#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Jam Master Jay Murder,Nikki Haley & The Breakfast Club,Plies' to Biden-Harris, Canceled Black Shows

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

1.31.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Jam Master Jay Murder,Nikki Haley & The Breakfast Club,Plies' to Biden-Harris, Canceled Black Shows It's been over 20 years since Run DMC's Jam Master Jay was murdered. The trial for the two who police say gunned the DJ down in his New York studio started this week. Journalist Janell Snowden, who's been following the case for years, is here to let us know what's happening in the case.  Nikki Haley was on The Breakfast Club today. I will deconstruct what she said since we know she didn't get any real pushback for the lies she peddles.  Plies has a strong message for the Biden-Harris administration.  About 20 black shows have been canceled in the past year. Writer-producer Issa Rae says black creators must stop depending on white studios to tell our stories. I'll break that down for you.  Last night, I was on Stephan A. Smith's show and explained how MAGA is conditioning our culture.   Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a 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. Today is Wednesday, January 31st, 2024, coming up on Roller Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. It's been more than 20 years since Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay was murdered. A trial for the two men who police say gunned the DJ down in his New York studio began on Monday. Journalist Janelle Snowden,

who's been following the case for years, is here to let us know what's happening in the trial. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley went on The Breakfast Club. Lord, I will deconstruct the crazy stuff that she had to say on the show.

My goodness, my goodness, my goodness. Plus, the rapper replies he's got a strong message for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. And about 20 black shows have been canceled in the past year. Writer producer Issa Rae says black creators need to stop depending on these other studios to tell our stories.

I'm going to break this thing down on what could happen when we begin to be the business in show business and not just the show. Last night, I was on Stephen A. Smith's YouTube show to explain how MAGA is conditioning their nutcases about what's happening with us and breaking down why they are attacking DEI and things along those lines. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on Filch and on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Puttin' it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah

It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin It is Grammy week and many of the industry's top folks are in Los Angeles preparing for the Grammys. But in New York, the focus is on one of the murder of hip hop royalty. Jam Master Jay of Run DMC was murdered in his New York studio more than 20 years ago.

All of these years, the case has been dormant. Police say they were trying to figure out who did it, who shot and killed him in his Queens, New York, recording studio. We've heard a lot of different stuff. People have been throwing out all sorts of conspiracies. They say that he was involved in drugs or he owed people money. It was all kinds of stuff. But the real question is who was behind it.

Well, police say Carl Jordan Jr., Jam Master Jay's godson, and Ronald Washington, a childhood friend. Those were the two who were involved. They were arrested in 2020. Their murder trial began on Monday in New York. Joining us from L.A. is journalist Janelle Snowden. She's been following this case for years. Janelle, glad to have you on the show. I mean, this has been one of those stories that has been mind boggling to people. You hear them talk about Jam Master Jay, how much of a nice guy he was and how, you know, he just went about his business. And so it was shocking and stunning when the news broke that he had been killed. That was October 30th, 2002. Dan Masterjay was done down.

Can you double check? I'm barely hearing you. So double check to make sure you're not muted. Double check. Nope. Can you hear me now? Yep. I got you go ahead are we good all right control room are we straight is there audio straight mic check one two three one two three okay we're good go ahead okay yes so it was October 30th 2002 when Jam Master Jay was gunned down in his Queens, New York, recording studio.

And today marks day three of the Jam Master Jay murder trial. Opening statements began Monday with prosecutors arguing that Jam Master Jay's godson, a then 18-year-old Carl Jordan Jr., killed the famed DJ in his Jamaica, Queens recording studio with a single bullet to the head at such close range that it burned his hair and skin. While Jam Master Jay's childhood friend, Ronald Denard Washington, who Jay was allowing to stay in his family's home just blocks from the recording studio, held a gun to the head of a woman who managed the studio as the three other people present in the very small space were paralyzed by fear. blocks from the recording studio, held a gun to the head of a woman who managed the studio,

as the three other people present in the very small space were paralyzed by fear. So defense attorneys for the two murder suspects argued that their clients were not at the scene of the crime. Carl Jordan Jr.'s attorney claimed that his client was at his then-pregnant girlfriend's house at the time of the murder. And Ronald Washington's attorney said it simply didn't make sense for his client to have murdered his friend given that he was offering him shelter. Why bite the hand that feeds you,

Washington's attorney argued. But both defense attorneys argued that the prosecution's case is weak as it relies on nearly fuzzy 20-year-old memories and no evidence. So, Janelle, I'm trying to understand this here, okay? So, when Jam Master Jay was shot and killed, was he the only one in the studio,

or were there others there? That's what makes this case so perplexing, Roland. There were five other people in the studio with Jam Master Jay at the time that he was murdered. There was a woman who was the studio's manager who was in the front, and she was the one that had the gun held to her head while the other gunman shot Jay execution-style as he sat on a couch next to a friend of his playing a video game.

And then there were three other people in the studio, two in a vocal booth and one unidentified woman who had just stopped by, allegedly, to have her demo tape played. So for 18 years, this was a cold case. And what made it so perplexing was that you had all of these eyewitnesses, but they were afraid for their lives. No one was cooperating with the police. There were conflicting stories. The police were sent on tons of goose chases.

One of the eyewitnesses was put in witness protection temporarily as she began to speak. And then others just gave conflicting reports that kept the case just going in circles for so many years. So it wasn't until August 17th, which happened to be my birthday, on 2020, that federal prosecutors indicted these two men who were the closest in geographic proximity to Jay. And that's what makes this even crazier, is that all this time you had these two men who were sort of right under everyone's noses. One, his godson, Carl Jordan Jr., on the right there, lived directly across the street. And his father was Run-DMC's former tour manager. And then you had Ronald Tenard Washington, who lived in Jay's family's home, was sleeping on his couch. And in that family home lived Jay's older sister, Benita, and her children.

And so Jay had known both of these men forever. And for these two to be the two men that prosecutors allege are the suspected killers is what has everybody just scratching their heads. Because how is it that it took you 18 years to bring this case home? And the crazier part is that for several years, on the anniversary of Jay's death or on his birthday, Carl Jordan Jr. would pose outside of the famed mural of Jam Master Jay in Hollis, Queens, and he would post on his social media something like, you know, RIP big homie. Whereas Ronald Tenard Washington was jailed a few years after the murder on unrelated armed robbery charges. And he's been in jail ever since. So, again, so five people are present.

Do they allege that these individuals who were accused, were they wearing masks? Or if not, so clearly five people could identify the two shooters. Exactly, Roland. And that is why everyone has been so frustrated with the pace of this case, with the fact that it took 18 years for these charges to have been brought. There are conflicting reports as to whether or not the suspects were wearing masks. However, one of the eyewitnesses earlier on noted to the police that there was an unmistakable neck tattoo that she recognized of one of the killers, that one belonging to Carl Jordan, Jr., according to police reports.

So these two men were very well known by everyone in the recording studio. And that is why this has been such an unfortunate, unsolved hip-hop murder mystery, because unlike the cases of Biggie and Tupac, which preceded J.M. Messerjay's murder, where there were all kinds of webbed allegations of gang involvement and, you know, just dead leads. Here you had five people present who very clearly saw or recognized the voices of the two alleged killers. Wow. I mean, this is, and again, this is a story that has baffled so many people, and folks were just shocked that it took police this long

to even arrest somebody. Absolutely. So Tuesday, prosecutors told the judge that they fear some of the witnesses may lie under oath. And that's exactly the problem that they've been facing, is that it's the fear. Because these men were so well-known in the community. And according to my police sources, Ronald Denard Washington was a feared Queens criminal, the type of guy who would walk into a barber shop in Hollis and silence all the grown men there. You know, he had—he's a career criminal and would strike fear in the hearts of so many. And so that has been one of the issues, you know, that most of the people involved in

the case have been abiding by the code of the streets, which is essentially don't talk to the police and don't talk to reporters. So federal prosecutors filed a late-night notice in court on Monday warning that some of its witnesses are now reluctant to testify under oath and may plead the fifth out of fear of retaliation. So day two brought more of the law enforcement testimony, and several retired NYPD detectives who worked the case testified that there were cameras inside of the studio, but that on the night of the murder they were suspiciously not working and there was no evidence found on any of the surveillance cameras for any of the neighboring businesses.

But then in a blow to the defense testimony yesterday, Judge LaShawn Darcy Hall allowed a photo lineup that eyewitnesses used to identify Washington into evidence. And the judge also agreed that if an eyewitness to the murder is uncooperative, they may be treated as hostile witnesses, which essentially means that they can question them more aggressively and they can use prior statements made, you know, by them in front of the jury, because there have been times where people have spoken up and then they've retracted their statements, which just then sent police back to square one. So the first eyewitness is expected to be called later this week, and we don't know

yet whether he or she will plead the fifth or as prosecutors fear lie under oath. Then another tricky thing in this investigation is that there's a third suspect whose name is Jay Brown, who's expected to stand trial later this year as he is accused of letting in the two alleged gunmen through a fire escape. And there was a hat. Hold on one second. Your audio there broke up there. So you said that he let, he allegedly let them in? Yes. So all along there were conflicting reports.

Was it one gunman? Was it two? Was it three? So prosecutors are saying that there were two gunmen, but a third man is an accomplice because he let the two gunmen in through a fire escape, because you had to be buzzed into the studio. So this third man, Jay Brown, is supposed to stand trial later this year, and he is a third murder suspect. But here's some of the more interesting backstories. So in the immediate aftermath of Jay's murder, in November—between November 2002 and November

2003, while many reporters were covering the story and the developments in it, there were two of us who were following it most extensively, a veteran investigative reporter and a very smart British gentleman named Frank Owen and myself. So Frank was working on an investigative piece for Playboy magazine, and I was working on a five-part investigative series for BET Nightly News. So Frank and I would literally cross paths on the street where Jam Master Jay grew up and the house of his older sister, Bonita, where she and her children were living at the time.

