#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Ida aftermath; SCOTUS refuses to block TX abortion law; Hate crime spike; Special RMU announcement

Episode Date: September 3, 2021

9.2.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Hurricane Ida aftermath; SCOTUS refuses to block TX abortion law; Hate crimes spike 42%; 23-year-old who died in police custody in 2019 was accused of a "felony faint"; A Texas high school principal was suspended after being accused of teaching CRT; Special RMU announcement#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: CEEKCEEK is a streaming platform for virtual events and Virtual Reality experiences featuring the biggest names in music, sports, and entertainment from around the globe. Check out the VR headsets and 4d headphones. Visit http://www.ceek.com and use the discount code RMVIP21Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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 Glott. 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 the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Today is Thursday, September 2nd, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Hurricane Ida leads a path of destruction from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast. Massive flooding taking place in New York and New Jersey. We'll talk with Dr. Walter Kimbrough, the president of Dilley University,

to see how his students and faculty and staff are doing, as well as the city of New Orleans. The U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday night refused to block a Texas law that amounts to a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. We'll talk with Planned Parenthood about their reaction to this news that they call devastating for women in Texas.

According to the FBI, hate crimes have increased by more than 40% towards African Americans. We'll talk about that with the Movement for Black Lives. Also in Texas, a 23-year-old who died in police custody in 2019 told officers he couldn't breathe and he was accused of felony faint. Really, felony faint? Hmm.

According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Sunday in federal court. Also in the Lone Star State, the high school principal was suspended for being accused of teaching critical race theory. James Whitfield joins us to share his side of the story. And loss of jobs, family members, people impacted by the pandemic.

How are people coping with their mental health? We'll talk with a mental health expert about that issue. Also a huge announcement. Y'all don't wanna miss that. You talking about Roland Martin Unfiltered, our third anniversary is Saturday. What do we have planned next? It's gonna blow you away.

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

Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, is Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martel. Now. Martel. Hurricane Ida's death toll continues to rise as tornadoes and flooding overtake parts of the northeast. At least 29 people are dead in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.

In New York City, first responders rescued commuters from literally halted subway trains impacted by flooding. Some people were actually pulled out of their cars. Travelers were stranded overnight in subway stations in New York and New Jersey. They declared a state of emergency because of the severe weather. Flooding in Pennsylvania closed more than 370 roads across the state. Parts of the South continue to reel from the devastating storm as well. In Louisiana, hundreds of thousands remain without power and fuel prices continue to soar. President Joe Biden will be in Louisiana tomorrow to assess the damage. The president of Billings University joins us right now,

Dr. Walter Kimbrough, to discuss what's happening there. Dr. Kimbrough, glad to have you back on the show, Fred. First and foremost, I saw a video a couple days ago of Tulane University literally pushing their students on buses and sending them to Houston. What have you done with your students at Dillard as a result of Hurricane Ida? Well, thanks for having me, Roland. I appreciate it. We did the same thing.

We really, when we figured out that we were going to have to get out of town, because I think the first major forecast Wednesday night said it would be a tropical storm that would go to southwest Louisiana or Texas. And then so we weren't as concerned. But then by Thursday morning, it looked a little bit more serious. So we started making rolling out our plans. But then by Friday, it kept going up and they said, oh, it might be a category three storm. So then you didn't have enough time. And even the mayor said you really need 72 hours to do a full evacuation. So we started telling students Thursday, if you can leave, go ahead and leave. And then on Friday, we said, look, we're going to close at two o'clock. So everybody who can get out, go. That was 90 percent of our

students were able to go somewhere. And then we had about 60 or so that didn't. So they stayed, they sheltered on campus that Sunday night, and then we were able to get them to Mobile, Alabama a couple of days ago. So we've had a group that started at 60. I think there are almost 20 there now. We've been sending people home, getting them plane tickets and bus tickets to get everybody out. So it just happened so fast. When I went to bed Saturday night, it was still a Category 1.

And when I woke up Sunday morning, it was almost a Category 5. So, you know, what do you do with that? I mean, it's scary how fast that happened. Obviously, you were impacted by COVID last year. Now you're having to deal with this. And so what is your plan moving forward? Well, so we're excited that the energy company, and of course, the major thing that people realize is that the billion plus dollars that was invested in the levee protection system for Metro New Orleans held. So you didn't have a Katrina event in the city of New Orleans.

Now, you did have massive flooding in other parts of the state, Terrebonne Parish, the places like that. But the wind knocked out the electricity in the major eight feeding lines. And so they're building that back a little bit at a time. So we still don't have power. And that's the real crisis in the city of New Orleans now is that there isn't any power. As soon as we're able to get power back, then we'll really start to go in and remediate the buildings and then start to bring students back. Right now, our plan is we'll do virtual instruction starting on September 13th, just to give people a chance to figure it out, because we do have, you know, a third of our students are from Metro New Orleans. So we do

have some people that lost everything. So you're trying to give people a chance to get their bearings. You have students who left town in a hurry, who went to Houston, but they might be from another part of the country because they felt like, you know, we'd be back on campus in two or three days and not a week or two. So they're trying to get home and then get back. So we still need another week just to let people figure out life. And there's students, faculty and staff that were impacted. And then we'll start classes virtually. But we're hoping that we're going to be able to get back to campus by the end of September and really restart our normal operations. But there's still a lot of work to do.

The point that you made there about those students who are from New Orleans who have lost everything. And I mean, so here they are trying to focus and concentrate on school is a little hard when they're dealing with a family who have been displaced and having to rebuild their lives. Yeah, exactly. And that's why we just said, let's just take two weeks to let people sort of gather themselves. You know, I mean, for me, we ended up leaving. We finally left and got over here. We're in Santa Rosa, Florida, my family.

And for the last couple of days, I have trouble trying to remember what day it is because everything happened so fast. And you're just trying to think, like, is this a crazy movie? And you showed in the clip the water in New York. This is all from the same storm. It reminds me of that Dennis Quaid movie, The Day After Tomorrow, where they have all the water rushing in and then you have this polar vortex and you got the tornadoes. And this is that movie. It's a climate change movie that's happening in real life that we're experiencing. So everybody's just trying to figure out life. I've checked in with faculty members, particularly those people who live in parts that are outside of New Orleans, like Laplace, that they lost everything in 2012 with Isaac.

Now they lost everything again. I can't imagine it in a 10 year span losing everything. So it's been devastating for people. So just trying to recoup and just give everybody a chance to catch their breath and then really try to get back to operations. Obviously, the president is declaring that area a, first of all, an emergency declaration for the area. FEMA's in there as well. And so has your team been able to assess what you're going to need in terms of rebuilding the campus in terms of your infrastructure? Not quite all the way yet. We know that, you know, for our chapel, we had a big window that was blown out. You know, I stayed in our house during the storm because I wanted to be close to campus.

So as soon as I got up Monday, I think I got to campus by 10 o'clock so I could walk to campus myself. I saw some spots where you had some roof issues. So we know we have some leaks, but we didn't have catastrophic damage, which is great. And then I got word today that the power lines feeding our campus aren't severely damaged either. So when they're able to start connecting power, that shouldn't be an issue for us. So, I mean, we're really blessed that we didn't have significant damage as compared to Hurricane Katrina. So between, you know, donations that are coming in, we're already getting some support from UNCF. We want to be able to use some of our additional COVID money from the federal government to be able to do that. We're getting additional donations that we really want to try to steer some of those to our faculty, staff, and students to help them. But I think that, you know, we have been, you know, spared on this one. It could have been much worse. There are some areas in the city that were destroyed, but

that wasn't our fate. So, you know, we're very thankful for that. And you spoke of donations. And so if our audience wants to help, where do they send donations? So we'll send out the link on our Twitter and our university page where we have a funding, a crowdfunding site that's already set up. We set it up yesterday to provide donations for our hurricane relief efforts. So we'll make sure all that's out on all of our social media and go to our website, Dillard.edu, and all that information will be there. And that's also, will that also be if people want to be able to help students who also are in need? Yes, so we'll target that too. And we've had some great support with that already.

Our National Alumni Association started doing some micro grants to students directly. The students in Mobile have been helped by one of the churches here, Nazarene Full Gospel Baptist Church. The University of South Alabama has stepped up. The 100 men of Mobile are paying for lunches and dinners. So, I mean, it's been a really great community effort here in Mobile to do that. So they'll be able to help students as well, people from around the country. All right, then. Dr. Walter Kimbrough, it certainly is an eventful final year for you as president of Dilley University.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. We certainly appreciate it, Fred. Thanks a lot. All right. Thank you. All right, folks. Let's now go to Texas, where President Joe Biden is launching a federal task force after the U.S. Supreme Court formally refused to block the controversial new abortion law in the Lone Star State. Biden blasted the high-cost decision and ensured a total federal effort against the law in a statement that reads following, by allowing a law to go into effect that empowers private citizens in Texas to sue health care providers, family members supporting a woman exercising her right to choose after six weeks, or even a friend who drives her to a hospital or clinic,

it unleashes unconstitutional chaos and empowers self-anointed enforcers to have devastating impacts. Complete strangers will now be empowered to inject themselves in the most private and personal health decisions faced by women. Folks, it was late last night. The Supreme Court, in the 5-4 decision,

chose, first of all, not to intervene in the Texas law. Now, some have said it is unconstitutional. The law, which took effect yesterday, prevents women from getting abortions after six weeks of gestation. It also allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion. Ian Faye Metzger from Planned Parenthood Foundation joins us right now. I'm glad to have you on the show. A lot of folks are saying that this is devastating, that essentially ends Roe v. Wade in the state of Texas. The Supreme Court could have put a halt to this particular law, but they chose not to. They are going to, though, hear another case out of Mississippi that has a 15-week ban.

And so what's interesting to me is that when I see folks who have been reacting in shock, I don't understand why they're shocked. The Republicans made it perfectly clear these are the kind of Supreme Court justices they were going to put on the court. They now have six. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the three liberal justices, but the conservatives didn't need his vote because they already had five solid Republicans, conservatives, who many believe are going to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade? Yes, you know, I mean, I think that when Donald Trump was president, he made it very clear early on that he was going to pick from a certain list of judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

And we're definitely looking down towards the end of that, of this 50-year precedent that has long been established. You know, it's really, really stunning that we're at this point. You know, this was 50 years of precedent. Texas turned the clock back 50 years, and the Supreme Court let them get away with it. And as you said, you know, Roe is now effectively meaningless in that state. We, as you mentioned, also have this other law that is being heard this fall, potentially, in the Supreme Court, a 15 week ban,

that again, is under cuts row completely. But we are still going to fight for the rights of women across the country. This is a really, really dark couple of days. But we have been for a long time making clear and talking through the bullhorn about this and about where we are. And I think that people are finally waking up and paying attention.

