#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Honoring MLK. Jay Jones on Virginia. Jeffries vs ICE Raids. Crockett Slams GOP Cruelty as Policy

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

1.19.2026 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Honoring MLK. Jay Jones on Virginia. Jeffries vs ICE Raids. Crockett Slams GOP Cruelty as Policy People across the nation are honoring the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We will showcase how communities are commemorating the life of this civil rights icon. Virginia's first Black State Attorney General, Jay Jones, will join us to discuss King's legacy and his plans for the state. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will be here to talk about how the Democrats are addressing the deadly ICE raids and the ongoing battle to keep healthcare costs affordable. In tonight's segment of Crocket Chronicles, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett will call out racial profiling, ICE overreach, and a government that continues to treat cruelty as policy. And Pastor Otis Moss III from Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ will explain why he believes ICE agents function as modern-day slave catchers and what Christians should be doing at this critical moment.  #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. 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.

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Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Folks, today is January 19, 2026, Coming up on Roland Bark on foot to streaming live on the Black Star Network. It is the national holiday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And as I always said, this day is not just about him. It's also about the entire Black freedom movement, civil rights movement. All of the people who made it possible for us to enjoy the rights that we have.

And so we'll talk about that. We'll hear from a number of individuals who work with Dr. King, walk with Dr. Clean King, including Zernoma Clayton, also Reverend Jesse Jackson Senior Andrew Young Winita Abernathy We'll hear from Reverend C.T. Vivian. Also, Congresswoman

Illinois Holmes Norton, the late Congressman John Lewis, Clarence Jones, who was Dr. King's attorney, Claybourne Carson, who runs the King Center in Stanford. All these folk, Dorothy Cotton, who was the only woman in the inner circle of Dr. King, all of these people

we talked to over the last several years, sharing their thoughts and reflections on the working with this 20th century giant. Also, folks, commemoration events took place today. At the King Center in Atlanta, we'll show you some of that. We'll also show you what took place at the wreathling ceremony, where Maryland Center Angela also Brooks spoke at the MLK Memorial. A lot of people are sharing their thoughts.

Mavani Jones had a great commentary today regarding the life of Dr. King. And so much we want to talk about. We're also going to hear from the first African-American Attorney General. for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Jay Jones, he'll join us as well as House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffer. Lots for us to talk about it is time to bring the funk,

King style on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. It is King Day. It's a national holiday for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Live today. We focus on this particular to cover the issues that matter to us

on this particular day. Events have been taking place all across the country, not just today, but also this weekend. I was in Dallas on Saturday night, speaking to the city of Dallas's MLK Gala on Thursday. It was in Columbus, Ohio, as well. You can see both of those speeches on our Blacksut Network app, but also on our YouTube channel.

On Saturday, an inauguration took place in Virginia for Governor Spanberger, but also for the first African-American Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Jay Jones, Jr. And so he was inaugurated. He joins us right now on Rolla Martin unfiltered on this great day. Attorney General Jones, glad to have you back on the show. Happy to be back as well. One of the things that, first one I said is that that was a photo that I saw.

You posted on social media that actually, I'm sure, was quite emotional for you and that you were getting dressed for the day. And your mom was assisting you putting on your dad's cuff links. He, of course, a giant in the legal circles in Virginia, He passed away during the campaign, so it had to be quite emotional for you to be thinking about him on Saturday. You know, his presence loomed very large over the day, and my father was my best friend and, you know, someone who I leaned on very heavily over the course of my life and my political career. And, you know, I'm just so proud of his legacy to be one of the few people in the history of this commonwealth to have served in all three branches of government. you know, his legacy looms large, and I carry that with me every single day.

My mother is a giant in her own right. She is a juvenile and domestic relations court judge in Norfolk, which is my hometown. And to put his cufflinks on me that day and then have her administer the oath was a very poignant thing for our entire family. But it was so special, and I'm just happy that my two boys and my wife, Mavis, were able to be standing up there with us as we assume the office of attorney general. This is that photo that you posted on Twitter. Anthony, go ahead and go to my iPad right here. And the reason I wanted to start with that because your father, your mother, yourself,

committed to the law, and the reality is when you think about this day, think about King's Holiday, we have to think about, of course, the commitment to civil rights, and as he said, forcing America to hold true to what it put on paper. And so when you think about the 1964 civil rights, Act, 1965, Voting Rights Act, a 1968 Civil Rights Act,

which is the Fair Housing Act, and how all three of those today are under attack, as well as the legacy of Dr. King is also under attack from folks on the right. You know, look, it's a very, you know, I think, poignant thing for Virginia to have me and this chair as the 49th Attorney General of this Commonwealth and the first black person to hold this office.

And I am coming to you tonight from the Barbara Johns building, that's our office building. And for those folks who do not know, Barbara Johns was a civil rights pioneer in her own right. She helped lead the school walkouts in Prince Edward County and helped eventually desegregate the schools here in Virginia and across this country. And in the building, over the doorway, three words have been inscribed in marble, equality, opportunity, and justice. And that is what we are striving to do here in Virginia to live by those tenants and to live up to the example of Barbara Johns and Dr. King, we know we have a lot of work to do. And my team of exemplary public servants, people who are dedicated to this state and our best

interests, have gotten to work so that we can protect Virginians from the federal overreach that we're seeing that makes us all less safe and less secure, to put money back in people's pockets and to keep our communities safe too. So we're taking their example, we're living up to their values and their ideals, and we're trying to make our communities just a little bit better than they were yesterday. You mentioned Barbara Johns, and recently, of course, a statue of her was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol, replacing that of the white domestic terrorist and traitor, General Robert E. Lee. And what was so interesting, you had all of these folks, all of these right-wing folks who were just angry and upset with that.

How dare they replace this well-known figure with this unknown woman? They were just trash, she left the right. And it goes to show you, and look, my book, White Fear, I talk about this, White Fear, how the Browning of America is making white folks lose their minds. What you have today in this country are folks who want to go back. They do not want to see progress. They do not want to see the advancement of African Americans. They frankly want to see Jim Crow 2.0.

You know, in Virginia, voters sent a very loud and resounding message in November. We elected our first female governor in the 407 year history of this Commonwealth. We elected our first Muslim woman statewide here in Virginia. I'm the first black attorney general. We have a black house speaker, the leadership in the Senate, led by Senator Louise Lucas as a black woman. In Virginia, we're charting a new course, and we're trying to make sure that not only do our elected officials reflect our community, but that we are protecting people under the law and fighting against all of this chaos and craziness that's coming out of Washington. As I campaigned over the course of the fall, that is what I heard so much from people,

that they are worried about how these policies are impacting their lives day to day, whether it be their pocketbooks, whether it be their communities, whether it be the education system. And that's what I think this new era in Virginia will usher in are people who are dynamic and who are listening and who are being responsive to the needs of the people here in this state. I hope that we can be a blueprint for folks across the country about how to be successful, but also how to govern. And we've gotten to work. We have joined lawsuits that are going to protect federal workers here in Virginia,

going to protect our health care and going to protect people's pocketbooks. And I look forward to working with other attorneys general from across the country to make people's lives better to you. Canadian women are looking for more, more to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different states.

of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bijan Robinson. When I'm on the field, I'm feeling the pressure, I usually just take a deep breath. When I'm just breathing and seeing what's in front of me, everything just slows down. It just makes you feel great before I run the play. Just like Bejohn, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field. Make a game plan for your mental health.

at love your mind playbook.org. Love your mind. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the ad council. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com

now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartPodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Use the tools at our disposal to put money back in people's pocketbooks and to really achieve these goals that we talked about over the course of the campaign in 2025.

You're the first black attorney general of Virginia. Eric Holder was the first black attorney general of the United States. And he spoke today at the National Action Network Breakfast. in Washington, D.C., and he said this, I'd love to get your thoughts on it. You'll listen. Now, the forces reshaping our country, are testing not only our institutions,

but our collective and individual capacity to defend the ideal of this nation. These actions require, from all of us, from all of us, a clarity of purpose that is equal to the rising stakes. We are seeing, We are seeing a sustained effort to eradicate the Voting Rights Act. That is the crown jewel.

That's the crown jewel of the civil rights movement and an essential part of Dr. King's legacy. We are witnessing the weaponization of the Department of Justice by the president and his lackeys to silence his critics and to intimidate voters. We are observing Gestapo tactics by federal immigration law enforcement in Minnesota, as well as around the country.

You all remember the name Renee Good. Say her name. You say her name. We are experiencing unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering, attempts to design to disproportionately disenfranchised black and brown voters as the president desperately clings the power like an insecure dictator. There is a concerted effort to re-segregate America. But as darkest things may seem now, we must remember that every generation has been similarly tested.

Each time Americans face really a critical question. Do we sit back and hope that help comes along, or do we stand together? Fight, fight for what we believe in. I know the scale of what we're up against can seem overwhelming. State-sponsored attempts at oppression always appear that way. Think about Jim Clark, think about Bull Connor, about Ross Barnett, think about George Wallace. State attempts at oppression always appear overwhelming.

And it's only human to hope for someone else to step in, to pray for a miracle, pray for a savior. to look to the horizon hoping to see the cavalry coming to the rescue. But here's the hard truth. There are no reinforcements on the way. There is no miraculous rescue that is coming. We, we are the cavalry. Attorney General Jones, I wanted to play that because you're replacing somebody,

Republican, MAGA supporter. who did not defend civil rights. You had the president of the University of Virginia forced to resign over the issue of diversity, equity, inclusion. You had the Trump administration attacking the president of George Mason University. They forced out the first black superintendent at, of course, the Military Institute,

their VMI in Virginia as well. You saw the undoing of civil rights, the lack of defense that comes to voting rights. What do you make of what Attorney General Eric Holder said there? And I absolutely believe that. And we are the Calvary because these folks are in charge in Washington, the House, the Senate, and the White House. And we've got to be using everything that we can. And frankly, Democrat attorneys general have been leading that fight nationally.

Well, you know, look, Eric Holder has always been someone who I've looked up to and I've respected. You can see just over my shoulder that there's a picture of the two of us chatting a few years ago. And I think you have correctly identified that Democratic attorneys general are stepping up. This is a moment when people are looking toward attorneys general, in particular to fight the federal overreach that we're seeing in Washington. All of the craziness and all of the chaos

leaves people unsettled. People, frankly, are fearful. They're scared of what they're seeing coming out of the Capitol, and they're looking for states to fill the void. And that's exactly what I ran on last year in 2025, and I think that was validated with our resounding election victory. And I think that's why we did so well up and down the ballot here because people in Virginia in particular because of our proximity to Washington are looking for people to help,

to uphold the rule of law, to protect our values, to protect our freedoms, to protect our institutions, and to protect our ideals. And that is what we're doing. It's why we hit the ground running, joining lawsuits, making sure that we are enacting our 30-day review of all existing litigation that my predecessor entered us into to make sure that we are pursuing the interests and needs of the people of Virginia in this particular moment. And I look forward to working with attorneys general from across the country to make sure that we're doing that. We are stronger when we have greater numbers.

I'm the 24th Democratic Attorney General. We hope to add to those ranks in 2026 because our livelihoods depend on it. And that's something that I continue to be committed to and will use every tool of my disposal to make sure that we're protecting Virginians, protecting their rights and living up to the dreams and ideals that Dr. King has talked about and that we've sort of dwelt on for a long time because we draw strength from those words, right? This morning I was in Petersburg. I was in a march with community members and then we had a church service and I was just so full of hope for these new days in Virginia, the sort of new era that ushered in on Saturday and we're going to use

all of our energy and all of our time and all of our resources to make sure that we're meeting the needs of people here in this Commonwealth right now. I'm not going to name the school. I know the HBCU, and I know also the PWIs. There have been schools in Virginia, state schools, that have been scared to death over the last year, of even having black speakers talking about black history. They are afraid that the Trump administration is going to target them

and pull research funding. What do you say to colleges and universities in Virginia who are scared to death of this MAGA administration targeting universities who invite black scholars and black historians and having black history discussions. I mean, these people are targeting books and things along those lines.

