#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Guyger sentenced; Ex-NJ police chief hate crime trial; Sen. Sanders hospitalized; Andrew Yang Intv.

Episode Date: October 3, 2019

10.2.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Amber Guyger sentenced; Ex-NJ police chief on trial for a hate crime; Sen. Bernie Sanders hospitalized and underwent a significant medical procedure after a blockage w...as found in one of his arteries. Sanders has canceled all campaign events "until further notice"; Dem presidential hopeful Andrew Yang breaks down his agenda for Black America. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Life Luxe Jazz Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime, delivering top-notch music in an upscale destination. The weekend-long event is held at the Omnia Dayclub Los Cabos, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. For more information visit the website at lifeluxejazz.com. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 420 Real Estate, LLC To invest in 420 Real Estate’s legal Hemp-CBD Crowdfunding Campaign go to http://marijuanastock.org Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Să fac urmăm. Thank you. Martin! Today's Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Amber Geiger gets the same amount of years in prison as Bill Cosby did. And she killed somebody. We'll break down that particular case and we'll take you inside of the courtroom. Also, another high-profile case in New Jersey. Federal prosecutors wrapped up their hate crime case
Starting point is 00:02:09 against ex-Borgstown Township Police Chief Frank Nucera. This is the guy who said, you know what? Trump is the last hope for white people. Plus my interview with presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Folks, it's ready to have a great show. It's time to bring the funk on RoboMarket on a Filter. Let's go. From sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all
Starting point is 00:02:49 It's Roland Martin Rolling with Roland 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, Martin Martin Today in Dallas, a judge read the jury's decision as to how many years Amber Geiger will be sentenced to prison for the murder of Botham Jean.
Starting point is 00:03:28 The jury having reached a verdict, I will now announce it. We, the jury, find unanimously that the defendant did not cause the death of Botham Jean while under the immediate influence of sudden passion arising from an adequate cause and assess the defendant's punishment at 10 years imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In addition, we assess a fine of $0 and it's signed by the presiding juror.
Starting point is 00:04:00 Would you like to have the jury poll? Yes, Your Honor. Okay. Is there any legal reason why this sentence should not now be imposed? Not at all. It is therefore the order, judgment, and decree of the court that you be taken by the Sheriff of Dallas County and safely transported by her to an agent or representative
Starting point is 00:04:18 of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and there you shall be confined until your sentence is discharged. Your sentence will begin today, and you will receive credit for any back time that you had. Both of John's father, Bertram John, testified today in quite the emotional testimony. Mr. John, in this photo, what are you thinking when you're standing there holding your wife? How could that happen to our sound family? How could we have lost both of them? Such a sweet boy.
Starting point is 00:05:03 He tried his best to live a good honest life he loved God he loved everyone how could this happen to him how could hindsight what could we have done and my family's broken-hearted How could it be possible? I'll never see him again. And I want to see him. I still want to see him. It's hard. I've never experienced a close death when my family is hard not hearing his voice.
Starting point is 00:05:57 Joining me now is Tiffany Young, a political commentator who has been in the courtroom every day since the trial began. Tiffany, I want to play this video. Both of Majan's brothers also testified, and he said he did not want to see Amber Geiger go to prison. In fact, when it was over, go to my iPad, please. When it was over, this happened, where he went to her, hugged Amber Geiger, whispered in her ear, I hope you find Jesus Christ.
Starting point is 00:06:27 And what's interesting is I already see a lot of white folks on social media, people like, you know, conservative commentator, uh, Mark Davis out of Dallas talk about, uh, how, you know, the forgiveness in the courtroom versus the racial revenge. And I said, oh, so if you forgive the white woman for killing both of them, John, oh, we praise forgiveness. So like with Dylan roof, so if you forgive the white woman for killing Botham Jean, we praise forgiveness, sort of like with Dylann Roof, but if you don't, it's racial revenge. What was your reaction?
Starting point is 00:06:54 How did that play in court in terms of when that happened? And also, were you also in court when this happened? Guys, if you go to my iPad, when the judge came off the stand and gave Amber Geiger a hug. Share your thoughts, please. Yes.
Starting point is 00:07:14 So we have a press conference with the D.A. going on here behind me right now. But when those moments happen in court, I will tell you it was a tender moment for everyone in court. You already had one of the jurors that was in tears, even as the sentence was read. And so as we watched the judge, some of us were kind of confused as to what was going on, because the judge spent some time speaking with Amber. And so we were trying to understand what was going on. Have you ever seen that before? Tiffany, have you ever seen that before?
Starting point is 00:07:50 I mean, I've covered trials. I've never seen a judge come off the bench and hug the person who was convicted of murder. Correct, and that's what we've said in all the years of the Dallas County courtrooms. No one could recall seeing a moment such as that. Um, obviously, what was your... And even when...
Starting point is 00:08:13 Go ahead. Even when the brother came down, even when the brother came down from the stands, there were some that were commutating as to whether or not that was even appropriate because Amber Geiger was already in custody at that time. And so, you know, there may even be an opportunity for reprimand there because I've heard that that was inappropriate, I guess, from a procedural standpoint. And then the brother has been here at the courtroom today with his Bible in tow.
Starting point is 00:08:45 I've noticed that he's been reading the Bible very intently today. So it wasn't necessarily a shocker to me that he did ask for that. We're breaking up there. Tiffany, I want to let you go ahead. Why don't you go ahead and cover that news conference, and we'll try to get back with you a little bit later. We get also a better signal, okay? Okay.
Starting point is 00:09:08 All right. Thanks a bunch. I want to go to now our panel. Joining me right now in the studio, Abisha Cross, political commentator, Democratic strategist. A. Scott Bolden, former chair, National Bar Association PAC. Also, Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA. Scott, 10 years? Well, every state jurisdiction is very different.
Starting point is 00:09:27 Prosecutor wanted 28. Both of them, John, his birthday was earlier this week, would have turned 28 years old. He was 26 when he was shot and killed by Amber Geiger. They came back 10. That's real on the low side there. But she could have gotten life. Well, could have gotten life.
Starting point is 00:09:41 Right, could have gotten life. She'll serve five before she's eligible for parole. You know, it's interesting. There was a lot going on in this courtroom, emotionally draining. These are tough cases. This was a murder case and she was charged with murder and convicted of murder, but it felt like a manslaughter case. Her whole defense was it was a huge mistake and error. And that seemed to permeate what the emotions and what was going on in this courtroom. You just reported that the witness
Starting point is 00:10:14 was allowed to hug a murderer. The judge came down off the stand to hug a murderer. That is so rare. I've been doing this for 32 years on the criminal and prosecution and defense side. I have never seen, read, heard, or even known of any other case like this. So something interesting was going on. But 10 years, the hugs, those are inappropriate.
