#RolandMartinUnfiltered - GOP voter drama in Ga.; Standard General fights FCC; Obesity in Black America

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

3.2.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: GOP voter drama in Ga.; Standard General fights FCC; Obesity in Black America Two new bills in Georgia could remove Black Democrats from a South Georgia election board. We will speak with Cliff Albright, the Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter, about how we can stop this all-out assault on black voters' rights. Chicago, Illinois, will have a new Mayor after Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot failed to secure a second term in office. We will speak to Chicago Mayoral Candidate & Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who is set to face off in a Chicago mayoral runoff, and how he will make the change for Chicagoans. A significant shake-up may be happening at Jackson State University.   President Thomas Hudson could be out of a job after the JSU faculty senate said they no longer have confidence in him. I'll explain why Standard General's Tegna acquisition has hit a brick wall. We are dedicating the second hour of today's show to discussing how Obesity impacts communities of color. We will be speaking with medical experts about how to change course and what we can start doing today to improve the health of our families and ourselves. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Thursday, March 2nd, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin, unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Two new bills in Georgia could remove Black Democrats from a South Georgia election board. We'll talk with Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, about this outright assault on the rights of Black voters. Chicago will have a new mayor after incumbent mayor Lori Lightfoot failed to secure a second term in office. She didn't make

the runoff. We will speak to one of the candidates who beat her in the election. That is County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. Also, folks, a significant shakeup could be happening at Jackson State University. The state board of regents, they're meeting to discuss his fate. We'll see what happens after the course is after. Of course, the faculty senate had a no confidence vote against him. Also, I'll explain why Standard General's Tegna acquisition has hit a brick wall, but also how this could be a loss for minority-owned media. We're dedicating our second hour of today's show

discussing how obesity impacts communities of color. We'll be talking with a variety of medical experts about this issue that really has changed America. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Now down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' With Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah

It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know He's rolling, Martez Martez In Georgia, two new bills could remove black Democrats from a South Georgia election board. The Georgia State House introduced House Bill 422

to revise provisions for the five-person Ware County Elections Board. Right now, there are three black members. Under the new bill, four board members will be appointed by the Republican majority instead of the Republican and Democratic parties. The other four board members would choose the board's chair. Political parties can still nominate election board members, but the Ware County Commission would have final authority. The same thing is happening

in majority black Macon Bibb County with Senate Bill 227. Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, joins us right now from Atlanta. Cliff, what we're looking here is, again, we're looking at folks who want to control black people. Yeah, exactly. And we're seeing this in several county, Roland. You mentioned Ware County. You mentioned Macon-Bibb County. Also in Ben Hill County,

where there's a fight over who would get to pick the superintendent, the chair of the Board of Elections, which right now the board itself is able to pick. Basically, a bipartisan board picks a chair, but now they're trying to replace that by allowing the county commission, Republican, as you can imagine, to pick who the chair will be, which essentially would shift control of that board of elections. So we're seeing this in county after county,

and this is exactly what we told people about when we warned about SB 202 a couple of years ago. Tons of bad provisions in there. Yes, we know about the food and water. We know about the attacks on voting by mail. But we've said from the beginning that one of the most dangerous was the way that it would open up the path to do all these takeovers of these board of elections. As we know, who controls these boards gets to control who certifies actual elections. And you don't have to do that in every county. You don't have to take over all 159 counties in Georgia. If you take over specific counties, targeted counties, Fulton County, which they've also been targeting, or some other majority Black counties, all you have to do is take over just enough in just the right places, especially

some that might go under the radar. They tried to do Fulton, but they started to catch some smoke and it caused too much attention. So then what do you do? You try to go after some lesser known counties. But those counties add up. We've seen, especially when we're talking about elections, with razor thin margins. You're actually right. And I remember

it was a young brother who I had on who was from Albany. We were duking it out on social media because he was supporting the Georgia voter suppression bill. He came on the show, changed his tune, talked about his all black boy school. So all these fools been hitting me, man, you dogging that brother

out. I said, but it's amazing. Y'all were silent as to why he was on. And I said, that's why he was actually booked on the show. And they got all caught up in black empowerment. I said, listen, the brother was supporting what Republicans were doing. And they were like, well, are you saying we can't get voter ID? I said, I keep trying to explain to y'all, this thing ain't just about voter ID. This thing is broader and deeper, and too many Negroes kept falling for the okey-doke, thinking these bills were just about voter ID.

And this isn't old news, right? We're talking about things that are left over from SB202. They've now got a new version, a worse version. We call SB202 Jim Crow 2.0. Well, now they got Jim Crow 2.2 or 2.4 or 2.5. They've got another omnibus bill, which has a range of provisions, including they already attacked drop boxes with SB 202. They are now trying to outright ban drop boxes, right, completely. It's got other things in there, like making it easier for these blanket challenges. We know the way that these racists been going around, just challenging black voters and trying to get them off the list. It makes it easier for people to do blanket purges. It lowers the burden of proof that they would be targeting black people.

All targeting black people in Georgia. And I keep trying to explain to folks they are pissed that Biden and Harris won by Georgia, won by 12,000 votes in Georgia. And I keep trying to explain to folks, they are pissed that Biden and Harris won by Georgia, won by 12,000 votes in Georgia. They are trying to lay the groundwork to steal Georgia in 2024. That's right. And it's happening here

and this is being talked about. It's being discussed right now. So we need people all across the country to get involved. You can go to our social media, go to our websites to see how you can get involved, make phone calls, send emails, raise awareness, because we still need people to be involved in Georgia. We still need the battle for federal voting rights legislation, right? Just because we got a Congress that we know is Republican-controlled and they don't want voting rights, doesn't mean that we can't continue to push the issue.

The same way that they did whatever, 60, 80, 100 votes to try to get rid of Obamacare, we ought to have something for voting rights in Congress every week. Even if they're just going to vote it down, we've got to force them to expose themselves and keep the issue on the table. And we need federal action at the executive level. There's a report that's coming out that we're co-signers on. Demos and ACLU have done a great job of looking at the executive order on voter access. And what has that implementation looked like? What else can be done? That executive order was announced, as you know, Roland, two years ago, almost to the day, it was on the commemoration

of Bloody Sunday that it was announced two years ago by the president. Two years later, we need to take a hard look at that and see where are we at on actual implementation. What more can we do at the executive level? What more can we fight for and keep on the table in terms of federal legislation? And what more can we do fighting this battle in these states where they're trying to push back, where they're trying to pass more voter suppression? And lastly, we need states like Michigan and Pennsylvania that have Democratic trifectas or Democratic control or Democratic governors. They need to lead the way in showing a more progressive, radical, expansive, inclusive vision of what not just fighting voter suppression looks like. What does it look like to actually expand access? Right. What does that discussion look like?

We need some of the states where we have power to use that power in order to push that agenda. For everybody who's watching, understand they have a very clear goal. They want to nullify as many black votes as possible. And Cliff, reiterate what people don't understand. They want to expand the ability for these folks to challenge voters, blocks of voters, because they want to be able, they know if they can knock 20, 30, 50, 70, 80,000 people off the roads, they're mostly African-American, they know that's going to make it far easier for them to win. That's right.

They're challenging black voters. They're doing it, and they're doing it on a blanket. It's not even one by one. They're challenging black voters. They're doing it and they're doing it on a blanket. It's not even one by one. They're challenging black voters on blanket. It's actually it's a it's a throwback to Jim Crow and in the 60s. And when they would you'd have to you know, there were places where you used to have to have a white person vouch for you. You know, this rolling even even if you went through jumped all the hoops of going through voter registration and counting the jelly beans and paying a poll tax, you'd have to have a white person vouch for you. This is like the flip side of the coin on that, where basically any white person can come in and challenge you and get you off the rolls. Indeed. Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Let's keep the fight up. Thank you, Roland.

I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Got to go to break. We'll come back. We'll chat about this with my panel about this. We'll also talk about this Standard general deal, buying Tegna, the second largest TV group in the country. The FCC is saying, basically, let's put it on the shelf. But it's the Korean-American who's trying to buy it, who's also partnered with other black media. Why is the FCC doing it? And why we should be demanding more of them when it comes to minority ownership of mass media? We'll discuss that and other news as well.

You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstone Network. A lot of these corporations or people that are running stuff push black people if they're doing a certain thing. What that does is it creates a butterfly effect of any young kid who, you know, wants to leave any situation they're in. And the only people they see are people that are doing this. So I gotta be a gangster, I gotta shoot, I gotta sell, I gotta do this in order to do it. And it just becomes a cycle.

But when someone comes around and is making other, oh, we don't, you know, they don't wanna push it or put money into it. So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix too, is just show there's other avenues. You don't gotta be rapping, you don't gotta be a ball player. You can be a country singer, you can be an opera singer, you can be a damn whatever, you know?

Showing the different avenues, and that is possible, and it's hard for people to realize it's possible until someone's done it. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives, and we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture

with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? This is De'Alla Riddle. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. I'm Chrisette Michelle.

Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, my panel, Recy Colbert, host of The Recy Colbert Show on Sirius XM Radio, Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, host of The Black Table on the Black Star Network, Dr. Tonya Washington-Hicks, professor at Georgia State University College of Law. Glad to have all three of you here. Tonya, you're there in Georgia. I'll start with you. We keep warning people, black folks, pay attention. These folks are not happy.

They're not satisfied that Brian Kemp was reelected. They're not satisfied Republicans swept all the offices in Georgia. They want to cement power in everything they're doing now. They're pissed that Warnock won reelection, and they want to take back Georgia for Republicans next year. Absolutely. And my family is actually from Waycross Ware County, which is the initial subject of what I think you have rightfully described as a campaign to nullify enough black votes so that they can control political power at the state and federal level. And if black folks don't believe that elections have consequences, this is exhibit A that illustrates that they do because they control the ability to establish the rules.

And the rules are consistently created in a way that disenfranchises people that they don't consider citizens. Absolutely. And again, Recy, people have to understand, Republicans, where they have power, where they control the House and the Senate and the governor's mansion, hey, they run on the table. Cliff's whole point, Democrats, where you control the government, strengthen the voting laws. Absolutely. I think you can't take for granted that when you have the power, that you'll always have the power. Republicans definitely do not do that. They play for keeps. They rig the game so they can stay in power. And Democrats sometimes tend to put things like voting rights on the back burner. So I agree with what Cliff Albright said. Get those trifectas in Democratic states to enshrine voting rights protections.

If you can get the stuff in the Constitution, even better. But I hope that Black people are watching and realizing in states like Georgia and in states like Tennessee, where you have, or Mississippi, actually, that's what I'm thinking about, where you have Tate Reeves on the ballot for his gubernatorial election. Vote them out. Don't continue to let them enjoy this complete control of your state government, if you can. I just don't really understand people, Greg, not realize what is going on. We keep warning folks. So, you know, and I, look, I made it clear, I made it clear in my book, White Fear, what they're doing. I mean,

this is power. This is, this is power. This is control, you know, and folks are just, okay, fine. Yeah, whatever. You know, I'm not worried about voting. That has an impact on me. Oh, trust me, it does. It absolutely does, Roland. And, you know, a lot of our people, particularly younger people, and this is not to blame them at all. I mean, navigating the world today is increasingly difficult. Just don't have a sense of memory. They haven't read White Fear. They don't know what has happened. And in some ways, this really, this action of the white nationalists in Georgia and similar

actions, as Recy says, in Mississippi, in Tennessee, this is actually perhaps a good thing, because that, you know, every generation has to face its challenge. And when I say it's a good thing, we saw voter turnout drop in Georgia in the election, in the runoff election. In fact, Senator Warnock would not have needed a runoff. He lost, he was like 43, almost 44,000 votes short of not having to have a runoff. And we saw that voter participation shrank by about 267,000 in Georgia. Of that, two-thirds of that was Black people. Well, you know, the gap between white voters and black voters in Georgia in the in the election of 2022 was about eight point six percent higher than it was in 2018. And that's double from 2014 is the biggest gap in a decade.

Why am I saying all that is a prelude to what you and Cliff were talking about? Here's the solution. Mass action. If you register to vote and go out and vote. Yeah, they're going to try to knock you off the roll. But if we simply go, the demographics aren't in their favor. If we organize and overwhelm. But for a lot of people, finally, who say, well, it doesn't matter, guess what? These white nationalists are increasingly hard. They're becoming increasingly harder to ignore.

They're damn near the Klan now. They're going back to the Lester Maddox days where you're walking around Georgia with a with a two by four. But guess what? What that can do is energize black people. If you go out and register to vote and vote, they can try to knock off as many as they want. You will simply break their political backs. It's time to stop playing footsie with them. And they keep taking away our places to hide. And I just keep this is what this is what drives me crazy, Tanya. I get these simple Simon Negroes who love to hop in the chat section,

who love to hop on my Instagram, who love to hop on Twitter. Oh, Rolla, you just sitting here, you on the Democratic plantation, you trying to get us to vote for these Democrats. This is very simple. And for all the people out there who don't know what simple math looks like, let me help y'all out. Okay?

And you don't have to count higher than two to understand the lesson I'm about to give. There are two political parties. Oh yes, there's the Green Party, there's the Libertarian Party, there's the Working Class

Party. There's a whole bunch of different parties in New York State. But the reality is there are two parties. There are two. Now, I have never, you have never heard me say, oh, just vote blindly. Don't ask questions. Don't make demands. Don't, after the election is over, you've never heard me say don't go to city hall. Don't go to county government.

Don't go to the state government. Don't go to county. You ain't never heard me say that. But what I can say, Tanya, is that somebody gonna win. Yes. Somebody is going to win? Yes. Somebody is going to win. Now, if somebody is going to win, I'm probably going to start with which of the two individuals, because let's be clear, there are some trifling, and I will say this, there are some trifling Democrats, and there are some Republicans, depending upon where they are running, where they actually have offered substantive things that could appeal to black people.

I ain't got a problem saying that. In about 97.5% of the cases, 98 maybe, you are going to have a Republican that is against a significant number of things that black people care about. Now, they're going to be those black people who choose their own personal pocketbook over the collective. They're going to be those individuals who only care about themselves. That's fine. Got it? They exist. What I'm talking about is when I'm looking at

who is supporting getting rid of ballot drop boxes, who's supportive supporting closing down election locations, who's supporting get rid of voting locations on college campuses,

those issues is likely going to be Republicans voting for, Democrats voting against. So to me, this ain't hard to say who I don't want in office compared to who I do want in office. Absolutely. And given the persistence and the amount of energy and thought and time that has been given to keeping us from voting, we know that it matters. We know that it scares them. We know that it is a threat to white supremacy. And so we need to take it seriously. And what you've spoken to, Roland, that I think is really important is just being an engaged citizen. Voting is one part of it. Once these people get into office, we need to hold them to account and establish the quid pro quo. A vote for me is a transaction. I give you my vote. You give me something that serves my interests and the interests of my community.

That's it. Why not engage in the transaction? And let me be real clear, again, to the people out there who are utterly confused about what is going on and what we're seeing in the politics that are at play. The people who are Republican, who do they vote against for the Supreme Court? The black woman. Katonji Brown Jackson. Who fought Kristen Clark when she had her committee hearings

to lead the Department of Justice and the Rights Division? Republicans. Who gave Linda Thomas-Greenfield hail when she went up for the United Nations? Republicans. Who believes that Biden has appointed too many black women and black people to be federal judges? Republicans. Who keeps attacking anything that's dealing with, quote, woke? Republicans.

And so I'm, oh, and by the way, Recy, when black people sat on their asses in South Carolina and Moms for Liberty, a far right wing nut group, took over 10 of the 14 largest school boards in South Carolina and then started firing principals and superintendents. Who did they vote for? Republicans. So black folks understand we can sit our asses at home, but the other side, they are executing their playbook every day. Absolutely. And here's the thing. Even if we don't convert one person to the Democratic Party, I don't even have to tell you, go register to vote for Democrat. I don't even need to tell you to register to vote. If we just exercise the capacity of the people who have already determined that they want

to register as Democrats, if just the people on the voter rolls as Democrats voted, it would be a whole different ballgame. You'd have a Stacey Abrams as the governor there. You would not have had a runoff for Raphael Warnock. You would have a Beto over an Abbott. You would have I mean, you may not have been a Chris fan, but, you know, a Charlie Chris over a Ron DeSantis, who is a complete fascist autocrat right now in in in Florida, in Mississippi. Like I said, Tate Reeves is up for election. There are more eligible Black voters, over 700,000 eligible Black voters in the state of Mississippi. He won his election with a margin of 50,000 votes last time, and that was 400-something thousand votes. So if every eligible Black voter in Mississippi actually voted, you would never have a Tate

Reeves as governor in that state to take away power from a Black city, to deny infrastructure money to fix the water in a Black city. So we just need to, if we do nothing else, exercise the capacity of the people who are already registered. It's a bonus if people get registered. It's a bonus if we get the people off the sidelines that are completely checked out. Just the people who've already done the work. You ain't got to do nothing extra because you already did the work of registering. Just those people turn out. And the one thing I will add to what your list, Roland,

is Republicans not only voted against, but you had J.D. Vance, you had Marco Rubio, you had a number of Republicans who campaigned against capping insulin prices. $35 is what the Democrats capped insulin prices. They could only do it for Medicare because the Republicans blocked it for the entire country. And this week, as a result of the Democratic action on lowering insulin prices, you had a manufacturer decide to cut the prices by 70 percent. Imagine what would happen if we had that larger Democratic Senate, if we kept the House. How many more changes we could have made for the better of our own people? Because we disproportionately have diabetes. So there are tangible things and there are moral reasons to just exercise your vote. And you do the math on which party makes sense for you. I don't think it's even close. Absolutely. Folks, coming up next, one of the candidates running for in the

runoff for Chicago mayor will join us next. Also, we'll talk about Standard General and their tech deal. It's could it be dead by the FCC? But could it also kill opportunities for minority-owned media? I will explain. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. YouTube folks, hit the Like button, the Share button. Same as on Facebook. On the app, do the exact same thing. Download our app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku,

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Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country.

