slap on the wrist because this is the only profession where you can brutalize and murder people and still expect to keep your job at the end of the day. Come on. Come on. This here, Michael, again, shows you the disparity in these systems where you have internal affairs who are police officers who say, no, you got to go. But then you have this trial board that clearly is taking care of road cops. Yeah, well, not only that, when you look at this case, first of all, it was determined that the traffic stop was an unwarranted traffic stop. Number one. OK, so the traffic stop was unjustified in the first place.

Secondly, Officer Daniel Reynolds testified that he did what he was trained to do, I guess, putting his knee on his neck or what have you. He said he did what he was trained to do, but it was an unwarranted traffic stop. And then Officer Daniels said that his knee was on Jarrell's shoulder, not his neck, OK? So yeah, this is—you know, so when we look at—we compare this to voting, right? Usually the police chief is appointed by the mayor. The mayor usually sets the tone for policing in the city, and then the police chief enforces that. And also, this is another reason why not only do officers like this need to be fired, but then we have to look at who to replace them with.

So we have to—more of us have to become officers, not to brutalize, but to protect, to be the type of officers we say we want to see. OK, because if we're not, who's going to be the officers? People like Officer Daniel Reynolds. And then the other guy in the other case, Deputy David Turbyville, Turbyville, who's been on the force nine months. I'm like, why do they have this guy out on the street by himself? And he's been on the force nine or 10 months. That doesn't even make sense there. Usually they have a senior officer with a rookie this guy's a rookie out by himself i don't know

how large the the uh police force is i don't know if it's like a mayberry police force or something like that but that doesn't make sense uh goes to show you again exactly how, uh, policing happens in America. All right, folks. Uh, in Washington, the family of a black man shot by a Clark County deputy is seeking $17 million from the county in the wrongful death lawsuit. In an independent review, a panel of prosecutors determined that Deputy Sean Boyle acted, quote, in good faith during a traffic stop that ended in the shooting death of 30-year-old Genoa Donald. Now Donald's family wants the officer to resign and Attorney General Bob Ferguson to review the case. Donald spent more than a week on life support after the shooting and died on February 12th. So here's the pattern right here, Faraji. If you notice, and this is why when the Chicago police chief,

I think it was a Chicago where they announced they were going to stop doing these. That wasn't Chicago. It was another city. I can't remember the city. They were going to stop doing these traffic, these misdemeanor traffic stops that if you think about how many stories that we've done, most of them are tied to traffic stops. Right. And most of them are such minor stuff. And it's like, are y'all looking for stuff? What are y'all doing?

And that's, again, what Brother Michael was mentioning. That's the point of when we have these larger conversations about policing, it's like, and I've had many conversations on my radio show about this, it's like common sense just goes out the window. And then when you have officers who are making dumb ass decisions, they start to rely on the training.

Oh, that's what we're taught on all of these things. But common sense, you know, I'll never forget, Brother Roland, and I don't know how that story of Sandra Bland affected you, brother. But for me, I mean, to see a black woman who was simply stopped due to a minor traffic stop, end up dead. And when you see the video of how, as the police officer in that case, he got so upset that he wanted to start banking at her and pulling at her because simply his authority was being challenged. These jokers, some of these jokers got real ego problems. And I'm convinced that some of them

probably became police officers just to simply to make themselves feel better about having some authority and power. But when you have these conversations, and I've always been an advocate, psychological evaluation in some cities like Baltimore and other, they're talking about every five years, you need to have these like once a year. SOME CITIES LIKE VALTAMA, THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT EVERY FIVE YEARS. YOU NEED TO HAVE THESE LIKE ONCE A YEAR. YOU NEED TO HAVE SOME CHECKS

AND MENTAL HEALTH CHECKS BECAUSE THESE OFFICERS, YES, THEY ARE UNDERGOING SOME TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PRESSURE, ESPECIALLY THE POLICE OFFICERS IN 2021. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, HOW ARE THEY PROCESSING? HOW ARE THEY HANDLING THE PRESSURES OF THEIR PROFESSION AND SO IT WON'T AFFECT THE But at the same time, how are they processing? How are they handling the pressures of their profession and so it won't affect the judgment when they go to the next call? And I think that's the big part of this. And when we look at how these calls are made and how these cases happen,

small minor things can be accelerated to a major thing. And it becomes absolutely, it creates madness in the communities that these officers serve in and this is where city councils must do their job where they say uh no no enough of these basic traffic traffic stops where you're pulling somebody over for some silliness when it comes to uh uh the the the thing hanging from the air freshener, from the mirror and stuff like that. No, these are the problems, how they escalate. Basic traffic stops, you shouldn't be dead

because of a basic traffic stop. Absolutely. And I think, you know, when you think about, I mean, Faraji brought up Sandra Bland, but we can name so many people have died this way. And they always talk about it's dangerous for the officer. But I always hear it's usually the citizens that end up dead at the end of these exchanges, whether we're talking about Daunte Wright, I mean, Terrence Crutcher, right, from the

officer that killed Terrence Crutcher, I mean, a motorist in distress. And these things happen all too often. But when you tell people over and over and over again that your job is so dangerous, and, again, nobody's trying to minimize that, but that every person that you encounter is a danger to you, is a threat to you, then what do you expect? I mean, in this case, with Mr. Donald, the officer said he saw a screwdriver, not that Mr. Donald had it in his hand, not that

he was wielding it at him, not that he was doing anything other than complying with the traffic stop at that moment. But that was your cause to try to pull him out of his vehicle. I mean, it's not even clear that he even knew why he was stopped. And, of course, we don't know what happened, because there's no video. There's no other evidence besides the officers who appeared there and their word. And, unfortunately, Mr. Donald is dead. I mean, if it... And we don't know how this would have turned out had he lived. I mean, maybe it would be something like we heard

with Mr. Brown in Spotsylvania. But, as they say, dead men tell no tales. And I think all too often we rely on the police officers and their judgment. But if they're under such duress that the only thing they can do to think about saving themselves in those moments is to shoot people, why would we then trust their same testimony about what just happened in these cases where people are fatally wounded? And that's what we did here in this case with Mr. Donald. And it's just that the board would say, yes, they did some things that were wrong, but it really wouldn't have changed the outcome.

It's outlandish. That doesn't make sense. I'm sorry. Go ahead. It just doesn't make sense. Well, but again, this, Michael, is part of the deal. This is why you got to have people, those who say voting doesn't matter, guess what? If you have a city council form of government, what the city council the mayor they hired the police

chief they ought to be able to say no enough with these silly traffic stops if you have a city manager form of government that means that a city manager has a police chief but the city manager is hired by the city council and the mayor and so people who say voting doesn't matter this is this is where who the leader of a department is setting the policies of the department also matter. Well, you know, Roland, I've said before here on your show, politics is the legal distribution of scarce wealth, power, and resources. And in writing the law, statutes, ordinances, amendments, and treaties, there are adoption, interpretation, and enforcement. The city council usually approves the budget in many cities, like the city of

Detroit. City council approves the budget for the police department. The mayor appoints the police chief. The mayor is elected. The mayor helps set the tone for policing in the city. But the city council, these are elected positions, okay? And then when you have a city manager, like in Ferguson, Missouri, with Michael Brown, the city manager had the real power. The mayor was a part-time job. The city manager had the real power, but the city manager was elected. And then people started realizing, well, wait a second, we can vote and we can vote people in the—into city council. We can vote people in the mayor.