What do you say to them how you are going to proceed as Attorney General to defend their interests against these attacks? Well, I think, you know, at the outset, people in Virginia have been really, really disappointed and really scared by the way that the previous administration tried to politicize education, not just in the K-12 space, but in the higher-ed space. Every person here in this Commonwealth is incredibly proud of our higher education institutions, whether they be public or private.

And frankly, as Attorney General, my job is to represent these universities, and my commitment has been to providing top-flight legal service so that these universities can do what they do best, which is educate our students. And that is what we're going to do. We're going to make sure that we're supporting these places, working with these institutions to give them the legal advice that they need and that they deserve. And we're not going to use our students, our teachers, administrators, our educators as political pawns. Those days are long gone. We have a commitment to our people. We have a commitment to our students. And I look forward to working with the leadership at universities across this Commonwealth to figure out the best way for us to meet the needs

for our students so that we can develop this talent, keep them here in Virginia, and continue to grow our economy. That is something that Governor Spanberger remains committed to. She just talked throughout that tonight in her state of the Commonwealth, and I think the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia are all in line with that mission, because that's what the voters told us last year that they were tired of this politicization of our education systems and our students and our teachers and our parents and our administrators. We should be working together to find solutions to improve our education system, not putting, pitting these groups against each other

to get headlines, to get cheap headlines, and set our students back. I got questions from my panel, Dr. Ome Congo, DeBingas, a senior, professor, a lecturer, school international service with American University, author of lies about black people out of combat, racist, out of D.C.

Dr. Avis Jones DeViever, author of how exceptional black women lead, unlocking the secrets to creating phenomenal success in career and in life, co-founded, editor-in-chief Max Blacks, media out of National Harbor. Joining me in studio, Cameron Trimble, CEO, Hip Politics Media, former White House senior advisor. All right, let's get it going.

Cameron, you first. Your question for your question for Attorney General Jay Jones. How are you doing, Attorney General? And congratulations again on being inaugurated. My question that pulls on the thread that Roland was talking about in the sense that it really feels like it is the state's first of federal, the federal administration in so many different ways. and with Virginia being right in the back door of Washington, D.C., I think so many eyes will be directly on your state

and on your leadership, because Virginia, quite frankly, was a bellwether for what we think to come in these upcoming elections. How do you plan to prioritize and what battles you do get into with maybe some federal overreach or the Trump overreach from his administration? Well, thank you for your kind words

about our inauguration. It was indeed historic and a very special moment for this Commonwealth. I will also note that this inauguration took place on Doug Wilder's 95th birthday, which I think is incredibly special as well. And, you know, look, I think when I campaigned across the state last year, the overarching theme was that people were very scared and sick of what was coming out of Washington, these policies that were setting us back. It's exactly why we've joined several lawsuits already to protect Virginia's values and our interests. But I will be the first person to tell you that if there is a policy that is coming out of Washington that is good for Virginia, I'm ready to work with this administration. We just haven't seen anything come yet that's going to

put us in a better place. In fact, everything is trying to take us backward or trample on our rights and our freedoms. And so anytime that those values or our values and those rights and those freedoms are threatened, we will be there. We're using every tool in our toolbox in this office to protect Virginia. That's what I was elected to do. I believe the most important thing and responsibility for any elected leader is to keep people safe and keep your community safe. And whether that takes the form of a lawsuit of an investigation, we're going to do that. We have a really talented team of people that we have brought in who are exceptional public servants, who are top flight lawyers, who are ready to get this office back on track and really fight for Virginia instead of

letting Donald Trump run roughshod over us. They soundly rejected that at the polls. And in in November and we have a job to do and we have promises to deliver on and I'm excited to do that. Avis Jones-Dweaver. Once again, also congratulations Attorney General. So I know you all should be very proud. As a Virginia native, I know I'm very proud that the Virginia has now been reclaimed with people who have common sense and greatly adept at what you do. So my question for you though tonight is that it's really no secret that this administration has been targeting a Democratic run states. So one might anticipate that if not today, if not tomorrow, there may be a point in which Virginia might be specifically targeted by this administration. Are you all

foreseeing that as a possibility and starting to, in essence, get some ducks in a row in the way of figuring out the best way to protect Virginians from, for lack of what we are really seeing as the real-time tyrannical federal government? Well, you know, we had a really, really talented transition team who spent two months between election day and Saturday getting ready for us to take office. And one of the things that we focused in on was not just the affirmative litigation that we know is out there from other Democratic attorneys general, you know, across the country, but the defensive litigation that may come out of the attacks that we're seeing from Washington. We collaborate very closely with our federal

delegation, which thankfully is a majority Democratic with two Democratic United States senators and several wonderful members of Congress like my Congressman Bobby Scott and Jennifer McClellan. And so we stay in very close communication so that we can be apprised of things that they may see or hear that are coming down the line. But we are very prepared to fend off any of those potential attacks to put Virginia first. I think what you saw over the course of the last four years with my predecessor was that he would rather serve Donald Trump than serve the people of Virginia. My job as Attorney General and my fiduciary duty runs to the people here. And so whatever form that takes to protect them and to protect our values and our interests,

we're going to do that. And so we are girding ourselves for any potential outcome. But right now, we're trying to be aggressive and we're trying to make sure that we hit the ground running, which is exactly what we did to put Virginia back in a better standing after being, I'd say, left behind by the policies of the Trump administration that were sanctioned by my predecessor for far too long. O'Ma Congo. Congratulations.

Once again, this is just an amazing feat that you accomplished. My question is, what advice do you have as relates to other Democrats going into the midterms? Because not only did you just clear House as relates to Democrat election, but the diversity is just so incredible. and Democrats are getting advised to run away from their bays. Some are saying run towards their bays. What would you advise to Democrats across this nation? We know every state and counties are different,

but what was your recipe for success that you would advise them going forward? Well, thank you for your words of congratulations. It does mean a lot to me. And look, I'll say this. In Virginia, people are obviously very scared of Donald Trump and the policies that were coming out of Washington. But what I think was also very important for us as Democrats

is that we had an affirmative message. We talked about the things that our voters were talking to us about, and we were listening. We kept our ears open and our mouths closed, and they talked about affordability. And that's exactly why we talked about how we could use this office to put money back in people's pockets. My career as an Assistant Attorney General

and focusing on consumer protection, I think, lended itself to that moment and to this moment where we can use this office to be dynamic and find ways to help people out when they're suffering economically to keep our community safe and to make sure that we're defending Virginia. I think, you know, the president certainly is a presence that looms large in electoral politics right now, but we've got to go one step further, which is to be solutions-oriented and mission-driven, and that really doesn't have any sort of specific recipe. It depends on where

you are. It depends on what state you're running in. It depends on what community you live in. But when you bring those ideas and those solutions to the voters, I think they will validate you. And that's exactly what happened in Virginia, where, again, we made history. We have our first female governor. We have our first Muslim elected statewide here in Virginia. I'm the first Black Attorney General in the 407-year history of this Commonwealth. And we have a majority in the House of Delegates that has grown from a two-seat majority to a 14-seat majority. So, you know, I think we can really be a model for folks across the country, but I don't want folks to lose sight of the fact that they've got to go into those communities. They've got to listen and really be those solutions-oriented candidates to say, okay, yes, we oppose Donald Trump and bad policies, but we also have ideas for how to fix that.

Black Star Network anchor, Brittany Noble, your question for Attorney General J. Jones. Well, congratulations on your first day in office. I want to know more about some of the first. of your priorities, some of those top priorities. And then what can Virginia do to support you? Well, thank you for your kind words. And we were able to hit the ground running at 1201 on Saturday, joining lawsuits that are going to protect our federal workers from those illegal mass layoffs last year

that are going to protect people's pocketbooks by joining the lawsuit that was trying to dismantle the CFPB and joining lawsuits that are going to protect health care and education here too. Virginia was put in. in a bad spot because the president was basically doing whatever he wanted to harm Virginia citizens because he had an attorney general who was going to do whatever he said. That's not the case now. There is a real opportunity for us to get Virginia back in the game, to be a leader in this space as well.

And I'm looking forward to doing that. Like I said, we've assembled a really diverse group of people and talented individuals who are ready to help. And that's something that I think Virginia should be very proud of. We're going to continue to focus on protecting against federal overreach, we're also going to continue to focus on keeping costs low, making Virginia more affordable, finding every possible way to root out waste fraud and abuse, and to make sure that we keep our communities safe. Those are the things that voters talked about over and over and over again, and we listened. And so now we've got to put those campaign promises into practice, and we've already done that. And there's more to come, which I'm very, very proud of and very excited about. Hopefully, people in Virginia will continue to share their concerns with us.

We are here to listen. And I want them to know that we will be meeting them where we are, where they are. We're not just going to sit up here in Richmond and keep to ourselves. We're going to be out in the communities rolling up our sleeves, making sure that we're finding ways to be dynamic and to use this office to take on challenges. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk Podcast.

I'm Jennifer Stewart. I'm Catherine Clark, and in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on I Heart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bejan Robinson. When I'm on the field, I'm feeling the pressure, I usually just take a deep breath. When I'm just breathing and seeing what's in front of me, everything just slows down.

It just makes you feel great before I run the play. Just like Bejohn, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field. Make a game plan for your mental health at love your mind playbook.org. Love your mind. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the ad council. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26thiHeart Podcast Awards podcast of the year

by voting at iHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 26. Second, see all the nominees and place your vote at iHeartpodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. It's that they see. It doesn't matter if you live in Norfolk, if you live in Southwest Virginia, if you live in the Shenandoah Valley or Southside or Northern Virginia, our office is here to help.

And we will be there. We will be present. we will be visible. And hopefully it's something that Virginians can finally be proud of. All right. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones Jr. I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch.

Thank you very much. I'll see you guys next time. Indeed. All right, folks. Got to go to a break. We come back. We'll hear from Bernice King, Martin of the King III, talking this day on the federal holiday of their father, Reverend Dr. Martin, King, Jr. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered

right here on the Blackstown Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. America is being reshaped in real time by a group of six people, unelected, and without any checks and balances. By the end of the current Supreme Court session, education, the workplace, who gets to elect our leaders, and so much more could radically change. This week, we reconvene our legal roundtable and look at what the new America may look like and how we should respond. That's next on the Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. Oh, Martin Luther King. Now, for Martin Luther King, who was the main warrior for the black people,

as far as I'm concerned at that time, you know, I wasn't a surprise that they killed him as I was when they killed Malcolm X. You know what I mean? I wasn't a surprise because Martin was into a lot of stuff that a lot of people, bigots, hated. He was a marked man. I didn't expect it. I didn't...

I was hoping that it would never come to that, you know what I mean? But it did not surprise me because of who he was and what he was doing. You know? Horrible day. Horrible just... Oh, man, here we go again. All right, folks, that was my interview seven years ago with the Great Smokey Robinson.

