#RolandMartinUnfiltered - John Lewis homegoing; Trumpers get COVID, Herman Cain dies; TN state senator stole fed $ for wedding

Episode Date: August 2, 2020

7.30.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: John Lewis homegoing; Maskless Trumpers get COVID, Herman Cain dies from the disease; Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin blocked the bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday; Atlanta councilman indicted on fraud charges Tennessee state senator stole fed funds for her wedding; Arkansas police officer tells a man he's arresting that if he can talk, he can breath. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: CeekBe the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 -The Roland S. Martin YouTube channel is a news reporting site covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Today is Thursday, July 30th, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, the amazing home going today in Atlanta

for the late Congressman John Lewis. Amazing tributes by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, as well as Reverend Dr. Bill Lawson, James Lawson. He was the man who trained John Lewis and others as a part of the Nashville movie. We will show you highlights of that home-going service. We'll also be joined today by Congressman Sanford Bishop,

who will share his thoughts about Congressman Lewis and serving in the same Georgia delegation with him. Well, Trump supporters who refuse to wear masks are contracting the coronavirus and dying, including Herman Cain. Also, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has blocked the bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. And in Atlanta, a councilman is indicted on fraud charges. And in Tennessee, a black lawmaker out of Memphis is also charged for using federal funds for her wedding and divorce. Plus, an Arkansas police officer tells a man he's arrested that he's arresting that if he can talk, he can breathe. That man later died. Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's on for Royal. It's rolling,oro, yo. Yeah, yeah. It's Rollin' Martin. Yeah, yeah.

Rollin' with Rollin' now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Rollin' Martin now. Martin. The homegrown service of Congressman John Lewis, folks, was befitting that of a president. Of course, for a week, for a week, he, of course, traveled the country. His body traveled the country going from Troy, Alabama, his hometown, lying in state there, to Selma, crossing the bridge, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where he was beaten on a bloody Sunday, to Montgomery, Alabama, where the bus boycott began in 1955, lying in state in the Alabama state capitol. Then, of course, coming to the nation's capitol, lying in state

in the rotunda for two days and then going to Atlanta. Back to Atlanta, where his body lied in state in the state capitol there. And today, the homegrown service took place at Ebenezer Baptist Church. The church formerly led by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the man who John Lewis heard speak in 1955 about social theology and how he was transformed by that particular sermon of Dr. King. Folks, it was an amazing celebration. So many people turned out at Ebenezer. Folks were practicing social distancing. It would have been larger were not for coronavirus.

Three living presidents were in attendance there. George W. Bush, presidents were in attendance there. George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. 95 year old President Jimmy Carter did send a letter that was read at the funeral as well, expressing his condolences for the loss of Lewis. After the funeral, he was carried out by an honor guard to a hearse that took him to his final resting place at Southview Cemetery, just south of downtown Atlanta, the place where a number of freed slaves were buried. Also, some of the first Buffalo soldiers and many other civil rights luminaries. In fact, Dr. King was buried there initially. And then, of course, he was later exhumed and his body is actually in

the crypt there at the King Center, which is right across the street from Ebenezer Baptist Church. We're going to play for you a number of highlights from today's homegoing service. First up, President George W. Bush. John's story began on a tiny farm in Troy, Alabama, a place so small, he said you could barely find it on the map. Dr. Weinach talked about the chickens. I did a little research. Every morning he would rise before the sun to tend to the flock of chickens. He loved those chickens. Already called to be a minister who took care of others, John fed them and tended to their every need, even their spiritual ones.

For John baptized them, he married them, and he preached to them. When his parents claimed one for family supper, John refused to eat one of his flock. Going hungry was his first act of nonviolent protest. He also noted in later years that his first congregation of chickens listened to him more closely than some of his colleagues in Congress. John also thought that chickens were just a little more productive. At least they produced eggs, he said. From Troy to the sit-ins of Nashville, from the Freedom Rides to the March on Washington,

from Freedom Summer to Selma, John Lewis always looked outward, not inward. He always thought of others. He always believed in preaching the gospel in word and in deed, insisting that hate and fear had to be answered with love and hope. John Lewis believed in the Lord. He believed in humanity. And he believed in America. Folks, this funeral was carried by networks all across the country. All the major networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, as well

as all of the cable networks, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel as well. And nearly all black networks also carried it, including BET, BET Her, TV One, MyCleoTV, Aspire, Revote. They all carried it. Oprah's own network did not carry the funeral, or the network AFRO, Black News Channel, did as well. Among the folks, folks had an opportunity to hear from was President William Jefferson Clinton.

If I could just do one thing, if God came to me tonight and said, okay, your time's up. You got to go home and I'm not a genie. I'm not giving you three wishes. One thing, what would it be? I said, I would infect every American with whatever it was that John Lewis got as a four-year-old kid and took through a lifetime to keep moving and keep moving in the right direction and keep bringing other people to move and to do it without hatred in his heart

with a song, to be able to sing and dance. As Brother Freddy said in Troy, keep moving to the ballot box even if it's a mailbox and keep moving to the ballot box, even if it's a mailbox. And keep moving to the beloved community. John Lewis was many things, but he was a man. A friend in sunshine and storm.

A friend who would walk the stony roads that he asked you to walk. That would brave the chastening rods he asked you to be whipped by. Always keeping his eyes on the prize, always believing none of us will be free until all of us are equal. I just love that. I always will.

And I'm so grateful that he stayed true to form. He's gone up yonder and left us with marching orders. I suggest, since he's close enough to God to keep his eye on the sparrow and us, we salute, suit up, and march on. Since he's close enough to God to keep his eye on the sparrow and us, we salute, suit up, and march on. Okay, Jennifer Holliday, native of my city of Houston, blessed folks all around the world who tuned in. I forgot about TV also carried this funeral.

Bless them with this song. You may seek Earthly power Wealth and fame And the world might be impressed by your great name Soon the glories of this life Will all soon be past But only what you do for Christ. Only what you do for Christ will last. All right, folks. Again, the amazing voice there of Jennifer Holliday.

Pastor Raphael Warnock, who leads Ebenezer Baptist Church, is also running for the United States Senate in Georgia. He shared a few words with the congregation. God bless you, my sisters and brothers. You who sit in the sanctuary and those who join us on our church live stream or by television God bless you and welcome to Ebenezer Baptist Church spiritual home of Martin Luther King Jr.

spiritual home of John Robert Lewis America's Freedom Church we have come to say farewell to our friend in these difficult days that have even made grieving more challenging. At a time when we would find comfort in embracing one another, love compels us to socially distance from one another. But make no mistake, we are together the same page, and we are in touch with the same spirit. We love John Robert Lewis.

Come on, give God praise. Folks, President Barack Obama, of course, who got to know Congressman John Lewis extremely well, he spoke at today's eulogy. And it was also on the same day, keep in mind, that three of the five living presidents were at this funeral. Obama, Clinton, and George W. Bush. As I said, Jimmy Carter sent condolences. Donald Trump was not there. No shock to anyone. And frankly, he would not have been welcome there. Today, he also sent some tweets out saying that they should postpone the election

because of mail-in balloting. If you listen to Obama's eulogy, he clearly was throwing major shade at Donald Trump and Republicans and their efforts to keep folks, especially black folks, from voting. But we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators. We may no longer have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar in order to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the Postal Service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don't get sick. Now, I know this is a celebration of John's life.

There are some who might say we shouldn't dwell on such things. But that's why I'm talking about it. John Lewis devoted his time on this earth fighting the very attacks on democracy and best in America that we're seeing circulate right now. He knew that every single one of us has a God-given power and that the fate of this democracy depends on how we use it. That democracy isn't automatic. It has to be nurtured. It has to be tended to. We have to work at it.

It's hard. And so he knew that it depends on whether we summon a measure, just a measure of John's moral courage to question what's right and what's wrong and call things as they are. He said that as long as he had a breath in his body, he would do everything he could to preserve this democracy. And as long as we have breath in our bodies, we have to continue his cause. If we want our children to grow up in a democracy, not just with elections, but a true democracy, a representative democracy, in a big-hearted, tolerant, vibrant, inclusive America of perpetual self-creation,

then we're going to have to be more like John. We don't have to do all the things he had to do because he did them for us. But we've got to do something. As the Lord instructed Paul, do not be afraid. Go on speaking. Do not be silent.