But the fact of the matter is a lot of people are still asleep. This law was going through. There wasn't a lot of attention on it, not a lot of media attention. And again, having that 6-3 conservative majority of the Supreme Court gave them what was needed. And frankly, I'll be perfectly honest with you. I think one of the failures of progressives and Democrats is that they did not pay as much attention to the federal courts and the Supreme Court as the right did. I mean, they made it clear this was what they were going to do. There were no bones about it. And I don't care what Senator Susan Collins said when

she said she was assured that Brett Kavanaugh was not going to overturn Roe v. Wade. I never believed for a second that was the case, and I absolutely knew Amy Coney Barrett was going to overturn it. And so the reality is this. When the Supreme Court takes up the Mississippi case, they may very well overturn Roe v. Wade, making it illegal in the United States to actually have an abortion. That is the reality. And we know that if Roe is gutted or overturned, that 26 states are already poised to ban abortion. We've already been hearing states talking about copycat laws like this Texas law in the South that could, you know, as soon as next month, we could see more of these laws popping up. It's a really, really terrifying time to be a woman in this country, somebody who

supports reproductive justice, because again, you know, the majority of Americans do support safe legal abortion and want that to be accessible for all people. But the courts and the judiciary, they just do not reflect the values of the American people. And it was Trump and Mitch McConnell's pipe dream to remake the judiciary, And they definitely accomplished that. So what is next? What is Planned Parenthood doing there in Texas? Because I saw a number of different tweets that where there were various clinics who were trying to perform as many abortions as possible. There were like hundreds of women who were waiting. And so what is exactly happening right now in Texas? Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, we have a lot of clinics that are seeing a higher volume of patient calling patients, calling them.

The patients are very scared. They're confused. They're fearful. They want to, if they can, have the means to get out of state to secure an abortion if possible. Many of our health centers are well, all of our health centers are, well, all of our health centers are complying with the law, to be clear. They are, they have to face an impossible choice, whether that was to, you know, give the compassionate care that they were trained to do or face, you know, ruinous legal costs. So they are all complying with the law. But the impact has been very, very real and very swift. I mean, I'll also say, you know, before the law had been passed, for weeks out in August, our health centers were afraid to book abortion appointments past September because they

knew that this was coming. So they are doing everything they can. They are working with partners on the ground with abortion funds, with patient navigators to get people out of state where they need to get out of state, to provide the direct funding, the technical assistance that is necessary because, you know, it's lodging, it's transportation, it is child care costs. It is a whole host of things that we have to consider when we're trying to get people out of state. But it is a challenge, but we're up for it. And we're also going to continue fighting in court and fighting this law because, again, it is unconstitutional and we need to make sure that it is wiped from the books in Texas. And already we are seeing other states moving quickly. Florida has already announced that they're going to create a law identical to the one that was passed in Texas.

Yes, Florida. There was also an Arkansas state legislator that has tweeted about it today. So it is coming. This is what we expected. And for years, we knew that the anti-abortion activists wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade, and they have found a way to circumvent the Supreme Court and the Constitution by passing a law that has a private right of action that allows private citizens to act as bounty hunters and sue providers and people who help people access abortion. And so this is real, and we are ready for the fight. We have long said that this was what was coming. We are shocked that people are only now paying attention, but here we are. We're going to rally all the support that we can get to really fight these and to elect people who will stand with us. All right, then. It certainly is going

to be a very difficult path forward, and we'll see what happens. Ian Thay, MedScare, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I want to bring to my panel right now Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, Recy Colbert, Black Women's Views, as well as Faraji Muhammad, radio television host. Recy, I'll start with you. The point that I made to Ms. Metzger is simple. I don't know why Democrats and progressives are shocked.

Republicans were very clear and have been clear that they would do whatever they needed to do to put conservatives on the Supreme Court. Democrats did not pay much attention to a lot of people. 52% of white women voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and

he was going to appease the evangelicals. That's what happened. He got three, three out of those six picks. So I'm going, why are you shocked? This is exactly what they've been trying to do for decades now, and they finally accomplished it in the state of Texas. This is a failure on every level, I mean, state, local, federal level, to protect Roe v. Wade in the state of Texas. And so a lot of people have a lot of blame to go around. I definitely think that the Democrats consistently fail to convey the importance of the Supreme Court, of these judges. That's something that we emphasized last year in the run-up, where we had to beg and plead with people to please vote because another 200 judges potentially were on the ballot and are, you know, were hanging in the balance if Mitch McConnell and Trump got another crack at it.

And they already got over 200 judges that will be on there for at least a generation, if not more. And so this is unsurprising. I've seen people call it the American Taliban, which I'm not defending the Taliban, be clear. But this is as American as apple pie. We have always had second-class citizenship in this country. For Black people, we're still trying to get full citizenship, trying to not get shot by the police, walking down the street, minding our business. For women, our reproductive rights have always been under assault. We still have pay gaps. And we have worse health outcomes in a number of areas, particularly Black women and Black maternal mortality. And so this country has never, ever granted women full citizenship. And so this is completely American. It's completely

on target with what we should expect from Republicans. And, you know, anybody who voted for Republican, they're a single-issue voter on maybe taxes or maybe other things. You have culpability in this. And anybody who didn't vote or anybody who didn't take it seriously, maybe you voted a protest vote or something like that, this is on you. And the problem is, we don't have the tools just yet, at least for the next couple of years, to undo this, because they have control of the courts. And so the of years, to undo this, because they have control of the courts. And so the only way to really undo this is to get control of the Senate, where you actually have a sizable enough majority who will either overturn the filibuster or over-

or pass legislation that will enact Roe v. Wade. And then, as far as these states are concerned, as your guest pointed out, 26 states are already ready to go with these abortion bans. And so people have to take their head out of their ass and realize that the status quo is no more under this country. And Republicans understand that they don't have to win elections in order to get their extremist agenda passed. They don't even really need their voters. That's why they let them take ivermectin and not take the vaccine and protest mask mandates because they already have the power

that they need in the courts. So we have a lot of work to do to undo what's been done. And I hope that doesn't take decades to do that. This right here, Greg, is what I keep saying constantly when we say elections have consequences, when we say you have to learn how to connect the dots. There are people who said in 2016, I'm not voting for Supreme Court. Yes, you are. I mean, I remember a woman calling to my radio show saying,

I just simply can't vote for Hillary Clinton, so therefore I'm going to focus on state issues in my state of North Carolina. And I said, okay, name those top five. And the top five issues she named all had a federal impact. And she then said to me, she says, wait a minute. She says, are you serious? I'm like, yes. I said, do you think that somehow you are divorced from what's happening in Washington,

D.C.? I said, the person who is the president of the United States, one of her issues, she says, you know, police reform. I said, attorney general, Department of Justice. I said, who do you think picks the Attorney General? I said, the President. I said, you're living in North Carolina. You're fighting for voting reforms? I said, federal judges. You do know it was federal judges in your state that ruled that the racial gerrymandering, when we were targeting African Americans with voter suppression, I said, unconstitutional. She was like, yes, federal judges. Who do you think appoints federal judges? The President. when we were targeting African Americans with voter suppression, I said, rule unconstitutional. She was like, really?

I said, yes, federal judges. Who do you think appoints federal judges? The president. Who do you think confirms federal judges? U.S. senators. I said, you can't act as if who the president is, who the U.S. senators are, has no bearing on your issues. And of course you were right, Roland.

Of course. Of course you were right, Roland. Of course. Of course you were right. I'm actually very encouraged by the White Nationalist Party of Texas. I encourage them because the seeds for this fight were planted when the first white settlers came to this place we call the United States. This was inevitably what was going to have to happen. There is no we are better than this because there is no we. This is a settler state. And so as a consequence, they have forestalled it. The Civil War was once. The so-called civil rights movement, the 20th century

was another. But this fight was always coming. So I welcome it. When this ban on abortion will be a ban on poor people, poor black and brown women, the rich will get on their jets and terminate their pregnancies out of the United States, or and what you will see is and this is why the study of history

is so important, you will see an approximation of the Underground Railroad. During the years living up to the Civil War, people broke the law. Africans like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass stole themselves. They were federal and state criminals.

You're going to see something similar when people fund folk to go out of state to civilized states to terminate pregnancies. So I very much encourage this. I encourage the white nationalists to say it with their whole chests, because it is going to lead to the final resolution of the central fundamental contradiction to this settler state called the United States of America, and that's white supremacy. And make no mistake about it, I agree with you, Recy. White supremacy, the face of white supremacy at its core is a white male face. The handmaid, Amy Comey Barrett, is part of a Catholic fringe organization.

She has been placed there because white women, enough white women, have taken the Christian extremist route to submit themselves to these white males. So please understand that when Justice McGonnell-Corsage, Justice Beer Kavanaugh, the handmaid Amy Comey Barrett, joining with Clarence Thomas, who was one of the most thoroughly convicted supporters of this white male nationalism that you have in the history of the United States Supreme Court, they have scared the hell out of the man that started this mess. Who is he? Johnny John Roberts, because John Roberts has run much of his jurisprudence, much of his judicial decision-making through the First Amendment.

That's freedom of association. And when you read John Roberts' dissent in this order that came down, and what the order did was refuse to enforce a temporary restraint on the execution of this law, John Roberts made the point, joined by Sotomayor, joined by Breyer, joined by Kagan, that the majority, including Sam Alito, another convicted fringe Catholic, and those who don't like this, I suggest you read and think before you open your lips to debate. What Roberts points out, and then what Sotomayor does the most brilliant job of, I encourage people to read her dissent in this, is that the defense, y'all understand, the defense of the

state of Texas in their application to allow this law to stand, their defense was they can't enforce the law. They wrote a law that says any private person is now deputized like a damn lynch mob to stop an abortion. Their defense before the Supreme Court the last two days was, we wrote the law, but we can't enforce it. And guess what? The Supreme Court bought the argument, which is what led Sotomayor to say this is the most absurd ruling. Now, I'll end with this. Just like Douglas, just like Tubman stole themselves from slavery, thereby making themselves criminals, the law, state, local, or federal, is only as good as the ability to enforce it.

So, come on, white nationalist party. Let's rock. What you're going to find out is, you may have the judges, but people will decide, in the words of Martin Luther King, that an unjust law should not be obeyed. And maybe we'll finally get down to the resolution of this criminal enterprise called the United States of America. Faraji, conservatives have been focused on this, the Federalist Society. Again, they had a very clear plan. They did not like what happened in the 60s with federal judges driving through civil rights. That's what all of this is from.

They made it clear. We want to create a top upper echelon legal society that can compete against so-called the liberal groups who went to Harvard and Yale. So they said, we're going to send our same right-wing conservatives there. That's what the Federalist Society is born out of. They were in control of all of Donald Trump's picks. And so, again, to people who are sitting here today going,

oh my God, I can't believe this, you simply have not been paying attention to the last 40 years. Absolutely. Absolutely. And let's take it another level, Brother Rowley, and Dr. Khan-Reesi. This is not a political issue. This is a human rights issue.

What I would hope to see is that women and men join and organize together to ensure that women have the right to their agency to their own bodies. What we're seeing right now in Texas, and it's really unfortunate, is that when a woman is, and I think Recy hit the nail right on the head, when a woman is constantly assaulted, reproductive rights, and all of these other issues day in and day out. I mean, what are you saying about the value of the woman? Because I was always raised up, you know, the most honorable Elijah Muhammad said that a nation can rise no higher than its woman. And so we're in a period of time where if the woman is subjected to this type of control.

And Dr. Carr put it out there about white nationals, which was absolutely on point. So all of these things are creating an environment and a culture to open up the floodgates to women being disrespected, women being raped, women being diminished, the contribution of women. diminished, the-the contribution of women. I'm not just talking about black women. I'm talking about women from the Latino community.

Hell, I'm talking about white women. This is a real situation that if men and women don't come together to organize around and to speak out against, we're going to see it. And as you said, uh, your guest said, Brother Roland, Ms. Metzger said, 50 years is going to be pushed back. And I'm looking at the chatter,

and I've been looking at the talk around this. People want to keep this political. And it is political. You're right. You're talking about federal judges. You're talking about federal agencies. Hell, you're talking about the president of the United States. But if we keep it there, I think that people won't get it until they understand it, that this is human rights

at its finest and at its fullest. It's about saving, protecting, preserving the choice and the lives of women. And so if we are not at a point to understand the implications of this, we're going to see a nation like we're starting to see

in these other 26 states, a nation that's going to be on a decline, a fast decline, because we're going to say enough is enough. I'm trying to let people know this goes beyond abortion. This is a myriad of issues that this conservative Supreme Court, and trust me, a lot of those issues directly impact black people, and trust me, they are not on the side of black people.

