#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Houston's Uplift Harris, Trump Jury Selected, Black Voters Matter Sick & Tired Campaign,BSN's Future

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

4.18.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Houston's Uplift Harris, Trump Jury Selected, Black Voters Matter Sick & Tired Campaign,BSN's Future A Texas judge rejects Attorney General Ken Paxton's claim that a Harris County program to help low-income households violates the state's constitution. #BlackStarNetwork partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase Harris County Attorney is here to discuss the Uplift Harris program and today's ruling.  A 12-member jury is sworn in for Trump's "hush money trial," but not before two jurors get excused after they voiced concerns about their safety.  Black Voters Matter is teaming up with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network for the Sick and Tired campaign, which spotlights the ten states that have refused to expand Medicaid eligibility. Black Voters Matter's National Field Co-Director will be here to let us know where they will stop.  A Tennessee Republican compared legislators to "ugly strippers."  Yeah, we have the video. I can't wait to show you.  And I wanted to tell you about the future of The Black Star Network.  Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today's Wednesday, April 17th, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Three Georgia County jailers are facing a lawsuit for standing by as a restrained inmate gets choked by a chain. We'll chat with civil rights attorney Harry Daniels. NBA player Jonte Porter suspended for life after a gambling investigation. Found he shared information and bet on games, including his own team.

A black Ohio Uber driver gets sent to a home to pick up a package and ends up dead, shot and killed by an 81-year-old white man who says he was being scammed. It's been a year since Sudan's civil war started. With no end in sight, millions need humanitarian aid, facing acute levels of hunger and on the brink of famine. Also, Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey is unconscious.

He is in a hospital for the last 11 days after suffering a heart attack. Also, in our Tech Talk segment, Isaac Hayes III, the founder of Fanbase, will join me. And we're going to talk about equity and what it means to actually have ownership. It was a conversation here with Jermaine Dupri, and I definitely want to break that thing down. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered

on the Black Stud Network. Let's go. Puttin' it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now

Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's rolling, Martel Martel Three Georgia County jail guards are being sued for allegedly standing by while one of their colleagues appeared to choke a restrained inmate. The lawsuit claims officers, these three officers, first of all, did nothing to stop 60-year-old, first of all, to stop the officer from choking 37-year-old Tremar Harris,

who was restrained in a chair. Joining me now is Civil Rights Attorney Harry Daniels. Harry, we're showing the video as we speak what actually took place. So your client is sitting in this chair. And first of all, why was he restrained? Well, when he was restrained, it felt like he was acting out and they want to put him in a restraint chair. So he was called inside the jail. So essentially, they put him in a restraint chair. And I think he's supposed to be in a restraint chair.

Okay, so he was restrained in the chair. Can you hear me, brother? Yeah, I can hear you, Harry. And then all of a sudden, they come in and they start choking him with a chain? Yeah, yeah, they come in and they start choking him with a chain? Yeah. Yeah, they come in. At some point, he was able to free his right arm. And you can see the camera.

Situations, you have somebody watching. Actually, hold tight one second, Harry. Hold tight one second. Harry, hold tight one second. I know you're on a plane. Guys, do this here. A video is not working. So here's the piece.

Get him on audio, and then we simply have him via audio. Let's do that. So this video is not working. Let's do him on FaceTime audio, and then we can chat with him. So again, I want us to roll the video from the top. Roll the video from the top. And so here you see this young man,

Tremar Harris, so you see him there in the chair. There are four officers who are there. And then all of a sudden you see one of them putting a chain around his neck. And then he pulls on the chain. That makes no sense whatsoever. We're going to try to get Harry again on audio. And so I have my panel here, of course, Robert Petillo. He of course hosts People Passion Politics News and Talk 1380 W.A.O.K. out of Atlanta,

who's also running for a judicial position there. Also Rebecca Carruthers, vice president of Fair Election Center, Washington, D.C. And Gavin Reynolds, contributor with The Root, former speechwriter for Vice President Kamala Harris out of New Haven, Connecticut. You know, we see numerous stories like this, Robert, where we have these jailers who do unconscionable things. In fact, you know, the Department of Justice has put a number of wardens, wardens and jailers, put them in prison for their actions. And we have seen a lot of these stories out of Georgia.

You're absolutely correct. And in that video, if you look very quickly at the beginning, the first jailer who turns around, you'll see a skull symbol with a, it seems like a vertical American flag on the back. You'll see it right there, almost a Jason Mast skull, a vertical American flag on the back of it. You see it right there, mostly Jason Mast's skull with the vertical American flag on there. That is a symbol that is very associated with white supremacist organizations. You'll see that often at proud boys rallies. You'll see that often at the stop the steal rallies, those sorts of rallies.

So we have to also talk about the fact that we have these white supremacist organizations that have infiltrated law enforcement. And in and in many ways have become part and parcel of law enforcement leadership in this country. A few, probably about six years ago, we interviewed the Ku Klux Klan on our show. The international co-clerk of the Klondike Ku Klux Klan came on, Gene Wolfe, and he talked about the fact that they realized they could no longer operate the way that they had in the past. They could no longer wear the sheets and all those things. But they understood that they could infest our judiciary. They could infest law enforcement. They could infest our military. And we have to understand that these people are in positions of power around the country, and they are using their

positions to harm and to belittle and to trample on the rights of African-Americans. And as we talk a lot about, we have to do something about reforming our jail system in this country. People are spending entirely too much time behind bars before they are even convicted of crimes. People are spending entirely too much time waiting on trial, waiting on bond. And because of this, it gives these jailers the opportunity to violate the fundamental human rights that these people are involved in. I'm glad my friend Harry is on this case, and I'm glad we now have video cameras in many of these courthouses and jails and detention facilities around the country, because this has been happening for decades. It's only now that we have cameras that people actually believe

the image when these things take place, and it's important that we provide justice for these individuals. You know, I'm going to pull this story up here, Rebecca. A story was announced just the other day that a federal prison in California is being closed, like literally shut down because of sexual assaults of female inmates. And that tells you right there how shameful this is, that they have so many rapes that they're going to shut the prison down. And this prison is, let's see here, it's, let's see here, I think it's FCI Dublin. Again, I'm pulling this story up one second right here. Yeah, FCI Dublin. This has been notorious, and I'm trying to understand, how do you not stop that? How do you, and that's on a federal level, and it's worse. You have

worse actors on the state level, and again, DOJ has been doing as much as they can, but where are these state legislators, these county commissioners, who's supposed to oversee these jails? The

criminal legal system in this country is complicit with human rights violations, full stop. We're seeing it, whether it's our jail systems, whether it's our federal prison systems, or our state prison systems. We're also seeing this extended to law enforcement. Oftentimes, we hear a pushback that, oh, it's just a few bad apples. It is very apparent that these are systemic issues that must be addressed. And if the United States is unable, unwilling to address these issues from coast to coast, then maybe we need to bring in international tribunals to help correct these human rights violations that are happening in this country. And also, it is disproportionately impacting

people of color, specifically Black people in this country. And right now, we're simply—we still have people who tell us that these are just one-offs, that these things aren't happening across the board. But every night on this show, you know, we run stories about something that's happening with the criminal legal system and its detrimental impact on black folks in this country. Gavin, this took place in Applin County in Georgia. Go to my iPad. But this is what I'm talking about. the beleaguered Federal Bureau of Prisons said Monday it will close a women's prison in California known as the Rape Club, despite attempts to reform the troubled facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff on inmate sexual abuse. Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters said in a statement to the AEP that the agency had, quote, taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention,

aging infrastructure and most critical employee misconduct. Despite these steps and resources, we have determined that FCI Dublin is not meeting expected standards and that the best course of action is to close the facility. This decision is being made after ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of those unprecedented steps and additional resources. Here's nowhere in the statement. We're going to ensure that any person who works at that prison does not get hired anywhere else. I mean, you can sit here and talk about all this sort of stuff. These are individuals who flat out believe, oh, we can sexually abuse women

without any repercussion whatsoever. And I'm going to tell you the best way, if you truly want to slow down or stop these things, and we said the same thing about cops, start putting their asses in prison.

Start indicting and convicting them for sexual assault and rape and give them prison time. And then you say, anybody else here? Anybody else here want to sexually assault a woman? We're going to indict your ass and we're going to convict your ass.

To me, that's what you do. So many times, the people who are perpetrating these crimes against these incarcerated individuals, like Robert said, in many cases who have not even yet had their day in court, they do what they do hiding behind the badge, hiding behind the law. And there's so much rot in the system that it's not even just these wardens and people who work within the prisons, but it's also those who are elsewhere in the criminal legal system, such that in many cases you might try to prosecute

those individuals, but because of the rot and the corruption elsewhere in the system, those efforts go in vain. And I appreciate you, Roland, and my other panelists for sort of expanding this out, because this goes so far beyond this one instance. And Robert is right. It's only because we thankfully have this on tape that we're actually able to deal with the situation. But elsewhere in Georgia, this is not just happening in this county where this took place. You look at Metro Atlanta. I was reading three inmates have died in five days in Metro Atlanta jails. We have to talk about what's going on in our jails. And until we do, people in our jails and our prisons will continue to be assaulted, continue to be treated in absolutely reprehensible ways, and in some cases, even losing their lives,

when what they should be doing is getting their day in court, getting their fair shot at justice, which is too often denied. And so I think oftentimes we tend to focus on private prisons and sort of other very clear and obvious villains in our criminal legal system. But we have to recognize that the—and I commend the Biden administration, who has announced that they're no longer going to renew any contracts with private prisons at the federal level. But that's such a small piece of the overall system, of the overall system. This rot is so pervasive. And so I hope, you know, in this case, the judge who presides over this trial against those officers vindicates the individual who is victimized in this situation, and that, Roland, like you said,

we take steps to make sure that the law enforcement officials who have sworn oaths to protect the people in these situations live up to their oath. And if they don't, you know, we put them on the other side of the bars. Let's just be clear here, Rebecca. The problem that we have when it comes to jails and prisons, the public says we don't care. They're animals. That's the problem. They start with the mindset that these people are incorrigible and they are animals

and so therefore they can be treated any way they want to. When we dehumanize people behind bars, this is what leads to this particular issue, because you have—because it's now expected that those who are incarcerated are behaving like animals. But guess what?

Those who are there to serve as guards within prisons, they are just as incarcerated as well. Like, it's a mindset. They begin to act like animals. And that's what people have to understand. When you listen to a lot of advocates for criminal legal system reform, they will let you know that institutionalization happens to both sides. It happens to the inmates, and it happens to those who are guarding the inmates. And if we don't change the way we view people behind bars, then this issue is going to continue to happen. Because bottom line, we have to figure out, are we trying to punish people, or are we

trying to reform people? If we're trying to reform people, that means we have to keep them engaged as an active citizenry. If we try to treat them as animals, that means we're throwing them away. And in this country, we're saying that, hey, we're not going to give you disproportionate—you're not going to be punished disproportionately to your crimes. So if someone is in prison for stealing cars, should they then be denied their humanity? And so that's the question that, as, we have to figure out what is it that we want exactly in our criminal legal system?

Because I would tell you every other country in the world, they don't have these same problems that the United States has. They also aren't incarcerating people at the rates that the United States is. They also don't have the amount of crime happening in other countries as well. So there's something the United States is doing that is failing and is causing these human rights violations. Robert? And, Roland, on that point, I want people to look up the Supreme Court case Farmer v. Brennan from 1994. The reason that case is important is one of Clarence Thomas's first cases on the court where he ruled that an inmate who had been raped did not have an Eighth Amendment violation. He argued that it should be expected and to be part of the sentence to be abused in prisons,

and basically you forfeit your constitutional and human rights by being incarcerated. This has been influential on police brutality cases, on prison brutality cases for nearly 30 years. We're talking about our wonderful Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and it's been supported by the prison industrial complex for decades. The only way that we fix this is by changing Supreme Court precedents so that we can actually prosecute and go after these jailers, that go after the individuals who commit these acts. And then I also, for the viewers, there's a line between prison and jail.