All right folks, joining us right now is House Democrat leader, Hakeem Jeffries, on this MLK, 2006. Congressman, glad to have you back on Roller Martin Unfiltered. With you, happy King Day. Yes, sir. One of the things that absolutely drives me crazy on this day, and many of your colleagues on the other side, post on social media, and they post their quotes about Dr. King,

and they vote against his agenda. And what I always say is, I don't want to hear folk on this day talk about King in this wonderful, nice way, and oh, he was this, he was that, when they also oppose the agenda. If you're going to stand with King, then stand with King,

but don't oppose the agenda, but then celebrate the man because the man was about his agenda, which was poor people and disenfranchised people. That's exactly right. All manner of social media posts you'll see coming from my extremist colleagues on the other side of the aisle trying to lift up Dr. King as if they are interested in his life, his leadership, and his legacy when we return to Washington tomorrow, they'll be doing everything they can to undermine voting rights, civil rights, racial justice, social justice, and economic justice. And Roland, as you know, this is just consistent with their general hypocrisy. I mean, this is the same group of people in many instances. I'm not questioning anyone's faith, but they go to church and they pray on Sunday, and then they come to Washington,

DC and they pray, P-R-E-Y, on the American people, the week, pray on the poor, the sick, the afflicted, the least, the lost, the left behind, pray on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. This is their legislative agenda. And yet they pretend as though they are following the teachings that have urged us to look out for the least of these amongst us. Well, I will call out them on their faith because one of the things that they do is they love the Catholic Church. when it comes to their position on abortion, but they despise the Catholic Church's position

on the death penalty and standing up for the rights of undocumented workers. There's no doubt about that, and we see this in so many different areas. Listen, we, as Jim Clyburn says, he's Matthew 25 and 35 Christian. And that's what our faith teaches us. I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church.

And we're gonna continue, Dr. King, of course, was a great civil rights hero, and leader. He was a Baptist preacher. And it was his faith that drove sort of the mission that he led the country on, which was incredibly successful. But now we know that that mission is under full and complete assault by Donald Trump and his henchmen. And we're going to have to do all we can to fight through the trials, the tribulations, and the turbulence so we can come out stronger as a country on the other side. I have said since the inauguration that we have a massive effort going on when it comes to MAGA to defund black America.

They are attacking academics. They're attacking health. They're attacking nonprofits. They're attacking the economic infrastructure. They're attacking the civil rights infrastructure. This Louisiana-Calais decision could wipe out one-third of the Congressional Black Caucus. It could take out numerous black state senators, state representatives, county commissioners, city councilmen, school board members all across the south.

and the Republican Party, that's what they want. They are afraid of black political power, and they are attacking all of this because they want, frankly, Jim Crow 2.0. I've often observed that while Jim Crow may be dead, he's got some nieces and nephews that are alive and well, run around the country trying to seize power. We want to move the country forward.

They clearly are trying to turn back the clock. We want to bring people together. They are regularly trying to tear us apart. And we, of course, have always believed in truth and reconciliation. These extremists want to erase black history, erase civil rights history. But we're not going to let them do it because black history we know is American history. And we need to lean into that history now more than ever. The lessons that we learned from Dr. King, from John Lewis, from Fannie Lou Hamer, from Rosa Parks and others,

they showed up, they stood up, they spoke up for what they knew was right to try to make this country the best version of herself. they had the character, the courage, and the conviction to face down Jim Crow, vicious, racism, and authoritarianism in the Deep South. But now, of course, you got some people within this administration, inspired by the person who actually is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, who want to rip away all of the progress that has been made. We cannot let it happen. We're going to make sure that there are free and fair elections in November.

and because there will be free and fair elections in November, we're going to make sure we take back control of the House of Representatives. Well, Donald Trump the other day said that the Civil Rights Act was hurtful to whites in this country. I gave a speech to the City of Dallas, M.K. Gala on Saturday, and I made this statement, Anthony got to my iPad. And as a guy was running for Congress, last time, Zishan, he actually posted this on his social media. And I said, are you going to stand with Dr. King? or are you going to stand with someone that wants to be a king?

And that's what we're dealing with. Donald Trump has no respect for Congress. He has no respect for laws, no respect for the judiciary, no respect for anything. He told the New York Times, the only thing stopping him, he said he can do whatever he wants. The only thing stopping him is his own morality. And so he has no respect whatsoever. And so what do you say to people in terms of how Democrats are going to counter him and that MAGA agenda this year in 2026.

And what should folks be focusing on in these primaries and, of course, the general election? What's important to us, you've got affordability and you've got accountability. On the affordability side, listen, Donald Trump was able to lie his way back into office by promising that he was going to lower costs on day one. Costs haven't gone down, costs have gone up.

Life is more expensive in the United States of America. Trump tariffs are in post. closing thousands of dollars of additional costs, and he's done nothing to lower the high cost of living. We'll focus on that to try to bring about a country where when you work hard and play by the rules, you can live a comfortable life and affordable life and a good life. And we define that clearly, good paying job, good housing,

good health care, good education for your children, and a good retirement, which means keep your hands off, Social Security and Medicare. At the same period of time, there's got to be accountability. Congress, as you know, Roland, you talk about, about this often. It's not supposed to be a rubber stamp for the president's extreme agenda in this case, but a check and balance on an out of control executive branch. Now, even though we're in the minority, we've been governing in many instances as if we were in the majority, including

earlier this month, forcing an up-a-down vote on a straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years and got 17 Republicans to join with every single Democrat. view is that we have a broken health care system. We've got to fix it. We got to roll back the cuts that they've made to Medicaid, roll back the cuts that they've made to nutritional assistance. They literally ripped food out of the mouths of hungry children, seniors, and veteran. And they did that as part of their one big, ugly bill so they can enact massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors. We're going to focus on everyday Americans, working class Americans, and middle class Americans. A couple more minutes left. And I'll ask you this here.

What African-Americans are also asking is, in terms of, let's say, Democrats regain the House in November. Let's say you win that back. Black folks are saying, hey, how are you going to speak to our agenda? The reality is you need significant black support in a lot of these congressional races, especially these U.S. Also on the U.S. Senate side, races in Georgia, in North Carolina. You've got race in Texas as well. And so what do you say to them of what that's going to look like, what that agenda is going to look like, because what we continue to hear from people is they say, hey, Democrats want black folks to show up,

but Democrats got to show up for black folks. Absolutely. And listen, we've got to have a robust racial justice agenda and economic justice agenda. On the racial justice side, clearly some of the things that need to happen is to shore up the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act and the Civil Rights. Rights Act, the efforts to roll back the progress that has been made right at the top of the list. On that side of the agenda, of course, will be passing the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Enhancement and Advancement Act, which is designed to address what the Supreme Court already did back in 2013 when they struck a blow against Section 5, and we've got to watch what the Supreme Court may try to do in the Louisiana case.

we expect to hear from them over the next couple of months. But we are prepared to respond decisively, particularly when we get the gables back. On the economic justice side, I think there are really three areas where we have to lean in on behalf of Black America, Brown America, communities of color, but certainly within the African-American community. That's entrepreneurship.

That's homeownership, and that's access to capital. We know that the 1963 March on Washington, Its full name was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was about both civil rights, of course, eventually voting rights in terms of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but also an economic justice agenda. And we've never been able to fully bring that to life. And in order to do it, we've got to ensure that our communities can be successful economically and self-dependent on the community. as opposed to being reliant on anyone else. And that's something that will strive to accomplish, build upon with an aggressive agenda in that economic justice space.

Last question for you. As I said, I gave the speech in Dallas on Saturday night. While there, I dropped by Friendship West Baptist Church, where Reverend Frederick Haynes III is the pastor. They had an MLK teaching. Anthony, they go to my iPad, got an MLK teach in. They're planning this freedom. Some are there. They're planning to really focus on voter mobilization. That's also the church where one of your House members goes, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. She was in Marshall, Texas,

over the weekend. Do you plan to endorse in that Democratic primary, her race, but also the congressional race that Freddie Haynes is in? I generally don't get involved in open-seat primary, certainly in the context of House races. But I know the Reverend Dr. Freddie Haynes, well, he'll be a lot. an amazing member of Congress. I've been to Friendship Baptist Church events, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church, as I mentioned, and Freddie Haynes used to come preach revival

every single year in Brooklyn when Harry Stark's right was my pastor. And so I look forward to serving with the Reverend Dr. Freddie Haynes. He'll be an amazing member of Congress. And as it relates to Jasmine, no one should underestimate her. She's running hard.

And I think she brings a lot to the table and I support all of my colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus and will do anything that I can do to help her be successful in this primary and if she makes it through the primary, of course, in the general election. So I just want to be cleared. So you're endorsing Freddie Haynes and Jasmine Crockett? Well, I haven't formally gotten involved in any of those races. I'll defer to Freddie Haynes and Jasmine Crockett as to the appropriate way for me to weigh in.

I leave it to the candidates in that regard. I don't want to preempt anything that may be forthcoming, but I think the positive feelings that I have for both speaks for itself. All right then. So as a Texas voter and somebody who actually votes, I'm a constituent of Congressman Jasmine Crockett, I'll be waiting to see how that happens. All right, Congressman Jeffords, we'll appreciate it.

And to Scott Bowdo, if he's watching, I keep telling him, I don't mind Caput's coming on my show. I have grace and mercy. I have grace and mercy. I appreciate you. You're a good alpha brother. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Okay, man. All right then, folks. Let's get back. I've got my panel here. I've got Cameron. I've got Avis, Omicongo as well. So I want to start to start with this one here, and I'll start with you, Omicongo. I played that soundbite from Attorney General Eric Holder.

We spoke today at the NAND breakfast. And two things. The reality is we need people to understand that there is indeed an absolute effort to resegregate Black America. But I need folk to understand that this is not about bringing back separate water fountains. This is not about saying, oh, no, you can't live here. But we do have to understand is there is an absolute effort to undermine every single civil right that we have fought for whether it's the three reconstruction amendments

by the radical Republicans in the wake of slavery, whether it is the 1866 Civil Rights Act. We know the 1875 Civil Rights Act, which, of course, was later overturned in 1883 by the Supreme Court, the 1957 Civil Rights Act, and then the 64, 65, and 68 as well. And so the attack is all about attacking the black infrastructure civil rights, economic, again, academic, health, you name it.

That is what they are trying to do. Yeah, and if people don't get it now, I don't know at what point they actually will get it. I mean, one year into Trump, what statistic for the black community is better, whether we're talking about employment, whether we're talking about health outcomes, I mean, maybe the number of applications to HBCUs,

but outside of that, everything is declining. And people should now be seeing that their community is going to be affected in every way, shape, or form, whether we're talking about law enforcement, you're talking about fraternity general Jones about schools and diversity and so on and so forth, and look what's happening in our schools as well. Every aspect of our community is being attacked. And people need to be at this point now, especially watching what's going on in Minneapolis with ICE. We have to get out of this mindset of, I'm only going to care when something comes to me. I'm only going to care when something hits me. Because if your community is being hit,

then you're being hit as well. And we need a. multi-pronged approach in order to be able to fight this because Donald Trump literally said, I'm against the Civil Rights Act, they were worth, they made white people bad, they couldn't get jobs, and all of this was lies. But he said it because enough white people thought it, all of their lives, and were always against it. And so he's given them permission structure upon permission structure in every space that they occupy, whether as a boss, as a principal, as, you know, somebody running the bank, to be discriminatory and be unapologetic about because they know there's an FBI,

the Justice Department, and an administration that's going to condone in every way, shape, or form. If we don't wake up now one year into Trump, we should have woke up during the first administration

like we were here on the Black Star Network. I don't know what else is going to take, Roland. Abis, I mean, we are making this perfectly clear to folks as much as we can. Anthony, go to my iPad.

Look at this here. Donald Trump is the first individual occupying the White House who doesn't even acknowledge Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Federal Holiday. this is the first time it has happened since Reagan signed the holiday and, of course, even the departure from his first term.

Bottom line is, that's all by design. They do not give a damn about black folks, and they want to attack black folks at every turn. And black folks had better wake up, and I'm sick and tired of hearing these black folks who say, oh, I'm going to sit, I'm tired, I'm going to sit out, I'm going to stay on the sideline, all this sort of crap. They are coming after your ass as well.

