#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Jan. 6th Hearings, FEMA Favors White & Wealthy, 1-on-1 w/Rusk College Pres., White Men Gone Wild

Episode Date: June 17, 2022

6.16.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Jan. 6th Hearings, FEMA Favors White & Wealthy, 1-on-1 w/Rusk College Pres., White Men Gone Wild LIVE from Missouri City, Texas, for their Juneteenth Celebration. I'll tell you what's happening here later in the show.  But here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Former Vice President  Mike Pence's role is the main focus on day three of the Jan. 6th hearings. We'll hear some of today's testimony. A Politico investigative report reveals favoritism with who FEMA helps out with raising flood-prone homes. I'll talk to the reporter about how most folks who get help from FEMA are white and wealthy. He spent 26 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Now Dontae Sharpe is helping others who are wrongfully convicted. He's also participating in Saturday's Poor People's and Low-wage Workers' assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the polls. He'll explain how those two causes go hand in hand. The Michigan cop who murdered Patrick Lyoya gets fired.   And the recently retired Illinois cop who assaulted a black woman walking her dog is facing felony charges. While at the 2022 UNCF Unite Summit, I talked with Rusk College President Ivy Ruth Taylor about what's in the college's future. Florida is full of Crazy Ass White People. White men gone wild! I can't wait to show you these fools. 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. everyone to show the love. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. 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't be black on media and be scared.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Thursday, June 16, 2022. Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasting live from Missouri City, Texas, just outside of Houston, Texas, the birthplace, Texas, if you will, of Juneteenth. This is Juneteenth week, and I'll be speaking here for the Missouri City Celebration in about 90 minutes. But coming up today on today's show, the Black Star Network, January 6th committee continues their work showing how Donald Trump put lots of pressure on his vice president, Mike Pence, to overthrow the election.

We'll tell you about that. Also, FEMA, how are they discriminating against African Americans when it comes to disaster assistance and how they are they helping white homeowners we'll talk to a ProPublica reporter an amazing story you don't want to miss that and so lots of news we're covering today lots of what we're gonna break down including you're here from another UNC a president talking about how he is making a difference in at Talladega in Alabama. Folks, it's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go.

He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks

He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, yo It's rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin now So, folks, whenever there is a disaster in the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, they are the ones who come to the rescue. I am here broadcasting in Texas, in Houston.

I've lived through three different hurricanes, flooding, you name it, these things have happened. And so FEMA is the federal agency that is often called. But who are they actually assisting? There's this amazing story that we saw today. We're political. They've been detailing how FEMA has really helped white homeowners as opposed in how you've been really dealing with a racial disparity and who they have been helping. Thomas Frank is a reporter. He's been working on these stories. It's really amazing. First of all, Thomas, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

I read this story, and it really jumped out at me, again, showing this racial disparity. We remember what took place in New Orleans when it came to Hurricane Katrina. Again, like I say, I'm from Houston. I've numerous hurricanes, talking about tornadoes. And so what did your reporting show this disparity and what jumped out at you? So what the reporting showed, I looked at how has FEMA, FEMA has given out about $2 billion over the past 30 years to homeowners to take steps to basically save their houses from being flooded. And what they end up doing is they do these projects where they elevate the home. They basically build a new foundation, lift it up 5 feet, ten feet, so that you're above the flood level. And if you can get one of these grants from FEMA to do that, it's a great deal because your home is safe from flooding, your property value goes up, and the flood insurance premiums that you pay go way down.

What I found, I looked at what communities were getting the money. And in most states, in almost every state, the money is going overwhelmingly to communities that are either white or rich, meaning their median household income is at least $100,000 a year, which is pretty rich. And the reason for that, it's not that FEMA sets out or Congress sets out to say, well, we're just going to give this money to rich people and white people. But what happens is that in order to get one of these grants from FEMA, and we're talking about $200,000, $300,000 that FEMA just gives you to hire a contractor to improve your home, in order to get one of these grants, you, a homeowner, first of all, you have to own your home. And secondly, you have got to contribute roughly $50,000 on your own. So, if you take those two preconditions and look at them compared to broad racial and ethnic patterns in the country,

you end up with a very discriminatory program. In other words, white people are roughly twice as likely to own the home they live in as black people are. And when you look at just the amount of household wealth that white households have compared to black households, it's about eight times as much. It's about $180,000 versus like $25,000. So when you look at who can actually have access to this money, in other words, who can afford to get money from FEMA, it's going to be people who have money and who own their homes. And that is overwhelmingly people who are affluent and people who are white. So it ends up being a discriminatory system. Now, that is what is amazing in terms of how you laid that out. And we often talk about the racial disparities in this country and how, you know, on the surface, people will say, well,

you know, we don't see systemic racism. but when you're talking about who can afford it, well, if you don't have the discretionary income, then you can't actually do it. And then, of course, when you talk about those individuals who don't own a home, but they're renting a home or they're actually renting apartment, I mean, they're screwed. And so with this reporting, you know, what did FEMA say? Have you had any political leaders looking at this saying, hey, we should be making some type of adjustments to deal with this? So what FEMA says, in short, is you're right. FEMA, since President Biden took office,

has been doing a very sort of top to bottom review of how all of its programs and FEMA has a lot of programs, how they are not equitable. And FEMA has acknowledged that a lot of the programs they have, the one I just described, and also just the emergency aid that they get after a disaster, have these built in sort of funding mechanisms that aren't intentionally discriminatory, but they end up being discriminatory. And so FEMA has actually, to FEMA's credit, taken some steps in the last year to make it easier for African-Americans, Hispanics, low-income homeowners, renters, and so on and so forth to get access to some of their programs, but not all of their

programs. So FEMA basically says, yes, you're right, and we are working on it. There are a few leaders in Congress. Betty Thompson of Mississippi, who is now on TV as the chairman of the January 6th committee, and he's also chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. And he has probably, more than anyone in the House at least, been really paying attention to this issue. And Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, also has been working on legislation to try to address some of these issues. Wow. Well, first of all, we appreciate the reporting that y'all have done on this issue.

And again, this is why journalism matters, because on the surface, people would think this is no big deal. But trust me, when it comes to trying to keep your home, this is a huge deal. Tom Frank, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. And we look forward to more of these stories. Yeah, it's a great series that y'all are doing because it's not just this story, several others are dealing with FEMA. So I encourage everybody to go to politico.com to check these stories out. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland.

I want to bring my panel right now, Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, Larry Walker, Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida, and Recy Colbert, founder of Black Women Views. Glad to have all three of you all here. You heard him say right there, Recy, that FEMA says that, well, this is not, you know, it turns out to be discriminatory. And this is a thing that when you hear largely white conservatives say that, oh, no systemic racism, well, this is a perfect example of system and discrimination and racism. It's called systemic racism. This is a perfect example.