Prison is where you go after you've been convicted of a crime. Jail is where you are at while you are awaiting trial. When people are abused in the jails of America, those are not criminals. Those are not felons. Those are people who are awaiting trial. They are being punished in such a way that often goes beyond the sentence. I've had people who have been locked up in Fulton County Jail for five, six, seven years awaiting trial. As was just mentioned, we've had over a dozen deaths in the Fulton County Jail in the

last year and a half. Gwinnett County, just outside of Atlanta, has had over a dozen deaths in the Fulton County Jail in the last year and a half. Gwinnett County, just outside of Atlanta, has had over a dozen deaths in the last year or so for people awaiting trial. We had one person eaten by bedbugs to death. I had to go on to News and Iran and explain what happened to someone who was eaten by bedbugs in Fulton County Jail. This is because we have a criminal justice system that locks up poor people, and the people who don't have the same money as some of these celebrities we see going to court every day, they stay in custody for sometimes a half decade or more, longer than the actual sentence would have been if they had been convicted of the crime. And then they are scarred and destroyed for life. It's like being abducted by aliens. Your car is gone. Your apartment is gone. Your credit score is destroyed. Your

utilities are turned off. Your life is ruined whether you are convicted or not. And if we do not reform the criminal justice system from the inside out, we can no longer call ourselves a first world democracy. We've started falling into the star chamber that you'll see during the medieval era, where we are no longer a nation of laws, we are a nation of anarchy. And that's what we're quickly hurtling towards. And, and Gavin, bottom line is this here. When you talk about this issue, the, the, the only deterrence is these folks got to go back to my iPad. When the Bureau of Prisons announced this decision,

just 10 days earlier, just 10 days earlier, a federal judge announced a special master to oversee the prison. The Associated Press had an investigation that details decades-long mismanagement and abuse at the prison. Now, here's what's interesting. When you go down this particular, first of all, the prison is located 21 miles east of Oakland. If everybody who's watching, and I understand, this is separate from the case that Harriet Daniels is talking about, but I'm putting them together because it speaks to the abuse of inmates.

605 inmates in this prison. You had some whistleblowers involved here who said how they were being sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, other types of abuse, medical treatment as well. But here's what's crazy to me right here. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. It says the women currently housed at the prison will be transferred to other facilities and no employees will lose their jobs. I'm confused. If you can't fix the problem, if they're clearly not listening, who?

Why are they keeping their jobs? Now, what you had here was, you had in this same place, you had several people who were prosecuted. Since 2001, back to about 2021, eight FCI Dublin employees have been charged with sexual abusing inmates. Five have pleaded guilty. Two were convicted at trial, including the former Wharton Ray Garcia.

Another case is pending. Okay, Gavin, this is where I'm confused. Eight? Eight. Decades of abuse. Decades of mismanagement.-employers will lose their jobs. What the hell? I think what this just shows us, what this illustrates is that in this country, it's harder to fire and prosecute federal officials who can hide behind their federal protections than it is to

lock up poor Black people. We see that time and time again. And I want to go back to what Rebecca said, which I think was such an astute point about how this system that we've created in this country to lock up poor Black people has infested and taken over the minds of those who are working in those prisons. And it reminds me of a quote from Toni Morrison in her Nobel Prize-winning book Beloved. She was describing slavery, but she described slavery as a jungle that white folks had planted, that grew and that spread until it invaded the whites who themselves had made it. And it made them bloody and silly and worse than they ever wanted to be. And she said that the screaming baboon lived under their own white skin and the red gums were their own.

And we know that our current system of mass incarceration is but a continuation of slavery in this country. And so we shouldn't be surprised. I think Toni Morrison was aptly describing the current situation that we have here. It's just time that we recognize that. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered, including we'll talk about equity when it comes to having an ownership stake in companies, why that is important no matter what the industry is.

Also on the show, an NBA player gets a life ban for betting on his own team. And Marjorie Taylor Greene says, we do not like white supremacists in this country. Except when I'm standing with one and shaking his hand at his conference. Wait till we show you this exchange that took place in Congress. You're

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for children ages 7 to 18. We provide 120 online and classroom hours of financial education. That's right here on Get Wealthy on Blackstar Network. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin, unfiltered. Talk about being an idiot. Toronto Raptors player, Jontae Porter, has been banned for life from the NBA for gambling.

An NBA investigation found the 24-year-old disclosed confidential information to sports bettors wagering on games, and he even bet on the Raptors to lose. Porter's the second person to be banned by Commissioner Adam Silver for violating league rules. The first was the former owner of the L.A. Clippers, Donald Sterling, in 2014. Silver called Porter's actions blatant. Now, in their statement announcing this decision, they laid out exactly what went on. And what happened was that they discovered a suspicious activity

when someone bet on Porter's actions, meaning his ability to play in games. What ended up happening was he said that he was checking out of certain games because of injury when, in fact, the bet was that he would not play in a certain amount of minutes in the game. So someone who, according to the NBA, that Porter told someone who he knew was a better of games what he was going to do, and that person bet $80,000 on Porter's,

essentially, game in action. That's what caught the attention of folks and then NBA. Now, when you talk about this decision, That's what caught the attention of folks and then NBA. Now, when you talk about this decision, this is the press release that they released. They said another individual with whom Porter associated and he knew to be an NBA better subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay proposition bet with an online sportsbook to win $1.1 million, wagering that Porter would underperform in the March 20th game. The league's investigation also found that Porter limited his own participation to influence the outcome of one or more bets on his performance in at least one Raptors game.

In March 20th game, Porter played only three minutes, claiming that he felt ill. Due to the unusual betting activity and actions of the player. The $80,000 proposition bet was frozen and was not paid out. Now, this is what's crazy, y'all. Okay, from January through March 24th, while traveling with the Raptors or Raptors 905, the Raptors NBA G League affiliate, Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate's online betting account.

These bets range in size from $15 to $22,000 for a total of $54,094. The total payouts from those bets was $76,059, resulting in net winnings of $21,965. None of the bets involved any game in which Porter played. Three of the bets were multi-game parlay bets that included one Raptors game in which Porter bet that the Raptors would lose. All three bets lost. Now, what's crazy here is that, and the statement doesn't say it, and I'm going

to actually send an email in a second to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, because here's what I find, because the statement doesn't address this here. When Donald Sterling was banned, Donald Sterling could not even enter an NBA arena. He could not attend anything related to the NBA. This statement doesn't actually say that's the case. Now, Jonte Porter's brother, Michael Porter Jr., is a star for the Denver Nuggets. So if the NBA moves forward with what they did against Donald Sterling, the reality is this here. If John Taylor Porter's brother, Michael Porter, let's say, leads his team back to the NBA Finals

and has a suite for the family, he can't even be in the building. He can't even be there as a part of a parade celebration. But here's what's crazy to me. You make it to the top of the top, the NBA, and you throw that away for $21,000? Now he's going from the G League to the NBA back and forth, but dude, you're there. You're there. You're there. Now, we knew this was going to happen because you've always had various gambling scandals in sports. College basketball, you had an NBA ref, okay, who was involved in a gambling scandal. You also now have all of these leagues now that are accepting money from gamblers,

meaning from all these different companies. ESPN, you read an ESPN story today, you can't even read the story without seeing ESPN Bet. When I first saw it, I thought ESPN had a sports show on BET, but it's actually ESPN Bet. And so you've had some NFL players have also been suspended for betting on NFL games and being involved. Gavin, his was interesting. I was talking to, and I cannot remember, man, I can't remember who I was talking to.

It was a former NFL player who was telling me he could not get his kids interested in playing sports. And I wish I could remember who it was. And his wife said, why don't you take them out? But you know what he told me? He said, oh, now all of a sudden, his son is focused and intent on watching NFL every week because of betting. Because of betting.

I talked to a father of a young athlete, high school, and all of his teammates. Now they're betting left and right. Jontae Porter is not going to be the last. And I can guarantee, look, we saw this at, I think it was Iowa State. We see this already in the NCAA. Because sports gambling has now been expanded because of a Supreme Court decision, I'm telling folks right now, go ahead and mark it down. You're going to see more gambling scandals of players on the pro level, the collegiate level, and if they take any bets on the high school level,

it's going to happen there as well because of the proliferation of gambling. Kevin, you're on mute. It says my mic is on. There you go. Now you're on. Okay, weird. I don't know why. My bad. bad um but roland no i was just agreeing with you i think it's so sad for jonte it's a player who had a long career ahead of him like you said you know kind of going between the g league and and the actual nba so it's unclear i guess how his career would have progressed but you know

it's the first player or coach to be banned permanently from the NBA since 1954. And I think just considering how much he stood to make in his career, you have to think, I mean, at least I wonder, does he have some sort of, you know, gambling problem or gambling addiction? I have no idea. This is me just purely speculating, but we do know that as the leagues are moving to expand, right, there their sports betting offerings with FanDuel and DraftKings and all these other companies and BetMGM and Caesars, that there are a lot of people who do struggle with gambling addictions. Now, again, I'm not sure if that's the case for Jonte, but I think we are seeing, right,

that as the leagues are recognizing the revenue that they stand to make from sports betting. I think it's like, actually, when I was at the NFL, this is an issue I looked at really closely. As states have continued to legalize sports betting, we're seeing just these markets, just the floodgates, completely open. But for the leagues, the way that they have to make sure that integrity is maintained is key for them to continue making money. And so we are seeing the leagues crack down, whether it's players, whether it's league staff, whether it's coaches, general managers, you name it.

I hope that this is a wake-up call for other players who might be tempted to do this. But I also hope that at least it maybe sparks a conversation because I think we are at an inflection point where, you know, there's just so much more money to be made in this market that, you know, we talk about some of the ugly underbellies that come with, you know, sports betting, right? And I've even talked to people, you know, who work in professional sports who, you know, work for entities that stand to make a lot of money from sports betting, but who themselves are split or feel those qualms as to, we've got to make sure we do this responsibly. And it's interesting because there are some big holdout states that have yet to legalize sports betting. And for them, Texas, Georgia come to mind, a lot of it is on the sort of like ethical grounds that they're not sure how

they feel about legalizing something like sports betting and potentially opening the door to many people getting hooked on sports betting. But the fact of the matter is, whether it's legal or whether it's illegal, you're still going to have people engage in this activity. And I think the argument in favor of the legalization of sports betting is that, you know, if we legalize it, at least it's out in the open. We can regulate it. We can tax it. We can use some of that tax revenue to fund the, you know, problem gambling treatment

services that states are funding. So it's a really complicated, you know, issue for sure. We're just going to have to get a grip on how we go forward and certainly a very sad situation for Jontae. You got to be stupid as hell, Robert, to be 24 years old. You make it to the top of the top and you throw it all away for a total of $21,000 in earnings. I can guarantee you that Jontae is not going to be in the position where he could potentially land a job earning him millions of dollars a year

if he had continued to get better in the NBA. Well, you know, I blame the league on this because they have the All-Star Game in Las Vegas. They have the in-season tournament in Las Vegas. As you said, there's a BetMGM, DraftKings, something banner on every square inch of the NBA playoffs and the play-in tournament, the mid-season tournament, and everything else. And it was easy to punish Jontae Porter, because nobody knows who the hell he is. But let's say it's a different situation. Let's say

that this was Steph Curry or Kevin Durant or Luka Doncic. Do you think the league really would have suspended them from life for this? No, they would not have. First of all, with those players, actually, I disagree. I'm telling you right now, the one way for your league to die

is if people believe the outcome has already been determined. If Kyrie Irving or Luka Doncic or Draymond Green, if they were busted betting on games, they're gone. Look, Rowley, remember there was a rumor that in the 90s, the reason Jordan retired the first time was because he had been betting on games. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. That's incorrect.

