#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Global Hope Forum Day 2; Voting Bill Blocked; Fmr GA Deputies murder trial

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

10.20.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Republicans delivered on their promise. They successfully blocked the Democrats' Freedom to Vote Act. Two cases in Georgia, we are watching closely. Three Washington County officers are on trial for the death of a black man who they repeatedly shocked with stun guns for walking down a road. The other, the Glynn County Superior Court "mistakenly" provided potential jurors access to suppressed evidence in the murder trial of the three white men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery on its website. Are Philadelphia's forfeiture laws giving law enforcement officers a license to steal? Two Pennsylvania lawmakers will join us to explain why officers can keep the property of those who were never convicted of a crime. The Hawaii ACLU says the civil rights of a 10-year-old black girl were violated when she was detained and questioned without a parent present for a drawing. In our Tech Talk segment, the Plug Me In App creator says it lets you keep in touch with your real-life social network. He'll tell us how.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partners:Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPAmazon | Get 2-hour grocery delivery, set up you Amazon Day deliveries, watch Amazon Originals with Prime Video and save up to 80% on meds with Amazon Prime 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ArwxEh+ Don’t miss Epic Daily Deals that rival Black Friday blockbuster sales 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iP9zkvBuick | It's ALL about you! The 2022 Envision has more than enough style, power and technology to make every day an occasion. 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iJ6ouPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Martin! Today is Wednesday, October 20th, 2021. And coming up on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, live from Atlanta at Operations Hope, 8th Annual Hope Global Forum. Folks, Republicans delivered on their promise they successfully blocked the Democrats' Freedom to Vote Act. Democrats still refuse to end the filibuster. Two cases here in Georgia we are watching closely. Three Washington County officers are on trial for the death of a black man who they repeatedly shot

with stun gun for walking down a road. The other, the Glynn County Superior Court mistakenly provided the potential jurors access to suppress evidence in the murder trial of the three white men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery on their website. What the hell is that? And are Philadelphia's forfeiture laws giving law enforcement officers a license to steal?

Two Pennsylvania lawmakers will join us to explain how officers can keep the property of those who were never convicted of a crime. The Hawaii ACLU says the civil rights of a 10-year-old black girl were violated when she was detained and questioned without a parent present for a drawing. And in our Tech Talk segment, the Plug Me In app creator says it lets you keep in touch with your real-life social network. He'll tell us how. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered. Streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment

just for kicks He's rolling With Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah He's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best

You know he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's Roland Martin. Now. Martin. Can I take a quick photo with you? Sure, folks. Roland Martin here at the Hope Global Forum, where we, of course, have been focusing on economics for African-Americans. A lot of things we've been talking about here, a lot of speakers as well. We're going to call an audible right now.

And so I was just talking to a sister. She's one of the co-owners of the Atlanta Dream. Renee, come on. Oh, wow. Let's get it. Oh, wow. It's my show. I don't have to ask anybody.

Anthony, Anthony, mic her up, mic her up on the side over here. So you were gonna head out, so let me explain to y'all the whole deal. So I told them I wanted to talk to her, they hadn't told her that, and I had it on the list. And so I don't know how long she's gonna be, are you only here for today?

I'm only here for today. Well see, that's why we're doing it right now. So when you go ahead and do it, you just sort of just make a change and pull the chair back. We'll stand up. We won't sit down. And so, so, so what we've been talking about again for the last couple of days, and we'll be the founding tomorrow, is really access to capital, building, building up businesses for African-Americans and other minorities as well, and being a part of the deal flow. When I talk about the deal flow, Bob Johnson said that to me years ago, that if you're not a part of the deal flow, then you're never a part of any deals.

And so that's one of the reasons why folks from all around the country have been here at the forum. This is the eighth annual one put on by Operation Hope and John Hope Bryant. And so somebody who became part of the deal flow, formerly former WNBA player, now part of the ownership group. How are you doing? I'm good. Wow. Like live. That's just how you do it. I ain't got to ask nobody. OK, so you look, you know know, when you an owner. Unfiltered, right? You don't have to ask somebody permission to change on the dime. You ain't got to call in the workers. You the boss.

For real. So, y'all, literally, like, right before we went on, she just wanted to speak. And I was like, okay, well, how long you here? I said, I'm going to do this voting story. I said, and so we can talk in 14 minutes. She's like, well, we're going to be leaving out. Okay, fine. We can do it now. So, Renee, how you doing? I'm good. I'm going to do this voting story. I said, and so we can talk in 14 minutes. She's like, well, we're going to be leaving out. Okay, fine. We can do it now.

So, Renee, how you doing? I'm good. I'm good. Thank you for having me. So how has it been going from player taking owners to now being in a completely different situation where you are a co-owner of the team? That's a totally different dynamic. Completely different dynamic completely different dynamic and i think when people think about it though what better person to go into the ownership position in sports in particular that's somebody i grew up watching the brand i grew up playing in it and then i grew up well

grew up wishing i played and then played in it for 11 years so when i got the opportunity to be a co-owner my whole thought was oh i'm about to turn up because i know what the players want i know what management wants and as a player i always. I felt like there was a we all had the same goal. So why aren't we all moving the same way now, hopefully to mend that and be like, all right, this is what you guys want. This is what we want. Let's make it happen. But it is different when you were an owner. I mean, and because there are a lot of folks who when they are on this side, they see things totally different. Definitely.

And whether you're talking about sports, whether you're talking about in media, folks like, oh, no, it should be done this, this, this. And all of a sudden, when you get on the other side, you're like, oh, now I see what they were talking about. Yeah, well, you've got to pay the bills for it. Yes. Yeah, no, you got to pay the bills for it. And you got to, yeah, no, you know, it is different. And honestly, too, the business you have to do, I went from being a player to literally an owner in this one year later. I still have friends on the team. So there's a dynamic there where it's like,

I'm so thankful for how they handled it, because it was more so how people, they changed for me. So friends that were on the team, Tiffany Hayes, I went to UConn with her. She was a freshman when I was a senior. She was a player on the team while I was a player on the team. Now I'm an owner and she's a player still. That dynamic is a very different one, but she doesn't try to cross the lines in a sense of, she doesn't ask me things that she probably knows that that will be uncomfortable or it's not right. So I think it is different because those are the no's now that you're talking about the no's that you have to tell maybe the friends.

And it's different having that responsibility to of you got a budget you need to stick to, too, you know, so we don't want to bust out budget. So this is a whole different world than what you look at it from the other side. It also is different because you had one of the former owners who ran for the United States Senate, supportive of Donald Trump. Your team, more than any other, was quite vocal in that campaign. The WNBA has been really far more out front on social gender issues than in all the other, I dare say, all the other leagues combined in terms of being very vocal, challenging, recently taking out an ad in the New York Times when it came to the issue of being pro-choice. Let me find out.

You're keeping up, okay? That's what I do. All right. Everybody don't do it. Roland, everybody don't do it. I'm fully aware of that. I'm fully aware of the drama that y'all have with players. Y'all benched one of your stars who came from Texas A&M. If you need me to have a conversation with her, I can,

considering I'm a Texas A&M graduate. Oh, wow. Listen, I'm just saying, I appreciate you for knowing y'all. Stop being about y'all kids, man. I'm just saying, see? Okay. See, you never know when you have to do the interview. Right.

So if you prepare beforehand, when it happens, you're good. Yeah. Was there a question there? You've had to deal with a whole lot of drama in the last 12 months. People don't realize that we got the team four months before the season started. I don't know if people realize how wild of a dynamic

that is, but to basically get the keys to the car four months before the actual season tipped off, there was a lot of things we had to do. We had a lot of bumps on the way. I call it growing pains because we had to figure out who are we going to be as an organization and what do we want to lead with? What do we want our organization to be known for? And so we had to, that's what I mean by growing pains. Maybe it wasn't the normal way that's been done, but now it's the way we have to do things because we want to be that organization that

has, we want to be excellent on and off the court. You know, we don't want to just be the team that can kill it on the court. We want to be a team that can do both. And so, yeah, getting to that, there were some growing pains. It is always different when you talk about being the boss. Huge shift for you. Napoleon Hill talks in his book, Think and Grow Rich, about having a mastermind group. And so have you identified individuals who may be in WNBA or not, who you

are constantly talking to, getting advice, getting counsel, because again, you're not playing a much different, not different position. You're playing a totally different role that even very few athletes are familiar with. Yeah, no, it is different. And I think that when you become an owner of a team, the people I've been reaching out to are owners of startups, owners of, because when you think about what we're doing with the WNBA, no, it's not a startup, but in some ways it is. We don't have branding. We don't have sponsors beating our door down. We don't have the funds funneling in from all kinds of different people. So even the league is 25 years old years. Look for me, I grew up in Houston and some of the Houston comments during the first three titles. So even at 25 years in many places, it's still an introduction. Oh, for sure. And that's why. So I know people when they hear like startups, no, the WNBA is not a startup.

But in some ways, it's similar. I have to start building the we have to start building the brand, brand awareness. I know we've been here in Atlanta for a lot of years. But when I first got here as a player, I started to do something because I realized people don't even know a WNBA team was here. I was going around the grocery store saying, what's the name of the WNBA team? People didn't even know a WNBA team was here. I was going around the grocery store saying, what's the name of the WNBA team? People didn't even know our name. So I think that when you think of things like that, how do you build brand awareness?

