#RolandMartinUnfiltered - HBCUs Owed Billions, Museuming While Black, Band Dir. Bodycam Released, SCOTUS Justices Being Bought

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

9.19.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: HBCUs Owed Billions, Museuming While Black, Band Dir. Bodycam Released, SCOTUS Justices Being Bought The White House says state-run, land-grant HBCUs are owed more than $13 billion.  Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack sent letters to 16 governors discussing the gaps in funding these black schools.  Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo is under for his efforts to install judges on federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.  Congresswoman Summer Lee will be here to help explain how he's gotten away with this. Birmingham, Alabama, police released the body cam video of the high school band director getting tased and arrested.  We'll show you what led up to the confrontation.  A black father and his two kids get harassed by a Kansas City, Missouri, museum employee while the family is just trying to enjoy the displays.  We'll show you the moment the father confronted the white man following them around.  Vice President continues her "Fight for Our Freedoms" college tour.  We'll show you what she said to the Pennsylvania's Reading Area Community College students. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Tuesday, September 19th, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The White House says state-run land-grant HBCUs are owed nearly $13 billion. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Ag Secretary Thomas Vilsack sent letters

to 16 governors discussing the gaps in funding at these black schools. Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo is under investigation for his efforts to install judges on federal courts, including the US Supreme Court. Congresswoman Summer Lee will be here to explain how he's gotten away with this.

Birmingham cops released the body cam video of the high school band director getting tased and arrested. We'll show you what led to that confrontation. And a black father and his two kids get harassed by a Kansas City, Missouri museum employee. Well, the family is just trying to enjoy the displays. We'll show you this video. Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris

continues her fight for our Freedom's College Tour. We'll show you what she said to the Pennsylvania's Reading Area Community College students. It is time. And also, of course, we'll also have for you folks my interview with Liberian President George Will. Elections are set to take place next month, and so we'll show you that conversation.

It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered with Black Star Network. Let's go. Just for kicks, he's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now Best you know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. Folks, we've been covering the story dealing with the Alabama redistricting case, of course, and how the Supreme Court kicked it back and how Alabama has defied the U.S. Supreme Court because they want them to take another stab at it.

Now, there was an investigation that was done that breaks down how conservative activist Leonard Leo, formerly head of the Federalist Society, the same guy who's gotten $1.6 billion from a conservative billionaire to essentially use that money any way he wants to. This now has resulted in, again, this dark money being used to fund many of these legal battles taking place all across the country. Well, based upon some recent reporting, what we are now seeing is how all of these things are linked together. Now, what's also amazing

in the story that's being reported is that these conservatives, they in essence have said to one another that they've gotten the heads up that Brett Kavanaugh is likely going to switch his vote and likely side with them to keep from having to create a second black district. What their goal is, is to

invalidate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Joining us right now from D.C. is Pennsylvania Congresswoman Summer Lee. Glad to have you on the show. This story, Congresswoman. I actually haven't been able to hear any of what's been happening right now. Congresswoman, can you hear me? I can hear now, but this is actually the first thing that I've been able to hear since we started.

Okay, not sure. This is a typical Zoom 2023 era that this is the first thing that I can hear. Okay. All right. We started. Okay. Uh, not sure. Typical. This is in typical zoom 2023 era that this is the first thing that I can hear. All right. So can you hear me now? I can hear you now. Got it. Okay. So we got you. All right. So, um, so this, this, this story that people have been talking about, uh, that details, um, these, these various, uh, conservative efforts to impact the court. What really jumps out in this story is this notion that they essentially have gotten the heads up that Brett Kavanaugh is going to rule in their favor. And so Alabama, when they hear this from this Virginia law firm,

so their whole deal is perfect. We're just going to completely ignore the Supreme Court, pass new maps, and hope and repeal this thing all the way back to the Supreme Court to get a second bite at the apple. So when you have these people who say you should not have more oversight of the courts, we literally have a Supreme Court now that is bought and paid for by conservative billionaires. Yes. And it's that open. This is no longer, you know, a covert mission. This is over at this point, right? We have a Supreme Court justice who is sending signals, smoke signals, you know, carrier pigeons, however they get it. They're getting it directly from a Supreme Court justice who is also paid off or bought by the Federalist

Society, by Leonard Leo. And they're now making and taking actions with that in mind, right? So we know that this is going to lead or can lead to further erosion of the voting rights act. Like the implications on black folks, on black communities for this, you know, are immeasurable, immeasurable. And yet we can see, we've seen, and we've heard the stories about, before this case, we heard the stories about Alito being flown out. We heard the stories about, you know, Clarence Thomas and all the gifts that they're getting. We heard about how these, what folks are calling sugar daddies, are giving openly and explicitly to Supreme Court justices who are supposed to be the model of ethics.

They're supposed to uphold justice and justice is supposed to be blind, but here we have folks who are unapologetic in their unethical behavior. And what still is baffling to me is to have these members of Congress who believe that the Supreme Court should just be

self-governing, where they don't have to abide by ethics rules. You've got Justice Samuel Alito writing op-eds in the Wall Street Journal saying that, no, you know, we're fine. You've got Clarence Thomas, who now all of a sudden is reporting trips and then going, oh, well, you know, I got advice from a friend. I'm not going to have to do that. I mean, what's crazy to me, these are nine unelected people, serve on the highest court in the land, their decisions are final,

and there's this brazen attitude of, we don't have to tell y'all a damn thing. Who we hang out with, we can take free trips, private planes, yachts, things along those lines, and oh, trust us, we are impartial. First of all, Brother Roland, I don't believe for half a second that there are members of Congress who actually believe that the Supreme Court should not have any oversight. What we're seeing right now is a decade-long effort from Republicans, from right-wing activists,

to have a court stacked in their favor. And because it's operating, you know, doing exactly what they've been wanting, eroding protections for LGBTQ plus people, eroding protections for black folks, making it harder for black students to go to school, making it harder for folks to vote, you know, democracy reform, because they're actually doing all of these things that they've wanted, that they've been asking for. Now, all of a sudden, they don't believe that the Supreme Court needs any oversight. They don't believe that the Supreme Court needs any oversight. They don't believe that there are any ethics violations when folks are literally being flown out and they're spending time on yachts with people who will know and influence the outcome of their cases.

If this were a liberal court and they were doing things like accepting luxury gifts, we wouldn't hear the end of it. If this was a court that was ruling in favor of civil rights, of rights for black folks, this would not be the reaction from the right court. So what we have to talk about is their hypocrisy. And we can never take our feet off the gas when we talk about their hypocrisy because they'll tell you one thing and they'll say one thing out loud and then they'll do another thing. And even if we see them, they will keep saying it until people believe them. This is the story. It's from ALreporter.com. And the headline says, Dark Money, the Backstory of

Alabama's Redistricting Defiance by Bill Britt. And it is stunning. Anybody who reads this story, and they go through it, and you see it, and you see what is clear, what is brazen, where these conservatives literally, how you have the paying of money to Jenny, to Clarence Thomas' wife, and how that's being circumvented. Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. And then how Leonard Leo is using all of these different organization and shell groups to

funnel money to various individuals. And then, like, here's a perfect example. It says, here, go to my iPad. In addition, there now appears to be a significant connection between Alabama's post-milligan MAP redrawing process, Leo's powerful National Dark Money Network, and Kavanaugh. The tangled web of previously unreported ties centers around Marshall, Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour, dubbed the architect behind Alabama's voting rights defiance, and the D.C. area law firm Consovoy McCarthy, the firm founded by William Consovoy,

a now-deceased former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, who represented Shelby County in Shelby County v. V. Holder. In Shelby County, the Supreme Court invalidated Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act and its vital preclearance provision, and it goes on and on. The thing that also, that just, that is crazy, do progressives understand what these folks are doing? I mean, do they fully understand that these folks have multiple billionaires

who are funding this because they want to control the Supreme Court because what they've decided is if we don't control the White House, don't control the House, don't control the Supreme Court, because what they've decided is, if we don't control the White House, don't control the House, don't control the Senate, we can still control the country if we control the Supreme Court. I'm going to speak for a progressive.

I'm going to speak for me. And absolutely, absolutely, progressives understand this. Progressives understand this more than other people because we are also being attacked by the exact same entity to keep us out of office. When we think about the influence of dark money, we're talking about the Supreme Court. But this isn't the only place where we're seeing that influence. We're seeing that influence on Congress, on local and state government. And it's almost certainly tied to the exact same people. Paul Singer, who is one of the

folks in this dark web, this tangled web that we're talking about, is also in the tangled web of keeping progressive black women out of Congress. This money that's coming in is only tangled and only a dark, you know, a tangled, dark, deep web because we don't have transparency, because we don't have protections since imposed in Citizens United. And that is intentional. If we can't track where people are giving their money, where we can have organizations, super PACs, whatever it may be, who are able to collect money from billionaires, who don't ever have to disclose, who don't have to be in the open with their hatred, don't have to be in the open with their hatred, don't have to be in the open with their racism,

but can still make moves, can still pull strings. We're seeing these connections all throughout our government and throughout our system. But people don't want to talk about money and politics when we talk about democracy reform. But this all impacts black people. If we can't get black folks into the Senate, into the United States Senate, then how are we going to confirm judges who care and

understand how important getting dark money out of the Supreme Court is going to be, right? So these things go hand in hand. Last question for you. When I try to talk about judges and how critically important they are, People sort of gloss over a lot of African-Americans who say, well, I want to see this, this, this, this. And I keep saying you could ask for a whole bunch

of stuff, but don't think for a second that even if you get it, if it gets passed by Congress, you're not going to have some white conservative group sue to stop it from happening. The money going to black farmers. And we could go on and on and on in what we're seeing. We're now seeing Ed Bloom.