Starting point is 00:10:40 And I'll be honest with you, maybe that's Texas justice, but I think the Texas Bar or even the Court of Appeals, if you will, may have something to say about that vis-a-vis the judge. I don't know whether it's an appealable issue or not, but they did this in front of the jury. Right. When the jury is making a determination on zero or five to 100 years. Well, first of all, both of them are John's brothers. That took place while the jury was present
Starting point is 00:11:06 before sentencing came down. The judge, I believe, that came after the jury had rendered their sentence, but even still, here's the deal. I'll go ahead and say it. But the camera's rolling. I'll go ahead and say it. I think the difference here, the difference here,
Starting point is 00:11:22 she's a cop. The bottom line is you cannot convince me that the roles were reversed if both of them, John, walked into Amber Geiger's apartment, and she's a cop, and she's shot dead, that you're going to have this level of compassion. I think that's what you, I think
Starting point is 00:11:37 what happens is, whenever a police officer is on trial, they are given the benefit of the doubt. There is a whole... Same thing happened in the Laquan McDonald case. It was, oh my God, don't take my husband from our children. All those
Starting point is 00:11:53 things you heard from the officer's wife and all the cops testifying, that to me, I think, was the driving force. I absolutely agree with you. And I was going to say that the other part of this is is when we see cases like this, there's always the defense side trying to find something wrong with the victim. Oh, he smoked weed when he was 16, so somehow he deserved this.
Starting point is 00:12:14 In this case, you have a guy who, by all intents and purposes, college graduate, worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was someone who led the choir. He was someone who actually had a white woman serve as a key witness for his character during the trial. Great family. Exactly. Great family. Yes, Christian people. We all pray. On that same token, what we see here is someone who in Amber Geiger's case went there and acted like she was the victim the entire time. Right. Not that she killed somebody. No, remember, she was. But she was victimized.
Starting point is 00:12:46 She was treated that way from the beginning, Lauren. Cops, first of all, took three days to even arrest her. All right. And then she turned herself in in another county, not in Dallas County. And you had all this, yeah, absolutely. It was like, oh my God, this is so unfortunate that it was an accident.
Starting point is 00:13:04 She was disturbed. You know, she was sext this is so unfortunate that it was an accident. She was disturbed. You know, she was sexting the guy she was having an affair with. She was distracted. And then she goes into the apartment. It was just a tragic accident. He's dead. Yeah. I mean, I know people grieve in different ways,
Starting point is 00:13:19 and the family should be allowed to, you know, have their moments that they need to have to work emotionally through this. But the whole thing is really a tour of what it is to be African-American, you know, have their moments that they need to have to work emotionally through this. But the whole thing is really a tour of what it is to be African-American, you know, in this country for the last 400 years. We are not allowed to get angry. We're not allowed to get pissed off in the same way. And we're supposed to make everybody else comfortable. Yes. Everybody else is supposed to be made comfortable. If you remember in the Michael Brown case, the theory was, well, the cop's life shouldn't be inconvenienced that he had shot dead
Starting point is 00:13:45 this 18-year-old. Like, why are we inconveniencing his life over that? The same thing that happened with George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. And you're seeing a little bit of that here. It's not just that she's a cop. She's a petite, white, blonde female. And there's a natural sort of built-in tendency in our culture to have sympathy for that person. So there's this idea that she's just sort of... But she of like she was a victim. She was the victim. She was in fear. And you know what's interesting about that? Her story is BS.
Starting point is 00:14:12 The idea that she accidentally came into his apartment is nonsense. And that this should be a manslaughter case is nonsense. Anybody could see through the fact that this is probably a premeditated moment. But let me tell you what. You couldn't tell it probably a premeditated. Let me tell you. But let me tell you what. Well, you couldn't tell. You couldn't tell.
Starting point is 00:14:26 It was a key fob. But it feels like a manslaughter case. All the floors look alike. Let me tell you why. They all feel alike. But most jurors believe that if it's premeditated murder, right, under the law, you can be premeditated within a minute or two, right? The case didn't feel like that, and it wasn't presented that way.
Starting point is 00:14:46 It felt like she made the error. The defense narrative on this dominated this trial, despite a strong prosecutor, and besides them getting an in-hurter conviction. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not the defense narrative. Her narrative from the beginning dominated. And on the stand, she said on the stick. But again, again, the only reason, the only reason that narrative was allowed
Starting point is 00:15:10 to be present and consistent is because she's a cop. I think part of it's because she's a cop. I think the other part she kind of spoke to earlier. This is a younger blonde white woman. No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on. I got that. America.
Starting point is 00:15:23 I got that. I got that. What? I got that. I got that. I got that. What? I got that. But she's also a cop. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, the leeway we get. That's clear.
Starting point is 00:15:34 I got that. I got that. No, no, I go back to the case that was in Connecticut. Black guy. I think it was Connecticut. Brother. Hands. Cop says, get on the ground.
Starting point is 00:15:47 Brother gets on the ground. Cops kicks him in the head. Knocks him unconscious. Goes to court. Jury says, not guilty. We don't have the after video. We have the video of him. This is how he's looking.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Going to his knees. Making no move towards the cop. Cop literally re... kicks him in his head, knocks him unconscious. The jurors said, ah, not guilty. We... This is the reality. I think you mix in cop, 31-year-old white woman, oh, my God, the tears and all of that, and people... Clearly, you have never in your life, as you've already said,
Starting point is 00:16:27 seen that type of scene in the courtroom. I mean, raise your hand in here if you've ever seen a judge come down and hug the person responsible for a murder. We've also never seen somebody get shot and killed in their own home while eating ice cream. Listen, but here's the deal. This is part of the psychology
Starting point is 00:16:43 of what you say. I agree with you. Who you call when you got a problem, somebody breaking in your house, or a disturbance in your house? Who you call? The police. And they are there to protect and serve, right? Right.
Starting point is 00:16:56 Who you call when you want them to come to school and talk about officer friendly? The police, right? Right. Now, when white people call the police, their narrative is they're there to protect and serve, and they look up because they're the last line of defense between chaos and community.
Starting point is 00:17:11 When black people call the police, you got a 50-50 shot of making it. Maybe they come and secure the location. Like in Illinois, when they call the cops and the brother was a bouncer, and the brother, he had the the cops and the brother was a bouncer and the brother, he had the gun and the cops shot him and he ends up getting killed. And he was the one trying to stop the fight. And what happened in Dallas when they had a peaceful march and the shooter was sticking and moving and shooting people, right? And the police and the protesters or peace
Starting point is 00:17:42 protesters were walking and you had hope all of that open carry as Soon as that shooting started. What did the brothers do the brothers dropped their rifles handed their rifles over it got out You know why? I want I want to pull this up because I was I was looking at this here. So Mark Davis y'all is a conservative radio talk show host in Dallas-Fort Worth, and he and I go at it all the time. But you always got to love whiteness.
