#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Hurricane Ian, Justice Jackson's 1st SCOTUS Debut, White NC Sheriff Black Rant, HBCU Pilot Pipeline

Episode Date: October 1, 2022

9.30.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Hurricane Ian, Justice Jackson's 1st SCOTUS Debut, White NC Sheriff Black Rant, HBCU Pilot Pipeline The first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, has her Investiture ceremony, taking the Judicial Oath. Hurricane Ian is barreling through South Carolina and is likely the largest natural disaster in Florida's history.  We'll talk to the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships director about what the government is doing to assist the millions affected by this storm.  A black man walking dogs in a park is suing the U.S. Park Service for a wrongful arrest. A North Carolina Sheriff resigns today after audio of him describing black employees as "bastards." And a Michigan Republican running for state representative asks a black family why they're wearing face masks during a pandemic while Democrats are [pushing the killing of Black babies by supporting abortion rights.  Yeah, we'll show you how he describes the encounter.  I'll talk to the sister running for Florida Congressional 26th District.  That's one of the districts the Republicans restructured. And in today's Education Matters, an HBCU wants to be the pilot pipeline for U.S. airlines.    Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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

This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. 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. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black media, he makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network

and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Friday, September 30th, 2022. Coming up, a Roland Martin unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The first black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justice Katonji Brown Jackson had her investiture ceremony today, taking the judicial oath. The new Supreme Court term begins on Monday. Hurricane Ian is barreling through South Carolina. It is likely the largest natural disaster in Florida's history. Bethune-Cookman College has been devastated by the storms. We'll show you some of the photos that are being circulating on social media.

We'll also talk to the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Director about what the government is doing to assist the millions affected by the storm. A black man walking dogs in a park is suing the U.S. Park Service for a wrongful arrest. In North Carolina, a sheriff resigns after audio of him describing black employees as bastards.

And a Michigan Republican running for state representative asked a black family why they're wearing face masks during a pandemic while Democrats are pushing the killing of black babies by supporting abortion rights. Yeah, we'll show you how he describes the encounter. I'll talk to the sister running for the 26th congressional district in Florida. That's one of the districts Republicans have restructured.

Also, in today's Education Matters segment, HBCU wants to be the pilot pipeline for U.S. Airlines and the Congressional Black Caucus, AOC. The 51st Annual is in full force. We were there today and you'll hear some of the session where we were at the midterm election session with Congresswoman Terri Soule, and we also were there with Congressman Andre Carson

when we talked with Treasury Secretary Pete Buttigieg. We'll have some of that as well. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling, best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling.

Yeah, yeah, it's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Marten, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Marten now Martez!

Martez! As South Carolina braces for Hurricane Ion, millions in Florida are picking up the pieces from the damage left in its path. Officials say Ion is likely the largest natural disaster in Florida history. President Joe Biden has already approved a major disaster declaration, allowing survivors in the hardest hit areas to apply for federal disaster assistance to help jumpstart the recovery. Folks, it is widespread damage. We've seen photos of yachts looking like toothpicks that have been emptied out of a bottle. Damage all over the place. We also have seen

through social media, and we'll show you in a second, some of the damage, well, hard hit by HBCU Bethune-Cookman. Folks, again, significant, significant damage as a result of this hurricane. Joining us now is Marcus Coleman, the director of the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Marcus, glad to have you here. Again, this is one of those moments where, you know, look, Republicans can talk about small government. People can say, hey, we don't want the federal government's help. But guess what? When a natural disaster strikes, that's when you want the federal government's help, but guess what? When a natural disaster strikes, that's when you want the federal government's help. What is already being driven, being shifted to Florida

to help those impacted? Well, thank you for having me tonight, Roland. And yes, you're right. It takes all of government to work together. And we have been, FEMA has actually been in Florida pre-landfall. So we had staff and commodities pre-positioned. The president declared an emergency declaration long before the storm made landfall. And we have people on the ground today, including FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who is assessing damage directly on the ground here in our National Response Coordination Center. We're coordinated with organizations like the NAACP, the National Urban League.

We actually had a group called the Institute for Disasters for Inclusion and Equity in Emergency Management to ensure that we are keeping people first as we move into this next phase of unfortunately, a really long road to recovery. As I said, when these things happen, I don't care who you are, you are affected. This is a video here from someone on Twitter showing the damage at HBCU Bethune-Cookman.

And you see there, you know, structural damage there, a lot of damage there. Bethune-Cookman is a private school. So they're not a public institution. So when it comes to being able to, for assistance, just give me an idea of what can a Bethune-Cookman seek from the federal government when it comes to rebuilding? So we're gonna be working alongside our White House HBCU initiative to ensure that Bethune-Cookman and any other institution of higher education

knows what resources are available federally. We've done similar outreach for Jackson State University for the recent Jackson Water Crisis, was in contact with a group called the HBCU Emergency Management Workforce Consortium, all focused on how we support the students, the faculty, and of course the facilities and that historic presence there. And so one of the efforts that we have at FEMA is to come alongside institutions like Bethune-Cookman and ensure, again, their students, those faculty, those staff, those people that keep the university running get the assistance they need, while we also work to make sure that we maintain those institutions

moving forward through some of our government programs. Obviously, there are people who are displaced. We've seen videos of people swimming in their homes where they had several feet of water in their homes. And so when it comes to short-term living assistance, what options are there and what must folks be seeking out? So we know a number of folks are going to local shelters that are opened by the Red Cross. Also, we know many churches and faith-based organizations are also opening temporary shelters. People are moving to live with friends and family for a temporary time. There's three things that I want to encourage any survivor, any family member that knows someone

that's impacted to do. The first, continue to stay connected to the local government officials and their guidance. The second, you can register for disaster assistance now. 1-800-621-3362 is the phone number to get you started on that process of your road to recovery. We know we're going to be here for a long time. I was able to actually spend some time with several faith-based and community-based organizations in Florida earlier this year. And at that meeting, we were talking about some of the disbursements that they were giving financially from Hurricane Irma. So we know, again, folks are going to be recovering for long periods of time, and we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to keep the people first from a federal government perspective as we continue to move through this next phase of recovery. We're talking about how significant the damage is in Florida. This is video right here of the

storm surge in Charleston, South Carolina, and how they're impacted, right? We are here in Washington, D.C. The weather forecast shows massive amounts of rain that will hit Washington, D.C. and New York City between now and Wednesday. So even though Florida has taken the brunt of this as somebody who's lived through numerous hurricanes being born and raised in Houston, the aftermath of the hurricane can still cause considerable damage when it comes to rain, when it comes to flooding, when it comes to high winds ripping roofs off. And so people's lives can still be in danger, even though the hurricane may actually diminish some. You're absolutely right. And it's one of the reasons why at FEMA we are trying to work through

the broader coalition of partners that we have. Again, I mentioned some, the NAACP National Urban League. I was on a call last night with several bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. I was on a call this morning with the bishop from the Full Gospel Baptist Church. We recognize that across faith and community leaders in that coalition, we do need to make sure that people are prepared. To your point, right, we're coming up on the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. And so it's one of the reasons why, in addition to making sure that we're focused on equity in response and recovery, we want to continue to be culturally competent in how we talk about preparedness as well for communities. And so we are providing that guidance. People can access that information on how to prepare at ready.gov.

But, again, if you have anybody that's on the line that's listening and can hear my voice, that's looking to get jump-started on their road to recovery. 1-800-621-3362. That's the number to call to start the process to get some of the federal resources that you need for your household and your family. All right, Marcus Coleman with the Department of Homeland Security. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much, Roland.

All right, folks, I'm going to go to a quick break. When we come back, I'm going to bring in my panel. We're going to talk about the politics of these natural disasters. Whole bunch of Republicans in Florida like Ron DeSantis voted against relief for Hurricane Sandy. More than welcoming that money coming to Florida. See how these things roll.

Folks, we'll talk about that. Be sure to download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, X-Box One, Samsung Smart TV. And of course, you can please support us in what we do by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C.

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And don't forget to get your copy of my new book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. It is one of the best sellers on Amazon. You can get the book from the publisher, Ben Bella Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Bookshop, Chapters, Books A Million, Target. Also, you can

order through your favorite black bookstore. And, of course, you can also download the Audible version of the book as well. I'll be right back. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

You will not. Losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the US Capitol. We've seen shouts. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting.

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

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. Hi, I'm Israel Houghton with Israel and New Breed. Hi, I'm Carl Painting. Hey, everybody, this is Sherri Shepherd.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, and while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing your wobble. Yes, I'm Carl Payne. Hey, everybody. This is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing your wobble. I am. Because Roland Martin's the one, he will do it backwards. He will do it on the side. He messes everybody up when he gets into the wobble. Because he doesn't know how to do it, so he does it backwards. And it just messes me up every single time.

So I'm working on it. I got it. You got really, folks. Joining me right now is, of course, our regular panel on Friday, Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney. Joining us shortly is going to be Kelly Bethea,

communications strategist. Let's start right here with you, Michael. I'm just getting a kick out of these hypocritical, pathetic Republicans, especially like Florida Governor Ron Sanders. This is the man who, while he was in Congress, voted against hurricane aid to the folks in New Jersey for Hurricane Sandy. Oh, but he is more than welcoming of hurricane aid to Florida. Sounds like Rand Paul.