They're now, they've dropped their lawsuit today suing West Point because the Supreme Court did a carve-out in their affirmative actions decision saying that it's in the national interest to continue affirmative action. The military academies, they're now trying to sue West Point. They're not even happy with that Supreme Court decision. They want it all. And I keep saying to black folks, do not play around with the 2024 election,

because what these people want to do is going to have a direct impact on our children's children. And if we sit at home, and I had some dude shouted at me in the car in Atlanta on Sunday. Man, you keep talking about the Democrats. I'm going, let me be real clear, player. I said, if the right wins the White House and wins the Senate, Samuel Clarence Thomas, Samuel Lito, they're going to retire. They want to lock down. And matter of fact, you may have one of those liberal justices

retire. They would love a 7-2 hard right Supreme Court and go appoint some other 45-year-old who's going to be there the next 40 to 50 years. And that's been their play the entire time. For decades and decades and decades,

the Republican Party has been meticulously implementing their judicial strategy, went over and appoint people, extreme conservatives, to federal bench, younger and younger, because we know that these folks serve longer. That Trump was able to get as many appointees is unprecedented and truly unfortunate. But we know that black folks are going to be the first and hardest impacted and have already been, will be again in 2024 if we get caught slipping. Affirmative action was the first big hit that we've taken, but it wasn't a surprise. It was no more a surprise than Roe v. Wade. These are things that

they've explicitly said they're coming for when they get the seats. They said they're coming for it if we win, and we keep turning a blind eye. But on the same token, we also need the Democratic Party to create urgency around that. Make the stakes known in Black communities, and you can do that by supporting black candidates who speak their languages. We can't just say that we want black folks to come out and show out without showing them that we are going to support people who understand them,

who walk their walk and talk their talk. We can do both at the same time so that we can make it easier for black people to feel invested, to feel like they have a vested interest. But there's more to come. There's absolutely more to come with the Supreme Court. There's more to come if Trump is in office.

So we have to make sure that we're covering all of our bases in educating and empowering the electorate and in expanding the electorate. We found women who are galvanized now because of the fall of Roe. Well, we need to go and get those same black folks who should be galvanized because Roe impacts us. The same black folks who should be galvanized because Roe impacts us.

The same black folks who are galvanized because affirmative action falling impacts us. Black folks because Citizens United impacts us because erosion of queer rights impacts us. We have to make those stakes clear to us. Well, it is definitely going to be one busy year. And yeah, they are executing that strategy. And I keep telling people, there's a way to stop them.

Beat them at the ballot box. That's how you beat them. Because if they don't win the White House and they don't control the Senate, they cannot appoint their judges. That's how you beat them. Congressman Summer Lee, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much.

Folks, going to a break. We'll be back. We'll talk with my panel about this. Also talk about HBCU funding. The Biden administration is saying $13 billion. States, pay up! We'll discuss that next right here on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network.

A whole 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 one two 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 glad and this is season two of the war on drugs by 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. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. 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 it.

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. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting.

I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes

because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. And on the next Get Wealthy, you'll meet Jandy Turner, who took her love of sports, expanded her network, and created a thriving business. I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which in and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds,

if not thousands of golf tournaments is that business gets done on the golf course. All on the Next Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney Plus, and I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right, folks, let's bring up our panel right now.

Mustafa Santiago Ali, of course, former senior advisor for the EPA. He joins us right now. Washington, D.C. Randy Bryant, DEI disruptor, also from D.C. Joe Richardson. Joe, of course, civil rights attorney. Joe is joining us out of Los Angeles.

Mustafa, I'm going to start with you. All the people who are watching and listening, I'm like, y'all, this is real. This is not practice. This is not a drill. What the right

wing is trying to do, they literally have the Supreme Court in their pocket. They control Clarence Thomas. They control Sam Alito. They control Brett Kavanaugh. They control them, these billionaires.

Clarence Thomas has changed his position on one case to help one of these billionaires. The only way to stop these people is to not let the Republicans win. Folk better wake the hell up and realize exactly what is going on. Yeah, you know, almost from the beginning of the show, we have been talking about, one, the importance of judges and that there is a strategy for Republicans to actually gain power and how they were going to do it through these

infrastructure sorts of actions of owning the courts, both on the federal level, the state, county, and the local level. And folks should understand that when we say that, this is not theory. We're not just throwing stuff out there. We know these types of things are happening. There is a cabal. Most people don't even know what that word means, but just think about a clique, a secret political clique that's in place. When you hear the conversations around dark money in the 2022 election, we could track about $350 million that was moved through that election through dark money.

And that's why when we were working on campaign finance reform before, knowing how critical it was to get this money out of politics, because we saw all the games that were being played. We kept trying to get people to pay attention, trying to get everyday folks to understand that you have power, but you've got to get engaged in the process. You've got to vote so that we can make sure the right folks are in there and we can finally, you know, sort of extract all this negative sorts of sets of actions that are going on. And when you don't do it, you find yourself in this situation now where we're up against the wall. $1.6 billion to a non-profit that Leonard Leo

can spend any way he wants. That is some serious money. They love complaining about George Soros and yelling and screaming. They hate George Soros because he uses his money for progressive

causes, but there are multiple conservative billionaires. We ain't even talking about the whole Koch network. These people, these conservative billionaires, they are trying to change everything from state capitals to state legislatures to county commissioners to city hall. You name it, that's what they're doing. Right, exactly. And every, you know, even though the courts is thing one for them

which is why they're not so worried about influencing public opinion per se. The Republican Party didn't have a platform, if you remember last time. It was just re-electing Trump. But still, they still do work at the bottom as well, something that maybe we didn't pay attention to the best way that we

could have. But your fallback is knowing in some situations it's your first resort and your other situations it's your last resort, that you have a Supreme Court that supports you. They had to, dark money is a trip, man. They had to know in Alabama that somehow, some way, they thought that they wouldn't be just banging their head, trying to do something again that would not have success. And now, in a world where

in order for your institutions to be trustworthy, they have to avoid the appearance of impropriety entirely, if Kavanaugh ever changes his vote on this issue and it comes back, well, then the image is ruined. We know what's going on and this confirms it. He's not going to be able to confirm it any other way, but, you know, seen it any other way. But the problem is they don't care anymore. That's what's happened. That's

why it's happening so openly. They're not even playing around and faking it like it's something other than what it actually is. They aren't worried about how it looks anymore at all and that's why they have the expectations that they do and we'll see if Kavanaugh comes through for them and then we'll all

know what we already know. Randy, this is what I... When I say I'm trying to warn these people, it bloomed. They went after the affirmative action in colleges. They're now suing a black, women-led venture capital firm out of Atlanta.

They're going... They've sent letters to law firms saying, your race-based programs, your efforts to get more black and minority lawyers in the field, we're going after those. You've worked in corporate America. They're going after every corporate program.

Every affinity group in corporate America. And they're doing this because the Supreme Court is allowing them to do so. A federal judge in Tennessee ruled in favor of a white woman over the federal 8A program. Now they've had to change that as well. There is nothing that they are not going to go after.

And so for any black person who is sitting here giving me BS about why they don't want to vote and how it doesn't matter, Randy, they need to understand it. Anything that black people have done to try to advance, they are going to go after it now. now? I feel like being the black female Paul Revere and riding through the streets and yelling at my people like, wake up, you know, the end of the Spike Lee movie, because they are already currently going after everything. There are lawsuits right now that are fighting against elementary schools that have programs to promote diversity. They're saying that it's a bait and switch when they decide to let students, Black students, into the schools.

So they are trying to bar us from everything. There is a lawsuit going against the Black graduations that they have at Ivy League schools. I mean, things that seem somewhat innocuous, they want to be gotten rid of. They don't want anything that appears that it would benefit us in any way. So this is critical right now. I mean, every day I'm reading about something that the conservative Republicans are going after to obliterate from existing. And they're being very successful because the Supreme Court opened the door

for them to be able to do it. A white teacher in South Carolina got reported and reprimanded because a white student said that, oh, because she was discussing a Ta-Nehisi Coates book, the students explained the book made them feel ashamed to be white, which violates South Carolina law, which forbids teachers from making students, quote, feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress

when it comes to rates. They literally passed that law. South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Arkansas. We can go on and on and on. I'm sitting here going, black folks, y'all might want to wake the hell up. They're coming. They're coming for everything.

