#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Haitian migrant camp cleared; Biden condemns border patrol; BLM leader swatted; R. Kelly verdict👀

Episode Date: September 25, 2021

9.24.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Haitian migrant camp completely cleared; Finally, Biden condemns border patrol agents' treatment of Haitians; Rep. Karen Bass is planning to run for Los Angeles mayor; R. Kelly verdict watch; K9 repeatedly bites Black man in Missouri; National Cathedral is replacing stained-glass windows honoring Confederate leaders with "racial justice-themed" panes; House passes the Women's Health Protection Act; Education Matters: Evolution Academy gives high school dropouts a second chance; Omar Dorsey talks Queen Sugar season sixSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să punem un picătrunjelă. Să punem un pic de ulei de ulei. Să punem un pic de ulei de ulei. Să punem un picătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă.

Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. I'm going to go ahead and get my hair done. Today is Friday, September 24th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin on Filter, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The leader of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles files a lawsuit after being swatted. The next day, she gets swatted again. We'll talk with Melina Abdullah right here on the show.

The Haitian migrants have been cleared from their makeshift compound in Del Rio, Texas. We'll give you the latest. We'll also be finally hear what President Joe Biden thinks about the Haitian migrants that trekked thousands of miles ending up there in Del Rio. Also, the Miami Herald's Caribbean correspondent Jacqueline Charles will tell us what is happening to those migrants and what is the reaction in Haiti.

We'll also talk with Tamika Mallory, who's on the ground in Texas delivering supplies to those migrants. Jelani Day's body was identified yesterday after being missing for about a month. His mother, Carmen Day, will join us to let us know what happened during the time her son was last seen to the day she got the news he was found dead. Congresswoman Karen Bass apparently is going to run for mayor of L.A. and R. Kelly's fate lies in the hands of 12 jurors. We are watching for a verdict in the R. Kelly trial.

In our education matter segment, we'll meet one woman who is making sure no child gets left behind no matter how troubled their past has been. We'll talk with the founder of Evolution Academy Charter School. And my man, Omar Dorsey. You know from Queen Sugar and Harriet. Well, he's gonna join us right here on the show.

It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland.

Best belief he's right on time And it's rolling Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now It's Rollin' Martin, yeah. Rollin' with Rollin' now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best.

You know he's Rollin' Martin now. Martin. You have heard the phrase swatting. That's when someone calls the police, say something is happening at a particular home. Cops show up. Nothing actually is there. It's actually a false alarm.

Folks, swatting can lead to death. That has happened in other cases across the country. Well, Melina Abdullah, of course, has been experiencing that. She leads Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles. She filed a lawsuit against as a result of that. What happened the next day? She got swatted again. She joins us right now. Melina, glad to have you back on the show. Unfortunately, these circumstances, what happened? First of all, how often has this actually happened to you? I think you're muted. Check your audio.

There we go. There we go. Is it on? There we go. Okay, good. It's happened twice. The first time was about a year ago, August of 2020. Myself and my three children were in my home, and police came with assault rifles, surrounded my home.

There was a helicopter overhead, and I believe that LAPD knew what they were doing, and it was a form of an attempt to intimidate me and to shake me out of activism. I don't think it's a coincidence that the day after we announced the filing of a lawsuit against LAPD for the behavior in August 2020, that the very next morning, less than 24 hours later, the police come out again and claim that they were called out. No 911 tape has been produced, and it seems that this is another attempt, again, to intimidate me. Okay, so in the August case, was there a 911 call? There was a 911 tape produced in the August case, was there a 911 call? There was a 911 tape produced in the August case.

And have they traced that back to anyone? So I haven't received any direct information about who they traced it back to. I did speak with a reporter yesterday who said that he had some information that he just got after doing some digging. But there were calls for investigations by elected officials, and nothing was ever turned over to me or to those elected officials. The other thing that happened in the August 2020 case is the caller, and we did get the 911 tape, specifically said he was targeting Black Lives Matter. So they didn't need to respond the way that they did because they knew whose house they were coming to and they knew what

they were doing. In this case, again, there is no 911 tape that was produced, which makes me wonder if there was even a call. Okay. So what I'm trying to understand, that show of force, I mean, literally, police, helicopters, for what kind of call? That's a lot. Right. So there were dozens in 2020, there were dozens of officers with assault rifles pointed in my window. They demanded that I come out with my hands up, of course, with my children home, because this is when there was still the quarantine happening. So they were doing at home schooling. My primary concern was making sure they were safe. I was afraid that the police might shoot into the house. So getting them to safety and then coming out to bring the police away from the house was really, really important in 2020. Yesterday, they came with less visible force, but they claim that they got a call of an overdose. They claim to a reporter that my son, who's 11 years old, called and said I had overdosed

and needed help. That call, the initial call that I got alerting me to another possible swatting, came from actually the media. The media called and asked if I was OK, if I was being swatted again. That was at nine something in the morning. And I thought that they had misinterpreted yesterday's press conference because there was no police here. Almost an hour later, the police showed up. And when the media went to investigate, they said that there was a 911 call claiming that I had overdosed on pills from my son.

My son, of course, was in school. He didn't call. But also, the question comes, if you thought I had overdosed on pills, where is the ambulance, where are the paramedics, and why would you take more than an hour to respond to that call? So, again, it feels like retaliation

for me daring to push back against last year's swatting. Okay, wait. They said they got a call that there was an overdose and there was no ambulance that came with them? No ambulance, no paramedics. They didn't even bother to come to my door. They actually went to a neighbor's door rather than coming to my door. Okay actually went to a neighbor's door rather than coming to my door.

Okay, that sounds a bit strange there. I mean, if there's a suspected overdose, you make sure that you have an ambulance and paramedics there. Absolutely. In fact, you don't even need police. It underscores our call, defund the police. If I overdosed on pills, I absolutely want an ambulance and paramedics. I don't need police. It underscores our call, defund the police. If I overdosed on pills, I absolutely want an ambulance and paramedics. I don't need police coming. So again, this is why it feels like intimidation and retaliation for the filing of the lawsuit. All right then. Melina, glad that you're safe. As I said, things have ended differently in some other cases where folks have been swatted. One man actually ended up having a heart attack,

and someone else actually was killed as a result of being swatted. Yeah, it's absolutely traumatizing and could send you into panic, but you could also be shot. And so those are the things that we have to be aware of. And Roland, I really appreciate you for checking in on my well-being. And my neighbors and the media all checked on my well-being, and I really appreciate that. And it goes to prove that we keep us safe. Strong community is what keeps us safe. If this is an effort to intimidate us out of action, it didn't work.

It just causes us to double down and do more work and really push for justice for our people. So again, thank you so much for checking on me. And let's make sure we all band together so that we can push back against these efforts to intimidate us. All right, Melina Abdullah, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks. Let's talk about Haiti. President Joe Biden has finally publicly

addressed the treatment of Haitian migrants at the southern border. Biden vowed there would be consequences for the actions displayed in Del Rio, Texas. You said on the campaign trail that you were going to restore the moral standing of the U.S., that you were going to immediately end Trump's assault on the dignity of immigrant communities. Given what we saw at the border this week, have you failed in that promise? And this is happening under your watch. Do you take responsibility for the chaos that's unfolding? Of course I take responsibility.

I'm president, but it was horrible what you saw. To see people treated like they did, horses, barely running them over, people being strapped, it's outrageous. I promise you those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences. It's an embarrassment, but it's beyond an embarrassment There will be consequences. It's an embarrassment,

but it's beyond an embarrassment. It's dangerous. It's wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world. It sends the wrong message at home. It's simply not who we are. Vice President Kamala Harris also weighed in during her appearance today on The View. Human beings should not be treated that way, and as we all know, it also evoked images of some of the worst moments of our history, where that kind of behavior has been used against the indigenous people of our country, been used against African-Americans during times of slavery. And so I'm glad to know that Ali Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is taking it very seriously. Now, the reporter who shot the photos claims he did not see the border agents swinging those horse reins at anyone, that his photos are being misinterpreted.

Old conservatives have been jumping at that, saying these officers should be reinstated. There should be an apology. Folks like The Hill and Fox News analyst Joe Concha. I guess Joe doesn't see what's going on in the video. Earlier today, the migrant camp in Del Rio, Texas was cleared out entirely. Two buses with the remaining migrants left the makeshift camp around noon. Officials took the migrants to the U.S. Customs

and Border Protection Processing Center. This has led to lots of discussion and consternation. Not only that, Haiti. Officials there have been responding as well. We were supposed to have the Haitian U.S. ambassador on the show today, but they canceled at the last second due to urgent matters dealing with this issue. One person who has been very much involved in covering this is Jacqueline Charles. She's the Caribbean correspondent for the Miami Herald and, like yours truly,

a former NABJ Journalist of the Year. All right, Jacqueline, always glad to have you. So give us a perspective. We've sort of heard conflicting things coming from the Haitian government. You've had the Haitian envoy to the United States who resigned, claiming that the United States is supporting a propped-up government as opposed to one chosen by the people. Give us the latest in terms of what's happening.

Do they want to see these deportations stopped? What's really going on with the Haitian government? Okay, well, first of all, let's make sure we understand that Daniel Foote is not a member of the Haitian government. Right, right, right. I said a U.S. envoy. He was appointed by President Joe Biden about two weeks after Jovenel Moise was assassinated as the president of Haiti. He was shockingly assassinated in the middle of the night on July 7th in his private residence in his

bedroom. And so, you know, Congress, congressional lawmakers have been asking even before this, they had been asking for a special envoy because they had issues with the U.S. policy toward Haiti. And so Daniel Foote was appointed, and he resigned yesterday, basically calling the U.S.'s treatment of Haitian migrants along the border inhumane. He raised a number of issues, and his concern as well was in terms of the U.S. government's support for the interim prime minister, the interim government that's there. The situation with Haiti is this. The president was murdered. The president of the Supreme Court died weeks earlier from COVID-19.

There is no lower chamber in parliament. And the Senate, which should have 30 members, only have 10 members. And there are no elected officials, local elected officials in the country. So who the hell is in control? Exactly. So Jovenel Moïse was ruling by decree. He was one of 11 elected officials in a country of 11.5 million people. So if you recall, there was a power struggle after his death where the

acting prime minister, the foreign minister was holding on. And Ariel Henry, who had been appointed by Jovenel Moise prior to days before his death to, you know, to lead a new consensus government, was saying, but wait a minute, the president picked me. And so you've got this very murky situation. At the same time, you have civil society, human rights groups, business groups who are saying, listen, we are tired of the same old, same old. We want a game changer. And we have signed this accord where we say we want to take charge of this country. And instead of going to elections right away because we've got a gang problem, we've got all these other issues, we want to put in place a transition government for three

years so that we can clean some things up and then we can get people to elections. So all of that, in the midst of all of that, let's not forget there was an earthquake on the 14th of August, a deadly and powerful 7.2 earthquake. 800,000 people are affected. The same week the Del Rio was happening, a agency said, we cannot get humanitarian assistance to 400,000 people because the road outside of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, is controlled by gangs.