How do you get people to buy in? How do you get the city to lean into us? How do we get brand sponsors? We see sponsors that sponsor every other pro sports team, the Falcons, the Hawks, United. We don't have a sponsorship with them. So how do we get there? So I've been talking to a lot of people that are in almost that same position. It sounds weird, but we're starting up something new.

We're building from the ground up. Well, you look at Chicago Sky just winning. You look at how many people were actually at that game to see them win. They're in the United Center. And so winning also plays a part of that. It's true as everything. And so last question for you. Again, you're going to have to deal with all this drama back and forth with players to build a cohesive unit.

That solves a lot of your issues. Winning solves everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, winning solves everything. And that's, you know, we just hired a new coach in Tunisia Wright, and that's what she's done her whole career. And I believe in habits. I think that people have a track record of winning. People have a habit of winning even in unwinnable circumstances.

They're the type of people you want to build with because they'll figure out a way. So we have her manning the ship. We're going to get a GM in. Our last season we didn't have a GM. There were different things that aren't normal in the sports world that we were figuring out again four months before the season started just piecing it together. But now we want to build something that's sustainable, a strong culture, and we want to do it here in Atlanta. So that's where we're at, brand awareness. Even me being here, look, this is a big deal. I don't even know if all your listeners would know the name of our team, but the Atlanta Dream, we're here in Atlanta. The season is in the summer. Tap in. Tap in. It's a good product. That sells itself.

All right, then. Renee Montgomery, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream. Like, tap in. It's a good product. That sells itself. All right, then. Renee Montgomery, co-owner of the Land Dream. We sure appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you for that. Y'all got to be prepared for the interview as well. I was literally walking by, and now we're here. I told you, I ain't got to ask nobody.

That's the whole point. Listen, okay? I haven't texted nobody. Unfiltered. Shifted. And so they just had to move the cameras to go from a one shot to a two shot. It lights it right up. Listen, just like I came in, I'm going to smoothly swift out because y'all got a whole production.

No, no. So you stay right there because we'll take a quick photo. So again, hold on one second. I'm not done. I'm going to go to the commercial break. We come back. We're going to talk about what happened in Congress today when it came to the Freedom to Vote Act.

We'll also be talking about talking to a couple of Pennsylvania lawmakers about what police are doing there when it comes to taking money from folks who never even were convicted of a crime. All of that, folks, in Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Coming to you live from the Hope Global Forum here in Atlanta. I'll be right back. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm gonna lay down. Shit. Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while.

Ooh, where you going? My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Atlanta, the eighth annual Hope Global Forum, where we are broadcasting. Folks, police asset forfeiture has been a story that we have covered for years. It is one where civil rights activists and libertarians, many folks who are conservative, have been on the same issue.

In fact, the Koch brothers, they are a nonprofit. They actually have been opponents of police forfeiture. It is an issue where many police departments, what they have been doing is literally funding their departments in all across the country with asset forfeiture, taking cars, taking money, taking jewelry. It is a major, major issue here in America. Now the question is, how does it stop?

How can we change it? Well, in Pennsylvania, this is one of the issues that they have been dealing with as well. A recent report by the Institute for Justice discovered that Philadelphia police have been abusing its civil forfeiture program. Again, it allows officers to seize things such as money or property from citizens that officers believe are involved in criminal activity, even if they're not convicted. Now, these people have not been arrested or charged with a crime for police to keep or sell the items.

For 2012 to 2014, Philadelphia police seized $50 million in cash, 1,240 properties, and 3,530 vehicles, according to a report released by the Institute for Justice. This practice definitely impacts low-income and disadvantaged communities the most. Joining me now is Representative Donna Bullock. She is the chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. Representative Bullock, glad to have you here. And so I want to ask you about this here. And so I want to actually talk about this here. Okay. So this has been the fundamental

problem that people have, that you can be, you can have your stuff taken, not charged for a crime. And then if you never charge, you don't get your stuff back. That's outlandish. Absolutely. I mean, we refer to it often as highway robbery because some of these forfeitures were happening in traffic stops. People lose their cars and those things. This practice in Philadelphia was perhaps one of the most abusive forms of the practice across the country. And in 2018, there was a lawsuit that was settled, and many of those who were victims of this practice were allowed or received funds. I think $3 million were returned to citizens.

And there are some unclaimed dollars that are being distributed to communities who have been most impacted by these civil asset forfeitures. And you can imagine, just like the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts communities of color, this particular practice overwhelmingly and disproportionately impacted black and brown communities. And they were losing wealth. They were losing their cars. They were losing their homes. They were losing small amounts of cash that could have been their bus fare for the next week to get back and forth to work. Okay. So how do you change it? Because I just believe that if you've had cash taken or property taken, if they're holding it, fine, hold it. But if you never get charged by the DA, you never go to trial,

nothing ever happens, you should get your stuff back. How in the hell is the city allowed to keep it? And so who has to change it? Is this the state lawmakers? Is the city council changing the law? How do you fix this? Well, in this case, it was the courts, right, that made that decision, and in the settlement that made that decision in 2018. And we're starting to see the current district attorney and the police department work together in deciding more judiciously about which property is taken and having a more—a clearer process for residents to claim their property back. What we have found, though, is that if it's a small amount of cash, if it's a small amount or a small value to the property, that if the process is overburdensome or cumbersome, that they're not going to go through that process to hire a lawyer, file paperwork,

go to court, miss additional days of work or school to claim a small amount of cash. And so often those dollars are left unclaimed, and that happens often. Well, this is, again, something that's been happening all across the country that lawmakers have been trying to fix. I assume that because of this report has now gotten lots of attention. And so what's the next step? What do you want the people watching to do, whether they're in Philadelphia or other places, to fix this problem? Right. Talk to your lawmakers. Talk to your district attorney offices, because often they have the discretion about how civil civil asset for future moves forward in your community. Our particular district attorney here in your community. Our particular district attorney here in Philadelphia is a progressive district attorney. And so he has said that, you know,

he's going to look more carefully at these forfeitures. And in the cases in which they have funds and which has not been returned to citizens or has been forfeited because they've been convicted, those funds are now being redistributed into those communities. And so that's the kind of work we want to support, and we should be advancing. Pennsylvania also, you know, it's not just Philadelphia. It is across our Commonwealth. There's our state troopers that are engaged in this practice. And so we passed a law in 2017 to have a higher standard of proof for folks to get their resources back or their cars or their homes. And we should no longer be taking the house of grandma who may not know that her grandson

was selling drugs or engaging in illegal activity inside of her home. That should never be a situation if that person, a homeowner, does not know or is not aware of the illegal activity. And so that practice, I believe, has ceased in Philadelphia. And I hope that we can continue to spread that kind of reform throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and across this country. All right. Representative Bullock, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Hopefully things will change there in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Thank you. We'll bring my panel right now.

Robert Batillo, executive director of Rainbow Push Coalition, Peach Street Street Project. Lawn Victoria Burke, writer with the NNPA and the GRIO. Eugene Craig, CEO, X Factor Media, Inc. Robert, I'll start with you. This whole police asset forfeiture, man, is just crazy. And I'm going to give you a story. It's so funny that we're here in Atlanta. Because the last time we were here for Hope Global Forum,

Boosie, the rapper, had about, was it $300,000? It was nearly $300,000 in jewelry that was taken. The cops in Biloxi, Mississippi, had stopped this tour bus, and everybody had come off, and one of his guys said, yo, Boosie, the bag is on the bus. So all of a sudden, the cops got them all out. They searched the bus. They come back, bags gone.

Cop says, we didn't find anything. Boosie is pissed, distraught. So he had done lots of media. And so what happened was Hashim Nzinga, who knew him, who knew me for a long time, he said, hey, man, I want you to do an interview with Boosie. Boosie went on the radio that morning and said, yo, Biloxi, I'm going to do a Roland Martin show on TV One. Talk about my missing jewelry. We did the interview.

After we finished the interview, 10 minutes they left. 10 minutes they came back and said all of a sudden they found his jewelry. And he was like, so I would appreciate you doing an interview. He said because when the word went out that I was talking to you, he said, all of a sudden my jury was found. For days they said they couldn't find the jury. They were going to keep the $300,000. And there was no crime. No one had been arrested.

Look, Roland, one, I hope he lets you have some of the jewelry, at least a chain or something for your good works in that. But this is nothing new. I'm good. Look, this is nothing new. I'm good. Look, this is nothing new. In Atlanta, we call it the Red Dog Tax, which is the Red Dog Units, be a unit of the APD that did some of their more nefarious actions. But pretty much as a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta, you can guarantee that if your client says that they were arrested with 28 grams of cocaine, by the time he gets to the evidence room and to the evidence locker and then presented for trial, you probably want to give that weight a couple times because it's more than likely not going to be that amount.