Nope, that's incorrect. What was talked about was because of Michael Jordan's gambling off the court, because of his gambling on the golf course, because of his gambling in casinos, that was being talked about. Never, never was it ever discussed that Michael Jordan was gambling on games. Look, Roland, when you invite gambling into a league, when you invite gambling into sports, this is going to happen. You can look at Calvin Ridley when he played for the Falcons.

You can look at any of these leagues. So these leagues are going to have to make a determination. Either you're going to be in bed with the gamblers, either you're going to be in bed with the numbers runners, et cetera, or you're not going to be so. If you're in league with them, then set rules for players where they can gamble on these games. It's just the reality of the situation.

We can keep lying to ourselves and pretending that everybody in the league is making a max contract. John T. Porter can probably go to China and make more money than he ever was going to make in the G League. He can go to Turkey. He can go to the EuroLeague. He can go play in Puerto Rico with Boogie Cousins and Hassan Whiteside. There's other places to go if you're a mediocre player. But as long as the league is going to be in bed with these to go if you're a mediocre player. But as long as the league is going to be in bed with these betting organizations, you're going to have these situations pop up and they're either going to have to figure out how to deal with it or they're

going to have to get out of bed and forego those billions of dollars they're getting from these gambling companies. Look, I totally understand, Rebecca, the point about them being in bed with sports betting companies, but the reality... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

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

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

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

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

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Is this here um i can't blame the league for a player choosing to check out of a game early and told somebody about the bet and then all and then and to make them 1.1 million dollars that's on the player and here's the piece The reason this is different is that it was when the Supreme Court gave its decision to allow for online betting, and it went outside of Atlantic City and outside of Las Vegas. That's when all of this changed. Now you've got gambling all across the country, multiple states allowing online, because you get a lot of barriers that were there. But this is on the individual.

Every player is told, do not bet on games. He literally bet on games for Toronto to lose. You're with the organization. Yeah, your ass got to go. So, first of all, the NBA is full of crap. The NBA is so hypocritical. At first, I went with the purity of basketball, and people are tuning in because of the purity,

and they don't want to know that the fix is in. I mean, we already know the Porter family doesn't have to worry about the Nuggets making it to the finals. You know why? Because the league really wants the Lakers. No, no, no, no, Rebecca. Rebecca, that can't hold up because the Nuggets won the title last year. Right, right. You're right. But statistically, how often in this era do we have back-to-back champions? But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The point is

the Nuggets won the championship last year and they can win it again this year. But the bottom line is this here. If the Sterling rules are applied, and I'm going to send an email I'm going to send the NBA an email he literally

can't be near any NBA type of event. And so what has happened here, he's totally screwed himself. And to Robert's point, I don't think, yeah, you got Greece, you got Europe, you got all the other different places. I'm not sure if I'm any of those people. I want somebody on my team who has acknowledged betting for his own team to lose. I wouldn't be surprised if they all say, sorry, dude, you can't come play here.

He screwed himself. He's going to go find him a regular-ass job. And it's so bad, he can't even get a job carrying his brother's bags because I doubt he'll be allowed into an arena. I hear you, but I'm also not going to get on here and all of a sudden be pro-NBA. Because the bottom line is, the NBA is making multi-millions of dollars

with all of their multi-year contracts with 365 Bet, with BetMGM, with DraftKings, and the other authorized, specifically the NBA authorized sport better operators. So I think it's very rich for the NBA to now say, oh, okay, so everyone else can bet on these games but not our players? Yes. The NBA has had liquor sponsors, and the bottom line is,

if you get charged with a DWI, your ass might get suspended. Look, Bobby, look. Look, I don't think that that's analogous. Actually, it is. The reason why it's not analogous, because now we're talking about public safety and public health. No!

Wait a minute. We're talking. You're betting on a game. Your actions literally are determining whether the product that's on the court, whether you want a fan wants to be able to watch a game and go, I'm watching players play, let the best team win. Not a guy checked out of the game to help a better win $1.1 million. His ass got to go. And look, I get the NBA accepting

a sponsor money from betting companies, but a player is, you cannot bet on the league. Everybody is told that. That's on him. Some level of personal responsibility has to be accepted. He screwed up.

I'm not arguing that what Jontae did was smart. So let's be clear about that. What my argument is is that I still find the NBA to be hypocritical because when you now allow for legalized sports betting to enter into your league and you go into these formal partnerships, you are also increasing the likelihood of your active players betting on the game. And so I don't think that the NBA has done enough to crack down on this and prevent this from happening.

But I will also say that the NBA is hypocritical in general. There's other issues in which the NBA is hypocritical, such as fining players if they test positive for marijuana in their system. Well, we know that THC is not a performance-enhancing drug. Well, actually, hold up, hold up. The leagues have actually changed their policy on marijuana. That's changed.

So that's not the same conversation that you had five years ago. So they've changed their policy when it comes to marijuana. You're right. I still think the NBA. I know I'm right. I know I'm right. I'm like, I know that. And I'm acknowledging that you're right,

but what I will not do, I'm not about to get in here and act like the NBA is this perfect league. No, no, no, no, no, no. No one, no one, no, no, Rebecca, no, no. That's gaslighting. Nobody said the NBA is a perfect league. What we're talking about is a player who bet on not only games,

who gave a better inside information about his health, who purposely checked out of games so he would not hit certain statistical numbers at the betting placed on. That's a whole different level of betting. That is literally determining the outcome. Okay? We could talk about the White Sox scandal, the 1919 Chicago White Sox, which they call the Black Sox, because of that scandal.

We can talk about Pete Rose. Look, look, look, we can talk about Pete Rose. And guess what? His ass still not in the Hall of Fame. And Roland. Yeah. Bro, let's be for real. John K. Porter ain't deciding no games.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It doesn't matter. If you purposely say, hey, no, no, no, no, no, no. It doesn't matter. If you purposely say, hey, I'm ill, I can't play, and you basically told somebody, yo, drop an $80,000 bet that I'm not going to score eight points and I'm not going to play 15 minutes in the game or 10 minutes in the game, and you purposely check out of the game? Yeah.

Yo ass got to go. But, Rowan, where do you want to go? Would that bet have been possible? Look, Rowan, let's say the – Hold on, hold on. Rebecca, say what? Would that bet have been possible if the NBA didn't authorize these platforms as official. Yes, that bet had nothing to do with the platforms.

That's you placing. First of all, you can bet on anything these days. In the Super Bowl, you can bet on who's going to get the first down. Is the kickoff, are they going to return it, or are they going to kneel it? You can bet on anything these days. And so that has nothing to do with sponsors. That has to do with somebody placing a bet on the actions in a game. And here's a player saying, I am going to do something myself to create this in order for you to win.

Let's just be real clear. Don't nobody place. This is how dumb Jonte Porter is. Okay? This is how dumb he is. You tell your boy, go ahead and place an $80,000 bet that I'm not going to play 10 minutes. And your ass go in the game and check out after three,

I'm ill. And a betting company, and let's be real clear, the betting companies got better investigators than the FBI because they actually hire former FBI agents. And they going, wait a minute, to Robert's point, who

the hell betting on lame-ass John Tate Porter? Then they went, they didn't bet $8. They bet $80,000. That's what we call a highly unusual

and suspect bet. That this player, who who's a not a major player a bench player bouncing between the g league and the nba is not going to play a certain number of minutes that's what a company said yeah we're gonna we're gonna we're not gonna pay this out we're gonna check this thing out that's how his dumb ass got busted. Gavin, he should have got kicked out for being that stupid. Yeah, what I was going to say, like, in response to Rebecca's point, I actually would argue that now that sports betting is legal,

it actually makes it a lot easier to detect these sorts of things. And so players should actually be, like, cognizant of the fact that if they are making these bets that they're probably going to be found out. And so, yeah, so any sort of like problem gambling or addiction that Dante might have aside, yeah, he's an, yeah, there are many words I could use to describe his actions and describe him. But I can say for me, when I worked for the NFL, there was one policy that the league made abundantly clear for us as just mere employees who were making however much money we were making, now that sports betting is legalized and these companies, like you said, Roland, have people who work for them who are scanning and looking for, you know, these different bets that are happening, nah.

But, Roland, one point that I do want to make is that part of my issue also with this is that gambling addiction is a medical condition, and the league has to treat it as such. It's not just he's making a bad decision. Your brain is rewired when you have a gambling addiction issue. You need medical treatment, and instead of suspending him for life, I'd rather the league had made an example of him by making him go to treatment, making him become reformed and using him as an ambassador to other players and to the public writ large. Because while you're pumping these millions of dollars into advertising campaigns with Kevin Hart and The Rock and all these other entertainers and athletes to get people gambling

more, you need to be doing something on the other side, not just a little token they put in, the little disclaimer at the end of the commercial saying, if you have an addiction problem, call this 1-800 number. Really investing in and using John T. Porter as a mechanism to teach people about gambling addiction. Let's say that Jontae's brother, he has happened to see him fall down a flight of stairs right before the game against the Lakers on this weekend, and then he decides to gamble on that. How the hell would the NBA police that? You're diving down a rabbit hole that really doesn't have an end. I'm trying to make

these things go. I need some treatment. Actually, you're not diving down a rabbit hole. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated

to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

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

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

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

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. The bottom line is, listen, anybody who understands the NBA, okay, when we talk about investigations, we talk about knowing who's doing what. I can tell you right now, I know for a fact that NBA and NFL security, they are better than the Secret Service. Oh, Roland, I mean, the head of player investigations is the former head of the ATF.

And the point here, see, this ain't no, you know, just, you know, dude walking around chomping on a hot dog, you know, barely hanging over his belt. No. They know what – when a player comes to a team, a team like this here, you know we already know what your ass been doing. They know – they – Doc. They investigate us on point. Here's what the example is going to be.

The example is going to be to any other NBA player. F around, you're going to find out. And what you're about to do, you mentioned Calvin Ridley. Ask his ass how it felt to sit at home for a year not getting that NFL check. Oh, he was repentant. He came back, had a great year, and got a big contract. But ask them other players. I'm telling you right now, NHL players, baseball players,

NFL players, soccer players, hey, I don't care who you are, Jontae Porter's name is going to, his picture is going to be like a poster like at the post office. It's going to be in every locker room. Act a fool,

and your ass going to go right alongside Jontae Porter. And all I'm saying is is to any athlete out there, in fact, if I pull up, that was a brother, his nickname was Headache. He played for Arizona State. It was a point shaving scandal. Headache, literally, he was out of Dallas.

That brother, he could have played years in the NBA. But he took that money point shaving in college and never got there. And if you go to Netflix, you will see the special. To this day, he regrets that decision. He cost himself millions over a few thousand dollars. 21,000. This boy could have got $21,000 just going to a signing event with his brother. So he made a grown folk decision, and now he's 24 years old,

and now he is out of the NBA. So, Jontae, this one on you. All right, I got to go to a break. We'll come back. We got lots we're going to talk about, including why is it important to own equity? How critical is that? And why do we as black folk always go for the quick cash?

Yep, we're going to talk about that. Also, those racists with the goon squad of Mississippi, they trying to actually appeal they sentence. Good luck. You're watching Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network supporters of what we do join to bring the Funk fan club our goal to get 20,000

of our fans contributing on average $50 a year. That is $4 and 19 $4 and 13 cents a month, 13 cents a day. You can do so by again sending the check to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo's RM Unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back.

I was just in my backyard. I just said I was manifesting about life. I said I would love to come back because it was a great time. And these kids need that right now. They need that male role model in the schools, I think. Even on TV. People are scared of going to the high school. You know, the high school, you know what I mean? I would love to bring it back, and I think we could bring it back.