Starting point is 00:18:13 And privilege. You got to love whiteness when black people forgive. That's a beautiful thing. This is a tweet. Jury gives Amber Geiger ten years. Courtrooms see spirit of forgiveness.
Starting point is 00:18:30 Even hugs along the theme of what both of them, Jean, would have wanted. This display of grace and mercy is in stark contrast to voices crying for racial revenge. Genuinely inspiring. Then he later tweets, let me find this.
Starting point is 00:18:47 There has been so much pain in this story. Botham Jean family's literal embrace of Amber Geiger is God's grace before us. An echo of the kind of man Botham Jean was. And a call to all of us to practice that mercy and forgiveness in our own lives. You got white folks 18 years later still want to kill every damn Muslim because of 9-1-1.
Starting point is 00:19:14 I was offended when I heard that bullshit on TV after Emmanuel. All morning, Joe, and all these shows, I was just struck by the tone of forgiveness. After this tragedy, forgiveness. This, something tragic happens. White folks in America want us. Can't you just forgive? Can't you just?
Starting point is 00:19:40 But it's the mercy. But then it's the, so if you don't forgive, racial revenge. But what about when they are the bad actors? Or the bad act occurs to them. And again, that's my point. And they want not only revenge, but they want justice, they want death. Swiftly.
Starting point is 00:19:56 They want swift justice. Why do they equate justice with racial revenge? You've got to be incarcerated. You've got to be incarcerated. It is, and I don't really think white folks understand, again, this history. This history where, and what they also, again, don't understand, is that our history has been black forgiveness has actually been tied to black survival.
Starting point is 00:20:21 Because when these things have happened, lynchings and other shootings, this tone of forgiveness, Can we just forgive? And then, but then if you say, oh, no, hell no, I ain't forgiven. I think back to when, um, uh, I think it was, uh, I think it was either Jimmy Lee Jackson or the four little girls who were killed in Birmingham when the king was trying to give this speech,
Starting point is 00:20:42 and his one brother stood up and he's like, oh, no, hell no. No, I'm sick of this. this. And we can't get mad. Right. We're not allowed to get mad. We can't hold a grudge. We can't say, oh hell no. No, no, you have to forgive. Also, for us to get mad then indicates that we value our lives just as equally as everybody else, which has been something, and you just said it, we have had to survive
Starting point is 00:21:07 making sure that the majority, in this case white folks, are happy. And if they're not happy and they're angry, that has been a problem for us for 400 years. Hold tight one second. Hold tight one second. I want to go back to Dallas. We have Ben Crump who's with us. Ben, who do you have with you? I have
Starting point is 00:21:23 an attorney, Gerald Washington, an attorney, Lee Merritt. Ben, who do you have with you? I have an attorney, Darrell Washington, and an attorney, Lee Merritt. I got to ask the three of you, Tom Joyner this morning asked me how many years I think Amber Geiger was going to get. I said 15. The prosecution was asking for 28. How do y'all
Starting point is 00:21:40 feel about 10 years? Well, 10 years is going to be inadequate every time. We believe that Botham's life mattered a lot more than that. But we understand that we've been so close to this family. We saw the kind of love that was expressed by Botham, that was expressed by his little brother, that permeates that family.
Starting point is 00:21:59 And because of that, we thought 99 years would be far too little time. However, 99 years is not going to bring both of them back to that family. There is additional work that needs to go on. We need to continue to push to fight to change the culture and to change the city of Dallas. So that's what we're focusing on. The one thing I said, Roland, at the press conference, everybody was talking about consideration for this white police woman who killed this unarmed black man in his apartment. I thought about, and you know this well, all the black men who have been wrongfully convicted, who spent decades in prison, why aren't we asking
Starting point is 00:22:38 consideration for them? Like the white community was asking for consideration, like this police woman. So we have a lot of work to do in America. We thought, because this was historic with the first conviction of a white police woman of murder for killing a black man, that this was going to be equal justice. But we saw with this sentence, we still have work to do. And Roland, just to add to that, we were happy to get the murder conviction. However, you know, when you look at 10 years, there are Black men who have been sentenced to more than 10 years for selling weed. There have been people sent to prison for a longer time for stealing a sneaker bar out of the store. So again, we have a lot of work. The fact that we were able to get a
Starting point is 00:23:25 murder conviction on a white lady police officer is, I think, is significant in itself. But still, there are major issues that we are faced with in Dallas and throughout this country that we must take on head on right now. I have to ask you, do you believe that it was inappropriate for the judge to come off of the bench and embrace Amber Guyger? You know... Hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me rephrase. I'll rephrase. The three of you... I've never seen a white judge do that. That's what I'm saying. I'll rephrase. The three of you have been in numerous cases.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Have you ever seen a judge embrace somebody convicted of murder? Never, not once, not even on Hollywood movies. I mean, it goes even farther. In this case, I've had so many twists and turns. Just on last evening, we saw a picture of a bailiff actually combing Amber Geiger's hair. I mean, and just to see a lot of the things that took place today, I've just never seen it happen that way. And we just, it wasn't a mistake. She went in there with the intent to kill both. And when she walked in that apartment, and I think she should be treated as a murderer. We understand that people out there forgive people.
Starting point is 00:24:45 But at the end of the day, we need to send a message to America that it is not acceptable to kill unarmed black men in their own homes. The justice system treats police differently. It's not loose to anyone. The justice system treats white women differently. It's not loose to anyone. This is part of the system that we're working to change, and there's more work to do. Amber Geiger is 31 years old, will go to jail,
Starting point is 00:25:13 sentenced to 10 years, will be eligible for parole in five years, could also get out a lot earlier for good behavior. And I tell people, I open the show this way amber geiger killed both of them john and she got the same number of years that bill cosby got in prison that's deep well these are some very difficult cases we were looking at the black man the black police officer who killed the white lady in Minnesota. If I'm not mistaken, he only got 12 years.
Starting point is 00:25:49 These cases are so very difficult to get jurors to want to send police officers to prison for a very long time. Actually, remember, the cop who killed Philando Castile had no indictment. The black cop who killed that white woman,
Starting point is 00:26:06 he got indicted, they dissed himself, and he got, yes, more than 10 years in prison. The whole police force in the city just ignored it, said, no, we done with you. And in fact, the settlement that that white woman's family received was far higher than what Philando Castile's family received. So again, in this country, a white woman,
Starting point is 00:26:28 her life is far seen as more valuable than an African-American. And Roland, it's so deep what you say because remember the police union in that Minnesota case where that black guy killed the white woman was the first time I ever saw the police union not defend a cop and turn their back on him. So we know it's always about race in America. Gentlemen, we certainly appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:26:56 Thank you so very much. It was certainly an emotional trial there. And we'll see where her team chooses to appeal. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roy. You guys wanted to make a final point here. I wanted to ask the team whether that 10-year sentence was appealable under the court procedures in Texas at the state level.