We can take over the city manager position. So people started understanding more so the connection between conditions, policies, and who's in office. And that's what we have to do. We have to make a direct connection between who's in office, the laws and policies written, and conditions, because there's a direct correlation. Absolutely.

It is, again, just one story after another, and we're sort of like on repeat. All right, folks, in Minnesota, former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter wants to keep cameras out of the courtroom for her criminal trial. No shock. Potter's lawyers filed a motion this week in Hennepin County D.A. Court asking the judge not to allow the trial to be broadcast or live streamed. However, prosecutors say audio and video coverage is necessary to provide the type of openness and transparency that is crucial to public trust and respect for the judicial process.

Potter is on trial for the shooting death of Dante Wright. The former officer, Faley, shot Wright during a traffic stop on April 11th and is charged with second-degree manslaughter. Her trial is set to begin on December 6th. Michael, should cameras always be allowed in the courtroom, especially when it's involving a police officer involved shooting? I don't I don't know for certain that they should always be allowed in the in the courtroom. I know different cities have different policies, things like that.

So I don't know if they should always be. I think in a situation that is high profile, it's a good idea for, first of all, for transparency. It's a good idea to have it like in a situation like this. It's a good it's a good idea to have it. But, you know, what's interesting in this case, reading the reading the argument from her defense attorney, Attorney Ng, Paul Ng, E-N-G-H, one of the things he said is that she is experiencing threats to her life. Well, she was a threat to Daunte Wright's life. That was an execution. Now, she yelled taser, taser, taser three times, and we could see on her body cam that she had a gun, not a taser.

But I find it interesting where he's making an argument, oh, well, there are threats on her life. Well, she was a threat to his life. So they should want to have cameras, to have transparency, you know? And he said it would interfere with her having a fair trial. How so? How would that interfere with having a fair trial? It didn't interfere with Derek Chauvin having a fair trial. This is interesting, but I think they should have cameras here. Now, every police shooting, I'm not exactly sure. I know different cities have different laws, but I don't think it would hurt. I want cameras in all of them, Faraji. All of them. The public should, the public, these are public servants who are paid with public dollars. The public should be able to see. No doubt. And I think one of the big cases out of Minnesota where they did have cameras in the

courtroom is Derek Schultz. And going back to what Brother Michael was saying in terms of transparency, I think that's true. But I'm really on the, I think it should be a case-by-case basis. Here's why. Just because you might have some children that might be testifying in some of these cases that we want to protect their identity, and you might have some other vulnerable folks that might be involved in these cases. I think there should be a case by case basis. But this case?

Oh, no, we need to have the cameras up. But here's the deal, though. I've seen this other case, says Niambe, where they shielded young folks who testified. You can take precautions, but to say no cameras, no live streaming at all, nah, we...

I believe there's value in being able to see and hear for ourselves the prosecution, the defense, the witnesses, because the shooting deaths are public events. And I think by the public being able to see all the trial, it helps, I believe, diffuse what actually happens.

And I agree with you. I mean, and just like Daunte Wright's death was public, this trial needs to be public. And I'm sorry, you know, it's hard for me to look at that picture of that young man because that boy should be alive and that baby should have his father. And this whole question about this officer

and thinking about her and what's going to make her comfortable and what's going to be best for her, I mean, it was a little late for that when you killed this boy over an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. What was that harming in that very moment? And what was so dangerous about this boy in that moment that you either would reach for

your taser, right? This is where, again, that training and supposed to be a seasoned officer comes in. And I agree with you, Roland. We have the technology to pixelate the faces. We have to, we can do voice, things to their voices to make it more difficult to identify them. We can even say, hey, maybe for this portion of the trial, we'll only do audio. There will be no video. There are a variety of things we can do to protect the vulnerable. But this idea that somehow, you that somehow broadcasting this trial is going to bring this officer more death threats, well, the death threats allegedly were already there,

and there has been no trial yet. So why would televising this trial ramp that up? And I think you're exactly right, that if this trial happens behind closed doors, and the public that has been protesting and that has been active in the streets doesn't see anything at all. It's going to make this a much worse situation and perhaps a more volatile situation than it already has been. Absolutely folks,

Illinois become the first state to ban law enforcement from line to minors. Governor Jamie Pritzker signed the bill formerly known as SB 2122 into law. Yesterday, the bill is one of four. The governor signed to address criminal justice issues, including the representing, I'm sorry, Resentencing Task Force Act, which will study how the state can reduce its prison population.

The four bills that I am signing today advance the rights of some of our most vulnerable in our justice system. And they put Illinois at the forefront of the work to bring true reform. As of today, Illinois is the first state in the nation, it was mentioned earlier, the first state in the nation to bar law enforcement from using deceptive tactics when interrogating minors. False confessions have played a role in far too many wrongful convictions leading to

painful and often life altering consequences as Terrell described and that rings true for the youth who are most vulnerable to these tactics. My deep hope is that Illinois is setting an example for the entire nation to pass this law in all 50 states. Good actions are being taken there in Illinois. All right, folks, the idiot black Republican who's lieutenant governor in North Carolina, y'all, Mark Robinson,

he vows to prove why critical race theory should not be taught in schools. He's launched an initiative called the Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students, also known as FACTS, to provide a portal for teachers, parents, and students to report cases of this bias or indoctrination. He went on Fox & Friends where he talked about the difference between CRT being taught as an ideology or an opinion. Here's this fool. The goal of this bill, and erroneously people think what we want to do is try to whitewash history. Me being a person who, I was studying to be an educator before I became lieutenant governor. And as an educator, I want to teach children about everything that's happened in our I WAS A TEACHER. I WAS A TEACHER. I WAS A TEACHER. I WAS STUDYING TO BE AN

EDUCATOR BEFORE I BECAME LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. AS AN EDUCATOR, I WANT TO TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED IN OUR NATION. THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY AND ALL ASPECTS OF IT. WHAT I DON'T WANT TO DO IS

IMPART MY OWN OPINION ON THEM. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO. WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT THESE KIDS AND THE TEACHERS ARE NOT BEING PRESSURED TO FOLLOW ANY IDEOLOGY. WHO WOULD THEY BE PRESSURED BY? WELL, WE HAVE A TASK FORCE THAT WE'VE ASSEMBLED HERE IN NORTH CAROLINA IN OUR OFFICE FOR THE PURPOSES OF COMBATING INDOCTRINATION IN THE CLASSROOM. AND WHAT WE'VE SEEN SO FAR IS THAT UNFORTUNATELY THERE ARE TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM WHO ARE

FORCING THEIR OPINION ON STUDENTS. AND WE CANNOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN. IT'S ALSO HAPPENING, OF COURSE, TO TEACHERS AS WELL. teachers in the classroom who are forcing their opinion on students. And we cannot allow that to happen. It's also happening, of course, to teachers as well. That dude is such an idiot. I was going to Connecticut where a school superintendent resigns for being, quote, too woke. Roddale Harrison received complaints from parents alleging he alienates students with strong liberal ideologies. Already facing heavy scrutiny because of those accusations. Harrison sparked more outrage when he approved a diversity, equity and inclusion survey for parents, staff and students.

