#RolandMartinUnfiltered - It's about to go down! Election Day arrives; Sen. Kamala Harris, Spike Lee, Tom Perez talk 2020

Episode Date: November 3, 2020

11.2.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: It's about to go down! Tomorrow is Election Day; Sen. Kamala Harris, Spike Lee, DNC Chair Tom Perez, New York Representative Greg Meeks talk Election Day 2020; Co-Founders of the Vote To Live campaign are in the house + Actress and Producer, Noree Victoria. Stressed about tomorrow's election, Fitness Expert Gym Jonez has some tips to help you calm down.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #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.

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the day before Election Day. Folks, we've got a jam-packed show for you. You'll hear from Senator Kamala Harris, also DNC Chair Tom Perez, Spike Lee will join us, Mike Espy, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi, also New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, plus the co-founders of Black Voters Matter, plus Fox Soul hosts Mike Hill and Cynthia Bailey join us, actress and producer Nori Victoria talks about voting. When you hear her story, what all she went through to vote in 2008,

you don't wanna miss that. Plus a lot of y'all are anxious. A lot of y'all are concerned about and just stressed out about the election. Well, fitness expert, Jim Jones is gonna be here to say how exercise help alleviate that stress. Folks, it's a jam packed show. It's time to bring the funk on Roller Mark Unfiltered.

Let's go. Sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rolling Martin Yeah, yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's rolling, Martin Martin All right, folks, so many different things happening all across this country when it comes to the election. Of course, folks are gearing up for tomorrow, Election Day, all across the nation.

We have seen record turnout, early voting, absentee voting. Now, it comes down to Election Day. Now, one of the things that's important to understand is that there are states that allow you to actually register on the same day as Election Day. Folks, let's pull that graphic up. We want to show you this year is critically important because again, places like Michigan, if you are in the state of Michigan and you want to support Senator Gary Peters or Biden and Harris,

you can still register tomorrow and vote. Okay. So we're going to show you the graphic. It lists the number of states they have same day voter registration. All right, folks, let me know when we have that. It's critically important. And so I want to show that to you. Why is this, why is this critical? Because again, the voting deadline is passed in most states, but those states that are far more proactive when it comes to elections, they allow for same day voter registration. And so, folks, where is the graphic? Okay. All right.

When we have it out, folks, it's going to be ready. I want to do this here. Let's bring on our panel. After Avis Jones, Weaver Political Analyst, Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for the EPA, as well as Long Victoria Burke with NNPA. I'm going to start with you, Mustafa. What we are seeing, again, how people are responding, massive turnout we've seen all across this country. Latest batch of polls show if you're in the best position, you'd rather be in the Biden-Harris position instead of Trump-Pence.

He is going to need a massive turnout to make up the ground based upon current polling. Your assessment of where this race stands going into Election Day tomorrow. Well, you know, we still got a lot of work to do. The last count that I saw, over 90 million people had voted, you know, some in person, some through mail-in ballots. And, you know, you just can't take your foot off the gas. You got to keep pushing. My coach used to always say, you got to run through the tape. So I guess that's why you both see Vice President Biden out there.

You see Trump out there. They're still campaigning hard. All the surrogates are continuing to stay engaged and reach out to folks. I think, personally, that it may end up being a little bit closer than some of the polls have shown. And I think we just need to be careful. Because in 2016, you know, the polls have shown, and I think we just need to be careful. Because in 2016, you know, the polls said one thing, and then whatever you want to say, a last-minute surge or whatever it is, you know, things didn't turn out the way that many had hoped. So we just got to stay focused. People got to continue to reach out to your uncles and your aunties, you know,

help your grandparents if they have not yet been able to vote by mail to make sure that you get the result that our country needs. First, I mean, obviously, Lauren, when you look at polls, look, they are a snapshot in time. It comes all about all about turnout. When you start examining numbers, I was saw a tweet a little bit earlier that shows the kind of turnout we're seeing in Georgia, how voters over 65 have already exceeded. Black voters over 65 have already exceeded their turnout in 2016. Latino voters have exceeded their turnout in 2016. Non-college whites lagging in Georgia. That could very well be one of the reasons why you had Senator Barack Obama, who was sent today to Georgia. That was very surprising to a lot of people that Obama would go to Georgia on today. Now, one of the things that he did, he had some very tough words criticizing the Georgia Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue for their response to COVID-19.

Watch this. Watch this. Look, I served in the Senate. I remember when we used to get briefings in the Senate for threats, including the kinds of briefings that your two current senators got about COVID-19. Camila, step in here. They got briefed. You know, you go into this room and it's all top secret

and you got to kind of close everything off. And, you know, you can't take anything out of the briefing room because this is part of your responsibility as a public servant. And the point of these briefings is so that you can take quick action to protect the American people before it's too late. That's why the Senate gets these special briefings, to serve the interests of the people who have sent you to Washington, to serve their interests before your own. When I heard that your two senators here in Georgia, and understand what I'm about to say now is not a partisan statement.

I'd be just as hard if I heard a Democrat was doing this. Your two senators publicly were telling you that the virus would be no big deal. But behind closed doors, they were making a bunch of moves in the stock market to try to make sure their portfolios were protected instead of making sure you were protected. Man, that's shady. That's, I mean, that's, that ain't right. They downplayed the pandemic in public and in private. They're trying to see if they can profit from it, both of them. Not just one of them, both of them.

They're like Batman and Robin gone bad. It's like the dynamic duo of doing wrong. I don't know what they were thinking, but Georgia, I promise you, Georgia was definitely not on their mind. Kind of shady there, Lauren. Yeah. And, you know, Congress did pass legislation making that illegal. I'm not sure why these people are exempt from that. But I do think this is going to be the time finally where we do see Georgia bear some results. And Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Warnock, I think are going to have a really good night in Georgia. And frankly, I think we're going to probably know a little earlier than we might think what the results are

in terms of just watching Michigan and Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida, and of course, Georgia. We have to remember that the reason that we're here is white women. And the reason Donald Trump is in office primarily is white women. And right now, there's a huge gap with regard to Biden's support and Trump's support with women, in which Biden is way ahead. You couple that, Roland, with what you just said with regard to older voters, who we know are very reliable voters, particularly not just in Georgia, but in Florida. And Joe Biden is way ahead in that category as well. I have a hard time believing that this record turnout is going to benefit the Republican

Party, even knowing that we do have record turnout, such as like in Texas, obviously the other side comes out as well. I mean, we always have to remember that even though everyone, of course, traditionally says that record turnout benefits the Democratic Party, obviously the Republicans show up as well. But what we do know is that younger voters are showing up, new voters are showing up, particularly in Texas, and that is bound to help the Democratic candidate. I do think we're probably going to have some disappointing news in South Carolina. I hope I'm wrong, but it's just a red state with a lot of red voters. But I do think for Joe Biden, I'd be surprised if we didn't know by 10 o'clock what the result was. Well, the thing here, Avis, when you look at what is happening here,

the Republicans expect a massive push of their voters because Donald Trump was blasting mail-in voting. But the thing is, if you look at black early voting turnout, folks were not trusting the early voting process. That's going to be a significant black turnout tomorrow as well. And so what you're seeing, first-time voters increasing the black. Also, again, Donald Trump needs a perfect storm like he did in 2016. Look, if he drops five, six points among white women, toast. Joe Biden is doing very well among older white voters, which is one of the reasons why you see the polls showing him tied in Texas, one or two points up in Georgia, four to five points up in Florida. And when you look at what's happening in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, plus Biden is up a couple of points in Arizona as well.

Absolutely. I mean, the conditions are right for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to not only win, but to win running away. Now, I absolutely want to echo what Dr. Moussafa was saying. We need to run through the tape, no doubt about it. But I believe that what we're seeing here is a perfect storm in the blue direction. And it's in that direction because of a lot of those factors that Lauren just mentioned. You have a solid block of older voters who are looking at how callously this administration handled the COVID situation. And literally, you had people, you had, in fact, for example, the lieutenant governor of Texas saying basically that older people should just go ahead and die to make the economy better for younger people. I mean, they see that, OK? You have women who have definitely sort of turned away and fully, many have fully rejected

this administration. And you see Black people who have become more reinvigorated about making sure that we're not on the sidelines in this direction. We see the threat that this administration has caused to sort of rise up in terms of the increased level of hate, hate crimes and racism in this country. And we are coming out to really sort of fight against it. But I would say the last thing that I'm excited to see is I like spicy Obama. I want to see more of spicy Obama. He's really kind of funny in that way. Folks, again, what you're seeing is you're seeing folks deployed all around the country, the of messaging uh that is hard hitting that has been coming fast and furious uh both campaigns are going down to the wire uh the

um biden harris campaign they are spending all of today in pennsylvania they're focused on that particular state uh trying to drive folks out there as well uh tom perez the chair of the dnc he's been spending time in Texas. We're going to be chatting with him shortly right here in Roland Martin Unfiltered. I did catch up earlier today with Senator Kamala Harris. We're going to be showing you some of that. This is about messaging, messaging, messaging,

messaging, messaging, and getting the vote out. Desmond Meade, a brother, of course, who led the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition effort. Desmond was one of the folks when we were in Florida talking about why voting matters. And I specifically wanted him to speak to people, especially black men who say, you know what, I ain't really feeling this.

I can check out of the process. This is the voice of a brother who has not voted in 30 years until this year. Listen. If your vote didn't matter, you wouldn't have so many people trying so hard to stop you from voting. There is some value there. But even when you talk about that people are not paying attention to your issues, I can't pay attention to your issues if I don't even know you're there. And the only reason people are going to know you're

there is when you show up to the polls and vote. That's when that power manifests itself. But as long as you stay at home, as long as you're making excuses, then guess what? You will always experience these issues that we're experiencing today. And another thing, don't get caught up in the candidates, right? There's no such thing as a perfect candidate, but you should be going to vote for the most important person, and that is you and the one you love.

You talk about your fight for the one you love. You're willing to die for the one you love. You need to ask yourself, are you willing to vote for the one you love? Because if you don't, there's going to be somebody's neck on yours pretty soon. Was Desmond Meade the voice of, again, a brother who just got his right to vote back after they passed Amendment 4 in 2018, restoring the right to vote for folks who are formerly incarcerated. We also asked the same question of Pastor Raphael Warnock, of course, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, when we talked to him last week when we were in Georgia.

And this is what he had to say as well about that issue. Thank you. Is our voice in these United States of America? And if you don't think there's been any change, you should sit down. And you should sit down with some of the folks in that. That there's power in our vote. It's a complicated story of people building a more perfect union. And if you don't think there's been any change, you should sit down with Andrew Young. You should sit down from some of the folks in that generation who know the distance we've come.