When he was constantly, always complaining about hurricane aid, disaster aid going to other states, yet when Kentucky got hit by natural disasters, oh my God, Mr. President, please. They love to sit here and say, Democrats, you're spending money recklessly. Oh, but when their states get

hit, then all of a sudden it's a problem. See, this show, I keep telling people why folk are stuck on stupid that it may not affect you today, but it may affect you tomorrow.

Absolutely. It's coming for you. And this is the chickens coming home to roost for Governor Ron DeSantis. And as I've said before, Florida needs to be desanitized. So back in 2013, when he was in the House of Representatives, he was part of the Tea Party. He voted against aid for New York and New Jersey behind Hurricane Sandy, OK? And he said that it was more that tax and spend, put it on the credit card mentality, that he came to Washington to stop, but also little Marco, little Marco Rubio. In 2013 also, when little Marco Rubio was in the Senate in Florida, he voted against the aid for

New York and New Jersey as well. Now, Ron DeSantis was on a Tuckums show, Little Tuckum's, Tucker Carlson on Fox News. And he said, when a disaster hits, it's time to put aside the politics and do what's right for the people. I'm paraphrasing. OK, this is what he said. But that's not what he did in 2013. OK, so what we're seeing now, this goes back to something that Governor Cuomo said before he was forced out of office during the coronavirus pandemic. And he talked about how the blue states or the states that lean Democratic, they contribute more on average to the national pot through taxpayer dollars than the red states, than the Republican states. Because you remember Mitch McConnell was talking about the money going to the blue states and New York, things like this, for coronavirus. And Cuomo said, wait a second, who's carrying who?

The Democratic states contribute more than the Republican states. So, you know, once again, this is an example of how elections have consequences. Luckily, we have a president in the administration that's not going to play favorites, okay, and help whoever needs aid. But Little Marco and Ron DeSantis need to be voted out of office in the 2022 midterm elections. And, Matt, again, I just sit here and I just laugh at these fools. In fact, one of my followers just sent me this story here. Matt Gates, who really should be

going to prison for his involvement with underage girls. Again, hypocrisy. Matt Gates just days after Hurricane Eon ravages his home state, this is a Newsweek article, Representative Matt

Gaetz was one of the many Republicans to vote against a stopgap measure that will continue funding the government and provide billions of dollars in extra disaster assistance. It's like, where y'all think the money coming from? And they think, oh yeah, it makes me look like a big, burly, tough, fiscal conservative.

But your constituents are in desperate need of help, and the money ain't coming from Florida. It needs to come from the federal government. That's right. That's right, Roland. And, you know, what they do every time is they sell it to Republicans like they're being fiscally conservative or responsible is the terminology they like to use. And in reality, they're divesting people of funds that are specifically intended to help them in these circumstances. So it's a matter of them not only playing politics, but like Michael, I think, said wonderfully a moment ago, you know, DeSantis and these cats do this every time, right? When it doesn't benefit them, they go ahead and say,

you know, we're not going to vote for that. And even when it does, in this instance, benefit them, they find a way to politicize it and, you know, make it about themselves and their own agenda. So it's a sad thing that the people of Florida will not get all the money that's intended, especially extra monies, because I live in the area where Hurricane Harvey, you know, ravaged years ago, and we're still dealing with rebuilds. I mean, still, literally just this week, I was dealing with something related to Hurricane Harvey. So it's going to be a long, protracted road to recovery. And the fact that he would vote against extra monies just shows that, you know, a lot of times they're not working in our interest, even if his people need the money.

And I also wanted to say for everyone out there, I went to college with Marcus Coleman. He is a brilliant, he's at the helm there for that community partnership with FEMA. And I trust that, you know, they will do what it takes to make sure that people get the resources that they need, irrespective of people like Gates standing in the way for their own agenda. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I just sit here and sort of laugh at these folks for for how they respond in situations like this. And it's just like, really, really? That's how the cats will sort of operate. So, you know, I get a kick out of it. Today, we were over at CBC-ALC, the 51st annual CBC-ALC. And for the folks who don't quite understand what works here,

you have the Congressional Black Caucus, which is the official members, 58 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Then you have the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference, which is run by the Congressional Black Caucus. Then you have the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference, which is run by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. It kicked off on Wednesday. If you watch the Black Star Network, if you look at our YouTube stream, the Black Women's Roundtable had their event,

which we live streamed on Wednesday. Yesterday, and there are different groups, so it's not just the CBC members. I mean, you've got every kind of group imaginable holding events, holding galas, luncheons, prayer breakfasts. You name it, these things are happening. This morning I stopped by Senator Raphael Warnock was speaking at a prayer breakfast for menaces organized by the 100 Black Men.

It was a busy day today for me. We kicked off this whole deal by where I led a major plenary session at the convention center dealing with the midterm elections. We had our legal scholars who were on the panel initially, folks like Maya Wiley, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Damon Hewitt, the Laws Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. So we had a number of people who we had. And then, of course, then we had our activists, Derek Johnson, NAACP CEO, Latasha Brown, of course, Black Voters Matter, League of Women Voters as well. And so a really busy day, some great, great content that was taking place. So first, what I want to do is, if we can, I want to start with our conversation that took place with the dealing with the midterm elections.

And so, look, we're about 40 days away from the midterm elections. And you're already seeing so much attention and energy being focused on the midterm elections, being focused on what is necessary for us to do in this election. And so what I want to do is I want to show you again what some members had to say, talking about what matters in this election and how it's important for us to use our vote. And one of those folks is Congresswoman Terri Sewell. She, of course, was led this session. And one of the things she talked about was that how in there in Alabama,

they should be having a second black district. The courts agreed. Even these Trump appointees agreed. But Brett Kavanaugh stepped in and was like, no, Supreme Court, you hear it. This is one of the cases they're going to be hearing in this term, dealing with minority representation in Congress. And so she implored the audience to really focus on this very issue. Here's what she had to say. Also specifically, the sister who asked that question, how are you targeting younger voters

who are in Alabama who want to make change? What is happening there? Well, first of all, you know, these organizations are our voices on the ground and help to organize us on the ground. And I think that until we can tell young folks, show young folks why the vote matters, why it matters, and the messenger, the messenger matters who? And it needs to be their fellow, you know, Gen Z-er. You know, you really have to meet people where they are. And you've got to be where they live and have a trusted messenger.

And so change rarely comes to the halls of Congress. Rarely comes to the halls of Congress. And when change does, it doesn't permeate at the very top. It bubbles up from on the ground. So grassroots activism matters. And you don't have to necessarily be a part of an organization to actually organize. My mom, who passed away last year, used to always say, bloom where you're planted and make a difference within the organizations and within the communities that you live and work. Okay. So we have got to know that your vote matters. Representation matters. Oh, let me start there. Representation matters. It was only when you got more African-Americans seat at the table, a decision-making table, that we started seeing actively money being targeted to our communities.

Okay? It was only when you got six senators who were women did we actually have a hearing in the armed services, Senate armed services, on sexual harassment in the military. It was only when you had one black woman who sat on the Senate, I mean, on the Select Committee on Intelligence, that was me, that we actually got our national security folks, we held up the money until they what? Addressed the diversity. I mean, the intelligence community and those committees, we have classified briefings and oh by the way classified budgets trillions of dollars of classified budgets so I'm sitting at that table I have before me

you know all of the the CIA the DIA and not one person looked like me not a woman and not someone of color and so you don't want to necessarily be the one, the only black one sitting there, and ask the diversity question, but you better. Because the people who elected you need you to do that. And so, Mr. CIA, we're not going to give you some money until I start seeing some movement. And so that's important. So representation matters, but your voice matters.

And in this great country that we have, our voices matter. And the best place to articulate your voice is at the polls. Let's go to the polls, and let's go with a vengeance. Going to have final comments. Let's start with Heather. I also moderated the Brain Trust session dealing with transportation and who was there? Transportation

Secretariat, Peter Buttigieg. And we talked about the money. More than $1.2 trillion was approved by Congress and about half of that is going to be for infrastructure, folks. And I want to make sure that black people are getting our fair share. Denzel Washington played him in the movie.

His name was Frank Lucas. And he said, I'm going to get that money. So we're going to get right to the point of this, Secretary Buttigieg, and talk about the money. The federal government spends $560 billion a year on contracts. African-Americans get 1.67% of that. One of the fundamental issues to build capacity, you've got to be able to access the money.

So billions have been passed. How are you making sure that African-American businesses, contractors, engineering firms, architectural firms, PR firms, black-owned media are going to be participants in these billions of dollars that were passed by Congress and it was the result of Congressional Black Caucus votes that actually made that possible? That's right. First of all, thank you.

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. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir, we are back. In a big way.

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

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine 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. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up.

See, retirement is the long game we gotta make moves and make them early set up goals don't worry about a setback just save up and stack up to reach them let's put ourselves in the right position pre-game to greater things start building your retirement plan at this is preispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Easy. Yeah, just jumping right in. I don't want to miss a chance, though, just to thank you for your voice and to thank Congressman Carson, who has been a leader in my native state of Indiana since before I was in elected office. Doesn't look old enough for it to be possible, but it is true, and it's so exciting to be here.

