#RolandMartinUnfiltered - George Floyd $27M settlement; GA to pass evil voter suppression law; 1yr since Breonna Taylor death

Episode Date: March 13, 2021

3.12.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: George Floyd's family reach $27M settlement with Mlps; GA set to pass evil voter suppression law; 1yr since Breonna Taylor death; Cecilia Rouse becomes the 1st Black person to Chair The Council of Economic Advisers; Oklahoma House passes bill to give immunity to drivers who hit protesters; Roland sits down with St. Louis Circuit Attorney, Kim Gardner. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Today is Friday, March 12, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, the pressure being ratcheted up in Georgia. Pressure being applied to major companies to fight Republican efforts to impose massive voter suppression. We'll talk with the co-founders of Black Voters Matter about the latest effort.

While jury selection continues in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis City Council approves a historic $27 million settlement for the family of George Floyd who was murdered by Chauvin last year. Also on today's show, tomorrow marks one year since Grandma Taylor was murdered. And Louisville will tell you what's being planned in Kentucky. was sworn in today as the first African American to chair the President's Council of Economic Advisors and the Oklahoma House has passed a bill to give immunity to drivers who hit protesters. Speaking of Oklahoma, in our Crazy-Ass White People segment, an Oklahoma high school basketball announcer uses the N-word when basketball players kneel to the national anthem.

Plus, I sit down with St. Louis Circuit's attorney, Kim Gartner. She talks about her battles in St. Plus, I sit down with St. Louis Circuit's attorney, Kim Gartner. She talks about her battles in St. Louis, not only with Republicans, but also why the St. Louis Police Department and Union hates her guts. Y'all, this sister ain't backing down. It's time to bring the funk.

I'm Roland Martin, I'm Filtered. Let's go. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling Martin now. All right, folks, what's happening in Georgia is truly an abomination. And the question is, where are all of the corporations? Why are they so silent?

Why are they so silent? Why are they saying nothing? Why aren't they standing with black folks to oppose Republican efforts to impose massive voter suppression bill? Folks, it is a shame what's going on. The Georgia Senate recently passed one of the worst voter suppression bills we have seen since the Jim

Crow era. Yes, folks, since the Jim Crow era. Now, folks like Black Voters Matter, New Georgia Project, are demanding that corporations step up and do their part to stop this from happening. Joining us right now, the co-founders of Black Voters Matter, Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown. Glad to have y'all on the show. Cliff, this is Cliff and Natasha. It's very interesting. I was reading a piece from Ron Brownstein last night and they referenced the transgender bathroom bill in North Carolina. And I was like, y'all should have been listening to Roland Martin filter three weeks ago. Then they talked to some civil rights leader who said there's conversations happening among the civil rights people are calling for a mass mobilization march in Washington, D.C. for voting rights.

And I was like, hmm, if y'all are listening to Roland Martin on the filter about three weeks ago, y'all would learn that as well. And I get a kick out of this whole deal because I said then I say now and I don't care. Black people stood with LGBT groups when that transgender bathroom bill was passed in North Carolina. Major corporations said they're not going to bring movies there. They said Salesforce announced they were not going to be moving jobs there as well. All these different things happening. It was the business community that forced Republicans in North Carolina to back down. It was the business community in Indiana that forced Mike Pence to back down

when they passed a transgender bathroom bill there. What y'all are saying and what I'm saying is to LGBT groups, to the business community, to all these other different folks, are y'all going to stand with black people in this moment because this bill, LaTosha, is all about black people and what black voters did in this year's election. Absolutely. There's no question that this bill is targeted at the historic turnout of black voters

in the state of Georgia. And, you know, I think it's really interesting that this is the week out of all weeks, this is the week that we actually are commemorating the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when our people were beaten on the bridge in Selma, Alabama to fight for the right to vote. And here we are in the state of Georgia where black folks showed out in record numbers. And what we're seeing is we're seeing these draconian laws, these bills that were passed on Monday and the Senate passed a bill, the ominous bill that is just egregious. The worst bills that we've seen since the Jim Crow era. But then it gets better, you know, then or worse. However, wherever place that you sit on today, less than three hours ago, Roland, you know, they basically combined both of those bad bills out of the House. And so the substitute bill that came out of the House about three hours ago, matter of fact, their attorneys and some of our partners are still actually, the lawyers are still

looking at the bills. They're 88 pages long, and it's actually worse than the bill that was passed on Monday. So the question is, you know, fundamentally, those businesses, those corporations, those groups that are allies, that literally that we've stood with, where are you? This is a bill that literally is like Jim Crow era in terms of that will tremendously undermine and impact Black voters in the state of Georgia. See, the thing here, Cliff, is real simple. If we're going to stand with other folk in your fight, where are you when it comes to ours? If we're going to buy your products, where are you?

Y'all took out a full-page ad today in the Land Journal Constitution specifically naming companies. And y'all have been saying Home Depot, Arthur Blank. Black people built that stadium. Black people in Atlanta helped me become a billionaire with Home Depot. Delta Airlines, just yesterday, big announcement, naming a building after former Mayor and Ambassador Andrew Young. Coca-Cola, UPS, we could go all down the line,

all folks with the Black History Month pronouncements and King Day celebrations and sponsoring all the black events all across the country. This is the moment where you have to do what the Coca-Cola CEO did when Atlanta refused, when white business leaders did not want to recognize Dr. King, when he said, Atlanta, Coca-Cola don't need Atlanta,

Atlanta needs Coca-Cola. And if y'all don't show up to honor Dr. King, I will pull Coca-Cola out of Atlanta. Atlanta needs Coca-Cola. And if y'all don't show up to honor Dr. King, I will pull Coca-Cola out of Atlanta. They all showed up. The business community by themselves could get this law dropped today. That's right. Especially when you look at the fact that the version of the bill that came out of the Senate actually only passed by one vote, just one vote in the Senate. And so, you know, you mean to tell me we don't think that Coca-Cola, with all of its marketing genius, right?

Like, you got people walking around who've been saying, have a Coke and a smile for, like, three decades now, right? That Coca-Cola knows how to deliver a message when they want to. They know how to do some fancy ads when they want to. They know how to use the full force

of their creativity and their economics and their politics and their political leverage in order to deliver a message when they want to. You mean to tell me that they couldn't have, if they had exerted more public pressure, they couldn't have persuaded just one vote? If they had done that, we wouldn't be in this situation right now, right? And so that's what we're saying to these companies. It does us little good, as you pointed out, Roland, for you to have all these nice statements and commercials, talk about Black Lives Matter and talking

about the legacy of John Lewis and how much he's meant to this state and to this country. But then when the rubber meets the road, right, when you got voter suppression that's out there, all of a sudden you want to be silent. And in fact, it's really worse than being silent, because in many ways, they're not just not picking a side. They're actually, they've actually been complicit in the voter suppression. We've talked on this show

before about the ways that they've given their political donations to some of these Republicans that are pushing this voter suppression. So we're not having it. We're telling them that it will not be business as usual. We've got this campaign. You mentioned the ad that we put out today. We took it a step further from last week. Last week, we named the companies. This week, the ad that we put out, full-page ad, Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This week, we took it a step further. We put the phone numbers and the e-mail addresses for the CEOs of those six companies that we've been targeting.

And this weekend, we're actually taking it to them. We're actually going to be doing a visit to the world of Coca-Cola. We're all going to have a Coke and a smile as we tell them that they need to take a stand against voter suppression. See, the thing here, Latasha, that folk have

to understand is you passed this law. Look, we already see, they've already passed laws, voter suppression law in Iowa. Republicans, a Senate committee in Florida passed out a committee to have no ballot drop boxes. Zero. That's right. Not one per county. None. That's right they are Texas North Carolina we can just we can start going state after state after state because they are afraid of black people and they are scared to death of 2022 and so they're like oh man you got a Republican in Arizona who literally said everybody should not vote. He out of his mouth said they should not vote. Everyone shouldn't have a right to vote.

You know, Roland, the bottom line is what makes Georgia so dangerous is that this Georgia bill is not just about Georgia, that we have to really recognize that this bill will set a precedent, that we're seeing this all across this country. We're seeing over 30 states have these bills. There are hundreds of bills that have been introduced right now. And so while Georgia is ground zero for voter suppression, you know, I think that it also sets a tone

and it actually will send a message all across the nation. So this fundamentally not only will affect and impact Black voters, but it will literally undermine the very fabric of democracy. And so what we have to really be able to do is not just say that we're going to call the Republicans out, although we've got to call the Republicans out not just in their political capacity, but also they have an economic interest as well. Just this week, our partners down in Hancock County, Georgia, literally launched a campaign to make sure that literally the sponsor

of this Senate bill, who happens to also be the district attorney, the county attorney, like they literally masked the campaign and said, how can you represent the county? And you don't even want the citizens, which is a majority black county, to participate in this election cycle. And as a result, the county commission passed a vote of four to zero, canceling his contract, wanting to literally fire him, bring up for him to be fired as the county administrator. We are literally not, this is as Brother Cliff said, this is a business as usual. We have to literally let people know how serious we are. Like if you don't understand fairness and you don't understand justice, what you will understand is you understand money and black people have economic power in this country. Matter of fact,

if we, as a, just as a consumer base, we will be the 12th largest country nation in the world with our spending, our buyer power. And so now we've got to do is we've got to literally not play, not create any space for people to actually sit on the fence when our very fundamental rights are at stake. And no, we do not. We're not going to go back to 1965 or march across any bridges. What we're going to do is we're going to start hitting them where the money resides. We're going to start hitting them in the pocket. We're going to start exposing them. And we're going to literally start directing our campaigns in a way that literally is about lifting up our community, but holding the entire ecosystem from the business sector to the political sector, whether you Republican, the Democrat, whoever,

that at the end of the day, we expect people, right, to stand strong as it relates to democracy. And under no circumstances are we just going to give away our vote and have to work hard, be punished because we showed up at the polls. And the thing here, Cliff, look, folk don't get what's right.

They don't get what's fair. They don't get what's fair. They don't get what's just. So fine. They get money. You might be a broke-ass, poor Republican in Georgia, but if all of a sudden

you start having economic boycotts and all of a sudden we're not going to shop at certain places. See, I'm talking about, to me, what this is about, this is about what Dr. King and SCLC and Breadbasket did with sealed test milk. And what they did with sealed test milk was they were protesting sealed test milk. They then protested. They protested, and everybody who's listening,

go listen to Dr. King's speech to the SCLC convention in August of 1967. You can hear this speech online. It's like an hour and a half speech. They go there. They're protesting seal test milk, but the convenience store that was selling the milk, they completely shut it down.

Within 48 hours, the CEO of that store chain all across Ohio said to sealed test milk, if y'all do not change your policies, I'm pulling your milk off of all my stores because he did not want the pickets at his stores. And so they were not protesting his stores, but he sold Sealtest Milk. So what you're saying is this real

simple. Okay, you gonna hit the companies. You gonna hit the companies that do business with the companies're going to hit the companies that do business with the companies. You're going to hit the companies that do business with the companies that do business with the company because America only understands the dollar. And if you start hitting that money,

folks are going to start paying attention and go, yeah, yeah, y'all need to pull that thing. Y'all need to pull that thing. That's right. Yeah, you know, because some folks have asked, well, you knowall need to pull that thing. Y'all need to pull that thing. That's right. Yeah, you know, because some folks have asked, well, you know, if you're fighting voter suppression, why are you targeting these companies, right?