So because Jam Master Jay's family and friends were seemingly, again, abiding by the code of the streets, not talking to the police, not talking to reporters, Frank and I had tough jobs ahead of us because we ended up having to share information that we would gather. And we sort of became comrades because there were people who Frank would gain access to that I couldn't, and there were people who would talk to me that wouldn't talk to Frank. So in an effort to piece together this really complicated story, we began sharing information because our outlets weren't in competition. So in fact, the lawyers for my outlet at the time requested that I credit some of my findings to Frank, because although they

later turned out to be true, they thought that they could be potentially libelous. So while most of Jay's family and friends said that they were unaware of Jay being involved in any sort of illegal drug activity, in my 2003 investigative series, I interviewed a young man who worked for Jay, who was the first to admit on camera that he once unknowingly accompanied Jam Master Jay on a drug run. Jam Master Jay was like a mentor to this young man. And he said that Jay simply asked him to take a ride with him and that he never wanted him to know anything about his illegal activity. But in the aftermath of Jay's murder, as it was obvious that no one was willing to cooperate with the police investigation out of fear for their lives, this young man that I interviewed, who truly adored Jay, said that he couldn't keep quiet any longer because he wanted justice to be served.

So he said he wanted to tell the truth in hopes of advancing the investigation. So, again, the case remained cold for 18 years. And on that day, August 17, 2020, when federal prosecutors finally indicted these two suspects, Carl Jordan Jr. and Ronald St. Arne Washington. OK, so here here here we are. But the case was delayed multiple times. And so it's really also interesting that coincidentally this week on February 1st, tomorrow on NBC Peacock, the Run DMC story called The Kings from Queens is debuting. And that was supposed to have debuted last March, but now it's coming out on February 1st, and this week begins the Jam Master J murder trial.

No one could have predicted this. So now for a few interesting details about the drug deal gone bad that prosecutors are saying was the cause of Jam Master Jay's murder. In October of 2021, Frank Owen, the veteran reporter that I just—investigative reporter that I just referenced, reported that the supplier of the 10 kilos of cocaine, or 22 pounds, which would have a street value of around 200,000, was a man formerly only known as Uncle. But Frank Owen uncovered that Uncle is allegedly Terry Flittery, who is the founder of the notorious street gang Black Mafia Family, otherwise known as BMF. If you're wondering how else you might have heard of BMF,

it's the title of a television show that's currently on air produced by 50 Cent. So Jam Master Jay's murder trial continues this week in Brooklyn and Carl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Gennard Washington face a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. And prosecutors have said that they will not seek the death penalty. All right. Well, Janelle, we appreciate it.

And we'll certainly be watching this case and seeing how it all unfolds. Thank you, Roland. I'm definitely following and I've been following it since the beginning. Now we're home. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. You go on to break. We'll be right back on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We just have one of the oldest cultures that's desperately needed for mutual salvation. That's the consciousness. We have the keys and our roots to save mankind. We get to see the condition of other countries, other oceans, other cultures.

And if we believe in God, a lot of us do. He's telling us, if you don't get rid of that stuff that makes somebody superior or inferior and work together for a mutual salvation, everybody's gone. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day

at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3 only on the Blackstar Network. Me, Sherri Sheppard, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin, unfiltered. Alright, folks. My panel, Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President, Fair Election Center out of D.C. Robert Petillo, host, People, Passion, Politics, News & Talk, 1380 WAOK out of Atlanta. John Quill Neal, trial lawyer with the John Quill Neal Law Firm out of Atlanta. Robert, I'll start with you. How hard is it going to be for prosecutors to get convictions in a case that murder that happened 20 years ago and all of these conflicting, potentially conflicting testimony from witnesses? Well, if it's just a circumstantial case and that

it's a case that's based off of non-hard evidence, that's going to be very difficult to have a conviction. Now, I'm assuming that there's no murder weapon, for evidence, that's going to be very difficult to have a conviction now. I'm assuming that there's no murder weapon, for example. That would be hard evidence that they could connect directly to the crime. As was mentioned, there is no surveillance footage or pictures of the crime scene that would indicate them particularly being there. There's not DNA that was found at the scene, whether it be hair samples, clothing fragments, et cetera. If it's simply a case that is based

on eyewitness testimony, which has been conflicting over the course of two decades, and as we know, recollections change over time, and as has been indicated, testimony may or may not be accurate, particularly if you have to treat a witness as a hostile witness. It's a very difficult case to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, particularly when you have alibis. So for every witness that will identify these two individuals as being there, they can present other witnesses saying that they were on a different side of town, they were with other individuals, there are people who can testify to where they were at at that date and time. It's an incredibly difficult case to prove for a prosecutor,

but it's really going to depend on what additional evidence is going to be let in at trial, particularly hard evidence that may be let in at trial. We don't know that at this time. But I don't think the feds will bring this case if it was just a circumstantial evidence case. John Quell, your assessment. Yes. Well, in these type of cases, you're always going to have conflicting evidence, right, especially when you're dealing with the drug industry or the drug trade or gangs, anything of that nature. You're always going to have recanting witnesses. You're always going to have witnesses that are going to give conflicting testimony.

However, there are certain facts that a prosecutor can point to that, regardless of what all the testimony says are consistent throughout that entire case, right? And that is what is going to be their focus. Despite the changes in the testimony, despite what physical evidence they have and don't have, amongst all of this testimony, what is consistent? From what I've read about this case is that there was some DNA left at the scene. I believe there was a hat that was left. One of the co-defendants have been severed. Now, I don't think we know at this time, but it's likely in Georgia that would be known as a potential brutal issue. And so all defendants have the right to remain silent. And so if he has cut, is offering a proffer, is going to testify

against one of these co-defendants. That could be the very reason why his case is severed. Furthermore, I also read in this case that there was a photo lineup that was introduced. While memories do change over time, the fact that these witnesses witnessed a murder, that type of traumatic event, you're going to remember. There may be little idiosyncrasies that witnesses may not remember, but they remember that case. The big pieces of what happened, they remembered. Ms. Snowman talked about that some said that they were going to plead the fifth. I mean, essentially, you're not entitled to the right to plead the fifth unless you would incriminate yourself.

So unless some of these witnesses were involved in a crime or in that crime at the time, I don't know how successful they will be in pleading the fifth. And certainly, I would expect that in any kind of murder trial of this magnitude that you are going to have to impeach those witnesses. And frankly, going into a trial like that, I would expect all of the witnesses to recant. And lastly, from what I read, there were a girlfriend of, I believe,

I believe it was Washington, I believe that he stated, he bragged about murdering or being involved in the murder of Jam Master Jay on more than two occasions. So if you have that girlfriend coming to testify, and I believe Jordan has admitted it as well to someone else, and if you have that person come testify, in addition to all of these witnesses, it appears to be your standard homicide case outside of the passage of time. You know, this is, Rebecca, one of the things that

for a lot of people, when people ask, hey, how do these things happen? How is it that these cases go unsolved? But it also happens when the streets say, don't talk, don't say who did what. And this is often one of the problems. You hear people talk about don't snitch, but then people complain about why you have unsolved crimes. Well, when you have a code that says you don't talk about what happened, that's why cases like this go unsolved for 20 years. Well, think about it. Don't snitch isn't just don't snitch, but part of that phrase is snitches get snitches and they get laid out in ditches.

People have real fear that retribution will happen to them if they cooperate, not just in this case, but even other cases as well, when you hear about people don't snitching. I do think it's interesting, after 20 years, if you have witnesses saying that they're unwilling to testify truthfully under oath, it does make me think that they are fearful and that those who are responsible for the murder are still out and about. And so it sounds like they have many reasons to fear. So I would also want to know what is the prosecutor's office doing, as well as law enforcement, to make sure that those folks who are witnesses, who were there,

are safe leading up and during this trial. Well, we'll be following again this trial to see how this goes. All right, y'all. When I come back, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, one of the Breakfast Club. Talk about her presidential campaign. And when I say I heard some of the dumbest stuff you ever just could think about, what's that song? You got me going in circles. That applies to Nikki Haley. We'll break it down next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network.

Supporters of what we do, folks, join our Bring the Funk fan club. Send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app is DallasSan, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And be sure to get the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can always check it out, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week streaming channel, available on Amazon News by going to Amazon Fire.

You can also tell Alexa to play news from the Black Star Network. And we are available on Plex TV, Amazon FreeV, Amazon Prime Video. And be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available bookstores nationwide. We'll be right back. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Koff. We look at the history of emancipation around the world, including right here in the United States,

the so-called end of slavery. Trust me, it's a history lesson that bears no resemblance to what you learned in school. Professor Chris Mangiapra, author, scholar, amazing teacher, joins us to talk about his latest book, Black Ghost of Empire, The Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation. He explains why the end of slavery was no end at all, but instead a collection of laws and policies designed to preserve the status quo of racial oppression. The real problem is that the problems that slavery invented have

continued over time. And what reparations are really about is saying, how do we really transform society, right? And stop racial violence, which is so endemic. What we need to do about it on the next installment of The Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. My name is Lena Charles, and I'm from Opelousas, Louisiana. Yes, that is Zydeco capital of the world. My name is Margaret Chappelle. I'm from Dallas, Texas, representing the Urban Trivia Game.

It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley went on The Breakfast Club and it aired today. And, hmm, folks are calling this her longest conversation on race. Host Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy hit her with a variety of questions about immigration, racism, and the removal of the Confederate flag. Haley explained how growing up in a rural South Carolina town motivated her presidential run.

I grew up in a small rural town. And we took care of each other. It was neighbors taking care of neighbors. And there was just something simple about it. And there was just something that was, that was good. You genuinely wanted to take care of people. And we've lost that. I mean, right now you see hatred, you see division, you see anger. I mean, you see these things where they're trying to— Stop. Stop. Stop.

Oh, my God. Please stop. So let me explain to y'all what happens there. This is the perfect example of the Republican Party. Long ago, we lived in simpler times. We lived in a time where everybody got along. Things were great. We weren't fighting each other.

We weren't mad. We weren't upset. Nikki, your daddy couldn't get a job because he was Indian and was only hired at the HBCU. Yo mama, white folks wouldn't buy her dresses. Black women did.

