#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Jaheim McMillan shooting; Kansas City serial killer; BLM demands LA City Councilmember resign

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

10.17.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Jaheim McMillan shooting questions; Kansas City serial killer; BLM demands LA City Councilmember resign The police shooting of a Mississippi teen has Jaheim McMillan's family searching for answers while planning his funeral.  The police are saying one thing, and the people who saw the teen get shot in the head by a police officer are telling a different story.  Civil Rights, Attorney is representing the family.  He'll be here to update us on why the body cam footage has not been released yet.  Ya'll remember two weeks ago; we told ya'll that the Kanas City, Missouri Police denied that there were any missing black women.  Well, it looks like a black woman escaped her white captive and claims her friends were murdered by the man who held her hostage for weeks.  Ryan Sorrell, the Founder and Editor of the Kansas City Defender is back to fill us in on what's happening in Kansas City.  Black Lives Matter - LA is applying pressure for the remaining Los Angeles City Council member to resign after being caught saying some racist things.  Dr. Melina Abdullah, the Director of BLM GR, will tell us about their protest and how she convinced a counter-protestor to change his mind.  We'll show you a viral video of a white Milwaukee man detaining a special needs Black man by holding his neck for a suspected stolen bike.  And in our Fit, Live, Win segment, we're talking about bivalent Covid boosters and if it's a good idea to get them. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. America rolling. Be black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scary.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Monday, October 17th, 2022. Coming up on Roller Martin, on a filter streaming live on the Black Star Network. We're live in Valdosta, Georgia. Today is first day of early voting in the critical elections here in this state. Midterm elections are happening all around the country. Early voting is starting not just here in Georgia, but other places as well.

We'll talk to folks here in Valdosta about this campaign, where of course, Stacey Abrams is facing incumbent Brian Kemp for the gubernatorial race. And, of course, Senator Raphael Warnock is facing Hershel Walker. He wants to win a full six-year term for the United States Senate. So we'll be discussing that race. Also, folks, the police shooting with Mississippian continues to raise lots of questions. The family of Jaheim McMillan, they want answers as they plan for his funeral this weekend.

We will talk with his mother, as well as their attorney, Ben Crump. Folks, remember two weeks ago, we told you about the Kansas City Missouri Police Department saying they had no evidence of a serial killer targeting African-Americans. That was reported by the Kansas City Defender. And it looks like a black woman says that she escaped from the basement of a white man

and said several of her friends were murdered by that man. We will talk with Ryan Sorrell, the founder and editor of the Kansas City Defender, with regards to what's happening there. Kevin DeLeon is one of two remaining Latino council members in Los Angeles who refuses to resign after making racist comments captured on audio tape. Well, yesterday, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles began camping out at his home. We will talk to Melina Abdullah,

who is the leader of Black Lives Matter grassroots. Also, folks, we'll show you a viral video of a special needs black man in Milwaukee who was being held captive by a white man accusing him of stealing a bike. Well, black protesters showed up at that white man's house. He wasn't too happy, but he caught that heat. We'll show you that as well, folks.

Over covering that and lots more, it is time to bring the funk on Rolling Rock Unfiltered with the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics.

With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Marten Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah

He's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Marten Now It has been nearly two weeks since Gulfport, Mississippi police shot and killed 15-year-old Jaheim McMillan and his family. They want answers, and some of that may come when police release the body cam footage of the shooting. Witnesses say that McMillan was walking out of a store when the officer shot him. Police say the teen had a gun. Witnesses say he was unarmed. The conflicting stories have pushed protesters to demand that police have transparency by releasing the body cam footage taken the day that he was shot.

Now, on Saturday, Black Lives Matter Mississippi and the Mississippi Rising Coalition held a rally to demand justice for Jaheim. Mississippi Public Safety Director Sean Tindall says footage will be released to the public once the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation analyzes the footage. Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump and Jaheim's mother Katrina Mateen are here joining us right now. I'm glad to have both of you here. First of all, Ms. Mateen, sorry for your son's loss all too often. We have to talk to mothers like yourself in these situations. First and foremost, again, this took place two weeks ago. How were you alerted as to what took place between Gulfport Police and your son on that fateful day? A friend of the family called me and said that my son has been shot.

Obviously, it is still a lot to deal with. You are in the midst of having a plan, his funeral for this weekend. I want to pull up Ben Crump now. Ms. Patina, I'll give you an opportunity to certainly gather yourself. It's very difficult, obviously, to have to talk about these shootings when it's still so fresh and you still haven't buried your son. Ben Crump, I'm trying to understand, for them to say that they're waiting to analyze the footage, it happened two weeks ago. Um, how long does it take to analyze body cam footage? You know, Roland, as I watch Katrina

just agonize over this tragedy, um, her 15-year-old son killed by the very people who are supposed to protect and serve her. We know, Roland, this is the playbook. They delay, delay, delay in hopes that people will forget about it and they can sweep it under the rug. But thank God for Katrina, her family, and the activists demanding transparency. We're going to file a public records lawsuit to release the video. Now states like Mississippi and Alabama, their Supreme Court fight to say, you don't get any transparency. But they cannot deny people like you, Roland, and us

continuing to fight in the court of public opinion to say, if you have nothing to hide, why don't you release the video? Because we all know, Roland Martin, we've been doing this too long, that if that video showed Jaheim with a gun, they would have already released it and it would be all over the news by now. This reminds me of the case that you were involved with in Houston, again, where cops said one thing, and once the body cam footage came out, it showed that the young man did not have a gun and how the police rolled up. And so you're absolutely right. Again, we showed the video last week of the police chief sharing his information. But again, to sit here and say we're almost two weeks away, the family is preparing to bury this

young man, and they still have not shown that. And you're right, it's very simple. If he had a gun, as they say it, as they say he did, then the video should clearly show that. Yeah, and Roland Martin, you know, Attorney Monique Pressel and I, we argued and fought to get the video released in Houston, Texas, with Joshua Feast. We're going to have to do that with Jaheim McMillan. But the other thing that is just outrageous

is once they had shot him in the head, they then put him in handcuffs. You know, why didn't they try to give him medical assistance? Why do they have to treat our children like animals? I mean, clearly at that point, he's no threat. He's no way putting you in fear. Why don't you try to help save his life, preserve his life? Why aren't you using your training save his life, preserve his life? Why aren't you using your training and professionalism for

this black life? Why do you treat it as if it has no value? Where is the humanity? And I think that's why Katrina's having such a difficult time when she processes it all, and we just have to continue to pray for the family

and fight for justice for Jaheim. Katrina, obviously whenever these cases happen, police they have one perspective how to try to frame who the individual was for folks who don't know.

Tell them who your son Jaheim was. Jaheim, he was a lovable person. He was a good brother. And he loved his friends. My son, my son, these are human beings. are nephews, nieces, cousins, siblings, and they're simply not just another random case. And I think it's important for folks to understand that they also go beyond just being a hashtag. And so, and I totally understand it is very difficult for Katrina to have to talk about her son in the past tense, if you will, because he's lost his life. And that's one of the points that I consistently say, Ben, you can't come back from death.

And too often we've seen where force was used, unfortunately, taking the lives of many young black men. And that's why it is important for police to be forthright and honest about what took place at that particular convenience store that led to the death of Jaheim McMillan. Ben, final comment. Roland, thank you for continuing to put a spotlight on Jaheim McMillan. Obviously, Gulfport police is acting as if he doesn't matter. But you can see to Katrina he matters, To their family, to their community, he matters. And thank God, Roland Martin, for you and the audience of people all over America who watch your show every day,

especially black people. Let's continue to fight to get to truth and transparency so hopefully we can get justice for Jaheim. That's what Katrina wants more than anything, that her son's death will not be in vain, and that these who killed him, I mean, he's 15 years old, for God's sake, should be held accountable for taking him from this earth far, far too soon.

Indeed, indeed. Ben Crumple, I really appreciate it. Katrina, thank you so very much for joining us again. I know how difficult this is for you and your family, and we certainly will continue to cover this story and to see it through and to get the transparency and justice that you and others are looking for. Okay.

We appreciate it. Thank you very much. I'm going to bring in my panel right now, Dr. Julianne Malbeau. She's the Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at California State University in Los Angeles. Dr. Amakango Dabinga, Professorial Lecturer at the School of International Service at American University. And Georgia State Representative Renita Shannon. I'm glad to have all three of you here. Julian, I'll start with you. What is strange to me, and Ben makes a great point, that again, this shooting takes place almost two weeks ago,

Georgia Bureau of Investigation analyzing the footage. We're talking about video, talking about body cam footage, like literally it can be uploaded immediately. Let's say you look at it in 24, 48 hours. I think about the case, I think it was in Columbus, Ohio, where the young girl actually had stabbed another young girl and the story began to circulate very quickly that she was charged, but she was shot and killed by the cops. She was charged by the cop. She did not have a knife. Well, Columbus, Ohio police had that video up within 12 hours to shut down all the speculation. It's not like it takes two weeks. Now, Roland, I think you made the appropriate point in your conversation with Ben Crump.

If there is nothing to hide, why hide? Clearly, there is something to hide. There's something fishy about this. And we know it's more than fishy. It's just GD murder. This young man, 15 years old, not even beginning to experience life as he might, killed, and who knows why. All we know is that police have a license to kill black people. Few of them have consequences for their actions. A few do. If you look at that cute face. I mean, come on now. This is absurd. Look at the innocence in his face. But this, these so-called officers of the law have a license to kill. And our job has to be to push back. And you, Roland Martin, have done an amazing job of lifting

up these cases, because if we didn't lift them up, they'd get swallowed. You know, black life is cheap for these people, and their life needs to be cheap for us. They need to be arrested, tried, prosecuted, and then thrown up under somebody's jail. This is absurd. Omokongo, it is, I mean, when you think about this here, I mean, you have a 15-year-old shot and killed almost two weeks. He hasn't been buried yet. You still don't have answers as to what took place. It is important for police.

