#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Haiti's Crisis, Tenn. GOP Votes To Vacate TSU's Trustee Board, SC. Congressional Maps HBCU All-Stars

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

3.28.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Haiti's Crisis, Tenn. GOP Votes To Vacate TSU's Trustee Board, SC. Congressional Maps HBCU All-Stars #BlackStarNetwork partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbaseAli Siddiq 👉🏾 https://www.moment.co/alisiddiq"Shirley" NOW available on Netflix 👉🏾 www.netflix.comBiden/Harris 👉🏾 https://joebiden.com/ The United Nations says over 1500 people have been killed this year in Haiti. Haiti Caucus, Co-Chair, Florida Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is here to give us the latest on what's happening in the gang-controlled country.  The Tennessee Republicans did it. They voted to dismantle Tennessee State University's Board of Trustees. Now, the bill heads to the governor's desk. State Representative Harold Love will join us to discuss whether there are any steps left to prevent this from happening.  South Carolina may be moving forward in this election cycle with congressional maps already ruled unconstitutional. While voters are waiting for the Supreme Court decision, the state of South Carolina asked for a stay that may affect the June 11 primary. One of the attorneys from the Legal Defense Fund will explain the details of this case.  The third HBCU All-Star game is just over a week away. The man who created a space for the best HBCU basketball players to showcase their skills will explain why he thought having an HBCU All-Star Game and Experience was important. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when have one aisle six. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car

deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop. Look. Lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you everought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

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I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Thursday, March 28, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin on Filter, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Folks, the United Nations says more than 500 people have been killed this year in Haiti. The Haiti caucus co-chair for the Congresswoman Sheila.

Sheriff Liz McCormick is going to be joining us to talk about what is happening in the country and what more can be done by the United States. Tennessee Republicans, they did it. We told you. We tried to tell you. The House voted today to vacate the entire Board of Trustees of Tennessee State. They also talked about this audit that was done. Y'all realize they spent more money on the audit than what they claim TSU supposedly didn't follow right procedures.

We'll be talking with House Representative Harold Love about this particular issue. South Carolina gets to move forward its election cycle with congressional maps that already rule unconstitutional based upon race. While voters are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide the case, which they heard in October. What the hell? And the third HBCU All-Star game is just over a week away. We'll talk with the creator of that game.

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

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. 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! While members of Haiti's International Presidential Council are near being officially installed, the U.N. says more than 1,500 people have been killed in Haiti this year. Violent gangs continue to ravage the struggling country and growing stronger as homeless children are being swept into the chaos.

The co-chair of the U.S. House Haiti Caucus, Congresswoman Shirley, I'm sorry, Congresswoman Sheila, Sheriff Elizabeth Cormick joins us right now. She is quite familiar with what's happening right there. Congresswoman, glad to have you here. First and foremost, what's interesting here, again, is how you look at the reaction.

You've got folks on the right who are, oh my God, the Haitian migrants are coming. Yet if these folks were Cuban, there'll be a totally different reaction in South Florida. You're 100 percent correct. Instead of them looking at the humanity of these people and what's going on, they're sitting there trying to make it politicize it by saying, oh, there's going to be a Haitian invasion. Haitian people are going to be coming in. But the truth is, we haven't seen elevated numbers of Haitian people hitting the shores just yet. But what we are seeing is a need to help right now. So instead of us trying to fear

monger, what we need to focus on is making sure that we can do everything to prevent Haitian people from going to the sea. And doing that, for us to know right now, we need security and we actually need a government. In addition to that, we have to look at the causes. You have 1.4 million Haitian people right now who are facing a famine. More than 5 million people also are struggling to have food and water. When you look at these aspects and the gangs taking over, they displaced over 360,000 people from their homes. These are the reasons. The gangs are actually facilitating all these problems. So we need to focus on making sure we're releasing the $40 million, which the administration has already requested, that the Republicans are holding onto so we can have a security mission

and also support the transition government. But until that is done, we're going to keep talking about these issues and these statistics, and the issues are going to actually be amplified. I don't—so what's the reason they are giving? How can they keep whining about security and then not want to release the money that will help with security? They're seeing it as a game. So they're saying, well, they need this report. They need this briefing. We've had over 65 briefings with the State Department. Then they said they need a government. Right now, we have a transition government that's coming together. But without having the funds there, Kenya is at a deadlock because they need the government. Right now we have a transition government that's coming together, but without having

the funds there, Kenya is at a deadlock because they need the money to start putting everything together. The transition government needs security. So even once they're ratified, they still need someone to support them. So their excuses is really that. It's excuses. They're just trying to create a political climate so they can fearmonger people who already have a problem with immigrants.

And so it could be a political tool. But while they're trying to use this political tool, we have people who are really dying. We have Americans who are trying to evacuate who can't get out of Haiti. We have people who are looking at famine. So this is absolutely ridiculous. And at the heart of it, it is a racist issue, right? Because like you said, if we were talking about Ukraine, you had Putin taking over Ukraine. But right now we have gangs taking over Haiti right in our backyard. We see more drug trafficking and gun trafficking in Haiti than we see anywhere else in the Caribbean in our backyard. So why isn't this rising to the level of a national

security issue? Why isn't everyone seeing it as a national security issue? We have gang members right now going back and forth to Russia, trying to speak to Putin to come into Haiti, but we still don't see it as a national security risk. We're still sitting there straddling the fence and walking slowly to help the people of Haiti. It's a race issue. You are the first Haitian from Florida to serve in Congress. This was the PBS story when you were elected. Go to my iPad.

They said that you were ready to fight for Haitians. And so this is near and dear, very personal for you. It is. And especially when we look at I look at every side. Right. Because we know how politics has been internationally, not just for Republicans, Democrats. It seems like it's been the policies of the United States to really harm Haiti. And so right now, if we're saying we're going into a new age where we're going to have a Haitian-led solution and support Haiti, well, let's do what we said before. Let's put our money where our mouth is and put out the money for the security mission. Let's make sure that we're extending TPS. Let's make sure we're not deporting anybody to go to Haiti right now.

As of right now, the deportations have stopped, but that's more incidental. It's not actually intentional. So our policies have to be intentional to protect Haitian people. But this would be no different than the policies we have towards other countries, no different than the policies that we have in Ukraine, no difference than we have in policies that you have even for Venezuela. So why is the policy so different when it comes to Haiti? We have to address that. And I think the administration, as well as the other side, has to do better than this.

We've been here now for two years. Since two years, we've been complaining about the instability in Haiti. Since two years, we knew that there were drug lords in Haiti. We also knew that there were mercenaries that were sent there to kill the president. And now that Haiti has no government, who do you think is running it? I just saw a propaganda video, and the gangs who before, they were walking around barefooted with old shirts, they have new uniforms. They have trucks. They have all these guns that we've never seen before. Who's facilitating that?

The longer we don't help Haiti become stable, the more the cartels can take over Haiti, the more guns are going to be going into Haiti, and the more drugs are going to be coming out of Haiti, coming into the U.S., and that's the reality. I had a retired General Russell Honore on the show last week, and then I had a couple of Haitian activists on the show just the other day. And they said that he is someone who Haitian Americans and folks in Haiti trust.

Part of this issue is trust. A significant part of this is the United States' history when it comes to Haiti. Sending the military there, invading the country. And so are we a legitimate, is the United States government a legitimate mediation entity, or do you think it requires having others who Haitians can trust, who others can trust, that it's not the United States trying to control the independence of this country. You're absolutely right.

I think that it has to be more of an international program. And that's why CARICOM is supervising the negotiations right now. And I have to really clarify that because there's been misinformation as if the U.S. is actually supervising it. It is not. It is CARICOM who is supervising it. And the truth is that the United States does have a problem with credibility because of our history and how we've dealt with Haiti before. So, no, the United States should not be meddling or choosing a leader,

which we're not. Right now, it's a Haitian-led solution. We have more than nine different parties who are at the table who are going to create this transitional presidential council, and then they will choose who's going to lead Haiti. But it has to be like that. Roland, I can tell you, as the only Haitian American in Congress, I think I get more calls from Haitian Americans who want to be president of Haiti. And I have to tell everybody, this has to be a Haitian-led, meaning you're living in Haiti, not living in the United States, trying to become president of Haiti.

So we have to empower the Haitian people, and we also have to make sure that they have justice. Once we empower them, once we support them with a security force, and once we support them financially, I think we'll start to grow in getting credibility with the Haitian people. But as of right now, we do not. Yeah, I would dare say if there's somebody who's a Haitian-American and wants to be president of Haiti, move back. I mean, that was part of the issue that happened in Iraq, where we were talking to Iraqi nationals who were not there. And people were there like, we don't know who these people are.

We don't trust them. And so trust is a significant issue. First, have you, the CBC, have y'all met directly with the Secretary of State Blinken? And have y'all also had a direct conversation with the President of the United States on this issue? We haven't had a direct conversation with the President of the United States, but we have spoken to Secretary Blinken. And last week, we actually met with the new ambassador to Haiti that was actually confirmed two weeks ago. And so we've been taking every affirmative step to make sure we're bringing this to light, that we're helping the situation.

And we've actually put out letters. There was a letter by leader Hakeem Jeffries asking the speaker to actually release the funds. We've been putting all the pressure we can so they can release the funds. And one of the worst things that we did not want to see is this to become political. But now we can see that it's clearly political because there is no reason for this stalemate. Questions from my panel. Let's first off is Recy Colbert, host, Sirius XM radio show out of D.C. Rishi, your question. Congressman, thank you for being here and for really shedding light on

what you refer to as disinformation. Can you clear up any other misconceptions about the American response as well as what people think is happening in Haiti, that would help people be more on board with Americans being more—American taxpayer dollars becoming more of an instrumental part of the response? Well, I think one thing that people aren't realizing is that 80 percent of the guns that go into Haiti come directly from the United States. And that is part of the problem, which has been going on now, like I said, for two years. So the gangs have been getting stronger and stronger and terrifying people with American-made guns.

And if you understand our participation in that, why we're losing credibility with Haitian people is for that reason. So I recently introduced the Catch Act so we could start catching some of these guns and stopping them from coming in. But we do have a responsibility to help with the security mission because we're part of the problem. If we had stepped in earlier, right after the assassination, if we had said, you know what, we need to make sure that we're not propping up Ariel Henry, which was there for too long. One of the first things I asked for

when I got to Congress was for him to step down because we saw a correlation between Ariel Henry and what was going on in Haiti. Every time he would be flying around and not being in the country, the country was getting progressively worse. When we asked him to take specific steps, he never took those steps. So it became clearer and clearer that not only did the people feel like he was illegitimate, but also that he was doing things to make you think that he could be working with them. So unfortunately, we waited too long to move on this. But right now, we can't lose this moment right here to make sure that we have a strong government. And that government cannot be placed without a security mission. Lawn Victoria Burke, Black Press USA out of Arlington, Virginia.

Hi, Congresswoman Sheriff Alyssa McCormick. How you doing? I was wondering what the 40 million would cover. It seems like in the last 14 years or 10 to 14 years, Haiti has had some really bad, you know, bad luck. There was the earthquake. Obviously, there was the assassination. And now there's this. So I wonder, what does the $40 million actually go to? So initially, the United States has pledged $300 million, and that's going to be for the security mission. The initial ask was for $50 million. That's to start to set up the security mission with Kenya and actually on the ground to support the mission. Now, the Republicans released 10 million of that.

Forty million is still waiting. So that's going to go for the infrastructure building to make sure that the Kenyans are prepared, that they're vetted and they can come in. Now, it's not just the Kenyans who are coming in. I think we have a total of maybe five to seven nations who will be supporting this police force. Now, it's important to note that the reason why we're supporting the police force is because Haiti does not have a military or an army. The only force we have right now in Haiti is that police force. So that money is necessary, or I would say it's imperative to even start the mission.

Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, out of D.C. Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Congresswoman Shafilis McCormick. First of all, praying for and hope that your family and community and people who are in Haiti are safe. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about a couple of things. Number one, the distortions and the fabrications in the Western press as it relates to what's going on in Haiti on the ground with these various paramilitary groups, many of which seems like the most, the best armed are the ones closest to the damn U.S. embassy. Any thoughts about safety and concerns? People think the whole country is somehow ungovernable and on fire.

And then who's going to lead this security mission, given that there's huge pushback in Kenya right now? I mean, the courts have ruled against them. The people are increasingly against this. I know Ruto is supposed to be coming here for a state visit. And finally, in terms of this transition government, saw that Dominique Dupuy resigned, the Haitian-Canadian who was affiliated with the U.N., did see that Laval Yass is represented there. Is this transition government commission credible, particularly given the fact that the last

time the United States invaded in 2004 and got rid of Aristide, they did so with a U.N. stabilization mission that was an utter disaster? Well, we have to look at the parties who are at the table. Right now there's nine parties at the table. There are seven parties who are actually voting members, and they all represent different parties within Haiti. So you do have Lavalasse. You have Petite Dessalines.