Starting point is 00:27:23 Don't know whether it is or isn't, and whether either side could possibly appeal at 10-year sentence. Well, one of the things... Well, first of all, one of the things that, um... when they asked the defense about that, they rarely accepted what the jury offered. But they did. That's to tell you something right there.
Starting point is 00:27:43 No, we're good. They said, no, we're good. 2005, that. But they did. That should tell you something right there. No, we're good. Get out in five. They said, no, we're good. Get out in five. That's without good behavior. And then if she goes into a number of programs like drug or alcohol, she probably gets good credit, good time credit.
Starting point is 00:27:57 I don't know Texas law, but you're looking at essentially a manslaughter sentence. Here's the deal. Get ready. That's what you'd be looking at maybe three to five years. Here's the deal. Get ready. Here's the deal. That's what you'd be looking at maybe three to five years. Here's the deal. I know Texas law.
Starting point is 00:28:08 Uh-huh. That works for a white former cop. That don't work for black people in Texas? That don't work for black people. Well, it's the same system. That don't do it. Yeah, OK. All right.
Starting point is 00:28:18 Always trying to figure out their separate system for black people and white people. The same system helps everybody. Yeah, OK. It hurts everybody. Yeah, all right. Get ready for the cavalcade of stats on cases system for black people and white people. The same system helps everybody. It hurts everybody. Get ready for the cavalcade of stats on cases where somebody stole a loaf of bread and got more
Starting point is 00:28:31 than 10 years. And Kristen Clark, you retweeted Kristen Clark. She already had an example of that. Yeah, a black man who sold drugs and how he spent 20 years of life served 20 years and only got out because of the First Step Act.
Starting point is 00:28:47 Right. Only got out. This is a tweet right here. Meet Amber Geiger, who was served 10 years after murdering Botham Jean in his own apartment.
Starting point is 00:28:54 Meet Edward Douglas, who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of selling crack cocaine. He spent almost two decades in prison before being released
Starting point is 00:29:02 through the First Step Act. And many more to come. Because that's gonna be a lot of... You could post a ton of examples up there. You don't have to talk about that. All right, folks, I gotta go to break when we come back. We'll talk about a former cop in New Jersey who said Donald Trump was the last hope for white people.
Starting point is 00:29:22 The jury right now is deliberating his case. I'll tell you about it on Roland Martin on the field. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. All right, folks, you heard me talk a lot about MarijuanaStock.org. Why? Because we want to keep you informed
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Starting point is 00:31:03 to get in the game and get in the game now. Folks, as we speak, a jury in New Jersey is considering the fate of Frank Nucera, a former Bordentown, New Jersey, police chief. Now, he is charged with hate crime, assault, deprivation of civil rights, and lying to the FBI. He's accused of slamming a handcuffed black teenager's head like a basketball, according to testimony, into a metal door jam. He faces over 20 years in jail and a loss of his six-figure pension,
Starting point is 00:31:27 frozen since March as part of an agreement with the New Jersey pension officials. If jurors believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, he is guilty of the crime. The jury left for the day without reaching a verdict and will resume deliberations on Thursday morning. He also sort of had some comments, y'all, on this whole deal as well.
Starting point is 00:31:45 And he actually said, quoted as saying, that Donald Trump is the last hope for white people, according to a recording recently played by jurors. This should be pretty damn simple. This is pretty rare. You had the blue line, and then you have within that blue line, he was taped by other officers
Starting point is 00:32:09 in this small police force who were concerned, to their credit, that their chief, they believe, was a racist. Whoa, Hillary was giving all of the minorities to get a vote. That's the truth. I'm telling you.
Starting point is 00:32:22 And one of the quotes is, I'm like, you know what? They're going to fool around and make me is, I'm like, you know what? They're going to fool around and make me shoot these N-words, you know, around here. I mean, he was really over the top. And they had like 80 to 100 tapes that they either introduced at trial or could have introduced at trial against him.
Starting point is 00:32:37 Lauren, he told colleagues that African-Americans were like ISIS. They have no value. You know it's bad when... They should line them all up and mow them down. When the other cops... Because cops are, as I don't need to say, very loyal to each other. The fact that the other cops turned him in is unprecedented.
Starting point is 00:32:53 I haven't heard that ever. And that's another thing that we've never heard of in another case. And the defense attorneys, part of their defense is, well, that the other people wanted this job, they didn't really like him. So this had nothing to do with race.
Starting point is 00:33:07 This had to do with them wanting to be promoted over him. So they made him say all that stuff. He was extremely comfortable. I'm reporting. I'm not endorsing that defense. But this is the thing that, again, we can mention just numerous cases. We can talk about when the cops in Florida were recorded using the N-word, the cops in San Francisco. You had black police chiefs in both places
Starting point is 00:33:29 who were blasting them. Of course, the investigation, the Facebook, where they looked at five or eight different cities and they found more than 300 cops, the vile, racist things they were saying on Facebook message boards. And you had 321 cops nationwide who were suspended uh in st louis uh you know in terms of what was happening there hell what they said about an undercover black cop
Starting point is 00:33:51 uh and how the police department abandoned them i mean lauren look you got law enforcement uh family black cops say the safest i am is if i got a uniform on. Yeah, the police department, to me, police work is almost, to me, from a legal standpoint, a protected class. I mean, they have a license to kill, and they can do things, obviously, that civilians cannot. Their origins protect a certain class. Yeah, I also think, though, too, is that what happens...
Starting point is 00:34:17 No, the origins were to snap up people who look like us. Slave patrol. Right. I do think, though, that what happens when you do police work, you're encountering negativity and bad people all the time, day in and day out. Even though in this country the stats for violent crime is actually at a 40-year low, still, if you're a police officer,
Starting point is 00:34:36 you're seeing the negative thing every single... And I don't know why the profession never really deals with that issue of trying to either cycle the cops out into other places or whatever because it has its very dilatory effect. It's no excuse for this, obviously, but yeah, I mean, they get it into their heads that they're better than everybody else at some point because they're dealing with the worst parts
Starting point is 00:34:56 of our society all the time. Also, I think what has to happen, Scott and Amisha, and again, this is where what happens beforehand, and you don't see enough of it, I'm sorry. If I'm going to put a gun in a person's hand who can take somebody's life, your ass is going to undergo a serious psychological evaluation.