And part of our response is this, and there's a lot of reasons. There's, you know, there's the righteousness and equality and democracy and all that. But at the end of the day, you know, we're organizers. We're activists, and we got to use pressure points. You know, when you're in a fight like this, it's almost like karate, right? It's like martial arts, that you got to strike at

pressure points, right? And sometimes that pressure point isn't the thing that's the most obvious, right? It's not always to punch somebody in the eye. Sometimes to hit the right pressure point, where you got to go, you got to go for the juggler, or you might even go for the armpit, you might go for a certain spot on the back. you've got to hit the pressure point where you can have the most impact. That's what we're doing with this campaign. Yes, we've got friends and allies that are targeting these legislators and making those phone calls and doing all that. But we've got to go where we know that we've got some pressure.

We've got pressure with these companies because guess what? They depend on us as consumers. They depend on us as employees. We've got labor that's involved in this battle. They've been joining us, making phone calls and text messages, and they're going to join at these direct actions. That's where we got some pressure, and that's where these companies can really come in handy. If they want this to be shut down, they can get it shut down. They have that capability. You take our people power, you put it with their economic power, and we can get some stuff done.

And that simply means, LaTosha, to the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and others, stop with the weak-ass statements. Have the guts to stand with Black Voters Matter. Have the guts to stand with people. Arthur Blank should have released a statement, a public statement condemning the actions of Republicans. Former President Jimmy Carter has already done that.

And it shouldn't just even be the major corporations. You should go down the line, grab that list of the top 100 companies in the state of Georgia, and go down the line and say, where are you? What you gonna say? And let me be real clear, don't go to the line and say, where are you? What you going to say? And let me

be real clear, don't go to the black companies and ask them. Let me be real clear, all the white folks in Georgia, don't be asking where's Tyler Perry. No, no, no, no. Where y'all at? That's right. See, I want to know where the white folks in the suburbs. I want to know where the white folks in Marietta, the white folks in Cobb, the white folks in Fulton. I want to know where the white folks in Marietta, the white folks in Cobb, the white folks in Fulton. I want to know where they are because, again, I want to know where the white women at. Because every time there's a fight against voter suppression, black folks are leading it. When I was there in Georgia, there was 150,000 Native Americans there. In fact,

I'm going to call the sister who was helping them. I'm gonna say, Hey, how are they mobilizing, organizing on this whole deal? I want to know what Latinos on this whole deal, black folks have always had to fight and everybody else has benefited. This is, it should be a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, uh, multi-gender, multi-everything coalition putting that pressure on these Republicans in Georgia? Absolutely. You know, there is, you know, I say it often, it is not the responsibility of black people to actually carry the burden of protected democracy on our back. And the truth of the matter is the Voting Rights Act

was just not a protection mechanism for the right to vote for black people while we were the targets that actually our constituencies literally led in that fight. But the truth of the matter is it provided protection for all voters in this country, that it actually strengthened democracy. And so in this moment, what we're looking at right now, we're talking, we're saying, we're calling the question, what side are you on? Are you going to stand with our community? We're seeing the worst voter suppression bills in the last 56 years, in the last 50 years in this nation, right? And where is the silence? Why are you silent? We cannot continue to support and fund the efforts of those that don't stand with us. That our money matters, that our vote matters,

our voice matters and our lives matter. And I think this is a period of time that all those companies and businesses that said that they were serious about racial equity, this should be a slam dunk for them, that this is an obvious at one that literally they should be getting behind that when we're looking at, from George Floyd, where all last year, all of these companies were saying,

we stand with you. Where are you now when we need you? When we're talking about where we know that Black voters in particular, our vote is actually being targeted and we're under attack. We expect those that we support, those businesses that we support

to also support those efforts that make sure that they protect our voters. And this is the opportunity. So folks are asking, what can they do? So what's happening this weekend? What's happening early next week? What do you want the people watching and listening to do? Yeah, folks can go to our website, BlackVotersMatterFund.org, right? I know that you often show it on the program. They go to our website, blackvotersmatterfund.org, right? I know that you often show it on the program.

They go to our website, and there's a link there that will take them to our action page, and we'll show some actions they can take that range from, you know, filling out a petition, calling the officials, but also this corporate pressure campaign, right? And so there's phone numbers that they can call. There's e-mail addresses where they can reach out. This weekend, we're putting pressure on, those are the phone numbers. That's the ad that was in the paper. And that information is also on our website. There are scripts there. So if you don't know exactly what to say, no problem. We got you covered. We got sample scripts there so you know what to say. There's a phone

number that's not on there. And that's for the world of Coca-Cola. That's where we're going to be this weekend. Again, we're going to be out there giving out information to people passing by, going inside the world of Coca-Cola. And that number is 404-676-5151. I'll send it to your producers. That's 404-676-5151. Go on and call up the world of Coca-Cola all weekend. Let them know that you want them to take a stance and support the voters in this state, right? And you can do that no matter what state you're in. You could call any of these companies

no matter what state you're in, because again, these are companies that are national and global companies. And more importantly, this is an issue that affects everybody in this country, because what they do here in Georgia, they're also trying to do in every other state. And there also needs to be a federal response on this. You know, we haven't talked about it a lot tonight, but, you know, we took at the end of the day, if H.R. one and H.R. four have been passed on day one of the Biden administration, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. What George is trying to do would have been illegal. So we need it. It wasn't passed then, but we need it passed right now.

And to do that, we've got to end the filibuster. Absolutely. And so we are there with you. And so, uh, bottom line is, we gonna keep putting the pressure on them because they gotta feel it. They gotta feel all that heat. And look, Dr. King said on April 3rd, 1968, he said, redistribute the pain.

Redistribute the pain. That's what he... And he laid it out. That's right. LaTosha Brown, Cliff Albright, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. the pain. That's what he, and he laid it out. That's right. Latasha Brown, Cliff Albright, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, I'm going to bring in my panel right now. Kieran Yen on Democratic Strategies, Brittany Lee Lewis, political analyst, Michael M. Hotep, host

the African History Network. Brittany, I'll start with you. Look, this is the only way. Okay, Republicans control the governor's mansion, they control the House, they control the Senate. So bottom line is, they're not paying attention. We're going to hit your pocketbook.

Absolutely. And we know historically that has always worked. Folks, when you start playing with people's money, we know that's when changes happen. And we have to do what we have to do because this is, I mean, when we think about, this is Jim Crow in a suit and tie, if you will, Roland, and it's absolutely ridiculous. It's very clear that, you know, this isn't actually about the ability for people to be

able to vote fairly and participate in the election. It's really about, as the Republican Party is saying, election integrity. That means reversing efforts to make voting easier and justifying this with Trump's lie about, you know, the election is, you know, legitimacy or illegitimacy, rather. So we got to do what we got to do. Kieran. So I think this is really about them making up the 12,000 votes that they lost by in Georgia and, you know, making sure that they continue to hold the governor's mansion. I think that's the most important thing to Georgia Republicans. And I think right now it's incumbent on the Democratic Party to fight back against that in any way they can.

That means, you know, federal legislation, meaning the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. I think that if Democrats aren't focused on making sure that all black people have the right to vote, they're doing themselves a disservice going into 2022. Michael, it's all about pressure. Absolutely, Roland. You know, this is our third week in a row talking about this. It's about pressure, and it's about leveraging our economics to enforce our politics.

And, you know, it's a term that I use. I call it economic guerrilla warfare. This is what we have to engage in, all 50 states, not just Georgia. You know, and there are some key things that they said in the interview. Number one, Cliff Albright talked about scripts, okay? When I used to work in the call center for Netflix,

and there was a conflict with Rush Limbaugh's show, okay? Rush Limbaugh had his people call into Netflix. It was a dispute over Netflix removing ads from Rush Limbaugh's show. He had his people call into Netflix, and they were reading from a script saying, if you don't start advertising again with Netflix, we're going to cancel our subscriptions. OK, so we have to understand our history of economic withdrawal strategies. And I'm so proud of what they're doing right now. But we have to put leverage on them all 50 states. One quick question I have, Roland, are any of the major civil rights organizations working with them in AACP, Urban League, nationally? Are they working with them to help put pressure because they have contacts with these corporations?

Well, again, just waiting for, you know, again, they got contacts, but the corporations and look, I've hit some of the corporations. But my line is they're still, you know, sort of like this, you know, where they're going to go, where they're going to go, stuff along those lines. Okay. So one of the things is, you know this also, Roland, you've talked about this for a number of years on your show. When you have economic withdrawal strategies, economic boycotts, there are stages that you go through. One of the stages is meeting with the corporation. Oftentimes that meeting can happen before the actual economic boycott takes place. So I was just wondering, I'm happy with what they're doing. I was just wondering at what stage are they in with certain things dealing with this? But, you know, so that's why I was asking that. And this is extremely important. Also, last week on the show, when you interviewed them last Friday, they talked about

some of these corporations financing Republicans who are working against our interests, okay, not just in the state of Georgia, but nationwide. And then we look at the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that just passed, not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for the bill. So we also have to understand that we have to stop financing our own dehumanization. So this is why I'm so happy what they did. And I shared this, I shared their flyer

from LaTosha's Twitter page. I shared it on our Facebook fan page today also. We need to galvanize support around this and redistribute the pain. Absolutely. You, if you don't have the votes, you got to figure out the strategy and you got to go to money. And so I got no problem with anything that they're doing in order to address this issue in Georgia, because again, we're going to be seeing this in other states and the exact same thing must be happening in those states as well. All right, folks, let's

now go to Minneapolis, where today the jury selection continues in the trial of Derek Chauvin, who's on trial for, of course, murdering George Floyd. Also, the city council today affirmed a decision. They're going to be paying $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit with the family of George Floyd. The city council voted unanimously to approve the largest police settlement in the city's history 500 000 of the 27 million will go directly to the neighborhood that includes the 28th and chicago intersection where floyd was killed last year uh here's a family attorney ben crump violent crime in our city is not just historic because of the $27 million paid out, but for the impact on social justice, policy reforms, and police reforms. Because the financial compensation most directly impact George Floyd and his family, the future of their family. But it is the policy reforms that affects all of us.

It's going to be a long journey, a long journey to justice. This is but one step on the journey to justice. George Floyd had more witnesses to his torture and death than any other person, black or white, in American history. Over 50 million people have clicked to watch that video, and once you see that video, you can never unsee that video. We know, America, that we're more humane than this. In this historic agreement, the largest pretrial settlement in a police civil rights wrong for death case in U.S. history makes a statement that George Floyd deserved better than what we witnessed on May 25, 2020. That George Floyd life matters.

And by extension, black lives matter. Let's go to our panel here, Brittany. This settlement obviously does not bring George Floyd's life back. But look, it's forcing these cities to understand you're going to have to pay big bucks when your cops do wrong. Again, what these cities should be doing is changing their procedures, saying to all of these different cops, okay, you keep costing us money, we're going to take it out of your pocket. Well, you took the words right out of my mouth. That was the first thing I was going to say. First off, there's no amount of money that can ever bring back a life lost.