And as we continue to push hard, change comes. The other side knows your power. The other side knows your voice. That's why they're engaged in voter suppression. If you weren't so powerful, they wouldn't be trying so hard to stop you from voting. And so you ought to stand up in this defining moment in American history and win the future for all of our children. Caught a video this morning of Director Spike Lee encouraging folks this defining moment in American history and win the future for all of our children. Caught a video this morning of Director Spike Lee encouraging folks to get out to vote. He joins us right now on Roland Martin on the filter.

Spike, what's happening, man? What's up, my brother? It's nation time, baby. It's nation time. Do or die. I was driving into work, and of course, we literally are located, Spike at 16th and K Kedda Corner to Black Lives Matter Plaza the Trump folks, they are erecting these barriers

all across this perimeter that cannot be scaled you know what, only people who are scared of losing do those such things Yep Roland, my brother i'm telling you it's

going to be when this thing is over and done it's going to be artists who really tell the story with films movies plays photographs sculpture novelists mean, this is, we've never seen this in the history of of the United States of America. So people, we have to come out and vote. You know, this has to be, this can't be, we can't let it be slim because it's already laid down the groundwork that this thing is rigged. But in actuality, they've been the ones trying to rig it with this goal of suppression. Well, absolutely. It's really interesting, Spike. When you look at Republicans, even today in Texas, where a right wing federal judge ruled that they had no standing to sue Harris County.

They were trying to invalidate more than 100,000 votes that were cast by curbside voting. I mean, what the hell? And they specifically were targeting these voters because they were able to say they they tried to make the argument that they were Beto O'Rourke and Hillary Clinton voters. And you're going, but Republicans in the Harris County can vote curbside. They want to shrink the electorate in order to cheat their way to victory. They don't want to convince people of why they should vote for them. For real, what was that thing in the county where Houston is? They want one drop for 1.4 million votes in one box? No, no, no, no, no.

In fact, it's worse than that. Governor Greg Abbott actually ordered that one drop box per county for the entire state. So that includes Harris County, where Houston is, Dallas County, where Dallas is. I know the whole state, so it was Harris. No, no. One drop box per county in all of Texas. How big is that drop box? Precisely.

Precisely. And that's what I'm saying. They were suing to stop curbside and drive through voting. They were trying to force people to walk in to voting booths. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. This is some, this is some, bro, this is some okey-doke, baby. Well, that's exactly what it is. Spike, I got to ask you this here, and they're very simple.

There's a brother who's watching, there's a sister who's watching, and they're saying, why should I vote? I'm sorry. I don't care about Biden. I don't care about Trump. It's not going to make any difference. Make the case to them why they should vote. This is a matter of life and death. This is about the soul of the country. If you don't want to vote for yourself, vote for your ancestors who were enslaved under 400 years, brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Vote for your children. Vote for this generation. And vote for future generations.

Don't be selfish. It's bigger than you. And to my young brothers, I don't want to hear nothing about the line. You be waiting on mad lines from Jordan's drop. You know that's a fact. Them Jordans coming out, you the line. You be waiting on mad lines from Jordan's drop. You know that's a fact. Them Jordans coming out, you in line. Bro, am I telling the truth? 100%. 100%.

Spike. Them lines be around the block when them Jordans drop. So I don't want to hear nothing about lines. Absolutely right. I love Michael Jordan, but this is much more important. This is, this affects, this thing is bigger than the United States. This affects

the rest of the world. The whole world is looking at this election to see which way the so-called cradle of democracy is going to go. You're absolutely right. Spike Lee, always a pleasure, man. Four more years, four more years of Agent Orange.

Hell no. I agree 100%. Spike, always a pleasure, my brother. No, you do. Always a pleasure. All right, love you. My brother, love you as well. Take care.

Folks, let's go to Tom Perez, chair of Democratic National Committee, who joins us right now. Tom, glad to have you at Roller Mark Unfiltered. You heard Spike Lee right there say, we cannot tolerate four more years of Agent Orange. Amen to that, Roland. I'm here in Texas in my sixth city here

in about two, three days. Texas is a battleground state and we've been going all over the state. We've really been focused in communities of color because when we turn out, we win. And they've been blowing through their 2016 numbers. We've really been focused in communities of color because when we turn out, we win. And they've been blowing through their 2016 numbers. Very exciting to watch.

And I'm here to make sure we sprint through the finish line because there's still more work to do tomorrow. I'm very heartened by the court case you referenced before today. They were trying to disenfranchise 125,000 voters. A Republican-appointed judge didn't buy that. And that's the third time they've tried to get those votes thrown out. Third time. Two in state court, one in federal court. It's time to end that.

These voter suppression tactics are unconscionable, but they're not surprising. And we've been ready for it. That's the thing. We've been ready for it. That's the thing. We've been ready for it. And people aren't putting up with it, Roland. Look at the turnout. We're in the middle of a pandemic. And we have people who are so determined. They read what John Lewis said at the time of his passing.

Voting is the most impactful, nonviolent tool we have to build a more perfect union. That's what we're doing. Tom, you talk about that, what's happening there in Texas, but the thing goes beyond Biden-Harris. Democrats there are focused especially in suburban counties and Harris and Dallas. If Democrats pick up nine seats, they take control of the Texas House the first time in 22 years. That means that redistricting will not be solely controlled by Republicans. That's huge.

And we just had that conversation at the event I left about 10 minutes ago. And it's unbelievable and it's so important. As you know, Roland, because we've spent a lot of time together, I led the Civil Rights Division for the first term of Obama. And that was during the 2010 redistricting cycle. We sued Texas.

I was involved in that case. We sued Texas because when they were drawing their lines, their goal was to deliberately make it harder for black and brown people to have their right to vote. And the court found that. We won that case. The court found intentional discrimination here. This is what I call a ripple election in 2020. What do I mean by that? At a state level, whoever controls these state houses and state senates and whoever's in the governor's chair in so many states, they're going to be in charge of redistricting for the next 10 years. Over the last three years, we have been working with folks across the country,

and we have helped flip 10 legislative chambers from red to blue. In addition, we have flipped, you know, we started out when I got here in 2017, we had 15 Democratic governors. Now we have 23. That's a huge deal. And if we flip 48 seats in 10 legislative chambers tomorrow, we flip those chambers. One of them, you correctly point out, is Texas. So nine out of those 48 seats I just said are right here in Texas. I think we're going to flip somewhere between 12 and 15.

And that is so important because that's going to give us a seat at the table on redistricting. We need to expand Medicaid here in Texas. Texas is number 50 in every metric you don't want to be number 50 in every metric you don't want to be number 50 in. Children's health insurance, access to health care, investments in public education. And that's because you have Republican dominance. Democrats are going to bring fairness back here.

Well, I know you are running a gun in there, Tom Perez. Shirley, thank you for joining us here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Oh, it's a pleasure. Get out there and vote, folks. I love what Spike Lee said. Get out there and vote. Put Agent Orange out. All right, Tom Perez, we certainly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. Take care. Back to our panel here. Mustafa, I'll go to you. That point that Tom made, which we've been talking about as well, for months, you have to pay attention to Texas House. Pay attention to the legislature. That's what Democrats failed to do in 2010 when they did not turn out after electing Obama in 2008. Republicans flipped 16 state legislatures in 2010. That's when the voter ID bills came. That's when the voter suppression bills came. That's when you begin to see the kind of changes.

It has taken Democrats in places like North Carolina and Texas and Georgia and others 10 years, a decade, to dig themselves out of that. That's tied to redistricting, which is based upon who controls the legislature. And that's why it's so important for us to invest in those folks who are doing work on the local level. You know, whether we're talking about on the county level or the state level, that's why it's important for us to make sure that there are great candidates also who know that they have the support and the capacity to run the races that are necessary because we are talking about gerrymandering and being able to address that. We're talking about redistricting

and making sure that, you know, the maps are actually fair so that they represent, you know, the folks who actually live in these states. And it is also making sure that you are anchored in what's actually going on in your state, in your county, in your local government. And that's why we talk about your vote being connected also to the judges that in many instances

will also interpret many of the things that will be moving forward to make sure that, you know, that they're legal, but also so that they're inclusive. So, you know, your vote is so incredibly powerful. It's tied to everything. And then the last part that I'll just raise also is that, you know, when we're looking at the gerrymandering,

the redistricting, these various things that go on, it's also tied to resources. So if you really want things to change inside of your community, your vote can actually play a role. It's one of those powerful tools that's in the toolbox that can actually help to make real change happen. Again, we cannot ignore why, how the legislature impacts our politics, Abe, is when you begin to look at what's happening in all of these different states, not only just the laws.

That's why the census was also important because that also dictated how those laws were, lines were drawn. This is where I keep saying, this is why we have to connect the dots so people understand how all of these things are related. What you do in 2020 is going to impact the next decade in your particular state as to who controls legislature. Absolutely. This election is huge for so many reasons, and certainly that being one of the biggest ones. Given the correlation with the census, this is going to determine how districts are drawn and the level of which you

are represented or not represented for an entire decade. Here's what we know from all the shenanigans that we're seeing around the country. Right. We know, for example, that there is a small well, there's not a small, but there is a number of individuals on the right in the Republican Party that's doing everything possible in order to take your rights away and specifically take away your ability to vote, take your ability to be represented. And they're really trying to hoard power. And they're looking to hoard power because they understand that because of the way the demographics are shifting in this nation, they understand that they cannot win if this is a fair fight moving forward. And many of those ways in which they tend to hoard power are by putting into place regulations, not only at the federal level, but things that they do at the statewide level that will determine whether or not your voice will be counted and whether or not you'll have representation. So definitely vote for president, vote for all of your sort of federal offices, but vote all the way down the ticket

because at the end of the day, each and every one of those elected officials have a powerful impact on your life and will continue to do so for years and years and years. Maura, you work with Lieutenant Governor of the District of Fairfax in Virginia. We saw what happened there in Virginia when the legislature changed,

when it came to gun rights, when it came to health care, when it came to other issues, the role that legislatures play in all of this. No audio, no audio. Can't hear you. Sorry, Roland. Sorry. There we go. I think you kind of asked some game-changing legislation with regard to justice reform. of that really started in 2017. And what we really saw in Virginia was a surge of voters brought on, frankly, by the presence of Donald Trump. You know, so much of this with voter suppression and all those new laws that we saw pass in 2010 were a direct result of Barack Obama's election in 2008. His coalition, which is really the new demographics in the United States, showing their political power and really taking over. And then the other side got scared and decided we will do whatever it takes to effectively nullify

their votes. The only thing that can happen tomorrow, I think, that prevents Biden from getting to 400 electoral votes is the Republicans trying to steal this election in some of these states where we have Republican governors, such as Florida and Georgia. That's what they've resorted to. It is open Republican policy. Voter suppression now is open Republican policy. They're not making any. They've dropped all pretenses, as you saw in Texas. They're not trying to pretend that they're doing anything other than to nullify the votes of constituencies that they do not agree with. Rather than to change their policy or even think about changing as a party, they have decided to go for voter suppression as really an official tenet of the current Republican Party. It's sad. Bottom line is here. When you start looking at how these things stack up, we start looking at

in terms of turnout. This is why these things matter. They matter because when we start breaking down the results, I keep yelling, connect the dots, connect the dots, connect the dots. All of these things go together. And we talked about judges. Donald Trump appointed these federal judges. Mitch McConnell blocking Obama from naming 100 judges. Trump then appoints 218, three Supreme Court justices. They're the ones who are deciding a lot of these voting rights cases on the appellate division.