It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valethia Watkins, our legal round table team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people.

That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together,

pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Blackstar Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.J. What up? Lana Wells. And you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, there's going to be a new mayor in Chicago.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her beard to get to the runoff. She lost to a couple of folks, one of them a former superintendent of the schools there, Paul Vallis. She also lost to County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. And now it's going to be the runoff on April 4th between Vallis and Brandon Johnson. And one of them joins us right now. It is Brandon. Brandon, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, thank you, Roland.

It's good to be on Unfiltered. Appreciate it. All right, so let's get right to it. Folks are looking at now both of your records. Many say you have the momentum. Even though Valis got 34% in the election, you got 20. Now it's a whole new restart. You've got SEIU and other unions behind you, Chicago Teachers Union.

But it's going to take money. It's going to take a ground game. And so what what is your vision for the future of Chicago? Yeah, well, thanks again. It's a very exciting moment in the city of Chicago. Our candidacy started off a couple of months ago with grassroots support and labor support, folks in the faith community, independent political organizations. And people didn't give us a chance. And but yet here we are. We built a multicultural, multigenerational movement that has propelled us into a moment where we can make history. Electing a teacher, someone who comes from the working class to the fifth floor. It's just a remarkable moment to be in. And I'm grateful that the people of the city of Chicago want a better, stronger, safer city. And, you know, that's the bottom line.

Roland, my vision for the city of Chicago, you know, really reflects the best part of our overall collective movement. I started off as a public school teacher just over 15 years ago, teaching middle school in Cabrini Green. And I know your viewers, I know you know the history of Cabrini Green USA, because it really captures the essence of the city of Chicago. My students woke up every day looking out their back windows. They could see, touch, you know, walk to one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the entire city. And out of their front windows, there were bulldozers staring them down, preparing to destroy their public housing. And that is really the impetus behind my run,

because families wake up every single morning in Chicago and around the country, chasing down an economy that's behind them while everything in front of them is crumbling. And so my vision is to disrupt, dismantle this tale of two cities and usher in a better, stronger, safer Chicago. One story, one Chicago where public education is a guaranteed right. Access to health care, reliable transportation, affordable housing, of course, environmental justice and good paying jobs. That's something that I ran on as a Cook County commissioner. It's what I fought for as an organizer. And it's what I'm going to do as the mayor of the city of Chicago.

So crime is a big issue folks are talking about. But what do you try to do is expand this thing beyond that? You've got your opponent, Paul Vallis, being supported by the Fraternal Order of Police. And the thing that I keep trying to explain to people that you cannot address crime if you're not addressing poverty, if you're not addressing economic disparity, if you're not addressing illiteracy. And too often, we have a one-dimension view of how to address crime in this country. How are you going to, though, convince voters that they have to look at the crime issue in a holistic way, as opposed to where your opponent is like, hey, just unleash the cops in these areas.

Yeah. And he's being dishonest about that. Right. Everywhere Paul Vellis has been in charge of finances, he's left a mess. Here in Chicago, we saw school closings, the loss of black educators. We know, you know, the tragedy that occurred in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina. Again, loss of black educators. He was ran out of Philadelphia, you know, Bridgeport, Connecticut, everywhere he has gone, he's left a trail of tears. And just like what you've just indicated, I've reached a conclusion that the people of Chicago have reached that if we're going to deal with public safety, we have to look at the immediate dynamic and look at long-term solutions as well. And, look, I'm on the west side of Chicago, Roland.

I live in the Austin community. My wife and I are 25 years, and we're raising three little beautiful black children, 8, 10, and 15. And so we deal with public safety all the time. We've had to change a window from one of the bullets that have come through our home. We have had to cover our children countless times. So, you know, this is a serious problem. I live it every single day, like many Chicagoans. And so that's why my public safety plan, one of the things that we're very proud of in our public safety plan that's being embraced is that we're going to double the amount of young people that we hire. And not just for summer jobs, but for year-round positions. There is a direct correlation

between youth employment and violence reduction. We're also going to pass an ordinance called Treatment Not Trauma. And what it calls for, it calls for mental health clinicians to show up to people's homes to respond to what essentially are almost 40 percent of the 9-1-1 calls. They're mental health crises. And a few years ago, Quantonio Legrier was having a mental health crisis. His neighbor, Betty, these are my neighbors on the west side of Chicago, she came to his defense and they're both dead because the only equipment on the scene

as Quantonio was having a mental health crisis were guns. And so if we pass, when we pass the treatment not trauma ordinance, it's gonna ultimately free up law enforcement to focus on the areas where there is more severe crime. Over 40% of the violence that takes place in the city of Chicago, Roland, it happens in 6% of the city.

And you know Chicago well. Austin, where I live, the largest concentration of black folks probably anywhere in the world in one neighborhood. Englewood, Roseland. I mean, we know where there's a greater tendency for violence to take place. And to your last point, these are communities that are poverty struck.

And Garfield Park on the west side of Chicago has been described as a developing nation because the violence and poverty per capita reflects that. And that's why I'm committed to opening up our mental health centers. Look, the bottom line is we need to make sure that we're being smart about how we police in the city of Chicago and around the country. I've made a commitment to spend to make sure that we actually implement the consent decree. And we can do that with expediency. That's going to cost us roughly $50 million conservatively to do that. And that's going to help attempt to restore the trust between, you know, our community and

law enforcement, which, you know, has been broken down. And so we're going to promote, you know, rank to file members to become detectives, up to 200 more. But one of the things that's most disingenuous is when you have individuals like Paul Vallis or any other politician that says they're going to hire more police officers and they throw out these numbers like 1,000 or 1,600. The truth of the matter is it takes 16, I'm sorry, it takes 18 months to become a police officer in the city of Chicago. I'd be halfway through my first term. We cannot wait two years before public safety

begins to manifest. And so that's why my sweeping public safety plan, as well as my budget plan, gets at the root causes, and it deals with the immediacy of violence in the city of Chicago, because it is a serious serious problem and it's something that we can do. The safest cities in America, Roland, I'll say this and I'll close, have one thing in common. They invest in people. And as you know, because you are also a part of our faith tradition, I was raised extra sanctified in the church of God in Christ, but where your heart is, your treasure will be also. And so just like safe American cities do all over the country, they invest in people.

And that's what I'm going to do as mayor of the city of Chicago. About two and a half minutes. I'm going to get through three questions real quick. So, Greg, you first, what's your question? Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Brother Johnson. What is Paul Vallis' cap in terms of his base? I worked for the Scrooges of Philadelphia. We ran him the hell out of Philly, and he destroyed the performance. Tell us, what is his gap? Because he's definitely running now to the racist right.

Can he break 40 percent? And what do you need to win in terms of voter turnout? Well, it's going to take all of us, right? I'm the only candidate in the entire race that had double-digit numbers in every geographical area. Obviously, we're going to have to consolidate the black vote, but we're going to build on, you know, white liberals and progressives and, you know, black folks that are progressives, brown folks. I mean, we have a multicultural, multi-generational movement, so that's part of our pathway. But in terms of Paul Vallis, he certainly has fully embraced his Republican

values. And he said it right after President Barack Obama was elected. He became a Republican. He said it. He identifies as a Republican. You know, he's supported by leaders who were supportive of the January 6th insurrection. I mean, this person has been very clear about so-called critical race theory. In other words, he doesn't want to have Black history taught. Of that percentage that he received, to your point, question, about 12 to 15 percent of those numbers reflect the Republicans in the city of Chicago. So it's not going to be an easy fight, obviously, because there are forces in the city of Chicago, as Rowan is aware of, that are very dynamic and unique to the city. But I'm very excited about the fire that our campaign has caught, and I'm looking forward to making history in the city. But I'm very excited about the fire that our campaign has caught,

and I'm looking forward to making history in the city of Chicago in a few weeks. Appreciate you. Recy. Commissioner Johnson, thank you. You know, Black candidates and Black electeds rarely get any grace when it comes to implementing changes after decades of harm being done to the communities. What is one specific thing that is solely in your power or something that's within your power if you were to be mayor that can be exercised that hasn't been done to date that will make a difference in Chicago? Yeah, we can double the amount of young people that we hire right away, and I'm committed to

doing that. Again, there's a direct correlation between youth employment and violence reduction. I passed something on the county board. It's called the Budget for Black Lives, which was really provoked by the Freedom Budget for All. And it led to some of the greatest investments that we've seen in the county government. Hundreds of millions of dollars of violence prevention. We can retire up to $1 billion of medical debt. We have the largest guaranteed income program in the entire country. The vast majority of the folks who receive that are Black and brown women. And so having the executive authority to release funds, to hire people, to invest in people, those are things that I would do on day one. And I'm looking forward

to setting a benchmark for the rest of the country that Black leadership will not just win, but we can also govern. Thank you for that question. Thank you. Yes, my question. Congratulations. My question is, how are you going to get the other folks that did not make it into the runoff to endorse you so that you can have the support of their voters? Yeah, that's a good question. That's what I've been doing the last two days. I've been on the phone quite a bit, but I'm an organizer. I started off as a public school teacher in Chicago. I organized in Chicago some of the greatest actions that we've done in a long time. I was a part of a hunger strike to keep the school open. And so that's

what I'm going to do. I'm going to have conversations with all of the candidates that ran. We're doing that, but we're also going to take our message right to the voters. And I feel very confident. You know, just over the last couple of days, we've had over 600 people sign up to become volunteers. And that's on top of the 300 volunteers that we had on Election Day. We had more volunteers than all of the other campaigns combined. We've had over 1,000 people donate and contribute, gone to our website, where we've raised almost $100,000 from individual donors. The average donor is $80.