Exactly. It really is. And, you know, the intent is irrelevant when you talk about the impact. And at the end of the day, who decides that white homes or affluent white homes, those folks deserve to stay in their million-dollar mansions on flood-prone lands and get these massive government bailouts? I thought Republicans were against government handouts and bailouts. Meanwhile, lower-income or disadvantaged communities just flounder in these flood-prone conditions. The reality is that climate change is going to continue to endanger homes in many areas. And not only does it cause danger to those homes, it displaces people, but it also just causes massive premium increases,

even for people who can afford to stay in their homes or fix them. And so I'm encouraged to hear that at least the Biden-Harris administration is evaluating the equity of it as well as the work that's being done in Congress. But, you know, if the report is to be believed, it seems like this isn't even really the most efficient way of stemming the impacts of climate change in these communities by going house by house. There are other, you know, initiatives that are falling by the wayside because maybe they don't have the rich consultants that some of these homeowners do to compete for these very competitive grants. So I think this is a really important issue to bring to the forefront.

And hopefully there will be some reforms that will bring some more equity to the system. thing I will say is it does seem more than any other administration that when the Biden-Harris administration is made aware of these kinds of things, that they do move to resolve them or make some changes as opposed to other ones who would just, you know, poo-poo the inequities or, you know, not even address it at all. Greg Carr, when you look at this particular chart that lays out these 12 states, mighty white. So let's see, Kentucky, okay, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul's state got the most money. Then you go West Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Florida, New York, Washington, Georgia. So if people want to understand why you also have a racial disparity, a wealth disparity in this country, this is a perfect example. It is. It is. And love to the Missouri City fam.

I hope my sister and them come by and see you, man. You're in Juneteenth territory, brother. Also National Youth Day, by the way, in South Africa. This is the anniversary of the Soweto uprising in 1976. Those two dates will always be relinked for us as African people. You know, it's interesting, Roland. As you say, a remarkable series of articles by Thomas Frank and his colleagues. Deep down in that article, though, I think the lead is kind of buried. At the local level and state level, so when you're looking at Virginia, you're looking at North Carolina, when the states allocate money to pick up the part that the feds don't

pick up, then you do see folks be able to get some relief. Now, that speaks to the importance of getting involved in politics. But that's what allows black and brown people and poor people to get involved in the game. The other thing, interestingly enough, it seems to me is that, as Recy says, you know, folks that can hire consultants, grant writers.

We saw that most of that money in Kentucky went to a suburb, Prospect, Kentucky, in Louisville. So these rich white folk have that. But here's the thing also that I found interesting in the article that we read. When you look at how this money is allocated and the decisions that are being made, when you look at Bridgeport, Connecticut, for example,

that city council voted to build a seawall to do the kind of thing Recy is talking about, protect the group. You do that with tunnels, you do that by strengthening infrastructure. What happened? These white homeowners went and put pressure on the city council to redistribute the money

that they had to fix their houses. So they can say it was unintentional, but at some point, whiteness rears its head. They have allocated that money in Bridgeport to help everybody. And then white boys went down there and said, damn, everybody, I want my house to be moved. And to that particular point, Larry, again, well, absolutely. But this is the perfect example, Larry, when we're always talking about how the election is the end of one process, but after it's over, it's the beginning of another. This is why we are always encouraging people how we've got to stay involved. We've got to be present.

We've got to be there pushing our agenda forward because this is how we get screwed. This is how we get left out of the economic mix. Yeah, Roland, that's a good point. And in relation to elections, the fight for, you know, fairness as it relates to Black people never ends. It's ongoing. Is there another thing I want to kind of highlight that's important that relates to this story? First of all, I give my political credit for this is a really important story, but also how the priorities can shift

from administration to administration. This is the Trump administration. This issue with FEMA, they wouldn't do anything about it, let's be frank. I think another key point is, I want to go to something Recy talked about. In climate change, it's clear clear it's a racial justice issue. And I don't think when we talk about climate change, we frame it in that way. And I think we should be doing more of housing discrimination, in terms of black people consistently deal with housing discrimination, where they're refinancing, trying to buy a home, et cetera. And that exacerbates that wealth gap. So black folks can't even get, can't get a home

and they're forced to, you know, rent, et cetera. And then even if they do buy a house, they may try to refinance it. It may not, in terms of kind of how the kind of equity they need. So it's a constant struggle to fight against the powers that be. The other thing about this particular issue as it relates to has, who knows how many programs like this? And you can look at some of the other federal agencies, you will find consistently that there are these kinds of challenges that create problems for Black people

that otherwise shouldn't be there if not for systemic racism. Well, look, these are the type of stories that are important, that don't get the kind of attention that's necessary. When I saw this, I said, look, it's one of the things that we have to talk about, because as Reesey said, as Greg has said, as Larry said, depending upon who is in power, that sort of dictates what then happens. And so we have to be far more active.

And I simply cannot stress enough to everybody who is listening. When you heard me, you know, call out our fraternities and sororities and how folks will be picking months where they are showing up in mass to the school board, to the city council, to the county commissioner's court, state legislature, because that's where policy is made. That's what dollars are being doled out. Sure. Look, I cover city council. I cover county government. And some people say, you know what, these city zoning commissions, these different committees, they're boring. But guess what happens? That's where changes are made. And too often we're being left out and what ends up happening and again folks I've covered this my entire life my first job The Austin American-Statesman was in South neighbors reporter then became the county government reporter and I became the city hall reporter in Fort Worth

oftentimes when African-americans are showing up at City Hall or County government or the school board It is when we are on the defensive, when we are protesting something that we heard about, and all of a sudden, it then becomes a big issue. I can tell you, Greg, numerous times, I would sit there, and I would see major pieces being passed, economic pieces being passed, and there were no black people who were in the audience. There was no one testifying before. You might have one or two who was doing it.

And so this is, you know, so we have got to understand that we can't always be in this reactive mode. We've got to sometimes go on the offensive and protect our economic investment when it comes to who we put in office. And then people say, well, we put them in, they should be knowing what to do, what's right down there. Well, you said it. They put pressure on that city council and they listen to those who put pressure on them. We've got to be there as well.

And I know somebody, I know folks in the chat right now saying, oh man, we busy, we got jobs. But guess what? That's the only way it gets done. This is the reality of this republic that we live in. That's right. That's right, Roland. In fact, you know, brother, I just saw a documentary, a husband and wife couple did a major documentary on the Sea Islands in South Carolina. And near the end, they highlight these air property sales that take place. And the folks at Penn Center in South Carolina come to these air property sales and basically beg these developers not to bid on these properties. The folks who own the properties, and it could be

family disputes or for whatever reasons, they get in a situation where they're back on payment on taxes or whatever. They try to come together and buy these properties at auction. And it was heartbreaking to watch sale after sale get taken

off the board from these developers. Don't give a damn about anybody around them. But here's the lesson I think. Here's how it ties into what you just raised. They are successful at times in forestalling these sales, but it requires organization and it requires everybody who has a

skill working together. If everybody does a little, nobody has to do a lot. If you don't have time to come to the city council and testify, fine. But if you're an accountant, if you're somebody who knows about taxes and property, if you are a grant writer, then that's your role. Somebody else has time to come. Well, you prepare them with the testimony for city council.