For I am with you. And no one will attack you to harm you for I have many in this city who are my people. It's just, everybody's got to come out and vote. We got all those people in the city, but they can't do nothing. Like John, we've got to keep getting into that good trouble. He knew that nonviolent protest is patriotic, a way to raise public awareness and put a spotlight on injustice and make the powers that be uncomfortable. Like John, we don't have to choose between protests and politics.

It's not an either-or situation. It's a both-and situation. We have to engage in protests where that's effective, but we also have to translate our passion and our causes into laws, institutional practices. That's why John ran for Congress 34 years ago. Like John, we've got to fight even harder for the most powerful tool that we have,

which is the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act is one of the crowning achievements of our democracy. That's why John crossed that bridge. That's why he spilled his blood. And by the way, it was the result of Democratic and Republican efforts. President Bush, who spoke here earlier, and his father signed its renewal when they were in office. President Clinton didn't have to because it was the law when he arrived, so instead he made a law to make it easier for people to register to vote.

But once the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, some state legislators unleashed a flood of laws designed specifically to make voting harder, especially, by the way, state legislators where there's a lot of minority turnout and population growth. Not necessarily a mystery or an accident. It was an attack on what John fought for. It was an attack on our democratic freedoms. And we should treat it as such. If politicians want to honor John, and I'm so grateful for the legacy and work of all the congressional leaders who are here.

But there's a better way than a statement calling him a hero. You want to honor John? Let's honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for. And by the way, naming it the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, that is a fine tribute. But John wouldn't want us to stop there, just trying to get back to where we already were. Once we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching to make it even better

by making sure every American is automatically registered to vote, including former inmates who've earned their second chance. By adding polling places and expanding early voting and making Election Day a national holiday. So if you are somebody who's working in a factory or you're a single mom who's got to go to her job and doesn't get time off, you can still cast your ballot by guaranteeing that every American citizen has equal representation in our government, including the American citizens who live in Washington, D.C. and in Puerto Rico. by ending some of the partisan gerrymandering

so that all voters have the power to choose their politicians, not the other way around. And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that's what we should do. B.B. Winans and his brother Marvin Winans, they led the congregation in song, including writing,

penning a special tribute specifically for today's home-going service. My brother Bebe has written another song to the memory of Uncle Robert, as she called him, because he treated us all like family. And I hope you enjoy born in Troy, Alabama. Born in Troy, Alabama.

To Eddie and Willa May. Sharecroppers working in the heat of the day. Yes, there were. He knew there was much more, so he asked the Lord to show. Yes, he did. All he achieved in his life, he already knows. That he was there when you're caught in a hurry. Tell you the truth, don't be worried. He was willing to fight in the struggle and he was willing to get in good trouble. Yes, he was. Yes, he was.

He was willing to get in good trouble. He took on the wrong of this world like civil and voting rights. Yes, he did. Like civil and voting rights. No matter the problems he faced, he kept his eyes on the prize. And then he learned to walk by faith and believe God until the end. Yes, he did. And knew we would overcome. And love is gonna win. He was there when you called, don't you worry.

He'd tell the truth in a hurry. He was willing to fight for the struggle And willing to get in good trouble Yes, he was Yes, he was Willing to get in good trouble And as you put on your robe to go home We will continue the fight and be strong.

As you put on your robe and go home, we'll continue to fight, continue to fight. He was there when you're caught in a hurry. He's telling you the truth don't you worry he was willing to fight for the struggle and he was willing to get in good trouble he was willing to fight. He was willing to get in good trouble. He was willing to fight. He was ready to fight. He was willing to get in good trouble. He was willing to fight.

Willing to sacrifice. Yes, he was willing to get in good trouble. No matter the situation. He was willing to fight. He was willing to get in good trouble. No matter the situation. He was ready to fight. He was ready to fight. And he was willing to get in good trouble. He would cross the bridge with mean horses and men. Cause he was willing to get in good trouble.

He would speak truth no matter the day. to get into trouble. He was willing to fight no matter the day I fight cause he was willing to get into trouble. Thank you for willing to fight. Thank you for fighting. He was willing to fight and he was willing

to get into trouble. He was willing to fight. We should be ready to fight. And willing to get into trouble. Oh. Of all the eulogies that took place today, there was no greater eulogy as far as I am concerned than the one delivered by Reverend Dr. Jim Lawson. He was the leader of the Nashville movement.

It was he who trained the likes of John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, Diane Nash, James Bevel, Bernard Lafayette, and so many others who played an instrumental role in the black freedom movement, some called the civil rights movement or, as he said in his eulogy, what John Lewis called it, the nonviolence movement of America. Looking at that and great appreciation for the words of President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton and others. And I've watched the other newscasts and people talked about really how President Obama brought it home. But there was only one eulogy today that actually moved me to tears, that had me shouting in my living room.

And that was what was brought by Reverend Lawson. And that's why I'm going to play his entire eulogy. Here it is. Pastor, sisters and brothers, members of this Lewis family that so wonderfully nurtured John in love, hope, and courage, faith, and the rest of it. And sisters and brothers. Czeslaw Milosa, a Polish Catholic poet, sets the tone, at least in part for me, as John Lewis has journeyed from the eternity of this extraordinary, mysterious human race into the eternity that none of us know very much about. When he wrote this poem called Meaning, meaning, when I die, I will see the lining of the world. The other side, beyond bird mountain sunset.

The true meaning ready to be decoded. What never added up will now add up. What was incomprehensible will become comprehended. And if there is no lining to the world, if a thrush on a branch is not a sign but just a thrush on a branch. If night and day make no sense following each other, and on this earth there is nothing but the earth, even if that is so, there will remain a word waken by the lips that perish, a tireless messenger who runs and runs through interstellar places, through revolving galaxies and calls out and and protest and screams. And I submit that John and that other eternity

will be heard by us again and again running through the galaxies still proclaiming that we the people of the USA can one day live up to the full meaning of we hold these truths. Live up to the full meaning, we the people of the USA, in order to perfect a more perfect union. John Lewis practiced not the politics that we call bipartisan. John Lewis practiced the politics that we the people of the U.S. need more desperately than ever before. The politics of the Declaration of Independence, politics of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.

I've read many of the so-called civil rights books of the last 50 or 60 years about the period between 1953 and 1973. Most of the books are wrong about how John got engaged in the national campaign in 1959-60. This is the 60th year of the sit-in campaign which swept into every state of the union, largely manned by students because we recruited students, but put upon the map that the nonviolent struggle begun in Montgomery, Alabama was not an accident, but as Martin King Jr. called it, Christian love has power that we have never tapped and if we use it, we can transform not only our own lives, but we will transform the earth in which we live. I count it providential that as I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, dropping out of graduate school, in Nashville came people like Kelly Miller Smith and Andrew White and Johnnetta Hayes and Helen Roberts

and Dolores Wilkerson and John Lewis and Diane Nash, C.T. Vivian, Marion Barry, Jim Bevel, Bernard Lafayette, Paulina Knight, Angela Butler. how all of us gathered in 1958 and 59 and 60 and 61 and 62 in the same city at the same time, I count as being providential. We did not plan it. We were all led there. And when Kelly Miller Smith and the Nashville Christian Leadership Council met in the fall of 1958, and we determined that if there's to be a second major campaign that will demonstrate the efficacy of satyagraha, of soul force, of love truth, that we would have to do it in Nashville. And so I planned as the strategist and organizer, a four-point Gandhian strategic program to create the campaign. we decided with great fear and anticipation we would desegregate downtown Nashville no group of black people or other people anywhere in the United States in the 20th century against the rapaciousness of a

segregated system ever thought about des Desegregating downtown. Tearing down the signs. Renovating the waiting rooms. Taking the immoral signs off of drinking fountains. But it was black women who made that decision for us in Nashville. I was scared to death when we made that decision. I knew nothing about how we were going to do this. I had never done it before.