We don't know the type of hardship and pain that they're living with and they're suffering with. But like you said, although I'm happy that the family is getting such a large lump sum, what is unfortunate is that it is coming out of the city's money. It's coming out of the taxpayers' money. I'm tired, and I know we are all tired of paying for the police misconduct, for the brutality, and for the killings of black and brown people on the street. We are paying for that. So I couldn't agree with you more in terms of we need to completely change the structure in which how these type of lawsuits are being paid out. And as the attorney said, we need justice

in terms of not just reform, but a radical revision, revisioning of what policing is, because we know that it's rare to see officers indicted for killing civilians and convictions are even rarer. Even with the trial that's coming up, we're already seeing, in my opinion, some problematic jury selection, just down to the type of questions that they're asking under police contacts. Essentially, if you have any prior connection to Black Lives Matter or protesting police brutality, or if you view blue lives matter unfavorable, you cannot be a part of the jury. So I'm still concerned.

Look, this is something, Kieran, that we keep seeing over and over and over again. It's a demanding of accountability. But again, it ratchets up the pressure on these various cities. And again, when they start negotiating the contracts, that's where you've got to deal with this stuff. So it starts with getting rid of things like qualified immunity,

and you really do have to go at that at the state level. And you also have to remove some of the protections that are written in the police contracts around the killing of civilians. I've seen this happen in so many different cities. This is a rather large settlement. We've seen a lot of policy changes around the activity in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And Attorney Crump was successful in this regard in getting policy changes as well as getting a settlement for the family. But it doesn't bring back George Floyd and it doesn't, you know, undo all the damage that was done to the city during the weeks of rioting.

And it doesn't it doesn't heal the community at all. But we really do need to start to focus on how we create those policy changes in order to hold police departments more accountable for their wrongdoing. Michael, you know, it's one of those things where, look, money can't bring anybody back. It can't satisfy any of that. But what you're seeing also with these deals, we saw the Breonna Taylor case, where they also are forcing the changes as best they can with these cities as a part of the deal. Right, with policies and laws within the city, policies dealing with law enforcement, et cetera. Yeah, you know, it's kind of tricky with this. One, $27 million, okay, and you're a few weeks away from the actual trial starting.

We know the selection of the jury is taking place right now. So, you know, I'm happy for the family there. But then you wonder, OK, now, are they trying to telegraph something to us? Are they doing this settlement before the trial actually starts? Because now I have I have all faith in the state prosecutor. But what I'm saying is, you know, it's tricky. It's like really tricky when you think about this. Okay, now the white woman's family got $20 million. The cop was black, newer. Now they come with this $27 million settlement, rightfully so, but are they trying to maybe do this because they want to throw the—

No, no, no. That's not it. No. I'm not saying it is, Roland. No, no. I'm saying there's other—here's the deal. There have been numerous other cases where the settlement took place before the trial. Here's the second thing. Here's the second thing that a lot of people out there don't understand when it comes to the law. So, for instance, in Texas, when they had the Amber Geiger trial,

the community was yelling, yelling, first-degree murder, first-degree murder, fire the cop, all those different things. The lawyers kept saying, y'all, chill the hell, all those different things. The lawyers kept saying, y'all chill the hell out because what they did not realize is once an officer has been fired, you lose a certain layer of protection that impacts the settlement with the city. So there are a lot of folk don't know the legal piece. So what often happens in these cases is that they want to do the settlement before it goes to trial, because frankly, you're at your best for the sake of the family with the

city. You're at your, you're at your highest negotiating point before the trial starts. Right. Yeah. That's the legal strategy that folk don't understand. So they're like, why is this happening now? That's one of the reasons why. They don't want it to come after the trial if he's found not guilty. Now all of a sudden the city's like, well, there you go. That's what you did before.

You lose leverage. I understand that as well. I've covered a number of these cases also. I just hope everything, you know, one thing I look at, I'm happy for the settlement. But, and I know you know this as well, Roland, what I really focus in on is the trial, conviction, and sentencing. That's what I really focus in on. I'm happy for the settlement, not trying to take anything away from the family or anything like that, but that's what I really focus in on, because I've seen some of these

trials go the wrong way. So that's why I'm happy for the family, but, you know, I'm leery also. I want to see how this progresses. Well, again, the bottom line of this here,

the settlement piece is a completely separate deal than whatever is happening in the trial. But certainly, we're glad to see that in this case, that one, they were not lowball, they were not disrespected. And again, we still want to see justice there. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back. Black basketball team decides to take a knee during the Oklahoma basketball championship. White announcer calls them the N-word. We'll discuss that next on Roller Mountain Unfiltered. Republicans know their ideas aren't popular. That's why they lost the popular vote in all but one election over the last 32 years.

So after losing the White House and the Senate in 2020, Republicans want to make it even harder for you to vote. In Georgia, Republicans are trying to pass bills that would eliminate ballot drop boxes, repeal automatically registering voters when they get driver's licenses, and limit absentee voting. And in states Trump narrowly lost, Georgia and Pennsylvania, Republicans are trying to cut mail-in voting, falsely claiming it perpetuates voter fraud. Let's be clear. Voter fraud is a myth. Republicans know they can only stay in power

preventing people from voting. This is who they are. The leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down. Don't let them get away with stealing your vote. people from voting. This is who they are. Our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down. Don't let them get away with stealing your vote. Vote them all out before they take away your right to vote. The work you do is important. A lot of people depend on you and you deserve respect. Respect includes making a decent wage that reflects how hard you work for your community.

So what's the best way to make sure you get the pay you deserve? Join a union. Union members are paid more than people with similar jobs who aren't in unions. For women and people of color, the union difference is even greater. The respect you deserve, the pay you've earned. That's the union difference. Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. What's up? I'm Lance Gross and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, organizers in Louisville, Kentucky, are planning a big rally tomorrow to mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of Breonna Taylor.

Taylor's family will join Until Freedom, a national social justice organization that planned several demonstrations for Taylor in Louisville last year for a rally at Jefferson Square Park at 1 p.m., followed by a food giveaway at 4.30 p.m. Ahead of the rally and other protest events, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and other city officials released a list of streets that will be closed

to vehicle traffic. Police shot and killed Taylor, of course, a year ago. She was an emergency room tech and former EMT, took place during an undercover raid on her apartment near Pleasure Ridge Park as part of a larger narcotics investigation. No drugs or money were found in Taylor's apartment and none of the officers who fired the weapons

into the residence were charged in connection with her death. Now, one of them was charged, but it was really a very small charge. Her boyfriend, who they arrested, had all charges dropped against him. This is, of course,

a shocking story that you couple with Ahmaud Arbery, this story, then, of course, George Floyd. It was one after another, Kira, in 2020. And it really put the emphasis on no-knock warrants. It put the emphasis on cops not having body cameras turned on, so we don't know exactly what happened there as well. It opened up a whole Pandora's box of things that were critically

important that spoke to, again, actions by police in cases like this where the guy they were looking for was already in jail. They simply didn't update the warrant. I just... I find it hard to believe that this continues to happen over and over and over again.

I think a lot about my friend Leon Ford, who I went to high school with, who was mistaken for being another man in the city of Pittsburgh, where they subsequently tried to pull him out of his car and then shot him five times, and he miraculously survived. We've seen this far too often around the country

in way too many different cities. And as it keeps happening over and over and over again, the calls for body cameras, the calls for the end to qualified immunity, and the calls for police accountability grow louder. And I'm looking at local elected officials to step up to the plate and really deliver on, you know, holding police departments accountable for killing black people. Brittany.

Yeah, you know, it's unfortunate that we're here and we continue to be here time and time and time again. And, you know, while obviously this is the current system that we exist under, I'm certainly not saying that we shouldn't continue to push for reform. We should. But I think it's important. I mean, every generation, my generation, my parents' generation, my grandparents' generation, we have so many stories of this ongoing call for justice and the end to the killing of Black people. And at what point do we say that this system really isn't meant for us and that reform really isn't going to be enough? Because we've been fighting this uphill battle for a very long time. And, you know, I hope we take this weekend to say her name and to say the name of so many other black women that we have lost at the hands of police violence.

And I also want to echo the words of the activists on the ground who will be, you know, really highlighting what has happened to her. And they've said that this is not obviously a weekend for celebration, even after the charges have been dropped against her boyfriend. But it's really about continuing to fight for justice and ramp up for that long haul, for us to just not be silent, to not acquiesce, and to get the type of justice that we deserve. Michael. Yeah, you know, Roland, this is going to be a somber weekend once again. I've been watching some excerpts of the interviews

with Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor's mother. And it's, you know, it's problematic on a number of different levels. It's problematic when you look at the charges against the one officer, but no charges for actually killing Breonna Taylor from Attorney General Cameron. And then at the same time, it reminds me of an interview that Representative Cori Bush did from Missouri. And she said when she first went into the U.S. House of Representatives, she was wearing a face mask that had Breonna Taylor's name on it.

And members of the Republican Party were coming up to her, calling her Breonna, because they thought that was her name. They didn't know who Breonna Taylor was. So at the same time, you have us outraged and galvanized and support and trying to mourn and things like this. You know, some of the very same people who tried to overturn the last election and nullify our votes, at the same time, try to nullify our voices and dehumanize us and devalue us as well. So, you know, but yeah, we have a lot of work to do. And this is why tying into the previous segment dealing with what LaTosha and Cliff are doing with Black Voters Matter, this is why this is so important in understanding leveraging our economics to enforce our politics. All this is

tied together. We're dealing with a system of white supremacy and racism. All of this is tied together. Absolutely. All right, folks, today in the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris, she swore in Cecilia Rouse as the first African-American to chair the President's Council of Economic Advisors. Of course, this is the video here that's wearing in.

All right, something wrong with the video there. Folks, let me know when we have it ready. As Biden's top economic advisor, Rouse will help the administration reverse course from the current economic decline created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now let's play it. Okay, ready? Left hand on Bible, right hand up. Then repeat after me, please. I, Cecilia Rouse, I, Cecilia Rouse,

do solemnly swear, do solemnly swear, that I will support and defend, that I will support and defend, the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation

or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. So help me God. Congratulations, Madam Chair. Congratulations. There we are. I love this education. Right? It's all good. There we go.

Okay. All right. Pretty cool there. I did a lot of work with Cecilia when she served as one of the economic advisors under President Barack Obama. I used to bug the hell out of me because they rarely put her out. They were always putting out Romer, Christine Romer, as well as Austin Goolsbee. Pretty much the only time she ever got on television is when she did my show. But now, of course, if she's going to be the chair, she'll get a lot more face time and air time in that position.

Last night, President Joe Biden, of course, gave a speech dealing with COVID-19. It was, I'm trying to understand, Brittany, all of a sudden today, all these Republicans are mad. Senator Tim Scott as well. They all mad. They're upset because Biden wouldn't give Trump credit. And in fact, even during the news conference today, the press briefing, Peter Alexander of NBC asked, you know, why wouldn't he do so? And I'm like, show me where in the hell Donald Trump gave President Obama credit for handing him a thriving

economy. I mean, I just get a kick out of it. I said he didn't need to give Trump a damn bit. Didn't mention his ass at all. Roland, they're a trip. I mean, there's no other way to put it. First and foremost, we know that, you know, the Trump administration was a complete and utter failure in terms of handling this. And had someone else been in office nine times out of ten, we wouldn't be in the same predicament that we are today. But they're just mad because Biden's approval rating is excellent. And his approval rating, I think, is up to 60 percent in regards to how he's handling this virus and the rollout of the vaccine. So they're just excuse the language. They're just haters. They're really just haters.