I had another case of a rapper right there at Cumberland Mall pulled off in a Lamborghini. They pulled him over immediately because of the two black dudes in a Lamborghini, and the $10,000 that was in the car went missing and never came back, evaporated. Another case of a football player. Very similar thing. They raided his home because someone called the cops thinking he was a drug dealer he was really an nfl player they took his guns they took his jewelry took his money it was all civilly and forfeited um to the the police department this is a place a part of police reform that has to be discussed and has to be uh talked about because often if you're in a high crime neighborhood if you don't a high-crime neighborhood,

if you don't get robbed by the gangs, you might get robbed by the cops on your way home while they're trying to, quote-unquote, protect and serve you. So this is one of those issues that there should be federal legislation on, but if we can't get the George Floyd Act through, then we're not going to get federal legislation. So you're going to have to start pressuring your state and local governments, particularly your city councils, your district attorneys, and your judges, when they're up for re-election, make sure that they understand this is an issue

that has to be dealt with because it's unconstitutional, it's unfair, and quite frankly, they're just robbing you, and they can do it under the color of law. The thing here, Eugene, is that strange bedfellows, libertarians, Koch Foundation, along the same side as the NAACP and others against police asset forfeiture? I mean, look, I always identify myself as a libertarian. I've come from the Paul Wingert Party, Paul Steele Wingert Party. The thing is this. Nothing should be seized or forfeited until there's a conviction, right?

You're innocent until proven guilty. And, yeah, you see these strange bedfellows because, you know, some of the white folk in the conservative movement realize this can happen to them, and it has happened to them, right? I remember going to CPAC a couple years ago, and they literally had a couple

breakout discussions on it i remember walking by in the atrium there at the gay lord and there was a three white couples they're having lunch um and i was at a table next to them and whatnot and literally they were there trying to figure out how to like set up a trust outside of all their other assets in the event that they had a legal situation and their assets were severely seized and forfeited. So, I mean, look, you know, it literally is, you know, legal highway robbery and it's not just something that's contained to local police departments, state police departments.

I mean, I've heard countless stories about folk traveling and going through TSA and going through customs and, oh, hey, yeah, this cash that you have that you might have wanted to see overseas is being seized, you know. And, you know, now you have to navigate their bureaucracy to get your money back or get your items back or get your property back. You know, there should be no seizure without a conviction. The thing here, Laura, is, all right, okay, cops are suspecting all the money, the cars came from drug dealing or illegal means. Fine. Prove it. Prove it. But we know of a number of people who have gotten caught up, nothing illegal, nothing wrong, but they've had their vehicles taken and sold. Property never returned. This is simply wrong. If you can have these things happen, I'm sorry, anywhere else, Mara, we call that theft. Yeah, absolutely. It's

theft. You know, the discussion on civil asset forfeiture has been going on, as far as I know, for at least 20 years. I'm sure that on the federal level, I'm sure that it was going on before that. And typically, the Republicans are the ones that drove the discussion. Henry Hyde had one of the first civil asset forfeiture reform bills in Congress, and then it just sort of went away. And I think Mike Lee, Senator Mike Lee, had one. I'm sure Rand Paul was in on that because, you know, obviously these are all libertarians. And so, of course, they're joined a lot of times by congressional black caucus members, so forth and so on. The problem is there is a marriage, of course, between politicians and the police.

And the police oftentimes get what they want. We just saw that happen again on qualified immunity. They really sort of make these conversations go away. And as you had mentioned before, a lot of these police departments are being funded by the things that they're stealing via civil asset forfeiture. It's one of these weird due process things. I'm frankly surprised that somebody was standing, hasn't sued. I'm sure they have sued some of these departments and gotten their things back. But it, to me, sounds like an obvious Fourth Amendment violation. And, you know, you're obviously taking people's property without any, you know, without

any arrests in some cases and certainly with no conviction, which is just strange, and getting away with it for a really long time. But, of course, there's no recourse because your first recourse would be the police if you were ripped off. If you, you know, if you're the victim of theft, then, of course, it's the police that are doing the theft. So it's usually leading to a lawsuit to get the property or the money or whatever it is back. Well, again, there are efforts to try to stop this all across the country, and we'll see if that happens. All right, folks, hold tight one second. We've got to go to a break. We come back. Well, we're going to talk about the drama here in Washington, D.C., where Democrats cannot get any traction on a bill to change voting in this country.

Also, I can't wait to hear my panel discuss this Mother Jones article where Senator Joe Manchin is threatening the White House and Democrats that if he does not get his way on the Build Better plan, that if it isn't cut from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion, that he will lead the Democratic Party. Mmm. We're going to talk about that. Folks, you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Atlanta at the 8th Annual Hope Global Forum on the Black Start Network, back in a moment.

Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Ooh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure, it's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick password buick envision 2021 oh you should pick something stronger that's

really predictable that's a really tight spot don't worry i used to hate parallel parking me too hey really outdid yourself yes we did the all-new buick envision an suv built around you all of you once upon a time there lived a princess with really long hair who was waiting for a prince to come save her but really who has time for that she ordered herself a ladder with prime one day delivery and she was out of there now her hairdressing empire is killing it. And the prince? Well, who cares? Prime changed everything.

I'm Angie Stone. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Oh, Roland. Hey, Roland. I am so disappointed that you are not here, first of all. Where's our dance? It's like we get a dance in every time I see you. And so now you're not here for me to dance with, sir. You and your ascot. I need it. I need that in my life right now. Okay. I love you, Roland. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Republican lawmakers, folks, blocked the...

Republican lawmakers blocked the Freedom to Vote Act despite pressure from President Joe Biden. Senate Republicans blocked the Democrats' effort to begin debate on the act. The vote was 49 to 51. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer changed his vote to nay so the vote can be brought up at a later time. No. On this vote, the yeas are 49, the nays are 51.

Three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn, not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to. Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider the failed cloture vote. Black activists and civil rights groups have been demanding Congress move on this to stop Republican efforts all across the country for voter suppression. Vice President Kamala Harris said she is disappointed with today's vote. Well, let's start with what just happened, which is the United States Senate and members of the United States Senate had an opportunity to uphold the importance of every American's right to exercise

their fundamental right in a democracy, which is the right to vote. And when presented with this opportunity, the Democrats unanimously upheld the importance of that right, and the Republicans, sadly, unanimously failed to do so. So we're not going to give up. We're not deterred. But there's still a lot of work to do, and I think it's really a sad day. I thought that Senator Schumer, the majority leader, he spoke well in reminding us of America's history.

And sadly, we have seen these moments before. I'd like to think that we have evolved as a nation and that we would not have to return to a moment where the United States Senate would have to debate, yet in this situation, fail as a body to even move forward protections as it relates to the right to vote. So we're not going to give up. We have never given up. Those of us who have fought for the right of every American to be able to express their voice through their vote, we're going to continue to do the work. In a statement, Georgia Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock said, quote, I've long maintained that voting rights is more important than preserving any Senate procedural rule. While today's vote may have failed, I remain steadfastly committed

to passing voting rights legislation this Congress. Like my parishioner, Congressman John Lewis, I believe that voting is a sacred undertaking and we must keep marching until we secure the sacred right to vote for every eligible American. To that end, I look forward to connecting with my Democratic colleagues over the coming days and weeks to discuss the next steps we must take to restore the Senate and pass both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Congress must pass voting rights no matter what. All right, Lauren, what the hell happens next? What happens is the Democrats are not putting any effort into this. They're not putting any effort into this at all.

I mean, they're not even bothering to do silly, simple stuff like everybody tweeting the same message at the same time. They're not even doing that. I wonder what goes on at these meetings, though. You know, we saw a series of meetings in the run-up to this moment. And to me, I mean, there's just no gangster in this story. And there needs to be a gangster in this story. There needs to be somebody who has sort of a Robert F. Kennedy, LBJ attitude about getting things done. We know that's not the president of the United States. We know that that's not Joe Biden. So it's got to be somebody,

because these little polite little statements and back and forth and talking to Manchin, Mr. I'm going to get 10 Republicans, which, of course, he didn't do. He should be the last person that they're doing any polite talk with whatsoever. And they're not they're not there's no sense here of urgency whatsoever. If somebody can detect some urgency on this moment with this with this with this thing, that is the most important thing in terms of what happens to this party afterwards. I think everybody realizes, if not, I'll say it, they have a year to get this done. And if they don't get it done, they're pretty much dead in the water. They're acting as if they don't realize that. So I'm not understanding what this is, but there is no urgency on this whatsoever. And it's embarrassing. So the thing here is, all right, where do you go?

Eugene, all of Manchin talk about, oh, we must do things in a bipartisanship manner. He didn't bring a single Republican vote over. He was never going to bring them over. And so Sinema and Manchin, so what? Hey, what the hell? Allow these things to stand? And so what to do? Clearly, Sinema has dug in. Manchin has dug in. We're going to talk in a little bit how he's now threatening the White House that he's going to become an independent, which will keep the Democrats from having a majority. And in fact, if he does that, he puts control in the Republicans hands. We'll discuss that after this here. But what do folks do now when it comes to voting

legislation? It's unless you end the filibuster, nothing happens. So, look, this is the deal here. I think they got one more card left to play, right? I agree with you that both Manchin and Sinema are not in a position to negotiate, and you shouldn't be, you know, Katoa to them. You shouldn't be trying to appease them at this point. I mean, one, he hasn't been a good faith negotiator. Two, you know, apparently, you know, he doesn't even care about his own people, right?