This is how we've gained political power over the years. We don't win every battle, but if you're not there at all, you win no battle. As old folks say, 85%, 90% of life is just showing up. We have to stay involved in the process. And, you know, Reesey, I see people making comments and they say, man, you keep talking about this stuff because I lived it. My parents were co-founders of our neighborhood city club. I remember being nine and 10, 11 and 12 years old and traveling down to city council meetings and going to committee hearings and going to the state capitol. I remember going to those town halls. So I saw this stuff when I was 10, 11 and

12. I remember working elections and out there, you know, handing out stuff of folks who were running. And so this, we are more impacted by what happens locally than actually what happens in Washington, D.C. Yet we have so much of our energy upon what's happening in Washington, D.C. as opposed to what is happening right in front of us. Absolutely. And I'm living it right now because my husband is a commissioner in our town. He's in local government. He is the closest body of government that we have to the people that live next door, down the street.

And it's actually just pretty extraordinary to see how little engagement there is in our community with our town, even though they're super accessible. And you know who the people who are super engaged? The racist white folks, the town carens who email the commissioners, who rip them apart every time you turn around. They own every call, you know, and hey, you know, that's their prerogative to advance their agenda. But I said it wrong earlier, but the squeaky mouse gets the cheese, if that's the

right thing. Y'all can correct me. The bottom line is there are resources that can be given or taken away. There are different priorities that can be set or not set depending on who is involved and who is showing up at their local government, whether it's the town, the city, the county, whatever it is, you can be involved. And the last thing I'll say is we have a program in our town where people can qualify for mortgage assistance and water bill assistance. And there are statistics that show that a certain number, I want to say like 20 something percent of our town are behind months on their water bill. And there is money in our budget for them. But the problem is that people are not taking advantage. And it's not a result of the commission not reaching out to people. They've done releases,

they've sent out mailings, they've had social media, and nobody has taken advantage of it. And so when you're not even taking advantage of free money when you need it, you're not voting, you're not going to town councils. I don't want to hear a goddamn thing from your mouth about anything that's happening five, six, seven, eight steps above your day-to-day life. As I always say, Larry, we cannot be reactive. We have to be far more proactive if we're trying to get changes for our various communities.

That's a great point. And you listen to Recy talk about her husband being a commissioner. Local, we talked about it, you know, all politics is local. So it's really important, you know, Recy talked about the Karens and I guess the Toms too. So, you know, listen, when you, there are resources out there and there are problems, people, commissioners or, you know, mayors, et cetera, county commissioners, they listen to the folks who are raising the points. But it is critically important in terms, like you said, Roland, earlier, in terms of black folks. We have to be actively engaged, folks because if you're reactionary and like you said, if you just show up at these school board meetings, et cetera, and you're just raising all kinds of hell, when the issue is finally being addressed, being voted on that day, you're already $5 short.

You need to make sure you're consistently engaged. You attend if the meetings are biweekly or monthly. And like I said, we need to collaborate. Folks, if you can't make it, then you go this week. I'll go next week, or you go this month, I'll go the following month. But we have to make sure we collaborate and utilize our resources collectively to make sure we continue to apply pressure. Indeed. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We'll talk about today's January 6th committee hearing. More nonsense. And is this committee finally going to get some guts and call out Jenny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court

Justice Clarence Thomas? Yeah. One of the folks who've tried to overthrow this country and her husband is one of nine Supreme Court justices. We'll discuss that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasted live from Missouri City, Texas, from their Juneteenth celebration 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 are for new customers. We got iPhone 13s, too, switched to Verizon two minutes ago. Ours were busted, and we still got a shiny new one.

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Hi, my name is Bresha Webb, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And, well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be unfiltered. And, well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome. Folks, welcome back to Missouri City, Texas. I am here for the Juneteenth celebration. And so the meet and greet is starting right now. So then, of course, I'll be going in for the speech in the nation's capital. The January 6th committee continues their work showing America how these folks have been trying to overthrow this country. Man, Congressman Benny Thompson laid out the evidence and it is damning. This is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

No idea more un-American. I agree with that, which is unusual because former Vice President Mike Pence and I don't agree on much. Pressing him into going along with an unlawful and unconstitutional scheme to overturn the 2020 election and give Donald Trump a second term in office that he did not win. Today, the Select Committee is going to reveal the details of that pressure campaign. But what does the Vice President of the United States even have to do with a presidential election? The Constitution says that the Vice President of the United States oversees the process of counting the electoral college votes, a process that took place on January 6, 2021. Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to do something no other vice president has ever done. The former president wanted Pence to reject the votes

and either declare Trump the winner or send the votes back to the states to be counted again. All right, folks. Now, Benny Thompson also addressed this issue of Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. It has been revealed that she was emailing with John Easterman. He is the Trump attorney at the center of all of this, who literally was putting together the legal strategy to overthrow the government by overturning the election. This is what Thompson said.

Ginny Thomas said that she would happily, that she's looking forward to clearing up the record and talking with you guys. Back part? Ginny Thomas basically said that she would be looking forward to clearing up the record and talking with you guys. I know you said it's time to talk to her. When did she say this?

During the hearing, while you guys were in there. I haven't heard it. But she did, so when you hear that she said that. What concerns do you have about Jenny Thomas's role in her communication with John Eastman? Well, look, we have sent Ms. Thomas a letter asking us to come and talk to the committee. If what you say is OK. You've sent it already. What you say is okay. You've sent it already. Wait, wait, listen to me. What you said, if she responded while the hearing was going on, that she wants to come, we look forward to her coming. Public testimony on the 8th of May. No, but I just want to make sure you already sent the letter. Racy, what the hell is the reluctance to call this woman?

We know that she had reached out to numerous Arizona legislators. We now know, based upon John Eastman's emails, that she was dealing with him. Why are these people scared to go? I don't care if she's mayor to Supreme Court justice. And here's the other deal. When the Supreme Court voted, when it came to Trump having to release his papers, who was the one person who said

that, you know what? Doesn't really have to. It was Clarence Thomas. What the hell are these people doing? Yeah. Okay, let me say this. Shout out to Congressman Benny Thompson. I mean, he's doing, you know, he's doing the elder statesman role.

He's trying to be as apolitical as possible. But, bruh, come on. This could be the fireworks that y'all looking for. To be honest, I didn't know that the hearing was today until I got the email about the topics. And I was like, oh, shit, that was today. And so, you know, let her crazy ass come over there and make a fool of herself and get some headlines, get some viral clips and show the level that there was a pressure on people across the country to try to overturn the election results.