Maybe I should have gone to law school. I probably would have richer friends. But my friends are public school teachers. They're working-class folks, middle-class folks. And so we're building an incredible movement. We're going to take our case right to the voters, every single neighbor in the city of Chicago, because I know and I'm confident that the people are responding to our message that a better, stronger, safer Chicago is within reach.

And being a black person who obviously identifies through black liberation theology, son of a pastor. My grandfather was a pastor. Roland, somehow, you know, I'm fighting for the legalization of marijuana. So I know my grandfather's turned over in his grave. But it's for a good cause, Grandpa. That's how I'm at least sleeping well that night. All right, then. Brandon, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch.

Good luck. And I'm sure we'll be chatting again before the runoff election. Very good. Thank you all. Good night. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. When we come back, folks, we're going to talk about Standard General, the deal to try to get by Tegna while the FCC is trying to put a nail in the coffin. But that could also hurt minority owned media. I will explain next on Roland Martin Unfiltered, the Blackstone Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly

violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic,

there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources,

they're taking our women. This is White Beat. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Melvin Sanders walked away from his Jonesboro, Arkansas home on February 3rd

and has not been seen since. The 15-year-old is 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Melvin Sanders should call the Jonesboro, Arkansas Police Department at 870-935-5551. Again, the number is 870-935-5551. The Federal Communications Commission has stopped hedge fund standard general's deal to buy TV station operator Tegna.

Well, they actually haven't stopped it, but this decision to actually have this hearing could very well do so. On Friday, the FCC sent the Standard General's sale to an administrative law judge to hold hearings. They're going to be focusing on material concerns about how the transaction could artificially raise consumer prices, resulting in job losses. Now, Standard General was set to be

the first Asian-American-owned and operated major broadcast station group in America. The managing partner of Standard General is Sue Kim. He made this statement following the FCC's decision. A decision delayed is a decision denied. Our proposed transaction is consistent with all FCC regulations and precedents. It is bolstered by a voluntary commitment to invest in local news, preserve newsroom jobs, and address purported concerns related to consumer pricing.

But rather than rule on the transaction's merits, as the law requires, the Media Bureau is attempting to scuttle the deal by ordering a wholly unnecessary hearing process. That, if left standing by the commission, would kill the deal. Now, let me unpack this here, folks. Many folks say that when they sit into this administrative law judge that this signals deal is going to be dead. So, the standard general has been calling for the full FCC to actually hear this and vote on this. Now, you've heard me talk a lot about people of color owning media. You've heard me say that, again, how powerful media is. And so when we are able to own, then we actually can control the narrative. Same case here. Now, let me explain to you what is also going on. Sue Kim has been, this is a Korean-American,

who has been out here talking to black-owned media about participating in this with him. This is an $8.4 billion deal. They own numerous television stations across the country. And so he's been meeting and has struck deals with the National

Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters. Reverend Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push is behind the deal as well, as well as several other CBC members. Well, for the last three months, Sue, Kim, and I have been talking. And so let me explain to you what will happen if this deal goes through. First and foremost, Sue has watched the show, likes the content that we do, and we have talked about, and he's agreed to creating first of all placing black star network content on his technostations y'all hear what i

just said this is the many of these stations are in cities where there are significant black folks okay so we're talking about placing Blackstar Network content on his tech stations. Developing a Sunday morning show that I would be hosting that would also be focusing on the issues in these various cities. We talked about, again, what

I am doing with Blackstar Network, making it a 24-hour, seven days a week, Black News and Information network. He supports that. Also, looking at the other assets that he has and how we can also create content, develop content, produce content.

Let me say this, folks. There is no other broadcast group from black people or white people, and I'll say this, I got no problem saying it Byron Allen has never come to me with this kind of deal that will allow us to be able to expand so you've heard me say that black folks need to align to join together what I'm saying here this is an example where African Americans and-Americans or Latinos should also be partnering. Folks, this is how we're able to grow.

Here's the last point of the deal that we've talked about. What did I talk about yesterday? One of the biggest problems that we have is being able to get these ad agencies to be able to do business with African Americans. Well, when you have the scale of a standard general and they're able to get the tech in the deal, they are doing millions of dollars worth of deals with the ad agencies. So guess what? Standard general,

well then we also selling the Black Star Network. Okay, some of y'all might say, well, I don't quite understand what's the big deal. Let me give you an example. I remember when there was a English network targeting Latinos

and Disney took control of it. Guess what? When Disney took ownership of it, that network, which was on like 12 or 14 million homes, all of a sudden was available in 50 million homes. Why? They harnessed the power of Disney.

So what will happen is when Senator General is going to talk to these agencies and when they're selling their portfolio of assets, we're included. I can tell you, folks, that deal goes through, we will be four to five to six to 10 times our current size than we are now. This is what happens when partnerships work. And again, we've had this conversation and it's not been just a conversation. Sue Kim has made it clear. I am committed to doing this because the type of content you are doing is valuable. And what you represent is also important to the public discourse.

Folks, this is why the FCC should have a full hearing and hear from folks like me, not just unions or other individuals who are saying, oh, this is a bad deal, but they should be looking at what happens if a minority owns this station group, RevenueWide will be the second largest TV station group in the country, and black owned media will benefit by partnering with them. That, Greg Carr, is why I keep telling people we've got to be looking three dimensional at these type of things and understand the ability for us to grow is when we partner and not live in these silos. Absolutely. Let me just say in 30 seconds, first of all, if you haven't seen what Roland did last night, immediately go back. I know it's gone viral, but it can't go viral enough.

Please do that. That's number one. Number two, we talk about elections. And again, I'm going to say this again for all the people, and you couldn't have said it better, Recy. Just the people who are registered, go out and vote. Why? One name, Gigi Song.

If you don't know who that is, you need to look that up. She was renominated to serve on the FCC. She's going through hearings now. The Republicans have attacked her. Right now, there's a 2-2 deadlock on the FCC. The Democratic president, and because they held the Senate, she can be confirmed. Once she's confirmed, they got a 3-2 advantage, and this deal can go through, I suspect. I don't know, Roland, walk us through it, if that's going to make a difference. Because guess what? If you don't think voting matters, you just heard why.

Because this is a blockbuster you just dropped on us right now, brother. And the thing here, Reesey, is, again, you've got some Democrats out there that have spoken against this deal. They say we shouldn't have hedge funds buying this. But here's the whole deal. You've got white hedge funds buying this. But here's the whole deal. You got white hedge funds buying stuff left and right. And you've had Sue Kim saying, hey, I'm making these commitments to improve local news. And of course, opposition is saying, oh, they're going to lay people off. There have been other hedge funds that have come in and gutted the places. But what I'm

talking about here is where Kim, the managing partner, has said, I want to work with Black-owned media, and I want to be able to use these assets and for them to be able to benefit from being able to own these stations and having the programming that reflects the views and perspectives of a diverse audience. Right. And that's exactly why it's running up against so much opposition. As Dr. Carr pointed out, this is completely partisan with the Republicans essentially scuttling this deal. We did not see this kind of opposition

from these Republicans when pro-Trump, MAGA conservative Sinclair Broadcasting Group was running roughshod all over the country, expanding their reach. And so this definitely is about politics. Dr. Carr, from what I read, if Gigi Son was confirmed, that would make a difference in terms of this deal being more likely to go through. So it's all about Republicans playing for keeps in every way,

shape, or form. And a very key part of that is controlling the media. A very key part of that is ensuring that programs like Roland Martin Unfiltered and other black programs like the Black Table with Dr. Carr do not reach the masses in the way that they could with the backing of somebody like Sue Kim. And Tanya, think about this here, the point that Recy just made. You've got Sinclair Broadcasting, all of these folks who were doing these shows in these local markets during the election. Hmm. What would happen if this deal is able to go through by the end of the year? Then all of a sudden I am doing shows on these local TV stations in 2024 discussion the election. This is what happens when you have access to it while you're answering.

This is a photo of Kim and I took at the at the All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, folks. So go right ahead, Tanya. Absolutely. I mean, they understand the consequences. But rather than make a decision on the merits, right, it's easier to forward it to an administrative judge. Who knows? That date has yet to be set. It could be a year from now.