You have the Montana group. You have EDE. I can't remember all of them, but you have a wide consortium of people who are actually in Haiti. If there was an election, they would be part of the election process. So I think that's what brings their credibility. In addition to that, you also have the faith-based groups who are there, and you have the private sector. So that, I believe, is the most credible that you can get when you have actual Haitian people.

Now, our past missions that we've had, I mean, everybody can admit that those past missions were not successful. This is why people were looking for—the international community was looking for a group who can come in who has a good reputation when it comes to actually completing a mission and who can lead that mission. So we're finding countries not just like Kenya, but also Benin and other countries. Jamaica has pledged police forces. I think there's other Caribbean pledged Caribbean forces. So we're looking at more of a diverse and more culturally competent force. Now, can that force be successful? If you look at that resolution, we were specific in demanding that they have actual safeguards to protect the people, not just from waste management and what we saw last time from cholera, but also vetting the people who will be coming in. Every single

personnel who comes in will be vetted as a mechanism to protect them. We're looking at also more security measures. So if people see something they need to report them, it's easily reportable. So we're doing everything in our power to try to make sure that this mission is successful. But to be honest with you, there is no silver bullet. Haiti didn't get here overnight. And there was a lot of meddling from the United States

for centuries that helped Haiti get to where it is. And it was punishment to Haiti because Haiti was the first republic and they supported black people being free throughout the entire world. So when we understand the context of it, we understand how much work it's going to take to go forward and how much of an obligation and responsibility the United States has to recompense Haiti for what it's done to Haiti. I do want, I want to play this and get your reaction because I was reading a story in The Nation that these comments greatly upset a lot of folks in Haiti. This is from a former U.S. ambassador to Haiti, Pamela White.

I'm sure you've already seen this here. But for our audience who is not, folks, listen to this. And Ambassador White, thank you so much for joining us today. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house.

And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store.

We have one aisle today. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them run wild through the grocery store. I have one aisle six and aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council.

Thank you for having me. This is a very concerning situation in Haiti. Gangs have pretty much taken control of the country. The prime minister forced to sit down and he wasn't even in the country when this happened. You know, can you give us the very latest about what is going on? Yeah, well, I can give you from where I'm sitting here in South Carolina, what I'm talking to many, many people in Haiti. They're very distressed. And I know we don't have a lot of time, but I do want to make a couple of points. And one is I talked to Guy Philippe yesterday,

and I know that he's sort of put as being one of the bad boys. But in my opinion, he's someone that can help with the situation. And I believe we should be dealing with him. We dealt with the Duvaliers for 20 plus years. We can certainly deal with Guy Theripe. He's charismatic. He's bright. He's articulate. And he has many, many people that are following him. And I think he can be part of the solution. I think that even Barbecue Jimmy C can be part of the solution, I don't know transition to what, because we're in a total failed state in Haiti. But in any case, if one of the people that are appointed on that seven-person council are the elite, the names that we have heard, the political elite, the private sector elite,

even one, the people that have mansions in the hills of Port-au-Prince, Petronville and above, the people who have mansions in Florida and send their kids to Ivy League schools, those people, if there's even one, it's going to fail, dead on arrival. So I don't know who the names are. I don't know who's being considered. I have not any clue, but I do know. So folks are saying, wait a minute, you want to include two gang leaders as part of the solution? Your take on what this former U.S. ambassador to Haiti said.

I was about to pass out when I heard this because I said this lady must be crazy. gang person, drug dealer, and the gangs that we should be working with Barbecue, who has been killing, brutalizing, raping women and children and boys and girls, that we should work with them, that that would actually help the people of Haiti is crazy. It's insulting when she says he's charismatic, he speaks well. I mean, these are all the racist things that people say all the time, that we hear all the time. But what's even more offensive is that she used to be the ambassador of Haiti. So when we hear someone who used to be the ambassador of Haiti saying the craziest things, I mean, could we not see how we were implicit in destroying Haiti to begin with? This is who was the ambassador to Haiti that she thinks that we should work with gangs? I thought we don't work with terrorists. This is what I'm talking about when we need to

take a real clear stance when it comes to Haiti on who we are and what we're going to do going forward. Either we're going to help the Haitian people and be credible by giving them justice. Justice means that you cannot support someone who has raped their daughters, their kids, their boys, their girls, who have murdered their families, that you want to actually help them to be, what, the leaders of Haiti? This is crazy to me. And we have to take a stand. And people like that should never be in the foreign services. They should never be representing black countries. And, you know, I have to say, but this is why we need to keep pushing our diversity, equity and inclusion

projects, because there's no way that a woman like that should have ever been in Haiti, because look at what has what is done. Look at what she's even saying now. So to me, it's more than repulsive. I just wanted to pass out of my chair for her to say that. Well, it certainly was strange. And again, what happens is when she goes on television and they say, oh, former U.S. ambassador to Haiti, they give her lots of credibility in doing so. And she was the ambassador there, my understanding, 2012 to 2015. so that was under President Barack Obama. Last question for you, and that is, I go back to what the Haitian activists said about General Russell Honore. And then I think about others. They said there are a number of Haitian American elected officials in the United States who should be part of this. Who is the administration

talking to? Are they actually leaning on and talking to people who are who are Haitian American, who have credibility, who can help with this? Who are they dealing with? So the administration has been talking to Haitian Americans. There's been a lot of people at the table, but I have to make it and be very, very clear. The negotiations for who's going to be running this transition government is by CARICOM. It is a Haitian-led solution. It's a Haitian-led team. They live in Haiti. And so I think we need to be clear when you see people from the Haitian diaspora who want the U.S. to step in and make decisions on behalf of Haitian people. This has been traditionally the problem. And so I think we need to be clear when you see people from the Haitian diaspora who want the U.S. to step in and make decisions on behalf of Haitian people. This has been traditionally the problem.

And so even I'm opposed to having the diaspora step in and dictate where Haiti is going. If you go to Haiti, if I was to go to Haiti right now, they would call me a Jaspalak because that's to identify that I wasn't born in Haiti, that I live in the United States, that I'm American. So even the people of Haiti see a difference between the diaspora and also Haitians who live in Haiti. And that's why we have to keep focusing on that we have a Haitian-led solution, a real Haitian-led solution, not people who live in the United States, who live in my district in Florida, who say they want to go and run Haiti. And so that's been the emphasis. And right now, CARICOM has been supervising that conversation. We have nine parties who are Haitian parties who are doing it, who live in Haiti, who are part of the political parties, and who have been part of politics in

Haiti for a long time. And I do believe that's the first step in getting credibility with the Haitian people on the ground. Karla, I'm glad to have you on the show. Let us know if you want to come back and give us an update on what's happening. Hopefully, we will see some form of resolution to achieve peace there in Haiti. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having me. Folks, got to go to a break. We come back.

Tennessee State dealing with all sorts of attacks from the Republican-led legislature. Today, the House voted to gut the entire Board of Trustees. We'll talk about that next with State Representative Harold Love. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network.

Fan Base is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Next on The Black Table with me Greg call we look at one of the most influential and prominent black Americans of the 20th century. His work literally changed the world. Among other things he

played a major role in creating the United Nations. He was the first African American and first person of color to win the Nobel Peace Prize. And yet today, he is hardly a household name. We're talking, of course, about Ralph J. Bunch. A new book refers to him as the absolutely indispensable man. His lifelong interest and passion in racial justice, specifically in the form of colonialism. And he saw his work as an activist, an advocate for the Black community here in the United States as just the other side of the coin of his work trying to roll back European empire in Africa. Author Cal Rastiala will join us to share his incredible story.

That's on the next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Right now I'm rolling with Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? With Republicans having a super majority in Tennessee, we knew it was going to happen after last week the Senate there voted to gut the entire Board of Trustees at Tennessee State. Well, today the House did the exact same thing.

This is what happened. Over the last couple of years in this body, we've had some tumultuous times. And I talked to my friends on the other side of the aisle, and they're talking about, hey, you know, we're getting labeled as things that we aren't. And I agree. I know many of my friends on the other side of the aisle. I know their hearts. You know, I have conversations with them. We go out. You know, I think if they felt a way, they would slip up and say something. But ladies and gentlemen, the optics of this today are awful. If you can't look at this and see that the optics of what you're doing today is awful,

you need to take your blinders off. I mean, you're going down the same path you did last year, and then you're going to look at yourself and say, we didn't mean to do that. We didn't mean to look that way. Well, you're doing it again. I'm stopping you before you drive off the cliff. I'm stopping you before you get on Saturday Night Live again.

I'm warning you. I'm telling you. I'm helping you out here because I know many of you, and no one should accuse you of being anything but coming up here to serve to the best of your ability. But you're driving off the cliff right now. You know, I worked in GovOp many years as a staffer. I've seen many audits of many universities that look horrendous have we ever ever vacated entire board of a university before have we ever done that but an HBCU that we owe two billion dollars to oh yeah we're gonna take we're gonna take their board you know You know, we're going to,

we're going to hold them hostage and we're going to say, you need to shut up about your $2 billion because we're going to vacate your board. And if you say anything else, we'll do something else to you. You better sit down and shut up and accept the crumbs we send you. The optics of this are horrendous. You're going off the cliff. Don't do it. Don't do it to yourself and then wonder why the press is attacking you and saying things. You're doing it to yourself. Stop. You know, just because somebody puts a thumb up in the air doesn't mean you have to vote with them. You got a mind of your own. You know how you feel. You know what this looks like. And you're doing it to this university. May 1st is when students select which university they go to around the country. So you're just killing the admitted admitted to the freshman class coming into this university. I'd hate to be Andy George

trying to recruit a football team right now with you guys doing this. What kid wants to come to that university when the governing body of the state is doing everything they can to their university? Use your minds, folks. Come on now. You're going off the cliff again. The optics are awful. You know they're awful. Don't do it.

Just because these people stick their thumb up in the air don't mean you have to vote with them. You know this is wrong. It's horrible. And you're going to be on Saturday Night Live again if you keep doing this. That I'll sit down and shut up. And Republicans didn't give a damn. This was the roll call right here.

It was a 66 to 25 vote. That's what it was. And I believe only two Republicans voted with Democrats on this particular measure. Joining us right now is Tennessee State Representative Harold Love. Glad to have you on the show. So let's get right into it. What happened here, because my understanding, and talking to a number of people in Nashville,

in the legislature, in the community, at the school, alumni, students, is that many thought a compromise was being worked out, that the House would have voted to replace three or four, and then that would pass the House, and then when it came to reconciling the two bills, there would be negotiation between the House and the Senate. I was told that you had the votes for that. Did you have the votes for that? And if so, what happened?

First, thank you for having me on the show, and thank you for your continued advocacy for HBCUs and Tennessee State specifically. To your point, we knew that going into this particular vote, we needed to have a different amendment than what the Senate had proposed. The proposal was for 10 members to be vacated. That's all eight of the government's appointments, plus the faculty and student trustee. Last week in the government operations committee,

we did have an amendment that would only vacate three board members, and those members whose terms expired in 2025 would be the ones vacated. We thought that, going from there, we were going to be able to take that version on the House side and, if nothing else, get to a place where we would be able to go to conference committee. Between that date and today, I believe some of the members on the Senate side declared they were not going to back down. And newspaper articles, interviews showed that they were not going to accept our compromise and they would not go to conference committee and that they would not accept anything other than what they had proposed. And as

a result, I think our House members realized that on the Republican side that there was no way to even force the Senate to a conference committee to accept any version other than theirs. That makes no sense to me, because if the House passed its own bill that differs from the Senate, then they're forced to go to conference. That's not absolutely correct, because the way it works is this. If the House passes our version, then the House sends a message on the message calendar to the Senate that says, we don't like your version. Here is our version. We would like for you to accept our version

as the bill. If the Senate accepts that, then that becomes the bill we send to the governor's office. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is what I mean. If the Senate passed their version, vacate the entire board of trustees. Right. If the House passed its version of, let's say, he replaces three and the House passes it, then what happens? Here are the options. If the House passes that version, we have a thing called the message calendar, which then sends the Senate our version to say, we don't want to adopt your version. Here's our version we want you to adopt. Right. The Senate then has the option to either refuse our version or accept it. So if the Senate then refused your version, then what happens? If they refuse our

version, then they want us to accept their version. And if y'all don't accept their version, then what happens? Then the bill doesn't pass at all. So conference committee is an option. It's not a requirement. Wow. So it's either my way or the highway. And that's what one of the senators said in the newspaper, that he felt as though their version was the best one

and that he was advising the House to take up their version or else there would be no compromise. So I'm trying to understand why they believe their version was the best one. Now, granted, so the state controller did an analysis and then they authorized an audit to be done. That audit cost about two million dollars, right? Correct. Okay. So this is the audit. Go to my iPad.