So the question you are raising goes to the core of what it looks like for us to succeed with the President's bipartisan infrastructure law. $1.2 trillion is about to move through the U.S. economy, about half of that in transportation. And we have an affirmative obligation, a moral as well as economic obligation, is about to move through the U.S. economy, about half of that in transportation. And we have an affirmative obligation, a moral as well as economic obligation, to make sure that at the end of those five years there are more black-owned businesses, more black millionaires, more black building and construction trades workers than there were five years sooner.

We know – and Compto in particular has a lot of expertise in this, we know that transportation spending and investment, when it's done right, can help build up ladders to opportunity. We know that from historical examples, like Atlanta. One of the reasons why there is a famous black middle class in Atlanta that is so strong, is that a generation earlier, when the airport was being built, Mayor Maynard Jackson made sure that there was access and opportunities to get in on the construction contracts that came with that. Actually, he said there will be tumbleweeds that will roll down these runways before I allow this to be rebuilt if black folks don't get it,

because when he became mayor, African Americans were getting.0012% of all city contracts. And when we went to Atlanta, we met with family construction businesses who were now in their second generation that existed because of that leadership. So we understand the opportunity and the obligation. What does that actually look like? First of all, we've got to understand the barriers to black-owned business participation that have existed and that exist today. That's the whole idea of DBE programs.

We also know that there are some barriers to entry, or let's say gaps in user friendliness in the program as we know it, which is why our team has been rewriting the rules around the DBE program. And that is actually out for comment right now. So business owners and leaders who are here in the audience who are watching this online, if you have not already, should make your comments known right now before we finalize that rule. But we know right now what some of those barriers are.

First of all, access to capital. That's why we're partnering with SBA on things like bonding that we know can be an issue. The personal net worth caps, which we're going to change, or we're proposing to change, I should say, in the rule. Because we've spoken to a lot of business owners who say, hey, I'm just about to get what everybody's telling me I'm supposed to have done. We're finally growing enough, and now we're too big to be small, and we're too small to be big.

We can do something about that. Things like whether retirement counts against that personal net worth. Access to information. So one of the things that we are doing through, in particular, through our OSDBU, and you're going to meet our OSDBU leader, Shelby Scales, who will be speaking in a moment, is have sessions and make information available touching every one of the 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico, about what the opportunities are actually like, because otherwise you have to already be on the inside in order to have a shot at that. Two more things I'll mention.

I don't want this to be long-winded, but this is a major, major priority for us. One, there are the contracts we actually literally do ourselves, right, federal contracts procured by our department. We have raised, for example, our SBB goal to 20%, over 20%, and we are beating that goal as of this quarter. But then for every dollar we spend, there's something like $10 that actually is spent by the people that we are funding, the state, the city, the transit agency. So we have to make sure that they are doing the same thing, that they have ambitious goals.

And that's a conversation that we're having with our state partners that is partly a matter of having the information out there, partly a matter of making sure that the basics of the law are met, but recognizing that the law represents the floor. We have to go way over and above that because shame on us if we get five years out and there's the same level of black business participation as there is today. All right, folks, and we also the final session that I participated in was one dealing with the state of the Supreme Court. And that was, of course, a session organized by Congressman Hank Johnson, Representative Mondaire Jones. And it was moderated by Simone Sanders. I was on that panel along with Ellie Mistel of the nation.

And here's some of that. Correspondent, I want to start with you. Because I think we need a baseline for this conversation. What is going on with this court? And if you had to pick one thing you are most concerned about this session, what would it be? Oh, I can't pick one. Well, you've got to pick one now. You've got to pick one.

All right, well, I'll start with democracy. That seems like a good place to place to start. The court is going to hear two major cases that will determine whether or not we have a republic this term. The one that most has gotten most of the press is called it is a case called Moore v. Harper. Harper. This is the independent state legislature theory. This is the theory that the state legislatures, not the voters, not the courts of the state, but the state legislatures of the state actually get to decide the voting rules of the state, who gets to vote in the state, whose votes count in the state, whose votes can be thrown away in the state. This theory is so controversial that the first version of it was surfaced by William Rehnquist in Bush v. Gore while he was casting about trying to come up with a way to make George Bush president

over a court-ordered recount in Florida. I'm gating myself a bit. But over that recount, William Rehnquist surfaced this independent state legislature theory. It was widely debunked at the time, except for one other justice, Clarence Thomas, who was a fan of this theory. And so that is going to be coming up this term, whether or not the legislatures themselves can throw out votes that essentially they don't like. The other big case is going to happen on Tuesday. This is called Merrill, I forget, it's Midges v. Merrill, I'm forgetting the first part of the name. Doesn't matter. This is about the Alabama gerrymandered map. Alabama put forward a map that was, how we had one majority, minority minority two majority minority districts um it was so racially um

divisive that even the conservative alabama state court was like that's that's too racist for us um and this is a court in alabama it goes up to the 11th circuit court of appeals a trump court and the 11th circuit two judges picked by trump who were just like yeah no dude that's really racist you can't do that. And Brett Kavanaugh says, wait, wait, nope, nope, not too racist for me. I'm not sure what happened there. Looks like Ellie got cut off.

But let's go right to our conversation. We'll just cut that short. Folks, if you missed that session, first of all, you missed any of those three sessions, just simply go to our Black Star Network app. We live stream all three of those. You can see them there as well. Again, Michael M. Hotel, Matt Manning,

and joining me in the studio is Kelly Bethea. There are people, Kelly, who might say, all right, you have this CBC AOC every year, and you've got folks who go to parties, who go to receptions, who go to gals, who go to award shows. But the reality is this. When you talk about public policy, this is

probably the largest collection of public policy advocates and experts who are providing the kind of information that people need to know and understand to then

know what to focus on now as well as in the future. I completely agree with that. And that's honestly why I love CBC ALC Week because to me, it's more than just a convention. It's really like a massive think tank where all the brightest black minds in the country and sometimes, oftentimes the world, come together to brainstorm how to better serve

our black communities abroad and wherever we are. So when I was at a couple of your panels, and I absolutely loved the discussion, and then you have the ones where you, if you just wanna know what's going on in that particular arena, such as entertainment or health or anything like that, this is the perfect place for you to interact with some of the brightest black minds in their respective fields, which is why I love CBC and ALC. I actually don't really go to a whole lot of the galas and the social things as much because I'm

kind of a nerd and I actually am there for the sessions and the seminars. But it is truly an experience that I feel like everybody should do at least once, especially now that it's in person. Matt, there also Nicole, Hillary Austin, Austin Hillary is now the CEO of the CBCF. They're doing something now that I sort of called them out years ago. Every session this time has been recorded and, I believe, live streamed.

But I definitely know they're actually being recorded every session. This is the first year that's actually happened. And I kept saying, what the hell is the whole point of having all of these great advice, great discussions for his panels? And if you weren't here, then you didn't know what was going on. This is what

I'm just a huge believer in, driving the information out. And so you take the pound that we did on the Supreme Court. You probably had 200, 250 people probably in the room, maybe. But let's just say 150 or 200.

But because we were live streaming it, more than 1,000 were watching at that time across the country. More will watch when we restream it, also over the next week, next two weeks as well. And this is the kind of info that we need because too many of our folks literally are walking around

having no understanding of the ramifications of Supreme Court decisions, public policy, what's happening on the federal, state, and local level. And again, they're covering a myriad of topics, you know, ranging from hip-hop and politics, ranging to black maternal care, to economics, you name it. And so there's value in it. I'm glad to see now they're getting the information out to a broader audience. I think that's incredibly important. And I think, you know, they have not only a moral duty,

but a duty as professionals to disseminate that information. And really, it's a drum that you beat on this show every week and one that Michael is also very good at in telling people to go to whitehouse.gov or congress.gov. A lot of times people feel like, you know, they don't know where to find the information. And then finding information that breaks it down in a way that they understand can be difficult. And I'm glad that you played those three clips, because I think in each one, each one of the speakers spoke pretty directly and pretty clearly about what the intended issue was or the intended, you know, curative approach to it. So that's important for our people to have information. There are a lot of people who I think

are intimidated by some of the processes, especially in government. You know, Congress has a million rules. It's hard to always know those rules, right? So it's important that the CBC record this information so that people can see it and harken back to it, especially when we discuss issues on the show and when they hear them otherwise, so they can see, well, this is what they were discussing at that panel. This is how the law is being broken down, for instance, as it relates to that independent state legislature theory. I mean, that's really insidious stuff, right?

So to have somebody like Ellie Mistel breaking it down for you to understand what it is at its core is important. And I commend them for recording it so that it's there for posterity for people to review. Information is power. That is a phrase coined by Kathy Hughes at Radio 1, and it is one, Michael, I agree with. You know, it sort of trips me out when I hear a lot of people, man, the CBC

ain't this, they ain't that. Anytime I hear somebody say that, it's a good bit. They literally have no damn clue what the hell the CBC does. Well, yeah, they don't read. That's part of the problem. I mean, if they just, if they go to thegrill.com

and read some of the fantastic articles by April Ryan, they'll get more information and see the policies that the CBC is pushing and have gotten past. If they watch Roland Martin Unfiltered, they can see you interview members of the Congressional Black Caucus. So when they say that, you know, there is a...

How should I put this politely? There is a black echo chamber of, for lack of a better word, stupidity. And I'm not talking about people who don't know. I'm talking I'm not talking about people who don't know.