My understanding is the deal expires May 2023. So rather than offer a substantive justification, you just delay. So I think Sue is absolutely right. Justice delayed in this instance is justice denied. Well, again, folks, I just want people to understand that Sue Kim and I have been talking for the last three months. He is committed to this. And this is what I'm talking about. When we have the opportunity to be able to build and grow by partnering, there is no other, let me say it again, there is no other television group, not Sinclair, not Nextar, not any of these groups, none of them that have ever had a conversation like this with me or any other black-owned independent media outlet when it comes to putting on our content. And so absolutely, we hope the FCC and the commissioners

actually, from the chairwoman on down, they actually vote themselves. Don't send this to a hearing. The full FCC should be considering this decision because it could impact again and it could actually advance the issue of minorities owning media outlets. And there are very few minorities in this country, people of color, black, Latino, Asian, Native American, who own affiliate stations. And, folks, when we talk about owning, we're talking about money. We're talking about building. And that's why this is important. And so I hope that this goes through and so people will be able to see what we want to do with SUKIM and folks at Standard General if they're able to get this acquisition with Tegna.

And so we're going to be talking more about this here. I got to thank Reese, Tanya, and Greg. We normally go two hours, but we're going to shorten this to hour today because coming up, thank all three of you because coming up next, we're going to focus for the next hour on the issue of obesity. It is a fundamental issue in America. It's impacting us economically, health-wise, politically, in every avenue. And we'll discuss that next right here on the Black Star Network. I'm Dr. Jackie here on A Balanced Life, and I've got a pop quiz for you. Who are you?

Where are you? And how are you doing? These are three important questions that you should be asking yourself every day. I can't be authentic with you if I'm not being authentic with myself. I know who I am and I know whose I am. And when you know that, you're unstoppable because you're going to show up as your authentic self no matter the room that you're in.

Discovering the true you and the culture around you. That's next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media.

Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people. $50 this month. Waste $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com.

Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. Come on that soil! You will not be free! White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance.

We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're doing a certain thing. What that does is it creates a butterfly effect of any young kid who wants to leave any situation they're in, and the only people they see are people that are doing this. So I gotta be a gangster, I gotta shoot, I gotta sell, I gotta do this in order to do it. And it just becomes a cycle. But when someone comes around and make another oh we don't you know they don't want to push it or put money into it so that's definitely something i'm trying to fix

too is just show there's other avenues you don't got to be rapping i'll be a ball player you can be a country singer you can be an opera singer you can be a damn whatever you know showing the different avenues and that is possible and it's hard for people to realize that it's possible until someone does. -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪

-♪ Hi, I'm Gavin Houston. Hi, I'm Karl Payne. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. -♪ What's up, y'all? It's your boy Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Folks, the size of Americans has drastically increased over the last 40 years. If you look at the impact of sugar, how our lifestyles have changed, also when you talk about in terms of servings as well, again, Americas have gotten larger. It has impacted us in a dramatic way. There are more Americans who are on various drugs in order

to lose weight. You've got the crash, you've got the crash diets, the fads, all those different things along those lines. You even have had generals in the United States military talk about how obesity has become a national security concern because a number of young folks simply could not qualify to even get in the military because of their weight. It has an economic impact as well. Folks are dying, getting much younger, getting diseases as well. And so what can we do? What should African-Americans be doing to confront the reality of obesity even in our community?

For the next hour, we're going to talk about this here. We've got a number of experts to talk about this here. Joining me right now is Dr. Yolanda Hancock, a double board certified pediatrician, obesity medicine specialist, also a public health expert, Dr. Tiffany Bell Washington, a quadruple board certified physician specializing in obesity, lifestyle medicine, psychiatry, and public health. We'll be Michelle Tanner, founder and CEO of Village Empowerment Solutions and senior program manager for Black Women's Health Imperative, joins us as well.

And also Nelson Dunlap, the vice president for public policy and external affairs in the Global Health Equity Institute at Meharry Medical College. Now, I wanna start this way for you then. Let's see here who I wanna go to first. And so, Yolanda, I'll go to you. So we talk about obesity. First of all, let's deal with the most base level. Exactly what is it? So obesity, we define it based on body mass index.

A lot of people really question whether or not we should use it as a tool, but right now that's the only thing that we have. It's really comparing weight and height. With a BMI of 25 to 29, that is the definition of overweight. With a BMI of 30 or greater, that's the definition of obesity. And thankfully, over the past 10 years, we've now defined obesity as a medical condition. Initially, we thought of obesity as a medical condition. Initially, we thought of it as a behavioral condition, but we finally have a diagnostic code.

We approach it as a clinical issue. There are interventions that we can utilize in order to affect change in people's lives so that we can better manage obesity as a clinical issue, as opposed to a behavioral one to a behavioral one that's something that's uh i think different there because when we talk about uh this for the for the longest folks always kept going oh wait wait wait wait wait focus on weight as opposed to focusing on the mental aspect of obesity. That's correct. And there is definitely a correlation between your mental health and your obesity or your weight. A lot of bias is given in terms of both of those issues. So with depression, mental health, and also with obesity,

there tends to be a lot of biases that prevent our people, especially from seeking help, seeking treatment and being willing to get the help when we are informing them that this is, in fact, a disease. When we talk about, of course, obesity here, what leads to what various issues, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and different, of course, diabetes. 11.3 percent of the United States living with diabetes. That's 37.3 million Americans. But you have a significant higher incident of African-Americans with with diabetes. Why? Why is that? That is a very important question. You know, it's difficult to say especially, but we live in situations where a lot of our people are unfortunately in areas where there are not access to grocery stores, safe neighborhoods

where we can exercise. They don't have insurance coverage to help them get preventative care. So if I realize I'm having problems with my blood sugar or diabetes or I'm sweating more, using the bathroom more frequently, feeling thirstier, but I don't have access to a primary care doctor or insurance or my insurance does not cover those things, then you find yourself in a place where you're not really seeking care or going to the doctor until you are in very advanced stages of disease. And later, I'm sure we'll talk about it, but that's when a lot of these medications come into place where we're really needing them. And it would be better for a lot of our African-American populations and people to

seek help in the forefront and more of the preventative side, more so than after the fact when you have diabetes and very high issues with needing insulin and also other medications. Michelle, we're going to further unpack that, but I do want to go back to the mental aspect in terms of what drives it. Obviously, not just what we eat, but also our mental state, our surroundings, how we grew up, all these different things, but also the type of activities that we do as well, movement, all of these things actually matter. Absolutely. It takes a multifactorial approach to deal with obesity. I'm a living witness and example of how you need to have access to all of the things in order to address

living with obesity. And what I mean by that is that I am somebody who had weight loss surgery in 2017, have lost and kept off about 80 pounds, but that was just the beginning. That is not the end all to dealing with obesity. I happen to, you know, have access to medications, to the lifestyle change programs, all the things that it takes to maintain your health and maintain your weight when you're living with the disease of obesity? Nelson, again, when we talk about this subject, there's so many pieces to it. Yes, you have the fitness piece, the diet piece. You have the medical piece in terms of the drugs. You have the mental piece. But you've got to have the public policy piece as well. And so I want to touch on that because we're going to pick up on that after the break a piece as well. And so I want to touch on that one because we're going to

pick up that after the break a little bit more. But public policy drives so much of this because of the resources in terms of that can be given, but also how government impacts it. We talked earlier about, again, having a major drug manufacturer announce the capping of the prices of insulin. OK, look, when you're dealing with this, those who are in diabetes, we're not capping it at thirty five dollars out of pocket costs. That impacts folks economically because you have people who are choosing between their drugs and what they eat. And so is this is one of those topics that is that is that is so, so multifaceted that all too often in this country,

we've only dealt with it in a one-dimensional way. Yeah, you're definitely correct, Roland. And I think that what you're talking about is really those political determinants of health. We're talking about those upstream instigators, right? We've mentioned the social determinants of health so far. We talk about the places where people live, play, pray, work, and the impact they have on our lives, the impact they have on our health outcomes, the impact they have on obesity rates. And what I'm saying is sometimes we have to move further upstream. We

have to talk about those decisions, be them legislative, legal, administrative, policy, as you say, those decisions that were made that had these downstream effects, right? So we talk about access. We talk about the decisions to place, you know, education institutions where they are, to place fresh food where it is. All of these political and social determinants of health interact with one another to really drive this obesity pandemic and epidemic that we're dealing with. So you are spot on. We're going to go to a break in a second and we come back. I want to deal in the next segment specifically on the public policy front from a federal, state, and local level as well in terms of how we should be attacking the issue of obesity, what our audience should be saying and doing when they're talking to

their lawmakers about the role that they can play when it comes to confronting what has really, truly become a crisis in America. You're watching this special on obesity right here on the Black Star Network. Folks, don't forget, download our app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, and Samsung Smart TV. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network is here. Oh, no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. I thank you for being the voice of Black America. All the momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. Go on that soil.