We already know Clarence Thomas isn't. Let's go to our next story, folks. So over the last year, hate crimes against blacks and Asians in the United States have reached the highest level in 12 years. According to a recently released FBI report, 7,759 hate crimes occurred in 2021. That's a 6% increase over 2019 numbers and a 42% jump since 2014 with 3,407 reported hate crimes. Now, folks, here's how to break down by race. African-Americans still face the bulk of racially charged attacks.

In 2019, there were 1,930 attacks against black folks. In 2020, the number rose to 2,755. Asians suffered 274 attacks, an increase from 158 in 2019. Data suggests a decrease in hate crimes against Hispanic people, dropping from 761 in 2019 to 685 in 2020. Joining us right now is Dr. Amara Enya, a policy coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives. Glad to have you on the show. So there were a lot of black folks who were, the Asians got their hate crimes bill. They got their bill. And I kept saying, no, it wasn't an Asian hate crimes bill. What was actually passed impacted anybody involved in a hate crime. It was like hard as trying to get people to understand that it was not race specific.

That what that particular bill did was to create a database that could impact anybody who was the victim of a hate crime. Yeah, you're absolutely right. So the bill was actually more so related to COVID-19 in terms of how it was branded. So the Asian titling it, the Asian bill, is actually a little bit of a misnomer because it was designed to address just the rise in hate crimes

that we've seen across the country generally, really across the board, but specifically for black people. And then Asians have also seen an increase in the number of hate crimes, particularly in the last couple of years and in the last year especially. And so we look at this particular report. There is a direct correlation to Donald Trump being in the White House and frankly, the freeing up of races to say and do whatever they want. Yeah, there is. And what's interesting is we can even go back further and look at the fact that this is the highest number of hate crimes since 2008. And so 2008 was another watershed year, was the year that Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. And so we can actually make a connection to perhaps the visibility of having a Black man running for president, who eventually won, and what that stirred up in the country.

And then you fast forward to 2016 with the rise of Donald Trump, if you will, and the correlation with the increase in hate crimes around that time, which has continued, especially over the last year. So it's interesting, they didn't make a direct connection, but I think just for those of us who are looking at the data, kind of connecting the dots to these key historic moments

and what happens to the number of hate crimes in that year. And so in terms of, okay, this is the FBI report, what we also have to have is you've got to have much stronger enforcement and the dollars that go with it to ensure that black people are protected. When you've got the Proud Boys out here, the Boogaloo Boys, we've got these racists running around left and right doing what they do. I mean, these people are not going anywhere. We're seeing the rise of neo-Nazis.

We're seeing folks who are in the armed forces as well. And so I keep telling the folks that we're operating in a 50 to 100 year war dealing with white fear that's going to impact us for the next half century to a century. Well, absolutely. I mean, what's interesting is there was actually a decrease in the number of departments or agencies across the country that were even reporting hate crimes. So about 15,000, a little over 15,000 agencies, these are local law enforcement agencies reported hate crimes. That number is actually a decrease from previous years. And so it's interesting to note that one of the things that we suspect is not only are

they saying that they don't have the resources to pursue these hate crime complaints, but there also may be a lack of interest in pursuing hate crime allegations, which is a, that's a huge issue, especially if we're seeing larger numbers of hate crimes against black people, and you're not seeing the sense of urgency from local agencies to actually pursue and investigate those hate crimes. So that's something that we all have to be very wary about. Again, it is going to be an issue. It's going to increase, and so black folks

better be prepared for what is about to happen in this country. Absolutely. I mean, we have to be vigilant. We're seeing, you know, again, in the last couple of years, and particularly last year, we saw hate crimes rise astoundingly. Since 2014, hate crimes have risen 42%. And again, for black people, it has always been a problem, but we're seeing those numbers increase, especially in the last year.

At the same time, we have to think about all of the other pieces of legislation that are being passed, things that, for example, are curtailing the right to protest, legislation that's curtailing, that's suppressing voting rights. Taken together, we cannot, I mean, we just have to think about systemically how all of these things are sort of working toward a chilling effect and harmful, especially for Black people. So we can't, we don't have the ability to rest on our laurels as these things are happening, because we're getting it from the legislative, on the legislative front, we're getting it on the policy front. And as we can see by this

recent report, we're also experiencing the harassment, the abuse, and other manifestations of hate crimes increasing, especially in this last year. So this is a topic that we can't afford to overlook or to underestimate. All right, Dr. Amara, and yeah, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks so much. Folks, tied to this here, go to my computer, please. Remember the white man who assaulted the NBC reporter Shaquille Brewster where he has been arrested? U.S. Marshals apprehended him at a mall in Dayton, Ohio. Benjamin Dagley is now in custody.

He was already on probation. And so this is the quote. Due to the assistance provided by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, our task force members were able to track this fugitive from Mississippi to his arrest location in Dayton, said U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott. This violent fugitive was attempting to flee from his charters in Gulfport, but the swift work of our task force members resulted in a timely arrest. Bottom line, Faraji, as I keep saying, this is the assault on black people are going to continue. We must be vigilant and understand this. There has been, frankly,

there's been an allowing of this to happen. When you look at the rhetoric coming from the right, when you look at the crap on January 6th, that was a direct result of black folks voting. And so, this is what America is, and I don't want to hear all this crap about bipartisanship. And so then when you have even people like

Congressman Madison Cawthorn, who then said we need to release the January 6th folks and then said we need to basically come back and storm the country. I mean, that's what you're doing. You're dealing with members of Congress on the Republican side who are inciting these idiots. No doubt. And here's another thing, you know, if folks for folks that don't know the

movement for black lives, they put out a report just a couple of weeks ago, brother Roland, around the U.S. government persecuting black supporters or supporters of black movements. And in that report, it talked about the fact that the United States government is still the number one threat to any type of protest movements or progressive action in this country. So I would be interested to really not just see the fact that it's interesting that there's not just the rise of hate crimes in this country, but can the case be made that there is a connection between how the government has treated black people in this country and the number of folks and how that has permeated to the number of citizens that have treated black folks in this country? If the government is treating a certain group of people a certain way, then why should we expect for the residents or other citizens to not treat that same group a certain type of way? And so the Movement for Black Lives, they put out this amazing report. And again, I would highly suggest that everybody check it out. But there is an ongoing assault.

There's an ongoing persecution of black people, of brown people, of Asian folks in this country. There is some assault on white people. But if you look at that report, the FBI report, they say there's about a 34 to 36 percent of the cases that they found over these past couple of years have been on black people specifically. So that's a huge thing. That's a big problem. Bottom line here, Greg, what we are seeing, we are seeing an unleashing of these of these races. But people say we've never seen this before. Actually, we have. And so history is repeating itself.

Yes, sir. Absolutely. It's already it's always been here. I mean, we can tie it. We can actually see that the first story that you talked about in terms of the abortion situation in Texas and beyond, and this story, Dr. Nya talking about it, are of the same fabric. The idea of suppressing abortions is rooted in the same contorted legal logic of trying to say, I can impose my will on you. And that lies at the heart of whiteness. So understand when Roe versus Wade was set in 1973,

it revolved around the notion of a right to privacy. That was interpreted into the Constitution. But it's the same logic that says to somebody in Colorado, I'm not baking a cake for gay people. It's the same logic that applies for Hobby Lobby that says, we'm not baking a cake for gay people. It's the same logic that applies for Hobby Lobby that says we're not extending contraceptions to you because it conflicts

with our beliefs. So in these hate crimes, these people feel an absolute right to be white in America and impose their will on other folk. And as the numbers change, what we're seeing is, and you're absolutely right, Roland, to evoke history, this country is moving toward a very familiar version of settler colonialism. It's what they did in Rhodesia. If we don't have the numbers, we will simply impose our will on you. So you can't call it a hate crime. And by the way, those of you who are interested in critical race theory, that is one of the foundational principles of critical race theory. Racism is able to persist because it is normalized.

So when you see this white man park his truck down the beach and come running up on Shaq Brewster, graduate of Howard University, by the way, like he feels like I have the right to do this. I am expressing my right as a white man to be a white man. And as you said, when Shaq put his elbow up and head debt and they cut the feet, don't cut the feet, whip his natural ass because hate crime legislation is not going to protect you when it is, I have the right to be a white man. No legislation, and you all see that Judy Chu

has introduced House Bill 3755. Nancy Pelosi had a press conference earlier today where she said we're going to try to enforce Roe as a legal right. Right. It's going to be a federal right. You can't stop these people. Well, I tell you this here. Our next story after the break, we're going to talk with the principal out of Texas who is having to deal with these accusations of critical race theory. When really they're mad and mad because the photos he posted on his page with his white wife. Recy, again, what we're dealing with, I keep telling people, is white fear. It's white fear. They cannot handle the change of America when you have Tucker Carlson attacking these Afghan refugees

who are coming in here. Oh, my goodness, their replacement theory. This is going to continue. We must be simply prepared and folks stop acting like it's not happening. We'll see about 30 seconds before I go to break. Yeah, I just also want to point out

in the context of what these numbers show is that this is part of the backlash to the movement for Black Lives, the racial reckoning that occurred last summer and the Republican propaganda that this is a rise in crimes and that this was Antifa and black people were out of control. And this is white people exerting their perceived power, as Dr. Carr so eloquently laid out, over black people. So yes,

that makes sense that despite the fact that all of the attention went to the Asian hate crimes, which is appalling, of course, black people actually saw the largest rise in hate crimes. It's appalling and it was completely not a part of the story at all that last year, so I'm glad we talked about it tonight. Absolutely. Gotta go to a break. We come back. We're gonna talk with a Texas principal suspended because he

was teaching critical race theory when he wasn't? Was that really the reason why parents in a suburb of Dallas-Fort, want him out. We'll talk with him next, right here on Roller Martin and Filter. Black women have always been essential. So now how are you going to pay us like that?

And it's not just the salary. I mean, there are a whole number of issues that have to support us as women. Yeah. But that's what we deserve. We shouldn't have to support us as women. Yeah, that's what we deserve. We shouldn't have to beg anybody for that. I think that we are trying to do our best as a generation to honor the fact that we didn't come here alone

and we didn't come here by accident. I always say every generation has to define for itself what it means to move the needle forward. Hey, I'm Amber Stevens-West. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. A Texas high school principal is on administrative leave after being accused of promoting critical race theory. James Whitfield, principal of Colleyville Heritage High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,

was accused at a school board meeting of having, quote, extreme views on race and calls for him to be fired. He says this picture of him and his wife is really the reason why he's being questioned and believes that his interracial relationship is a problem for school officials. James Whitfield joins me right now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So, Principal Whitfield, glad to have you here. So, I'm confused. They accused you of teaching critical race theory. How?

Brother Martin, that is a great question. First of all, thank you for having me on here this evening. They really, anything, if you go back and you look through anything that this group has to say about me, they've looked through my emails, they've looked through my social media, they've looked through my text messages. You name it. And the key words that they're looking for are anything that have to do with celebrating diversity, anything that has to do with being inclusive, accepting anybody based on, like, no matter what, sexual orientation, race, religion, like, accepting of all people. They have a problem with that. And trying to provide equitable experience. They have a problem with the word equity.