But we planned the strategy. John Lewis did not stumble in on that campaign. Kelly Miller Smith, his teacher at ABC, invited John to join the workshops in the fall of 1959 as we prepared ourselves to face violence and to do direct action and to put on the map the issue that the racism and the segregation of the nation had to end. So in the 60th anniversary of that sit-in campaign, which became the second major campaign of the nonviolent movement of America. Those are not my words. John Lewis called what we did between 1953 and 1973 the nonviolent movement of America, not the CRM.

I think we need to get the story straight because words are powerful. History must be written in such a fashion that it lifts up truly the spirit of the John Lewises of the world. And that's why I've chosen just to say a few words about it. Kelly Miller Smith invited John Lewis. I met a Fisk student who told me about a student from Chicago who wanted to do something about those vicious signs.

I said, invite Diane Nash to the workshop in September, because we're going to do something about those signs. I pushed this hard. Now, John Lewis had no choice in the matter. You should understand that because all the stories we've heard this morning of John becoming a preacher, preaching to the chickens and other sorts of things, becoming ordained as a Baptist minister. Something else was happening to John in those early years. John saw the malignancy of racism in Troy, Alabama.

There formed in him a sensibility that he had to do something about it. He did not know what that was, but he was convinced that he was called indeed to do whatever he could do, get in good trouble, but stop the horror that so many folk lived through and in in this country in that part of the 20th century. John was not alone. Martin King had the same experience as a boy. I had the same experience from age four in the streets of Massillon, Ohio. Matthew McCullough, a pastor whose name you don't know in South Carolina, had the same experience.

C.T. Vivian had the same experience. I maintain that many of us had no choice to do what we tried to do, primarily because at an early age, we recognized the wrong under which we were forced to live, and we swore to God that by God's grace, we would do whatever God called us to do in order to put on the table of the nation's agenda. This must end. Black Lives Matter.

And so between 1953 and 1973, we had major campaigns year after year, thousands of demonstrations across the nation that supported it. We had folk in the Congress, folk in the White House, folks scattered across the United States who were beginning to formulate what the solutions are for change. The media makes a mistake when John is seen only in relationship to the Voting Rights Bill of 65. However important that is, you must not remember that in the 60s Lyndon Johnson and the Congress of the United States passed the most advanced

legislation on behalf of we the people of the United States that was ever passed. Head start. Billions of dollars for housing. We would not be in the struggle we are today in housing if President Reagan hadn't cut that billions of dollars for housing, where local churches and local nonprofits could build affordable housing in their own communities, being sustained as finance by loans from the federal government. We passed Medicare. We passed anti-poverty programs. Civil Rights Bill 64, 65, voting rights bills.

A whole array. John Lewis must be understood as one of the leaders of the greatest advance of Congress in the White House on behalf of we, the people of the USA. We do not need bipartisan products if we're going to celebrate the life of John Lewis. We need the Constitution to come alive. We hold these truths to be self-evident. the Congress and the presidents to work unfaltering on behalf of every boy and every girl so that every baby born on these shores will have access to the tree of life. That's the only way to honor John Robert Lewis.

No other way. Let all of us in this service today, let all the people of the USA determine that we will not be quiet as long as any child dies in the first year of life in the United States. We will not be quiet as long as the largest poverty group in our nation are women and children. We will not be quiet

as long as our nation continues to be the most violent culture in the history of humankind. We will not be quiet as long as our economy is shaped in the history of humankind. We will not be quiet as long as our economy is shaped not by freedom, but by plantation capitalism that continues to cause domination and control

rather than access and liberty and equality for all. The forces of spiritual wickedness are strong in our land because of our history. We have not created them. John Lewis did not create them. We inherited them. But it's our task to see those spiritual forces. I've named them racism, sexism, violence, plantation capitalism.

Those poisons still dominate far too many of us in many different ways. John's life was a singular journey from birth through the campaigns in the South through Congress to get us to see that these forces of wickedness must be resisted. Do not let our own hearts drink any of that poison. Instead, drink the truth of the life force. if we would honor and celebrate John Lewis's life let us then recommit our souls, our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our strength to the continuing journey to dismantle the wrong in our midst and to allow a space for the new earth and new heaven to emerge. I close with this poem from Langston Hughes, which is a kind of a sign and symbol of what John Lewis represents,

and what we too can represent in our continuing journey. Langston Hughes. in use. I dream a world where no human, no other human will scorn. Where love will bless the earth and peace its path adorn. I dream a dream where all will know sweet freedom's way, where greed no longer saps the soul nor avarice blights our day. A world I dream where black and white and yellow and blue and green and red and brown, whatever your race may be, will share the bounties of the earth. And every woman and man and boy and girl is free. Where wretchedness hangs its head, and joy, like a pearl, attends the need of all humankind,

a touch of such a world. I dream, celebrate life, dream and labor for an Atlanta and Los Angeles and the United States and a world. That is to celebrate the spirit and the heart and the mind and soul of John Lewis and to walk with him through the galaxies seeking equality, liberty, justice and the beloved community for all. Thank you. Let's come on regular Thursday panel. Dr. Greg Carr, Chair, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University.

Recy Colbert, Black Women Views. Erica Savage-Wilson, host, Savage Politics Podcast. Greg, I want to start with you. No words. What that the eulogy by Reverend Lawson, with all due respect to the three former presidents who spoke and everyone else, that was power. That was the eulogy. They could have ended it right there, as far as I'm concerned. With all due respect, as you say, to George W. Bush, whose inauguration in January 20, 2001, John Lewis did not attend because he said that Bush had not won the election. To Bill Clinton, who seems to have a problem with Stokely Carmichael when he said in his

little pretend eulogy that, you know, for two or three years there went in another direction, in Stokely's direction, but it came back John's way. Stay tuned, little Bill, as the world dissolves around you. And for Barack Obama, who, you know, had the courage of his conviction after he's left the presidency, and we'll just leave it at that. Jim Lawson gave the eulogy. Jim Lawson said most of the books get it wrong about John Lewis. And then he surrounded him with a great cloud of witnesses, including the great Kelly Miller Smith out of Tennessee State, Morehouse, and Howard,

the great Kelly Miller Smith, who was there in Nashville, my hometown. You know, Kelly Miller Smith's a legend in Nashville. In fact, he was known at the time as one of the 10 greatest preachers in America. And Jim Lawson surrounded him with that young sister who was still alive, Diane Nash from Chicago. Interestingly enough, John Lewis, of course, planned his funeral before he made transition. No one from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who could have set LeBell straight was invited to speak. But Jim Lawson is the one that surrounded John Lewis and the

great cloud of witnesses and took him out of that comfortable place that America wants to narrate him standing on that bridge that day in Selma. By the way, he was there by himself because the SNCC folks had voted not to go on that march. So as Jim Lawson said, as he narrated, he's basically saying, when you see John Lewis, you're not looking at an individual. You're looking at a movement that transformed this country. And that's the difference between a minister, between a prophetic voice and an elected politician, regardless of his color. Jim Lawson gave the eulogy today, brother. Erica Savage Wilson, that was again.

I sat there. I mean, I was shouting, uh, in my living room. Uh, I, I couldn't even sit down. I stood up for most of it. Uh, and, uh, when he, he, he laid out what of spiritual wickedness, when he called out America, called out the violence in the country and man, when he called it plantation capitalism. Listen, Roland, I was right there with you. My work day was done. I was shook and shouting to hear the unadulterated truth from an elder that is still in our midst by the name of Reverend Dr. James Lawson. I love the way that he not only without, you know, unapologetically, unabashedly corrected the record. But I'm right there with you when he specifically called out the spiritual wickedness and said that these are things that we inherited because I wrote it down. And he called out all of those names, which you just called out, racism, sexism, violence, implantation, capitalism.

That has entered the lexicon, and that is what we're going to continue to press the gas on. I believe that today there was an element of truth that now everyone has to reconcile with and stand in. And no matter what, this is the America that we inherited as black Americans. But it does not have to be the one that we stand for. And I believe that that is the resounding one of the resounding messages that I got from the eulogy of the great Reverend Dr. James Lawson today. Recy, frankly, there are a ton of people who had never heard of Reverend Lawson until today. There were journalists at other networks who I was actually emailing and communicating with. They'd never heard of him. He's 91 years old.