I think that would be a really good hearing to have a public one. So I don't really get I don't really get the way he's, you know, dilly dallying and hemming and hawing about the stuff, except for the fact that I think he's trying to make it seem like, add gravitas to the situation and being apolitical. But the thing is politicized, okay? So let's just dispense of that. But, you know, I do want to talk, too, about Mike Pence, and I have to say, I'll be remiss

if I didn't say that. Mike Pence still ain't shit. You know, yes, he resisted the pressure, but it was illegal for him to do what they were telling him to do. So he just resisted the pressure, but it was illegal for him to do what they were telling him to do. So he just resisted the pressure and ended up in jail, okay? And it really doesn't hurt him too bad

if he didn't get reelected under Trump's crazy ass because then he could go ahead and run for president in 2024 if he decides to do that. We know he was dead ass broke, couch surfing and shit after he, you know what I'm saying, was done being vice president. So he wanted to go ahead and probably make a couple

make a little bit of coin being the ex-vice president, etc, etc. So I'm not still not going to give any Republicans any cookies for following the law and doing the bare minimum. But yeah, back to Jenny, she definitely needs to be up there. Clarence Thomas is

corrupt as hell, but I always go back to the same thing. Who's going to check him, boo? She's done probably several illegal things, but who's going to check her? It don't look like anybody's going to do it just yet, but we shall see. Here's the

thing that bothers me, Larry. I had some people who were in political circles who said if they go after Trump, it's going to tear the country apart. What do you think they were trying to do? Above the Supreme Court it says equal justice under law. I don't care if Republicans are going to be pissed.

I don't care if conservatives are going to be pissed. I don't care if conservatives are going to be pissed. If a federal judge has said that Donald Trump broke two criminal statutes, you, me, Recy, and Greg would be indicted by now. And so I don't get the thing. And the thing with Donald Trump, if you don't go after him and you do not hold him criminally liable, don't think for a second he won't go further. Remember what Senator Susan Collins says? I think he's learned his lesson and this is going to get him to respond appropriately. What happened? January 6th.

Yeah, so, Roland, the last presidential election was a dry run. So 2024 is live and popping. And folks like you and people on this panel are warning Democrats. Listen, we go back and talk about what happened in the tragedy of, obviously, of Benghazi, but the number of hearings they had after that and the hours that Hebley Clinton had to come before Congress and testify. Now, this is the issue of all issues.

This was an insurrection. And, you know, Recy talked about Congressman Thompson and had a chance to work at his office when I worked on Hill. He's a wonderful, he's a statesman. He's certainly doing a good job. However, they have to take a more aggressive stance on

issues like this. Because, listen, things could change in a couple months, and if this is the Republicans, they would be coming full throttle. They would have, they would have if this is the Republicans, they would be coming full throttle. They would have anyone who refused to testify, they would have DOJ coming after them, and they would be using any other means they could to make sure you testify. And if you didn't, that you were in jail and you stayed there. In fact, they would make sure you were under the jail. So it is really important for Democrats to be as aggressive as possible.

Listen, they tried to overthrow the government. And I want to go to something Recy talked about, about VP Pence, because I heard Congressman Thompson praise him. But listen, like Recy said, he did what he was supposed to do. So the fact that he didn't help Trump overthrow the government, he shouldn't be patting him on the back. Don't forget, he was his vice president. And like I said, all these conversations about what was going to happen on January 6th, Mike Pence knew something was afoul. And so we shouldn't be patting him on the back. And so we need to do more in terms of, like I said, Democrats need to be doing more to make sure

Jenny Thompson comes to testify. And if she doesn't, use whatever means necessary to make sure she goes in front of Congress publicly and talks about sending dozens of emails. And like you said, in terms of other correspondence she's had. But listen, the bottom line is, the time to do this is now. The clock is running. Democrats got to step their game up. Greg, it just seems as if there's this attitude of, well, you know what, let's not go for the big fish. If we can satisfy this thing by kind of getting this person, this person, thisman, and on and on and on. These people, as we speak, are putting individuals and having them run, and they're winning Republican nominations for secretaries of state.

Right now in New Mexico, they are refusing to certify the results of the Democrat who won the primary. These January 6th was not the end of the selection. And so then we then we saw how how this fool, this attorney's environmental lawyer and Department of Justice was like, sure, I'll happily come in, fire everybody, and then force these states to have new electors. I don't know how aggressive I can say this, but these people literally have no issue stealing all future elections, and they're going to say, we have the power to do it. That's right, girl. And they never have. See, this is the thing we have to understand. This criminal enterprise called United States of America

was always an iffy proposition. It has never, since the founding of this thing in 1787, which included the Northwest Ordinance, which was a compromise in terms of extending slavery, it has never been more likely than not that it was going to stay together. The Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850. Please understand that because where you are right now in Texas, which call this up our own damn country in 1836,

by 1850, the Com the compromise over slavery allowed them to steal the rest of Mexico, North Mexico, in terms of New Mexico, Nevada, California, it was always brewing to the Civil War. Why? Because they didn't address the moral question at the beginning. They poured it into the foundation.

Now what does that have to do with what we're seeing with this commission? This Congressional commission is indicting everyone who broke the law for the Attorney General of the United States, for Merrick Garland. They're taking away all his excuses. That's what they're doing. They don't have the power to indict,

but what they're doing is laying the road map so that when the Department of Justice doesn't do it or does do it, it's going to be a political decision. Now, why is that important? This country's going to fracture. The corn-porn white nationalist governor of Florida has already shown you that he don't give a damn. The governor down there where you are right now, Abbott, has shown that they don't give a damn. The United States of America has never been a union. It has been a compromise with the

most racist, the most exclusivist, the most genocidal murdering types, and Texas leads the country in that. And the concessions to them have been the only reason the things stayed together. When we saw Michael Luddick today, Judge Luddick, who is a Federalist Society darling, talk about the fact that there's nothing in the 12th Amendment. There's nothing in the Electoral Count Act, Title III in the U.S. Code, that would allow you to do what they're doing. He's trying to tell y'all, if you want to have a country, you're going to have to have the rule of law. Jenny Thomas, I love you, Jenny. Why? Because I don't have any investment in a criminal

enterprise that has been held together by sacrificing me, you, Reesey, and Larry. So guess what, Jenny Jen? You and your little punk husband. Now, Congressman Jeffries tried to, you know, blast y'all because he's a true patriot. He wants America to stay together. I don't give a damn, bruh. So guess what?

Y'all going to break it this time. You're really going to break it this time. John Roberts knows you'reall gonna break it this time. You're really gonna break it this time. John Roberts knows you're gonna break it this time. Guess who else knows? Mike Pence, Mike Pence, I'm not getting in that car. Why? When you heard Grant Jacobs today, the chief of staff say, look, I got in the car.