It was done by Clifton Larson Allen, correct? Is this the correct one? This is my first time seeing that. I think that is it. It says forensic audit. Okay. It says that Jason Mumpower retained them to perform the forensic audit. And it says that, as you are aware, a forensic audit is performed largely to uncover fraud or criminal behavior. While there were several recommendations for improvement of TSU's

operations, the CLA firm concluded there was no fraud or malfeasance by TSU management. So if there's no fraud or no malfeasance, why in the hell are we here with replacing the entire board of trustees? That's what we argued last year when the $2 million was put in the budget. We argued that there was not going to be any findings of criminal intent. We also argued that they should have put that $2 million toward the university. And I think what we're finding is once the Senate had made up in their mind that they were going to vacate the entire board, it was going to be very difficult to turn them around from that. And that's what we found

ourselves in today. Okay. So again, what's, what's, what's, what's strange to me again, again, you know, go back to my iPad. I mean, this was a statement from a statement here. They poured through. It was over a four-year period, July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2023. They went through two million e-mails, filled 500,000 documents. No fraud. They laid out some changes that need to be made in terms of reporting information to the federal government, things along those lines. So what in the hell were your, what,

what were your colleagues saying to you why they believe the entire board should be wiped out? What were they actually saying to you? Right. So their response was that over the years, the many audits that Tennessee state had had in front of the government operations committee for the sunset hearing warranted this action on the house floor today. My point that I argued was that we got funding last year and I was hoping that we'd get more funding this year to address the $544 million. But instead we kept hearing conversations around board reduction, board removal, and audits instead of talking about properly funding the university. And I think that's where many of us were frustrated because, as my colleague Bo Mitchell

pointed out, there have been many indications from many other schools that show that they also had audit findings. I think that's where, on the Senate side, they began to really push this notion of the need for the board to be removed totally, and that's what the House adopted. So last year, Tennessee states owed $544 million, and that was coming from a state committee. So they gave... It actually chaired, yes.

Okay, so they allocated $250 million. What about the other $250 million? Right. That's the point we've been arguing. So here's the key. When we found out that the federal government, through the Biden administration, Department of Agriculture and Education, identified $2 billion, we then knew that there was going to be attempts made to marry the two numbers and then say that the real number was $544 million. So we embarked, and by we I mean myself and other members of the National Black Congress of State Legislators, embarked on a mission to then educate our members to say that $544 million for Tennessee State represented capacity grant funding

for agriculture extension, for teaching and research. The $2.1 billion was for basic campus funding. And so I saw members trying to put those two numbers together, and we began educating members to say, no, that's a separate pot of money, and we would like both of those parts to be fully funded. In Georgia, the Black Caucus sued the state over that money. Are y'all going to sue Tennessee? So we looked at the Maryland example when they sued. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's a separate deal. Well, follow me here. Georgia in September, because I had Georgia State Representative Derrick Jackson on the show Monday, they filed a lawsuit with regards to that $13 billion you referenced. Georgia in September, because I had Georgia State Representative Derek Jackson on the show Monday, they filed a lawsuit with regards to that $13 billion you referenced.

Correct. The Maryland lawsuit, I covered that extensively. That dealt with the duplication of programs that were allowed at University of Maryland. That took 13 years before they achieve that settlement there. So I'm talking about what y'all consider and which I'll move forward, filing a lawsuit like Georgia did specific to that land grant money that the Biden-Harris administration actually designated. So when the Black Caucus met with Dr. Glover. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always

be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos.

You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car

and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Last year, Lee took the position that we were going to follow her lead on whether she wanted to pursue a lawsuit or not. But she's a state worker. She's a state worker. I mean, she's a state worker. In the Maryland lawsuit, actually, Coppin, Bowie State, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Morgan State were not involved in the lawsuit because,

and the lawsuit wasn't even filed by those universities because they couldn't. So external groups did that. So I'm trying to, and so I'm trying to understand, again, you have an example where in Georgia, the Black Caucus did that. Now, in Georgia, Black Caucus did that. I think a legislative route is actually a faster route. I use the example of what we did in Tennessee. The committee met in 2020, discovered $544 million was missing, and then we received more than $250 million. We actually received $342 million. It was $250 million for infrastructure, $60 million for a new engineering building, and then $32 million for

an agriculture building, all to address that issue. I'm not sure if the Georgia lawsuit is going forward. We did also see that... No, the Georgia lawsuit is going forward because I had the Georgia representative on this show on Monday. I saw that episode.

Okay. I don't know what the results are so far. I do know that in Florida, they also sued, but that case was thrown out. Well, first of all, you had a group of students that sued in Florida,

and so the question there became when it came to standing. So I do want to... Now, I do know the school brought someone in to look at the possibility. I don't know where that case is right now with Tennessee State. They had a town hall,

and Attorney Crump came in. I don't know where that is right now. Okay, so now, has the governor signed this bill yet? I don't know. I knew it was signed by the speaker and by the lieutenant governor and was sent to the governor's desk today.

Okay, so that means that the board of trustees has been engaged in finding a new president. They've identified three candidates. Are they going to be, is this board going to be allowed to pick that president? Or the moment the governor signs that bill, does that wipe out all the work that they've done and now the process must start over? I think if we look at the statutes, if the new board is put in place very soon, then that new board is the only entity that has the authority to hire a president. So the old board would not be able to do that. The new board would be the ones who would be hiring. I'm not sure what their idea would be. I don't know who the new board members are.

So I don't know what their perspective may be. Right. Because the governor has to name those new board members. We have to confirm them. Governor Bill Lee has signed the bill into law. So you say you have to confirm them, which means that, again, until those board members are replaced with new appointees, even though the governance is in the law, what happens right now with the current board? So the governor signed to law then, correct? Yes, he's already signed it. All right, so then that means that all those board members are now removed and he'll have to replace them with new appointees. But y'all have to approve those new appointees. So as we

sit right now, there is no governing structure other than the president's office. There's no trustee governing structure over Tennessee state right now. No, the law says that those appointees take office at the moment he appoints them, and then we confirm them after that. But he hasn't been, he hasn't appointed, so how do you take, how do you take office until you're confirmed?

So that's the way the law reads, that if they're appointed, then they come before us for confirmation. Okay, I'm going to go back to, I'm going to go, okay, so let me, let me,

I got, first of all, I got to, I'm going to come back to the whole point of the lawsuit because I think that's critically important.

But I got a couple other questions. I don't particularly, I don't particularly, okay, so first, we already dealt with that issue

in terms of the presidency. I hate when people are sitting here going back and forth and speculating, throwing stuff out. And that is here. And folks were sending me all kind of e-mails and text messages saying that Representative Love would like to be the interim president. He would like to be considered for the presidency. Would you say right now that you have no interest in being the interim president of Tennessee State, no interest in being the president of Tennessee State?

Yes, I will say that I have no interest in being the interim or permanent president. I'll tell you why. Come this December, I will be the president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, an organization that my father helped start in 1977. That is a two-year term for that office. Secondly, this is my 25th year in pastor. I'm the pastor of Lee Chapel AME Church in Nashville. That's my calling. I love pastoring my church. I love helping the

community. So I don't want to leave those two positions, pastoring or in the legislature. And so I will say again, I have no interest in that. I told the newspapers that back in February the 6th. I've told the National Alumni Association that three times. I'm grateful for the fact that people may think that I would do the job well, but that's not what I want to do. So I'll say it again. I have no interest in being the interim or permanent president of Tennessee State University. Do what the president Glover has announced she's retiring. And so I'm not sure when her term ends.

Should she stay through the end? Graduation is May 4th. Should she stay through the end of May or June? Because, again, until you get a board, I mean, you've got no leadership. What should happen with President Glover? I don't know. I talked to her, and I think that this whole process has taken a tremendous toll on her. Many times she's said to me that she wants to leave as soon as her time is up because she's done a decade-plus at the university, done tremendous work,

but these last two years have been a tremendous toll on her. I mean, think about last year. You had me on your show, and I appreciate that. I was streaming from Liberia, and the power went out a couple times. We were talking then about this board issue and about the president and the votes. And so this has been a difficult time for her. It's been a toll on many of us here in Nashville as well.

In terms of what's next, because again, if a new board comes in, process starts over, who should be involved in choosing the next president? Should that be the sole domain of the Board of Trustees, or do you want the Black Caucus and legislators involved in choosing the next president? What should be the conduit to choose the next president of Tennessee State? So statutorily, the Board of Trustees are the only ones who can choose the president.

I will say this, though. In the previous election, when Dr. Glover was chosen, you had legislators, the delegation from Davidson County, some Black caucus members were able to have a process where they could talk to some of the finalists to find out what their perspective was on the school and what direction would take it in. I think that is a wonderful path to take to allow my colleagues and myself to at least have a conversation with those who are the finalists in the pursuit of being president. Is that the process for the University of Tennessee and other public institutions in Tennessee to have legislators actually have a conversation with them? Yes. I'm not sure.

So should you know, I don't know. I do know that for Tennessee State, that's what we did almost 12 years ago now when Dr. Glover was first hired. I understand that because here's why I'm asking that question, which for me is part of the problem. How I see this, and again, I'm not from Tennessee,

but as somebody that's seen it from the outside, I see that there are two systems. I see that there are two systems. I see that there are rules for Tennessee State, and then there are rules for everybody else, University of Tennessee. It seems to me that all of a sudden, the questions about TSU's leadership

started coming up when they started asking for that $500 million. All of a sudden, there's interest in Tennessee State. We showed the hearing when Dr. Glover testified when they were questioning all the issues with the dorms. Well, hell, if you had given the $544 million and not cheated them out of the $2 billion from the land grant from the federal government, they would have the money for buildings and dormitories

and no need to have to go to hotels, things along those lines. So it's amazing to me how Tennessee State gets penalized because these white legislators won't give them the money that they uniquely deserve, but they wanna say, oh, you got problems problems because you got money problems and you haven't given them money. Yeah.

Well, I will say this. This report was done by my father and Alvin King back in 1970. They first investigated then the underfunding of Tennessee State. And we've always had this conversation about what seemed like two systems, right?

One where the funding went to UT first, and the other one where TSU's funding went to the state treasurer. One where even now the extension agents seem to not have the same salary amount. That's one thing we've been trying to overcome is this seemingly dual approach to funding our schools and treating them different ways. Couple of questions before I go to break because my panel's got some questions including former student government president

and Tennessee State graduate, Dr. Greer Carr. And that is continuity of leadership actually is kind of important. So you got a board of trustee here. So I'm curious, would you, and I understand what you said earlier about Dr. Glover, hey, all the stuff we're going through, would you or others say, you know what, Doc, is it possible you stay through the end of December? Because for the purpose of continual leadership, would you entertain that conversation? We did one time before.

The Black Caucus sent a letter, and she has expressed again that she does not want to do that. Well, first of all, that was before all of this. No, it was during all of this. When was it? It was last semester. Right, but I'm saying now board trustee vacated. Yeah.

Search process starts all over. So, I mean, we don't know how long it may take. You know, you might literally go through the summer and the fall without an actual permanent president. That is possible. Or you may have a situation where once the governor makes these appointees, this new board may say, well, we have three finalists, and let's now go through the process and choose from those three. I'm going to go back to the question I had about the lawsuit.

I understand that you say it will be faster if the legislature gives the money. I think it would be. I could be. But is there any indication they're going to do it? I mean, you had your members. You were on the floor today. You had other members talking about the money. Has the Speaker of the House, has the head of the Senate,

has the governor given you any indication that they are going to fully fund Tennessee State? I believe the care of the bill, Representative Reagan, did make that statement that he wanted to help get Tennessee State fully funded. No, no. I said, has the governor, the Speaker of the House, and the head of the Senate, have they said to you, Representative Love, we are giving you our word that we are going to fully fund Tennessee State in 2024?

No one has said that to me. Well, I'll say this here, Representative. If they don't, if I would give them a deadline and if they don't move, I would do the move of Georgia and sue the state because the waiting game, what the Biden-Harris administration released was that over a 30-year period, these HBCUs got screwed. The last thing we need is waiting another year, two, five, 10 years, or as you mentioned, the Maryland case,

it was 13 years before that was settled. Let me do this here. I got to go to break. We come back. My panel's got some questions for you. So hold tight one second. We're talking to Representative Harold Love of Tennessee. Today, the House in Tennessee voted to vacate the Board of Trustees of Tennessee State. Last week of the Senate, the governor has already signed it into law. That means right now there's no Board of Trustees for Tennessee State, the only public HBCU in the state of Tennessee. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media

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Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hey, yo, what's up? It's Mr. Dalvin right here. What's up? This is KC. Sitting here representing the J-O-D-E-C-I, that's Jodeci. Right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So we have to make a decision right here, right now, that this is the last time that that happens. Regardless of what happens in those chambers over there,

we're going to do what we need to do to keep training those who others won't. That has been the motto for TSU since the day that I've been born, and it will continue to be that. Fight for the things that you want, fight for the things that you need, and fight for the things that you believe in. I believe in black America. I believe in black... There were students who were protesting today.