I'm talking about people who prey on people who don't know. You have to understand the difference. See, there's this whole disinformation campaign targeting African Americans, and they use social media. And you have social media black pimps who put out misinformation to prey on people who mean well but don't know. If they knew better, they would do better. So we have to understand the difference. This is why the

Black Star Media Network is so important. This is why the African History Network is so important. I've been to the Congressional Black Caucus meeting, Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Weekend. I attended some of the, back in about, I think it was 2016, Roland, because I met you there in person. I attended some of the panel discussions that you moderated as well. One of my teachers, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, was there, because every year when they have the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Weekend, there's a panel discussion on reparations. So, Dr. Leonard Jeffries was there. Dr. Wade Nobles was there. Other people like Joanne Watson from here in Detroit.

So this is extremely important. I got to meet so many people. I did some interviews while I was there. I got to meet so many people. That is the place to really be. And it's good that they're documenting it, recording it and documenting it to preserve it, but also to rebroadcast it so people who could not attend could get this information. Because as I said before, and I'll wrap up with this, this is the most critical, most important midterm election probably in over the last 100 years, because this is the first midterm election after an insurrection has taken place since the 1866 midterm election, the year after the Civil War ended. So we have to be armed with knowledge

and we have to understand how policies directly impact our conditions. Because Republicans understand this, okay? We have largely been kept in the dark on this. So the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Weekend is a very powerful, important event to attend and to be part of and to learn from as well. Indeed. And again, folks, there's lots of information taking place and that people need to know. And that was something that happened during the you know, I sort of made this point during our Supreme Court session that I want to talk about here.

And I get it. I get how the public responds to celebrity. And every year, Congressman Andre Carlson sponsors the Hip Hop and Politics session. I know it well. I've moderated that session probably five or six times. I'm a three-year congressman, Andre Carlson, sponsor of the Hip Hop and Politics session. I know it well. I've moderated that session probably five or six times. But what gets me is when I see how folk react, when I look at, even at CBCF, the entertainment-driven

panels, and I'll see these massive crowds. Right. And I'll go, okay, I get that, no problem. But if you don't think these other issues have an even more profound impact, you're mistaken. It's just like when I talk about on social media, when I'm talking about how do we access the billions of dollars that are being spent

in various industries? And I see folk rarely want to comment on that. But Lord, don't put something up about Nick Cannon having babies. It's amazing to me how many people, Kelly, will be so locked and loaded on stuff that ain't got nothing to do with them. I mean, nothing to do. You ain't got no, you ain't got nothing in the game over the baby mamas of Nick Cannon. Nothing. But when we're talking about the future of the Supreme Court,

that literally impacts every facet of somebody's life, whether they want to admit it or not. Again, that makes complete sense, but I also take into consideration the fact that when it comes to entertainment, and I'll use your example of Nick Cannon, people understand baby mama drama. People understand that chaos, that confusion,

because it can be applicable to their own lives. Not saying that everybody has baby mama drama, but everybody does have some semblance of drama. The whole point of entertainment news is for it to serve more or less as a distraction from people's everyday drama, right? Whereas when it comes to the Supreme Court and other issues politically driven, that's a little bit harder to understand. And then what's worse, the people who are there to

explain those issues to us can come off as condescending. And we are just coming into an age where information is not only accessible, but understandable to people. And it has to catch up to this entertainment news, right? And we also have to embrace the fact that we are able to understand it and make it applicable to our lives, because it is, like you said, the Supreme Court decisions have an immediate effect on us beyond just Roe v. Wade, beyond just gay marriage legislation. Everything that Supreme Court touches will have an impact on everyone's lives, and it typically affects Black people the most. So it's definitely something that we have to take into consideration. I applaud those who do

explain things politically better than our predecessors, because now more people are able to come into the conversation. But you're right, entertainment is gonna be entertainment. Nick Cannon's drama will always be entertaining to some, but we also need to step away from the distraction that is entertainment and focus on what's actually gonna

affect our lives so that we can better our lives. I'm just, I guess my concern, Matt, is that this for me is the equivalent of the house is burning, but you on your cell phone talking to your girls or your boys about shopping or who won the game. You might want to turn around and say,

oh damn, my house on fire. And I am concerned because I don't think a lot of people understand the depths at which conservatives

are going to go in order to lock in them having control for the next 100 years. They are playing a long game that I just don't think people really and fully understand. Yeah, I think you're 100% right. And I think in speaking to that, not only do we have to combat disinformation, you have to combat the mindset that some people have that everything is rigged, that none of it can be trusted,

and you can't trust the Democrats the same way you can't trust the conservatives. There are definitely issues in each party and there are issues in every respective issue. But this is a long game thing. You're exactly right. I mean, for Trump to have appointed over 200 federal judges, people don't understand that they serve forever. So that's really a long game thing. And a lot of the issues that we're discussing, including things like letting state legislatures decide what votes count and don't count, are things that will have generational effects, not just immediate effects. So to use your metaphor, you know, not only are we on the phone and not paying attention

to the house, but we're not considering all the other houses that are going to burn down the street and how long that fire is going to continue raging if we don't take the time to really look at it now. But with that, kind of to Kelly's point, I think it's incumbent on the firefighters, if you will, the people who have the information to put out the fire, to explain to people not only how hot that fire is raging, but what we need to do to make sure that that fire is suppressed as quickly as possible. And some of it is disseminating the information, but also some of it is like, yo, I know you don't trust any part of the government, but like this affects your life. This affects your taxes. This affects your kids' education.

This affects your health outcomes. It's holistic and it affects you irrespective of whether you want to be involved in what's going on. In that respect, you have a duty to to be informed. So I think there's a dual duty and a dual emphasis. But I do think that, you know, we need to get over that idea that we can't trust any part of it because it affects us. And that's really where the crux of it lies. I just want, Michael, folks to understand that the other side, they ain't playing. No, they're not.

They ain't playing. I'm talking about, I mean, you look at that Robey Wade decision, Clarence Thomas was like, we're going to have this, this, this next. They're not... When people start signaling to you what their intentions is, what they're saying is we got

the votes locked up. We can run the table if we want to. Right. And that's what they're going to do. If Republicans take back control of the House and the Senate, I don't think they're going to do. If Republicans take back control of the House and the Senate, I don't think they're going to. But if they do, this is, you know, we have no idea what's in store. If Donald Trump wins in 2024, which I don't think he will, but if he does,

you go read the stories by Axios, by Jonathan Swan, about a second Trump term and how they're going to remove a lot of the, they're going to reclassify employees. They're going to reclassify a lot of them and fire a lot of them

and replace them with Trump loyalists. It sounds like something from Adolf Hitler. It sounds like something from Mussolini. It sounds like fascism. Okay? So one of the reasons, going back a few minutes ago, you said that Republicans want to control the courts and things like this for the next 100 years, and people don't understand that. The years, and people don't understand that. The reason why many people don't understand that, especially African Americans, because they don't understand the history

of the last 100 years, especially the last 154 years, going back to the end of slavery and Civil War reconstruction, but then the Jim Crow era, where they rewrite the state constitutions to do the same thing that Republicans are trying to do in state legislatures across the country, suppress the African-American vote. They impose poll taxes, literacy tests, things like this.

They rewrote the state constitutions because in South Carolina, for instance, the majority of the state legislature in South Carolina were made up of African-American men. They saw the changes that were taking place in this country because African-Americans were voting, and they made a concerted effort to stop that. So most of us don't understand this history. So when we see it come around again, we don't understand how to stop it. This is why I was warning people in 2015 and 2016 about Donald Trump, because he ran on the platform of law and order. That's a throwback to Richard Nixon, 1968.

Richard Nixon was a backlash to the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, the rebellions taking place all across the country, like in Detroit, 1967, affirmative action, things like this. And Donald Trump was a combination of Richard Nixon and George Wallace, governor of Alabama. So if you don't understand history, you don't understand when these events start rhyming.

Lastly, it's extremely important to understand the voter suppression laws, over 400 voter suppression laws being put. 19 state legislatures have passed about 34 voter suppression laws. That is heavily being financed, and those laws are heavily being written by American Heritage Action, American Heritage Action, I think it is, the sister company to the Heritage Foundation, sister organization to the Heritage Foundation. They are making these boilerplate policies that are being pushed, and they're financing this, and they're being pushed by Republican state legislatures. It's all orchestrated, okay? It's not by accident.

So we have to understand this and take action to fight against this and vote these people out of office. Yep. All right, folks, hold tight one second. I've got to go to break. We come back more on RollerMart Unfiltered, folks. Don't forget, download the app, the Black Star Network app available on all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, and of course, you can also join our Bring the Funk fan club.

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Student loan forgiveness has been a long time coming. The Biden administration has introduced a new program that's going to allow you to have almost or up to $20,000 forgiven. I think that the Biden administration, by implementing this plan, is admitting that there have been several serious faults within the higher education financing system and that this plan is a step in the right direction. That's on the next Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network.

When we invest in ourselves. 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

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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

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Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible.

Checks and money orders go to Peel Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is $RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle ismartin unfiltered. Venmo is rm unfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. I've always said this, rather than to continue to fight for a fair piece of the

pie and an equal slice of the pie, I want my hand on a knife that cuts the pie. And to that extent, who bakes the pie and And who puts it in? And that's one of the things that got me involved in going into politics in the first instance. I'm tired of people making decisions for me. Right. And mine. I wanna be a part of that decision-making process.