What folks don't realize is that when I interviewed him two years ago, he said, look, my rightful place is not to be out front. I was actually shocked when they said he was actually on the program. I mean, he his whole deal is always about. No, no, no. Y'all go ahead. I'm the strategist. I'm the thinker. I'm the planner. And when you look at all of the things spoken, when you look at Jamila with his staff, he talked about his love for his staff and how he protected them. And then then you heard the different eulogies of the three presidents. And then you had Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and she spoke. You had the prayer from Bernice King. You heard all of

these different things. Lawson's eulogy is what laid out the black, radical, revolutionary John Lewis, not this wonderful, genteel, you know, man of humility who who folks loved and adored. He took time out. Lewis got to the heart to say you can't talk about John Lewis from 1970 forward unless you deal with John Lewis from 1960. Right. I mean, you know, it's kind of what people do, right? They water you down and they portray them as a gentle giant, as somebody who was a little bit more docile instead of, like you said, the revolutionary behind him. And so I think it's really important that Dr. Lawson got up there

and set the record straight. And I really, truly appreciate it, how he also brought attention to the role of Black women in this movement. In so many of these cases, we really, we see that get lost. And I don't know which one of you on the show mentioned that a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it was you, Roland, or Erica, or Dr. Carr, but that is something that I really appreciated Dr. Lawson drawing attention to, in addition to the really, truly dangerous and courageous work that Congressman Lewis did. So he certainly did Congressman Lewis justice. He spoke truth about what happened. I really appreciated how he said that words matter and he corrected the record. And I think it's really important that people will understand

that it took a considerable amount of courage to do that, but not courage from a place of complacency, but courage from a place of really feeling like you have no choice. And I think that other people also conveyed that as well, but nobody did it more powerfully than Reverend Lawson. Greg, obviously, with the eulogy of President Barack Obama brought it present day, I mean, literally as Obama was speaking, Donald Trump called a press availability in the Oval Office. Press comes in. He was talking to the mother of a soldier who was murdered at Fort Hood. The White House said, oh, no, that wasn't done to interrupt Obama's speech. Obviously, no networks broke away to hear what Donald Trump had to say.

So it reminds me when President Lyndon Baines Johnson did the same thing to Fannie Lou Hamer in 1964 when she was testifying in Atlantic City. But what I did appreciate about Obama's speech is that he did lean in in terms of where we are now and shocked a lot of people by calling on Democrats to get rid of that Jim Crow filibuster. And I'm sitting there going, imagine had he been that bold as president, they would have been able to get a lot more stuff passed when they control the Senate. Had they not abided by that Jim Crow filibuster. And therein lies the distance between the presidency that black people thought they were voting for when Senator Obama was elected and the presidency that black people got. And all due respect, again, I love the way you framed this whole conversation.

All due respect. You know, there is no standard in this country that should come before the standard, the struggle of the black liberation movement. Notice Jim Lawson said, I've read the books, most of the books on what happened between 1953 and 1973. Understand the first wave of electoral politics that comes out of that Voting Rights Act of 1965. And Lawson was very careful to say it isn't just the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It's all that legislation. Really, the keystone to it is the Civil Rights Act of 64, as we know, and the Fair Housing Act, which is passed with the blood of Martin Luther King on it, that they never quite actualized.

So Lawson is saying none of that legislation happens had it not been. It was interesting that he mentioned, among others, Brother McCollum, who came out of Orangeburg, South Carolina. They had a thousand person March, January, New Year's Day, 1960, before North Carolina A&T. So what Lawson was doing, and those black women, he said, forced him into that move in Nashville. What he was doing is narrating this black freedom movement that had as part of its objective political power. So then, after 65, of course, as you know, Ronald, you've talked about this many times, that first wave of black elected officials

is representing black interests. But then that second and third wave, up until today, moves increasingly toward the idea of race leader models. I am here, therefore you have representation. No! We don't care what your color is. Our interests have to be represented by you. So when we get to President Obama

today, he was absolutely right to talk about the end of the filibuster. We could have done that when he was the president and had the ability to go forward. Those first two years when they had control of both houses, when they passed the Affordable Care Act, we could have had more on the agenda. But let's forgive him that because today he was on point. But I will mention one other thing while he was president. Going out of the door,

he nominates Merrick Garland in an attempt to do something that had no rationale behind it, which was what? Appease these Republicans who had vowed when he got elected to oppose him on everything he did. So what it does is open the door for Mitch McConnell to come in and give John Roberts, that by the way, George W. Bush put on the bench, the one who eviscerated the

Voting Rights Act, it gave John Roberts that slim majority that he needed once they put Neil Gorsuch on the court to run the table. So in some ways, Barack Obama now comfortably out of office is able to engage in a full-throated defense of a democracy that when he was in office, he could have done a little bit more to defend. And I know people will come to me, but I want all the smoke, all of it. Which is why, Erica, when you listen to Lawson say, we don't need to have this bipartisanship conversation dealing with John Lewis. What Lawson was actually saying is, if you have the courage of your convictions like Lewis did, if he sat there and took a beating and almost died from it, don't sit here and gain courage when you don't have power.

Use that courage when you have power to make a difference. Absolutely. And I love that Recy brought up the whole docile piece because the lamb of John Lewis, which is one that can be petted, can be kind of manipulated in stores, is the one that most folks are comfortable with and not the lion. And so when we see the lion, a person that was involved in this movement for over 60 years, who at an advanced age held a sit in on the House floor, that that is something that he should not have had to do because of people in power, clearly in power, exercise that power, understanding that they are backed by their constituents, understanding that they are backed by people who do want this better America that folks say that we are striving towards, that they will actually be motivated to do those things that actually

push the country forward in a direction that there is some semblance of equity. And so having said all of that, I do believe that kind of on the outside looking in type of conversation, particularly as we are now in the fourth year of a regime that really knows no bottom and ultimately wants to make sure that unilateral power is that that belongs to Donald John Trump, that people have to look around and take an assessment to see where they are right now. And they have to leverage and exercise that power if we want to continue to keep any semblance of democracy that we have remaining in this country. And Reese, what I need people to understand, homegoing celebrations are not for the dead, they're for the living. And what I hope is the folks who were sitting in that church, in Ebenezer Baptist Church,

the folks who were watching in this country and around the world, what I hope is that after watching that, they had a renewed sense of purpose and vigor. Don't just stand there and quote John Lewis saying, get into good trouble, go create some good trouble. Don't just sit there and talk about, oh man, John had the courage of his convictions walking across that bridge. If you are unwilling to put something on the line today, don't just sit here and be mealy mouth. That's why Lawson, when he said in his sermon, don't limit and narrow John Lewis to the Voting Rights Act. He said, because you have to realize everything that was happening, which means you've got to give Congressman Adam Clayton Powell credit for moving the legislation through, being the champion of that, talking about Head Start and housing and dealing with the poor and Accommodations and Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act and

Fair Housing Act and going on and on and on. If the people sitting there, especially those politicians, leave there the same way they came. Damn it, they shouldn't have shown up. Absolutely. I mean, it was a call to action from the beginning to the end, even with Congressman John Lewis publishing his own editorial today in The New York Times, which was a call to action. People everywhere had his his his recorded voice giving a speech when he lied in state. And so this whole, all of these ceremonies around John Lewis, John Lewis's home going, have been all about activating people, about waking them out of their slumber.

We've seen data that's come out recently that says that, for instance, voter registration is down significantly. How in the hell is voter registration down when we are living in a pandemic when we have 32.9% contracted drop in the GDP that just came out today? Unemployment is getting ready to, the extra unemployment benefits are getting ready to expire. The eviction moratorium is getting ready to expire. How is it that people are still so disengaged in what needs to be done in terms of holding the Republicans accountable for not giving trillions of dollars to corporations, but actually letting people get away to get through the end of the month and actually getting people the resources to survive COVID? There are so many things that we need to be engaged with right now. I love how Erica always says, you know,

the civil rights movement is happening right now. We are in a new civil rights movement. And so I completely agree with you. If you listened to what was said and you walked away with a shrug, if you walked away not feeling renewed, then you absolutely failed. And you need to look in the mirror and figure out why is it that you are no more activated after all of the things. And it's not just about the individual speakers. Like I said, it's also about Congressman John Lewis's words and the deliberation that he put and how he wanted his services to go. The op ed receipt is referencing go to my iPad. This is it right here. He specifically wanted this published on the day of his funeral. But he also recorded the audio. I will play that for you.