And so I don't care whether you're on the corner. I don't care whether you're in the C-suite. I don't care whether you are blue collar, whether you're a white collar, whether you've got a degree or not. We see they are coming after Black America, period. Absolutely. And they have already come after Black America. This is not just a future projection conversation.

conversation. You are one of the few spaces, rolling. You have one of the few spaces that have shared in real time all of the actions that this administration has already taken to rip away our civil rights infrastructure. In fact, what I find very interesting, we're hearing about the, you know, the anniversary of his, unfortunately, his first day in office in terms of his inauguration, and we were at the top of the list of who he was looking to attack. Before they had any ice raids, he was sitting there, signing executive orders that was completely obliterating our advancements in civil rights in a number of different ways. Even to the point of actually signing a civil rights

and executive order that would say that it's okay to discriminate specifically for federal contractors, that it's okay to have segregated facilities as federal contractors. It has been that egregious. And so yes, all the other things that you mentioned are true. We see what's happening with the unemployment rate. We're seeing what's happened to federal workers

that are disproportionately black. We're seeing what's happened with DEI and how that has trickled down in terms of impacting, I believe, not only the culture in corporate America, but also the hiring patterns and promotion patterns in those spaces as well. So all of those things are real, but what we need to make sure that we do is use the power

that we still have in terms of our voting power, because we have a midterm election that's coming up. And if we don't do everything we can to get these people out of... Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark.

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I think we also need to go for the Senate. We need to really make some sort of major shifts in order to put a stop to this train. That's the only power that we have right now until we get him completely out of the White House. You know, Cameron,

and let me, this is not self-surveying when I'm about to say. When I look at right now, and I'm always appreciative of folks who watch out, 1,500 folks live, we know it's a holiday. It's a lot of days we have 2,000, 2,500, 3,000, or even higher 4,000. But here's the thing that I'm always talking about. When it's a sports topic on some shows, oh, you go to some of these YouTube channels,

it's 30, 35, 40,000 folks who are watching live. when I look at the comments on certain stuff, on certain posts on Instagram and others, oh, I'm seeing 40, 50, 100,000, 200,000 likes. I'm seeing 18, 20,000 comments. And what I'm saying is what's going on right now, that black folks had better be flocking to black news and information sources because these folks are going to look up and say, oh my God, what the hell happened?

And the last year, the last year, I mean, it's what, night, so tomorrow is one year since the inauguration. I mean, we've seen the wipeout of billions of dollars. We have seen the wipeout and the attacks on numerous laws and executive orders. And I'm seeing black folks walking around, clueless and going, oh, my God, I didn't know if those things were happening.

I'm like, yeah, because you're watching the wrong shit. We, this is, I'm talking, millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, better realize that what they are trying to do, they are trying to wipe out a future for millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha, if you black. I agree, Roland, and there's two things, two stats that I wanted to bring up to kind of address that. Just today, Axios put out article around how Gen Z is not being taught and being, disconnected from the civil rights era because more than half of the states don't even require you to teach about civil rights. So there is a whole generation that is coming up that won't even appreciate and understand what's happening with civil rights, won't appreciate to understand

what's happening with Martin Luther King Day in those tenants. And so that is a generation that is coming up and there's just uneven education there. And then the second thing is like the media landscape. I know you mentioned in terms of you just had like that Drusky skit that went crazy talking about black pastors. That gets hundreds of millions of views because there's some comedy in it, comedy in it and social commentary. People are talking all about that. But when things that are actually affecting the community, you don't see the same kind

of reverberation and reaction videos and things to that nature. I think part of it is the fact that people are looking for some escape. I just think, quite frankly, people are just looking to get away and get some skates. Here's my whole piece. I get the escape part. but what I need them to understand is that what's going on while they are escaping

the other side is literally obliterating and you can escape for this moment but then when you bring your ass back you can be like I'm gonna get it and happen what happened because you were busy escaping but then also you got to look at the coverage and the way we get information right now

it has to be so much more intentional because when you've got CBS News essentially co-opted with the LISN, you got some of these different... Okay, but it is intentional. But the person, but the people who are being most impacted, they've got to be intentional. And all I'm saying is, is I need folk to realize that what they are trying to do today is to impact black America for the next minimum 50 years. if you are a, if you are a 20 year old today,

they want your ass jacked up minimum until when you're 70. See, so I need people to understand. This ain't about, oh, oh, this thing could change in the next election. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is Project 2025 and Project 2026 and Project 2027 is about enacting, inacting an agenda that is going to, going to absolutely curtail and derail black America for minimum the next 50 years.

That's what they're trying to do. And I just think that a lot of people who are Gen X, millennial, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, who don't realize what is really happening right now. And I think what we gotta do is we can simplify it for people. Unfortunately, I wish people could get more information and be able to handle some of that. but the public has often been able to focus on one or two topics.

And I think we just got to simplify it here on your network and other places of like, this is what you have to lose and not just at a large state. We always say black people are being set back. But what does that actually look like in a money sense? What does that actually look like in a job sense? What does that actually look like in a policing sense? And then kind of what's going on in Minnesota and things of that nature, when it's brought to our doorstep, we see, we saw.

how we reacted with George Floyd. I'm not wishing on any of those types of things to happen, but I think that kind of stark contrast, that kind of real shock, violence, those types of things, or what wake us up. Well, I tell you why,

you can't holler be woke and then you need something else to wake you up. And that, to me, Omicongo is really what folk have to understand. And again, I'm saying the onus is on everybody.

I'm saying that if you're Gen X and you've got children and you've got grandchildren and you've got nieces and nephews, you need to be saying where are you getting your information from? And if they say TikTok and Instagram, well, who are you following on TikTok and Instagram? If you get your shows from certain radio shows, well, what's the radio show? What are they actually talking about? What are they feeding you? Because what we are dealing with right now, what we're dealing right now,

is a very surgical attack on black America. And I'm telling you right now, it can't just be baby boomers and some Gen X who gets it. Black folks had realized, and when people say, oh, man, you know, that voting stuff, guess what? The reality is, when you do vote,

there is one way where you can knock these folks out, is to throw them out. And that only can happen at the ballot box. Look, well, we can show up to as many protests as possible as people want, but as Bayard Rustin said, he said, you know, we protested because we didn't have the right to vote. When you have the right to vote, you don't need to protest because your vote is your protest. And so many of us are disconnected from that. And that's why so many people stayed home.

And what you're talking about with the information sources is also important because, you know, going to what Cameron said and what you said last week, Roland Ryan, it's really, I've been posting about this. You're saying they turned Dr. King into a bobblehead, right? You know, you have the people who know about the civil rights movement because they live through it. You got guys like me who are born after it who got the diluted version of Dr. King, that I have a dream, never, you know, play the other parts of the mountaintop speech like

you talk about, you know, that talks about everything else. And now, as Cameron's point, you got this new generation that is getting nothing. Even in the States where it's allowed to be taught, they're still not getting enough. And so that is why it is important for all of us to do exactly what you said. Fine, you're going to follow this guy on TikTok, but you've got to follow Black Star Network or any other

outlet that's on these spaces. We have to direct them to these spaces. The newspapers we read, most of them are gone or some online space. And so if we don't know where the spaces are on Facebook and Instagram and other and fan base, you know, which is doing a lot of this work, we have to find

it and show it to them. Because a lot of the kids, they will listen if they're stared towards something. But a lot of us had this mentality, oh, they just don't care. They just want to play music and go party.

Many will listen if we don't give up on them. You know it all the time, Roland, you run into middle school students, high school students who listen to you or listen to you in the car with their parents. We can't give up on this generation because there's already a whole infrastructure pulling their attention in the opposite direction,

which is away from our history and away from our culture, which makes it easier for them to undermine us. And we have to keep fighting that. So, Avis, the article that Cameron referenced, there was Axel's article, this is what it was. The civil rights era is losing its grip on young Americans. It says the civilized era is no longer the central reference point for how many young Americans understand race, justice, power, a generational shift reshaping politics, education,

activism in the U.S. Well, first of all, duh. I mean, let's be perfectly clear. If you talk about the civil rights era, officially, if you will, you're talking about December 1st, 195, Montgomery bus boycott through Dr. King's assassination.

You could bring it back a year, Brown versus Board of Education decision. So that's 1954, including also August 28, 1954, for 1955 the heinous lynching of Emmett Till. So you can say Brown versus Board of Education is 54, going through 68. That's, of course, 14 years. But when we talk about today, and this is where, again,

these white media outlets don't seem to understand. They want to skip over Jenna Six. They want to skip over Trayvon Martin. They want to skip over Michael Brown, Crawford the 3rd. They want to skip over Eric Garner. So basically what they want to frame this. They want to frame this as civil rights area and then George Floyd. No, it was a lot of things.

I mean, if you talk about, I got an interview coming out with Howard, with Elliot Williams talking about the Bernie Gets shooting. And listen, Benson, all that stuff that was happening in New York in the 90s. So it's a whole lot we can talk about here. And so that's the problem, the reference point, how you talk about all of these issues. And so my deal is if I'm talking to millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, I'm including these things that have happened not just 54 to 68,

but 68 to 80, 80 to 90, 90 to the 2000s, and now present day. I think that's absolutely true. Here's what we have to remind. We have to remember that these people don't have our best interest at heart. There's a reason why they pulled our history out of public schools all across the nation in way too many states. It is because they do not want our children to know that history. They do not want their children to know that history. And there has been some other research that suggests that the less specifically,

black young people know about their own history, the more likely they are to vote, to be in favor of Donald Trump, for example. So, you know, when we are detached from our roots, we are very easily swayed, we're very easily brainwashed, we're very easily sort of manipulated as a tool to be used for our own destruction. That's number one.

Number two, I think it's very important that black people then understanding that take up the mantle to be able to be able organized to teach our own children. We cannot wait for the public school systems to get this right, particularly throughout the South. I don't expect Texas, honestly, to ever change in my lifetime. I'm not holding my breath for anything to change in terms of the curriculum in Florida. But black families in Florida and black families in Texas and all over can get together and organize Saturday academies and teach our own history because that's what we need to do. And then thirdly, I would

say that in terms of young people, let's not write them all off. I'm the mother of of a Gen Z, I'm the mother of a millennial. And if anything, my Gen Z is even that much more radical than my millennial, though both of them have since. And they understand the threat of this administration. But the main frustration of my Gen Zer is not that he doesn't want to vote. He will vote.

But his frustration is that he doesn't see the Democratic Party fighting enough. He wants to see more action in the Democratic Party. He wants to see the Democratic Party be more aggressive. They aren't aggressive enough. enough for him. And so I believe that if the Democratic Party were more aggressive, more, would show some heft and some fight in their spirit, they wouldn't naturally attract young people.

I don't believe that most young people don't care about politics. I don't think that they are inspired to really support candidates who they don't believe will fight for them. Many of them will do it anyway, like my son, but he does it. I will tell you holding his nose because he wants more fighting. And if he finds someone that will inspire him in that way, he will come out and vote. And it's not just him. If you look at the Mamdami election when you saw the over-representation of young people voting,

it is because, I believe, not just because of this issue of affordability, I think it was also because they saw a fighter in him, and that's something that the Democratic Party needs to replicate writ large. Well, here's the thing that, first of all, I absolutely agree with what Ava says there. But this is the piece to me that is always a very important. is always critical I always talk about what the nuance is and the nuance always is and I've had to deal with this with people well where I'll explain if you want something to change on a school board remember if there are nine if there are

nine people and you vote for one you need four more votes you need five you need at least five if it's the City Council depending on the size of the City Council you need the majority What I'll say is, I mean, I think back to, I think back to 2025. There's a lot of people who are saying, what are you going to do? Sitting there going, do you not know who controls the House, the Senate and the White House? And the key, though, I think, this is where it jumps out. To point Jay Davis just made, when you do have the power, do you use it?