And luckily, it has paid off in terms of seeing the progress that many people in America have made, particularly people of color. One thing bothers me now that we seem to be losing that, saying that we've got to be more concerned with other people than those people who were here. We built America. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. Believe it or not, we've seen it all before. You people in the North, you're so sympathetic to Black people, you take them.

Sixty years ago, they called it the reverse freedom rides. Back then, Southern governors shipped Black people north with the false promise of jobs and a better life. It's part of a well-known playbook being brought back to life. So what's next? That's next on The Black Table, a conversation with Dr. Gerald Horne about this issue of the reverse freedom rights right here on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. All right, folks. Rashawn Davis took out the trash on September 24th and never returned to his Brooklyn, New York home. The 13-year-old is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 148 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Rashawn was last seen wearing a green shirt,

green shorts and blue MCM sandals. Anyone with information about Rashawn Davis should call the New York Police Department at 718-287-3225. 718-287-3225. For the first time in 233 years of history, a black woman is sitting on the Supreme Court. Today was the investiture ceremony for Katonji Brown Jackson. She officially joined the Supreme Court this morning with the ceremony with Chief Justice John G. Roberts administering

the judicial oath. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attended this historic event. Justice Jackson will help bring some balance to an increasingly conservative court and lose credibility that has lost credibility with American people on a daily basis,

and with the looming possibility of indictments of Donald Trump, Associate Justice Jackson could hear cases about executive power and congressional oversight. One of the things that we've been talking about is the appointment of federal benches. And Brown, of course, she is one of eight black female judges. President Joe Biden has nominated that have been confirmed. He appointed 13 black women, the most by any sitting president.

Judge Tiffany Cunningham became the first black judge ever to serve on the federal circuit. Judge Candace Jackson-Okewumbe became the only woman of color serving on the seventh circuit and just the second black woman to serve on the court ever. Judge Eunice Lee became the only black woman actively serving on the Circuit and just the second black woman to serve on the court ever. Judge Eunice Lee became the only black woman actively serving on the Second Court and the second black woman to serve

on the court ever. Judge Holly Thomas became the first black woman to serve on the Ninth Circuit from California and is the second active black woman judge on that court with 29 active judges. There are a few pending nominees, including black women who become the first to serve on the Third Circuit, Delaware Supreme Court Justice Tamika

Montgomery Reeves, the Fifth Circuit Judge Dana Douglas, and the Eleventh Circuit Nancy Abudu. The thing here is that we also, now one of the things I was talking with folks, Matt, about on this issue is that part of the issue is, yes, it's great to see these

particular judges here, but a lot of these judges are replacing black judges. I was talking to someone on this issue, and they said that what really should be happening is we should be seeing an expansion in the number of judges as opposed to replacing black judges. We want to see more on the federal bench. Yeah, I think that's important.

And I think it's important, especially on the appellate level, to have judges because you're not only looking at what's happening in trial, you have people who are deciding what cases should be remanded back to the district court and what cases should be decided in a certain way so that if they go up to the Supreme Court, you know, you have a solid base of decisions. So I don't disagree with that principle. I think it should not just be replacing the black judges, but it should be expanding those judges. And it should really be about making sure it's not purely ornamental, because the reality is, of the Supreme Court justices, there have been 116 since the inception of the Supreme Court, and only eight have not been white men. So, I mean, the dearth is just ridiculous. The number of judges that have been white,

overwhelmingly, and male since the institution was founded, in general, the federal courts, is just overwhelming. So it's important to not only replace those judges and not give us just this feeling of, you know, we feel good because we have a person who looks like us in the position. There should be a true proof that there's an intention of equity on these benches. And to that end, one thing I wanted to mention is, as we look at issues like qualified immunity and voting issues and other issues that are going up to the Supreme Court, sometimes the lived experience of those judges is super important, like that judge in Mississippi who wrote a 76-page opinion basically saying this law is bunk, I have to follow it, but this is a law that we need to change. I can't remember Your Honor's name in that instance. That's important because that's not the kind of thing

we've seen from judges who have not had the lived experience of being Black and in America. So it's important for the judiciary to have those faces so that they can, you know, impart their lived experience when they're making judicial decisions that affect our lives. There are some people, Kelly, who have tried to dismiss these appointments.

And I got to remind people, you got Judge Cannon, who is making these rulings dealing with the Department of Justice in the search of Mar-a-Lago. We can look at so many examples of how one judge weighing in can alter history. So I think people make a serious mistake when they act as if these judicial appointments are not that big of a deal. But that also goes back to what we were talking about in a previous segment about who actually is informing us of this information and how is it being digested. I think it goes

back to how we were explained how things worked in the past and how it was coming from a more condescending tone. So you kind of, you know, drown it out. And what's worse, in you drowning it out, you gravitate towards somebody who only knows this much about it, but it actually sounds like something palatable. So you gravitate towards that misinformation. And the misinformation given is that judges do not matter. Judges absolutely

matter. First and foremost, they are at the top of their game as far as the law is concerned. There's a reason that they were appointed. They have been spending their entire lives studying jurisprudence to make sure that they have the wherewithal to make decisions on the bench. And they affect our lives on a very personal level. Like, again, we see this from the top of SCOTUS down to the Anand Syed case down in Baltimore. It happens and it occurs on every single level of the judicial system, and it affects us intimately. We just need to get that information from people who not only understand that, but are

able to explain it to us in such a way that doesn't sound so condescending and that is easily digestible. But no, judges absolutely do matter. And we frankly need more judges who understand the experience, going back to Matt's point, who understand what black people are going through and, again, cautioning those who are in power to that appoint judges to not just replace a black face with a black face, because we don't want to be tokenized. We want to be utilized so that we can better our communities. Again, I always talk about, Michael, connecting the dots. And we simply cannot just overlook what these judges really, really mean long term. And then when you're able to build upon that, so Democrats are able to hold on to the United States Senate or even expand their power, then now you're talking about potentially by the time the end of Biden, the first term of Biden-Harris, they may very well be able to appoint more federal judges than Trump did.

Yeah, hopefully so. Trump got 226 confirmed. And this goes back to understanding not just the courts and the importance of the court, but also the role of the Senate, because it's the U.S. Senate that confirms the federal judges and confirms U.S. Supreme Court justices. So in 2014, when Republicans won back control of the Senate, Mitch McConnell Republicans blocked one hundred hundred and three federal nominations from President Barack Obama. One of them was the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, an African-American female judge that Obama nominated in 2016 named Myra Selby. Myra Selby was blocked. She wasn't even given a hearing when Trump becomes president, because many people don't understand how the Electoral College works, which once again deals with law. Then they filled her seat with Amy Coney Barrett. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, they rushed Amy Coney Barrett through in about nine days before the election.

And now she's on the Supreme Court ruling on the Dobbs case, which deals with which basically repeals Roe versus Wade. OK, so we have to connect the dots in how to understand the courts. The courts interpret law. The laws coming from the legislative branch of government, the courts can determine whether it's constitutional and the law remains or strike down the law. It's going to be the courts that determine

whether or not the African-American farmers and Latino farmers, et cetera, will be able to get the $4 billion in debt forgiveness that's in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. That's dealing with the courts. So, we haven't really been explained how politics and laws impact every aspect of our lives and the role of the courts. Republicans understand that much better than Democrats and African-Americans, but we're

starting to learn that more, and it's extremely important that we understand that for the 2022 midterm elections and 2024. Absolutely, and again, it's trying to get people to understand how all of these things matter, and

not just, again, the federal elections as well. Let's talk about North Carolina Carolina where North Carolina Sheriff has resigned after audio of him calling black people black bastards gets released. Columbus County Sheriff Captain Jason Soles recorded Sheriff Jody Green

doing a phone call, a racist rant about black employees of the county sheriff's office. Yeah, this white sheriff showed his true, true white supremacist colors. Check this out. The first place I see,

I've got office numbers too. I mean, the first extension that Melvin Campbell or Lewis Hatches called, they're gone. First one I found. Period.com. I'm sick of it now.

Sick of these black bastards. What are they trying to say? I'm going to be playing the house. I'll be done with it. Period. And we'll start from there. What are they trying to say? It's just shit all the time.

That's from two weeks ago. When I got the mail going to leave, until now, when I see the mail was called, the mail was called, it was called anybody. If anybody's called him, there it goes. Second little session. It's just, Sabrina, who else? They're gone.