They were actually sitting in the gallery when that vote was taken. Various groups were involved in today's protest, partnering with Black Voters Matter. Let's go back to our conversation with Tennessee State Representative Harold Love. First up asking questions is a Tennessee State graduate. He was student body president when he was there at the school. Dr. Greg Carr. Greg, take it away. Thank you, Roland. I appreciate you, brother. Good to see you, Representative Love.

I remember when you were a little... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From

Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice

to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Sh Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule.

Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. We have one aisle six and aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen.

One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Running behind your big sister, Cheryl. She was Miss TSU to your body president. Of course, remember your mom well when she ran the Student Services Center.

Mary Love. So honor the ancestor. Listen, man, where are the strong voices in the legislature? And I mean that because you almost called the name of the person I'm thinking of immediately. You almost said Avon Williams when you brought him. Remember your father well as well. We had many fights, as you probably have heard, in the legislature because we often urged him, Rufus Jones, what was Harold Ford's father, asking them, Harold Ford Sr., y'all need to punch these white boys in the mouth.

And that often put a fire under them. So I'm going to, you know, ask you about a little fire in your belly, brother. These hillbillies are clearly running a white supremacist Boston right now in the legislature. When Roland asked you about the lawsuits, I thought about Avon Williams. I think he would be filing a lawsuit, maybe Title VI. I would encourage you to reach out maybe to Alvin Chambliss. I'm wondering, where is the fire? I mean, I heard the fire from Bo Mitchell, but it shouldn't be a white man having to say that. I want to know when some of you legislatures in the Tennessee

legislators with a supermajority that isn't going away anytime soon are going to go to the federal courts on this, brother? Great question. I'll tell you this. When we had the committee formed, that was one of the things that we wrestled with. Do we go with a lawsuit or do we try a legislative route? Once we got that data, we thought it best to go with the legislative route first and reserve the lawsuit in case

we did not get any traction with that. So when the money came back, our plan was to return the next year and secure more funding. That $250 million-plus was to work on the infrastructure, and the hope was to use the next tranche of money to work on academic programs. As I sat today on the House floor, when I opened up with a conversation about it, we got caught up in conversations about audits and boards, and it seemed as if everyone wanted to talk about that instead of the finances. That's why I asked my colleagues today,

since they're so excited about vacating the board, that I would want them with that same fervor and fierceness, determination, and excitement to come back and fund the university. They're not going to do that, brother. This is the bottom line. These white boys not playing with y'all. Do y'all understand?

This is not about logic. It's not about an appeal. Now, I understand why Bo Mitchell said what he said. But Cameron Sexton and this hillbilly from Hickston, Bo Watson, they are not interested in logic. I'm sure you remember, man, when Avon Williams—I want to say it was the Tennessean magazine. He was standing there and said, is this the angriest black man in America?

That's when Avon Williams was suing the hell out of them. That is where the Geyer opinion has its roots. That's why the downtown campus is named for him. They're not going to listen to logic, brother. In the words of Malcolm X, you're speaking a language they don't understand. It's not either or, is it, Representative Love? It's both and. While you are trying to appeal to their common humanity, you go to court on their ass, brother, whether you win in federal court or not, whether it's Title VI lawsuit, because you remember the dual system of higher education in the state of Tennessee, THEC and the University

of Tennessee system, and you've got the state board of regents system, and then they get rid of their board, they are treating Tennessee state differently. Whether a federal court agrees with you or not, you've got a case for a but-for case in terms of racial discrimination. But for the race of Tennessee state, which if you remember from the original federal lawsuit, the Guy lawsuit, they were saying that they wanted Tennessee state to lose its racial identity. But for that, they would not have dismissed this board, whether it's dismissed or not.

Them hillbillies don't care about Saturday Night Live. They can't spell Saturday night or live, and they don't watch it. That's why that punk was smirking in front of Bo Mitchell while he was talking. But I'm saying you've got to go to court, too, brother. If it's not y'all, get some people together. Where is the courage in the state of Tennessee right now? Well, I think we got it. There was a group of preachers I think that came on the last show that

Roland had, Chris Jackson and some others with IMF, who I think may be looking at that route. I can't say if they are or not. But I hear your point. And we will look at some alternative routes than just a legislative one. Recy Cole. Greg, you finish? Yes, yes. Thank you, Roland. Recy Cole. Greg, you finish?

Yes, yes. Thank you, Rob. Recy, go ahead. Representative Love, I'm curious at what legislative paths there are, given that it seems like they're not negotiating in good faith. I mean, they did such a rule at the last minute. So are there other legislative paths that don't necessarily involve bringing things to a floor vote?

You know, just help educate me on that aspect. So one path we can take is this, and that's the one we use to get the other money, is to get in the governor's budget. One thing we discovered is it's much harder to take money out of the governor's budget than it is to put it in after the amendments have been put in. And so that's the path I would hope to take is is this next budget cycle, to get in the government's budget that money we're talking about for academic programs. Dr. Glover has worked tremendously hard and talked about moving from R2 to R1 status. You got to have the money to increase those degree-producing programs. You got to graduate more PhDs.

That can only be done with more money for academic programs. So that's the path to take. As I mentioned earlier, myself and Laura Hall have been talking about how we can both work together with our National Black Caucus to also bring some pressure to bear to say to our state legislators, this is the route we want to take to make sure that we do get some responses. And if I could, just for a moment, Roland, I did get an email a few minutes ago that the governor has made appointments to the board now. Do you know who they are? Yes. Who are they? Trevia Chapman, president, Bank of America in Memphis. Jeffrey Norfleet, provost and vice president for administration at Shorter College in Arkansas. Markeeta Qualls, founder and principal

in Tropia Consulting. Terica Smith, deputy mayor and director of human resources in Jackson, Tennessee. Charles Trauber, general counsel, Director of Human Resources in Jackson, Tennessee. Charles Trauber, General Counsel, Division of Real Estate, Retail, and Financial Services at Bridgestone Americas. Dwayne Tucker, CEO of LEED Public Schools. Kevin Williams, President and CEO of GGA Manufacturing. And D'Casha Winton, Senior Vice President and Chief Government Relations Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield Tennessee. And the press release says they're all TSU alums. Okay.

Lee Public Schools is one of the – ain't that that funky charter school that Lee tried to force off on the state of Tennessee last time? That's Lee, right? Hillsdale. What's the name of the public schools person? Lee Public Schools, Dwayne Tucker. Charter schools. Okay, here's what I'm trying to understand. Okay, one, it would be great if you could text or e-mail that to us.

I would love to see it. So let me put – okay, got it. So one of the members I see right here – Got it now. No, no, I'll – let just see if I can pull it up. Give me one second. I'm gonna send it to your- Okay, you can just email me or to, so, okay. So I just see it right here.

So go to my iPad. So member of the, okay. Now let me real clear. I am a, everybody knows me. My initials is called school Choice is a Black Choice. And I don't know the brother, but I'm just, this is a university. I don't know of any other major universities where somebody who is the CEO of a charter school network would be on the board of trustees of a university.

Now, again, if I pull up... Matter of fact, you know what I mean? Yeah, he was former chair of the TSU Foundation Board. Okay. He's from Nashville, Brother Carr, Dr. Carr. Okay. So... I mean, clearly they had this list already made up when they got ready to run this Boston.

Somebody got to fight these white boys, man. Now, I will say this. One thing I told the TSU alums on Tuesday was, when we saw the bill coming down, we wanted to make sure that we said, look, if it's going to be a situation where the board is vacated, we don't have the votes to stop it. Our goal is to start pressing the governor and start having public conversation about they need to all be TSU alums. That was something that wasn't the case before, because the state law only requires that there be three alums, whatever school it is, whether it's Austin Peay, MTSU, Tennessee Tech, only three are required to be alums and only six are required to live in the state.

And so that's one thing that we pushed when we first started talking about these boards coming off. We said, look, we got to start thinking about this. And I told the students today when they asked me what's the next move, I said the next move is we have to talk about what these boards look like. So TSU Alumni Association actually at one of their meetings had a list together and they sent that to the governor's office, I want to say maybe three weeks ago. Well, I mean, here's my again, I here's my position. And listen, there are 107 HBCUs. I've done the commencements for, I think, 19 HBCUs. I'm coming to you, Lauren. Hold on. I'm giving the commencement for I think 19 HBCUs. I'm coming to you Lauren, hold on. I'm giving the commencement to Wilberforce in May.

I've been on the campus speaking, broadcasting from 58 HBCUs. And one of the issues that I see with a lot of places has been the board of trustees. And I'm a firm believer in, you know, folk who have run organizations who have had significant executive position. Go to my iPad. This is the members of the University of Tennessee

Board of Trustees. A former president of PepsiCo. A partner in a law firm in Jackson, Tennessee. Commissioner of the Agriculture for the State of Tennessee. Former president and CEO of Nashville Electric Service, former Senior Advisor of Product Management for Cigna, attorney with a law firm in Memphis, Executive Chairman of AutoZone,

former President and CEO of AutoZone, former CEO and Chairman of Foster Farms, former President and CEO of AutoZone, former CEO and chairman of Foster Farms, former president and CEO of Tyson Foods, co-owner of Mountain View Auto Group, attorney with a law firm in Nashville. Also, then you have your student trustee, and then you have a former CEO of a state collaborator of reforming education. All I'm saying that, it's very interesting to me

when I look at the resumes of folk who a lot of these governors pick for HBCUs compared to a Tennessee or a Texas or a Texas A&M. I take it you would really want folk on the Tennessee State Board who are CEOs, who have run businesses, who can actually raise money, who can bring in dollars to Tennessee State. Roland, how do they compare to the prior board? Oh, I'm going to pull that up, too. But I'm making a point. What typically happens with a lot of HBCU boards,

especially at public institutions, I've seen it at Texas Southern University, the other TSU, and frankly, they've had folks on that board who the Republican governors would never appoint to Texas A&M or University of Texas. I'm looking at Kevin Williams, to your point. So I'm looking him up. He's the former CEO of GM in Canada.

Good. Okay. That's one. Who else? I'm just curious about their backgrounds because I'm sure you want folk who can properly, you know, provide governance and lead the institution. Go ahead. No, I'm saying I just looked him up.

Okay. Lauren, your question. I'm pulling up, I'm pulling up right now the other names, but Lauren, go ahead. Representative Wood, so are we to understand right now as we sit here that there is no legal action being taken by any party who may have standing to sue the state for the money for the school. I mean, there's no one suing right now for the money that's outstanding that's due Tennessee state. It's my understanding that there is no one. I have heard several groups at several forums talk about getting a petition signed

to get persons signed up for a lawsuit, specifically when Attorney Crump came to Tennessee State for the town hall. Someone asked him a question about that. They even asked a question about whether former students whose scholarship and financial aid may have been affected because the school was not funded properly property if they would have standing. And the response, I think, was that they were looking into it. So to answer your question, I don't know of any specific group that is. I've just heard of several groups that have been looking to get people signed up in the possibility that they would have one. Okay. Thank you. Go to my iPad. So you read the names. I'm just showing it. These are, sorry folks, you should have told me I didn't have it connected. So here we go. Let me have it connected here. appointing the new board trustees, touting each as an alum of TSU. Trevia Chapman, president, Bank of America Memphis.

Jeffrey Norfleet, provost and vice president for administration, Shorter College. Marquita Qualls, founder and principal in Tropia Consulting. Tarika Smith, deputy mayor and director of human Resources, Madison County. I don't know. How big is Madison County?

I'm just curious. That's Jackson, Tennessee. Oh, okay. Jackson, Tennessee. Okay. Charles Trauber, General Counsel, Division of Real Estate, Retail and Financial Services at Bridgestone Americas. Dwayne Tucker, CEO of LEED Public Schools. Kevin Williams, President and CEO of GAA Manufacturing.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things stories matter and it brings a face to them it makes it real

it really does it makes it real listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts

and to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule.

Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out.

Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. D'Casha Winton, Senior Vice President and Chief Government and Relations Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee. The faculty trustee and the student trustee, do they remain or do they have to get picked over? They have to be picked over. So the faculty would choose their trustee. The way the student trustee gets picked is the actual board members would pick that person.