And so that's why it's important for us to have the right candidates, raising the right amount of money, but also reaching out to be able to get our people to understand why you cannot sit at home and be just, oh, I'm not in love with anybody. This ain't about love. This is about getting things done for your family. Joining us right now, one of the brothers is Quentin James with Collective Pack. They, of course, have been out here raising money for candidates, supporting candidates, doing the work, encouraging voters. They're partners with us here at Roland Martin Unfiltered. Quentin, glad to have you here. How has this cycle been for Collective Pack candidates?

It's been great, Roland. We have over 150 candidates on the ballot tomorrow across the country, up and down. The ballot from candidates running for prosecutor up to our vice presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. And so we're excited. People have moved from protest to the ballot box. And so we're excited. I think we're going to have a historic day tomorrow where we will expand the number of Black people going to Congress. We will expand the number of African Americans elected statewide around the country. And we will elect more African Americans

to those roles as judges and DAs as well. So tomorrow will be a big day for the mission to build Black political power. One of the things that is important, black turnout. We were seeing, I saw earlier, the turnout among older black voters in Georgia. We've seen the same thing coming out in North Carolina and Texas as well. 1.8 million black men did not vote in 2016. Young folks also did not vote. So there was a decrease in black voter turnout around 2.4%. Do you believe that that is going to be flipped around? It's going to be changed? Do you believe not only the hate for Trump, but also the focus by grassroots organizations like

Black Voters Matter and others really trying to get people to understand why we cannot send out. Do you think that's gonna actually, uh, make-make, uh, uh, uh, first of all, play a huge role? Definitely role. You know, a lot of people right now have a ton of anxiety about the results tomorrow. And we understand, uh, the past four years have been tough. Election night in 2016 was also tough. Um, but the blessing that we've gotten from COVID-19

is that we actually have been able to look at the demographics of the over 98 million Americans who've already voted. So we can tell you right now, in Texas, Black voters have shown up to surpass their 2016 numbers already, before election day. Uh, we can tell you in Georgia, over a million Black voters have already showed up. And if we continue to kind of show that type of turnout

tomorrow on Election Day, we will break turnout records in Georgia. The same story can be told across the country. And so our job, you know, really isn't to think about the negativity around what happened in 2016, but understand that we have one more day to turn out as many people as we can. And as you mentioned, groups like Black Voters Matter, BlackPak, Color of Change, Higher Heights, the woke vote, our organization, EffectivePak, we have been doing that work.

We registered over 115,000 new black voters to vote this year. And so we, you know, I feel very confident about what we'll see tomorrow, at least from black voters, because of what we've already done during the early vote period. One of the things that's also important, raising money, and that is we've seen African Americans, after Obama ran 2008, bundling money, things like that,

realizing that we have to fund our own candidates. How did you guys do this cycle compared to when you started before and really getting people to understand why our donations mattered for our candidates? Yeah, completely. We have raised a record amount of money this cycle. You know, I being honest, I didn't expect we would be able to do what we've been able to do for our candidates. We've raised over two point one million dollars directly for our endorsed candidates. That money went directly to them and didn't come through us at all. And so, again, I think everyone has been doing the work. They've been doing their jobs, stepping out, you know, to run, making the contribution requests

of both high-dollar and low-dollar donors. And our community has really stepped up to understand that from all the protests that we saw in June and July and August, September, we've now carried that energy to, again, the ballot box, both as voters, but also as candidates. We think this year will be the year of the Black candidate. We will see this wave of folks who are, again, being elected into office not only across the country, but also definitely in the South, where it will matter more to see a U.S. senator from the South who's African-American.

I think we will see that tomorrow based on the numbers that we've been seeing through early vote already. Historic turnout in South Carolina thus far with African-Americans. And so, again, I don't want to count the chickens before they hatch, but the data just says we are outperforming any model that's ever been created for turnout before Election Day. Bottom line is this simple. You can't actually have an impact if you don't vote.

You can't vote if you're not registered. And that's important. Quentin James with Collective Pack. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. Folks, joining us right now is Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York. Congressman Gregory Meeks, of course, with the CBC, involved with the CBC Political Action Committee as well. Congressman, glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. It is a night before the election.

You just heard us talking to Quentin James with Collective PAC how critical black voters have been and the changes in voter registration. New York State saw a lot of changes when it comes to voter registration in that particular state as well. That is the key, expanding access to the ballot. Republicans are hell-bent on trying to stop that from happening. Absolutely. The Republicans, and they said that the more people vote, the less chance they have to win. So that's why they go all out with trying to repress the vote.

This is a repeat of history, really, Roland. That's what happened right after the Emancipation Proclamation. You know, right after, when they saw Black folks who had the right to vote, went out to vote, started electing people, elected Black governors, Black senators, Black members of the House, and all of a sudden, the courts and the state legislative bodies then started voter recession and repression. What did they do? They passed laws that say

for Black folks, you have to figure out how many jelly beans were in a jar, or just made it illegal to vote, period, so that the numbers would go down and dwindle down. And it's the same kind of thing that you're seeing today. So the challenge for us is to make sure that history does not repeat itself, because we have that opportunity right now. And that's why I appreciate what Brother Clinton is doing and what the CBC PAC has done this go-round, to go out to make sure that we get our message out

and we get especially the individuals that either have not voted or only vote sometime. And even at some time, they may only vote for the top of the ticket and don't vote down ticket. And one of the things that I think that was explained as a result of 2020 and all of the tragedies that took place, we were able to equate and put a message together as to why it is important and why every vote counts and the difference that that makes.

So we were able to go after because what you were talking about with Brother Quinn, raise the money and go out and get that message out so that we could increase that turnout uh and i think that we've been pretty successful at doing that thus far but now we've got to win it out we've got to close the deal and closing the deals they're getting everybody who has not voted yet out tomorrow. It's like I use the hypothetical of a basketball game. We're now, there's about 20 seconds to go. We're in the fourth quarter.

We're up two points. It's clear about that. But the ball is in our hands. And if we hit this shot, we're turning out the vote tomorrow, the game is over and we win win and we can start back to rebuilding and make sure that the legacy of 1863 or right after does not occur. That's what's at stake. That's what we're doing at the CBC PAC is why we spent so much money focused on getting that message through out the United States of America.

Trump thugs all across the country. This was video here that was shot in Texas where Trump supporters actually were trying to run a Biden-Harris bus off the road. There were some black state legislators who were on that bus and they ended up canceling that trip. Donald Trump says, oh, he first of all tweeted a video saying, I love Texas, and then said nothing should happen to these people. We're seeing them do these things in other parts of the country as well.

I mean, this is the kind of thuggery that we're seeing come from Trump and his people. Absolutely. They're trying to flip it. They're the ones that's trying to steal the election, intimidate folks to not vote, to try to get them to stay home. That's one of the reasons why the intelligence agencies agree that Russians have been trying to play in these elections, and their focus has been African Americans particularly, to try to convince you that your vote doesn't count, so you might as well stay home. This is what their strategy is. Because they know the power

of the vote, and they know that if you don't vote, you're really voting for them, because it helps them, which is why we've got to get everybody out. Wreck it. Quentin is right. Wreck it, number of people that have come got to get everybody out. Record, Quentin is right, record number of people that have come out to vote thus far. But we've got to close the deal roll tomorrow. And we've got to get those that have not come out to make sure that they come out. Those that might have had ballots that they forgot to mail in.

You can't mail them in now. Go by and drop them in the box, wherever you are. Make sure that your vote gets in tomorrow. Absolutely. Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Good to be with you, Tony. Thank you, sir. Folks, again, understand the power of

the vote and what happens when we don't use it. This is what Pew Research Center broke down when it came to the black voter turnout. It said it declined for the first time in 20 years in 2016. Black voter turnout dropped from 66.6% in 2012 to 59.6% in 2016. Now, here's some examples. 93,000 African Americans did not vote in Milwaukee, 379,000 in Miami, 277,000 in Detroit, 238,000 in Philly, 530,000 in Atlanta, 233,000 did not vote in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro and Durham. Folks, you leave it right there. The black totals alone.

Now, first of all, let's be real clear that a lot of white folks didn't vote. Ninety one million people did not vote in the election in 2016. But had African-Americans simply voted in and let's say if you have put those numbers in half, if half of the black people in Milwaukee, in Detroit, in Philly had voted in 2016, Donald Trump would not be president. That is important to understand. And when we talk about, again, how black folks are not playing games in 2020. This video was shot in Fort Worth, Texas, where some Trump folks chose to roll through with a caravan. Now here's what happened. They came through last Wednesday. The black folks in Fort Worth did not know they were coming through. Then they got word that these Trump folks were driving through down Miller Street, which basically in Fort Worth is considered Main Street for black folks.

Well, they came back two days later. And let's just say the bros made it clear you are not going to come in a black neighborhood with this crap. Watch this. Get out of that hood, man. Get that shit out of here. Get out of that hood. Get out of that hood, bro. Get out of that hood, bro. Hey, get out of that hood, bro. Hey, what's up, man? What's up, man? This how it's going down?

This how it's going down? Y'all gonna let them come through our hood like that, man? This our hood, bro. This our neighborhood. Y'all gonna let him come through our hood like that, man? It's our hood, bro. This our neighborhood. Y'all gonna let him come in? Hey, that's disrespectful what he doing, bro.

He can't come to our hood like that. Man, that's disrespectful, bro. Y'all just gonna let us get ripped, man? Come on. Yo, fuck 12. Fuck 12. For real. Y'all some hoes. Let that nigga come down here like that.

No, you not coming down here. He got to go that way. You got to go that way, bro. Hey, you got to go that way, hard boy. You better go that way. You better go that way. You not coming down here. Yeah, you ain't coming down here with that. Yeah, you ain't. You better go that way. You better go that way. You're not coming to our hood. Yeah, you ain't coming to our hood with that. Yeah, you going that way,

Hall, boy. This what y'all want from us? This what y'all want? No? You see? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get your bitch ass out of here. Yeah, get your bitch ass out of here. Avis, they made them turn that truck around. Brothers gonna work it out, right? I love that. I love every second of that. The big question that I had, though, was what the heck was up with the police escort? I mean, that seemed ridiculous to me.