But right now, we're going to go to Congressman Sanford Bishop, who served in the Georgia delegation with Congressman John Lewis. Congressman Bishop, glad to have you back on Roller Barton Unfiltered. Thank you. I'm delighted to be with you. It has been a very, very, very solemn but meaningful day celebrating the life of our friend, our hero, our brother, John Lewis. Congressman Bishop, I was just saying that there is no way any member of Congress, any mayor, state rep, state senator, county commissioner, city councilman, it does not matter. If you are an elected official and if you did not come away with a renewed sense of purpose and fight in your spirit, then you wasted your time attending or watching this funeral. Absolutely. It is very, very inspirational.

John Lewis's life is inspirational and all of us stand on his shoulders, particularly those who are African-American elected officials anywhere in this country. Without the work and the service and the sacrifice of John Lewis. None of us, particularly those of us from the South, would have the positions that we have. I would not have had the opportunity to be elected. And certainly we would not have elected Barack Obama, president of the United States. For you, your most lasting memory of serving alongside Congressman Lewis as a part of the Georgia congressional delegation. My memory of John is I have both personal memories

and, of course, professional memories. John and I were friends for 52 years. I met John as a student, as a law student, in 1968, shortly after SNCC guys, Julian Bond, would all come through and I got to meet them at that point. And of course, John and I became friends then. We remained friends during his stay at the Voter Education Project when he was on the city council and I was elected to the legislature. And of course, for 28 years that I have served with him in the House of Representatives.

John is a man of conscience. He holds to his principles, and John was the type of individual that was so wedded to his principles in every decision that he made that he earned the nomenclature of being the conscience of the Congress. We knew that John's position was going to be a moral position. And what I take away from having had that friendship with John is that he was kind. He was willing to help anyone, but he was committed to the principles of freedom, justice, opportunity, peace, and love for all of humankind. That was who John was. He was Christian-like. If there was anyone that would be close to emulating Jesus in his daily life, it would be John Lewis. Although he's human. He would get angry and he would get upset, but it was usually

because people were not helping to foster the beloved community that he fought for so hard. So I will remember John for his personal friendship. I will remember him for the opportunity that I had to go to his boyhood home and look at the area where he preached to the chickens. We used to always say, Sanford, you and I are both Alabamians. Alabama named us, but Georgia claimed us. And of course, we spent most of our careers in Georgia, but we were both born in Alabama and we reveled in that. And of course, his friendship is one that I will always be grateful for, to be able to rub shoulders with and to know and to have a relationship with John Lewis for 52 years. The icon that he was, the hero that he was, but the human being, the wonderful human being, the kind human being that he was,

is something that is a real blessing, and I will be forever grateful for that opportunity. Congressman Sanford Bishop, we surely thank you for joining us on this day. Thank you for having me, and thank you for giving the appropriate recognition and honor and homage to my friend, my colleague, my brother, John Lewis. Sir, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, going to go to a break. We come back. You will hear the voice of Congressman John Lewis with that op ed piece that dropped today in The New York Times that he wanted run on the day of his funeral. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin.

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so when we go live, you'll know it. All right, folks, welcome back. As we continue our coverage of the homegoing service today of late Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, he released an op ed piece to The New York Times that he wanted to run today. And they have the written form, but they also have an audio form. And so we just want to take a listen to that right now. You can redeem the soul of our nation. Written by John Lewis. Read by Prentice Onyemi. While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life, you inspired me.

You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world, you set aside race, class, age, language, and nationality to demand respect for human dignity. That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.

Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars. Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters, and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power

to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, mow down unwitting pedestrians on a Las Vegas boulevard, and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain. Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in. And then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence.

He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up, and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we call the beloved community, a nation and world society at peace with itself. Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society.

You must use it, because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it. You must also study and learn the lessons of history, because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, though decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe, because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life, I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and non-violence, is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring. When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last, and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression, and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide. Greg Carr, this was John Lewis being in complete control of his own narrative.

Yeah, it was. In fact, I was trying to think of anybody else I could think of who gave a posthumous final statement to the world. And the only person that could come to mind was the person who made transition the morning in Africa, in Ghana, that John Lewis, 23 years old, delivered the speech that the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee had written that is erroneously called, as Jim Lawson would say, people get it wrong, the John Lewis speech at the March on Washington. And that was Du Bois. Du Bois did something similar. Kwame Nkrumah, in fact, read his last message to the world. And they wanted to control their narratives. And, you know, the thing, the line in there I thought that was most powerful,

and of course, you know, I had a print edition at the Times. I'm a Times reader, but I like to print papers. So he says, answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you believe. You know, John Lewis believed in an America that hasn't existed yet. It was an aspirational vision. And he was fueled, as Jim Lawson said, by women and men who, you know, he named Martin the King, but as Jim Lawson said, when you got a guy like Kelly Miller, who sees John Lewis come into his classroom with the American Baptist College with that passion, with that desire, and says, son, I got an idea for you. I'm going to steer you over here to this meeting along with these other young people, and they're going to take you to put that knowledge to action. When you see Kelly Miller, you're seeing somebody

who was born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all-black town, was where T.R.M. Howard set up shop. That's who protected Emmett Till's mother when they had the trial in Mississippi. So you see a guy like Kelly Miller, who's coming out of black self-determination, who takes this young brother and puts him in front of a bunch of young people that are going to help him make those words action. And here we come to the end of his life. And his last statement in the world is, if you believe in something, you stand by the courage of your convictions. And let's take that separately, separate out of the idea of America, because that's bigger than the idea of America.

As Jim Lawson reminded us today, if America is lucky, it will listen to that energy, which is a black community energy. And they will ignore that energy at their own expense. So, yeah, that's what I take from John Lewis's final earthly message. Recy, what he says in the second paragraph, that is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on. It's so powerful, but so tragic how we're still fighting the same battles from, you know, when John Lewis was a 15-year-old

boy and saw what happened to Emmett Till. I mean, just weeks ago, Rand Paul filibustered, or not filibustered, but he stopped the anti-lynching legislation from passing in the Senate. So it's still not a federal crime to lynch a person in this country. And so I think it's a beautiful tribute. And I think it adds an additional air of legitimacy. Some might quibble with me saying that to the Black Lives Matter movement and people really starting to understand that all of these movements are continuum rather than these separate factions of us continuing to still have to fight the same battles over and over again. And so I think that that was a very powerful point. The part that stood out to me most was how he said ordinary people can, with extraordinary vision, can redeem

the soul of America. I agree with Dr. Carr. We've never realized that promise of what America is supposed to be about. But I do think that we can continue to be the change that we wish to see. We can continue to be the voice that we wish to hear. And we can continue to just put in the work and really believe that we can change things just as an individual and in working with others. Erica, to the point that Recy was just speaking to, that next paragraph, he writes, Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me.