I don't know the process that Tennessee State uses. I know some other schools have had a situation where the SGA will take applications and then interview the students and then the president will pass those names on. But the board itself is responsible for choosing that student trustee last question for you we're going to be uh in nashville uh on uh monday we're going to be broadcasting from there we're going to be at the forum uh first of all there's a news conference at 11 a.m uh in the rotunda of the tennessee capital uh and then we are going to have, so all the folks you see there participating in the news conference, we were invited in by the student government vice president and the student, well, now the former student trustee. Then I'm going to be broadcasting my show from the forum in the TSU Student Center on the campus of Tennessee State. And so we look forward to having you and others there because how I see this, Representative Love, this is not just

an issue of trustees. It's also the money. It's also that federal money. Also, my concern, I see these Republicans all the time. Republicans will take an action in Tennessee or Georgia or North Carolina and then will use that as a blueprint in other states. Are you concerned that because of what Republicans have just done in Tennessee, that this is going to create a situation where they may try the exact same thing to target other public HBCUs all across the South? Absolutely. If I can say this again, you know, as my role starts as president-elect, sorry, last year, rather, and as president in December for the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, we immediately started having conversations with our colleagues in Arkansas,

Alabama, Kentucky, New Orleans, Florida, because we all knew that there was the same blueprint for these other 18 land-grant HBCUs to have the governors refuse to identify and recognize the underfunding, again, in those two different buckets. And I can't say it loud enough. These are two different buckets. Those capacity grants and what the Biden administration identified, those are two different buckets. Those capacity grants and what the Biden administration identified, those are two different buckets. And we need all that money, and we need to make sure that we have all the resources and records so that if it's a lawsuit or a legislative route, at least people are equipped with the data to go in and say, here is empirical evidence.

We discovered in Tennessee, through that committee, that in 1913, the state law said that UT's money goes straight to UT and TSU's money goes to the state treasurer first. And so we had to work through that process. And so again, much of this is of concern to me. And that's why we're trying to make these strides, educate our legislators and our alums about the dangerousness of this being a nationwide effort. Absolutely. Well, we look forward... Greg, go ahead. Before you go, Roland, the point that there is a student...

So let me be very clear. There's a student and a faculty representative on the board, correct? Correct. All right. So there's your point of entry for the lawsuit. They were not voted on by the governor or the legislature. They were voted on by their constituents.

Yeah, that's a good point. So how in the hell can you remove somebody who you didn't appoint? I mean, it's pro forma to appoint them. But anyway, I'm just saying, get some legal minds on this, brother. This is what I'm saying. Absolutely. Listen, I don't know of anything in America that black people have ever gotten where we didn't have to fight for it. And I fundamentally believe and look, they have a super majority representative love.

They can frankly ignore Democrats all day in the House and Senate. They cannot ignore a federal lawsuit. And that was federal money that actually was supposed to go to these HBCUs. So that won't be a state lawsuit, that will be a federal lawsuit. I would really encourage y'all to hit them the legal route and I would also say to all of those HBCUs in other states, in Georgia, in Tennessee, in West Virginia, in Virginia, in Texas, and on and on, hit all of them at the same time. That is needed. They've got to understand. Yes. We want that $13 billion.

$13 billion plus, because I'm convinced that it wasn't just 30 years. Oh, I agree. I mean, I agree. Get all of it. Get all of it. Representative Love, we appreciate it. We'll see you on Monday. Thank you. I'll see you there.

Thank you. Folks, got to go to a break. So before this, kill the music. So why do I kill the music? Why do I want y'all to support what we do? That conversation we just had was a 50-minute conversation. Somebody sent me a text earlier, and they said, who has been covering this?

Who's really been covering this stuff nationally? Other than us or nobody? Yeah, you see some other stuff. All these black people love watching MSNBC. Reverend Sharpton has done it for three or four weeks. We've been doing it for 15 months. That's just his show. Not at these daily shows.

Not CNN. Sure as hell not Fox News. Not ABC. Not CBS. Not NBC. Why am I saying that? If y'all want to understand why black-owned media matters, this is what we're talking about.

In fact, earlier today, this morning, it was a perfect example. Somebody sent me a story where they posted the story. The New York Post posted a story saying that, oh, we've identified the new owner of Revolt is Rich Dennis, who owns Essence, and he now owns the company. You can show it to y'all. Come on.

No, you don't. The sale has not been finalized. Now, I done told you, Black Enterprise, keep reporting that. It's not true. Like, literally, the New York Post story hit. I got a text message three minutes later. It's not true. If y'all want to understand why it matters, why black-owned media matters, this is a perfect example. We cannot leave this stuff to white mainstream media

because they don't give a damn. They don't care. You heard that white Democrat say, they're going to make fun of you on Saturday Night Live. No, they're not. The only reason that story went that big because they threw out the two black brothers and they kept the white woman.

Sarah Knight Live don't give a damn about no HBCU. Hell, I doubt Sarah Knight Live even recruit at HBCUs. And so I need our people to understand that we have to build our own media ecosystem. And that takes resources. We set this show up. I did not want to charge for subscriptions. And I said, listen, we got a donor program.

And I told everybody. I said, listen, we ain't going to send you no hats, t-shirts, mugs, towels, pins. We want all the money to go back into the show. You spend the money on a swag and a postage, hell, you ain't got money left over. And so this is what it's about. Y'all, I'm not lying.

Ain't no billionaires, white or black, cutting us any checks. Ain't no millionaires cutting us any checks. We have built this brick by brick and a lot of y'all have helped. And so when I say we've got to have our own, ain't no white network doing a town hall in Nashville on Monday. And I'm going to tell y'all right now, that's going to cost at a minimum $7,500. And that's on the cheap. That's for travel, hotel, per diem. I'm bringing two people down, our drivers driving our stuff down.

That's what it's going to cost. Do we have to spend it on that? Nope. Are we spending it on that? Yes. Why? Because the same way it matters, like we went down Bethune-Cookman. This is why we've got to control our own destiny, folks.

This is why. So you're checking money order at the P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196. Cash out, dollar sign, RM unfiltered, PayPal or Martin unfiltered. Venmo is RM unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back.

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and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. me sherry separate and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin, unfiltered. Hey, Bill Maher, this is why there's an ebony alert in California. LaShondra Follins has been missing from her Minden, Louisiana home since February 24th. The 17-year-old is 5 feet 5 inches tall,

weighs 110 pounds with black hair and black eyes. Anyone with information about Lashundra Follins is urged to call the Menden Louisiana Police Department at 318-371-4226 318-371-4226. Folks at Lincoln University Alumni Association Board of Directors in

Missouri says it is issued a no confidence vote in the leadership of the Lincoln University Alumni Association board of directors in Missouri says it has issued a no confidence vote in the leadership of the Lincoln University Board of Curators following the report's release. First of all, they found no evidence of bullying against former Lincoln University administrator Antoinette Bonnie Candia Bailey. She was the former vice president for student affairs, who wrote a 12-page letter to Lincoln University President John Mosley, the alumni and faculty, accusing the president of bullying and harassment before she died by suicide on January 8th. The board of directors expressed concern with how the investigation was conducted by the law firm of Lewis Rice and questioned how interviews were selected.

In a letter addressed to the Board of Curators, the Alumni Association said the following. They said, We were given a president with minimal athletic leadership abilities and placed in a role requiring even stronger critical thinking skills. As such, guys, please put the letter up, as such, his lack thereof has become evident throughout his two and a half years of service and for the board of curators to reassert this flawed decision and to act without change in this administration is further evidence of their inaccuracies to care for and protect the

interests of the university's mission and its sovereignty at a historically black college and university. The Alumni Association is calling for Mosley's resignation. What we are seeing here, I mean, we read a lot of that letter on the air, Lauren, and man, it was brutal. It was brutal to read what this sister wrote and just how debilitated and offended she was by this. Yeah, it's going to be hard to, I think, though, make that case moving forward, even with the letter. These cases are really hard to make when you have to figure out a way to make someone else responsible for the trauma that someone may have been going through, even though she documented it.

So it'll be interesting to see how that moves forward. But it's a real tragedy that that happened, because obviously it didn't have to happen. Last Thursday, there was a group of young professors, black professors, who had a Zoom call. Actually, the Zoom call at the exact same time I was on the show. But I listened to the second hour of it, and they were talking about some of the experiences they've been having as professors at work around the country. And obviously, you know, there's a trend going on, an anti-blackness trend. And we see it with the DEI discussion and the CRT discussion.

And this is all, to me, kicked off by Donald Trump, kicked off by the reaction to the presidency of Barack Obama. And it continues. And it continues on a lot of levels. And and frankly, the forces of anti-blackness are becoming more and more organized. Indeed, and, you know, this is where Risi oversight matters, and this is alumni saying, man, we don't trust this board at all. And this university has a very interesting history because for the longest, it was a majority white HBCU.

In late as the 1990s, it was a majority white. Then it began to switch. Now it's 56% black, 27% white. And so you've sort of had that dichotomy and that sort of battle back and forth. I mean, why are they protecting this man? I don't understand the board, that is. I don't know what more of an extreme vote of no confidence you can get than a person dying by suicide.

How can you say there's no evidence when the allegation is a firsthand account from the person who took her own life? And you can't just necessarily pin that on him. But at the end of the day, if you're at an HBCU, Black lives have to matter. And that professor's life shouldn't matter more to the board of curators. So I applaud the alumni board for making this known, because I feel like the common thread through a lot of these stories that we're covering about HBCUs, whether it's an attack from within or attack from the outside of HBCUs, is there's a lack of urgency and there's a lack of understanding the severity of the moment. seems like dilly-dallying from one crisis to the next and being a little bit too passive. And it's not to criticize people who are on the front lines doing the work, but it's like, it kind of makes you wonder like, what more needs to happen to shake this shit up a little bit and to make people really stand 10 toes down in the whole charge of why we have HBCUs. There's supposed to be a safe haven.

There's supposed to be a place of excellence and, and community. And that just seems to be getting stripped away or being tossed aside from even the people who are charged with, with, with making sure that environment exists in that way. Great. I agree.

Arisi's right. I mean, this is the thread. Lincoln University of Jeff City, Missouri, was founded by the Buffalo Soldiers Brothers and Sisters. That was 1865, the 62nd and the 65th Colored Infantries. These men were coming out of the Civil War. They were making $13 a month.

In some kind of way, they raised $5,000. That's why there's a statue on Lincoln University's campus of the Buffalo Soldiers. These brothers founded Lincoln University. And you're absolutely right, Roland. It was an inversion, and now it's black majority, black—but Risi is right. This ties directly to the Tennessee state story. And you trying to get a rather lethargic representative, Love, to wake up and take some action or find somebody in that legislature

who will, making the point that this is a federal lawsuit for all of the public HBCUs, but you put your finger on it when you looked at that board. These hillbillies in Tennessee drew that board up a long time ago. So you're not going to try to persuade them to do anything different. In Missouri, at Jefferson City, the governor appoints that board, that racist, that white nationalist governor, Mike Parsons, the same one that pardoned those hillbillies that were waving guns at the Black Lives Matter protesters, Patricia and Mark McCloskey, who had them guns out in the front of their houses

as the marches were going by, and he pardoned them. This is the same one, the white nationalist governor of Missouri, that was anti-CRT. So you better believe that those people who were on the board, who cleared this white ex-basketball coach—he was a basketball coach at North Carolina Central, now he's over here slopping off the black community as a basketball coach at Lincoln. And then he goes and gets a piece of a degree, and they elevate him and make him the president of this historic university. You better believe that his white nationalist lord and protector surrounded him with a board that would clear him. This is intellectual warfare, and it's full-spectrum warfare.

We can no longer afford to talk with these people as if we have a common interest. Their interest is white supremacy. Our interest is our common humanity. And we got to roll over them like the sea. They're going to let this sister's death be washed in white supremacy and act like it never happened. I hope her family sues that shit out of the governor, out of that man, and everybody else. Whether they win or not, you got to fight with both fists.

You told love the right thing, brother. Well, folks, hold tight one second to go to a quick break. We come back. How in the hell is South Carolina going to be allowed to go forward with maps that are being determined that hurt black folks are unconstitutional. And the Supreme Court heard this back in October, and it ain't a damn thing. But this is familiar because they did the exact same thing in 2022. I'll explain next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Fan base is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy

this next generation social media app with over 600 000 users is raising 17 million dollars and now is your chance to invest for details on how to invest visit startengine.com slash fan base or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. As bad as Trump was, his economy was worse, and black America felt it the most. He cut health insurance, while giving tax breaks to the wealthy and big business.

As president, I put money in pockets and capped the cost of medicine at $35 a month. There's a lot more to do, but we can do it together. Farquhar, executive producer this is no shock. According to voting rights activists and civil rights groups, South Carolina should postpone its elections until the Supreme Court decides on the congressional maps a lower court already deemed unconstitutional. Yet the courts are allowing these maps to be used,

which makes no sense. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late.

And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council.

Whatsoever. John Cusick is an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He joins us right now. So, John, here's what's crazy. Help me out. When was this lawsuit filed? We filed the initial lawsuit in 2021, amended it in 2022. It's been almost two years.