You know, what do you think? I think we'll ask the people. We'll ask your people. We'll do a poll. Y'all want to hang a Mr. Cooper? Yeah, I say let's go. We all look good. You know, Holly look good.

You know, Raven look the same. Marquise. Don Lewis. It'd be funnier than half the bullshit you see out there on TV now. Goddamn. What the fuck? What happened to TV? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

It's some, I'm like, oh my god. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Hey, what's up? Keith Turner here in the place where we got kicked out at your mama's university. Creator and executive producer of Fat Tuesdays,

an air hip-hop comedy. But right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Thank you. We'll be right back. The reported leader of Mississippi's goon squad is appealing his state and federal sentences for torturing two black men in 2023. Brett McAlpin, a former Rankin County, Mississippi deputy, was one of six law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to brutally assaulting Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced McAlpin to 27 and a half years in prison on March 21 and 15 years on state charges on April 10. McAlpin's attorneys say his client should have gotten less time than Hunter Elwood,

who shot Jenkins in the mouth. Elwood is serving 20 years. All right, folks, let's talk about what is happening in the Sudan. It is one of the stories that does not get the same level of attention as what's happening in Ukraine or even Israel and Gaza. More than a year ago, Sudan's civil war began. According to humanitarian organizations, the East African country now has the world's largest displacement crisis. The fighting has forced more than 8 million people to flee their homes in the past year.

The majority of the country needs humanitarian assistance, and there is a risk of famine. Groups estimate the conflict has killed at least 14,000 people, but the actual number could be much higher. National security and foreign policy expert Asha Castleberry Hernandez joins us right now. I'm glad to have you here. So for folks who don't know, what's going on here? Because people also don't realize

that the country actually was split into two countries. Yes. Roland, thank you so much for having me today. Yes, it was split between two countries. In fact, that development was actually historic to me because I was actually at the United Nations when that happened, working at the Security Council under the Obama administration, representing U.S. mission to the United Nations. So Sudan and South Sudan were split in between the two. And after that development, unfortunately, Omar Bashir, the head of the leadership of Sudan, just continued to pursue oppressive policies against South Sudan, exacerbating humanitarian conditions, also creating more tensions between the two forces,

which is RSF and SAF. So what you're starting to see is just a rollout of all those oppressive policies and the outcomes that are spilling into a decade later, which is, you know, going into 2022, where ongoing tensions between these two efforts, where they tried to merge the two, but unfortunately, you know, the international community was just pretty much distracted with other conflicts, deprioritizing this one. So what, in terms of what actually is the conflict, who's battling who, and what external forces are trying to mediate or stop what's happening? Yes, thank you for the question. So the regional security forces, which represents Sudan,

is battling the Sudanese armed forces, which accused them of pursuing a coup against Omar al-Bashar and made many attempts beyond that point. So those two are going back and forth. And what you're seeing in terms of external influences or support is coming from different countries like Russia and UAE, where they're propping up the RSF. The United States even tried to work very closely with the two to call on some sort of ceasefire in terms of the fighting, like you had in April 2023, where Secretary of State Anthony Blinken came in because we know what happened October 2023, which was the Israel-Hamas conflict. Questions from the panel.

Gavin, you're first. Asha, thank you very much for joining us and for shedding light on the situation. I think it's really sad that you alluded to it. I mean, I think the mainstream media has largely ignored this conflict even going back before October, I feel like. So thank you for being here to educate all of us. And Roland, thank you for making sure we talk about this issue. So Asha, I think my question for you is, I think reflexively, we see a situation like this playing out. And, you know, we, I think, rightfully wonder what the U.S., what other countries can do for the people

who are in this situation, whether that's aid or sort of other assistance. However, at the same time, we know that oftentimes the way the West sort of approaches aid and humanitarian relief can often be kind of problematic. And so I'm just wondering if you have any thoughts that you can share with us about, you know, how you see the role of the United States and other Western nations in supporting folks in this situation and similar ones. Yes. Well, if you look at the recent comments from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, he is saying that there's a lack of funding towards humanitarian efforts in Sudan. So we need more funding.

Unfortunately, the reality is that there might be a balance and act issue here where we put more funding into Ukraine, more funding into the Israel-Hamas conflict. And now you have this situation in Sudan. But they did just host a donors conference, calling on for more aid. And then you have other middle powers like Saudi Arabia trying to step up their game in providing assistance, the French trying to mediate in this situation too as well. But I believe that there has been a lack of attention in terms of providing more humanitarian assistance because there's so much attention with regards to Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflict. Rebecca. If I could follow up. I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.

Yeah, quick follow-up question on that, Asha. So I think, I remember hearing from another expert on the region talk about how in many cases, unfortunately, like aid that gets sent to African nations can sometimes not actually reach the people who need it most. You know, the aid might go toward United States based, you know, contractors and then sort of go into the region and kind of can spend the money as they see fit. So I guess I'm wondering if you could sort of help me understand and perhaps help, and perhaps help the listeners understand when we talk about aid, like what is really the flow of resources and how can we make sure that that aid actually goes to the people in the places that need it most? Yes. Well, we first need to reach out to those organizations that are not involved in any corruption and that it makes it to them and to the people. Unfortunately, the African continent has been known for corrupt activities, and one of them is mismanaging money and as a result of that, that money not reaching to the people.

So one way to get around it is providing more money to the NGOs, the NGO community that has direct access to the people, also to international organizations that can funnel that money directly to the people. And it just, it needs accountability. But unfortunately, when it goes, when the money, the funding goes from there to actual government, it's a hit or miss if the people get it. And unfortunately, it's just a long history of it not reaching to the people because of corruption. Thank you. Rebecca. Aside from giving humanitarian aid, what role can the U.S. play in stopping the ethnic cleansing? Yes, I think the United States needs to go back to what they were doing in April 2023,

where they actually deployed their top leadership to work very closely with the RSF as well as the ASF to reach some sort of mediation. If the United States cannot or no longer play that part, they have to find an influencer in the international community to play a part. Like, for instance, Saudi Arabia could be a possibility. Also, if it's the French, that could be another possibility. But if the United States cannot do it, we need another regional influencer or a strong international actor to help reach some sort of mediation as soon as possible. Robert? I've heard from many international... I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time have you ever had to shoot your gun

sometimes the answer is yes but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no across the country cops called this taser the revolution but not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team

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

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

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

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. Thank you. two nations, Ethiopia threatening to annex Eritrea and instill the remnants of the Tigray rebellion, Egypt threatening to bomb the Millennial Dam over river—water rights on the Nile River, the situation in Sudan perhaps splitting again into two nations, Libya on the verge of splitting the two nations while also dealing with the damage of the dam—the dam breach which killed 20,000 people, the Sahel region, where you have the kicking out of the CFA fronk and the forming of the CFA confederation, and narrowly averting a war between the Sahel nations and ECOWAS.

How can you talk to Western observers and Western people, particularly in the U.S., about why they should not get tired and, quote-unquote, fatigued with dealing with issues on the African continent? Oh, that's a really great question. First and foremost, I would say that, and thank you for the breakdown, a way to kind of acknowledge this as much as possible as approaching the ongoing conflicts from Western Africa all the way to the East Horn of Africa is that we have to prioritize this as much as possible.

It needs enough media coverage. I think the House Committee on Foreign Affairs does a really good job in bringing more attention to it at times. And as far as being overwhelmed with it, I think that in order to, like, overcome that perception, we have to have some sort of pride in the future of Africa and how that directly impacts us at home. And if we don't have that pride, you know, we're going to lose out on really keeping the finger on the pulse and just easily be overwhelmed with the issues involving the African continent. Like, for instance, if you see what's going on in Haiti, there's a lot of intention right now where we are saying not only should we provide continuous funding to Ukraine, as well as Israel, Hamas issue, we should also make sure we fund Haiti.

And we have to treat the African continent with regards to their issues the same way, where you see on national media that it's important to provide more funding to humanitarian assistance. A perfect example of that is during the Bush administration, where President Bush gave money to Darfur conflict. And they said, why did you do that, President Bush? He said, because I kept seeing it on TV, the depictions. And I was just horrified about that, and that impacted me. So we need more coverage when it comes to covering the conflicts in Africa.

And just a brief follow-up really quickly. What impact do you think the Chinese investment in Africa should have? We've seen in the last decade through the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, the New Silk Road, building ports around Africa, building parliament buildings, airports, et cetera, creating this system where they will have access to the rare earth elements and the resources of the future through these debt traps that are happening internationally. For American audiences, can you explain the importance of this geopolitical battle between the United States for hegemonic control over the African continent,

particularly them having the youngest population on Earth. The second half of this century will be the African century, the average population being 19 years old on the continent. Oh, I love the question. In fact, I forgot to mention that as the role of the PRC or the Chinese in the continent. The PRC has been able to use their Belt and Road Initiative as a way to leverage political affairs over these different countries in Africa. And, in fact, as a first-order, second-order effect, the United States has been—their influence towards these different conflicts has been undermined because of the fact that Chinese has been effectively been able to place their strategic political interests over the African countries because of the investments coming from the BRI.

Now, what we're seeing, not only you said, OK, you have these high interest rate diplomacy debt tracks, depth tracks. We're also seeing the quality of the BRI has significantly deteriorated in many ways to where so many African countries are getting sick and tired of BRI projects. A good case analysis of that is right now in Kenya, where they first started their BRI. You're seeing the issues involving environmental effects, where it's hurting the local environment. So that is very significant, though, because, again, the PRC has been able to leverage the BRI over these countries or influence when it comes to the political decision-making when these conflicts break out. You will see where some of the leadership in these African countries will even go to the PRC before the United States for

advice on how do I move forward with this conflict or this issue I'm having in my own country. All right, then. Well, hopefully we will see some positive development there. Asha, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, we'll be back more right here on Roland Martin on the filter, including President Biden releases 60 million dollars in aid to Haiti. It's about time you're watching Roland Martin on a filter on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. The enormous impact of race, education, and affirmative action in America. And how, believe it or not, white America is starting to feel a little bit of the pain. Dr. Natasha Waraku joins us with a case study of one suburban community and how it reacted when the minority students started to excel. Most people didn't say this explicitly, but was that, you know,

the academics are getting, standards are getting higher in part because of the Asian kids. And that is making our kids really stressed out. So we need to reduce the amount of homework teachers are allowed to assign. She shares a perspective that you don't want to miss. That's on the next Black Table, only on the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare. We'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years, and they're still going strong, speed bumps and all. I was all one trying to hold back, but he thinks he can do anything.

He's like, no, we're going to do it. You know, let's do it. Let's just jump into it. And it has worked. It's a thing of beauty, literally. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Franklin.