The numerous calls from parents and staff, Harrison announced his resignation days after agreeing to a new $225,000 contract. Rodell Harrison, superintendent of Eastern Reading Region 9, joins us right now. Principal, how are you doing, Rodell Harrison, superintendent of Eastern Redding Region 9, joins us right now. Principal, how you doing, Rodell? I'm good. How are you? Thanks for having me on the show. I appreciate it. So here's a perfect example here. Basically, what you have here is you've got white folks in America who are lumping everything under critical race theory, who are attacking anything when it comes to diversity. And that's really what was happening in your case. Yeah, and the interesting thing, Roland, is that, you know, one of the things I got blamed for was, you know, I was coming in with my own agenda.

Interestingly, I got hired to do this work around diversity, equity, and inclusion. The three boards that I worked with prior to me starting this past August, they voted unanimously to create a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force. They said, this is the work that we want you to do. Based on your experience, we feel like this is the right person to lead this work. And so I came in and I, you know, took them at their word and said, started moving this work forward. And initially people were on board and then there was this sudden pushback from the community, really saying, you know, this is too radical for us. This is not what we want to focus on. We're not trying to make our children feel bad. And, you know, the thing to note in this case is that this is a predominantly white district with about 85% or more of the student population is white. And so

there was this sense of, we don't need to work on this because our schools, our towns aren't racist. Is this, well, I may ask politically, this part, this, where the school district is, what, who did they vote for in the last election? That's a great question. So it's about half and half. I would say it's about 40% of the two towns, Easton and Reading, about 40 to 50% voted Republican, and the other half, 50 to 60% voted Democrat. So who was coming to your aid? Well, that's a great question. So there were many people in the community, and quite honestly, the experience I had in the community didn't fully represent sort of everyone's beliefs and sort of where they were. So I had a lot of support, a lot of people coming in and saying, you know, left leaning or liberal thinking and wanting to indoctrinate kids. does not represent the entirety of the town. But what the challenge was, is that there was no

really good focus or really good argument for us to push back and say, this is not what we're doing, and a real strong commitment to staying the course with our diversity, equity, and inclusion work. And at the end of the day, I mean, I'm the parent, before I'm a superintendent, I'm the parent of five sons, five black sons. And so one of the things that I taught them as they were young was you teach people how to treat you by what you're willing to accept, what you're willing to allow, what you stop, and what you reinforce. And so I had to make a decision that made sense for me as far as what am I willing to accept being what felt at times as being dragged through the mud to try to do work on behalf of our children. And I wasn't willing to stay in that role doing that work.

But this is work that I've been committed to my entire adult life. So I'm continuing the work just in a different role. So why quit? Why quit? Yeah, because, you know, I really what what I believe in is that that this work was bigger than me. Right. So there are folks still in the district. There are teachers and administrators who are committed to to moving this work forward because so much of the energy was on me as the as a black superintendent as the first black superintendent in this district uh i i didn't want to get in the way of being uh uh the the sort of scapegoat of why we don't need to do this see this is only uh rydell coming in with his own agenda with his own

focus but really getting out of the way and saying uh you know let's let uh let's let other people continue this work moving forward. And I could move into a different position, working with a state agency, doing some consulting and continuing this work, not just in this district, but moving beyond that and doing it and supporting work in other districts as well. All right, then we'll look right there. Certainly good luck in your future endeavors. But I think we're going to be hearing a lot more stories like this as we're dealing with white fear in America. Yeah. And, you know, the one thing I would say is that CRT, that's not what's dangerous. What's dangerous is when students are empowered, when they're knowledgeable, when they have a voice and when they use that voice to make change. That's the danger here. And so it's not the danger of trying to indoctrinate kids.

It's really the danger of taking the blinders off and putting them in a position where they see that they can be a powerful force in changing the course of our future. And I think that that's what makes this period that we're living in right now different than other periods that we've been in, that our students are really standing up and saying, this is what we want for our district. This is what we want for our community. And that was the case in Eastern Reading and Region 9, that the genesis of this

was really prompted, or the genesis of the creation of the task force was really prompted by students, current students and former students, coming back and saying, look, we got a great education, but we weren't prepared to deal with this, the aftermath of what we're seeing in a post-George Floyd murder society. And we are reaching back out to our district to say, we want you to do something different to empower the students who are coming behind us to really make meaningful change. And so that part, that's where the danger comes from, not from some critical race theory or an ideology. It is the empowerment of young people. And our history shows us that when students are empowered, they really make a difference. We see that over and over. All right then. Rydell Harrison, I appreciate it. Thank you

for joining us on Roller Mountain Future. Thank you. All right. Got to go to a break. When we come back, we'll talk with Dr. Cornel West. He has resigned from Harvard Divinity School. Blast them in his resignation letter. We'll also talk with a sister out of Oklahoma who was the only one to vote against, yes, another one of these stupid bills attacking critical race theory. Y'all, I'm telling you, white fear is running amok in America. And it ain't just conservatives, it's liberals too. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment.

White supremacy ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. You gotta deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong. We'll be right back. agree yeah but we agree on the big piece yeah our conflict is not about destruction conflict's gonna happen racial injustice is a scourge on this nation and the black community has felt it for generations we have an obligation to do something about it. Whether it's canceling student debt, increasing the minimum wage, or investing in Black-owned businesses, the Black community deserves so much better. I'm Nina Turner,

and I'm running for Congress to do something about it. Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ascot on. He do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling. Right here.

Rolling. Roland Martin. Right now. You are watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really. It's Roland Martin.

All right, Dr. Cornel West has resigned from Harvard University due to a significant tenure battle. He also says his resignation is the effects of the school's quote, intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy. He sent what he calls a candid letter of resignation to the dean of his

college. This is what he wrote. I hope and pray you and your family are well. This summer is a scorcher. Here is my brief and candid letter of resignation. How sad it is to see our beloved Harvard Divinity School in such decline and decay. The disarray, first of all, that graphic y'all right there is way too small that we got on the air. I'm just letting y'all know folks can't read that graphic on the air. But this is what he wrote in here.

He said that he said, I hope and pray that I can still end my career with some semblance of intellectual intensity and personal respect to how wrong I was. The few glorious and glaring exceptions of the shadow of Jim Crow was cast in its new glittering form expressed in the language of superficial diversity. All my courses were subsumed under Afro-American religious studies, including those on existentialism, American democracy, and the conduct of life. No possible

summer salary alongside the lowest increase possible every year. He laid out a number of other things in here. Dr. Cornel West joins us right now. Glad to have you back on the show, Doc. Brother, it's always a blessing to see you. I like that shirt you're wearing, A5, A-alpha, 5-alpha. I'm talking about Martin King Jr. I'm talking about Donald Franklin.

I'm talking about Donny Hathaway and Duke Ellington. But that's just a few of the brothers, Roland Martin, Clifton West, my father, Cornel West, myself. Good to see you, Clifton West, my father, Cornel West, myself. Good to see you, my brother. Well, you know, knowing you on, that's why I went ahead and rocked the pinstripe black and gold.

Even got the magic pinstripe shorts, but it's all good. You got the pinstripe working, my brother. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But I want to face my solidarity with Brother Harrison, though, right there, Harrison. And I can't wait to hear this intergenerational dialogue between the one and only William Barber and the one and only Bree Newsome. Brother, you and your show have been a force for good in the language of John Coltrane year in and year out.

