#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Jan. 6th Hearing, Uvalde Massacre State Hearing, Biden's LGBTQI+ Equality Plan, Puzzles of Color

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

6.21.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Jan. 6th Hearing, Uvalde Massacre State Hearing, Biden's LGBTQI+ Equality Plan, Puzzles of Color On day 4 of the hearings from the January 6th committee, more disturbing information is coming out about how the former president tried to do what no other president has done before and steal an election. In Texas, we now know how long law enforcement waited before engaging the shooter at Robb Elementary in Uvalde last month. Y'all, what you will hear is genuinely disgusting. President Biden signed an executive order advancing the rights and protections of LGBTQIA persons in America. But what does this mean? We'll speak with a panel of advocates and community allies to break down the order. And for our marketplace, everyone loves a fun project, right? Well, this project comes with either 500 or 1000vpieces. We'll speak with two black owners, who are adding some color to simple puzzles. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. iPhone 13 on us for every customer. Current, new, everyone. To show the love. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.

You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today's Tuesday, June 21st, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Shocking and stunning testimony today.

The January 6th committee where two black women testified how the thugs who support Donald Trump made their lives a living hell. Wait until we show you what they had to say. Also, a prominent Republican in Arizona, the House Speaker, refutes the lies of Donald Trump and makes it clear that he simply has not been telling the truth. Lies and all sort of other things from the thug-in-cheat Donald Trump will break it all down on today's show. Also coming on today's show, folks, shocking, shocking,

shocking news out of Uvalde, Texas, where we now understand the cops were lying with initial reports that they were more than able to take down the shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers. They had the gun, they had the body armor, but the commander on the scene was grossly negligent

in his leadership. Wait until we show you what a hearing in Texas revealed. Also, on today's show, last week President Joe Biden signed an executive order extending protection for folks who are LGBT. The question is,

what about African Americans who are LGBT? Do they believe that they are getting the kind of focus that is necessary? We'll talk with several folks of that community on the show. And Black Owned Puzzle Company, that's right. That's right, black folks, we do puzzles too. We'll feature them in our Marketplace segment. Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here Yes, right, black folks, we do puzzles too. We'll feature them in our Marketplace segment.

Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's Roland. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for gigs He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, yo It's Rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best.

You know he's rolling, Martin. Now. Martin. Folks, Donald Trump's big election lie is based upon the turnout of black people. You might remember there were four states that he kept targeting. He was talking about Fulton County, Atlanta in Georgia,

Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, Milwaukee in Wisconsin, Detroit in Michigan. That's who Donald Trump kept targeting. He kept focusing. He was focusing on black people. Him and his supporters put the names and information out of two black women, suggesting they somehow were rigging the election. Those women, Shea and Ruby Moss, both testified today before the January 6th select committee. And folks, their testimony was shocking. It was harrowing. They described how Trump and his team has made their lives a living hell. Well, they literally don't even want their names called out loud out of fear that they are going to be targeted. We're going to show you some of that testimony today. when you hear this, you will understand why black people, we knew that Donald Trump had no business

being in the Oval Office. Hashtag, we tried to tell you. And had America listened to black people, these black women would not have had to endure what they did in the wake of the 2020 election. Here's some of their testimony. REP. DAVID MOSS, Former U.S. President of the United States, Ms. Moss, how has this experience of being targeted by the former president and his allies affected your life? MS. It's turned my life upside down.

I no longer give out my business card. I don't transfer calls. I don't want anyone knowing my name. I don't want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name out over the grocery aisle or something. I don't go to the grocery store at all. I haven't been anywhere at all. I've gained about 60 pounds. I just don't do nothing anymore. I don't want to go anywhere. I second guess everything that. I'm going to respect my life in a major way. In every way.

All because of lies. For me doing my job. Same thing I've been doing forever. Your mother also told us, the committee, about how she had I'm not going to be able to tell you what happened. I'm going to tell you what happened. Your mother also told the committee about how she had to

leave her own home for her safety and go into hiding after the FBI told her that it would not be safe for her there before January 6th and until the inauguration. Let's listen to a clip of her story in her own words. Around the week of January 6, the FBI informed me that I needed to leave my home for safety.

And I left my home for safety around that time. JUDY WOODRUFF, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess,

The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, The Washington Post NewsHour hostess, How long did you stay out, did you remain outside of your home for your own safety? I stayed away from my home for approximately two months. It was horrible. I felt homeless.. And, you know, I'm having to have my neighbors watch out for me, you know, and I have to go and stay with somebody. It was hard. It was horrible. And your conversation with the FBI about needing to leave your home for your own safety or perhaps recommending it, do you remember, was there a specific threat that prompted that, or was it the accumulation of threats that you had received? What prompted it was getting ready to, January 6th was about to come,

and they did not want me to be at home because of all the threats and everything that I had gotten. They didn't want me to be there in fear of, you know, the people were coming to my home, and I had a lot of that, so they didn't want me to be there just in case something happened. I asked, how long am I going to have to be at home? They said, at least until the inauguration. Ms. Moss, I understand that people once showed up at your grandmother's house. Tell us about that experience. I received a call from my grandmother. This woman is my everything. I've never even heard her or seen her cry ever in my life. And she called me, screaming at the top of her lungs, like, Shay, Shay, oh my

God, Shay, just freaking me out, saying that there were people at her home, and they, you know, they knocked on the door, and of course she opened it, and seeing who was there, who it was, and they just started pushing their way through, claiming that they were coming in to make a citizen's arrest. They needed to find me and my mom. They knew we were there. And she was just screaming and didn't know what to do. And I wasn't there.

So, you know, I just felt so helpless and so horrible for her. And she was just screaming. I told her to close the door. Don't open the door for anyone. And, you know, she's a 70-something, I won't say, year old woman, and she doesn't like having restrictions. She wants to answer the door. She likes to get her steps in, walking around the neighborhood. And I had to tell her, like, you can't do that at night people would just continuously send pizzas over and over to her home. You know, and they were expecting her to pay for these large amounts of pizzas.

And she went through a lot that she didn't have to. And once again, it made me just feel so horrible. Folks, that is utterly shameful as a result of Donald Trump and his minions, what they did to these sisters. But he also tried to have Republicans lie on his behalf. One of them was the Speaker of the House of Arizona, Rusty Bowers, and he testified how Donald Trump literally today was saying what Bowers said to him about the election being rigged,

and Bowers made it clear he's lying. Former President, we begin with the questions that I have prepared for you. I wanted to ask you about a statement that former President Trump issued which I received just prior to the hearing. Have you had a chance to review that statement? My counsel called from Arizona and read it to me. Yes sir. In that statement, I won't read it in its entirety. Former President Trump begins by calling you a rhino, Republican name only. He then references a conversation in November 2020 in which he claims that you told

him that the election was rigged and that he had won Arizona. To quote the former president, during the conversation, he told me the election was rigged and that I won Arizona, unquote. Did you have such a conversation with the president? I did have a conversation with the president. That certainly isn't it, but there were parts of it that are true, but there are parts that are not, sir. And the part that I read you, is that false? Anywhere, anyone, anytime has said that I said the election was rigged, that would not be true.

And when the former president in his statement today claimed that you told him that he won Arizona. Is that also false? That is also false. Flat out lies. Donald Trump, liar. And all of these Republicans out here still standing behind this man who this January 6th committee has shown the lengths that he went to try to steal this election, and he dares to call it rigged. Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State for Georgia. He was the one who got the phone call from Donald Trump basically saying, go find me 11,000 votes, I'll take care of the rest. He also testified today. I think you're going to find that they are shredding ballots because they have to get rid of the ballots because the ballots are unsigned,

the ballots are corrupt. And they're brand new and they don't have seals, and there's a whole thing with the ballots, but the ballots are corrupt. And you're going to find that they are, which is totally illegal. It's more illegal for you than it is for them, because you know what they did, and you're not reporting it. That's a criminal offense. And you can't let that happen. That's a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That's a big risk. Secretary Raffensperger, after making a false claim about shredding of ballots, the president suggested that you may be committing a crime by not going along

with his claims of election fraud. And after suggesting that you might have criminal exposure, President Trump makes his most explicit ask of the call. Let's play a part of that conversation. So, look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. Mr. Secretary, was the president here asking you for exactly what he wanted? One more vote than his opponent?

The President What I knew is that we didn't have any votes to find. We had to continue to look. We investigated. I could just share the numbers with you. There were no votes to find. That was an accurate count that had been certified. And as our general counsel said, there was no shredding of ballots. Mr. Secretary, after making this request, the president then goes back to the danger of having you deny these allegations of fraud.

Let's listen to that part of the clip. And I watched you this morning and you said, well, there was no criminality. But I mean, all of this stuff is very dangerous stuff. When you talk about no criminality, I think it's very dangerous for you to say that. Secretary Raffensperger, you wrote about this in your book and you said, quote, I felt then and still believe today that this was a threat. Others obviously thought so too, because some of Trump's more radical followers have responded as if it was their duty to carry out this threat. Please tell us what you, your wife, even your phone was doxxed, and so I was getting texts all over the country, and then eventually my wife started getting the texts, and hers typically came in as sexualized texts, which were disgusting.

You have to understand that Trish and I, we met in high school, and we've been married over 40 years now, and so they started going after her, I think, just to probably put pressure on me. Why don't you just quit, walk away? And so that happened. And then some people broke into my daughter-in-law's home. And my son has passed, and she's a widow and has two kids. And so we're very concerned about her safety also. And Mr. Secretary, why didn't you just quit and walk away? Because I knew that we had followed the law and we had followed the Constitution. I think sometimes moments require you to stand up and just take the shots when you're doing

your job and that's all we did. We just followed the law and we followed the Constitution. And at the end of the day, President Trump came up short. But I had to be faithful to the Constitution. And that's what I swore an oath to do. During the remainder of the call, the former president continued to press you to find the remaining votes that would ensure his victory in Georgia. Let's listen to a little more. Why wouldn't you want to find the right answer, Brad, instead of keep saying that the numbers are right? So look, can you get together tomorrow? And Brad, we just want the truth. It's simple. And everyone's going to look very good if the truth comes out. It's okay. It'll take a little

while. But let the truth come out. And the real truth is I won by 400,000 votes at least. So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I demented, evil individual was hell-bent on staying in power and would have done anything to stay in power. But as I have said repeatedly, this committee and the investigation is not solely about Donald Trump and his actions. The fundamental problem that we have witnessed is that numerous Republicans top to bottom were participants in this scheme. You take Secretary of State Raffensperger. He is no hero. He sits there and says that he followed the Constitution. Yet he then took that big lie and weaponized it by suggesting that was election fraud in Georgia when he knows that was a lie. He did it because he wanted to keep his position. And he won the Republican primary.

