#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Georgia Senate runoff: Roland live in Albany, Ga.; Karen attacks Black kid over iPhone

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

2.29.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Georgia Senate runoff: Roland live in Albany, Ga.; Karen attacks Black kid over iPhone DOJ closes #TamirRice case; VP-elect Kamala Harris gets COVID vaccination; Roland speaks at GOTV rally in Ga.; Where is the Native American vote in the Georgia Senate runoffs? 'Highly suspicious' fire at Black church in Massachusetts; Sculpture of Breonna Taylor was destroyed in Oakland; Anjanette Young, the woman who was handcuffed naked in a botched police raid cancels meeting with Chicago mayor; 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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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Tuesday, December 29, 2020. We're broadcasting live from Albany, Georgia. Seven days until Election Day here in the Peach State. John Ossoff, Raphael Warnock going out to the wire as they are going against Republicans Kelly Leffler and David Perdue. We'll talk with some folks here in Albany to get a sense of how the vote turnout is happening here. Of course, this is going to be a critical place in rural Georgia that could determine who wins the U.S. Senate seats. Also, a federal judge strikes down efforts to block

black folks from voting. We'll talk about that here as well. Plus, on today's show, a black father defends his son as a white woman accuses his son of stealing her iPhone when in fact she left it in an Uber. Ben Crump has been hired to be his attorney. We will talk to that father and son right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. It is time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. to news to politics with entertainment just for kicks He's rolling, yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Roland Martin, yeah

Yeah, yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know He's Roland Martin Martin Hey folks, Roland Martin here broadcasting live from Albany, Georgia. The third time we've been to this city since we've been spending time here in Georgia, focusing on the Georgia runoff.

There are three races, one a statewide race, two of them for the United States Senate. This city is going to be a crucial place to determine who is going to be the next United States senator. Rural Georgia, Republicans normally have done very well in rural Georgia, running up significant numbers while Democrats have focused on metro Atlanta. Metro Atlanta makes up 60% of the population of the state, but rural Georgia could be very well where it determines who wins. Remember, Joe Biden won this state by less than 12,000 votes because of how he did in places like Albany and Columbus and Warner Robins and Savannah and Macon and Augusta.

And so John Ossoff and Pastor Raphael Warnock, they want to repeat that very thing in order for them to beat Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler as well as David Perdue. Benny Hand, he is the chair of the Democratic Party here. He joins us right now. Benny, glad to have you here. Give us a sense, Benny, in terms of where we are in Albany. How are we looking in terms of this election vote totals? How's that? voting, 9,343 as of today. Absentee ballots returned already, 5,600.

So we're looking real good. We're actually ahead of pace as it relates to the general election. Actually. Go ahead. First of all, start over. We couldn't actually hear you. So start from the top again because now we've got the microphone fixed. Okay. Okay, so early voting in Doherty County, it looks good right now.

We're actually a little bit ahead of the general election. Right now we have about 9,343 early voting in person. Returned absentee ballots, 5,640 return absentee ballots. So we're looking really good, and we expect those numbers to increase over the next couple of days. Now, when I was talking with the folks about November 3rd, it was around 58% in this city. And so what are you looking at trying to get that to? Some people talk about potentially 60 or 65 because, again, Republican areas in rural Georgia, they're going to be at 65, 70, 75. For Ossoff and Warnock to win, they're going to need significant turnout in places like Albany.

Yeah, we believe we can get to above 60 and possibly 65. Right now the early vote turnout is really picking up. We're averaging close to 900 persons a day in person. And so we're really enthusiastic and we believe that we'll get to those numbers. And there are groups who are actually out there pushing and encouraging our citizens to make certain they get out to vote. Now, of course, there have been multiple rallies, events taking place. You're limited in terms of you having to be outdoors. And so we were out here earlier.

We got some folks who are still sitting out here. And, of course, you've had a lot of people coming through here. Black Church Pack, they were out here. Of course, a new Georgia project. A lot of different people like that. And have you seen before this level of intensity in places like Albany, the amount of attention that's being placed on a city like this? I have not seen it. This is really unprecedented. I mean, locally, we normally see the local groups. We'll see the Divine Nine and those groups out pushing. But to see groups from around the state and around the nation,

to see and to receive support from around the nation, encouraging us to make certain we get the vote out, again, it is unprecedented for Albany-Doherty County at this moment. So seven days left. We're going to see more things happen. There's been a significant amount of money being poured into radio, television. Give us a sense in terms of what you expect to see over the next seven days. Early voting ends on Friday and, of course, the election on Tuesday. Yeah, so early voting here, actually, it'll end in Albany on Thursday, but we do expect to see even more numbers. Explain that. Hold up, explain that. Okay. It's going to end in Albany, so in some places, early voting ends Thursday, some places Friday. Some places Thursday, some places Friday. Friday is actually a holiday. It's

New Year's. And so the election board here opt to take that Friday as a holiday. I think we added Saturday voting early in the month to be certain that we sort of got some extra days in. And so, yeah, early voting will end here on Thursday at 5 o'clock. As long as you're in the door at the James H. Gray Civic Center, you'll get an opportunity to vote. We talked to Cliff Albright with Black Voters Matter on yesterday, and one of the things that he talked about, the beating back of Republican efforts to disqualify thousands of voters, about 3,000 in this county. Tell our folks the role that you played and what y'all saw happen here as they were trying to essentially invalidate and keep black folks from being able to cast ballots in this runoff.

Yeah, I saw something very surprising. Last weekend we had, and I serve on the Board of Elections, I'm the chairman of the Board of Elections. We had two communications, one from a local attorney with 960 names and one from a actually sitting city commissioner, B.J. Fletcher, with 2,381 names saying that these people, they were challenging their abilities to vote in the runoff election and asked the Board of Elections to validate their claim. And so the Board of Elections had a hearing. Well, not, I won't say hearing. Board of Elections had a meeting. Well, not, I won't say hearing.

The Board of Elections had a meeting to sort of look at it and look at the evidence and see whether or not we could sustain that. And the Board of Elections ultimately decided with a three-to-one vote to deny their request. And we turned that back. But again, you know, something unprecedented. We were warned that it was coming, but we didn't think it would come at such a level. But to top that off, later today, we received another challenge that we would have had to answer. But because of the ruling that Judge Gardner just handed down, the temporary restraining order.

So we won't really have to make a ruling on that and probably after the election. But again, we may have to go back and revisit that issue. And the groups that are challenging, they're not from Georgia. This is a group that's out of Texas? It's a group that's out of Texas, but they have a Georgia affiliate. And so when you look at the paperwork, it says Georgia True Vote. And so, yeah, it's a group out of Texas. The communication that we receive from the group out of Texas comes from the letterhead of a Texas attorney.

But Georgia, again, they have a Georgia affiliate, and they are recruiting Georgia citizens. Because you've got to be a citizen. You can't do it anonymously. You've got to sort of show your hand and show who you are. But we have people who are willing to do it, and they are doing it. All right, Benny Ham, we certainly appreciate it, man. Thanks a bunch. Y'all are going to have, no pun intended,

you're going to have your hands full. I'm sure they're going to try some other stuff between now and next Tuesday to keep folks from voting. But thank goodness we have legal groups and third-party groups who are out here fighting on behalf of black voters. Oh, absolutely, brother. Absolutely. Benny, I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch.

Folks, every single voter, every single vote is going to matter in this election. I mean, every single vote and the Native American vote could very well be a difference maker here in Georgia as well. They played a huge role in Arizona when Joe Biden beating Donald Trump in Arizona. Joining us right now is O.J. Siemens. He is the founder of Four Directions, which focuses on the Native American vote. I met O.J. yesterday at Pastor Raphael Warnock rally in Gwinnett County, and I definitely want to get him on. O.J., welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Hi, I'm Daki Api. We chose to meet you locally. First of all, Roland, it's really an honor to be on your show. I was watching just the forecast, I mean, the news you put on just before I came on, and I thought I was on another reservation. So we know what you're going through. So, O.J., explain to a lot of our folks who, look, the reality is when you hear these elections, they talk about the power of the black vote.

They talk about the importance of the Latino vote. You don't have a lot of attention on the Native American vote. But we saw in Arizona the role that Native American voters played in that election. We've seen the exact same thing where Republicans were basically the voter suppression that was taking place against Native Americans in South Dakota as well. And so how critical will the Native American vote be here in Georgia? And give people a sense of the numbers of Native Americans that will be voting in this state. Well, we actually went, Georgia is one of the three states that you identify on the voter registration, you identify your race.

There was 15,000 people that identified as Native Americans. And using the census and going through the numbers, we figured there's probably another 40,000 Native Americans out there. The majority of which we found in Atlanta are the metro area of Atlanta, like Fulton County, DeKalb, in which they identified themselves as Native Americans or others. So we're looking probably around maybe, you know, 45, 50,000 Native Americans that are living in Georgia that we're targeting. Now, of course, when you look at voting patterns, African-Americans typically are voting Democrat. Same thing when it comes to Latinos at a much lower number. What is the breakout? Do the Native Americans, are they evenly split, Republican and Democrat?