But do y'all see how she's trying to play this? Things now, we're just so, we're so divided. If you ask most people, they're not fighting with their neighbors. What the hell is she talking about? But this is how they try to frame this thing. Oh, the world today is falling apart. If only we could go back to how it used to be. You mean like Jim Crow? I'm good. I'm good. I can bypass Jim Crow. Hit play.

Undercut people, and it's just, you know, it was exacerbated after COVID. But it's all the more reason why we need to go back and say, wait a minute. Stop taking all this so personally. This isn't personal. This is just about getting our country back on track. A swatting is personal, though. If I call somebody's house, if I say, hey, this is going down at this house, that was personal.

Well, I mean, it's personal from a political perspective. Yeah. I mean, it's a blood sport to run for office these days. But, yeah, I mean, it is. But it goes to show why, and it's why I'm so determined to finish this, is because I know America's better than this. But do you lose the love for it, right? You just told us some of the reasons why you want to do this, right?

And then you talk about some of the sides that are against that, right? You want to do it because you said you want to help people. You want to be the person that, you know, what you grew up on and what you wanted to see. But then you talk about them swatting your house, which is making your life miserable and your parents life. Your parents could have had a heart attack. You know, then you talk about Donald Trump attacking you the way that he's attacking you. I mean, they dive into your personal life. They dive into an alleged affair. They dive into anything that you've ever done or allegedly have ever done into your life. And it's when does it get to the point you'd be like, excuse me, part of my friends would fuck this.

I don't want to do this anymore. I mean, it's all lies. But what they don't realize is politics is the art of distraction. The more they do that, the more motivated I get. Because it's everything that's wrong with politics. It's everything that's wrong in this country that we have to clean up. So I do this.

I'll take the pain. I'll take whatever it is. I'm a tough girl. I can handle it. Okay. All right. Enough of that. I mean, that's just her just rambling. All right. So Charlemagne asked her about racism. Here's what she said. Politicians, Democrat and Republican, because we've all heard, we've heard you say America's

never been a racist country. We've heard the vice president say that before. We've heard OG Jim Clyburn say that before. We've heard Tim Scott say that before. Why can't Democrats and Republicans just be honest and tell people, hey, we can't have honest conversations about racism in this country because it's not a good electoral strategy? I mean, that's not why I do it. That's why.

No. That's why everybody does it. I have talked about, look, I have talked about racism as it affected me and how we need to get past it. I mean, keep in mind. But you can't talk about it and say America's never been a racist. You can't say America's never been a racist country, but then talk about the racism you've experienced.

There is racism in our country. I don't think that our country was founded to be racist. I don't. You don't create a Constitution that says all men are created equal, but that did not have women's rights in it. You don't create a country where women couldn't vote. You don't create a country that was set up for white male landowners. You don't create a country where black people were slaves, white people were indentured servants. You don't create a country where you have, go, please go read the book Dark Bargain,

where they talked about the battle over how do you include people of African descent who were slaves, and that's how they got to the Three-Fifths Compromise, because the South wanted to include them for population reasons, and the North didn't want to include them for population reasons. It came down to control or money. That was literally the creation of the country. The first slaves came here in 1619. So let's not act like a hundred years went by and oh my God, that was no racism here. How many Native Americans were slaughtered because white European settlers wanted the land? What the hell do you call that, Nikki Haley? Press play.

I think that it was meant to be this amazing experiment to see if we could have freedom and democracy in a way that all men are created equal. We are not there yet. But if you didn't look at all men as equal. Stop. Nikki, you act like people just, oh my goodness, we're just gonna up

and we're just going to pack up and just set sails for the United States of America. Mm. Mm. Mm-mm. That's not what happened.

That's not what happened. In fact, there's a video on social media where anti-racist educator Tim Wise sort of talked about that. Watch this. I'm just being honest. Like, when Donald Trump says Mexico's not sending their best, okay, you think England sent their best?

The hell? Like, like, like, y'all like that? Look, the people, people say, my family came over on the Mayflower. All right, shh. Why are you bragging, Buttercup? That is not, I don't know who was on the Mayflower, but I know who wasn't, the king. The king was not on the Mayflower. Nobody the king wanted to keep around was on the Mayflower. Nobody the king wanted to keep around was on the

Mayflower. But we have this fictional narrative. It's almost like we believe sometime around 1642, there was a British father somewhere in England that got his family together around the fireplace in the morning and said, all right, here's the thing. I know we're doing pretty well. We've got this big castle. We've got all this gold. I know, it's brilliant, right? It's fantastic. We were at the King's Palace last week. Kids, you remember you played with his children out in the garden. Wasn't that great? Yeah. I know, it was amazing, wasn't it? It was great. Listen, that's all fine and good, but Daddy has an idea.

My idea is as follows. Keep up, please. Keep up. Gather all your things. Not all of your things. We have a lot of things because we're doing really well. We're rich. We're powerful. Just gather up, like, a basket full of stuff, and we are going to get on a big boat. And by that, I mean rickety old ship. Like, I don't

even know if it's seaworthy. Like, it might sink. We might drown, get eaten by sharks, get robbed by pirates, get scurvied, die a horrible, miserable death on, get eaten by sharks, get robbed by pirates, get scurvy, die a horrible miserable death on the open ocean. However, and this is the important part, it will be an adventure. So what do you say? That didn't happen, right? The winners didn't get on the boat. The winners had no reason to leave and you know what? There's no shame in that. There's no shame at all in having been

the losers. In fact, let me tell you something. There's something quite... See, those are facts. But what Nikki Haley is describing on The Breakfast Club is this fictional story that we have been sold. Oh, it was about freedom, which is no different than the story of Texas independence. Oh, the Alamo, they were fighting for freedom and equality. No, they were fighting to protect slavery because Mexico was outlawing it. And this is why they want to ban books. This is why they want to get rid of DEI. It's because they don't want the next generation of white kids to know the actual truth about this country.

Press play. The ideology is flawed. But why do you want kids to hear that they live in a racist country? Why can't you tell kids, look, we're not perfect and we have some more things to fix? I just I don't want any child to think like that. I don't want any child to believe that they're disadvantaged from the second they're born. I didn't want to feel that. I don't think it's a disadvantage. I think if you tell somebody, I think if you tell somebody it's cold outside, you just, that just makes them put

on a coat. No, it makes them, it makes them know what it's going to feel like before they even get outside. I don't want kids to feel that. I want them to get outside with confidence and strength and know that they can be anything. We have to do that. But they got to know the truth, too. You know, like I have two black sons and they have to understand what they're facing when they go out to this world. It's not going to be the same as, let's say, my neighbor or a classmate. It's going to be the same and the same thing with you.

And same thing with you. And let's say your brothers wore the same as, let's say, my neighbor or a classmate. It's going to be the same and the same thing with you. And the same thing with you. The truth cannot stop you. And let's say your brothers wore the same thing that your dad wore. They weren't going to have the same lifestyle and they were going to be looked at differently than your other classmates. It's the truth. There was a We Miss Bamberg pageant that everybody would put their children in. It was the big thing in Bamberg.

You always put your kids in. So my mom decided to put me and my sister in this pageant. And I was disqualified because they had a black queen and they had a white queen. And they said they didn't know where to put me because if I was in the black category, the blacks would be mad. If I was in the white category, the whites would be mad. So they gave me a beach ball and sent me on my way.

A beach ball? Yeah, I know that's all I got, right? Only after my mom said, will you at least let her sing her song? You're never going to believe it. My song was, this land is your land, this land is my land. I mean, it doesn't get any worse than that. Listen, did my parents sit down and say to us what happened here was wrong? Yes. But did they say, this is the way the country is no my mom said you get up you show that this is we're going to make it better tomorrow i just it's my mentality that i want everybody to know we all have a job to do and that's to fix this country and we never stop see this is why this is bullshit.

So my parents told us why it happened. Oh, you mean the same parents who were told when they bought the home, you can't invite any black people over? And when you sell your home, you must sell it back to the person you bought it from? See, this is the nonsense. And see, Nikki Haley has an advantage. Because Nikki Haley's advantage is that she's a light-skinned Indian American. Nikki Haley don't look like Bobby Jindal. Now Bobby Jindal, American Indian Republican,

former governor of Louisiana, but Bobby Jindal dark skinned. So when Nikki was like, well, you know, we didn't really fit in the other category. Oh Nikki, you can pass for white. Yes you can. You can pass for white. But see, you didn't fit in either category. Well, the black people would have been mad and the white people would have been mad.

But Nikki, right there, it speaks about racism. And if you are a black parent, you are committing parental genocide if you do not tell your black children how they better act when they get stopped by the cops. See, Nick is like, oh no, things are going to get better. I just want our kids, let's have them experience life. Are you crazy? If a black kid watches a white kid show their ass, when the cops pull him over, that black kid knows,

I cannot do what they just did. Because the white kid is going to go home. The black kid will go home too, likely in a body bag. This is called reality. See, if I'm sitting there asking her the question, okay, Nikki, explain to me then why black families today, grown people, have to take the black artwork

and the black photos and the black books down when they get their houses appraised because the white appraiser may appraise it for less. So y'all see the game? I want y'all to listen. See how she said, well, I don't want to tell children. I'm not talking children right now. I want Nikki Haley to answer this.

Nikki, what about the black woman with multiple degrees who applied for a job with the Veterans Administration in Virginia, eminently qualified, but when she left the interview, the white folks opted not to give her the job because they did not like her hairstyle. And she sued, and she won, and they had to pay her lost wages, but she had to sue in order to get that. It has nothing to do with her degrees. It was because of her hairstyle. See, Nikki don't want to talk about that. See, y'all, see, it's real simple to say, well, I just want kids to not have to, and we're going to get better, and things are going to get better.

Nikki, who the hell do you think you're talking to? Every damn black parent since 1619 has said that. The black existence is built upon, baby, tomorrow's going to be better.

Black people, people of African descent were enslaved not knowing when we were going to be better. Black people, people of African descent were enslaved not knowing when we were going to be free. 248 years until official slavery ended. And we still caught hell during Jim Crow. And then 92 years. So baby, ain't, there's no group of people who has been more optimistic about the future of America than black people. 2009 survey was taken. The question was asked, are you optimistic about the future of America for your children? Who had the most optimism? Black people.