I just I'm just sitting here not quite understanding, Michael, this whole media nonsense. You talked about unity. Blake! No, I understand it, Roland. I understand it. What happened was they got caught with their pants down. What happened was this is a very popular bill, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. It's a very popular bill, and it's going to benefit

some of the very people that voted for these traitors, Republicans, in the first place. I've been talking about this on my show the past few weeks, the past few days, every day. And a couple of days ago, I went through and broke down the different parts of the bill, okay? This $5 billion of it is targeting Black farmers. You got Lindsey Graham, who's coming out

in opposition to that, calling it reparations for African Americans. You've got some Republicans now trying to take credit for the bill, but not a single Republican in the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate voted for this bill and is going to help many of the poor constituents that keep voting for these people. So they realize that they're exposed and to add salt into their wounds. And Joe Biden should. He should kick their behinds. When they go low, stomp them in their heads.

That's what you do. Now they're going on a victory tour, and they're going to go to different states and break this down and explain to people in various states what's in the bill, how it's going to help them, and they're going to highlight the fact that not a single Republican voted for this bill. Okay? So, yeah, they realize that there's hell to come

and the infrastructure bill, there's a good chance that infrastructure bill will pass also because they're going to do it during budget reconciliation. That infrastructure bill is going to help a lot of people in rural America that keep voting for these dumbass Republicans as well.

Okay? So they realize it's like, uh-oh, we're in trouble. Okay, so they're trying to cling on while they talk about Dr. Seuss. They're trying to cling on whatever they can to try to give credit for the trade-in chief and many of these Republicans voted to overturn the results of the previous election.

They got caught with their pants down. Kieran, I'm laughing because Fox News actually had a chyron saying, Biden signs the bill with no Republicans present. Well, they punk ass didn't vote for it. Exactly. Like, I'm trying to figure out why, I'm trying to figure out why in the hell, why in the hell would he invite Republicans to a Rose Garden event when none of them voted for it? My biggest issue with Republicans is you even had Republican mayors and county executives of large municipalities, even like Fort Worth, I believe, that were calling for this relief in order to keep the lights on, in order to keep cops and firefighters and EMS on the street.

And you have their Republican counterparts in the Congress voting no on this particular bill that would have helped municipalities keep public safety workers and essential workers on the front lines. I just don't understand how they could even expect an invite after doing something like that. Hey, it's absolutely stupid and crazy. It makes no sense whatsoever. All right, folks, a new bill in Oklahoma would allow drivers who unintentionally, I love this here, who unintentionally run over protesters to go and punish. It grants immunity to any driver that unintentionally injures or kills a protester as long as there is a reasonable belief a driver was fleeing to protect themselves from harm.

The bill also includes measures that would charge protesters misdemeanors punishable up to a year in jail and $5,000 in fines if they unlawfully obstruct traffic. It will be sent to the Republican majority state Senate next week to be voted upon. We know what this deal here is. It's all about going after Black Lives Matter, Kieran. So the thing that gets me is that there's no duty to retreat in this bill. It puts no onus on a driver that can clearly see a large crowd in the way. Instead, it just gives them the ability to drive into a crowd. And if somebody happens to get in their way. Instead, it just gives them the ability to drive into a crowd. And if somebody happens to get in their way or hit their hood or make them feel threatened in any way, they can just run them over with impunity. This is absolutely disgusting. And

it's dangerous for the state to even be sponsoring or considering legislation like this. But this is about, Brittany, again, Florida. They're trying to consider something as well. And so, look, you got these idiots in Kentucky who the Senate passed a bill saying you can't disrespect or yell at a cop. We know what this is about. We're seeing this state after state after state. There's various laws that are trying to quell any type of protest that is currently happening or that is going to happen as we get into the warmer weather. It's, quite frankly, it's disgusting. Specifically with what is going on in Oklahoma, I even think about, Roland, like, how much responsibility I have as a driver if I

accidentally rear-end somebody, right? How is it possible that you can get away with, quote-unquote, claiming, I unintentionally hit somebody or I feared for my life, and that is why I'm allowed to potentially kill somebody and get away with it? And we know that's certainly going to only work for a certain group of people. So it's absolutely

petrifying and, of course, a direct attack on us. You're going to see more of this, and this is what happens when you have Republicans. Who controls state houses and governors' matches, Michael? You know, Roland, we've seen this for the past few years. You go back to April 2017, there were 18 state legislatures that had control by Republicans that were proposing bills to make it harder to protest and trying to criminalize protests, create harsher penalties for protesters who are arrested, uh, different things like this.

And then, at the same time, we see them, uh, 43 states, 253 bills, trying to make it harder to vote. So they're trying to make it harder for you to elect people and put them in office who are going to pass laws to benefit you and trying to make it harder and criminalize you when you protest against people who pass laws that are detrimental to you.

Now, it's also important for us to understand that this year is the 100th anniversary of the attack on Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is Oklahoma. Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 1st, 1921. Okay. So you have all this taking place at the same time and they want to legalize, they want to actually make it legal for you to kill African-Americans with your vehicle. This is what they're trying to do.

So, once again, this is an example of how elections have consequences. And this is why we have exactly what LaTosha and Cliff are doing. This is why we have to do this all across the country. These people are crazy. These are people, as my friend Dr. Greg Carr calls them, the white nationalist party.

These are people part of the white nationalist party. These people have lost their ever-loving minds. I'm going to do one better. These are people part of the white NASA's party. These people have lost their ever-loving minds. Um... I'ma do one better. And wait till I explain it next, uh, when we have our Crazy White People segment. Uh, announcers, live... They were live-streaming a basketball game.

High school champion... High school playoff game. Black basketball team is out to take a knee during the national anthem. The N-word all of a sudden comes spewing out, wait until I read for y'all what this white boy said. What happened? Y'all are not gonna believe what I'm gonna read. That's next on Rollinger Mart Unfiltered. Will be ready to enjoy the years ahead? Join a union today. Union members negotiate our contracts, which is why we're more likely to have substantial retirement benefits.

A secure retirement. That's the union difference. Your work keeps the community safe, but what keeps you safe at work? People in public service face unique dangers and we need the right training, resources, and staffing to stay safe. But how do we make sure we have what we need to stay safe on the job? We join a union. Union members negotiate for the resources we need to keep us safe at work and protections if we're injured on the job. Union members are better trained and better protected. Job safety, that's the union difference.

Everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond. Hi, my name is Bresha Webb and you're watching job safety. That got you, Carl. Illegally selling water without a permit. On my property. Whoa! Hey! I remember. Give me your ID. You don't live here. I'm uncomfortable.

All right, y'all. A high school basketball announcer in Oklahoma. This is the live stream. All right? Happened in the playoffs there in Oklahoma. This is the live stream. All right? Happened in the playoffs there in Oklahoma. Two teams. One of them decides

to take a knee. This announcer was not too particularly happy. This is what was caught on a hot mic. Back here live after the national anthem, ladies and gentlemen.

It's not going to work. It's not? Ladies and gentlemen. Yes sir, I ask you, are you sure that's Midwest City, then the other one? Isn't it? Norman. Huh? Norman. Fuck yeah. I'll tell you later. The whole Midwest City. You think I'm gonna kneel like that?

Hell no. They even split the flight? Some of them are. Look at this. Fucking niggers. If they're going to kneel like that, I hope they lose. Video went viral. Folks picked up on it. This is what the folks Oklahoma released.

This is their statement. Pull it up, please. We is what the folks at Oklahoma released. This is their statement. Pull it up, please. We were sickened by the comments. This is the NFHS network. It's actually, they were live streaming. We were sickened by the comments made last night at the start of the NFHS network's broadcast of the OSSAA girls basketball game between Norman High School and Midwest City High School. The thoughts expressed in no way represent the NFHS network,

and we are outraged that they found their way into our production. The NFHS network firmly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination, and there is no room for this in high school sports or anywhere. We sincerely apologize to the students, their families, and the entire community for having such ignorant comments expressed during the broadcast. We are aggressively investigating the incident and will ensure that any individuals responsible will have no relationship with the NFHS network moving forward. Well, that announcer released his own statement. Oh my God, this is a doozy. Y'all, pull it up. Y'all, look at this here.

I, Matt Rowan, on Thursday, March 11, 2021, most regrettably made some statements that cannot be taken back. During the Norman High School girls basketball game against Midwest City, I made inappropriate and racist comments believing that the microphone was off. However, let me state immediately

that is no excuse. Such comments should have never been uttered. Oh, my Lord. Y'all, it gets better. I am a family man. I am married, have two children. And at one time was a youth pastor. I continue to be a member of a Baptist church. I have not only embarrassed and disappointed myself,

I have embarrassed and disappointed my family and my friends. Oh, y'all, it gets better. I will state that I suffered type 1 diabetes. And during the game, my sugar was spiking. While not excusing my remarks, it is not unusual when my sugar spikes that I become disoriented and often say things. Y'all. Y'all think I'm lying.

Y'all, this is exactly what he wrote. Often say things that are not appropriate as well as hurtful. I do not believe that I would have made such horrible statements absent my sugar spiking. I'm going to come back and read this, but both of my grandmothers had diabetes. My dad has diabetes. My brother has diabetes.

I think my mom has diabetes. I think my mom has diabetes. I've never seen my daddy or my grandmothers or my brother or my mama go, ooh, my sugar's spiking. Nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga.

It's never. It's never. Never. Never. It's never happened. Don't make me cry. It's never happened. Go back to the statement. I need to read the rest of it.

During the time, during this time, I was with a colleague and friend, Scott Sapulia. Sapulpa, whatever. Scott Sapulpa was not the one that made these comments. It was me and me alone. It is not my desire to shirk my responsibility in this matter, and I certainly do not want Scott Sapulpa to share in the blame of this most unfortunate incident.

While the comments I made would certainly seem to indicate that I am racist. Y'all. Y'all, he literally wrote. While the comments I made would certainly seem to indicate that I am racist, I am not. I have never considered myself to be racist and in short, cannot explain why I made these comments. Oh my God. Is he a member of hashtag Team Sugar on Grits?

Go back to the statement, please. I offer my most sincere apologies for the inappropriate comments made in the hope that I can obtain forgiveness. I specifically apologize to the Norman High School girls basketball team, their families, their coaches, and their entire school system. Additionally, I offer my apologies to OSSAA and NFHS Network. Further, I apologize to all involved in the situation and simply to the entire sports community. There are no other words to explain what occurred. This is something for which I must take responsibility and I wholeheartedly

accept responsibility for my words and actions. It is my sincere desire that I can obtain forgiveness for my actions and words. I have never in my life, Kieran, never in my life have I heard the diabetes defense for bigotry. Right. Me either. I've never heard somebody say, if only I did not have my sugar spike, I would not have burned sugar spike, I would not have burned that cross

in the front yard. Ken, what say you? So my grandfather has diabetes, and I never heard him say nothing like this when his sugar spiked, so I'm at a loss for words. I don't understand how you could blame diabetes. And he probably is Team Sugar on Grits.

You should call Pastor Keene and have him sing to this man. Maybe that'll lift his spirit. You know what? I want y'all to play this again. And Brittany, just let me know if you have the sense that this was sugar spiking. Ken, what say you? So my grandfather has diabetes. Y'all play the video, y'all.