And I salute you even before we get to my case. And that's very important, man. You're a long distance runner. You're in it because you're real, because you are a free black man and because you love black people. That's the bottom line, man. That's the crucial bottom line.

And that's what we need in these dim and decaying moments, man. Well, I certainly appreciate it. And we're doing our best to give folks the enlightenment and the education on the issues. You wrote what is a candid letter. I call it a blistering letter where you laid it out.

But before we went to break, I talked about the issues that we're seeing in this country, not just with white conservatives, but also with white liberals as well. That's exactly right, because any time you keep track of the shadow of Jim Crow, you find that is not just a conservative issue. Liberals have been contributors to the reinforcement of these glittering versions of Jim Crow. Why? Because white supremacy has an ideologically promiscuous

character. It can lie with anybody, with any movement, with any political orientation. That's how deep white supremacy cuts, my brother. And what folks have to realize is that when we talk about these institutions, when we talk about white supremacy, the operative word in white supremacy and white liberal, white conservative is white. And what trips me out is sometimes folks don't wanna be honest about this and challenging people on this issue. So somebody could call themselves allies.

Somebody could put kente cloth on. They can show up at the Black History Month program, but in their actions, it really speaks to how they stand. That's exactly right. And also we acknowledge that a white brother like John Brown is much more over against white supremacy than a black brother like Clarence Thomas. Now we love Clarence as a human being. He's beautifully black aesthetically, but ideologically and politically he is a foe, he's an enemy. I'm a Christian. I try to love all my foes and enemies, but that's a different issue. Politically, black people can contribute in a significant way to the reproduction of white supremacy. There are white brothers and sisters who fight over against white supremacy, the William

Consulars and the Ann Bradens and Rabbi Heschels. I mean, these are folks saying racism is Satanism. They're willing to die with Martin, with other black groups. So that when we talk about white supremacy, we're talking about actions, deeds, ways of being in the world, and people can choose to be over against it no matter what color they are, even though for every white brother who's John Brown, he got thousands of cousins who never got the memo. And we want to be honest about that. We don't want to be naive and think that because we've got some serious white brothers and sisters who are in solidarity with us, that somehow they are moving toward a majority.

No, they are a slice. They are a prophetic slice of the white community. White supremacy generates levels of benefits that make it very, very difficult for large numbers of folk not to resist. You also, again, were very critical of Harvard on the Palestinian issue. Explain. Well, one is, you know, the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian situation of Israeli domination and the occupation of precious Palestinian brothers and sisters is a taboo issue in a lot of different contexts, that people don't want to be honest about it. They don't want to really believe or take seriously what I believe, which is a Palestinian baby has exactly the same value as a Jewish-Israeli baby, that a Jewish baby has exactly the same

value as a Palestinian baby or a white baby or a black baby orraeli baby, that a Jewish baby has exactly the same value as a Palestinian baby or white baby or black baby or an indigenous baby or whatever. And if you're consistent in that way, then you must take a stand against all forms of occupation and domination, and therefore one will be in solidarity with Palestinian brothers and sisters. And to make that stand and to be honest about it and to be vocal and public about it can get you in a whole lot of trouble. People say, oh, West is anti-Semitic.

West must be anti-Jewish. No, no. There is Palestinian occupation of Jewish brothers and sisters. I'm with my precious Jewish brothers and sisters. I come out of a moral and a spiritual tradition linked to the West family, Shiloh Baptist Church and Alpha Phi Alpha. We believe in universality, even though we're rooted on the chocolate side of town.

And we're concerned with human beings across the board, made in the image and likeness of God. And therefore, we look at the world through a moral and spiritual lens that has strong political consequences. And that's why we're critical of politicians, no matter what color they are. We're critical of people who drop drones, no matter what color they are.

We're critical of governments that promote militarism, no matter which continent they're from. These are moral and spiritual issues. And therefore, you're willing to get in trouble, you're willing to be misunderstood and misconstrued. But in the end, you and I know, brother, because I know you coming out of Jim Crow, Texas. And my mama came out of Jim Crow, Texas. Jim Crow, Texas produced some high-quality folk tied to morality and spirituality, telling the truth about suffering,

no matter who they are. But we begin on the chocolate side of town. We begin with our mothers, our fathers, our cousins. We begin with black folk. But our love and our commitment to justice spills over to our indigenous peoples, our Spanish-speaking peoples, our cousins, we give it to black folk, but our love and our commitment to justice spills over to our indigenous peoples, our Spanish-speaking peoples, our poor whites, working-class whites,

as well as a whole host of others in the Middle East, Africa, Haiti, Guatemala, Argentina. That's what it is to accent the best of a great people, and that's black people. We ain't never ever found the people in the modern world who have to deal with 400 years of hatred and keep dishing out love warriors and freedom fighters and wounded healers and joy spreaders that's who we are black people at our best and we intend to hold up that bloodstained banner and be faithful unto

death i'm going to bring in my panel now for questions. I'm going to start with one of your academic peers, Dr. Neon B. Carter, Howard University Political Science Department. Dr. Carter, your question for Dr. Cornel West. Well, I don't know that I would say peer necessarily. I mean, you know, we're talking about, you know, an intellectual icon here. He a professor, you a a professor he your peer he okay well i will say dr west thank you for joining us and i do have a a quick question why go back to harvard after you left them quite you know spectacularly before and why take a non-tenured

offer was there some other conversation that was happening that was not honored? I'm just curious. Yeah, that's a wonderful question. And you are a distinguished professor at a great institution. Now, we want to be very honest about that. Indeed, indeed, indeed. But all these universities, as you know, tend to be market-driven. They tend to be fearful of the unionization of their professors and others, and they have to be tied to donors and benefactors.

So we all want to be realistic about universities across the board and the capitalist civilization. But I returned to Harvard because I was trying to create a certain kind of arc in my career that Brother Skip Gates and others, and Skip Gates and I, you know, we got disagreements, but I love my brother. He's my friend, and he and Evelyn Higginbotham and others invited me back. And I said, well, we had such a good time before. Let me end up there. And so when they made the offer, I assumed that over time I would be able to move back into a position that was in some sense commensurate with what I left. But I just thank God. And as you know, this is not

really about me. This is about people, especially Black folk in workplaces and colleges and universities all around the country who are not respected as they are, who are too often devalued and dismissed. And they get mistreated. And sometimes they got to go silently into the night. But I'm not going silently into the night. And I'm not speaking on behalf of myself. I'm just speaking on behalf of truth and justice for all professors, especially black professors who come out of a great black intellectual, musical, cultural, spiritual tradition. And we're trying to keep that tradition alive no matter where we are, community colleges, universities, and so forth. And I must say that in many ways, some of my greatest moments have been as a teacher

in a historically black institution called prisons, that I've been blessed to teach in prisons now for 44 years. And to be pushed by those brothers, to be unsettled by those brothers, to be in dialogue with those brothers, to be unsettled by those brothers, to be in dialogue with those brothers. We read Plato, Du Bois, we read St. Augustine, Tony Morrison, we read Samuel Beckett, and we listen to Curtis Mayfield, because I don't go anywhere without listening to Curtis Mayfield in the classroom. Why? Because he's a genius. Because he's talking about the truth and the condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. Because he always brings a tradition with him,

that love supreme that his fellow musician John Coltrane was playing about. That's the tradition that we need to keep alive in these moments of spiritual decay and moral decrepitude. Thank you. Faraji Muhammad, your question for Dr. Cornel West. Dr. West, it is certainly an honor and a privilege to have the time to chat with you for a moment.