I get investigations, but it is important to be able to show what took place because if the video shows he had a gun, well, then that means what those witnesses say simply isn't the case we've seen other examples where that took place where witnesses say oh no person didn't have a gun then we saw the video we see on the flip side where police said somebody had a gun and then the video showed that was not the case yeah and you know to be quite honest i'm still gathering myself because, you know, it's just hard to see a black woman's pain like that just live and raw. And what you're saying is absolutely right, Roland. The police across the country will do anything at any time to show

that they were on the right side. And so when they let something like this persist for weeks, we're already naturally suspicious of what's going on. And when they do this, they actually do have this mentality that for some reason we're going to forget. And if events at the very least since George Floyd and even earlier than that with cases like Sandra Bland and the like, they should know by now that we're not going to forget. We're not going to let this go because of the Black Star Network. We're able to keep the pressure on these organizations. And when I think about Jaheim, when I think about his family, you know, my son just celebrated his eighth birthday yesterday. My second child just

started ninth grade, same grade as Jaheim was in. This is every child, every family anywhere in our community. It doesn't matter what your economic status is. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter anything. We have all seen this too much. And so this police department needs to understand that these lives matter to us. They are our children, our sons, our daughters, our siblings, our parents, our aunts and uncles. And really, at the end of the day, we also have to make sure two things. Number one, the Justice Department gets involved as these people continue to walk slowly with this. And also, Roland, we have to politicize this because we have to remember that if we can get this House control or maintain House control and increase our representation in the Senate, then we get that George Floyd police reform bill. And we'll have more teeth to be able to go after these departments who slay our family members like this. Representative Shannon, we have seen where a number of states have actually passed laws making it difficult for people to be able to access

body cam footage. I mean, this is one of those things that is critically important in order for the public to trust what we hear from police, because at the end of the day, many of us cannot trust what they say. Absolutely. And the thing that the public also has to do is start asking the people that you elect what they think about how much power police have and how much police accountability there needs to be and what is their specific plan. Because I can tell you, both Democrats and Republicans vote every single day to give police more power. And that is, you know, so we cannot just assume that with the right election, something will be done about this issue. Most elected officials don't even want to talk about police accountability issues. I know because I've been talking about it for years and it's been pretty lonely talking about the accountability that we need to see for police officers. My heart completely breaks for this family.

I think too many people don't realize how police murder and police brutality really destroys the lives of countless families. And it's disproportionate in our community. But the question that we need to answer here right now, I think this conversation honestly has the wrong focus. Because the question should be, why did police shoot Jaheim? That should be the question, not whether or not he had a gun. And the reason why I say that is because we see countless mass shootings where young white men, when police arrive to the scene, they are they've already been made aware that these young white men have killed 10, 12, five individuals, have weapons that are generally seen in wartime,

weapons that are seen that the military would use, and they still manage to take these young men and these young white men in without a scratch, and they get to see their day in court. So, I don't want us as black people to continue the conversation of whether or not this person had a gun or not, because we know the reality is police are capable when they want to of bringing in folks, regardless of the type of weapon that they have and also whether or not they have a weapon. So the question that needs to be answered here is why did they choose to shoot Jaheim? Because that's what they did. They chose to shoot him. They chose to end his life.

And this is why I'm so grateful that you're covering this story, Roland. You all cover these stories. And it's important because the media does not want to cover how often this happens. And this happens a lot more than people realize. All right, folks, hold tight one second. We come back. A black woman escapes from the basement of a white man in Kansas City who she says he raped and tortured her and that several of her friends did not get out alive. We'll talk with the leader of the Kansas City Defender about this particular story. Also, we'll also talk about today being the first day of early voting here in Georgia. We're broadcasting from Valdosta, Georgia.

And, of course, all eyes are on this state. Democrats, of course, are 50-50 in the United States Senate with Republicans. And so Republicans desperately want the Senate seat of incumbent Raphael Warnock. And Democrats want to hold on to that as they try to hold on to that majority and also expand their majority by looking at other states, including Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, and others. And so we'll be talking about all of that right here in Roland Martin Unfiltered on Black Star Network. Don't forget to download the Black Star Network app available on all platforms,

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But rather than help out, Brian Kemp cashed in. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate. His net worth skyrocketed. And while Atlantans struggled to stay in their homes, Kemp gave $10,000 tax handouts to the richest Georgians and a nearly $700 million no-bid contract to his campaign donor. Brian kicked back Kemp, making Georgia work for him, not you. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure. You know what's on the ballot. It's not just legislation and policies we believe in. It's democracy.

Our democracy. There's a choice on the ballot between freedom and fear, between cruelty and compassion, between chaos and community, between voting or violence. And the end of rights generations have fought for. The extremists have a plan, a roadmap for a nation where your voice is silenced

and your vote is a memory, where they count their votes and cast ours aside. That's why this year, this fight, this vote is so important. Register, engage, volunteer, fight back against the disinformation and despair, and most of all, vote. Because your vote is all that stands between our future and theirs. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white

folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. Libraries empower the community with education. Liberia Economic Development Initiative, Ledi, is hosting the International Life Changers Awards and Liberia's Bicentennial to celebrate Lty building the country's first modern public library and technology center. Join event host Roland Martin. Our honorees, Reverend Dr. Jamal Bryant, Zernona Clayton, Thomas Dortch Jr., Dana Lupton, Dr. Tammy Presteel. On October 29th at the CNN Center Atlanta.

There are no public libraries in Liberia, but together we can change that. Get tickets at LEDINow.org. This is Judge Math. What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Mack Wild. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. All right, folks, welcome back. Roland Martin, unfiltered, broadcasted from Valdosta, Georgia. Let's talk about what's happening in Kansas City.

Kansas City, Missouri police dismissed claims that black women were being targeted by a serial killer. Yet on Friday, Timothy Hassett, a 39-year-old white man, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and raping a 22-year-old black woman. The woman escaped his home while he dropped his child off at school. Now she told police she'd been held captive since September. He repeatedly raped and beat her. She said that her friends did not make it out, meaning Hazlitt killed him. Now last month, a couple of folks, community leaders there, sounded the alarm that multiple black women and girls have been missing. The Kansas City Defender reported this as well, reported missing women from Prospect Avenue.

Now, the Defender discovered Hazlitt to be a white supremacist, found his Facebook post talking about race wars as well as Breonna Taylor. Ryan Sorrell is the founding editor of the Kansas City Defender. And, Ryan, glad to have you back to give us an update. And so the woman said that her friends did not make it out. What are police saying in terms of the investigation in his home? Have they discovered remains of others? Are they saying anything at all? They're keeping the investigation quiet at this point in time. And I also just want to preface the conversation with the fact, I know last time I was on the show, I was calling for reimagining. I think it's important that we as news outlets truly reimagine how we practice

journalism. And I think that a lot of that is actually what contributed to how long this young black woman was kept captive, how long she was tortured, how long she was abused in this man's basement, was because we sounded the alarm. I think, as you mentioned, we sounded the alarm on this specific issue. We said a little over a month ago that community leaders were making these reports that black women were going missing, potentially being killed. And the Kansas City Police Department unequivocally, without reaching out to us, without reaching out to any community leaders and asking where these reports were coming from, they unequivocally said that these reports were completely unfounded. They did not take any time to investigate. They didn't take any time to look into why people were making these reports. And they said that they were completely unfounded and had zero evidence to back up these claims.

And, of course, come to find out a month later, and this young woman actually told the neighbors, because there are some interviews online that include testimonies from the neighbors who actually rescued her. And the neighbors said that she thought that she had been in that basement for two years. That's the type of psychological trauma that she has endured after only a month of being in that truly horrific situation. And so right now, the police department, the investigators aren't releasing any information because it's a very ongoing investigation. There are multiple agencies involved. But I think that the police department itself has taken a very large credibility hit. And the larger conversation

here is that black women are not being listened to, that the community is not being listened to, and that people prefer to listen to police departments and white news outlets, because we, our news outlet, and the community at large, the black community at large, took a lot of flack for reporting these claims that, as we can see, had a lot of credibility to them in hindsight. Well, we have every day in our show, we have a segment called Black and Missing. And so, you said folks said there are a number of people who are missing. Have they posted those photos? Have they posted their names and information in terms of actually showing that? Well, I think that that's the actual difficult part, because, for instance, the woman who escaped, she was not actually reported to the missing persons unit in the police department. But the issue is that a lot of these women who are preyed upon don't have people who can advocate

for them. Go ahead. Right. No, I don't mean I don't mean coming from the police. I'm saying any family members, any anyone else reporting these folks to be these folks to be missing. Because when I think back to the people we actually mention every day, I don't think we actually had one person who was from Kansas City. And so I'm saying, as any black media outlets actually solicit information from the public saying, if you have a loved one who's missing, send us their information so we can actually put that information out? Definitely. Yeah, both myself and there's another news outlet in the area here called Kansas City Discover, and they're a Black news outlet, and they very frequently solicit this information from the public. But I think that the larger issue here

is that the women who are being preyed upon don't have people who can advocate for them, who are sending this information to media outlets, they're not sending the information to the police department to file missing persons unit reports. And so oftentimes in the case, this example is a very clear example of the woman who was held in the basement for over a month. No one reported her as missing, and clearly she was missing. And she said that two of her friends were murdered. And we're still trying to gather as much information as we can on who those women were, or if there are additional people missing. We don't know

at this point in time, but we are just trying to gather as much information as we can the 22 year old woman who is has she only talked to police investigators has she talked to anyone else as relates to what took place with her is she being treated treated somewhere. What is her status? Well, yeah, right now she is definitely just recovering. That's really the only information that we have. But what we do know is that when she escaped, because she was able to escape whenever Timothy went to, Timothy Haslett went to drop his son off at school, and she was able to escape. She had to get past a dog to escape, and she was able to run to a neighbor's house. And so there are actually interviews with the neighbors from the Excelsior Citizen. And the Excelsior Citizen is actually who reached out to us to draw the connection in this case. And the Excelsior Citizen has interviews on YouTube

right now with the neighbors who actually spoke directly to the woman. And so they're the ones who spoke, who mentioned that she thought that she was down there for two years. They also mentioned that she very adamantly said that two of her friends had been murdered by Timothy Hazlett Jr. as well. And they also said some additional information, but I would just recommend people go and listen to it directly from what those neighbors had to say. Gotcha. So she was, she, she related that information to neighbors who related to media. My question is regarding that woman, is she being, is she being treated and is it from family members or the organizations?

Who is providing her assistance? Do you know that? Yeah, no one really had, right? We don't even know her name at this point because in the court documents, right now all we have is access to is the prosecutor's, the Clay County prosecutor's probable cause statement. And they gave her an alias of TJ. And so we actually don't know who this woman actually is. All we know is that she is a black 22-year-old woman. And they said that the Clay County prosecutor's office said that she did get out of the hospital and that she is being cared for and that she has been put in contact with a number of agencies.

But, yeah, we don't know very much information because, of course, she wants to keep her privacy at this point in time. So are you and other black media outlets in Kansas City? Are you establishing a listing or a database of missing African-Americans in that city to be able to help folks? And are folks actually responding with information? Yeah, so we have already started to accumulate our own database. This is something that we, from the very beginning of this case, even when we were being, you know, admonished and even when we were being, you know, called out by all types of news outlets, truly across the country, we remained steadfast with our community, because even when all of that was happening, when our community

wasn't being believed, when our news outlet wasn't being believed, we believed that we were taking the right course of action. And so we began working with community members to start to accumulate a database. And so we are working on that, and we're also getting in touch with other community organizations, specifically for black women. One of them is called the Real Justice Network, which has been doing this type of work for a very long time in our city. And so we are, you know, in the earlier stages still, but this is something that we think is incredibly needed

because the police department is clearly not capable of, you know, adequately handling these issues. This is a much larger issue than just this one specific instance. Them not believing black women and the police department not taking seriously the concerns of people in our community is something that has been the case since our police department was created, you know, 200 years ago. And of course, our police department is also currently under federal investigation for racism and discrimination. And so we have no belief and no expectation that the police department in Kansas City will ever properly produce safety for our communities. And so we're in the earlier stages right now of creating that groundwork and foundation

so that we can do it for ourselves. You mentioned the database is being created, but where can the public go to actually see? What I'm saying is, are there three, four, five, ten names, folks have come forward, the people who are missing, who are African-American and missing, and also have you all also talked to the Black and Missing Foundation? We've actually worked with them, I mean, goodness, going back ten-plus years as well, because this is the work they do nationally.