When his sugar spiked. Play the video. I'm at a loss for words. We will be right back here live after the national anthem, ladies and gentlemen. Why am I hearing playback? I hope Norman kicks their ass. Are you sure? That's Midwest City. That's the only place. And that's the only place. I hope it's good. Brittany, I'm just, you know, I hope Norman kicks their ass.

I don't know what they're doing. Fucking nigga. He sounded lucid. He sounded, I mean, I'm not quite understanding what was going on. Like, what was the deal? Exactly what he was saying. He had follow-up commentary when he said, I hope that the other team kicks their behind. He knew exactly what he was

doing, and he is just reaching for every possible excuse to save his character. I mean, even the fact I am not normal, I over-consider myself a racist. I just regularly, you know, use racial epithets when I don't think anyone else publicly can hear me and there's not going to be any repercussions. This man has lost his absolute, absolute mind. And quite frankly, the response by the NFHS is concerning too. We don't know

how they found their way into our network. Are you doing anything to prevent these type of individuals to hold the positions that they do over the whole situation? Michael. Roland, I don't think he suffers from diabetes. I think he suffers from liabilities. That's what he suffers from, liabilities, because he's lying. First of all, Roland, I think this is FCC regulated. The broadcast, they're broadcasting the games. I think it's probably FCC regulated.

No, no, no. It was a live stream. The FCC only regulates over-the-air broadcasts. Oh, over-the-air. Okay. For instance, FCC doesn't license cable network. They don't

license this show. None of these go under FCC at all. I was just wondering because my radio show is on an FCC regulated station. Yeah, that's a terrestrial radio station that requires an FCC license

to broadcast. Right. I understand. Now, follow me where I'm going, though. And when you used to do your show and I used to guest host, you FCC regulated. But even though this isn't, if he has a history of having low sugar and prone to say anything, why is he on the air in the first place? If he has a history of saying that. Because he said, sometimes when my sugar goes low, I'll say things that are crazy.

But the other thing is, this kind of reminds me of the whole Don Imus, Nappy Hay, the H's thing, and Don Imus said that on the air and got eventually taken off the air. But were all the team members that took a knee black? Weren't there some white team members? Could have been. Okay. I'm just wondering why he didn't call them a racial

epithet for white people, just black people, because the white people took a knee possibly as well. But once again, this goes back to, see, I call it the white national anthem. People call it the Star-Spangled Banner. I call it the white national anthem. People call it the Star-Spangled Banner. I'll call it the white national anthem because it was read by Francis Scott Key September 14th, 1814. He was a white supremacist slave owner who thought African people were mentally inferior. So, yeah, OK, I think he has liabilities, you know. And I would I would personally I want to have a conversation with Matt Rowan. You know, I want to ask him, why do you take such offense at people taking a knee to protest against police brutality and racism? They're not protesting against the Star-Spangled Banner.

It's like Rosa Parks didn't sit on the bus to protest against the bus. She was protesting against segregation. So why are you so offended by that? Look, y'all, I done heard a whole lot. I ain't never heard my diabetes and sugar spike, uh, made me say, uh, uh, them niggas. I, I just, I never, that's never happened. I'm just like, y'all come on, just stop it. All right.

Uh, Michael, Brittany, uh, Kieran, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much folks. Um, of course we want y'all to support what we do here at Roland Martin certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much, folks. Of course, we want you all to support what we do here, Roland Martin Unfiltered. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. You can do so by joining Cash App, dial the sign RM Unfiltered, paypal.me,

forward slash rmartinunfiltered, venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. Of course, Zell, Roland at rolandsmartin.com. When we come back, we'll talk with Kim Gardner. She is the attorney, the embattled attorney, DA there in St. Louis. Y'all, wait until you hear what she has to say about police, the union, how they basically told her, you will never charge a cop for wrongdoing. And how Republicans have been fighting her, fighting her and keeping her from doing her job. And how other black prosecutors, black female prosecutors have stood with her in her most trying times.

You do not want to miss this conversation. Next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I believe that it's movement time again. In America today, the economy is not working for working people. The poor and the needy are being abused. You are the victims of power, and this is the abuse of economic power. I'm 23 years old. I work three jobs. Seven days a week, no days off. They're paying people pennies on the dollar compared to what they profit.

And it is time for this to end. Essential workers have been showing up to work, feeding us, caring for us, delivering goods to us throughout this entire pandemic. And they've been doing it on a measly $7.25 minimum wage. The highest check I ever got was nearly $291. I can't take it no more. You know, the fight for 15 is a lot more than about $15 an hour. This is about a fight for your dignity.

We have got to recognize that working people deserve livable wages. And it's long past time for this nation to go to 15 so that moms and dads don't have to choose between asthma inhalers and rent. I'm halfway homeless. The main reason that people end up in their cars is because income does not match housing costs. If I could just only work one job, I could have more time with them. It is time for the owners of Walmart, McDonald's, Dollar General, and other large corporations to get off welfare

and pay their workers a living wage. And if you really want to tackle racial equity, you have to raise the minimum wage. We're not just fighting for our families, we're fighting for yours too. We need this. I'm going to fight for it till we get it. I'm not going to give up. We just need all of us to stand up as one nation and just fight together. Families are relying on these salaries, and they must be paid at a minimum $15 an hour. $15 a minimum. Anyone should be making this a bit of a stay out of poverty. I can't take it no more. I'm doing this for not only me, but for everybody.

We need 15 right now. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D.J. Hi, how are you doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seale. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What up? Lana Well, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Well, Kim, you certainly had the eventful four years here as circuit attorney in St. Louis. How would you describe it? I describe it as day one when you're trying to reform a system that is beyond broken. It needs to be dismantled and rebuilt. It's the status quo tacticians trying to prevent you from doing what you're supposed to do. You came in with a very clear reform agenda. What was the basis of that? Was it because you coming in was on in the aftermath of the protest in Ferguson and other places in this area? I mean, it was post Mike Brown. I mean, I ran on a platform to reform a system that we all know needs to be reformed. I ran on a platform for justice for all, you know, to do the job as a prosecutor

that we take an oath to pursue justice, not merely convictions. And I wanted to bring us in line with the oath of a prosecutor and really affect change. And I think that in my four years, yes, it has been trying, but we've made a lot of changes.

We've done a lot of good things, but we have a lot of work to do. A lot of folks really don't have an understanding of the reality of being a black prosecutor. One of the things that you had to deal with early on were a whole bunch of people who did not like you being the first African-American prosecutor. Lots of Turner were in the office. The exact same thing has happened with Wesley Bell. like you being the first African-American prosecutor. Lots of turnover in the office. The exact same thing has happened with Wesley Bell. And it's interesting because, I can't quite put my finger on what is the difference when you have all of this turnover. Could it be that both of you are African-American?

Well, I think it's not just being the first African-American, but actually the first female to be in a male-dominant environment that when I walk into the room, I'm usually the only female in the room. And as you know from my other sisters in this movement, you know, I've been before Wesley Bell. You have Marilyn Mosby. You have Aramis Ayala, that now she's not the elected anymore. You have Kim Fox. When we are in these positions, our prosecutorial discretion is challenged like no other, even that our male African-American counterparts are not challenged in the same way. So it's the intersection of sexism and racism that is so interesting when we take these roles. You're right, because we've been covering the story in Portsmouth and how they how folks there, they targeted black elected officials and then tried to get Stephanie Morales moved off of the case and then alleging she somehow was involved.

She wasn't even actually at the event they were alleging. And it's it's sort of this constant battle just to do your job. I mean, that's the key. You know, this position has existed since 1821. And I want the same prosecutorial discretion of who you charge, what we charge, when we charge, like everyone else. But as we know, I mean, I had the governor call in the former President Trump to address my prosecutorial discretion. We had Senator Josh Hawley,

as well as many other senators on the federal level asking for my investigation in terms of me doing my job like every other prosecutor does in the state of Missouri. But why am I different? Well, we know why. It's interesting you talk about that. And for people who don't quite understand the political dynamics, the racial dynamics in this city, in this county, in this state, you were born and raised here. Explain to folks how different and unique it is. It's sort of like it's St. Louis and it's the rest of Missouri. Yes. I mean, we are, first of all, in the St. Louis region,

I'm a county within a county. So St. Louis city, I'm the St. Louis circuit attorney. I'm the only circuit attorney out of all the prosecuting attorneys of the state of Missouri. So explain that. It's a term that has existed before me that because I think we're a county within a county, my title is circuit attorney, like the state's attorney in Baltimore. And the other prosecutors are called prosecuting attorneys. So that's why Wesley Bell is a St. Louis County prosecuting attorney. But I am the only circuit attorney. And so that's something that existed before me, I think, is to do with the county within the county and the great succession of St. Louis County from St. Louis City. So that's different. So I'll prosecute all crime in the city of St. Louis,

where Wesley Bale has the county area, and he prosecutes all crime in St. Louis County. But even in that conversation of whether the Great Divide, we call it, it's been the racial divide, North City, South City, and the economic developments you see take place in the city, as well as the concentration of violent crime in our city. So we try more cases than any other jurisdiction. We have more cases, we have more violent cases, and we also have the most aggressive police union

versus other entities in the state of Missouri and around the country, the St. Louis Police Officer Association. So those are the challenges. We have 1,219 police officers concentrated just in the city of St. Louis. So I have more police officers than Wesley Bell, who has a bigger population, just concentrated in the city of St. Louis. And we have less than 300,000 people. 1,219. I mean, how does that stack up cops per capita to the population to other cities in the country? I mean, similarly situated cities, we're atop, we have a lot of police officers concentrated in the city of St. Louis. I think we're kind of like the fourth largest if you look at other similarly situated populations. Wow.

So, and what you were just laying out and describing, and you spoke of those racial dynamics, that really just came to play because the moment you come in, you being a prosecutor, then we have this case of the then governor, and folks saying, how dare you actually investigate the sitting governor for his actions? And you came under just vicious assault. Yeah, that's I was doing my job like any prosecutor that has an allegation of criminal activity that took place in their jurisdiction. They have the duty to investigate and eventually charge an individual, regardless of their occupation or station in life. But as you know, I took unprecedented actual criticism. I took backlash like no other.

But that's the issue when an African-American female prosecutor, like we see, like you said, Stephanie Morales, Marilyn Mosby, Kim Foxx, when we do our jobs, then the full force of the system, the status quo system comes after us. And then you have, of course, in this state, the political dynamic of Republicans controlling the state legislature, you certainly in the state legislature, and then what's happening in this city when they have literally passed laws specifically to stop you. Not impacting the whole state, but it is as if the legislature wants to completely govern St. Louis? Yes, because it's this law and order misinformation that we want to inject ourselves in a jurisdiction that if you care about the city of St. Louis, then why don't you care in 2012 when we're the first state after the Trayvon Martin incident to enact stand your

ground laws on the anniversary of his death? Why would we do that? But we talk about violent crime, but we basically give everyone the opportunity to have access to a gun, even the bad people. And then we give people a self-defense claim who are causing the violence that we talk about. And we like to say that somehow we're not doing our job or the police is not doing our job. And I ask people, what about the bad policies? You know, we were the number one in not funding social services when we know poverty is the number one issue with violent crime in our city, in our state. But we're the first to fail to, you know, now recently we passed Medicaid expansion, but we've been against any type of actual help in addressing the issues that they talk about. And we actually now, I don't know if you know this, Roland,

we are the state that are passing legislation actually to prevent any federal gun regulations. The state is going to say that as a police officer, you can't enforce federal gun laws. In a state that talks about violent crime, we need to lock everybody up, and we need to be tougher on crime. Well, hold on, hold on. I thought they were law and order. That's what I'm saying. So in the case of federal gun law, now they're telling cops what you can't do.