And I'm wondering, you know, what sort of investigation needs to go on in that police department to figure out how that happened, because that should not have happened. It wouldn't be a surprise to me to find out that the person who was in the quote unquote civilian Trump vehicle was probably a policeman. I just don't understand how the police were happened, but I'm glad that even with that injustice, the brothers was like, nah, that ain't going down here. Mustafa, that was a pastor in Fort Worth who actually posted a video. I'm gonna try to find it.

And he sent word out. He said, all black men, he said, nation of Islam, he called all, he said, Christian black men, he said, I want to see y'all on that street. They are not going to drive through a black neighborhood with a Trump flag, with Trump flags flying in their truck beds. And that was the result of that call that was put out. Like you said, bros not playing. I mean, I'm old enough to remember when Reginald Denny found himself in the wrong location at the wrong time. So, you know, I'm not saying that anybody should ever do violence, but folks should understand that black men do and will stand up, and they will defend their communities,

and they will also draw those lines of demarcation. And you should not try and cross over that. So, you know, it's just real talk. In South Carolina, I was talking to Reverend Leo Woodbury, and he was sharing with me that his church, you know, they do a number of things. They feed a whole lot of folks, but they also have been playing a role in getting people registered and mobilizing these types of things. And there were some bikers, white bikers, that decided to come and drive around the church and around the church. And Rev shared with me, it was just this morning, he was telling me, you know, that he gave a call out to the black bikers. And as quickly as those black bikers got there, that's how quickly those white bikers decided that this was probably not the place that they wanted to continue to go around. So black men will defend their communities.

Roll up in the wrong neighborhood, you're going to get confronted. Now, these Trump folks, they all bold, blocking the highways in New Jersey, they love boat parades. Bring your ass up in these black neighborhoods and see what happens. Yeah. Well, there's a reason why, you know, people like Dylann Roof show up at church Bible studies to confront elderly people, you know, and there's a reason why every time wants to, every time somebody wants to bring their social war, so-called race war someplace, they bring it to a soft target.

And this is one of the reasons why I'm completely unimpressed by the Proud Boys and all these people, because they never seem to show up in a place like this, and there's a reason for that. And we saw that reason demonstrated in that video. Absolutely, absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to commercial break. When we come back, we'll hear from Senator Kamala Harris as she talks to us right here, Roland Martin Unfiltered, as she is campaigning today in Philadelphia. That is next. We'll be back in a moment. If your vote didn't matter, you wouldn't have so many people trying so hard to stop you from voting. There is some value there.

But even when you talk about that people are not paying attention to your issues, I can't pay attention to your issues if I don't even know you there. And the only reason people are going to know you there is when you show up to the polls and vote. That's when that power manifests itself. But as long as you stay at home, as long as you're making excuses, then guess what? You will always experience these issues that we're experiencing today. And another thing, don't get caught up in the candidates, right?

There's no such thing as a perfect candidate, but you should be going to vote for the most important person, and that is you and the one you love. You talk about you'll fight for the one you love. You're willing to die and the one you love. You talk about you'll fight for the one you love, you're willing to die for the one you love, you need to ask yourself, are you willing to vote for the one you love? Because if you don't,

there's gonna be somebody's neck on yours pretty soon. The guy in the White House is a mortal, not a god. The members of the Congress, they are mortals, not gods. Bowing down is not enough. We will stand up again. We will march again. We will preach again. We will organize again.

We are black. We are white. We are Latino. We are Native American. We are Democrat. We are Republican. We are independent. We are people, we are white, we are Latino, we are Native American, we are Democrat, we are Republican, we are independent, we are people of faith, we are people not of faith. We are natives and immigrants, we are business leaders and workers and unemployed, we are doctors and the uninsured, we are gay, we are straight, we are students, we are parents, we are retirees. We are America, and we are here, and we ain't going nowhere. Hey, everybody, it's Angela Ryan. I'm here with a really, really important message.

There's so much going on right now. But the most important thing is the election. In several states, you can still register to vote and make a plan. We are down to the wire, and it's super important that you participate in this year's election. If you live in a same-day registration state and you're not yet registered, you can take action right now. Let me tell you some of those states. California, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, D.C., Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont, Washington, my home state, Wisconsin, or Wyoming. You can literally register to vote on Election Day. Almost 100 million people have already voted. Don't you want to be in that number?

Right? So I need you to make a plan right now. Call the election protection hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE, and they will help you make a plan to vote. If you're not sure about your registration status, call 866-687-8683 right now to confirm your status. And if you have any questions at all about voting, even those of you who are at the polls and are getting messed with, concerned that they're bothering you, concerned about this provisional ballot stuff, concerned about whatever else kind of nonsense

they're coming up with, or you're experiencing voter intimidation, because that's real too, please call 866-OUR-VOTE because they can help. Same-day registration gives us a final chance to have our voices heard and ensures that no person is left behind. If you live in a same day registration state, don't miss this chance to be counted. Y'all, everything is on the line and you do not want to be a part of the folks who said, man, I should have shown up. Show up for yourself.

Show up for us. Thank you. All right, folks. Senator Kamala Harris is on the campaign trail. Of course, she is the Democratic VP nominee with Joe Biden earlier today. She took some time out. She was campaigning in Philadelphia to give me a call, and here's

our conversation. We have been, look, you're making the closing argument. You're there in Pennsylvania, but it was surprising to lots of people, your stops in Texas, in Georgia. Speak to that and the reaction to the early voting and what the numbers are showing, how people are responding to the Biden-Harris message. You know, here's the thing. There is so much at stake in this election, and it is very important to me, it's very important to Joe, that we get out there and we listen to the people, we hear the people, we see the people,

and we meet the people where they are. You know, you go to Texas, you go to Georgia, folks are suffering. And it's about the public health crisis, and so they want to know that their president is somebody who cares about health care and is going to keep intact the Affordable Care Act, which, of course, Joe and I will and Donald Trump will not. They want to know that we're going to support small businesses and minority owned businesses, most of which have been awfully damaged and hurt by this virus. And, you know, folks know we have witnessed the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country. So going to Georgia and going to Texas, you know, hanging out with Stacey Abrams yesterday in Texas, Tina Knowles and a great leader, Rodney Ellis in Houston. We're just, we're reminding people that everything is at stake and we're reminding people of the power of their

vote because you know the voter suppression tactics in all these states in Georgia and Texas and you know North Carolina has a history of it. We're traveling all those places and reminding people that let's not let anybody take our power from us. Let's not let anybody take our power from us let's not let them try to sideline us or silence us let's hope because that's our power and they know our power that's why they're trying to make it difficult so we will not be deterred i've been in south carolina detroit uh ronald north carolina jackson mississippi last night with mike espy and coronavirus is still a major issue you got got Trump out there talking about firing Dr. Fauci.

I mean, my goodness, we are literally in the middle of a major pandemic, and they're still behaving as if this is no big deal, as somehow this is a joke. Roland, not only that, we are now looking at spikes across the country. And it's just, listen, thanks to Bob Woodward, we know since January Donald Trump and Mike Pence were informed about the seriousness of this. And yet they covered up the information. They did not share it with the American people.

And then he called it a hoax. He still has no plan for dealing with it. And, you know, at some point, people have to say, look, we need leadership who understands this coronavirus doesn't care about who you voted for, but it will be handled by a real leader or it will not be handled if this guy stays in office. And so, look, that's what's at stake as much as everything else. One of the things that we've seen, I've been out there and black voters are going hard. You got black men, you got black women. But specifically, too, there are some people out there, young voters, who are black men and black women.

They're like, look, do I need to go to vote? Michigan has a same-day voter registration. If you're speaking to that young voter, that young brother, that young sister, what is Senator Kamala Harris telling them why they need to cast their ballot for Biden-Harris tomorrow? Because your voice is so important.

And we cannot let the decision about who will be the next president of the United States being made without you weighing in. You have power. You have the ability to determine who will be the next president of the United States. And so you must know that power and use that power. And, you know, the bottom line is that everything is at stake. You look at, for example, Joe and I are committed to making sure that anybody who comes from a family that makes less than $125,000 goes to a four-year public college, including HBCU, public or private, for free. We're committed to saying that there will be a $15,000 tax credit

for first-time homebuyers, knowing that's the way we create wealth and intergenerational wealth within our families. We're saying that we need to decriminalize marijuana and expunge the records of people who've been convicted of marijuana. We are committed to banning soap bowls and karate bowls. George Floyd would be alive today if that was the case. We are committed to $150 billion going to small businesses and startup businesses with a focus on minority-owned businesses and ventures, knowing that access to capital is one of the greatest ways you can create economic wealth. But we have been outside of that that

stream and outside of that opportunity for far too long and it needs to be addressed i'm glad you mentioned though i'm sorry go ahead go ahead well no all of the business is safe all of it is i'm glad you mentioned those things uh listed in the lift every voice plan i've been calling the trump platinum plan the aluminum foil plan because it's a joke. Juneteenth, that could have been a federal holiday if Senator Ron Johnson did not stand up. The anti-lynching bill could have been a law if Senator Rand Paul didn't. Trump said nothing. And so to me, that plan is worthless.

I went through the entire plan. He has done nothing. And it's a one-sheeter compared to 22 pages that lift every voice. No, I mean, listen, and you can see that there is no real commitment, but let's also just remember that this is a president who has spent full time trying to solve hate and division. This is a president who on that debate day refused to condemn white supremacists. This is a president who on Charlotte said there were fine people on both sides when on one side you had peaceful protesters protesting racial injustice,

and on the other side you had neo-Nazis carrying swastikas, carrying kiki forks, right? The president of the United States who came in office trying to question the legitimacy of America's first black president, Barack Obama. So, you know, we have to remember who he is and really talk about what we want from our leaders. And do we want a leader who sees us, who understands that we need to address racial disparities, we need to address systemic race, and do it in a way that is meaningful, knowing that people are smarter than just somebody who gives lip service to it, and it's about whether there is a real plan with details. To your point, Roland, we have a plan, and we're committed to that plan.

I mean, and then, you know, the bottom line is this. You know, Joe Biden knows American and and the state of America well enough that he has the courage to speak the term Black Lives Matter. Donald Trump will never do that. We'll never do that. Last question. I know you have to I shot in Atlanta. There was a young black girl and she was just probably was like four or five or six. And she was so excited

to meet you. How has it been for you to be on the campaign trail? And granted you haven't had because of coronavirus a lot of contact with folks. But to come up against young people, young brothers and sisters who see themselves in you, what has that been like for you to interact with them?