Do they lean more Democrat than Republican? A sense of potentially who they will be targeting and voting for in this state in the runoff? Well, you know, Native Americans basically really don't identify as parties. They identify with the issues. And this past four years have made it very easy for Native Americans to decide what issues that are being looked at and answered or basically ignored. And in the elections, like in Arizona and in Nevada,

Minnesota, Wisconsin, it was like a 95, 96 turnout rate in which they voted Democrat. Wow, 95, 96%. And when you say the last four years, so you're saying that Native Americans have suffered greatly under Donald Trump and under Republican rule in the United States Senate? Well, not only they have suffered from, you know, his actions that he's taken, I mean, the Dakota Access Pipeline, for one, in which President Obama put a stop to it. Immediately, President Trump came in and he started the pipeline up. The desecration of sacred sites, his remarks using the name Pocahontas in a derogatory racial manner, in which basically after he did that, we actually, today is the 130th

anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre. And so what we did is we started legislation in the Senate and the House to remove the medals awarded to the 7th Cavalry that murdered the women and children at Wounded Knee. So, I mean, the four years have been really detrimental to Indian country throughout the United States. There's been so many cuts. And again, the sacred sites, it's just over and over. Deb Haaland was recently nominated as the Secretary of Interior, which is a first time in America's history that a Native American was actually appointed a cabinet position in Interior.

And the US Senate is the one that confirms those nominations. And so Indian Country is looking at Georgia at who is going to take and support Deb Haaland's nomination and with another other, a lot of other reasons, but that one is really key right now. And so a lot of Native Americans in Georgia are really paying attention to this. All right, then. Well, look, first of all, as we say, every vote does indeed count. Last question for you, O.J., that million dollars being spent on ads all around this particular state to reach those Native American voters.

What are y'all doing? What are you actually doing? Is it in person? Obviously, you've got COVID issues as well. And so how are you reaching out to those folks to get a sense of what they care about and what they're concerned about and how they're going to be voting? Thanks for asking that. We actually have a COVID plan that we follow. Hey, science is science and it works. We prove it over and over. We've hit over 15,000 homes person to person where we knocked on the doors and talked to them. We've had conversations with about 4,000 or 5,000 people.

We had a 90% positive rate that they are going to vote. We have our PPE that we wear when we knock on the doors. We also have a phone bank that we use to call individuals for those individuals that don't feel comfortable going on the doors. And we're also doing mail flyers to individuals. So we reached out right now at least 15,000. We hit some of them three times. We're having conversations with them. We're identifying issues. And what we're trying to also do is let them know that the natives in Georgia,

they also have the same issues as the natives throughout the United States in that as a people that we can make a difference if they stand behind us. Our people always said we stand upon the shoulders of our ancestors, and therefore any barriers that they place before us, we're able to overcome them in order to ensure that we have the equal access to that ballot box. All right. O.J. Siemens, founder of Forward Directions. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you for joining us and giving our viewers a perspective about the Native American vote in this election. My pleasure. And thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. And you keep up the good fight. I really enjoy watching you.

I appreciate it, sir. Thank you so very much. Let's go to my panel right now. Joining me is Rena Shaw of the Lincoln Project Women's Coalition, Candace Kelly, a legal analyst, and also Michael Brown, former vice chair, DNC Finance Committee. Michael, you know these politics quite well. When it comes to these elections, it's all about when you say every vote does indeed count. That's the case. Every vote does indeed count. And so exactly how do you see what's shaping up when you look at what's happening here? Warnock is on better footing than

Ossoff. But, you know, but Ossoff has to really, frankly, draft off of Warnock when it comes to that black vote in order for both of them. Because and they're very interesting, Michael. I've never seen a campaign where candidates are literally running together because they understand both have to win. If Warnock wins and Ossoff loses, then it's 51-49. And that's part of the issue there. And so Democrats need both of these seats and Republicans need both of these seats as well. Well, first of all, Happy New Year to you, Roland, and to your fantastic team, and to my fellow panelists, depending on how you look at it. The challenge for both Democratic candidates is traditionally, historically,

runoff elections, special elections. Democrats do not fare well. We do not. We certainly take presidential elections very seriously. You may take your your mayor's race in your city very seriously. But for whatever reason, in a runoff and special, we just have not. Hopefully people understand the stakes. I know that folks are on the ground. We're all on the phones doing what we can to make sure folks not just understand the importance, but then execute that importance by getting out to vote. So it's clearly a challenge. You're right about splitting one or the other, and it would be great if one won, but it doesn't really help the future of our country. We need both to win so Vice President-elect Kamala Harris can break the tie in the United States Senate.

Raina, Lincoln Project, one of the groups actually doing canvassing. A lot of third party groups are putting the money on the ground as opposed to just giving it right to the campaign. That's one of the things that's also quite interesting that we're seeing here in Georgia. Yeah, and that's unusual. Of course, just as my previous panelists said, it's one of those things that this is not how it's supposed to be traditionally. What we've seen for Republicans, it's been quite good in a runoff. Everything's been turned on its head, especially if you're looking at Washington, D.C. today and the developments in the U.S. Senate. So that's another matter. But when you talk about these groups investing in the ground game, as well as in these fights, pushing back against that Texas-based group, True the Vote, I believe it's

called, and really going mano-a-mano, you've got to do it. What these people are trying to do is disenfranchise people through methods that the average voter is not familiar with. So when the average voter rolls up, usually to the polls and says, look, I'm here to vote, and they're handed a provisional ballot, they're sort of like, OK, that's fine. I think the education this year that's been done by these third party groups is so crucial. And that sort of that really foresight that that having that vision ahead of time is imperative. I think it's going to have everything to do with the outcome. And really, obviously, turnout is everything.

But accessibility, if the accessibility isn't there, that's where you see the efforts of people like Stacey Abrams. Though they were really well laid and the foundation, she said it many years ago, not that many years ago. But frankly, this is a long game. And really what I see here is a strategic vision of these third-party groups being imperative. And I'm so glad because what I've seen as an operative is a lot of money lost, giving it right to that campaign piggy bank. And frankly, just going to third-party vendors who don't do that much. It gets put on stuff that, of course, digital is all important nowadays, but it's not everything. The ground game, canvassing, even in the midst of a pandemic, safely, is going to be imperative.

Candace, legal. Look, what Republicans are doing, they're trying everything they can. They were shell-shocked that Joe Biden won this traditionally red state. They were angry. They're already talking about changing all the voting laws that they passed back because they want to make it harder folks to vote. And so these legal fights, you see what happened here. Again, we've had Black Voters Matter on constantly talking about the battle going on. I mean, it's literally waging a legal war. It's like on a battlefield in the courts fighting Republican efforts to suppress the vote, especially black voters in Georgia.

Absolutely. Roland, what the Republicans are doing is they are using the legal system in order to carry out their voter suppression efforts. And as we saw today, what Stacey Abrams' sister, Judge Abrams Gardner, said was that the case really lacked merit and that they were going to be unsuccessful. And basically, just procedurally, you can't remove 4,000 people and purge people from voting lists 90 days within a federal election and without notice. So what we continue to see over and over is the courts being filled up with frivolous lawsuits

and the Republicans continuing to lose. What's happening is that panic is setting in and panic should set in. We are looking at two Democrats who over the past month have raised over $100 million. That is nothing to sneeze at. And so when we see this panic, we're going to see it in many different ways. We have a few more days before this early voting is over, but we're going

to see more of this. We're going to see more people hitting the courts to try to make their case in order to just be a distraction. And I understand, and they understand too, what's at stake. I'm so glad that you had O.J. on to talk about Native Americans. There are about 150,000 Native Americans that are in Georgia, as he talked about. They're targeting about 20,000 to 30,000. What people need to understand is that even in the House of Representatives, the largest number of Native Americans was voted in, six, three Republicans and three Democrats. So when we look at all of these things put together, Republicans should be scared because everybody is doing their work.

As Raina said, what's happening on the ground, people knocking on doors and making sure that people are informed, it is going to make a difference. Well, you talk about making the difference. It all matters in this state. Joining us right now is Macy Hall. She is the state director for March on Georgia. Macy, glad to have you and Roland Martin Unfiltered. So first of all, explain to folks exactly what is March on Georgia. Yeah, absolutely. So March on is an organization that started out in 2017 doing the Women's March up in Washington. And from then we have empowered and elevated voices of people of color, young people, and issues like environmental problems, gun reform, women's rights,

and now we're doing voter protection to ensure that we get all these voters out. You talk about reaching out to young voters, some 76,000 people who did not vote November 3rd, they're voting here in this runoff. There are also 23 or 26,000 folks who turn 18 by next Tuesday. How have y'all been trying to reach them to make sure that they are activated and voting in this runoff? Yeah, so March On actually has a youth coalition that we work with called the Future Coalition, and they have created partners all around the state of Georgia, an organization called Features for Progress. So we've partnered with 18 by Vote. We've partnered with Blue Georgia, getting all of those young activists who are ready to be on the ground and working out there. And additionally,

we have gone out to all of the campuses. We've thrown events all throughout Atlanta and these rural areas to ensure that they're getting educated, that they're excited. I think a lot right now within 2020, a lot of our young people are staying home and they're being more aware about what's going on. And they see that this is so important. And just like people of color, those young votes were something that really, really took us over the edge back in November. Do you also think that a lot of these young voters realize after the death of George Floyd that, look, protesting is one thing, but you also got to change policy.