And we'll be investigated and charged with a crime if they enforce any federal gun regulations. And we know state law can't run federal law. But why are we doing this? Because it's about uh political politics and pandering to uh a base that we know we are part of leading the insurrection movement within the state of missouri we're not addressing that we have people in in the state of missouri and high levels of government who are part of this insurrection and so why is everybody so

quiet why is the police union so quiet that Trump? They're so quiet. So you had a cop who's killed, two of those who committed suicide, total five people died. Cops had their eyes gouged out, beaten. One cop lost three fingers. You now have some 30 cops that are actually under investigation, 35 in the Capitol Hill riots. And the police are you hearing St. Louis is like a mouse in church. I've never heard them as quiet as they have been. It's eerily quiet. And I'm like, why is that? Why? We were one of the states when our policing endorsed Trump, stood by Trump. And now all of a sudden we're quiet. And there are people, there's actually legislators from the state of Missouri that went to this insurrection event.

But I'm trying, I'm waiting on what's happening. What's going on? You make that point there in terms of with police unions. And there is massive tension in these cities with Black prosecutors, progressive prosecutors. We see it with Larry Krasner in Philadelphia. We see it with Mosby. We see it with Morales.

We see it, we can go down the line. And I keep saying one of the most fundamental problems is that we have elected officials who treat police officers as if they are a protected class, as if the rules don't apply to them. And there are two sets of rules, as the rest of us and then the police officers. And there's this whole, you know, protect and serve, but it's really protect and serve them. And that's really how so many people target it. And it's not a question of saying folks don't like police officers,

but it's called fairness. It's called what's right. That seems to me to be where this massive tension is, as if they want to tell people, let me do our job, but we're going to tell you as a prosecutor how to do your job, and if you do anything against us, oh, we're going to take you out. And that's what they told me before I took office, Roland. I mean, they told me I had a meeting with officials in the police union

before I took office, and they sat down and told me, now that you're going to be elected, what are you going to do for us? Else we're not going to do our job. Because remember, see, everybody focuses on the governor's case. I had Jason Stockley. That was the first situation I had. And basically told me, what are you going to do to assure us

that never hold a police accountable? I said, that's not going to happen. Hold it. So you get elected. Yes. And before you are sworn in, take office, they say they don't want to see

any officers held accountable? Yes, and told me what I'm going to do because they're going to ensure that I will never be elected again, and they're going to ensure that I'm going to have a difficult time being the prosecutor of the city of St. Louis. That's a threat. Well, we know about threats, but when it comes to me, it's not a threat.

I've been told that people can say that I should be shot and killed in Maine. That's not a threat. I should be hung by the KKK. That's not a threat. But that's where, when you're talking about fairness and justice, and you need to ask most of the prosecutors, you wonder why that most prosecutors can't hold police accountable? We already know the laws are actually in the favor of the police officer. We know that.

But in terms of actually doing an investigation or fair, how is it that police departments are able to investigate themselves? Where is it in the system that can you commit a crime and your friends investigate the crime for you? What type of investigation do you think you're going to have? And then by the way, when you have an aggressive police union like we do, when they can come to you and tell you what you're not going to do as an elected prosecutor, like you said, and threaten you in broad daylight, threaten you in front of your office, have people come, have nationalists come to your office and basically

protest you anytime and then basically control every part of the system. They control the legislator. They control the local government, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, everybody wants to say that. They control the board. They control everything. It's power because they have the power to basically control how things are going to happen in every day of their life. And it's not just the officers, not just the bargaining unit. Everybody likes to say, well, we're against unions. No, they should be in a lane and their lane is not controlling everything that they control. And that's why this mayor race is important, because guess what? You got a mayor who will be over the police department, will control what that collective bargaining agreement

looks like, control how police behave. But as prosecutors, we need help because, see, when you're going against the system, look at me as an example. I had to sue the city under the KKK Act to impede the will of the people, and I'm still being attacked. So why would you affect change when where everybody at? Everybody sitting on the sideline like she's still standing. But it's not about me. It's about the people. It's about the city of St. Louis that I grew up from, I lived in, I love. And this city can do better, but we

got to have people standing up and fighting for what's right. Fighting for justice in spite of your position. You described, as you were talking, you were describing this, again, the tentacles. And we saw this in Baltimore. We saw it in Chicago, where a simple prosecution.

This is not like you went out and you charged 100 or 200 officers. You charged 10% of the force. We've seen cases where one officer gets charged. Entire slowdown. We're going to stop working. The blue flu. They just call off and then guess what? Now the crime is out of control.

And who do you think they're going to blame? It's going to be the African-American prosecutor or the prosecutor in that area because they say, we're going to show you what we're going to do, and it's wrong. And it's time for the people to wake up that we pay police officer salaries. We pay them to do a job. When are we

going to start holding them accountable? This is not saying that they're not good men and women on the police force. I hate when we have to always characterize police that there's good men and women. We know that. Let's understand that everyone, even in the community, there's bad people, just like there's bad people in the police department. And we have to rid those bad people from those critical roles

when you can take someone's life for liberty. What's the problem with that? Who wouldn't support taking those individuals that have the duty to protect and serve to serve the community right? What's so hard about that? Why is all this backlash for that? So what you were just describing really takes people on the inside who don't quite understand the depths of this issue.

So when people are talking about police reform, accountability, and when you hear the phrase defund the police, what they're talking about is really having a system that truly is about fairness for everyone and not where it's stacked, the debt is stacked against anyone

who challenges a police officer who dares to prosecute, because we also know in so many places across the country that when you talk about law enforcement, it's DAs are essentially operating on the same side as police officers because the union said it's the only position you will ever take no you know what roland that's interesting you know i was the first prosecutor in my city when i ran to not have any police union endorsement you know we are even divided in the police union we have a ethical society of police which is the black organization within the police department and then we have the police union association. And I never won any endorsement and never thought I was going to win any of that endorsement. It's okay. But I was the first prosecutor to ever not be endorsed by a police union in the history of

that office. But that means something. That means, why is that? Because if you look at all the DAs across the country, with less than 3% are African-American female, less than 3% are progressive prosecutors. Most of these prosecutors have been in office for over 20 years. But most of them are basically, you know, as a prosecutor, when we talk about public safety, and that's our goal is public safety, when you have a police department that can tell you, I'm going to stop working because you're not doing what we say,

what do you think most of these elected prosecutors who have been there for 20 years, they're going to do? They're going to side with law enforcement because we rely on law enforcement in terms of an investigation. But our job is to pursue justice because simply because we work with law enforcement does not make us unbiased to do our job because we have an ethical duty to investigate criminal activity, regardless of who commits that crime whether you your status or not and that's the problem supreme court says equal justice under law that's what it says equal justice under law what we see with the insurrection what is it it's uh all these uh theories of they didn't know they were committing crime i'm like wow really you didn't know yeah were committing a crime. I'm like, wow, really? You didn't know?

Yeah, I didn't realize that if I'm approaching a building and there are police barricades and there are cops who are standing behind the barricades and then I take the barricade and throw it out the way, I didn't realize I was doing something that was wrong. Somebody made me do it. Hell, forget a barricade. If I see a damn yellow tape,

police, do not cross this line, I can go, I might not want to go ahead and remove that tape. But even more disturbing is Missouri was the one that led the way to actually file litigation with other states through the Attorney General to support this lie.

And we're going to say it's okay to just lie like this? The Attorney General in our state filed litigation against China. We know that's, we can't even do that. But their license is never challenged. But my license is always under investigation. I'm always in court to do my job.

Why is that? It was interesting, as you talked about, as we were talking about, you know, equal justice under law and what is happening. This city, I won't say it's not different from a lot of other places, But when you look at the constant stories dealing with the use of racial epithets coming from police officers, the recent settlement of fiscal conservatives who complain about multimillion-dollar settlements the cities have to enter into from police abuse. And I'm sitting there going, wait a minute. I would think that you would be offended if the city had to cough up $5 million for a case when what they should be saying is, y'all just cost us $5 million. That's $5 million that we can't spend on roads.

That's $5 million that can't go to police pay raises. That's $5 million that can't go to body cameras. That's $5 million that can't go to parks or whatever. And there's sort of this acceptance, well, all right, that's that's just the cost of doing business. And we're just not going to say anything. And I see this all around the country. These multi I mean, you're talking about upwards of a billion dollars in settlements and folks go, yeah, it's all right. I remember that. I remember that was a town in Michigan. It was a town in Michigan where they planted, they beat this brother, planted the drugs, all caught on dash cam.

They had to raise the taxes in the township to pay the settlement. And folks are kind of like, oh, okay. At least you knew about that. A lot of these, Roland, we don't even know because as part of these settlements, they actually have these secrecy clauses that you can't put this to the public.

So a lot of times, you know, unless it's reported in the media, we won't even know. It's taxpayer money. But that's where the courts and some of these settlements are, that we are going to close and seal the case from the public, actually knowing the amount. And that's why this should be mandatory.

Like you said, everyone should know the taxpayer dollars that have been utilized. And I believe that in some issues that that money should be taken from some law enforcement fund, because in our in our city of St. Louis, I'm going to give you a thing. You know what my budget is? About eight million. So $5 million settlement. Wow. Don't you think that would have helped the prosecutor's office bring more resources?

But we can't do that. Wait a minute. Hold on. So the same people who say you aren't prosecuting enough cases, your budget is $8 million, but y'all's actions against a cop cost the city $5 million. And you know what their budget is? Over $358 million.

So what's the inverse relationship? My budget $8 million. There's $358 million of the city budget. But, you know. See, the thing that, look, I've covered city hall, I've covered county government in multiple cities. And what I keep saying to folks is that you can exert the pressure from the outside, but you cannot change anything unless you have inside players.

And what you're describing, and when I talk to Marilyn Mosby, when I talk to mayors who try to change things, is that the level of pressure that's brought to bear on you is designed to break you, is designed to force you out of office, to force you to quit. During the last four years, did you ever say, I don't need this. I could take me a nice job as an attorney. I don't need this stress. I don't need all of this drama. Has it ever crossed your mind to walk away? No, because I know

but for the people electing me, if I wasn't here, what would be happening? Because when you have to fight within the system, you didn't take this job for money because we don't make a lot of money as public servants. You didn't take this job to be popular because a prosecutor is not going to be popular. Anybody who loves a prosecutor, I'm going to look at you and say, what you doing?

You're not doing nothing. So I was going to put that out there. And second of all, I believed in this movement of reforming the system because we've all been affected. I've lived in North City. I've seen my friends and family members brush with the criminal justice system and lost to the system simply because they're at the wrong place at the wrong time. And actually, the concentration of violent crime deters you into a direction that you could have probably got out of, but you go this way. And I see that many people are lost to the system, and it's just not fair. And it's many people who look like me.