He just literally just cares about himself. I mean, I'm the type of petty where I would go in and say, hey, well, you know, your daughter holds the patent to the EpiPen, and she's been pretty much robbing families out here, so we're just going to nationalize that to start with. Right. And then, you know, we'll just keep the ball moving down that little train.

Now, that's the type of petty that I am. Now, we know that's not what this White House, you know, Biden, that's not Joe Biden, right? So what are the options? I think the only thing left they can do is at this point is say, look, all right, we'll meet you somewhere on this reconciliation bill, but we're not going to let you ever put a gun to our head again. So if you want this in reconciliation, you're going to simply vote to wipe out the filibuster here

or give us whatever car vows we want. You know, and if he says no to that, you know, at that point it's effeminate to figure out what you're going to do moving forward. You know, they both got to be primary. I mean, I think you can never allow one person from a tiny state to hold the rest of the country hostage ever again. I mean, literally, I mean, they're already too hard to carve out sort of filibuster. So his argument that, you know, that we got to preserve the filibuster institution of the Senate is complete BS.

I mean, it is. You know, that's the difference between, you know, McConnell and crew and, you know, the Democrats. You know, it's like, you know, McConnell has no problem doing what's necessary to get the job done. And if you decide not to fall in line, you will pay a price for it. And I think at some point in time, Dems got to play the same game with their folk. You know, this is gang warfare by a different structure. Robert? Get down the way down.

And look, Roland, I think we're all sitting here silently saying the same thing, which is where is the Democratic version of Donald Trump in this situation? Because what do we see Trump do when people wouldn't get on board with anything that was part of his agenda in the Republican Senate. When John McCain voted against repealing Obamacare, Donald Trump attacked him to the grave and then even after he died. That is the level of savagery Republicans have on their side of the aisle. If you don't get in line, I will attack you until you meet the gates of hell. That is where they're willing to fight these battles.

You can look at Corky, you can look at Flake, you can look at Sessions. Anybody who got out of line with the Republican president's agenda, they are now out of office. Democrats are running so scared about one person from West Virginia might change parties, but forgetting that, guess what? If you don't get this stuff passed, you're going to lose five to 10 seats in the Senate, and you ain't got to worry about Joe Manchin if you simply don't do your job. So I think you're going to have to have somebody on the Democratic side of the aisle start deciding they're going to play hardball with these quote-unquote moderates and give them that same treatment that Trump gave those moderates on his side of the aisle so that he could whip that party into one unanimous MAGA party, which agrees with everything he says. What is the point

of Joe Biden being in office if he's not going to put the work in? Why isn't Joe Biden on this show right now talking about the voting rights and talking about criminal justice reform? Why is he on Colbert, The Daily Show, and Trevor Noah? Why isn't he on The Today Show, Food Network? I don't care where he needs to be at.

He has to make the sale to the American people, and right now he's not doing that. He's allowing Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz to set the national argument, and this is why his poll numbers are sagging, why nothing's getting done and why House Democrats are retiring day after day because they don't see a causeway to victory. Hey, I keep trying to tell these Biden folks and the Democratic Party, you playing with fire. You going to set yourself up to get your ass wiped out in 2022. You're playing with fire.

And this is not just black voters. It's Latino voters. It's young white voters. People have to have a reason to go back. And if they see you sitting here, and here's the deal. The White house's whole position is oh you know we're about you know they trying to we got to get the you know the bill better plan and you're trying to sit here in a peace mansion and all of that but again

what you're going to face if you do not move on this voting bill you're going to face a wipeout and it's going to be ugly and you're going to be guaranteed toout. And it's going to be ugly, and you're going to be guaranteed to be in the minority. That's what's going to happen. All right, folks, some good news from Texas. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Real quick, Roland. So the thing is this, right? The Biden team are making somewhat the same mistake

that the Obama team made in 08-09, right? They got elected, and yeah, you had to stabilize the economy, but, you know, it was the idea that, hey, if we go after health care, it helps us and it helps all communities rather than, you know, the communities that really, really turned up for us. And you saw what happened in 2010. And I agree with you 110 percent. If Team Biden don't get this together now, you know, they're going to see a similar wipeout in 2010 between redistricting and people just being frustrated and fed up. You will see another red wave. The only thing that may prevent it is that you got a competent Ronald McDaniel there instead of a competent Michael Steele. And the only thing I would add to that, because I was going to make that same point about Obama's first term,

they were so afraid of people like Claire McCaskill and John Tester having to take hard votes on health care that they basically threw the entire rest of the agenda under the bus, which immediately led to the Tea Party movement, which led to the MAGA movement, which led directly to Donald Trump. So what Democrats have to understand is while you're sitting here playing footsie with Manchin and Sinema trying to, you know, tickle their fancy to figure out what will get them to vote in favor of something they will never vote in favor of, you at least have to make the argument to the American people. Donald Trump should be doing more rallies than President Biden is doing right now and appearing in more congressional districts because he's getting his people in line. And going into 2022, in these hard Senate races, you're going to have a MAGA candidate

and you're going to have a Democratic candidate who's trying to run on what? Right now, if you had to run a Democratic general election campaign, what are you running on? Are you running on Afghanistan going to hell? Are you running on inflation going through the roof? Are you running on COVID restrictions still being in place and mask mandates? What exactly are my selling points? I need to go tell these people to get out here and vote for me again? Hey, sorry, man. I forgot about that student loan reform.

We ain't going to talk about reparations. I ain't getting the voting rights. I ain't getting to the John Lewis bill. I ain't getting the criminal justice reform. Also, pretty much all that BS I was telling you I ain't do, but get on out here and vote for me again. That's what they're hoping for. Folks, our text is, hold on one second, some good news. Hold on.

Good news from members of Congress, Sheila Jackson, Lee, and Al Green. They will keep their congressional districts after intense negotiations. The new map will still give Republicans the majority in most districts. The Republicans were threatening to literally strip black folks from different districts and force those two to run against each other. That didn't come out so well. But again, these are the type of tactics, Lauren, that must be dealt with because the federal bill will outlaw partisan gerrymandering. Exactly. And these are just standard, you know, everyday Republican tactics. I mean, they're not trying to help, you know, please anybody but hold power. I mean, here's the thing about the Manchin thing that is just really strange. Whether he leaves the party

or not, I mean, really doesn't make any difference other than, okay, yeah, sure, the committee chairs, whatever. But you see, he's blocking the entire agenda anyway. So there should be an open discussion in the Democratic Party, one would think, about what it would take to primary him, get him out of office. I mean, that should be the discussion. That should be an open national discussion. And for some reason, I don't know what it is. I don't know whether it's this generation of Democrats and we just need the next generation to show up. But the fact that Barack Obama and Joe Biden really have the same management style, which is that trying to make everybody happy, trying to appease everybody, trying to do this sort of dance of, you know of compromise, knowing full well that you're

talking to somebody who is owned by the oil and gas industry. Joe Manchin is owned by the oil and gas. I mean, there's nothing really to talk about. He's blocking the bill in part because there's a big climate change amount of money in there that he doesn't want to see passed. And I just don't understand what the Democratic Party is doing. I don't get what, you know, everybody busts their ass to get these people in office. They get into office, and this is it. This is the best that you can do. This is the most urgent that you can be about some of the biggest, most important pieces that are part of the agenda that you talked about to get elected. And Joe Biden, I think,

you know, he did do a fairly good job. They did have the American Rescue Plan that, you know, he passed right away. He's done, I think, very well with COVID. But they got to understand that when they're in power and, you know, all the mobilization it takes to get there goes to waste when you don't use all of your power to get your agenda moving. And they're just not doing that. And it's very reminiscent, frankly, of President Obama. And just piggybacking off of that. Yeah, Robert, go ahead. Robert, final comment. Go ahead. Yeah, just lastly, we have to remember that in the upcoming election, after a party takes power, you almost always lose seats THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT THING. IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT THING. AND JUST LASTLY, WE HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT IN THE UPCOMING

ELECTION AFTER A PARTY TAKES POWER, YOU ALMOST ALWAYS LOSE SEATS IN THE HOUSE AND LOSE SENATE SEATS. SO WHEN YOU COMBINE THAT WITH A FAILED ECONOMIC RECORD, YOU COMBINE THAT WITH FAILURE IN AFGHANISTAN, YOU COMBINE THAT

WITH NOT DOING ANYTHING ON IMMIGRATION, THEY'RE DEPORTING HATIENS ON HORSEBACK WITH WHIPS AND ALL THE OTHER THINGS THAT THIS ADMINISTRATION HAS SHOWN, THEY ARE MAKING IT NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR HOUSE AND SENATE the other things that this administration has shown, they are making it nearly impossible for House and Senate Democrats to hold the line. And frankly, Joe Manchin's threat is completely empty because in the Democratic Party, as the most conservative member, he has the complete power over the national agenda. If he leaves and goes to the Republican Party, he's just the least crazy person in the room. He is a complete voice that means nothing. He loses all power if he shits parties, so I'll call this bluff. All right, folks.

Hold tight one second. When we come back, more Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Atlanta, site of the eighth annual Hope Global Forum. You're on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. I'm sorry. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm going to go. Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson.