And so he and other Republicans advanced that big lie, weaponized it, and began to change the laws in Georgia, in Florida, in Texas, in Iowa, and on and on and on. This is not solely about Donald Trump. It is about Trump, the Republican National Committee, it is about his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, it's about people like Steve Bannon and Roger Stone and Mike Flynn and Senator Lindsey Graham. In fact, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who was on the ballot in November, this man has gone so full MAGA that he participated in the scheme to present fake electors. Watch.

They were all hand recounted and they came remarkably close to the first count. Okay, folks, again, there are text messages. Senator Ron Johnson, pull it up please. Senator Ron Johnson texted a staffer for Vice President Pence just minutes before the beginning of the joint session. This staffer stated that Senator Johnson wished to hand-deliver to the Vice President the fake electors' votes from Michigan and Wisconsin. The Vice President's aide unambiguously instructed them not to deliver the fake votes to the Vice President.

Even though the fake elector slates were transmitted to Congress and the executive branch, the Vice President held firm in his position that his role was to count lawfully submitted electoral votes. Bringing my panel, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney, also Brianna Cartwright, political strategist, Dr. Jason Nichols, senior lecturer, African American Studies Department, University of Maryland, College Park. Matt, I understand the need for prosecutors to build a case. But for the life of me, I do not understand how the Department of Justice has not indicted Donald Trump and numerous others because we have already mounds of evidence. I don't know what the hell Attorney General Merrick Garland is doing. And I understand you want an airtight case. I totally understand that.

But what we continue to hear is a criminal conspiracy to subvert the U.S. Constitution, to get people to literally lie. The things that they did are beyond shameful. They are criminal. Absolutely. And this isn't even a situation, Roland, where you have to pull that out of the evidence and say it's circumstantial. This is unequivocal. This is the former president literally saying, I need X number of votes, find the votes. I'm going to just double down on the lie and try to get you to be complicit in the malfeasance. Look, federal law specifically prescribes actions by people who are elections workers that are intended to undermine elections. And that's not only what you have here. You have the president, the sitting president,

telling Raffensperger and others to just make up votes and or find votes that don't exist. So I'm with you. I mean, before you even sent this over to me to comment on it, my thought literally was, this is as airtight as it gets. This is an admission. This is a phone call with one of

the most recognizable voices in the world saying exactly what he needs in terms of the criminal act. And I think this will really be telling for the average citizen to see how the other half lives, because if DOJ does not indict President Trump, it's indefensible. There's literally no defense because he's on the phone saying exactly the crime he's intending to commit, the conspiracy he's trying to engage in. So I think you're 100 percent right. And I don't know how DOJ gets out of indicting him and prosecuting him fully on this. I mean, realistically, will that happen? I don't know. But that's what should happen based on the evidence that's been elicited. Breonna, there is no bottom. It was Senator Susan Collins who said that she felt that Trump learned his lesson from the first

impeachment. He was impeached twice. As long as you do not hold this man accountable, as long as he never gets indicted, as long as he is not charged, as long as he is not tried and convicted, he is going to

do it again and go even further than he did before. Uh, I... I agree to a certain extent. Um, I think that he's very dangerous. I think that, um... unfortunately, the people who need to hear a lot of this is gonna fall on deaf ears anyways,

and we're still in the court of public opinion versus the actual courthouse. No, no, no, we're not in the court of public opinion. There's literally a congressional hearing, and the Department of Justice can actually go to a grand jury. So this is not a situation where we need the public to sort of get behind it. They are laying out undeniable, irrefutable evidence, and the people who are unveiling it are literally his own people. Right. I understand that. But the Congress in itself can't give the indictment, right? Just as was previously stated, DOJ is going to have to determine to take this on. And I know that it's been a lot of back and forth

whether or not they're going to do it. I do think that they should, but that's what we have to see at the end of this. Unfortunately, I feel like the reason why they're airing a lot of this is so that in case Trump runs again, no one is compelled to even let that be pushed forward because of all the things that have occurred in the past. I honestly do not think he's going to run again. One of the statements is you think that he's going to do something worse. I don't

think he's running again. I don't think his brand could take another loss. That's what he knew. Eleven thousand votes is a lot of votes. And for him to be like, oh, well, just buy me these votes, I think it's apparent to most people, even past, you know, the MAGA people, his Republican Party, that he lost. And Trump is not a good loser. He's a sore loser. And I don't think – and his brand mostly has been hiding his losses forever within the bankruptcies. He's always tried to appear that he's been successful and a winner. And so I don't think that he's going to let his brand go through another hit like this. So I don't think that we'll necessarily see this, but I think history

repeats itself. We do not learn, right? Like one of the, the woman was saying pizzas were being sent over and over and over again to the house to the point where, oh, he can't pay and the disturbance. We saw that in Nixon, right, and the Watergate scandals, and those tricks. And he utilized the same people who helped Nixon, right? And so there are a lot of similarities. And so if we don't learn from it and change it and make sure that it doesn't happen again, it's a problem.

Am I confident that he's actually going to get indicted, that he's going to have criminal charges? No. Do I want it? Yes. But we will have more of those conversations on this show of how our justice system fails us a lot of times. And so we'll see what comes from this. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of people who need to listen to these, um, hearings are not. And especially since it dragged, um, it was different, uh, weeks and different days and so forth.

I don't know if everyone is obtaining all the information they need from it. Um, but hopefully it does something for our country. Jason, we're way beyond the brand. The fact of the matter is he's running. I mean, so let's not be, let's not, look, Breonna, that is falling for the same thing we did before. There are people who were saying in 16,

oh, no, he's not going to run. He's not going to run. No way. Not going to run. But DeSantis is running. And I don't think DeSantis will run against his favorite boy. No, I disagree because here's the deal. Here's the deal. I think you're absolutely wrong because first of all, people are seeing an opening, but his ego, Jason, is so substantial and he wants to bury anyone, he doesn't care about the Republican Party.

He will blow it up entirely because everything is about him. That's the reality. Absolutely. I got to say, you know, with all due respect to your other guests, I have to disagree. I think his ego is exactly what's going to make him run, particularly

knowing that Joe Biden is vulnerable right now. He's going to run. Now, where I would probably agree with your other guest is that I think that he is vulnerable to lose in a primary to DeSantis. I think DeSantis can beat him in a primary. He's fought all the right culture war battles. He's extremely popular in Florida, which is an important state. I think that's very possible. But I think Donald Trump is going to run. There's no question about that. The one thing that I will say is that I think, you know, the person that's going to take the fall for this, I don't think they're going to indict Trump. I really don't think so. I think the person that's going to take the fall is John Eastman. He's going to be the one that probably takes the fall for all of this, and perhaps maybe

Rudy Giuliani. But I think there's going to be a fall guy, and it won't be Donald Trump, because DOJ is afraid to indict Donald Trump. Understandably so. His Twitter bully pulpit just caused these two Black women to have to go into hiding. So I think that DOJ is, like, afraid of what we're seeing on Twitter and on Telegram and on Gab or whatever those other right-wing media, social media outlets are about civil war and violence and all that, and they are not going to go after Donald Trump. I also think it's really important, and I'm glad you brought up Ron Johnson, because Ron Johnson, people forget, was on a hot mic and on camera

saying there was nothing skewed about the results of the 2020 election. He admitted that there was nothing skewed about that election, that it was a free and fair election. He said that. But yet he still was part of this scheme, as was Andy Biggs, as was Mo Brooks, as were all these other guys were part of this conspiracy. Because for some reason, and I don't really understand it, there is something about Donald Trump that makes grown men cower, that makes them so

afraid. And I really don't understand whatever that quality is. You know, if he wanted to sell something, you know, and he had, like, a lecture series on how to make grown men cower, I might buy that. But that would be the only... Why would you want to be a cower? Yeah,

I mean, so, I think, you know, Donald Trump, for some reason, is able to do that. But some of these people who are not heroes, as you stated, Roland, still stood tall on what they believed and what they knew was true. Not enough, but there were some. And that's why we are where we are with this hearing. Here's the issue that I have here, Matt. And I do believe that there is this fear, if you will, this reluctance to indict him. Oh, because how will his people respond?

Oh, this is going to tear the country apart. I'm sorry. If you broke the law, you broke the law. If you were engaged in criminal conduct, that's what you were engaged in. If you, Matt Manning, a civil rights attorney, was engaged in criminal conduct in an election, there would be no hesitancy by the U.S. attorney to indict you and to try to put you in jail and put you in prison. So I don't understand what this fear is. Because to me, the greater fear is that these people are running individuals for secretaries of state, for elections administrator. They are literally being put in positions of power where they can steal elections.

Right now in New Mexico, a Republican refuses to certify the results of a Democratic nominee for Secretary of State alleging voter fraud. And it's all BS. These people, they are carrying the tiki torches for Donald Trump. These people are executing a game plan as we speak to literally do in the future what he tried to do on January 6th. And so if you do not indict him and Giuliani and Eastman and Stone and Meadows and on and on and on, what you literally are saying to the American people, you can go even further than they

did and you might get away with it. What did I want to... Matt. Go ahead. Please, please, Breonna. Matt, go ahead. Okay, all right. No, hold on. Matt and Breonna.

Matt, go. I was just going to say that I think you're further underperforming to the American people that the American people are less important than the people who are in power. I mean, the idea that you can commit a crime this brazenly, this unequivocally, say the words you need to say to commit the crime

and then not get indicted because you're, I guess, too then not get indicted because you're, I guess, too big to be indicted, to me, really undermines the credibility of the Justice Department and everyone involved, right? The idea that if I committed those crimes right now, not only would there be an indictment, there'd be all kinds of press conferences about how they're coming after me to make sure that the rule of law and the integrity of law is upheld. And that's what I think is so problematic, in addition to everything you've already delineated, is that Republicans have spent decades trying to talk about how they're the moral authority, right? So when their own guy

comes out and commits a crime brazenly like this, irrespective of whether he's the president or a pauper, he has to be indicted. He has to be indicted at the least so that the people of America don't believe that there are really two systems of justice. And we know that there are. But if you at least want to perpetuate the farce that the rule of law applies to everyone, then you have to indict Donald Trump for committing these crimes. And I think Dr. Nichols was spot on. I don't think that they're going to ultimately indict Trump. I think Breonna said the same thing.