Starting point is 00:35:16 Because what happens is we hear the stories that the people who are attracted to becoming cops, first of all, police officers have a higher incidence of domestic violence. If we want to pull that out, we can. So when you talk about, you now are giving somebody who has this edge, who has this whatever you want to call it, and I was like, I got a gun? And the law says if I felt like you threatened me,
Starting point is 00:35:43 I can take you out? Well, I'm telling the truth or not. I spent five years as a prosecutor in New York City. The other part of that life of a police officer is they developed this us versus them mentality. It's kind of consistent with what you said.
Starting point is 00:36:00 And so when you draw up complaints from the police rolling in New York, this was in the late 80 Roland, in New York, this was in the early, I'm sorry, late 80s, early 90s, we would be there all night, 11 to 9, and the police would come in with arrests and they would refer
Starting point is 00:36:16 to the people being arrested and mostly black or brown people is if we asked them, you know, what was the race of a, many of my colleagues would say, not what was the race, but were they black or brown? They didn't even contemplate white. And the police would refer to the arrestees as dogs, mopes,
Starting point is 00:36:38 black brownies, if you will. And this terminology that was used to address, whether you were black, white, yellow, brown as a prosecutor, to address those being arrested was really not only denigrating, but gave you a good sense of what the police thought about people who were, quote, were on the other side who were being arrested. That needs to be cycled out because at the same time, the majority of the people committing crime,
Starting point is 00:37:07 whether it's New York City or Joliet, Illinois, is somewhere between 1% and 10%, not the whole community. Exactly. And so when they come to serve and protect, they come to arrest when they come to our communities. The other piece in that is the disproportionate policing in black communities. So in New York in particular, they're not policing for drugs
Starting point is 00:37:26 in Bensonhurst and Coney Island. We all know that drugs are used equally by all the groups, but who gets policed? More by people that don't look like us. It's self-fulfilling... Because if you already know you're never gonna get pulled over, you're never gonna get stopped. The intensity to carry is a whole lot higher.
Starting point is 00:37:39 That's right. That's right. That's right. So that's another thing. The other piece is that we know that these trainings don't work. because we're seeing in many cases, even in Geiger's case, she even sat on the stand and they proved it. She had hundreds of thousands of hours of training, specifically in racial justice, in all of these emotive acts, in how to, what you can do to de-escalate a situation. Got on the stand and said she didn't remember any of it.
Starting point is 00:38:03 Well, see, part of this, too, though, is that a lot of jurisdictions have very low standards for police work. In New York and some of the bigger jurisdictions, you do have to have at least two years of college or two years of military. But in these smaller jurisdictions, like Ferguson, you don't need anything. It's the Wild, Wild West.
Starting point is 00:38:17 Because not even in many large cities. Like, I'm from Chicago. Chicago just instituted this two years ago. That's a very large city with a large police force. Yeah, it's the Wild, Wild West. That's a very large city with a large police force. It's the wild, wild west. That's what you got going on there. So, all right, folks, going to go to a break.
Starting point is 00:38:29 We come back. Bernie Sanders off the campaign trail after having a heart issue. Is it over? Well, the 78-year-old we'll discuss next. Roller Mark Unfiltered. You want to support Roller Mark Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real.
Starting point is 00:38:52 As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. All right, folks, the second annual Life Love Jazz Experience will be taking place in Los Cabos, November 7th through the 11th. Now, if you want to get your package to attend in person, you can do so by going to lifeluxjazz.com,
Starting point is 00:39:39 L-I-F-E-L-U-X-E-J-A-Z-Z.com. But if you want to actually check out the live stream, you're going to have 14 different legendary acts performing over three days. I told you. Community actor Mark Curry is confirmed. Gerald Albright, Alice Bunyan, Raul Madon, Incognito, Pieces of a Dream, Kirk Whalum, Average White Band,
Starting point is 00:39:56 Donna McClurkin, Shalaya, Roy Ayers, Tom Brown, Running Laws, and Ernest Quarles, and more. GFNTV.com is going to be doing the live stream. You can actually get that live stream package for $10.99. That's $10.99. And so all you got to do is go to GFNTV.com to actually do that. So I want you guys to do that. You can get your live stream pass between now and October 30th for $10.99 at GFNTV.com.
Starting point is 00:40:24 Three days of amazing concerts. Don't forget, Roland Martin Unfiltered will be broadcasting from there Thursday and Friday. But again, the live stream pass, of course, your list, live stream pass through gfntv.com. 1099 for those three days, and so you want to check that out. Of course, GFN TV, tv this is your world and it is in your image all right folks presidential candidate senator bernie sanders was hospitalized yesterday in las vegas underwent a major medical procedure after blockage was found in one of his arteries he has canceled all of his campaign events until further notice he was in vegas for a candidate's
Starting point is 00:40:59 forum on gun safety co-hosted by msnbc but has not participated they've also pulled their ad by from uh in iowa and so we'll see how long it's going to be out. Remember, the debate is going to be taking place in two weeks in Ohio. Some folks say we give a stint procedure. It really takes you a month or two to recover from that, to really get out there. Got to ask y'all, I'll start with Amisha, you first. He's 78 years old, oldest candidate on the Democratic side. Joe Biden is 76. Elizabeth Warren is 70. Then the other candidates get younger. This is a day after they announced they raised 25 million bucks in the last quarter, more than anybody else. But if you're the oldest candidate and you have a health issue running for office, I think voters weigh that and say, do I want to support this person? What do you think? Voters do, and I think that that's really tragic.
Starting point is 00:41:52 One, because a health crisis can hit any of us at any age. Period. But in addition to that, the timing could not have been worse. Again, with the debate coming up, knowing that he's got to get his feet to the ground, we're seeing Warren surge, taking a lot of what would have been some of his base. And he's really, you know, this isn't the time that anybody needs to slow down.
Starting point is 00:42:12 We're now seeing Steyer is going to be on the stage next go-round. We're also seeing Tulsi Gabbard back next go-round. Bernie has a lot that he has to do. One of the things that was the most tragic to me today was watching people on Twitter on both sides basically shouting it out as almost a sentence of death. I've had people who had since in my household, relatives, friends, and for a lot of people, they can continue on and be absolutely fine for years. So I think that that's something we have to take into account. But also avoiding being extremely ageist here. Again, with full recognition that you
Starting point is 00:42:46 can have any type of health scare at any point in time. But here's the piece. Lauren, it's not ageist. The reality is. He's 78. No, no, stop being ageist. Jimmy Carter said the other day, he said, I'm going to tell y'all right now.
Starting point is 00:42:59 He said, as somebody who has been president, he said, I could not have performed the duties of president of the United States if I was 80 years old. Exactly. The reality is that's on the minds of people. I don't care what anybody says. I think back when Paul Songhas was running,
Starting point is 00:43:13 after he had cancer previously, people talked about it. And a lot of y'all who weren't even born, I remember where he had this thing where he had the media come out and film him swimming in a pool to show his stamina. 2016, Hillary Clinton, the 9-11 commemoration, she collapses, she gets caught. People are talking about her health because, remember, she also suffered the concussion.