So somebody who's watching and listening, they want to be able to go, can they go to your site or somewhere else and actually see names, photos, images, things along those lines of folks who are reported missing? Right now, the database that we have, just because we're in the earlier stages, it's just like a spreadsheet that we have privately. But if people do want to see like images, and's just like a spreadsheet that we have privately. But if people

do want to see like images and right now the only place that that is centralized is by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. They have a missing persons, you know, thing on database online that has how old the person is, the race of the person, the person's gender, when they went missing. So if people do want to report it or look up missing persons in Missouri, that's available at the Missouri State Highway Patrol and also for the Black and Missing Foundation. I'll go ahead. Of the database you're talking about, how many of them are from Kansas City? The one in the Missouri State Highway Patrol, I would have to double check.

I haven't seen in Kansas City specifically how many people are missing. Okay. And you were about to make a point about the Black Missing Foundation. Go ahead. Yeah, I was just saying that they just, because of this whole situation,

they have reached out to us, and we are definitely—that's definitely a relationship that we are hoping to continue, because it's just been made so clear from this situation that we cannot depend on the police by any means at all to create safety for the people in our community to take our concerns seriously. And we know for a fact now because of this situation, which is just one of many, and, you know, we're going to, you know, I think that this specific situation is uplifting the conversation in a way that it should have been a long time ago around black missing women, around black women women, around black

women who are being killed, and no one is speaking up about it. I think that this is a conversation we should have had a very long time ago. And it's just very, very sad, truly, that it took this horrific tragedy of this woman being abused, sexually assaulted, trapped and tortured in a basement for—and the police calling us liars, and the police calling the community liars for, you know, reporting these things. And, you know, really, the reason that they said that, that they called us liars and that they said that we were spreading misinformation, was because there wasn't a missing persons report.

And so I actually reached out to the police department, and I said, do you still stand by your statements of saying what we reported on was completely unfounded? And I said, I can understand if you said we don't have any evidence to support these claims, because if you don't have any evidence, then that's just what it is. But clearly now what we reported on was not completely unfounded. And all they had to do to handle the situation better would be to say, you know, something like, we don't have any evidence, but we're willing to look into it, or we don't have any evidence, but, you know, where did you all get these reports from? Anything, truly anything that they could have said other than they're completely unfounded. And so that to us is what's most problematic and harmful about the situation. And that's why we are going to be making sure this is a long-term

effort to ensure that we can secure and create safety for ourselves and our communities. Ryan Sorrell, founder and editor of Kansas City Defender. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. And then keep us updated on what happens next. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thanks a bunch. Rene, I want to start with you. And the point there about being able to establish our own database, I mean, at the end of the day, that's one of the reasons why we do the Blacks are Missing every day, because, frankly, when you look at mainstream media, if you're missing a white woman, oh, it'll get reported like crazy.

But if you're black and missing, it takes protests, a lot yelling and screaming. And typically that's six, eight weeks later after the fact. We know the most important time of the first 72 hours. Right. I wish I would have had a chance to ask Ryan a question because he's right about what he's saying. I just wonder, you know, how did they get the information that folks are missing? Because if the police department is saying that they had no formal missing persons report, okay, well, I assume that the Kansas City Defender has some journalistic standards where they don't just print what they hear from one person. They had to have multiple sources confirming that people, that black women were missing

in order for them to report that. So if they had enough information, credible information that they felt they could report on this, why did the police not take that and say, okay, we don't have a missing persons report, which is not unusual because we know a lot of times predators will select people who they believe do not have family or friends who can come look for them. So what this looks like is sometimes predators, you know, kidnapping sex workers, predators kidnapping people who are having drug addiction issues. So that is not something that should have stopped the police from looking into this. So I just wonder what where did how did the Kansas City defender find out that people were missing?

And of course, you know, the police need to answer and they need to have a better answer than, well, there was no formal missing persons report. They need to answer why they didn't put any effort or any energy into following up on this information. There was a pastor, a community activist, who actually did a video, online video, and they actually reported that particular video. That's what happened there. On the Congo, Ron is correct. The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department is under investigation by the Department of Justice. And they actually reported that particular video. That's what happened there. On the Congo, Ron is correct. You can't see the Missouri Police Department is under investigation by the Department of Justice. And look, you know, here's a question.

If you're the state, you might want to send in state officials to investigate what's happening here. So they initially just blew them off, said there were no serial killers. Not only did they blow them off, they did it in such an ignorant fashion. I'm reading right here from one of their comments that they wrote. They said, we do still maintain that there's no indication that what you guys reported was accurate, and there was no indication there was anything that supported that claim. So, you know, Ryan is talking about not hearing from them, But then when you do hear from them, you get that callousness. And it speaks to the tension that so many of us feel across the country in our communities. And going off of Representative Vernita's point,

we see this all across the country, Roland. This is kind of what we were talking about last week with the Jeffrey Dahmer documentary and how that underplayed the role race played in what he was doing. We talked about it with the man in California who was targeting young Black teenagers as well. And so this is an ongoing problem. And so really, at the end of the day, we have to stay vigilant. We know that there's going to be more pushback as this story becomes more public about, oh, these stories being made up and falsified. And so I think the questions that you were asking were really poignant as it relates to making sure that all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed

because these are members of our community who have been marginalized and thrown away. And you would think with the types of cases that this department is dealing with, they absolutely should be bringing in the state because what they have right now is a serious credibility problem. And you would think that as a story like this becomes known nationally, you'd want to do

everything possible, especially when dealing with these lawsuits, to have some type of credibility in some way, shape, or form, because right now they have none. Julianne. I shudder when I think about what happened to this young woman, the reporting about her being detained, whipped, probably overhearing the killings of her friends and her colleagues. But beyond that, I shudder at the kind of anti-blackness that allows the police officers or the police department to simply dismiss credible possibilities. They didn't

have any proof, but they had possibilities. They had buzz in the community about things happening, people disappearing, and they chose not to look into it. It is anti-Blackness at its very worst, and it is why, as Omokongo says, Black people do not trust police officers. But even beyond that, Roland, there's a kernel of joy in this, if you will. This young brother that you interviewed who broke the story, he started a digital startup. The Kansas City Defender is a digital form of media. You are the pioneer in looking at digital media and the way that people break stories that the mainstream media does not break. So I want to know what the mainstream papers in Kansas City have done about this, and what are they doing about it now? Because now we know that

this man has basically tortured at least one person, according to the young lady, perhaps three others, her friends, who didn't make it. So where is the investigation of this rancid, corrupt, ignorant police department? Where is the investigation of them? That ought to be the next step. And it ought not just be a Missouri story. It ought to be a FBI investigation. how do you simply ignore the torture of black women? How do you simply ignore that? Indeed. So that's a question we'll keep asking. All right, folks,

got to go to break. We come back. We'll chat with folks here in Valdosta, Georgia. Today's the first day of early voting in Georgia. More than 100,000 folks voted today, breaking the state's

record. We'll talk about that also in 60 seconds. The debate between Governor Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams takes place from the Atlanta Press Club as well. Last night, Senator Raphael Warnock showed up at the debate. Guess who didn't? The man with the badge, Hershel Walker. We will talk about the debate they had Friday and also get some thoughts of folks here about what is important to them when it comes to this election in the state of Georgia. Of course, critical midterms happening all across the country. Going to break, folks. We come back more on Roller Barton Unfiltered on the Black Star Network right here in Valdosta, Georgia. Back in a moment. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond measure.

Come to Atlanta, one of the most expensive housing markets in America. But rather than help out, Brian Kemp cashed in. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate. His net worth skyrocketed. And while Atlantans struggled to stay in their homes, Kemp gave $10,000 tax handouts to the richest Georgians and a nearly $700 million no-bid contract to his campaign donor. Brian kicked back Kemp, making Georgia work for him, not you. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. It's about us. Let's go!

Everybody out together. We are in sunny South Dallas. The election is coming up. It's super important that folks know who they are voting for, but more importantly, what they are voting for. Y'all, we got the free shirts and free lunch right over here. Freedom is our birthright. No matter what we're up against, we're sending a message

in Dallas and Texas and in the country. We won't black down. That's what this bus tour is all about. The housing cost is one of the most capitalized areas that we have found. People who are marginalized, that are brown and Black, we are suffering the most. And I think that we have the biggest vote and the biggest impact in this election.

I'm voting for affordable housing, for sure. We should not be paying the cost of a utility failure because our elected officials are too proud to say, we need help. I know that we can bring out our people to vote. It's a part of our birthright. It's a part of our heritage. And surely, it's a part of our present and part of our future.

That's right. That's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to Five Friends, because in that message, it's got links to how to get registered, how to check your registration status. Like I said, 2.30, we'll start rendezvousing right here on this street.

I am voting to let our voice be heard in the rural communities that, hey, we are people, too. There are things that we need. Free shirts, free food, and lots of power. We are in Longview, Texas, where black voters matter, 365. Whatever type of oppression a white supremacist throws our way, we will not black down. We are in relentless pursuit of liberation of our people.

Hey! Hey! Freedom is liberation for black bodies and black communities to make economic change through political power. Hey! Hey! Freedom is choice. Hey! Hey! We won't black down. We won't black down. Freedom is choice. We won't black down.

We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. It's one thing to have a seat at a table, and it's another to be an investor on the cap table of a unicorn. We're talking venture capital with Leisha Bell and how generational wealth is built through early stage investing. I know very few people who do what I do, and that's very unfortunate.

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The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zill is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. I've always said this. Rather than to continue to fight for a fair piece of the pie and an equal slice of the pie, I want my hand on the knife that cuts the pie.

And to that extent, who bakes the pie? And who puts it in? And that's one of the things that got me involved in going into politics in the first instance. I'm tired of people making decisions for me. Right. And mine. I want to be a part of that

decision-making process. And luckily, it has paid off in terms of seeing the progress that many people in America have made, particularly people of color. One thing bothers me now that we seem to be losing that. Right.

Saying that we've got to be more concerned with other people than those people who were here. We built America. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith. Hello, everyone. It's Kiera Sheard.

Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lele. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Rhyan Destiny. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. So the things that we're tweeting out there is when our great men and women in law enforcement are making drug busts, not from recreational users and other things. But that's what my focus is on.