I don't necessarily hold out hope that that will realistically happen. But academically, as a lawyer, as a former prosecutor who has proven cases based on evidence that's less compelling than this, absolutely they should indict him. There is no way to defend this at all. And I think you're right, Roland, about this emboldening other people. We're already seeing people around the country trying to delegitimize political results following this same game plan. But I think the problem is with Trump, he's at the top of the heap. So if there's no accountability for him, then I don't think there's any credibility left in the system, if you ask me. And I think that's really one of the bigger consequences here. If they don't indict him, then it's saying, look, you get a pass if you're beyond a certain point, but everybody else, we're coming for you.

And I don't think that the system can sustain that. Brianna, go ahead. I think that you make great points. And I want to re-ask you, Matt, especially as a constitutional attorney, what are your thoughts on, because Doc said, you know, that he really thinks despite his brand and maybe because of his ego that he's going to run again. So my question is, going off of constitutional law, right, if he has the argument that he won and the would he be actually able to legally run again if that election was supposed to be rightfully his? No, he can't, because the reality is what he says doesn't matter.

The Constitution clearly states you can only serve two terms as president. He didn't win a second term. So, look, there's somebody who's walking on K Street right now who is babbling to himself right now. I can guarantee you it does not matter what that babbling person is saying. It's irrelevant. So he wasn't sworn in a second time. There was no second inauguration.

He is not sitting in the Oval Office right now. He ain't sworn in a second time. There was no second inauguration. He is not sitting in the Oval Office right now. He ain't president. Now, he might think Mar-a-Lago is White House South. No, he's former. So there is no argument to make. He lost. He lost, Pure and simple. And what we have here is him literally on tape trying to steal the election.

Raffensperger said Biden won Georgia. Mercy Bowers, Biden won Arizona. So that's not even, and again, that's entertaining crazy he lost he can't accept the loss and what's crazy about this Jason is all the people around him they know he was this fool think he won now his ass lost but because they care about power they were willing to go along with it because it might have succeeded. That to me, Jason, that's why I'm not giving Mike Pence no medals. And then now you got Pence who doesn't even want to testify. See, this is why I will call

none of these people patriots. Because if you were truly a patriot, you would not be afraid to testify. You would say, absolutely, I'll be there. Because if you were truly a patriot, you would not be afraid to testify. You would say, absolutely, I'll be there. But no, they, truth be told, they still want to operate in the Trump orbit because his people represent the Republican Party. And that's why I also think that Pence will try to run for president. Oh, we know he running.

He's running. But he's still, though. We know he's running. But what I'm saying is, I am not going to call him a patriot because true patriots would have testified before the committee. Well, he's not a patriot

because he tried to go along with it all up until his attorney the day before. He went to many states to say that, oh, this election might be rigged and so forth. And it wasn't until his attorney was like, oh, you know, you can get in huge trouble for this. And they're like, when you're counting and da-da-da. And he said, wait, I can't do this. And it wasn't until that point the day before when they kept on trying to tell him, he said he couldn't do it, that he was like, okay, well, lock me into a room so that I'm safe.

You know, it really... When it came down to his safety, when they said, uh, hang Pence, was there any, you know, switching of it? But I don't think he wants the MAGA people to actually realize that, because then that takes away from his voting base. They all... They all are sucking up to the MAGA voters. actually realize that, because then that takes away from his voting base. They all...

They all are sucking up to the MAGA voters, Jason. Period. Absolutely. Um, first of all, as-as Breonna stated, as you stated, Mike Pence, uh, looked for every way to do this, but realized that there was no legal way he could-he could overturn an election.

It wasn't like, you know, he was morally opposed from the very beginning. The other thing I would say is just like what Matt was saying about DOJ and the fact that they should indict the big guy if they're willing to indict the little guy. In theory, that's correct. But when we look at this historically, one of the worst presidential scandals in history was under Reagan, and that was Iran-Contra. But he got away. He was Teflon. The DOJ didn't indict him.

And anybody who did get indicted got pardoned by H.W. So to me, I think there's precedent for the DOJ to pass the buck. And I think that's what they're gonna do when they have someone powerful, and they're gonna use this excuse of dividing the country as if we're not divided already. Um, and they're gonna, you know, pass the buck on that.

So, um, I think none of these guys are heroic. Some of them, like Bill Barr, literally sucked up to-to Trump in his resignation letter, you know, and still says he might vote for Trump again. No, no, no, no, no, no. He did not say might. He was literally asked, if Trump is a nominee in 2024,

would you vote for him? And he said, unaccountably, yes. Yeah, I mean... Yes, so that's why... That's why I'm not... The fact that all of these people will still say if he gets the nomination, I'm voting for him,

they care about power. Not party. Not principle. Can I say one last thing? Yeah, let me just say one last thing. I went up, and just like everybody else, I watched two brave, average Black women

from Atlanta, Georgia, sit there and testify, despite getting threats against their lives, threats against their family. And, Roland, you know me, and you know the places that I go into, and you probably are aware of the threats that I get. I get really afraid when it's threats against my family. It's totally different. You know, threats against yourself, you know, is one thing. Threats against your family is another thing. And her grandmother was being threatened. And yet, Pat Cipollone is scared to go up there and testify,

who probably has a whole lot more resources than Shea and Lady Ruby. But yet, Pat Cipollone won't go up there. Bill Stepien found a way to sidestep going in front of the committee live. There are a lot of people out there that need to look at those sisters and get some guts. Let me say this

before I go to break. And I need to, for everybody who's listening to me, I need you to listen very intently what I'm saying. I started this whole thing off saying Donald Trump

specifically targeted black people. When he called out four places, he was talking about Atlanta, Fulton County, Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee. Let me remind all of y'all that he paid for a partial recount in Wisconsin, only in Milwaukee. Republicans said in Michigan, let's count all the ballots in Michigan except Detroit. And so Black America, don't lose sight of why January 6th took place. January 6th took place

because you turned out in massive numbers and voted against him in Michigan and you elected Senator Gary Peters over the black Republican John James. You turned out in Pennsylvania and elected Biden.

You turned out in Georgia and won that state for Biden, Harris, and now Senator Raphael Warnock and Senator John Ossoff. And you voted in mass numbers in Wisconsin, and that's how you lost in Milwaukee. And so the Democratic primary is coming up. The person leading the polls lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes If he was Democratic nomination, who is he going to be opposing in November in Wisconsin? That same liar senator Ron Johnson So I listen to all these black people say hey, you know what? I'm sitting this one out

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't sit it out because if you sit it out and Ron Johnson comes back and wins and Oz wins in Pennsylvania and the guy running against Beasley wins, they are further empowered and I can guarantee you, and I'll put 10 grand on it, they will do whatever Donald Trump wants. Don't

be fooled. Gotta go to a break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Verizon just gave us all a brand new iPhone 13. We've been customers for years. I thought new phones were for new customers. We got iPhone 13s to switch to Verizon two minutes ago. Ours were busted, and we still got a shiny new one.

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President Joe Biden signed an executive order extending various protections to LGBTQIA Americans. In that EO, he addressed what he called various equality issues, including discriminatory legislative attacks against LGBTQIA plus children and families, directing key agencies to protect families and children, preventing so-called conversion therapy, safeguarding health care and programs designed to prevent youth suicide, supporting LGBTQ plus children and families by launching a new initiative to protect foster youth, prevent homelessness and improve access to federal programs. Of course, he signed that doing Pride Month, which is in June.

Joining us right now to discuss what impact will this have on African Americans is Dr. Cleo Monago. He's the chief advisor for Black Men's Exchange. Carolyn Weisinger, the board president of San Francisco Pride. Victoria Kirby, the deputy executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. And Ranzino Frazier, He was the first African-American leader of the LGBT Community Center for Charlotte's LGBT Community Center and, of course, also was elected as its Board of Trustees chair. Glad to have all four of you here. And so when we talk about this executive order,

one of the things that I've talked to many folks in the past about is that when we talk about black folks who are LGBTQ, now you're talking about folks who are dealing with these issues from a different perspective than those who are white, those who are non-black. And over the years, I've had just a number of black folks who talk about issues that they still have when it comes to these sort of initiatives that don't necessarily impact black folks in the same way in terms of being able to offer a level of assistance and support. So just want to get your thoughts on this and what is being discussed, what is being said among African-Americans when it comes to these efforts to combat laws

and other things that target LGBTQ. Anyone can start. Yes. Thank you so much for having me in the National Black Justice Coalition. I'm on this important conversation. We nerd out on regulatory policy. So, you know, the moment the executive order dropped, I was scrolling, reading, and trying to figure out what the impact was gonna be on Black black LGBTQ plus and same gender loving people.

And I have to tell you, I was actually surprised how thoughtful the administration was in trying to think about and name the places of intersection. That's important. One of the real key areas for that is in data collection, where right now, sexual orientation and gender identity isn't collected regularly in government forms. But on top of that, the piece that really harms our efforts in the Black community is the data isn't disaggregated on the back end with the data that allows us to look at the disparities serve our population and to help prevent some of the numbers that have long plagued our community much worse than the white LGBTQ plus community. There's a whole much more we can dig into, but I think it was one of the biggest shifts that I've seen in government in looking at executive orders and administrative action in a way

that doesn't just put LGBTQ people over here and ignores the reality that that bucket includes a whole lot of diversity within it, including Black folks. Yeah, I would say that the big test, and I agree with Victoria, and I'll be very honest, when something like this happens, I go directly to the National Black Justice Coalition to see what they have to say about it, right? Because we see this all the time in our communities. A lot of these bills, a lot of these efforts are done in a way that it kind of stays at the top level of LGBTQ life. When we talk about housing security, we don't get all the way down into homelessness. We don't talk about how many of our Black trans folks are the majority of our homeless population. And a lot of time it does take for us to be working actually on the local

level because, of course, our local leaders are the ones who see it most directly, right? So, for instance, here in San Francisco, Mayor Lyndon Breed actually started an initiative where she plans on ending trans homelessness in the next five years. And we know that in San Francisco, the highest population of homeless folks is our black trans community. And so for me, I'm going to be more interested in looking how things like homelessness, things about suicide, things that we as black folks know specifically affect us.