So you've got this humanitarian crisis brewing, and then you have Del Rio. Whew! That's a whole lot. That letter that Daniel submitted, he just blasted the U.S. policy and the treatment of the Haitian migrants, but also said, look, the've heard different stuff, which is why I wanted to have the Haitian ambassador to the United States on. Are Haitian leaders, whoever they are, are they saying halt the deportations? Sure, bring them here. What's the official position if there is one of the Haitian government?

So last Sunday, I was in Del Rio, Texas, and I spoke to the head of the Office of National Migration. He is the person responsible in the government for receiving these migrants. I mean, and he pleaded. He says, look, 14,000 migrants, because that's how much the United States warned them to be prepared for. He says, we cannot take this.

And he asked for, quote, unquote, a moratorium, a humanitarian moratorium on these migrants. The reality is this, is that, you know, government after government in Haiti, they are not going to reject the return of a Haitian national. Once you are a Haitian national, you are a Haitian national. And the reality of deportations or repatriations, as the U.S. calls them, is that the receiving country doesn't really get a chance to say no. We saw this last year with Guatemala and the COVID pandemic, when the Guatemalan government was saying, listen, you're sending people to us who are positive for COVID. We are not going to accept them. And the U.S. pushing, pushing. Guess what?

Today, Guatemala is receiving deportation flights. So, you know, this is the issue. So today, Secretary Mayorkas said that $5 million plus has been given to USAID to assist with the, you know, repatriation of individuals. There have already been 22 flights. Over 2,000 people have been sent back. Has that money arrived in Haiti? Is it going to arrive in time to assist these people? All of that is unclear. The reality is, is that you have a country in turmoil. You named a crisis. It exists. Today, I was told there are at least a half dozen people who were kidnapped. Those are the cases that we know about. You've got gang violence. You have a humanitarian crisis. With the earthquake and even outside of the earthquake.

And you have people who left Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Why? Because the promise that the United States gave, which was to build back better this country, it did not materialize. So they left. They went to Brazil. They went to Chile. And after things started to turn there, especially with COVID and the economy, what did they do? They picked up their kids. They picked up their life belongings in backpacks. And they made a 7,000-mile trek through the jungles of South America. Many people who did that did not survive. They were killed. They died. It's a very dangerous terrain. And eventually, they made it to Mexico. I was on the border. I was

in Mexico. I was in Del Rio. I spoke to the migrants. They tell me that it was word of mouth. People said, hey, Del Rio was open. And they went to the border. And even after they arrive in Haiti, they are still having a hard time to understand what exactly happened. How did I get back here? But I thought the border was open and the border is not open. So here you have the United States deporting folks back and deporting them back to what? I mean, that is just, I mean, what you are describing is utter chaos, sheer madness, sort of like who's on first, who the hell's in charge. And so I can only imagine getting deported back and you get dropped off and it's like, what the hell is going on? I mean, you have a government and you have a government that is in charge, but it's not a government that is, you know, that's been elected.

And it's not a government that has cash. This is a cash-strapped country trying to figure out how do we create this road to get to elections so that you have an elected government so that you can hold people accountable. But what Haiti and even Daniel Folt was saying is that the conditions in Haiti are just not there to hold elections. There's a serious problem with insecurity, with armed gangs. How, you know, if you are running for office, where do you go to campaign? How do you campaign in an area that's controlled by gangs? You know, so this is the reality that you have. And now what has happened in terms of the U.S. response with the special envoy and what is happening. You look at the current, you know, government that's there, and you're saying,

but wait a minute, they're being attacked from the left, they're being attacked from the right. You know, and honestly, if this thing all falls apart, I'm not exactly sure what tomorrow will look like. So it's a very delicate situation in Haiti right now. And to be sending these people back, what advocates are saying is that it's not the proper thing to do. It's going to add more strain. And, you know, despite the fact that the U.S. said to us repeatedly that they were going to make efforts to see if Chile and Brazil can accept some of these people who are willing to return, because some of them have legal residency in those countries. As journalists, we have not seen any evidence of that. So far, it looks like everybody has been returned back to Haiti.

So you were in Del Rio. Where are you now? Are you in the States? Are you there? Are you in Haiti? Are you somewhere else? Oh, my God. I was a month in Haiti, three you in Haiti? Are you somewhere else? Oh, my God. I was a month in Haiti, three weeks in Haiti, and then I was in Del Rio.

I'm back in Miami. You know, one of the frustrations, and I also went to Acuna, Sudara Acuna in Mexico, on the Mexican side, where I talked to migrants who had left the camp because they started to receive word of the deportations. But one of the frustrations for journalists in Del Rio before they emptied this camp, we were not allowed access. We were not allowed in.

So we couldn't go in. We couldn't really see what the conditions were. We couldn't talk to the people. So whatever information we were getting outside of the few drone footages or videos that people were sending out and it made its way on Haitian social media platforms, we were basically just taking authority words. And if you recall, there's been a lot of discussions and debate about the conditions under which, you know, people were subjected to in those camps, in that camp. I don't even know what to even ask next, what is next? It's desperation. I mean, you know, it's desperation. You know, Secretary Mayorkas is right in terms of, you know, people being misled and believing that there is temporary protective status here.

The Biden administration is in a difficult position. On the one hand, they're trying to get, you know, comprehensive humanitarian reform in. But then on the other hand, you have this rush to the border. And, of course, we have that photo. We have the images. I saw somebody put the video today. And, you know, when I looked at that video, I was just my mouth dropped open. And let me say this. For African-Americans, that picture took us back to the slave patrols. But for Haitians, it was a much more recent. It was a reminder of the double standard that

has existed in U.S. immigration policy toward Haitian migrants, where Haitian migrants are often considered economic migrants, regardless of what's happening in their homes, that there were 60,000 of them in Guantanamo Bay, when we had a policy called wet foot, dry foot, so that when Cubans came to the U.S. and they touched soil one year and one day, they were allowed to apply for residency. But Haitians and other migrants who were caught at sea were returned to their countries of origin. And so that is where it hit them. And there was a line that I had in my story when I said it doesn't matter if it was ropes or if it rains, whether that migrant was struck. I mean, as cliche as it sounds, a picture speaks a thousand words.

And that is how the community, the Haitian community, received that. That is how they view that photo and the video of that Border Patrol officer and that Haitian migrant. Well, I'm glad you were there to break it down for us, Jacqueline. It is a whole lot to take in. And again, I mean, as you say, stuck between a rock and a hard place,

but the first thing, if the Biden administration stopped the mistreatment, look, there's a way to actually handle the processing of people. And so we certainly see what happens next. And my God, hopefully the Haitians can just get a break. Because, as you said, President been assassinated. Frankly, the way it reads, like an inside job.

Earthquake as well. Now this is just one thing. Of course, dealing with the hurricane, it's just one thing after another that keeps just hitting the country of Haiti. Yeah. Thank you, Roland. Jacqueline, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. Great job. Thank you. Let's talk about panel Julianne Marveau, Dean, College of Ethnic Studies, California State University, Los Angeles. Michael M. Hotel hosts the African History Network show. Kelly Bethea, communications strategist. Julian, to sit there and listen to what Jacqueline just laid out there, I mean, my God, it's just one massive headache after another, one crisis after another.

You're absolutely right, Roel. It's blood-curdling to see that photo of this man on a horse. We've seen folks on horses going after people before. But the sister from the Miami Herald broke it down. It's not just the vestiges of enslavement. It is the way that we do immigration policy towards black people. And let's just say black people. Let's stop saying people of color when we're talking about stuff like that.

We're talking about Haitians. Sometimes we're talking about Africans. Everybody is not treated the same way. And for people to be treated as less than human, less than human, is disgusting while we have an administration who's running around on a human rights tip talking about human rights here and there. Look, we're taking in thousands of people from Afghanistan, and I'm not hating on them. I'm just saying the same kind of accommodations need to be made for people from Haiti. That's it. I mean, we show that, look at that. We show that we have the capacity to absorb when we want to. But what we don't want to

absorb, apparently, are these Black people who legitimately, if they heard the border was open, it's not just that they heard it. You just can't do that. I mean, it is more repugnant than anything that I've ever envisioned. But just from an economic perspective as well, let's look at the many ways that Haiti can't compete without help. What ended up happening is Haiti had to pay France money. We should never, ever forget that. Haiti had to pay France money, and that was a drain on their economy. As we know, these kind of drains are multigenerational. And so when we talk about Haiti, we have to talk about the whole ugly history

and the fact that white people were so mad that black people beat Napoleon that they've been punishing Haiti ever since. Kelly, that news conference finally you hear from President Joe Biden. He had been under intense pressure to do so. Vice President Kamala Harris had already commented. And so that needed to happen. He needed to speak. He absolutely needed to speak. But I can't help but to agree with Dr. Malveaux on this one. The first thought that came in my head is that if these migrants were lighter than a paper bag, we would not be having this issue. There would not be a bottlenecking at the border because the border would be wide open to take in these refugees. And that's what they would be calling them. Not migrants, not illegals, not any other derogatory term for a human being. They would have been open and welcomed to the United States.

If Haiti had oil and diamonds, we would not be having this issue. If Haiti were, you know, not such a pariah against white supremacy, we would not be having this issue. Regarding the economy, like Dr. Malveaux said, while Haiti did have to give most of its worth to France for years, the United States is the main economic partner of Haiti. Haiti's exports are, I want to say, between 70 and 80 percent go to the United States. And yet this is how we treat Haiti when they are in trouble. It is not enough to just, you know, send the American Red Cross down there. It is not enough for a press conference that Biden was pressured to hold. It is not fair. It is not right. And for them to call this a partnership

is just a poor definition of words. It is more like an exploitation if nothing else is done for this country. Michael, you want to tip? Yeah, you know, Roland, I've been reporting on this basically every night on my show. And this is really this this whole thing and the whole backstory is really deep on this, because about 97 percent of the Haitians who came over across from Mexico over to Del Rio, Texas,

about 97 percent of them have been living in Central American countries. They were living in Brazil. They were living in Mexico. And the majority of them left Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. And what happened was in Brazil, in these different countries,

their labor was exploited, okay? And in Brazil, Haitian migrants were granted work visas for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. They were also able to obtain permanent residency for humanitarian reasons. But what happened was after all that was over, they were being expelled out of Brazil. They're being expelled out of Mexico, okay, after their labor was exploited. And they're coming over here, okay? And now part of it had to do with rumors getting out about TPS, temporary protection status, different things like this. Now today, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in his press conference today, and

even going back to Wednesday, they talked about Haitians being released and given 60 days to return for the political asylum, for the hearing on political asylum. 12,400 of the migrants are allowed to have been allowed to request political asylum and stay here. 8,000 have been returned back to Mexico. OK. 5,000 are being processed to determine whether they will be expelled or placed in immigration removal proceedings. 2,000 migrants have been expelled to Haiti. So what I'm still trying to figure out is, okay, how do you exactly determine who can stay and apply for political asylum and who gets expelled back to Haiti?

I'm still trying to figure out what the criteria is. First of all, remember, they're using Title 42, which allows for you to expel single folks, but the ruling by Judge Emmett Sullivan applies only to families. They're appealing that ruling. I want to do this here. Hold tight one second. I want to go live now to Tamika Mallory. She's there in Texas. She's co-founder of Until Freedom. They have been, they travel there with a significant number of supplies, not just to Del Rio, but to other parts of Texas as well. Tamika, how has the trip been going thus far?