I wanted to get your thoughts on this. We're really seeing, we're in a unique time where Black scholarships is really under attack and you spoke a little bit about this. Should there be a mass movement of Black intellectuals and scholars like yourself and others to move away from predominantly white institutions, PWIs, and take that brilliance to HBCUs to strengthen and add value to those learning institutions? Oh, wonderful question, and I salute you, my young brother,

because I'm telling you one of the reasons why I exist as an OG is to make sure this rich tradition flows through the young brothers and sisters. Of course, the professor's a young sister too, but you look even younger than her, but we won't get into that right now. But the point is, the question is this, that we need to go in places where we are respected

and where we can be empowered. You see, now, I don't believe that every black institution of higher learning is respecting black folk the way they are. They got to earn it. We know that they've produced some of the most magnificent figures, the Toni Morrison's and the, we can go on to the Stokely Carmichael's and others. But just because an institution is a black institution doesn't necessarily mean that they are specializing in the empowerment of black folk because sometimes white supremacists are ideologists operating in those black contexts. So I think, so yes, I believe you're right. We need to go to places where we can empower

one another no matter what. There's no doubt about that. And that includes the Howard's and the Spelman. My dear sister, Ruth Simmons, towering leader, Prairie View. I was glad to be there just a couple of years ago. I'm here in Baltimore. I'm here in Baltimore. Oh, you got the great Morgan State. You ain't lying with Peter Harvey. Peter Harvey was one of the finest legal minds in our time as a graduate of Morgan State, right? So dishing out high quality.

But the question would be to make sure these are places that are welcoming and willing to embrace a whole host of different kinds of voices. There are some challenges in some of our great historic black institutions in terms of embracing a number of challenges, including some of the deeply leftist and Marxist ones. There have been times where black institutions have been very, very reluctant to bring in too many leftists. Why? Because they got people on their board of trustees

that make it difficult for them to want to be too inclusive, given the money flow. Now, this is not all black institutions, but what I'm saying is when you talk about the structural and institutional forms of black and white universities, you will find differences and you will find similarity. We haven't even got to talk about envy and resentment, which is a human thing, which is at work all the time. But the crucial thing is all black institutions at their best, at their best, make major contributions. And in that regard, I think the answer to your question is yes. Black institutions at their worst still create certain kinds of impediments and obstacles, even though it's just Black folk. You see what I mean? So we can't just assume that just because you had a Black institution that somehow you're

doing this thoroughly Black empowerment thing. Individuals can be committed to Black empowerment, but whether the Black institutions are committed, that's a larger question. Michael, you know... but whether the black institutions are committed, that's a larger question. Michael, and I... And that requires a whole larger discord. I mean, you got brother like my dear brother Carr, Craig Carr, you know, he's got the wonderful Afrocentric network. I was just part of that recently with Sister Karen,

Karen Hunter, and both of them are superb. And I'll show you, you talk to Brother Carr, Professor Carr, the state's professor, he's got his critique of Howard. Even though he's there at Howard, he loves black people in the same way other than Howard loved black people. But there's a conversation, a dialogue, and a debate that takes place within black institutions as well. And we've got to learn from them. Michael Imhotep, your question.

Dr. Cornel West, this is Michael Imhotep from the African History Network show. How you doing? How you doing, my brother? Good to see you. All right. All right. You just mentioned a mutual friend, Dr. Greg Carr. So let me ask this question. Yeah, Dr. Greg Carr, since you mentioned Afrocentrism and Afrocentric. If we go back to the early 1990s, there was a critique from Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., as well as you, regarding Dr. Yosef Ben-Yakinen and Dr. John Henry Clark. And they talked about this in the Merge magazine, the one with one of my teachers, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, on the cover. But there was a critique referring to them—I may not get the words exactly right—but

as demagogues and pseudo-scholars, something to that effect. And I know you went on later to have a friendly debate with Dr. John Henry Clark as well after the NAACP summit around 1993. What was the critique in the early 1990s dealing with Afrocentrism? And do you still have that same critique today? Or has it maybe evolved? Or maybe you made some amends or what have you? Right. No, I appreciate that question, though, brother. It's a very important question. Well, one is that, you know, I said before that me and Brother Skip Gates are brothers and friends, but we don't speak the same language

see i said at the feet of john henry clark when he was head of black studies and puerto rican studies at hunter college every month for almost four years as you know the debate that we had at ohio state where brother carl was a mediator he was the mc i would never in a million years call the great john henry clark pseudo scholar does not. That's not my language. I would never in many years call him a demagogue. That's not my language. I disagree because he's a black nationalist, a pan-Africanist. I'm not a nationalist of any sort. I have great connections with black nationalists, but I'm not a nationalist of any sort.

And therefore I'm critical of, of any kind of talk of nation formation that doesn't talk about class and empire and patriarchy and homophobia and a lot of other things but that doesn't mean that they're not my comrade so that I'm glad I get a chance to clarify this my brother John Henry Clark is one of the great geniuses and giants of the 20th century intellectually politically as pan-africanist going all the way back to his Sunday school in Georgia its formation all the way back to his magnificent plays and writings and some work with Malcolm X and so so the back to his Sunday school in Georgia, his formation, all the way back to his magnificent plays and writings and worked with Malcolm X and so on.

So the critique of Afrocentrism at that time, my brother, was, especially with Brother Leonard Jeffries, because Leonard Jeffries and I are brothers, that we've had public debates on and on and on, and his lovely wife right there in New Jersey. Right, Dr. Rosalyn Jeffries. The debates had, that the issue had to do was with what was the role of Jews in the slave trade. And that was the issue that got Brother Leonard in such deep trouble, because he made the claim that, one, you must keep track of the role of Jews in the slave trade. He's right about that. Jews did play a role in the slave trade.

The Lopez family in Rhode Island, for example. But then the question became, what was the scope and the breadth of it? What was the scope and the breadth of it? And there we had serious dialogue. And I was right there with Brother Leonard arguing, arguing, telling him, yes, the role was there, but it was not as extensive as he thought. But people said even to talk about Jews in the slave trade meant you were anti-Semitic, you were anti-Jewish. You see, no, no, that's just a way of not allowing black folk to be free enough to be critical of vicious Israeli occupation, not to be free enough to be in solidarity with

Palestinian suffering. That's a moral and a spiritual issue again, you see? So we can't allow any of the critics to dampen our fire and not allow us to be free enough to think for ourselves. Now, Brother Leonard, Professor Jeffries, was thinking for himself. We just happened to disagree.