And if Trump wins, if the Republicans keep control of the House, they keep control or they take over the United States Senate, if they keep winning the Supreme Court, the state Supreme Courts, then they get to pass the laws. The courts get to affirm their laws. Now it gets locked into place and now you can't change it. And with gerrymandering, they can guarantee they're going to win. If you're black and you're sitting here going, I'm not quite sure if I'm going to vote. If they win and start getting rid of everything, shut the hell up. I don't want to hear no complaining, no tweeting, no TikTok videos, no Instagram, because people like you, those who don't vote, will be the

reason why these people are able to do it. Hold on one second. We come back. I'm going to show you the body cam footage of the band director in Birmingham who was tased and arrested. That's next on Rolling Mark Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. All change is not growth. Right. But thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us.

But you also were not afraid of the pivot. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on, I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world I am in. I still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here.

Respectful of change, respectful of pivot, yeah. Fearful, no, uh-uh, no. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause

to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people.

$50 this month. Waits $100,000. We're behind $100,000. So we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is $RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. 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'm Greg Glod. 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 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 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. What's up, everybody? It's your girl Latasha from the A. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Filtered. Folks, Birmingham police have released the body cam footage of the Minor High School band director Johnny Mims, who when

officers tased him for not stopping his band from playing after Thursday night's football game. Check it out. I'm not going to do it again. I know what you're going to do. Don't worry about it. When we say go, let's go. Let's go. That's right.

You got to stay. Get out of my face. Get out of my face. I'm going to have to stay. I got my troops coming. I got my troops coming. They're going to sweep their asses out. OK?

OK. OK. OK. Come on. Call your band. Call your band. Hey. Load them up before I come take you to the prison.

Call your band. Call your band. Call your band. Tell them. Hey! Load them up before I contact the superintendents! We a band! We a band! How are you a band? We gotta go! The minute is over! We're gonna go! Cut it! What you gonna do?

That's okay, I'm gonna contact the school! I'm gonna contact the school! That's cool! That's okay, I'm finna contact the school! I'm not saying patty! That's cool, that's cool! That's cool! That's okay, I'm finna send them a bill! I'm finna open tax! We gotta go! We gotta go!

Ready, ready, one! Two! Ready, one, two! Ready, and... Keep going, keep going! Keep going, and two! Ready, and! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!

Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!

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Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!

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Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!

Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!

Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Oh, my God. You're a murderer! You're a murderer! You're a murderer! No! No! Hold up, hold up.

Hold up, hold up. Hold up. I got you. I got you. You're a murderer! You're a murderer! Hold up, hold on, hold on. Stop, stop, stop.

I don't get it. Get over here. Put it in there. Put it in there. I'm going to tell you something. You got this. You got this. You got this.

You got this. You got this. I didn't know. Okay? He going to jail. You look out of your yard, bro. You look out of your yard. He going to jail. Bro. He hit the officer. He got to go to jail. He swung on the officer. I did not swing him off. And then y'all grabbed me, look. I got the car. Only got a man in it. Let me go, man.

He going to jail. Because I asked him. You know, sir. Let me go, man. That's a disrespect to me. You're going to pay for this, man. I don't want to pay for this. Let me go.

How you going to pay for this? Let me go. How you going to pay for this? Let me go, man. Let me go, bro. Let me go, bro. Let me go, bro. Let me go, bro. Let me go, bro. chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me?

How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me? How you gonna chase me?. Hold on, who got my damn taser? Hold on, who got my damn taser?

It's my home's taser, all right? Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold Hold up. Ain't nobody leaving.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. I don't believe in you. I don't know about that. I ain't gonna believe in you. Y'all are wrong to me. Y'all are wrong to me. Y'all gonna have a fight.

Take it that way, Gary. Y'all gonna have a fight. Please stop. Why would you do that? Go that way. All right, so allow me to unpack this. So yesterday, I talked with Mims and his attorney on yesterday's show. So as I now, and this is why I've always said

why body cam footage is important. Even in the beginning of that video, we couldn't hear most of it because the band was playing. So let me say, maybe real clear. After watching the body cam video, you hear the officers say they're trying to clear the stadium. You can see in the background the other band had left. Now, I talked to some people today in Birmingham.

The game took place in a Birmingham city stadium. But it was a game between a Birmingham school district school and a Birmingham county. It was a county school. So, Mims apparently was with the county school. This is my problem with what Mims did.

Mims' actions exacerbated the problem on the video you hear Mim say man get out my face let's be perfectly clear if you tell a cop

man get out my face they're likely not going to respond well a cop, man, get out my face, they're likely not going to respond well. That was one. You saw the officers explaining to the assistant, whoever the guy was, the first guy, then went to the band director. They're literally

telling the band director, we have to clear the stadium. He continues to ignore them. He says, get out of my face. You watch the video. They say you are going to get arrested. Mims goes, okay. So the cops say, you're going to get arrested. He goes, okay. Does it a couple times. He then takes the ban higher.

They get louder. Now, I do not change my position from what I said yesterday, that the cops should have de-escalated. The brother who was talking to him with the main body camera, the sister who was next to him, who was saying, we're going to call the superintendent. This is what they should have said. Okay, since you're fine getting arrested, we're going to let you finish. And when you get done directing the man, we're going to put you under arrest. What they should have done was when the lights got turned off,

okay, first of all, they should have kept the lights got turned off, okay, first of all, they should have kept the lights on. What they should have said is, and then when he went down, what they should have done was, they should have said, sir, we told you that if you continue to play,

we're going to arrest you. We're now going to arrest you. Please put your hands behind your back. There was no need to pull out tasers or guns or even grab him. See, again, what you do is you talk calmly. You got enough cops. Sir, you defied police orders. You told you you were going to get arrested, and you said, okay, we're now about to arrest you.

So they do that. They don't escalate the situation. Now, in the video, you hear the officer say you swung at one of us. He said, well, no, I didn't. Well, the body cam footage, because there are multiple cameras going to say that. This is an example for me, Joe, where two wrongs do not make a right.

I totally understand our discussion yesterday, but Principal Mims was wrong to tell the cops multiple times, I think in the video it said seven, man, get out my face.

Joe, he was wrong. Yeah, and here's the thing. I remember speaking to some kids a few years back out of college, and we were talking about how they can survive a police contact. And they took it to mean that they were, you know, we were telling them to be soft and to relent or whatever else. And what I said to them is I said, you know, I'd rather have

a discussion with you after you survive the contact than to have a discussion with your parents that you, because you didn't survive the contact. And so, you know, one of the things you have to do when he has to remember even brother Mims here is that he's got kids watching him. Right. And so he's setting an example for better, for worse in that, you know, maybe it doesn't cost him his life. Maybe he survives and he does survive that way. But is it a situation where he is beyond reproach entirely or where there's enough gray area where basically this is just going to be a bunch of people shouting at the rain in each direction and nothing's going to happen moving forward? Now, he's got a problem. The problem that the police have is that, you know, because, fairly or unfairly, you know, in the eyes of many black folks, the police and people, you know,

from an authority standpoint in that regard are working from a deficit anyway, right? And so if they're working for a deficit and if they really think that's unfair, what that means, life is unfair. I tell people all the time, when somebody really think that's unfair, what that means, life is unfair. I tell people all the time when somebody says something that's unfair, well, is it real? What's really going on is that people will put police in a box and depending on who you are, deserve at least so. And so what happens is you have to go above and beyond. The police were never in danger. They have an opportunity to plant goodwill with everybody there, including those young people who may be traumatized by the experience, even if Mr. Mim has some responsibility towards it.

And they blew that opportunity. They weren't in any physical danger. Well, and look, and obviously the principle he was heightened. This to me again, Randy, is where if you're the cops and you see you're dealing with an agitated person, you then

don't get agitated as well. But again, seeing the video here, and I'm taking into account the conversation yesterday, the band director was wrong. The band director should not seen the video here, and I'm taking into account the conversation yesterday. The band director was wrong. The band director should not have said, man, get out of my face.

He was wrong. The band director could have said, officers, can we play for 60 more seconds? No, he didn't do that. He was disrespectful to the officers. He was wrong. But it doesn't mean they also should have tased him. Right, and police officers are typically called because someone is wrong,

because something wrong is happening. And so police officers need to have the skills to be able to deal with those situations in a way that serves everyone the best and not in a way where they are. Their egos become so involved that they forget. I feel like everyone forgot the children that were there because those kids will never forget what they just witnessed. And it was an opportunity for them to build, the police officers to build some goodwill within the community.