I'm kidding. It's as fair as I can be. Just give me a heads up, that's Kevin. My man, Boyd, and Angie got to it tomorrow. The first numbers we see, they ain't going to make it, brother. I'm kidding. They might as well come somewhere else again. If they're not with me,

I ain't referring to you, but if they're not with me, they're against me. And they're gone. Talked about his black political rival, a sergeant in his department and a black detention officer. The audio was reported to county commissioners, but only one responded

to the complaint. North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is looking to allegations of obstruction of justice by the now former Columbus County Sheriff and deputies under his command. See y'all, this is the stuff I'm just trying to explain to y'all that keep going

on, that we kind of act like when these folk get in power, they show their true colors. And speaking of this, this fool here, he wants to be in power. This dude in Michigan. So a Republican Michigan State representative, candidate named Jason Wolford, recently appeared on a podcast called The Gray Area

and recounted a story about him seeing a black family at a Cracker Barrel restaurant wearing masks. Now, they're minding their own business. They're wearing masks. So this asshole, he decides instead of minding his own business, he wants to roll up on them and ask them why they thought it necessary to wear

masks in the midst of a pandemic. But then somehow he wants to bring abortion into this. Watch this, fool. I just want to say this, and I want people to listen very, very carefully here, so this is not taken the wrong way, but we were in

Cracker Barrel, and let me preface the story to this. My wife is Mexican. Okay. So she's got some fire. She's got some fire. Right. She's a fuego. Muy fuego. Yeah. So my point is, and then my youngest daughter is married and she has, her husband's half black. So my point is this, the people that are listening right now, remember that story when I'm about what I'm about to say. So my point is this, the people that are listening right now, remember that story when I'm about what I'm about to say. So we're in Cracker Barrel and I see this family walk in and for the sake of description, I'll say black, African-American, whatever, as we'd say in the Marine Corps, dark green. Okay. And they all have masks on. This is just a couple of weeks ago. And then they sit down and they have masks on and they lift the mask off to eat. Then they put it

back on. And when I saw this, I went over to them and I said, excuse me. I said, I want to tell you a story real quick. And I said, you see my family over there? I said, my wife's Mexican. My granddaughter's 25% black. I said, I just want you to know where I'm coming from when I say what I'm going to say. I said, I want to remind you that first, anybody at this table, you're not black and I'm not white.

You're dark brown and I'm piggy pink. Okay. Let's say having fun. Cause I don't like that narrative of the black and the white. It's very divisive and people have bought into it. And the Marine Corps was smart in that for dark green, uh, light green, whatever. But my point is I told them, I said, listen, do you find it ironic that the very people that are telling you to wear this mask are the same people who go into your inner cities and slaughter the babies of black and Hispanics? Those are the same people telling you they care about you and to wear that mask. And so I don't mean to be political, but at the same time, right is right and wrong is wrong. And you said earlier, you know, you sniff things out and it looked like this thing we were going through had more holes than Swiss cheese. Right. And so I just want those that are listening, you know,

brown, piggy pink, whatever they want to say, color wise, across social races, financial, you know, means we need to pay attention to our freedoms and what's being taken from us, what we're allowing to be taken, and then also the agenda that's being pushed on us, because it's just so many times not the fact. These are the type of dumbasses we're dealing with here in Michigan, Roland. I'm just, I'm just, I'm just playing. I've lived in Michigan 51 years. Uh-uh. Uh-uh, uh-uh. OK. First, these black people came to Cracker Barrel to eat.

Did nobody come to Cracker Barrel to see his punk ass roll up on him asking about, first of all, somebody posted a tweet. It's one of the best tweets I've seen about masks. The guy said he was on an airplane. And somebody said, what's the value of you wearing that mask? He said, this mask keeps me minding my own damn business. Now, here's what's a trip, y'all. This white man don't know who the hell these black people are.

This white man don't know if they black Republicans, if they black Democrats, if they black independents. He don't know nothing about these black people. He just decided to get his puffy what do you call himself, Matt? Piggy pink. He said to get his piggy pink ass up, roll up

on his black couple, interrupt their damn breakfast, and then he goes, the folk telling you where the mass are the ones slaughtering black babies. Okay, what's Piggy Pink's name? Piggy Pink.

Jason Wolford. Jason Wolford. Okay. Wolford, yeah. I wish I knew the black family. And I wish they would have said, let's just say Jason brought his piggy pink ass in front of me. And I would have said, hey, Jason, you got anything to say about black folks who've been slaughtered by cops? Then I would have said, hey, Jason,

since you care so much about black people, what you got to say about your party being the one defending Confederate statues and memorials? Hey, Jason, since your ass got so much to say, what do you have to say about your own party overturn the will of the people when it comes to the commission to redraw districts. Since your ass got so much to say, piggy pink. Where do you stand on civil rights? asinine piggy pink white conservatives really get on my nerves when they want to roll up on black

people and talk about oh the black babies being slaughtered in communities as if white folks ain't out here having abortions y'all math is math. Y'all, y'all, math

is math. If y'all telling me that black people, and I've seen them throw, let's say if there are 500,000 black abortions a year,

we represent 13% of the population. Do you know how many white folks are having abortions every single year? But y'all notice how they don't roll up on white folks like that. Because, see, this is the game that they try to play. See, so, Michael, this ain't limited to Michigan.

This is Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona. We could go on and on and on. And they love to play black people as if we somehow don't know what their game. No, game, recognized game. And so, I really wish that black couple would come forward

to just light this fool up, piggy pink, for his big, and then, now, y'all, now y'all, before we get started, before we get started,

my wife Hispanic say dog that don't mean a damn thing Lou Dobbs punk ass wife Latino and hell he was always ranting and raving and supporting Trump

Greg Abbey too and then I love this one now hold up hold up now my wife Latino and then talk about racist and stereotypical And then I love this one. Now, hold up, hold up. Now, my wife, Latino. And then talk about racist and stereotypical. Oh, my goodness. That means your wife is a hot tamale. That means she's fire. Oh, my goodness.

She's a bottle of Tabasco sauce. That's essentially what they said about the man's wife. And he's like, oh, my God, you're right. I'm like, his wife is going to slap your dumb ass. Right. But then he goes, oh my God, you're right. I'm like, his wife's like, slap your dumb ass. Right. But then he goes, oh, and hold up, by the way, my daughter, she has a black husband. I really hope her black

husband said, what the hell is your dumb ass telling that story? He said half black. And then he quantified it at 25% for somebody. He basically called his granddaughter a quadrant. Well, you know, they're black and African-American or whatever. I don't really see.

Because in the military, we call them green. Oh, so now we're Martians? Seriously. These people, this is why I had a woman came up to me today, Kelly, at the Quiches Center, and she's like, Roland, I've been supporting you for the longest. It was the oldest. I said, you know, but, she said, but you cuss too much. See, this story right here, this story right here.

Sister told me she gave money. Her son watched it. She said, I just, I can't watch you as much rolling. She said, I said, first of all, we don't cuss every day. But this story right here is precisely why we got to cuss people

out on this show, Kelly. Right here. I mean, sometimes you just don't have any other language other than profanity. And this is one of those times. I mean, sometimes you just don't have any other language other than profanity. And this is one of those times. I mean, it is said that with the human brain, the more you know and the more intelligent you are, the wrinklier it gets. You get the ridges and stuff in the brain like you see in pictures. say what came out of his mouth regarding his wife, his daughter, and his grandchild,

but also the conclusions that he drew from wearing a mask to abortions. Like, you can't make that make sense because it doesn't. The levels of stupidity and ignorance in that clip is astounding and sadly hilarious, which is why it's hard for me to. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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This is the type of people that we have in the state legislature here in Michigan, and these are the type of Republicans that you have in state legislatures, especially all throughout the South, OK? And I have a picture of Elhaj Malik Al-Shabazz behind me, Malcolm X. Malcolm X lived in Lansing, in East Lansing. Malcolm said that whenever you're in, whenever you're south of the Canadian border, you're in the south. This is the type of mentality from a lot of these people. And this is what we see here in Michigan. Okay. So he's drawn, and just keep in mind that the

guidelines for wearing masks during coronavirus, through the pandemic, they come from the CDC, which is the federal government. Regardless of whether it's Democrat, Republican, what have you, that comes from the CDC. And then it comes from your state government as well. So this is the type of nonsense that we're dealing with. But these people like this have to be voted out of office. They're dangerous. Okay, they're dangerous. And then, you know, he said his wife is Mexican.

Then he talks about his daughter, his boyfriend is half black, things like this. And we need to pull up his voting record to see what type of policies did he vote for, what type of policies did he vote against. You know, so this is an example of how elections have consequences and why these people are so dangerous. The thing here, Matt, again, these black people just,

see, just trying to mind their own business and this fool just had to roll up just to be stuck on stupid. Look, man, the thing that's ridiculous about this, especially ridiculous, is this is exactly what white people who are racist who don't want to believe they're racist do. They try to give themselves license by saying, see, I got black friends.

My granddaughter is half black or Black friends. My granddaughter is half Black or partially Black. My wife is Hispanic. None of those things give you license to be racist, number one. But number two, this is what conservatives do, is they make strawman arguments that have absolutely nothing to do with what you're talking about. If he had walked over to them and talked to them about mask policy, he shouldn't have been there bothering them anyway. But that would make more sense than trying to take that and then extend it to this conversation about the inner cities, number one. And I think further in that clip, he says, I don't know if they actually lived in the inner cities, but that's the kind of racism that you see from people who want to believe

that they're just talking from a standpoint of reason or rights, right, you know, presentation of rights, because I think he says that in the clip, like, oh, they're taking away our rights from us. You don't have to bother these people, number one. And number two, you know, these people don't care about your opinions on policy, especially, as Michael said, when it's promulgated from the CDC. That's the thing that's so absurd about it. Conservatives like to vacillate and go back and forth between we're the government and you should trust us and listen to us, and you can't trust

the government at all, depending on what's advantageous to their position. That's what's absurd about this. Let the people eat. Don't bother them. Go ahead and let them enjoy their lives and don't bother them with your racism that you try to veil as being respectful.

It's real simple. Why you got to wear a mask? Because I ain't got to smell a piggy pink. I ain't got to smell BS coming from piggy pink. Yeah, that's why I'm wearing a mask. All right, y'all. Got to go to a break. When we come back, we'll talk to the system

that's running against Republicans in Congress in Florida, plus we have our Education Matters segment as well. And so stick around for that. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, y'all. Available on all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And of course you could join our Bring the Fuck fan club.