A lot of times, again, these efforts, they'll deal with wealth gaps. They'll deal with people having to pay their fair share of taxes when their partner dies, things that are very high-level, wealthy things that we have to be very honest, a lot of the white LGBTQ folks have ascended to that level of wealth, and they don't really, we don't really think about what's going on with our black and brown people down on the ground. So for me, I'm excited to see, like Victoria said, that they dig in the weeds, and they are attempting to dig a bit more in the weeds to the issues that specifically affect us. But I'm definitely going to look and see how it's implemented

because even if it says us in the document, how is it going to be implemented to make sure that it gets down to us? So I know for me, I take a lot of looks at the society that I live in and that I grew up in. As a black community, we were not always welcoming and we were not always open to the LGBTQI community. But I can say here in Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte, working with C.W. Williams as a medical case manager, I see the different numbers of homelessness. I see the numbers of HIV and AIDS rising within the Black community. And there's not a stable place for them to go to feel comfortable, to express themselves, and also get that help. Like the young lady said, coming into this, a lot of us African Americans don't have that wealth,

doesn't have that knowledge of what to do with our significant others or what to do when we get to that level. So there has to be a place, there has to be a plan, there has to be production of something for us to excel on and to do, not only in the LGBTQI community, but within our Black community ourselves. We have to help us uplift us so that we can be better. I think it's important to look at the fact that the white gay community who runs the LGBTQ politic and community has had lots of wins. It's one having same-sex marriage be legal in this country. It's one in terms of being a community that went from ground zero for HIV transmission to ground zero for HIV prevention in terms of being so successful. And now they successfully made the transgender issue part of everything you talk about from soup to puppies. The issue of transgender might come up because they have put it central to the conversation in this country.

But the reason I mention those successes is because the HIV problem in the Black community is still disproportionate. Black people have not benefited from these white gay community wins. I also looked at the executive order and looked closely, and I'm not surprised. I mean, ever since they got Barney Frank in Congress and when they started having successes on HIV and getting this country to pay attention to them, they've been very, very, very successful at moving themselves into mainstream and becoming one of the most powerful communities in this country. But black people overall have not benefited from that. And the HIV industry is one of the great ways in which to measure that because we're still back in 1990 stats. So I think it's important to look at the fact that this is good in terms of the fact that this community, including white gays, was once an extremely oppressed community,

being killed in the military, losing their jobs, being harassed by the police. There was some very similar phenomena happening between gay-identified or homosexual people in this country and Black people. But white gays stopped that. I think Black people can learn from this because homosexuals are supposedly 10 percent of the population. When it comes to people in communities, Black people are supposedly 12 to 13 percent. We could have these kind of wins, too. There could be an executive order on advancing defense, protection, life and autonomy of African-American or Black individuals and not just gays, queers, that the people identify as such, getting this executive order. It shows the power of Joe Biden as well.

If he did have the imagination enough to come up with an executive order himself to make it difficult to kill people and get away with it, Black people, in this instance, who keep on getting killed, and on occasion, the murderer is found guilty, on most times, they're not. So I'll close this by saying and reiterating that Black people can learn from this, learn the power of focus, of steadfastness, of being on the same

page, on holding people in power accountable, like we did not do when Barack Obama was president. As a result of the white gay machine, he was put on the cover of Newsweek as the first gay president. That's how powerful they are. And they're supposedly a minority group. Black people, if we stayed focused, if we had critical analysis and made sure that our issues were on the table and that we showed up and that we were more unified, because I won't get into that on this show except to say that the same gender loving, bi, trans community is one of the most ununified communities in this country, which is why we can't have enough focus to make sure that we have to benefit what the white gay community has a benefit from. We have some internal work to do that's a residual effect of having been slaves, et cetera, and all the unresolved trauma

that was exacerbated when people was messing with folks that were being sexual and gender minorities as well. But all that to say is that this is nice on a structural level, predominantly for white gays, but like with HIV, like with same-sex marriage and other things that they've put on the table to win, black folks have not won in terms of equity. So I'll put this question to the four of you. To Cleo's point, do you have the type of partnerships? Do you have the type of efforts working together among black folks within this movement? That's a great question. And I think there are two parts to it. Right.

So one piece, just pulling a little bit on what Dr. Cleo said, and just got to say, when we talk about same gender love and that term was coined by Dr. Cleo. So got to got to give credit where credit is due. I want to talk about this piece on regulatory policy and the reality that whether it's slavery, what happened afterwards, where we are today, the Black community, we got to get sharper on some of these opportunities because President Biden did do an executive order on day one related to racial equity, also did one on voting, also did one on dealing with police accountability. But we also, part of the process is we, as Black people, have to then go to regulations.gov and put in our comments for what we want the government to then do. And then they do it, you know, or they hear feedback from folks who disagree and don't want them to do it a particular way. And so, you know, there were less than a thousand comments that came in on the executive order that was about restructuring the entire federal government to deal with rooting out inequities based on race.

And what I realized coming from, you know, being in an organization that straddles the LGBTQ movement and racial justice movement was that there was a lot less knowledge in Black space. And there's an opportunity for NBJC and other organizations to do more educating to make sure we have these opportunities. We hitting home runs and getting everything that they owe us. You know what I mean? Getting some of those changes put in. We're getting some of it in some of these subsequent executive orders that are coming out. But nah, it's not everything that we need. And part of it is on us going to that larger point, getting a deep community with all the various grassroots Black,

LGBTQ+, same-gender loving groups across the country so that we can unite under, you know, a Black power agenda that we can push through that's good not just for our intersection of the Black community, but the whole Black community. When we say when the most marginalized among us get free, everybody get free, we mean that, right? And so if we mean it, it means we have to move like that and we have an opportunity to do it different. But that window is going to close because the segment before was just talking about what what's going to happen after these midterms. And then what's going to happen quickly to get the things that we can get done now, including a lot of money. Sometimes we'll think about executive orders as, oh,

that's temporary. But those dollars aren't. If you get those grants in and secure the funds where they need to go, but our people have to know about those opportunities, have to be educated about the opportunities, have to know about the process. But has that gathering happened? And if it hasn't, why? We gather from across the country. Hold on. Okay. Hold up. Like who's talking? I think Victoria, I think you were talking. I was just naming that every year we gather during the nation's largest LGBTQ activist conference for an event called the Black Institute. We have grassroots folks. Last year,

we had folks from 32 different states plus District of Columbia, which one day will be a state. And we had some folks, a couple of folks from other countries too, where we have an opportunity. That's how me and Carolyn know each other. We also have our Good Trouble Network of Black, LGBTQ plus, and same gender loving elected officials from across the country that gather to make sure that, you know, we're on one accord and that there's some support. They have some model policies and mentorship to help move along the process because it's hard to be an only. Do we need to have more of it and need to ensure more people are able to come and be brought in? Of course, the pandemic definitely has put a wrench in some of what we wanted to do in person, but we're going to continue to identify opportunities for us to bring our folks

together, if it's via virtual spaces or in person, if it's during the Congressional Black Caucus weekend, whatever opportunities we have, we want to make sure that where Black LGBTQ plus folks are gathered, that we are in the mix. I think it was Carolyn, then it was Cleo. Go ahead. Yeah, and I was going to actually go to something that Dr. Cleo said about, you know, how we don't harness that power. And Victoria kind of hinted on it as well. We are not in the deep collective as we should be. I mean, there are so many people across this nation that are doing this work, and most of us don't know it. You know, my good friend Imani Rupert Gordon is a black woman who is the first black woman, I believe, executive director of the National Center of Lesbian Rights. So her job is literally every day to be filing these briefs and suing for these laws.

And most people don't know that there's a black woman that's doing that. You know, one of the most powerful black trans women here in the Bay Area is Arya Saeed, who's running the transgender cultural district, the only city-demanded cultural district, trans cultural district in the nation. But we don't have these conversations, even though we do, like Victoria said, we go to the Good Trouble Network when we're together at Equality, when we're at Victory, where all these places we make sure that we get together, but we don't have the collective thing like they had back in, what was that, 69 or wherever they had the Black caucus meeting. We don't have that thing. And I think that, yes, and Black LGBTQ folks, because we are so marginalized in all these places, we need desperately to get together because we need a better bench of elected officials. I mean, I'm running for office here in El Cerrito. I believe I'll be one of five Black stud, butch, whatever you want to call us today, people who are actually in elected office. We don't have a bench of elected officials

to actually, you know, make sure we're implementing these laws. We don't. We have a broader list of legislative aides and people who are working for elected officials, but we don't know who they are. We don't have a good collective of who the grassroots workers are. So we need that so we can harness that power. We don't have an HRC or anything such as that. And we need that to make sure that we're putting those ideas together and being on the same page. If we have that, we can get on the road to it. Cleo? Well, NBJC is interested in for sure helping to build towards that. And we want anyone who's open to doing the work with us to hit me up. You can go to mbjc.org, fill out the contact form. As deputy executive director, that's a big part of my portfolio and the work that we want to be able to grow out is going to take some time. But for folks who are listening to this, watching this, and you say

you're ready for a change, you're ready for a different space, ready to kick it back to some of the collectiveness that we once had, the time is now. Like I said, the clock is running out. So, you know, hopefully we're going to get it reset, right? Get some more time. But in the midst, we do need to act

urgently. Cleo, go. Roland, your initial question was about if I heard it correctly, was, are we unifying? Are we working together? Yes. The answer is no. It's no. LGBTQ, et cetera, not the SGL part,

but the LGBTQ part is ran by white folks. And white folks tend to put Black people in power or in front of the camera who they feel comfortable with, who are typically in very intimate relationships, including personal interests, with them. And they look Black because they are Black, but they are very much involved or indoctrinated into whiteness. And a lot of, for example, the majority of the people

in this country who have name recognition in the press, in the media, who are gay-identified, the majority of them are spending most of their time in white culture, in white context, and they have hardly anything to say in demonstrative ways to the Black community. And they're not about Black power, at least in terms of how they articulate anything at all. It's all about LGBTQ, as if whites need them, because whites don't. They're quite powerful, and they take good care of that community. But I think it's important to reiterate that it's not unified. It's fragmented.