In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars. That is so important because, again, to Reese's point, which we always talk about on this show, is the continuum. It's the fact that there are certain moments in American history that become transformative. And when you talk about Emmett Till, that generation, Rosa Parks had Emmett Till on her mind when she sat down on that bus in Montgomery. Muhammad Ali never forgot that image of Emmett Till on her mind when she sat down on that bus in Montgomery. Muhammad Ali never forgot that image of Emmett Till on the cover of Jet Magazine and the Chicago Defender. And so that generation, that was it. The death of George Floyd, the interview, mixing, yes, as he, all these different names

here, Ahmaud Arbery, we can, we can go all the way back to Eric Garner and others. What this says is for this generation, this is your Emmett Till. Now the challenge, Erica, is will this generation put in the 14, 15, 20 years of work to transform the country? That is an excellent question. And with regard to what Dr. Carr said and what Recy said, I completely agree because one of the strongest takeaway points for me in this piece was that the late Congressman Lewis said that democracy is not a state, it is intact. And Recy brought forward the decline in voter registration, brought forward incredible numbers as it relates to the GDP, as has been reported on business news all day long, and many other elements to say that because I believe that in

generations that we kind of see now, what Congressman Lewis talked about, that though he came from a loving family, loving parents, loving home, that their love could not protect him from, in essence, the wiles of the enemy. I'm saying it in believers terms out of the book, out of the Bible. That being very true, he still took it upon himself to say that he was going to be in the fight, be actively in the fight for injustice, which is not something that you jump in and out of. So the question to perhaps a generation and generations where process, meaning that everything does not happen in the same way that we see it now on social media. It is not instantaneous. When you see platforms like yours, when you see the presence of luminaries like Dr. Carr, that knowledge was not gained in a moment. You're talking about years and years and years. So as we kind of move forward through these conversations, the question also has to be,

is there a level of preparation and is there a real understanding of process and time that those, all of us, but particularly those that are youth are ready to pick up the mantle, will they be able to wrestle and move through the process that we know is time, not to pick it up and drop it because things don't happen instantaneously, understanding that there is a real, real work that has to happen in order to see about the change that we're all talking about. Because again, lifting back what Congressman Lewis said, democracy is not a state. It is an act. It is a verb.

It is something that requires sweat. It is something that requires perhaps loneliness and being misunderstood, but nonetheless persisting and being consistent. Final words on this before we go to a break and talk about some other news items. And that is this here. We can we can reflect on Congressman John Lewis. We can talk about his legacy. We can talk about what he meant. We can talk about, again, all the wonderful things that he did. The question now, which is really what his final challenge is, the question really is, what are you prepared to do? The question is, are we as a black community, are we as a society, are we willing to right now begin to move this thing forward, begin to reimagine America. I was reading a Dorothy Cotton's book and in the

intro, Vincent Harding was actually writing. And what he was talking about in the intro, he was talking about really what they were dealing with. That is for the first time, they were talking about this idea of a for the first time, a multiracial, multidenominational view of America as a democracy. So when you heard President Barack Obama, when you heard President Barack Obama say when you heard him say they were the founding fathers. The reality is Lewis, Vivian, Lowry, Young, King, Hosea Williams, James Orange, Fred Shuttlesworth, Dorothy Cotton, Diane Nash, and I can go on and on and on. They were indeed the founding fathers because what they did is actually take the very document that the founding fathers wrote, which was in, frankly, a hypothetical. It wasn't real. And they actually made it real. As King said on April 3rd, 1968,

be true to what you put on paper. And so now, now the moment for folks who are still here is what you're going to do. Are you first going to register? Are you first, second going to vote? Are you going to encourage others to do it? And then after the election, then what are you going to do? How are you going to push? How are you going to do? Will you simply be despondent and upset and just sort of just fall back? Or are you going to say, no, there's going to be a renewed sense of urgency? Because I got to remind y'all, reach your history.

Southern Dixiecrats joined with Republicans to block legislation. They fought and bickered. Civil rights voting rights of 65 was signed. It was a three year battle to get them to move on the fair housing act, which was only signed into law and passed because Dr. King was assassinated. The question for this generation is whether or not we will have the same courage as a previous generation. But even if you have courage, will we be focused to be able to move public policy?

Protest is one thing. Marching is one thing. Wearing shirts that say Black Lives Matter is one thing. But being able to change the laws on the city and the county and the state and the federal level is another. Reverend Dr. James Lawson laid out all of those laws that were passed.

Will we put the work in and be those ordinary people who would do extraordinary things. I'll be back on Rollerer Mark Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com, a company founded by inventor Mary Spio. They have a couple of products that you can also get. They have their VR, their virtual reality headsets, which allows for you to place your phone inside of this device and look at the content on Seek.com in virtual reality. It's as if you're sitting in the room. You can also get these headsets, 360-degree 4D headphones, which gamers love.

It allows for you to use Bluetooth. You can have a headset to talk as well, to take phone calls. Amazing, amazing sound. Go to SEEK.com, C-E-E-K.com, and you can simply use the promo code RMVIP2020, RMVIP2020, to get both of these products. All right, folks, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson blocked a bipartisan effort to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, saying it would cost too much. The Republican senator said while he supported honoring the day that has come to mark slavery's end in the United States, well, truth be told, it actually marked the notification to slaves in Texas that they were free. He added doing so with a new holiday would give federal

workers a paid day off that the rest of America has to pay for. He estimated the holiday would cost the private sector up to six hundred million dollars per year. Senate Democrats, Joe, my Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, proposed making the day a federal holiday in June in response to the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. So here's what I don't understand, Erica. All right. Senator Cornyn, this is one guy. This is one guy. Bring that damn thing to the floor and make everybody vote on it. What they do is they want to have unanimous consent, which means nobody objects. It passes. No one has to take a vote on it. I say, John Cornyn, if you're serious, tell McConnell, put the bill on the floor and vote it up or down.

But we know he's not serious. And that's why I'm so glad that on this show, we don't just talk about the son of a Klansman who's occupying the White House, that we do go through and talk about those people, those sycophants that continue to empower that person. John Cornyn, Senator John Cornyn, along with all of the rest of the 53 Republicans that are the majority within the Senate, are continuing to do the bidding of their leader. And so we won't see it go up before a vote. That is not going to happen. And that is why people have got to be sure that they are voting, that they're making sure that the people around them are voting because everybody has influence

somewhere, because it is not just about firing the current person that occupies the people's house. It is also about ensuring that there is a shift in Senate, because if there was a shift in Senate, we would not be on one day away well, as long as corporations are not able to be liable for any lawsuits that might come out from employees that contracted coronavirus because it's profits before public health crisis, that we could be a lot further along with perhaps even a national testing strategy. So these are the types of things that people need to hear, though they may not seem as sexy as some of the other political topics, but have a real fair understanding that the bill that would fix the voting rights, all of those different things. So this is real simple, black folks. If you actually so this is what gets me when I hear all these people run their damn miles, all these little folks bumping their gums, especially folks on YouTube and Facebook.

You talking about elected Democrats. This is real simple. It's real simple. Who's blocking the Juneteenth holiday? Which party? You talking about elected Democrats. This is real simple. It's real simple. Who's blocking the Juneteenth holiday? Which party? Who's blocking the lynching bill? Who's blocking the fix to the Voting Rights Act? It's kind of real. It's real clear, Recy. Right. And you know what? What's really annoying to me is that everybody,

in particular, I won't say everybody, let's say, a lot of black people in the black community, they have all the smoke in the world for the CBC. They have all the smoke for something as simple as a Kente stole. And yet, when it comes to people like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul, where is the outrage? When it comes to people like Mitch Paul, where is the outrage? When it comes to people like Mitch McConnell, where is the outrage? We need to be holding these Republicans and have our foot on their neck the way that people always want to blame Democrats and particularly Black Democrats

and CBC members for not waving a magic wand and solving everything. We need to be, Ron Johnson is in Wisconsin. There's a sizable black population. He should be voted out the next time. Tom Cornyn is up for reelection. They need to be putting pressure on him to, like you said, Roland, put the pressure on his Republican colleagues to vote on it. And this is something that we've seen now happen for years, where if they don't get unanimous consent, they use it as an excuse to move on and let the issue die.

People need to start voting on things and go on record with where they stand, period, instead of hiding behind one obstructionist. Greg, symbolism is one thing. I totally understand that. And the reality is when you talk about removing statues, renaming military bases, it's still symbolism. But the point is, is here, if they can't even do the simple stuff, they damn sure not going to do the hard stuff. So you got to get folk

who going to do the hard stuff. Absolutely. Well, in a sense, they are doing the hard stuff. They're defending their shrinking white settler state. It wasn't just the Voting Rights Act that was passed in 1965. It was also the Immigration and Naturalization Act in 1965, the first federal legislation to deal with the question

of who could and couldn't come into the country. They've been trying to roll that back since 1965. And what you see with this white nationalist, a member of the white nationalist party, I won't call him the GOP anymore, They're the white nationalist party. What you see with Johnson, a millionaire, is that he's protecting his interests. He is doing the hard work. His approval rating is abysmal in Wisconsin. He was a millionaire who beat Russ Fongo with a combination of voter suppression and voter miseducation. And, you know, Roland, since March, this goes to what Erica just laid out for us. Since March, there are 29 new billionaires in the United States of America, 12 billionaires more than doubled their wealth. And according to Newsweek, one of them, the guy who owns Nikola, he has made five times the billions he had before the pandemic.