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Okay, all y'all watching right now, click 1,000 likes on YouTube. What's going on? Okay, all y'all watching right now, click the Like button. It's real easy. So when I get back from this break, I should not be seeing 609 likes. I should be seeing 1K likes. So hit the damn button. It's free. What the hell is wrong with y'all?

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I've always said this. Rather than to continue to fight for a fair piece of the pie and an equal slice of the pie, I want my hand on a knife that cuts the pie. And to that extent, who bakes the pie? And who puts it in? And that's one of the things that got me involved

in going into politics in the first instance. I'm tired of people making decisions for me. Right. And mine. I want to be a part of that decision-making process. And luckily, it has paid off in terms of seeing the progress that many people in America have made, particularly people of color.

One thing bothers me now that we seem to be losing that, saying that we've got to be more concerned with other people than those people who were here. We built America. We all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

On that soil, you will not regret that. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress,

whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Pull up a chair, take your seat at the Black Table. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Gavin Houston.

Hi, I'm Carl Painter. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. All right, folks. In Florida, congressional districts were rerouted. Rhonda Santus wanted to gut the black districts, and District 26 was one of those that was seriously restructured. My next guest, she is running against Congressman Mario Diaz-Ballard.

Christine Olivo says she's the best first person for the job. She is here for CBC. Christine, glad to have you. You know, again, with the Voting Rights Act been under assault, Florida was able to do this. DeSantis didn't give a damn, didn't care about impacting black folks. Obviously, you're running against someone who gets significant support from Cuban-Americans there in the Miami area. So the question is, how are you going to defeat him in November? Thank you so much, Roland, for having me. It is a pleasure.

How are we going to beat him? We're going to show up. I am all over the district putting boots on the ground. I believe that we need to go old school. It is that knocking on doors, phone banking, text banking, reaching the voters right where they're at. And what we are seeing is that there is a common, we all stand on one common ground. We do not want our rights messed with. And right now, from Collier County to Miami-Dade County,

women are fighting for their rights. And that is how we're going to win. I am the only woman in that race. I am the only pro-choice candidate in that race. I am the only Black woman in that race. And women will show up.

And we talk about on the ground, what kind of support are you getting from the DCCC? Do they see this to be as competitive race, or are they ignoring you? The district went from an R plus 28 to an R plus 4. If I tell you that, you're thinking, okay, that's flippable. We can win this with the right support. I get crickets, and I'm just going to be honest. I'm not getting the support, especially not from the DCCC. They specifically- Wait, wait, wait. You said the district went from an R plus 28 to R plus four?

Yes. Okay. So we can flip that because 53,000 voters in District 24 have been moved into 26, and those are all Democratic voters. I have reached out to DCCC many times, and they have specifically said that they are focusing on my Latina counterpart who is running in District 27, and that all their focus is going into her race. And I said, well, we can flip this with the right resources. Honestly, I'm not the only Black woman that is not getting the support that we need in Florida. We have Aramis Ayala. We have Naomi Blumer. We have Shante Munns, Karen Green. Black candidates in Florida, female candidates are not getting the support that we need. Wow.

What are the critical issues you see affecting folks in this district? Number one, we have a housing crisis. The rent has increased by 58%. And we need to tackle that housing crisis immediately. We are seeing evictions daily, one of them being my uncle, who just got served an eviction notice. He is elderly. He's on Social Security, and he's in the district. We are also seeing with the housing crisis, we also have an income crisis. We need to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage. Those are the main things. Now, our second thing, we have an environmental crisis. A lot of the reason why our community is being moved out is because we have climate gentrification.

So everyone that's living fancy on Miami Beach, now they're being flooded, and they're moving into our district, which is Midtown, Wynwood, Overtown, Alapata. They're moving inward and moving us out. We've got to fight climate change. We need bold action. That's the only way that we're going to stop

climate gentrification, which is attacking not only our homeowners, but also our small businesses. And lastly, we've got to fight for human rights. I'm not just talking about reproductive rights. I'm talking about our voting rights. I'm talking about our rights to marriage. I'm talking about our basic fundamental human rights that are being attacked day in and day out, especially in the state of Florida. Well, look, it is going to is always an uphill battle, if you will, especially when you're not getting support from the triple C. Fundraising is critical. Where do you stand right now when it comes to fundraising in your race? We've only got 39 days left, and we need to raise about another $250,000 to $300,000 just to compete, just to get our message out to all the voters.

We can win this thing. And let me tell you, we are doing everything we can. But another 250,000 to 300,000 would get us not only to the Democrats or inactive Democrats, we can now reach the NPAs. The NPAs are going to decide this race. And NPAs, what does that mean? I apologize. Non-party affiliates. Those are the people that feel like they are politically homeless. They don't go with the Democrats. They don't go with the Republicans. They go, you know, in between. So we have our non-party affiliates.

And let me tell you, non-party affiliates make up one-third of the district. Gotcha. Well, look, certainly good luck. Hopefully folks will heed the call. If folks want to get more information about you or even contribute, where do they go? www.ChristineForcongress.org. You can find me on Twitter at Christine4FL, TikTok Christine4FL, or Christine4Congress on Instagram. But please check out the website, www.christineforcongress.org. All right, then. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks so very much,

Christine. Good luck. Thank you. That particular point there, I've heard from a number of people, Kelly, about the lack of support that the DCCC is giving to black candidates. And I talked to folks and they said, you have candidates who are in, as she described, winnable districts, but if you're starving them and ignoring them, there's no shot at winning. Going from a plus 28 Republican to a plus four, hey, that's a huge, huge drop. That's impressive more than anything,

because you don't hear about that. That doesn't necessarily happen. But it is frustrating that DCCC is cherry picking who they're supporting and who they're not. More importantly, I've seen on a broader scale who they are supporting, and it's very little people that look like us that they're supporting, which is telling, considering that you need people who look like us in order to secure those seats. So with 39 days left, I don't know if there's much that they can do, but this is certainly a lesson that they need to take heed to

and apply for the next election cycle come 2024. Matt? I echo Kelly's sentiments, and I especially don't understand why they wouldn't be interested in funneling money to a race where she has 53,000 people who recently moved into the district that are non-party affiliates, especially when Ron DeSantis is very clearly trying to run for president. So presumably the Democratic base there in Florida is energized.

And this is an opportunity to really leverage, frankly, his human rights violations and his long history of doing stupid things in Florida. To use Michael's term, he needs to be desanitized. Hopefully the Democrats can buoy that to a victory for Christine and others. The thing here, Michael, again, you need party support. Look, we understand finite dollars, but there are a number of black candidates across the country who say they are not getting the kind of support they need. Yeah, I think that message needs to be really highlighted and pressure needs to be put on the triple C and get some explanation on why aren't you supporting these African-American

candidates. And then at the same time, you know, I've seen interviews dealing with the, I don't remember the exact name of it, but it's like the Black Pack or something like that. Well, you have the Collective Pack, you have Higher Heights, you have Higher Heights that support specifically Black women who are running for office. So you've seen an increasing number of groups. Right, right, exactly. So I've seen different interviews with different groups like that also.

So at the same time that we put pressure on the DCCC, we also have to support groups like that that funnel money to African-American candidates as well. We need both of them. But the DCCC needs to be called out on this. And hopefully, I know you all are discussing this candidates as well. We need both of them. But the DCCC needs to be called out on this and hopefully I know you all are discussing this at the Congressional Black

Caucus Legislative Weekend as well. So I look forward to some of those conversations next week when you air some of those interviews that you're doing, Roland. All right. Hold tight one second. We've got to come back. We're going to have our Education Matters segment. More on Roland Mark unfiltered, folks. We'll be right back. We're going to have our Education Matters segment. More on Rolamark, unfiltered folks. We'll be right back.

When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Men. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not.

From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Blackstar Network. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. What's up? I'm Lance Gross and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. សូវាប់ពីបានប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្� Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. Today in our session at Congressional Black Caucus,

we talked about a number of different issues when it comes to transportation. And this actually was a question that dealt with the issue of the dearth of black airline pilots. Check this out. I control all the pilot hiring at Delta Airlines. Less than 2% of the industry are black pilots. In the next 10 years, I will hire 8,000 pilots. We have created a diversity pipeline with Hampton University. We're in the process of creating a diversity pipeline with Liberty City State.

And next month, we're doing a visit to Delaware State University to increase our pilot pipeline for African Americans. What we do is try to decrease the two biggest to two largest barriers to entry, exposure and finance. I'm asking you today to help us because airlines cannot do it all ourself. Can we please get some funding for HBCU programs who are creating pot? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

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

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

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

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

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on Apple podcast. Here's the deal. We gotta set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We gotta make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them.

Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. For the next generation. You ought to call Florida Memorial because they're actually creating a black power initiative as we speak. Barrington was one of the first graduates in that area. Okay?

All right. Who wants to? Come on, Mr. FAA. All right. Eric, thank you. And I'm glad that you raised that issue in terms of the larger workforce issue. And I will say that I was down at Delta Airlines this week and we spoke quite extensively about the challenges we're going forward.