White racism and blackface has helped to fragment it. A lot of the meetings that are put together under LGBTQ, again, are facilitated by white-accommodating black people who are not affirming of black people. As a matter of fact, back in the day of HIV, Holocaust, the majority of people that got resources to serve black people were black men who wouldn't touch Black people at a 10-foot pole. And it didn't work, which is why it was such a disaster. We need Black people who love Black people in charge of this work, so people have, can have resonance and feel attracted beyond bougie people or people who are not connected to

the Black community having little events that only attract them. Because as I said earlier in this conversation, a lot of these things that have a black person involved from marriage to everything, it does not trickle down into transformation, healing, and focus on black people. And we find different ways to be disconnected all the time. So getting back to your question, it's no, but it needs to become yes. Because if we don't come together and get beyond class, bougie, white accommodations behavior,

and unlearned anti-Black impulses, we're going to stay in the state of crisis and have this conversation again about how we should come together without looking at why we don't. If we don't look at why there's resistance to coming together, it's not gonna happen. Ranzino. I think you brought up a good point. Hold on one second, Ranzino. I learned from experience.

I was the first Black chair for the LGBT Center of Charlotte. And as long as I was doing things that they felt were needed and wanted, it was okay. But the moment I tried to step outside and do things differently that not only affected my culture and my generation, they did not like it. I made a mistake that wasn't even my fault. And they took one editor that did not like me. And when I say he was pink and red in the face, he did everything he could to get me

taken from that place. So anything I wanted to get unity on, anything I wanted to get us equal rights on, anything I wanted to work with city officials. And we do have one young lady, her name is LaWanna Mayfield. She's an elected official here in McLemarie County. I'm sorry, she was. She's running for re-election now, that stood up for our rights. But, at the same time, they did, he did everything that he could to get me out of that place. And now it's set a place to where there is no LGBT Center of Charlotte. And I feel that, at this point, as a Black community, like you said, we're not on one page, but we need to be on one page. The same way we get together for Atlanta Pride, D.C. Pride, Florida Pride, all these Black prides.

Let's not get together and have a conference about what we can do to elevate and move forward in this current climate that we're in. Because as a Black culture, it's more than clubs, it's more than parties, it's more than drinking. We're representing a nation of people that have worked hard, that have put a lot of weight and a lot of issues on their back for us to not get pulled back 10 steps. We need to be a lot more effective and efficient with the things that we're knowledgeable about, the things that we are surrounding ourselves with, and also holding the elected officials, both in D.C., anywhere, really, in hierarchy, accountable for what they do. Don't just use this as a platform or a sentence for your campaign or your slogan. Actually make it work. Actually do it. Actually meet with us, talk with us, so that we are heard. We do have a voice and an opinion on what is going on. All right, folks. Anti-Blackness and self-hate and white accommodationist tendencies is a problem

in the so-called LGBTQ community. And that's why this community can only witness this executive order like they've witnessed HIV progress and not be a part of it, because we have yet to have enough people who really care about Black people fearlessly in leadership in these contexts, particularly when it comes to policy and important decision making. All right, folks, we will leave it there. I certainly appreciate having all of you on the show regarding this very issue. Thank you so very much. Look forward to chatting with you again. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Look forward to chatting with you again. Likewise. Alright, folks, when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered, our Black and Missing, our HBCU Connect segment, we'll also talk about our

Marketplace segment as well. Lots more to discuss. If you're watching on YouTube and Facebook, be sure to hit the like button, folks. We should easily be at more than a thousand likes on both of those platforms. We also want you to download our Black Star Network app. We have more than 40,000 downloads. We want to hit 50,000 downloads.

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it's an alexa coach that's a buick that's an alexa the buick enclave with available alexa built in on a next of balanced life with dr jackie we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you we all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. How about sushi?

I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. Yeah. How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking for lunch yesterday. How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking. One of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox. Find new technology. Find new roads. Chevrolet.

Hey, everybody. This is your man, Fred Hammond. I'm Dion Cole. You're watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered. Stay woke. Folks, Chastity Arthur was last seen in Killeen, Texas on June 2nd. The 23-year-old is 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 102 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. When Chastity disappeared, she wore red or pink flower tights, a black sports bra and sandals.

She has a large tattoo on her left thigh, and her mother's name is Darhanda. It's tattooed on her stomach. Chastity suffers from certain mental health disorders that require medication. Anyone with information about chastity authors of whereabouts should call the Killeen, Texas Police Department at 254-501-8800, 254-501-8800. Folks, in breaking news, out of California where a civil jury has found Bill Cosby liable for sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl. This story has been, now Bill Cosby was not actually attending the actual trial, but in this particular case, he was sued by a woman who said that when

she was 16 years old, he assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion. That lawsuit went forward. The jury, remember the jury reached the decision, but they couldn't reach a decision on all matters, and so they continued their actual case. Now, of course, the jury also, again, Judy Huth said that she was assaulted by Cosby at the Playboy Mansion in 1975. During a deposition, Cosby said that he never, he doesn't even remember meeting her, but they did produce this photo here of Cosby and Huff at the Playboy Mansion when she was 16 years old.

The jury awarded her $500,000 in this particular case. And so we're certainly waiting to hear from the Cosby team, and we would not be surprised if they are going to appeal that particular decision. Let's talk about Uvalde, Texas, folks. Shocking details that we're now discovering, that the police in Uvalde, Texas, folks, shocking details we're now discovering that the police in Uvalde, Texas, unlike what we

were told initially, were literally in the school. They could have stopped the killer. They were armed with high-power weapons as well as body armor, yet the on-site commander did not give them the order to go

in. 19 kids died. Two adults were shot and killed as well. This is the Texas Department of Public Safety appearing today at a hearing in the state capitol. Listen to what he said. There's compelling evidence that the law enforcement response to the attack at Rob Elementary was an abject failure and antithetical to everything we've learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre. Three minutes after the subject entered the West Building, there were a sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armor

to isolate, distract, and neutralize the subject. The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers to isolate, distract, and neutralize the subject. The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from ending room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children. The officers had weapons. The children had none. The officers had body armor. The children had none. The officers had training. the children had none. The officers had body armor, the children had none. The officers had training, the subject had none. One error, 14 minutes and 8 seconds. That's how long the children waited and the teachers waited in rooms 111 to be rescued. And while they waited, the on-seat commander waited for radio and rifles.

Then he waited for shields. Then he waited for SWAT. Lastly, he waited for a key that was never needed. The post-call-of-mind doctrine is clear and compelling and unambiguous. Stop the killing, stop the dying. You can't do the former unless you do—you can't do the latter unless you do the former. Certainly, some things were done well, and even very well. The teachers quickly implemented active shooter protocols

prior to the subject gaining entry. In fact, one teacher was able to call 911 and report that before the subject entered the campus. Law enforcement officers were able to evacuate hundreds of children in a safe and orderly manner. The district attorney, Christina Mitchell, and her staff led tireless efforts to take care of the victims and their families in the aftermath. And Senator Gutierrez talked a little about victim identification and victim notification. That is always a priority after such a tragedy. Very difficult to do, and she did an outstanding job in trying to handle that situation, bringing all the different resources from local, state, and federal agencies at the time.

We were flat out lied to, J.C. Nichols. They talked about, they lauded these officers in the role that they played after. To hear that three minutes after this shooter entered the building, the cops were in position to take him down, and they waited more than an hour, and he slaughtered 21 people, 19 children and two adults. And they said that they needed keys in order to get into the room, and it turns out they never even tried to open the door. That's... I just can't...

It's unconscionable. It's unbelievable. And, you know, part of this, though, Roland, is the doctrine that we've heard. You know, he talked about active shooter and the way to engage them after Columbine. But all we've heard, particularly African-American people have heard, is that police officers have the right to go home safe at night. So I think that they took that just

a little too far, that they don't have to put themselves in harm's way, that that's not their jobs. And, you know, that's what I'm assuming, because any other explanation for this, I really can't fathom it. I think if you took an average citizen, they would want to go in to stop young children from being slaughtered. And here you have people who have all the tools in the world in order to do that job,

and they are trained to do that job, And they are trained to do that job. And they just sit there and wait. And, you know, they did evacuate children from other classrooms. But the children who were in danger, actively calling 911, as they were probably instructed by their parents, sat in there thinking perhaps

someone would come to their rescue. And someone who could have come to their rescue was only a few feet away, but just waited. I can't understand it.

Breonna, Joe Rogan and this dude named Tim Kennedy the other day blamed Black Lives Matter for what happened in Uvalde by saying that, oh, the attacks on police has made them afraid, scared that they've been berated. And then they try to say that the lack of military training for officers resulted in this. But there was literally a training a few weeks before this actually happened with the Uvalde cops. Now what you have, Breonna, which is actually which is stunning, the city of Uvalde now has hired a law firm to keep the body cam footage from being released because

it is going to be embarrassing. I'm sorry, you're taxpayers. I'm sorry, we're taxpayers. The people fund you, and so you think you don't want to release it. They're afraid it's going to show the cowards, it's going to show

how weak they were and how they were completely all over the map on that day. You're muted. You're muted. Can't hear you, Breonna. Sorry about that. There we go. I do not have the exact number, but I do recall hearing that it was like

two-thirds of their city budget is actually to police. That's most cities. That's literally most cities. Right, right. Yeah. I mean, but that city, which is a small city, which we didn't even know... 15,000 people.

Right. 15,000 people and two-thirds. So there's only one-third of something else you might be able to do that's beneficial to your community, but two-thirds of your budget went to police. And the police had, like you said, body armor, weapons, and so forth, and yet they still did not provide that protection

when two-thirds of the budget was allocated just for that. I think that goes into a lot about, you know, them not wanting to show what happens on the body cameras as we have this debate on defunding the police and what do the police actually do to protect us and what else those services can go to to help our community. But if it weren't for the actual border patrol coming and helping those kids, a lot of those kids that were saved wouldn't have been saved.

And so, yes, there's training. Yes, there was body armor. And I've heard the argument, and I understand, you know, someone saying, well, what would you do? I know you're the police, but you know you go in there and you're going to get gunned down. And so it's are you sacrificing your life, which you decided when you created when you decided to take on that job and the oath?

Or you just know that there's going to be these little boys and girls who are being gunned down without any training and any protection. And so it just, as it goes on more and more, we see the sadness. I think at first the chief was opening up because, you know, people were defending and saying, oh, well, we didn't know. And because of the new rules and, you know, we don't know where the gunman is and we don't want to have him hurt this X, Y, and Z.