And so for us not to say we want change and to complain about it,'s just not fair and it's many people who look like me and so for us to not to say we won't change it to complain about it but never tap in and be about it i tell people everybody talks about they want to be in this movement but a lot of people can't take this movement because they don't have the stomach they don't really want to know what i know because if they knew what i know they'll say how can we we we fight this but i think about dr marlo the king i think about harriet tum i think about all the people Luther King. I think about Harriet Tubman. I think about all the people who led the way for me to even be in this position. So if I give up, if I say it's too hard, it's too tough,

then what are we going to say for moving forward? Because this is a civil rights movement. This is not just a criminal issue, people affected by the criminal justice system. We have all been affected by the criminal justice system. And until we get it right and do what's right for everyone inside the community, because public safety should be number one, then if we don't have people like myself willing to stand in face of all the scrutiny,

if you're not willing to lose everything for what's right, then why are you here? Do not be in these positions. And that's what I feel. Because I didn't sign up to be popular. I didn't sign up to actually have everybody like me. I signed up to do what the people elected me to do. And they're afraid that I'm doing it because I'm not going to back down because I know it's wrong. Look at the, we got a lawsuit right now going to the St. Louis County about the black police, who should have

been a black police chief, that he has a lawsuit. If you look at that lawsuit, you'll see how ingrained St. Louis City and County is. but you see that people who really control the city and county, it's not the people that you elected. It's actually the business leaders that have these fake reports that they want to put out about what changes the police department needs. They have these fake kind of groups that they get together. They don't invite me or Wesley Bale to the table because, of course, the prosecutor and public safety, we don't have a voice, even though we're the top law enforcement officials in these jurisdictions. So they have these reports for a reason, because it's people who benefit off of pain and suffering of poverty and keeping things the way they are. If you can

benefit off of this, it's people right now that own the contracts for the commissary in the prisons, but we don't want to talk about that. They control everything from the police department fund. They control the crime stoppers. They control everything. But no one wants to talk about that. You'll be blacklisted. But I don't care. I'm going to do what's right and fair,

and if they ruin me in the process of doing what's right and fair, it's not about me. It's about people who live in a city like me, love this city, want better. See, that's what I often explain to folks. When people say criminal justice reform, and they talk about, some will say mass incarceration,

I counter with, yo, mass incarceration is a small piece of this. When you talk about true criminal justice reform, you're talking about everything. You're absolutely talking about who are the companies that are profiting off of these high phone calls in jails. Absolutely, we start talking about all the contracts. First of all, I tell you all the contracts first of all i tell you about time in america follow the money yeah i don't i i remember and i use my speakers all the time

it probably was 15 plus years ago it was even longer than that i was in dc for something uh and uh late i couldn't sleep i said let me just go take a walk. And so I'm walking, and I go by the White House. I'm standing in front of the White House. And so I look to the left, and there's a statue, and I see this building. And I go, what's that? I mean, I just, so then I walk down, and I see that's the Treasury Building.

And literally, it just hits me. I go, it's like a joke. I look to the right, look to the White House, look to the left, money. Treasury Department. Look to the right. I said, there's no better example right here of America. White House power. Treasury Department is money.

It's the only federal agency that shares a loan with the White House. It's the only one that's within the White House power, Treasury Department's money. It's the only federal agency that shares a loan with the White House. It's the only one that's within the White House perimeter. You can walk outside of that East, walk outside of the side of the Treasury Department and probably take 100 steps, you in the East wing. And I tell people all the time, that is the perfect example of America. Power, money, they are always the two things that are associated. And so when we're talking about this whole deal with criminal justice reform, I think it has to be even broader to understand when people say we're fighting the system. Because if you only narrow it down to police unions or the police department or DAs or the local city, the county, jails and

prisons, it's a whole lot you're missing because you just said it. There are people who profit off of pain and the impoverished. I mean, look at the report. You have people who want to do a report, but their whole industry is in health care. You know, for example, I'm not going to say the name. Just look at this last 10-year-old report. You see here some of the candidates talk about this report that never had the prosecutors at the table. And I'm not dismissing the report. I'm just giving you the facts. But look at who commissioned this report. And I'm trying to figure out how are corporations involved in safety and crime? I mean, you could be an

instrumental partner to have a conversation, but how are you leading and spending money and having people to actually investigate certain things that the police and the community need to feel safe? And you're not even in the city. I mean, I'm just kind of like, how can you speak to people you've never even walked out and had a conversation with? And we need these reports to start really talking to the people of the city or St. Louis County. And we need to ask, what makes you feel safe? Because it's the same reports that we did Ferguson, and this is not against the Ferguson report, the same reports that we did before. Like you said, it looks good on paper, but what has been implemented post-Ferguson that we can actually say has made a difference in the lives and the safety and

well-being of the people of the city of St. Louis? I'm not saying it hasn't been, but we've got to do better than just a report. We've got to understand what's behind these reports. And actually the people, like you said, the prison industrial complex of profiting off of probation and parole, they'll have you in your home now incarcerated in your home. It's money behind it, like you said, because there's fees associated with having you at home, not in jail. It's money for the health care and the health care costs of providing care to people who are confined. And you know people are going to be confined. We don't have private prisons, but we have contracts that private businesses bid on every year with new governors.

So you've got to think about that. It's funny, as you were talking, I lived and worked in Dallas area. A friend of mine, Matthew Harden, was a chief financial officer for the Dallas Independent School District. So he gets this phone call one day from a business leader who wants to meet with him. So Matthew was sort of, okay, this is interesting. So he goes to meet with the guy. And he walks into this guy's office. And on his wall, on his wall was the entire Dallas Independent School District budget.

Matthew walks in and sits down, and he's sort of looking like, why in the hell is my budget, the budget that I put together, on this wall? And this guy starts to compliment him on how it was put together, things along those lines. And he begins to talk about the district's resources, things along those lines.

But Matthew is sitting there, and he said, and it hits him. He says, this right here. This is the problem. That a business leader would have the audacity to literally call him to want to go over the district's budget. This guy had deconstructed the entire budget and wanted to have a conversation. And that's... Because I keep...

What I've really been telling folks a lot is I said, look... I said, they really don't have a problem with us talking about mass incarceration. We got to free folks from prison.

We got to get cash bond. We got, so all of the, I said, y'all, they really ain't got a problem with that. I said, I don't think they, they don't have a problem with us. When we start talking about in a very narrow way criminal justice reform. But the reason

I dare say that defund the police pissed them off and freaked them out. I say it because any time you target the money that's the ballgame. Coretta Scott King said, they killed my Martin when he started focusing on the money. So what I have been saying is that when we say racial justice, criminal justice, we better use economic social justice.

Because if you don't put the money in there, they'll be happy. Yeah, y'all go over there, y'all protest. But once you start dealing with the money, that is when the game changes in America. Because, you know, like you said, it's money when people are put in jail. It's money for people who are housed in jail. It's money for supplies in jail. It's money for all these different things. And like you said, but—

It's money when they get released. It's money when—look! It's money when you get your case disposed of. It's money when you go to court? Is money in terms of, and now, and I'm not, this is not to offend anybody, but we have people who want to monetize criminal justice reform. And that's where you have to be careful with that. And like I said, it's economic, it's reform, but we have to make sure it's fair. And we have to be fair for everyone who enters or engages with the system in a way. So for instance, when

people talk about like I said, they pull my pants leg up. When people talk about oh, well, yeah, sure. What we'll do is we'll, let's stop putting people in prisons. Then all of a sudden we're going to put a monitor on. But then

they're making the person pay for that monitor. All of a sudden, when you start adding those fees up, hell, that person's like, well, just put me in the jail. If I gotta pay all of that, I forgot the story that I read

of a guy, and it was some small little crime. I think he was accused of theft, 60 some odd dollars or whatever. He's paying like $1,000 in fees and upkeep for allegedly $60, $70. And again, in a person's mind,

oh, no, no, no, but he's not in jail. She's not in jail. She's not in jail. But you said it. That's economic jail. If I got now fork over and my case hasn't even been disposed of, but I'm paying

all the money on that device that's on my income. That if I'm found not guilty, I don't get back. It's thinking that stuff through. And that's why we need people that think, like you said, like you, to come into this fight with us because it's many justices that we have to contend with

because the criminal justice system is where economic inequities intersect, health care inequities intersect. Actually, every broken system, educational system, it all intersects in the criminal justice system. So that's why everybody puts it under criminal justice reform because it all intersects there. It's the emergency room for the community because right there, they get to us you're in 9-1-1 and now we only have certain options and that's why reformed minor prosecutors I call them innovative minor prosecutors are crucial because that's a way that we can triage people into services that are not going to one put individuals in a poor house because they're trying to get

themselves back on track or create programs that address by sliding scale fees or limited fees in terms of helping people get back on track. And that's why these programs are so important. And that's why they're different from court run programs. These are prosecutor led and we know they can be successful, but we got to have people investing in these programs because we want to expand them because that's us doing things that most people say prosecutors should not be doing. When you hear, I'm very curious about this, because what people don't understand is they think the judge, they think that's, you know, it's a part of the whole deal, but really that's on the end.

Well, really, prison's on the end. Well, really prison is on the end. You've got prison, judge and jury. You've got prosecutors. But frankly, if it doesn't go past here, it doesn't get to these steps. So when these things come, you actually see how all these pieces come together. So when you hear the phrase defund the police, what do you think that means when people say that? the funding of police to address the root causes of why we need social service to help

better police in the communities. Because there's a lot of police that can't respond to mental health calls. They can't respond to certain issues in the way that they should. And we need some social workers and other health care professionals that can be embedded in the community that can actually accentuate the police department. So because you're sitting here, case comes in and you're sitting here looking at this case and you're probably going, why is this here? Yeah, this person needs some help. Or he's poor or he or she's poor or addicted.

So let's get them to treatment. Right. I think about, and most people never talk about this, because it happened shortly after my conversion. Every time I see one, I think about Kojima Powell. I mean, I remember playing that on my show. And I timed it. It was literally 16 seconds.

Police car pulls up. It's 16 seconds from when the car door opens to the first bullet that was shot. And I use this all the time, and I explain to people. I said, how do you go from pulling up, and in 16 seconds, and I kept playing the video back, and it was a butter knife or whatever in his hand. I said, you roll up on the scene and a guy is shouting motherfucker

kill me. Okay, right there. I'm not a cop but if I encounter somebody yelling that, my first reaction is this person is not well. No one yells to two police officers

with guns motherfucker kill me that that's just not what you're to me the brain goes i'm not dealing with somebody who's well and i'm watching it and I'm watching the actions. And again, how, for me, I got a police car. If somebody is moving towards me, you know what I might say, I'm a circle this way behind the car as opposed to gun out, boom, shot dead. That was a perfect example of the need for, because first of all, when the call was made, people said he was mentally ill. That was a perfect example if you dispatched a mental health officer.

