#RolandMartinUnfiltered - John Lewis returns to Atlanta; Biden's Black Equity Plan; RVA riots instigated by white supremacists

Episode Date: July 30, 2020

7.29.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Congressman John Lewis returns to Atlanta; Biden releases Black Equity Plan; Richmond riots instigated by white supremacists posing as Black Lives Matter protesters; Apple donates proceeds from the documentary "John Lewis: Good Trouble"; Meet Florida Congressional candidate, Pam Keith; More anti-Trump ads sting the nation's complainer-in-chief; Is big tech too big and powerful for America's good? Three HBCUs announced that they each received the largest single donation in their schools' history; Yelitsa Jean-Charles talks Healthy Roots Dolls.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-#RolandMartinUnfiltered 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 star-studded a little bit, man.

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Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Today is Wednesday, July 29th, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Congressman John Lewis is lying in state in the state capital in Georgia. He arrived in Atlanta after lying in state for the last two days in the nation's capital here in Washington, D.C. We'll be joined by Congressman David Scott of Georgia to talk about his legacy in serving in the Georgia delegation

with the civil rights icon. Presidential candidate Joe Biden released his plan for racial equity in the economy on yesterday and will break it down with one of his supporters, Delaware State Senator Darius Brown. The presidential election isn't the only race we need to focus on. We'll talk with Pam Keith, who's running for Congress in Florida. Tech giants testified before Congress today. We'll talk about whether companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon have too much power. And Richmond, Virginia police say the riots there were instigated by white supremacists posing as Black Lives Matter activists. And three HBCUs received the largest single donation in their school's history.

We'll talk with Hampton president, Dr. William Harvey. And you'll meet the founder of a company that empowers little girls with a doll that looks just like them. Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. Folks, here's a live look of Congressman John Lewis lying in state as we speak at the Georgia State Capitol. He of course was lying in state the last 48 hours here in the nation's capital. His body was transported to Atlanta today, where there was a private ceremony that took place there among the folks who spoke, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

All right, so folks, we have an issue with our video. So the public will be able to pay their respects to Congressman Lewis from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. today. And again Lewis from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. today. And again, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., of course, first of all, I've got some time, got some times there. Again, 3 to 7 today. From 7 to 8, Lewis's fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, will conduct a special ritual, Omega ritual, for the deceased member inside the Capitol. So will the Prince Hall Masons. Lewis's body will remain in the Capitol until it is transported Thursday to Ebenezer Baptist Church for the 11 a.m. funeral.

There will be a number, of course, all the broadcast and cable networks will be airing that as well. We'll be live streaming that right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. I got emails today saying that Bounce TV and BET will also be airing his funeral. No word on the other black networks own TV one aspire Afro if they will also be airing the funeral of Congressman Lewis. All right, folks, joining us right now to discuss the life and legacy of the congressman is David Scott. He has served in the Georgia delegation with Congressman John Lewis, and he joins us right now. Congressman Scott, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Roland, it's great being with you. And let me just say how proud I am of you and your great forward progress in the world of broadcasting. You're doing great and you are standing strong for our great fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. My brother, good to be on with you. Yes, sir. I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Let's talk about a man who you served in the Georgia delegation with, Congressman John Lewis. So many people came out in D.C. to pay respects to him. As we speak, folks are traveling through the state capitol there in Georgia to also pay their respects to the congressman and civil rights icon.

Well, let me just tell everybody that, first of all, John Lewis was God sent. No question about it. He was called and anointed and moved through life with God's hand directing him. Let me tell you why I say that. John Lewis's mother and John Lewis's grandmother together named him John, after John, Jesus's disciple. And here's why this is important. And I want you to listen to me carefully. First of all, John was the only disciple that is constantly referred to as the disciple that Jesus loved. It was John the Beloved. John Lewis spent his entire life with building up what he called the Beloved Community. Move on through that and come up to the march on Washington. Jesus' disciple, John,

was the youngest disciple. John Lewis was the youngest of the civil rights leaders who spoke, six of them, at the great march on Washington. Coincidence? No. All the way you've got that. And Roland, my life was deeply touched by John, not only here in Congress where we served for 18 years together. But John Lewis baptized me into the civil rights movement. In a little old town down in Louisiana, Mississippi, I believe it was called, Waterproof. And he was head of what was called then the Voter Education Project.