I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. The Biden administration is providing $60 million in assistance to Haiti. The bulk of the funds are slated to go towards equipment and training for a multinational police force headed by Kenya to help the Haitian police battle gangs. President Biden's order came after a new nine-member transitional presidential council became official, and Prime Minister Ariel Henry's government published an executive order in the Port-au-Prince

establishing the new governing framework. Gangs have been in control of the Caribbean country since the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Joana Moise. All right, folks, let's go to this next story. Y'all gonna love this one here. Now, we all know Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is an absolutely nutcase. That child lie more than Donald Trump, but you're gonna love this one here, y'all. Doing an oversight committee hearing, is an absolutely nutcase. That child lied more than Donald Trump,

but you're going to love this one here, y'all. During an oversight committee hearing today, she actually tried to say that she does not support white nationalists. It'd take a little time to respond to some misinformation that has been spread here. Mr. Snyder, you said in your opening statement that the fact that there are neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian military is disinformation, a disinformation trope, and a Russian denazification meme. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to submit for the record this 2021 Time magazine article titled, How a White Supremacist Militia Uses Facebook to Radicalize and Train New Members

About the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. Without objection to order. Thank you. Time also put together a piece only three years ago, and it's quite an extensive video that gives full information about the Nazis in Ukraine and their recruitment efforts that go all around the world. It's amazing to me that just in a few years' time, it's now considered misinformation to talk about the Nazis in Ukraine. I'd like to quote the article. It says that Ali Soufan, a security consultant and former FBI agent who has studied Azov Nazis, estimates that more than 17,000 foreign fighters have come to Ukraine over the past six years from 50 countries. According to Christopher Wray, the FBI director, he said that Azov has been recruiting and radicalizing and training American citizens for years. He also finished saying in his testimony

to the U.S. Senate that American white supremacists are actually traveling overseas to train. This is an extremely concerning situation. I don't think anyone in the United States government, Americans, do not support actual Nazis or white supremacists. I know I certainly do not. Do not. Well, Congressman, Congressman Maxwellwell frost he's like yeah we ain't having none of that league just now talk about disavowing white supremacists when in 2022 you she spoke at an event led by white supremacists and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and when asked about it, doubled down on it and said, we're going to focus on people, not labels. So get out of here with that damn hypocrisy. And Dr. Snyder, I'm going to give you some time to respond. Go ahead. First of all, I'd like to thank the representative from Georgia by making clear with her comments

and with her person that any discussion of political warfare has to include Russia, Ukraine, and America. She's just demonstrated that point, I think, very powerfully. On the question of Nazis, I've written two books as a historian about Nazis and the Holocaust. On the question of Ukrainian nationalism, I am the leading scholar of that subject in North America, and I've been writing about it for 20 years. If the chamber is interested in the degree of far-right participation in Ukrainian politics, you can be assured that no far-right party has ever crossed 3% in a Ukrainian election. So, of course, there are bad people in Ukraine.

All right, so, here's what's interesting. She talks about, oh, no, no, you know, we don't, no one in the government supports white supremacists. Max Wolfros hits her back. Is this you, Marjorie? Is this you?

Shaking hands with noted white supremacist... Turn up, pull the audio up. With noted white supremacist... With noted white supremacist Dick Fuentes speaking at his conference. Ooh, it's amazing how people forget these things that there's actual video. Rebecca? Rebecca?

You know, here's the thing. Of course, she doesn't consider, she doesn't use the label Nazism or white supremacy because then she will be talking about herself. I mean, for her, that language is everyday language. That's just a regular Sunday afternoon for her. But it's very disingenuous, especially with her being in Georgia. And when we still hear all of the accounts of Nazism that occurs in Georgia, when we still hear about, I think, that young man last year who was found lynched, and no one seemed to understand how he could have been found lynched. You know, so it's so disingenuous. But, you know, she's one of those people we simply do not take seriously, because she's made it very clear that her views are very white nationalists, and she is part of the white nationalist wing of the Republican Party.

Robert? Oh, you guys just saved my wife a long conversation later. Can I get to talk about the history of white supremacy in Europe and why it's divergent from that that we have here in the United States of America? So if you look at what's going on in the Ukraine currently, you're looking at the historical conflict between Kiev and the Rus people, Rus being Russian, Kiev as in Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine.

Now, many people in these, quote-unquote, Azov battalions claim that they are the descendants of the original Slavic peoples of Kiev, but that someone like Putin is descendant of a mixture of Europeans, but also Hunnic people, who are the descendants of the Golden Horde and other Asian groups that occupied the eastern part of Europe for centuries and that they paid tribute to. If you look at Putin and squint your eyes a little bit, he looks kind of Asian, oval head, short stature, built more like a Mongol than a tall Ukrainian would be. So the Azov battalion and those neo-Nazis aren't the type of neo-Nazis that we have here in the United States. They talk about the purity of European blood, and that someone even such as Putin is not white enough for them. This is why they go after those groups, because they don't have black people clearly to subjugate. Marjorie Taylor Greene, having literally no knowledge of European or

world history, doesn't understand that when she talks about immigrants are poisoning the blood of America, she's saying the exact same thing that the Azov battalion is saying about the hunnid blood of someone like Vladimir Putin. She doesn't understand when she talks about the need for Western civilization to stand against the barbarians invading us, as she talks about, as she said at the Republican National Convention. She's saying the exact same thing that the Azov Battalion is saying about keeping the last bits of European heritage pure to Europe and separated from the Mongol and mixed blood of Russians.

So she, in every action, espouses and supports the conceptualizations around the same people that she's claiming to be against. And this is why our kids need to stay in school and we need to invest more money in that and less money in bombs internationally, because you end up with almost fat-free idiotic conversations such as this. And rally-given is a number of Republicans in the House conference who love them some white supremacists.

Definitely. It's very hard to follow Robert and that history lesson he just gave us. I'll start by talking first about Marjorie Taylor Greene. As a Georgian, she is a utter disgrace and embarrassment to our state. And in my opinion, she should not be a member of Congress. I'm very proud of my state for helping to elect Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff and Joe Biden, but I'm very disappointed that we also sent someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress. If Donald Trump is our nation's gaslighter-in-chief, Marjorie Taylor Greene is the commander of the Georgia battalion. She is completely unserious. Just today, we saw the articles of impeachment against Alejandra Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security, a process initiated by Marjorie Taylor Greene, rejected immediately in the Senate. We know Donald Trump, her leader, tanked the border

deal that President Biden was prepared to sign. And again, showing how unserious she and all her cronies are. Lest we forget her comments on space lasers, her comments directed toward Congressman Jamal Bowman, who— No, no, no, no, no. No, Jewish space lasers. Oh, true, true. Excuse me. Jewish space lasers.

Absolutely, Roland. Thank you for letting me not get off the hook with that. Or her comments in regards to Congressman Jamal Bowman, whom she called aggressive, and when we all called her out about it, she said that calling her a white supremacist was, get this, equivalent to calling a person of color the N-word. Lest we forget when she referred to Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar as not official members of Congress because they didn't take their oath of office on a Bible, never mind the fact that she also told them that they

should go back to the Middle East while Congresswoman Tlaib was born in Detroit. I could go on. But the danger here is that we cannot normalize this kind of behavior. We cannot normalize these kinds of comments. I saw a poll the other day that showed that Americans' attitudes towards Donald Trump since the time he left office have not gotten worse. They've gotten better. What does that mean? It's that collectively, as a society, we've started to forget the very dangerous and detrimental rhetoric and policies that Donald Trump not only advocated for during his first term, but is hoping to bring back in a second term. He's told us this. He's told us the kinds of things that he wants to do. He's told us that he wants to round up immigrants who are here,

who he believes are poisoning the blood, especially those from shithole countries. We know that his Department of Justice in a second term is getting ready to crack down on racism, but guess what? Racism against white people, all building on his work in a second term is getting ready to crack down on racism. But guess what? Racism against white people, all building on his work in the first term of not investigating and not prosecuting civil rights violations and hate crimes. So I think it's very dangerous that as a society we've started to not sour to Donald Trump, but actually to sweeten up to him. And I think the consequences of that could be grave. And so I really just want to convey that we cannot normalize, we cannot accept this kind

of behavior from Donald Trump or Marjorie Taylor Greene, because our community will suffer even more than it already has. Well, folks got to understand, when you don't vote. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

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

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

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

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. This is what happens all the time. All right, got to go to break. When we come back, more on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

including Democrats basically doing this to Republicans wanting to impeach the head of Homeland Security. Move along, move along. We'll discuss that next right here on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach,

Financial Literacy. Without it, wealth is just a pipe dream. And yet, half of our schools in this country don't even teach it to our kids. You're going to hear from a woman who's determined to change all that, not only here, but around the world. World of Money is the leading provider of immersive financial education for children ages 7 to 18. We provide 120 online and classroom hours of financial education. That's right here on Get Wealthy on Blackstar Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare. We'll meet an entrepreneurial Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare.

We'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years, and they're still going strong, speed bumps and all. I was all one trying to hold back, but he thinks he can do anything. He's like, no, we're going to do it. You know, let's do it. Let's just jump into it. And it has worked. It's a thing of beauty, literally.

That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million. And now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits.

Hello, we're the Critter Fixers. I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuning in to... Roland Martin Unfiltered. You know what? There is nothing like watching Republicans make a total fool out of themselves

and especially head fool Ted Cruz. So the House, they voted to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, who is the head of Homeland Security, claiming that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors because of the invasion of America by these illegal immigrants. Well, Democrats are like, yeah, all right. So they walked over the impeachment stuff today, and so the trial began today. I think some high school trials lasted longer than this one.

If you want to see somebody get owned, and it's whenever I get to see Senator Ted Cruz of Texas gets owned, because he is absolutely awful, and I certainly hope Congressman Colin Allred beats him, watch this today on the floor of the Senate. A quorum is present. The Senate is considering the point of order presented by the Majority Leader.

SENATOR JOHN KERRY, I'm present. SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN, Senator from Texas. SEN. JOHN KERRY, Madam President, I rise to make a motion. The Majority Leader has argued that Secretary Mayorkas' defiance of federal immigration law and active aiding and abetting of the worst criminal invasion in our nation's history does not constitute a high crime or misdemeanor. He has presented no argument on that question. He has presented no briefing on that question. And the position is directly contrary to the

Constitution, to the original understanding of the Constitution at the time it was ratified, and to the explicit position of the Biden Department of Justice as argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. The majority leader's position is asking members of this Senate to vote on political expediency to avoid listening to arguments. The only rational way to resolve this question is actually to debate it, to consider the Constitution and consider the law. The senator will recognize that the Senate is in a non-debatable position. The senator has a right to offer his point of order or his motion, but we are in a non-debatable position. And my motion is to change that so that we can actually debate the law if senators care what the Constitution and law says. I therefore move that the Senate proceed to close session to allow for deliberation on

the question as required by impeachment. I'm not talking about the A&M fans. Those expectations will always be high. In our previous consent request, we gave your side a chance for debate in public where it should be. And your side objected. We are moving forward The question is on the motion ask for the a's and a's is there a sufficient second

There is a sufficient sufficient a second the clerk will call the roll It a quorum is present the Senate will call the roll. A quorum is present. The Senate is considering the plan By Ted. Presented by the majority. By Ted. That's how you do it, Robert. Because what you're dealing with is a whole bunch of fools. And so Schumer had to say, you're a liar.

So let me go ahead and just smack you. Well, just so for the viewers who may not watch Senate hearings from the time they were in middle school like I did, what was going on there is Ted Cruz tried to make a motion to open debate to allow senators essentially to grandstand and give speeches about why Mayorkas should be impeached, not to present evidence or to change decisions, any of those things. Ted Cruz just wanted a soundbite that he could play on Fox News later for fundraising purposes, as you said, he's in a tight race with Colin Allred. But Chuck Schumer gave Republicans that opportunity a long time ago in a public forum. Republicans decided not to do so. So Ted

Cruz was out of order parliamentary in attempting to raise that question or to open that debate up already. And this is why he was summarily pushed aside, because he had not even looked into the Senate rules to determine whether or not this question had already been called. And then the articles of impeachment come over, and they are immediately dismissed also, because the Republicans in the House failed to allege an actual high crime or misdemeanor, the difference being a, quote, unquote, dereliction of duty, as they claim as being a high crime and misdemeanor. That would mean, well, we have a failing education system in this country, so we can impeach

the secretary of education. We have potholes in the street, so we can impeach the secretary of transportation. We have a housing crisis, so we can impeach the secretary of housing and urban development. They are setting—they would set a standard by which our government would grind to a halt, the same way we're seeing the House of Representatives do so, because of the one-vote rule to call for the removal of the speaker of the House. And luckily, we have a Senate that is controlled by Democrats, that has a parliamentarian, has a majority leader that can actually keep these things in order, or else the Senate will descend into the exact same chaos we're seeing in the House right now.