$583 billion have accrued to the billionaires of this country since the pandemic. $583 billion have accrued to the billionaires of this country since the pandemic. Not only are they doing just fine, this type of disaster capitalism, going back to what Jim Lawson said, this kind of plantation capitalism is in their best interest. So what Ron Johnson is doing is they've thrown the dog whistles away. They are in a primal scream to rally their troops. And if they can get this election close enough to steal, they will steal it. Ron Johnson is doing the hard work, in other words. And so I guess what I'm saying is rather than try to appeal to them, and I couldn't agree more, Recy.

I mean, I believe that in politics, as my friend Jared Ball used to always say, everybody can get it. Meaning what? The white nationalist party can get it and the Democrats who don't do what we elected them. Precisely. But yeah, but the Democrats who we want to give the smoke to need to get the smoke once we put them in office, because let's be very clear. There is a qualitative difference between the white nationalist party beholding to the billionaires and using a racial primal screen to try to retain their power until they can mess this next election up. And the Democratic Party, which while it is still part of the two-party system, at least was the party through circumstances that black people forced open, to crack open like an egg, to use as our battering ram in the political process. Let's not paint this picture so broadly that we can't see the difference between those two parties.

Right. And when we look at Ron Johnson, this is not a question of a United States senator. This is an open white nationalist protecting his moneyed interests. There you go. Folks, former president, former Republican presidential candidate and Trump supporter Herman Cain is dead. He died this morning of coronavirus a month after struggling with the disease. And it started nine days after he attended the Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where mask wearing was minimal. Now, check this out. OK, these are a series of tweets that Herman Cain sent out. I want to watch. Go to my iPad. Ignore the outrage. Ignore the thugs.

Defy the violence and the left wing shaming. Tonight's Tulsa Trump rally will be one for the history books. America is here tonight and the Tulsa rally crowds are unbelievable. Well, we know that wasn't the case. He sent this tweet out. Masks will not be mandatory for the event, which will be attended by President Trump. People are fed up. He sent this on the actual night. Here's just a few of the black voices for Trump at tonight's rally having a fantastic time.

This is the photo right here. You see Paris Denard right there. You see, I think that's Deneen Borrelli, the woman to the left of Paris. And you see, of course, as Herman Cain right there in the center. Herman's dead. Now, his friends say, oh, he did not catch it at the rally. He did not catch it there. That's not where it happened. Well, let's see here. Did he catch it going back home? Here's another tweet that he sent out on June 25th. We don't want days like this, but we really don't want more lockdowns, virus or no virus.

That cannot happen. Now, look, certainly condolences to the family of Herman Cain, but the reality is this here. Herman Cain, a Kansas survivor who was 74, shouldn't have been there. You increase the chances of getting this. Bill Montgomery, the founder of the pro-Trump conservative student organization, Turning Point USA, also died from the virus. That group is also opposed to wearing masks. Oh, and you remember Texas Republican Louie Goldmer tested positive for COVID-19. He's been added about not wearing a mask.

He said he finally started wearing a mask in recent days and that the mask likely got him infected. Let me just... Erica, again. All them black folks, in fact, that little leprechaun comedian, so-called comedian Terrence Williams, posted a video doing a jig,

dancing, and they were all in the back sitting here dancing. Now, one of them who was dancing, Herman Cain, not a morning. He ain't here. He's dead. Yeah, I still don't understand how a mask became political when we are facing a global pandemic

that is airborne and impacts the respiratory system, which we know when we look at studies, black folks disproportionately are impacted by asthma. And then when we start looking at the places where people live, particularly if they're plants and things of that nature, that makes them just as much susceptible. But getting back to Herman Cain, who contracted the virus, you said, like less than 14 days after attending the rally. And this man went to the hospital July 1st and just went downhill from there. I think the overarching lesson for everyone here is to wear a mask and to social distance. Those are the ways with which we can fight coronavirus. And as it relates to Representative Gohmert, the other part of his wildness around not wearing a mask is that he also lives in his office.

And so he uses facilities that other people that are in Congress have to use as well. He's been very, very blatant about exposing, excuse me, as the piece talked about, you know, talking, giving staff a hard time that did wear masks. And so you have a person that really is a super spreader, so to speak, postured himself as a super spreader that is not being disciplined, that is not really being forced to comply in a way that will protect the health of other people. So these are the folks that we really have to be on the lookout for. Rishi, Greg sent me this photo. This was a photo. Where did you say Greg is from? Negro? Negro History Bulletin. The Negro History Bulletin. Go to my iPad, y'all. This is a photo of a person. Second to the second from the left is Herman Cain.

And these participants in the student panel, which reviewed Negro history over radio station W.E.R.D. in Atlanta during Negro History Week, are presented compliments of a book by the panel's moderator, William W. Bennett. Again, this right here is is Herman Cain. This is I mean, the I mean, the thing here, Recy, is just simple. These people want to play with fire. These folks are running around listening to Donald Trump, listening to him.

They're acting a fool. They're sitting there cussing folks out, yelling in stores. I mean, 100 years ago, I mean, 100 years ago, there was a Spanish flu. 500 million across the world got infected. 17 to 50 million died. Right now, the COVID death rate is at 152,000.

Trump gives a news conference today. Oh, we're seeing things leveling off in Texas is leveling off here. They are living in a completely delusional world. And the people who play games. This is real simple. You're you're playing Russian roulette with your life. That's what Herman Cain did. Yeah, it is. And my condolences go out to the to the Cain family, because I actually do think it's very sad what's happened to him. And it was, you know, mostly avoidable because he could have chosen to not go to a Klan, you know, coronavirus incubator rally. Angela Stanton, who's actually running for Congressman John Lewis's seat, was spreading these conspiracy theories about Democrats being behind it.

For all we know, she could have been the one to infect him because asymptomatic people often infect people who have preexisting conditions and they have a different reaction to it. And so people absolutely need to take it seriously. And it's very tragic to know that this man was on his deathbed while his own staff was tweeting out coronavirus conspiracy theories and disinformation. This is not a game. It's actually not political. And people need to take it seriously or die. I mean, that's that's the alternative. And that's the thing, Greg.

And I keep saying, hey, hey, if these white folks want to go out there and act a fool. But numbers don't lie. Black people are dying disproportionately because of a variety of obviously health ailments, pre-existing conditions and the effects of Jim Crow all these years of the stress we got to deal with. I look, look, people are asking me, Roland, are you going to go cover the funeral stuff of Congressman John Lewis? And I was very, very close to doing it. But I had to see them make a decision.

Greg, I said, wait a minute. I'm the only host of the show. I ain't got no backup. Some companies have a key man insurance. I'm a lone man. I mean, the bottom line is, me hosting this show is responsible for the jobs of 10 other people.

So you can't just, and then also you got your family who's being affected as well. People got to understand what's going on here. And again, condolences go out to the Cain family, but you put your life on the line for a Trump rally? Gave his life, brother. You on the line for a Trump rally? Gave his life, brother. You gave your life for a Trump rally?

Took the ultimate L. Just like Reese said. I mean, when you, I mean, that's why when you show that picture, really, the thing that moved me, I was, you know, looking through some copies of the Negro History Bulletin and I came across that picture and I froze from the early 1960s. Why? Herman Cain. Let's contrast Herman Cain with this white nationalist who's falling apart. He might not make it to November. Something, whatever's eating his brain may have it all

eaten up by September, October. But let's contrast Herman Cain with Donald Trump. Herman Cain did not inherit a fortune. His father grew up poor in Memphis. He was born in Memphis. Cain gets to Atlanta because his father moves down there. His father ends up being the chauffeur for the CEO of Coca-Cola. And he tells the CEO of Coca-Cola, this is Herman Cain's father, pay me in Coca-Cola stock instead of money. And that's how he's finally able to get ahead. Contrast that with Fred Trump, his old racist ass out there squeezing the life out of poor

people and black and brown people when he let them into tenements at all, building these trap apartments. And so Herman Cain doesn't have an inheritance. He goes to Morehouse on scholarship. That's where that picture come from. And it's crazy to see him sitting there. We just got through talking about, you talked about

the black media last week. Black radio stations, WERD was that station Dr. Cain used to broadcast on. And they go do this black history thing and they pay them with a book written by Carter G. Woodson. That's what he's holding there. So where does he go wrong? He gets a degree in mathematics from Morehouse, goes to the Navy and works as a mathematician while he's in the service. And then as he gets into fast food, Pillsbury, Burger King, ultimately we know him, of course, from pizza and all that.