I could not help but to think, although the band director was wrong and could have handled it better, my mind goes to, why is he acting this way? Why is this so important to him, right? And so I just wonder, and as a person who has been at schools where I was in like one of only black children and then the absolute reverse, I wonder because I believe there's so much focus on killing black joy. Right. And that when if there is a school up the street that's predominantly white and those. 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. Add 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. 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 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. Those bands are able to play a little bit later. But here you have this brother trying to, you know,

the kids were clearly enjoying what was happening. It was a good activity that keeps them out of trouble. And it always, like, our joy has to be shut down and policed. But here's the deal, though. Again, Mustafa, first of all, and again, I get it. First of all, I can't tell you what neighborhood the stadium is in. I can't tell you what the conditions are outside. But here's the deal, and I've been to a lot of high school games,

and it's very simple. If it's time to go, it's time to go. I get the fifth quarter. I totally get it. I fundamentally believe, and I've asked the question, I've not gotten the answer yet. Does the Birmingham Independent School District have a policy that states, once the game is over,

we allow the bands to play for a certain amount of time. That's the first question. What is the actual policy once the game is over? Now, I can tell you, when Beyonce's concert was over, they were like,

time to leave the stadium. I've been to NFL games, NBA games. All right, folks, game is over. It's time to clear out. Those things actually happen. So to avoid this in the future, the school district, the stadium, must have a clear, defined policy that's articulated to everyone in terms of how we respond if the cops are

supposed to clear the stadium as soon as the game is over maybe they give people 10 minutes to sort of you know high five and hug and whatever but it's time for you to go i just still believe I'm a firm believer that how people handle things determines how things end up. This is not me saying the band director had to sit here and kiss the cop's ass, but I'm just telling you right now, if the cops are telling you to do

something and your response is man, get out my face seven times, it's about to be a problem. Well, we saw that it was a problem. So, yeah, there's still unanswered questions, and folks need to know what those are. So, as you stated, there's clarity for folks in the future about what the set of expectations are. But, you know, there are also these other dynamics, and we touched on those.

One, when you utilize tasers, you have no idea about what someone's health situations are. They can very easily end a life. The other part of it is, as Randy said and Joe said, these kids are going to be traumatized. They're going to have to carry that now for the rest of their life, and it's going to be much more difficult for them to see law enforcement in a positive way. But the most important part is that you got to use your brain, especially in the society that we currently live in. And when you don't do that, you're going to find yourself in situations that in many instances are not going to be ones that are positive or going to come out in a positive way in relationship to our communities. It never has. Hopefully it will in the future, but in this particular moment, that's not the case. So all the adults who are in that situation should have used their brains and shown a little grace to each other. But the reality is you got

to follow what police officers are saying as long as it's not going to end up putting you in a dangerous situation. Indeed, indeed. All right, folks, going to a break. When we come back, black family in Missouri just trying to sit here and enjoy themselves. Why is a white man following them? Daddy not happy at all. We're going to show you that video on the show as well.

Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris makes another tour on her Fight for Our Freedoms college tour. We'll show you some of that. And when I was in Liberia last week, I sat down with the president of Liberia, George Will. We're gonna show you that encore presentation of that. And of course, the elections are taking place next month there in Liberia.

Folks, you're watching Roland Martin on the future on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, you too, folks, hit that like button, y'all. Easy thing to do, hit the like button. Support us in what we do. Join foot on the black star network. Don't forget you to folks hit that like button Y'all easy thing to do hit like button support us of what we do join the brain funk fan club So you're checking money orders PO box five seven one nine six, Washington, DC Two zero zero three seven days zero one nine six cash app dollar sign our M unfiltered PayPal or Martin unfiltered Venmo is our M unfiltered Zelle rolling at Roland s Martin calm rolling that role in my culture calm Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear,

How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Available at bookstores nationwide. Download the audio version on Audible. I'll be right back. I'm Faraiji 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. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. Producer, writer, and activist Drew Dixon joins us for an honest conversation about Black women and trauma. Right here on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're going to be talking about common sense. We think that people have it, know how to use it, but it is something that

people often have to learn. The truth is most of us are not born with it and we need to teach common sense, embrace it, and give it to those who need it most, our kids. So I always tell teachers to listen out to what conversations the students are having about what they're getting from social media, and then let's get ahead of it and have the appropriate conversations with them. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Next on The Black Tape with me, Greg Carr. What do Deion Sanders, a lawnmower, and the phenomenon of invisible labor all have in common?

They're all now part of, shall we say, a colorful lore at our historically black colleges and universities. Our Master Educator Roundtable convenes to explain it all as we explore the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of one of black America's national treasures. That's next on The Black Table, right here on The Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh. I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, just an hour right outside of Philadelphia.

My name is Jasmine Pugh. I I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. Black man in a museum in Kansas City, Missouri just walking around with his two children trying to enjoy the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

exposed them to different things and said the young kids were exposed to being followed by a white man. Watch this. I think they're building a boat. I think they're building a boat. They're building a boat. This is an old tomb,

so people used to be buried in them tombs in there. See, like, people would be inside of there. They'd be buried. This is their tombs. This is their gravesite. Saw that? Yeah, people would be buried in those. In their grave and womb.

You know, it's a tomb or whatever. Are you about to follow us the whole time, man? Are you about to follow us the whole time, man? Are you about to follow us the whole time? Sir, I'm just making sure. I'm asking a question. I didn't say nothing else. Are you about to follow me the whole time? Because if you're going to follow me the whole time,

then give us a goddamn tour. I know how to control my kids. You ask me to make sure they don't run, I'm not going to do that. I said I know how to control my kids. You ask me not to make sure that they don't run, I won't do that. Now, if you're going to follow me the whole time, then give me a tour. Make it worth

my while. Then otherwise, stop following me. I'm trying to enjoy the museum with my kids. Are you following anybody else that got kids? Because I'm not the only one here with kids. Are you following anybody else? Are you not going to argue with me? Because it do you no good.

Because I haven't done anything. You roll your eyes all you want to. You look like a little girl. Tighten up, man. Tighten up. Like I said, if you're going to keep following me, go get your manager. Because like I said, it's all on film. It came when you first approached me

to when you still been following me. And now that I had questioned you, it's all on film. It came when you first approached me to when you still been following me. And now that I had questioned you, it's still on film. It's going to look like you being racist to a black man with his two kids at the museum. Because you're not over there following them. You're not following them. You're not following them. They have a child too. They have a small child too.

So, no. No. No. No. There ain't no excuse. Either you're being because I'm a man or you're doing it because I'm a black man. It's in both ways. You're being different. I didn't do it that way. Okay. So, are you about to give me a tour? Are you about to give me a tour?

I can talk to you about something. No. If you're going to follow me around, then you better give me a tour. Otherwise, stop following me give me a tour. Otherwise, stop following me. Plain and simple. Okay, but if you follow me one more time, I'm going to get your manager. So stop following me. Let's go.

Randy told his ass, tighten up! And I love that he called his little butt out and i love that he's my favorite line was when he said if you're gonna follow me can you at least give us a tour make him uncomfortable instead of being uncomfortable you have this father trying to show his educate his children and being harassed. It's absolutely unacceptable. I have, when I was doing DEI work, I have trained two museums about this, because museums at one point were seen as this hoity-toity only for certain types of people. And now that museums are trying to bring in all people, and because they are for all people,

they have had to train the staff on how to ensure that you're not acting in this way and being discriminatory. I got a kick out of that one, Mustafa. My man was like, hey, you gonna give us a tour?

He said exactly the right thing. He's like, if you're gonna take up my man, was like, hey, you going to give us a tour? He said exactly the right thing. He's like, if you're going to take up my time, you're going to be in my space, then make yourself, you know, utilized in a positive way. You know, the reality of the situation is that there are still some who do not see the value in our participation, whether it's in a museum or a number of other locations. They don't feel that those are places for us. And we have to continue to push back. We have to continue, like this brother did, to call it out. But we also got to take it a step further, because I appreciate what he said. I'm going to talk to your manager, or I'm going to talk to the curator

of the museum, because they need to know about this type of behavior so that they as an institution are also held accountable. There's one thing I cannot stand, Joe, is that follow me around crap. Oh, yeah, that's that's not that's that's not a good look at all. And, you know, he he came out on me, let him know what was what. You know, I got a snicker out of the tighten up thing, you know, for came out on him. He let him know what was what. You know, I got a snicker out of the tighten-up thing, you know, for a second there, too. But then he got right back where he's supposed to be in the matter at hand.

Like, look, you know, listen, hey, it is Missouri, so you can show me. Take me on a tour. You know what I mean? Take me on a tour if you're going to do that. And it looks like, I mean, I guess I didn't see it all, but it looks like his kids were pretty okay as well while he was talking to him or whatever else. They seemed like, you know, they were okay.

But, you know, the kids are innocent, all right? And this is something they are exploring. They're asking questions. They're finding out things. They're seeing things that they haven't seen before. And the idea that this person would interrupt that in the name of safety, which he obviously connects with familiarity.

And to Brother Mustafa's point, it's still this thing that this is yours, but not ours. Okay? This is ours, but not ours. This is mine, but not ours. It's really a shame, but I think he called it pretty well. I wonder if he sees him again, if he'd do it the same way.