Well, that was not good enough for Cancun Ted, give it. Yeah. What was it? Mr. Cruz. How fun at Texas. What was it? No, Mr. Cruz. How was Mexico? How was Cancun? Totally unserious. And so is his whole, the rest of his party. The Republican Party is completely in shambles. They can pass absolutely nothing. They are led by a totally inept speaker who somehow, you know, sort of rose his way up through the Louisiana state legislature, running unopposed cycle after cycle and made it to Congress. And by, you know, luck and good fortune for him, his party ousted

Kevin McCarthy. And somehow this man we'd never heard of came to save the day. And look how it's turned out for him so far. He's on the verge of, you know, another vote of no confidence. His colleagues can do absolutely nothing. You look at the rest of his party. They are currently led by a man who is facing 91 criminal indictments. He's sitting in a courtroom, apparently trying to take a nap. Poor thing. But there's other stuff going on that he should probably pay attention to in that courtroom, while his opponent, President Biden, is actually busy running the country and running for reelection. But, you know, again, like, I guess what should we expect from people like Ted Cruz and the other members of this party?

They can not govern. And that's what we saw today. Yeah. Raphael Cruz sucks as usual, but I dare say probably the best back and forth. We showed you Maxwell Frost and Marjorie Taylor Greene. We showed you this here. I think that one between Jamie Raskin and James Comer was pretty intense. Press play. What business are you talking about?

What business are you talking about? You're talking about lots of people. There's lots of people in the family. I'm a farmer. I have land. I lease land. Your impeachment investigation must identify a high crime and misdemeanor. What did they do?

I'll tell you what Joe Biden did. He was a senator of the United States. Then he wrote a book, and he said he made the most money ever made in his life, millions of dollars on his book, and he gave a million dollars away to charity. That's what his family did. That's what— That's why Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania, China, Russia, that's why they paid the Biden family money, because Joe Biden— None of those governments paid anyone any money.

Somebody needs therapy here, but it's nobody on our side of the aisle, okay? Enough. No, honestly— Back to the China hearing. Back to the China hearing. You had your chance. Order. I would like my time restored. Well, honestly. Back to the China. You had your chance. Order. I would like my time restored.

Well, no, your time was expired. I would like your time. No, you interrupted me. I want my time restored. No, you had your time. You went above, and I'll let Ms. Thornton go a minute. You know what? Here, sit down, everybody.

Come back. This is about China. We asked a simple question. Now, Ms. Pressley, you're out of order. Sit down. Mr. Chairman. Out of order. Mr. question. Now, Mr. Pressley, you're out of order. Sit down. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman. What is this?

Rebecca, here's the whole deal. James Comer, you are an idiot. You ain't got the goods. You ain't got them. And that's why when Moskowitz said, okay, since y'all got the goods he said I will move to

impeach Joe Biden. He didn't even get a second because they ain't got it. I mean it's like Elmer Fudd in that clip. We talking about China. What you talking about? We talking about China. Why the talking about? We talking about China.

Why did the Biden family do that? Why did they do that? I mean, it's Elmer's son. Can somebody pass me some crawfish? Why did they do that? We talking about China. I don't know what the hell we talking about up here. You out of order.

And then he told Ayanna Pressley to sit down. I wish he would try to tell me to sit down. You can't make me sit down. You know, these people are completely unserious. Even like the rodeo clown that is Ted Cruz, also unserious. I mean, these are people without principles. Even with Ted Cruz, Donald Trump literally talked about his wife like a dog. And then he turned around and endorsed Trump and then stumped for Trump to get Trump

elected. So if he isn't able, if he's unwilling to protect his own wife, to protect his own family, then he certainly is not willing to protect the interests of the people in the state of Texas. And guess what? If you're in Texas, you get to send Ted Cruz to Cancun on vacation permanently, because in November 2024, he's up for reelection. And guess what this means? This is a statewide race. There's no gerrymandered districts. So if enough people turn out to vote, they could vote Ted Cruz out of the Senate, because just like Marjorie Taylor Greene, he's insufferable. These aren't serious people. And so I'm hoping that in this election cycle that Americans actually elect serious people to do the business of the country. There's so many things that are happening in the international space, and there's so many things that are happening

domestically. And we actually need people who are going to Congress to actually try to pass bills into laws, because we have a lot of work that needs to be done. And election day is again November 5th. Roland, can I say one thing? Yeah, go ahead. I know we're up here, like, joking. It's really funny. But, like, the consequences are really grave.

A large portion of the American people have completely lost faith in their government, especially the United States Congress. The last Congress was the least productive Congress in a very long time. Nope. Fact check. The last Republican-led Congress. Of course, of course, the last Republican-led Congress was the least productive in a very long time. People see that, people see this clip,

and they're like, what the hell is my government doing for me? They check completely out of the government process these lies that, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene and others are spewing, Donald Trump. In fact, 34, I believe, percent of Republicans believe that the FBI orchestrated January 6th. Just let that sit in. 34 percent of Republicans believe that the FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States government, orchestrated January 6th. That is sad and detrimental to the state of our democracy. So again, I know it's, you know, we make fun of Ted Cruz and all that because they're totally

unserious, but I just, I couldn't help but just, it really is really, you know, the consequences are grave because people, children are watching their leaders. If you can call James Comer, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Ted Cruz leaders, but they're watching what's playing out, and there will be lasting consequences in terms of the trust and the faith

that these people have in their government, and whether or not they will engage in any sort of election. Well, they are who they are. All right, y'all. Gotta go to break when we come back. Tech Talk. We're gonna chat with Isaac Hazen III, the founder of Fanbase. He had a great conversation

with Jermaine Dupri. And the issue of equity came up, and there's one that I want to talk about, equity in the tech space. That is next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. And I'm trying to decide, should I keep the hat on in the next segment? We'll see. You too, folks.

Why y'all so slow hitting the like button? We should easily be at 1,000 likes every single day. Hit the button, y'all. It ain't that hard. We at 725. We come back from the commercial break in two minutes. We should be at 1,000.

So y'all, come on. Stop playing around. Hit that gum-like button. All right. Also, support us in what we do. Join the Bring the Funk fan club. Your check and your donations matter. You can send a check and money order

to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-710196. Cash app, Donaldson, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Venmo's RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Back in a moment.

I was just in my backyard. I just said I was manifesting about life. I said, I would love to come back because it was a great time. And these kids need that right now. They need that male role model in the schools, I think. Even on TV. People are scared of going to the high school. You know, the high school, you know what I mean?

I would love to bring it back, and I think we could bring it back. You know, what do you think? I think we'll ask the people. We'll ask your people. We'll do a poll. Y'all want to hang a Mr. Cooper? Yeah, I say let's go. We all look good.

You know, Ali looked good. You know, Raven looked the same. Marquise, Don Lewis. It'd be funnier than half the bullshit. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated

itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

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

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

John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You see out there on TV now, God damn! What the fuck? What happened to TV? Yeah, yeah. It's some... I'm like, oh my God. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare.

We'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years and they're still going strong, speed bumps and all. I was all one trying to hold back, but he thinks he can do anything. He's like, no, we're going to do it. You know, let's do it. Let's just jump into it. And it has worked. It's a thing of beauty, literally. That's all next on A Balanced Life

on Blackstar Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase

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on Proud Family, Louder and Proud. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right, folks. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. So, you know, one of the things that we try to talk about on this show

is for us to have a better understanding of business and decisions that we actually make. And what we often talk about is that what's happening now in this social media space, black people, we literally are making a lot of non-black people rich. I mean, we over index on all of the apps. We over, when YouTube dropped, Twitter dropped, Facebook dropped, Clubhouse dropped, Vine dropped,

Instagram dropped, go on and on and on and We make these Apps sexy we make them rich just like it's a lot of companies y'all It's a lot of companies. We made Highly successful because we buy their products You know that But then what happens is folk then turn around and then get mad when we don't get paid. How many times have y'all heard me say, it's enough with us being the show in the business and not the business in the business? Happens all the time. We all

remember when Prince stood up at the Soul Training Awards and told everybody to keep standing, trying to explain to them about masters. Guess what? Sam Cooke understood that. James Brown understood that. We can go on and on and on. Some artists did that. But see, a lot of us, we want that instant gratification.

It's a lot of music artists we want that instant gratification. It's a lot of music artists sign awful ass deals, awful deals, because they wanna do that. If you read Luther Campbell's book, he talks about in his book how after he would do shows, he would be back there in the show counting out 20, 30, $40,000. And the other artists would come up to him and they'd say, Luke, what you doing?

He said, man, I've got, that's called back of the room sales. See, a bunch of artists signed licensing deals where they handed them $2,500, $5,000, and this other company owned their merchandising rights. They took the five grand. Where Luke was in the back room selling his own shirts, his own hats, his own merchandise, and he was making that money every single time.

But see, we fall for that. If you read Jack Neufeld's book on Don King, he tells an interesting story. And y'all know I don't use the N-word, so I'm only going to use this word within the context of this story. So Jack Neufeld talked about how Don King was cheating a whole bunch of boxes out of their money.

And Don King realized he owed boxes $100,000, $200,000, $300,000. But see, Don King said, oh, this ain't no problem. All I got to do is give them a roll of money with a rubber band on it. He said, and they're going to put that in their pocket, and they're going to get in their car, and they're going to drive to the neighborhood, and they're going to go to the restaurant and go to the bar and they're going to sit here and pull that wide out. Everybody's going to be like, oh man, you the man, you getting paid. Don King called that nigga rich.

That was the phrase Newfield used in his book. In fact, Muhammad Ali was in a lawsuit with Don King. Don King owed Muhammad Ali about a million some odd dollars. So Don King knew, hmm, I ain't trying to pay Muhammad that money. So this is what he did. He went to a Muslim friend of Muhammad Ali's, gave him a briefcase, and the briefcase was filled with $50,000. He goes to the hospital. While Muhammad is in the hospital, the Muslim friend says, say, brother, this is not good. Two brothers

fighting each other. And so Don wants to give this to you. And he opens the briefcase up and he sees $50,000. Muhammad Ali goes ahead and accepts $50,000. Now, mind you, he was owed a million dollars from Don King, but he flashed him

the money. That's what they do to black folks in every single area when we talk about sports and entertainment. They flash us the money as opposed to the equity. And so Isaac Hayes III found a fan base, was in a conversation with Jermaine Dupri. They posted on social media. And I saw that. We were going to discuss something else today. We were going to talk about AI.

But I saw this, and I said, I think this is a much better conversation than that for today. And so roll it. So if Kosta Nott came to Fanbase and he got off Twitch, he can make more money than he making at Twitch? He can make more money with you than he making at Twitch? I'll tell you how he could. I'd give him equity in the company. I'd give him equity in it. But that's a gamble.

That's not like... What it is not? Does Constantine have the ability to move people where he wants them to move? I don't know if he knows. You see, when the New York City to get one of those Playstations and he modded the whole shit. Okay, you're right.

Okay, so Cosmic said, I'm over at Fanbase. I'm going to Fanbase, but he owes part of the company. Fanbase goes from 600,000 plus users to a million users in like 24 hours. That means that Fanbase a billion-dollar company.

Now, the same people that invested in all them companies, ripped it all to their fill, look at me like, oh, shit, we got to go get $100 million because he's about to blow up. It's like, I always- Yeah, okay, but that's you. I'm saying, yes, you. So how do we get constant?

Not that money, though. That's what I'm saying. No, because they'll have equity. But equity, you know, equity... Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on. I'm just going to tell you. Equity to

don't sound like money in the hand. I know. It does. Just like Magic Johnson. They gave Magic Johnson equity in Nike, and he signed to Converse. But he's a guy from Detroit that didn't understand the word equity. So that's all I'm saying. My phone going crazy.

We're going to have to do this later on. But I'm just saying. All right. So this is the conversation Jermaine Dupri was referencing about Magic Johnson. Watch this. I went in the national championship and three companies came in. Converse, Adidas, and Nike. Nike was just a year too old.