Starting point is 00:43:38 Look, voters factor those things in when you're running. Yeah, also when you have a big field and half the field is under the age of, like, you know, 60 or 55-ish, right? You have some really young people in the field, like Buttigieg. It reminds everybody as they're standing on the stage how old these other people are,
Starting point is 00:43:55 particularly we've got Joe Biden standing there as the frontrunner. My view is Elizabeth Warren's going to get the nomination, is going to take all his votes and just keep on trucking. So I think... If he stays in the hospital or if he gets out? Well, either way, whether he comes out or not. I mean, the polls are not particularly favorable
Starting point is 00:44:08 to him right now before any of this happens. And now this is actually a major thing. And if he misses the debate, that's going to be a moment. I think he's okay. I mean, we're not... It's not that we're not... It's not a bad thing of timing. But if this was, like, you know,
Starting point is 00:44:22 a week before the South Carolina primary or... If this was January, it's a a week before the South Carolina primary, or, you know, January, it's a whole different deal. But again, it, it, it, it, what it does is, for the calculus of people who are determining who they want to support, who they want to get behind, Scott, these are things that they actually factor in.
Starting point is 00:44:37 Well, it's fair game, but the reality is, I was thinking while you were talking about your family members, I was thinking about your family members, though, aren't running for president. And the amount of stress these candidates are under, whether they're young or older, they're traveling every day, they're eating poorly probably, they're probably not exercising. Sleep patterns, all that.
Starting point is 00:44:59 Sleep patterns. This is stressful. This is stressful stuff. And I'm not a doctor, but if something's wrong with your arteries, a lot of it has to do with your lifestyle. Well, hell, you look at Obama. Obama came to the White House with black hair
Starting point is 00:45:12 and left them in silver. I mean, that's just... It's fair game. The presidency aid issue, and I'm just simply saying that I think that it plays a part in it. It will be interesting to see how fast he's able to bounce back from this. Right.
Starting point is 00:45:29 Because how soon does he get back on the campaign trail? Yeah, if that debate takes place October 15th and Bernie Sanders is not on the stage, frankly, what it does is not only does it give a shrinking feel, it really gives an opportunity, frankly, for Senator Elizabeth Warren, for Senator Kamala Harris, for Mayor Pete Buttigieg, for those people who are in that second tier opportunity for them to say, okay,
Starting point is 00:45:52 now how can I go up? How can I sort of seize the moment? If he's ready... Stay away from that boxing ball that he tried to do to show that he had the vigor to run. If he's ready in 12 days, I'll be shocked. He'd be ready in 12 or 13 days. He's got a set.
Starting point is 00:46:07 He's got two sets of heart surgery. Really? Basically? Let's not... If he's sitting on that stage in 13 days, I'll be shocked. But where are the people also questioning Donald Trump's health? Mind you, he's somebody who we all know is overweight, somebody who eats like trash. Every day we question it.
Starting point is 00:46:24 Someone who got a non-White House doctor to actually... The greatest doctor? The greatest health of all time. First of all, we're dealing with an absolute loon. Anybody who's at the news conference today will understand the kind of nuttiness we're dealing with when it
Starting point is 00:46:39 comes to Donald Trump. Alright, folks. First of all, here's the deal. I want to thank Amisha, Scott, and Lauren as well. Now we're going to end the show with this here. My interview with Andrew Yang. He raised $10 million in the third quarter of 2019, according to his campaign, at substantially more than the $2.8 million he raised
Starting point is 00:46:56 in the second quarter of this year. Last week, I sat down with him to talk about his agenda, what it is for African Americans, and talk about, of course, his $1,000 check that would go to all Americans. Y'all get a chance to do that. Also, don't forget, if you want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, some of you have already been given through the YouTube channel, do so by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com, by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Matter of fact, Andrew Yang, why don't you send somebody $1,000 a month over here? What the hell? Might as well.
Starting point is 00:47:25 You would do that and have interviewed him too? You're a member of the media. I got no problem with it. Biden, Harris, Warren. So how many candidates left? How many candidates left? Is 19 of them left? So again, if 19 of you send a thousand dollars a month,
Starting point is 00:47:42 hey, guess what? You paid just about 40% of our expenses. Have you no shame? None. Have you no shame? None. None. Where is your decency?
Starting point is 00:47:49 None. And your ethics? Guess what? All you got to do is buy some damn ads. Same thing. Same thing. Same difference. Same damn thing.
Starting point is 00:47:57 You can do that. Same thing. And guess what? I'll take them. He got a million people following him. I'll take them. I got 2.5 million. I'll take them. See, capitalists can't count. Oh, take them. I got 2.5 million. I'll take them.
Starting point is 00:48:05 See, capitalists can't count. All right, y'all. No, I'm just not as arrogant. You just can't count. I can count. Yeah, you can count. I went to Morehouse. You can count the times you dropped them canes.
Starting point is 00:48:13 All right, y'all. This is my conversation with Andrew Yang. So let's get right into this. The crux of your campaign is about this guaranteed income, if you will. And a lot of people may not realize that the book, The Guaranteed Income, really formed the basis of the economic policy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yeah, I would be the first to give credit to Dr. King and people who've come well before me. Sometimes people falsely believe that this was my idea. It's not my idea at all.