Oh, he's probably going to think twice about it. All right, y'all, I'll tell you in one second, VP Kamala Harris continues her Our Freedoms, Fight for Our Freedoms tour. We'll show you what took place today in Pennsylvania. Also, the president of Liberia. We talk about the future

of that country. We'll show you that as well. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. 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, It's really, really, really bad. 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 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 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. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and on the

next Get Wealthy, you'll meet Jandy Turner, who took her love of sports, expanded her network, and created a thriving business. I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which in and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds, if not thousands, of golf tournaments is that business gets done on the golf course. All on The Next Get Wealthy,

only on Blackstar Network. I'm Faraiji 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 Blackstar Network. All change is not

growth, but thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us. But you also were not afraid of the kid. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on. I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on, I don't care how I dress up.

I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world I am in. I still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here. Respectful of change. Respectful of pivot.

Yeah. Fearful? No, uh-uh. No. Uh-uh. No. My name is Lena Charles and I'm from Opelousas, Louisiana. Yes, that is Zydeco capital of the world. My name is Margaret Chappelle. I'm from Dallas, Texas, representing the Urban Trivia Game. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin on Unfiltered.

Today is National Voter Registration Day in Pennsylvania. The governor, Josh Shapiro, issued new regulations that eligible voters would be automatically registered to vote upon receiving a driver's license or an ID card. Pennsylvania, it is National Voter Registration Day. And today, I am proud to announce that for the first time ever, Pennsylvania is an automatic voter registration state. That's right. From now on, when you get or renew your driver's license or an ID card at the DMV, you'll be registered to vote unless you choose not to. I made a commitment when I was campaigning

for this office that we would bring automatic voter registration in Pennsylvania and break down the barriers for legal eligible voters. This is a key step to make our elections more secure, adding important levels of verification to the voter registration process. And by expanding voter registration at our DMVs, we'll save taxpayers time and money, reduce the number of costly paper registrations, and streamline voter registration for Pennsylvanians. Look, this is common sense. You already provide proof of identity, residency, age, and citizenship at the DMV. All the information you need to register to vote.

We're making our state government work better for the good people of Pennsylvania. No matter who you choose to vote for or what your views are, I hope you'll make your voice heard. Now more than ever, we need an engaged citizenry to move our country and our commonwealth forward. Somebody posted on our chat, I think this is everywhere, Roland. No, it's not. Pennsylvania becomes the 24th state in the country to register voters automatically. Trust me, Mustafa, this is pissing off Republicans.

Oh, without a doubt, because let's be clear, they don't want you to vote. And they'll put any type of obstacle in place that they can. I mean, the reality is that everyone should automatically be registered to vote. And if you don't want to vote, you can opt out just like we opt into certain things. You know, if you have your name that's already on that list, you can opt out. And why is that important? Because, you know, the United States has one of the lowest voter turnouts of industrialized nations across our planet. So if we want to talk about democracy, then we should be focused on one of the key elements, which is the ability to be able to vote. And we should do everything that we can to eliminate the hurdles.

Absolutely. And the thing here, again, Randy, when we look at automatic voter registration, we talk about ballot drop boxes, whatever. Republicans are doing everything to make it harder because they know shrink the electorate, better chance at win. They've even said, you expand the electorate, give them more choices, they will lose. Right. And that's why I know they are mad

about this happening, which makes me even more thrilled. People should have, voting should be easy. It should not be burdensome. And so what he did is right. It supports democracy, giving people the right to vote and making it where it's not difficult, because we know the Republicans do everything in their power to block us from voting. And they already are widely complaining about this, Joe, which I don't understand, because, I mean, if you turn 18 and you got to automatically register for a selective service or whatever the hell they still do,

I'm like, this ain't that damn hard. But no, they do not want to make it easy. No, the game is to keep as many people from voting as possible. damn hard. But no, they do not want to make it easy. No. The game is to keep as many people from voting as possible. It's not about a battle of ideas anymore and debating those things. I mean, Jesse Jackson was talking about motor voter back in the 80s.

And so it's great that the DMV in Pennsylvania becomes the DMV fee, the Department of Motor Vehicles and Voting. This is absolutely a good look. And Pennsylvania is showing a good example of some tough contested elections

where the Democrats have been able to win and been able to do some positive things in office afterward. And I think it's a good, hopefully it's a good omen for other states and a good example to follow. Vogue, Sinead, Vice President Kamala Harris was in Pennsylvania at the Reading, Pennsylvania Area Community College since its National Voter Registration Day.

She told the students why they must do their part to make sure their voices are heard. In 2020, we had a record voter turnout. Yeah. And in 2022, we had a near-youth record voter turnout. Yes, so that's all y'all. So I'm assuming we have some people who voted for the first time here in 2020 and probably for the first time in 2022.

And now we have people who are going to vote for the first time in our 2024 election, which is really exciting. Why is it so important that we use our voice? And how do we garner information to do so? So to your point, Annie, can I see a show of hands who voted for the first time in 2020 or in 2022? That's fantastic. That's fantastic.

And by the way, today is National Voter Registration Day. So for everyone who is not yet registered, please use the celebration of today as a way to get registered. And I also want to give a shout out to the governor, because today they have announced that when you renew or when you apply for your driver's license or state ID, you're automatically registered to vote. So let's make sure that we let everybody know. And to your point, so here's the thing. First of all, when I think about what happened in 2020, it always is that people will say about younger people, oh, they're not going to vote. Oh, your vote won't matter.

But we had record turnout in 2020 of young voters because they understood, just like these leaders understand, that of the many ways you can make a difference in our country, one of the tools that you have is voting to make a difference. So when people turn out in 2020, even though they were the doubters, I would say some of the haters, let's keep it real, record turnout, and it's because you voted that Joe Biden is president of the United States and I'm vice president of the United States.

It's because you voted. Right? Yeah. Because young people, and in particular young voters, said we are going to direct and decide what is the direction of our country, we had a whole initiative that's about forgiveness of student loans. Now, the court just recently went against us on that, but we're not going to stop fighting for that. Because young people said,

we're not leaving it to other people to decide how we're dealing with the climate crisis. You know, I've heard young leaders talk with me about a term they've coined called climate anxiety. Right? Which is fear of the future and the unknown, about a term they've coined called climate anxiety. Right? Which is fear of the future and the unknown of whether it makes sense for you to even think about having children, whether it makes sense for you to think about

aspiring to buy a home because what will this climate be? But because people voted, we have been able to put in place over a trillion dollars in investment in our country around things like climate resilience and adaptation, around focusing on issues like environmental justice and understanding that despite what these extremist so-called leaders are trying to do when they're trying to get rid of DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, we know that we're going to stay committed to issues like equity because here's the thing. Yeah, we want everyone to have an equal amount, but not everyone starts out on the same base. And so if you give everyone an equal amount, but you don't start out in the

same base, you're still going to end up with people being treated differently. Equity says let's take that into account. And young voters and young leaders are then in a position and have been to fight against these extremists who try to say things like DEI are bad because they don't want to have a conversation about equity and inclusion and have a conversation about saying, well, as a leader, can you pay attention to who's not in the room and then figure out a way to invite them in? Thank you. And leave the door open. Yeah. I mean, in low income areas, Latinos make up about 15% of the voting population, and we only showed up to about 10% of the polls. One in every four youth are now Latino.

And there's so much of a divide there of what you're saying. Like, how do we encourage our youth to come show up to the polls and get excited about it? Well, one is that we have to really remind each other and to all the young leaders here, there is no better way to lead than to do it as a peer, meaning we can talk with young people about what they need to do,

but when you are talking to your peers about how you know it makes a difference, your leadership is so powerful. And so talking with your peers about how you know it makes a difference. Your leadership is so powerful. And so talking with our peers and family members about the fact that when you vote, it actually determines whether the person who is holding elected office is going to fight for your freedoms and rights or not,

whether that be the freedom that you should have to just be free from attack, free from hate, free from gun violence, free from bias, free to love who you love and be open about it, free to have access to the ballot box without people obstructing your ability to exercise your civic right to vote in terms

of who will be the people holding elected office and leading your country. All of these things are at stake. Love all these folks who keep saying, and I have people tell me this, Mustafa,

I never see the vice president. She ain't out here. And I literally said, Vice President Kamala Harris is, I mean, I think back to really me paying attention to politics since 1980. She has been the most visible vice president in my lifetime. I'm like, if you

ain't see what she doing, your ass ain't paying attention. Well, my grandmother says you see what you want to see. So let's just be clear that there are some who don't want to see, you know, how active she has been, how committed she has been. And that she would make

an excellent president if the opportunity arises. I've never understood how our community, and we'll talk about our community, can love everybody else who's in their life. And I've never met someone who's been in my life who's never made a mistake. But yet when it comes to the vice president, because there was one thing that everybody kept talking about, then they wanted to devalue her and say that she was not representing our people. Every time that I've talked to her, every time I work with her, the first thing she was always concerned with was how will this impact our communities? How will this uplift our community? So we need to really understand the value added that she brings to the political scene, but also to everyday people's lives and start to rally around our own. Because other people rally around theirs when given the opportunity.