Hey, thank you so much for putting me on and to the panel of all my good people who are there. I was actually really listening in and focusing on the history because I think a lot of people, even folks who are American, Haitian Americans, don't necessarily understand the significance of what is happening at the border and what is happening to the Haitian people. We are actually returning back to Dallas after having spent the entire night and all day today traveling to Del Rio, bringing a truck full of resources, and also going to the bridge, under the bridge, where the encampment site was to take a tour. Once we got to the encampment site today, we learned very quickly that everyone had been removed. All of those who were under the bridge had been removed by buses that they say were being moved all night long. Buses showing up to clear out the space.

And so we did go. We learned a lot. We asked a lot of questions. They did give us a tour. And when I say us, I'm speaking of Until Freedom, my organization, along with Relief Gang, which is Brother Trade of Truth that many of you know from doing relief work across, particularly across Louisiana and Texas in several earthquakes. And we worked with some of the Haitian elected officials and, of course, the organization that we're supporting and working very closely with called Haitian Bridge. We all went together to this area and had the tour. And then we left there and we went to a processing center. It is a location that we have not named publicly because there were white supremacists that showed up with weapons just a couple of days ago, scaring families and also those individuals who actually run the

facility. You know, there are people here who are doing great work with not a lot of hands and not a lot of resources, but they're doing amazing work. And I think the thing that's important is for folks to know that this is not new to them. They've been doing this work for years. Haitian Bridge and the young woman, Ms. Gurleen, who runs that organization, has been engaged in relief efforts for at least six years. And the location that we went to today, they've been there operating for a long time. It just so happens that this particular time period has been heightened in terms of those numbers of individuals who have crossed into

Del Rio and also, of course, the inhumane treatment that we all watched in the videos and images that I've seen on your show today. But they are always dealing with migration. And in fact, people are still coming. And we've been told that by border patrol that they expect that between 10 and 14,000 people will show up again in the coming days. There are people waiting on the Mexican, on the Mexico side. Oh, sorry. Sorry if that cut off. But there are people waiting on the Mexico side of the border trying to get in. They say that the situation on that side is very serious, it's very tense, and there are people who have left the Texas side of the border to go over there to bring aid. We partnered with this particular processing center, and Linda Sarsour, who you had on last

night, my partner at Until Freedom and I, were allowed to go into the processing center to see families, to be able to meet with people, and to assure them that there are many of us American citizens who support them and are, you know, standing with them. And then we also were able to unload the truck with all of our volunteers and supporters so that they have access to supplies, much-needed supplies. So the supplies that y'all gather in Dallas, what happened with those? Did y'all distribute to other places, to other people? What happened? Yeah, so the supplies that we, again, collected at Friendship West, which is Dr. Freddie Haynes' church, they are being distributed today

and from now on until everything is gone from this particular facility. As I said, they deal with refugees, migrants all the time. And so this is not new for them. This is a very well-known location that people show up at for help. And so the supplies are there. And there were families, many families inside of this facility today, and they will have access to the supplies. There's also a nearby church that is going to facilitate or hold on to anything that is left over so that when the next

group of people come across the waters, that they have these supplies readily available to give to them. We also sent other trucks to different locations. So we had people contacting us with trucks full. We were unable, because of our manpower, to bring those trucks down into this area. As I said, it's very sensitive. People are trying to protect the identity of those individuals that are inside of these facilities because there are white supremacists who are showing up and causing danger and, of course, fear to those individuals who have crossed the border. And therefore, they do not want to make pomp and circumstance with lots of people and

cameras. And so we were trying to adhere to that. And therefore, we sent trucks to Houston, which is where an ICE facility is located that people have been going to, and they will be released from those facilities. What we learned under the bridge today is that from that facility, of course, not facility, from that holding place, that encampment site, there is no, thank you, someone back here helping with sound, Attorney Angelo Pinto, but from underneath the bridge, there is no deportation happening from that bridge particularly. There's also no COVID testing, no ability to quarantine. We did not see anything about showers. And I think that, in fact, when they gave us the list of what services and resources were available, they did not mention showers. It's important to

note that the individuals that we saw in the video that were obviously being whipped by people, by Border Patrol on those horses, those individuals, many of them were returning from a food run in Mexico. They slip out often to be able to get food because they are only served two times a day by the United States government. And so they slipped out to go over to get food and come back. And when they were returning, that is where that incident happened. So it's a major crisis. And again, there are more people coming. And hopefully the resources that we have left there will easily get to them because they were not allowing. And we knew that when we came that we could not bring the supplies into the area where the encampment site is located. And so we had to

make sure that it is in a facility where there are actual families who have been released to go there to find their families and to be processed. Tamika, we appreciate it. This is why we have this platform, because otherwise, how would the word get out other than social media? And so thanks for breaking it all down for us. Great job there and certainly safe traveling back on those Texas highways. Thank you so much. Thank you. Love you much, Roland.

Thank you. Love you as well. Folks, Pastor Freddie Haynes, you heard Timmy can mention Reverend Dr. Frederick Haynes, pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas. He was in Del Rio yesterday. If you saw that video where he was being heckled, Pastor Haynes was standing right next to him. This is what he had to say last night about what he saw in Del Rio. This is from the Until Freedom video that they shot.

So we are out here at Friendship West Baptist Church. Can't miss out on that Black Lives Matter. That's how you know this beautiful place. Dr. Haynes, this is Angelo Pinto, co-founder of Until Freedom. Dallas showed up. Showed up and showed out. We got word out last night that y'all were coming to do what y'all do. And so the people heard, the people said, hey, we can't have that sign up and not act like it. That's right. Because as you so well said, all black lives matter. That's correct.

Around the globe. That's correct. And we're saying that to this sick nation, that all black lives matter. So when you treat us in a dehumanizing fashion, our humanity still shows up in a powerful way. I just came from there today, and it was hell. I can't unsee what I saw. And so I'm even more motivated now

because I know this country created the conditions that made them flee home. This country did that. France did that. And while the United Nations meets in New York right now, they need to hold this country accountable. Patrick Gaspar said today the United States under this administration is not living up to international asylum protocols. We got to change. Again, that was Pastor Freddie Haynes right there. Real quick, I'm going to go to Michael, Kelly, and Julian before we go to a break. Julian, look, you just heard what Tamika said.

There's going to be another wave. So this country has to figure out what its policy is. And again, I've asked the Biden administration every single day since Sunday to send somebody to this show to discuss this. They have yet to do so. I asked Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, every single day hasn't happened. America is going to have to explain why there is a different policy for Haitians from Cubans or Afghan refugees? Thank you. Beyond that, Roland, I mean, when you look at it, the Biden administration, we got your back. This is Mr. We got your back. Well, whose back do you have? When the Congressional Black Caucus has

a Haiti caucus, they've talked about this. When others have talked about this, you can't say you have our back. I'm Haitian American. My mother's dad was Haitian. I mean, this affects us all. And so for them to arrogantly, arrogantly put this on the back burner is to say that black lives don't matter. Because these are black people.

These are Afro descendants who are being whipped because they're Afro descendants. Not because they did anything wrong, but because our country is too polarized to do the decent thing. Not the right thing, the decent thing. And the decent thing

is to make room for these people. We do it for everybody else. Michael? Well, you know, Roland, there's another 20,000 Haitians in Colombia, and it's possible that they can come this way as well. Okay? NBC News had an article from a couple days ago.

I talked about this as well. 20,000 in Colombia. Now, Governor Greg Abbott in Texas, and there's a big piece from the New York Times from yesterday, there was a line of 800 vehicles that Governor Greg Abbott had lined up along the border to keep the Haitians from coming in, the Texas Department of Public Safety vehicles, okay? It's a big piece about this as well. So, and one of the things I'm trying to figure out, Roland, maybe you can help me out with this.

Okay, so can, is that legal to put the vehicles there and block it? I mean, from the people from coming over? I have a lot of questions about this. The more research I do on this, man, the more questions I have about this. Kelly. Again, anything short of a structural overhaul of regarding what happened this past week at the border is going to fall short of what Haiti actually needs. It is going to fall short of what these migrants need. We cannot afford any more performative allyship,

as I said on your show before. The fact that Biden, you know, waited days to make an official statement, that says something. And it's not something that is making anyone feel good. It seems performative. Everything that the United States has done in the past week regarding this issue feels performative and not truly actionable because nothing has been effective outside of just moving them to another place. So again, until we have a structural overhaul, until we stop the perpetration, until we truly bog down and really figure out how to overcome white supremacy in this country

so that we can understand Haiti in general, everything is going to fall short. Absolutely. Folks, got to go to break. We come back, we're going to talk black and missing. Also the case of Jelani Day. His body was found and it was determined yesterday that it was indeed him. Next on Roland Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network,

we will talk with his mother about this case and why did it take pressure after a white woman got loads of coverage for the media to all of a sudden realize that he and other african-americans were missing that is next on the Black Star Network. People our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go.

I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go.

I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I know this road. That is so freaking dope.

George Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force. Right, sir? Ooh. Yes, yes.

Thank you. Oh, my god. I'm Bill Duke. This is De'Alla Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. Stay woke. There we go. Folks, we have seen the past week, all of a sudden, lots of attention focused on black folks who are missing. Why? Because mainstream media got criticized on this very issue. All of a sudden, major networks start, oh, what's going on? We've got a senior in cover, African Americans.

One of the folks who has been missing for a little over a month was Jelani Day, a student at Illinois State University, disappeared on August 24th. It was reported missing on August 24th. It was reported missing on August 25th. Yesterday, of course, we had to give the sad news that his body was found in the Illinois River. Joining us right now on the show is Jelani's mother, who I can only imagine how difficult this is, having to spend the past month wondering where her son is.

Carmen Day joins us right now. First and foremost, Carmen, certainly our condolences for this very difficult news. it had to be aggravating and frustrating to watch networks send reporters to Denver, to Florida, to New York, to all over America, covering the case of this missing white woman whose body was found. And I'm not diminishing at all that story. But the resources that was put into that, and you and others were going, hey, can someone explain to me what happened to my son? I don't even think the word is frustrating. It was disrespectful because it was showing me that they, the media, the police, the FBI, they thought that this young white girl was more important than my young black son.

And I was mad. I was angry because the same focus and the same attention that I had been asking for and pleading for and begging for, I couldn't receive. This your son was seen coming out of a dispensary um and then that was it um when were you notified that he was missing what did the cops do um was there a real investigation was Was there an actual search for him? I found out he was missing on Wednesday evening, which would have been the 25th. My son, my oldest son, had called me and said,

Mom, the police are here and they're looking for Jelani. And I was like, looking for Jelani for what? He said, the police want to know, have you talked to Jelani? I was like, yeah, I just talked to Jelani. On that particular day, I thought I had talked to Jelani on that Tuesday. But as I scrolled through my phone, I realized I hadn't spoken to Jelani since Monday. And I guess the reason I thought I had spoke to Jelani on Tuesday, because on Monday, Jelani had called me so much that I thought I had talked to him on Tuesday. So Wednesday, when I got off of work and DeAndre called me and told me that the police were looking for Jelani, I immediately hung up from DeAndre

and I was calling Jelani's phone. Well, his phone went straight to voicemail, which at first didn't alarm me because Jelani's been known to put his phone on do not disturb. But when he does that, I fussed at him so much that Jelani calls me right back just like that.