Every minority group, majority of them were optimistic. Only one group in America was less than the majority. White people. September 2016, a survey was taken. The question was asked, are you optimistic

about the future of America economically for the next 10 years? Black people, lowest wealth, highest optimism. Latinos, second lowest wealth, second highest optimism. White people, highest wealth, lowest optimism. Nikki, black people, we are always optimistic. We've always been America's glass is half full, even when America gave us a glass filled with mud and water. Press play. We have racism and it's terrible. I've felt it. Y'all felt it. A lot of people have

felt it. But are we not going to fight every day to make sure that we stomp it out wherever we see it? Absolutely. But I don't want kids being raised to think that they're never going to get past it. Okay, here we go. There we go. Again, she just repeating herself. Okay, play the next sound bite about the Civil War. In 2010, you also said about the Civil War.

You said it in an interview, too, that it was about tradition versus change. And then they asked you about it earlier this year, and you said it wasn't about slavery, but then you came back and said it was. Why? Why initially didn't you just say it was about slavery? So the context of that is I've done over one hundred and sixty town halls answering every question, shaking every hand. We don't screen anything. All of that. When he asked that question, I made the mistake of thinking. He thinking he was trying to ask something else.

I could tell that he was not a fan. Slavery should have been the first thing that came out of my mouth. I mean, growing up in South Carolina, we all knew that the Civil War was about slavery. That almost seemed too easy. I thought he was asking a harder question. And that's why I didn't say it. It was wrong. I should have said it i agree you know that but it was just me overthinking that question did you feel stupid that night if you like oh yeah i mean it was one of those things like because it was so like slavery is a given so i was mad that it was a given but i was too busy judging his intentions then i was just answering the question and it was a mistake.

Nemrata, did you actually say, I thought he was asking a harder question. So I decided to answer the hard question as opposed to answer the easy question he was asking, do you actually believe that we gonna believe that lie? Girl, bye. Last comment I'm about to play, y'all, is probably the absolute dumbest and idiotic you've ever heard. Go. Kamala, I want to ask why you said if Kamala was president, why would send chills down your spine?

Sure. So a couple of things. I think with Obama, that was, if you go back, that's when we really started to feel the division. That's when we were, it was. A lot of that was because of white supremacists, though. No, I think it was, it was everything. Everything was exaggerated with the Obama administration. It became more about gender.

It became more about race. It became more about separating Americans instead of bringing them together. That was because of right-wing media, though. They were scared to death of a black president. Look, I don't think everybody is at fault. I'm not saying that one person did this, but I'm saying under that administration,

it really did cause some—you just felt—people felt like they were being put in camps through that administration. The second thing is I saw he was very much an Iranian sympathizer. He very much kept wanting to support and do things with Iran. I think that's incredibly dangerous. This is a culture that says death to America, and you have to always be careful. A lot of spending happened on his watch that started us down that spiral. And then Obama did a lot of things by executive order.

Keep playing, keep playing. And that really started the, he did a lot by executive order, then Trump came in and reversed it all by executive order. Then Biden went and reversed it all there. You've got to do it the hard way. You've got to get Congress to come together and do those things because that makes it permanent. So what that did is that created leaders from around the world saw you just wait out a president. But more than that, people got used to just quick fixes instead of coming together and doing the hard work. So

it was more about what do we need to do to move us forward in a way that we're lifting up everybody, not a select few. That's when I started to see it. Kamala, it's from an experience standpoint. was two minutes and 34 seconds of absolute undeniable trash. Again, oh, all this stuff started during Obama. That's when the division started. So we're going gonna forget Bush and Clinton and Bush and Reagan and Carter and Nixon and LBJ and Kennedy and Truman

and FDR, we gonna forget Hoover and Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt. We just gonna forget like all that just didn't. We just gonna skip over the Tea Party, huh? Uh-huh. We just gonna skip over all of that. We gonna skip over Fox News losing their shit because he wore a tan suit. We're just going to skip over all of that. And I love this part right

here where she, y'all know how she said, well, no, no, everything and everybody. See, when you don't want to call out your side. See, we're just going to forget what Mitch McConnell said on the night of the inauguration. We are going to do everything possible to make this man a one-term president.

We're going to forget all that, huh? We're just going to conveniently skip over that, right? That's what we're going to do. And then, oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness. You know, he sits here and he, you know, he does all of these things. And he just, you know, it's like he, you know, he uses executive orders. It's in the Constitution. The Constitution says a president can pardon anybody he wants to for a federal crime.

It's in the Constitution. He doesn't have to. He literally does not have to give a reason. It's in the Constitution. Executive orders are in the Constitution. So Nikki Haley is saying Obama was wrong for using executive orders. I'm sorry, why did he use executive orders? Oh yeah, it's because Republicans in Congress

wouldn't cooperate. But she wants to conveniently skip over all of y'all. The Republican party was so trash and so crazy that their own speaker of the house said, I'm sick of y'all asses. I'm out. He went back to Ohio to drink and smoke and cut his own grass because he said, y'all are crazy.

Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm the only one who remembers those eight years. Rebecca, your thoughts. Oh, I've been waiting. Look, Roland, you said a mouthful. But I just want to point out there is a difference between black targeted media, and especially when they're talking about issues of race, there has to be an immediate fact check and context that's provided while that person is allowed for minutes on end just to spew nonsense that's not factually correct. Even talking about children and what is age-appropriate to teach about race with schoolchildren, there's very age-appropriate ways to discuss race in this country and try to get white children to identify with the good people in history, the abolitionists in history,

those who fought for civil rights and who fought to end Jim Crow. There were white people who fought to end those things. So in the context of teaching about racism in this country, then you should want white school children now to identify with those folks who said discrimination is wrong in this country. But even taking another step back, Nikki Haley graduated high school from a segregationist academy. Not only was it a segregationist academy, it was a merger. In the 80s, it was a merger of two segregationist academies that merged together to spawn a super segregationist academy. And let me tell you how bad the two academies were that then merged into, I think it was called Orangeburg Preparatory. The previous name of one of those academies was named after the largest slaver in the entire South.

Not the largest slaver, the white man who had the most slaves in South Carolina, but the white man who had the most slaves across the South, period. That lets you know what that school was thinking about when it was formed. It was specifically to remind black people, especially in South Carolina, to stay in their place. But something else, you know, taking a step back and thinking about the history, especially of Asian Americans in the South and their reaction to Jim Crow, I think it's important to point to the—I think

it's the Lum v. Rice case out of Mississippi. This was about four decades before—actually, might have been three decades before Brown v. the Board of Education. And so, it was an Asian American family that decided that they wanted to integrate whites-only schools—I think this case was out of Mississippi—but specifically, they didn't want to integrate whites-only schools for all people of color or for also the black kids. They wanted their kids to be declared white so they could go to the whites-only school and not be forced to go to the blacks-only school. So I think what's really interesting is where historical context matters, because, remember,

Nikki Haley's family immigrated from Canada. First, they were in India. They moved to Canada in 1964. Then, in 1969, they moved to South Carolina. And we all here, this audience, has heard the story that if it wasn't for black folks, Nikki's family would not have survived in America because it was black folks who employed Nikki's father working at the local HBCU, making sure he had food on his table because white schools would not employ him. His wife also was very well educated, but could barely get a job. And so she ended up having a clothing store, and her clientele was largely white.

And so as Nikki is reframing this revisionist history— No, no, no, no, no. Her clientele was largely black. Black. Yes. Sorry if I made the mistake and said the clientele was other than black. My point here is that black people clothed and fed Nikki Haley and her family in America. And the reason why black folks clothed and fed her family is because white society

would not allow them into society. So now for Nikki to cling to this white supremacy revisionist history of America, not only is it disheartening, but it's also gaslighting, because the Republican Party, through Nikki Haley, is using her non-white face to push its white supremacy agenda. And we do have to call that out. But this is also why Black-owned media matters. Robert? You know, I'm going to run for prime minister of India against Modi. I think his term is up in 26. And I'm going to make the argument that the British Empire wasn't racist, that the Raj, the entire period of British colonial rule over India, that was completely race neutral, that the partition of India in 1947, completely non-racist, that Gandhi was just tripping when he was protesting against the Indian—the British Empire, and that they should have no complaints about the conditions of Indians in the subcontinent today. And the queen has every right to parade around with all the crown jewels of Delhi in her—or

the king now, in his scepter and in his crown, because clearly, you know, there's a race-neutral society there. There's no reason for them to be upset. That's exactly how ignorant Nikki Haley's statements sound. Because anybody would say, objectively, the British Empire was one of the most racist empires in American history, and clearly the American empire

was built on the bones of dead Indians. Literally. That's where the... We kept the names of the Indian names of cities and then just killed all the people who were there. The cornerstone of the White House was laid by the enslaved Americans. She was the governor of a state that fired the first shots of the U.S. Civil War. And the fact is that it's this gaslighting of white America, this revision of history that they've created that says that everything was fine up until we had that black president

who started dividing us. Do you know that there were 1,700 members of Congress that owned slaves? The last slave-owning member of Congress only left Congress in 1922, 100 years ago. I'm sorry. Our founding fathers, George Washington, owned over 600 human beings. You mean to tell me that that wasn't a racist person who walked out looking at plantations full of slaves every day? If you're looking at Jefferson and Washington combined, their plantations were larger than

the state of Virginia is today. So let's just say from the beginning, the entire conceptualization around America was that it was going to be a haven for slave owners. We talk about manifest destiny. We now say that it was—Jefferson's view of America was to be a nation of small farms from sea to shining sea. It was not.