I looked around, Pence didn't get in the car. And he told his Secret Service lead man, Tim, I know you, I trust you, but you're not the one driving that car. Meaning what? Because Mike Pence understands, because he's one of them're not the one driving that car. Meaning what? Because Mike Pence understands because he's one of them, to your point, Recy. These people stop

at no lengths including hanging his ass. When they come back to power, it's going to break. So those you scared, if they do that, it's going to break. You're just delaying the inevitable. You better go read some damn American history. It always breaks, baby. It always breaks. And it's going to break again. Indeed. Folks, got to go to a break. We come back. She formerly was a mayor of San Antonio.

Now, Dr. Ivy Taylor is the president of Rush College. We'll hear her talk about her vision for that university when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Apple, of course, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Smart TV. Be sure to support our Bring the Funk fan club. With every dollar you give, go support this show. Checks and money orders can go to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.

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That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built in. A powerful movement is rising across America. From the Mississippi Delta to the Apache stronghold. From the homeless encampments of Washington State to the coal fields of Appalachia, West Virginia. We are the 140 million poor and low-wealth people in this country, and we are building the Poor People's Campaign, a national call for moral revival. On June 18th, ahead of this year's midterm elections, while the Congress is still in session,

we will hold a mass Poor People's and Low Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington to arrest the attention of the nation, to put a face and a voice on poverty and low wages in this country. This is a watershed moment for justice and democracy in America. There are those who say that transformative change

isn't possible, but history teaches us that it is precisely in times like these that people must build a broad and deep movement from the bottom up. We must compel this nation to repent, to lament, and to see the realities that have been hidden for far too long. On June 18th, we will come together to lift the voices of the poor and low-wage workers who know that change is not only possible, it is essential for our survival.

We will make the connections to show how systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of healthcare, the war economy, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism and white supremacy are hurting us all. We will show the nation the faces of Americans who cannot afford to go back to normal. We will detail the policies that can move us toward a society that works for everyone and we will pledge to go home

and build power for transformative change in this year's election and for years to come. Because the question should have never been, how much will it cost to address poverty? The real question is, how much is it costing us not to? Somebody's been hurting our people. It's gone on far too long. And we won't be silent or unseen anymore. Join us in D.C. on June 18th. Build with us for a third reconstruction in America.

Visit poorpeoplescampaign.org. 007 007 How about sushi? I just had sushi for lunch yesterday. Yeah! 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. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, the last three days I was in Atlanta for the UNCF's UNITE conference, their summit focusing on black higher education.

While there, I got a chance to talk to a number of HBCU presidents, and one of them is someone who spent some time as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Dr. Ivy Taylor. She is now the president of Rust College. Here is our conversation. All right, let's talk about this here. How do you go from being mayor of a city to HBCU president? Well, you get a doctorate first.

So I did that when I left City Hall. I went and got a doctor of education. But really being mayor is great training for being a college president. The jobs are very similar. A college is kind of like a small town, city, community. You've got different constituencies who have different ideas on what the priority should be, but you as the leader have to bring them together around the vision for moving forward. So how did it happen? Because that's not a normal or traditional route. Well,

when I was mayor through the UNCF, I connected with the president at Houston Tillotson because there was a fundraising event where mayors hosted to raise money in their communities. And so I got on the board at Houston Tillotson originally, and that's where I kind of became interested in using my leadership skills to advance, you know, an HBCU, be part of preserving these amazing institutions. And so when I left City Hall, I lost an election. I didn't have a plan B, but I just didn't know what the plan was. Lord knew what the plan was. So I went and got that doctorate. And then the position at Rust opened up and I've been president of Rust College since June 1st, 2020. So when we talk about that move, why Rust? Because it's not like you had an affiliation

with the university before. You didn't go there. Right. And so how did that transpire? How long was it? And what was the courtship like if you will? Well, I was very focused, as I mentioned, on HBCUs. When I did the program, my research was all about HBCUs. My dissertation was on HBCUs. So I knew I was going to be looking for the right opportunity in that space. And right around the time I was finishing up, the position at Russ became available through the retirement of our previous president. And when I started doing my research, I found that the institution was very similar to Houston Tillotson, where I

had served as a board member. So that made me feel more comfortable in that space. So you're talking about a university that's 154 years old. It is private, smaller, you're now operating, but you also are in a state where you have a number of other HBCUs, but you're also dealing with one of the poorest states. Yes. And so how have you been examining the university and looking at the opportunity to grow, opportunity to be able to build it, to allow it to continue flourishing, let's say, for another 154 years? Well, I think first thing was when I arrived on the ground, I had the eye of an urban planner.

You know, that's my background. And I said, oh, this school is in the Memphis metropolitan area. We're 35 miles from Memphis. So that provides a great opportunity for those who may be a little bit scared off by Mississippi or rural Mississippi. We're actually in North Mississippi. So we're at least two hours from every other HBCU that's in Mississippi.

So we have our own geographic space. You're 35 miles. So essentially, I mean, from a distance standpoint, you're essentially like Prairie View to Houston. Yes, yes, yes, very much so. And then we also have the state flagship in our backyard. University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, is about 30 minutes away from Russ College and we've been starting to initiate some partnerships with them. We signed an MOU for a three plus two engineering program so students can attend Russ for three years and study math and then be automatically admitted to Ole Miss for an engineering degree for two years. So I think, again, our geography creates wonderful opportunities for us. Of course, that connection to the Midwest from the Great Migration. We always get a lot of students from Chicago, even St. Louis. And on my first day, I met a young lady from Milwaukee.

I said, you're here in Mississippi from Milwaukee? But yes, that is the connection that's, you know, a result of kind of our history. Size of your student body? We're under 500 right now. The pandemic, we've taken a hit. You know, it's been a very... What was the highest it's ever been at? It's been about 1,100.

Really? Yes. How long ago was that? I think that was about 12 to 15 years ago. How high has it ever been? It's been about 1,100. Really? Yes. How long ago was that? I think that was about 12 to 15 years ago. Okay. And so we definitely are headed back in that direction. That's what I would love for the school to be about 1,200 students.

We'll always be small, but that's part of our strength. It gives students the opportunity to know each other and to know their faculty members and the administration. So when you got there, you talk about your past as an urban planner, so you got there. In terms of needs, what did you immediately assess in terms of the university? Was it infrastructure? Was it faculty, staff?

What was it in terms of as you begin to assess the entire university? As far as the areas of opportunity for us, embracing technology, which I think some of our schools have been a little bit slower to adopt or adapt. And, of course, the pandemic kind of pushed that along, so we wanted to fully embrace technology. We wanted to create some new majors. We're a liberal arts institution, but that doesn't mean we can't still critically look at what are the needs in the space in which we live. When you say liberal arts, what are your dominant majors? Biology is our biggest major.

Mass communications. Those are kind of our biggest programs. Really? Yes, yes. We have our own TV station, our own radio station. Why don't you come down there sometime and talk to some of our biggest programs. Oh, really? Yes, yes. We have our own TV station, our own radio station. Why don't you come down there sometime and talk to some of our students and inspire them. Look, I have been on, I think I've now been on 65 campuses and never been invited to Rush.