All right. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Greg, please ask a question of Stacey Abrams. Ms. Abrams, in 2018, you didn't concede defeat to Governor Kemp and you talked to systemic problems with the state's election system. This election, do you commit to accept the outcome of the vote regardless of what it shows? And do you stand by your use of words like rigged four years ago to describe the state's election system? In 2018, I began my speech on November 16th, acknowledging that Governor Kemp had won the election.

I then proceeded to lay out in grave detail the challenges faced by voters under his leadership as Secretary of State, including the 10-plus-2 who were arrested in Quitman, Georgia, because they had the temerity to use absentee ballots. I told the story of students who were denied access to the right to vote, even though they had duly registered. Eighty thousand complaints had come in by that day, and it took four years of federal investigation in a lawsuit that was the longest-running voting rights lawsuit in recent history that proved us right. Now, we didn't win every single claim, but we forced massive changes to the election laws. And unfortunately, Brian Kemp and Brad Raffsenberger have decided to restore their greatest hits. Just today, a homeless woman was denied the right to vote in Forsyth County because she could not, she did not receive a

provisional ballot because she had been challenged. As governor, I intend to stand up for the right to vote. I will always acknowledge the outcome of elections, but I will never deny access to every voter because that is the responsibility of every American to defend the right to vote. Thank you. Brian Kemp, rebuttal, 30 seconds. Well, I would just say that Ms. Abrams is going to do a lot of attacking of my record tonight because she doesn't want to talk about her own record. In 2018, in the governor's race, we had the largest African-American turnout in the country. She said that Senate Bill 202, our recent Elections Integrity Act, what we passed two years ago, would be suppressive in Jim Crow 2.0. Just this past May in our primaries, we again had record turnout in the Republican primary

and the Democratic primary. In Georgia, it's easy to vote and hard to cheat. And I'd like to add just a second here as the libertarian. 30 seconds for you. Although you will push for people to have access to going to the polls and voting, you're not pushing ballot access. This is a huge, huge oppression for people like the third parties, the people that want to get their people on the ballot. We have, I think, 20 percent Democrats, 20 percent Republicans in the state of Georgia. That leaves 60 percent of people in Georgia unrepresented by ballot access laws that both of them support. 30 seconds, Ms. Abrams. Actually, to correct Mr. Hazel, I co-sponsored legislation to expand ballot access because I agree with you that third parties should have better access to the right to vote in the state

of Georgia. I co-sponsored it with one of our independents in the state legislature. But let's be clear about ballot access and voter access. Brian Kemp was the Secretary of State, and he has assiduously denied access to the right to vote. We know that the right to vote is the only way that we can make the changes we need in the state, the only way we can make the changes we need in this country, whether it's access to the right to an abortion,

the ability to take care of our families. We need a governor who believes in access to the right to vote and not in voter suppression, which is the hallmark of Brian Kemp's leadership. Thank you very much. We're going to move on. With all due respect, I was called out. I would like to just the record reflect, as my time as Secretary of State, I'm the person that created the online voter registration system in this state where any Georgian can vote vote register to vote 24 hours a day seven days a week so for someone to say that we have been

suppressive in our state when we've seen turnout increase over the years including with minorities like African Americans Latinos and others is simply not true and again miss Abrams is gonna lie about my record because she doesn't want to talk about her own all right we. We're going to move on here. We're going to move on here, Mr. Hazel. Jennifer, your question for Brian Kemp. Governor Kemp, several hospitals and medical centers across the state have announced or gone through with plans to close their doors, leaving a gap in care and a reduction in services at a time when our health care workers are already suffering from burnout,

from increased demand and workloads. Many are now facing care that will be delayed or unavailable, while our state's capital will soon have only one level one trauma center. What will you do to ensure Georgians have access to critical health care services and hospitals? Well, I would just remind voters at home there's also hospitals being built across this state and new options for people for health care. Look, the AMC situation was something that was thrown on a lot of political leaders, including me. county with Democrats to come up with a solution that puts state resources into Grady to help make sure people have the access and the care that they need in our state. And I'm committed to continuing to do that in the future. All right. Shane, I'm sorry. Chuck, you get the final question and Shane Hazel. Thank you, Mr. Hazel. You ran for Congress in 2018. That was

just four years ago. You ran as a Republican. You got less than, you ran for Congress in 2018. That was just four years ago you ran as a Republican. You got less than 30 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. What happened between then and now that made you a libertarian? Oh, I actually came back to my roots as a libertarian. We believe in freedom. We saw what the Republican Party was. We saw what the Democratic Party was. They are forcing coercion. No matter what they talk about, it's forcing coercion. Whether it's a certificate of need for hospitals, whether it is taking guns away from law-abiding citizens, it is always forcing coercion at the point of a gun from the Democrats and Republicans. To look at life through consent, the eyes of, hey, we can all have transactions. We do it every day in the private sector.

Ninety nine point nine percent of us go throughout our day without raping people, without murdering people, without pointing guns at people to take their property. That is not what the government does under Republicans and Democrats, period. That's why I became a libertarian. This is why we're going to send this thing into a runoff. And if people were really looking for something to change, you'd vote libertarian. You'd send a message to both of these parties because one of these people will most likely be the executive in a rigged system that you want to be more free. Thank you. That concludes the first round of the debate. The candidates will now ask a question to each of their opponents.

Candidates will have 30 seconds to ask the question, 60 seconds to respond, and the candidate who asks the questions will have 30 seconds for rebuttal. By random selection, Brian Kemp, you may ask the first question to Stacey Abrams. Well, thank you very much. As many people know, I have over 100 sheriffs endorsing my campaign, several of which are Democrats. And my question for Ms. Abrams tonight is how many sheriff's statewide have publicly endorsed your campaign? Mr. Kemp, what you are attempting to do is continue the lie that you've told so many

times I think you believe it's the truth. I support law enforcement and did so for 11 years, worked closely with the Sheriff's Association. I'm probably the only person standing here who's ever actually written a SOP for a police department when I was working for the city of Atlanta. But I have two brothers, one who has committed crimes, and I want his victims to be able to call the police and get the help they need, and I've always supported that right. But I have another brother who is being pulled over for driving while black when he was coming back from his job as a social worker.

Unlike you, I don't have the luxury of relying on slogans to describe my position on public safety. I believe that we need safety and justice, because I love both of my brothers. And like most Georgians, I lead a complicated life where we need access to help, but we also need to know that we are safe from racial violence. While you may not have had that experience, too many people I know have, and that is why I will always stand up for making certain that safety and justice are the conversations we're having in Georgia and the delivery we have as the next governor of Georgia. Thank you. 30 seconds, Mr. Kemp. Well, I would just tell people that, look, I support

safety and justice, but Ms. Abrams refused to answer the. Well, I would just tell people that, look, I support safety and justice, but Ms. Abrams refused to answer the question, so I'll let you know that the answer is zero. No sheriffs are endorsing her statewide because of her stances on wanting to defund the police, eliminate cash bail, and serving on the boards of organizations like the Margaret Casey Foundation that supports and gives grants to organizations that are promoting the defund the police movement. If I may respond, because he actually lied there. Yes, I do have the support of sheriffs, but unlike Mr. Kemp, I do not make it my plan to list every person who supports me. I have the support of sheriffs. I have the support of advocates. I have the support

of victims. I have the support of those who want to be treated fairly in our system. I have to have conversations with the entirety of Georgia. I don't have the luxury of being a part of a good old boys club where we don't focus on the needs of our people. And that is why my mission has been to put out very concrete plans explaining how I will serve justice, how I will serve safety, and how I will serve the citizens of the state of Georgia. JUDY WOODRUFF 30 seconds, Brian Campbell.

Well, look, I would just tell people, I know Ms. Abrams is upset and mad because these are things that she said. This is not me making this up. This is things that she said in interviews that she's done and she's sitting on organizations that you can go look at the facts yourself. And that's why the men and women in law enforcement want a governor that is going to stand with them, who has been with them, not only to have their back, but also stand shoulder to shoulder on things like civil unrest and going after street gangs and human traffickers. Thank you very much. Stacey Abrams, you get the

next question for Shane Hazel. Mr. HAZEL, Former U.S. Secretary of State for the United States of America, Mr. Hazel, Republicans and Democrats have raised the alarm over the rise in the Chinese Communist Party-backed companies purchasing American farmland. To date, they've purchased more than one million acres of farmland in the state of Georgia. Would you agree with Mike Pompeo that allowing those purchases in the state of Georgia is a sign of madness? And would you be concerned about the national security implications of the Chinese Communist Party purchasing this land with the support of the state of Georgia?

SEN. I see the setup for this question. I understand why it was projected at me. As libertarians, we believe that you own your property and that the state can't take it away from you and can't sell it or can't determine who you sell it to. The CCP, obviously, which is going through some of its own internal unrest right now, I believe is probably purchasing this with things like central bank digital dollars and yuan, which are also coming down to a critical nature where people are in uprising in China. What we need to look at is how these purchases are being made. Are we accepting fiat, CCP Yuan in Georgia as a actual currency?

It's about as good as the U.S. currency, the fiat currency that we're about to have hoisted on us in terms of a CBDC. I'm not going to tell you or anybody else as governor how or who to sell your property to. And I imagine that in the end, the free market will work itself out. Thank you. Stacey Abrams, 30 seconds. The state of Georgia is watching our farmland be purchased by the Chinese Communist Party. And while that is not normally a conversation that we have, it is something that we should be concerned about. Agriculture is our number one industry,

and Georgia has 13 military installations. The fact that the state of Georgia is working with the Chinese Communist Party, using one of their technologies that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have warned is very much a national security threat, should be of great concern to every Georgian. This is not about being concerned simply about who's owning the land, but it's about how much access to our information they have because of the state. Thank you. Shane Hazel, you may ask your question of Stacey Abrams.

Yeah, I'd agree with you. The military industrial complex is a big problem. It is. And the fact that we have people trying to come here to, I don't know, get a backdoor into our military, I think one of the things we should be talking about as Georgians and as executives is the Defend the Guard Act, where our military has been used very, I don't know, haphazardly around the world to go and take resources from the Middle East or now in Ukraine. Mr. Hazel, your question. Yeah, this is my

question to who? To Stacey Abrams. Oh, we've already switched gears. Yeah. My question to you, I'm sorry. It's okay. I have hearing problems, guys. My question to you is, I mentioned CBDCs. As the executive of Georgia, when we come into a CBDC from the Federal Reserve, will you, as the executive, accept the CCCP-style currency? I believe that the conversation about currency is a complicated one. And part of the challenge we have is how this currency is transmitted, the very real security threats with digital currency, the hacking and mining of that digital currency should concern all Georgians. As the governor of Georgia, I will work very closely with the Federal Reserve but also with the innovators and the entrepreneurs who do see an opportunity. But before we take a step forward that

could put us at risk, our responsibility is to understand the complexity of what is happening with these transactions. And as exciting as it is, we also know it's deeply problematic when we do not have the adequate safeguards in place. That's one of the reasons I've raised concerns about WeChat and about the purchase of farmland. But what we know overall is that we need a governor who's conversant in these issues, who understands that, for example, in the state of Georgia, we have access to $3.5 billion in American currency that could be delivered tomorrow to save our hospitals and to save our lives. But our current governor has refused to accept those dollars.