Filed in 2021, amended in 2022. When did the courts declare that the maps were unconstitutional and they hurt black voters? January 6, 2023. January 6, 2023. So then it goes to Supreme Court. Supreme Court hears it when? October 11, 2023. And we asked for an expedited schedule because both us and the defendants asked for a decision by January 1, 2024. So let's be clear. You and the defendants said, hey, Supreme Court, could y'all please decide this case by January 1

so if the maps have to redrawn, there's enough time to do so in time for the primaries, right? That's exactly right, because as you know, sometimes states will invoke this principle to say we don't have enough time to draw new maps, but there was a recognition of the urgency to have enough time to put a map, and there was, as you said, it's not always common that both sides are on the same page. But this was a joint request made back in May of 2023.

And we're familiar with that because Louisiana passed maps 2022. Their primary wasn't until August. It was way enough time. But the Supreme Court, after declaring unconstitutional, said, hold up, not enough time. It was like, actually, it is. Alabama, exact same thing. So we've seen this before. And so this Supreme Court decides to take its sweet-ass time issuing a ruling when, I'm sorry, it's just nine of you. It ain't that many cases. This Supreme Court could have easily rendered a decision in time to meet the deadline both of y'all asked for. That's exactly right. You know, this case is so clear and straightforward.

It applies binding Supreme Court precedent of just 2017 in a case Cooper v. Harris, where it has very similar factual analogies. Here in South Carolina, they used their power during the redistricting process to exile more than 30,000 black Charlestonians out of Congressional District 1 into Congressional District 6. And when the mapmaker was up on the stand, the only thing he could say that there was some sort of common community of interest was an interstate highway all the way to the city of Columbia.

And to do so, they targeted Charleston County, where all the other principles that they had applied in the other 46 counties or the other 45 counties in South Carolina and the other congressional districts, he admitted they abandoned when they were drawing this map. And so they set this racial target to keep it there. To implement that racial target, they abandoned when they were drawing this map. And so they set this racial target to keep it there to implement that racial target. They abandoned these traditional redistricting principles that had guided all their work. And you see this tremendous disparity of almost 30,000 black Charlestonians moved out of Congressional District 1 for no reason. So the phrase that we often hear is called cracking and packing. And so really what happened here, they were like, yo, let's move these 30,000 black people over to Clyburn's

district, out of Nancy Mason's district, which made it easier for the Republicans to win. So by moving the black folks out. Yeah. So they essentially, not during the legislative session, they didn't say that we were doing this for partisan reasons. Even the lead sponsor during the debate said this is not a partisan gerrymander. Then, unfortunately, what has come all too common is that during the litigation strategy, after discovery, is they start saying this is a political reason. We're doing this for partisan reasons.

And this is, unfortunately, an American tradition where you see whatever parties in power invoke partisanship as a guise to target black and brown voters. But the Constitution is clear that partisanship discriminates. It's crystal clear that for redistricting purposes, even though you might be able to have partisanship as a goal, you can't do so by targeting and using race in an excessive way as a means even to achieve a legitimate outcome. And that's exactly what happened here. We had expert, unrebutted evidence that showed even when you account for voters of the same party, black and white voters, black voters are more

likely, even when they're in the same party, to be moved out. And so race, not partisan affiliation, was the only thing to explain this movement in a way where it was the predominant reason. So if the Supreme Court drops the decision on Monday, it's too late for the fall. Well, right now what happened is the lower court, the district court today, said essentially that maps can stay in place for 2024, both the primary and the general election. Now, it's odd that you talked about timing here. The defendants were on notice since February 4, 2023, that they could not go forward with any maps under Congressional District 1. And the court was also clear at that same time that if, for some reason, the appellate process and the pending appeal weren't decided by that, they still could not go forward in that.

And so you would think that by January 1, when the Supreme Court didn't issue a decision, defendants would seek to move again for a stay to, say, keep the maps in place. That didn't happen. Didn't happen in all of January. Didn't happen in February. They weeded nine days before the qualifying deadline for candidates began to seek a stay. And then they moved the Supreme Court, while the district court did not issue a decision, to stay the entire map, even if it's affirmed. And so right now, we're in the process of assessing and evaluating that. But that's essentially what's happening right now now is that under the district court's order, maps and this unconstitutional map,

even if the Supreme Court affirms, will be in place for the 2024 election. It just feels like the Supreme Court is essentially putting its thumb on the scale and helping out. And we saw what happened again in 2022. If they had allowed those maps in Louisiana and Alabama to be changed, Democrats could have likely held on to the House because that's how razor thin these margins are. And, you know, that's exactly right.

These have national implications. And for our voters and the clients that we represent and the black voters, you know, the racial gerrymandering harm is clear and immediate. It's impact about everyday life. It's who's being represented. Will those representatives talk about everyday issues from infrastructure to roads to bridges? And, you know, this is one of the big things why Charleston, with the significant black population, advocated to be maintained together as a community of interest, because representatives need to be responsive to those needs. They need to represent those candidates. And here, to the point you mentioned earlier, Roland, they were intentionally cracked to split up and prevent community members from advocating,

from aggregating their voices in a way that those folks could not only be held accountable, but for representatives who could be mindful and responsive to the needs of Black community members in Congressional District 1. All right, then. John Cusick, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. Take care. Greg, on my Washington Watch show years ago, Cornell Belcher, the pollster, said to black people, hey, we need to be looking at congressional representation in a different way. He said from the 1960s through the early 2000s, it was about let's get as many black members of Congress

as possible. He said that's not actually maximizing our power. Cordell said then, and this was 10, 15 years ago, that we need to be looking at sacrificing some of our votes in these black districts with a heavily black population to then impact other districts. And that's what Republicans don't want. What they want to do is they want to put as many black people together as possible.

That's what happened in Alabama. They just put all the black folks in one, and they were like, oh, there needs to be a second district. And Alabama's like, shit. So because Alabama, there was one black member of Congress, one Democrat. Well, now they guaranteed to have two. Louisiana, same thing. So what a lot of black folks don't realize, depending upon our numbers, we're impacting a district. And matter of fact, in Texas, they specifically targeted Congressman Martin Frost's district, decimated his district, moved black people out. And that actually hurt

a number of white Democrats across the South. That was their strategy to target. And for black people, I'm sorry, we vote Democrat. So when Republicans control the House, we don't have power. Absolutely. I mean, and you did right when you mentioned to John Cusick, you know, the whole concept of cracking and packing. And, of course, they know that. The lawyers know that. Reverend Barber says this all the time. When we vote our numbers, we win.

Coalition politics are important. You know, what we're seeing here is not unusual. If you listen to the oral arguments in the Alexander case, then probably what's going to happen is that this white nationalist Supreme Court is going to say that they can't intervene because it's not a racial gerrymander. It's a political one. They're going to buy that lie. Following in the line of the cases in Wisconsin, the Whitcomb case and other cases where they're

saying, you know, this is Justice McConnell Gorsuch who would say this is a political issue, among others. But what you're raising, though, Roland, to the more important point that you've raised, this fundamental point, is that we have to begin to think about politics differently, ironically, more like we used to think about it before the last couple of generations of elected officials, meaning that when you look at the North Carolina case, the Shaw v. Reno, look at the Ashcroft case in Georgia, The debate has always been about, do you put a bunch of black people in one district, or do you distribute black people in appreciable numbers across districts to have a plurality

to be able to influence who gets elected? Nancy Mace, that incompetent, illiterate white nationalist clown out of South Carolina, is in a safer district now. Now, if you put more black people in her district, she's going to either have to change her politics or hope we don't come out to vote. And I'll end with this. Even with these ridiculous numbers, these super majorities in the white nationalist South behind the cotton curtain, if everybody who is eligible to vote would register to

vote, check their registration, and go in and vote, even with all the roadblocks being put in our way, there would be a different map in the South gerrymandering notwithstanding. Yep. And that is a strategy that would come from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Sometimes you got to look backward to go forward. Our ancestors didn't let them stop them, and we shouldn't let these people stop us. Lawn, this is a lazy supreme court and this is

the right-wing supreme court knowing exactly what they're doing they could have easily decided this case by the january 1st deadline yeah well the strategy uh so often is delay delay delay delay but we see that all the time they love to have the delay strategy. They just will keep having the conversation, keep having the meeting, talking about it. And all the while, they will be controlling the game in the background. So delay is a major part of the strategy. You know, the other problem with this situation is that you do have a lot of Black elected officials who do not necessarily want the districts to be distributed more evenly, because it's easier, obviously, to run in a district that is coming in at, you know, over 50 percent black. So there's been arguments that I've seen in certain states where the black elected officials did not necessarily want to have two

black districts, because when you have the one black district, obviously, it's really easy to run. But one of the untold stories of the Congressional Black Caucus is that there are so many districts now that are not even close to being majority black that black lawmakers are winning in. And, you know, it's people like Emanuel Cleaver and Andre Carson. And you know, you're getting these more Latino districts in California, you know, Maxine Waters' district, you know, Barbara Lee's district. So a lot of these black members of Congress, on the federal level, a lot of these black

members of Congress are winning districts that are not all that black. And, you know, the party doesn't really want to talk about that a whole lot. They want to nominate who they want to nominate. But you'd be surprised how many times you see it in the state level where a lot of the black state legislators do not necessarily want to create more black districts. They want to create a blacker district that is easier to win in. And so they don't have to campaign as much. Yep. Recy? There's that. There's that. Well, I think that there is a disciplined, active strategy to disenfranchise Black voters and to dilute our votes. And if you can do it by appearing to be hands-off while actually tipping the scales, then why

not? I mean, the Supreme Court is an illegitimate institution and they have tried every tactic. Sometimes it's outright gutting protections that have been there and sometimes it's pretending to be hands off. But they do this shit every single election cycle, whether it's the district courts or whatever courts where they say, oh, sorry, time has run out. Got to stick with these racist ass maps. And it just keeps repeating the cycle over and over and over again. But the reality is that we have to vote at least our capacity. And if we could do that, maybe we can't influence individual districts, but we can start to move the needle at least at the statewide level and make it more of a political penalty to do these kinds of gerrymandering activities

in these states. And when we don't, then we end up with like the Jeff Landrys and the unconscionable things that he's doing now in Louisiana to further erode the citizenship of Black people in that state. And so, you know, we have these conversations about gerrymandering and maps and things of that nature. But until we even flex our might at the state level and at the federal level, they're going to keep being able to do whatever they want to do with their super majorities, the Republican courts and the courts with too many damn Republicans that Trump McConnell put on the bench. Folks, hold tight one second. When we come back, HBCU All-Star Game is taking place.

We'll tell you all about it with our HBCU Connect segment next. Roland Martin unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Fan base is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million. And now is your chance to invest for details on how to invest. Visit start engine.com slash fan base or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. I'm for ride to Muhammad live without limits. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A.,

and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it

and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. On Sunday, April 7th, the third annual HBCU All-Star Basketball game will be held at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.

The game will showcase the best HBCU basketball players from the four historically black athletic conferences. It's the MEAC and the SEAC, taking on players from the SWAC and the CIAA, players from Tennessee State, Hampton, North Carolina A&T Universities will also participate. Travis Williams is the CEO and founder of HBO All-Stars. He joins us right now.

Travis, glad to have you here. I often wear HBCU gear in the show, so I'm rocking North Carolina A&T today. So how did this idea originate? Yeah, thank you for having me on your show, first and foremost. This is truly amazing. This is a God-driven vision that was placed in my spirit in October 2019 after 17 successful years in coaching. And so, you know, when God speaks, you have to listen. And so this is a great opportunity

where we got an opportunity to focus on ear and oar, exposure, access, recognition, opportunity, resource, and results for our proud and prestigious HBCUs and tradition-rich HBCUs. And so it's just an opportunity to do something that hasn't been done, especially during Final Four weekend and college basketball biggest weekend. And so you're bringing them all together. How many players in total? So it's a total of 24 players representing Team Rick Mahorn, the MIAC and SIAC and independent All-Stars versus Team Ben Wallace, the SWAC and CIAA All-Stars.

And so this is an amazing moment representing our four premier conferences. And so this is an opportunity during Final Four weekend to celebrate the best in black college basketball. What about the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference? Well, you know, eventually we're going to get there. But I think more importantly,

we've got to make sure for our NCAA Division I and Division II, but eventually we're going to get there where we represent all leagues. Because last year, I'm trying to think, one of their schools was like 27-0, undefeated. Yeah. And like I said, hopefully we get there. It's about getting this, as you know, Roland, about getting this right before we venture out and everything else.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers

Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early

and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best.

You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out.

Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. And even taking one step further, we're looking at Ad Nile women. You can't forget about the women. That's a different dynamic. And so we're excited about... Well, yeah, I mean, you're looking at Ad Nile women. You can't forget about the women. That's a different dynamic.