All right, all right. Consider yourself invited. I've done 14, I've done 18 commencements, 14 HBCUs. And so, yeah, Rush is one that I've never been to. And I have a rule in my show. I only wear gear on my ship HBCUs that I've been to. Okay, we're going to make it happen. Just tell me who your schedule is.

That's the only way. We'll make it happen. We'll make it happen. Yes, so mass communications, I think that creates a tremendous opportunity. So you set your own TV station and radio station. Yes, yes, yes, we do. And what, and serving the local community? Yes, yes, serving the local community. Now, are those public broadcasting stations? What type of stations are they? Well, the radio station,

we have a partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, so we get that grant to support, you know, the surrounding area. And then the TV station is just a small independent station. So if you're on the local cable package, you'll turn it on and see Russ TV. What kind of programming is on? Well, we have programs where students provide information about what's happening on the campus and also where I interview some of the folks in the community and on the campus and also where I interview some of the folks in the community and on the campus.

And actually, I'd love for us to create a lot more original content. Is it a 24-hour channel? Yes, it is. Okay. Okay. I had no idea. Yes, it is.

We'll have to send you some clips. So, I think that's a great opportunity for expansion. You know, you're in this.. You've been in this business. Now is the time where we need more black voices at the table to shape the narrative about public policy and about things that affect us. So I think we can do that through our mass communications program. We've always been strong in the sciences, but now we're looking at, okay, so how can we kind of adapt to things that are going on in the marketplace? Of course, Memphis is kind of a medical hub,

and so we created a health sciences degree. Our board also just recently approved a degree in global supply chain management. So you know FedEx is there, and there's a lot of logistical companies there. So we want to respond to the needs of the marketplace and prepare our students for the jobs that will be available when they graduate.

What is your greatest need? We always need money in general, scholarship money, money to refurbish our facilities. The facilities in general, many of them need a little TLC. But we also have a very unique opportunity at Russ that's just waiting for the right philanthropic partner. Did you know that Holly Springs used to be home to two HBCUs? Russ College and Mississippi Industrial College. Russ was founded in 1866, Mississippi Industrial College was founded in 1905 and closed in 1982. Its campus still remains.

It's on the National Register of Historic Places, Mississippi landmark. And Russ purchased it in 2008. And I am trying to bring it back to life, including creating an Ida B. Wells Social Justice and Interpretive Center in a building there that was named after Booker T. Washington. Now, if you know your history, you know there's a little bit of irony there. But I think that definitely points us in the direction of the kind of conversations we as a people need to be having about

how we move forward. Alright. Well, that sounds great. Certainly good luck and look forward to visiting the campus and speaking there. Alright. Sounds great. Thank you.

Thank you. You know what it's interesting here, Greg, when you look at her past in terms of now being a president, I talked to some other presidents, some who did not come from the world of academia. And what we are seeing. We are seeing some institutions looking at the skill set, the management skill set that individuals bring to the table to become presidents, as opposed to only getting someone who has spent their entire life in the academia world. Yeah, I mean, it's somebody who spent a lot of time on the Russ College campus over the years. That's where Dr. Stovall used to have the African-American Student Leadership Conference. In fact, Jeremiah Wright and I were together one time back in 2009,

right after they bought Mississippi College, which is across the street. She said, I've been watching your coverage all week with great interest. I'm not sure what's going to happen at HBCUs. What I hear is a lot of aspirational kind of market-driven conversation. And of course, that's very important. What I don't hear, however, is a lot of historical context. I saw the young brother who wrote the book on Black college presidents. I saw his talk. You broadcast that. My colleague, Ivory Tolson, was there talking. But there's very little grasp of the rhythms of how these kind of things have operated over the course of a century and a half. I don't get any of that. Dr. Thomas at Morehouse, for example,

has received a lot of pushback from his faculty. It's very different when you talk to a college president than when you talk to the faculty. It's a very different conversation. And it's not that folk don't want to move in a forward direction, quite the opposite. It's that I think we have to understand that market-driven decisions

are at the heart of the tension of HBCUs. Now, we can have a partnership with an Ole Miss for a Russ College, but once you start, if you move too far over in the direction of basically trying to be a conveyor belt for the job market, then you end up putting yourself in a position to basically be a farm team for these larger institutions. We certainly see that happening, I think, in terms of my sense of it, at Howard, at Spelman and other places, where now it's kind of trendy, and some of these students who would have been at Stanford or Brown or University of Chicago or University of Florida or you name it, big public institutions, but now what they're saying is, well, I can go to

the HBCU as an undergraduate as long as it gives me the conduit to the Yale Medical School or Harvard Law School or the Cal Berkeley or Boathall. And if that's where you want to go, fine. But I think what ends up happening at that point, you're not talking about developing leadership for Black communities, which has always been at the heart of the HBCU enterprise. What you're basically talking about is filling in some jobs and some, some entrepreneurs and, and basically burnishing the middle and upper classes among black folk.

I don't know exactly what that does for the rest of our community though. I don't know. Jury's out for me. Well, one of the things, Larry, in talking with the presidents down there, you also see the difference when you're talking to presidents that are located in rural parts of the country that are serving a lot of low-income students compared to what you might call the cream of the crop when you begin to talk about Howard and Hampton and Spelman and the much larger institutions. And that's the thing that also we're talking about HBCUs. We're not just talking about, you know, public universities. We're talking about private universities as well. We just had, of course, there was a university in Illinois that was not an HBCU, but was a predominantly black institution that recently shut down. And so, you know, at the end of the day, one of the things that people

have to do to be perfectly honest that students and parents have to do is choose a school that fits you I remember sitting in when I was in and when when Texas a into the journalism program people were calling me they were like bro we should save it I was like why I said two-thirds of the people when I was there didn't want to go into journalism I said said, so why the hell have a journalism school? They got kicked out of other programs, other departments, other colleges, and basically they just wanted to get an A&M degree. So they're like, okay, fine, I'll be a journalism major.