You will not be black. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have

made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. I'm Shante Moore. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Doantae Moore. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Dolly Simpson.

What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, welcome back to this Black Star Network special on the issue of obesity. Nelson, I want to start with you. And so in terms of from your perspective, what are you seeing public policy-wise as to how lawmakers are dealing with this issue? Are they properly dealing with it? Are they misclassifying it? Do we have enough resources that are going to the topic? Just share with us and give people an overview from a public policy standpoint how obesity is being dealt with by federal lawmakers. Yes, and I think you're spot on with the beginning statement when you talked about the fact that

this is a public policy argument, it's a public policy concern, and honestly, a national security issue as well when we talk about the fact that X number of our young folks won't even qualify for military service because of their weight. And so what I'd like to say is that there's definitely more that can be done on the federal, state, and local level. And just like I mentioned earlier, that gets back to those political determinants of health. There is an opportunity for our federal government to really kind of do one of two things, or two things, honestly.

It's to address these political and social determinants of health, and then also to address the issues with insurance coverage, which I'm sure we will talk about later. But there's any number of metabolic options out there that can really help with obesity as a disease. And there's coverage gaps, there's coverage holes, there's opportunities to expand that coverage to make sure that we have the care that we need. But it all starts with us raising the alarm, speaking to these concerns, and making sure that our policymakers are representative of the concerns and the issues that are plaguing our community. Yolanda, do you believe lawmakers get it and understand how significant of an issue this is? Unfortunately, I don't. I believe that a lot of times we see obesity as a behavioral issue, even though it's now classified as a medical

diagnosis. I had a colleague actually say that obesity was a hand-to-mouth disease, as if it was simply what people ate and the lack of physical activity. And in my experience, both as an obesity medicine expert and in working in public health, we know that it is the social determinants that drive how I make choice. We're here in the District of Columbia. It's divided by eight wards. In Ward 3, it's affluent, predominantly white. In Ward 7 and 8, predominantly African-American and under-resourced.

In Ward 3, there are 16 grocery stores. Between Ward 7 and 8 combined, there are three. That's one grocery store for every 8,ced. In Ward 3, there are 16 grocery stores. Between Ward 7 and 8 combined, there are three. That's one grocery store for every 8,000 people in Ward 3, one grocery store for every 85,000 individuals in Ward 7 and 8. And that's not by accident. It is policy-driven food apartheid. And when people recognize how important policy is, there is health in every single policy that's passed, and that there's potential for an obesogenic environment to be developed based on policy, once that's recognized, that's when policy will change. Unfortunately, for most elected officials and the population in general, they see obesity as a choice, that people dealing with obesity is

simply because they eat too much. And most of my patients, it's not an issue of eating too much. If anything, they eat less than we would assume that they do. But it's based on the environment in which they're making food choices. It's even here in Prince George's County, where I live, 75% of our food establishments are fast food. And you're talking about a very affluent community, again, based on zoning decisions. And so we see the impact of policy each and every day when it comes to the development or protection against obesity. Once lawmakers realize that there are a multitude of factors that influence food choice, physical activity, mental health, to your point, all of those influence whether or not I

gain weight in combination with genetics and personal choice. Once we recognize that and we remove the stigma that's historically been associated with obesity, that's when policy will change. Tiffany, I remember when Michelle Obama's Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act was going through, even when it was passed, you had all of these folks on the right who were whining, complaining, oh, this is the mommy state. I mean, they were literally trying to deal with obesity, but also hungry kids. And I'm just trying to figure out when the hell did healthy eating as well as fighting obesity become a political left, right, blue, red thing? Right. That's a very interesting point

that you make. And unfortunately, I would say that it absolutely should not be. We all should have access, as has been mentioned, to healthy foods that are affordable and that we can get easily and make it in our life. I am not sure exactly why it became political, but it did. I mean, it affects us with the food choices that we make, with the access to health care, all of that. But it also affects when we actually have treatments for these diseases. So we have medications that can treat obesity. But if you can't afford that medicine, we have no way to really get it to you and to help you prevent cancers and diabetes and high blood pressure and all the things that end our lives very early. And so one thing I'd like to say is commercial insurances

tend to follow what Medicare does. For some reason, Medicare is not covering these anti-obesity medications. Many years ago, they thought, okay, obesity was a cosmetic problem. You didn't, you know, you don't look good. You have too much fat on your body, that's the problem. The problem is not that, it's beyond that, it's a health issue. So it really does need to be covered. And if Medicare covers it, usually other people follow. So I think that would give our people better access as well. Well, and Michelle, again, when I look at this, where you constantly have this battle, if you look at obesity numbers, aren't they worse in red states? They are. And I think that that's very telling. And that's a great point that you bring up

because it goes back to not the political determinants of health, but let's just be honest. It's about the structural racism that exists in our country. And so I say that because, you know, when you don't have access to these things and you look at the policies that prevent people from having those things and who's more greatly impacted, then we have our answer. So we have a lot of work to do around, one then I think we can move the needle a little faster. What about for any of you, anyone could chime in, are we seeing on the state level or the county or the city level this being addressed in a positive manner? Who out there is actually, you believe, who's doing a good job trying to deal with this issue for their residents? I'll jump in. I serve as the health consultant for

the county council here in Prince George's County when they sit as the board of health. And in 2020, we passed the Prince George's County Healthy Kids Meal Bill. And what that did was compelled the 75% of the fast food establishments in Prince George's County to offer a healthy option for parents. When we take our children out to eat prior to the passage of this legislation, it was hard to find any healthy options. I'm a mom. That's my most important job. And on occasion, when I took my daughter out to eat, it was frustrating not being able to find a healthy option. The fact that we were the first in the country to pass comprehensive legislation that didn't just cover soda, didn't just cover sides, but the entire meal, we've set the tone

for the state of Maryland and hopefully for the country. Anyone else? Yeah, I will say that, you know, to the point that Dr. Williamson made earlier, the federal government is leading the way on this, right? They're supposed to be leading the way on this. If Medicare can get it right, Medicare could expand coverage to cover these anti-obesity medications. A lot of other states would follow suit. Right now, I believe it's 25 states that already include anti Hill will have access to this in their health plans, but the constituents that they represent, they might not. Some of our states, their health plans offer it, but some of their constituents won't. So again, we're seeing at the top level, it's just not trickling down to the point where everyone will be able to have access to it in an equitable manner. So there is opportunities. There are examples in both red and blue states. It's just a matter of us raising our voices, making sure that all of our communities have access to it. All right. Another two guests. Well, this fall, I had the opportunity to attend the White House Conference on Hunger, Health and Nutrition. And that was the first time they had

done that for many, many, many years. But and while I feel like obesity could have been highlighted a little bit more than it was, out of that gathering, it did highlight some of these things we're talking about from a political standpoint. And I believe from the report that there are things that are going to come down the pike to help to address some of these things at the state level as well? The thing that, you know, I think one of the things you also are seeing, you're seeing city leaders, mayors also lead on this when it comes to them encouraging healthy living. Again, anyone else can jump in, but I got about a couple of minutes left in this break. What about school boards? Are we seeing any school boards who are saying, hey, we're not going to wait on the federal folks or the state or the city. We're going to be far more proactive when it comes to our students when it comes to the issue of obesity.

I'll jump in again. Here in the District of Columbia back in 2009, the D.C. City Council actually passed the D.C. Healthy Schools Act, and it addressed a variety of issues that link back to pediatric obesity. It included addressing food insecurity by providing breakfast in the classroom for all students. It really evaluated how healthy school lunches were and used student influence in order to determine how to sort of flip the script on the school lunch to make it healthier. They required physical activity measures to be met. So it was very comprehensive in how they approached it, and they're continuing to show metrics

demonstrating how much better children are eating in terms of increasing their fruit and vegetable intake, how much more they're engaging in physical activity. And it really set the tone and set an example for the rest of the country in how the school system, especially where children spend the majority of their time during the week, can truly affect change in how we're tackling this epidemic, particularly in the pediatric population. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. Let's talk medicine, dealing with the obesity issue in America. Should kids be put on pills or taking medicine to deal with obesity? Well, that's been a hot topic over the last few weeks.

We'll ask our panel about that as well. You're watching a special edition of Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network on obesity in Black America. Back in a moment. A lot of these corporations or people that are running stuff push black people if they're doing a certain thing. What that does is it creates a butterfly effect of any young kid who, you know, wants to leave any situation they're in. And the only people they see are people that are doing this. So I gotta be a gangster, I gotta shoot, I gotta sell, I gotta do this in order to do it.

And it just becomes a cycle. But when someone comes around and is making other, oh, we don't, you know, they don't wanna push it or put money into it. So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix too, is just show there's other avenues. You don't gotta be a rapper, you don't gotta be a ballplayer. You can be a country singer, you can be an opera singer,

you can be a damn whatever, you know? Showing the different avenues, and that is possible, and it's hard for people to realize it's possible until someone does it. Next, on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read.

Professor Porter and Dr. Valetia Watkins, our legal round table team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves,

how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. 007 007 Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Thank you. All right, folks, let's talk about drugs and obesity.