Well, on this day, I didn't get a call back. So I text him, and I was like, call me ASAP. And I did not hear anything from him. So then my oldest son said, my mom will go to Bloomington. Well, the police had came to my home, which is in Danville, Illinois, and I was two hours away um so deandre drove to bloomington um in the meantime i got more um insight and information as to how or who came up with the fact that jelani was missing so it was this professor who had called so i got her number and i called her so after listening to her tell me

that she has been texting with jelani all monday evening um about a little bit after nine her and jelani had been texting they had been talking about some school stuff. And Jelani was supposed to meet with her that Tuesday because she said there was something that he had to get done for me. She said

that he didn't show up on Tuesday. Then he didn't show up for his class on Wednesday. So she became worried and she called the red and white, I guess it's some group on campus that checks on the students if you don't see them at one o'clock that afternoon. And by 5 p.m. she hadn't heard from them so she went to her chair and her chair contacted this group and then the group told her that they had 24 hours to go look for Jelani so instead of waiting the 24 hours she said she contacted the police

to do a wellness check on Jelani. So being that Jelani didn't list the apartment that we had purchased for him as his home address, the police ended up coming to my home in Danville because that was listed as his home address, which I'm grateful for because that gave me an alert that my child was missing. The police didn't let me know. I spoke to her.

Then I spoke to this young girl, another white girl that was in Jelani's class that was upset. And she had contacted one of my daughter's friends and said that she hadn't heard from Jelani. So I contacted the young lady, wanted to know what her and Jelani's relationship was, what, when was the last time she talked to him.

Um, my son by this time had gotten to Bloomington, went to Jelani's apartment. There was no sign of Jelani. I called the police officer back, told him to meet my son there. I ended up filing a missing persons report that night. Um, the next morning, I ended up filing a missing persons report that night. The next morning, I got up early in the morning

and checked the bank to see if Jelani's card had been swiped, and that's when I found out his card had purchased something at the Starbucks on Tuesday. I started doing my research then.

I left Belleville, Illinois, and we went to Bloomington. I went to the Starbucks. I went to the school. I ended up speaking to the teacher in person, who then let me know I found out that Jelani had actually been on the campus that Tuesday morning. At 6.50, he had logged into the computers on campus, put in some notes because he had clinicals that day, and he had two patients that he needed to see. However, he didn't show up for clinicals or the patient.

I also found out that at that point, that's all I knew at that point, that he had been to Starbucks. And I knew he had been there since seven, at seven something in the morning. Moving forward, I later learned that the last ping on his phone was at 9.20. The detective that was then assigned to the case, let me back up because let's get to the part where how I got the detective. I called the professor because when I called the school to get to ask them if they had cameras, if they had seen my son,

they kind of blew me off. It was like, okay, we'll get to it. So I called her because I'm like, okay, this is a faculty member and maybe she can make some progress for me. So I had her check and see if you can, see if we can get the cameras to look. When she called me back,

she told me that the cameras had already been retrieved by the police. And that kind of puzzled me. I was like, what? Because I just reported him missing. I hadn't even told anyone that he had been to Starbucks. So how had they had the cameras from Starbucks. But I listened to her, and then she said that she needed to, she knew somebody in the police department that was over, had some higher-up authority, and they were going to get a detective on the case. And that is how I got a detective that day from her helping me.

Got a detective that day. I spoke with the detective. I gave him everything that I knew. That's when we found out Jelani's last ping on his phone was at Veterans Parkway. The detective figured out that his ping, there were businesses in that area, and that's how we found out he was at Beyond Hello.

Then they retrieved a video of him leaving Beyond Hello, and I see that he had on shirts and a short, which means he had changed his clothes from when he was at Starbucks that morning, because that morning when I seen him, he had on his dress shirt and dress slacks and dress shoes as if he was prepared for school to go on to his, um, interviews or his, uh, clinicals. Um, now I'm thinking what deterred my son from taking care of his business because it had to be something.

Somebody had to call him. He figured that he had to do something. So we requested video from campus. Initially, they just gave me the video footage of him being at Starbucks. After speaking with the detective and him checking with the school, they later saw all of the monitor Jelani's swiping of his card and his movements around campus. They then we then obtained video. Jelani was actually on campus walking around and looked like he was waiting for somebody

or looking for somebody, and finally found out that he was waiting for the health center to open because one of the things that he was supposed to meet this professor about that day was he... There was two parts that he needed to be done. He needed to get a TB test, and he had only completed one part of it.

So he was getting that stuff done and I'm assuming that when he went there, because nobody can remember speaking to him, but you do see him on the video that they couldn't get in because it was a by appointment only.

I'm still trying to understand this and this is why I'm just totally confused here. He comes up missing. Do they trace his steps? Do they, I mean, first of all, do they initiate a search? What actually happened

to try to find him? His mom, they discovered his car on the 25th, which was that Thursday evening. And they discovered his car where? In Peru, Illinois. His car was discovered in a wooded area in Peru, Illinois.

And how far is Peru, Illinois from Bloomington? 60 miles from Bloomington. 60 miles from Bloomington. 60 miles. So he was last seen in Bloomington, and we have a map up right now. His wallet was found where was his car found, the same place where his wallet was found? Not that I understand, no. And then his body was found in the Illinois River. Do you believe foul play was involved in the death of your son?

And had they determined the cause of death? I definitely believe that foul play was involved. And no, they have not. The cause of his death is unknown at this time. They're trying to create the narrative that Jelani had mental issues and he was depressed. But the devil is alive. There was nothing wrong with my son. He was not depressed about anything.

He was not overwhelmed about anything. He had been in a program that was challenging. He went to an HBCU where he kept his GPA up to 3.3, 3.4 and higher while he pledged online, while he was in a group on house arrest. He pledged for them. He was a collegiate honor student. He did all of that. Plus he partied. And I would get on him.

I'd be like, Jelani, your grades better be good. And nothing ever failed with him. He kept on up. So he knew pressure, and he could handle pressure. So them trying to convey this or want him to make me think that my son, because his dad is ill, because things were going on in school, and it was a challenging program,

that he was under pressure is a lie. Um, Jelani could handle all of that. there was a challenging program that he was under pressure is a lie. Jelani could handle all of that. He had been handling it. He's handled many things. And so the fact that he's in Peru, which is a town that only comprises of 1% of black people, that he's never been there before. I've never heard of it

until they found his car there. Then they want me to think that he actually took his car, parked it in this wooded area that you would only know about this area if you are from there, that you have been there, or you lived and grown up there, because it's one of those areas where you just don't find

by going down the street. It's tucked away. So he didn't park his car there. Then they want me to believe that he parked his car there, and he walked his little happy self to this river bank, took off his shoes and socks and his shorts and put himself in the water and drowned himself. Number one, my son was on the swim team and he could swim. So none of it makes sense to me. And I'm not going to let them create a narrative that makes anyone think that my son had any kind of mental health issues, that he was not a strong young man. My son is smart.

He was determined. He was goal-driven. He had things in his life that he wanted to accomplish, and somebody stole all of this from him. I don't know if they thought he had money because of the car he drove or because of how well-kept he was or because of the way he kept himself up. But somebody did this to him because Jelani didn't just drive himself to Peru. He didn't just put himself in a river.

He didn't just drop his wallet in somebody's yard. He didn't just leave his lanyard laying on the ground. He didn't do none of that to himself. Somebody did it and they didn't do nothing to try to find it out. That car was found on the 26th, which was a Thursday. that Saturday I conducted my own search gathered people had them in Peru there was not one police officer there to help us, to guide us to lead us, to show us anything

I even posted on social media I don't know how to conduct a search but I know I have to search and whoever can help me, please join me in searching for my son. And people showed up. I did the search the next day in Bloomington, near his apartment, because my kids was like,

Mama, let's search this area. We didn't know what to do. We didn't know where to search. Nobody was telling us anything. So I had to make moves on my own. I had to figure out things. My kids have been on computers trying to figure out things. We tried to get into his phone.

His location turned off. Apple wouldn't help us, so we created a protest against Apple, had everybody tagging them until we could get some help. The police were telling me that they had to get a subpoena against Apple and it would take up, sometimes it takes six months for Apple to respond. Not with this one, it wasn't going to take six months. I found Apple's policy. I texted to the detective.

I gave him a number. I had people calling, just bombarding Apple with phone numbers. One of my friends found out that he sat on a board with somebody from Apple, and he contacted them for me. By that night at midnight, Apple had at least responded board with somebody from Apple, and he contacted them for me. By that night at midnight, Apple had at least responded with some kind of spreadsheet, according to Detective Jones, with some information. That wasn't because they did anything.

That was all because of the groundwork and the legwork that me and my friends and strangers put in for my son. After that Apple stuff, we had to still look for things. We're looking for clues. I had to hire a private investigator. I had to call Illinois Search and Rescue so that they can get involved, so that they can perform a search. And it was them that went that search that they conducted that found this body that they couldn't identify. That wasn't Peru. That wasn't Bloomington.

That was me and my kids and my friends and people I didn't even know that were concerned about how I felt about my son. So we find this undiagnosed identified body on September 4th. They sent me in a room, they explained to me that they can't tell me anything because the decomposition of the body and we would have to do DNA.

So you're saying his body was found September 4th? September 4th. It was found September 4th, and it wasn't until yesterday that they identified that that was indeed him. it wasn't until yesterday that they identified that that was indeed him. It wasn't until yesterday. And the only reason that I feel like that happened on yesterday was because of all this pressure that

I've put on them. Because I've talked about how inept the police have been. I've talked about how they have not provided me any kind of information. I've talked about how they haven't helped me in any kind of way. So I didn't want them anymore to help me do anything. I need the FBI. I needed the same

coverage that when I woke up one morning, I saw this white girl plastered everywhere. I saw everybody talking about her. I saw her all on social media. And she was her parents said they hadn't talked to her in two weeks before they reported her missing. I hadn't talked to my son in one day

before I reported him missing, and I didn't get nothing. Not nothing. But she had the FBI, and they had people looking for her everywhere. And I sit there... And do not get me wrong. Gabby, my heart goes out to her, her parents,

because I know what it feels like to not know where your child is, to want to know where they is, to want to make sure they're safe. I know what that feels like. I was sitting in that seat with her. But I didn't know what it felt like to have the FBI

come in and use all their resources and to use everything they had to find her, to find their check. I didn't know what that felt like. They found her within three days. Day 30 is when I found out where my son was.

Carmen, there are other parents who are having to endure this same thing. We had a brother on, Daniel Robinson, on yesterday. And I hate to have to ask this question, but the reality is it's going to happen again. What advice do you give to anybody out there that if their child comes up missing, what they should do from the beginning? What would you tell them based upon what you've had to endure and what you still are enduring?

What would you tell them that they need to do the moment that child is missing? I think the most important what would you tell them that they need to do the moment that child is missing? What my message to everybody now is, right now, while you still know where your child is, number one, use those locations. I don't care how old your child is.