My intention is to do what's best for the state of Georgia every single day. Thank you. Shane Hazel, you get a 30-second revival. Working with the Federal Reserve, who's got us into the mess that we are in right now because of a centralized fiat currency, it will be absolutely worthless. They will be dangling carrots in front of the governor, in front of the executives, in front of the legislature to do exactly what their mandates are. If they are mandating that they take the property of people, then they will do it. If they want to invade your homes,

your privacy, your businesses, they will do it because of CBDCs. All right. Stacey Abrams, please ask your question to Brian Kemp. Absolutely. Mr. Kemp, under your leadership, there is currently a 100-year gap between minority-owned businesses and majority-owned businesses. Although minorities comprise 48% of the population, they only generate 12.2 percent of the business revenue in the state. And under every analysis that we have seen, it will take 100 years to close that gap, given the current process that you have in place. You served four years in the Senate, eight years as secretary of state in charge of businesses.

You served four years as governor. What are your concrete, specific, targeted plans to decrease and address the racial equity gap currently facing contracting and purchasing for minority-owned businesses. Governor Kemp? Well, I would remind Georgia... All right, folks, welcome back. That's the debate happening as we speak, the live debate between Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia. We're here in Valdosta, Georgia. Today was the first day of early voting. All eyes are on this state. Critical, critical races, state races, but also when it comes to national implications,

when it comes to the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock and Hershel Walker. They debated Friday night. I don't necessarily know if I would call that a debate. And so there was supposed to be a second debate last night. Hershel Walker chose not to show up to the Atlanta Press Club, and so here was Senator Raphael Warnock last night talking to the empty podium where Hershel Walker was. I guess an empty suit has an empty podium. I think Hershel Walker, if he were here, should tell the people of Georgia

why he thinks they should pay for expensive insulin and pharmaceutical companies should be able to charge us whatever they like. My opponent, on the other hand, has a well-documented history of violence. And he hasn't come clean about it. He's blaming me for his own history. Saying I don't believe in redemption. I believe in redemption. I preach about it. He's blaming me for his own history, saying I don't believe in redemption. I believe

in redemption. I preach about it. But it's hard to be redeemed if you're not willing to come clean about the basic facts of your life. And at the end of the day, again, this race is not about who's been redeemed. It's about who's ready. And I think Mr. Walker has shown time and time again that he's not ready to represent the people of Georgia. And I'm not going to be distracted about what Herschel Walker says about me. He doesn't tell the truth about himself. He said that he graduated from college. He didn't.

He said he was valedictorian of his class. He wasn't. He said he started a business that doesn't even exist. And the other night when I said he pretended to be a police officer, he presented a badge as if that were proof that he really is a police officer. And now he wants us to think that he's a senator. This race is not about who's been redeemed. This race is about who's ready to represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate

and by not showing up tonight for the job interview, by giving nonsensical answers by this history of violence Herschel Walker shows he's not ready. Walker shows he's not. Senator Warnock mentioned that strange badge thing in the debate on

Friday night. If you missed it here you go he talks about the police now i have more sheriff that has endorsed me than anyone running in in georgia right now and i even have some sheriffs here they've endorsed me because they know i have their back they're going to have my bags so to listen to him say that after calling a name, I think is a disgrace. Mr. Walker, thank you. I have a follow up now for both of you. I think I ought to be able to respond to that. I will give you the opportunity.

Fifteen seconds to respond. Senator Warnock, we will see time and time again tonight, as we've already seen that my opponent has a problem with the truth. And just because he said something doesn't mean it's true. I have supported our police officers. I've called them and I've prayed with their families, like those officers lost in Cobb County when they were killed, doing what police officers routinely do. You can support police officers as I've done

through the COPS program, through the Invest to Protect program, while at the same time holding police officers, like all professions, accountable. One thing I have not done, I've never pretended to be a police officer. And I've never threatened a shootout with the police and now

i have to respond to that we are we are moving on gentlemen respond to that and you know what's so funny i am with many police officers and at the same time mr walker mr walker mr walker mr walker excuse me mr walker, out of respect, I need to let you know, Mr. Walker, you are very well aware of the rules tonight. Yes. And you have a prop. Yes. That is not allowed, sir.

I ask you to put that prop away. Well, it's not a prop. This is real. And he said I have a problem. I never worked with a law enforcement. But it is considered a prop, Mr. Walker. Yes. Excuse me, sir.

Yes. You're very well aware of the rules, aren't you? Well, he brought up the truth. Let's talk about the truth. Thank you. Alright, now. Alright, folks. Here in Valdosta, we're joined by State Representative Dexter

Sharper, Councilwoman Sandra Tooley, as well as Reverend Bernard Francis. Glad to see all three of you here. Let's start here. First of all, anyone y'all got a badge? Anybody got a badge? Anybody got an extra badge? I mean, I'm still sort of surprised to sit here and see. And then I saw another interview where he talked about he got badness from all around the state. That does not make you a cop. Am I right? I'm just trying to figure out.

Maybe Georgia different, but not here. Okay, I'm just checking, just checking. All right. So I'm just, yeah, come on, pass the microphone, come on. I'm just confused by that, just confused by that. I do want to talk about this. Any one of y'all can start this way. Obviously, in the debate, Abrams and Kemp, and also in the debate with Warnock

and Walker, Republicans are making this all about defunding the police, defunding the police. ABC News did an analysis, and they did it earlier, where they show of the top 100 police departments, 83% of those police departments, their budgets increased. So where in the hell is a defund the police if this is supposed to be so widespread? When we're seeing police departments get money, Democrats are passing these budgets, and so that seems to be the latest dog whistle for me that I think is a lot appealing to white voters. Well, I'll speak on that a little bit. With the city council, we did increase our budget so that we can hire more police officers.

We've also got more vehicles forming and everything like that. We're trying to send them to training and so forth like that. So we are nowhere near thinking about defunding. But the point here is, even when you talk about the concept of defunding the police, what it is is that, show me the example of keep giving police departments money, and then that solves the problem. What folks are saying is, how do we deal with, if you're going to talk about crime, you want to talk about things along those lines, you have to also talk about education. You have to talk about jobs. You have to talk about economics. And so combating crime is not solely a function. Police respond to crimes. The whole point is not to have crime in the first place. And so that to me, I think, has to be a conversation that folks are having on the city

level and the state level in terms of what to be doing to ensure that we're seeing upper mobility in communities so you don't have crime. Well, I'll answer that. What we have to look at is you're right. It's not so much the police department, it's about the root of the problem. And what I see as the root is financial literacy. Back in the day in school, we had financial literacy in our schools. We had your family, complete family, moms, dads, things like that. But they took the personal finance out of schools for a while. But in Georgia, we just passed a bill to put it back into the schools where they can teach financial literacy.

Because I don't care if you're a doctor, lawyer, whatever you're doing in your life, if you don't understand money, you're going to have a problem. And we see a lot of younger people working with groups now where we're doing more youth entrepreneurship programs. We can always tell people back in the day, we say, say no to drugs, but say yes to what?

And now today, the big gang violence with our youth, that's a huge problem, especially in Georgia and across the country. We tell them to stop, get out the gangs, but they're breaking in homes, they're breaking in vehicles, getting these guns. They're doing everything you can think of. But I think if we can get that financial literacy coupled with youth entrepreneurship and give these people something, the young people especially, something to say yes to, to let them know, hey, I can start me a little business and grow it legitimately.

So that's where my heart has been my entire life on financial literacy and education. Reverend, I absolutely get financial literacy. But you can target a young person for entrepreneurship, but if a mom or a dad, if you ain't got enough money for food, if you got an affordable housing crisis, you're still going to have an issue there. Do you see candidates speaking to those issues, and are people also talking about that? Because again, I absolutely understand the issue of the impact of crime in our society, but it's amazing how we have a significant conversation about increased funding to police, but we're decreasing funding for mental health services.

We're decreasing funding when it comes to providing economic opportunities. And then when I hear people say tax cuts, well, tax cuts don't help you if you already broke. I agree with you, Mr. Martin. I'm Bruce Francis, Reverend Bruce Francis, and I'm also, as well as the past, I'm an educator in the city, and I agree with you in what you have said. But I think we also need to look at while we're giving increases to the police department, we also need to consider giving more increase to the educational system. We've taken money from there and put it in other places. And so we're not getting the teachers that we need. Our students are not getting the

education that they need. And the pandemic has set us back. And so now we're playing a catch-up game. And so we need to make sure that we're doing things to improve that and make sure that things are happening in that regard as well. Well last couple of years, you've seen Senator Warnock, obviously, in the United States Senate. In terms of how would you judge his work since he joined the United States Senate? Councilwoman, go ahead. I believe that some of the issues with Reverend Warnock that he's presented to the citizens and everything, that it has increased their interest to want to do something. They want to get involved, and they are by showing it by getting up and getting out and voting more. Some of the things that he's talking about, it relates

directly to them, and they can identify with it. So I do believe with the issues he's talking about and so forth, that I believe it's just sparked the interest in our citizens. And I also want to say, too, with our citizens getting out, with our police department, we need them to have like a communication, a type of connection with the community so that that should spark an interest and that would help, I think, alleviate some of these crimes that we have going on. If they get to know the people, the people or not, they'd be more responsive. A lot of people do not trust the police department because they don't know them. Police department do not know a lot of citizens.

If they could connect some kind of way like that, I think that would alleviate a lot of the crimes, a lot of the shootings that we have here. Representative Sharper, I've seen a lot of conversation from Republicans in the government talking about the state surplus. Y'all got a whole bunch of federal money. In fact, how much of Georgia's annual budget comes from the federal government? If you look at it percentage-wise, it would be more or less almost

around half if you look at all the programs that they put in but they we got even more money because of everything that was going on pandemic things like that but we have too much surplus if you ask me hold on what does that mean i ain't never heard having too much money oh too much money sitting by not being used there you go no so so it's not that you have too much surplus you got too much unused money and And one area that people don't think about, and it comes a lot from the African-American community, is how much money we put in that Georgia lottery. There's a lot of money coming in through the Georgia lottery. We put a lot out for education. However, there is a certain part of that money that comes in, that that's surplus that we can pretty much do,

the governor can do anything he wants to with that money. And that money is not being used to help out your medical costs and things like that. One big thing, and I wanted to mention quickly about Warnock, you say some things he's done since he's been in, but being able to work across the aisle to get things, especially for our state and others, a lot of the broadband money, a lot of money, Warnock has brought in a lot of money, him and Ossoff, into our state, and he gets around, he meets the people. That's the biggest connection that we've seen a lot out of Warnock. He's making it personable.