There are a number of new drugs out that have played a huge role in helping people deal with obesity. Of course, you had the different surgeries as well. But one of the stories that I saw a couple of months ago caught my attention. There was the issue of childhood obesity and medication. And that is new guidelines were issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics where they encourage young folks who are dealing with obesity to be medicated. Now, that caused a lot of people to say, hey, man, what's going on? Why are we doing this? I've had some fitness experts, some of the dieticians who were on who said, no, that's the last thing that we should have happen.

Michelle, again, these are doctors who, pediatricians who say we can't wait. 14.4 million young people in this country have obesity. They say it's causing too many problems like high blood pressure, diabetes and depression. Medication should be the route. What do you say? So I think that we have to keep an open mind about treating the disease of obesity, just like we look at other chronic diseases. We have to realize that obesity is a chronic disease and it does start very young. I can tell you again, I can use myself as an example, I've struggled with weight my entire

life. I do understand the mixed feelings about it and the hesitancy, but I think that under supervision and with educating parents as well as the clients, that it is something we need to look at as a viable option to help to prevent the long-term chronic issues that are associated with obesity. Yolanda, where do you come in on this? So as both a pediatrician and an obesity medicine expert, I'm in full support of utilizing medication as part of the treatment modality for obesity. The American Academy of Pediatrics, in their updated guidelines, this is the first time they've actually included obesity medications as part of their recommendations.

When the initial guidance came out back in 2008, obesity medications were not included because there were none yet FDA approved. As it stands right now, there are four medications that are approved in the pediatric population. The first is metformin, and it's actually not FDA approved, but has been used over the past 10 years in terms of obesity management for children 12 and older. In terms of other obesity medications, phentermine is approved for children 16 and older. Orlistat is a medication that blocks fat absorption. It is approved for children, as is another medication called loraglutide. Now, for each of those medications, they may be approved by the FDA, but that does not necessarily mean that they're going to be covered by insurance. What the AAP listed out was a standardized way in which we approach obesity, the first being lifestyle

management, where personal trainers and dietitians and nutritionists are in full support. We have to recognize that there are certain levels of obesity at which diet and exercise aren't going to be able to manage certain cases of obesity, and it requires treatment the same way we would for asthma, the same way we would for high blood pressure. And again, it goes back to that mindset that we believe that if we just eat less and exercise more, that that will fix it. You can't fix physiology in certain aspects of managing obesity, and that's where both medication and surgery play a key role. I want to bring in Dr. Sedrina Calder. She is a board-certified preventative medicine physician

specializing in lifestyle medicine and obesity medicine. So, Sedrina, I'll ask you, when it comes to children, should we be putting them on medication to deal with obesity? So I agree with what was already said. So you really have to consider medications as an option. Medications are a great tool when it comes to weight loss. And there are so many children that are currently affected with obesity in this country. And we know what we do know about obesity is that it leads to severe chronic diseases further down the line. So I think that it should definitely be considered. Of course, you can try

lifestyle changes initially, but there are many situations where lifestyle changes alone will not do it. It must consider medications as an option as well. There are a lot of folks out there who have been focused on the new obesity drugs. Many folks have actually called these drugs a game changer because they've actually impacted people in a quite a unique way. But Tiffany was also, it's caused problems because now we have folks, Tiffany, who are not, who are not, frankly, obese, who are making a mad dash. I think I saw a story where people, it was a TikTok video, and folks just all of a sudden went after the drugs. They cost a significant amount of money. But again, the problem is how do we ensure that the drugs that work are getting to people who need it as opposed to individuals who are

looking to lose five pounds to have their gold weight for their swimsuits. Right. That's an excellent point that you're making. And so what I would say is if you have five, maybe 10 pounds to lose, these medications may not be appropriate for you. There are criteria that the doctor should be using to rule out who is appropriate and who is not. And that's based on the risk factors that you have. If you already have diabetes, if you already have high blood pressure or some other obesity related disease, and obviously you're at higher risk and you would do well to have that medication. If you

have five to 10 pounds to lose, if it's simply cosmetic and you want to lose a little bit to look better in a swimsuit or something, obviously that is not a good use of the medication. But I do want to caution people because they will say that the medicine should only be used for diabetes and not for obesity. And that's just simply not true. Obesity is a disease. There are medications that can treat it. And we really should not further stigmatize or bias people with obesity by not providing medications that can work. So yes, we should prevent people from using it for cosmetic reasons. And really the doctor should kind of be the gateway keeper for

that. And then the price also stops a lot of people from being able to afford it, unfortunately. So we really do need some political change there as well. Speaking about that, Nelson, again, these new drugs have been called highly effective, yet they're not covered by Medicare and most Medicaid programs. Drugs cost upwards of $1,500 for a month's supply. Are we seeing any potential changes on the horizon federally to be able to cover these drugs for individuals who may be facing chronic obesity or who have chronic illnesses like diabetes? Yes, we are seeing some progress, and I think you put your finger on when you refer to it as a game changer, right? These drugs are, in fact, a game changer for any number of people. But does everyone get to play that game?

Is this a game that's locked behind a garden ball? Is it the country club of effects, right? This is only a game changer if you're allowed to have access to it. And so it goes back to the cost burden, the access to a primary care physician, all of these determinants are blocking the way. And I always try to apply that equity lens. So when you ask that question, when we think about that, you're right. We have to look at what's happening, where the trends are, where the progress is being made on the federal level. And yes, OPM is sending out letters. They're sending out letters to the federal health plans letting them know to consider these anti-LBC medications on Medicare and with the, not on Medicare, but with the federal health

plans. But we're not seeing that in Medicare. And when I think about that, we talked about the children, but I also think about my grandparents. I think about our aunts, our uncles, the older individuals who have paid into the system, who have dealt with this for years and years for any number of the reasons that we've already talked about, that now are relying on Medicare and they won't have access to it. So what is it a game changer for everyone? I can't say so. It's only a game changer for those who are already on the court.

So in terms of, again, from a drug standpoint, moving forward, going down this particular path, I'm curious in terms of, you know, what is next? Because cost is cost. If you're talking about spending $1,300 a month, you're having to come out of pocket. I mean, you know, look, you're talking about, you know, $15,000 a year just on the medicine. If you don't have those sort of dollars, then you're creating a situation where you pretty much have the haves and the have-nots. And as we know, typically when it comes to issue of obesity, those folks who are in the have-not category are the ones who are most impacted by this. And so you're there in Nashville, Cedrina.

You're there in Tennessee. What do you think, again, folks are watching should be advocating, pushing for when it comes to dealing with this very issue? We should be pushing for insurance companies to be able to cover more of these medications because what we're doing right now is creating more of a disparity right now. So we know that almost 50% of African Americans have or will have obesity. And that's a huge issue. So when we talk about not covering medications, a lot of those same individuals are the individuals that are not being covered. They're not getting access to medications. And now we're causing even more issues when it comes

to increased rates of chronic diseases. So we're really increasing the disparity. We're increasing the gap. So that is what is needed. We really need to push that change. Insurance companies have to cover more of these medications for the population. Well, and that's one of the things, Michelle, that's always interesting to me, where if you're an insurance company, you should want to be in the preventative state as opposed to, oh, once you get sick, once it gets bad, then we'll cover things. I'm going, isn't that actually costing you more money? Absolutely. That is exactly the point. I think many of these discussions that I participate in,

that is exactly the discussion, and that is the point, is that if you are spending literally billions of dollars or spent in this country treating high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, all of these things, when honestly we could reduce the number of dollars that's being spent once people are having these illnesses if we would just treat the root cause. And I think that really it comes down to, Martin, we just have a lot of work to do in terms of really educating the public around what this is and what this isn't, you know, helping people to understand that obesity is a disease. Because, you know, we only started that narrative within the last five to seven years. It wasn't even declared a disease by the AMA until I think something like

2015, 2016. And so that in and of itself is problematic. So we are still battling at the legislative level. We're still battling at the state level. We're battling, even people who live with the disease are still battling sometimes to accept that it is a disease and it's not because you have poor willpower or because you're lazy or because you're not dieting enough or what have you. So I think that changing the narrative around how we see this disease is one of the main keys that we've got to get focused on. And then once we can get people to come on

board with that, I think that it's a little easier to have the conversation to say, listen, this is a disease and you would not deny somebody who comes into your office who has diabetes or, you know, they have a blockage in their heart. you would not deny them care. So why would you do that with someone living with a chronic disease like obesity? But we've got to be able to put pressure on the public and the powers that be, all stakeholders, to understand that that's what this is. And so that changes how we approach it, how we deal with it. Treat the root cause. Boy, that's a novel concept. That's novel.