You know, I mean, it really, I will tell you, Roland, my mother had many things, and one of them was, you may be the first to do many things, but come and make sure you're not the last. When I look at these young girls and boys and I look at what I think they see which is the possibilities for themselves it gives me it gives me the power to really keep going knowing this is worth it. When I see the parents who are bringing their children to remind them of who they, the children, are, right? And I know that I carry this with a very heavy sense of responsibility. And the responsibility being that when I walk through that door, that I leave it open and wider than it was before,

and each one full one to help people come through that door. I feel a very, very heavy sense of responsibility to see this through and do it the right way. And knowing that the way that we get this done will chart a path for so many, so many more. Well, there's a great scene in the movie Remember the Titans where the coach tells Denzel's character, Herman, leave no doubt. And I have been saying that to our people. Look, forget close races.

Leave no doubt. And if it caused Donald Trump to whine and cry, so be it. But every vote will indeed count. Senator Kamala Harris, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Appreciate you, Roland Martin. You take care. All right, have a good one.

Bye-bye. Let's go back to our panel here. I'll start with you, Avis Jones DeWeaver. You heard Senator Kamala Harris there making those points and laying out what their agenda is. Look, I don't give a damn about Lil Wayne, whatever he's saying. When you've got folks out there who understand what a real plan is that speaks to our issues, that's what you see.

We can't get caught up in rich folks who want their tax breaks when 99% of their fan base ain't going to get those same tax breaks. This is about not just this generation, but the next generation as well. Absolutely. I mean, she was saying, for example, that President Trump couldn't say Black Lives Matter. Hell, I remember when Lil Wayne couldn't say Black Lives Matter and thought that that was completely irrelevant. So, you know, we know not to listen to him. But, you know, in terms of the policy programs that she just laid out, I think it's very important because this particular campaign has focused so much on the need to take control of the coronavirus crisis. A lot of people have not known all of the other amazing

policies that this ticket is also pushing forward. And I know for a fact that there are so many families out there that would like to have the option to be able to go to college for free. I know that there are so many families out there that want to make sure that their health care is not only protected under a Biden-Harris administration, but also such that health care access is expanded to many more people. I know there are lots of people out there that want to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour so that people can work full time and still be able to not live in poverty and so much more. And so hearing her sort of tick to tick through a few of the specific policy points

that are part of their agenda, I think is so important so that people will know when they go to the polls, if they haven't voted already, when they go tomorrow, that they're not just voting against something. They are affirmatively voting for many of those things that our communities need. Mustafa, here we are again, the day before the election day, and I can't help but think back to all of the silliness that we dealt with in 2019. The questions, is Kamala Harris black? Questioning her blackness, things along those lines. And it goes to show you what happens, I think, when some folks get stuck on stupid.

I think we have to recognize that. It is important for us to push back on that nonsense. The purity test, if you if you if you have you have as well. Look, at the end of the day, after three, after almost four years of watching what Donald Trump has done, you got to be crazy to actually even remotely think about voting for that fool. In fact, I want to play this here. My man, Congressman Jim Clyburn, he was on Fox News and he was asked about, you know, this whole issue of black men and Trump. This is what he had to say to any black man thinking about voting for Donald Trump. And I feel a sincerity sincerely I'm the father of three black women. I am the son of a black woman.

If any black man can go in the polling place and cast a vote for a man who referred to a black woman as a dog on national television, I'm going to have to pray for them. I will have to pray for them. Congressman Clyburn, let me just... In a bind of disrespect and insult. Hmm. Congressman Clyburn laid it out there, Mustafa. He did. I got to give it to that old mega man.

He stood up and did the right thing and said the right thing. I did. Just so you know, Mustafa, I called him today. He did hit me back. And I said, man, you sound like an alpha there. He bust out laughing. He sure did. He sure did. But we'll take that up with him next time we're on the Hill.

You know, any man who is not willing to defend his community, any man who's not willing to stand up for black women after everything that they have done for us. I mean, it's just amazing when you understand all the challenges, all the pressures that have been placed on Black women, and they never broke. They never broke once. They've always stood with us. Even when we haven't deserved for them to stand with us, they've always been there. And Kamala, you know, Kamala is my friend, and she's brilliant, and she cares about people. And what I really appreciate is that so many more people are now actually starting to use their brains,

and they're actually looking at policy and asking the question, will this help my life to be better? So I know everybody, as Dr. Avis just shared, if you can actually be able to go to college and not have to worry about that huge amount of debt following you for the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years sometimes, that's important. When you have a candidate who's talking about housing and making sure that you actually

can get into your own home and build wealth, Black folks, listen, building wealth is so incredibly important because it gives you leverage and it gives you power. And somebody is presenting an opportunity for you to actually be able to do that. that science is necessary, and that these environmental injustices that continue to take Black people's lives prematurely and make you more vulnerable to COVID-19, you got somebody who is anchored to what's going on in your communities. As it was said, no candidate is perfect. But if you look at the issues and actually open your minds, there is a clear choice. There is no way that anyone who actually looks at the issues and

says, you know, what's happening in my community, what's happening in my family, and not cast your vote in that direction. Lauren, on the same Fox News interview, I love it when folk don't do research

before they go on the air. And then when they open their mouth, they look like a fool. Martha McCallum looked like a complete fool and got straight checked by Jim Clyburn. Listen to this. To have that discussion. But at this point, you've got an overwhelmingly large number

of people who have already voted. Huge percentages of them who have already voted. Huge percentages of them have never voted before. And there have been big turnout drives on both sides of the aisle. South Carolina, as a state, has been was one of the earliest states to reopen. You've had absentee ballots available for months and also voter drop boxes where people can walk right up and just put it right in the box? South Carolina's got voter drop boxes? I wish you showed them to me. I've been in South Carolina for all of my 80 years.

We do not have voter drop boxes. That's how lies get out. Well, it's my understanding that every state has them. If South Carolina doesn't, that's a big question that South Carolina should address immediately because it's my understanding that every state has them. If South Carolina doesn't, that's a big question that South Carolina should address immediately, because it's my understanding that every state has them. We try. Well, you understand it wrong. We try very hard to get voter drop boxes, and the legislature would not approve them. No, we don't have voter drop boxes. That's why I'm saying when this campaign is over, we need to go to work and say to every state that for federal elections, do what you want for your own state and local governments.

But for federal elections, Congress and president, there must be drop boxes. I understand that you're correct. You stand corrected, sir, that there are no drop boxes in South Carolina, although the absentee balloting has been going on for weeks, if not months. Er? You stand corrected? No, your ass stand corrected. Yeah, you know, it's like when they have Cornel West on, when they make the mistake of having Cornel West on Fox, you know, they just get busted because they're just not that bright. You know, they just end up acting, I mean, looking really stupid really quickly.

You know, I was thinking of something that you'd said with regard to the Kamala Harris purity test. You know, the is she really black conversation, which I find extremely strange because, as we know in our community, skin ain't kin. And when you get people like Larry Elder and Clarence Thomas and Candace Owens sitting around, I'm not sure why any of this matters in terms of like what people actually do. I mean, I did find it a valid, you know, analysis to look at the prosecutions that Kamala Harris had

when she was, you know, a prosecutor. But this idea, I mean, the woman went to Howard as an AKA, but she's somehow not black enough for a certain constituency. It's just strange because it really does come down to the issues you believe in, what you push when you're an elected official and what you prioritize and who you prioritize. But at any rate, to get back to Jim Clyburn, he was great. I found that clip on your Twitter feed, Roland, so I had looked at it earlier.

And, you know, it is a shame that he had to just embarrass her on national TV, but that's the way it goes when you don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, I mean, but this is why you kind of got to have your facts together, otherwise your ass going to get lit up. And Congressman Clyburn certainly was not having it. First of all, I keep trying to tell people, leave folk alone when they get over 70. They're going to say whatever they want to say.

And when he let her know, like, well, I've been here 80 years. I don't know what you're talking about. And so I just thought that was fabulous. All right, y'all, I saw this here. Look, it's a little light. I couldn't help but play this. I think we got to have a little levity. This sister posted this. Her name, I don't know who it came from. Her name, Naama Cochran. I saw this on her page. So let me just go ahead and play this for y'all. I think y'all might enjoy this. Even y'all reminds me of that gospel hymn that inspired so many of us.

When I last talked to John Lewis as he was dying, he reminded me of it. I don't feel no way as tired. I've come too far from where i started from nobody told me the road would be easy i don't believe he brought me this far to leave me he did not leave us we are not tired the road hasn't been easy but we've come too far to stop now. So please, both. TVD all reminds me of that gospel hymn. I had to play that. I had to play it. You're going to go straight to hell, Roland. You're going straight to hell.

I don't know who put the church organ behind it, but I had to go here and play that. That's hilarious. We needed that. I just feel like at least the message should be taken, okay? Don't be too tired to vote tomorrow. That's the main takeaway. But I'm telling you, that was hilarious. I loved it.

I had to go here and play that. All right, y'all. Look, they have not stopped dropping these anti-Trump buyer ads. Here is the latest batch the day before the election. Watch this. Dear Donald, we at the Lincoln Project just want to say it's okay. Okay. Seriously, we know you did your best.

That was the original. But this whole being president thing isn't for everyone. No, get those lights off! Off! It's the hardest job in the world. Lucky I brought some notes. And it takes a lot of qualities that you just don't have. You're going to be fair. Like compassion, human decency.

If you don't mind, Mr. President. And basic reading skills. You're Semites, you're Semites. But don't worry. You've got so many other qualities. Like dancing. Kind of. Actually, forget dancing.

But you're great at remembering things. And I'm sure your kids are going places. So don't beat yourself up. Not everybody can be a two-termer. Well, this guy was. Oh, yeah, that guy, too. Okay, ignore that. It doesn't matter.

Because losing doesn't automatically mean a loser. Or a failure. Or a national disgrace. Who even said that? Not us. That's really bad reporting. Well, okay, we did and do and will for a long time. And yes, most of America will come to the same conclusion. We're last, meaning we're first. I'm sure historians will document you as being a blight on America's presidential legacy. Yes, future generations will refer to you as that turd sandwich that accidentally won an election one time. And you'll develop you'll develop like a turd mentality.

But hey, at least you're rich. Am I right? Right. All right, folks, folks at Vote Vets also dropped this particular ad that spoke to if Donald Trump chooses not to leave the White House, they said they'll be more than happy to escort him out. This is the line that will guide the inaugural parade that will bring the next president to the White House to begin to heal the nation. A president elected by the votes of the people, including troops deployed around the world voting by mail, as they have since the Civil War. Unless Donald Trump stops those votes from being counted. It would be very, very proper and very nice if a winner were to be planned on November 3rd, instead of counting ballots that do wait.