And so it's also choosing a school that fits you, your personality, your type, your income, but also what it is that you want to do in your life, as opposed to let's go to the happening place just because. And so that was an interesting dynamic in talking with these presidents. Roland, you highlight some really important points, and I write about this and work on HBCUs. There are more than 100 HBCUs in the United States, urban, rural, suburban communities. What's also important is there are also two-year community colleges that are HBCUs also, which a lot of people don't realize. So it's really interesting in terms of what Brother Carr was talking about. You know, it is, I think, a thing that people would describe the racial reckoning. There are a lot of students

who traditionally might have gone to PWIs who are now choosing historically Black college universities. And I'm going to mention a name that Dr. Carr and Roland and Reese are very familiar with. I'm thinking a lot about Ella Baker in terms of some of the work she did while she was a student at Shaw and obviously work she did with SNCC, SCLC, et cetera, and WACP and all some of the other entities she was involved in, in terms, I think, what Dr. Carr is talking about in terms of some of the students that HBCUs have traditionally developed, that students went there, and then it wasn't necessarily focused on, and look, there's nothing wrong with that in terms of conveyor belt to, you know, corporate America, but was thinking about doing the work that made sure it had an impact in terms of getting people voting, in terms of voting rights,

civil rights, et cetera. So I think that's a really important point. Also, I want to highlight something else. I'm an HBCU alum and very acutely aware of the challenges HBCUs encounter. I'm also chairman of the Cheney Foundation. So I also understand from that perspective in terms of some of the challenges our HBCUs encounter. But they are doing the work, but you're right, Roland, in terms of, you know, depending on what your major is, depending where you want to, where your locale is, like I said, you want to be in more urban

in terms of Howard University or Spelman, or you want something more suburban role, or you want something rural. And I think that's one of the greatest things, great things about HBCUs. But I think when you get to the point Dr. Carr is talking about, a lot of HBCUs over the last, not a lot, quite a few have received the the last two years received a substantial amount of money, more money than they ever received in terms of donations. But our institutions still face a lot of challenges, not at the federal level, but at the state level in terms of making sure that states are giving whatever money they're getting from the federal government, that states are matching those funds. And we've seen that, those disparities for decades. We saw, we see it in Tennessee right now with Tennessee State. So we need to make sure in terms of going back, we talk about in the beginning of our conversation

in terms of pressuring policymakers. We will also have to recognize, like you said, that HBCUs, depending if you want to be, like I said, maybe a journalism major, you want to do biology, you want to do chemistry, like we look at schools like Xavier, we have that you have that opportunity to do that, or you can go to an even smaller school. Race to the point that Greg made in terms of the historical nature of the universities, when you do see these students with a growing interest in going there, I think it is important to establish that firm grounding. I mean, you can point yourself to the future. You can be more focused on technology. You can be more focused on upper mobility, but still be grounded and rooted in exactly what the historical purpose of the universities were for.

Yeah, listen, I didn't go to an HBCU. I went to UCLA and then Northeastern for my grad school. So I defer to Dr. Walker and Dr. Carr on the experience of in terms of producing our doctors and our lawyers and our community leaders and our thought leaders, not just the students, but the professors and the faculty at these HBCUs. But, you know, my perspective, obviously, because I didn't go there and I went to a white school and I'm a financial manager by trade in terms of my profession outside of doing media, is I think it's good to stay competitive. I think it's good. You're still in a competitive school marketplace. And so I was encouraged by her mentioning the industry leading majors that she's looking at. You know, I work in finance, so I understand the massive role that supply chain, global supply chain plays in many

industries and many companies. And so I think that there is a balance that has to be struck between, you know, emphasizing community and emphasizing things that are not necessarily capitalistic or, you know, monetary or, you know, the traditional nine to five corporate pipeline. And for those that want to have that community experience, but also, you know, aspire to be a nine to five person or an entrepreneur or whatever. So I think there's room for both. Um, but that's all that I can really say about that without stepping out of my lane. All right, folks, we'll take one second. Uh, we come back, uh, our black and missing of the day. In addition to that,

we'll talk about what should we as African Americans be doing on this Juneteenth, now a federal holiday, and what about non-Black people? Can't wait to hear my panel have a say about that when we come back. I'm Roland Martin, I'm Phil, just broadcasting live here from Missouri City, Texas, where in just a moment I'm going to be giving the keynote speech to Missouri City's Juneteenth celebration here on the Black Star Network, which will also be live streaming and carrying live as well. So back in a moment.

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. Coach, that's a Buick. That's an Alexa. The Buick Enclave with available Alexa built in. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll hear from Elizabeth Davis. She left a flourishing career in the construction industry to build her own business using her same skill set. And oh, by the way, now a multi-million dollar business. Every day I was looking at my numbers rather than looking at them weekly or monthly.

When you're first starting your business, my recommendation is look at your numbers every day because are they balancing out each day they're not balancing out for three days in a row that means your week is going to be off that's right here on get wealthy only on 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. Hi, I'm Amber Stevens-West from The Carmichael Show. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. 12-year-old Zion Smith is missing from Capitol Heights, Maryland.

He's 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen on June 13th wearing black sweatpants, a white tank top, and gray tennis shoes. Anyone with information about Zion Smith should call the Prince George's County, Maryland Police Department at 301-301-7222. First of all, guys, y'all are missing a number on the graphic. So get the right number, please. You're missing a number. So let me just do, so please let me know what the number is, okay? But please call the Prince George's County county maryland police department with any information All right, folks, Juneteenth, of course, it was Bill with San Gelo last year making this a federal holiday. I'm here in Missouri City, Texas, suburb of Houston.

Of course, Texas has had Juneteenth as a state holiday since 1980, the longest observance officially of Juneteenth. Of course, Juneteenth was the day in 1865 when General Granger came aboard the shores of Galveston, Texas, to let the folks who were people of African descent, they were actually free two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. And so in Texas, this has always been a celebration. Juneteenth is the only, the only federal acknowledgement, actually, of slavery. It's the only one. And so celebrations have always taken place.

They've expanded across the country. States like North Carolina, Virginia, D.C., many other places have had Juneteenth celebrations. It certainly has picked up since that federal designation. Tomorrow night in Los Angeles, the Hollywood Bowl, there's going to be a concert being curated by Questlove. I think CNN is going to be broadcasting that tonight in D.C., the Juneteenth committee there.

They have an awards show. Robert Smith, Maxwell, and others are some of the honorees. There are golf tournaments. There are other types of events. But the question we should be asking ourselves, what should we as African Americans be doing on Juneteenth? Looking at the King's birthday, folks have tried to make that a day of service. And of course, there have always been concerts and things along those lines.

Here in Houston, there's going to be a great lineup. Sheila E., Frankie Beverly and Mays, Isley Brothers are going to be performing. It's a two-day concert at Emancipation Park in Houston. But the question that we should be really addressing is what do we do with Juneteenth? Should whites be celebrating? I saw a tweet from someone who said that if you are a white person who is an ally, you all should be also celebrating Juneteenth as well. So, Greg, I want you to

kick this off for us. I want to hear your thoughts on what should be happening in black communities. What should we be saying to Americans? One of the things that I have been saying to people is that if you got some Juneteenth events, I want to see black businesses. I want to see black caterers. I want to see black musicians. I want to see black event planners. I want to see black economic empowerment taking place on Juneteenth. When I speak, I'm going to be talking about economic freedom that we still are trying to achieve in my speech. So your thoughts? I agree, Roland. I mean, that's all you can do. From the first Juneteenth in 1866 down there in Galveston

and then spreading upward and outward in Texas, white people were always there. They were there because that's where black people were. And so Juneteenth for us has always been about self-determination. You know that better than anybody growing up in Texas. Man, it was always about businesses. It always been about self-determination. You know that better than anybody growing up in Texas. Man, it was always about businesses. It was always about self-determination. And again, thank you, Black Star Network.