It's time for us to do the exact same thing. And that doesn't mean that we agree with everything, but that means that we work with the individuals. If they have gaps, then we work with them to address those gaps. If they've fallen short, we work with them to help them to understand how to make sure that they're making the strides that we are expecting. But we should stop throwing our own underneath of the bus when they're doing everything they can to uplift our own communities. I just think, Randy, it's the folk who are scared to death. And I think it's two things also. This country is absolutely misogynistic, including

from women. And I think a lot. 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 Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. 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. Out of the attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, I think it's because she's a woman and because she's black.

100%. And when people say they don't see her working, I hope people are aware that mainstream media has never been kind to black folks and to women. So even when she's out there working, that's why it's so important, Roland, with your show. Because let's not act like the mainstream media is going to give her her props or show what she's doing day to day

the same way they would a white man. That's first, right? And so absolutely, because she's a woman, they don't want to give her any credit for what she's doing. And we need to be aware of that and surround our sister who is out there day after day. If you're paying attention, if you're watching your show, Roland, you will see how hard she's working specifically for us. I will say, too, though, that people also need to understand the way government works. I get so tired of hearing people saying, well, what did Barack do or what did Kamala do? I think they think that people could just go inside the White House and say, you know what? This is what I'm doing.

As if they're not checks and balances, as if laws don't have to be passed. I just don't think that people quite get the way government works. Joe. Joe. Kamala Harris got Joe Biden over the finish line. Joe Biden had never run a good campaign and wasn't running a good campaign the third time. Brother Clyburn and a bunch of us who didn't believe in the Bernie Sanders phenomenon made our decision starting in South Carolina that this was going to flip and that's what needed to happen. She had a lot to do with getting the voters out, getting Black voters out, et cetera. And I am very comfortable, personally, with her as

a heartbeat away from the presidency. And so she doesn't get the props that she ought to. We've got to all get better. When I say we, I mean even Black people and particularly Black men about not being misogynistic. You know, there is something to answer for. Hillary Clinton wasn't perfect, but she was a whole lot better than Donald Trump was.

And, you know, I've talked to some brothers in different spots who will, you know, who will just, you know, reveal themselves and being misogynistic themselves. And so our vice president might get a bit of that. But what does she do? She just continues doing the work. I think she's going to be as important

as she was previously. This tour she's doing right now is dealing with voting, is dealing with a lot of issues. It was great that she was in Pennsylvania at the time. The governor did what he did. And so she'll continue to be important. But we have to make a decision to have the urgency that we need to do, that we need to have in order to come out and vote in what she's talking about. And unless and until the mainstream media covers her and wants to talk about what the president and the vice president are actually doing and not what Donald Trump is thinking about doing

or musing about, we're going to still have to cover her the best way we can like so. Joe, Randy, Mustafa, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks very much for joining us on today's panel. Thanks a bunch. Folks, got to go to a break. We come back. I sit down. George Weah, president of Liberia.

The election is taking place next month. You get to see our conversation next right here on Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Next, on The Black Tape, with me, Greg Carr. What do Deion Sanders, a lawnmower, and the phenomenon of invisible labor all have in common? They're all now part of, shall we say, a colorful lore at our historically black colleges and universities. Our master educator roundtable convenes to explain it all as we explore the good, the bad, and the downright ugly

of one of the black America's national treasures. That's next on The Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not replace us. White people are losing their damn lives.

There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys guys.

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white beat. In 2022, my Black Star Network team traveled to Liberia to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of that country by formerly enslaved people of African descent from the United States. It was an amazing time.

It was an opportunity for us to learn about the country, to see what has been going on in Liberia since the founding, but also since they had the devastating civil war that lasted 15 years. We sat down with a number of people, talked about the future of Liberia, including President George Weah. It was an eye-opening experience for almost. President Weah, glad to sit down with you here in Liberia for your bicentennial.

Good to see you. Welcome to Liberia. Let's start off with this bicentennial. The focus is not on Liberian independence. It's on the first enslaved people from America, freed enslaved folks, formerly enslaved, who came to this country. What do you want to achieve with this year-long initiative? I think it's the entire history of our country, how the indigenous and the settlers came.

I think what we'll try to do is to let our people know that we are one people, one people, and to keep the peace of our country, to understand thato came to be one country and one people. So we want to celebrate 200 years to make sure that we all have our liberty and our respect and our dignity that belongs in the country. And the reason we're doing this is because out of our past. We had a past that most of us felt that other people was not part of our society and they should not be governed. So we want to show that we're obedience to the country. All of us can be leaders in the country and we can live together in peace and harmony.

And this is why we are celebrating the Bas and so people can have the right imagine you you got a son that born abroad and then he will be deemed as a foreigner you know know, you can't obtain a dual citizenship. That is wrong. A born Liberian, a Liberian is always a Liberian, no matter what you do. So we need to make sure that our people know that no matter where you are born, you are born with Liberian parents, you are Liberian. So we wanted to showcase and then celebrate our diversity. I think it's important for us. And this is why we are promoting the Barsage Day, so people can come home and develop their country and have a place in their own home and not to believe that they are marginalized, they are not accepted. So it's just a reunification of our existence.

This is what we try to do. You talked about that unity. Let's say there is someone who has Liberian parents but they were born in the United States but they moved back here. Will you extend them the right to vote? Will you look at doing what Ghana and Sierra Leone is doing is offering citizenship for African Americans and others. So what are some of the things that you're considering doing? If you had a Liberian parent, you are born in America or France, I mean, you're a citizen of the country.

That's the first thing we have to recognize. We cannot alienate you because you were born in another country. Automatically you should be a citizen. So I'm promoting that a born Liberian should always be a Liberian. So just like if I had parents and they were in the military and they were in Germany, even if I was born in Germany, I'm still an American citizen. Yeah, but you are a Liberian because you're born with a Liberian parents. That's the point we're trying to raise.

That's the point. Imagine my son, Timothy. He was not born in Liberia, but that's my son. Right. He was born in America, and he bears an American passport. How can a Timothy wear? You know, he plays for the American national team. How can a Timothy wear? He's not a Liberian. I cannot tell you where. You know, he plays for American national team. I cannot tell you where.

It's not a Liberian. I don't think it's fair to our children, you know. Our country, most people live here because of the civil war. And they obtain citizenship everywhere, you know, for green departure. You know, but at the end of the day, they have to obtain a visa to come here or get their second passport. And some people are hiding their passports.

They shouldn't be hiding. You should bear a Liberian passport and the country that you're from. I think it's the right thing to do. That's the right, human right. That's their right. The right of their forebears. Your thoughts about extending citizenship to others in terms of wanting them to make

Liberia a home, again, similar to what Sierra Leone and Ghana has been doing. Yeah, we're trying to do so. And this is why we propose the dual citizenship the other day. And I will hope that our people accept that, because it's important. It also builds our economy. People feed at home, and people believe that they have a place.

They invest, you know. And if you look at the world today, the United States and France, Europe, as you can see, a lot of people have immunity, and they invest, because they believe that it's their home. So they have huge investments, stay right there and invest. Let's just talk about what do you want to see in terms of a relationship specifically with African-Americans?

I mean, the reality is this is the only African nation where African Americans have found the country. And I can tell you there are many African Americans who don't even know the story, don't even know the history. You have folks who came from Virginia and Mississippi and North Carolina and Ohio. And so with the celebration, are you looking at doing bicentennial celebrations in the United States to also galvanize the one million Liberians there and to teach others about this history? I think what we did here, I mean, it can be a standard everywhere in our community, you know, to make sure that people are joined together, you know, for a common goal. And this is what we are doing.

Liberians are a way to understand that other people came here for us to move on. I think it is important for us to maintain the peace. The world today, it is a global world. We all have to work together. We all have to be one people. We have to understand my culture We all have to be one people. You have to understand my culture so I can understand your culture. Remember Martins? I'm a Liberian, but I live in Europe. I live in America. I was accepted by different race of people,

you know, the different color of people. So I'm the leader today, you know, and the world can be a better place when we all join hands and we all unite. It doesn't matter your color, your creed, your religion, or whatever, we have to live together. You mentioned investment. What was the last major investment into the country. I was told it's been several years. So what do you see as the struggle. What do you see as the block. What is it that you need to see happen here in order to make that a reality to be able to provide economic opportunities to provide jobs building a skill set building of education allowing you to execute your plan when it comes to infrastructure? It's to attract investment in every facet. You see our country and Liberia needs to be developed. Liberia needs to have rural connectivity, we need to have electricity, water, and we need to have more facilities that will attract people.

Was there anything that's hindering that? Say that? Is there anything that's hindering that, that's preventing that from happening? What is happening just bit by bit, and I believe that with rule of law and respect for human dignity and fairness, I think people will be attracted. They will come. And this is what we're doing. But we took charge already by making sure that.