And in order for you to change policy, you got to change the policymakers. Because we've had various polling folks on the show. And even when it came to protests, there were a significant number of voters who were in that 18 to 35, 18 to 39 demographic that said, you know what? I don't believe in politics, so therefore I'm going to keep protesting. You can't do one and not do the other. You've got to do both. Yes. Yes. And what's really, really important is that not only just our senators and getting them elected, but also

the people who are local. When we look at the election that happened in November, we were able to see people of color coming into power. Representative McBath is somebody who has been a part of the community and been very vocal about the things that are going on. So when we're looking at getting people in power, we're looking at individuals who we can pick up the phone and call and hold them accountable for the things that they promised us. When we talk about, again, these last seven days, what is going to be your focus and where the areas are you focusing? Yesterday, I talked to Pastor Jamal Bryan. He told me that he told the folks with Black Church Pack, don't come to Atlanta. Go everywhere but Atlanta. Because so many people want to focus on Metro Atlanta. Have y'all really

been, you know, cultivating and tilling the soil in these rural parts of the state to reach these young voters and others there, as opposed to sticking to the larger cities? Absolutely. When our team got together and we kind of made our game plan for what we were going to do, my biggest thing was we're not going to Atlanta. Now, of course, we stopped through and we had a good time and we enjoyed it, but we wanted to go out to these rural areas. When you look at the numbers and all the numbers that came in, it wasn't Atlanta that won that election. It was these rural areas. And there's so many more people who have to get their vote out, who didn't get a chance to vote or, you know, just weren't ready. And so we've already gone to Athens. We've gone to Dalton. We've gone out to Bibb County. We were out in Macon yesterday.

We went to Warner Robins. We're headed out to Columbus tonight. So going into these areas and making sure that these individuals know you are the reason that we were able to turn Georgia blue and you're the reason that we're going to be able to keep Georgia blue. Last question for you. One of the things that I've talked to other groups as well, and they've been somewhat surprised at how folks have been more receptive to fund third-party groups. Look, Ossoff and Warnock, they've raised $210 million combined in the last two months. But what people also realize is that if you keep giving money to the campaigns

and you're not putting the money, look, campaigns are going to put the money all on ads and stuff along those lines. But groups like yours being on the ground, being able to pay folks to canvas, being able to drive, that's also huge. Have y'all been able, have y'all seen that where in this cycle funding to your group or third party groups has been a lot better than in previous years? Oh yes, absolutely. So one of the things that we kind of focus on is there's so many partners here on the ground that we kind of all have to separate and conquer to this together. So we wanted to focus on the voter suppression tactics and making sure that our voters are safe. So when we started out with the general,

we traveled from Houston all the way out to Atlanta, traveling through the South, knowing where those areas of voter suppression was going to happen. And then now coming into Georgia, we saw all these things happening when Stacey was running and all these different things. Voter suppression is very real. They are putting a lot of myths out there. They're misleading these voters. And so we wanted to make sure that we were educating voters, we were protecting voters, and we were making sure that they were staying in lines. So when we're looking at all these different partners, it's been phenomenal support. And of course, a lot of people are like, we want to get to Georgia

and we want to make something happen. But, you know, the support that we've gotten from the nation really shows how important this election is, not just for Georgia, but for the United States as a whole. All right. Macy Hall, Georgia State Director

for March on Georgia. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks a bunch. To that particular point, Michael, I want to pick up on that.

And that is, again, how crucial third party groups are playing. We have been running into a lot of people, as you see, of course, you got the Black Voters Matter. We got Power Tour. They've got buses traveling all over the state. They've been in these rural parts of the state as well. We've been, of course, New Georgia Project. We've been, of course, Fair Fight. I mean, so many different groups. And I think that what people now understand, and of people about how the sausage is made in politics.

What I mean by that is you saw a lot of people for the first time who became bundlers, who learned how politics works. Because folks, well, I can't give a million dollars. Well, first of all, there are limits to how much you can give as an individual or a couple to the Democratic National Committee. Then people begin to realize also political action committees. And so what we have seen, as I mentioned, Black Church Pack, Alpha Phi Alpha has a political action committee. You have other sororities have this as well. You've got other third party groups. And folks are now saying, wait a minute, if I want to be able to support someone, I don't have to give money. You know, if my 50 bucks goes to a political campaign, my 50 bucks makes a bigger difference going to one of these third party groups where it's going directly on the ground and being targeted in a different way. Your thoughts?

Well, I hate to keep using the word historically, but historically, and the tide is certainly shifting, but historically, right-leaning groups or light-leaning America have been much more conscious about third-party groups and third-party political donations and helping those outside groups than the left have. But recently, and as you obviously mentioned correctly, right during that Obama, that first Obama election in 08, the third party groups began to pick up some steam. And the way you pick up steam is, yes, having boots on the ground, obviously knocking on doors, phone banking, all the traditional ways. But, and it's great to have volunteers, but you need economic and money resources to fund a lot

of these efforts. The volunteers are great, and clearly you can't win without them. But you also need resources. So like your previous guest mentioned, she's going to Columbus, Georgia. They have to put gas in that van. They have to eat. They may have to stay overnight somewhere. They may have to rent tables or chairs, whatever they have to do. They need money to do it. And so economically, I'm glad we've made a turn and understand how important it is to make sure we fund third party operations. That particular point there, Candace, that Michael makes, look, it costs money. And he's right. And too often what has happened is on the campaign side, they've wanted black and brown folks to volunteer. But guess what? You're paying, frankly, these white consultants. This is where money has

to go on the ground. And to his point, there's gas, there's food, there's hotel bills, there's all those things that go as a part of running a campaign. And I think being able to see the influx of third-party groups mobilizing and organizing, they are also hitting folks around issues. That is also different from campaigns because people get caught up in, mobilizing and organizing, they are also hitting folks around issues. That is also different from campaigns because people get caught up in, I don't love the candidate, where these other groups are saying,

damn that, these are the issues they're advocating. You better focus on that. Absolutely. And what people are seeing now is a live civic lesson unfolding, and then they are a part of it. And that's amazing that they're able to not only learn through the process, but learn through the process from people that they know. It's different when you see somebody who's on TV and you don't know them, you're not even able to physically touch them, as opposed to, you know, LaRonda, who knocks at the

door and says, hey, don't I know you from church? Well, these are the issues that we're talking about. And these are the issues that you should be concerned about. When people see faces that they trust, when people see themselves in other people that are talking to them, then there's an easier buy-in. And then there's an easier buy-in, literally, of the giving of money in order to make that truck run and to fill that gas that Michael was talking about. So the whole process, like he said, Michael, since Obama, we've seen an unfolding of events that is unprecedented, where people are have become experts and have taken a lot more seriously the power of their one vote, the power of their $1 or $5, because they see how the small grows into a big snowball in terms of making a difference. And to see people that you know, again, hitting the ground and saying, hey, you know, I know this person and I can identify, that's what really, really makes a difference here. And that's what we see going on.

All right, folks, got to go to a break. Coming up next on the show, we'll talk to a woman who's leading a group where they're targeting an NBA owner because of the money he is making off of prisoner phone calls. We're going to explain this huge controversial issue and how it is really hurting the families of folks who are imprisoned in America. Also on today's show, the black father where a white woman in New York attacked him and his son because she said that his son stole her iPhone when in fact she left it in an Uber. We will talk with them on the show. That is next as we broadcast live from Albany, Georgia. We are covering the Georgia Senate runoff. Roland Martin unfiltered. We'll be back in a moment. If your vote didn't matter, you wouldn't have so many people trying so hard to stop you from

voting. There is some value there. But even when you talk about that people are not paying attention to your issues, I can't pay attention to your issues if I don't even know you there. And the only reason people are going to know you there is when you show up to the polls and vote. That's when that power manifests itself. But as long as you stay at home, as long as you're making excuses, then guess what? You will always experience these issues that we're experiencing today. And another thing, don't get caught up in the candidates, right?