Like, really loves. Hey, I'm Cupid, the maker of the Cupid Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. And if you ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks. 56-year-old Patricia G. Fox Hawkins was last seen on August 24th,

leaving her home in Columbus, Ohio. Hawkins is described as a black female with black hair and brown eyes, standing 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 145 pounds. She was last seen wearing a long sundress with blue, yellow, and pink vertical stripes with flip-flops. She may also have a small black dog with her. If you know about her whereabouts, please call Columbus Police Department at 614-645-4545,

614-645-4545. All right, folks, R&B singer R. Kelly is facing another federal trial, this one in Chicago. A federal judge said in the August 1st, 2022 trial date for child pornography and obstruction of justice charges. Kelly was convicted last month in New York on racketeering charges. He'll find out on May 4th, 2022, how long he'll be sentenced. And for that case, he could get life in prison. He's also facing state charges in Illinois and a child prostitution charge in Minnesota. Now, let's go to another entertainer. Ashley Cuba Gooding Jr. will go to trial in February for a groping case. Gooding is accused of touching several women inappropriately in New York City from 2018 to 2019. He faces six misdemeanors if convicted. All right, folks. And also in Hawaii, let's talk about this story. A 10-year-old black girl was arrested for, yeah, drawing a picture

of her bully. In January, a parent of the alleged bully was very upset about the picture and demanded police involvement. The black girl ended up getting handcuffed in front of her classmates, taken into custody, and interrogated without her mother present. Nothing happened to the child who was bullying her. The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii wants the police and school officials to change how they handle such situations and compensate the black student's family in the amount of $500,000. I'm confused here, Robert. She was drawing a photo. She had a drawing.

You arrest her for drawing a picture. Am I missing something? I read through this case a few times with the same look on my face, trying to understand what exactly was the threat that this young girl was creating by drawing this picture. What existential harm could she cause? I could understand if it was a picture of her

doing harm to this bully or a threat to the school or a threat to other students. I've seen cases along those lines of being the basis for something along this. But in this case, none of that was present. I think it was simply one school policy gone wrong, school resource officers gone wrong, and also overzealous parenting where instead of simply having your children talk it out or determine what the issue is, you try to involve police with 10-year-olds. So it's a failure across the board when it comes to these issues. And for the life of me, I can't find what exactly the basis of this would be in law or in any school policy. I haven't looked up the school district's discipline policy. Nothing there involves students being handcuffed and interrogated by police officers for making

drawings. And I think schools also have to look at the way that they handle bullying in cases, particularly in the 21st century. We saw the case down in Texas where the young boy was bullied and ended up shooting the people who bullied him. We've seen other cases where students have committed suicide as a result of bullying. They have to take these things more seriously and not punish the victim, but try to find a resolution before it gets to this point. Eugene. Look, first thing first, you know, she drew a picture, you're arrested for it. That sounds like a pure, straightforward violation of her First Amendment rights.

Secondly, you know, she obviously drew the picture of the bully. So you probably should more so be dealing with the bully than dealing with her. Where probably the problem actual crime has been committed. Thirdly, you know, I hope they sue the hell out of the school district, the county, and the state to get every dime possible. And even that won't match the trauma that this little girl's going to have to deal with from being arrested for expressing how she felt about somebody that was bullying her. Lauren? Yeah. I mean, obviously, this is a minor involved so those individuals are likely to be school administrators and parents. But even on an adult level, we see it. Like, everybody's

calling the cops for everything. Every little thing that goes on, they expect the cops to show up and somehow play, you know, I don't know, somehow figure out how to solve their problems. And I think that this story is sort of a great example of it, where it escalates. And frankly, just like Eugene said, I hope the parents sue the district and get the money, because at least that will dissuade stupid things from happening again. But it's a ridiculous story. Well, it is highly unfortunate as well. And we keep seeing how our children are being impacted. All right, folks, let's come back here to Georgia's day three of jury selection for the three white men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery. There's already talk of a possible mistrial.

The Glynn County Superior Court may have exposed potential jurors to suppressed evidence. Some of the evidence files were on the same page on the court's website where potential jurors could find the information they needed to appear. That evidence includes Aubury's mental health history, the defendant's firearm use, and the Confederate vanity plate. If a potential juror saw this information, it would disqualify them from being on the jury. If a juror knowingly participates in the trial with inadmissible evidence, it would be grounds for a mistrial. It may take up to two weeks for the attorneys to sort through hundreds of potential jurors before seating a jury. Robert, how in the hell is suppressed evidence on a website?

You know, this is another one where this is, I'm sorry for my home state sometimes because this sounds like some extra redneck stuff down in South Georgia. I don't even understand how admissible evidence would even be on a county website, let alone in a portal where the public can get to it. You know, when you turn over discovery to defense attorneys or we exchange discovery in court, you have to sign off on it between the attorneys and the district attorney's office just to make sure you have that chain of custody to ensure that there's nothing inadmissible either that A, the defense attorney doesn't get that they should, or B, that could get out into the public record, which could either color the

jury or could get onto news and provide the unflattering light to the case. So normally you keep these things under a very tight level of scrutiny. For this to just be floating around out there is ridiculous. I think this is another situation where if I was in the state, I would probably ask for a change of venue to take this out of South Georgia, out of Glynn County, move it to the metro Atlanta area, draw a jury pool from there, where you'll be free from local biases, and try to get the case done as soon as possible. Because it seems like no matter what, a fair trial is not going to happen down there in South Georgia.

Because remember, it took three prosecutors in the first place before the video came out to even get an arrest in the case. And then we still have the interference between the first prosecutor and the McNulty's when it came to them first being charged. So it seems that what's going to ultimately have to happen is you move this case to another district. So you have a venue and a jury pool that's fresh and free from those local biases. But this entire thing is crazy already. We're going to be down in Brunswick and in Glynn County later on this week with Rainbow Push. But there's a lot of things to get sorted out. I think they're going to have to sort it out quick for there could be any confidence in the outcome of this case i don't understand eugene how suppress evidence first of all

i i've launched websites i've run. Someone literally would have had to load it to the page and click save. So, look, you know, I don't even want to say it. It's some foul play here already. You know, now you're a robber. You probably want to change the venue at this point because you're not going to get a fair trial. And when I say fair trial, I mean trial fair to the victim in Brunswick County. What you're seeing here is, hey, taint the jury, set it up for a mistrial because

once testimony and once actual evidence is put on the table, it's going to look very open and close. So what can you do? You can hopefully plant the seeds for a mistrial of technicality. So I think that if these are the games that are being played, especially in light of what happened with the first two prosecutors, the next YNC, I think, look, you've got to get a change of venue and you've got to get as fair as a trial for the victim here,

the victim and the victim's get this, you got to get as fair as a trial for the victim here, the victim and the victim family here as possible. Um, I, it just, it just, it, I just can't even explain to people y'all how it's not that simple that information gets uploaded to a website on a public portion of the website. It's crazy. All right, y'all, I want to tell you about another case where an unarmed black man is killed. Three former Washington County, Georgia deputies are on trial for tasing a black man for just walking down a road.

On July 7, 2017, Michael Howell, Rhett Scott, and Henry Copeland stop Yuri Martin while walking to a relative's home. Here's a video of the initial encounter. And we want to warn you, the following video footage is very graphic, folks. Hey, come over here. Come over here, come on over here. Come on, come on, come on, guide the road, guide the road, guide the road, guide the Come over here. Come on over here. Come on over here.

Come on, come on. Get out of the road. Get out of the road. Get out of the road, man. Come on. Get out of the road. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Yeah. Субтитры сделал DimaTorzok E aí Put your hands behind your back. Put your hands behind your back. Put your hands behind your back. Put your hands behind your back. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. You're going to be tased.

Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. No, no, no. Hey, no, hey, no. Get on the ground. Get down. Roll over. Roll over.

Roll over. Ah! You got a supply? Ah! Put your hands down! Put your hands down! Put your hands down! Put your hands down!

Put your hands down! Put your hands down! Put your hands down! I don't know. Hey, going down. My dog was going down. No trial. My dog was going down. My dog was going down. My dog was going down. My dog was going down. My dog was going down. My dog was going down.

Lauren, that's crazy. The man gets up, he gets tased, he gets up, walks off, he gets tased again. Now, check again. Again, watch this. the tape. No picture in America. Do it dot com. Get him again. I'm gonna get into the balance.

You don't you want to get you want to be on the ground, right? You're going to get on the ground. Right? Yeah. God, they're going to be

there. Oh, man. Yeah. I'm going to down. Roll over. Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Oh, man. Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Roll over! Okay, folks, now he's down, not moving, and it takes nearly five minutes before the deputies realize something is wrong with Martin.

Watch this! Folks, the investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found the deputies were not justified in stopping or detaining Martin. However, the defense maintains Martin was illegally walking in the road and took an aggressive stance toward deputies that weren't recorded on video. Lauren. I mean, obviously, you can say anything, right, that he's illegally walking in the road. So what? I mean, this is one of these cases where the police being present causes the entire problem. It's an example,

I think, of nothing happening in these small towns and people getting into jobs and getting into jobs where they're handed a uniform and a gun badge and authority, and they're just looking for something to do. And what we just saw really to me was just like the torture and killing of somebody for absolutely nothing, over absolutely nothing. Reminds me a little bit, even though it's a completely different video, the Eric Garner video, where that was over a pack of cigarettes. Because it all leads back to what we've been dealing with for 100 years, which is people who think they can, you know, tell Black people what to do. And if you're not doing what I say, then I get to do whatever I want to you.