Tens of millions are voting absentee. Ballots that some states won't even start counting until polls close Tuesday. We won't have a final count for days. But the democracy we fought for is worth the wait. Because every vote counts. Whether it's mailed from a far-off battlefield or a rural mailbox. And when the counting is done, if the president needs help vacating the premises, we'd be happy to walk him out.

Lauren? I think, funny thing, I think the Lincoln Project Republicans are going to end up saving us. They made it cool for the moderate Republicans to oppose their own party, which generally never happens. I also think we are definitely going to be in a dangerous period from November 4 to the 19th of January 2021. I mean, this president is going to deny the results of this election. That's almost certain. Jane Mayer just wrote a very long piece in The New Yorker with regard to him possibly leaving

the country and the fact that he has to hold on to the presidency to avoid prosecution in New York. That sounds about right to me. I mean, I think that he will say anything and he will do anything to stay in that office. I think the military, I think that's in play, this idea that he will have to be forced out. You know he's not going to agree to any sort of transition procedures.

Even if they do, they're going to try to destroy a bunch of stuff before they vacate. What I'm saying right now is not even shocking because, of course, we know that that's all in play. And the fact that it's not shocking is really incredible. But I do think he's going to deny the results of this election. That's obvious. Well, and the point and the point they're making there, Mustafa, is that he says stop counting the ballots after November 3rd. There are a lot of military ballots that the ballots after November 3rd. There are a lot of military ballots that come in after November 3rd. But let's not forget coronavirus, of course, has been the top issue of this campaign. Here's another Lincoln Project ad.

Nobody could have known a thing like this could happen. All of a sudden, out of nowhere came the invisible enemy. There may and likely will come a time in which we have both an airborne disease that is deadly. In order for us to deal with that effectively, we have put in place an infrastructure. I, Donald John Trump, can solidly swear it will go away if you stay calm. If you don't test, you don't have any cases. I don't believe you need 30,000 ventilators.

Don't take responsibility. But you did disband the White House Pandemic Office. A thousand Americans have died. It is what it is. Is it really? I just can't come back down. I thousand Americans have died in a day. It is what it is. Is it really? I just didn't come right down. I think this was a blessing from God. Project is responsible

for the content of this advertising. He can't run for that, Mustafa. No, it's impossible. The president knew. The president knew very early on how virulent, you know, the COVID-19 was. And he decided not to invest in the infrastructure to protect people's lives.

So now we got close to 9 million people have been infected, 230, 240,000 people who have died. And we also know that those numbers on the deaths are not accurate because there hasn't been as much testing happening across the country because of some of the mandates that the president has put out. He's responsible.

You know, when we talk about impeachable offenses, lots of times people get impeached for something so much less than actually taking the lives of your own citizens by your own inactions and actions. And he's going to have a lot to answer for when he leaves office and when these various folks with all these various cases come after him. And there should be, and I've said this time and time again, there should be culpability for these lives that he has played a role in being extinguished. Avis, Donald Trump certainly is trying his best to really act like a dictator. This next ad here speaks again to him just sort of ignoring the democracy and folks making it perfectly clear, no, we're not going to let you treat America the way you want to.

Check this out. The signing of the Declaration of Independence. Tyranny didn't end with the American Revolution. Not for everyone. Not by a long shot. Nearly a hundred years of elected leadership failed to right that wrong, and Americans went to war with ourselves to fix it. Never before had the truth been so clear. Elections have consequences. It was for this reason that Union soldiers who lived

and died by those consequences were able to vote despite being far from home. This was how absentee voting began. Sent from the bloody battlefields to cross the nation. Now, more than 150 years later, tyranny is looking for a new foothold. President Trump has called for the election to be decided on and only on those ballots that arrive by November 3rd. If he gets his way, many who cast absentee ballots will not have their vote counted. This will deny thousands of troops serving overseas

of their most sacred right. Stripping the men and women in our military of the very freedoms they've served and sacrificed to defend. It cannot be allowed to happen. Donald Trump doesn't get to decide the future of America's leadership. The American people do. Make every vote count. And count every vote. The Lincoln Project is responsible for the content of this advertising. We cannot overstate this, Avis. I did a Zoom last week with a civil rights attorney. And she said that there was a case that she was involved in.

Before she could even open the ruling from the judge, 17 states had already filed briefs in her case. She said, wait a minute. How did they read it before I did? And I'm the lawyer. She said, there is absolute collusion on the part of the Trump administration, these Republican attorney generals, these Republican governors, and they are all operating in collusion in order to use the courts to strike down these initiatives. That curbside voting in Harris County?

Three months ago. Minnesota. Three months ago. They purposely waited for the final week of the election to go to the courts knowing that Trump appointed judges would rule in their favor. This has absolutely been collusion. And you're exactly right.

It includes all of those parties that you mentioned. And even you can extrapolate out more. It includes a Mitch McConnell who sat on bills that would, in fact, for example, fund the post office in order to help to combat what we know was already a fixed situation there with the Trump appointee. It includes Republican legislatures across the nation who have tried to push through laws that would, on the one hand, make it more difficult for people to actually receive mail-in ballots, and then, on the other hand, try to push through legislation to say that their ballots shouldn't be counted. I mean, they're trying to go at it both ways. So it is an entire mastermind of activities across the entire Republican Party, from the president

all the way across and down every level of government in order to have a full-on coup. I would argue that this is an orchestrated coup, which they are attempting to put together with this election. When you look at all of the different strategies they have implemented in every way they have tried to specifically disenfranchise millions, millions of American people, this is a coup, an attempted coup. And we cannot allow this to stand, not by any means necessary. Avis Mustafa, Lauren Victoria Burke, I certainly appreciate y'all being on the panel today. I shall see all of you tomorrow on our election night coverage. Folks, we're going to be live from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Trust me,

you do not want to miss it. We've got more than 30, actually more than 40 panelists booked. We've got more than 40 guests booked as well. It's going to be an amazing eight hours. We'll also be simulcast. Our coverage will be simulcast on iHeartRadio's Black Information Network stations, numbering around 30 or so across the country. That is tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I've got to go to break. We come back.

I'll chat with actress Noria Victoria. But wait until you hear her story of the list that she went to vote for Obama when he ran for president. Y'all don't have any excuse not voting in tomorrow's election. We'll also talk to trainer Jim Jones about using fitness to relieve your election anxiety over the next 48 hours or even longer. And we'll also hear from Mike Espy, who is running for the United States Senate in Mississippi. And we'll pay tribute to Rance Allen, the gospel legend who died on a Saturday morning. All of that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hello, Michigan. It's TV. You know, I was born in Saginaw, raised in Detroit, Motown, and my heart belongs to Michigan. It was in Michigan that I wrote and sang songs for this country.

Songs for all the people of this country. If you believe in my music, then I know you believe in this great country. If you believe in Michigan, then you must know there's power in your hands. Imagine January 20th. We swear in a president and a vice president who care about working Americans, where no matter what we look like or where we come from or who we love or how much money we got, everybody's got a chance. Michigan, that can happen. I have to honestly tell you, I believe this election is the most important of my lifetime. Michigan, this is our moment to show the power of the state and the character of its people. It's in your hands to go vote. You can't put our country, our health, our lives,

and our future in the hands of fate. In 2009, when Detroit was on its back, Barack and I bet on all the workers. We stepped in and rescued the automobile industry and saved at least one million jobs. A huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I probably would have been losing my home and a lot of other things that I've worked so many years to obtain. You've got to go vote. Vote like you know that Biden and Harris are the only choice for a chance to bring this country back together.

Michigan, I'm counting on you in a big way. Put the future in your hands, not in the hands of fate. Please go vote. All right, then. Do you have an excuse for not voting? Maybe you say, you know what? It's just too much. I got so many things to do.

Well, I was chatting with my girl, actress Nora Victoria, and she was telling me about all the stuff that she went through. She had never really talked about it publicly. We were talking on the phone and she said, you know what? I want to share this story, hopefully to encourage folks to hit the polls on November 3rd. So she joins us right now. Hey, Norah, how you doing? Hi, Roland.

Thanks for having me. So tell folks this unbelievably crazy, outlandish voting story that you told me on the phone. So it was 2008. Our president, Barack Obama, was running for office and I was living in Atlanta. I had moved from Baltimore to Atlanta that year and was waiting for my absentee ballot to arrive. It was Monday before election day and it hadn't arrived. So I decided to hop in my car and drive from Atlanta to Baltimore so that I could vote. The election board said that I could still cast the ballot somehow in Georgia on that day. I just didn't trust it.

Plus, I wanted to push the button like everybody else. It was our first black president. So I'm driving through South Carolina and my car breaks down. And I stop and I call AAA and I end up at this garage in a town which reminded me of something out of Lovecraft Country. It looked like a sundown town. And there was a gentleman that looked at my car and there were gentlemen on Harley Davidson and they were watching me. I was watching them. And the gentleman came back and said there was a little plastic piece that broke

on this pivot and he could just rig it up basically with almost a pipe cleaner, rig it up and it could get me home. But after that, I was on my own. He wasn't sure how long it would last. So I said, yeah, go ahead and do that. I'm trying to get home to vote. He only charged me $25 to get that done. And I was back on the road again. I didn't tell my family what I was doing. As the youngest of eight, sometimes you just make the decisions, the biggest life decisions, without telling anyone because you don't want anyone's opinions because there's a lot of them. And I just wanted to go home. And usually if I made that trip, I would stop to sleep, but I decided to go all the way through. So I reached, um, it was, uh, my polling location. By that time I had moved out of Baltimore and I'd lived in

Silver Spring. So I reached Silver Spring, that polling location. And as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, my car broke down again. So I go up, I waited in line. The line maybe was about an hour and a half, an hour and a half, two hours. I get there and they don't have my name on the registration. They told me that I was still registered in Baltimore City where I used to live. And I told the polling person that I had no way to get there. My car broke down. I was stuck. I just drove from Atlanta more than 600 miles overnight.

And there was an election worker that overheard the story. And they said, I'm not supposed to do this. He came over to me. It was a black gentleman. He said, I'm not supposed to do this. He came over to me. It was a black gentleman. He said, I'm not supposed to do this, but I have to go around and check the polls and I will take you to your polling location if you want me to. Now, here I am, a woman by myself.