And so these people don't understand what critical race theory is at its core. And they try to twist it to fit a certain agenda. Right. And they're doing exactly what one of their leaders, Christopher Rouveau, said. They want to attach anything to critical race theory. If it's diversity, if it's inclusion, if it's equity,

they want to call that critical race theory. But they're saying you're teaching it, but you're a principal. Yeah, it is. It's absurd. Really, there's no part of my day that goes towards teaching anything in the classroom. I like to say I operate as a high school principal. My job is to support and encourage and wrap our students and our staff up in love and give them the resources that they need. And so I'm out in classrooms, I'm talking to kids, I'm shaking hands,

high-fiving, giving them that, showing up to their games, those kind of things. They make it sound like what I'm doing is holding these whole school assemblies or walking down the hall screaming critical race theory or, you know, white. They actually said I hate white people, which is absurd. Well, I'm sorry. I'm confused. I'm confused. They literally said you hate white people. Yes. I mean, there's a there's a group and you can you can go to Facebook and you can search out this group. It's called GCISD, Parents for Strong Schools. And I'll caution you, if you go to this group, you're going to be taken back in time, because it's literally like you're back in the 1950s.

The level of hate, intolerance, and bigotry that exists in that echo chamber is off the charts. But that's one of their claims, that I am teaching to hate white people. It's the most absurd thing in the world.

This is your wife. How do you hate white people when you're married to a white woman? Well, and also let it be known, my mother, who passed away, God rest her soul, I'm biracial.

My mother is white. So, hold on. I'm sorry. Hold on. Hold on. So, you're biracial. My mother is white. So, hold on. I'm sorry. Hold on. Hold on. So, you're biracial, meaning your mom are white, meaning you are half white. Correct. And these white people are accusing you of hating yourself,

your family, and your wife. Essentially. Essentially, because, you know, that's how you get a wife, by hating that person. Like I say, it is the most baseless and absurd thing. My job as a school administrator is not to, my only agenda, my only agenda is providing a safe and welcoming, nurturing place where kids have numerous opportunities to reach their full potential. But these people won't limit that to a certain type of student.

And if you listen to them, where a lot of this took off was at the July 26 board meeting. If you listen to their words that they had to say in open forum, they'll tell you exactly who they are about having school for. And that is if you are a white, Christian, straight person, then essentially school is for you. But that's not my role as a public school administrator. That's not my role as a public school administrator. That's not my role as a human being. My role as a human being is to welcome any and all into this space and give them all the opportunity. But that's why they have a problem with the word inclusive, because they are very exclusive in their approach. I am familiar with this area. I lived in Bedford, Texas.

I was a senior reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, still have a home in the Dallas area. For the folks who don't know, Colleyville is a upper income area, and not that many black people live in Colleyville. No, but, you know, I was shocked when I went there three years ago. I came in as an assistant principal in the 18-19 school year. And I was shocked to find the level of diversity. There are 54 home languages spoken at Colleyville Heritage High School. We make up three different cities. So we've got Grapevine, Colleyville, and Euless that are all part of that school. And I was really impressed with the level of diversity that I saw. And it's a beautiful thing. We've got, you know, up in the hallways, when you walk in, we did this just this past year, we put up flat, like, country banners with the school mascot with every country that's represented in our school. And it's a beautiful thing to see when you walk in, because a lot of people have this perception of Collierville Heritage and what it is. And now it may have looked like that in the past, but today it looks very different. And you've got

people there that are willing to embrace that and celebrate that, not just tolerate that, but celebrate that. And so it's really a beautiful thing. First of all, how the hell did the school board fall for this? I mean, were you suspended by the school board? No. So who suspended you?

So the suspension, well, it's paid administrative leave, and that was issued by the district. And, you know, really, all I've got, they put out a statement that says the reason that I didn't. And so if we back this up, July 26 is where the notorious board meeting takes place. So all your critics come into a board meeting in July complaining about you. Correct.

Okay. So individuals are allowed to state my name in open forum against the rules of open forum, spew, you know, where he says the conspiracy of systemic racism. And so they say all those things and then days pass and nobody is saying a thing. It's as if it just didn't happen. And I'm getting flooded by people in the community, friends of mine, family members.

They're like, hey, I got your back. I'm sorry that happened. But I'm not hearing from anybody. Now, I'm hearing from a few board members. You know, I'm hearing from five to be exact, five board members to be exact on the back end, private messages, texts, hey, support you. We got your back. Two that have ran on the slate of the CRT boogeyman, I've yet to hear from them an apology on what happened because these people that came and showed up and talked like that, that was their people that got them elected. So hold on, hold on.

You got suspended by the district. Who with the district? And did they tell you, sorry, put on administrative leave, did they explain to you why? Has the superintendent said, hey, James, this is why we're doing this? Or was it simply you got a letter and that's it? Yeah, I got a letter. The letter is from the superintendent.

And it says because it's in the best interest of the district. Hold up, hold up. Sorry, I'm confused again. So you get put on administrative leave in the best interest of the district. Hold up. Hold up. Sorry. I'm confused again. So you get put on administrative leave in the best interest of the district. Why? That's a great question, Roland. They literally

have not told you why you are on administrative leave. So they said why not. So they've been pressed to say why not. And so why not. Now, so they've been pressed to say why not. And so why not is not, and they put out a statement on this, so it's public record. It is not because I'm teaching CRT. It's not because of the pictures of me and my wife. This is what they say. It's not because of the people that spoke out at the board meeting.

But prior to July 26th at that board meeting, there was no issue. There was no issues. The issues arose really after I had to take a stand. I've been asking people for a long time to step up and say something. These people didn't just start on July 26th. Like I told you about that Echo Chamber Facebook group, they've been going for months. They've been dragging me for months with this foolishness. And I just let it go, and I'm doing my job because I've got a purpose.

And how long have you been principal there? This was going into my second year. So my first year there was last school year. Are you the first black principal at this high school? Correct. Okay, go ahead. Yeah, so over the course of that year, there were two contentious board elections and two people won seats that ran, basically,

on that CRT boogeyman stuff. And so before July 26th, I had been quiet. I hadn't said a word about this to anybody. Now, I had talked to people, I had talked to numerous people in the district saying, hey, we need to speak out against this. These people are dragging myself and a number of my colleagues through the mud, and it's not right. And nobody, nobody chose to say anything. And then after that July 26th board meeting, days went by. Still nobody was coming out in public and denouncing the hateful, intolerant, and bigoted language that was used. I mean, it was people in that gallery of that board meeting that were yelling, fire him.

And nobody was removed. Nobody was, I mean, it was just, they let those people straight up do a circus in that meeting. Okay, well, I'm also confused. You said the district told you to remove the

photos of you and your wife from your Facebook page. Correct. So, is it your Facebook page? Correct. So, how the photos... Hold on, hold on, hold on. Is it your Facebook page? It is. It's your personal Facebook page?

Correct. Does the district have a policy where they get to regulate what goes on the personal Facebook pages of school personnel? No, sir, not necessarily. Did they ask you to remove any other photos

from your Facebook page, or did they ask you only to remove the photos of you and your white wife? So the pictures that they sent, they sent like a collage. This person that went and found these pictures, it wasn't just like it was a posted picture on my Facebook page. They went and dug.

This was in 2019. They went and dug through an album that was 10 years old of me and my wife on our anniversary. They went and dug that far to find. And what they found was a professional photo shoot of me and my wife on the beach. And at the time when they asked me, they just said, we don't want to stir up stuff. And I wish I would have had the courage then to say I wasn't, I wasn't going to take it down. You know, knowing what I know now, that just, why I talked about this photo incident is because that was the moment that I knew something like

what happened at that board meeting was going to be tolerated and allowed. And so I wish I would have never taken it down because there's nothing wrong with it. Now the district has another statement that says that the photos are too intimate for an educator, especially a principal. The photos are too...

Is this one of the photos? That's one of the photos. That's too intimate? Yeah. I mean, there's another photo with... I mean, there's a larger shot. Do you have... Here's the question.

Do you have a lawyer? Yes, sir. Is your lawyer dealing with this school district and this school board? Because none of this makes any sense whatsoever to me. It does not. Let me... I want to do this here.

I want to read the statement. I wish I could get rid of this video here. The district has received numerous... This was released on September 1st. Right. The district has received numerous questions regarding the decision to place Dr. James Whitfield on paid administrative leave.

While the status of this as an ongoing personnel matter limits the information that the district can disclose about the events leading up to this decision, speculation and conjecture that surround these events warrant some additional context. The decision to place Dr. Whitfield on administrative leave was not a result of statements made by members of the public, including those who spoke at recent meetings of the GCISD Board of Trustees, nor was the decision made in response to allegations Dr. Whitfield was teaching critical race theory

or because the photos on a social media account that were brought to the attention of the district in 2019. GCISD welcomed Dr. Whitfield as an assistant principal at Collierville Heritage High School in 2018, then promoted him to principal at Heritage Middle School in 2019. One year later in 2020, he was promoted again to the principal of Collierville Heritage High School.

We understand the members of our community have questions, but the district does not resolve personnel matters in the media. We've established procedures for that which we are following. We are fully committed to coming together and focusing first and foremost on providing an excellent education for all of the students we serve. Now, one, that's an absolute bullshit statement because they actually said nothing. So what I'm trying to understand is, so it's not the statements of the board meeting. It's not the allegations of critical race theory, and it's not the photos on your social media account. So what is it? So actually in that statement, there's a lot to unpack there. So those of us in education, you know how hard it is to, especially if you're coming in from a district from the outside, to have upward mobility, to get an opportunity to rise through the ranks.

So them stating Dr. Whitfield came in 1819 as an assistant principal at the school I'm currently principal at. I was I was promoted the following year, 1920, to a middle school principal right across the street. The very next year, I was promoted again to the high school principal, back to where I started my journey. At no point did I have any issues, no marks on my record, no reprimands, no—I mean, there's zero. As a matter of fact, I've been in education now going on 17 years, and there is nothing. Zero on my record. So,

saying that, I've had these several years of straight promotions to this high school principalship. No issues up until July 26th at that board meeting. So, no issues, but they have yet to articulate to you why you are on paid administrative leave. Correct.

I want to pull in Dr. Greg's card. Greg, this is absolutely baffling. This is actually one of the photos that they asked you to pull off. So, Greg, again, what amazes me is if you can't articulate to him why he's unpaid administrative leave and then a statement he sent out in his BS,

the district is dancing. The district is dancing. They're trying to find the excuse. And it's good, Dr. Whitfield, that you're here, brother, helping us because to quote Malcolm X in the autobiography of Malcolm X, when he and his friend Shorty got put in jail,

our crime wasn't breaking and entering. Our crime was sleeping with white women. So, you know as an educator that when they say the best interests, that is a catch-all phrase to buy them time. It sounds like they're trying to figure

out language to exercise some kind of morals clause. But, of course, I'm glad you got a lawyer, because, really, at the end of the day, this sounds like a 14th Amendment violation, because there was no procedural due process. They didn't give you a hearing. They didn't give you a warning, because they know they can't say what it is. That's why, when you say it, they could say what they want people to believe is not, because they realize that all of those things, if they said that's what they were, there would be civil rights violations,

federal civil rights violations. It's the same logic by which the lynchers of Black people got away with it when the court said, well, they didn't scream the N-word while they were doing it. So I guess my question to you in this context is, are you still trying to figure out whether they're going to reinstate you? And is that perhaps one of the reasons that you aren't necessarily telling us everything? Because I looked on the website, and I don't know if Dave Denning is an ally or not, but they have scrubbed you from the website. Dave Denning is the interim principal.