There's no such thing as a perfect candidate, but you should be going to vote for the most important person, and that is you and the one you love. You talk about you'll fight for the one you love. You're willing to die for the one you love. You need to ask yourself, are you willing to vote for the one you love. You talk about you're fighting for the one you love. You're willing to die for the one you love. You need to ask yourself, are you willing to vote for the one you love? Because if you don't, there's going to be somebody's neck on yours pretty soon. When you're 22, you absolutely do not expect to be diagnosed with cancer. You know that it can always come back. And that's why I'm supporting Raphael Warnock, because he understands that health care is fundamental to people's lives. I'm sick and tired of being represented by people

who are actively working to take away my health care. Raphael Warnock fights for people. That's what he cares about. I'm Raphael Warnock, and I approve this message. We're at Mom's Kitchen in Preston, Georgia. It's a family business. I enjoy making people happy, giving them a good meal. But since COVID, we had to close our main dining room. We lost all of that business, and we used to do a lot of caterings. We can't do any of that anymore. David Perdue knew what was about to happen. He was getting classified briefings about the pandemic,

but instead of him being concerned about us, he off selling stock. We had no idea we'd have to close our businesses off. We'd lose caterings, and so many people died. And then when we needed help the most, he fought against the stimulus checks and to cut unemployment insurance. Purdue needs to come out and Ossoff in. Early voting starts December 14th. You got to make a plan to vote. I'm John Ossoff and I approve this message. We got power. We're about to get ready to launch our We Got Power Tour. Cliff and I are going on the blackest bus in America. We're hitting the streets again.

We're going to be going through at least 12 states, maybe more. I'm just really excited. Now, it's a little bit different this time because COVID-19, we've got to wear masks, we've got to be socially distanced, but we are very committed that we've got to get in the streets and inspire and encourage our people in ways that are socially distanced. Ready to hit the road, ready to see our folks, ready to be socially distanced, ready to mask up. On our way to Pennsylvania, we'll be there for two days, and then we're headed to Ohio to Cleveland.

We're going to be just spreading a lot of love and building a lot of power. The very last day, we're going to be out here on the ground in these streets because our people need us. Can't stop, won't stop. Register to vote. You can even request your online vote by mail ballot by clicking the link or by scanning our QR code with your camera. Vote early. Vote today because we got power. We'll be right back. All right, folks, glad to be back on Rolling Martin Unfiltered. We're broadcasting live here, as I said, from Albany, Georgia, one of the critical places in this Georgia Senate runoff.

A lot of issues that we obviously cover on this show. One of the issues that does not get a lot of attention for mainstream media deals with how the families of people who are in prison are spending millions and billions of dollars a year just to make phone calls. COVID is even more significant because they can't go visit their family members. My next guest has really been targeting an NBA owner on this issue who has made his money from this very thing. Now, we had Mignon Clyburn, when she was on the FCC, she pushed through, we had her on my TV One show, she pushed through a proposal that would limit the amount of money they can make. Well,

Republicans overruled that when Donald Trump became president. And it goes to show you again how folks don't necessarily look at something. So Bianca Tylek, she joins us right now. She's the founder, executive director of Worth Rises. And she has been trying to get the NBA. Do something about the owner of the Detroit Pistons. She joins us right now. Bianca, how are you doing? Hi, how are you? Thanks so much for having me, Roland. Give our folks a sense of how much money we're talking about. I mean, the billions these folks are making off of prisoner phone calls. Sure. So the prison phone industry, which covers both prisons and jails and immigration detention

centers, is about a $1.4 billion industry. And Securus in particular, which is the company that I know we're going to talk about because it is the company that Tom Gores owns through his private equity firm, makes about $700 million a year on prison and jail phone calls, as well as other services that they have inside of prison facilities. And so when we talk about that money, we talk about what they're able to do. What people don't realize is, and Mignon Clyburn told us this, how in some of these places, these sheriffs are the ones who are in control of how much to charge, how much time they get. And let our folks know just what the cost is for some of

these calls per minute, what they're charging families. Sure. So it's a, these contracts are often when we refer to as profit sharing contracts, they're contracts between the private corporations and the local sheriffs or correctional agencies where they share the proceeds of the profits or the revenues that are made and those rates can range today up to a dollar a minute meaning a 15-minute phone call local down the street can cost $15 and so one of the things that when we were talking before about this, I talked to one woman. Her family was spending $500 to $600 a month just trying to talk to their loved one in jail. Yeah, that's not atypical.

In fact, we hear it so often. And a study showed not too long ago that, in fact, one in three families who has an incarcerated loved one goes into debt simply trying to stay in touch through the cost of calls, the cost of visits. And 87 percent of those people who are bearing those costs are women and largely women of color. So have you had a response from the owner of the Pistons, from the NBA? And what sort of a response? You've also gotten around the country. Are other people joining you in this effort as well? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so as you know, we've been going after Tom Gores. Tom Gores is the owner of Platinum Equity, the private equity firm that owns Securus, one of the two largest

companies in this field. It's important to note that in the prison industry, the prison telecom industry, excuse me, two companies share about 80 percent of that market. And his company is one of them. And he is the owner of the Detroit Pistons. And so we are trying to rally as much support from the public and from others to really engage in this fight and to tell Tom Gores that it's not OK that he's making money off our communities in this way. All right, then. Well, look, the work that you're doing is great. This is one of those issues that people don't really focus on,

but we're certainly glad that y'all are shining a light on it. Certainly keep us up to date with what happens with this story. Yeah. If we could, thank you so much for having us. I just ask that people visit PistonsDeserveBetter.com to learn more about the campaign and get involved. Thank you so much for having us. I just ask that people visit PistonsDeserveBetter.com to learn more about the campaign and get involved. Thank you so much for having me. All right. I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Candace, I want to start with you again. We talk about criminal justice reform. We think in terms of sentencing. We think in terms of marijuana

convictions. But this is one of those things that's a part of this system that's a multi-billion dollar impact. And so while people are out here protesting, other folks are sitting here, as you said, these private equity companies, making millions and billions of dollars off of the poor and indigent. And these are families who can't afford, I mean, think about it. If you're spending 500 bucks a month communicating with a loved one, you're spending $6,000 a year. That is crazy for folks who

you know economically don't have those resources. Roland, it is crazy. And the shameful irony here is that you have Tom Gores, who, you know, takes charge of this team of brown and black people who look just like the people that he's taking advantage of behind prison bars. You also talked about criminal justice reform and what we're doing with solitary confinement. We know that when people don't have contact with people from the outside world, that they literally lose their minds to the point where many have committed suicide. So when we look at that, we see how all of the dots have connected and why he is now saying that he's going to decrease some of the costs and also take a look at donating money in order to help with recidivism rates. What he should do is make sure that all of the inmates who lost particular amounts of money

get reimbursed through commissary or something of that nature, because this is real money. As you said, if you're spending six, seven thousand dollars a year, that's what people spend a year on groceries, especially in the time of covid, when so many people are losing their money. So all of this is something that I don't think is over. While Gore said, yes, I'm going to change some of the rates and I'm going to change some of my ways, it's just a little bit too late

because he didn't care about it before. He's only caring about it now because of the ad that was put out in the New York Times. He was called out. You know, it kind of reminds me of Kelly Loeffler and how she put down Black Lives Matter. But then on the other hand, here she was, you know, owner of a WNBA team that was full of women of color. So the disgusting, you know, paradox is just clear in both situations. And I don't think that we're going to see the end of it.

And let's see, Reena, what happens if NBA players take up this cause. They're going to be playing against the Pistons. This is one of those things that if you want, as a league, if you want to talk about Black Lives Matter, this is one of those things where you can challenge the owner of the Pistons to say, we need you to do more. And sure, this might impact your private equity company, but right is right. Well, Roland, with movement, I think that's the beauty of living in the year 2020, aside from this whole horrible pandemic, is that we do live in a society where messaging, if done right, if done through influential messengers, it has the potential to truly change hearts and minds within minutes. And that's what I think we are looking at

when we look at big places like the NBA, where you have a lot of people who have individual acclaim, and then there's group efforts as well. And so what I love about what Bianca's doing, and I visited the website, I think it's an incredible site, I think drawing attention in a different sphere to problems that don't impact people who look like you. I think that is what the BLM movement really wanted to underscore and really bring attention to, and for a variety of reasons, it was one of the smaller messages, in my opinion, I'll say. But I think it will be a success moving forward into 2021, because I think a lot about the prison industrial complex in this country. And it's a very sophisticated term that gets thrown around on Capitol Hill often when we talk about criminal justice reform. But what we really need to see is that the interests of government and industry that essentially use surveillance, policing, and imprisoning people as solutions to economic and social problems,

trying to tell us, the common man in America, that these are solutions. Throw these people away and, I mean, sorry, lock these people up and throw away the key. That makes us forget about them. And so these big, big movements have a potential to change the hearts and minds in minutes and overnight of folks who just don't understand, who don't relate, who, you know, have an assumption perhaps that when anybody's calling you from jail, that it's, you know, it's the kind of thing that when they call collect, it's not a big deal. How much money could that be when you see the numbers in real time and what it's doing to pillars of homes like women? And as a woman of color, I must say the education piece is everything.