And that was after he had left SNCC, but in Atlanta, and he was the chairman of that. And I traveled with him in many places. And he took me down to Waterproof My first time out. And something happened back in Alabama where Troy, his father, was deathly ill. And he was to give a great speech, John was. And so he had to go immediately

and he came to me, David, you're going to have to speak for me. And there I was, there. And John had gone back to Troy. And there I was. All those people expecting John Lewis, but here comes David Scott. He threw me into the baptism of the fire, as he called it, good trouble. And that's how I became even more involved. And that was at the very beginning. But throughout

my life, John Lewis has played a role. And you know, I want to tell this story because it's very special if you have time. John Lewis and Julian Bond. Right now, the 5th Congressional District is really on fire down there in Georgia. We got so much going. But, you see, Julian Bond was my Senate office mate during my state Senate days. John Lewis, my friend, too, whom I traveled and did Deep South, the voter education project. And there they were running and planning to run against each other. All of Atlanta was in an uproar.

They couldn't take it. I had calls from Maynard Jackson, Andy Young, all of them. David, you're good friends with both of them. You're two of sitted office mates. You work with John. Talk to him, call him in. We can't take them running against each other. And Roland, I tried.

I brought him in to the office. Junior came in. John came in, and there we were, the three of us. And I broke down. I said, John, I'm getting it from everybody. I said, anyway, we got to, for you guys not to run against each other. Everybody loves you both. And this whole thing is torn apart. Can we

work it out? And you know one thing, Rowan, they sat there looking at each other, not saying anything. And then after moments had passed, I said, John, Julian, let's have a word of prayer. And we three of us knelt in the Senate office at the state capitol, where his body is right now. We're on my office, and Julian was in the basement. And we prayed. We prayed. And then we finished praying, and they kept looking at each other,

and you could feel the love, the affection. And if people know the history of these two guys, they were arm and arm throughout and snick, the movement. They were legends back then. But for me to be there and to see that love as we were trying to get them not to go against each other. Mm-hmm.

But they just looked at each other. And you could see the love in their eyes. And they said nothing, Roland. And then they got up and they walked out, not seeing anything. And I knew then that what I had witnessed there was brought by the hand of God that I could see. No one was in a better place of being able to be at that moment. And that's why I told people, don't be angry. Don't be mad about this. They both are doing God's work, I'm telling you. And they did. Julian Baum went on to be president of the NAACP. John Lewis went to Congress. They each had their duty. And that's why I tell you, man, John Lewis. I love John Lewis. My heart is breaking.

I got to get on a plane here in the morning, 6.30, and fly down to Ebenezer. I've got to be there. I love John Lewis. He's so important in my life. So many people talk about, obviously, his impact and their relationships, but there were times when y'all were at odds. And when President Obama, when he appointed federal someone to the, he agreed to deal with Republicans to appoint somebody to the federal bench. You were an ardent opponent of that. I had you on Tom Joyner. I had you on my TV One show.

And then pretty much you and Congressman Hank Thompson, Hank Johnson, and others, y'all forced Congressman Lewis to go against Obama. He did not want to do that. Reverend Joseph Lowry told me that Obama called him and he said, I'm not going to speak out against the president. But y'all made it clear. Congressman Lewis, we love you. We know you love Obama. But Obama's going to be gone after eight years. That federal judge is going to be there for 30, 40 years.

And he wasn't too happy y'all made him come out against that appointment. Well, that's what I'm telling you, man. I knew what John Lewis was. And I knew they were using him. And I told John, I said, John, I can't let them use you, man, for you to be used to support the man who was being nominated for the judge who wanted to keep and bring back the Confederate battle flag. Come on, man. And you know what? John thanked me for that. I love Obama. We all love Obama.

But I love John Lewis. I was there, and I know, and I knew what they were trying to do to him. And I wouldn't let them use them. You know, Roland, I was on your show. Yeah. When we talked about this. Oh, yeah. Oh, trust me, the White House, the White House wasn't happy with you.