So we had public conversations about it. John Henry Clark came in to mediate because John Henry Clark, no more than both of us, put together in terms of historical knowledge of the slave trade and the Arab trade, the Arab slave trade that he would lay out so well, and so on. So in that sense, I do want to make a distinction between Brother Skip and myself. Now, Brother Ben is a different situation there, because there, I think it was Brother Skip who was using the language about Brother Ben. I've known Brother

Ben since 1970. He used to come to my classes when I was with Union Seminary with James Cone and the others. And we, again, had major, intense debates. And people said, well, you know, he didn't have a huge university position. Now, he may not have been teaching at a college,

but a college went through him. And so you take seriously what he has to say. And we had disagreements and our agreements in that sense. But I think the point you say that I'm trying to make here is that I don't believe in using the language of pseudo-scholars to greet intellectual figures like a John Hope Franklin. I mean, like a John Henry Clark. A John Henry Clark who like a John Hope Franklin. I mean like a John Henry Clark

John Henry Clark who like John Hope Franklin both of them giant Thank you, thank you for that. Dr. West you talked about The arc of your career you talked to me you you've been at Harvard you've been at Union And a number of other different places, but you spoke earlier about Dr. Ruth Simmons, who was doing some amazing things down at Prairie View A&M University. Would you go to an HBCU? And if you did, where do you want to go? If you had to pick three HBCUs that you would like to teach at,

because I think it would be amazing for the students, for the faculty, for the staff, for the alumni, for someone of your scholarship to teach an HBCU. What three would be on your list? That's a wonderful question. You know, for 20 years, I did a black college tour every spring when I was head of black studies at Princeton with sister president down there that we had an exchange program where we brought up students from Morehouse and Spelman to Princeton and Princeton went down to Spelman and Morehouse. And if I had a choice, it would probably be Spelman number one. I won't go into all the other dimensions of that because

I've had Eddie Glaude, I've had Mark Jefferson, I've had Paul Taylor, but students coming out of Morehouse who worked with me as graduate students. But it would be Spelman and Morehouse together if I had a choice. It would be Prairie View right outside of Houston. And probably Alabama State. I've had magnificent experiences with folks in Alabama State. Now, my challenge is that I'm a California brother who does like to live on the East Coast, way up around New York, Harlem, Brooklyn, and so on. So the closest would be Cheyney State. The closest would be Lincoln University, up in all of these places. And I must say, Howard, I love so deeply.

I mean, Brother Professor, Dr. Reverend Bernard Richardson has had me for 31 years to speak every spring at the Howard University Chapel, the Rankin Chapel. And so I have a very rich relationship with the students and faculty there every April for over 30 years. So those are part of my experiences that would lead me to highlight those three, I think, my brother.

Okay, so you- At the moment I'm gonna be right on the edge of Harlem, living on 110th Street at Union Theological Seminary, and as I move into my 70s, I still want to keep swinging, because it don't mean a thing, and if I ain't got that swing, and that swing, got that love and justice.

But I gotta press you. I know you really, really like that East Coast, but you named three. So, and yes, although I'm a Texas A&M graduate, prayer reviews are part of the A&M system. So what you're saying is, if I made a call to Sister Dr. Ruth Simmons,

and she's doing some amazing things, and Dr. Ruth Simmons puts a hell of an offer on the table, could that pull you from the East Coast to come on down to Prairie View A&M University? Well, brother, I got to ask folks to pray for me on that one though, because the move from Harlem to outside of Houston is a move for a brother who's 68 years younger.

I got you, but you had three on your list. I was looking at it through the lens of my heart. I love ATL. I love A-Town, right? Would I move to A-Town with my precious son down there? I'd get a chance to spend time with him. That's magnificent. Would I move to Atlanta from 110th Street?

I need folk to pray for me on that now, just go down to Spelman and Morehouse. You're talking about family, you're talking about loved ones. You're not just, you know, just plopping down. But my heart, and then Alabama State. Now, oh, they got some good folk there as well. But what I'm saying is that we can be forces for good in whatever context we choose, and we must never downplay or devalue the richness and the magnificent contribution of our black brothers and sisters at historically black institutions

of higher learning. Okay, all right, all right, all right. So let's, okay, so let, okay, let me, so let me, let me narrow this down. And I know I got my guests from Oklahoma. Y'all just tell the whole one second. So, all right, so let's say, so you got Morgan state in Baltimore.

Morgan state in Baltimore. That's four and a half hours from 110th street. That's true. Yeah, yeah, everybody talk about Howard and the Mecca. Okay. But you got Virginia Union. You got Virginia State. Norfolk State. You got Hampton.

So let's say, okay, so if I call our Alpha brothers the president of Morgan State. Yes. And if Morgan State. Yes. And if Morgan State put something on the table, could they lure Dr. Cornel West to Baltimore?

Mm, well, in the name of the Venus Billie Holiday of Baltimore City, if I get a call from Morgan State, I'm going down to give a lecture, to be in dialogue, to learn, and to present. Now, whether I stay for a year or two or three, I'd have to have folk praying for me to check that out and see. But if I get a call,

especially from my Alfred brothers, you know me, Brother Roland. I'm coming down. Okay. So, if... Okay. All right. So, if David Wilson, mm-hmm, if brother David Wilson made that call, cause see, I'm trying to get you to, I'm trying to get you to one of these HBCUs,

so I'm trying to work this thing out. Lord, Lord, Lord. I'm trying to work this thing out. Lord, Lord, Lord. I'm trying to work this thing because, you know, that ain't nothing but a phone call. In fact, I'm looking for his number right now. I was going to call him on the air. See, Doc, you got to understand. Look, that ain't nothing to me.

That ain't a problem. So I'm just letting you know. That's a phone call. But so there's a lot of HBCU folks watching. So how about that? I'm going to do it this way. OK, I'm going to do it this way. If y'all are Morgan State graduates of fans,

Prairie View graduate states of fans, Alabama State, and I'll throw in Morehouse Feldman. I want y'all to start an online social media campaign to see who the most folk can vote to get them to get them to campus.

I'm telling, Doc, because I'm telling. I believe. You talk about the arc of your career. I believe. You talk about the arc of your career. I believe. Everybody talk about Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Kohana Jones coming to Howard. Look, you've got, you've had Pulitzer. Dwayne Wickham has brought four Pulitzer Prize winners to the School of Journalism. There as well.

And I have said this. I have said this, I have said this and people thought I was lying. I said, if, I said we build this show and this company that we're building, I said if we build this thing to a $50 million a year company, I said every year, I said we will create

a school of communications on a HBCU campus with a three to five million dollar a year donation and I believe there are several at least five in different parts of the country to me that's the level of commitment that we need because I think what has to happen is we have to be able to take the the knowledge take the expertise and build it because I believe we gotta have a thousand Roland Martins, a thousand Cornel West, a thousand Neombe Carters in order for us to move to the next generation. Cause I keep thinking generationally, and that's my thing.

I'm not thinking singular because we all have an expiration date. We gotta be thinking generationally. And that's my thing. I'm not thinking Singler because we are the expiration date. We got to be thinking generationally when we talk about how to build our community. But keep in mind this, though. The last thing I would want would be to go down to a school and be some kind of marquee figure with money coming more my way than the money going to the professors

who have been working there day in and day out, year in and year out, decade in and decade out. They have been the ones who have been producing the Roland Martins, the Irene B. Wessons, the Clifton Wessons. My parents went to fifth. That they are the ones who love the folk enough and that they deserve both the focus and the monies and the resources. The adjunct professors who are unionizing, we ought not to respond by crushing them the

way they're doing at Harvard and too many other places. No, they need to be empowered. So it's not just about this one individual or a few individuals. Right, right. It's about the magnificent faculty that has been there all of these years who produced the Eddie Law and the Paul Taylor and the Roland Martins. I got one for you. And the Black Sisters that are coming out of Spelman. I got one for you. So if they draw you as a part of it,

you negotiate an increase for everybody else. See? Doc, I'm telling you. Ooh, I like that. Doc, look, look, look. Hey, let me tell you something right now. Look, I signed on to be a scholar resident at Fisk. They got me doing four lectures.