Use those locations. Those locations are very, very important. So what you mean is make sure that those tracking devices are on. And let me tell you something. There's an app

I think it's called Mama Bear. My wife put it on my niece's phone and it's the app is interesting because she can tell when they're in a vehicle how how fast that vehicle is even going. And I think one day they will they will ride with somebody and she said in text, she said, tell them to slow down because she actually saw it. And there are a lot of people who turn those tracking devices off. People talk about privacy, but what you're saying is that location service is important to be able to track those steps. It's very important.

For some reason, Jelani's location and everything was turned off. I don't understand as to why, but it was. So we were very limited on what we could see with Jelani's phone. The Mama Bear app, I never heard of it, but that's good. I have all my kids on there on the Life 360. Just like the Mama Bear app, it tells you how fast they're going.

It shows you where they've been at, how long they were there. Everything. It's important to let people know what you're doing because you never know when they need to know that information to help you. I would also tell everyone that before this ever happens to anybody, I know our kids think we're nosy, but no passwords and usernames to things that they're in. And if they don't want you to know it right now,

put it up somewhere, tell them you don't want to be nosy. You just want to make sure that if at any time you need it, it's available to you because it's a help. Those things can help you. But if it does happen to you, I would advise anyone do not let up. Don't take no for an answer of anything. Do not let anyone tell you that we don't think that he's here. If you feel like that's where your child was, never let no one

stop you. Follow your intuition. Follow your gut. Do exactly what you feel should be done. If they get mad, if they get pissed, that's on them. What I did in this whole process was I tried not to be the

angry, black female, the aggressive woman that they would think didn't want to work with them because I wanted them to find my son. I should have been that same angry black woman from the gate because that's what put the fire under them to make them get off their butts and to make things happen.

And they still didn't do it until I started talking negative about them. I had to get on here, had to get on news outlets, I had to get on media outlets and let everybody know that they wasn't doing their job, that my son wasn't getting what he deserved, that if you don't see the racial disparity because you see this white girl everywhere

and my black son who has been missing and loaning her is not being found and not being helped. Something is wrong with this picture. Indeed. But I promise you, and I mean this, Jelani did not die in vain. Not only whoever did this,

I hope what they see me to always know, I'm going to find out what happened to him. But Jelani's name will be remembered. Jelani is going to make a difference. My son is going to make a difference. He's going to help somebody else. This was not done in vain because my son told me

that he wanted to do stuff to help people. His helping was to be a speech pathologist, but now he got a whole different movement. And since he spoke for other people and he's not here to speak for himself anymore, his mom will definitely be his voice. Carmen Day, we're so sorry that you have to endure this. It is never an easy thing for any parent to bury their children.

We often hear this, that children are supposed to bury their parents. And hopefully, hopefully, we will see a change in police departments and others where they will not blow off African-Americans who come up missing because it happens all too often. We appreciate you joining with us and sharing your story with us. And we're going to continue to do our part to ensure to highlight other African-Americans. Because hopefully by using our medium on this show and Black Star Network and social media. I think with their family. Thank you for allowing me to come on here and share my story. Now, I just want them to do their job and find the answers. I need answers.

I need to know what happened to Jelani. They are now, I requested that the state police come in and take over. I asked for the FBI and I'm still asking for the FBI. They think they are pacifying me because the FBI Behavior Analysis Unit is involved. But all that means is they're analyzing my son and his mindset. I needed the investigators involved. So I'm not stopping, and I'm not settling, and they will not just give me anything to pacify me. I want answers, and I thank you for allowing me to come on your platform and to let the world know that this is what I'm seeking,

and I will need that support. I need your support. I need everybody's support. I need everybody's help. I need everybody's prayers. I just want answers now. Carmen Day, thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you.

Julianne Malveaux, it's interesting looking at these stories. And I saw the Washington Post, the New York Times. I saw all these stories, and I'm sitting there going, y'all could cover black people missing, but you don't. So don't write a damn story about how people are angry about the inequity of coverage when all you got to do is do it, but you don't. And if a white woman comes up missing, all of a sudden, you're all over it. Well, let's look at the resource allocation here, Roland. It really is quite obnoxious that the FBI, the police, all these people were involved. Her, whatever he was, fiance, whatever, he probably sitting in Europe chillaxing because of the attention that this girl got. Imagine that she went to talk about Jelani, that someone would say, okay, let's take a look at this.

But if they're blonde and white, forget it. There have been so many cases. The runaway bride, they look for her for days, and she was someplace hiding because she didn't want to get married. I mean, any, you know, it shows us the invalidation of humanity. And quite frankly, this is why we have a Black Lives Matter movement, because people continually put Black life down. Now, the Washington Post, the New York Times, all these folks, they have something to pay because they've done the wrong thing, frankly.

They have not followed up on these things. People come to them. This woman was tireless, was utterly tireless in pushing this. This could have been a story three weeks ago. I mean, the young man's body was found on September 4th, and it takes 20 days to get or 19 19 days to get an ID because they're saying, well, the coroner's office is backed up. Well, they weren't backed up for Ms. Thing, and I'm not diminishing her parents' pain, but because no parent should go through this. But there's so many Black parents. You know, another piece of this role is the number of missing Black children

that we do nothing about in terms of investigation. And so we're basically just saying Black lives don't matter. Black kids don't matter. Black women matter or Black men. And that's why people continue to basically protest. Again, I admire Carmen so much. She really did what she needed to do, but we need to do what we need to do. And so thank you, Roland, for the platform that you gave her. I was about to start crying myself. It's just a lot. Kelly, this clip has gotten, has made the rounds as of late.

This was at 2004 at the Unity Journalists of Color Convention, where there was a panel and the late Gwen Ifill said this. I call it the missing white woman syndrome. If there's a missing white woman, we're going to cover that every day. It's true. So I think we need to keep our focus. I call it the missing white woman syndrome. That's what it is, Kelly.

It's exactly what it is. And it's not just in regards to white people, period, but specifically white women, for sure. I'm sorry, I have to gather my thoughts because that interview was just incredibly powerful. It was very emotional for me. And like Dr. Malveaux, I was trying not to cry. But what I will say is this. Based off of what Ms. Day just said about her son and everything that she found out about the circumstances of his death,

it is damn near evident that he was lynched. I don't see anything other than that happening here unless something, you know, comes up. But based off of what she has found, based off of how the police has treated this case, based off of the fact that his phone was found one place, his car was found another place, and his body was found basically in between both places, there's no link to where he was found versus where his college is versus where he lives with his mom. All of this lines up with, you know, at the very least, suspicious circumstances. But considering the history of this country regarding young Black men missing, this absolutely looks like a lynching.

But going back to the lack of coverage regarding... Well, well, well, well, that we... First of all, we don't know anything about the condition of the body, crime scene, or anything like that. We don't. We don't. I'm just saying... So we can't call it a lynching if we don't even know if a cause of death

has been determined. Lynching is a very specific thing. I understand. I'm just saying based off of what I just heard from the mother, that's what it sounds like. But we don't know what happened. We know what was discovered. I didn't say that's exactly what happened, though.

Well, again, we don't even know the condition of the body and what the cause is. So all I'm simply saying is I don't like jumping to anything unless we are basing on something. We don't have anything. We don't even know. We don't even know if that was blunt trauma force to the body. We don't know anything. I understand that.

Again, moving forward from that, that's just what I think. I'm not saying that's what happened. I'm just saying based off what Ms. Day has said and what we have found out through what she has told us and what the news coverage says, that's what it looks like to me. But going back to how missing black people are just forgotten about in this country, I mean, there are reports right now that Kelly Price has been missing since last week, and nobody's covering that. Well, actually, well, hold up. Okay. Again, first of all, it's just reported today that she was missing. I mean, literally, the stories just came out since we've been on the air.

Now, her information right now is listed with the National Crime Information Center. Her family apparently is actively seeking information about her whereabouts. And so this information about Kelly Price has only come out in the last hour or two. Well, I saw it hours before that. Well, no, no. What you said, no one is covering

it, but that's not true. They are. Literally multiple media outlets are reporting it. So folks are just finding out that she was missing apparently after a COVID diagnosis. Okay. Well, I'm just very particular when we say stuff isn't happening when literally it just happened. So, I mean, we hadn't even talked about it because since we've been on the air,

we actually saw it. We saw the reports. Doctors TMZ, Atlanta Journal of Constitution, Essence is reporting it as well. Other media outlets are reporting it. Now, that's going to be different because she's a celebrity. The real fundamental problem here, Michael, is when you're not a celebrity, when you're not a white woman. And that's what Carmen was really pleading there. The fact that she had to travel there and conduct her own search for her son, Daniel Robinson.

The fact that the company the guy is a geologist with, the company hasn't even done anything. These are parents. They are, as she said, they're not experts in search and rescue. Right. Yeah.

Roland, first of all, this is one of the reasons why Black media is so important. Black-owned, Black-targeted media is so important, especially Black-owned media, to get these stories out and to inform us

on what's taking place. When we deal with the lack of coverage historically on missing African Americans, and missing white woman syndrome is definitely what it is, you only protect what you respect. And this is what we have to understand. So the majority of the producers of these local news stations, of these cable news programs,

the majority of the producers are white people. And they take an interest because- No, not the majority. The super, the super majority. No, no, no, no. Let's be real clear. Not the majority. Majority are 51%. 80 plus percent of the newsroom leaders in America,

television, newspaper, digital, magazine, radio, are white men. Yes. 80 plus percent, 90 plus percent of all newsroom executives are white people. Yes. Go ahead. So when they see a Gabby Petito, when they see some other, especially a white woman, okay, that reminds them of their mother, their sister, their niece, things like this, right? So they automatically gravitate towards that, okay? And they want to get this information out.

When it comes to us, because of white supremacy and racism, we're automatically devalued. But see, there's something else here as well. When you look at adultification bias when it comes to black girls, okay, adultification bias deals with the stereotypes that have been attributed to African-American women. They also get projected onto black girls as well. And there was a study that came out recently. All people have to do is Google adultification bias. And it talked about how black girls are looked at as needing less protection. Black girls are looked at as knowing more about sex at younger ages, things like this. So all this comes together. So we have to keep pushing and keep fighting for with the police, fighting for them to put the

same resources into investigating. That's because we pay our taxes as well. Yep. You know, we, there's taxpayer dollars that they're using. Well, look, remember the young brother, Charles, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, gets picked up by a white woman and her son. They say, oh, he's probably at a football game. Mama's like, no, he's not. Boy's found dead looking totally different than how he was picked up. And it was weeks before that white woman was actually arrested and not even in his death on suspicion. So same thing.

You have, again, this disparate treatment of African-Americans that we see, and so that has to change. And let's see if these media outlets change because you know what? They've done it before. Last time it happened, oh, hey, why black people aren't being covered? And they go back to doing the exact same thing. And so what we're going to be doing, of course, so we're going to be doing this here every single day. We've done this.

We've had the Black and Missing Foundation on our show, dating back to my previous shows on many occasions. So we're going to be doing this every single day. We're going to feature right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network and put it on our social media. One of these cases of someone who is missing. And so this is the young lady today. Folks, go ahead and pull it up if we have the graphic. If we have the graphic. Okay, so let's pull it up.