He's making everybody, making sure you're inclusive. People, they just don't want to vote just because you say, vote for me. No, they want to be a part of the process. And I say the biggest thing he's done, he's been more inclusive of all the people, their ideas, their encouragement, and he's been very responsive to the people. I just wanted to mention that part. But at the same time, we need to see a way that we can get more of our money to go into the Medicaid expansion, and that's one thing we need to do in the state of Georgia.

I worked with Stacey Abrams for five or six years pushing for Medicaid expansion, and the biggest thing is when you are in the majority, the Republican part of Georgia, they're not the ones that are without the insurance. They don't know what it's like to sit in the ER for 12 hours. They don't know what it's like for their family members not to have health care. No, you mean the lawmakers. The lawmakers, exactly. But many of those Republican lawmakers broke constituents do.

Exactly, but they don't care about that because a lot of times if you don't really experience something, you really can't understand it. So that's what we're seeing. And first of all, the governor deal way back. He had the opportunity to expand Medicaid, which will increase a lot of jobs. It's federal money coming in to get health care for the underserved. We have over now 550,000 people that are eligible for Medicaid expansion, but they still won't expand it. And I'm going to close right here on this.

By them not understanding and knowing it, it puts our people in a worse situation. And they don't realize that when the hospitals have to continue to close when they shouldn't, or the insurance premiums can higher is affecting them, too. They don't really know that because, you know, the indigent care, all the insurance premiums is done by different zones and things like that. It's still affecting them, but because it was Obama back in the day saying, let's do it, it was a big deal for a lot of Republicans in Georgia. Well, remember, a lot of them said they hated Obamacare, but they loved the Affordable Care Act.

Same thing. Which to me still is the absolute dumbest thing I've ever seen in my life. Exactly. Not realizing it's literally the same damn thing. I mean, it's crazy, absolutely crazy. Hold tight one second. I'm going to go to a break. We come back.

We're going to continue our conversation, talk about what's happening here in Georgia, what is on the minds of voters here, inflation, the economy. All of those issues are important as well, so we'll talk more about that. We come back. Roland Martin, Unfiltered, broadcasting live here in Valdosta, Georgia, with Black Star Network, back in a moment. Y'all clap if y'all want to. When we invest in ourselves, our glow,

our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders?

Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. You know what's on the ballot. It's not just legislation and policies we believe in.

It's democracy. Our democracy. There's a choice on the ballot. Between freedom and fear. Between cruelty and compassion. Between chaos and community. Between voting or violence. And the end of rights generations have fought for.

The extremists have a plan, a roadmap for a nation where your voice is silenced and your vote is a memory, where they count their votes and cast ours aside. That's why this year, this fight, this vote is so important. Register, engage, volunteer, fight back against the disinformation and despair, and most of all, vote. Because your vote is all that stands between our future and theirs. Welcome to Atlanta, one of the most expensive housing markets in America. But rather than help out, Brian Kemp cashed in. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate.

His net worth skyrocketed. And while Atlantans struggled to stay in their homes, Kemp gave $10,000 tax handouts to the richest Georgians and a nearly $700 million no-bid contract to his campaign donor. Brian kicked back Kemp, making Georgia work for him, not you. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet.

Hi, I'm Israel Houghton. Apparently, the other message I did was not fun enough, so this is fun. You are watching... Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. It's gonna stop. All right, y'all, welcome back. I'm here in Valdosta, Georgia.

Today's the first day of early voting in the elections taking place in this state. I saw a tweet earlier stating that 100,000 folks voted today, breaking the record of 72,000. So I want to talk about that. So it's amazing when I listen to Kemp or Walker or others talk about how Georgia's had record turnout. In fact, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, that was his rationale when they gutted Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. But this notion that, oh, well, because people are still registering or turning out and jumping hurdles, everything is fine, when the problem is that you have to jump hurdles, the ending of ballot drop boxes, the trying to cut back on mail-in voting. And so I just think it's disingenuous to listen to folks talk about, oh, how great things have gone because we've had record turnout, even though people are having to, you know,

again, hop over hurdles being, purposely being put in the way to keep them from voting, largely African Americans? One thing I want to say about that is, too, is it's because of the education to the people. We have informed them to go and vote early because of potential problems that may happen. Like they said, jumping over hurdles, they were getting ready to be prepared to jump over the hurdles. So a lot of them have started going out, and they call it a record number. No, this is the fact that people are educated. They want to get out and vote. They want their vote to count. So they're going early in case a problem comes up, and they will have time to go and fix those problems. And look, Reverend, folks are straight line. I mean, for me, I watch these

shows, and I see these people, they say, oh, well, you know, they they're stretching the truth. No, I grew up. If I lied, my daddy like you lied. I mean, we're not dancing around it. And so all of these folks are lying about voter fraud. They're straight lying. And it seems to be endemic amongst the other culture to tell these lies, these mistruths, to try to discourage our people from voting. But I'm proud of the fact that we have been pushing the voting here in Georgia, here in Valdosta and Lowndes County. Our Democratic Party has been working very hard to get our people out to vote. The candidates have been coming into Valdosta, realizing the importance of the southern and the rural vote to their getting elected, and we must continue to push. We've gone from the poll tax to 1964 when the voter right act was passed to this point. Now they're trying to back it up, but we're going to continue

to fight. We'll continue to do the right thing because it is often said that a voteless people is a hopeless people. And we continue to have hope. We continue to stand. We continue to believe that our vote count and our voice will be heard. Gotcha. Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the things that, so let's talk about this here. Are y'all seeing enthusiasm in this city? Because that is one of the issues. When you look at all across the country, all of these MAGA Trump people, all of these nutcases, they are still ticked off that he lost, and he did lose. You've seen the folks changing the laws in this state, Texas, Florida.

We can go Iowa. We can go on and on and on. And so are you concerned that, and I've seen the polling data, African-Americans in this particular state, you know, not particularly pleased with the job President Biden has done. His numbers are very low in this state. Are you concerned that many of us are not going to vote and then therefore our votes not be counted? Because non-voting also means your

vote doesn't count. Right. Well, I'm going to say this for Valdosta. We've had a great opportunity. We have a great Democratic local party here, county party, and we're working hard. And I would say that really almost all the statewide candidates have come to Valdosta. And so that's excitement, and know that we're there to support them, and they're here to support us in here. So a lot of them have been several times already, and that's the first time that's really happened, that many candidates coming down on a regular rotation. So I'd like to thank all the people in Valdosta, even the crowd you have here tonight. You know, on a short notice, we come out and support.

If you support us, we're going to support you. So we're excited in Valdosta, and we're seeing the numbers even today. A lot of African-Americans were there. Hopefully there were Democrat votes, but is is it very uh encouraging councilwoman are you are you seeing uh enthusiasm there uh out there on the ground yes i am and i must agree with him when he's saying the candidates are coming here when the people see the candidates come in they think they know they care so that decides they say if they care enough to come then we gonna care enough to go and vote for them soon. Reverend, how has the religious community been organizing and galvanizing obviously

with COVID, folks back in churches, folks coming back not numbers before but still this sense of somehow getting back to normal. Are you seeing that emphasis driving souls to the polls? We are really working hard to encourage our members and our faith community to get out the vote. We've emphasized through the encouragement, of course, of our Democratic Party to facilitate souls to the polls, as we used to do several years ago, get out in our own cars, take our neighbors take our neighbors take our friends our family members take them to the polls and wait for them to vote and then take them back home so we understand the importance and we are working together to make sure that that takes place one of the things that uh i would love if i have each of you answer it this way and that is i mean i get people they tweet me and they talk about it people like i've already heard these folks say uh nothing has changed first of all anytime somebody

says nothing has changed with us voting they automatically stupid i mean i just just you you that's just dumb i mean it's just it's just literally dumb i mean if anybody looks at me you mentioned earlier with the Affordable Care Act, I mean, the number of African Americans who are uninsured declined dramatically as a result. That's also voting. On my show, I often talk about the work of Biden's Department of Justice, Christian Clark here at the Civil Rights Division, and the folks, the indictments, the guilty verdicts, how they're sending corrections officers and others to prison for hate crimes, for beating prisoners, that's also voting.

And so we could go on and on and on. But it's amazing how a lot of folks just simply don't understand connecting the dots. And so there's somebody out there who's in this city, who's in Valdosta, who's in this state, and they're saying, you know what, all these folks are the same. Nothing's ever going to change. I'm not interested in voting. What would you tell that person? I would tell that person that when you look at, we hear people talk about the federal and state elections

and those political figures, but I would say to make sure not only you vote on your national and state, but you've got to make sure you vote every single local election because that affects you more than who the president is. So I would encourage them and let them know that. Hold your political leaders accountable. A lot of people don't know, especially some of the younger black guys, a lot of times they'll say, well, why should I vote? It won't matter. Guess what? When you're having a situation with maybe your child support, you're getting

your driver's license, all these state agencies that are affecting you or you feel like affecting you, you call your state representative. Reach out and say, look, I'm having this problem. So therefore, if you vote for the right person and you're also educated to understand what their job duties are, then it will help you. So I tell everybody to vote at every single election. It's funny. I saw a video, it was audio today, and there was a sister, Nikki Barnes, out of Florida, and she was in this chat room, and this brother who was organizing, he was going on and on and on about reparations and how it's not happening and what folks are not doing, and he was going on. And then she said, who's your state rep?

Had no damn idea. And she said, how are you going to argue for somebody to give you something and you literally don't even know who your state rep is? Just totally embarrassed him. And so, of course, I had to amplify, put his name out there, embarrass him further. And that's the thing that gets me because, like, even now, I have all these folks that they're hollering tangibles. And I've got to walk them through this. And I tell them all the time, well, first of all, you actually can't get something from a candidate unless they win. And then even if they win, if you've got how many people on city council? Seven. That means you need four votes.

Yes. It's a majority. So one person actually can't guarantee you that. But you still need the person to win. And so it's amazing the number of people who somehow believe, oh I'm gonna get this, this, this in the campaign, not realizing no, that's what happens if they win. That absolutely drives me crazy. So when you're out there, how do you explain to the folks who say, I want to see this, this, this, but then I'm not going to vote?

Well, I tell them it's a process, and I'm glad you said that because you are absolutely right what you're saying about how once they vote for you, they think you can do it all, whatever they ask for. Well, I tell them it is a process, but what they have to do is get out there, get your vote, get your candidate, get that candidate to vote for you, and then they can, I guess you can identify with it. You make it kind of like a personal relationship. If I vote for you, there are things we want, but I cannot, we cannot always do one individual thing. But you've got somebody who can fight together with others to get it done for you.

But the point is, you have got to get out there, make, like you said, make your representative responsible. Call them out on certain things that you ask for them to do. Your representative then can talk with the other candidates or the other council members and kind of work a relationship with them so that they can work to get the things you want. And that is how people have got to learn to do. Don't just say, I'm just not going to vote and give up on it. I am going to vote.