I wanted to vote for President Obama. So I got in his car and he drove me 40 minutes up to my polling location in Baltimore City. By the time I got in there, it had started to pour raining. I waited in line mother's job. Again, I hadn't told anyone what I was doing. I hadn't called my family. I just wanted to vote, push the button like everybody else for our first black president. So I walked to the hospital. She worked in an optometrist's office where there were a lot of elderly patients from underserved communities. So I walked in, she was at the front desk. I was soaking wet. All I had was a backpack on and she screamed because she didn't know why I was in town. She thought something was wrong. She just couldn't process why I was walking into her job on a Tuesday morning, soaking wet. And I told her I drove overnight, my car broke down, but I just had to go and vote.

And there was a woman, she was about 80, I would say 80, 85 years old, and she burst out in tears in the lobby waiting for the doctor to see her because that's what she fought for. That's what that generation sacrificed that was waiting there in that lobby. And I have since become the designated driver of voting for my friends. I will do all the research. I will research all the bills and measures and propositions. I will follow the money, the lobbyists, the benefits and whose community things benefit and not and fill out everything for you to look at. So there's just, I try to make it so that there's just no excuse. I feel like we're a little bit, we've gotten to the point where sometimes we feel like, oh, our ancestors died and fought for this is a bit of a cliche. And I think that comes from, we're used to seeing everything on

social media. If it didn't happen on social media, then it didn't happen. And we're talking about people that were put in insane asylums, that were hung, that were beaten, that were hosed, that walked. And I can't fathom a complaint about waiting in line. No, we shouldn't have to. Everything that we have to do is voter suppression, all the hoops that we have to jump through. But we've been voting since we were children. And I don't understand, you know, this concept that some of us have now that voting isn't revolutionary or that somehow voting makes you not edgy. It's the most revolutionary thing you can do. The same people that talk about not voting will, if they make a dinner, right, and they sacrifice their time, their money to buy groceries and make the dinner, and a child or someone sits there and say, I'm not eating this, will lose their, legacies if we don't vote.

And so President Barack Obama, if you are listening, I drove over 600 miles to vote for you in 2008, and I do it all over again. I've already voted this year. You didn't have to drive 600 miles this time to vote. And so that is a wild story. And yeah, your mama would scream if she didn't know you're walking in drenched in the rain. Like, girl, what the hell are you doing here? And so certainly glad you wanted to share that story with us, Dori. Thank you so very much.

Final 30 seconds. What would you say to a person who's watching us right now who, they're like, I can vote, but I don't have to. I'm ambivalent. I haven't decided, especially in the states where you have same-day voter registration, where they can actually register tomorrow and actually vote. Wisconsin is one of those states. Michigan is another one. What would you say to that person right now? I see a lot of people at protests, protesting things that they have had an opportunity to vote for. There are a lot of measures on ballots. For

example, there's one on California that would make certain misdemeanors felonies. There are certain measures that have been on ballots to outlaw plastic bags or to funnel money to a wildlife fund when it was really sponsored by the plastic bag company. And so if you've been out at a protest, try to see what steps you could have taken first to avoid being out there because all of us fight the good fight. But just be honest. None of us want to have to do this over and over and over again. So please, in honor of your ancestors, in honor of yourselves, when you look at things like school loans and predatory lending practices and the fact that it is legal to discriminate in California, There is no affirmative action in California. That is on the ballot right now.

You cannot complain when you don't go out to the polls and your employer says, I just, we have enough of you, of your type, because it's legal. That, Norah Victoria, always a pleasure. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, folks. I want to show you that graphic right now of the places where you can actually register tomorrow and vote. These states right here have same day voter registration on Election Day.

California, Colorado. There's a critical U.S. Senate race there. John Hickenlooper versus Republican Senator Cory Gardner. Democrats want to take that seat. You have Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, another critical state. That's where Jody Ernst is in trouble for the U.S. Senate. Democrats are really targeting that state to pick up the U.S. Senate race. Maine, Senator Susan Collins running against Sarah Gideon. Gideon could very well beat Susan Collins. That would be another pickup on that particular state. You have Maryland, Michigan, huge state there where Democrats are trying to hold on to that seat.

Senator Gary Peters running against black Republican John James, even though John James refuses to even put anywhere on his website or his ads that he is a Republican. All you know about John James, he wants to end the Affordable Care Act and he says he supports Donald Trump 2000 percent. That's why you should be voting for Gary Peters over John James. Then you have Minnesota, Tina Smith. Also, they're trying to hold on. Democrats trying to hold on to that Senate seat happening there as well. Montana, you have the governor, Bullock, who is running for the U.S. Senate there as well. Folks, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, critical state North Carolina, where you have Cal Cunningham running against Tom Tillis.

Why should you not support Tom Tillis? Because Tom Tillis kept two black women from being appointed federal judges. He also it was the architect of the state's onerous voter suppression law when he was in the legislature. Then you have Vermont, state of Washington, Wisconsin, crucial battleground state, folks in Milwaukee, need y'all to vote in Wyoming. So let me go again. These states are the critical states where you can register to vote tomorrow. You can vote tomorrow. Critical states, Wisconsin, North Carolina. Then you have, of course, Michigan. You have Maine, Iowa. You have Colorado, Minnesota as well. So our people who are in Minneapolis, who are in Detroit, who are in all over North Carolina, you can register. If you have not registered yet, you can tomorrow and vote same day. And so we wanted to emphasize that for you. All right.

There are lots of people, folks, who are stressed out, freaked out. And in a moment, we're going to talk to Jim Jones about that. Well, I was down in Mississippi yesterday, Jackson, Mississippi. And folks, a little stress there because you've got Mike Espy, who is running against Cindy Hyatt Smith, the incumbent Republican. He lost to her by 68,000 votes in 2018. He's now running again. Polls show he is down by 1.2. Cindy Hyde-Smith. I was in Jackson last night. We live streamed his drive-in, get out the vote rally. You can check it out on our YouTube channel. But here's my conversation with Mike Espy. Well, Mike, it has been a long two years. You're almost at the end of the road.

Yes, yes. Thank you, Roland, for being here in Jackson. It's a cold, winter night now in Jackson, Mississippi, and you're right. You were here 19 months ago when we ran. We only had six months to run, but we got 47% of the vote. So I knew that maybe the issue was then I would have to, I ran then, maybe I had to ran then to win now. So we've corrected a lot of those issues and we never stopped working. We've been working every day for 19 months and now I really feel good.

A few more days to go, we're gonna work right through November 3rd when the polls close, but I feel really good about what I see. We just finished a tour of 60 cities in about six days, and the energy on the ground is palpable. We've knocked on about 300,000 doors, both of them African-American neighborhoods, and these are the ones in the infrequent voters, you know, the ones that didn't vote since Obama 2008. And the message coming back from them is, yes, they want to change. They want Mississippi to be different. And I believe they're going to vote.

How do you how do you get people? I mean, you see African-Americans in this state up to 40 percent of the population to understand that if they maximize their power, they can actually determine elections. You sit down with them, you sit down with them and tell them how it's going to impact their future. For instance, I was down in the Delta the other day, this is a true story, and I was speaking with someone who just had a GED, and he wanted a job. He wanted to know what was going to happen to him before then, and so

I connected him with a program with a major corporation that hires students at Mississippi Valley State University in Edobena, you know, and so now he is in there to be, you know, he's enrolling in a Bina. He is actually becoming an employer of this of this company. He codes packages as a student. He gets his salary. He gets benefits, health insurance, life insurance. And there's a guarantee of a job if he graduates. So So these things are things that that a senator can do. I want to replicate that program for all the schools in Mississippi. So the thing is, they want to know, what is the impact on my life? And so you have to sit down with them and take the time and tell them what their impact would be.

I had Senator Chuck Schumer on my show on Thursday, and your race was one of the ones that he brought up. A lot of my viewers were like, where in the hell have y'all been for the past year? Isn't that also difficult where you're trying to, you're already in a difficult race, and national Democrats say, well, you know what, we really don't have any shot.

And as Reverend Barber keeps saying, you don't have a shot if you never compete. Right. You don't have a shot if you don't compete., you don't have a shot if you don't compete. If you don't run, you're not gonna win, right? And if you don't organize, you're not gonna develop an organization. So just like Reverend Barbara says,

it's not that Mississippi is so much red, it's that Mississippi is so much unorganized. So we've got 40% of the whole population is black in Mississippi. We've got more voters in Mississippi per capita than black voters in this state of the nation. So they've just never been organized. If the National Democratic Party had invested the kind of money that they invest in other states, if they had done this 10 years ago, maybe we've already had a black senator, black governor. So it it's okay well look at Georgia the

reality is same thing they didn't want to invest in Georgia finally black folks there says fine we're gonna have to do it ourselves I make the argument that that is what happened in Georgia what happened in North Carolina also we saw it happen in Virginia it's gonna have the same thing is gonna happen happen to me in Florida, in Mississippi, in these southern states, not depending upon parties, but creating entities that say, we're going to mobilize and organize our own people for the long term. Yeah. Well, you know, so KIT-22, those organizations ignore you until you can prove your own viability. And it's hard to prove your own viability if you ignore it, right?

So we have a lot of black folks here, but a lot of my poor roll, and they can't afford to give me $5. And I understand that. So we have to go outside the state and rely on the Chuck Schumers and others to actually invest in our state. And now they're beginning to. So I want to give the DNCC and the DNC props because now they've come in, they've invested in this race in the last couple of months. I wish it had been in March that we'd be even further along

the way, but we're tied in this race. We're doing very well. And I thank Chuck Schumer. I thank the DNC for coming to play. When we start talking about issues, that's another issue the Reverend Bob and I talked about. He said if folks run on issues and not get locked and loaded on parties and personalities, then that's where it's going to happen. You have been running against Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. She's been running away from you. Yes. Desperately trying not to even, she doesn't want to debate you. you hell she doesn't want to talk to the media It says she wants to run a stealth campaign She is Disrespecting her constituents. She's disrespected her voters forget about me. I mean she's a senator

She's not ahead. She's not had any town meetings in two years. So how can you be an incumbent senator in two years? She's been there two years since 2018, not hit one town meeting. So somebody who does that is either, it's two things wrong. One thing is you are ashamed of your record. You can't defend it. Or you are ashamed of your capacity to explain your record. It's one or the other. That's even before we started running at Rolling Stone.

She's not at any town meetings. She won't debate me. I understand that because she knows. I know her recommendations. She does. She knows. I know when she's lied about the CHIP program and the helping for pre-existing illness. She's lied about all of that and the Affordable Care Act.

So I wouldn't call her out on the debate. She knows that. So, okay, she didn't do it. Fine. But she's disrespected her own constituents, her own voters, and they ought to know it and not return her to that job. You've been on the campaign trail. You've been talking to people all across this state. What has it been like to encounter young voters, voters who see you running and they may now say, hey, he's running now. I might be able to actually do this 10, 20 years from now.