It's not just the roots of racism and white superiority and white supremacy. It is just this idea that, you know, I get to control you. I get to tell you what to do. And if you're not doing exactly as I say, I can do whatever I want. So, I mean, it's unfortunate that we see these videos over and over again. It effectively is the same video over and over again. It's unfortunate that people on the right who talk so much about too much government and talk so much about being libertarian never view any of these police incidents as too much government. I've never heard Rand Paul see a video like this and come out and say, wow, this is too much government. This is the absolute epitome of too much government

because the police, of course, are funded by the government. And they do whatever they want. We have it on video. You always have to, when you see these videos, I know it's cliche to say it at this point, but really, I mean, if this is what we're seeing now with our camera phones and everything else and body cameras and the cameras in the police car, what the hell was going on before this?

Well, we know what was going on before this because we could just go to YouTube and see Malcolm X and so many others talking about police brutality some 50 and 60 years ago. It's the same thing over and over again. Soon as I heard that twang, Robert, I knew exactly what was going down. Well, look, again, I apologize for my state. This seems to be a running issue that we have here. But just going back to the Terry Stop nature of this, police officers cannot simply just stop you for no reason under the sun until you lay on the ground. They have to articulate to you exactly what you're being detained for and the reason for it. THE MAN WAS TAKEN TO THE COURTROOM AND THEY SAID, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE DETAINED. THERE'S NO REASON UNDER THE SUN

UNTIL YOU LAY ON THE GROUND. THEY HAVE TO ARTICULATE TO YOU WHAT YOU'RE BEING DETAINED FOR AND THE REASON FOR IT. YOU HEARD THE MAN ON THE VIDEO, MR. MARTIN, SAY, WHAT ARE YOU BOTHERING ME FOR? THEY DIDN'T EVEN ATTEMPT TO SAY

WHAT THEY WERE BOTHERING HIM FOR. THEY SIMPLY PULLED ANOTHER COP CAR UP AND STARTED TAZING THE MAN. STILL NOT TELLING HIM WHAT HE WAS BEING STOPPED FOR. HE WAS NOT INFORMED HE WAS ACCUSED OF A CRIME, THAT HE WAS A SUSPECT. He was not informed he was accused of a crime, that he was a suspect, if they were checking on him for a medical issue or anything along those lines. They simply stopped a man from walking down the street and started tasing him for no reason.

That's torture under the Geneva Convention. You can't do that in war, but you can do that on the streets of rural Georgia. And I also want people to think about this. If that had been three police cars pulling up to tase a dog, you don't think we would see people marching and protesting? You don't think all of our allies who tell us we're on the same team? THIS. THAT HAD BEEN THREE POLICE CARS PULLING UP TO TASER DOG. YOU DON'T THINK WE WOULD SEE PEOPLE MARCHING AND PROTESTING? YOU DON'T THINK ALL OF OUR ALLIES WHO TELL US WE'RE ON THE SAME TEAM?

OH, LAW. WHY ARE THEY GOING CRAZY? SO IMAGINE THAT WAS A GOLDEN RETRIEVER NAMED MARTIN INSTEAD OF A BLACK MAN NAMED MARTIN, HOW THEY WOULD ACT TOWARDS THAT. THIS IS WHY WE TALK ABOUT CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM AND THE

NEED FOR IT, BECAUSE IF THE CAMERAS AREN'T TURNED ON, THEN THE STORIES OF BLACK MEN ARE SIMPLY PUT NOT BELIEVED. THE SAME WAY WE SAY WE HAVE TO BELIEVE WOMEN IN THE ME TOO CONTEXT, WE HAVE TO START BELIEVING BLACK MEN EVEN WHEN THERE'S NOT A CAMERA THERE ON OUR FACE TO SHOW WHAT HAPPENED. AND THEN EVEN TOWARDS THE END WHEN THE LAST OFFICER, WHEN BOSS HALT GOT THERE AND DECIDED TO GET HIS LITS IN TOO, YOU HAVE THREE OFFICERS SURROUNDING AN ELDERLY MAN AND THEY STILL FOUND THE NEED TO TASE HIM A THIRD TIME. there and decide to get his lips in too. You have three officers surrounding an elderly man and they still found the need to tase him a third time for no apparent reason, still at no point articulating the point of the stop or the reason for it in the first place. Every part of this

violates every part of that man's civil liberties. And if it was not for cameras being present, nobody would have ever believed it. The police report would have said he attacked the officers, he attempted to escape. We used a reasonable force to stop him and they would have believed OF THEM. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN IN COURT AND THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN IN COURT. IN TERMS OF BEING PRESENT, NOBODY WOULD HAVE EVER BELIEVED IT. THE POLICE REPORT WOULD HAVE SAID HE ATTACKED THE OFFICERS, HE ATTEMPTED TO ESCAPE, WE USED A REASONABLE FORCE TO STOP HIM

AND THEY WOULD HAVE BELIEVED THAT IN COURT. THIS IS THE SCARIEST PART ABOUT BEING A BLACK MAN IN AMERICA. YOU NEED TO HAVE A DRONE FOLLOWING YOU AROUND 24 HOURS A DAY APPARENTLY IF YOU WANT ANYBODY TO BELIEVE THE WORDS

YOU'RE SAYING WHEN IT COMES TO INTERACTIONS WITH POLICE. EUGENE? LOOK, I THINK first thing is this, right? I think we need to just drop the notion that tasers are non-deadly weapons. Apparently they are. Secondly, you know, if he was still alive, the argument would be that, hey, everything that happened after his detainment, his unlawful detainment, resulted as the point of that unlawful detainment should be thrown out. Thirdly, I think we need to get to a point where if what's on the report does not match up with what's on the camera, there should be automatic termination because you have lost the public trust.

But we need to stop having like these. Folks, got to go. Lauren, go ahead. Go ahead. I was just going to say we need to stop this idea that, you know, oh, let's look at the report and think about what they said and what they read. I mean, we know what we're seeing. We don't need their report or their interpretation of what we just saw. They're picking on somebody who's a poor person walking down the street

that they know they can get away with it with. That's what this is. So all of their reasoning and their reports and what they said, we can see what we saw on the video, just like Walter Scott and Eric Garner and so many others. So to me, I'm past this point of worrying or thinking about their reports and looking at what they thought. That's all outrageous and ridiculous at this point. Yep. I got you. Hey, folks, I got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about Chicago police not trying to take the vaccine. Now they're being sued by the mayor there. I do want to give you this update here. Go to my iPad, please. So Meg Kennard, of course, we had Meg on the show. She's, of course, someone, a reporter for the Associated Press out of South Carolina.

She's been on the show. She posted this last night. She says, finally, I am tweeting this from my home, and it feels so good to be back in South Carolina. And you know what's coming. Self-exam, get a mammogram, advocate for yourself, beat cancer, and stay tuned. I'm just getting started. And you know what's coming. Self-exam, get a mammogram, advocate for yourself, beat cancer, and stay tuned. I'm just getting started. And so Meg announced that she posted on social media that she had been waiting to post being cancer-free. And so your prayers are certainly appreciated.

I can let you know that she was very much supportive of the Roland Martin unfiltered family praying for her. And then and so this was the tweet that she actually posted initially when I was first diagnosed with stage three breast cancer earlier this year. I said that I had every intention of rolling into 2022 cancer free this morning. I found out that I beat my goal by a couple of months. No evidence of disease. That's it. That's the tweet. And so that's her flying back from Houston, MD Anderson. And then this is where her doctor said no evidence at all of the breast cancer.

And so we're going to keep praying for Meg. Meg, we know we appreciate what you do, and glad to hear the good news. Going to a break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network, live from the 8th Annual Hope Global Forum in Atlanta. Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the P.O.X. massaging seat.

Oh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021.

Oh, you should pick something stronger. That's really predictable. That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too. Hey. Really outdid yourself.

Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision. An SUV built around you. All of you. Once upon a time, there lived a princess with really long hair who was waiting for a prince to come save her. But really, who has time for that? I'm feeling myself. She ordered herself a ladder with prime one-day delivery.

And she was out of there. I want some hood girls looking back at it and a good girl in my text bra. Now, her hairdressing empire is killing it. And the prince, well, who cares? Prime changes everything. Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph,

and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks, we're back in here in Atlanta, the 8th Annual Hope Global Forum 2021. Folks, if you missed earlier today, just simply go to Black Star Network, download the app on all available devices. You can actually see the full program. I'm my radio panel about what we must change when it comes to the C-suites. Again, Android

phone, Apple phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Samsung, Xbox, all different platforms. You can download the app. And so please do so if you want to watch what took place for day two of the Hope Global Forum. You can sit on a YouTube channel. Also, you can watch all day proceedings on Black Star Network, which is why we are here.