First of all, we have, okay, Kashae Jacobs, 5'3", 100 pounds, hair color is brown, shoulder length, eye color is brown. She was missing from Richmond, Virginia. She has a tattoo of a leaf on her right foot, animal paws on her right leg, flower on her right hand. Guys, I need information. When was she missing, what date, and where? I need information. So I need to have that to know how long she's been missing. And also when we put this graphic up, folks, I need a number

placed at the bottom where people can call if they have information. And so please, that's how we need to do this. So we need to tie, have a number to every single, whatever that local jurisdiction is, the person who's missing. We need that phone number placed on the graphic so we can have that as well. So folks, if you have any information regarding Kashae Jacobs, call the Richmond, Virginia Police Department. Got to go to a break. We come back. We'll talk education matters. We'll also talk with actor Omar Dorsey and Congresswoman Karen Bass. Actually, I'll do this before we go to break. California Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass is apparently planning to run for mayor of Los Angeles.

Reports say the esteemed lawmaker may make her announcement as early as next week. She's a six-term congresswoman, born and raised in L.A., and has been politically active since an early age. Former Speaker of the House of the California Legislature as well. You know, we had her on the show yesterday. Yeah, I did send her a text to ask if that's actually true. If she's running, have not heard back from the Congresswoman. More on Roland Martin Unfiltered next on the Blackstone Network. Why is the premise just about hurting black folk? Right. You got to deal with it. It's injustice.

It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction.

Conflict's going to happen. We'll be right back. excited to see it on my big screen. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I got to defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network. I am rolling with rolling all the way. Honestly, on a show that you own, a Black man owns the show.

Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Like, wow. Roland was amazing on that. Hey, Black, I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact

that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be Black on media and be scared. You dig? Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. JURORS OF THE CASE OF R. KELLY COMING BACK ON MONDAY. THEY DELIBERATED TWO HOURS TODAY.

BUT NOW THAT THE DEFENSE AND THE PROSECUTION HAVE BOTH RESTED, THEY HAVE NOT COME TO A DECISION. FOR WEEKS, PROSECUTORS CALLED DOZENS OF WITNESSES TO THE STAND IN AN ATTEMPT TO PROPERLY DISPLAY WHAT THEY SAW AS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION LED BY R. KELLY YESTERDAY. IN A FINAL ATTEMPT TO WIN OVER THE JURY, KELLY'S DEFENSE TEAM ACTUALLY COMPARED HIM to properly display what they saw as a criminal organization led by R. Kelly yesterday. In a final attempt to win over the jury, Kelly's defense team actually compared him to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.

Yeah, I... I have no idea. Kelly faces life in prison if he is found guilty and still has charges pending in Illinois and Minnesota. All right, folks. We have, of course, our Education Matters segment where we focus on issues that are important to our people. Now, you think about education, you think about trying to get children caught up, trying to get them involved in going on to higher education. You've got to have a school that actually cares.

Well, my next guest leads Evolution Academy. They're a charter school that gives high school dropouts a second chance. Evolution Academy provides educational and career opportunities for at-risk youth. It was founded in 2002. The school is spread across three campuses, have graduated more than 2,000 students. Joining us now is Cynthia Trigg, founder of Evolution Academy Charter School. Cynthia, glad to have you on the show. So tell us, how did this thing start? Well, thank you so much for having me.

And as an educator, you take a look at students in your enrollment. I started out as a teacher in the Beaumont Independent School District, transitioned to Aldean ISD. And year after year, I noticed that students were starting out in the ninth grade, ending, you start a cohort in the ninth grade but then you take a snapshot fast forward four years later and you may graduate a class of about 300 so from 900 to 300 that's a huge disparity and so i literally thought and i shared with my husband over and over i say you know when i retire from this educational system i am going to start a private school just to address dropout recovery. And just in doing research, met an individual. She said, you know, you don't have to wait until retirement. Texas has just approved its first generation.

And so I began to do the research the legwork wrote a proposal to the state of Texas went through a very grueling process and we became the first what was generation seven charter school that focused in on dropout recovery efforts and so what students do, what are the grade levels you're taking? What are you taking? Is it just high school or is it middle school to high school? 9th through 12th, ages 14 to 21, and for our diploma completion program, 21 to 26. And obviously you have to teach them a lot differently than you normally would traditional students. Explain the difference. Absolutely, Roland.

It's very different. So you may have a student that would initially be assigned to first grade, ninth grade or English one, first semester English two. It's not uncommon for the students that come to us to be what we call two to three years out of their cohort. So it's very important to have the flexible opportunities, credit recovery classes, dual credit opportunities. Quite a bit of flexibility goes into it. But the most important thing is that every single student that walks through the door must have a graduation plan. And so we're literally sometimes piecemealing the courses that they've taken because they've been in multiple campuses. But we bring all of those together into one, develop a graduation plan, and we just look for flexibility. So you have three campuses. So you're in three different cities? Yes, we are. Okay. So in those cities are Beaumont, Houston, and Richardson?

That's correct. So basically, Richardson, which is, of course, near Dallas. Then you have Beaumont, which is, of course, near Louisiana border. And then you have Houston. Absolutely, yes. So we're hitting those markets. And we serve approximately students that would be attending about 33 districts throughout the state of Texas, just if we've encompassed the Beaumont,

the Richardson, and the Houston area. And there's not a day that goes by that I'll meet an individual and they'll say, encompass the Beaumont, the Richardson, and the Houston area. Got it. And there's not a day that goes by that I'll meet an individual and they'll say, what do you do for a living? And I tell them and they're like, I didn't know that something like that existed. Question. But it's really, yeah. No, no, no.

Go ahead and finish. Go ahead. Well, we're literally taking students who may have just been way behind for whatever reason. Some of it is self-inflicted. Some of it is not. And our goal is to case manage them to the stage, to literally get them graduated. But in doing so, you know, when we first got our start, it was we want our students to have a high school diploma. But, of course, what we know is to earn a living wage, that's just not enough.

And so we have been working tirelessly to partner with community colleges and certification programs that would allow students to earn dual credit. And so I'm happy to say that we've launched partnerships with every single community, college, or institute of learning, of higher learning, in each of our communities. So we have a partnership with Lamar. We have a partnership with Long Star College and Dallas College that works with our students that are behind. So it really doesn't feel like they're behind because what we tell them is, you know what, you may have gotten a slow start and you may have, you know, had some issues. But what we're going to do is once you come, you have an opportunity to earn an associate's degree prior to leaving here. So let's maximize this free of charge. Right.

And there's no lag time. So you are literally ending up where you would be because you're making up for lost time, and we're just compressing that. Questions from my panel? I'll start with the educator, Julia Malba. Sister, first of all, thank you for your work and congratulations on everything you've done,

especially the partnerships. I'm interested in what kind of data you're collecting. You have over 2,000 graduates. So what are you collect... What kind of data are you collecting and what are you learning from the data collection that will shape the next cohorts that you work with? What we are learning is that our students require

social-emotional support on steroids. That's one of our major pieces. And so the resources that you would have on a one-to-one ratio in your traditional independent school district may look a lot different because we literally have to case manage students because of the social and the emotional that they are constantly dealing with, and it's just easy. We have restorative justice practices, so it's just not, you don't get to just get suspended because you're not doing what you're supposed to. No, what we're going to do is we're bringing our in-house judicial system in, and so you might be adjudicated to counseling. You might be adjudicated to an after-school program where literally we'll have staff come and pick you up. So it's really changing your mindset about how you interact with students and moving. It's moving the bar. And you said you were previously in the education system. With this one, you get to actually run and control the school.

Yes, I started out as a teacher. I taught for five years. I then transitioned into administration where I served as a principal, assistant principal. I've worked as an educational consultant with the one of the 20 regional service centers that's assigned in Texas. And so I had an opportunity to work in multiple small, large, and middle school districts that really propelled and helped me in this 20-year journey that we've had. And then that coupled with an amazing staff, amazing group of educators that really did not sign up. Some teachers think, okay, I'm just going to teach my content. But we're very intentional with our staff in letting them know this is a nurturing environment. And so our students have individual learning plans, standard-based curriculum, and career and technology training is a must prior to leaving.

Two more questions. Kelly. Sure. Thank you for coming on. I am looking on your site right now, and it appears that you have tracks, so to speak, based off of what you just said as well, it's like a holistic rehabilitative center for those who want to get their lives back on track. So I guess my question is, what is success to you? And do you have any success stories out of the students? I'm sure you do, if you could share a couple of them. And also explain the tracks and where the tracks go for the students. I'm sure you do. If you could share a couple of them and also explain the tracks

and where the tracks go for the students. Sure. So we have the Business Support Center systems track where students are engaged in the opportunity to complete a Microsoft certification. We have, we will be implementing what's called a, it's our community healthcare worker track that propels students if they're interested in the social work arena,

there's a certification that goes along with that. There's an entrepreneur certification that students that may want to start their own businesses. We have students that are very creative and they need a roadmap and a model. And so our success stories stem from students that have been told by former educators that they would not amount to anything. But I had a young man who after his rap career failed, he remembered that I had a teacher to take me through a dual credit program, and I did pretty decent. And so now we call him doctor. We've had a set of triplets who were dropouts, yet they came here, they engaged in the program, and they were able to move forward, graduating in the top of the class, one, two, and three. We've had students that are in the education field, the health care field.

I go through the airport traveling to and from the different campuses. And it's not probably a time that I'm not in the airport, that I'm running into students that are formal Evolution Academy students. All right. Michael, question. Yes. Thanks for coming on and thanks for the work that you're doing, Sister Cynthia. Question for you. Do you have an alumni day where the graduates of the school come back and talk about the careers they're in with the current students?

And if so, what is that like? What you know, if you could share a little bit of that with us. What we have done is reach back to our alumni and they serve as our keynote speakers. We've had students to, former students also return and provide students with, we operate a morning and an afternoon. And so typically they will present to those students and just encourage them, letting them know, you know what, I was right there where you were, but look at me now. And so those are, um, those are the best success stories. But I just think, um, we, we had one young lady that actually shared, um, publicly that when they attended the school, both she and her sister, she was, um, valedictorian one year, her sister valedictorian the year prior. And she shared with them that she and her family were homeless,

but this was a nurturing environment. We gave them the resources that they needed, and I mean, just soaring. So our key takeaway is you don't give up on anyone. Right. All right. Thank you. Absolutely appreciate you coming on the show, breaking down this school. Hopefully, if there are some folks there in Texas who are looking for to get a start in life, they'll consider Evolution Academy Charter School. Cynthia Trigg, thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, going to go to a real quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk with actor Omar Dorsey. And Reese is back. I'll explain why Reese is back when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grownups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. MUSIC Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention. MUSIC It's time attracted our attention.

It's time to be smart. When we control our institutions, we win. This is the most important news show on television of any racial background. Y'all put two, three, four, five, 10, 15, 20, $30 on this and keep this going. What you've done, Roland, since this crisis came out in full bloom. Anybody watching this, tell your friends, go back and look at the last two weeks, especially at Roland Martin Unfiltered. I mean, hell, go back and look at the last two days. You've had sitting United States senators today, Klobuchar and Harris. Whatever you have that you have, you can bring to Roland Martin Unfiltered to support it. Please do, because this information may literally save your life. Watch Roland Martin Unfiltered daily at 6 p.m. Eastern on YouTube, Facebook, or Periscope.