You don't have the shooting. You don't have a person dead. You don't have folks calling for the two police officers to be prosecuted for murder. None of those things happen. And that sticks with me all the time because that's just a perfect example of what we're talking about, how you have to look at your pool of money and then compare it to the crimes that are being committed and the actions and then say, how can we better serve the people

and i think that's that's what i mean no one is saying that police do not need to be funded because we all call for more police even in our community that have more police than most major cities similarly situated we call for more police and that's the problem we have to start having the right conversation because the police are front-facing individuals that respond to every type of call and we need to, one, better tool them with the knowledge of how to deal with mental health crises that are even escalating now with COVID and the pandemic. We have to deal with a lot of hopelessness that we need people who have the expertise to accentuate those calls. And we can do that, but that takes taking some of those resources and embedding those individuals inside

the police department and even inside the community. Because as I said, we're lack of resources for community-based resources to triage individuals like this. And that's why it's so important for a prosecutor like myself, who is a registered nurse, to build this infrastructure within her office, because it's critical. It's a 911, so we have to give people treatment right away. We can't wait six months for a bed. We need to get that person who is having a mental health crisis inside a facility to get them stabilized so they can, one, get them back on track and basically give them the help they need. But right now, everybody's stretched thin and everybody's all over the place. And until we

start having a vision of what we want for public safety, public safety is actually being a part of the community, not being afraid of the community, having appropriately trained police officers, as well as community providers, that we got to work together, regardless of our resources, to address the things that you're talking about because at the end of the day even a police officer who shoots and kills someone they are actually messed up too they don't people don't want to admit it their lives are forever changed just like their family and let's bring back the the human side of policing being in the community that it's a lot of police officers who are from the community who want to be out in the community but we have to stop this barrier of law enforcement and how we engage the

community and we have to stop that police officers should live in the community in which they police because we have bills that say that they don't want to live in the area i mean why would you not want to live in an area that you police that makes you better sensitive to that people are going to be in the area that you live in. And so we have to start addressing this from having real tough conversations of racial bias and equities that have existed for decades in this city. We have to address the crime problem in terms of how, in our state, African-Americans are stopped more than any group. You know, they're three times more likely to be stopped than any other group around the state of Missouri. But we don't want to address that. We have a report every year about it.

A.G., nobody addresses the racial disparities and stops and how this erodes trust in the community and how it makes it difficult for me as a prosecutor when I have a violent individual that we need to hold accountable. Who you think is going to come forward when they don't trust the people? They're more scared of calling the police that they're going to get locked up on a warrant than actually holding a violent individual accountable. So that's where that breakdown of trust affects all of us, even my office. How do you, you talked about stress and all different things. How do you maintain sanity? Because, I mean, it can be, like, this is a whole lot.

It's a whole lot when you're trying to reform. It's a whole lot when every action you take gets scrutinized. How dare you do this here? Oh, well, how dare you release protesters? How dare you? I mean, and so how do you make sure that you stay mentally sane in the midst of all this craziness? That's a good question. I mean, like I said, I have a group of support, my sisters who go through the same scrutiny, Marilyn Mosby, Kim Foxx. We support each other by not only, we don't talk about our issues,

we actually support each other because usually the only person that knows what we're going through is people in our same position. And we support each other. We lift each other up. We say, how you doing today? Everything is going to be all right. Marilyn just won something recently where they found that her travel was justified. You know, and Kim Fox is constantly under scrutiny.

So we kind of lift each other up and we have a group of female prosecutors like ourselves that we call and just check up on each other and kind of support each other and say happy day. You know, hello. You know, you're beautiful because a lot of people dehumanize us in ways where, you know, hello, you know, you're beautiful. Because a lot of people dehumanize us in ways where, you know, I've been called a man, I'm everything under the sun, I have my face plastered on the Grinch to sell Christmas. I'm everything. I'm every C, N, D, any derogatory name. But what keeps us going is we're grounded in the work.

We're grounded in justice. It's not about us. I know I'm just representing the people and I know they're attacking the people. So when you come for my people in the community that put me here, we fighting because that's why I'm here. We're not backing down because guess what? What's the alternative? How it's been? What's the alternative?

Not progressing and being the community that I know we can be. What what's what's the alternative the alternative is injustice anywhere is is we have to attack it everywhere and if you gonna sit on the sideline and criticize then how why are you in this position anyway why why and I'm not just attacked by white people it's black people too because they're the biggest impediment because they're busy you know wanting you to fail and it's everyone who the status quo bless in this community to say stay in your lane we'll bless you with that position we'll bless you with that job we'll bless you with giving you funding for your organization

so it's a lot of people that are entrenched in this system of being paid and shut up but that's not what we sign up for we sign up to do the right thing. We're going to be scrutinized. We don't make every decision right. But those women who stood by me and came down here to stand with me, they stood with me when no one else was standing with me because it was people even in this city were scared to stand with me. But those women came out their comfort zones and are attacked from standing with me outside the courthouse to hands off cameras. So I appreciate them. And so that's how we keep each other going because they know what i'm going through and we love each other and in spite of all the attacks from them we know that we're doing the right thing we're on the right side of history you say we don't do everything right um you were admonished for uh their campaign um

sitting out um something something with mccloskey's's rule at your office can't be involved in that as well. Was that a mistake? And do you, when you think back, what are some things that you say, you know what? Knowing what I know now, I would have done that differently. Well, I think that we have to understand as an elected official, when you have people who also attack you in your position as a candidate, then you should be able to respond. It's called political speech. And we're fighting that case. It's currently fighting on appeal, so I can't get into it. But I disagree with that campaign issue was enough to warrant me,

my whole office being disqualified off the case because I'm still trying to figure out how is the attorney general who actually told everyone that what he was going to do, how is he intervening in a case that he has no jurisdiction? How is the governor of our state running for the same type of office as I'm running, I'm the prosecutor, at the same time able to attack me politically on an issue that I'm investigating and tell people that my discretion should be basically taken away and the attorney general to have my discretion. So we got to look at what was said, but it's called political speech. And so now I'm going to be silenced from doing my job as not only the prosecutor, which is separate,

but as an elected official. So hold me to the same standard you hold all these other people. Because I didn't come for them. They came for me. But I'm going to be able to respond and no one is going to silence me for doing my job the right way. Is there one thing that you would have done differently the last four years? Push harder. Fight harder. You know, one thing is to continue to advocate for the middle-aged hairdresser that was in a basement with someone who happened

to become the governor of the state of Missouri. And making sure her voice was heard better in terms of that case. Fighting and continue to fight for what's wrong and actually continue to do more because I want to push more. I mean, I'm not saying I made all the right decisions, but what I did not do is I inherited a perfect system. And so

what no one's going to do is say that everything was roses when I got the office and all of a sudden now the office is actually in a worse position. No, actually the office is in a better position and actually we're building relationships with law enforcement. We're building relations with the community. We're creating jobs, actual alternatives for people and actually reforming the system that people told me that, why would you do this? You can't do this as a prosecutor. So we're seeing the change, but we're changing 200 plus years of mass incarceration that is not going to happen overnight. So of course it's things I could do differently, but what I'm not going to say is my decisions to hold everyone accountable who violates the laws in the city of St. Louis,

in the state of Missouri, whether they be a governor or not, I will do it again and I will not change that decision. Well, right across the street from where you went to school, what does that HBCU mean to this city and to its future? It's critical. I mean, when I was a student there, I was a single mother that I had no opportunity to go anywhere else. But for Harris, though, an open university gave me the opportunity to enroll myself into this. It was a college at the time, not a university, as a college, and gave me the opportunity to gain my undergraduate degree that led to me going to law school

and becoming the circuit attorney of the city of St. Louis. But for that university, across the street, I would not be here. And that university is so important that if you hear the history of it, when I was a legislator, they couldn't even offer graduate programs. They were a college, but couldn't offer, couldn't act as a, as a, as a college or a university. And so it was kind of like, what is this? They're the most underfunded university. If you look at the state budget, but they're to the same level as other universities that are able to cherry-pick students. They're open universities, and we need that because we have a lot of educational disparities in our city and our region for our young people. So that university is so critical

that as a legislator, I stood up and worked with Senator Jamila Nasheed to make sure they can be treated as a university and actually offer graduate programs. We did that as being, me being an alumnus, because that university did more for me than all these other degrees. I always talk about Harris, though, because Harris, though, lifted me up, gave me the opportunity to become the next, the first circuit attorney ever,

black circuit attorney in the city of St. Louis. But no one else would give me an opportunity. If you were not doing what you're currently doing, actually, let me rephrase it. Is there a particular dream job that you say,

you know, if I wasn't doing this, if I wasn't a lawyer, I would love to do this. What would that be? You say, you know, if I wasn't doing this, if I wasn't a lawyer, I would love to do this. What would that be? I always wanted to be a doctor. You know, I love health care. I love because health care disparities and bias within the health care system is real.

And so that's why, you know, most people think I was a registered nurse first and then became a lawyer. No, I actually was a lawyer, was a prosecutor, left the prosecutor's office to go back in private practice and went to nursing school because this all fits together. And so I would love to address racial disparities in the healthcare system that we see displaying with the COVID pandemic and COVID vaccinations and education, because that is so real. And that's my passion is to help the people. I mean, I probably, the dream job is really in the community and really helping to protect the community from the ills of these systems that I've seen on the front line of being a prosecutor, as well as on the, in those hospitals that people talk about where, you know, because of your skin color, certain standards of care are delivered to you because it's not just skin color, it's actually your gender. And we know that. And the AMA knows

that and has apologized for their racial disparities. But how do we address that? Last question. A person who some call a favorite son of this state recently died. Folks on the right, Lord, oh, oh my god he's wonderful others remember the racist sexist shameful

despicable things this person said and there was somebody who was on my social media this is not right and I said first of all the the living are the ones who judge the life of the deceased.

A lot of folk don't necessarily think about legacy until it's too late. They don't think about, not just when you pass on but even when you just move on from a job when you leave this job 50

100, 150 years from now some student in this state in this city is reading up and is like what the hell was going on in 2017 18, 19, 20, 21, or however long you stay in this job?

What do you want them to say about your tenure as the attorney, as the prosecutor in this city, as a circuit attorney? That I was fair, that I did my job the right way in terms of being unbiased, and I pursued justice for everyone inside the city of St. Louis, but I didn't back down to the status quo tacticians who are trying to impede progress in this city,

and I will not back down. And so I hopefully, I aspire a young person that wants to take this mantle and to push reform even further, but they need to understand that this is, we're in a civil rights movement right now in this space, and we need civil rights leaders that we know these young people are in terms of, you see George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the change that they've enacted on the streets. I need some of these fighters inside these

offices, like you said, inside to come and work with me so I can pave the way for them and hand the baton off because, you know, I like to think I'm young, but I'm not. And so I'm not going to last here forever. But I mean, we need another Kim Gardner. We need other Aramis Ayala. We need other Stephanie Morales and Marilyn Mosby. We need others that in spite of all the criticism and the hardship you see us going through,

somebody wants to tap in because that's how we got to where we are right now. Well, one of the things that I've always done as someone who's covered city government, county government, is also understand the importance of narrative, who tells the story. In this city, you're constantly being maligned by the local daily newspaper. As someone who's worked in the black press, I've always made clear that you got to be able to have an opportunity to control the narrative. And so all the folks you've mentioned, I've had all of them on, covered all of these things. And it's always, to me, it's important that folks like yourself know that you're not out here in the wilderness and where those of us in the media don't understand what you're dealing with. And that's why I think it's important to allow you and others to be able

to have an opportunity to share their thoughts. And I just want to say thank you because you've been one of the rare ones that call us on, you know, ask us the tough questions. You're not just softening the interview for us and you've given us our side of the story as well as asking us the tough questions that we can get our point of views because the narrative is changed and it's changed for the status quo tacticians who have controlled the system, you know, be it the media, controlled the system in terms of how they display individuals who are affected by crime in communities that they know nothing about. And I tell people, you are bold enough to have people from the community to talk to them and ask them what they want to see for this better world that we all say we want to live in and the future that we want to leave for our kids and our legacy. So thank you for doing that.

I appreciate it. Good, Garner. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. 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 one taser incorporated on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs podcast last year a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

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