So we certainly appreciate partnering with Operation Hope and my man, John Hope Bryant, to bring you the great conversations that we've been having here. All right, folks. In Chicago, a citywide vaccine reporting mandate is causing some issues with the police. As of Tuesday, one-third of the city's police officers and civilian employees have not submitted their vaccination status, missing last week's deadline. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot accuses the Fraternal Order of Police leadership of spreading misinformation about the vaccine. Lightfoot filed a suit on behalf of the city forbidding the FOP president from publicly encouraging officers to disobey city vaccine reporting mandates. A judge

said that can move forward. Here's Mayor Lightfoot. So you asked the question of why the lawsuit? Because we believe that the FOP leadership is trying to foment an illegal work stop at the strike, pure and simple. We've laid that out in the materials, and we're not having that. The contract is clear and it's been known for a long time. The police unions are not authorized to strike. It's in their collective bargaining agreement, and It's a matter of state law. What we've seen from the fraternal order of police and particularly the leadership is a lot of misinformation, a lot of half-truths and frankly, flat out lies in order to induce an insurrection. If officers do not comply, they will be placed on unpaid leave. Eighty two percent of compliant personnel are vaccinated. Lenoir has over 1 million reported cases and 28,000 reported COVID deaths.

Four Chicago police officers died of COVID in 2020. You know what, Eugene? You know, these cops, it's happening all over the place. You know what, fine. Let's just go create some openings to hire some people who need to be on the police force. Because more than likely, the folks holding out are a bunch of punk-ass MAGA

supporters anyway. Listen, listen, it sounds like a jobs program in the middle of high unemployment. It sounds like you can come in and get some folk from the local community. You want community policing? You got some openings now, so it looks like it's perfect time, and you get some folk from the community community. You want community policing? You got some openness now, so it looks like it's perfect time,

and you get some folk from the community that are coming in and be actual good cops. Look, the thing is this. You start letting these police unions run wild, and they end up with these super MAGA folk that run them and lead them, and it's out of control. I mean, it's just like the guy from the Baltimore police union. Out of control. Just out of control.

He gets on TV and say whatever, release some kind of press statement. Same with the head of the Sergeant's Bureau or the Lieutenant's Bureau in New York or whatever, who the FBI just raided. I mean, look, these police union heads, they think they're God when in reality, you know, they're serving as a union head, you know, and probably working against the interests of the people they're supposed to serve. You know what? I'm telling you, I'm telling you, Lauren, I just don't understand. The greatest, I mean, Jen Psaki said this the other day when she was dealing with that idiot Pete Doocy. Matter of fact, let me see if I can find it.

They were going over this thing back and forth, and they were talking about police deaths. And he was trying to challenge her on on that whole point matter of fact you know what here we go all right so uh i i found it uh lauren watch this because this is how you're supposed to respond to stuck on stupid people but there are other problems in the world than covid19 international terror gang violence murder arson arson, drug dealing. What was the number one cause of death among police officers last year? Do you know? COVID-19. So that's something that we're working to address,

and police departments are working to address. But there are other problems in the world than COVID-19. International terror, gang violence, murder, arson, drug dealing. That right there. Y'all come on, come on, come back, come back, come back, come back. Come on, thank you. Lauren, she said it. The biggest cause of death of cops last year, COVID. Right. Yeah, I mean, Pete Doocy's an idiot, so it's kind of like sort of an entertainment piece every time he asks a question. I don't know why he thinks that he's not going to get himself embarrassed every time. But I mean, something that has killed 700,000

people in the United States obviously is a serious problem. And obviously, cops are first responders, so they're going to be at the front lines of being at risk for getting COVID. But, you know, as somebody who's the kid of a law enforcement officer, you know, one of the cultures from New York, one of the cultures of police is, you know, you don't tell us what to do. We tell you what to do, particularly with these bigger departments in the bigger cities, you know, such as New York and Chicago, that attitude is going to be, you know, no one's telling us what to do. And then you add on the layer, of course, that Mayor Lightfoot is a black female. I'm not saying it couldn't happen with Richard Daley, but I think if we were in the era of Richard Daley, it wouldn't happen,

that you're just going to flaunt the wishes of the mayor and just act like, you know, you're in control of anything. But a lot of these police departments in these bigger cities just think that they're above any direction from anybody, and they keep everybody on that footing no matter what the issue is. So here we are, having a ridiculous argument about what is really about public health.

And these people are working in public jobs. It's not a private industry situation. And yet they're going to argue and fight to the death over it, because really what I think it's about is not really COVID. It's about control. It's about being told what to do by a black woman in a profession that's predominantly white male and not wanting to have to cede any authority to her. Folks, I want to hold tight. I'm going to go to a break. We're going to come back.

We're going to talk about a former Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel, had his hearing today, becoming the next ambassador to Japan. Oh, he got challenged by some Democrats over the case of Laquan McDonald. We'll show you what Rahm had to say next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Nå er det en avorske Norske. Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier.

Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson, like really loves. Well, a bunch of folks are not happy and not happy at all with President Joe Biden nominating former Chicago Mayor Romney Manuel to be the next ambassador to Japan. Well, what happened today, y'all? Hennest Hearing, Capitol Hill. And a lot of excuses being made by some Democrats, but here is Senator Jeff Merkley trying to get him to accept responsibility. Listen to what Rahm had to say, y'all. In December, the family viewed the tapes, and the city required that they enter into a non-disclosed agreement.

That's a pretty significant decision. You're saying you had no idea of the circumstances of the shooting. No one had told you the child had been shot 16 times or that the child was lying on the ground or that a revolver was reloaded. You had no idea in December when the family reviewed the tapes. Senator, is that situation, the family approached the city about a settlement, and NDA is a standard practice at that time, and also the public information, as you know, when the city council is asked to work with the family, come up with the resources for the compensation, all the members of the city council heard that and it passed 50 to 0.

So that was the kind of description that was in the public domain when it was voted on. Yes, of course, I didn't ask about the NDA. I asked if at that point you were briefed on the details of the shooting. The details were in the public domain when the Corporation Counsel briefed the alderman. happened. The family requested the video. The city attorney reached out proactively before there was a lawsuit to ask for a settlement. The settlement was approved in a in a less than one minute meeting with no public discussion. It seems hard to believe that all those things happened and yet you were never briefed on the details of the situation when you were leading the city.

We ain't never heard Henry talk about the Wizards at all. All right, y'all, that was, that was Rom dancing around the question, Lauren. But Democrats will give him a pass and they're likely going to confirm him out of committee. Right. Of course they are, because for some reason there's some sort of rule that Rahm Emanuel had to get a job in the Biden administration. I don't know why that was so fixed. But remember the first rumor that he was supposed to be secretary of transportation. I think it was. And of course, that went away real fast when everybody in Chicago was like, what are you doing? And now it's ambassador to Japan. So it's like, for some reason, Rahm Emanuel has got a job in the Biden administration. I don't know. He must be, I mean,

obviously, he's been in Democratic politics and he was Obama's chief staff and I get it all. But it really goes to the problem of the Democratic Party sort of being very slippery when it comes to issues that are of concern to African Americans, which in this case is police brutality. And this is a case, the LaPond McDonald case was not a minor case. That was a national case that went national. It was a very big deal. And Rahm Emanuel, of course, was on the complete wrong side of it. So it's interesting that Jeff Merkley, who I think is from Oregon, which not a lot of black folks in Oregon, but he's sitting there and he's asking the right questions. And then you get a senator like Tim Kaine, who's from Virginia, 20 percent black state,

who's defending Rahm Emanuel the entire time for some strange reason, while at the same time claiming to be a civil rights attorney, which I can never figure out what part of Tim Kaine is a civil rights attorney. When it comes to these types of things, you should be talking about the things that your constituents care about, particularly if you're in a state that's 20 percent African American. Even to just ask, maybe you vote for Rahm Emanuel anyway, but at least ask him about it, you know. And it's just amazing to me that if this was any other constituency that we were talking about, if Rahm Emanuel had done anything against any other constituency under the umbrella of the Democratic Party,

there would be hell to pay. But African-Americans, that's different. We could just sit here and ignore it and pretend nothing happened. It's an incredible thing. It's embarrassing. And I'm not sure why it's required in the Biden administration that Rahm Emanuel have a job. Eugene, how about

this one here? Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, I want you to listen to how he described Let's just say listen for the words scar tissue in this 39 second clip watch any city and you can't be a mayor especially of a city like chicago without picking up some scar tissue on the way but your description of of what you learned along the way that the the levels of distrust that some in communities

feel toward people in power, toward politicians, toward police. I had to learn and then relearn those lessons often in my time as the mayor of a majority African-American city. And I'm sure since Chicago is a much bigger city than Richmond and Virginia, that those lessons were challenging and painful for you during your entire tenure. But you served in an admirable way. I want to just ask you. Your jeans, scar tissue.