Converse offered me the most money. So, you know, when you grow up broke, you take the money. Phil Knight came in and said, hey, I can't offer you the same type of money, but I can offer you stock. Bam! I wasn't trying to hear that then. I wasn't trying to hear that then.

And I didn't know nothing about it. And my family didn't come for money. See, that's one thing that hurt us sometimes. When you don't come for money, you don't know. I didn't even know what stocks was at that time. So I passed on the stocks. Can you imagine? 45 years.

$5 billion that stock would have been worth today. But let me say this. When you don't know something, that's okay. It's when you know and then you make a mistake. I'm a person who live in the moment. And if something happened to me that wasn't good, I leave it in the past and I keep moving forward. That's who I am.

No, doggone well. Magic still like, damn, I wish I had that $5.2 billion. Isaac Hayes III joins us right now. He's the founder of Fanbase. And Isaac, Magic just sat there and said, he said, when you don't know, that's what makes it worse. The reality is, the brother who you were talking about and cast today, they know.

It's all around. Everybody is talking about it. But the reality is, a lot of us want to go for that quick money in our hand, not realizing that if they are paying you X, they making four, five, six, 10, 20 times more money, you making them rich. So the young brother you're talking about,

he's huge on Twitch. How much is Twitch valued at? Twitch is valued at $45 billion. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, hold up, hold up. This young brother is one of the biggest folks on Twitch. But Twitch is valued at 40... You said $45 billion?

$45 billion. And I guarantee you this brother ain't? $45 billion. And I guarantee you this brother ain't worth $450 million. He'll get there. I think he'll get there, but he has to make the type of moves that I'm offering. He's going to have to do those type of deals.

Something interesting. Somebody pointed out something interesting to me today about equity in that there's another streamer, this kid named Aiden Ross. He's on a platform called Kick. And Kick gave him equity in the platform. He's white. He's a streamer. He has equity in Kick. Kai Sanat is on Twitch, which was already acquired by Amazon. But he's making a lot of money and he has a very good split on the revenue that he brings in, but he doesn't have equity. And that is my point in introducing the conversation of equity,

even with fan base raising capital. So let's be clear. Even the round that we're raising on StartEngine, everybody that invests in fan base is getting equity. So equity is the word of the day, whether it is offered in exchange for services and consulting for somebody that has a massive following like Kassanat or whether anybody watching this program right now invests in fan base, you're having equity and ownership in a company. Right. And so as as time progresses, these companies grow in value. They reach enormous amounts of billion dollar valuations in social media. Facebook is worth two point two trillion trillion with a T, right? And so imagine, like I said, someone like Magic having that experience with 45 years of Nike stock going from $0.17 a share to about $100 a share and being worth $5 billion. Right now, with Fanbase, equity is, right now, our shares are

$665 a share, and we are valued at $160 million. But let's hypothesize, again, that Fanbase becomes worth $160 billion, which is half the value of Instagram, half the value of TikTok, and not even a tenth of the value of Facebook, that's still a thousand X return on your investment. So if you put in a hundred thousand, you get a million. You put in 50, you get 500K. You know what I'm saying? That's what would happen at an exit.

So either we sell the company or whatever. So the importance of me bringing up the word equity for someone like Kaisanat, he has an enormous amount of value that he can bring to any social media platform just by simply using the platform, right? And so him having equity will increase the value of the company that he's already a part of. And then he can still make money in other ways on fan base because the app is monetized. And so that conversation that Jermaine and I had, Jermaine is

correct. And then a lot of people and a lot of rappers, young people, they don't understand. They're so cash heavy that they don't understand that your money in music can run out. You can fall on hard times or whatever, but your portfolio of what you invest in, people like 50 Cent that made wise investments with Smartwater, right? Or someone like Nas that invested in Ring when it sold for like 1 point, I think 1.2 billion to Amazon. He exited out of that company. Jay-Z has had exits from these companies. Snoop Dogg.

You've had, look, I forgot the company. Kobe Bryant did the exact same thing. When I think McDonald's and others were trying to sign LeBron James to a marketing deal, they said, wait a minute, hold up. So then he invested, I think it was a pizza chain, and again, equity stake in that.

You talk about Diddy. Diddy had a marketing deal with Ciroc, not an equity deal. And so he had a marketing deal. And so Diddy took this brand, Ciroc, and blew it up, and oh, he got paid well, but they got paid a hell of a lot more money. And what ended up happening? He sues them. They end the deal.

Well, if he had an equity deal, they would have had to give him a much bigger payout. And this is why the ownership thing is so big. George Clooney, Ryan Reynolds, they had equity deals in tequila companies sold for a crazy amount of money. Reese Witherspoon, on her own production company, sold that production company for almost a billion dollars. And again, a lot of us, we are getting excited about, oh, I got a first look deal. I got a production deal. When no, it's about owning the content, owning it, having the equity stake.

And hell, that thing is making money without you. Michael Jordan was able to buy the Charlotte Hornets because of the, and he was crazy. His mama is the reason he got that 5%. That 5%, Michael Jordan don't have 51%. And see, this is the other part of equity I think that's important. It's a lot of black folks who do think about equity, but no, I got to have 51%. I got to have 51%. Michael Jordan signed a deal and his mama insisted he gets 5%. He took that 5% deal and that's why he's now worth $2 to $3 billion as a result of his mama saying, no, we don't want just a check.

We want 5% of everything sold with Jordan's name on it. Right. And cashed out immensely. And again, you named a lot of, you named a lot of, you named some smart African-American people, but most of the people you're talking about are white entrepreneurs, white entertainers that are offered these deals. They're not offering equity deals to to us and here's and

the interesting thing about that is is the the amount of leverage that black culture has in influencing all types of businesses whether it's music fashion tv crazy all of it right so the the part about the part about equity that's so important is that that is our secret weapon against being able to blow these companies up. If people had equity in Clubhouse, Clubhouse is valued at $3 billion. I think Clubhouse would be a much more successful app if they would have allowed people to actually have equity in the company rather than just go and raise $100 million and a billion-dollar valuation and not even care about the users. And in social media, equity in social media is extremely important because it's really a cheat code because it's the only business I know that you can actually increase the value by using it because you own it. So if you own shares in Fanbase by telling people about it or using it, then you're actually increasing the value of the company. So the more users we have, because again, social media apps are primarily based on the number of

users you have, the number of monthly active users you have. So if you have large amounts of users, they can say, oh, you could make this amount of money running ads. So we already have an evaluation of what the company could be and scale that. So with offering equity deals to people like Kaisa or allowing people to invest in fan-based on StartEngine, it just changes the game. And I think that's this whole purpose and mission for me is like, I want to change the narrative that African-American people and black people have ownership in these multi-billion dollar tech companies. We've never been here. And I think that's so foreign to people that they've never seen anyone like me try or move in a path that says, OK, I see myself as a Zuckerberg. I see myself as a Kevin Systrom or a Spiegel or a Jack Dorsey, but I'm black. But I know the value

that social media platforms don't work without black culture. So the equity conversation is one that I'll continue to have. And I've had these conversations with other entertainers yeah and a lot of times management is looking for the cash heavy side yep in tech because they don't believe but they're missing that they're missing the big point which is like someone like kaisa not or someone like cardi b coming to fanbase would increase the value of the company immensely but i I wouldn't, if I was them, get your equity first and then come over to Fanbase. And for those of you that invest in Fanbase and share the fruits of their participation in what happens.

Well, we are running a promo. I interviewed Jenny Jam. In the interview, he talked about how clubs in Minneapolis would not let them perform. And then they went ahead and booked their own venue, had 1,500 folks there, and the clubs were empty. And They were like, yo, where in the hell are the people at? They said, oh, they're at that party for the band y'all wouldn't book.

And then the band started calling, they were like, yeah, nah, we're good. And see, and that's what it is. At the end of the day, this is no different than the hottest party, the hottest concert. Where were the people at? Yo, that's where the money at. And too often what's happening is we are devaluing ourselves by taking the short money,

which requires us to keep doing all the work. Meaning we got to keep, listen, why do you have so many of these black entertainers who are 70, 75 and 80 80, and 85, because they still on stage. They still performing, because they don't own publishing. They don't own anything else. And the only way they make any money and still keep eating, they got to keep performing.

That's the case. I remember when Cicely Tyson, somebody talked about, oh, Cicely, you still acting. She was like, hell, I don't want to keep acting. But Cicely wasn't getting paid all those years. It wasn't until Tyler Perry came along that she got paid a million dollars for one day's worth of

work. And he did that after she told him, I think she said she got $8,000 or $10,000 for Sounder. And he was stunned. He paid her a million dollars for a day of work. It was the most money she ever gotten paid.

And so that's what people are realizing. So we talk about equity. This allows for you where you don't have to work because the value of that company is going up. And then how the tax code works, when you start talking about capital gains, stuff along those lines. Okay, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, he ain't got $44 billion in the bank or whatever his number is. whatever he wants to, and then his tax liability is low because you don't actually have to pay on that until you actually pull it out.

That's why the rich folks want to keep the capital gains tax rate exactly where it is, and they actually want it to be lower as well. And so this is a conversation that we as black folks have got to have because we want to understand building wealth equity is the way folk build wealth just like we talk about home equity it's the same thing what's the equity that you have in something that you own right and the value of the value of houses increase or decrease and you can actually pull from the value of your home and equity so i'm shifting i want to shift this conversation to equity for

the people that are watching. And I come on here and talk about fan base all the time in our race. So we're raising $17 million. Anybody that wants to invest and have equity, I'm going to keep using that word. If you want equity in a social media platform that is on the rise, then go to startengine.com slash fan base and invest. The minimum to invest in Fanbase is $399. And that buys you shares of the company. So you are actually an owner in the company and actually have equity. We're almost at $800,000 raise right now. You can go to startengine.com to invest. And that's important because these companies, again, reach $100 billion valuations.

I'm not in this to try to flip fan base and be a tech founder that says, oh, I was in tech and made a bunch of money. I see the enormous amount of value that the black community brings to platforms like Twitter, and they were on there with black Twitter, Clubhouse, Instagram, TikTok with the dances, all this. So I said, if we don't own infrastructure, what I was telling Jermaine Dupri is, is like, if we don't own the infrastructure, we're always customers to things we make popular. We are customers. Everybody on TikTok is a customer to TikTok. They're a customer to Instagram. They're a customer to Clubhouse and Facebook and all these platforms. They don't have any ownership in them. And what typically what these platforms do is they find one or two people to pay and make

wealthy and say, OK, see, look, we made them rich. But really, the goal is not to make one person rich to say you've done your job. My goal is to allow everybody a shot at the American dream, a piece of the pie to actually hunt equity in a tech startup. And again, I'll repeat this, the fastest way to build wealth in the United States of America right now is technology, is tech companies. It's not real estate. It's tech. So you see how much NVIDIA is worth.

You see these tech companies with AI and all these other platforms like this. So I'm doing a tech infrastructure play that's social media and technology and culture. So that's why I tell people to go to startengine.com slash fanbase to invest and own part of the company. It's extremely important. And one of the things I say is fanbase, I believe in the company. I believe in how successful we're going to be and how we've grown. And so I want people to take this ride with us because we're only going to keep getting

bigger and better. That's what we're raising the $17 million for. And we want people to be a part of that. And so that's extremely important. Equity is the word of the day. If you don't, like, listen, don't. I want to hear, like, five years from now, you'll be like, man, he was on Roland talking about equity and the work. I should have just did it. I should have put my money in. I should have went and invested. But, you know, this is your opportunity to do so. Because people like Kaisanat are making a lot of money, but he doesn't have

equity in a lot of these platforms, these companies that he works with. Absolutely. Equity questions. Robert, you first. So with the equity, can you kind of describe a kind of a ratio when people are investing, you know, compared to other companies? You know, let's say you had at this same point in time, we're investing in Facebook when they were at this same level of development. What kind of returns will people see? Because I think sometimes we can put it in more concrete terms that

helps people understand exactly what the equity stake can turn into. Well, I mean, I have to speak hypothetically just because I can't make any guarantees. Oh, no, no, no. That's a new hypothetical with Fanbase. Let's use real life examples. Facebook, Apple, I mean, you already use it.