I think what we are witnessing now, where you have, is Donald Trump a thug? Yes. Does Donald Trump not believe in morals, values, principal ethics? Yes. But what you are seeing is a Republican Party

that says, damn all lines, damn all speed bumps. You don't hear them saying, oh, we can't do that. And so what I'm hearing people say is, Democrats, if your ass get the White House back, go to the map.

You get the House in the Senate. I don't want to hear this bullshit. Oh, you know, well, you know, we can't do that. If there is one thing that we see with Republicans holding power, is that they use power. They wield power. They actually execute an agenda and they say, damn, everyone else

we're going to do it. That is the lesson that Democrats that better wake up. And look, Democrats don't have the same legal that Republicans do because you have the right or hard right, but Democrats that better understand you get control of the House.

Yes, Trump can veto. If you get control of the House, If you were able to somehow get control of the Senate, what Democrats can't pray for is a fetterman ends up acting like a cinema and a mansion. Let's say Democrats get 51 seats in the Senate. Let's say they win North Carolina. They win Georgia. They upset Collins in New Hampshire.

And let's say they're able to win the Senate seat in Alaska or Iowa or by God or by miracle win the seat in Texas. And all of a sudden, you somehow look up and you got 51. 51, 52, 53. The scare for a lot of people is you're going to have two or three weak-ass centrist Democrats who hold up progress.

That also, I think, is what Ava's saying. I think it's a couple things. One, they've got to get there. I'm a creature of campaigns. And the campaign rhetoric, even when you hear it now or the rhetoric on the... You saw during the government shutdown

started to build up. up and that energy started to build up. But people are not voting for people who are non-fighters. If you were not coming out saying these things, like the norms be damned. I mean, I come from a different time. But when I got into politics and when I got into Capitol Hill, it was right as the Tea Party was coming along. And I watched how that first year, pre-T party and post-T party, how so many of those norms

are thrown out the window. And you still had so many of a contingent of both Republicans and Democrats who said, hey, we're going to, we're working and we're going to still try to be bipartisan. We're still going to talk to the American people as if it was pre-T party times. Pretty soon they caught up and they realized that wasn't the case. I think what we have to learn, and this is not just Democrats, this is just a people thing. If people do not see you fighting and you and see you throwing out those norms, seeing you name people, See, you name what you're going to do.

Consistently fight back. The reason why the Jasmine Crockets and the Gavin Newsoms have at least been getting so much energy online is because they're with the times. They're using culturally relevant language. They're speaking directly to people, and they seem to be fighting. They're both leading with policy, leading with attitude, leading with energy, and they're leading with laughs. Because to our earlier point when we were saying people are looking for some escape, well, I hate that we got to turn policy. into some level of entertainment, but you gotta realize what people are paying attention to

and responding to, and we have to do that. Because we have to get there before, and then if we get into office, it doesn't need to be just pushing these bills through. You need to name these bills, salacious bills, so people understand, so people understand. No, this bill is taking something back. This bill is fighting something there.

We need to make these public stands not just in the pit of the House or the Florida Senate, the Florida House. We need to be in the street, It's like they, this is a modern, modern media, digital first 360 all on assault that starts in this election season. And then the moment we get elected wherever you are, you've got to be, you've got to be on board. And for those centrists and those people who get scared, because you get some people who get, I barely got elected or I'm in a more conservative state. I can't do what Mondani did or Gavin Newsom did.

Well, then all those who can use more of what we call political capital, they got to put that out there. and shield some of those, but they better get those people in line to make sure at least those votes follow on. Absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back more on Rolla Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network here on MLKDA, 2026. Don't forget support the work that we do. Join our Brea Funk Fan Club. If you want to contribute to our Breed the Funk Fan Club, via Cash App,

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Rolling at Rolandinthorunfiltre.com. We'll be right back. When Dr. King called me up and said, I'd like to meet with you. You don't know me, but I have a request to make. And I'm coming to New York. I'd like to talk with you. I've met in the basement

at the Abyssinia Baptist Church. Nor should have taken, according to him, 20 minutes. It took four hours. And when that meeting was over, I was in his parade forever. When I talked to A. Philip Randolph, when I talked to Eleanor Roosevelt, I can go on and on with a list of celebrity and the power of that century that touched my space that said, you are worthy, that said, you help us. We delight in what you do. We are rewarded by it.

Our causes are won because you brought a population to the table. Because sometimes I'd ask artists and say no, fine, let's make my next concert in behalf of Dr. King. And I would take time out in that concert to let Dr. King have the platform to speak on the issue. And most of the audiences would write me afterwards and say, we never expected it, but thank you for introducing us to Dr. King. Well, that's worth a million dollars. and I am more rewarded by being in that space than I am being in the south of France, which incidentally I do do occasionally. Said the quiet part out loud, black votes are a threat, so they erased them.

After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican legislatures moved fast. New voter ID laws, polling place shutdowns. purges of black voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it. They joined in. In 2018, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased black voters. Their goal, erase black votes and political power.

Yeah, that happened. These are the kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland Martin unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star Network app. Support fact-based independent. journalism that centers African Americans. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are at them.

And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on I Heart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bejan Robinson. When I'm on the field, I'm feeling the pressure, I usually just take a deep breath. When I'm just breathing and seeing what's in front of me, everything just slows down. It just makes you feel great before I run the play. Just like Bejohn, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field. Make a game plan for your mental health at loveyourmind playbook.org. Love your mind. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation,

the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the Ad Council. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartPodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy.

Apple. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. And the issues that matter to our community. I found myself I'm afraid to go to Memphis for a long time. And I don't like to go to Memphis now. Matter of fact, I go

because Memphis has a new meaning to me now, you see. To me, Atlanta was Bethlehem. He had nothing to do with Bethlehem. We were born. Mason Temple really was Gissimony, mountaintop, and the balcony was cavalry. In a certain way, I can send somebody going back to Atlanta,

but he went to heaven from Memphis. It happens to be the place where the poor blacks of the death of Mississippi in Arkansas and poor whites of Appalachian meet in that Mississippi River. That's where he died. That's where he left us. And there's still a story to be told about when blacks from the Delta of Arkansas and Mississippi and coal mines who pick cotton and coal mines

who dig coal from having common ground, there will be a New Jerusalem, so to speak. So there's not to be said about Memphis as as not as a place where it was killed, but as the resurrection site, because the resurrection does not take place for it from the crucifixion. has lots of challenge. And there's a new kind of South now.

You couldn't have had the Memphis bridges behind the cotton grid and we've not been successful. Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys. You couldn't have had Toyota over the Mississippi had been not been successful. We pulled down to the cotton curtain, build a whole new world, a whole new South,

which laid groundwork for new things in America. So his blood fertilizes soil and created a whole new dynamic in American politics. All right, folks. senior there for interview we did just a few years ago. Today, events took place all across the country here in the nation's capital at the NAND breakfast. This they caught up with the MLK the third.

This is what he had to say on this day, the federal holiday for his father, Reverend Alton Martin Luther King, Jr. This is a very critical time. I would like to be able to say that we had achieved the dream that my father envisioned and shared for the nation, my father, I should say, and mother. Unfortunately, that is just not true. It does not mean that we cannot. There still is great potential in our nation, in our communities.

There is great potential all over. And what I hope people can find is in a, out of a, again, I said earlier, out of the mountain of the spell, you've got to find a stone of hope so that we, can lift people. This is a time of lifting. I mean, it's it's it's challenging in this nation and in this world where we are at odds from a war standpoint, potentially from a war standpoint, where we're at odds because of immigration. That is an issue that should be resolved. But it's how we've chosen to resolve it, which is the challenge. At a time when medical prices are going up people have to decide if I'm going to pay for health care if I'm going to pay for food.

What I knew know is no matter how difficult it is, and God knows it's difficult for a lot of people, that we got to hold on because it can get better. My dad, my mom, my family, hopefully we are showing the nation that endurance overcomes. I mean, there was no Civil Rights Act before 1964. There was no Voting Rights Act before 1965. There was no fair housing legislation before 1968. But because my dad and his team and many of us around our nation endured, today those things are barely in place, although there are some were trying to turn the clock back. We cannot allow that it it is the government is supposed to be for the people we the people when we the people stand up and i i must add in nonviolence dad's model showed that we can't overcome folks um

maryland senator angela ulcer brooks first of allsorke memorial the mokin memorial the mokan memorial foundation they have an annual wreathling ceremony there uh and we of course streamed that live here is maryland center angela also brooks you know speaker We must fight even harder to protect what is right. When people try to erase history and water down the impact that our ancestors had, it underscores how necessary it is to reject the lies about who we are. When deceiver spread false portrayals, hoping to divide a nation that simply wants this nation to live up to its creed, it's essential that we push back against this tool that keeps the unheard muted by injustice.

That's why this ceremony is for us and for our commitment to this work. King's legacy doesn't just live in his words. It's kept alive through what his words inspire us to do. Because we can say injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, but do we move as if we believe that's true? Do we turn a deaf ear to someone's call for justice if it's inconvenient to our comfort? Do we settle for a society with violence and substandard living conditions and neighborhoods? Do we ignore the persistent economic inequality in our nation?

Or do we fight for an economy that's equitable and provides opportunity for all Americans? Are we satisfied with a legal system that can be weaponized against the least of us? Or do we keep fighting for a system that treats everyone fairly? Do we relax in the knowledge that our own rights aren't being suppressed, or do we push back on the inhumane treatment of those from a different background? Dr. King's words endure, but sadly, so do some of the threats to justice that he fought against. Even now, there are people being targeted and terrorized for answering the call for justice. It's a solemn reminder that there's still more work to do. But it's also our motivation because somewhere someone is still holding hope that help is on the way.

The call for justice still stands so the work of this movement still lives on. No abuse of power can kill it. No assault on democracy can suppress it. And it's on us to carry it forward. carved into this very monument, there's a quote that I love from Dr. King's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech that says, I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why Wright temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. That strong faith of Dr. King reminds me, I think, of the most important memory we have of all of him.

And that is that he was a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was at his core, and his memory brings to mind the old spiritual beams of heaven as I go. Harder yet may be the fight. Right may often yield to might. Wickedness a while may rain, Satan's cause may seem to gain. But there's a God that rules above with a hand of power and a heart of love. And if I'm right, he'll fight my battle. I shall have peace someday.

We're right about it. And justice will come. Happy birthday, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. We love you forever. every year on this day at Ebeneza Baptist Church, the church where Dr. King preached, the MOK Center. They actually have an event at Ebenezer.

We also live streamed that. Here is Dr. King's daughter, Bernice King. The 97th birthday and the 41st observance of the National Holiday, 41 years in. And I dare to say and declare, and we ain't going nowhere. We do so at a time when the world is trembling under the weight of its own contradictions.

A time when inhumanity, injustice, and inequity have risen to devastating heights. A time when our nation is fractured by polarization, poisoned by fear, and paralyzed by division. We gather in a moment charged with both peril and promise. A moment when the soul of our nation is crying out, not with a whisper, but with a groan of urgency, for healing, for direction, for a way forward that binds our wounds rather than deepens them. We are living in a moral crisis, not symbolic,

but so deep. Our humanity is at stake. There is a battle going on between good and evil and the future of this nation and the World House hangs in the balance. We must decide whether we will continue down the path of fragmentation or rise together into new possibilities of community. But beneath these visible crises lies a deeper affliction, a crisis of conscience and compassion. We scroll through suffering as if flipping through channels. We debate the humanity of our neighbors as that dignity were a commodity. Fear has become the currency of power. Anger is spoken more fluently than love.