There were so many more of them at this point than it was of one of them that they should be able to have figured something out quicker than 58 minutes. I just this is beyond me. When you see the detail, the Texas Tribune did a timeline breakdown, Matt, of what took place. And it is just unbelievable how there was a massive failure at every level. And here's the deal. Look, I get it. No, let's just be real clear. They say it in church all the time. Everybody want to meet Jesus, but nobody wants to die.

I get it. I get it. You want to go home safe, but when you choose to put that badge and gun, it's called to protect and serve. Not you. The public. And this commander literally, I don't understand how the hell you call yourself a commander

and you show up at the scene without a radio and then you give an interview and say, and I didn't want a radio. What? This is, and now, Matt, for the city to now try to hire a law firm to keep the body camera footage from going public, that's even more pathetic.

They do that to me all the time. I file those requests all the time, and they make it unnecessarily cumbersome. But if you would, Roland, I actually sent your producers the law. Ariel, would you pull up what I sent you, please, about the, uh, child endangerment statute from Texas?

Um, if you look at this section of the statute, look, prosecutors make arguments all the time. They make novel arguments, especially in novel situations. But I have racked my brain for weeks about how they can bring criminal indictments. And I think this might be the route, because a person under Texas law commits an offense if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence by act or omission engages in conduct that places a child younger than 15 years in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.

Here's the thing, Roland. I don't get how they do it. I've spent the nearly 10 years of my career both fighting against the cops, representing the cops, and prosecuting cases against people that cops develop. You know what most of the time you see with cops? You see that they want this exact situation. They want to be Rambo. They want to run in.

They want to be the conquering hero, right? They want to be the one who saves the day. But what I cannot understand for the life of me is how cops can be outside a room where you know there's one person in there with weaponry, and you have military-grade weaponry, and you don't go in and say kids. If there are no indictments from this case, this will be an even bigger travesty than Trump not

being indicted for trying to steal the election, because we're talking about the most defenseless population. Like, what is the point of having a police force if, when they're called upon, they will not do the basic tenet of their job, which is protect people who cannot protect themselves. And what I've heard from even some of your commenters is, I don't know that they should be prosecuted. No, they absolutely should be prosecuted. Because the whole purpose is to protect these kids. And not only did they not do that,

they didn't do that in short form. They didn't do that for an extremely extended period of time. And it infuriates me beyond measure because how many cases do I file where some cop goes hard when she doesn't have to, right? Where some cop is trying to show how bold they are in a normal situation. But in the situation where you are being called to be a hero, you're a coward. I think every single one of them should be indicted, and I don't think there's anything beyond that

that should happen, period, because these kids died for no reason if there were people there who could have at least sought to protect them. Indeed. I needed to make my case, and I think that makes the case, period. Absolutely.

Folks, Vernon Jones, Democrat, turned Republican in Georgia. Remember, he tried to run for governor, and then, of course, he dropped out, and then he chose to run for congressional race. Well, he was in a runoff of the Republican nomination for that congressional seat. His punk ass lost. Dave Wasserman just posted this. I've seen enough. Mike Collins defeats Trump-endorsed Vernon Jones in the Georgia 10 GOP runoff. It's a solid Republican

district. Let me just go ahead and say this. Vernon, we told your punk ass you were going to lose. We told you you were trash. We told you you were a despicable to lose. We told you you were trash. We told you you were a despicable human being. We told you you were a damn fool and an embarrassment

to black people and an embarrassment to Kappas. And you got exactly what you deserved. You are a fraud. And the reality is you're a little punk who was scared to debate me. You tucked and ran. you blocked me on Twitter

because you couldn't handle the heat. And now you're sorry behind lost. You the same fool who was crowd surfing for Trump, sucking up to him, saying whatever. And guess what? He lost in Georgia, and now your sorry ass lost in Georgia. I said what I said. What's wrong, Jason? He lost in Georgia. And now your sorry ass lost in Georgia. I said what I said.

What's wrong, Jason? Nah, nah. I know, you know, I know Vernon. You know what I'm saying? Call his ass right now. See how you doing. Hey, text me his number. I'll call his sorry ass.

Yeah, I'll try to get him on your show. That punk ain't coming. Oh, that'd be fun. That punk ain't coming. He's the same reason why Fox News don't call me. Uh-uh, he don't want this smoke. But you don't do cappers like that, Rowan. Come on, now.

He's a capper. He damn sure not an alpha. Oh, man. That's funny. Mm-hmm. So I love that certain scene from the Cotton Club when the Gregory Hines character, give me camera one, when the Gregory Hines character was really upset with a certain gangster, and then he went to the character playing Buffy Johnson,

which was played by, of course, Lawrence Fishburne, and he wanted him dead. And then he said, Sandman, he said, you don't want to do that. He said, what you should do, we'll handle that. He said, then you can tap dance on his grave. We can do an eight-step Vernon Jones on your political grave. Because your punk ass just lost. Yes, I said it, and I don't care.

Okay? Because he is a despicable human being. All that crap he was running, and now all that trash you talked, all that MAGA ass you kissed. Go ahead and show his grinning face. All that MAGA ass you kissed. Trump endorsed you, and you lost.

Right, Roland. That's, I think, one of the bigger story here, is that here it is, another Trump endorsement loses, particularly in Georgia. So if there's something that, you know, shows that Trump isn't as popular as he believes he is in Georgia, it's all these losses, like Raffensperger winning again and beating Jody Heiss. It's Kemp winning by 50 points. And now you have somebody who was supposed

to win this congressional race, and he lost. So, you know, I think, again, and it is important to say that Mike Collins, though he didn't get the Trump endorsement, he still kisses Trump's butt. So he's still kind of a Trump guy. It's not like it was MAGA versus a non-MAGA candidate. These were two MAGA candidates, but one had a direct Trump endorsement and lost again. So I think one of the things that we're seeing is that MAGA is starting to, you know, it's a beast that Trump created,

but now he can't control it. I want all of them to lose. If you MAGA, I want you to lose. And all I'm simply saying is, hey, Vernon Jones, that A-step is on your political grave. And by the way, Vernon, I'll be in Atlanta tomorrow and Thursday.

Oh, please come by and see me. Bring your ass. I think Jason had a good point, though. I do want to follow up in regards to that, since you're doing the comparisons about Warnock and Herschel, right? Because you're saying that... Oh, Herschel next. He next. Okay.

But, you know, I absolutely... Hey, y'all, get that Herschel Walker video. I'll set y'all on Monday ready. Go. Great. The issue is, you know, you said they were both MAGA, right? And that Trump can't even control MAGA anymore, which I don't necessarily agree with.

I'm wondering if there is a difference in the excuse of saying, okay, we're going to pick the black MAGA so we don't seem racist, but they're still kind of MAGA because they support Trump, or, you know, that was the reason why they won MAGA versus MAGA? Or do we still see that we have this uprising where, if it is MAGA-supported, if it's Trump-based, a part of the Republican Party, the new Tea Party, if we're going to see those types of primaries lose? And I wonder that, because we saw what happened in Virginia, and they picked, um, in their primary, the MAGA person, and unfortunately,

you know, he won. I want all MAGA people to lose. But they're not, so I'm wondering if the trajectory after this January 6th hearing is gonna change some of that as we unfold some more primaries in August. Hey, all I'm simply saying to everybody who watching here, yo, Matt, take them all out. In Texas, Abbott, gotta go.

Dan Patrick, gotta go. If... I'm real clear. If you stand with Donald Trump, throw they punk asses out of office. I don't think you need me to add... Matt, you should list more of them. Matt? Oh, I don't think you needed me to add... Matt, you used a list more of them. Matt? Oh, I-I don't think you needed me to add comment on that. And, uh, kind of to what we were talking about earlier with DeSantis, you see Greg Abbott trying to... trying to do his-his best crazy

to jockey himself to get in a position to run for president as well. So, you know, I want them all out. I mean, if you see the commercials that they're running here, they're absurd and terrifying, and they all need to be gone. Uh, indeed. All right out. I mean, if you see the commercials that they're running here, they're absurd and terrifying, and they all need to be gone. Indeed. All right, y'all, got to go to a quick break. When we come back, I'm going to have our HBCU Connect segment.

Of course, another HBCU president we talked to. We were at the UNC Summit for Higher Education last week in Atlanta also. Our Marketplace segment, we're gonna talk about black puzzle, that's right, black folks make puzzles too. So we'll talk to the creators right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered YouTube. Y'all need to wake the hell up, okay? I'm not gonna ask y'all one more time.

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Automatic emergency braking. One of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 Chevy Equinox. Find new technology. Find new roads. Chevrolet. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. A very different take on Juneteenth with the one and only Dr. Syeda Ahmed. We'll explore the amazing foods, remedies, and rituals that are a part of our history and the Juneteenth holiday. So it's our responsibility to return the healthier version to our folks instead of just the red liqueurs marketed to us, the red sodas, and the other things.

I mean, why does the Kool-Aid man have to sound like Louis Armstrong? He's like, oh yeah yeah all right an enlightening and tasty hour of the black table only on the black star network love our new alexa it's a buick yeah alexa buick alexa it's a buick it's an alexa it's a Buick. It's an Alexa. It's a Buick. It's an Alexa. Coach, that's a Buick. That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built in. I'm Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach, and it's time to get wealthy. This economy is going topsy-turvy. What does this mean for recent graduates from college? We're talking with Leilani Brown, author of From Campus to Career. One of the first things that a graduate can do

that serves them well is learning how to tell their story. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. on a next of balanced life with dr jackie we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles. And on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Israel Houghton with Israel and New Breed. What's up, what's up?

I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Last week, I was in Atlanta for the UNCF Unite Summit, focusing on higher education. We talked to a lot of different HBCU presidents, and one of them, Dr. Lester Newman, is the president at Jarvis Christian University. Here's our conversation. Dr. Newman, so let's talk about where Jarvis Christian is today. COVID has impacted every university, whether HBCU, PWI, community college, junior college,

it doesn't matter. And so how did y weather that storm and what do you look like today? Well, certainly. Well, thank you very much for having me. And certainly Jarvis Christian University. And we've gone through a transformation. We started this year off as Jarvis Christian College and now with Jarvis Christian University, adding graduate programs. Certainly we were impacted by COVID and still is to a certain extent as other institutions. We lost students. Many of our students are first generation college students, poor students. Many of them have to go help their families. We understand that, but we're gradually getting them back. Where we see ourselves today is that Jarvis is going to have to transform itself as other institutions to meet the needs, the current needs of students.