I am going to go through the process. I am going to work with my candidate. Stay involved, y'all. I am going to work with my candidate to help to get the things that I want done. A candidate, one person cannot do it. But one person can vote for that candidate to work with the other council members. And I have seen a lot of what you said happen. It does happen. People, please don't give up on hope. Keep trying to vote. Look for people who

you respect. Someone, look at what they've already been doing. Look at the person, the candidates that you want to get out there and vote for and push them, vote for them and support them. You have always got to give your support as well. Reverend, I'm going to ask you this here, and y'all can clap. Y'all can ask for it. And so I will refrain from cussing this person out. But this person, Byron Grimsley, on our YouTube page, he goes, typical Democrat speaking on why we can't do something for black people. See, that's the other thing that cracks me up. First of all, like, what's the percentage of black people in Valdosta? 52%.

So 52%, right? Yes, sir. How many black people in the city council? Four. Oh, four. So there are seven city council members. There are four black people. So when y'all voting, y'all doing stuff for black people. Well, hold up. If you vote no something and it's for the residents,

are they not black residents? Yes. Okay. The reason I'm saying that is because, again, it drives me crazy when I listen to these people who say, you need to do something specifically for black people. And I've had to walk these idiots through to explain to these idiots, and I'm calling them idiots for a reason, to understand that when you are an elected official, you literally cannot do something specifically for one group. Now, there may be an issue where that group is affected more than anyone else. So you take the student loan debt. The portal opened today. African Americans are impacted by student loan debt at a higher rate than other groups.

Was Biden's, was loan forgiveness, was that specifically for black students? No. Is it going to help black students in a significant way? Yes, that's helping black people. The Affordable Care Act. Help if we, based upon percentage, more of us are uninsured, and we're now an underinsured, and we now can be insured that helps black people but there are people who literally are walking around and in their mind they actually think oh you as an elected official you can only do something specifically for black

people and nobody else can y'all explain that that that you can't do that as the elected official? That's why it's a process and you have to tell them that too. You know, yes, we want what you want too, but you just can't stay limited just to you. We kind of have to look out for the overall group. And that's why I said support your candidates, find somebody who's willing to work in your area, work what you want done, and work for them in that way. But, no, it can't be. We have to work for the majority, for the whole group. How are you explaining that?

Because, again, I get this constantly on social media where people are thinking that that's the only way. And I'm going, it is not, y'all. That's just literally not how the process works. I agree with you, Roland, in what you have said, because I look back, as you said, about the Affordable Care Act and how we said, well, those that didn't agree with President Obama, but what he was doing was something for everybody. And we got to remember that when his second term, Congress and the Senate was primarily Republican.

So he pushed very hard just to get that through. And that was something for the whole nation, not just for a certain group of people. But we've also got to understand even on the local level, if we want something done, we have to start making noise. In the words of the late John Lewis, make trouble, make necessary trouble. And so when you start speaking up and speaking out, change will come. Because one of my frustrations has been when President Biden had the money that was sent down during the pandemic, the majority of that money did not reach the black community. And enough of us did not speak out against that.

And so they put that money where they wanted to put it, used it how they wanted to use it. And this is the thing right here, and I'm going to bring my panel back in the studio for a second. And here's a perfect example. This person named Shireen Advance Your Life, who needs to advance her knowledge because she clearly has none. She writes, the Asian hate crime bill was specifically for them. Why not us? Shereen, you are a damn liar. I have read this on the air.

And I'm going to say it again to all y'all people who keep posting this stuff. You are a lie. First of all, it was called the COVID-19 Hate Crime Act. It wasn't called, it was not the anti-Asian bill. The bill was passed because there was an increase in attacks on Asians. It was in the intro to the bill. If you actually read the bill, Shereen, which I guarantee you, you didn't read the bill. I'm not sure you can read. But if you can't read, I actually help you out because I read the actual bill on the air. We scrolled it.

There is nothing in that bill that says it is specific to Asians. Not the money. Nothing. What does that bill do? it creates a database for hate crimes for all hate crimes how do I know cuz I read it hooked on phonics I read it and not only that represent a Shannon I'm gonna go to you right here and the other thing is this year for the simple Simons out there, when Congress passed the bill, when black churches were being burned, guess what

was in the introduction? The number of black churches being burned. What did the bill cover? Churches, mosques, synagogues. Was it just black churches? No. What was the purpose of the bill? The spate of fires at black churches. Same as the so-called Asian hate crime bill. That was mainstream media calling it that because there was an impetus for it, but it was not the Asian hate crime bill. This is why y'all got to stop. Listen to these other fools out here, these YouTube doctors, these YouTube academics who don't bother to actually read. Representative Shannon, you're there in the Georgia legislature. Speak to that because, again, these people go,

you can only pass a bill for black people, and I keep telling them that's not how city councils, districts County Commissioners state boards Congress works it doesn't you can do something that targets a group but you can't say oh this is only going to be for African Americans only for Hispanics only for you just you can't go is she there representative shannon uh omicongo go ahead well i think it really comes down to and you've brought this up so many times this thing about sophistication soation. We don't get involved in really understanding how things work at a granular level. We get caught up in everything that we see in the social media space. And quite honestly,

the closest we get to these elections, the more and more people are bringing out these theories and these ideas to keep us divided and keep us away from the polls. I'm so happy that you're down there in Valdosta actually listening to people actually speaking about what's happening. You got brothers and sisters in the audience united because for those of us who live outside of Georgia, we're hearing all of these rumors about how Stacey Abrams doesn't have support of Black men. And then Rowland's got to remind people every single day that the number one voting bloc for Democrats is Black women. The number two voting bloc for Democrats is black women, the number two voting bloc for Democrats is black men. And so when you talk about this misinformation that you

just talked about with these bills out there, if we don't have continual platforms like this, where we can continually challenge the misinformation and the disinformation, we are going to end up losing people at the polls. Because like you all said on the panel, just having one person not show up is two votes for the other side. And so we have to be vigilant in doing this, not only on these platforms, but like so many people there in the audience are doing in the streets, on television and local news. If we can do that, if we can really crack that, we have a really strong chance of keeping Georgia on a trajectory that so many people in the audience right there tonight and outside and other parts of Georgia have been doing. We can win that state every election as long as there's no cheating. You know, Julian, I got some do Panther 55.

All of theatrics is not helpful. Inform instead of belittle you old clowns or something else. No, I'm going to clown some people because I really kind of get sick and tired of people who trash politicians, who say, oh, ain't nothing happening, we ain't got this, we ain't got that. But then when they need something, that's who they're trying to call to get something. And folk don't make the effort. Because, see, if you make the effort to listen to lies and conspiracy theories, you can actually make the same effort to listen to the effort. Because see, if you make the effort to listen to lies and conspiracy theories, you can actually make the same effort to listen to the truth. So Panther 55, I'm going to call a fool

a fool. Julian, go ahead. I'm laughing, Roland, because you ought to call a fool a fool. And whoever called and said, don't belittle people. Don't belittle people. Okay, how do I get off mute? All right, we got you. Go ahead. Okay, how do I get off mute?

Go ahead. But again, basically, some people need to be clowned. Some people major in the minor and in misinformation. It does not serve our community at all when people spread these lies or have no knowledge of the political system. You asked Representative Shannon, who apparently went away, but the question you asked her was really appropriate. If you understand how laws are made, you know full well you can't pass a pro-Black law. We will, you know,

you have to have equal protection. Now, you must, we must pass a law to provide reparations, but that's not a pro-Black law. That's a justice law. But in terms of looking at our church burnings, hate crimes, all of that, it's across the board. And predatory capitalism allows people to exploit this hate situation and then to divide us by saying, oh, gee, you did this for the Asians, but you wouldn't do it for us. Done it for everybody. I'm so happy, Roland, that you're down there in Valdosta, Georgia, the place where Mary Turner was lynched, black woman who dared raise her voice. But I'm glad that you're there to basically raise these issues and have a knowledgeable panel of local people to talk about it. What the service has been done here is to show Raphael Warnock and his superiority to that man, you know, who played

football too long without a helmet, clearly, to have a rational thing come out of his mouth. You basically showed with the gubernatorial debate as well the spoiler role that the libertarian wants to play, doesn't even know what he's doing, and the lies that Ryan Kemp continues to tell about Stacey Abrams, which he has no right to do. But these folks have majored, again, in the minor and in misinformation. And so we have to keep putting it back out there. This is wrong.

This is damn wrong. And it has to stop. And it stops by voting. People have to come out and vote. Don't believe the hype. Reverend Jackson said years ago, there are loose rocks on the ground. He talked about the metaphor of David taking one rock to throw it at Goliath.

And throwing that one rock, he basically killed a monster. But there were rocks on the ground that had not been used. That's what the story is of our votes. If you don't vote, you have nothing to say. Nothing to say. Before I go to the break, I mean, this is the thing that I just need people to understand because it's kind of real, real basic.

There was somebody during the George Floyd protests, a young brother, he said, I'm not going to waste my time voting, but I'm going to protest. And he was asked, so what are you protesting? He said, I'm protesting to get the policy change. And the person said, who do you think changes the policies? She said, the root of policy is poly. The root of politician is poly. She said, so if you're going to a march to protest and then you don't vote, all you're doing is going for a walk. That's what people would have to understand when you talk about this concept of voting, how it goes with protest. It goes with activism.

It goes with engagement. It all goes together. Speaking of that, I'm going to go to a quick break. When we come back, I'm going to talk to Malina Abdullah with Black Lives Matter grassroots in Los Angeles. One of the two L.A. City Council members who refuses to resign for making racist remarks. Well, they've set tents up outside his house since yesterday. He has new neighbors. And we'll talk about that next on beyond measure you know what's on the

ballot it's not just legislation and policies we believe in it's democracy our democracy there's a choice on the ballot between freedom and fear, between cruelty and compassion, between chaos and community, between voting or violence. And the end of rights generations have fought for. The extremists have a plan, a roadmap for a nation where your voice is silenced and your vote is a memory, where they count their votes and cast ours aside. That's why this year, this fight, this vote is so important. Register, engage, volunteer, fight back against the disinformation and despair, and most of all, vote. Because your vote is all that stands between our future and theirs.

When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Creating. Making moves that move us all forward. Together, we are Black beyond measure. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. it moves, then move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure.

What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Alright, folks, welcome back to Valdosta, Georgia. Kevin DeLeon is a city council member in Los Angeles. He was one of the three city council members who was caught on tape making racist remarks.

One of them, the council president, Nuri Martinez, has resigned. DeLeon and Gil Cedillo. They refused to resign so far. Well, yesterday, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles began their encampments outside his house. Literally, they have erected tents. They are outside of his house. They are every single day joining us. As a leader of BLM LA, Malina Abdullah. Malina, glad to have you back on Rollerball Unfiltered. So something happened yesterday.