Hope is fading into a faint echo. Yes, in institutions, in one another, in themselves, and even in God. We're divided not only by ideology, but by imagination, unable to imagine a future together. This moment demands more than memory, it demands movement. More than admiration, it demands action. More than commemoration, it demands commitment. Because the forces tearing at our shared humanity are not waiting. Nationalism, extremism, and imperialism are not waiting.

The erosion of democracy is not waiting. The massacring of society is not waiting. massacring of civilians is not waiting. Children pulled from rubble in Gaza, Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, and Haiti are not waiting. Oligarchy masquerading as democracy is not waiting. The normalization of dehumanization, disinformation, and violence is not waiting. Wars raging abroad and in our streets are not waiting. economic inequality, widening day by day is not waiting. Climate disasters, devastating homes and hearts are not waiting. Human rights, norms being ignored or selectively applied are not waiting.

So neither can we wait. This is the hour when truth must be louder than fear. This is the hour when courage must be stronger than convenience. This is the hour when love must be more disciplined than anger. This is the hour when we choose the way that leads to life. That way is the nonviolent way, the love-centered kingian way, the way that honors the dignity of every person, even adversaries, that resist the forces dividing us through ideology and identity, partisanship and propaganda. way insists we cannot build a future apart from one another, we must build a future rooted

in justice and compassion. My father often reminded us that we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly affects all of us indirectly. So you cannot cancel that garment. You cannot sever that network. I cannot be all that I ought be until you are because you are. And you are because I am.

Folks, if you want to understand the Trump administration's attack on black people, all you have to do is look at the decision they made today. Now, this is also what happens when MAGA uses a Negro to attack. black people. That Negro they use, and I'm saying that purposely, is HUD Secretary Scott Turner. Scott Turner is a former state legislator in Texas, former football player.

And so today, on this day, now let me set this thing up for y'all. Now remember that the king was killed April 4th, 1968. The next day, President Lyndon Baines Johnson sends a letter to the House saying, I think it would behoove us to pass this fair housing bill, which Dr. King gave his life for, because it had been filibustered for two years. Filibuster had been broken in the United States Senate led by Black Republican out of Massachusetts, Ed Brooke. But see, what you have to understand is, you've got to understand.

black republicans today who amaga kiss-ups who ain't even close to an ed brook you should never ever use burgess owens Wesley Hunt Byron Donald's

Tim Scott Scott Turner in the same breath as an Ed Brooke so here it is on this day again remember king is

killed April 4th, LBJ says a letter April 5th, and a week later, that bill is finally passed by Congress. So don't think it was it by design that the Trump folk would announce today the scrapping of an Biden era

This is the New York Post, an exclusive. HUD terminates Biden-era-D-E-I deal that forced racial prefacing in home appraisal industry, which also is a lie. This is what they said under-President under former President Joe Biden, HUD used disparate impact theory,

the idea that a neutral policy has a disproportionately negative effect on underrepresented families, minorities, to impose race-based policies on the appraisal foundation a nonprofit entity authorized by Congress to set qualifications for property appraisers. And now, listen to this, here is, again, because that's him right there, that's right there, the Negro who they are using to screw over black people. property appraisals are an integral component of helping Americans realize the dream of home ownership.

HUD's Secretary Scott Turner said in the statement, but the Biden administration weaponized the Fair Housing Act to inject DEI into the appraisal industry focusing on illegal race preferences rather than ensuring every American has equal access to quality affordable housing. Today, HUD is ending the politicization of property appraisals to restore fairness and equality to civil rights enforcement and housing. y'all let me explain something to y'all why that's is bullshit now you got to remember uh biden harris really was focused on the issue of ending racism in home appraisals and so what they did was uh they looked at the actual data uh that showed how black people were being absolutely screwed when it came to home appraisals this right here is a new

York Times article from November 2nd, 2022. Widespread racial bias found in home appraisals. Then you go to the story. It says right here that the Biden administration and the federal housing agency released 47 million appraisal reports to the public for the first time. The appraisals, which were compiled between 2013 and 2021, present evidence of a persistent, widespread practice in the home appraisal industry to give higher values to homes when the occupants are white and devalue them if the owners are people of color.

Analyzing the millions of appraisals by using census tracts as a proxy for neighborhoods and comparing communities with nearly identical housing stock, two researchers found that the results showed a clear correlation. to hire the proportion of white residents in each community and higher the appraised value of individual home. Now see, for all you Negroes who said you couldn't support Vice President Kamala Harris because she was too black, she wasn't black enough, or you didn't like it for other reasons.

You know she was advocating for this, advocating the ending of the racism, requiring these appraisals to have training. Okay. Then you might say, well, you know, okay, I feel you. I feel you. But you do have to understand. In a matter of fact, I pull it up.

This is another New York Times article. Kamala Harris says inequality persists in home appraisals. The vice president announced new plans to prevent racial bias in home appraisals following the evidence of widespread discrimination against black homeowners. See, that Negro Scott Turner and Donald Trump, they don't give a damn about black folks

being screwed through home appraisals. They don't care about the billions of dollars that black people lose due to racist home appraisals. No, they want to slap DEI on everything. What I tell y'all when we said voting has consequences. Cameron, I'm going to start with you. Again,

This is a perfect example. No surprise they would announce this today. They don't care about black people. They don't care about black wealth. They don't care about ending discrimination. What they want to do is they want to, again, they want to cut off access to equality. They want to cut off access to forcing folk to do what's right. And if it has a positive impact on black folks, the Negroes like Scott Turner and Donald Trump don't give a damn.

They say end it. So much of black wealth, the number one thing that we own is a home. And this, I remember when this was being enacted and talked about, this was one of the last things I worked on just in terms of trying to get out the message of when that initial focus around this executive order. But for them to do it on Dr. King's holiday. By design. By design on a day where Donald Trump and no official accounts from the White House,

or the president or even acknowledging Dr. King's Holiday, it just is a stab in the back. And I think for the people who know there's racism and the racist nature of both the president, his administration and things they're doing, I think this doesn't come as a surprise. I think for the people who turn their nose or turn a blind eye to it and continue to support the administration,

I think this is just another thing they wanna sweep under the rug and just not pay attention. to. But it does, it does cut out of a core issue because so much of our wealth, like the number one thing any family homes, any family owns, where their wealth is generated is in their property, is in their homes, and being able to pass that on to the next generation. And so when you're cutting off a few hundred thousand dollars and you're cutting off tens of thousands of dollars on that appraisal, that significantly not only impacts that family, but it impacts the the wealth they're able to pass on to their kids.

And it's just another dismantling of the entire ecosystem that supports black folks in America. This, Avis, is a story here. And it shows the reality. Due to racist home appraisals, it has cost Black America $150 billion in equity. This is what this piece right here says, to cameras point.

Home equity represents 65% of all black wealth, according to the nation's oldest minority professional trade association, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. And their report shows that as a result of this, the racism, analyzing housing data from 2021 and 2023, its two authors, James H. Carr and his colleague, Michaela Zanta, both housing, finance, and urban policy experts, reached a startling finding,

Blacks have lost $150 billion in home equity due to biased home appraisals. Donald Trump and Scott Turner don't give a damn about black folks losing $150 billion. No, they don't. And I know James Carr very well. Let me just say he's an excellent researcher. And so whatever he, the numbers that he's coming up with there, I'm telling you, they're 1,000% correct. Okay, he is not blubbing those numbers.

Now listen, here's what I need to tell you about this. This administration, from day one, they have an agenda. We already know about what Project 2025 is in specifics, but let me just say the broader ideology in my mind, the only logical conclusion is this. They are looking to maximize white political and economic power here, and specifically right-wing, because it's not even all white folks, like right wing white political and economic power.

They're looking to do everything that they can to disrupt the Latino community and do court as many people as they can. But specifically as it relates to black people, the main target is our economic power. Our economic power today, our economic power tomorrow. And so this is why they are going after things like this, the equity in our homes. They're going after our jobs.

They're going after the ability of our children to get, quality education and college education to be able to maximize their future. They're going after all of those things to economically disrupt us. And what you're saying here is exactly right. This is not like something that can be, you can just snap your fingers and correct everything overnight, particularly at the glacial speed that policy typically works in Washington, D.C. And this is why when we come out and vote and the realms of power are turned over to the Democratic Party they need to act with urgency, and they need to prioritize things like this. Black people need to make it known that our priorities are all of those things that have

been ripped away during this administration that literally took centuries of blood, sweat, and tears to be able to put into law in the first place. And so I refuse to be one of those who are dissatisfied for us being at the bottom of the list of priorities. We need to be at the top of the list of priorities, and the Democratic Party, needs to know they need to mow swiftly in order to mitigate these damages because if they do not, these are going to be damages that will be felt literally for a generation. The thing here on the Congo is that as a result, again, they control the executive branch.

This is what they do. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on IHartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success.

Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is You can decide who takes home the 26

IHeart Podcast Awards podcast of the year by voting at iHeartpodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at iHeartpodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. This is one of those issues that any Democrats who's talking about running for office in

2008, you better be talking about this here because this goes right to the issue of black wealth creation and sustaining that, what we already have. Well, that goes right back to your question to Representative Jeffries, because if we had the opportunity to ask questions, I was going to ask exactly what you said. You talked about this whole idea about people talk about affordability, but there are so many things that are black issues relating to affordability. And you mentioned issues relating to homeownership. And many of us, when people talk about, you know,

affordability and they're like, we never feel like they're talking to us. And if Democrats don't want to take a powerful study like this and, you know, not listen to black economists and black people in political spaces and policy, people who do the polls and the like, to actually hear our pain. And this kind of goes to say this point earlier, that people are going to stay home

if they feel like people are not going to represent them and fight for them with information, and data like this. My philosophy is, you know, even the weaker candidates, we can vote them in the office and push them. But a lot of us don't even feel like we should have to do that. And so to put, where is anyone else talking about this, Roland? Where are some people going to be talking about $150 million being lost from our communities

while Trump is out there saying that any black progress was bad for America? They're getting out there every single day, trying to take away the little games we've been able to get. And so with this information, you know, I'm going to be spreading this as well. if these guys don't get on this and have this message attached to their affordability message, which they say is so key and crucial, I think more of us are going to stay home in the fall. I hope that's not the case. But these guys have a lot of time to get on the good foot and realize what people are talking about. And they have to start.

We talk about kids diversifying their network. These politicians, in addition to diversifying their consultants, got to diversify their networks and have the Black Star network on full rotation regularly. folks we talk about again on this day and dr king you hear lots of people really focusing on nicely wonderful so we come back from the break i'm gonna tell you what my man bovani jones had to say so we'll talk about that going to go to the break we come back uh black star network headlines with brittany noble uh i'll be back on the show in a moment that evening that was in in indianna campaigning with robert kennedy working to it

his nomination, the Democratic nomination for president. And when I heard that Dr. King had been shot, I didn't know his condition, when Robert Kennedy came to speak, he said we have some sad news tonight that Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. When the audience heard the message, I heard it at the same time, And I cried.

When Dr. King was assassinated, I said, well, we still have Bobby in less than two and a half months he was gone. And I think something died in America with the death of Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy. This country right now, you have people get up in the morning, and the only thing they can think about is how many people they can hurt, and they've got the power. That's the time for mourning. For better or worse, what makes America special, it's that legal system that's supposed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority. We are at a point of a moral emergency.

We must raise a voice of outrage. We must raise a voice of compassion. And we must raise a voice of unity. We are not in a crisis of party versus party. We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis, and a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what? You've been chosen to make sure that those that would destroy,

those that would hate, don't have the final say, and they don't ultimately win. The other King was going across the country to galvanize people to help them understand the right to vote and registering blacks all across the country spent a real significant time in Cleveland. I mean, that was a major driving force between being in our home and also there were several nightclubs that, you know, became the spot where people would gather the movers and shakers,

the politicians, clergy was so important as well. My father talks about the night that Uncle Carl was elected to, to be Cleveland's mayor. And, you know, the streets were going crazy, waiting for the numbers to come in. And there was this excitement in the air. And the numbers are tallied. He wins the election.