We've taped two consecutive black tables on the subject. We talked to Gerald Horne, our brother Gerald Horne, who just wrote a book, The Counterrevolution of 1836, which is all about Texas, including Juneteenth, some very complicated stuff. And we're going to run that tomorrow. But we decided to lighten up a little bit. And so we actually tomorrow are running a special on all that red food y'all be eating down there with Dr. Sunyata Amin, who is a specialist on this subject. The red soda, the red cream soda, the red strawberry cake, the watermelon,

the barbecue sauce. But I'm saying all that to say that we produced all this. You know what I'm saying? In other words, Juneteenth was and is never about outsourcing not only our celebration, but the things that we're celebrating, which is really self-determination. So yeah, the only other thing I would say is this time last year, you know, as you know,

as we talked about, I was down at the White House when President Biden signed the order, and I was standing there next to two security guards from Texas, ironically, a young sister and a brother. And as they were watching, I said, what y'all think? And the other lady said, well, I'm from Texas. This don't change nothing we was going to do anyway. I guess I'm glad to see other people doing it. And I think that's the attitude we should have.

We should just go on and keep building. And I know that's what you're going to tell them tonight. You know, Reesey, there were a lot of people after that was signed last who were saying, I don't know nobody who asked for Juneteenth. That was very much an insult to those of us in Texas. So first of all. But this is a perfect example, though, of how I need people,

I need black folks who love to find criticism in anything to begin to understand how that you look at this differently. Again, first and foremost, you can't yell, holler and scream that you want legislation that specifically mentions us, but then you act as if Juneteenth is irrelevant. Now, does Juneteenth specifically deal with housing, with health?

Does it specifically deal with your individual economics? No, it doesn't. But it is important for this country to have to annually, annually acknowledge the reality of slavery in this country. That's first. But also, I believe that we have to force our people to begin to look at these celebrations differently than the way we are. We need people who are attending these events to be asking the questions of who's getting paid.

See, we're responding, oh, well, these companies are slapping juneteenth on products okay are they black companies or are these companies now trying to benefit again economically from something that is ours and so i got no problem if black folks use juneteenth as an example of, okay, we're going to ensure that if you're going to have Juneteenth events, you absolutely are spending that money with black people. Well, yeah, first to address your first point about people who said that, you know, it's not a big deal. You know, people will look at what the Asians got my ass to death about the COVID-19 hate crimes bill. But then they turn around and poo-poo Juneteenth.

So it's like, y'all just want to be mad about something. And you never want to be happy about anything, even when you get with what you asked for. So there is that. But as far as the money part, listen, I haven't seen anything Juneteenth for less than $200, $300, $400. They are taxing us with inflation. Ain't no free shit. Maybe one or two little free things, maybe at the park, down the street, around the corner.

But, Lord, people are making some bank off of Juneteenth. So what I propose is that give black people some free-ass shit for Juneteenth. If you're going to have a concert on the mall, make it free for black people. We don't have reparations. This can be our reparation. So every Juneteenth, we ain't got to pay to go see black

people read poetry, dancing, you know what I'm saying? I ain't got to pay to go see black people read poetry, dancing, you know what I'm saying? I ain't saying you got to give us free food and alcohol, child, because we can definitely eat you out of the house or home, but at least give us free admission to things. I think that's the least that people can do. That's my suggestion. Well, look, I've actually heard that, and you being real nice, I think you talked about Pharrell's concert.

I'm talking about everything. I just looked up the event you talked about. That event was $200. I was like, damn, okay, well, I ain't going to that. What event? The honors event. The Juneteenth. Oh, the Juneteenth honors event at the Warner Theater in D.C., gotcha.

Again, well, look, that's the committee there. And again, I don't know what the money is being used for. That's one of those questions that we should also be asking. And we should be asking that, Larry. But all I'm saying is, is if we're going to approach MLK Day, if we're going to approach Black History Month, if we're going to approach Black Music Month, if we're going to approach these things, are we still connected, folks? Looks like I lost one of our feeds. Control room, talk to me. Okay, cool. So I lost the video return. Yeah, I lost video return for a second there. Larry, if we are going to, again, talk about MLK Day, Juneteenth, Black History Month, June was Black Music Month, or even Kwanzaa,

we better make sure that black people are benefiting financially. That's right, Roland. Let's make sure our folks getting paid. We saw that Walmart tried to capitalize on Juneteenth in the backlash. They had to pull back. So we got to make sure we put some money in some brothers' and sisters' pockets. The other thing is, obviously, we're celebrating Juneteenth and Father's Day, so I want to connect it to brothers for a second. Because black men and black women and black men deal with a lot of race-based stressors throughout our lives.

So I want to talk about health as it relates to Juneteenth. I want to recommend to brothers out there, make sure they're eating right, make sure they're getting exercising. And in addition to that, just make sure they're taking care of themselves because from day to day, we're dealing with a lot of racism in America. And so as we talk about Juneteenth and celebrating, acknowledging this country's sins as we should, and Father's Day happening, I want to say a shout out to brothers out there to make sure they're taking care of themselves. All right, folks, that is it for us. I've got to get inside. Let me thank Larry, Recy, and Greg. Thank you so very much for joining us today.

Tomorrow I'm going to be in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the University of Michigan, for their Juneteenth commemoration. And I'll be speaking there as well. And so we'll be live streaming my speech here in Missouri City, Texas. So we'll look forward to that. And so thank all of you for joining us. YouTube, y'all should be hitting the like button fast and furious, okay? So between now and me closing this out, we should be hitting 1,000 likes, all right? So y'all need to pick it up.

Why are we sitting on 742? Y'all know better than that. And so, folks, again, a lot of things that we got going on. So, again, tomorrow, again, I'll be broadcasting from Michigan. I'll be speaking at the University of Michigan. And then I'll be catching a flight to D.C. for the Poor People's Campaign. They're marching to the Nation's Mall on Saturday at 10 a.m. We will be broadcasting from there as well.

I'll be anchoring our coverage, so look forward to that. So it still is an extremely, extremely busy time for us here at Roland Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Trust me, your dollars make it possible. First and foremost, we want you to download the Black Star Network app. It has on every platform, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Please do that.

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Let me see where we at now. I told y'all, so YouTube, y'all should be getting this thing going as we are closing this thing out. Y'all make me have to ask every time. There we go. We finally hit 1,000. That's it. All right, folks. I certainly appreciate all of you tuning and watching in today.

We got more to get to tomorrow. And you heard Greg talk about Gerald Horne's breakdown of Juneteenth when I interviewed him. We're going to play that tomorrow as well because he said something I had not even known, the number of black troops that were with General Granger when he showed up on the shores of Galveston, Texas to deliver that news in 1865. And so until I see you tomorrow, folks, y'all have an absolute great one,

and I will see you then. Holler! This is an iHeart Podcast. Luke. Great one. And I will see you then. Holla!