Because when you lock up somebody that doesn't look like me and has a different problem entirely that relies on something that corporations are doing, that wealthy individuals are doing. It's hard to connect the dots. And so instead of really going deeper and trying to find a way to connect the dots that might be too complex for certain folks who have limited time spans nowadays, I really think that big movements are the way to go. And this will bring us the change we want to see for criminal justice reform going into 2021. We've talked about on the show oftentimes how it's bipartisan. There's a lot of shared views there across the political spectrum on how we really change the way this country incarcerates our people, and particularly young Black men. And I just want to make one point. It's now the year 2020, but since 2007, I've been pen pals

with a couple folks over at the D.C. General. I mean, it's just been eye-opening to me to be a pen pal to people who are locked up because I see how much they crave human interaction attention, and I've been sort of acquainted with some of the bigger problems that I just had not thought existed for them. So 13 years now, and I encourage folks to really find ways to open your eyes up to problems of folks who don't look like you. Michael, again, we would talk about the money involved. We talk about the impact on families. Remember when Mignon Clyburn pushed through this effort to change the FCC and Republicans reversed it. This is another example where elections have consequences.

When you had a Democratic president, Democrats had a 3-2 majority on the FCC. They were able to regulate this. Trump wins. Republicans turn it over. Damn that. Make as much money as you can off of these poor folks. As we've talked about many times, you're right. Elections have consequences. But, you know, elections have consequences all up and down the ballot. And you can't have, we live in a capitalist society. So no one's suggesting that whoever the phone service company is shouldn't make a profit.

But what should that profit be capped at? And that's what legislators can do. bodies or city legislative bodies or obviously the federal government or Congress can come in and regulate how much somebody can make off of these phone calls. But it takes a lot of courage because usually the people that own these companies have resources. They have lobbying teams that come in and try to make sure and suppress those bills seeing the light of day or make sure they count their votes, whether it's on the Republican side, to make sure that they don't, what they would call, buckle under this kind of social conscious pressure. But there are several different points where elections have consequences,

and this is one of them. So you actually can tell your state legislator or your city council person or whoever you see in the grocery store, hey, I want you to write a bill that caps how much people can make on these types of phone calls. And you can do that. But obviously it takes that kind of effort. It takes that kind of outreach. But it is doable. Let's go to Oakland where some people are saying that the person responsible for destroying a Breonna Taylor sculpture should be charged with a hate crime.

Two weeks ago, the sculpture was destroyed in Oakland's Latham Square. And it was, again, it was put up just two weeks ago. Leo Carson, the artist who sculptured the piece, described the sculpture, quote, as an act of racist aggression. He said, I put in hours and hours of my work and built it by hand. Before the pandemic, I was a waiter, so I paid for this out of my own pocket. It wasn't cheap, and it was incredibly hurtful personally. At this time, the Oakland PD, they have launched an investigation. No word of anyone has been arrested. Caution has created a GoFundMe page

to raise money to repair and reinstall the statue in bronze. In Springfield, Massachusetts, local police, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms are investigating a fire at a black church that took place early yesterday morning. Firefighters responded to a call at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church around 5 a.m. It took them nearly an hour to extinguish the fire. Springfield Fire Commissioner Bernard Calvey believes the fire is highly suspicious, being that there have been three other fires in the same area in the last three weeks. Now, they are investigating whether this was a case of arson or if it was accidental. And so we'll keep you up to date on that particular story as well.

One of the issues we're looking at is also COVID-19. It is still with us. Of course, we're out here masked up, folks who are sitting behind me here in Albany, same thing. And, in fact, this was one of the places, y'all might remember, we covered early on where this was ground zero in Georgia for COVID-19 cases. Well, today, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, they took their COVID vaccine shots. Here's some of that video. Good morning.

Good morning. It's good to be with you. So you have a pen. My name is Patricia Cummings and it is such an honor to be administering your fasting over the days. Thank you very much Nurse Patricia. You're welcome.

Kindly verify the information. Yeah, that's all correct. Wonderful. OK. OK. Would it be OK if I administer it? Yes, of course. Of course. Thank you. I'm looking forward to it.

OK. So I will first sanitize your arm, and then I will administer the vaccine. OK. Got it. How are you doing today? I'm doing well. You've been busy, huh? Yes, ma'am.

It's good to be here at United Medical Center. You guys do such good work here. Thank you. Okay, let's do it. All righty. Ready? Now I'm ready. That was easy. Thank you.

I barely felt it. I barely felt it. I barely felt it. Okay. Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Nurse Patricia. Thank you, Nurse Patricia. Thank you. Well, I want to thank United Medical Centers for the work that you do in Southeast D.C., serving a community that is often overlooked. So it is good to be here. And I have now been vaccinated. Well, Michael, that's what leaders do. Leaders actually lead to see her take the shot. You've had Vice President Mike Pinchot has taken the vaccine shot.

Of course, Idiot is out playing golf. He doesn't feel he needs to take the shot, but then that's also why he's not a leader. Michael? Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, Roland. Couldn't hear you. I think all the actual both congressional leadership and a lot of the White House leadership have gotten the vaccine, except for, as you mentioned, the person playing golf today and yesterday and the day before that, and I'm certainly playing tomorrow. So, you know, there clearly is not a priority to set a good example on his way out the door. He is trying to cause as much chaos and confusion about everything as possible as he's done over the last four years or so. So, you know, it is what it is. He's not

going to change. It's unfortunate. The fortunate part, we have a new president. So, you know, it is what it is. He's not going to change. It's unfortunate. The fortunate part, we have a new president. And as you know, how proud I am of President-elect Biden. He taught me in law school, so I know what kind of guy he is. He's going to be a great president. Clearly, the vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, is also going to be a wonderful addition to the leadership of our country. We know that Gavin Newsom has appointed a Latino American to fill Senator Harris's seat in California. So obviously, I know there was some outrage about that. They thought it should have been a black woman that took her spot.

But nonetheless, it was a it was a person of color. So as we move forward, let's get rid of the Trump folks. Hopefully we have a new day. Very simple, Candace, leaders lead. And so we have people here who don't want to do this. In fact, I got a guy earlier. He asked me, hey, would you take the vaccine? I was like, hell, yeah, I would. He said, well, you know, he said, you're one of the first African-Americans I heard say so.

I said, well, there's a lot of black people who have died as a result of COVID-19, so we better get it together, and you damn right take this vaccine, because we've had the experts, National Medical Association, we've had black doctors who have been working on this as well,

again, but to see Vice President Kamala Harris do this, that's important because we have to instill confidence in the American people that if the VP elect took the vaccine, well, guess what? So should we. Yes. You know, some interesting marketing efforts here in terms of the vice president-elect. And in addition, you had a Guyanese nurse that administered the vaccine. And if you know anything about home health aides or if you've been in a hospital, no matter what hospital, you are going to be, you know, within some vicinity of someone who is from another country, whether it's Haiti, whether it's Senegal, Nigeria or someone like today who's Guyanese. So the whole idea is to put people

in positions that you trust and that you see. And so this was really a two-pronged effort here, that you had two women of color going through this process. As Michael already said, and you said, the president has not taken this vaccine as well he should in order to make a point. So this doesn't make just make him a lame duck president, just just makes him a lame president for not standing up and being a leader. So, you know, we've seen some of the highest numbers today in terms of the number of people that are on ventilators today, the highest number ever. So Joe Biden's message today to the people was we need to speed this up, which is why I'm going. I promise you 100 million vaccines within my first hundred days.

That would be a valiant effort if he completed it. But at least it's a message that's more than we have today. Right. We have vaccines that are to the states, but we don't have people to administer them because there's just been no plan. Ever since day one, there's been no plan, which is why even though expeditiously the vaccine was created, now we're on the level where we can't even get them into people's arms. No plan. No plan. Yep. Marina, real quick again. First of all, I don't call him president. He is not a president. Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, Obama was the 44th, Biden was the 46th. I'm just going to completely skip over the number 45 because what we're seeing is here we're seeing this pathetic degenerate of a man spend his time on the golf course, delaying the signing the COVID bill, doesn't care about

mask, doesn't care about the vaccine. He only cares about his own ego. And this is, I mean, and frankly, what, 25 days? I mean, it can't get here soon enough. Inauguration day on January 20th. Well, Roland, I have a very personal link to this story, as, again, I've talked about on this show many times, is that actually my husband is a physician here in northern Virginia, and he got his vaccine exactly the week before Christmas. So what, Christmas was Friday? He got it the Friday before.