They were all upstairs in headquarters. Martin Luther King, my dad, my uncle, Otis Moss, so many other notables. And when my uncle Carl said, well, I need to go down. I need to talk to the people. and thank them for what they've done. Martin Luther King told my uncle and my dad,

Carl, you're going downstairs. I'm going to stay up here and stay with Lou. I don't want to take away anything from your moment. So Michael Carl went on downstairs, and I said to my father, I said, what did you all talk about? And he said, we just talked about how significant it was that we were being swept up in this moment,

that it was a real time of change and what was being done here in Cleveland would reverberate across America. All right, folks, that's more reflection on Dr. King. Time for Black Star Network headlines of Brittany Noble. Roland, an Ohio jury convicted an 83-year-old man of murder in the shooting of an Uber driver

whom he wrongly thought was trying to rob him after phone calls deceive them both. In March of 2024, William J. Brock fatally shot 61-year-old Lolitha Toland Hall, thinking she was part of a scheme to obtain $12,000 in a supposed bond money for a relative. Well, the same scammer had also deceived Hall. She drove to Brock's Columbus home to pick up a package for delivery. Brock shot Hall six times during her arrival at his home. During the trial, Brock's attorney argued that the shooting was an act of self-defense, claiming that the scammer made threats against Brock and his family. Brock testified that he felt threatened when Hall arrived at his house.

Brock was convicted of murder, felonist assaults, and kidnapping. Now he's scheduled to be sentenced later this week. New Jersey's Attorney General is suing a suburban police department for systematically targeting black and non-white drivers. Data from the Clark Township shows that between 2015 and 2020, black drivers were pulled over nearly four times more often than white drivers, despite making up a small portion of the population. The lawsuit also cites a whistleblower's recordings, alleging that town officials used racial slurs and discussed policing strategies meant to keep black people out of the community. The U.S. Department of Education delays a plan to garnish wages of those with defaulted student loans. The agency says this move is only temporary. Secretary of Education, Nicholas Kent, says the temporary pause will help the Trump administration make improvements to the broken student loan system so that it's

it functions more efficiently and fairly. However, delinquent student loan borrowers could see wage garnishments next month. The Committee for Responsible Federal Budget accuses Trump of receiving and extending pandemic-era student loan pauses that it had bowled to end. Around 5 million borrowers have defaulted on student loan payments, which means they haven't paid their debts in about nine months. Immigration and customs enforcement says a man has died while in federal custody. ICE identified the detainee as Victor Diaz, a 36-year-old undocumented immigrant from Nicaragua, who died on January 14th at a detention facility in El Paso. Contract security staff say they found him unconscious and unresponsive in his room. An immigration judge ordered

his removal last August, and ICE processed the final order of removal just two days before his death. The agency says he died of a presumed suicide, though the official cause of death remains under investigation. This marks the fifth death of an undocumented migrant in ICE custody in the first three weeks of 2026. Trailblazing mathematician, Dr. Gladys West, whose groundbreaking work helped make the modern GPS possible has died at 95. Raised in segregated rural Virginia, West rose to become a key scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, which is where her precise calculations help build the GPS systems that we use every day. While her contributions went unrecognized for decades, she is now celebrated as a

hidden figure whose work transformed global travel, emergency response, and everyday technology. Dr. Gladys West leaves behind a legacy of brilliance, perseverance, and world-changing impact. Roland? Thanks a bunch. Folks, I saw a lot of different commentary today around Dr. King. and I really love what Bavani Jones had to say on his digital show. Check this out. I believe that Martin Luther King is the finest man that this country has produced a man in such a way that I don't think that this country deserved him in a number of ways.

And the biggest thing that I say about King that I think is very important. It speaks to, you know, what he is or was is that no one has ever spoken with greater moral clarity. And my greatest frustration with people who misappropriate his words or, you know, as this day goes on and people go and find the most benign quotes of his that they possibly can to put him out there, you know, don't worry, be happy. Martin Luther King, right? You know, that kind of stuff. You have to do it on purpose. It's the only way. You can't accidentally get it wrong.

It's not possible, you know. What was right and what was not. It wasn't just like expressed in slogan. It was always broken down. Because the thing about King that we also don't talk nearly enough about is he's really, really, really smart, right? Like the logic on his stuff. Like if you were doing it with arrows, like A implies B, B implies see all that stuff.

The lines are always so clear. There's so little noise that surrounds it at every turn, right? like it's so clear, it's always there, it's so resonant. And it makes you stop and realize, and this is part of why King was so effective. Do you realize how, like, bad of a person you had to be to disagree with the things that he was talking about, like how fundamentally rotten that you had to be? That's the only reason that, like, this holiday ever got passed or anything else is that it's like, ain't no leaking that.

ship, man. It's not there. It's not. And so with that in mind, I encourage you to go find anything the king has written. Chaos or community is the one that I typically recommend that people go to. And understand, man, he at every turn was confronting the problem of race and how we got there squarely. Right? There weren't no punches pulled.

There weren't no dirty punches either. but there were no punches pulled. He was always so straight ahead at this. And the greatness of King, to me, was another thing that was a settled matter. But we know that it is not. And we're going to have Howard Bryan on tomorrow to talk about his book that he wrote about Jackie Robinson

and Paul Robeson. and they made Paul Robeson disappear. Like, full-on disappear. Like, he never happened. Like, it didn't, like, perhaps the most famous black man in the world in the 1940s. By the time he was dead in the 1970s, it's like he was never there.

Like, the memories of these people can be made to evaporate very quickly without a conscientious effort to keep them alive. Now, something that I think is important when I make that point is this. And this is for everybody, though, I think it has a special, some of the special, a particular meaning for black people. They can change what they teach in schools. They can change the points that they use to decide is like some larger form of education.

They cannot change what we teach each other. They cannot change what we preach on our own time. They can't do it. everything I ever learned about black people I learned for black people. It was never with any sort of expectation that I was going to learn this in school. It just wasn't it, right?

And we have to keep that in mind more and more. And remember that at some point, it looks as though it is possible that we are going to have to teach each other again about Martin Luther King. And if we have to teach each other about Martin Luther King, I think it becomes imperative for a lot of us that we actually learn about Martin Luther King

because a lot of us depended on other people to give us that information. Nah, man, information's out there. Go out there, get it, be inspired, be blown away by what you read. But don't be sitting around waiting. We got to do what we got to do is what I'm saying. Let's make sure we do it. The reason I wanted to play that is because Bumani is absolutely right. What I have consistently said, I said it in my speech to Columbus, Ohio, at the Columbus Education Association on Thursday.

I sit at the City of Dallas' MLK program on Saturday is that my big problem that I have is that consistently when we have MLK events around his birthday, events during Black History, month, the events centered around commemoration when he was assassinated that what we have done, white America but even black America. We have done. We have allowed the gentrification of Dr. King. We have allowed the sanitized version

of King to become dominant. We have stripped Dr. King of his radicalness. We've stripped him as a revolutionary. we stripped him down to just being oh this nice, wonderful, cutly teddy bear who just wanted all of us to just get along. The NFL announced

that they're going to put in the end zones of the AFC and the NFC championship game in the Super Bowl. To commemorate Dr. King, they're going to choose love in one end zone and it takes all of us in the other. We talk about, I have a dream.

Oh, I saw this post from former commander's quarterback, of course, played at Baylor won the Housman Trophy, RG3. Oh, yeah, I saw his post, and he posted a photo for him and his mixed race family. And this is what he posted. Give me one second. I see this here. so he posted this tweet I have a dream that my four little children

who one day lived in a nation they will be not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character happy MOK Day and so he has this photo here of him, his daughters, and his wife that's fine but RG3 you do know

that it was a whole lot more said earlier that speech. You do know in that same speech that was a radical economic speech. You do know in that same speech he called out police brutality. In that same speech, he said America gave black folks a check stamp insufficient funds.

King had a whole lot to say. But see, when you only reduce King to the content of character and ignored the rest then you are ignoring radical King Nicole Hannah-Jones posted on social media

that was a group in Chicago that wanted to cancel her speech so she completely redid her speech and she made her entire speech quotes from King y'all if we actually played on this show some stuff that Dr. King said and wrote,

man, it would make a whole lot of white folk, but also black folk real uncomfortable. As Bobani said, King cut to the chase on a whole lot of stuff, and he made a whole lot of stuff. and he made a whole lot of black folk uncomfortable. Such as this. I'm tired of marching for something that should have been mine at birth. I'm saying to you tonight. The tension surrounding our days, I don't mind saying to you tonight. I'm tired of living every day under the threat of death.

I have no matter complex. I want to live as long. and sometimes I begin to doubt what I'm going to make it through. I must confess I'm tired. Well, I don't know what will happen now. See, they'll play that. But let me do this here. I'm going to keep playing this mountain top part.

Because you've got to understand what we do even with this hair. Listen. But it really doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. I'd like to live a long life. longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will.

And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've seen Promise Land. You know the night, Thomas Land. See, we love to play that part of his speech. That's the bottom two minutes. But how many times have you heard people play the other 41 minutes. How many times have you heard

them to talk about we're going to we're going to have economic withdrawal? How many times have you heard folk play that part of King? That the King was a radical.

1959, A. Philip Randolph president of the NAACP actually called MLK a radical. King C. scared America. Do you understand that

33% of America approved the king in his last year? See, this is what folk don't want to confront. They don't want to confront that king. Because, see, when that king

speaks about being a militant, oh, my God. They get scared because, see, you can't be a black militant. If you're white militant, they call you a patriot. They call you a founding father, not when you're black militant. This is King speaking on that very issue of militancy. Well, I hope I'm militant.

I think it is possible to be militantly nonviolent. Nonviolence can often be misunderstood, and I think this is what happens when one uses a phrase passive resistance, which is a good one, but it can be a misnomer at some point. because it gives the impression that one is passive and doing nothing, wherein this is a very active method, a very powerful one, and it does resist. What we insist in the nonviolent movement is that in resisting the unjust system,

and this should be done with all of one's might, but not with violence, and it should not be done with hatred. He's talking about militant, but that is not the keen they want us to, to know. Because again, if you, the further you get away from King, then what you do is you get away from his death. That means that you are stripping him, stripping him of what made him him him, stripping him of him calling out America, challenging America in every facet. I'm going to play one more before I go to my panel. Listen.

Honest enough to tell you that I'm worried about America. I'm worried about our nation because it's sick with racism still. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are out of them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart. And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

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Because remember, only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester, and the Ad Council. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHeart Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartPodcastawards.com.

Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. Just think about the fact that we live in a nation which was founded on the principle that all men are created equal. And yet men are still arguing over whether the colored of a man's skin determines the content of his character. And I believe that the Lord told me to say to the United States of America that is sick with militarism and is sick with excessive materialism.