It was to be a nation of plantations from sea to shining sea. See how they changed the wording in there? Because we said that we were meant to be a nation of plantations. People know exactly what we were getting at. We fought a civil war where more Americans died in that war than all other wars combined. Why? To make sure that the South could keep their enslaved Africans. But we will still just somehow try to contort ourselves into this view that there is nothing innately wrong with

America, that there is nothing built into our—built into the bones of this country that talks about racism and segregation. Even Condoleezza Rice said the birth defect of America was racism and segregation. That's Condoleezza Rice, the Republican Condoleezza Rice. And African-Americans have only had rights in this country ostensibly since the 1960s. But you mean to tell me that in the 60 years since then, somehow we have forgotten everything that has taken place. This is why we have these Republicans attacks on public education. This is why they're burning books. This is why they're against Black Lives Matter. This is why they are rewriting Dr. King and turned him—I argued on my show

last week that they've made up their own version of Martin Luther King. I call him MLK. And he doesn't talk about racism. He doesn't talk about segregation. He doesn't talk about reparations. The only thing he wants us to do is have this race-neutral society, because the only part of his speech they heard was content of our character, not the color of our skin. And there's a reason that Nikki Haley goes on outlets like The Breakfast Club where you have a real estate scammer and someone accused of sexual assault asking her

questions as opposed to places where you're going to have journalists, attorneys, etc. talking about these things. Actually, fact check. First of all, Envy has not been accused of a real estate scam. His partner has been indicted, not DJ Envy. That's a fact check. Okay, fine. Somebody whose partner was accused of real estate scamming. But I would love to see

her sit down with some academics. I would love to see her sit down with people who have worked in the field for their entire lives of social justice. I would like to see her talk to the people who have been killed, who have had family members killed, who have been victims of a racist society and argue to them that the entirety of these things were made up in their minds and all we need is a can-do attitude and things will be better. If Nikki Haley, if they simply, as Rebecca said, changed that one ruling and said that Indian Americans had to identify as black instead of white on the census, Nikki Haley's entire life would be different today. She knows that.

And the fact that we are having these arguments in 2024 shows you that America has not gone as far as they have. I'd like to mention the entire time she's making these arguments, Donald Trump is saying incredibly racist stuff about her. Her name is Nimrata, and Donald Trump is calling her Nimrod because he claimed that she's stupid. He said that Vivek Ramchand is going to go back to running the 7-Eleven. That is something that Donald Trump said. He said that Nikki Haley's dresses weren't so fancy, because her mother, of course, ran a dress shop. So when you're in, you're looking in the face of racism, and you're saying that I can't even talk about it, I don't have the spine, the backbone to stand up to it, that tells

me you don't have what it takes to ever be president. JOHN QUILL? that tells me you don't have what it takes to ever be president. John Quayle? For me, you know, one, it's interesting that it has the appearance of trying to wipe out our identities as African-Americans, right? You want to take out portions of history that don't fit the reflection that you, Nikki Haley, wanted to reflect. Right. They want to take out African-American history. They she discussed about how parents shouldn't talk to their children about racial tensions or relations. And essentially, you know, they're attacking our DEI and affirmative action is gone.

And it's literally, they want to erase the history to reflect what they want history to be, right? And want us to think that race is still not an issue here, right? And frankly, with the Breakfast Club, she knew exactly what she was doing going on that show. I mean, the following, the young Black voters that watched that show, she dangerous rhetoric that she was spewing to the millions and millions of viewers that listen and watch that show. And that's a bigger problem, right? Charlamagne Tha God has made it very clear that he is not a fan of Kamala Harris, and she has been on the show several times.

And he has been quite rude on some occasions where he didn't even speak to her in the same manner that he's speaking to Nikki Haley, which is also another interesting point for another day. However, it's one thing for you to not support the Biden administration. However, allowing someone from the opposite party to come on, spewing that we don't have any, that this is not a systemic racial country, it's absolutely. Looks like we lost, we lost John Quayle's signal there. Folks, look, here's my whole deal. Nikki said a whole bunch of BS. And she was spinning, she was backpedaling,

and she was just saying stuff. She was talking out the side of her neck. And the reality is, she's not going to say the truth. Because she'll have been asked the question, why can't politicians be honest? Because they can't. Because Americans can't handle the truth. Especially white Americans can't handle the truth. They can't. Because Americans can't handle the truth. Especially white Americans can't handle the truth.

They can't. That's why they got to soft shoe it. That's why you got to dance around it. That's why Obama had to have a beer summit when he said the cops acted stupidly after arresting Skip Gates when it was ascertained that he lived there. That's what he said. No, they said, oh, he called the cops stupid.

No, he didn't. He didn't. But Fox News lost their mind, and he had to have a beer summit. That right there is America. And so you're not going to have a black politician speak hardcore truth about the history of this country because they're not going to be able to garner non-black votes. It's a fact. So we all know when Vice President Kamala Harris answered the question, we knew why she couldn't say the real deal because white America has never been able to handle the truth about

this country. There was a certain person who actually wrote in a book that he believed that white America America was incapable of properly dealing with the issue of race and their role in it. Who was that person? Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his book, Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or community. He literally said it. So Nikki can sit here and dance and whatever, but we know truth is truth. And all that grunt in her mouth mean nothing. Going to a break. We come back. My man Plies goes off and he's got some advice for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris. I'll play that next right here in Roller Mark Unfiltered

on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. White people are losing their damn minds. It's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made

progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. Bye bye, couple. This is Reggie Rock, bye for a week. You're watching.

Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me? All right, we've often talked about the lack of proper messaging from Democrats, Biden, Harris administration, and how they need to learn how to, you know, stick their chest out, strut their stuff. Well, Rep Replies man dropped the video,

he just went off. And let me warn y'all, there's some strong language in here that would even make Reesey blush. So just letting y'all know right now, so if you watching with your kids and you don't want them to hear a whole bunch of MFs, go ahead and turn it down or turn away. I'm just letting y'all know, might trigger some of y'all.

But ain't nothing he said lying. Press play. better on the yard than it did on the hill. Job numbers way better on the yard than it did on the hill. Motherfucking GDP. People wages at the bottom going up more than the people wages at the top. Inflation going down. Gas prices going down. And y'all can't figure out how to motherfucking brag? You blow some shit up over there in the Middle East, get your ass out here and brag about it. How you think I know you got a motherfucking Corvette, Joe, huh? Because you a motherfucking bragging. How you think I know Combs don't know how to motherfucking dance? Because she motherfucking shoulder.

You think if you had nine-to-one motherfucking charges on you, he wouldn't be over there motherfucking talking about it? What you think the motherfucking NFL doing right now, motherfucking Taylor Swift joke? Motherfucking bragging. They saying she had eye on the bitch. She ain't at the NBA. She ain't at the NHL. She ain't at the MLB. She ain't at that shit.

Even motherfucking Creflo Dollar bragging. Fuck you think you all them Rose Rushes is and shit. You went and ate lunch at them little motherfucking black kids house in the motherfucking wherever they was. How you think we motherfucking found out about it? You ain't tell us.

They snuck your motherfucking recorder cause they was motherfucking bragging. And y'all can't figure out how to motherfucking brag just do it alone for getting get your ass out here and brag about y'all get out some money get your ass out here and brag about it you got some motherfucking celebrities out of prison too get motherfucking britney ground at your motherfucker throw a motherfucking party it ain't your motherfucking party.

It ain't your motherfucking fault America love brags, but God damn it, brag. Shit, I ain't that motherfucking hard, man. All you got to do is go motherfucking brag. Y'all need to hang around some motherfucking rappers or something. Somebody need to teach y'all how to motherfucking brag, because y'all goddamn sure don't know how to do it uh uh john quayle no lies told absolutely no lies told i watched that about five times today i'm sorry and i holler laughing each time that i watch that i'm sorry but he's absolutely correct right um kamala Harris has actually been on the shade room a couple of times. I saw she was, they just posted her today.

I think she allowed the shade room to come up on Air Force Two with her. Her and President Biden have made some changes to the ability to get a small business loan. So those who have criminal convictions or that may be on probation for certain convictions, what used to be a bar to small business loans, they have now more recently opened that up so that there will be millions of small business owners that, of course, this will affect mostly black and brown people, the ability to get small business loans, which is a phenomenal thing to do. And it's on the Shade Room and they have millions of followers. However, back to Ply's point, he's absolutely correct. We've talked about this on the show, not in the

way that he has. However, they have not done a good job reaching or targeting the demographic of young African-American voters. And so the one thing about Donald Trump—now, his Twitter rants and everything else have went way too far and actually have gotten him into some trouble and will likely be used as evidence in some of his prosecutions. However, the Biden administration has hardly made any comments, if any, about these ongoing cases, about these defamation lawsuits, or frankly, about all of the wins that they have done, at least not in a way that it translates for people to know. I mean, people just don't know. And so and that is one of the reasons why he's not polling that well in comparison to Donald Trump. And a lot of Americans are having issues with the both of them. And I think

a large number of that has to do with what Rapper Ply said, and that they're they do a terrible job of bragging or keeping everyone informed in a way where it is known by the masses. Rebecca, 80 percent of the job of president is the bully pulpit. It's taking credit for stuff. And and a senior administration official said to me that we did so much in a short period of time that we were more focused on just trying to get stuff passed and we didn't do a good enough job of selling the programs. But you got absolutely selling. And again, this is where, but it also goes to style. The reality is Trump was loud, rambunctious, obnoxious, and was always throwing it in your face and folks are running with it.

Biden, Harris, more subtle, more reserved. It doesn't get covered the same way. Trump is an entertainer. The thing about entertainers, and to Ply's point, and Ply's is also an entertainer, they know how to connect with people. That's the point. It's connecting with people, whether it's by connecting with people through your music artistry, connecting with people through your reality TV

shows, it's connection to people. So the Biden-Harris administration could definitely take some advice from entertainers with how to connect with people. But here's the thing, the White House has a podium. They could literally have a press conference every single day, even if they got 500. Let's just say that there's 200 things that they got passed or that they did through executive order. Well, guess what? It's, you know, we're still over 200 days from the election day. So every single day have a press conference and pick a topic about something that this administration has passed or has done to make lives better for everyday ordinary Americans. Like the White House literally has the bully pulpit to do it. Like we

don't say bully pulpit as is a metaphorical thing. It's an actual thing. They actually have a platform where they could talk directly to the American people. So they ought to use it. Look, we probably going to get flagged for this, and so, Kenan, you're going to have to cut this out of the restream. But I love that scene, Robert, in Jungle Fever, when Wesley Snipes playing Flipper, when he acted a fool when he quit because his two white bosses would not make him a partner in the architecture firm. And I've used this example.