We're looking forward to working not only with Delta and the larger carriers to have them come up with a commitment to deal with the whole issue of pilot shortage, but making sure that minorities get into the workforce to become pilots, technicians, and others who are in the aviation industry. Aviation industry jobs pay very, very well. And I want to make sure that as I'm going forward to work to increase what we already have a budget for, roughly about $10 million, to deal with the whole issue of developing a stronger pipeline to get young minority students into the aviation industry. And the other thing is we want to see many, many more women come into our industry as we go forward. So look out for us. I'm going to be- All right, folks. Perfect timing for our conversation today. Trust me, that was not

planned. Joining me right now is Cherie Gilbert, Director of Communications and Marketing at the Florida Memorial University, and Dr. Jorge Guerra, the university's Aviation Program Director. Glad to have both of y'all here. That brother right there, again, responsible for hiring all pilots for Delta Airlines. And so the program that you're starting, I mentioned the young brother, Barrington. I gave the first commencement address I gave. It was actually at Florida Memorial. It was in the graduating class.

And he talked about how he became a pilot because he said he was working in the mall and this guy came in dressed clean in the suit. And he was like, man, what do you do? And he told him, he said, how much you make? And he told him that. He was like, man, what do you do? Then he told him, he said, how much you make? Then he told him that. He was like, damn, I'm going to be a pilot. But the reality is you've got to be able to have a feeder program. So talk about what you're starting at Florida Memorial.

Well, thank you so much for having us. Before Dr. G gets started, I'll let him give his, we'll talk about his relationship with Irvin. He has a special bond with him, and he's our director of aviation and safety program. So he touches the students directly. We have a lot of partnerships. A lot of big companies are knocking at our door wanting to get our talent. So I'll let Dr. G talk about our talent firsthand because he teaches them in the classroom and has a direct connection with them.

Well, Roland, thank you for having us on your program. And yes, we've had a program at Florida Memorial since 1986. And we prepare students not only to be pilots, but we also have an air traffic control program, and we have an aviation management program that we prepare students for the industry. Barrington is one of our graduates, our alum, and we're very proud of everything that he's accomplished, and we just want to have more like Barrington come through our program. We do have a lot of support right now from the industry, but we could use a whole lot more. Like you mentioned early in your program, the biggest barrier is financial.

And so we need to find ways to help students get through the burden of affording to go through a program that's aviation related. How many students do you have right now? Go through your program. We have 81 students enrolled right now at Florida Memorial University for all three programs. Gotcha. And you want to grow it to what in terms of what sort of capacity you're looking to grow it to? I'd love to have 150, 200 students strong. We don't want to make it too large because this is a boutique type of program and we want to give special one-on-one attention to our students. But we could prepare a lot more students of color, women. We have a lot of females in our program, so we certainly could use more capacity for this program. And so in terms of needs, what do you need? What's that number? And you mentioned,

Sheree, in terms of the corporations knocking on your door. What are you making it clear? And not just airlines, but you've got companies that make planes. You've got helicopter companies. You've got a lot of different folks in sort of this space. And so what are you making clear? What do you need financially to build a program? Well, you kind of consider that to become a pilot, aside from tuition for university costs, it costs a student about $70,000 additionally

just to learn how to fly and have enough hours to qualify to become a certified flight instructor and then gain more hours before the airlines are interested in our students. So if we could bridge that gap where we can get $70,000 to each of our students that want to be pilots, that's where the dollars are. Sheree? Yes. Well, I'll add to that. We just recently saw an uptick in our enrollment. Just to give you an idea, our freshman class is the largest that we've seen in 15 years. So definitely kudos to our enrollment management staff and our programs that are enticing these students, like our aviation and safety program, to attend Florida Memorial University. Some of those partnerships, we are embargoed, so we can't go into detail about them, but we will be making a big announcement in a couple months with one of these partnering agencies.

And Dr. G has worked very hard to bring those type of agencies to our university so that we can entice students to come to Florida Memorial University and take part in our aviation program. Since its inception in our aviation program, we've graduated about 500 students and about 85 percent of those students are working in the industry right now. OK, questions from our panel. Let's see, Matt, you first. Sure. I just learned the other day, trade airspeed for altitude, right, is what pilots learn. So this is a really, really interesting program. I guess the question I have for you is twofold. First, for those who want to be pilots, do you particularly cull from all the students at Florida Memorial, students of all majors, or do they apply for the aviation degree in particular? And to that end, is there any kind of reciprocity for students at other HBCUs that might be interested in visiting or basically doing a domestic study abroad at Florida Memorial for the aviation program? Are there any kind of reciprocity programs?

So we don't have reciprocity programs with other universities. There are a number of other HBCUs that have aviation programs. We do draw from all over the country and we draw a lot of students from the Caribbean since we're located in Miami. But we have students from all over the country but might mainly are there Florida students. Kelly. Sure so for students who are interested in becoming a pilot, obviously you need to take courses as a student of the university. Are there courses that are best suited for those who are interested in pursuing this career? Or is it something that once you are in this program, you are pretty much kind of enveloped in whatever you need to pursue this career?

So the program is designed to prepare people to be pilots, right? So from the very first semester, students aren't taking their general education courses like any other university. But right off the bat, we put the aviation students in the private pilot ground. And this is a course that teaches them on the ground before they get into an airplane, all the different aspects of becoming a pilot, a private pilot. And so our students from the very first semester are encouraged to take that course. They're also encouraged to take Introduction to Aerodynamics and History of Aviation. So right from the very first semester, our students are already engaged in this industry. Michael. Hey, this is a great program. And I was going to ask for high school students, because I was in a pre-engineering program in middle school. For high school students, what are some courses that you recommend high school students to take who say, hey, I want to be a pilot. I want to attend Florida Memorial University.

Right. So what I would recommend is for those students, if they can go to a magnet school, there's several magnet schools here locally in Miami and in Broward County that have aviation as a theme. If a student is interested, they can go to these schools and they can take dual enrollment courses, introduction to aerodynamics, the private pilot ground school. All those courses are available to high school students. All right. Thank you. All right.

Anything else that you want to share with our audience? I would like to add, Dr. G, that we didn't mention that the Opelika Airport is right next to our campus. So students are really getting a hands-on experience. And they go over and they're able to fly planes and work directly with the individuals who are staffed and employed at the Opelika Airport, which is right across from our campus. Yeah, we have a great partnership with the Opelika Airport. They do hire a lot of our students, particularly our aviation management students. There's three fixed-based operators at Opelika, and all of them are partnered with us, and they all come to us on a regular basis, providing internships and full-time employment

to our students and our graduates. So we have a great opportunity there for our students to get into the industry. All right then. Well, look, we certainly appreciate both of you joining the show. And if folks want to get more information on the aviation program at Float Memorial, where do they go? fmuniv.edu. We have a new revamped site, so it's user friendly. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. Slow that down. Give it again. Sure.

FMUNIV.edu. All right, then. We appreciate it. Thanks so much. Thank you for having us. All right. Folks, so a few moments ago, I got a text message that a conservative radio talk show host who also is a show on Fox News, Mark Levin with the panel that we did today at the Congressional Black Caucus that I moderated. And Maya Wiley was on.

So apparently, Mark has been blasting Maya and been blasting me. And so then I just got this text here, which I'm really laughing about. He says, yeah, you would never invite him to your program. He was screaming and saying, yeah, Roland Martin is a member of the Democratic Party and a leftist. He won't invite me. Come right here.

Mark, let me go ahead and put, because you probably call Harry Belafonte a socialist. Mark Levin, you actually think I'm scared to debate you? So, Mark Levin, take this as your official invite to come on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Take your pick, Mark. You want 30 minutes? You want an hour? Or you want two hours? Matter of fact, Mark, I own it.

We can go three hours. Any day, any time. Now, Mark, invite me on your show, your radio show, or your Fox News show. That's the invite. See, Mark, if you sometimes ask for an ass-whipping, you'll receive it. So let's see now, Mark, whether you got the guts to say yes. And Mark, I don't need backup. Won't be anybody else. You and me. And Mark, you want to do it in person? We'll do it in person.

Because I own the damn cameras. So you let me know when you want to have this conversation, Mark Levin. Your move. All right, y'all, that's it for us. Kelly, Michael, Matt, I don't know why these folk want to try me. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why these folk want to try me. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why they want to try me.

I ain't the one. I ain't no Sigma. I'm not an Omega. I ain't no Kappa or an Iota. Here we go. They don't want no part of this alpha man. None. And it's a trip because I got one of my Twitter followers,

he's been tweeting Mark for a year about why he's scared to debate me. Say, bro. Hashtag bring your ass. All right, Matt, Michael, Kelly, thanks a bunch. That's it, folks. If y'all missed all of our CBC Foundation coverage, go to the Black Star Network app,

go to our YouTube channel, you can check it all out. We've got more things happening this weekend, so we'll have more stuff for y'all on Monday. So thank you so very much. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, and of course you can also support us financially

by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Send your check-in money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Folks, that's it.

I appreciate it. I will see y'all on Monday right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You know the show where ain't nobody scared of Mark Levin. Ho! Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. up see retirement is the long game we gotta make moves and make them early set up goals don't worry about a setback just save up and stack up to reach them let's put ourselves in the right position pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council.

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

Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast yes sir last year a lot of the problems

of the drug war this year a lot of the biggest names in music and sports this kind of starts that a little bit man we met them at their homes

we met them at their recording studios stories matter and it brings a face to them it makes it real it really does it makes it real listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeart Podcast.