And so we're excited about you. Yeah, I mean, you had Jackson State, a phenomenal squad, went undefeated this year in the SWAC. And so, yeah, pretty good. Who are your sponsors? Well, we have some of our most amazing sponsors. We have Aflac, AT&T, Nike, and a host of local sponsors here that is important for us to not only give back to our community when we get here, it's especially important to support our local

black and brown businesses here. And so prior to the game, we're partnered with Archwood here, where we're going to have a lot of our black and brown vendors as a part of our pre-game and game day activations and activities. So we're excited about that. And so United Airlines, our Fisher Airline. And so there's a host of individuals that are coming in and helping us doing some amazing work here in the Phoenix community. Are the players or the conferences getting compensated? Yep. Well, you know, in the past few years, we've been able to offer scholarships, you know, donations to support all of our conferences. You know, this year, we invited all of our HBCU presidents to participate.

We hopefully pretty much the majority of them come during the halftime. We want to be able to present them a $50,000 check to support their HBCU All-Star Scholarship. $50,000 each? No, $ 50,000 represent of each conference. Eventually, we'll get to the point where we're able to do that. So you're saying you can present $200,000 in scholarships because you've got four

conferences? No, this is for the HBCU presidents. HBCU presidents that we're bringing in just to be able to support some of their scholarship initiatives on their campus. We're not there yet, but hopefully we get there. This is only year two of year three of our event. Oh, so 50,000 total in scholarships.

Yeah, representing about 49 HBCUs. So, Roland, we have 49 HBCUs, 69 representing HBCUs, 65 HBCU All-Stars, and we selected a top 24. So we want to make sure that we support some of their niches there on their campus, and we want them in attendance and being able. This is just the first beginning of getting this started. All right. Questions for the panel.

Greg, you first. Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Brother Williams, for including A&T since Roland is rocking it today, and Tennessee State and Hampton as well for those folks who have chased after the white conferences. I'm glad you didn't forget about us. But I'm interested in this award ceremony y'all going to have at the George Washington Carver Museum. Could you talk a little bit about that and what's the objective at the award ceremony? I think it's more importantly, like I said, this is an opportunity for us to recognize these top

24 players. Like I said, this is an exclusive group of the top players in black college basketball and i think you know we want to put the national spotlight on them and just take it back you think about it there's 350 uh nba players 30 nba teams well 450 nba players 30 nba teams and there's only one current active hbcu player that's robertton, who played for me at Tennessee State. So I think the most important part, we recognize these outstanding young men for accomplishments during their 23-24 basketball season. And so this is an opportunity for us. When they get here on Wednesday, April the 3rd, next week,

we'll get an opportunity to shine this national spotlight and recognize the great work they're doing on and off the basketball court. But more importantly, at the George Washington Carver Museum, this is a high school that was founded for African-Americans here in the Phoenix community. And so we wanted to be able to sign a national spotlight on this location and be able to support some of their outreach initiatives and get folks over there checking out the amazing history that is at George Washington Carver Museum. If you're ever in Phoenix, this is an amazing facility with a lot of rich history in celebration of African-American history.

Racy? Thanks, Coach. Mr. Williams, I'm curious, with this being an HBCU all-star, what about HBCU cheerleaders or band members? Are they going to get a chance to kind of show their spirit at this game? Of course. And I'm glad you asked that question. This game is about the entire HBCU experience. And so as you all know, the HBCUs don't exist out here. And so we have the Clark Atlanta University band that will be here represent. Also, we have the Morehouse College Spelman Cheerleaders. And so we will have a little bit of that Atlanta AU Center that's represented here in Phoenix. And so we're

truly excited for Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College representing our band, our cheerleaders, our dance team. Just a truly exciting moment to bring the entire HBCU experience to this part of the region, part of the country that it does exist. Yes. Lauren. Is there anybody from Virginia, any of the all-stars from Norfolk State or Virginia State? Well, Norfolk State, I'm glad you asked. Bertrand, he was the sixth man of the year this year. And so we're excited. You know, Coach Robert Jones has done an amazing job at Norfolk State University.

But all these players that are represented, like I said, we got players that are represented from a number of HBCUs, you know, North Carolina Central, Benedict, Norfolk State, Clark Atlanta, Tennessee State. A lot of these players that are represented are all conference players or player of the years in their respective conferences. And so we have an HBCU All-Stars National Scouting staff with close to 150 years of experience that had an opportunity throughout this year to watch these guys in person, on television, up close, and really get an opportunity to recruit and scout. These are

former HBCU head coaches, associate head coaches that have been in the trenches and understand our HBCU basketball culture. So trust me, we are truly, truly excited about this game in less than 11 days. And so, yes. All right, then. Where can people go to get more information? Yeah, we can go to HBCUAllStarGame.com. Tickets are selling fast. There's only a few remaining.

We encourage you, get your tickets now. You do not want to be on the outside looking in for this historic game. And you can follow us on all social media platforms, HBCU All-Star Game, HBCU All-Stars LSC. You can follow me at TravisLWilliams24. Get your tickets now. You do not want to be on the outside looking in. And just like I said, the game is important,

but all of our outreach and things that we're able to do to impact the community here in Phoenix, we are truly, truly excited about being able to put on this HBCU All-Star Game celebrating Black excellence, Black history, and Black cultural experiences at the highest level. All right, Travis, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Yeah, thank you for having me on your show. All right, y'all. Tomorrow it's B-Day. We'll explain that next on Roland Martin. Oh, Lord. On the Black Star Network. Terry and I, we couldn't play in the white clubs in Minnesota. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts podcast or wherever you get your podcast and to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content subscribe to lava for good plus on apple podcast hey drew scott here letting you know why i recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the L.A. fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires.

Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to asenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us. just have to go through. You know, we have to figure it out. You know, we make, we make, you know, lemons out of lemonade, but there's a reason we rented a ballroom, did our own show, promoted it, got like 1500 people to come out. Clubs were sitting empty. They were like, where's everybody at? And they said, they're down watching the band you wouldn't hire. So it taught us not only that we had to be, we had the talent of

musicians, but we also had to have the talent of entrepreneurship. It wasn't like a seat at the table. It's like, no, let's build the table. That's right. We got to build the table. And that was the thing. And of course, after that, we got all kinds of offers. Of course. Right. To come play in the clubs. But we didn't do it. We said, no, we're good. No, we're good. We're good. And that's what put us on a path of national. And of course, when Prince made it, then it was like, no, we're good. No, we're good. We're good. And that's what put us on a path of national. And of course, when Prince made it, then it was like, OK, we see it can be done. Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer of The Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. We'll be right back. Let's go. All right, y'all.

Tomorrow's B-Day. Ha, ha. This drops tomorrow, actually, at midnight. Folks are already, I've been seeing tweets. Somebody just tweeted, is it midnight yet? Of course, Beyonce, her Cowboy Carter album. They dropped the information on, yes, a couple days ago. It's a 26-track album.

A 26-track album that features a number of country stars, also some up-and-coming stars as well, pays tribute to a country pioneer. And you might remember Beyoncé released that long post that she talked about after her experience at the Country Music Awards in 2016, how it caused her to dig a little deeper, and now she's come back. Matter of fact, I'm calling this the big payback. She's like, oh, you racist ass white folks.

Y'all showed your ass. I'm going to show you. And I came back. She dropped Texas Hold'em, became the number one hot country song in the album. Now it's gonna be total 26 tracks. She said this is not a country album. It's a Beyonce album.

But it's gonna be a whole lot of black folk Reesey walking around with cowboy hats. Yeah, that's the Beyonce effect. I mean, I hope that it's as good as her Renaissance album, which got me through writing two books, a whole summer and a whole host of things.

I hope that it's a moment for her. I'm, you know, I'm going to wait and see how I feel about it when I hear it.. I'm going to wait and see how I feel about it when I hear it. But, you know, country isn't normally really my thing, so we'll see if it's giving more Beyonce or country for me. Your ass going to be listening to Beyonce country.

I don't know who you think you fronting. I am. I'm going to listen. Somebody posted this photo on Twitter. That was funny as hell when I saw this one. I thought this one was funny right here. A big cowboy hat sitting on top of the Empire State Building. Lauren, it's going to be real interesting. And I'm telling you, I love how these folk shook up already.

There were some country stations that actually refused to play Texas Hold'em. And man, when they put that on Twitter, the beehive lost their mind. And the country station was like, hold up. We put it, we played it at 4 o'clock. Like, they got so many calls in a couple of hours. They were like, yeah, we played it at 4 o'clock.

Calm down. Yeah, there's no way that this thing is going to go immediately to number one there's no way it's not going to make a ton of money uh and just reading the track listing the fact that she's covering the beatles song blackbird uh and she's got some track on here called desert eagle which i have a sneaking suspicion is going to be a good song just from the title. But no, she doesn't really know how to fail. So that's a great thing. And I like the fact she's doing country. As a big Ray Charles fan, one of his best albums was a country album because Ray Charles, of course, can sing anything, any genre,

anytime, any place. But I think Beyonce, I'm glad she's doing this. It returns the genre to, I think, its natural roots in a lot of ways. And it's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm going to be hovering. I'm going to be hovering at midnight to download it right away. And I think, you know, I don't know. I think that this type of entertainment, entertainment music is one of the greatest things. It's one of the greatest uniting forces.

And I think that's the effect that she's going to have. We'll see. I mean, whoever wants to get bitter, they just want to be bitter. You know, who cares? But I think her talent and this move is going to be very enjoyable. Greg, is it? Can I jump in? Yeah, go ahead.

Can I jump in? Go ahead. Because I'm hoping that it will be a uniting factor because with all that we have going on, I do not have time for Beyonce's country album to be a civil rights issue. Like, we have Jerry Bander and HBCUs under siege. We got every other real fucking issue on the planet. And so I really don't have the capacity to be outraged over whatever white person is fucking with Beyonce

and don't like her song. No, no, no, no, hell no, Recy. I need some country white tears, Recy. Oh, no. I need I want them to see this photo right here, Greg, and lose they damn mind.

I want them to get smacked in the face with black country history. In fact, Greg, one of the tracks is called The Linda Martell Show. She was the first African American to play the Opry, yes. So, you have, she's paying tribute. Not only is she paying tribute to pioneers,

she's also gonna have new country artists on here as well and using her fame to bring them a lot of attention too. No question. I'm an agnostic when it comes to Miss Carter Knowles. I don't really have a dog in the fight. And you know, I grew up in nashville so um charlie pride ray charles as you say modern sounds and country and western that double album and then wager hr was recorded with everybody from willie nelson doing seven spanish angels i mean you start

thinking about the country roots but we know that the roots of that music is the blues and we know that from that foundation which came out of africa the the blue. And we know that from that foundation, which came out of Africa, the blue note, the use of those stringed instruments, the narratives that were put there, even the rhythm structures, that then fed the root that became what we call rock and roll. Once Muddy Waters and them boys started sticking electric cord into their guitars coming out of Mississippi and places like that. So, you know, Beyonce, I don't know that she's returning something to the roots as much as she is to co-sign with you, Recy. Beyonce, and to say, you know, what you said, Lauren, she doesn't know how to fail. She's a master marketer. Beyonce could record the theme to

Sesame Street and it would go to number one. It takes an astute ability to do that. I really don't have a dog in the fight. If some white racist heads explode, hey, that's a bonus. But the only other thing I would say is I think every cultural creator, music, musicians, artists, performers of any type, really reflect the age in which they are recording more than anything. So I probably won't be up listening to Beyonce, but in that country music spirit,

taking me back to my roots, I might go put on some of the man from Slab Fork, West Virginia, a little Bill Withers, and listen to somebody with a feel that would be a little bit closer to country, perhaps than Miss Knowles. But hey, good luck. All right, Nose. So what Bill Withers song do you think is close to being a

country song? All of them. See, it depends on how you define country music. See, the genres are defined by the commodity, how you're moving the weight. But if you listen to I Can't Write Left-Handed, if you listen to Who Is He and What Is He To You, if you listen to Who Is He and What Is He To You, if you

listen to Better Off Without Her, I mean, Bill Willis is singing country music when you listen to his interviews. See, the question of country music, when you start talking about the blue note, that kind of in-between, so when you hear Ray Charles, there were seven Spanish

angels in the hall of the sun. It's a blue note. By that reference, you can disaggregate the music. I don't look at the genres like that's why they're fighting. They're not fighting over the content of the music. They're fighting over how you move the commodity. That's why they want to keep her off the country charts because it's going to explode and you know and that's going to be the problem so this is uh what she posted on instagram cowboy carter and the rodeo

chitlin circuit uh american requiem blackbird 16 carat is protector my rose smoke hour willie nelson texas hold them bodyguard dolly parton's jolene uh alligatorigator Tears, Smoke Hour, Just for Fun, Levi's Jeans, Flamingo, The Linda Martell Show, Ya Ya, Oh Louisiana, Desert Eagle, River Dance, Sweet Honey, Buckling, Two Hands to Heaven. Wait a minute. What is going on? You know what? Now, see, okay, that's a good example right there. You take Jolene, Dolly Parton, right?