Say it again, Nike. What was Nike's stock when it was offered to Magic Johnson? It was 17 cents. Okay, Nike, hold up, hold up. Nike was stock, Nike's stock was 17 cents when it was offered to Magic Johnson. If you right now, right now, let me just pull it up. Give me one second.

I'm going to pull it up. No, no, it's actually a little underneath that. But you pull it up right now. So Nike stock right now is at $94 a share. You see how it's going up and down, but the bottom line is $0.17 to $0.90. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

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And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. $84 a share is huge. Yes, it's enormous. I think it's a, I want to say it's a 285x return. So I'll do this. I'll say this. When I first founded Fanbase, the company was founded at a $20 million valuation.

We've gone from $20 million valuation to a $50 million valuation to an $85 million valuation to a $160 million valuation. So now Fanbase is worth eight times what it was when people first invested now. Now, $160 million is a large number, but in the scheme of what tech companies is, when you think about Twitch is worth $46 billion, when you think about TikTok or ByteDance being worth about $350 billion, Facebook being worth $2.2 trillion, Instagram outside of Facebook is probably a $300 billion company. So the ability for fan base to go from $160 million to $160 billion is there.

It absolutely is there. It's based on users, revenue, growth. And someone that actually is investing in the company can actually increase the value in that. So that would be fan base going from $160 million company to $160 billion company would be a thousand X returns. So for every dollar you put in, you would get a thousand dollars, right? At an exit, a liquidity event is what we call them. And so those are the type of gains that you can have. And that's my, that's my vision. I'm not, I'm in this to build this company into a multi-billion dollar company that turns

multiple people into a hundred thousandairesillion dollar company that turns multiple people into 100,000 heirs and millionaires and some people potentially into billionaires by using this model because we weren't able to do we weren't even able to do this the average person was not able to do this before 2015 so that's why i tell everybody take advantage of the jobs act and being able to invest in startups like this not after they go public so not so not after Nike goes public. Don't invest in fan base after we're public. Invest in fan base today, when we're a privately held company, that when we do get acquired, we do go public, we do do a merger. That's when you see the biggest return on your investment. And that was actually one of the best things under President Barack Obama.

Rebecca, equity question. Sure. So I'm thinking back to Kai Sanat. So Kai Sanat can literally stay on Twitch, but come over the fan base, use the same content, and then make money. But I'm also thinking of another example

of DJ Academics on Rumble. He is making Rumble extremely popular. As far as I know, his deal doesn't include equity. So can you talk through what it looks like if someone from the culture comes into Fanbase and they're able to increase the valuation of Fanbase because of their popularity and their audience

who would then go to Fanbase to follow them? And before Isaac does that, here's what Rumble did. Rumble is a right-wing YouTube. It was created as a competitor for YouTube, right wing. But then the folks were like, yeah, you know what? We can't just have all these neo-Nazis and other people on here. So what did they do?

They went and got a deal with DJ academics to do what? Bring his audience over there. And so his audience follows him. And so they're seeing him on there. He's driving massive signups as well. So what he's doing is he's actually making Rumble more popular. And you're right. They're giving him a nice check, but they're making the bigger money because they actually own the company.

He's making them more popular and more valuable. Isaac? Yeah. So that's the capitalization table, the cap table. Those are the words you're going to hear all the time. Who's on the cap table? Academics is not on the cap table of Rumble. Kaisa is not on the cap table of Twitch.

Aiden Ross is on the cap table of Kik. There's a difference. Again, I'm just saying that Jake Paul, Logan Paul, they're on the cap tables of a lot of these companies that they're involved with. They give these people equity in these companies. They give our young black creators cash, money, which is cool. And they're going to be handfully paid.

But the value that Kaisa not brings, right, to anywhere that he decides to move, and I even said this on another post, I wouldn't even want him to leave Twitch. He doesn't have to leave Twitch entirely. Make your money on Twitch. My point is that you can move your audience wherever you want them to move. You'll still have your audience on Twitch, but you can actually move an audience to somewhere, to a platform that you actually have equity in and increase the value of it. And again, I told him, I'm not, and I'm not talking like, you know, like a small amount of equity at all. I'm, you know, like someone Kai Stannard, I respect his ability to bring people where he wants them to go. People like Kai, people like Cardi. I'm talking about definitely equity that can make them billionaires if the trajectory of fan base goes.

But also, Isaac, to add to that, that's also put in the deal. It's benchmarks. Hey, if you take, listen, that's the deal that Howard Stern has with Sirius XM Radio. There's a reason Howard Stern said, later to Terrestrial Radio, people like, oh my god, he had a bigger audience.

The deal that Howard Stern has with Sirius XM Radio, because his followers follow him, dude is making crazy amount of money with SiriusXM because that's the kind of, but there are benchmarks. If you take us from

here to here, you get this. If we go from here to here, it creates your stake. And so basically you're saying you grow, we grow, and your bank account's going to grow because the valuation is going to go through the roof. Yeah.

And, I mean, one thing that I pride myself in and I'm proud of is the way that we've actually raised capital doing equity crowdfunding. And then me investing in fan base myself. One thing I'll say is I'll never ask anybody to do something that I haven't done myself. I spent $200,000 of my own money, not any of this money that I made producing music in the music industry. I gambled on myself. There you go. That $2,000 saved me about 20% of equity that I would have had to give away. So I understand the value of equity because I understand the value of music publishing. Music publishing is equity in the songs.

We say, how much publishing, how much ownership do you have in the copyright? Or how much percentage do you own of the masters? So that was an easy translation for me going from music to tech because I said, okay, cool. So I know that the more equity that I have in Fanbase, I can actually be able to raise capital and get more money to run the company or do equity deals, partnerships where people are offered stock options. And like Magic Johnson got offered in Nike where I say, I don't have a bunch of cash to pay you. Fanbase doesn't have a bunch of families ain't got millions of dollars to pay costs and not in millions of dollars, you know, to pay, um, some of these artists, cause they're going to make millions of dollars. Costs are not makes $400,000 a month on Twitch. He makes 400 grand a month on Twitch. God bless

them. That's cool. I'm saying that, Hey, look, you can make 400 million or a billion dollars right in equity on top of the 400 000 a month that you make and that's my point about saying and then and then for the for the for the retail investors that want to invest in fan base you can have equity and fan base and grow along with kai sonata whoever comes onto the platform and again my mission is to get those types of creators on the platform. Gavin? Isaac, thank you so much for being with us and for what you're doing, for what you're building.

You know, it's funny when we talk about equity, we talk a lot in our community these days about the DEI kind of equity, which is important. But this kind of equity that you're talking about, this is about generational change for our community, right? I think too many of us, especially young Black folks coming up now, they want to be rich, which will get you money, but what we should be aspiring for is to be wealthy, right? Which will give us time, will give us freedom. So I guess my question is like, I understand, right? We work so hard to get our seat at the table, but what we should be doing is trying to build our own tables.

So how can we shift that mindset in our communities? How can we get, you know, young Black boys and young Black girls to grow up wanting to be producers and owners and investors and not just the consumers and employees? And how can we make sure that they have the skills they need to do that? Well, I mean, one of the things I think is look at the examples that you have of people that have done it that way. People like Tyler Perry, right? People that have built companies from the ground up and see the value of the wealth that created these producers and songwriters and artists, right? And Pinky Cole with Slutty Vegan and all these businesses that are built.

A lot of places in America, we never see people that look like us in those positions of power and don't think that those things are achievable. We look at, you know, Oprah and Tyler Perry as unicorns and mystic, you know, beings that could rarely exist in ever. And really, if we focus the power of our community inward, right, we have $2.2 trillion worth of spending or $1.8 trillion of annual spending in the Black community and directed that back into investing in ourselves, investing in our own businesses, then we would create generational wealth. And I'm saying with social media, it's literally like, I posted this tweet the other day. You will not find the CEO of TikTok, Instagram, Clubhouse, or Twitter say that those platforms

don't work without young people in black culture. You'll never hear them say that. I dare anyone to say that. We don't need black kids on our platform to be successful. They'll never say that. So if you know that and they know that, then who has the power? The community. Black community does, right?

Black culture does. Now, the question is, are we using that power? How are we leveraging that power? And I'm saying with Fanbase, by investing in the company and then coming over to the platform and using it, and that's not for cost. This is for every single rapper, every single athlete, every single actor, actress, businessman, content creator. If all of you all went and invested in Fanbase and then came over there, now you own and

you're able to monetize. The platform was built to monetize through subscription, which no other platform did the way that we do it before fan base. So now you can make money on the front end and then have equity on the back end. So this isn't a call just for Kais and I. This is a call for every single black person that is watching this broadcast or will see this broadcast or see this video. Get your piece of a company that you can actually speak proud of, be a part of, use, help bring value to. That's what we have to do. We have to create examples. Fanbase has to be the example. Bob Johnson made the most amount of Black

millionaires ever when he sold BET. I keep saying I want to obliterate that record. I want to make so many millionaires. Fanbase has over 14,000 investors now, about 15,000 investors now. My dream, my legacy, I want to be standing in a room with 15,000, 20,000 people one day if Fanbase is acquired or Fanbase goes public and everybody behind me is a millionaire, multimillionaire, billionaire. That is my vision. That is my goal for Fanbase. That's why I'm doing this. I'm doing this to create generational. It'll be the largest distribution of wealth in the black community in the history of the country. If and when fan base exits at an IPO or an acquisition, it will be the largest distribution of wealth to black people in the history of the United States of America. Bob Johnson was the last one. I'm going to do the next one. And it's going to be

bigger because all of us are going to own part of a company and leverage our culture to blow it up. And then we do it all over again. Okay, we did it once with Fanbase. Let's go do it with a movie studio. Let's go do it with all the things that we can do. Let's go do it with an automobile company. Let's go do it with an airline. We can do this.

We can leverage our culture to create generational wealth, and that's what we have to do. We can't keep leveraging our culture and giving it away to these other platforms and then getting little one-off paychecks to be ambassadors and brand ambassadors and spokespeople and all that kind of stuff. Meanwhile, the people that own these companies are putting their great, great, great grandchildren in positions of wealth that aren't even born yet. That's my idea of this.

Hey, folks, equity, equity, equity. And when we talk about, this is the, equity. And when we talk about... This is the last point here. We talk about ownership. The greatest mistake that I believe that we make as black folks is that we believe

we have to own the whole company. Ownership means I have an equity stake in that company. Jeff Bezos got billions. He does not own 51% or 100% or 40% of Amazon. His money's in stock. Hell, he got divorced and gave his ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott,

she got billions in the divorce and she's giving out billions of dollars to non-profits and the amazon stock keep going up so hell the money she gave she's already made back because the money has multiplied folk we got to understand this is what it means and when there are some people they've got uh you see these stories i would just read john rogers aero capital management they have is Aero Capital Management. They have 1.8% of Paramount stock. This company has 2% of Disney stock. That's what this is all about. And so the purpose of the conversation is to completely redirect our minds

when we talk about black ownership. And that's the whole deal here. If y'all want more information on the Fanbase raise, go to startengine.com forward slash fan base. And so next week we'll chat with Isaac about artificial intelligence on our TikTok segment. Isaac, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Let me also, appreciate it, bro. Let me thank Gavin. Let me thank Rebecca. Let me thank Robert as well for being on today's show. Thanks a bunch. Y'all have an absolutely fabulous one. Folks, your support is critical to what we do, the stories that we cover, the conversations that we have.

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