And I'm looking at this and listening to this and, Roland, I'm just like you in thinking through this. They have no legal ground to stand on except, except this. You don't have a right to be a black man, brother. And they're going to do whatever the hell they want to you until we stop them. So I don't know. I'm assuming that part of the reason you really haven't gone is that you and your lawyer are getting ready to take the whole damn place and then move somewhere and continue your educational career.

Because it sounds like to me, they just don't want you there, brother. You're sleeping with white women, brother. That's your crime. Yeah. And what they haven't, they haven't given me what it is. And so I'm left to, I didn't have, like I said, I didn't have issues before July 26th. A month later after that event happens,

I'm on paid administrative leave. And so- No, no, but I'm saying, Dr. Whitfield, what I'm saying is I'm echoing Roland on this. Yeah. Without giving you any write-up, without giving you any procedural warning or any because they know they can't.

Now, isn't this on its face illegal? They can't suspend you for no reason unless they can. Well, I will say this, and I won't go too far into it. Okay, okay. That's what I figured. Yeah. Part of

I believe, and we are used to this, part of what's going on here is so many times, I can't tell you how many times I was told this school year to just get past it. People are just a little bit racist. And, yeah. But part of it is that I refuse to accept what is said to me. I'm not just going to, you're not just going to say whatever to me and I'm not going to respond. So I firmly believe there's some greater things there that just I am pushing back against a narrative that would rather me just sit there and take it.

Recy. Oh, yeah. I'm just wondering, do you have are you part of a union? I mean, I know that they have teachers unions, but I'm wondering if you have any kind of protection or have any of the local unions in Texas spoken out on your behalf? I've been in contact with a union. Texas isn't a union state. They won't allow you to unionize in Texas. But there are there are educator organizations. And so I've been I've been visiting with a few organizations to kind of help guide through this process. Faraji.

Dr. Whitfield, what's your end game here? What's your end goal? Is it to stay as principal or what? What's your end goal for this brother? Man, I love my kids. I absolutely love my staff and the people that I get to work with on that campus. But unless there is some serious reckoning at the district level, you know, there's an element of trust, right? And when we're doing this work, it's hard work what we do in education on a day to day basis.

There's so many things to already take care of when you're trying to make sure that every kid has the opportunities that they deserve. You're trying to make sure teachers have the resources they deserve. And so if if people above me can't deliver that element of trust, it's kind of like it's tying my hands, but I'm committed to my kids. And so, I would love that opportunity to serve my community because I'm not about abandoning my folks, but I just need, it's been really simple from the very beginning.

All I need—like the statement that they just made yesterday or the day before, I can't remember. It's all running together. If you would have made that statement and spoke out after those people said what they said on July 26th and said, hey, I'm going to stop you right there. He is not doing that. We don't have any issues. Like none of this would have came about. And so, you know, it's kind of that piece. I was I was really confused as to why that came out as late as it did. It is certainly a very strange Collierville.

That district's got to do better. That statement there is ridiculous. And so I'm sure you and your lawyers are planning something. Please keep us abreast of what happens here. And we'll certainly keep following this story to see how it ends up. Thank you, Brother Roland. Appreciate you. Thank you so very much. What it

means to be a black educator. I told y'all what happens, the reality of being black in America in 2021. Going to a break. We come back. We'll talk about the impact on mental health and COVID. And got a big announcement. Bishop Jakes, go ahead and

let me know how you feel. Got a big announcement. Bishop Jakes, go ahead and let me know how you feel. Got a big announcement coming up. All right, y'all. Y'all slow with it. Y'all too slow with it. Get ready, get ready, get ready. What? Get ready, get ready, get ready.

What? Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grownups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. COVID has had a tremendous impact all across this country. Obviously, we've had more than 650,000 deaths in this country. People are still being diagnosed with COVID, but it's also the after effects. First of all, you see people who are losing loved ones. You're seeing people who are in ICUs completely filled up. All of these things are happening. And so what many people are asking, how do you cope? How do you cope with still not being able to go out, not being able to go to various places? How do you deal with this uncertainty when it comes to our jobs, when it comes to whether we're going to be open or not,

whether we can actually go to concerts or not. I mean, all these things are happening. And so joining me is Dr. Jamie Singletary, who, of course, mental health expert. Doc, Jamie, glad to have you here. So first off, it's a whole lot for a lot of people to deal with. And now we're talking about all 2020. Now we're talking about 2021. Now we're going to be going into 2022

and not knowing if things will ever return to normal. Right. Thank you for having me. I'm not a doctor, but thank you, Roland. Well, you know black people. First of all, you know black folk. You could be at church. What a doc!

That's truly a black thing. That is a black thing, and so I will take that. But I am a licensed professional counselor in Atlanta, Georgia, or Georgia, period. And, you know, I work in mental health, have worked in mental health for a lot of years, and I am happy to be

back speaking with you about COVID because one of the things that I've learned since the pandemic has started is that as I do these presentations or just quick tips on how to cope, they change a little bit. But what has been consistent is the inconsistency in what we're seeing with the pandemic and thinking about the traumas that we've experienced in addition to traumas that continue to happen separate from COVID. I think we've forgotten that other things are also

happening in the world. And it just also happens to be a pandemic. I'll share a little bit of personal information. Last week, my son had a fever and I immediately started to panic, right? I felt a little traumatized, like, oh my goodness, he got a COVID test. I'm sitting there watching my five-year-old get a COVID test. And I'm thinking, I hope he doesn't have it. And I was thankful and grateful for just an ear infection. And at that moment, I realized we are traumatized because we forget that there are other things happening. So when we think about coping and we think about the inconsistencies, one of the things that I do with my clients and when I'm talking with my colleagues is that we have to create a safe space and we don't feel safe right now. We feel very compromised and we feel as if we don't have the coping skills that we typically had. And when I say create a safe space, a place where you can

go decompress and be quiet if you have to, a space that you create that is independent of what may be stressing you out, a place that you may invite someone in whom you have a relationship with that is nonjudgmental, that is unfiltered like your show and just able to be you and decompress. A lot of us, especially African-American people, we don't talk about it.

We decide to figure it out. We have that superhero complex where I will be okay. And what COVID has showed us is that things are not okay, and we have to become okay with that, if that makes sense. So what do we do to get help? How can we get help? First thing we need to do is we need to look at therapy. Yes, go to therapy. Therapy is your friend. Therapy does not hurt. Therapy is something that you can engage in as a self-care tool. You do not have to go to therapy when something bad

happens. Therapy is also a preventative measure. So looking at self-care, in addition to what's going on, am I still maintaining my eating habits, my sleep habits? Am I keeping up with my doctor's appointments? I don't want to get into get vaccinated, not get vaccinated, but you still need to make sure that you are healthy in whatever you're doing, right? You also want to think about meditating, turning off the noise, turning off the social media,

being very mindful of how much of this information you are intaking. And when it comes to trauma, in the therapy world, we have what we call big T trauma and little t trauma. Big T trauma is where the pandemic falls. War, natural disasters, excuse me, anything that we see like 9-11, things like that are called big T trauma.

And then our little t traumas are things that are centered around things that happen to us more personally. Let's say if you're going through a divorce, not that that's not traumatic, but we don't categorize that as a big T trauma. So when we're coping with big T traumas and little t traumas, the coping skills are really still the same. There is a psychotherapy called EMDR, eye movement.

Let me get it right. Eye movement desensitization reprocessing. And what EMDR does is it basically takes individuals to a place where they've experienced very traumatic things. And we use eye movement, which is led by the therapist who is EMDR trained to reconnect with those experience, but also let the brain take us through and have us to cope with it in that environment. That's a more sophisticated treatment, but there's still breathing. There's still regular talk therapy. There's still group therapy. And there are still options where you are able to do things within your home, because I know getting out and financial resources can be limited in these times. But there are things that you can do in your home that will also allow you to cope with the anxiety and the traumas that we are experiencing. Let's go to our panel. Questions. I'll start with you, Recy.

Hi, Dr. Singletary. You know, I think there's a big stigma and sometimes even an access issue when it comes to therapy, as you mentioned earlier, as a recommendation. Is there anything you can recommend in terms of a self-guided book or any kind of literature that would help people, a particular Instagram account? You know, anything that you think might help people that are a little bit more hesitant to go to a therapist, but maybe there's some work that they can do on their own. Absolutely. During the pandemic, we have seen where a lot of online resources have become available. There are several, several options. If you go into things like self-meditation by African-American authors, there are things that will come up if you go into guided meditations. There are things that will come up. Also, a lot of therapists have been able to work with clients. There's a website called Psychology Today. And on Psychology Today, you can actually

filter what it is that you're looking for in a therapist and they will pop up and some of them are doing sliding scales. And that means that they will work with your budget if like i said finances are an issue or insurance is an issue you can even filter through what insurances they take so there are lots of resources available by african-american therapists there are also several websites there's a website that i often go to called blackgirlsintherapy.com, and it focuses on things that women deal with, especially women of color. And as for our men in our community, there are also websites that for African-American therapists that they are looking for males also. Viraji? Ms. Singletay, quick question.

Just wanted to know, you know, COVID has brought, like you said, like the big T trauma and the little t trauma. You talked a lot about you talked a little bit about social media. But if you can delve into it, because I sometimes find myself going down that rabbit hole of trying to figure out all what's the latest CDC warning and, you know, what's people talking about and all of those things. And I feel like I might be the only one. But then I said, no, I can't possibly be the only one. So so so so can you give us some more insight about social media use or the best way or the most responsible way? Yes, that is a great question. I'm so glad you brought that up because social media has such a huge impact on the way that we think because we can be anybody we want to behind our computer screens. So it's very, very important that you somewhat take your social media intake with a grain of salt, if that makes sense.

Go to places where you can get real news and not fake news and for people who are actually educated on what it is that they're talking about and just monitor the intake of it and you know kind of do a self-assessment if you will and say is it necessary for me to be on every website or is it okay if i pick maybe one or two news programs that I like and I maybe give them, you know, each 30 minutes a day or 15 minutes a day. Because if we're spending that much time on our social media, something somewhere is getting neglected. You know what I mean? So we have to make sure that we have that balance and a big piece of coping with not just COVID, but life in general is going to be maintaining the balance. Greg Carr.