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 multibbillion 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. 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. We're building our rules and our infrastructure to make sure that we attract people and

that's the way we can build our economy. And if people are not attracted to our country, definitely the business will be scarce and opportunity will not be given to our people. You talked about connectivity. So whether you're talking about electricity, whether you're talking about roads. Road connectivity. I mean, you've got, and I talk to different people, they talk about beautiful beaches and surfing,

but they say it's hard to get to. They say even this part of Liberia where you're from, they say it takes way too long to get there. Well, then you understand what I'm talking about, road connectivity. You know, I came from the south eastern region and then, of course, for so many years, during the rainy season, there's no access to good roads. And this is why we're doing our best to make sure that all of the roads heading to our hinterland, it will be paved, you know. And so people can get access to, and not just be in Moravia, but to have access to the entire country. And to get to our neighboring country. You know, Africa, Guinea, and Nesdoe. We need to go, we trade, but sometimes it's very difficult during the reading season. And this is what we're pushing. We make sure that

the proper agenda works for those that really need it. And this is what we're doing. What is that going to cost? What does that mean in terms of, obviously you studied it, but even from a roads standpoint, how much do you need to make that happen? Well, I would say it's a huge investment. I can't put a number on it, but I'm sure.

Exceeds $1 billion? It should be more than that. For Liberia to be connected, it should be more than that. And we hope that our partners understand that and bring their companies, bring their resources, and help us to build this country. Let's talk about education, because I don't care where you go, that is a huge deal.

You have a very young country. You talked about the war, average age being 19 years old, also need to have skill set developed. And so what is your plan for this country educationally? What we have, we are doing our best to make sure that we promote the sector, educational sector. And, Martin, this country is the oldest country, as I said to you. And today, more than 50 to 75 years in our sector, today we have digital education.

So it tells you that we are doing our best to make sure the sector works because I believe in education. I've been in the country, never had the opportunity. I won't say go to good school because every school that you go to, it depends on the person. I never had the opportunity to complete school here. But I went away, pursued my career, my dream to be one of the best athletes in the world. And after that, I went to school. So I know the importance of education. And this is why we're doing our best.

Today, if you walk around, you see that all public universities are free today for children to have access to school. And because I believe in education, and this is why we're doing our best to make sure we promote this sector. Because every young person, every citizen has the right to education. But when it's not free, it's difficult.

And this is why we give free education. And we're going to encourage every government that will come after us to make sure that librarians go to school free. Encourage them. Whereas a technical school, go to school free. Encourage them. Whereas a technical school should be free. Are you concerned about brain drain? Are you concerned about your young folks getting restless and saying, you know what, I don't see a future in Liberia. I need to leave.

I'm going to go to Sierra Leone. I'm going to go to Ghana. I'm going to try to get to America. How much of a concern is that. And so what what are you going to do to ensure that you're talented. You're you're smartest. You can have an opportunity and go away, prepare yourself and come back. That's not the point of promoting the education sector. The point of what I'm trying to raise, they've got some people here that will never leave. They're going to be here. They might never have an opportunity to go away.

Those people are the people we have to make sure that we save. Those kids that people believe that they don't have any future, that's the future we have to touch. And this is why we have to make sure we've got technical school, we've got free school, so they can be encouraged to go to school. And that's what I'm trying to say here, and the point I'm trying to raise, I had an opportunity to go away.

I never had a chance to pay my own school fees, but I had the opportunity to go away to play professional soccer. After that, I went to school, and I came back. So, but how many of us will go and come back? You still have children that are looking for opportunities to go to school and this is what we have to fix. Build a future for tomorrow because when you are educated you have the possibility of being employed. You know it doesn't matter. All forms of education, you can be employed because

you have the strength, you have the knowledge. It's a technical school, it's a normal school, what have you. So we need to build our sector to make sure we promote the sector, promote education, and encourage young people to go to school. How do you also change the perception that some have. And I hear it a lot. When people talk about trying to do business in Africa, first thing people bring up, corruption. They say, you know, I'm not paying bribes.

I'm not dealing with folks who are taking too long. It's slowed down. I don't know if I'm going to get my money back. You got that one thing. Then you have the people who have the perception long, it's slowed down, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get my money back. You got that one thing. Then you have the people who have the perception that frankly, you know what, I don't really see skilled labor to be able to go to these countries. And so the reality is you have to battle

that perception that people have in other parts of the world, including America? Well, I mean, sometimes perception... Becomes reality. Becomes reality when people don't understand. But again, why would you have a perceived mind if you come to a process that is fair. You shouldn't have any perceived mind

of corruption because, first of all, you come to the library to do business, there are institutions, there are processes in place. Follow the process. If you circumvent the process, you may fall into people you know everywhere in the world, even in the

United States, in France. You've got people that are co-actors. You're waiting for those people that they believe that they are vulnerable to take advantage. So the best thing to do is when you go to a country to do business, you have the processes there, you have the legitimate agency that you do business with. When those people corrupt you, then the government has a responsibility to make sure that they question them. We're not going behind the curve to do business.

And it's not the right thing to do. Because you know what I'm saying. Here we have rules, we have autonomous agency, we have compliance institutions that are responsible to make sure that people come and invest. So you should be going to those people so you can invest and then follow the rules. So sometimes when people talk about corruption, I don't understand it. Last time I was in Dubai, it's the same question, and I asked the same question. If we have an investment commission

here, and you come to invest, why don't you go to the investment commission? Why are you looking for people to take you around? It's wrong. Go to the government institution. When the government institution corrupts you, then, of course, there will be apprehended, there will be a question. Then you can go and say where the country is corrupt. But if you go beyond the curve, because you believe that anybody can make you do business in a country that has the rule of law, then you'll be making a mistake. So what you're saying is if you want to do business with Liberia, go through your national investment corporation? You said go to them. Don't go to an individual

in this city or this city. It's the best thing to do. Martin, a lot of people, and I question, what is the deal of corruption? You know, people come to do business and just get anybody. And those people corrupt and take money from them and they complain that, oh, they went to Liberia. No, you went to Liberia and you found somebody,

or you're on the internet talking to people that are calling you, you understand, that deceive you and bring you into the country and at the end of the day you don't even see the the authorities and then you get frustrated so those are the things so coming to a library to invest you have the you have the the bureau the the the National Investment Commission, a show when you pass through those entity and then the processes you follow, and then you don't have reason to say

that the country is corrupt. You know what I'm saying? Because if you tell somebody they're corrupt, if you go beyond the curve, then you also encouraging corruption. Right. So if you're an honest person, you have to honestly have to prevail. Liberia is obviously an ally of the United States, has been for quite some time.

What more do you want to see from America? What their African Americans, the Liberians in the United States, are the African Americans who say, hey, they can petition their members of Congress. You're going to be meeting here with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. What more do you want to see from the United States when it comes to helping rebuild and grow Liberia? The question I want to ask you, if Americans believe that Liberia is developed? I'll answer it this way. I don't think a lot of Americans even know about Liberia.

Okay, so we need to... And then they don't even... First of all, they still see Africa as a country versus a continent. So you see? But those that work with Congress, Congress people, they believe that they have done well. But look at our institution.

We are partners. Are they satisfied with what they see? Or they believe that Liberia needs to advance more than what it is. Security, the rule of law, and other things. We are prepared, we are willing to work with them. So Liberia, which is the oldest independent African state, you can see, just a couple of years, we tried to build our rules.

So how long we never had a rule connectivity? Even our institutions, our government don't have their own building. They rent from other people. So it's a modest country. You know, so what- You're renting from other people, government offices, wow.

It's always been like that. And this is why we are trying to make sure that government get into our own facility so it can be able to reduce the government budget, the cost. So we are partners, we're still talking, we're still convincing them to make sure that this is the country that we all learned the history, we read, you know what I'm saying? Now we are leaders now. So sit down with our counterparts and say, hey, the country needs to be more than what it is. But again, they are doing their best.

They're doing their best. We're working together to make sure that we make sure the rule of love is in place, and people have their rights and what have you. We talk about democracy, and for democracy to prevail. Martin, I'm the former peace ambassador for this country. And what I always said to my people, you listened to me the other day,

with our peace, our world would be difficult. You understand? So the only way we can gain growth is when we foster peace with unity. There's only one way we can gain growth. It's when we foster peace with unity. Without that, it's impossible, almost impossible.

During the disarmament, I said to the kids, you can hold a gun as long as you want to hold it. It will never benefit you because it's is wrong thing. So you need to lay down arms and go toward a path of prosperity.

We're heading toward a path of prosperity. It's not just politics. And I'm not a politician. And you know I'm not a politician. I'm an administrator that came into politics because I wanted to change certain things. Today, we knew that in the village where I live in 1975, today we'll have a solar light. We'll have a light. We have the huts being removed, and we build a home, free home for those people.

So in every force of our society we want to see those things we want to see change we want to see change where people can easily live in their homes and they can use even a bathroom without going outside so so this I don't do it as a proper agenda is to awaken everybody so we can be a light to face our institution to build a level of our people to encourage them to to even invest in education center in the rural area because everybody have the responsibility to to the growth of this country we need to fight very hard you

know it's not just corruption. Some people are limited. We need to help those people that are limited. So, 50... 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.

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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.

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And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Years from now, 100 years from now, there's someone who is reading, the Liberian student, and they're reading, and they come across your name. What do you want them to say, not about what you did on the field? What do you want them to say 50 years from now about your presidency? As I always said, you know, when I leave here,

when my children, I mean, in the society, with those people that I lead, when they point their finger at them, they must say, well, this boy, father, was a nice, a kind, and a good president. So they can live with them. When I'm not here anymore, and this is why I do everything to make sure that we help our people.