And so that was his first dose. And he got the Pfizer vaccine. He'll be getting his second dose on January 8th. My brother, who's a physician at our clinic in Southern West Virginia, just made it available to me. He gave me access to his email and I have it here. Two hours ago, he got an email from the vaccine administration management system that says your organization or employer designated you in a priority group for immunization. And that's because he put through a request saying, hey, me and my employees need this vaccine. So here in Northern Virginia, very affluent Northern Virginia, we are fortunate to live in compared to what my family members are going through in rural West Virginia. It's night and day. My brother had to request two days ago

to get the vaccine, and he's only two hours ago just now getting the opportunity to schedule an appointment with the participating clinic through a link. And so when you click through that link, it takes you to, again, the vaccine administration management system. It's part of CDC.gov. And basically it just says when he fills out this application, it allows for him to be pre-screened and if qualified, register for an account and then schedule his COVID-19 vaccine. And an account will allow for the West Virginia State Health Department, as well as the CDC, to collect his information to use in public health data analysis. So, again, I have my master's in public health from here at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. This is a massive, massive failure of Trump,

Roland. We cannot understate it. And I really think we will see the repercussions in the months to come. I'm only just now hearing from other health professionals, as my husband is as well. We are getting calls from fellow MDs, fellow MPH, people who have degrees out the wazoo who are nervous to take this vaccine. And so, look, Dr. Taysom Bell, who I've been on the show with and is an incredible medical provider and just a great overall human, I think, was featured in the New York Times recently. He, a husband, got his vaccine and then he and his wife and kids don't have it. That's what we're going through in this house right now. I do not have the vaccine. I do not plan on jumping in line and going through my family's clinic in West Virginia to try to get the vaccine. I'm not there.

I haven't been there for many months, so I'm not going to jump. But this is a failure of our federal government. You know me. You know I'm a limited government proponent. I believe in being a conservative for that reason. But if there were ever a time for a massive federal unified response, it would have been in January this year, in May of this year, in August of this year. And here we are in December. This administration has failed its people. Anytime. No, it's not going to happen. He's leaving office.

Yeah, pure and simple. They have no interest in leading, as simple as that. None whatsoever. No remorse either, Roland. All right, folks, got to go to a break real quick. No, of course not. Well, because when you only care about yourself, then you don't care about anybody else. Got to go to a break.

We come back. We saw the video this weekend, this disturbing video, that a father posted on Instagram of a white woman in New York accosting him and her son, accusing her son of stealing her iPhone, when, in fact fact he didn't and the hotel manager basically sided with her we're going to talk with that father and son next right here on roland martin unfiltered broadcasting live from albany georgia back in a moment this is dr jamal harrison bryant your vote matters it's coming down to the finish and this will be every vote counts and so I'm charging every person in Georgia make sure you vote because it'll be your

vote that'll send two senators to Washington DC. America is a complicated story of people building a more perfect union. And if you don't think there's been any change, you should sit down with Andrew Young. You should sit down from some of the folks in that generation who know the distance we've come. And as we continue to push hard, change comes. The other side knows your power. The other side knows your voice. That's why they're engaged in voter suppression. If you weren't so powerful, they wouldn't be trying so hard to stop you from voting.

So you ought to stand up in this defining moment in American history and win the future for all of our children. -♪ Daring to demand the right to vote for black Americans in Selma, Alabama, 55 years ago, John Lewis was nearly killed as he and hundreds marched across this bridge. That movement's courage secured the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

But the promise of equal justice in America remains unfulfilled. So together we'll fight for a new Civil Rights Act and a new Voting Rights Act to ensure equal justice for all, no matter the color of our skin, to end racial profiling and police brutality, and to stop anyone from suppressing the sacred right to vote. Congressman Lewis gave me my first job. He instilled in me the conviction to fight for justice. He said to never give in, never give up, keep the faith, and keep our eyes on the prize.

I'm Jon Ossoff. I approve this message. Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. We have always used music to speak up for us. But we have been unheard, underestimated, and undervalued throughout our existence. But it's time we play a new song. We can make the rules. We can choose the leader. And our vote can make the difference.

We know by now that change will not come to us. Black voters matter. It's our party. Step into your moment All right, folks, welcome back to Albany, Georgia. Man, this weekend, this video was posted on Instagram. It was like 3 o'clock in the morning. I saw it, and I said, my God, I've got to get this father on the show. He follows me on Instagram.

I sent him a DM. But first, just y'all have seen the video, but it is still shocking every time we see it. This crazy, deranged-ass white woman, the latest Karen. Watch this, y'all. Show me. That's a white phone. Show me. You don't have to explain nothing to her.

It's a case off. That's mine. Literally, get it back. Are you kidding me? You feel like there's only one iPhone made in the world? No. Okay, then show me you don't have to explain nothing to her that's mine literally get it back are you kidding me you feel like there's only one one iphone made in the world no okay then show me you better go use find find my iphone go through that find my iphone is on no no you can't no i'm gonna make her in the hotel i don't care he will this is my son hey didn't you see me just come downstairs out of the fucking elevator? No, but you're not helping.

What you're doing is disrespectful. No, I'm trying to settle this situation. My son has nothing to do with her. No, yeah, but he has my phone. Then show me the proof. No, he's not leaving. Show me the proof. Are you kidding me? You better get on. Let's go, kid.

I'm sorry. Better get on. Let's go, Kim. I'm sorry. Better get on. We have you. You see two black people? No, I'm not letting him walk away with my phone. Wait, wait, wait. You better get on somewhere, lady. No, please get my phone back.

I cannot. No, not my phone. Listen, get your... And that was only one minute of the video. It's a much longer video that the hotel has. Keyon Harold Jones is right now. He is a musician. Keyon, welcome to Roller Martin Unfiltered.

How you doing, Roland? How you doing, Roland? So this is, so how long did this encounter actually take place? It was probably a minute before I started recording, So how long did this encounter actually take place? It was probably a minute before I started recording, and it's probably maybe five minutes after it stopped. Because when she came at me, I guess the phone stopped recording. So tell our folks what we didn't see.

Because we see her coming at you. What didn't we see? It was my son and I, you know, we stayed up late at night after Christmas, and we got up, and I was like, you know what, son, let's go get some brunch. Let's go downstairs and get some brunch. So we come downstairs in the elevator. We make these two quick little right turns, and you're right in the lobby. The minute we got into the lobby, this person looked at us like we were red, and she was a bull.

She looked at my son, and she pointed at him, and she said, he has my phone. It's him. He's got it. Give me my phone. And she went right to him. And before that, I really couldn't believe it. I mean, seriously, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a joke.

And then immediately my instinct said, you know, let me start recording because because some things just get out of hand really, really quickly. You just never know these days. So I started recording and and the rest is what it is. You know, so literally dealing with her, telling, you know, they're wrongfully accusing my son. He's 14 years old. I mean, that's my boy, my baby. And, you know, literally treating him like he had no rights, like they had all rights over him. And I just wasn't okay with that at all. I mean, I've been all over the world with the best artists from Jay-Z to Beyonce to Rihanna to everybody. And I'm a whole man and I want my son to be that way. And I just can't have anybody talking to him any kind of way and just disrespecting

his property and just his person and his body. So I just wouldn't allow it to happen. You know, after the video cut off, it went on for, like I said, maybe four or five more minutes of this person literally trying to get to my son, scratching me, taking him down. Like literally this person was, was irate. I can't even make this stuff up. I mean, I'm still in shock about the whole, the whole incident. And I mean, it's literally like a, I don't know. I can't make up what it is. It's not like a movie. Go ahead.

What was strange to me, Keon, was the manager acting like she was in the right. He came, I mean, he was there with her and basically empowering her, enabling her to basically shake my son down for his phone, for his property. And obviously I paid for the phone and no one else had the right to basically say, hey boy, show me your papers. That's what it was like to me. Show me your papers. And it was just not going down with me. My son has his rights. My son, I want him to keep his dignity. You know, because in America, the problem is, as black people, as people of color, sometimes our dignity is cut in half and we need to have whole dignity. And I just wouldn't allow them to just take it from them that easily in that way.

You know, the manager basically wanted to use his quote-unquote authority as a manager at the hotel to get my son's phone out of his pockets, to give to this lady who literally was not even a patron at the time. And I was a paying patron at the time. And, of course, we heard you basically saying, oh, hell no, don't you hand that phone over. Not at all. You're not getting this phone. You know, he doesn't owe you anything.

And, you know, no, because it happens. And it's been happening for way too long. And we all know it. And the problem with this incident is that it is something that we see every day. We see it all too often. And, you know, if I wasn't me, maybe this probably would have been swept under the rug as well. Nobody would have ever seen it if I hadn't videoed it. And it would have been another incident of somebody's, you know, going wild and getting away with it. So tell me this, Keon.

First off, were y'all there when the Uber driver came up with her phone? We were at the restaurant, like at some point. Literally, I don't know if I've ever been in shock, but as I play this back, as I go through day to day, I think I was in shock because we were eating. And, you know, literally, I'm still, you know, just basically couldn't believe that this had happened. I mean, I'm a professional and my son is an amazing kid. We try to do the best for him. And just incidents like that is just not what we do. And the fact that this actually happened in this establishment and it was basically empowered by the management.