You know, I'm wondering if she doesn't already have a deal with these cats. Dolly, because Dolly said something a couple of weeks ago. Dolly said, oh, I can't, I can't, I look forward to the album. So, right, so we don't know. So what they held back, we don't know if Dolly Parton is on the album as a duet. We don't know if Willie Nelson is on the album as a duet. And let me remind people, when

our frat brother Lionel Richie, when he announced Tuskegee, which is a cover of all of his hits, every major country artist in the country won it on that album. And when he dropped it, that album went to

number one. Say Alone could be in the country genre. This is what I'm talking about. Well, first of all, Deep River Woman, Hello. Nope. And so all of those songs. Lady. Yeah. Exactly.

Exactly. And this is the shrewdness. Now, Dolly ain't got to be on the part, because guess what? Beyonce could do much worse than modeling herself after Dolly Parton, because guess what? Dolly Parton ain't got to open her mouth again. You know how much money she made off of Between, Whitney Houston, I Will Always Love You, and redoing Jolene? But here's

the question. And see, this is a question of taste, I think, as well. For me, Beyonce, you know, it's going to be interesting. I will listen to that, because I want to hear how she interprets Jolene. Jolene is not a song. Well. It's like.

What do you say? Well, but here's the deal, though, because I don't want people to. I want people to study this cover. I just saw something I was kind of like interesting. All right. So come on. Go to my iPad. Look at these photos right here.

Can you see the photo right now? Y'all see she says rodeo chitlin circuit. OK, you see the photo of her right here. Let me go over here. You see that photo of her right here. You see the photo right now. Y'all see she says rodeo chitlin circuit. Okay, you see the photo of her right here. Let me go over here. You see that photo of her right here. You see the photo there. You see that one there. But watch this one.

This is a photo of Beyonce with an accordion. Now, for everybody watching, y'all might say, okay, I don't understand the accordion thing. Well, you see right here what she says, oh Louisiana? Oh no question. Now remember, she said, daddy from Alabama, mama from Louisiana. For a lot of black folks,

don't understand country Louisiana. Don't understand accordion. Don't understand zydeco. So for all the people listening, understand, when you listen to Trombone Shorty, Yes sir. Listen to Trombone Shorty, that's second line New Orleans. Yes sir. That's second line New Orleans. Yes, sir.

That's second line New Orleans. I need to help some of y'all who don't understand what the hell I'm talking about, okay? My grandparents, maternal grandparents, they migrated from Opelousas, Louisiana to Houston. I grew up Catholic church. Nearly every black Catholic church had Zydecos. Zydeco music is actually from the country in Louisiana.

And so when you see this accordion, when you see this with Beyonce, what you see is that is an ode to country, black people. So when you talk about the music, matter of fact, I was I'm going to play this. YouTube might ban us. So guys, put the panel back up. So here's the deal. So again, I have a country list.

So there was this sister. Her name was Maya B Music. She did this here. Turn the audio up. This is called Country Party. This is for all the country people. This is your girl, Maya B. Music. And we finna party down in the country, baby. Now, I need everybody to listen.

This is a combination of Southern soul, R&B, blues, but it's called country music. I'm just trying to tell folks. Hold up. Now, listen to this here. Then you got, then you got my man King George.

King George has been killing it. King George is from South Carolina. Okay, if you listen again, King George is from South Carolina. Okay, if you listen... Again, you listen to his music. Southern soul, blues, country, all fused together. So you listen to him and you're like...

Is he blues? Is he country? to him and you're like is he blue is it country look at recent recent life now all right so that's so when i mentioned zyde all right, so let me hit y'all with this here. Again, this is when you talk about country. See, now, Rebirth Brass Band, that's at Second Line New Orleans. This is that. One, two, one, two, three, go. All right, that's New Orleans.

Okay. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

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MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Hey, Drew Scott here, letting you know why I recently joined the board of an amazing nonprofit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the L.A. fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments

for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to asenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us. Clifton Chenier, this is Zydeco Country.

You got Creole influence, country. Then, of course, you got Bojack, give him cornbread. So, again, you're talking about, so, and I'm going to play this last one. This is Buckwheat Zydeco. We're talking about the accordion.

He, that's what he played. So, here's what I hope actually happens when the album drops. What I really hope happens, Greg, is that it's going to force writers to have to confront the black experience and the history of our people when it comes to all these genres and it's going to force the mother folk to have to recognize whether it's Linda Martell whether it's others the role that we played and so that's what I hope stories done of things happen and then I hope there are black people who go damn we did all that yes we didn't just do Motown didn't just do Motown, didn't just do Philadelphia Sound, didn't just do, you know, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Fast Domino. At the reality of black people, we ain't everybody music because it's hot. We already know that.

No, we don't. We already know that we dominate. No, no, no, no, no, no. We know that we dominate music better than anybody in this world. No, no, no, no. I'm with Reesey. I'm we don't. We already know that we dominate. No, no, no, no, no. We know that we dominate music better than anybody in this world. No, no, no, no. I'm with Reese. I'm with Reese. I don't need this to be a civil rights moment. No, no, no, no, no, Lauren. No, no. Lauren, you missed what I said.

No, Lauren, you missed what I said. Yes, you did. No, you said they. You said they. A lot of us don't know our history. A whole lot of us. We know we dominate music. No, Lauren.

No, no, no, no. A lot of us don't. We dominate music. No, no. We think we dominate R&B and hip-hop. A lot of us do not know our own history. And I've seen. You think those regions too?

With music? Oh, no, no. Oh, you talk about. When you talk about regions. When you go around this country. when you go around this country, if you talk about, you take Go-Go. They know Go-Go on the East Coast. They know Go-Go, if you're talking about Southeastern Atlanta,

because cats who came from the D.C. area to go to school there. But the reality is, you go deeper, they don't go-go. You take New Orleans Bounce, that's going to go west to Houston, it's going to go east to Mississippi to Florida, not necessarily other places.

So when Big Freedia came out, they were like, in fact, when Beyonce put Big Freedia on her album, they were like, what the hell is bounce? So, and hell, all these black folks talk about the Atlanta sound. Ain't no Atlanta sound without Luke in Miami. They totally, see, so it's, Doc, I'm telling you.

So when you talk about, when you talk about screw tapes in Houston, you talk about that sound. Then when you talk about Louisiana, Second Line, Zydeco, then you talk about New Orleans bounce, then you talk about that Miami sound, then you go the Atlanta sound, then you go all of that is us. Hell, house music, house music Chicago.

Yeah, they know other parts, but depending on where you're from, I'm saying what I am hopeful is that out of the people playing the music, doing the stories, I am hopeful that our people also have a better understanding of how we have created so many unique sounds that hit everybody, especially in country, and not just Charlie Pryde and Darius Rucker. No, no, no question. I mean, it's funny, though. Cultures aren't static. I mean, as you were talking, and you talk about Houston, you know what it made me think about? Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Big Pokey, still tipping on fo-fos with that violin kind of in the

back. You're talking about James Prince, like you say, DJ Clue. And you think about it, you say, you see that black music. It isn't country. It isn't R&B. It isn't soul. You could make an argument for what becomes of the lonely heart. In other words, the genres explode when you start talking about black people because, as Lauren said, the popularity of our music is grounded in how we approach sound.

It's not on a platonic scale. And so when you hear that hip-hop coming out of Houston, that third-coast hip-hop, you can absolutely say, you can hear the country. And them Negroes is talking like, these some country Negroes, they've destroyed the genre. So when Lil Nas X comes up,

I'm gonna take my hometown road. It drove them white people crazy. No, we will take any song and flip it. That's the point, man. That's right. So that's my point. And I'm telling you,

Lauren, I guarantee you what's gonna happen. I put a thousand dollars on it right now. When this album drops, you are going to see all kinds of different stories done on, oh, this is genre bending, this is this. You're going to see stories on historical country music artists. You're going to see, you mentioned Ray Charles. Do not be shocked if Ray Charles, the people who run Ray Charles Music, watch his shit get reissued. Listen, if y'all, hold up,

hold up, hold up. I'm going to mess y'all up. My man, Kirk Whalum, my favorite artist, Kirk Whalum did an album called In This Life. It was owed to his gospel, Bluegrass Roots of Tennessee. It was his favorite album. It was his worst-selling album because his fan base heard this. Here it comes. This freaked him out. Here it comes. For all I've been blessed with in this life There was an emptiness in me me

i was imprisoned by the power of gold with one honest touch You set me free So I sent, I sent Kurt a text. I sent Kurt a text. I said, I know that you should reissue. He said, and you know, I've actually been thinking about it, because it was issued

as a jazz album. He's thinking about having it reissued as a country album. She will, whatever happens, she will dominate. I don't care what anybody writes. I don't care what anybody says. I don't care what anybody's opinion is. We dominate this art like crazy.

We've created four genres, right? Hip hop, rap, trap, jazz, blues, and of course, blues is rock and roll. And Chuck Berry is the king of rock and roll. Hold on. You got to add. No, no, no. You guys are way more than four, Lauren. You forgot gospel. Hell, you forgot gospel. I mean, what will happen is those things are all derivative of what we create.

And this will be another example of us dominating another genre. That's what's about to happen. No, no, no, I agree with you. What I'm saying is what I hope happens is not just about Beyonce album, Cowboy Carter. What I hope happens is folks begin to have an understanding that our impact on, take the other genres out, just on country music, that that is elevated

to the point people go, damn, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Because it's funny, Reesey, when I'm on Instagram Live, people are like, man, I can't believe you're playing country music. I'm like, y'all don't even realize. That's black folk. Yeah. Well, I think

certainly there's going to be a million and one think pieces deconstructing the album just like there was about the cover and the flag and all that kind of stuff. And so I'm interested in the educational aspect of it, because I'll be honest, it's not a genre that I've researched at all. So I will be looking to see those nuggets and that creative genius that she has displayed on prior albums. And so, listen, I will say, as much as I don't want this to be a civil rights issue of let's go, you know, be up in arms about something, there is a little part of me that's like, the way that they done Columbus woke and a lot of our other shit, twerking,

and every other thing that they done Columbus and messed up, if we can have one, if we can score a little point on the board that's going to trigger them a little bit, I'm all for that. Last point here, Greg. That whole conversation about her on a horse and a flag, it was a whole bunch of black folks who got chin-checked real quick from other black folks from the South

who said, don't y'all come here talking shit about black Southern culture in rodeos. It was real interesting watching it was it reminded me of when you had some negroes who were going didn't nobody ask for Juneteenth and some of us were like hey back your ass up

dogging Juneteenth again because depending upon where you from you live that it's personal of course and that's the side that we Of course. And that's the side that we haven't talked about. And that's the side that the only side that matters for white supremacists. This is why Donald Trump

is selling Bibles with Lee Greenwood. And that is the political nature of this. I mean, as I said, having grown up in Nashville, the fight isn't necessarily over the music. Because you have all those studio musicians in places like Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Leonard Skinner... Oh, man.

But what I'm saying is... Them white boys played on Aretha's hits? No question. Yeah, that whole factory. But the problem we have isn't the music. It's the politics. See, when Leonard Skinner, you know, Roddy Van Zandt to the day he died, he said, we're not with the Confederates.

Yeah, but you got a big- ass Confederate battle flag on your stage. So when you start talking about Skinner, you start talking about these are bands that we all grew up listening to. We in high school might say Free Bird. And then you realize the racists embrace that music. Beyonce can never climb that mountain. None of us can. It isn't the music. Right. It's the pop. So you're right. whether we want it to be about civil rights or not, this is a political issue because this is their music. This is the music we play when we lynch y'all. This is the music we play when we go to Trump rally. This is the music we play. This is what's his name? Tom Brown Sugar, Rolling Stone. And I mean, this is the politics of the music becomes the difficult thing. And I know there's a lot of black people who won't admit that they grew up on and loved them southern white bands that those white supremacists love, too.

Because if they do, it becomes a political issue. And that's when it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. You're absolutely right. Because to this day, when that Lynyrd Skynyrd song come on, I'm like, yeah, I can't get past the flag. All right, y'all, that's it. Reezy, Lauren, Greg, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, support us in what we do by joining our Bring the Funk fan club.

Send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And, of course, you can also download the Black Star Network app,

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Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? you Thank you. joined the board of an amazing non-profit, A Sense of Home. For 10 years, this charity has been creating homes for young people exiting foster care. It's an incredible organization. Just days into the LA fires, they moved mountains to launch a new emergency relief program, providing fully functional home environments for those who lost everything in the fires. Please get involved. Sign up to volunteer, donate furniture, or even donate funds. You can go to asenseofhome.org to find out more information. Together, we can help our LA community rebuild. It takes all of us.

I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs Podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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