So tomorrow nobody can point finger on my children and say, well, look at him. If father was here, he didn't do anything. So everything that I do, I want the society to see honesty and to see that we try to improve the lives of our people. It's not about what I've done already on the field, but I know when I leave here, those honest people will see there will be a legacy,

there will be a mark, and they're going to see that, wow, George Weah. Everybody thought that he was never going to make it. Today, this is what we got. And I'm fighting hard, Martin. It's not an easy task, but I want to build this country for the time that I'm here. And it's all honesty. This is my country. I live in the country.

I run the street of this country. Everywhere in the ghetto, you just name it. You understand? I went outside to promote the image of this country. During the war, I was from one refugee camp to another refugee camp. And this is why when I talk about peace, I know how they live in refugee camps. And I'm back here, and I'm the president. And that's why I ask every Liberian, it doesn't matter what you think.

Keep the peace of this country. There's no need to be busterous. There's no need to be rude, you know, be humble. Politicians or opposition, whatever have you, speak the language that will give you the opportunity to be leader in the future. So I want every Liberian, when I'm not here no more, it's not just for the praise, to see my mark, the legacy is being kept and left. And this is how I want to live.

So tomorrow, it's not just going there to promote Africa in sports, you understand, in my country. But today, you can see that every African knows that when it was difficult, it was not just kicking the soccer ball around. It was the message that we gave, that we all can work together. There's no need to be racist. You know, we can work together. This is a world of diversity. I have to know you.

You have to know me. The things that you don't like, I have to make sure that I make sure that I don't do the things you don't like. We can work together. And I was successful in doing that. And I want to do this in my country. Peace in Liberia is the best way. No peace is the wrong thing to do.

So again, I'm honored to be here with you, you know, to answer your question. I think you should be coming. You should be coming often, you know, encourage people to come. This is a beautiful country. It is. Warm people, kind, hearted, good people. In every society, you will see some. That's everywhere. Yeah, everywhere. But the good thing the good thing about it. I said I live in New York. Staten Island. Living Queens. I live in Miami for a lot of death. You know the war is like that. You got some good people. You got some some bad people. But the most important there should be more good people than bad people. And we are heading to world growth. We want to develop our country. And we will do all we can for this country to be a better place. So when you come next time, you'll see that. Wow.

Wow. That's it. Well, you talked about building, so you're not going to take a walk. You're going to tell me what y'all been doing with this building here. Yeah, we're just going to. So here's what we're going to do. He's going to disconnect a walk. You're going to tell me what y'all have been doing with this building here. Yeah, we're just going to. So here's what we're going to do. He's going to disconnect the audio. Just to connect to the camera.

And we're just going to walk down there. It's the right thing to do. This is our palace. Been burned 16 years ago. We have to restore this. And this is why we're doing it bit by bit. So you can see, you see we're here, that's the image of the country.

And we want to restore the image of this country. And this is why I've done my best. Talk to the parliament to make sure that we, in the budget, we save save this is the a suckery suckery home of our country is not just what just president coming into this. I got my home now go to a time to work and I bought a game is the image of our copy right image of our country so it was a wrecking to do so's now to make the news the best thing to do and the right thing to do. And this is why we we restore this place. And bit by bit we're going to fix it to the level that it's supposed to be. But now it's ready for for work. Our country images are going to go to the

always. We're going to receive people in the executive mansion while we are working. I think it's the best thing to do. But it will make the news. So we're going to ask definitely make the news. Anything that you do for the news, always make the news. Good or bad.

So you're not going to take a walk. Mr. President, let's see your palace. Mr. Bundy, you told me you know the place. So you. Well, tell me. So this is an eight-story building? Yes, I believe. And so you said bit by bit.

So what they told me is you've already restored about four floors? Yeah, about two, two or four Yeah, about two, three floors. And the yard, yeah, it's where you restore the image. You see where people, there's a capital. The capital business just let's go in the mansion's face. Everywhere face here, they can complement each other. So you talk about growing up here.

I mean, so this had to be the crown jewel for the country. Every child wanted to come here to see. I was born right next door, Capitol Hill, maternity center, and I came here so many times. And I was lucky to visit the palace. Two presidents had the opportunity to visit the place. I was a captain of the national team. So I'm always coming on behalf of the national team to speak to the leaders, you know what I'm saying?

So I know what it was. It's a beautiful place. It's a nice place. And we just wanted to restore. This is good. I got to admit, when we came here to see the place, I'll tell you, when I stepped out here, it will be a little hard for me to work with this view here

because I probably would come out here and just see and look at the ocean the whole time. You let yourself down. You come here and just walk and look at the ocean the whole time. Well, it's your leisure time. You'll come here and just walk around. I mean, you're de-stressed. This is better than where we were at the foreign ministry. I think it's better. And this represents our country.

And this is what we did. It represents our country. We all know the story. How this building... But again, the question that I ask, one floor burned, but the whole mansion was looted. Why? Is that lawful country? I show if that one floor that was burned, today we're going to fix that one floor.

The whole mansion is going to be restored. So I just want to tell you there are some people that don't care. That don't care. We care. You know, because one floor got burned, but the entire mansion was looted. Nobody asked questions. You understand? But I think what we try to do is to continue to move on a peaceful path.

And it's leadership, one after another. It's not to criticize anybody but to continue where they left it and what we can do. And then after us, the next president can take it from there. That's the best leadership style. You see.. A smooth transition from one president to the next. come and take it from there. That's the best leadership style. You see... A smooth transition... Smooth transition. ...from one president to the next. That's it. You know, that's it. And we

are partners with the Americans. We see how their democracy work. But there's sometimes, there's other people that don't believe in that and it causes trouble and chaos. Like the one who just left. Yes, I understand. You understand? So, so, so it's, it's the society that we live. But again, the best thing to do is to keep telling people, look, this is the right thing to do. You know, to forcing and fighting, it's not the essence of life. Because when you destroy, there's no hope. Right. You know, when everything is okay,

when you can dialogue, then you have a hope that you know you can be what you want to be. You know, anybody can be somebody. You never know. How... That's what I say to my friends. I was here with you. I was in the street.

I'm in the ghetto. Born with parents that have great possibility, but I ended up in the ghetto. But that's, my destiny was not tied into the ghetto. But maybe that was experience to continue to see how things are. Now, when I decided to discipline myself, I saw myself somewhere else. Opportunity, and today I'm here. But when you are alive, there's a lot of opportunity you can get. If you are no more, you're gone. So war and destabilization, all those things are not called for.

You know what I'm saying? I can be here tomorrow when I'm here. I can see what you do when you get there. And maybe you'll need my advice. Then I can advise you to say, well, when I was there, there are certain things I did. I could have achieved it, but I could not. But I think that's the best thing to do.

So we lead us today. We can work tomorrow for the country, even as an agent of the country. So we shouldn't see each other as just politicians. We are family. We are one family. Most of my friends that grew up in school, they are running against me. You know what I'm saying? They run against me. But that's the beauty of true democracy. You know what I'm saying? i went to two elections not that in 2005 and 2010. the first i went as a head of the ticket the second and they put me out and then the tear i've stayed on the head and today's i'm here 2005 was not my other call about call it, but again, what happened in 2005? If I were going to persist and resist and believe that fighting was the way,

it was not the rule of law, or looking at the country to move forward, maybe I was not going to be here. Maybe I was not going to be here. But the fact that I could even accept to be peace ambassador for what happened in the previous elections. And since I had the call today, I'm the president. So you can see that when there's peace, there's prosperity. You know what I'm saying?

So I want everybody to understand when I talk about peace because it's important. It's important. David M. President George Weah, I appreciate it. Thank you very much for having us here. George Weah, Thank you, Martin. Good to see you. Right. We don't do the handshakes but we'll definitely do that.

I see you in your pattern. I was in Ghana for the year of return in 2019. Oh, that's good. So I have a designer there who hooked me up. That's good. Yeah. I wasn't going to wear a suit. There's no suit in my bag.

So I got an all traditional. You'd be surprised. I'm the actual pro-po maker. I brought the stock. I brought the stock. I brought the stock. I brought the stock. I brought. So I got an all traditional. You'd be surprised. I'm the Propo, the actual Propo maker. I brought a style in the Propo.

Oh, I know. No, they made sure that I go back with a couple outfits. Propo, how you call it? Propo. Propo. Yeah. Oh, Propo. So I go back.

So it's called Propo suit? Yeah, Propo suit. OK. But I can't wear with tennis shoes. You can wear with sling or you can wear with anything. Yeah, I got to wear. Okay. But I can't wear with the tennis shoes. You can wear with sling or you can wear with anything. Yeah, I got to wear loafers. Loafers. Can't wear tennis shoes.

But that's good. Loafers is good. That's the best thing to do. I appreciate it, sir. Thank you very much and good luck. Okay. Thank you. This is an iHeart Podcast.