I saw one of Jasmine Koenig's tweets. I thought it was really interesting. So Kevin DeLeon decided to call some Latino brothers to stand with him. Then y'all had a conversation with them, and they flipped to y'all's side. Tell us what happened. That's right. That's right. So Kevin DeLeon has been running around making racist comments, not just racist comments, but engaging in anti-black work to undermine black power and black communities. So Saturday night, he had called us just 25 black people yelling. So 25 black people showed up at his house yelling. And then Sunday, what he attempted to do is really stoke a racial divide. And he thought he was going to call in Latinx brothers to come and intimidate the mostly black women who were there with our children.

And they were there to intimidate and antagonize. we decided that as they were trying to poach some of the media coverage we were receiving, that we were going to go and listen to what they had to say. And they were saying things that were clearly misinformed. They were asking why we weren't at the border in Texas. And they were saying that we only stand up for black people when they're killed by police. And so we listened to them, and then we talked to them for nine minutes and 27 seconds. And we talked about, yeah, we weren't on the border in Texas because we live in L.A., but we were on the San Diego border. And then we talked about how, you know, we stand with black people who were

killed by police, but if they come to our demonstrations, which we have every Wednesday, we also stand with brown folks, brown families whose folks are killed by police. And we said we're not there to be anti-Latinx. We're there to check anti-black racism that's coming from one of their leaders, and we wish that they would help to check that. By the end of that conversation, all 10 of those brothers came and hugged us. One of them, who was clearly black, as well as being Latino, he came up and he said, my grandmother is black. He put his arm next to my arm, and he said, see, I'm black, too. And, you know, we wound up hugging and two of the men were actually moved to tears and all but one pledged to come back and support us and demand that Kevin DeLeon resign.

So, again, he's resisting this. The interim council president has stripped him and Zedillo of their campaign, excuse me, their committee post. But those two still are just refusing. And so how long do y'all plan on staying out outside of his house? So we said we're going to camp out until he gets out. And that's exactly what we plan to do. He's being extremely petty, repeatedly calling police on us. You know, we are not violating any laws. And in fact, what's interesting is that his neighbors are coming out in support of us. His neighbors are baking us cookies. They're sending

pizzas. They are letting us use their homes to charge our phones. They're really supportive of what we're there to do. And so, you know, we're going to be there as long as it takes to get Kevin de Leon out. He has to be held accountable for his anti-blackness. We can't allow him. These are not just a matter—this is not just a matter of hurt feelings, because some people said some hurtful things that pain us. It's also about harm. It's also about minimizing black community. It's also about why they were meeting in the first place, which was to gerrymander, to draw city lines, to draw district lines that strip black communities of all of our assets. And so we're there to say that we're not going to let him continue to not just hurt our people but harm our people. He has to get out. He has to step down. And as long as it takes,

we'll be there and we're going to use every tool in our toolbox, showing up to city council meetings, showing up at his house. He will not have a space of peace until he gives us some peace by stepping down from his post. All right, Malina Abdullah, Black Lives Matter, Los Angeles, we appreciate it, thanks a lot. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Folks, I wanna come back to our panel here. Let me thank Omokongo and Julianne

for being on today's show, for joining us as well. Thanks a lot. I wanna get final comments here. We have a week of early voting here. And so the push over the next week, what are you doing to maximize black turnout? Because one of the things that I keep saying, and this is often lost on us, is we talk about, oh, black turnout was 50% or 60%. Yeah, but the first thing, if you have eligible number of people and then they're not registering,

and then if they are registered, then we're not maximizing our numbers, then actually we are losing power. I argue that at a bare minimum, black turnout should be 75% of all eligible voters or at least all registered voters. So are y'all looking at precinct by precinct looking who didn't vote last time? Is door knocking taking place? I see folks out here, the Divine Nine, I see Alphas, we always start with alphas. Don't hate. Always. Jesus was an alpha, y'all know. So what I'm always challenging all Divine Nine members

is that are we out in our colors knocking on doors, going door to door? And so what is happening here in Valdosta to try to maximize black turnout when it comes to this election? We have a coordinated effort here in Lowndes County, working through the state, through we have our county Democratic chairman here, Adrian Rivers here. He's an alpha, so we've got to give it to you. But we're working together in the divine i like you say uh... ronald screens than a great job of you have been corn a everybody together so we are working hard

from the state level federal level uh... canvassing are getting literature out we've been having special events here where people can come out free food and encourage the people to come up the biggest thing we're trying to do is educate the voters we're educating the voters so

i'm happy with our valdosta we're on top of things i appreciate valdosta and i want to say too that we are having a community march to the polls what it's going to be October the 22nd. The community is having everybody, anybody in the Lowndes County that want to come and march to go to the polls this Saturday morning at 8 o'clock, we're asking everybody, please come out.

We're having all these types of marches. We're educating people. We're trying to connect them. We're talking to them all the time about that. I agree with the D9 doing a lot of things. They've had a lot of incentives that they have been talking to people. We've been going out, doing a few things. Yes, we wear our colors when we go out and do things like that, too. We want it to be visible. We're trying to get everybody connected. Go vote. Take somebody to vote. Educate you on why

you're going to vote, who you're going to vote for, and it is a necessary thing because don't let somebody take something from you that you deserve. This is something we should own. We own this. It's mine. I'm going to do it. And that is what we have been trying to do. The community here in Valdosta is almost every day we are talking to people. Just to let you know that this is a community center that we have. We are always telling these people, go vote. We ask them. We show them.

Black Lives Matter has been very supportive in getting information to people, telling them where you go to vote, showing them, let you know that. We had a lot of precincts that were changed for the people, precincts that were changed. We've been really trying to educate you all. Get to know your precinct, where it is. We've been giving out flyers so they can call places to find out about it as well. We want them to get an early start on it, and we want them to go. And when they go and vote, tell somebody they went and voted, tell them what it was like, and go with them again and take them.

Pastor, are churches organizing with their buses, getting ready for Election Day, transporting people to election polls? I mean, look, first of all, it doesn't matter who they vote, but what is happening there with transportation? Because that's always an issue as well. We talk about people getting there, voting, but how are we moving folks there? What's happening there? Yes, sir.

Again, we are organizing, again, under the leadership of President Rivers with the Lowndes County Democratic Party. We're stressing the importance of the souls to the polls, where our churches are using their vans, their buses, their individual personal cars, whatever it takes to get our members, our community members, and neighbors and friends to the polls to vote. It's very important that we vote, especially that we vote this time because we have a slate of candidates that are worthy of making a change in Georgia. And if the time is now for us to make that change, and so we are pushing for that. And I want to thank you,

Roland Martin, for coming to Valdosta and showing the importance of the vote of Valdosta. Thank you. So what I want us to do is this here. I don't want us, whether folks here, if you're across the state of Georgia or across the country, I don't want us just to tell people, you need to vote. We need to be talking about why, what are the issues, what is actually at stake. I got these new fools out here who are upset with me. You know, these little trolls out here.

They call themselves new black media, but they were scared to show their face when I talked about what the Republican agenda is. And the person was upset with me because I had something to say about that. And I said, well, are you with them or are you against them? Which one is it? It's amazing how they want to answer that question. Because, and I'm very clear in terms of what the agenda is. It is not an agenda that is going to benefit black people. Period. Republicans that have actually run and actually who have governed evenly that actually benefit African Americans.

I will give anybody that credit. I know what's happening in the United States Senate, exactly what's going to happen there. But it is not going to happen. And so we should be educating people, connecting the dots, getting them to understand that if you don't vote, shut the hell up. I mean, look, you could complain all day, but to me, somebody complain. That's like pipes bursting in your house and all somebody does is complain. Are you going to pick the phone up and call a plumber? What are we going to do?

I mean, are you going to sit here and just complain all day? And so complaining with no action actually solves nothing. You're just running your mouth. And so we must get folks to understand. And let me be real clear. Trump, MAGA people, oh, they energized. They're energized. And I'm going to say it again.

Biden-Harris won this state by 11,000 votes in 2020. I can guarantee you without even looking the numbers up that there were more than 11,000 black people in Valdosta alone that did not vote. So the reality is, if you maximize the vote just in this city, you literally could be determining who wins statewide offices. And that's the thinking that folks have to understand. And so we appreciate it, Ronald. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Despite being a Sigma, it's all good.

I'm just messing with you. All right. So we appreciate everybody coming out. I see all of y'all colors, Greek, non-Greek. Glad to have y'all out here. Tomorrow, we're going to be out. I see y'all Delta. Stop it. We see y'all back there. Okay. Don't y. Glad to have y'all out here. Tomorrow, we're going to be, I see y'all Delta. Stop it.

We see y'all back there. Okay. Throwing y'all a little sign up. Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Sigma Gamma Rho.

Got to sit down. Okay. All right. AK, sit down. Okay, everybody. Everybody trying to get a shout out. I was somewhere last week, and a brother, he was an I-O, and he was a bad man. You never shout us out.

I said, man, I keep forgetting y'all. So, man, I was like, come on, come on. So, what? It was a true story. That's what happened. I told him that. So, again, glad everybody came out. Tomorrow we're going to be in Savannah Control Room.

Y'all should have the graphic. I sent it to y'all in Group Me. It's called the Community Kickback. So we're going to be there. Community Kickback for Raphael Warnock tomorrow, 5 to 7 p.m. Lake Myers. I'll be broadcasting the show from there as well. Who they got me talking to? Let me shout their names

out here. I'll be talking with Sabria Scott, Gary Gordon, Zelonia Williams, and Ben Polite Jr. And so looking forward to chatting with all of them. So again, that's tomorrow, Lake Myers. So looking forward to that with all of them. So, again, that's tomorrow, late March. So looking forward to that.

And then I'll be back in Georgia next Monday and Tuesday. I have no idea what I'm going to be, but I'll be back in the state then. So we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much, everybody watching. Thanks a lot. Don't forget, download our app, the Black Star Network app, available on all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And, of course, in a couple of weeks, we launch our 24-hour streaming channel.

We first time on Amazon. We're going to be on other platforms as well. So really looking forward to that. And, again, support us in what we do by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Check in money orders and go to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app is Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered.

Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Folks who are watching, get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. People keep asking me, what's your book about? I kind of made it clear. You can get the book, Ben Bella Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Bookshop Chapters, also Books A Million,

Target. You can download it from Audible, and also you can, of course, order through your favorite black bookstore. And I didn't do this. I was in Swainsboro last week. I didn't bring the books, but a bunch of folks there actually had their copies, so I signed them there. So I did bring some books. I'll be selling them and signing them over here as well for the folks here if you want to get one.

And so, folks at home, get your copy as well. Thanks so much. I'll see you all tomorrow from Savannah, Georgia, as we continue for the second day of early voting in Georgia. Y'all in the hall, always in the show. Y'all take care. Holler! This is an iHeart Podcast.