Doc, I appreciate you and everybody in the mental health profession and craft, because this is something we all need to hear. Thank you, Roland, for having her on. Can I ask you, you know, it seems that we're still, since we're still in the middle of this, this is really restructuring our realities. My question is, what kind of challenges do you anticipate coming up in the next year, the next couple of years? I mean, you know, social isolation, social anxiety for people returning, those empty office buildings, people like me who was used to this blinding commute who have taken a blood oath never again to pay for parking, never to go back in traffic the way I went. And I'd be perfectly fine to sit here at my house. But I understand that there are

people who don't have that option. What kind of things do you anticipate in terms of just the structural changes in the society we live in as it relates to this? That's a great, that's an awesome question because for me, I'm in the mental health field, so I've been known to always be in the office. And now we're doing telehealth, telemental health, and it feels a little weird for us because we're used to actually seeing our clients and getting that energy and feeling where they're coming from. And I feel like in our field, there will be a balance of both. There are some providers that now, because of telemedicine, can see clients that they typically wouldn't be able to see because of insurance and licensure and a lot of red tape we won't get into. But telehealth has provided an avenue for people to access care that typically wouldn't be able to, whether it be geographically or they not, you know, have the insurance or the

benefits, whatever it may be. But I think what I am seeing also is companies are realizing that we don't necessarily need as much as we thought we needed. And we can make this work remotely. We don't need this office space. And they're downsizing and cutting costs. And unfortunately, we're seeing a lot of people's jobs that are not coming back. Because during the pandemic, there's been a realization of what we consider to be essential, if you will. That was like the buzzword, you know, when the pandemic first started is who do we consider to be essential workers? And I think that's going to carry on. I see here in Atlanta specifically a little bit of both. The city never really closed, but that's a whole nother show. But in terms of what's available

and if people are going to work, they are. But I think a lot of the corporate offices that have remote employees have decided to just kind of shut down and said, hey, we don't need this office space. We can give everybody a computer. And if you're not technology savvy, get technology savvy. I work with some people that are old school in thinking. And you've all seen people that don't know how to do the Zoom or turn the camera around. And, you know, so they are struggling. But I feel that we're not going to go backwards. I don't think that we will go back to some of those traditional things that we used to do.

I just don't see it. So I think for people that thought they would, you know, never have to pay for parking or maybe never go in, some of you may be able to do that. But for those in certain professions, I think we will have to continue to be in person. All right, then. Jayma Singletary, we appreciate it. How can people reach out to you?

All right, thank you. You guys can reach out to me on Instagram. My Instagram is jnicole79. That's J-A-Y-N-I-C-O-L-E 79. And my Facebook page is Jamie Nicole Singletary. J-A-M-I-E-N-I-C-O-L-E-S-I-N-G-L-E-T-E-A-R-Y. All right. Jamie, thanks a lot. Thank you. You guys have a good weekend. All right. Thank you very much. All right, folks.

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Using their VR headset, you simply just drop your phone right into here. And again, you're able to then immerse yourself in the experience right there. Also, of course, they have these great headphones right here. They're 360 degree headphones. You can use this for gaming. It's Bluetooth.

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where you can get these. And when you purchase one or both of these, a portion of the proceeds comes back to us here at Roland Martin Unfiltered. You know, we support black-owned businesses and it's the black-owned businesses giving back to us as well. So go to SEEK.com C-E-E-K.com

to get these items. Alright folks, when we come back, our Education Matters segment, we'll hear from the president of Alcorn State. They were of course one of the two teams that were in the MEAC Swag Challenge. We'll hear from her. And then... Friends, get ready, get ready, get ready. Get ready, get ready, get ready.

Get ready, get ready, get ready. Get ready, get ready, get ready. Get ready, get ready, get ready. Oh, I had to go ahead and pull out Bishop Jakes for y'all. Big announcement. I've been waiting for it for a long time. You do not want to miss this. I guarantee you don't want to miss it. Next, the roller button filter.

So now how are you going to pay us like that? And it's not just the salary. I mean, there are a whole number of issues that have to support us as women. Yeah. That's what we deserve. We issues that have to support us as women. Yeah, but that's what we deserve. We shouldn't have to beg anybody for that. I think that we are trying to do our best as a generation to honor the fact that we didn't come here alone

and we didn't come here by accident. I always say every generation has to define for itself what it means to move the needle forward. The same people who kept us in Afghanistan 18 years too long are criticizing our troops' heroic work to bring the endless war to its end. for 18 years too long, are criticizing our troops' heroic work to bring the endless war to its end. One of the largest airlifts in American history moved more than 140,000 to safety

under the most difficult circumstances, a feat the press and the critics said could not be done in a situation made more dangerous by Donald Trump. The fact is, Trump's team got rolled by the Taliban in their deal. Then Trump doubled down, ordering the release of 5,000 Taliban insurgents from prison, including the commander who led the attacks that toppled the government. American veterans backed this president in getting the U.S. out of Afghanistan. We honor our sisters and brothers lost to the cause,

including 13 in the mission's final days. And we respect a commander-in-chief whose own son served alongside us, who had the fortitude to do what the past three presidents did not. He ended the endless war. Stay woke. All right, folks. This weekend we were in Atlanta for the MeXFact Challenge.

It featured Alcorn State versus North Carolina Central University. Yesterday we heard from the Chancellor of North Carolina Central. I did not get a chance to interview the President of Alcorn State while we were in Atlanta. So we reached out to her and said, look, got to have you on the show. Joining us right now, Dr. Felicia Nave. Doc, how you doing? I am doing well. How are you today? I am doing well. How are you today? I am doing great.

Doing great. Glad to see you. Y'all were in full force at the game on Saturday. I, of course, I spoke at Alcorn State. This was 2019 before COVID hit. And you are fairly new to the university, right? I arrived in 2019, new as president,

but not new to Alcorn, as I am a 1996 graduate. Tell us about one of the things that we did. We showed, during our broadcast, a drone shot of your campus, and so y'all got some things shaking and baking at Alcorn State. Absolutely. We're a spectacular campus.

This year we're celebrating 150 years of being in existence as well as 100 years of football. Really excited about all of the activities that are taking place in our facilities. We're growing, expanding our footprint. We have a new faculty and staff housing that's coming online to support the innovative and creative talent that we have here on our campus. We're also opening a brand new state-of-the-art school of business building that will open up this spring. And so we're excited about the new additions and inventory to our campus, along with welcoming this year's cohort class of 2025. Just a fantastic campus, exciting things that are taking place and looking forward to a fantastic year. How have you had to deal with COVID? How has that impacted your students and your faculty and staff?

Oh, absolutely. COVID has left no one untouched and untarnished. And so we've proceeded cautiously with the health and safety of our students and our campus community in mind, but move forward nonetheless. It's very important that we continue to provide a high quality, rigorous educational experience for our students. We know that the students who we serve, they need to be touched. They need high impact, high engagement. And so we want to make sure that we continue to provide that for them as they learn both inside and outside the classroom, but do so in a safe way. So doing all the necessary safe precautions and measures, wearing masks, putting distance in where practical, making sure that we're cleaning continuously and consistently throughout our facilities,

and educating our community and leading with the message that we all have a responsibility in making sure to keep everyone safe so that we can remain in our community and be able to push forward in the semester and continue to do great things. Yesterday, I blasted the folks at Axios for this ridiculous story talking about how HBCUs were having an identity crisis when, in fact, there's been a renewed resurgence. And so have you been experiencing that? Have you seen enrollment increases, more interest in Alcorn State? We are right now. Our enrollment continues to be impacted with COVID-19. However, we remain steady. We are seeing great increases in our retention. However, students are staying closer to home. So our freshman classes have been smaller last year and this year, but we're bringing back more of our returning students, which is really significant because that means we're going to have a strong graduation rate, both in our four year and six year space, and somewhat of a shift in the enrollment profile, but we anticipate by next year seeing even greater growth. The interest is there. We

see that through our application pools. We see that in the number of students who we've accepted. And we continue to work feverishly to identify funding resources to fill the gap and make sure that those students have access and opportunity to gain the wonderful experience that we have here at Alcorn. All right, then. Dr. Felicia Nade, we certainly appreciate it. I look forward to coming back to campus, whether it's to speak to the visit, to speak to the students, do the show from there, or even do a commencement. I've done, I don't know, let's see, 14, 15 HBCUs. I think I've done those.

And so, yeah, I've done 18. So yeah, and I think I've probably spoken to now 60. I think I've been on the campus of 60 HBCUs. I'm the scholar in residence at Fierce University. I'll be there on Wednesday. And so certainly look forward to coming back. We look forward to having you back on the campus. You will be amazed at the wonderful things going on at Alcorn.

All right. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. You too. Have a great evening. Likewise. All right, folks. When we come back, big announcement I've been telling you about.

Trust me, you do not want to miss what I am about to unveil right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I chose to give it to you first. I said, no, we're not going to issue a press release. We're going to let our viewers know about this before anybody else does. You get the first peek. That's next right here on Roller Martin Unfilled. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing.

The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex. And we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out, Tiffany. I know this road. That is so freaking dope. address them, but I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road. That is so freakin' dope. It ain't just about hurting black folk. Right.

You gotta deal with it. It's injustice, it's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving. I always agree. Yeah, but we agree on the big piece yet now conflict is not about destruction. How it's going to happen. We'll be right back. keep this going. What you've done, Roland, since this crisis came out in full bloom. Anybody

watching this, tell your friends, go back and look at the last two weeks, especially at Roland Martin Unfiltered. I mean, hell, go back and look at the last two days. You've had sitting United States senators today, Klobuchar and Harris. Whatever you have that you have, you can bring to Roland Martin Unfiltered to support it, please do because this information may literally save your life. Watch Roland Martin Unfiltered daily at 6 p.m. Eastern on YouTube, Facebook, or Periscope, or go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year.

You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. When you study the music, you get black history by default. And so no other craft could carry as many words as rap music. I try to intertwine that and make that create

whatever I'm supposed to send out to the universe. -♪ -♪ A rapper, you know, for the longest period of time, has gone through phases. I love the word. I hate what it's become, you know, to this generation, the way they visualize it. Its narrative kind of, like, has gotten away

and spun away from, I guess, the ascension of Black people. -♪ Poets that hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force.

Christ. Everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond. I'm Deon Carley, you're watching. We'll be right back. He got the ascot on, he do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling. Right here. Rolling. Rolling Martin. Right now. You are watching Rolling Martin. Unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way?

Really. It's Rolling Martin. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet. I'm Israel Houghton. Apparently, the other message I did was not fun enough. So this is fun. You are watching... Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin.

Holla! You are watching Roland Martin. And I'm on his show today. And it's... What? Huh? You should have some cue cards! Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore.

And you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee. Hey, everybody. This is Sherri Shepherd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. Yes, 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 messes me up every single time. So I'm working on it. I got it. You got Roland Martin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching

Roland Martin Unfiltered. What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Mack Wiles, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. What up, Lana Well, and you are watching

Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Glad to have all of you here for our big announcement. On Saturday, we mark the third anniversary of Roland Martin Unfiltered. That's right, the third anniversary. Can you believe it? It has been a phenomenal three years. If you have been with us along the way, helping to build this,

the first daily digital show specifically targeting African Americans, five days a week when we started. We were one hour, and then we moved to two hours in our second year. Unbelievable growth, have more than a billion minutes watched. We've had just numerous interviews, and of course, averaging 20, 30 million views a month. Just phenomenal growth.

But that was never the plan, just to have Roland Martin unfiltered. So I am excited today. Well, you know what? Before I do that, before I do that, I'll tell you this here. Why do we do the show? That's because, of course, remember,

we abide by, like all the black press, that initial black newspaper, Freedom's Journal, March 16th, 1827. This is when they dropped the paper, Freedom's Journal, the nation's first black newspaper. And this is it right here. And the thing about Freedom's Journal, in the third paragraph is this. This is what they wrote. We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentation in things which concern us dearly. No, we didn't misspell public. That's how it originally was written in 1827. That is the

quote that the black press has used. And so over the years, you talk about Frederick Douglass, the North Star, Ida B. Wells Barnett, her writings dealing with pamphlets, dealing with lynching, of course, the Pittsburgh Courier, Robert Abnett, the Chicago Defender, the Atlanta Daily World. We can go on and on and on. Claude Burnett's Associated Negro Press. Of course, Negro Digest, Ebony, Jet, Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise, WOL goes to Radio 1, becomes Urban 1, BET, TV 1. There's a long history of Black-owned media, but we're now living in a digital world, which means that we have to have a digital focus. What did Gil Scott-Heron say? Revolution will not be televised. I dare say the revolution will be streamed, which is why today

we are announcing this, Black Star Network. Black Star Network is going to be an OTT network available on all platforms across the country. And when I say all platforms, I'm talking all platforms. The app right now is available on your iPhone, on your Android, plus Apple TV, Roku, Samsung, Xbox, Amazon Fire TV as well. So let me show you this right here. And so, as you see, we got our Roku up as we speak. If you arrow down here, what you will see is Black Star Network curated by Roland S. Martin. Now, it will take you to our homepage.