And then try to use his experience as mayor of Richmond to equate it to a Ronald experience as mayor of Chicago and deal with the Klaude and Don situation. Look, I got one thought on this, two thoughts. Two thoughts. First is this, you know, how long are we going to allow this Senate to just slap Black folk around? It's one thing not to get nothing done. It's a whole different thing to make sure

you get something done for somebody that literally took the wrong, took the opposite side of a black person being killed when a black person was killed. All right. So, I mean, I think there should be a pressure campaign to literally just find one vote to vote against them. I don't care if it's Booker. I don't care if it's Warnock. I don't care if it's Merkley. I don't care if it's Markey. You know, I don't care if it's Link. Like, one vote to send a message to say,

listen, you're either going to take Black issues seriously or we're not going to take you seriously. I mean, you know, like I said, I agree with Lauren. There's no rule that states that, you know, Robin Robin Mayer has to have a job in every Democrat administration, especially somebody that's been to some degree can be characterized as a failure at all those jobs, including Mayor of Chicago. So, you know, if it's up to me, I think there should be a pressure campaign to find one vote, one vote that sends a message of, hey, if you aren't going to, you know, put the real weight behind voting rights, if you're going to put the real weight behind the George Floyd Justice Act, if you're going to put the real weight behind, you know, things that are important to black America, then, OK, we're going to, you know, we're going to pop your nominees. You know, that's the real, and to be frank about it,

that's the real leverage that senators have when it comes to administration. Look, it is, look, it's just, I'm sorry, I think if you could find better people to make ambassador to Japan than Rahm Emanuel. What he did in the Laquan McDonald case is qualifying. So, yeah, that would be helpful. All right, folks, Oklahoma students and educators are suing Oklahoma for its ban on critical race theory and sexual diversity training. The American Civil Liberties Union and others filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday on behalf

of the group. The law was passed by the state's Republican majority legislature and signed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt this year. The lawsuit asked the court for temporary injunction and to declare the law unconstitutional. Look, you know how many people are silly when it comes to critical race theory, but that's just sort of the drama. I bet they keep playing. All right, y'all.

Got to pay some bills when we come back. TikTok next. Roland Martin unfiltered. The Black Star Network. That spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the P.U.X. massaging seat. Oh, yeah, that's nice.

Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021. Oh, you should pick something stronger. That's really predictable. That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too.

Hey. Really outdid yourself. Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision. an SUV built around you. All of you. Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while.

Ooh, where you going? All right, folks, a black entrepreneur is doing what he can to bring back intimacy to social media. The Plug Me In app allows users to have all the perks of social media while maintaining privacy. Here's an example of how it works. You go out to the club and give them your plug instead of exchanging numbers. Also, there's no app-wise search bar, so you don't have to worry about random people searching you out and sending you unwanted plug requests. Ernest Dancy is the founder and CEO of Plug Me In.

He joins me now from Los Angeles. All right, Ernest, so, okay, a plug. What the hell is a plug? So your plug is your plug ID. It's basically the initials of your first and last name followed by a very short string of numbers. And that's what you would actually exchange instead of giving out your phone number. So when you're at the bar, maybe at the gym on a college campus, you would give them your plug instead of giving them a phone number. It leads to more control over your communications pipeline. Okay. All right then. So, all right. Y'all, are y'all seeing my phone here? Y'all see my phone? You should be able to see it, right? All right. So this is the app. All right. No,

no, go to my phone. Y'all go to my phone. Y'all see my phone? So I'm on the app store right now. And so according with the app, so you can call somebody on the app, but you've never given them your phone number, right? Nope. You do not give them your phone number. You give them your plug ID instead. Now, what makes us very different from, say, a Facebook, Instagram, a TikTok, things like that, is that the nature of our app is privacy. It's exclusivity. It's more personal. So it's for the people that you actually know already,

or the people that you meet when you're physically outside. We want to bring being social back to social communications. We want people to actually go out and be social and to connect with people outside of just the, oh, can I get the most followers? Can I get the most followers? Can I get the most likes? We want to bring it back to a place of authentic communication and authentic socialization. All right, Dan.

Pretty interesting. Lauren, you got a question about the Plug Me In app? Yeah. So you have to reach a really high number of individuals using the app for it to really be kicking, don't you think? I mean, for everybody to be plugged in, that would mean so many people would have to know about it or have it for it to work. Comment on that if you can. Okay. So the basis of our app isn't like a

popularity contest. So it's not about the popularity contest culture that we live in. Our app, suppose there's people whose phone numbers are already on your phone, right? You can send them plug requests. You can actually send them not a plug request, but an app invite in which your plug will be on there, and then you guys will be plugged in. So it's literally for those people that you know. Everything on our app, as it pertains to the wall, which is what we call the Y, is segregated. So when you do add someone as your plug, you add them as either a friend, family, co-worker, or associate. And then every time you post, you categorize the post before pressing send, always. That way there's no mistaking who's going to see your post.

That way the wrong people don't see the wrong post. It's total control over the way you communicate, how you communicate, and what you communicate. Okay. Eugene? I guess two questions. What is your guys' current reach? And what are some of the functionality posts, I guess, plugging in with other people? Okay.

So we've grown a lot, especially over the past couple of months. In the United States, we've grown in Sweden. And right now, we're literally scaling in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. And that's really where we want to focus big time. We're literally scaling in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. And that's really where we want to focus big time. Because many tech companies, they usually concentrate on expanding in China and in India. But Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana, their broadband and their Internet capabilities are just increasing at a rapid rate. That's the untapped place in which we want to flourish. In addition to, of course, the United States, Canada, Britain. As it pertains

to the functionality of the app, you can do video calls. You can essentially do everything that you do on Facebook, but in a more personalized manner. And our video call functionality is actually connected to our app. So it's not like it's two separate apps. It's all inclusive in Plug Me In. Cool. Appreciate it. Yep.

Well, I'm sure those who go to clubs and don't necessarily want to give that number up and who don't have a Google phone number probably would love this app as well. So a pretty interesting concept there, Ernest. Again, we appreciate you coming on. And folks, y'all can check out the Plug Me In app. Let's go to I think it's available on Android and Apple? It's available on Apple right now, and we're actually one month out from having the Android version ready, which is imperative, especially, like I said, as it pertains to Africa, because most of those phones run on the Android operating system. So we are working furiously to get that Android version ready. It's great for high school students because just the way that the app is configured, the way that it's programmed, only people who have your plug can see what you post. And those are also the only people who can see what comments, the only people who can actually comment. So it limits the probability of cyberbullying. Mental health and us protecting the mental health of each other, especially

our kids, is imperative. And that's what we're focusing on. All right then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us here on our Tech Talk segment. Thanks a bunch. Thank you, Roland. Thank you for having me. All right, then. So, folks, I'm going to go to a break. We come back. Final thoughts on today's Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I am to be smart. Roland Martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punching! Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving voice to the issues.

Look what Roland Martin in the world wins, to quote Marcus Garvey again. The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I got to defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network.

I am rolling. We're rolling all the way. I'm gonna be on a show that you own. A Black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Roland was amazing on that. Hey, Black, I love y'all.

I can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be Black on media and be scared. You dig? Hello, I'm Bishop T.D. James.

Hi, how's it going? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seale. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What's up? Lana Wells. And you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. We, of course, have been live streaming it all day. You can go to the Black Star Network app. You can go to our YouTube channel. You can check all of these conversations out. Of course, we're going to be here tomorrow as well.

I have another panel I'm doing at 11 a.m. tomorrow. You can check out the one that I did today on the app. And so we're looking forward to that. Also on Friday, so we're going to have a special show on Friday. You're going to hear from the city treasurer of Chicago talking about how she is using her position to actually drive black ownership when it comes to also private equity. Also, an interview with Ambassador Andrew Young. He always has some great stories. And so we're going to have a fantastic wrap-up on Friday's show. So trust me, you want to check that out.

So, folks, been having a ball here. Some great content, some great information. And here's the deal. Ain't nobody else here. We're the rest of these black-owned media people. It's just us. That's why it's important for you to support what we do. You know, Lauren, Eugene, I tell people all the time,

we don't just sit there at home and do stuff on StreamYard. No, we show up. We want to talk to folks who are here. We've been interviewing a lot of different people here. We're going to do a lot more stuff tomorrow as well. And so it's about being amongst the folks, bringing the news, not the folks who just aggregate all day, but actually bringing original content,

which is important. And that's why we've been emphasizing why we've got to have a black-owned media that covers our stories. No, that's absolutely right. Absolutely right. So it's been good. Looking forward to have more.

Eugene, thanks a bunch. Lauren, thanks a bunch. Robert Petillo, thanks a bunch as well. Folks, if y'all want to support what we do, join our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing an average of 50 bucks a year. That's $4.19 a month,

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today. I literally, y'all, I've been on the phone talking to folks. I can't wait till we start unveiling the shows that we have lined up. We shot a pilot today. Can't tell you which one it is. Then, of course, I already told you, Roland was rolling our interview show. It's dropping November 1st. Man, we're going to open it up with Johnny Gill.

And so, trust me, the stuff that we've got planned for y'all, ain't nobody else in Black-owned media is doing. And so, we're really looking forward to doing some great stuff in the future. And I can't wait to unveil the content stuff we're going to be doing, the written content stuff on BlackStarNetwork.com. And so y'all know how we do this thing. We keep it real, keep it black, keep it unapologetic, and keep it unfiltered. I'll see you guys tomorrow.

Have a good one. Holla! Martin! This is an iHeart Podcast.