And that is a difference from the last cycle. When I ran last cycle, I had not run in 25 years. I'm the gray-haired guy, somebody just running in the store they didn't know. They didn't know me and they didn't remember at all. So now I've really had a chance. Well, Kalata wasn't even born. They didn't know me and they didn't remember at all. So now I've really had a lot. I wasn't even born. They weren't born, man. And so now I've had a chance to to speak to them over the last 19 months. I marched with them in July. You know, the protest, George Floyd's murder. We had a Black Lives Matter march here in Mississippi. They only expected 200 participants.

They had 3000. And so I've really hired most of those leaders into the campaign. So now they're texting their peers and they're telling my story about when I integrated the schools in my hometown, when I was, you know, when I tried to integrate 18 students, eight white students. So now they know these stories and that.

And so I relate to them a little bit better. So all I'm saying is that now they know that we're credible, that I understand their situation, that I'm going to help them with their life. And that when I was their age, I had my own settled struggles with Jim Crow. Bus tour is over. And so what's the plan for tomorrow and Tuesday?

Well, it's not exactly over. We're going to still take the bus to 7 PM on Tuesday. So we are doing spot checking now. We're going to still take the bus until 7 p.m. on Tuesday. So we're doing spot checking now. We're going to go to the hot spots, the precincts that our door knockers may have missed. And I'm going to get out of the bus and put on my PPE and my gloves and a better-fitting mask. And we are going to knock on doors until Tuesday. You know, all we needed, I believe, we're still on track to get that 3% increase in black votes. We got 32.5%. We need to get to 35%. I believe we're still on track to get that 3% increase in black votes. We got 32 and a half percent, we need to get to 35.

I believe we're gonna do that. Also, we needed 22% of the white vote. I believe we got that already. So now we just make sure that we can confirm it through vigilance and determination. Well, bottom line is the only way that happens, polls are one thing. But I keep saying, if people actually turn out and vote, then it's real. So Mike Espy, man, we appreciate it. Good luck. Certainly glad to be back here, back in Mississippi.

And when I'm live on the air on Tuesday, hope to see you giving a victory speech. Me too. Thank you so much, bro. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, folks. And so we had a great time yesterday in jackson mississippi uh there for the mike espy drive in um get out the vote rally there all right folks so many people on social media they've been saying they can't sleep for the last two weeks they can't eat they're nervous they're anxious about uh whether or not donald trump is gonna get his get booted out of the oval office and. And so Jim Jones said, go work out.

He joins us right now. Jim, really? Yeah. Yeah. Listen, listen. I'm stressed out, too. But you know what? We can't let this election, which is the biggest of our lives, we can't let it take over our

life, right? So I got a couple of tips that maybe can help you build out today, Roman. I'm stressed about that cheap Wi-Fi you got because you're breaking up on us. So, I mean, I don't know why we need to talk about that. It's like you got boost. It's like you got cricket Wi-Fi. I can't

help Comcast. I can't help what Comcast is doing. I'm sitting right on top of the router, so I can't make it no better. But one of the things I tell people is, you know, the first thing you want to do is meditate in the morning. Take 10 minutes and turn everything off and get your thoughts together. That's the first thing you want to do is meditate in the morning. Take 10 minutes and turn everything off and get your thoughts together. That's the first thing you want to do. Okay.

All right, then. So, and then what do you do next? And so what do you suggest? Folks just go walking. You suggest they put these things down and turn the TV and just be able to walk away. I mean, what should they do tomorrow? I got folks, I'm watching some messages. They already stressed, eating.

They sitting here. I mean, folks are just freaking out. Yeah, so the one thing, you know, Ron, you made a very, very good point. I tell people, work out without your phone, right? Because a lot of times when you're on your phone, you're checking alerts, checking in updates, other news updates. Work out without the phone. Just put the headphones in and just zone out and have the phone nowhere in sight make a playlist and just get into your

workout that's going to help you work some of the stress out and that's going to make it so that when you do lay down you're able to sleep because your body's already exerted a lot of energy for that hour and an hour and a half workouts you got so put the phone down and another thing i told people to do if you have to watch the news and you need that information, watch it while you're on the treadmill. Because that way, when you get worked up, when you hear certain sound bites, you can work that energy off, right? Because, you know, a lot of times we watch the news. It takes us high. It takes us low.

It yo-yos us. But work out on the treadmill, walk or run while you're watching the news so you can exert that energy and you can channel it and then you're not you're not up all night uh i agree with that uh that's one of the things that i certainly do uh you know watching the news that i hate people calling me uh when i'm when i'm on on the uh on the treadmill i'm like look i'm gonna call y'all later stop bugging me leave me alone uh and and again look i i just think that i think that what people should do is like people keep asking me man are you stressed? Are there people texting me today? And I was like, no, I'm not. I'm not. Because, again, what I got work to do. And when you put in the work, you're good.

I just think that I'm not freaking out at the end of the day. Voters will make a determination tomorrow. I just want to make sure that all votes get counted and that we don't get screwed. Final two tips for folks out there to get through election night and then, of course, the rest of the week if we have election drama. For sure. So it's going to be a tough night for all of us tomorrow. Going to be a lot of anxiety. I tell you

what, get your workout in early. Before you watch all the final numbers, please get your workout in so you've already worked off the energy and you're going into watching election night in a calm state. You've worked off all the anxiety. So if you can't do nothing, I say today, please get your workout in. And tomorrow morning, 10 minutes of meditation. Just clear your thoughts.

Well, that's why I want folks. Yeah, do get the workout and clear your thoughts. So you can watch Roland Martin Unfiltered at 7 p.m. for our election night coverage. Jim Jones, always a pleasure. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother. All right, folks. All right. Over the weekend, we lost a great gospel legend,

Bishop Rance Allen. Now at the age of 71, he had surgery. And then, of course, there were some issues after the surgery. A medical procedure passed away around 3 a.m. The minister of the Church of God in Christ, again, was 71 years old. Took place at a Midwestern care facility.

A native of Monroe, Michigan. He was one of 12 children. He started preaching at a very young age in his hometown and eventually in other states throughout the country. The five-time Grammy-nominated musician and Gospel Music Hall of Famer formed the Rance Allen Group with his brothers Tom and Steve in 1969. They went on to release 20-plus albums with chart-climbing singles like Ain't No Need of Crying, I Belong to You, Miracle Worker, and many more. The Rance Allen Group just released their latest single, I'm So Glad It's Christmas, on Friday.

On Friday. Well, it was a couple of years ago, three years ago, when he performed at the White House for a gospel music celebration. Among those performing were Shirley Murdoch, Tamela Mann, as well as Aretha Franklin. I had a chance to sit down and chat with Rance Allen. Talk about what it feels like to have the art form of gospel shown this type of appreciation from the White House? Man, it doesn't get any better than that. It just does not get any better.

I've been working at this. I have to throw in my brothers as well, the Rance Allen Group, Tom, Steve. We've been working at this for almost 50 years. And to be asked or invited by the White House to come and sing, if it wasn't for 30 seconds, man, this is the biggest leap that we've been blessed to make so far. Oh, man, how good the Lord is and how grateful I am. What is it about gospel music that sets itself apart from all other musical arts? I believe gospel music deals with the inner man as much as it does the outer man. The outer man can listen to gospel, pop his fingers and dance, put a big pretty smile on his face.

Same thing's happening on the inside. It's like God ministers to the inner man through the words and the music of gospel. Have you ever thought about doing another type of genre? I have. I have. And most who say that they haven't, we question their honesty. Because people who love music love music. I mean, whether it's classical rap, hip-hop, country, bluegrass, gospel.

Yeah, but the difference is for some of us, gospel is a ministry as well as a music genre. I love to rock and pop and move with the rest of them. But you get down to the bottom line, gospel is also a ministry, a ministry for me. Before we go out to sing at any given time, we will pray. We will ask God to anoint us for singing. We will ask God to allowoint us for singing. We will ask God to allow our music to go off the stage

into the audience, touch hearts, change minds, cause somebody to change their way of thinking. That's ministry. Great preachers love to listen to other great preachers. Who do you listen to? Mahalia Jackson, Joe Lagarde, Dr. Matty Moss Clark, younger guys, Fred Hammond, my young hero, Kirk Franklin, John P. Key.

Oh, man, I listen to all these guys. And they give me the highest of respect. And so if you can't do some listening, I don't know how in the world you're going to do anything else. I got to ask you this here. So, is there somebody in any genre you would love to do a duet or perform with? Gospel or not gospel? Gospel or not gospel.

You know Eddie LaVert of the OJs? I love his voice. I said, Lord, if Eddie and I could get together on a gospel song, I think it would be... I can call him for you. Make it happen, man. I can call him for you. Make it happen.

Make it happen. I hit him up. That's no problem. That's my dog buddy. All right. Make it happen, dog. Okay. You make the call.

All right. Eddie and I will make it happen. All right. Sounds good. Now, didn't I tell you I can make something happen? You did tell me. Hold on one second. Eddie.

Man, I'm doing good. I can't believe I'm talking to you. Yeah, I did call Eddie LaVert. I don't think they ever got together to do a duet. Last time I talked to Rance Allen, folks, was a little more than barely a month ago. Go to my iPad, please. I sent him a text on September 26th. Hey, man, just dropping you a note of encouragement.

I hope things are well for you physically and mentally. Keep pursuing greatness. And on Friday, October 2nd, he hit me back. Such a joy to hear from you as God has always done. You be bountifully blessed. That was the last time I text with Rance Allen. That took place on October 2nd. He passed away 29 days later. So certainly our thoughts and prayers go out to Rance Allen and his family. Folks, that is it for us. If you want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, please do so by joining

our Bring the Funk fan club. You can support us via Cash App, which is cashapp.com paypal.me vidmo.com You can also support us with money orders. Send to unfiltered paypal.me forward slash r martin unfiltered vidmo.com forward slash rm unfiltered you'll also support us um with uh money or send to new vision media inc nu vision media inc 1625 k street northwest suite 400 washington dc 2006 uh again folks uh tomorrow night we have um

extensive election night coverage right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We're going to be broadcasting, folks, from, from, this is right here, Election 2020. We present Black Voters Matter taking place. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. Eastern. We'll be streaming live again on our YouTube channel. Now, the key is the deal, we'll be on Facebook as well. Don't forget, Facebook ends live streams at four hours. And so and so after the four hour mark we will stop the stream on facebook restart it we will be continuous on youtube and periscope but the best way to watch is on our

youtube channel so folks we are going to have a fantastic night again we've got some amazing guests lined up you do not want to miss that. All right, folks, we got to go. I shall see you guys tomorrow. Don't forget, vote. The states where you can still register and vote, take advantage of it. Our ancestors died for it. You bet not. Waste your vote and your opportunity. I'll see you tomorrow. Holler! A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways.

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