We are already signed in. As you see right here, we are live. So you see all the content we have already up here. Like I say, the app is live. So if we click that, you actually can start watching and then you actually see the program. And so here's the deal. It takes you to this page right here. Now, there are a lot of people who were telling me that, hey, you know what?

You should charge. You see the different people. You've got Fox Nation. You've got even Black News Channel announced they're going to have a paid streaming service. We're not going to do that. And again, people told me I should have. But the reality is a lot of our people simply cannot afford to pay for a streaming service. And so we purposely chose to keep this free. We purposely chose for people to be able to access our content. That's what we've done with this show as well, which is why your support for our Bring the Funk fan club

has been so critical because you've been able to give us the opportunity to be able to provide the content to our audience for free. Up until now, we've been live streaming on YouTube, Facebook, Periscope, Twitter, Instagram as well. We're gonna continue streaming the show on the platforms, but now we have the ability to have the platform on our own app. But it's not just going to be Roland Martin unfiltered.

I'm going to be unveiling over the next few weeks the shows that we're going to be having. We're going to have, folks, in the next couple of months, five hours of original content every single day, a series of daily as well as weekly shows. We will then go up to eight hours of original content every single day, a series of daily as well as weekly shows. We will then go up to eight hours of original content every single day. Repeat that twice in the 24-hour cycle. In the first quarter of 2022, we will unveil the Black Star Network 24-hour streaming channel. That's right. Our goal is to be on Tubi, Pluto TV, Samsung Plus, all those platforms with our 24-hour streaming channel. We have, of course, been building our content library, doing some amazing things. And the first interview that we're going to drop on Black Star Network, it will go up on Saturday morning.

It is with noted civil rights attorney Fred Gray. He is 90 years old. He was the legal mastermind behind so many of our civil rights victories. Dr. King did not make a move without calling Fred Gray. He also was the one who sat at the table to help create the Montgomery bus boycott. Here's a look at my conversation with Fred Gray. When you think back to all of those moments, I've often said that one of the greatest mistakes that we make today is that we focus on the march, the speech, the event, but not the strategizing, the planning, the discussion. Talk about that, what that was like to be in those conversations in the back and forth, whether it was King or Lowry or Marshall

or all different players, Wilkins and Whitney Young, everyone, as they strategize and walk through and visualize and bounce things off, and you're there as the lawyer navigating that as well, how vital the strategizing was in the movement. It was very, very important. And let me tell you about the Montgomery bus boycott, because I'm almost the only person who was in the inner circle of the planning of the Montgomery bus boycott, I think there's probably only one now that's left other than me.

And that one was one that ended up getting out of the movement before it was over and going on something else. So of those who stuck with it, I'm just about the only one who's there. Let me tell you how the plans were made, and most people didn't know about it even then, and they were a part of it in connection with keeping people off of the buses. Well, we all realize that at some point we're going to have to file a lawsuit to declare

the city ordinances and state statutes unconstitutional. However, it takes a long time to do a lawsuit. You can do it. You've tried. You've got two or three appeals. Take two or three years. And if you're going to tell people immediately that you got two or three appeals, take two or three years. And if you're going to tell people immediately that you got to stay off of the buses until a lawsuit is resolved, they say you whistling dicks it. All right, folks, again, you're going to be able to see that full interview

on Saturday on Black Star Network. Now, if you're watching right now, folks. Again, you're going to be able to see that full interview on Saturday on Black Star Network. Now, if you're watching right now, folks, you can actually download the app right now on your mobile device. You can download it on your Apple TV, on your Roku, any of your devices. Now, we were just in Los Angeles doing a variety of interviews because we're also going to be having a weekly one-on-one show called Rolling with Roland. One of the folks we talked with in LA was my man, Jeffrey Osborne. Here's a sneak peek of that conversation. When did the damn Woo Woo song

just become like stupid crazy? You know what? It was so funny, because that song was written by I wish I had written that song, by the way. You ain't lying. Yeah, I bet you do. It was written by a couple of friends of mine, Bruce Roberts, Andy Goldmark,

and it was called You Should Be Mine. And I recorded it. I came home and I'm playing it around the house, you know, and my daughter was three. Tiffany was three years old at the time, so I'll tell you how long yeah, she can't walk my singing woo. And she said dad I love that woo song and I'm like you can barely talk. That's not the woo song. It's called you should be mine No, it's the woo song. No, it's you should be mine. No, it's the woo. So fight with three-year-old

I call the songwriter that said my daughter said This is the woo song and they said, my daughter said, this is the woo-woo song. And they said, well, maybe she's right. So they kind of named it the, you should be mine, but in parenthesis, it was called the woo-woo song, right? Wow. So the record company, before it was released, they were sold on this song. They was like, oh, this song's a hit.

So they went out in the street with microphones in the city and had people sing, woo, woo, woo. And that was part of their campaign. And people were going crazy over just singing, can you woo, woo, woo, woo, woo? And that song just blew up. And from then, now people are calling me the woo, woo man. I'm like, what?

You ain't, you don't even, that's the woo, woo man. Right, the woo, woo man, exactly. But that song, man. I'm like, what? That's a woo-woo man. Right, it's a woo-woo man. Exactly. But that song, man, even still today, I go out and people sing. They love it. And the worse they are, the more fun it is.

It don't even matter how good you are or how bad you are. Then people started showing up to concerts knowing I was going to go. They were showing up with instruments Guys were sitting out with saxophones. I come serious. I'm serious. They got up with a saxophone one guy had a flute Get my moment. Yeah, exactly. It's crazy. Okay, that's that's that's why that's a while Yeah, people just started showing up with instruments. Well, they a tambourine, just wanted to play the tambourine. I'm like, this is not an audition.

Had you ever done a show and you didn't sing it and they were mad as hell? I don't think I've ever not sung that show. So as y'all can see, you can actually see, boom, the interview right there live as we broadcast the show on Black Star Network. Now, remember when I went to Ghana in 2019? We were there for 10 days. We shot some amazing stuff. Well, COVID greatly impacted us last year, my Ghanaian crew. We have been busy this year finishing up the project. We're putting together a 10-part series

that will air exclusively on Black Star Network. You now get the first peek at the scissor reel of 1619 to 2019, the year of return. You read about it in history, you know, you talk about it, you see it on our side, you know, of the United States, but to actually come here and see where this story of slavery started and connecting the dots,

it's just a wild factor for me right now. It's gonna be dark inside. You might not see too much, but you're going to feel everything. Just imagine seeing prisons in the yard in the United States. A lot of us, if we realize what is required in 2019 going into 2020, specifically for us to be reprogrammed. The right they taught us needs to be removed and extracted. It just doesn't make sense that the richest continent in the world should be inhabited by the poorest people

in the world. Part of that is by design. Self-hatred has been a very tragic part of our whole existence. And I'm not blaming anybody for it, but if you look at most characterizations of being of African descent in the world, it's with these kind of tats. I always say, you're going to do a lot of shopping. They go, oh, I don't think so. And then they come, so they brought limited reserves, and then they spend all their time running to the ATM

because they see all these clothes they want and fabric they want. It's overwhelming. I've been here for eight years, and I'm still taking pictures out of my car because it's just, it's a feast for the eyes on any given day. The kind of opportunities you have in Africa, you don't have those in America.

The kind of money that you can make in Africa, very few of you would have that opportunity to do that in America. Cordy, who was working for the Congress in the United States, she has started a waste management company. She's the number one here in Ghana now. She looked at it. She's got a thousand trash. There it is.

What used to be jeans. Used to be jeans. Is now a huge problem. In Ghana alone, we have a 2 million unit deficit in housing. 2 million? 2 million. Two million. All right. That's a bonus. Oh, thank you. That's a bonus.

Seven of the 10 fastest growing economies right now are African nations. Why in the world would we not be trying to figure out how to connect? Because the Lebanese are. The Chinese are. Everybody else is doing it. We would be crazy to figure out how to connect? Because the Lebanese are. The Chinese are. Everybody else is doing it.

We will be crazy to do it. And it's for people who look like us. We will be crazy to do it. Crazy to do it. Crazy to do it. One of the issues that we have when we're streaming on Facebook, YouTube, and Periscope, Instagram, that we're limited in doing what we call pre-rolls. And so when we have advertisers who want to actually run spots,

well, we have to go through all these different hoops. Now having our own OTT network, we can actually integrate commercials like this into our programming. Of course, we partnered with Coca-Cola for the MeXSwag Challenge. We're going to be attending three HBCUs with HBCU games with them this year. We'll be at the Majesty of the Classic in Birmingham. We'll be at the Bayou Classic in New Orleans. And, of course, Celebration Bowl in Atlanta in December. And so for the advertisers who we're talking to, we'll be able to do this on Black Star Network. I need to try it first. All right then, folks. And so it has been absolutely phenomenal. Now, you may be asking,

how did I come up with the name Black Star Network? Well, last year, we actually tasked a company to put together a list of names and so what they did was they sat with some marketers and they sat around the room and they spent a couple of days tossing out different things and I wasn't happy with what they came back with. And then something hit me. Something hit me in 2020. I thought about Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey had a cruise line. That cruise line was called Black Star. The cruise line's purpose was to connect African-Americans with people in the African diaspora. Of course, when I went to Ghana in 2019, I had an opportunity to actually visit the Black Star that's in Accra, Ghana. This gate was built by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, and it was revealed.

And so I got a chance to go to the top of the gate and actually take this photo on top of the gate, which is exactly what we did. And so I was thinking about it and I said, hmm, that could be a very good idea, Black Star Network. Not only because of that connection, I also wanted to be able to say, what are we about creating Black Stars with our digital platform? Okay, folks, let's go ahead and show it.

And so that's one of the photos there. You saw it in the video as well. And so there were several different photos that we shot because Nkrumah wanted that, he wanted Ghana to be the gateway to Africa. Well, we want Black Star Network to be the gateway to black-owned content, to give an opportunity to black creators to be able to show what they can do. And so we've got some phenomenal things that we have planned. I'm not going to announce the shows that we have lined up, but folks, trust me, we're focused. It's some amazing stuff. We're in three different areas,

news, politics, business, tech, and also in culture. Culture could be religion. It could be entertainment. It could be any number of things. It could be cooking. It can be comedy. It can be all kinds of different stuff. And so, man, we got some stuff lined up. And so we're going to be unveiling these shows over the next several weeks. And so I really look forward to it. I can already see. So what happens is as y'all are signing up, I get notifications of people who are signing up. And boy, I tell you, the emails are just going and going and going. Y'all are signing up right now. And so while you're signing up for the OTT channel,

also you can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, Black Star Network. We also have all of our social media handles ready. So you see right there, those are all the social media handles. You can sign up right now to our Black Star Network Facebook page. You also have our Black Star Network Facebook page. You also have our Black Star Network YouTube page. Twitter, we couldn't get all black in there with Star and Network, so Twitter is BLKStarNetwork. You can also go there.