Have you ever thought about it? There are between 38 and 50 million people in the United States of America who are poverty stricken. making income less than the poverty level. And yet, this is the richest nation in the history of the world. Our national gross product this year will go beyond $800 billion. And yet, there are between 38 and 50 million people who are poverty-strickenized some wrong. A lot of people are afraid to say. But I don't mind saying that you see, somebody said to me the other night,

don't you think Dr. King, you are going to have to start speaking more in terms of the administration's policy? Because since you started talking against a war in Vietnam, it's hurt the budget of your organization and people who once respected you don't respect you anymore. And I had to look over and say, I'm sorry, but you don't know me. I'm not a consensus leader. I don't determine what is right and wrong by looking at the budget of my organization,

and I don't determine what is right and wrong by taking a gallopole of the majority opinion. And so because there's something wrong, our struggle must continue. And what we must see is that our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters. of delay. I'm going to start with you, let me, Congo. That's the king that Bermani is talking about

that we have to be teaching our children, our nieces, our nephews, our fellow brothers and sisters, and we've got to stop asking them to do it because they are never going to teach

that king. That's right. That's right. I mean, for me, going like what Bermani said, I had to learn from my own community because even growing up, they not only taught us the pacifist side of Dr. King, that was all he was, but then they said, and then there was this other guy, this violent guy,

Malcolm X, and don't be like that. And so when we take the real Dr. King and you realize that their messages were the same, you know, Andy Young talks about, you know, they were friends, and all of those stories we don't know, that energy that I just got, if more people saw that image of Dr. King, those videos, and the fact that,

you know, in color to connect it more, you know, with society today, because we think it's ancient and black and white times and all of that, that is what's so important. And lastly, I will say, when he said that point about, y'all must not know me, I don't go to polls or whatever to get my opinion,

Democrats need to also see that story as well because, like Jennifer Welch said, you know, they crowdsourced their morality. They take polls and talk to these consultants before talking about what's right. Dr. King said the time is always right to do right. I love talking to my kids about Dr. King and what he represented

and what Coretta Scott King represented. And when we teach them, they easily turn on the TV and see that they're being lied to about this man. And it leads them to question, what else have they been lied to about as a relayed star history? That's why we got to go with what Bomani said and take the way to teach it the right way ourselves and teach about him ourselves the right way.

Avis, his book, Why We Can't Wait. I have it right here. First of all, King only wrote three books. People don't understand it. He only wrote three books. This is one of those three. Chaos or Community, which Bobani talked about. I was going to talk about that book for years.

And I guarantee you I was sold more copies of that book than the King kids. I have mentioned that book. And I have mentioned that book in speeches for 20 plus years. And the thing is in here, MLK is challenging at their core. White preachers, white preachers for their silence. He's challenging folks saying, how can you be about Jesus, but then you are silent on the treatment of black people?

Again, this is radical king. Now, the words may be, again, somebody might sit here and say, well, you know, the words are flowery, they're poetic, but no, he was calling white folks out at their core in this book. He certainly was. and specifically white quote unquote progressives. I mean, I mean, here is the thing that we have to realize that this is someone who was a radical truth teller.

He was someone of extraordinary, extraordinary levels of courage and bravery. He is someone who could not be bought. He is someone who could not be intimidated. Don't think that our own FBI didn't try every which way. Everything. to undermine him, right? However, he had a strong sense of justice, righteousness, and an understanding that he was meant.

I just have to believe he knew in his heart he was meant to be the leader of that time. And when I think of his work, I think of the timelessness of it. So, you know, I have an email that I send out to my folk on a regular basis. And today, when I wrote about King, I included the quote, a quote of his that I feel like is especially relevant for this moment. And that quote is, we must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism are all tied together. And you cannot get rid of one without getting rid of the other.

That's from where do we go from here? 1967. That could have been said yesterday. Indeed. This is timeless wisdom, timeless courage, timeless leadership, and it's our responsibility to continue that legacy

through the acts that we do each and every day. Indeed, indeed. I love this one here because for folk who somehow think that black is beautiful was only James Brown, only Stokely Carmichael was only the Black Panthers was only

Aretha Franklin and others. No, again, this is the king. You ain't going to hear MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS, News Nation, or any of these folk, Newsmax on One American News. They ain't going to play this. We don't have anything to be ashamed of. Somebody told a lie one day. They couched it in language.

They made evil. Look in your dictionary and see the synonyms of the word black. It's always something degrading and low and sinister. Look at the word white. It's always something pure. Ha! Well, I want to get the language right tonight. I want to get the language so right that everybody here will cry out of us.

I'm black. I'm proud of it. but I'm black and beautiful. Camera, that ain't AI. Let me, before I go to you, I do want to read this. This is from why we can't wait. King writes, but though I was initially disappointed

as being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus and extremist for love? Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you.

Was not Amos and extremists for justice. Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel? I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Was not Martin Luther and extremist? Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. So help me God.

And John Bunyan, I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience. And Abraham Lincoln, this nation cannot survive half slave and half free. And Thomas Jefferson, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremist we will be? Will we be extremist for hate or for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvaries healed, three men were crucified.

He must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime, the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality and thus fell below their environment. The other Jesus Christ was an extremist for love, truth, and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation, and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. I wish we had a few more extremists who took on some of those, like I said, extremists for love, extremists for justice. As we were thinking about quotes, and especially in this, and we had so many different politicians on who like to pull some of the highlights and quotes from Dr. King. But there's something Dr. King was working on the poor people's campaign, and he was organizing around trying to end poverty, as you mentioned, as you showed in some of your quotes there.

And I think one that really strikes me in that when I think about how we went back the house or how folks come, how politicians really need to focus on, is on poverty. Where do we go from here? He said, I'm now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective. The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measured, the guaranteed income. And when I think about some of the biggest political movements, definitely on the progressive side or on the Democratic side, the Bernie Sanders of the world, Yang, universal, that universal basic income, something to end poverty because everything is showing us prices are going up. We are more and more people. Black folks, everybody is being united by something that things are costing too much, affordability.

However, you package that and the fact that that was something that was so poignant and so focused. of King even right up until his death is something that I think we need to draw back on and really understand how he was able to speak about that and how he was able to focus on that if we really think we're going to take back and kind of lift not just black folks up but lift all of us up well do understand folks one of the reasons why we did this show today the way we did it is because we know you are not going to

get this much blackness even on this day on all those other networks combined. Matter of fact, I used to hate going on CNN on this day. Roland, do you believe that if Dr. King was here

that he would not be happy that his dream has not been fulfilled? They were all fixated on that question. I couldn't stand that. It was just dumb to me. In fact, there was one network that reached out to me that wanted me to come on to talk about the story that Cameron mentioned young folks as they get further away from the civil rights movement. I was like, really? At all the black stuff that's happening today, y'all want to talk about that. But they cancel me because they got an interview with the coach

of the Indiana football team because the national championship is being played tonight. But it tells you right there what priorities are. But this two-hour show here is a perfect example of why black on media. We don't take King Day off for this very reason. Because we know

these other networks. They're not going to play. They were not going to stream M.O.K. Memorial Reith Land Ceremony. We did. They weren't going to stream all of the Ebeneza Baptist Church event.

They were not going to pull the interviews that we have of the civil rights luminaries that we actually have in our archives. In fact, right after this show, y'all got to stick around because we're going to be running a lot of these interviews. And after this show, the first one up is there, Nona Clayton, Secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

When she joined SCLC, she traveled the nation with Greta Scott King as her aide. When Dr. King was assassinated, it was, it was, uh, it was, uh, Zerdona Clayton, who was in the bedroom with her as she took calls and visits from world leaders. She talks about the last phone call, the last conversation with Dr. King driving him to the airport when he went to Memphis. She talks about the aftermath. What do you hear her talking about climbing into the casket to reapply his makeup because the funeral home did an awful job? But she talks about this important history.

And see, this is why we did this. They got to understand something. December 2017, TV1 canceled news one now. We had gone to Atlanta, and we did interviews with C.T. Vivi. And then what we did was the show got canceled. And I was sending them email and saying, hey, King's commemoration of the assassination is coming up. This was April 4th in 2018. And I kept saying, are we doing?

What are we doing? I wasn't hearing back. I sent emails in February. What are we doing? So finally, I decided to take it upon myself to spend $30,000 of my own money. And we went to Atlanta and interviewed Weneida Abernathy. I gave a speech in Buffalo, New York,

and we traveled to Ithaca, New York, where there was a nursing home for retired Cornell University staffers, and we interviewed Dorothy Cotton. We hopped on a plane and went to San Francisco and went to Stanford interviewed Clarence Jones, at the King's Attorney, who helped him write the March in Washington for Jobs and Freedom Speech,

that I have a dream speech. In fact, I talked to Clarence today. He turned 95 years old a week ago. We talked to Claiborne Carson, who led Lisa King Center at Stanford University. We went to Memphis and talked to Bill Lucy. Lucy died last year, labor leader. We went to Los Angeles and talked to, again, Dr. Lawson, an amazing, amazing figure.

We did that. We did it because the voices needed to be recorded. Talked to Lori Stokes when a book came out. Her father was Carl Stokes, Reverend Jackson, Andrew Young, John Lewis, Elmore Holmes Norton. We did that because we needed their voices. To listen to Reverend Jackson talk, he doesn't sound that way today. Dorothy Cotton We interviewed her in February.

The last words I said to Dorothy, I'll see you in Memphis. She says, Roland, I'll see you in Memphis. He never made the Memphis. She was too ill. She died in May. Y'all, this is why black-owned media matters. Our ability to record these stories

and to share them and to have them and to be able to preserve them and then be able to replay them year after year and make them available, that's why it matters. I don't care. See, people have asked me, man, man, of MSNBC and CNN, one of these networks that came and offered you a show, I'm like, no, because if I can't own it and control it, I don't want to do it.

It doesn't matter they want to pay me $2, $3, $4, $5 million. Because, see, if you own and control the product, then you are able to share it with the public. So you need to understand that we don't just do these shows the way we are just because. So what I'm talking about why it's important to help us fund this, we don't have millionaires and billionaires. We don't have these ad agencies dropping millions of dollars on us to do what we do. And I have said for a long time,

Black America will rule the day. And we don't have Black on media. I was told the other day, Essence laid off 28 people last week. 28 last week. I've said it, Ebony, pretty much an Instagram page. A high core of Murray, you try to generate more content. But y'all need to understand something. We are in trouble if we do not have black-owned media that centers black America.

White mainstream media They'll talk about Dr. King today Only because it's the holiday And they'll give it a little time People are hitting me up Say what are your Black History Month plans I said we have none Because we do black history every day

What are your plans for Black Music Month None Because we do black music every day This is about centering us. More importantly, not asking for permission. Let me think of Omicongo. Davis, Cameron, for being on today's show. I appreciate it.

Folks, be sure to share this show, share what you heard from here. When I ask you to join our Brene Funk Fan Club, it's more than two or three thousand of you watching right now on YouTube and the app. And if you have not contributed to our show, you should. Because I'm telling you all right now, the stories don't get told. Those civil rights voices, they're passing away.

I said that Clance Jones is 95. Andrew Young is 94. Interviews that we have, Harry Belafonte, we interviewed him, ancestor. Oneida Abernathy, ancestor. John Lewis, ancestor. Dorothy Cotton, ancestor, and several others,

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all right folks when I was looking for an MLK shirt, I realized I had, like I didn't really have a lot, but this was when I gave the keynote address in San Antonio. You all realize San Antonio has the largest annual MLK parade that takes place. That's right. So this I spoke when it had the 50th anniversary. So I just want to go ahead and rock this. And so the folks in San Antonio, keep up having your MLK Day parade.

Folks, that's it. Again, coming up, an amazing conversation with. Sonona Clayton, worked with Dr. King, a credit Scott King, and then over the next several hours, many more of our civil rights luminaries who knew and worked with Dr. King.

Be sure to check that out. People share it, pass it on, so folks can get educated. Trust me, you're not going to find this content on any other black-owned platform. You're not going to see it on any other mainstream, white platform. You're not going to see it anywhere.

This is why Black Star Network matters. I'll see you all tomorrow. How? I'll spend some money. Saturday, May 2nd, Country's biggest stars will be in Austin, Texas. At our 26, I-Hard Country Festival presented by Capital One,

tickets are on sale now. Get yours before they sell out at Ticketmaster.com. That's Ticketmaster.com. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to.

I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me, lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal.

And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is You can decide who takes home the 26 IHard Podcast Awards podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote. at iHeartpodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app.

Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.