We're more diverse in terms of how we offer our courses, which is very important. You know, in the past, you know, we wanted students on campus. We still want students on campus, but we have to meet the needs of the students that we're currently getting. And so we're going to do hybrid classes. We're going to do online courses. As a matter of fact, we've added more online programs than we've had previously. And students can make a choice. As we say to our students, we're going to be wherever they are.

You know, if they want to be on campus, we're going to be there to serve their needs. If they want to be at home taking courses online, we're going to be there to serve their needs. Not only offering courses online, but providing them with the educational support for them to get through. Now what is your size of your student body today. We're about 750 students now. We were up to over 800. We had gotten up as high as nine hundred and sixty plus things. But as COVID hit and other things happened we lost it but we're gradually moving back up. So what is your optimum in terms of what is your campus capacity built for or what is that number that you would like for Jarvis Christian to be at? Well, we would like to have at least 1,500 students, not just on the college campus. We have residence halls that can accommodate over 800 students on the campus.

But we also have a teaching site in Dallas that we're working to enhance. And we're moving toward to do that. And plus, we're having more online courses. So with the combination of online courses, graduate degree programs, as well as the main campus, we see ourselves at 1,500. We don't want to be too large. One of the things we pride ourselves on is being a family and knowing our students and putting hands on our students and making a difference.

We're always going to get those students who need us, need that extra that we give to students. And we want to be that type of institution in addition to getting students who are well prepared to move forward. And we do get some of those students. But we also know that we are the type of institution that will transform student lives. And not only the lives of students,

but the lives of institution that will transform student lives and not only the lives of students but their families as well. So what is your, in terms of your game plan to get there, and so you said 1500, so is that where you want to be three years, five years? We see ourselves there at least three to five years. We reorganized the institution and we brought on an enrollment management person. You know, in the past you try to, you know, do that with a combination of persons doing multiple things.

But we understand now that you can't do that to reach your goals. So we have someone who has that sole responsibility for working on our enrollment as well as our retention of our students. You know, part of growing is not only just bringing in new students, but also keeping the students that you do have. And we're giving more attention to doing that as well. Obviously, retention is important, but also graduation rates. And so when you look at your student body, you know, what is the average length in terms of them actually finishing?

Well, actually with our students that we get, because of the type of students we get, it's usually six plus years. And unfortunately, that's not counted in the graduation rate. We do what we call, we have what we call project comeback. Students who have dropped out for various reasons because of family needs and other concerns, but they come back to us and graduate. Those students are not counted in the graduation rate. We got a lot of transfer students who went other places and didn't come back to us. Those students are not counted in graduation rate. So we have success, but we're going to have to

work to define what that success is. We can't let other folks define who we are. And that's what has happened, particularly with small private black institutions that rely on tuition and fees and the kinds of students we serve. We made a conscious decision to make certain that we give students opportunities they would not get opportunities other places. If we're going to do that, then we have to make sure that we provide the support they need and be there for them.

Last question. What is your dominant degree plans that speak to the type of students that you're turning out? Some places are focused on biology, some are about engineering. What is it for Jarvis Christian? Interesting enough, we're getting more and more students in the STEM area. Biology is one of our largest programs and we have many students who go on to do, and they go into research in biology. We have a professor who engages students in research. They are published authors before they leave the institution. One young lady was the lead author in a referee journal. That's for a small school. That's unheard of. So those are the kinds of students that we produce. Business is one of our strong programs.

Criminal justice is one of our strong programs, and kinesiology. And we're getting more and more students who are asking for nursing. So we have a relationship with one of the local universities with nursing. And we're going to see more students in the health care field as well. So we're looking at those opportunities. How can we provide more opportunities for students in those areas? All right. Well, it's really good chatting with you. Certainly good luck.

Well, thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right. Thanks a lot. The Department of Justice reaches a settlement agreement, folks, with Facebook for engaging in discriminatory housing advertising violations. The lawsuit claimed Meta, change their name, that's Facebook, Meta's housing advertising system discriminates against Facebook users based upon their race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin. Among other things, the complaint alleges that Meta, Facebook, uses algorithms in determining which Facebook users receive housing ads and that those algorithms rely in part on characteristics

protected under the Federal Housing Administration. This is the DOJ's first case challenging algorithmic bias under the Fair Housing Act. Under the settlement, META will stop using an advertising tool for housing ads. The settlement will not take effect until approved by a court. This is what we call redlining in the 21st century. Matt? That's exactly what it is. And we know that data has been weaponized to continue discriminating against people. So I'm glad that DOJ took this case and that DOJ has reached a settlement with

META. But I think it's important to see how that really bears out and what that's going to mean, not only for META, but for other large platforms like that that have an opportunity to suture the gap between people in terms of discrimination and hopefully we'll see continued enforcement. But I think you're exactly right. That's precisely what it is, redlining. And unfortunately, when you look at the impact, Brianna, of these social media companies dominating, like Facebook, like Google, we need to have a vigilant DOJ

to ensure that we're not being discriminated against in the virtual world. Brianna, if you hit that mute button one more time, like, I don't know, what the hell is the problem with you not remembering? You keep hitting. Girl, you're gone. You're going to make me straight cuss you out, but gone.

Yes, but no, I think that's very important because, you know, we say the virtual world, but the virtual world has so much become our real world. And we see this with the cryptocurrency. We see this with now cyberbullying, where a lot of things that affect our day-to-day is actually housed in the virtual world and Facebook and how Facebook has won elections or lost elections. And so a lot of things that we dictate on where to buy a house or what to buy, et cetera, is targeted

through not just Facebook, but a lot of the other mediums too, WhatsApp uses the data too. And so as it was previously stated, data is being recognized. There's very great things we could use the data for, but unfortunately, when we go into the details of it, it's problematic because our nation in itself, right, is still at the racist base. And so a lot of the systemic things that we see in our real life that we're now seeing in our data life, our virtual life,

and it's carrying out and it's being destructive to us. And so I'm glad DOJ is trying to, a piece of it, help that. Jason? Yeah, no, I just echo what my two colleagues just stated. I think that, you know, we always think of, you know, the data and the algorithms being zeros and ones and not necessarily being able to discriminate against people, but we're finding out and learning more and more. And the experts have been saying this for a while. I remember seeing, being at a lecture with a housing expert at the University of Maryland

who was saying this very same thing, how these algorithms are working against potential home buyers, particularly home buyers of color. And so we need to recognize that these things are not just these computer algorithms that they can't discriminate, that they're just zeros and ones, that they actually do have real-world implications that can harm certain communities. And I'm glad that hopefully Meta is going to have to pay up well. Indeed. All right, folks, I've got to go to break. We come back. Our marketplace segment, we focuses on black owned businesses on the show. We come back. We're going to talk about this. No, these are not art pieces. They are puzzles. And we'll discuss these black puzzles with the founders.

Next, Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network where we keep it real and keep it black and we focus on black and center black people and we don't apologize for it. Love our new Alexa. It's a Buick. Yeah, Alexa. Buick.

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We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Blackstar Network. How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. How about tacos? Automatic emergency braking. One of six advanced safety features standard

on every 2022 Chevy Equinox. Find new technology. Find new roads. Chevrolet. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching

Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all. A brother and sister from Texas, they've gotten together to actually found a company that is about puzzles. Now, look, a lot of us, of course, played with puzzles growing up. Some still do as adults. And, of course, played with puzzles growing up. Some still do as adults. And, of course, they have figured out how to turn a family activity into an actual profitable business.

Erica Chambers and William Jones, they love spending quality time with their family putting puzzles together. And they noticed there weren't many puzzles that looked like them or frames to fit the puzzle. So their solution was to create Puzzles of Color, a business that sells frameable puzzles created by people of color, black people. Erica and William, the co-founders of Puzzles of Color, join us from Richardson, Texas. Glad to have y'all on the show. So, the colors you have on, are those the company colors, or were y'all two Negroes who went to the University of Texas? Y'all on mute. Y'all on mute.

Y'all didn't learn a Brianna. Y'all acting like Brianna. We got on mute. Okay, there you go. All right. I'm just trying to figure out what's up with this burnt orange. Okay, you put yourself back on mute. Okay.

Now, there you go. All right. Okay. All right, so what's up with these burnt orange shirts? It's actually brown, but it's coming off as orange because of our lighting in here. All right, good, good, because I ain't going to have to cut y'all out. Okay, I appreciate it. I'm a Texas A&M graduate, so we can't stand this.

All right, so let's talk about these puzzles. So they're not just puzzles. So what, because I said earlier, no, they're not art pieces, but they are. Yeah, absolutely. We actually work with artists from around the country and license their pieces to turn them into puzzles. So as you're putting the puzzle together, you're getting to enjoy all that went into that art piece. And then you get to, you know, frame it when you complete it. So we actually also sell glue on our website and you can glue the puzzle when it's completed

and then put it into a frame. So when we talk about, you know, growing up, I mean, I remember, of course, doing puzzles as well. So I take it it was a huge thing in y'all's family. Yeah. Yeah, we definitely grew up doing puzzles. Our mom made us do puzzles like a way to keep us active and not like watching so much TV and things. So, yeah, we did it all during the summers.

It was a great time for us to really bond and like learn more about each other. Because, you know, we were three years apart, so we had different interests and stuff. But we really bonded through that time period. And obviously the problem with puzzles is you can't lose a piece because now you're really screwed.

Yeah. We have had a few incidents of missing pieces. And then, like, we actually had an Obama puzzle that we lost a piece. And recently, I found out that my godmom had the same puzzle. So we tried, we are pulling the piece from her to put into our puzzle. But yeah, it's definitely one of the things that we actually try to do, because we know how know what a pain it is to lose a piece is that if somebody misses a piece from one of our puzzles, then we will actually pull it how did you come to that, that idea? Because that's not something that's, you know, frankly familiar. Yeah, well, we really wanted to, like, when we grew up, we didn't see a lot of representation in, like, ourselves and our puzzles.

So we really wanted to bring that. That was, like, the main focus of it. And then, of course, celebrating artists that are so good and just wanted to get into the platform to really show their art and we wanted to find something more that was really vibrant and empowering pieces of art. So that's really what we were looking for. And we were able to find out what a lot of our talented artists we have.