Starting point is 00:48:56 It's something that Dr. King championed and advocated in his 1967 book, Chaos or Community. And it is what he was fighting for when he was assassinated in 1968. To me it's unfortunate that we celebrate his birthday every year without really talking about what he was fighting for. You know it's almost in my mind it's like his memory has been sanitized and made uncontroversial in a way that in in my mind, is not what he would have wanted. Well, and for people also, again, who those of us who actually followed Dr. King may not realize is that this notion of a guaranteed income was a particular book that he read. And I was talking to Al Samson, Reverend Al Samson of
Starting point is 00:49:50 Chicago, who was one of only two ministers who was actually ordained by Dr. King. And what he laid out, and I actually got a couple of copies of that book, is called The Guaranteed Income, Next Step in Economic Evolution by Robert Theobald. Dr. King read that book, and then that's what he really began to lay out. And so how would this work in 2019? So explain why this makes sense as opposed to what we currently have is, you know what? People say that this would be a handout. This would be welfare. This is just be giving folks free money. Well, if you look at our country, there's actually a dividend in effect right now in Alaska, where everyone in Alaska is currently getting between one and two thousand dollars a year in oil money. And what I would argue to the American people is that at this point, technology and data are to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century, where these are common assets that are generating huge amounts of value. And the American people, certainly we should own our own data,
Starting point is 00:51:01 but also we should be participating in the incredible benefits of the 21st century economy. Instead, you have a trillion-dollar tech company like Amazon closing 30 percent of America's stores and malls and paying zero in taxes. You have Google and Facebook and Uber who are paying very little or no taxes. Netflix pays zero taxes. So we're in a bind because the biggest winners of the 21st century economy are paying nothing back into our system while our economy is being transformed forever by these self-same companies. So to me, this is a necessary move in order to allow us all to prosper and participate in the modern economy. And when I was researching this proposal, I realized that Dr. King was prescient, where a lot of the issues he was talking about in the 1960s actually revolved around how technology
Starting point is 00:51:56 was automating. At that point, it was manufacturing jobs. But now it's become even more powerful and pervasive. Well, one of the things that also I find to be really interesting as we sort of talk about this is there are people who say, oh, Andrew Young, Andrew Yang is supporting. He's supporting handouts. Yet you have farmers who have received twenty eight billion dollars from the federal government because of Donald Trump's terrorist spat. And that's not loans. That's $28 billion in grants when the bailout was $12 billion. And that was actually loans. The federal government actually made money from that. So it's amazing to me how America has no problem with that handout or the subsidies that go to farmers, then say oh the rest of you you're just trying
Starting point is 00:52:46 to get welfare you're looking for a handout well roland what about the four trillion dollars we printed to bail out wall street i mean that's t trillion so when the banks needed the money we were there uh you know when the banks made decisions, they didn't have to face the consequences of those decisions in real ways, whereas for individuals, somehow it's the individual's fault. And this is something that I think most Americans are savvy to, that framing things as, oh, pull yourself up from your bootstraps, no longer makes much sense, given that you have large corporations who are the recipients of billions of dollars in some combination of subsidies or tax breaks or bailouts. So how do you plan to break through? You're still in this race. You the Democrats have set a new qualifying mark for the next debate in October.
Starting point is 00:53:50 And so how does this catch on? How do you think you're able to get more people to believe in what you're presenting as opposed to right now? The top of the ticket is Biden, Warren, Sanders. Well, a recent poll had me as high as fourth place. I've already qualified for the October debate, and I'm halfway to qualifying for the November debate. So this message is catching fire because people realize that $1,000 a month in our hands would be a game changer for millions of American families. Certainly for communities of color who are starting with lower levels of access to education and capital, $1,000 a month in many cases would be $24,000 a year in that household if you have two adults. And so the vision is so powerful, Roland, that I'm happy to say that our campaign is growing like wildfire.
Starting point is 00:54:47 And you'll see we're just going to continue to grow. I'm somewhere between fourth and sixth right now. And I've got a big up arrow attached to my campaign where I'm one of only two campaigns that's grown consistently the entire time. If we going beyond the $1,000 a month, what would you articulate is your black agenda specifically for African-Americans? Let's say when it comes to education, let's say when it comes to access to capital for businesses, let's say when it comes to criminal justice reform. And so what does that look like? Why should African-Americans say, hey, I want to give Andrew Yang a shot? So let me say that the freedom dividend, that would be an enormous game changer for millions of American families and families of color, it does not somehow balance the scales
Starting point is 00:55:45 where African Americans are concerned. So we need to do much more. On the criminal justice side, I would close private prisons. It makes no sense to have prisons that have a profit motive that benefit from recidivism. I would get rid of this punitive cash bail system that's essentially criminalizing poverty for many, many Americans. I would legalize marijuana nationwide, and then I would mass pardon everyone who's in jail for a nonviolent marijuana-related offense, which I have a feeling
Starting point is 00:56:17 we all know everyone there would be black, and I would high-five them all the way. So let me ask you about the marijuana piece. But before we go forward on the other issues, on the marijuana piece, there are some African-Americans who believe, and I've heard this for different states, who believe that there should be set-asides for people, or African-Americans and others, who were most impacted by those marijuana laws. Of course, when some of these states have passed these laws now you're talking about a 340 340 billion dollar global industry we see the billions that are being earned in colorado and california and washington state in the different places and so there are
Starting point is 00:56:56 some black uh there's some black caucuses on the state level who are trying to hold up saying no we need to ensure that people are not getting left out they don't want african-americans left out uh with this whole deal legalizing marijuana would you support uh creating something where those groups of individuals who are most impacted by marijuana laws or even allowing individuals who did serve time not to be disenfranchised by the legalizing marijuana so they can benefit economically from what is now legal? I would support that. It's only just that the community that's been most adversely impacted by what I see as the inequitable enforcement of our drug laws would then be in a position of benefit when you have a
Starting point is 00:57:45 multi-billion dollar industry that's taking shape. So to me, the secret to everything in my mind, Roland, is that black entrepreneurship will flourish when black consumers have more money to spend. You were talking about, again, some of the other issues in terms of, if I had to say education, what would that look like? Yeah, I have a plan for HBCUs that we have to face facts that the education market is like other markets where it follows the almighty dollar. And you have these very rich schools with big endowments and HBCUs are on the other end where they don't have those sorts of endowments to fall back on. So we need to bolster HBCUs specifically. I have a multibillion-dollar plan to help shore up HBCUs that have been, by the numbers, very, very successful in their historic missions.
Starting point is 00:58:43 So to me, the Freedom D freedom dividend is a starting point. It's a foundation. But we have to do much, much more to make our economy work for people from every background. I lost some audio right there, but I got you back there. So we talked about criminal justice reform. We talked about education. I lost some audio right there, but I got you back there. So we talked about criminal justice reform. We talked about education.
Starting point is 00:59:12 One of the things that is an issue that is not getting— I saw that you were like me in that you're just pro-good schools. You're like, look, as long as you educate our kids, I'm down. And I'm the exact same way. The data shows that 65 to 70 percent of our kids' school performance is determined by out of school factors. So that's parental time spent with the child, stress levels in the household, the type of neighborhood, factors like that. So one of the big problems we have facing black communities is that there is an education gap. And then people say, OK, well, I give more money to the school. But the school only accounts for about a third of the kids performance. So if you want to be better access to actual education, what you would do is you give the money directly to the families and the parents and then try and improve the in-home environment, which accounts for two-thirds of the kids' performance.
Starting point is 01:00:11 We can give money to the schools until we're blue in the face, but as a math guy, if it can only control a third of the outcome, you have to focus on the other two-thirds, too. Well, and one of the things that I have been talking about this whole issue, and again, it's amazing to me when people go, well, you know, why are you supporting charter schools? And I'm going, folks, there cannot just be one delivery system in this country. My philosophy is real simple. If traditional schools exist and are working, they stay open, they keep educating. If there's a charter school and they're working, fine. If it's a magnet school and it's working, fine. If it's a home school, if it's an online
Starting point is 01:00:51 school, fine. But the problem to me is we got people who are saying, oh, get rid of charters. But I'm going, yeah, but if they're working in places, why would I get rid of something that's working? The other issue that I have a problem with is that schools have become community service centers. There used to be a time when you were in a neighborhood and there was a school here and a community service center down the street. So when you needed health, when you needed dental, when you needed mental services, you went to the community center. Well, cities and counties shut those down. Now they want to turn the schoolhouse into a community service center. So then education is no longer number one on the list.