He's really a self-made person with the little bit of momentum his family could give him. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is the biggest business failure in American history in terms of the most prominent business failure. He's actually shooting for it. And when those paths converge, it's because Herman Cain goes too far off into this whole idea of self-sufficiency. And somewhere in the 90s, where he's critiquing Bill Clinton for saying, you know, universal health care, well, I have to lay off my employees. He's a straight capitalist, and he doesn't really have a political philosophy. But then he gets caught up. Why? Because some of these white folks in this white nationalist party, particularly these hyper-capitalists, they want a black person to espouse those talking points that in America,

you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps, even if you ain't got no bootstraps. And Herman Cain, who did not develop a political philosophy, and clearly from that picture, he had a chance because he was around some people that could have helped him. But Herman Cain, chasing that dollar, ends up trapped in this rhetoric, this hypercapitalist rhetoric, turns into a mascot for the Republican Party, and then gives his life to the huckster, who they shouldn't even be mentioning in the same breath, because if you put them on the same plane of being business people, Herman Cain is the success, and Donald Trump is the joke. But Reesley nailed it.

Man, you put your whole life out here, brother. Yep. And you lost your life, man. You lost your life. Let me ask y'all this here. Let me weigh in. Donald Trump sent that tweet out today talking about we should delay the election. What do you make of Steve Calabrese, co-founder of the Federalist Society, Trump supporter,

writing in the New York Times, quote, I have voted Republican in every presidential election since 1980, including voting for Donald Trump in 2016. I wrote op-eds in a law review article protesting what I believe was an unconstitutional investigation of Robert Mueller. I also wrote an op-ed opposing President Trump's impeachment. But I am frankly appalled by the president's recent tweet seeking to postpone the November election.

Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats' assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president's immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and is removed from office by the Senate. Anybody? Thoughts?

I was in law school when Professor Calabresi, they started the Federalist Society. I'll just keep it very quickly. What the Federalist Society, who is responsible for most of those right-wing judges on the Supreme Court, what he's doing is trying to save their little nasty white nationalist project.

They're trying to make it look like Trump is somehow an outlier. He ain't no outlier. He is representative of what y'all been doing the last 50 years. And so what he's trying to do is get ahead of this. It's just like their Lincoln Project. That's all that is. That's all it is. So what he's trying to do, Erica, here, impeach Trump so we can have Pence on the ballot?

Absolutely. And I think that Dr. Carr brought that forward a few weeks ago when we were talking. And that is why, and I'm so glad that everyone is tuned in, and I hope everybody continues to absorb these conversations that we're having and to absolutely empower other people as we prepare to go to the ballot box in 95 days or do your mail-in ballot at home is that this is not just about the son of a Klansman that is occupying the White House. This is an entire regime, and Mike Pence included, who is the president of the Senate, who is the reason that there is a Betsy DeVos, because he issued the tie-breaking vote in Betsy DeVos becoming the most unqualified or one of the most unqualified secretaries of education.

He is responsible for 13 tie-breaking votes, and that includes putting people, I think it's now 203 federal judges on the bench right now. We're also talking about the leaders-in-chief of federal agencies, all of these different people that have worked together to tip the scales of America towards authoritarianism and fascism. That is who we are firing. It is an entire regime. And so I'm with Dr. Carr when I actually did read this and I saw it and I thought to myself, just along with the Lincoln Project and Dr. Lawson brought this forward, talking about writing of history, we have to reconcile what actual history is.

And actual history is when Dr. Lawson brought forward how Ronald Reagan decimated, decimated housing for black folks that we can't pretend like the 1980s did not happen. The Republican Party that we're seeing right now that is really kind of scrambling to try to save what they believe to be a very still grand old party does not exist. And so, yeah, I push back on all of this foolishness that he had to say, because when the House reluctant, well, when the House did impeach Donald Trump, it was because of one of those articles was abuse of power. He's been doing it freely since he was president elect. Racy. This guy is full of shit. Let's been doing it freely since he was president-elect. Racy.

This guy is full of shit. Let's just be honest. This is nothing more than a PR campaign. There have been literally thousands of off ramps for any so-called Republican of conscience. So this is not anything more beyond the pill than what we've seen literally hundreds of times even since this pandemic has started. Literally, the Trump regime, as Erica put it, has been putting troopers on our American streets, violating the sovereignty of these individual states. That's authoritarianism and it's fascism. So this whole notion that, oh, this tweet sent me over the edge, they're full of shit, especially tweet sent me over the edge. They're full of shit, especially when you come from the party that is the party of voter suppression,

the party of gerrymandering. And you have, uh, hang on. There was one more thing that I wanted to say. Oh, like Erica said, you have your 200 judges now, federalist society. So sure. If you can distance yourself from Donald Trump and your two Supreme Court justices, then maybe this is a little bit of damage control on your fault. But what we cannot do, as Dr. Lawson pointed out brilliantly today, is we cannot allow these white nationalists, the white nationalist party, as Dr. Carr put it, to rehabilitate their images in real time. We can't allow them to do it, to rehabilitate it with memes and catchy videos and ads and op-eds. They are just as much accountable and co-conspirators in this Trump

regime and this fascism that we're seeing today. They have the blood on their hands and we cannot let them right their way out of it. All right, folks. We had, of course, these anti-Trump ads and some other stories. We're going to push those tomorrow because we, of course, went a little bit longer than expected with our coverage of today's home going for Congressman John Lewis. But you can do that, right, Roland, because it's your show. Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. That's why we do that. That's why we do that. And, of course, we want you to support what we do as well here on Roland Martin Unfiltered by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Of course, you can get right there on Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered. You got Venmo.com forward slash RM Unfiltered. You can also send, of course, a money order. You can send it right there to a new vision. Media is new in you. Vision media Inc. 1625 K street, uh, Northwest suite 400 Washington DC 2006, 2006. And so we want you to please support us, uh, in doing that. And the reason it's important because again, what you just saw

today with our show, with the coverage of the home going of Congressman John Lewis, for us to be able to control the narrative, for us to be able to focus on what we want to focus on and not really depend upon what you will hear from the folks on other networks. That's why those things matter. The ability to be able to hear folks like Recy and Erica and Greg as well. That stuff is important. And I'm just going to agree. What I keep just trying to get our folks to understand is that if we're not building our institutions, then guess what? The modern day John Lewis's are not going to get covered. They will get marginalized.

And then you heard Jim Lawson say, I've read all these books and they ain't really telling really what happened. That's what happens when somebody else who don't look like you is reinterpreting what your story is. That's right, brother. That's exactly right. And that's what happens when somebody who does look like you is beholding to a system that doesn't look like you. In order to get published, they don't tell the story. There is nobody on cable, nobody on broadcast television. There is nobody who is going to do two things.

Number one, going to show the full James Lawson eulogy and explain it. And number two, there's nobody who has done as long an interview as you've done with him in recent years that will broadcast that on their platform. This is why you must support. You must support this network and this platform. You know why? Because if you're not watching this, you're not getting the news you need. Because them other folks measure it. Go on over there and find out how long they talk about Jim Lawson. Compare what you hear tonight with what you heard over here

tonight, and that'll be the difference maybe between slavery and freedom. I don't know. Maybe that might be the difference. Well, folks, there was a whole lot that was being said at today's eulogy, and we're going to end our show hearing from Congressman John Lewis. It's four seconds and it's all you need to

hear. Folks, go to my iPad. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla. Vote and use it. John Lewis. You have one vote and use it. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth.

Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.