Or go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans distributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartin Unfiltered. All right, folks, my next guest. You've seen him on Queen Sugar. You've seen him playing the Harriet.

And he also played one of the roguish, thuggish, most vile individuals on Ray Donovan. I cheered every week for him to get knocked off. Joining us is Omar Dorsey. What's up, man? What's going on, Roland? How you doing, man? All right, so let me explain to y'all how Omar and I first got hooked up. So I was watching Ray Donovan, and I could not stand his character.

I reacted with glee when Ray took him out. And Omar tweeted me like, damn, bro, you got that much hate. What was the name of that character? Cookie Brown. Huh? Cookie Brown. Cookie Brown. Y'all, I was killing Omar every week.

He was like, damn, bro. Yo, we've been friends ever since then, too. Yeah, absolutely. So thank God you have redeemed yourself playing a stand-up, strong, compassionate, real brother on Queen Sugar. Thank God, man. Thank God. It's a redemption story for me. So, first, talk about this here,

because your character, Hollywood, is a different role from what we normally see of black men on shows. You know, one of the things that I greatly appreciated, not just with your role, not just with the other brothers, when Dondre Whitfield was on his character. You saw multidimensional black men

and you did not see caricatures. Correct. You know, that's what it's supposed to be, though. It's supposed to be real life. That's what the artist's job is to do is to reflect i do a good job of that it doesn't always have to be hyper reality look i like playing you know i like playing a bad guy i like playing an over-the-top dude but the reason that hollywood is the most satisfying role i've ever played is because, you know, I'm really playing a real person, a person who I see every day, the person who I am, the person who my dad was, who is,

the person who my brother was. And for me to be able to bring that character to life has been the most important thing in my career. And when we talk about that character, it's also a grown role. Yes. And so folks get to see grown black people in love and actually show love and affection on the air. That also is also vital. It's extremely important, man.

I mean, because, look, that's who we are. You know, I'm a dude in my 40s. And, you know, we are, I got my partners in their 30s and their 50s, even 20s. But we have to show exactly what we look like. You know, I'm a Southern dude. These are the guys who I grew up with.

These are the people who I, you know, who I hang around every day. And, like I said, it's just our responsibility to show that, our responsibility to show what real people look like and just how it looks. It doesn't always have to be, you know, super over the top, man. And I love that Hollywood and Vi have. It's one of the most beautiful love stories in television history. You know, you don't even think about the age difference anymore.

I guess it was shocking the first couple of episodes. But after that, you know, this is just your uncle and your aunt. Indeed, indeed. Now, I told y'all why Reese was back. We supposed to have Omar on yesterday. He had some technical issues, came back. Reese is like, I got to ask a question. I got to ask Omar a question.

I was like, all right, calm down, calm down. And so I didn't even know. So, Reese, you do these Queen Sugar weekly recaps. Is that the deal? Yes, I do. I recap Queen Sugar with a panel of two of my girls, my sister and my friend, every Tuesday right after the Eastern airing of Queen Sugar. It's a great discussion.

We break it all down. We are all Team Hollywood. So, Omar, I am very happy to be here on this panel tonight. So, can I ask a question now? Thank you, Reesey. Yeah, ask a question. Of course you can. Okay, okay, okay.

So, first of all, I have to say, one of my favorite parts about your character, Hollywood, is that you are the patriarch of the Bordelon family, even though you're married into the family, even though you don't have children yourself on the show. You're an uncle, but I think it's so important that they show you in that patriarchal role. So that's one point I want to make. But the other point I want to make is, early on in Queen Sugar, it was famous for having all-woman directors. But this season, we're seeing an increased emphasis on Black men and their mental health with the opening of The

Real Spot. I'm curious if there has been a bigger role that Black men have played behind the camera this season with that increased emphasis on Black men, or are you as an actor and your fellow actors, Kofi, stepping up in that way to really make sure that your authentic black male voices are being heard in the portrayals of your character? You know, the growth of Hollywood as a character has been tremendous, right? You know, comes in, he's the boyfriend of the matriarch of the family. You know, he's a guy who's almost on the outside, but, you know, he can drop a word in here and there as a wise sage. Throughout the seasons, you know, especially after, you know, the passing of the patriarch of Glenn Turman's character,

you know, somebody had to step into that role. And I was so glad that they started letting Hollywood be that one. We did have an amazing showrunner named Anthony Sparks, a really cool brother, strong brother. You know, he and I had a lot of conversations. And I said, we have to start, you know, I would love to get more into Hollywood's life and not just him being the person who is the husband of Vi. And so for this season, especially after last season, the passing of his mother, and then this season opened up the real spot.

It is opening up that character a little bit more. And I think that especially with all the mental health things that we're dealing with, you know, on this season, and then the things that Hollywood particularly is dealing with, you know, his mother passed last season. That don't go away. You know what I'm saying? Right.

He still has things to deal with. He's still like, this is only three or four months later after, you know, last season ended. So he's still dealing with that. And, you know, There'll be other things this season that you'll see. Hollywood even gets into a little bit of more of a paternal bag.

So I really do love all of the writing that they do for Hollywood. I love all the writing, even that they do for Micah, played by Nick Ash. And of course, Kofi, who plays Ralph Angel. Those characters are very three-dimensional,

and we're seeing more and more of the man come to the forefront. And of Davis West, played by Tim and Cal Durant. All right. I got a brother next. Michael. Michael, your question for Omar Dorsey. Hey, Omar. Hey, thanks for coming on today.

Question for you. For people who do not watch the show, especially for African-Americans, For people who do not watch the show, especially for African Americans, for people who do not watch the show, give us some reasons why they should. Who the hell don't watch? What y'all doing? Rolling. Rolling. I don't watch a lot of scripted TV.

What the hell is wrong with you? What you doing? I'm not against it. I don't watch a lot of scripted TV. You said I don't watch a lot of scripted TV, Roland. You said I don't watch a lot of scripted TV, which means you watch some scripted TV. So what the hell are you watching? Godfather of Harlem.

Dude, Godfather of Harlem season. Michael, Michael. The Godfather of Harlem season ended two months ago. Okay, okay. I was behind on episodes, Roland. The Godfather of Harlem season ended two months ago. Okay. Okay. I was behind on episodes, Roland. It ain't that many damn episodes. I saw the end.

It was episode 10. I saw that. You know, I know the historical piece of it. On the, okay, so I watched Godfather of Harlem, scripted TV, the pain, what was it? House of Pain. Your ass watch House of Pain,

but you don't watch Queen. Man, ask your damn question. Ask your damn question. So, explain this to people who don't watch. Why do you should tune in each week to this show? And what do you want them to take away from this show?

What do you want them to learn that they don't already? Well, first and foremost, I got to give a shout out to my man, Mark Juan, who created Godfather of Harlem. I'll probably call him a little later on. I'm in Harlem right now. And that's my brother. But he's made a tremendous show. Tremendous.

He, Nigel Thatch, Forrest Whitaker, everybody. Giancarlo Esposito. I'm in Harlem right now. And that's my brother. But he's amazing. It's a tremendous show. Tremendous. He, Nigel Thatch, Forrest Whitaker, everybody. Giancarlo Esposito. The whole cast. And Professor James Small. He's a historical consultant. Yes. He's one of my teachers. Exactly.

So I'm not mad at that at all. But what I will say is this. If you, Queen Sugar, man, it's just, you know, it's a show about family. And it's a show about all the ups and downs, you know, anything that goes on in a family. It's not super high

drama, but it's or whatever. It's just, it's what we, life, you know, it is Southern. You know, we're all from the South, unless you're from the islands or from life, you know, um, is Southern, you know, we all from the South, unless you islands are from Africa, you know, you know what I'm saying? But if you were, you're people from the South,

so you will, you will feel it. You will feel exactly, uh, what it is. And it just feels like home. Uh, you know, this is about a family who owns, who owns a sugar, uh, and, and, you know, it's them trying to grow that, you know, business and trying to, you know, do all these things within this beautiful community of St. Joe's, Louisiana. And through all of that, you still have all your family ups and downs.

And six seasons in, so even the people who, the kids who own the show, now they're in college. You know, I was dating the patriarch of the family. It's the family, and they've gone through over the last six years. All right. Let's see here. Yeah. It's six seasons in, so your ass got time to catch the hell up, Michael.

Okay. Michael, I'm going to need you to go I'm going to need you to go and do a self-marathon. Right. Binge. Binge. I'm going to need you to do a marathon. Just get you. Yes, binge. Since Godfather of Harlem has ended its season two run

two months ago. Okay. Okay. Okay. I was behind on episodes, man. Hell, I think they ended it three months ago. It's only about ten a year. Yeah. You can knock that out in a weekend.

All right. Next question, Julianne. Omar, I love Clean Sugar so much. It's such an important show. The thing, I mean, the drama, all of it, and I love Hollywood. I want me a Hollywood. Oh, shit.

Now, look. Now, hold up, Julian. Hold up, Julian. Hold up, Julian. You already had, come on now, you already had Method Man talking about that red bone on the show. Now, see, now you're trying to go had Method Man talking about that red bone on the show. Now you trying to go from Method Man to Omar? Give me a break, Bo.

Anyway, Omar, my question. Let me go to my question. It's gross. This is messing with me again. The thing about the show that is so important, I mean, there's a lot of drama. Not high drama, but medium drama, like with the police, or Mika, stuff like that.

But what is the most moving is the subtle stuff. At the end of the last season, when you and Ralph Angel were having a conversation about your mom, and you know, that was just like, what else

are we missing? I mean, I watch everything twice. I watch them twice just because I love it so much. There's nothing like it. I ain't like Michael. I don't, you know, I look forward to Queen Sugar. I watch it. But what are we missing in terms of the subtlety? What should we look at when we look at an episode

the second time around? You know, I'll tell you this. There's one thing that I will say is notice the relationships between the brothers, between Prosper and Hollywood, and Ralph Angel, and Micah, and Little Ethan. Notice those gems because there are things that Prosper tells the Hollywood because Prosper has 40 years on Hollywood, you know, and there are little drops of things that Hollywood might say to Ralph Angel that you might say a little bit differently than it would say to Michael or the blue. Because, you know, Ralph Angel is a little older. He doesn't want to treat him like a kid. The man has a son.

But notice those subtle relationships between them. And that's how men talk to each other. You know, it's funny. I was talking to somebody today, and they were like, Omar, you know, everybody, you know, everybody from Sam Jackson to the youngest actors. And I said, because I'm right smack dab in the middle. You know, I'm in the middle. Sam Jackson was my OG. You know, Wendell Pierce is my OG. But I am like, you know, Kofi and Lakeith and all of these other younger guys.

You know, I'm there. So with the things that Sam or even Denzel have dropped, jewels they dropped on me, those are the same jewels that I can drop on the people who are in their 20s. And Queen Sugar does a really good job of that. If you get a chance to notice the conversations between the men, especially this season with the real spot going on. Yep, I agree.