Starting point is 01:01:29 It's now delivering food, mental illness. It's now mental health, now delivering health, dental and education like five or six. going to challenge cities and counties to reopen community centers, provide those services to people as opposed to saying the school should do all of these things. Your thoughts. I agree with you on both counts. And I have many friends who are very committed and dedicated educators who are teaching at charter schools. They're just like any other teacher. They're teaching their kids and they're doing their best every day. And somehow painting them with a negative brush, to me, applied across hundreds of schools around the country, you know, does not seem right.
Starting point is 01:02:16 And I agree with you that right now we're asking schools to do the impossible, where, one, again, they can only control a third of the educational outcome, and we're saying control 100% and make it happen. As you say, there's a lot of mission creep where it's like, hey, while you're at it, become a social worker, become a health institution, become a community health org. And you're right that there were other places for that in communities as there should be. At this point, those resources have been reduced and that's what we have to reverse. But we don't necessarily need to try and look to the school and teachers and educators as the cure-all.
Starting point is 01:03:00 We have to put other people in position to do the work too and put different organizations in place that have specific missions. All right, Andrew, can I ask you this question? This has not come up in a lot of these debates. Housing. I've covered housing my entire career. The reality is black folks lost 53 percent of all wealth during the housing foreclosure crisis. That has impacted the ability to be able to get small business loans. But also what we saw with these hedge hedge fund companies aligning with these banks, buying up twenty five and thirty and forty thousand blocks of homes. So what is your housing plan for America? You are 100 percent right to trace this back to the financial crisis, Roland.
Starting point is 01:03:42 What happened was in the run up to the financial crisis, Roland. What happened was in the run-up to the financial crisis, you had predatory lending practices that preyed particularly on black communities of color and said, hey, you can buy a home now, and we're going to essentially give you these shady loans. But don't worry, you can afford it. And then they made money going in. And then it turns out these mortgage-backed securities were way overvalued. And so then you wound up crashing the economy. And the U.S. government had a crucial choice in the wake of the financial crisis.
Starting point is 01:04:15 They could either bail out the homeowners or bail out the banks. And we know what they chose. They chose to bail out Wall Street to the tune of $4 trillion. And so you saw this wipeout of housing wealth among communities of color in particular that have never really recovered. That, to me, was a real lost opportunity in that you needed to help keep people in their homes. That housing wealth has never come back
Starting point is 01:04:42 for black communities. And so we need to do much, much more to put more people in position to own homes in a way that's sustainable. One of the difficulties in addressing the housing crisis and affordable housing in communities around the country, and I think you live in the D.C. area, which is one of the most expensive areas in the country, so you see the gentrificationification is that all of the incentives are around the marketplace, where if you're a developer and you have a choice between building new apartments for yuppies or keeping people in their homes, then of course you choose the yuppies.
Starting point is 01:05:16 So we have to do all we can to federalize better incentives for developers so that if they build, they build for people who can afford to live there they can build for the people that currently live there instead of people that are always going to be moving in the tough part is that a lot of the zoning regs and nimbyism are local in nature and a lot of people talk about affordable housing until it gets to their own backyard and then they say not in my backyard and that's what obviously stands for so there there are things that we have to do in a big way because the federal housing measures are woefully inadequate uh i think there's something like a three-year waiting list for housing assistance and whatnot i mean three years a long
Starting point is 01:06:01 long time to wait uh you know i mean what are you gonna do be mean, three years is a long, long time to wait. You know what I mean? What are you going to do? Be homeless for three years? So there's a lot more we need to do. The immediate term measure is just getting money into our hands, which then would be a massive rebalancer in terms of people's ability to just seek shelter in a positive way. And if you have $1,000 a month and there are four of you, you could band together and just find a fixer-upper or a house, and it would help create economic incentives for the right kind of development. But then we need a federal housing plan that actually starts to change the incentives for landlords and developers who right now are
Starting point is 01:06:42 most interested in sticking it to tenants and gouging us at every turn. You can trace the roots of this back to the financial crisis, though. It's one of the things that changed my entire outlook and career, where in the wake of the financial crisis, I left my job to start a nonprofit to help train entrepreneurs because I said, we can't keep on crashing the economy and running this financialized economy. And then after doing that for seven years, I realized that it was even worse than I thought. And now I'm running for president to actually rewrite the rules of the economy so that it works for everyone. There's no other way to do this except to get control of the government and just put money into our hands. Everything else we're going to do is just going to be scratching the surface of the problems.
Starting point is 01:07:24 Last question for you. Obviously, Democrats are moving forward with an impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump. Do you support that? And do you think the American people will realize that this president has abused his position in office? I do support the move to impeach Donald Trump. I've been more or less in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi, where she saw that this might not be a positive outcome in terms of successful impeachment. And it may energize hardcore Donald Trump supporters who believe that the president is being unfairly persecuted. The other thing, Roland, that troubles me is that every moment we spend talking about Donald Trump is a victory for Donald Trump. And that includes if we're talking about impeaching Donald Trump,
Starting point is 01:08:10 it's still Donald Trump controlling the narrative, controlling the conversation. We need a new story. We need a new narrative about what we can do for ourselves, a positive vision for the country that gets people excited. That's the antidote. That's the way to defeat Donald Trump. Impeachment, in my mind, is not the antidote that we're looking for. But I do support Nancy Pelosi's move to impeach him because at this point, you have the president colluding with foreign leaders for political gain and withholding aid and then suppressing the investigation. So at some point, if you are Congress, you have to act. I think this was the right move, but I don't want anyone to have any illusions about the fact that this is necessarily good for the Democratic Party, good for America, or that we're going to successfully remove Donald Trump from office. Well, I make the point all the time that going down an impeachment road is never something that people want to. But at some point, if an individual chooses to be so brazen and ignore the Constitution and flout its laws, that person has to be held accountable.
Starting point is 01:09:11 And so we'll see what happens. Andrew Yang, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much as you're traveling there in New Hampshire. Thank you, Roland. Hopefully I'll see you in person soon. I really do appreciate your understanding of my travel schedule, making this like the best opportunity. So thank you. Well, it's all good.
Starting point is 01:09:30 Well, the whole thing is this year, I'm in Lima, Ohio right now, about to give a speech in a minute at a Chamber of Commerce community event. And so I truly understand being on the road, which is also why I love having this on my own digital platform, because we get to be very flexible with how we do this show. It's very 21st century, Roland. Absolutely. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. See you soon. this is an iHeart podcast

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