All right, hold tight. Just saying. I understand. Hold tight one second. I got to go to break. We come back. We'll talk about what next. And so for all of our specialists here, those who are watching, what do they recommend they do next if they are dealing with obesity, dealing with

weight issues, dealing with any of this? Where do they start? What do they do? So that's how I want to hear from each one of our experts when we come back right here on the special edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered, focusing on obesity in Black America right here on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy

with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy, I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem to bring resources to Blacks and people of color so they can scale their business. Even though we've had several examples of African Americans and other people of color so they can scale their business. Even though we've had several examples of African-Americans and other people of color being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, dealing with obesity in black America, powered by Novo Nordisk.

I certainly want to thank them for partnering with us on this. And so let's deal with what's next. There's somebody who's watching and they say, okay, I agree with you. You're right. Let's do something about it. I have no idea what to do next. And so if we're talking about from an individual standpoint, in terms of an individual dealing with this issue themselves, what do they do? But also I want our experts to talk about from a public policy standpoint, what is it that they want people to do to begin to impact this issue? Is this an issue that voters should be demanding of politicians who are running for local office, state office, and national office to be addressing? We ask these questions when it comes to fentanyl,

when it comes to opioids, when it comes to fentanyl, when it comes to opioids, when it comes to these issues. But how often are you watching a town hall where this issue comes up in that conversation? So, Yolanda, I want to begin with you. For either one, public policy-wise or for the individual, where do they start? Somebody is sitting, watching or listening right now, and they say, I know I'm obese. I know my BMI is too high. I don't know where to begin. The first thing I would say is recognize that you are not obese. You are dealing with obesity. The second is to look at all the factors that influence how your body processes, metabolizes, and deals with food. So it isn't simply just eating. It's where are you in terms of your stress? We know that cortisol increases. It triggers over 1,300 stress responses in the body,

resulting in weight gain. You could eat one meal a day and still gain weight. So think about stress, sleep, all of the other components that add to the risk of obesity. From a policy standpoint, what I would say for every voter, I'm a mom and that's my most important job, vote like your child's life depends on it. Where is health in every single policy that the person you're about to vote for is manifesting? If health does not show up in the decision every single time they get ready to either pin legislation or push it forward, then that's not the person that we should vote for. So Doreen, the point Yolanda just made, and I've had this conversation with many of our fitness and diet expert dietitians as well, is that idea of sleep, how the role it plays

when it comes to lowering your weight in terms of being able to get all that under control. And I've had folks who say sleep is, some say sleep is more important than even what you put in your mouth. And that doesn't mean you got there and sleep 10 hours and eat fast food all day. But they said sleep plays such a huge critical role in confronting obesity. And too many Americans are not sleeping enough. Yes, Roman, you're so right. The average American does not get enough sleep. So, you know, the requirement for adults is about seven to nine hours a night or a day. Yeah, seven to nine. Most people are not getting that. That's just very difficult to get in our busy lives. But sleep does play a role in overall health. We find people that are chronically sleep deficient tend to be at a higher weight.

Also, the less sleep you get, it literally changes your hormones it changes your cortisol level increases that it can do things such as make you hungrier so you may want to eat more food so sleep is super important when it comes to weight loss unfortunately the average person doesn't realize that but I agree that if you are someone who know that you are dealing with excess weight, you do want to start off with looking at your lifestyle. Sleep is one big factor that you want to improve upon if you are trying to lose weight. That issue there, Michelle, and so many others. And so, Michelle, for you, you talked about surgery, weight coming off.

And so talk about the adjustments that you made. Let's say before you even had the surgery, adjustments you made and adjustments you would recommend to someone who's watching right now who says, I don't even know where to begin. Well, there's several things I have to tell you. You know, I'm a nurse also. And so even being a nurse, I have to be honest and tell you that along my journey, it was a long time into my journey before I even embraced the idea that I was living with a disease called obesity. And there's a couple of important things. You asked some really great questions about what did I do? Because I was somebody who was doing all of the things, okay? I was, you know, watching my diet. I was exercising.

I was, you know, whatever it was that somebody said I could do to try to lose the weight, I was doing it. Here's a key factor that really helped me. I had a healthcare provider who saw me. She saw me, and she was able to sit down with me and have a heart-to-heart conversation and tell me, listen, this is far bigger than you are.

I want you to... Oh, I want to stop you right there. Okay. When you said she saw me, it wasn't that I scheduled a visit. It was that you had a health care provider who said, I am that one. I'm going to talk to you anyway about the issue. And you were listening because we know based upon the stats, too many African-Americans when they have white doctors, that doesn't happen. Was your health care provider

black? She was not, but it's rare. It's very rare. Listen, Roland, I was very, very blessed, but she was Indian, but she was really in tune to me. And I'm sharing that because I think one of the big pieces that we've got to delve into and get dollars to put money into is really educating healthcare providers, right? Because if you trust your provider, you can have compassionate conversations with them and your healthcare provider. And I said that intentionally that she saw me, she saw Michelle. And so she knew that I was doing all of the things. And she literally said, I'm begging you. We really need to look at this from a different angle.

Would you please look, would you please talk with this, my colleague who happens to be a bariatric surgeon, because I think that you are an excellent candidate because you are doing all of the things. You were doing all of the right things, but those things were not working. Exactly. That's exactly right. And I also want to bring out the point that if you are someone just like me, who's living with obesity and you're doing all of the things, please know that even with surgery or the medications, you still will have to do the things. Obesity is best attacked when you look at it from

a mind-body-spirit issue. So managing your stress, taking care of your body, eating well, I mean, feeding your body good things, those things don't go away. It's not an either-or situation. It's an and situation. But I would say that if you're going to your healthcare provider and they're not listening to you, you need to fire them. I will fire a healthcare provider. I have no shame in my game to do that. The reason is, is that you need someone who is going to get you and who's going to work with you in collaboration with you to come up with a comprehensive treatment plan to deal with this disease called obesity. Tiffany? Yes. I wanted to add two things. The first thing is that I think absolutely obesity is something that needs to be addressed.

Sure. Locally, we need to elect people who are voting with our best interests, who are choosing for us, you know, health and all things. But this also needs to be addressed on a federal level. And if Medicare Part D, Medicare, Medicaid actually address this and cover these medications, 66 billion dollars over the next 10 years would be saved. So that would be an extraordinary amount of money that would save our economy, but also the lives that we're losing at early ages, especially in the black community, which is something near and dear to my heart. So I think that is the first thing I would mention that you need to write to your legislators. Make sure you're choosing people who are in support of health care for all. But then the second thing is, Michelle hit the nail on the head.

What I wrote down earlier was that you need a physician who cares about you, someone who takes obesity seriously, doesn't shame you, doesn't say that you are obese and you're doing it wrong. And then you're scared to go to the doctor or scared to get on the scale. You need someone who cares about your best interests. And you're right that often that is a doctor who looks like you, who maybe understands what you're going through in life. Sometimes it's not, but often it is. And then lastly, I wanted to say as a mom, I am a mother and I know for black women, oftentimes we are trying to do too much at one time. We have a lot of stress. We may not be able to make time for ourselves.

So my advice to my patients often is get a journal, try to journal if you can go for a walk outside and fresh air if you can. But mostly we have to let go of the superwoman, strong black woman stereotype and feel free to rest, get your sleep, control your stress, and then make sure you have a very strong health care team. So that is my advice. All right. Nelson, take us home. I have to say that it sounds like the previous two speakers were basically just doing plugs for HBCU Medical School. So a quick shout out for that. But I will say that I've got two words, both for the personal and for the public policy. On the personal end,

the single greatest thing I've ever done in my life was marry my wife, who's a nurse, and she has instilled upon me the importance of extending grace. So for anyone that is struggling with the disease of obesity, because this is in fact a disease, extend grace to yourself to understand that this is a disease. For those around, those individuals struggling with that, extend grace to them and extend grace to the system to figure out what is going to work for you. Extend grace. On the public policy front, it's to take a yes and approach, right? Yes and what else? Yes, diet and exercise and metabolics. Yes, we are getting the federal health employee plans or having access to the anti obesity medications. And Medicare needs it. And insurance coverage needs it. Yes. And until we get to where we need to be and everyone has their best opportunity to achieve their optimal level of health.

All right. Let me thank Nelson Dunlap, Michelle Tedder, also Yolandra Hancock, Tiffany Bell Washington, as well as Dr. Sedrina Calder. I want to thank all of y'all for being guests. Let me thank Nova Nordisk as well for sponsoring this. Folks, this is not the only time we're going to be talking about this because it is an ongoing issue. We've been following the policy battles that have been going on in the nation's capital and also across the country as well. And so this would be something that we'll be focusing on on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network, plus our other shows as well. This is one of the reasons why when we started off

Unhealthy You in 2023, having so many different experts on talking about the issue of what we eat, how we eat, and also getting us moving, getting us not just locked down, eating processed foods, eating more fruits and vegetables, but also moving our body, being more active. And, yes, that's still hard, Cedrina, those seven to nine hours, getting more sleep as well. And so, again, Novo Nordisk, we appreciate them partnering with the Black Star Network on this special. Folks, that is it. We'll see you tomorrow

right here on the Black Star Network. Holler! Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. Hey, Blake, I love y'all.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Pull up a chair.

Take your seat. the Black Table with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not.

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