And what he did really is how Biden-Harris should be doing when it comes to all these infrastructure projects and other things that they have gotten done that other folks are taking credit for. Watch this. Come on, Flipper. Come on. Let him go. Flipper, come on. You don't have to walk away like this. who plays third base. Look, we spent a long...

Mine! Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine! Ego, ego, ego, ego! Come on, quiet. Don't tell me to be quiet. That's it, right there, Robert. They should go, mine. We did that.

We did that. We did that. No, y'all didn't do that. We did that. Again, I think what Plaza's laying out, I think it does come down to style, to presentation. They want to be, obviously, more professional, more presidential.

But when people are not giving you credit for stuff that you have done, then, I mean, Peter Roussel was deputy press secretary for Vice President George H.W. Bush. He was an adjunct professor at Texas A&M. And he told me something that I never forget. He said, Roland, you got to learn to pat yourself on your back because other folk may never do it. And he said, never forget that. And I think this is what, how they sort of operate. No, no, no. You got to make it clear this stuff didn't happen without us. Inflation is what, how they sort of operate. No, no, no. You got to make it clear. This stuff didn't happen without us.

Inflation is down. Inflation Reduction Act. And it's pounding it in the heads of people over and over again. That's really what he's talking about. Quote I like to use is that sometimes if you don't toot your own horn, there's no music playing. And that's what the Biden administration falls into. And I was thinking, we have very different tastes in movies, because the movie I thought of for this topic was The King's Speech. The fact that in that movie, the king had an inability to speak on his own behalf.

He had a stutter. I think that's part of the issue, that Biden can't speak on his own behalf, and his staff is afraid to put him out there to speak on his own behalf. You can't put Biden on The Tonight Show, for example, because they're afraid that he'll fall off the stage or have some kind of gaffe or faux pas. So he needs surrogates to be able to carry that message. But at the end of the day, you know, Karine Jean-Pierre might need to invite applause to the White House every once in a while to give maybe a monthly update, because I think

if you could hear applause from the White House podium, as opposed to some of these very technical speeches that they're giving, that'd be a whole lot more effective than the messaging they're putting out there. What President Biden did in his first term is nothing less than a miracle. I want people to understand that economically. Coming out of a worldwide pandemic, coming out of a pandemic that shut down the world for two years, and dealing with an insurrection that nearly tore the country apart, when every economic indicator said we'll be dropping into a deep recession that could last two or three years, we've had three consecutive years of GDP growth. We have unemployment that's been under 4 percent for 24 months. Inflation is down 64 percent from its height in 2021.

We're the leading economy of any industrialized nation on Earth. We have increased military spending. We brought down the price of prescription drugs. We've forgiven over $140 billion in student loans. You can't even—you can't make that stuff up, and you're doing that with a—not Tea Party, but with a MAGA insurrectionist Congress that doesn't want to pass, that's the least productive Congress in the history of the United States of America.

And the fact that they can't carry that message just shows they need to have a little huddle, and President Biden needs to walk in and just say, you're fired, you're fired, you're fired. Everyone on the communications staff is fired. Bring in all new people who are able to carry this message to the American people. There's no reason that President Biden should be signing new legislation on health care and Donald Trump walking out of a rape trial and Donald Trump's poll numbers go up more than President Biden. That's a failure of communications. And again, it just, I mean, the point that you're making, I'm going to show this here. And again, a lot of people have no idea even what GDP is. But when you talk about how does your economy grow, these are the absolute facts right

here. Axios reported this. Gross domestic product among the G7 nations, the top seven economies. Let's go at the bottom. And actually, this is the different chart. There's another one where Germany is negative 0.3 percent, but you have the U.K. at 0.5 percent, Italy 0.7 percent, France at 0.8 percent, Canada at 1.1, Japan at 1.9, the United States at 2.5. And you look at what's projected in 2024, Japan is going to be 0.9, Canada 1.4. America is going to be 2.1. That's called an economy that's growing. So when Nikki Haley goes on The Breakfast Club and talk about how bad things are, how this country is going to hell. No, boo, you got to respond to that. See, and you got to hammer that thing home. And so I agree with Plies 100 percent. I got to go to a quick break. We come back, y'all. Issa Rae says, hey, I might have to go the independent route because I'm not happy with these shows that black people love and watch getting canceled. I agree with that 100%. y'all through a deconstruction of what that means if black people actually learn to support

other black people that is next right here on roland mark dunn filter on the black star network on the next get wealthy with me deborah owens amer America's Wealth Coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy, I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem, to bring resources to Blacks and people of color so they can scale their business.

Even though we've had several examples of African Americans and other people of color being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Next on The Frequency, we have an incredible conversation with my guest, Nadira Simmons, talking about her new book, First Things First, Hip Hop Ladies That Changed the Game. The founder of GumboNet tells us the stories behind the women in hip hop. Starting with the first woman that promoted the hip hop party to Megan Thee Stallion.

There's even a chapter on me. Thank you so much for including me in there. It's just so like, you had to be in there. That's next on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. Grow your business or career with Grow with Google's wide range of online courses, digital training, and tools. Gain in-demand job skills with flexible online training programs designed to put you on the fast track to jobs in high-growth fields. No experience is necessary. Learn at your own pace.

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Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is $RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at rolling s Martin calm What's up everybody, it's your girl Latasha from the egg and you're watching Roland Martin unfiltered Thank you. Thank you. All right, folks, you have heard a number of people, Hollywood folks and others, talk about lack of support in Hollywood content, things along those lines.

And folks are talking about Issa Rae because she made some comments during a recent interview. And this is the Hollywood Reporter story. And it says, Issa Rae says, Studio cancellations of black shows have her considering the indie route. You're seeing very clearly our stories are less of a priority. Now, we've heard people talk about what has happened post-George Floyd, how many of these Hollywood studios, just about these shows, we have to understand that we are talking about the show part, show business, and not the business part. Here are some of the shows that have been canceled that African Americans really like and appreciate. You'll see the graphic

right here. And so we're talking about, of course, Love Life, Grown-ish, Z-We, Gossip Girl, Everything's Trash, 61st Street, Legendary Southside, Suite Life, Los Angeles, a black lady sketch show, The Game, A League of Their Own, Truth Be Told, The Wonder Years, Winning Time. There was a particular show that was on a Prime video about a family who's out of the UK. They owned a media company. That show got canceled. And people have been just upset, mad, angry. Man, our show's getting canceled.

Let me remind people of this. When you do not own, you work for somebody else. When you own, you cannot be canceled. And so the fundamental thing here, and when I saw Issa Rae's comments, when I think back to Taraji and she was complaining about salary and not being paid her worth. And then when Vivica A. Fox was asked the question, Vivica A. Fox said, I'm good. And a bunch of people were mad at Vivica A. Fox. They were mad because why you didn't come to Taraji's defense? Well, if they had actually read some stories earlier, a few years earlier, Vivica A. Fox talked about doing her own projects

where she was the director, the producer, the writer and star in it. She said, I was getting four checks. Michael J. White talks about the movies that he does that's shown in Romania and shown in Russia and shown in Serbia. He said, man, the folks in those countries love the action films and the karate and stuff along those lines. I remember when Wesley Snipes, people like, yo, man, all these movies you're doing,

we ain't watching those movies. It's going to direct video. Hmm. He said, wait a minute. But I'm getting paid more for those films than I did and others. Let me take you all back to what Prince said. When Prince came out with Emancipation,

a reporter asked Prince about the sales, and Prince said, I think Emancipation had moved something like 800,000 units. I can't remember at that point. He said, I've made more money off of Emancipation had moved something like 800,000 units. I can't remember at that point. He said, I've made more money off of Emancipation than I did Purple Rain. And they were like, well, wait, hold up. Purple Rain did like 2 million, 10 million sales. He said, like I said, I made more. When Prince talked about owning your masters, Prince only did distribution deals.

A lot of y'all might forget. Before iTunes existed, Prince had a download service on his website. Mm-hmm. You could download Prince's music. That was before Steve Jobs and Apple Music. That was before the iPod. Because Prince understood technology, but he understood ownership.

And so as I was thinking about what Issa Rae had to say, and as I thought about the numerous times that 50 Cent was mad and upset with Starz, and this was one of the stories right here. I did then what the wrong people, 50 Cent expresses regrets about working with Starz, says he's not doing any BMF spinoffs or selling any more shows to the network. In fact, if you actually Google 50 Cent Blast Stars, go to it, you will see April 4, 2022, you will see April 22, 2023, you will see all these times 50 Cent was unhappy with Stars.

Right here, 50 Cent blasts Stars for only paying $17,000 per episode. He's sitting here, again, ripping them because they are the distributor. They are the distributor. They are the owner. So what happens when you get tired to recognize, maybe I should put it out myself. That's what Easter egg is talking about. See, some of y'all may be thinking, oh, well, you know, I don't know how it's going to work. Really? When I saw the Issa Rae story, I immediately thought about these people right here. You may not know who these people are.

These are some of the top celebrities in the early 20th century. In this picture, you will see Mary Pickford. In this picture, Charlie Chaplin. You'll see Douglas Fairbanks. You'll see D.W. Griffith in this picture. What did they do? They were not happy being these mega stars, and they saw consolidation happening around them, and they said, wait a minute, if the studios start merging, we're going to have a lower paycheck. So these artists got together and said,

wait a minute, we're the biggest stars in the game. Why are we operating as contract players and only getting what they give us? How about us create our own movie studio. And that is how United Artists was created. You had Paramount, other studios. They said, we're going to do our own. And that's exactly what they did. This is from marypickford.org. Right here. They call themselves United Artists.

But the trades called it a rebellion against established producing and distributing arrangements when Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith went before the cameras on February 5th, 1919 to sign the documents that created the corporation that the filmmakers claimed was necessary to protect their own interest as well as to protect the exhibitor and the industry from itself. That's what Issa Rae is talking about Issa Rae is sitting here saying we're watching these shows get canceled because the Issa Rae's of the world unfortunately they are the show in the business but it's the business that determines whether you can watch the show. But when you're the show and the business, then you can determine whether your content gets produced or not.