You can also see our Instagram page. And so all of those pages are already there. I want every single one of you who already follow me to follow all of those different accounts as well, because we're going to be pushing out some great, amazing content, folks, with this particular network. And again, it is 100 percent black owned. This is an opportunity for us to be able to speak to our issues, for us to be able to really have the kind of content that's needed. And by having the OTT network, again, we're not limited by what we're doing right now on YouTube, Facebook. And so

I dare say for all these advertisers out here who keep saying they want to support Black-owned media, now is your shot. Now is your shot to actually support. I had people who were saying that, well, you know what? you're streaming on those platforms We really could do business if you had your own This is my own Now you have no more excuses to say You can't support what we are doing As I said, we're putting together

Our 24-hour streaming network I'm going to do something here. So, Henry, why don't you go ahead and do this here. Y'all, we're here in our new studios. Y'all have seen the shadow of our control room. And so we're building this whole thing out. And so I'm just going to give y'all a glimpse of what y'all are seeing right now. You're seeing the backdrop.

And so I'm just going to give y'all just a sense. So you see the colors here. And so these are all glass offices here. When we unveil our new studio, hopefully next week, all of these offices will be lit. And so all of this is actually being built out as we speak. We're actually having a set that set is being built right now by an Alfred brother who's, of course, in set design, Hollywood set designer teaching at Howard University. That's being built right now by an Alfred brother who's, of course, in set design, a Hollywood set designer teaching at Howard University. That's being built as we speak, will be installed next week. Then, of course, you have our set, our new set that's over here that you've been seeing me

as well. And so we have been working on that. We got the Leroy Campbell art piece. You see that as well. And of course, we're going to be, all of that is going to be all designed. And I told you just the other day, we actually have, of course, the Black-owned Drake Company that installed our green screen. And so we got that as well. So a whole lot of things happening here.

Roland Martin Unfiltered, now Blackstar Network as well. And so what you'll have to understand is that we've been working real hard over the last 18 months. A lot of people we've been talking to, working with, again, on this whole deal. People have been working with us on economic strategies. We've been talking, we've been looking at doing crowdfunding. We've been talking about all of those different things. I sort of held off on that because we really wanted to build this thing proper.

Dwayne McKnight with the Marathon Fund, I've been meeting with him on, again, finances. How do we actually build this out economically? But y'all have been so critical because it's your resources that have been helped us to be able not to have to go out and give away equity for a small amount of money. We've been able to build this thing very methodical over the past 18 months. And so that was always the plan. And you've got to understand who also saw this. My wife, Reverend Jackie Hood Martin. When I had my 40th birthday, she was asked the question.

It was in the video. She was asked the question, what will Roland Martin be doing by the time he's 50? And she said he will have his own network. Remember, I turned down the deal at TV One in 2018 after News 1 Now was canceled, and I was 49. We launched Roland Martin Unfiltered on September 3, 2018. I'll be 53 in November. We were building this for the future and I can't wait to unveil the stuff that we have. And so it's going to be fantastic. Y'all have played a huge part in it.

And so we want you to tell all your friends, all your family, they can download the app. They can now watch our content on their television. A lot of our seasoned saints, you don't have to see them, try to get them to figure out how to use their phone. If they have Apple TV, if they have Roku, if they have Amazon Fire TV, if they have Samsung Tizen, if they have Xbox, they can now watch Black Star Network and Roland Martin Unfiltered on all of those platforms. What you think, Recy?

Congratulations, Roland. This is amazing news. I am following all the pages. I downloaded the app. The video looks phenomenal. So I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. You know, my husband and my mother-in-law watch the show. My mom watched the show on my big screen. You know, my husband and my mother-in-law watch the show, and my mom watch the show on the big screen, so now they can

use the OTT Black-owned app. Congratulations. Faraji. Big brother rolling. I'm all in, man. I'm all in. I'm telling you. I'm all in. I just, I'm following our watchers on Facebook.

I signed up everything. I'm really proud of you, big brother. You said you were going to do it, so you are doing it. I don't even want to say you did it because there's so much more to come. But, you know, I'm here for the ride, brother. I am rolling. We're rolling all the way. Congratulations.

Dr. Greg Carr. Brother, do you see? I'm watching you on this right here see that right there come on man I got to join download it in the words of Marcus Garvey up you mighty race

you can accomplish what you want all the haters please intensify the hate. All the lovers, please sign up. You've given it away, brother. The whole foundation is trembling. Oh, man. Yes, indeed.

Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again. Congratulations, brother. As Baraji says, Recy said, this is just the beginning. Finally, brother. Finally. Yes., Recy said, this is just the beginning. Finally, brother. Finally, yes. And trust me, folks, it has been a long chore.

And I share with y'all, look, I'm very honest and clear when we talk about what these things cost in terms of the resources. We work with Jalen Bledsoe and his company, a black entrepreneur, black tech entrepreneur. We partnered with Vimeo to actually build out these apps.

Like I said, it was about $160,000 it cost us. So we spent the last eight months making this thing happen. The apps went live in August, actually in July. But I wanted to make sure that we tested everything out and everything was clear, which is exactly what we did. And so when we went through this whole deal, I wanted to make sure that, again, how everything worked out. And so just so you understand, here's what's going to happen. And so you see right now, this is all Roland Martin unfiltered content. But when we begin to add the other shows on the network, you're going

to see they're going to have basically their own section. So each one of the shows is going to have their own section on here. And so you see what we've done with the existing content we have. And so you look at the in memoriam things that we've done, the special shows that we've done, live streaming the memorial service of Paul Mooney. We have, of course, Congressman John Lewis, of course, our Chadwick Bozeman special. And you see all the other ones we have here. And then, of course, it was the things that we did for the March for Democracy. You name it, all those things are stuffed down as well with the different segments.

And so what you're going to have, you're going to see all this stuff that's actually on here. What we also are doing is building out BlackStarNetwork.com. And so in the past few weeks, I've actually hired four people. We're actually about to hire another four to six people, which is why your support matters, because we want to be able to take the content that we have on the show, take that and be able to place it in written form and drive that content out on BlackstarNetwork.com. So if you go to the website, you'll see where we have the news section to be able to push that content out.

We want to be completely integrated, what I call being vertical as well as horizontal. And so being able to have written, being able to have photos and have video. And so when we go live from different events, when we broadcast a lot of these rallies and things like that, we'll be able to have it streaming directly on the network and have it there and again not have to be bound by YouTube or Facebook or Instagram or Twitter and all their particular rules. This is the opportunity for us to completely control the content and build up our library. So all these things are happening as I said when it should be by November 1. We should have our initial shows, five hours of original content every single day. And so it will be my two-hour show.

We've got about five weekly shows we're going to be launching, plus another daily show. That's going to be, of course, five days a week. And then we're going to move that to eight hours of original content every single day. And then while that's happening, we're going to be focused then on putting together our 24-hour streaming network. And so you take a lot of the stuff that we have, speeches and different events that we've covered in panels, we're going to be able to pull those things together

to have a 24-hour streaming network. And to Greg's point, and I need people to understand, I could have easily said, no, let's charge people $4.99. I didn't want to do that. That's why your support is critical to what we do. That's why y'all keep hearing me. Y'all keep hearing me talk about these advertisers, put your money where your mouth is,

because this is the key. They are state advertisers. They are spending, they've already spent billions of dollars on Peacock, on HBO Max, on Paramount Plus, on Discovery Streaming Network. They've spent billions of dollars already on all of those streaming networks. All of these networks with their own plans. CNN announced they're going to be creating a separate streaming network. NBC has one.

You've got ABC and CBS. You've got all of these folks out here. Well, the reality is, no one can say we don't have a quality network. No one can say we don't have quality content. No one can say it doesn't look as good or even better. I'm talking to you on one of our 4K cameras. We bought 10 more robotic 4K cameras.

We bought C300s, five of them, top-of-the-line cameras. If you can, the shadow of our control room, Blackon, Black-owned engineering company, building out the control room, wiring that control room, lighting system and all. This is all top-of-the-line equipment that we've been putting in place because we always believe that African-Americans deserve the best best and so what I've always said I will take away all of your excuses I will take away anyone saying you don't have your own platform I will take away someone saying the quality is not good I will take away someone saying that but when we won't be able to reach folks in the same way. No.

All excuses have been taken away. And so now you have no choice but to support what we do. And that's why. So I kept it free because we wanted the ad supported and we want also for people to continue to join our Bring the Funk fan club because there's

some people who've given us $10, $20, $50, $100. I told you we started this with a black woman, 92 years old in Long Island, New York, who watched me on TV One, and she sent me a letter, handwritten, and she said to me, point blank, she said, I watch you on the show. I love what you do. My daughter follows you on Facebook because she plays golf. And she said to me that your voice is absolutely important. And she said, I want to make sure that the next generation is hearing your voice. And what she did is she said, I am enclosing.

And she did. She said, I'm enclosing a $500 check. She was the first fan to actually give to our show. And it was that particular woman where I said, you know what? We're not going to sit here and charge people. We're just going to create

our fan club, and we're going to sit here and just take contributions, and that's exactly what we did. And over the last 18 months, just the last 18 months alone, you have contributed more than a million dollars. Last year, 672,000 to this show. You have made it possible for us to do what we do,

and I certainly appreciate that. And so, as I say, there are people who have given us a dollar, five dollars, ten bucks. We've had some people who've even given us, you know, a hundred, five hundred, a thousand. I don't have his name right now, but that was one brother. And I'm going to pull his name. I'm going to give him a shout out later. He was watching the show. He was upset that YouTube kept buffering. He was not happy. Y'all, I'm not lying. He gave us $5,000. He said, brother, this is to go towards your OTT network. Well, I want him to understand this is it. We have the OTT network. It's the support of folks like him and every single one of those dollars that came in, those $5 and $10, all that stuff matters.

And again, I had people who told me, man, you shouldn't do that. You should say, where are all these black entertainers and why aren't all these rich black folks supporting you? I said the reality is this here. It's regular ordinary people who are making this thing possible for us to do what we do. And that's why it matters. And so, folks, Black Star Network is here. It is here.

So I thank all of you who are supporting. Again, download the app. We need as many downloads as possible. Then what I want you to do, I need you also to go to the iOS store and the Android store and also give us a five-star rating so we can also be one of the featured apps on there as well. And so when you go in, so tell everybody. I want y'all to, I'm going to post right now the splash page. Y'all can grab that splash page. You can put it on your own page. You can share it on your own page. You can share it. Folks,

and I'm about to type right now. Fam, I'm on Instagram right now. You'll see me typing it. Black Star Network is live. So I've actually

had this Instagram handle for a long, long time. But now I can actually reveal it now. And so that's where we are. And so, folks, again, I certainly appreciate all of you supporting what we do. And, again, tell everybody. And so the show is on there now, but our new content, that Fred Gray interview, is going to be the first one and goes live on Saturday morning. And he is one of our civil rights stalwarts, an amazing legal mind who is still working to this day,

goes to office every single day. And so you're going to get a chance to see that conversation, that exclusive interview with Attorney Fred Gray. Folks, thank you so very much. Don't forget to support us. I got to go ahead and put that up. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered and Black Star Network? Support us via Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered. Support us also at paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com, roland at rolandmartinunfiltered. Zale is Roland at RolandSMartin.com Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com And don't be shocked. Y'all don't even try it. My man Keenan,

he's already registering Black Star Network on all of those platforms as we speak. Folks, thank you so very much. I will see y'all tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered and and Black Star Network.

Ha! Martin! 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 two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of 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 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 iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or

wherever you get your podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.