It it I don't know. It put me somewhere else. I'm still somewhere else when it comes comes down to it. We were eating and we come back in and I guess she was gone, but she had come back, um, to, I guess, call the Uber or something. Somebody brought their, brought her phone back. I don't know what, what taxi company or Uber or Lyft, whatever it was, they brought it back and she got her phone, um, to no apology, to anything, to what had happened with my son.

I mean, they totally disrespected my son in a major way. And I just thank God that I was actually there to be with him. It's so often that the parent is not there with the child. If I had to come down a little bit later, I couldn't imagine what I would have done if these people were on my son. Because I'm a big guy. I'm 6'2", 220, 230. And, you know, they really didn't care. They didn't hear anything that I had to say.

As I told her, why don't you use the Find My iPhone feature? Everybody uses that that I know when you lose your phone. That was not enough for her. I mean, here's the deal. I mean, here's the deal. Here's the deal. What's hilarious, Keon, when I was not enough for her. I mean, here's the deal. I mean, here's the deal. Here's the deal. What's hilarious, Keon, when I was in Miami for American Black Film Festival, we were at a reception, and that was a sister who came there.

And then she went, oh, my God, I lost my phone. And so she was freaking out. And I said, all you got to do is, here's my phone. I said, I log out. You put in your Apple ID, username, and then your account comes up, pinged your phone. That's exactly what she did. Pinged her phone. The Uber driver brought her phone back.

That's how it works. But what gets me is she never apologized. The hotel has said, first of all, what was the name of the hotel? Because the parent company has said they have reached out to you. So that's first. No apology from her. Did the manager ever apologize? No.

As far as, like, all of that, to me, is pretty blurry because it happened so fast and so. Got it. It's like, I don't, like... No, it was a blur. And so much so that it's still unbelievable, man. So the hotel company says they've reached out to you. Have you talked to them? And what is next?

Has the woman been identified? What do you want to happen next? Because she assaulted you and your son. Absolutely. So my attorney, Ben Crump, and we basically are

filing charges and trying to see what's next in the process legally. Hold on. Hold on. You said, Keyon, you said filing charges. Has she been identified? Identified.

Say it again. All right. Actions, break it up. Has she or has she not been identified? She's been identified. Got it. Okay, got it. Got it.

And so y'all are going to file charges against her for assault against you and your son? Yeah. I didn't hear. Say it again. I'm sorry. Yes, we intend to file charges. Well, Keon, this is, look, the reality is you're absolutely right. Had you not pulled your camera out and recorded it, it would not have gotten its attention,

which is one of the reasons why I keep telling our folks look we got look this shouldn't have to be the case you've got these crazy deranged uh folks out here a lot of folks uh these a lot of there are a lot of uh folks out there white women and others who are challenging black people as you said demanding papers and the reality is we have just we must stand our ground and assert our rights. You did the right thing by fighting for your son and making it perfectly clear. You don't have to bow down to anybody who is demanding you turn over your phone as if you were a thief. And that's exactly what this woman tried to do. Absolutely. And, you know, at this point, it's been too long and we're in 20 going into 2021 we've had one black president we're going to have a we have president-elect um vice president-elect um right now um right as

you know and you know at this time it's time for change it's time for you know no matter what you do no matter what you look like to be treated as a full-fledged, whole person. We're not three-fifths of man anymore. And the idea that we need respect, we need respect, our kids need respect, our young black boys, you know, need to feel whole and feel protected wherever they go, no matter, you know,

being, you know, falsely identified as, you know, whatever, a th, falsely identified as, you know, whatever a thug or whatever it is, it doesn't matter. I deserve to be here. You know, I pay my money to be in that establishment. We deserve to be there. We didn't deserve to be treated wrongly. We didn't deserve to be categorized as, as somebody who needed to offer up our property

just because somebody asked for it. You know, it's time for that. All right. And to me, it's more than an apology now. It's about change. Right. You're right. Keon, we appreciate it, my brother.

Thanks a lot. Give our best to your son. Thank you so much for talking to me, brother. Thank you very much for talking to me, Roland. Thank you very much, sir. Candace, I want to go to you quickly, go to my panel quickly before I go to a quick break and then do some interviews here with some folks here in Albany. Candace, this is where lawyers, Ben Crump was the attorney, this is where you take folk and they got to pay for what they did to him and his family.

That's right. And, you know, one of the biggest takeaways, too, that I get from this is that here was a father and a son who were going to have a nice brunch. And then all of that was displaced by this. And this is what that young man is going to remember when it comes to Christmas 2020. All they were doing was going downstairs to eat. And then this is what happened. So, yes, this is more than just an apology. This is somebody that has to pay because this is a woman that was trying to steal this young man's

phone because that phone did not belong to her. Then she libeled him by calling him a thief. And then as, as, um, as he said, as the father said, I mean, there's just, he was in shock. So you have a lot of emotional distress that was there. Civil rights violations by the hotel. I mean, the list goes on. You know, Benjamin Crump took this case for a reason. Let's put it that way. to simply say, I'm sorry. That's right. Charge her ass as quick as possible. Absolutely. And I think those charges, hopefully also the judge or whoever the finder of fact is in this case, starts to you got to start having some harsher penalties as a deterrent. I don't know if that's been adjudicated yet or if that's been completed and what happened with her.

But slapping folks on the wrist for making a mistake is not going to get it done, as Candace mentioned. You have to do something that's going to deter people. You've got to change behavior. And we talk about this, obviously, with police shootings as well. Until you change behavior, these kind of things are going to persist. And I'm glad he took video because without the video, everything would be different.

Oh, I never said that. Oh, it didn't go down like that. The video speaks for itself. Great evidence. I'm glad Mr. Crump has taken the case. Bombline arena. I want them to embarrass the hell out of this woman and for the next person who thinks about doing that, they go, damn, I might be on national television if I act a fool.

I've been looking for her name for a while, so I don't know where it is yet. I'm looking forward to it coming out because she looks like just sort of any normal woman that you would run into in New York City, sort of. And I think one thing that grabbed me as a communicator is the nonverbals. And right when the video started, within the first few seconds, you can see her lightly put her hand on the shoulder of the manager, sort of saying, that's him. And to me, that sort of act of her

putting her hand on the shoulder of the manager, who she probably didn't know before, it's sort of a, it's that nonverbal that sort of says, hey, of course it's him. He's black. I mean, it's sort of a is that is that nonverbal that sort of says hey of course it's him he's black i mean it's it's sort of that that kinship you're white you get my plight he's black it must be him and this is the problem and so this is um yeah i couldn't agree more with mr brown there i mean i think here we are this is about changing the way people see black people this is is really about white people and how they see black people. And then even white people, how they see brown people like me.

I mean, my brother is far darker in complexion than me and has been mistaken for somebody black before. And that doesn't matter because this is the thing. It's like if your color is not white, are we not right? Are we are we suddenly thieves because we're darker than you because we have melanin in our skin? Are we suddenly like predisposed to committing a crime like that, especially a petty crime? And it's just wild to me that this woman, and she clearly was suffering from some mental illness. I really do. She was very agitated and in a way that was, to me, not normal.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not touching it. I'm not touching it at all. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not counting it. I'm not counting it at all. No, no, no, no, no. Damn that. It's some ignorant, crazy-ass white people out here and white women who act a fool. The woman in Central. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I've seen just too many cases. It's folks with privilege. The woman who called on the barbecue in Oakland when you had the woman who the brother was barely parked into the median and she called the cops. The white woman who called on the black woman with the lemonade stand. I could go the white woman with the UPS driver. The brother's wearing a damn brown uniform. It says UPS. The white man with the FedEx driver.

I can go on and on and on. It ain't mental illness. White supremacy is not mental illness. It's white supremacy. And that's what that was. Pure and on. It ain't mental illness. White supremacy is not mental illness. It's white supremacy. And that's what that was. Pure and simple. I do agree. I do agree with that.

But I'm not going to just let them slide with mental illness. I'm not saying it needs to be medicated. No, no, no, no. I'm saying she had a crazy look in her eye. No, no, no, no, no. It needs to be adjudicated. Throw her punk ass in jail and make her pay up for assaulting that man and his son. Michael, well, guess what?

Guess what? And make her ass real famous. Michael, Rena, and Candace, I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Got to go to a quick break. Real quick. I'm going to come back. Final interviews with some folks here in Albany, Georgia.

Roller Mart unfiltered. Back in a moment. We learned early in Sunday school that thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not have no other gods before me. Raphael Warnock's opponent seems to have

forgotten these basic Sunday school lessons. Her gods have agreed her lies about Pastor Warnock and her shady Wall Street practices are evidence of this. And on January the 5th, let's bear witness that greed, lies, and shady dealings don't represent Georgia. Let's send Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate to fight for the least of these

and not Wall Street billionaires. You are leading the way for the rest of this state. And we believe that this state is on the verge of shocking the entire country. He's just riding on the prize. And hold on, hold on. What y'all know about that damn office? And ultimately, we know we can't let nobody turn us around. In spite of all that you have endured this year alone, this is still the good life city?