Fisk, I ain't coming there just to give four lectures. Yes. I got bigger plans. I like that. Y'all are going to know that when I get there, but they sent me the schedule. I ain't going just to give four lectures. I'm not going to spend just four days. I got some other things I'm planning on doing.

I'm just letting y'all know right now ahead of time. Fist. So that's what I'm saying. So that's what I'm saying, Doc. So let's let's they can even do that. They can do that with our older brother like me. They can say, look, Brother West, you come to give a lecture, and as part of that, we're going to give a major investment in faculty

to free them up time so that they're able to do more of the research and at the same time put the students more and more center stage as the professors and the faculty are empowered financially, temporally and so forth. In the end, that's much more important, man. Yeah, I agree. But you do, you gotta admit, it's a different thing that look, stars are stars.

And let's just be real, Doc. I know you humble and all that, but let's just be real, Doc. I know you humble and all that, but let's just be, come on. Let's just- You know, Sly Stone said, "'Everybody is a star.'" No, that was a song. Even Sly Stone knew everybody ain't no star.

Cause everybody can't, everybody ain't everyday people. Well, no, understood everyday people meant everybody who come out of their mama's womb ain't gonna die and the worms gonna get them. That's everybody. I don't care. That's true. I don't care what your status is.

You're an everyday person and you're a star because in fact, stars actually are able to shine. Everybody to shine. Everybody can shine. I agree a thousand percent. There's no light of mine. I'm going to let it shine.

But even Sly acted like a star. That's the part that got him in trouble. Geniuses have all kinds of different challenges. But you're right. But I'm with you, though, brother. I'm with you. Don't challenges. But you're right. But I'm with you, though, brother. I'm with you. Don't get me wrong.

All right. We agree with the everyday people and the fact that certain visible people can't cast a light in such a way, as long as the light is not on them. That's the crucial thing. You've got to get beyond the narcissism and the egoism and say, who's going to serve the people? Who's going to sacrifice for the people? We got a major, major event coming up right now for the former H. Rat Brown. Right there at the prison in Tucson, Arizona. He gave his everything.

He sacrificed everything. He has been a star. You don't have to agree with him politically and ideologically to know his love for black people has been overwhelming. Where is the focus? Where is the spotlight? What goes into the making of Imam Amin? That's his name now. And I've just written an afterword for the book that's coming out, that's come out for

him. But he's just one among many of the voices that deserve the spotlight, crucial spotlight. And he's a product of Black colleges as well. Revolutionary that he is. Love that brother. I do, real quick, I gotta get your thoughts. A couple of things, a couple of things. I have my guest from Oklahoma next.

Please y'all let her know that I cannot get to her. Doc, I got to get a quick comment from you, but also breaking news, legendary rapper and DJ Biz Marquis has died. I just got, I text his wife and he has passed away. And so I wanted to give that news to our folks real quick. Of course, there were reports saying he died about three weeks ago. I had to shut those down. He had not passed, but his wife did just text me back and Beas Marquis has indeed passed away.

Doc, I need to get your thoughts on these crazed white folks in this country over critical race theory and how they're using it for the purpose of trying to take anything with diversity and tie it to that because they wanna shut anything down dealing with race and diversity. Brother, I believe we're all fallible human beings. No one of us have full possession of truth, capital T, but anytime free black people raise their voices,

you're gonna get white backlash. And Sister Nicole Hannah-Jones, but any time free Black people raise their voices, you're going to get white backlash. And Sister Nicole Hannah-Jones, she's a free Black woman. She's a brilliant woman. The way she's been treated is despicable. And when she raises her voices along the cacophony of Voices in 1619 Project, that it must be not only taken seriously, but it's a crucial, central part of any conversation about what America is, how it came to be, and how it is now. And you can't talk about that story without talking about the centrality of white supremacy,

the centrality of predatory capitalism, the centrality of the land that was stolen from indigenous people, the centrality of the ways in which the economy developed and the ways in which they have tried to dominate, subordinate, control black peoples, black minds, black hearts, black souls, and black organizations. So that any time you get free black folk raising the quest for truth and the condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak, you're going to get white backlash and much of it white supremacist backlash. That's what's happening now.

We shouldn't be surprised, brother. Never be surprised by evil. Never be paralyzed by despair. We got to keep on pushing the way Curtis Mayfield taught us. Dr. Cornel West, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show. You're welcome back anytime.

Always enjoy our spirited conversations. And folks, they're just as animated and intense off air as they are on air. Love you and your interlocutors and those wonderful voices. As you know, brother, anytime you call, I come running, my brother. I appreciate it, Doc.

Thanks a lot. Take care. And I'll see you soon on HBCU. Oh, sounds good to me. We'll have to get together at 5th. We get together at 5th for a little while. You know, matter of fact, I will text you, and they got me doing a lecture, but what the heck, I can make a conversation between me and Cornel West,

and let's do it, because... We can do a dialogue alongside your lecture. All right, let's do it. All right. That be rich, Nashville, Nashville. You believe, ho. You believe, ho. And then we can go to sweats and eat afterwards.

Brother, I'm going to have a cognac in the name of Jesus. You know that. Well, I don't drink, so I'll be the one driving. Oh, that's cool. And I just got to remind you, real quick, real quick, y'all don't realize in Houston, the Planet of the Million Man March, y'all, we went out to dinner.

Y'all, it was the most unbelievable dinner at Denny's. So it was Dr. Cornel West. It was the Nation of Islam, the Lost Nation of Islam, NAACP me. And y'all, it's 3 o'clock in the morning, driving back to the hotel. I got a Mazda Miata, top down.

It's hot. Dr. West dressed just like this, Afro, blowing in the wind, and we have an amazing conversation in that Mazda Miata. So, y'all, trust me. This is always the case. Doc, I appreciate it. It did. Love you, love you, man.

God bless your family. Love you, my brother. You take care. All right, then. As I just said, folks, breaking news, Biz Marquis, the legendary rapper and artist, he has passed away. Over the last few years, he has suffered significantly with health issues. He's been hospitalized since last year. It was three weeks ago when reports came out that were absolutely wrong.

Revolt TV posted that he had died. He actually had not passed away. I had talked to his wife that night to refute those. But just a few moments ago, while during the middle of that conversation, I sent a text message at 758 to his wife. And I text, folks are telling me Brother Beas has passed. I'm live on the air and can't call just checking on the status and her reply at 809 was simply he's gone. And so Beas Marquis has passed away. Dr.