We live that, I live it every single day. When I chose to cover and participate in Reggie Jackson's Mr. October Foundation Golf Tournament Sunday and Monday at the Floridian in Florida, I was a guest of Honda Acura. I broadcast the show from there. I didn't have to ask anybody because I own the camera. I own the live stream unit. I own what's in the control room. I own the space. I employ the people. I don't have to ask. The only person who can counsel me is God. That's understanding the show and the business. And so why be frustrated and angry and upset when you're slamming your head up against a system

when you can say, wait a minute, how about if we reverse this thing and say, I'm not interested in being the show. I want to be the business too. That's why I think when you begin to look at what is happening and you begin to understand ownership, now understand how can I now monetize my audience beyond just them giving me a paycheck. And let me be perfectly clear. Not everybody wants to do that. Not everybody wants to have, I get it. Okay. I get it. Not everybody wants to have to go out there and try to get the advertising dollars and try and you're working here and you just want to just do your stuff and get a check. I totally get it. But again, if you choose the latter,

then you're putting yourself at the mercy of somebody else saying yes or no. You're putting yourself at the mercy of somebody sitting here while you're having a great idea, and you're putting this whole thing together. There's somebody going, mm-mm, I don't like it. And now you've got to go back to the drawing board.

Now you've got to come back and go back to the kitchen and I've got to create something and bring it out for them to say, yeah, this tastes good. I'll go ahead and buy that. I remember 2008, 2009, when I was at CNN, I was on the, I don't know, who was calling me in the middle of my show from no caller ID? Y'all hold on. Rolling. It's rolling.

I'm in the middle of the show. Yeah, I'm live right now, D.L. Heagley. I'm live right now. No, no, I answered the phone because only you called me with no caller ID, and I want to make sure it was the White House or somebody like that. So can I go back to my show, D.L.? Okay. I'll call later, D.L.

Bye. Yes, I want to it a deal. Bye. Yes, I want to go ahead and do that. I knew it was only one or two people. I didn't expect it from the White House or with D.O. Hughley because he's the only one who calls me from damn it, no call ID. As I was saying, 2008, 2009, I'm at CNN. And everybody's trying to sit here and want to do some stuff. So I get a phone call from HarperCollins.

And they want to meet. And HarperCollins, I go to the meeting. And we're sitting in the room. And HarperCollins, hey, we see you on CNN. And you're on Tom's Morning Radio Show. You're doing all these things. And we'd love to do a book with you. So what kind of thoughts you got?

So I sit there, and I throw out three or four ideas. And no, no, no, no. What else? No, no, no, no, no. What else? No, no, no, no, no. And by the third no, I went, hold up. Let me explain something to y'all.

I don't need y'all to do a book. Because see, y'all, by that time, I'd already done three. I'd already done Speak, Brother, Black Men's View of America. I'd already done my wife's book, Fulfill the Art and Joy of Balanced Living. I'd already done Listen

to the Spirit Within, Fif 50 Perspectives on Faith. I didn't need them to do a book. I didn't need them to market the book. I was already on media. So I'm sitting here, and I'm like, why am I listening to y'all tell me no? And I said, let me be clear. Every one of the ideas I'm telling y'all about I'm gonna do and one of them was white fear I said I don't need y'all I bought my own ISBN numbers I said

matter of fact if y'all want to have a conversation let me take the talent hat off let me put the businessman hat on. Now, let's talk about glossy versus hardcover. Let's talk about paperweight of the book. Let's talk about the design, the print. I said, if y'all want to have that conversation, let's go. So, I wasn't interested in Harper Collins going, now, young man, you're now an author. And that's our problem. We're waiting for somebody else to give us permission to use the gifts that we have been blessed with when we're living now in a world where we don't have to wait on them So as I saw that Issa Rae story I thought about United Artists and I said wait a minute Imagine Imagine that Issa Rae and

50 Cent and Taraji and three or four others say, we ain't waiting on y'all. We're going to create a digital network that's either ad supported or subscription based to where we are going to produce our own content for our audience, bring their eyeballs to our platform, and that they are paying a monthly subscription fee, then we're able to generate that revenue. I'll give you a perfect example. So, power, all of those power shows are driving stars. Black people built stars. That's just a fact. Stars has been growing.

This is a story from the Hollywood Reporter. Stars has about 26.3 million subscribers. They're paying $10 a month for stars. I want y'all out there who, if the numbers are too large for y'all, I want you to sit at home and go, huh, 26 million people times $10 a month is $260 million a month. If they don't lose any of those subscribers, that means in the course of the year, Starz is going to generate $3.12 billion in revenue from their network.

Let me say that slower. Starz has 26 million subscribers. If the 26 million subscribers of Starz is paying on average $10 a month, Starz is generating $260 million a month in revenue. That's $3.12 billion in a year. That's how Starz can sit here and say, 15, we're going to pay for you for your show. We're going to pay for this show, pay for this show.

And guess what? We're going to pay you this year. Y'all go out. Y'all now promote the network. Drive people to subscribe. Oh oh by the way we're gonna carry a show for two three four years and then we cancel the show we got your show in our library so the folk can then sit here and watch it oh matter of fact since we own the show we can then turn around and license the show to somebody else and they're going to pay us for that.

That's what Netflix does. Shows that are on ABC, NBC, CBS, Discovery, Warner, they are licensed to the networks. Remember when Dave Chappelle complained about the Dave Chappelle show. Comedy Central was licensing the show to Netflix. He said to Ted Sarandos, they ain't paying me for that. Please take it off and they did. He then told his followers, do not watch the Dave Chappelle show on HBO Max.

And guess what Comedy Central did? They picked that phone up and did right by Dave and cut him a big check. Then he said, y'all can go ahead and watch it. But imagine if we own the Netflix, if we own the stars, then we're greenlighting our own stuff. Uh-oh. It's a perfect example. Fanbase. Hold up. Don't pull it up. Isaac Hayes III created Fanbase. Subscription base platform. And so when you look at Fanbase and what they are able to do with fan base,

they are able to create content that you can subscribe to, which means that if you created your own account on fan base, this is the website. If you go to fan base and create your own account, you can actually charge your subscribers. So let's just say, again, I'm just throwing numbers out. As a matter of fact, let me just look over here. Let's just say if you're Issa Rae and you're on Instagram and she has 4.4 million followers on Instagram. If Issa Rae says, hey, I want all of you on Instagram to go to Fanbase right now, because I am no longer gonna post content on Instagram,

I'm gonna post all of my content on Fanbase, and in fact, I'm going to launch new shows on Fanbase that you can subscribe to, a buck and a nine per show, or you pay a monthly fee and you get all the content. It's the same as having your own streaming network. Let's say the 4.4 million people on Issa Rae's Instagram channel, let's say only, let's say only 10% subscribe.

That's 440,000 people, correct? That means that 440,000 people, 440,000 of her existing Instagram people, just 10%, all of a sudden say, I'm going to go to Fanbase, and I'm going to subscribe to your Fanbase account to pay for the shows and your content. That's $4.4 million a month, and that means over the year, she can generate $52.8 million in revenue, which can then pay for the shows, the people involved, or whatever. Then, if she decides to cancel the show, it's on her. Because she owns it. She's funding it. She's controlling it. And you, the audience, you are watching it and you're no

longer at the mercy of somebody else. But let's say it's not fan base. Who's doing that? David Oyelowo and Nate Parker. What did they do? They got together and they launched a streaming service called Mansa. And if you go to Mansa, this is it. You go to Mansa, it's an app. They have various platforms and various fast channels. And so they have movies and other shows along Mansa. They raised about eight million dollars for Mansa. And David Oyelowo was speaking somewhere recently

and he talked about why they launched it. This is what he had to say. With Mansa, we have basically a black-owned platform, which is black culture for a global audience. We recognize that black culture is the culture. It drives so much music, literature, fashion, movies. You know, so much of it is driven by what we call black culture which is not tied to black people it's just tied to people and so mancer is an aggregator for that there's so much undervalued content out there you know for every moonlight there is a a vat of very very good films

that didn't get picked up at sundance or Toronto that just sits on a shelf or is not being they did get into Sundance and then nothing happened to the filmmaker after exactly we let you into the party for two weeks and then we never talked to you again literally again because so many of the platforms so many of the studios so many of the buyers don't share the values the culture of the demographic who made it and so it doesn't have the same value. So on Mansa, it's a home for that. And how do people access Mansa? It's a free platform.

So it's at Mansa.com? Yes, it's ad-supported. It's on smart TV. Now, each or 50 or others can actually join with them. You know what? I'm going to create my own. However, what I'm trying to lay out here is that we no longer have to be at the mercy of somebody else telling us yes or no.

It's no different than when HarperCollins told me no. I'm like, I don't need y'all. I can go hire me an editor, a copy editor, a graphic designer. I can publish the book myself. I can market it myself and I can get paid. Y'all, I did that with my first five books. That's what I did. And when the money came, money came to me, it didn't go to, I didn't split it 60-40 with a company. No, I got 100. I assumed all the risk, but I also got the reward.

Now, that's what Zeus Network is. Now, I don't watch Zeus because I think it's trash. I'm not trying to watch people fight, scream, pull hair out. But the reality is, that's what Zeus is. Lemuel Plummer created Zeus. They got content people, content people like that. But here's the deal. Now, I's what Zeus is. Lemuel Plummer created Zeus. They got content people, content people like that. But here's the deal. Now I've heard different numbers.