Yeah! If it turns out that the Senate is hinging on one seat and there's only one race left... Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up!

Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! Turn it up! That's right. This will literally be the epicenter of the entire country, right? So we ready. Music has an ability to be able to help us feel connected. And that's because music has a way of speaking for the spirit. And it is the spirit we're going to change this country with. It is going to be standing in a space of our power and in the fullness of our spirit of love and the spirit of humanity.

That is what's going to transform America. All right, folks, welcome back to Albany, Georgia, where we've been here all day. Focus on the Georgia Senate runoff. Joining us right now is former state representative here in Georgia, Joyce Barlow. Joyce, first of all, I take it you're an AK FIRST OF ALL, I TAKE IT YOU'RE AN AK. YES, SIR, I AM. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. YOU GOT ENOUGH PINK AND GREEN ON. SO LET'S TALK ABOUT... We told them the smear ads were coming, and that's exactly what happened. You would think that Kelly Loeffler

might have something good to say about herself if she really wants to represent Georgia. Instead, she's trying to scare people by taking things I've said out of context from over 25 years of being a pastor. But I think Georgians will see her ads for what they are. Don't you? I'm Raphael Warnock, and we approve this message. -♪ I am America... We are all Americans. We rise or we fall together. -♪ I am America...

This is a critical moment in the history of our country. So many people are depending on us. Let me live. They want us to forget they're still trying to take away our health care in the middle of a pandemic. Let me breathe. I'm running so that ordinary people can have a path of prosperity. Let me be who I want to be, where I want to be. Let me be free.

Give me your tire. I am tired. Give me your pull. But I am strong. Give me your hand. I am strong Give me your hand I'll be here Cause I know I belong You have two extraordinary candidates

And John and the Reverend I will rejoice Who deserve your vote And let's face it, you've also got two senators who badly need to be replaced. Oh, yes. Give me my freedom. Give me my freedom. Give me my freedom.

And I will rejoice. This has to be a movement-style, bottom-up, grassroots turnout effort unlike anything we've ever seen in our history. May we rise to the challenge of this renewed reckoning around race and push back hard against the forces of bigotry. All I ask of you. All I ask of you. All I ask of you. All right, folks, Roland Martin, welcome back to Auburn, Georgia. Hopefully we're not going to freeze this time. This third time is a charm. We're joined by former State Representative Joyce Barlow. Joyce is here in all of her pink and green glory. I'll take it to AKA. Is it going real hard for y'all, Sarah? Yes, we are. We are working really, really hard for President-elect Biden and our

Sarah Kamala Harris, Vice President-elect. What we're doing, our program is called AKA's Lead Georgia. And right now, that means we are learning and trying to assist folks. We are advocating, empowering, and helping them to decide. And all of that means is we're educating them, we're teaching them about mobilization, registration, voting, and understanding about the candidates that are out there and making an informed decision when they decide to vote. We're working also in the rural areas, the areas that frequently get overlooked that surround Doherty County, Randolph, Early Clay, Calhoun, Stewart, Webster, and Quitman counties. Those populations, their votes are just as important and were part of turning the state of Georgia blue.

And we really want to make sure they're well represented. And so are y'all going door to door? We know exactly what kind of canvassing are you doing? Well, we are doing a lot of vote tripling. We're talking to people after they voted and asking them or reminding them in a nonpartisan manner to either text or call three friends to get them out to vote. And specifically in the rural counties, which we have a lot of volunteer people who are canvassing boots on the ground, door to door, knocking. Even though our populations are not as condensed and

compact we have to make sure we get the people who are in the city the small cities as well as going out to the county knowing whether miss Ruth lives down the street and mr. David is two or three doors down and knocking on their doors and letting them know we care about them and their vote is just as important as the people in the big cities. All right. Well, Joyce Barlow, we surely appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

Y'all keep it up. Thank you. We've got seven days left. Yes, we're on it. All right. We've got one more. Come on up. One more interview we'll do real quick here just to give y'all a sense of what's happening here.

All right. Tell folks who y'all are. Hey, how you doing, Roland? I'm Commissioner Demetrius Young of Ward 6 here in Albany, Georgia. And I'm here with my good friend Amna Faruqi. We are two of the principals in the Election Protection Coalition here in Doherty County, which is a group of local organizers who a lot of groups such as Black Voters Matter and VoteVote and a lot of different groups have partnered with to do a lot of the work here on the ground.

And I just want to thank you for coming and shining some light on southwest Georgia. How's it been going thus far? Been going pretty good. The turnout has been phenomenal. People like Black Voters Matter have actually been in our community for well over a year now. I'm a first term city commissioner and I had a runoff in my first election. And with the work they did, they almost had us match our general election turnout in my runoff. So we're hoping for the same result in this election. Yeah. And we're seeing, I mean, almost 1,000 people voted yesterday alone.

Wow. Yeah, and we're, I think, at 9,000 total for early voting in person downtown for the county. So we're seeing high turnout and a lot of enthusiasm. And what a lot of people don't realize is, I mean, African-Americans really prefer to vote in person. And so if you're seeing that turn out in early voting, now, is that just early voting? Does it include absentee voting? Or is that just in-person voting? That's just in-person voting. So that doesn't even count in

the many people who have been voting by mail because of COVID and because they just want to vote by mail. Well, and as I said, as I talked earlier with Benny Hand, I mean, what Republicans have been trying to do, just throwing up every legal roadblock and so folks have been looking like Olympic hurdlers jumping over it, but it's real. Yeah, well, let me tell you about that, Roland.

The woman that brought the challenge is my city commission colleague, and I think it's beyond a white woman but she represents a a district that's over 70 black wait a hold up wait a minute the woman who filed the challenge represents a district that is 70% black. 70% black. We know who needs to get her ass thrown out next time. When do the city commission elections? Next November. Next November? Is her election.

I might have to come back in 2021 to campaign again. What's that woman's name? BJ Fletcher. BJ Fletcher. BJ Fletcher. Y'all, Roland Martin and the Fletcher might be back in Albany next September and October so we can throw out B.J. Fletcher. So she's 70% African-American in her district, and she's the one trying to challenge black votes. Yes, yes.

And Roland, for me, it's a personal thing because my mother was one of the first black city commissioners here in Albany, Georgia. She actually sued to have ward elections because before it was all at large. So we could not get any black representation on the city commission before she sued them. And ward three was her district. And that has historically been, you know, where- Hold on, people, pull your mask up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just be safe. Yeah. But yeah, you know, it's beyond, it's a personal thing for her to represent that many people and be a part of something like that. And of course, she's going with the trope that she's doing this to protect integrity of the election and protect against voter fraud.

When they can't produce any evidence of voter fraud. I mean, all across the country. These Republicans throw out that crap and they can't produce the evidence. Exactly. Exactly. And she even said that somebody had voted for her mother, but we have no knowledge of any challenge that she issued at the time at the time about somebody voting for her mother. But that's what they chose to play on the local news. That's why I'm glad you're here as a alternative to the information. I'm streaming this live on my Facebook page so all of my followers can understand.

Voter fraud is not real. Voter suppression is real. And that's what she's engaging in. Absolutely. Final comment. Yeah, I mean, I just, we're, I think we know the local organizers here, us, our organizations, we're doing this work before, during, and after January 5th. And our work continues after the runoff to make voting more fair, more accessible, more safe. And we're going to get B.J. Fletcher out, you know,

and we're going to get a lot of things done here. So thank you. All right, then. Well, we appreciate the work that y'all are doing. That's one of the reasons we want to come out here and amplify that. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. Y'all take care. Folks, that is it for us. We are here in Albany, Georgia. It has been quite the day. We, of course, have been focused on many of these cities all across the state of Georgia.

Tomorrow, we'll be broadcasting live from Savannah, Georgia. Not just the show. Also, look for us to be streaming the event taking place at noon. We're going to be visiting various black businesses in Savannah as well. So we look forward to being on the ground in Savannah. And Savannah, we want to see you out as well as where we're going to be there tomorrow. Let me just tell you where we're going to be real quick here.

Hold on one second here. So in Savannah, it's a black church we're going to be at. Give me a second. Give me a second. Give me a second. All right, then. So we're going to be at the Get Out the Campaign rally

taking place at Bethel AME Church. Bethel AME Church 1814 East 38th Street in Savannah, Georgia. So we shall see you tomorrow there. Folks, please support what we do. Roland Martin Unfiltered, your support of our Bring the Funk fan club allows for us to be able to hear, be able to travel,

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We're going to be dropping that list tomorrow on today's show. And so we certainly appreciate it again. I will see you guys tomorrow from Savannah, Georgia, where we are here covering the Georgia Senate runoff. Black media should be here on the ground telling our story. We shouldn't be waiting on anybody else to do so. That's why we do what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered, where we keep it

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