Nyambe Carter earlier in the show I did not want to overlook this doc. You also had mentioned earlier in the show. I did not want to overlook this, Doc. You also had mentioned earlier in the show that the civil rights pioneer Gloria Richardson passed away at the age of 99. Absolutely. I mean, what she did for Maryland, this country, I mean, it's just, it doesn't, her name doesn't necessarily come to most people's mind, but I mean, she's an icon. I mean, she looked Jim Crow, terrorism, white supremacists in the face and literally pushed their guns out of her face. So Gloria Richardson, I mean, is an icon. And also Biz Markie. I think Biz Markie,

when I think of him, I just think of joy, just unfettered joy. He was a great rapper. He was a great DJ. He brought us fun songs at a time when things were really serious. I mean, he was just, I mean, invaluable to so many of us and so many communities. So my condolences to his family at this time, because I'm sure it is already difficult to mourn the loss of such a great person. But when people were speculating about his death, given his health challenges, I'm sure it was particularly difficult. So my condolences to them and my condolences also to the Richardson family and really to many of us who lost someone who was just an amazing person. We talk a lot about folks who are artists, and we talk about losing so many so young. And Michael N. Hotep,

Biz Markie was 57 years old. Right, right. You know, I remember Biz Markie, you know, came out, I was in high school. You said he's just a friend and theapors and things like that. And then he was a DJ as well. And we've lost a number of hip-hop artists and people from that era, the 80s, the 90s, Shabba Doo, Biz Markie, the brother from Houdini. We've seen this DMX. And these are people under 60, many of them under under 60 years old. We see passing away. So, you know, I remember a few weeks ago when the when the fault when the rumors came out and they were false. And I heard he was in a hospice. And, you know, I was like, wow, you know, how did this happen? You know, I know he had health challenges, but he's in the hospice.

So that told me that unfortunately, the end is probably near if he's in the hospice. So, yeah, this is still very sad news as well. And then it also deals with why our health is so important. I just turned 50 last month. And why our health is so important, especially as African-American men also. But this is a big loss as well. I'm looking at the I'm reading the story here from TMZ. So, yeah, this is a big loss also. Faraj Muhammad.

As well as Gloria Richardson. Associated Press has reported that an hour ago, dealing with Gloria Richardson passing away 99 years old. Faraj Muhammad, he had suffered from diabetes. He had lost a lot of weight, yet was still having those issues, and he was trying to be speaking to others, talking about the impact of taking care of themselves. When he got hospitalized last year, there were, of course, a lot of stores out there saying the same thing, but he just never could really come back from those serious health challenges.

No, absolutely. And correct me if I'm wrong, Brother Roland, but the report says that he died in a hospital here in Baltimore. Yeah, well, even last year, when he was hospitalized last year, so he's been in a Baltimore hospital in Baltimore for all of this time. So it's been more than a year. Cause last year when he got hospitalized, it was definitely, it was during COVID.

I remember I had called Dougie Fresh and he and I were talking about Biz Markie and his health challenges. And so he had been in the Baltimore hospital for more than a year. Wow. I'm just going to add to what Brother Michael and Dr. Miyambi said. I mean, this is the big blow to hip hop. I listened to Biz Markie when I was a child as well. Just a Friend was kind of like, just like a banner. It was like an anthem, you know.

What he brought to hip hop was kind of reminding me of what like ODB brought to hip hop, you know what I mean? It was just kind of like this very, I mean, I might be wrong in my comparison, but I'm just saying that, you know, he might, he brought a light, Dr. Miyabi said, you know, a lot of joy. He let us know he loved the music. He DJ'd, he produced, he brought a light, Dr. Miyabi said, a lot of joy. He let us know he loved the music,

he DJ'd, he produced, he acted. I mean, he was just a very colorful guy, just a great brother, you could tell. But I think that the bigger part about it is we're finding, and especially last year in 2020, we found that a lot of hip hop artists in particular were, had gone, and some of us had gone to the scene

because of the lifestyle and not taking care of themselves. And as black men, one of the big things we did here in Baltimore, I was invited to be a part of a Father's Day, you know, early morning running walk. And it was emphasized to us as black men here in Baltimore that you gotta to take care of yourself. You got to go to the doctors. You got to check your colon and your prostate. And you got to do these things not just for yourself, but because families are dependent upon us to take

care of ourselves. So I think that as we, you know, commemorate and celebrate the life, the legacy, the impact of Brother Biz Marquis, we also have to start to really say, you know what, what am I doing for myself? I mean, type 2 diabetes is nothing to be playing with. And as you said, Brother Roland, he was going in and out of the hospital. He's been staying in the hospital. But we can't allow a certain type of profession to dictate our lifestyle and really take care of ourselves, especially as we get older. I'm learning that as a young brother growing and maturing.

This thing is serious. Our health and wellness, all of the fame and the accolades, the money and any type of status and impact that we make, it's all well and good, but if you don't take care of yourself, you're not gonna be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Well, and we also have got to also realize, look at the world with Black Rob, the lack of healthcare, the lack of healthcare.

So we have to realize also when we talk about these artists, what they don't have, especially artists who had hits back in the day who all of a sudden now, as they get on, they're not on labels. And so the lack of health care, which contributes to also not being able to have yourself checked out. And so it's a whole lot around the music industry.

And again, we as fans, Neombe, we know, we love the music, but we don't think about the life they're living after the crowd dies down, just like former athletes. Exactly. And I think what Faraji talked about, too, was just, you know, this sort of grind culture that we're in that tells Black men and black women work yourself you know to the bone work work work work work but ignore all of these other things like rest like regular medical checkups like all of these other things that we know contribute to a long life and i'm not certain what um biz marquis health status was but certainly type 2 diabetes is not uncommon in our community but it's also something that can be managed with a lot of different tools. And unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to, I think, many of

our friends. We felt like he was our friend, like we knew him, because of something that is a chronic disease that many of us in our families or personally are fighting and dealing with. And it's not just, you know, diabetes in this case, it's also high blood pressure, prostate cancer, all of these different things that are attacking our communities and attacking them in a more deadly fashion than other facets of our society. And I think this is a wake-up call to many of us that this is the time to start thinking about your health and start taking care of ourselves. Because oftentimes when we get to it,

it may be in fact too late. Well, I'll say this here. He was certainly an amazing rapper and anybody who went to a party, a Biz Markie was DJing, you also knew. It was not going to be a party where the DJ talked all damn night on the microphone. He understood how to read the room, how to play the hits that people would love and appreciate.

So that was one of the things that I always appreciated about Biz Markie. In fact, I'm literally sitting here going through eight years of Essence Fest photos, looking for a photo that we took at one of the parties that he was DJing, and that was just his thing. And so it was always great to see him, was always great to see his smile. We had great respect for one another. He was a huge fan of mine and vice versa. And so we lost Biz Marquis, dead at the age of 57.

Faraji, Neombe, as well as Michael, I appreciate all of you being on today's show. Thank you so very much. Thank you to all of our guests being here as well. I apologize to Carlos, who is, she was the assistant on the Board of Education in Oklahoma. We'll have her on the show on Monday if her schedule permits because I wanted to make sure that she got

enough time to talk about what they're dealing with there in Oklahoma. Folks, that is it for us. You can always support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered by supporting us via Cash App, Dallas Sign, RM Unfiltered Vidmo is RM Unfiltered, PayPal is rmartinunfiltered Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com

and that is it we'll have more on the life and legacy of Biz Marquis on Monday's Roland Martin Unfiltered until then, take care. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the

answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves.

Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperCeiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Sure. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

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