Kelly! I can't express how excited I am to say hello. So, hello! Huge fan of Queen Sugar. But that aside, because I actually am really more interested as to you as a person on set, considering all of the, even though it's scripted, but it is still trauma that you have to portray

between the shootings, between the deaths that have been on the show, the racial tensions that have been on the show, the racial tensions that have been on the show. And considering that Ava DuVernay is the creator and executive producer on the show, and she has been known for bringing on therapists on set, my question to you is, one, is that something that happens on the set of Queen Sugar as well? And two, how has your mental health been

taken care of on set, given the heavy drama and trauma that you have to portray on screen? We more so did it on When They See Us. On When They See Us, when I worked with Abel on that, we did have therapists on set. That was extremely heavy. That's a heavy subject.

You know, as needed, you know, if anybody needs anything on Queen Sugar, you know, mental health-wise or whatever, our producers have no problem getting that done. You know, we... There have been deaths in our families. I don't want to talk about a term, but I will. Tina Lifford lost a sister while we were shooting.

I lost a brother while we were shooting. Nick Ash, you know, even in the midst of us doing last season while we were in quarantine, you know, shooting while we were in quarantine. Man, Nick Ash lost his mother in the midst of that. So whenever anything is needed, you know, it's one thing about our show and about our cast and about our crew, we're a family. You know, I mean, it's one thing about our show and about our cast and about our crew. We're a family. You know, we're extremely family. So whatever is needed,

whether it's me or whether it's the producers, you know, Cheryl Miller, Paul Garns, or whoever might be producing, you know, they'll make sure that we're all taken care of. And I'll do the same thing for my cast because it's my cast. These are my brothers and my sisters.

All right then. Recy! All right. You got a second question, Recy. Yay! Okay. One of the things I love about the male characters in particular on the show is the power of redemption. Your character, Hollywood,

I know it's a long time ago. People may not remember. You had some drama with your wife being off on here and Aunt Vi had to forgive you. You know, Ralph Angel. Yeah, I remember. I watch. I remember. Okay, okay. Well, a lot of people don't. Michael don't.

Right. This is the education for you. You know what we're talking about right now. Right, okay. And then so Ralph Angel has his past Right. No, this is the education for it. You know what we're talking about right now. Right. Okay. And then so Ralph Angel has his past. Darla, it's not even just the men. It's all the characters.

And even Davis, we're going to see this season with him kind of having his redemption side. Prosper perhaps will have his redemption with his daughter. That relationship is strained. Can you talk a little bit about the power of redemption in Black male characters in showing that they're not their flaws, they're not the mistakes that they've made? Right. I'm going to defend Hollywood right now, all right? He was doing the right thing in a backwards way in his own mind, right? He kept the wife because she needed some insurance and she was going through some things. He wasn't really trying to keep her. And just like, well, I got a girlfriend and a wife here.

He wasn't doing that. That is true. No, but he did. He got caught, you know, but he got caught, you know, and he didn't tell Vi. And that is not cool. But yeah, it's always beautiful to have redemption, you know.

And I think the biggest redemption story out of everybody will be David's West. I mean, that's what it says. You know, it was set up to be, I mean, from season one, you know, he was set up to be from season one. He was set up to be... He was written and

it was written for him to be the catalyst almost for Quinn Sugar. That is true. Throughout the years, he's been doing better, trying to be better. He come with

the prayer. We all came together for dinner. And, you know, he came and apologized to the whole family. You know, that's real man stuff. You know, when you've learned, you're like, look, I am not my worst judge. I'm not my worst judge. You know, I can continue to grow. And it's really beautiful to see that. And like you said,

we're prospering, even with that relationship that he has with his daughter, you want to see that grow. I'm happy that, you know, we're bringing that in, because that's going to be a very beautiful relationship when you see it. But he has work to do

in order for that to grow. Indeed. My last question is going to be this here. And that was some examples there. You know, folks dating other folks, but I'll say it. Also what's phenomenal, that what

you see every week, if Michael actually watched it, what you will see, what you see every week, Michael actually watched it, what you will see, what you see every week, you see black on black love. You see black people loving each other, being intimate with each

other, having issues with each other, working out their issues with each other. This past week, when Bob wasn't letting you know about this, this other sister. She was helping out. What was going on. What was going on.

I mean, that's real, but we cannot, we cannot underestimate the power of seeing black on black love every week. Mm-hmm. I agree with that a hundred percent. You know, It's funny that you say Vi is hiding something. It's the same thing with Hollywood season

one. He was high, but it was for the greater good. That's going to be a very great storyline as it plays out through the season two. It's just beautiful to see black people loving each other and trying to kill each other. It's just beautiful to see black people loving each other and trying to kill each other. You know, it's just being just regular and accepting each other's flaws and telling each other about their flaws.

But, like, you know, we're going to accept that. We're not going to accept that you continue to make them. But, you know, we will continue to grow forward and keep moving on because we're a family. Absolutely. Omar, next time you come on, don't bring that Teddy Riley Wi-Fi. Uh-uh. Hey, man, I am in it right now.

That ain't right, Roland. That ain't right, Roland. What? I'm just saying. I mean, everybody was thinking it. I just went ahead and said it. I am not at my house right now. I had to come back to New York to go finish working with you there. Hey, hey, I'm just saying, well, first of all.

Don't cut me out. I know you're going to go off on me. You're going to snap on me. You're going to text me. It was all right, but you're going to get a text. I'm just saying, you know that. You know that, right? I know. I already know. You know that right.

You know that right. And just so y'all know, I saw Omar Saturday at the collective pack party. And I said, yo, I'll be right back. Then later he bounce. He's like, all right, man. I'm going to see you later at the club. I ain't even see him.

Then I text him, like, what the hell happened? He's like, dude, I just crashed. See, that's what happened when you partied. First of all, y'all don't understand. That's actually, I see Omar more See, that's what happened when you partied. First of all, y'all don't understand. That's actually, I see Omar more on the road. I mean, it's always at a party. You know it's always at a party we see each other.

Always. And you know what? I can't party with you, Roland. I can't, man. I try to, and that's why I always have to tap out. Well, remember, you got to tap out because you be drinking. I can go all night because I just drink water. Yeah, that's the truth.

I know. I know. This is true. Omar, man, always good to see you, my brother. You stay well. Keep doing a great job and keep representing real brothers on Queen Sugar. I appreciate it. I'm going to come up with my I appreciate it. All right, son.

I'm coming. I'm at my own internet, okay? Yeah, yeah. No, no. Next time we do it, we're going to be in person, one-on-one, sit down, long an interview. We'll be in the studio. Yeah, in the studio or when I'm in L.A. or New York,

we're going to do it. All right, brother. I appreciate it, man. All right, brother. All right, brother. Appreciate it. Reesey, thanks a lot. Michael it. All right, brother. I appreciate it, man. All right, brother. All right, brother. Appreciate it. Reese, thanks a lot. Michael, Kelly, Julian, thanks a bunch as well.

Folks, great week. I want to do this here. And again, let me tell you how amazing y'all have been. We launched this show September 4, 2021. We had 157,000 YouTube subscribers. We didn't really, I mean, I really wasn't even paying much attention to it. Boom! Big up. 800,000 YouTube subscribers. We didn't really, I mean, I really wasn't even paying much attention to it. Boom! Big up! 800,000.

We passed 800,000 YouTube subscribers. And, of course, we appreciate all of y'all. I also just checked, since we launched the app, 13,231 downloads. And so, what we want to do next,

we want to actually hit 50,000 downloads of the Black Star Network app by December 1st. Now, we can also hit 800,000. So between thousands of y'all who are watching us on YouTube and Facebook and Twitter, hey, download the app. Because again, if we're downloading,

if we're watching the show on the app, we completely do that. We completely control it as opposed to stuff we got to do with YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, Periscope. And so please download the Black Star Network app, your iPhone, your Android, Android TV, Roku, Apple Fire Stick, Xbox One, Smart TV, all of those platforms. You can get the Black Star Network app curated by Roland S. Martin. In the next few weeks, I'm going to be letting you all know new shows.

We're going to be launching as well. I already told you. We've got to have hashtag Roland with Roland, a one-on-one interview show that's going to be on the network. I'm going to tell you about some other shows that are going to be launching. So that's going to be coming up. And I want to thank all of you who support us financially as well. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. Cash App, Dollar Sign sign RM Unfiltered.

Paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered. Venmo.com is forward slash rmunfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We always end the show every week showing our Bring The Funk members. And so roll it! And so check this out.

And man, we are working hard on our Come on, come on. No, start it over. Start it over. Y'all gotta start it over. Listen, you're too late. Start it over. Start it over. Y'all gotta understand. Start the list over. Stop it. Start the list over. Y'all understand. Folk watch the show on Friday

to see they name. We can't switch late. So go to the top. Now switch to the two shot. Then play the whole deal. Folk wanna see they name. So we can't switch late. So go to the top. Now switch to the two shot. Then play the whole deal. Folk want to see they name when they give. They send me emails like, I ain't see my name. Now if you don't see your name on the list, start at the front of the top, y'all, from the top.

If you don't see your name on the list, send me an email. We will take care of that and get you on. All right? So now here's a list of our charter club members, our members of our Bring the Funk fan club. There you go, y'all. Check it out.

Again, I appreciate all of y'all. Many of you folks have given a dollar, $5, $10. And oh, by the way, Anna Austin, she was the first Bring the Funk fan club member, y'all. This sister sent me a letter in August of 2018 saying how important this show was. She saw me on TV One. She said, look, we need your voice. She sent a $500 check. She was the first member of the fan club.

A $500 check. She was 92 years old. And I put it out on social media. I put it out on social media like, yo, I was like, do y'all know who this woman is?

And I was like, I said, I had no way do y'all know who this woman is? And I was like, I said, I had no way of reaching her. Somebody hit me up with her phone number. So I talked to her and her daughter the other day. She's now 94 years old. She's like, look, my daughter got to show me the app. She said, I ain't on Facebook. I ain't getting on Facebook.

I was like, Anna, ain't no problem. It's all good. But so I had a great conversation with her. She is a huge fan of the show. And that's what I'm talking about, y'all. That's the kind of support that we have right here on the show. There was a brother named Ivan Thornton. He's a fraternity brother.

She actually blessed him. So Ivan called me. Ivan called me, gave me her number. We finally connected and talked. Had a fantastic conversation. So shout out to Anna Austin and her daughter, Diane. I thank you. Again, she was the first member of the Bring the Funk fan club, and she sent a $500 check.

But y'all, every dollar matters, whether it's 500, 5,000, 25, 10, 5, $1, doesn't matter. I've had folk, y'all, walk up to me and put money in my hand when we been at events. They said, this is for the show. We were in Tulsa. Dude gave me a $300 check. Another brother put $100 in my hand.

We were in Chicago. We're doing the show. This brother was riding by, y'all, straight up. I'm not lying. He was riding by. Was he in the car? Henry was on his bike. I think he was, actually, maybe it had been two.

One dude was on his bike, heard where we were, walked over, put the cash in my hand. He said, I don't even need you to shout my name out. He said, but I had to make sure I support this black news show. So, y'all, that's the kind of fans that we have. That's why we got 800,000 subscribers. That's why we have more than 20,000 people who give in to the show. And so we appreciate all that y'all do.

Thanks a bunch. I'll see y'all guys on Monday. How? This is an iHeart Podcast.