I've heard that they have anywhere from three to six million subscribers to Zeus network. Let's just say, and you see it right there, it costs $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year. Okay, let's go to low end. That means that if Zeus Network has three million a grant, you have churn. People drop, they cancel, they subscribe. But let's just say Zeus Network had three million subscribers and they were paying 60 bucks a year. That means Zeus Network is

generating $180 million in revenue a month. That means over the course of a year, Zeus is generating $2.16 billion in revenue. Now, that may not be the case because there are different factors here. Again, churn rate, dropping, picking up, all kinds of different stuff. But what I'm trying to say is you're now in control. What does that quote say from Freedom's Journal, March 16th, 1827, the first black newspaper? We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. Now say in 2024, we wish to create

our own content because we're tired of getting canceled by somebody else. Now the question is, are you as a black consumer, are you going to actually do it? Are we as black people going to continue to make the clubhouses of the world rich, the Instagram of the world's rich, the Facebooks and the Twitters of the world rich? Or are we going to say, you know, absolutely, I'm going to support black-owned fan base. I'm going to support Black-owned Mansa. I'm going to support Black-owned Black Star Network because we are in control of our own destiny and we're not asking for permission.

So I would love nothing better than to see Issa Rae say, we're about to change the game. I would love to hear Issa say, sisters, I'm about to pull several other sisters, several other brothers, and we're going to launch a 2024 version of United Artists. And our target goal is to get to a million subs or two million subs. And I believe they can actually go out and raise the hundred million dollars to launch it because again I'm just I'm just going to use 50 cent as an example and look I get it 50 is doing some amazing stuff he's got his liquor brand he's got all kind of stuff I mean he's got 20 plus shows on different networks but in 50 cent again I want to show y'all numbers. He's got 30.9

million Instagram followers. If you go over to Facebook and look at what he's got on Facebook, I think Facebook, let's see, he's got 42 million on Facebook. So now we're at 72 million. If I go over to YouTube and I type in 50 Cent, he has 15.6 million subscribers. We are now approaching 100 million subscribers. Now, could be across people, same people. But do y'all see what I'm saying? 50 Cent, Issa Rae, and others could literally say, we're going to partner like United Artists, and we're going to create our own digital network in order for our people to see the content, and anybody else can see it. And guess what? David said it, black content, we drive it. Other folk watch and they gonna subscribe.

And so if you drive it on a subscription basis, all of a sudden you're generating your own money to fund your own shows. And if you wanna put Taraji in a series, you can pay Taraji her worth. Because our eyeballs, and this is the most important thing I need y'all to understand. Our eyeballs drive television. Black people watch more television than any other group in the country.

We over index on listening to podcasts. We are consuming content, but we're consuming content where other people are getting rich. We made the color purple break history on Christmas Day. Black people did. We drove the box office of Black Panther, and we celebrated Black Panther making more than a billion dollars for Disney. For Disney.

The color purple is making the money for Warner Brothers. When the Issa Rae show was on HBO, Insecure, it was making money for HBO. I'm not begrudging that. I understand why people do deals. I totally get it. But if we were sick and tired of having to wait for permission and then seeing our hard work cancel after one season or two seasons, the model that is sitting in front of us right now means that we can literally create it

for ourselves. And imagine if black artists said we are going to create United Artists 2.0. And we're gonna create our own content, approve our own content, promote it, market it, and distribute it, because that's where the power is. When we do that, oh, I guarantee you Hollywood will listen but the reality is you don't need Hollywood you don't need

Hollywood to make the shows Issa knows that because when she did Awkward Black Girl put them on YouTube they were doing that thing all working together 50 Cent is doing a studio in Shreveport. Tyler Perry has his studio. Full scale, top to bottom. Shoot it, produce

it, edit, you name it, back lot, sound stage, all that sort of stuff like that. Y'all, it's all in front of us. Granted, it's a hell of a lot of work. But do you know what I can say as the owner of Blackstar Network? What I love is when I make a decision to put a show on, it's on. If I say I want this person to guest host my show, I'm not asking anybody else. If I want to see a show shot this way, we do it.

That's when the game changes. And I hope every one of you who's watching and listening now understands the economics of the business. There is show and there's business. And too often, as African Americans, when it comes to movies and television and music and culture, we are the show. We are putting on fantastic performances for other people

and our people are struggling at 40 and 50 and 60 and 70 and our show has sent their children to college and paid for their homes and provided for their inheritance. When we lock down the business, then we're having a whole different conversation. Thoughts from my panel. I'll start with you, Rebecca.

You know, Roland, I think you did a good job of really making the case for people to understand that in ownership in America, that's where, as black people, we have our emancipation, we have our freedom. And, you know, a lot of times people ask, well, I see this person out here on this platform or doing this or that. But once again, the differences between, like I was talking about earlier, but black targeted versus actual black ownership. And like to your point, you get to make the final decisions. You get to make the final say. And what's so important about ownership? It's not just having the final say for the sake of having the final say. And what's so important about ownership, it's not just having the final say for the sake of having the final say. But if you want to then build it and then sell it, you can do so. If you

want to put it in your will and bequeath it to the next generation, you could do so as well. It's about long-term wealth building in Black community. Because the truth of the matter is, we live in the United States, which is a capitalist-based economy, which means if you don't have ownership of anything, then you will not continue to survive in this country. You know, even with all the racism in this country, I will say there are times when it appears that corporations actually have better and more full rights than just being a black person in this country. Robert?

Robert, I absolutely agree with you, Roland. I think even if you look at the news space, for example, we have so many different black talk radio shows. We're still over-indexed in talk radio, but that doesn't convert to television or to even the internet, quite frankly. When you compare it to something like a Blaze TV or a CRTV or many of the other conservative networks, I think we have to start uniting in the news space also. The reason that people like Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramchani go to entertainers

like The Breakfast Club instead of a large black news network is because we have to have that type of outlet where everyone is coming together to where we to have that type of outlet where everyone is coming together to where we can have the type of reach that is needed to really get the proper information out to our communities. That's why I give you credit for starting the Black Star Network and why I think we as a community have to work to build that out. It should be 24 hours of programming, seven days a week, because there's no lack of stories that need to be told both domestically and internationally.

And if we start working together, we can truly build something that can compete, and we don't have to start begging MSNBC or CBS or anybody else to put us on. They'll be begging to come onto our platform to spread their information to our audiences. John Quill? Very, very good points. I wanted to add that as it relates to Issa Rae, I did read that she also made mention about the role of the content that African-Americans generally depict on screen. Right. And one of them is struggling or there are specific roles and stereotypes that until you begin to make your own and create your own, you're pigeonholed into what's made available to you.

And to your point, everyone is not made to be an entrepreneur or for that matter. However, for those of you out there that are miserable at your jobs, where people are making your life difficult, I encourage you to go out and start working on things that you're passionate about, and then the money will come. And eventually, you know, the only freedom that you can have is when you are employed on your own. The other panelists made a good point, is that, you know, while working for someone else, you can survive, but it may be challenging for you to thrive. And we want us all to be able to thrive in this world. And in order to start becoming at a level of economic freedom and having freedom

over your well-being is when you're working for yourself or generating other sources of revenue, and which also lead to generational wealth as what's stated, and also enhances our community. And so I think that these are all valid points, and all of us as a community, we need to look inward in terms of how we can make our own lives better, as well as contributing to the community. And again, look, ownership, look, I mean all that business stuff, man, it ain't fun. It's not fun when camera break down and tripods and now you gotta replace it. Look, man, I just spent that money.

I mean, you don't wanna do that stuff. But again, this is the thing that I've always said and this is I think really what matters. It's freedom and flexibility. And freedom is the first word. There's, you know, Issa Rae had Black Sketch Lady, Rap Shit, two shows, HBO Max canceled. And when you also own, you're employing. And so when you built the following, and you got your fan base, that's what we say to your fan base,

y'all miss the show? Yeah, come here. Because guess what? We paying stars. We paying HBO. We paying Netflix. We paying HBO Max. We're paying for all these different streaming services, but if we said we gonna pay for this one, because that's ours, that's

what I'm talking about. And so now you're creating jobs, now you're creating opportunities, now you're changing narratives, now you're controlling the process, now you're the one who's green lighting, and you no longer are now going to ask for permission. You now get to be the one who says yes, no. We have the ability to build it. The technology has changed so much that you don't have to build a physical studio.

You don't have to build this linear, none of that. The question is, do we wanna build it? And so I just want our people to understand that we, we as black people, are making a lot of people rich. When we buy stuff, most of them don't look like us. So let's think differently and not just be about receiving a check,

but about signing checks. That is power. Folks, that is it for us. Let me thank John Quell, Rebecca, Robert for being on today's show. Folks, hope y'all enjoyed today's show. I certainly appreciate the panel being here. We created this for this reason. This conversation, the conversation that we had on this show,

opening up with Jam Master Jay, having Janelle Snowden on, talking about the Breakfast Club interview, talking about the Plies video, talking about all these different things. The reality is you're not going to see ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, all these people. You're going to see none of these people say, let's dedicate an hour to this conversation of black ownership. You know why?

Because they got to go ask permission. I don't have to. Because we control it, we own it, and we can have any conversation we want for however long that we want. That's why when you support us, that's what it actually means. I purposely am not charging a subscription fee because I know a lot of our people

can't afford or some choose not to pay a subscription fee. So there are people who've actually, who stopped me in airports and said, man, all I got, remember I posted the photo. That senior saint in Atlanta, she said, all I got is a dollar. And she had it folded up looking like a bird.

And she gave me the dollar. Her dollar is just as important than 500,000 we got from a corporation. Doesn't matter. Every dollar matters. But we purposely are doing this because we do not want to have to ask somebody to talk about stuff that matters to black people. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered.

PayPal, RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Folks, when you buy my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, you're supporting this show as well. Money going right back into the show.

And so available at bookstores nationwide. You can get the audio version on Audible. I read it as well. You can also download the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. In addition to that, you can watch our 24-hour streaming channel. We're available on four different platforms,

four different fast channels. Amazon Fire, by simply going to Amazon News, go to Amazon Fire. You can also tell Alexa, play news from the Black Star Network. Also, Plex TV, Amazon Freebie, as well as Amazon Prime Video. Folks, that is it. I will see y'all tomorrow. I will be broadcasting from Dallas. Reverend Freddie Haynes has his installation and a social justice initiative happening in Dallas.

Him, of course, the new CEO, Rainbow Push Coalition. So I'll be broadcasting from there tomorrow. I'll see you back in the studio on Friday. Until then. Ho! Ho! Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch!

I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. 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 scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Thank you. This is an iHeart Podcast.