All right. That's pretty cool. All right. Questions from our panel? Well, since Matt is in the land of the burnt and orange, by the way, my Texas A&M Aggies eliminated them from the baseball college world series. And so that was wonderful news on Monday. So Matt, you get the first question. You know, you know how when people aren't happy about the decisions they made. They tried to attack yours. No, I know. First of all, I didn't want to go to high school twice. I didn't go to UT. It's met there, so I appreciate the love. Nonetheless, my question was, how do y'all identify?

This is a brilliant, brilliant thing, by the way, and I wish you much prosperity. How do you identify the artist who you're going to showcase? With there being so many talented artists across the country, are you primarily taking submissions, or are you guys finding artists and reaching out to them to license their works? I would say it's a mix of both, actually. We have definitely reached out to a few artists,

mostly reached out to the artists, and we actually have had a few reach out to us. We have submissions, email you can submit to your art at art at Puzzles of Color, and we'll definitely look over your work and contact you if you're really thinking that's something we could fit in our vision for the company. And we really want to just, like I said, bring up the images, something that shows people of color in a positive light and something that people are like, you know. the celebration. Yeah. Yeah.

The celebration of culture. We also, I mean, but as you said, I mean, there's so many talented artists that it's very, very difficult. We only have done like seven a year so far. And we're hoping that we'll be able to start doing them more frequently so that we can reach out to even more artists. How many total puzzles have you done? We have 20 puzzles total, and we've worked with 18 artists.

Okay, all right. Brianna, next question if you're not on mute. I am not on mute. Thank you so much for this. The puzzles look gorgeous, and it's a great thing for us to have in a community of examples of Black art. As you said, you started off with your family, and it was very great for you. I see puzzles, I think about kids. Is there a targeted age range that you're focusing on right now? Will it also be puzzles created for maybe toddlers

or different generations in order to learn what our black artists are experiencing and giving us? We don't have any for like toddler, like super, super young. Our smallest puzzle is actually 60 pieces, which is good for four to eight is the age range that we have it for. And so that's the smallest that we have so far. Potentially we'll expand a little bit in the future. And then we also have a 180 piece puzzle and a 200 piece puzzle. So we do have some smaller ones, but in our own experience, like we actually started doing puzzles, you know, like in in elementary school, and we were doing, like, thousand-piece puzzles because we were doing them as a family. Like, you know, when you have a larger puzzle, it's easier to be able to actually get more people involved. And so that's kind of a big reason why we started with those higher-count pieces.

Thank you. That's awesome to know. Jason. So I guess I'm going to ask kind of a Shark Tank kind of question. So what's the distribution right now? And what are the plans later? Do you want to get them in stores like, you know, your local Target? Because my kids, you know, actually like puzzles as well. And, you know, but I pick them up at regular retail stores. Is there a plan to expand into, like, your local Target or Walmart or anything like that?

Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely the plan. We can't say too much about it, but we're definitely working on some things of that nature, trying to get more retailers. We're in a couple of mom and pop stores as well around the nation. Yep. Several museums, actually. We are available in 25 smaller stores and a few museums across the country. We predominantly sell online, but we are definitely working on getting to that mass market as well. All right. Well, that is awesome. Go ahead, Jason. You have another question?

I just wanted to ask a quick follow-up. So how does it work with the artists? Do they get a percentage of the puzzles that are sold with their work, or do they get a flat rate? How does that work? Yeah, it's actually a both. We do a flat rate and then we, after a certain threshold mark is hit, they get a percent of the sales.

All right then. All right, folks. Look, I appreciate it again. The website is Puzzles of Color dot com. That's where y'all can go. Okay, so did y'all create a promo code for people who are watching the show to buy your puzzles?

Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Coming to your email soon. Lord have mercy. Okay, so let me help y'all out. When you come to a show like this here, you come with a promo code

for the people who are watching. So, when they buy it, then you're able to send me an email and say, man, we moved 1,000 units on your show. Absolutely. I'm going to need y'all. There was a promo code right now.

Listen, we can do Roland, do the promo code Roland. It's 15% off. All right. How much? 15%. Okay. So for all the people, all the folks watching, Roland Martin on the Black Star Network,

use the promo code Roland. You'll get 15% off the puzzles. How much are the puzzles? They are, our 500-piece puzzles are $27, and our 1,000-piece puzzles are $32. Okay, so 1,000-piece puzzles are $32. Come back to me, please. I'm trying to sell something, y'all.

Thank you very much. So, 1,000-piece puzzles are $32, and 500-piece puzzles are $27. Right? Absolutely. So folks, if you go to their website,

puzzles of color.com right now, I see y'all commenting in the chat rooms. And so you can, so go to puzzles of color.com. Use the promo code Roland. You get 15% off. And then I want y'all to send us an email and let me know how many puzzles that y'all sold in the last 24 hours and what we also do with our marketplace segment.

We also, of course, place this on all our social media platforms as well. And so, again, good luck with the business. Thanks for coming on. Thank you for having us. All right. Appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Folks, final story here.

Funeral services today were held for the late law school dean of North Carolina Central University. We told you that Brown Lewis had passed away unexpectedly in a hotel room in Colorado. Today, family, friends, and former students and colleagues gathered in Durham, North Carolina, said their final goodbyes to Brown Lewis. The Grambling State University alumni passed away earlier this month, again, attending a conference in Colorado. She last appeared on our show in March when we discussed the historical confirmation of the 116th Supreme Court Justice nominee, Katonji Brown Jackson.

So certainly, thoughts and prayers go out to the North Carolina Central family and the loss of their law school dean, Brown Lewis. Jason, Brianna, Matt, thank you so very much for joining us on the show. Appreciate seeing you here. Brianna, we really got to work on that mute button thing. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, okay, so maybe part of the problem, you did too many squats earlier, and so therefore, see, Brianna, I remember everything. I know to always bring that thing back. So maybe that was part of the problem. So I appreciate that.

Matt, good luck with all the crying burnt orange tears in Austin after losing to my Aggies. And I know it just pains them as well. Let me go ahead and just show this right now. You know, so, you know, I know that's going to really pain Matt, but it's all good. So, Matt, I'm not sure if you actually saw this, but y'all go ahead and show Matt this here.

So, congratulations to my Texas A&M baseball team. We'll be in the semifinals of the Men's College World Series. We play Oklahoma tomorrow, and I cannot wait for us to beat them so I can immediately text DeMario Solomon-Simmons because he will be certainly pained by that reality. All right, folks, thanks a bunch. I appreciate all of y'all for being on the show. That's right, Matt. I'm going to hit you every time. Every time. Matt, what school did you

go to? I went to Howard. I didn't even go to UT. See, look at... So you went to Howard undergrad and law school? No, I went to law school in Ohio, but that's not the point, brother. What law school in Ohio? University of Toledo. Okay, so you went to Howard University of Toledo, but you live in Austin.

No, I live in Corpus Christi, but I live in Austin. No, I live in Corpus Christi, but I'm from Austin. Oh, you live in Corpus, you from Austin. See, I'm going to hit you anyway. It's all right. It's all right. But if you were smart,

you would at least rep Texas A&M Corpus Christi. See? I teach at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. See, you ain't even say that. All I got to say is gag. Come on, man.

No, remember, we send y'all money. Yeah, I guess that's true. You might want to calm your ass down, Matt. You might want to calm your ass down because y'all are part of the Texas A&M University system, which means that check you get comes from Texas A&M, right? Yeah, but I'm an adjunct. You know, they can kind of take me or leave me. You know how that works.

Yeah, okay. Uh-huh, but you don't mind catching that check. All right. I appreciate it, y'all. Thanks a bunch. Folks, I will see y'all tomorrow right here on Roland Martin on Filtered on the Black Star Network. I'll be live in Atlanta.

I'm going there for an Acura event, test driving some of the vehicles, and also talking to them about being a sponsor on the Black Star Network. Oh, y'all know I don't play when it comes to the money. Alright, y'all, that's it. Again, PuzzleOfColor.com. Promo code ROLAND.

Y'all can see the puzzles right here. Promo code ROLAND. 15% off. 1,000 piece puzzles are 32 bucks. 500 piece puzzles are $27. Appreciate it. And to the staff, do not touch these damn puzzles. I know some of y'all, especially Lanny.

I know my niece, Yola Ass, she always doing puzzles. Henry, control room, shot. I know who. All of them, all of them. Look, they all in there talking about taking dibs. I bust in all of y'all. I know who. All of them. All of them. Look at, they all in there talking about taking dibs. I busted all of y'all. I know all of y'all like some crackheads.

Carol. Carol Gant. I'm giving a full name. Carol, what are you talking about? That's mine. Carol Gant, right there. I ain't giving you a damn full name. I'm giving you a whole government name. Y'all see all of them. Lani Le'ed standing up. You can't tell because she's short.

So when she's standing up, you still think she's sitting down. So she was already eyeing. I knew you were eyeing these puzzles. I knew you were eyeing these puzzles. No. I'm going to make y'all take a current event quiz and to see who wins. See, now y'all putting y'all hands down because they don't

know nothing, y'all, about current events. I'm like, Lord, I'm goingall take a current event quiz and to see who wins. See, now y'all putting y'all hands down because they don't know nothing, y'all, about current events. I'm like, Lord have mercy. Lord, y'all two of y'all, I ain't gonna say their names. I am not gonna say Kenneth and Sidney's names. But I ain't gonna tell that story today. I ain't gonna hurt their feelings because I had a, we interviewed Governor Doug Wilder in Virginia,

Richmond, Virginia. We were in a roller mobile, and I was hitting him with some questions, and all I got was like the deer in the head. Like, look, I was like, Lord. Oh, I said, didn't y'all go to HBCUs? Y'all don't know these black people I'm mentioning? Man, it was a rough ride down in Richmond, Virginia. All right, that's it, y'all.

We got to go. And I am going to do this one day. I thought about this here. One day, y'all, I'm going to actually bring a card table in here and I'm going to do a live teaching on how to play some damn spades because those of y'all in there who are awful, I don't know how y'all went to HBCUs and cannot play spades. I don't understand.

Black cards are all in review status for a number of you. Matter of fact, I'm going to make that a part of the application process. I'm going to have to, that's right. Part of your interest is going to be playing spades. And if you can't play, you will not get the job.

All right, y'all. I'll see y'all tomorrow. I got to go pack. Holla! This is an iHeart Podcast. y'all. I'll see y'all tomorrow. I gotta go pack. Holla!