They weren't happy with me. Yeah. Can you imagine right now with all of what is happening, with the symbolisms of the Confederacy and all of that. And here's John Lewis, who fought that, man. He was there. He's the one. If you look at that picture crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, all there were, you see those Confederate flags flying as the state trooper has his baton knocking Jan

Lewis in the head the Confederates like I told him I said and he said, you know what, David? You're right. And he thanked me for not doing that. John is so kind. He loves everybody. But some of us, sometimes, the Lord got us there to protect him from being used. And I tell you this, we got to be careful even now that he not be used.

We have a rich history and a legacy. God inspired. God delivered. And God wants us to protect that. And I'm glad that I did. Congressman David Scott of Georgia, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much, my Alfred brother.

And we'll certainly look forward to commemorating his life tomorrow at the funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Thank you, Max Rand. Appreciate it, sir. The good work. Will do. Thanks a lot. Let's bring in my panel now, A. Scott Bolden, former chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Robert Petillo, executive director, Rainbow Push Coalition,

Peachtree Street Project, Brittany Lee Lewis, political analyst. I want to start with you, Robert. You're there in Atlanta. How has the city and the state, how have they been mourning the death of Congressman John Lewis? Well, one thing about John Lewis is that he's not one of these, he was not one of these politicians who simply went off to Washington, D.C. and did not live in their district. He was ever present within the city of Atlanta. He showed up from everywhere from Home Depot to a community meeting or HOA board meeting. He campaigned in his last election the same way he did with the same vim and vigor as he did in the first.

And for that reason, everyone in Atlanta, it seems, has a John Lewis story. Everyone has a time that they met him, that he spoke to them in kind words, that he mentored them, that he gave the calming voice that he's so famous for having, and mediating problems and really becoming part of that establishment that helps this city go forward. It's immeasurable, the loss of John Lewis to this city, to this nation, to this culture and civilization. But I do think it's important that we honor his memory by continuing the fight for the things that he fought for. We have to have a new voting rights act in this country. There's no right more important than the right to vote, because the right to vote is dispositive

of all other rights. We have to fight to make sure we are represented properly in the census, because the allocation of resources in this country is based upon being counted. We have to ensure that we fight for the poor and for the least of these. It's very easy to forget those who have not because they have no voice. John Lewis was always that voice for the voiceless. And I think it's crucially important that we remember him and honor him by working for the causes he fought his entire life for. Brittany, it is when folks are reflecting on the life.

We look at, again, all that is taking place thus far. The video we're showing you right now, this, of course, was when his body was being removed from the U.S. Capitol today to take him to the airport to fly back to his final resting place in Atlanta. I cannot remember the last African-American, definitely, or even a member of Congress, who has received something akin to a state funeral for a president. Of course, when you think about the services that took place in his hometown of Troy, Alabama, lying in state in the Alabama state Capitol, he was of course a native of Alabama being transported to Thurgood Marshall, BWI, the motorcade, the police driving him to Washington, DC, going past the MLK Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Museum of African American History and Culture,

going up Black Lives Matter Plaza, then going to the U.S. Capitol, lying in state in the U.S. Capitol. Now, of course, being taken back to Atlanta, the motor pass, will get this sort of presidential type of homegoing. Absolutely. You know, I think John Lewis is just so important because he's symbolic of our struggle as black people, but really of the American fabric over the last four generations. I mean, you know, I know so many of us know his history, but just to kind of remind us who we're dealing with, this is someone who in 1961, you know, was one of the original 13 Freedom Riders. You know, this is someone who was a part of the quote-unquote Big Six, who was one of the youngest speakers at the March on Washington 57 years ago. This is someone who has been incarcerated and jailed repeatedly, you know, year after year,

decade after decade. This is someone who spent his last 20 years, you know, in the House of Representatives. This is by all means, and I know the Black radical tradition shies away from this term, but this really is a giant, if you will, in our community and in the United States. So I agree with you there, Roland. I don't think we've seen anyone in quite a long time get this type of treatment. But John Lewis, of all people, deserves it. And I also agree with the comments that were made earlier. We need to continue to fight in his name. We need to continue to get in good trouble. And I just pray that he is not sedated. His legacy is not sedated, much in the way that we see Martin Luther King's and some of these other historical giants. I get very scared of the performative things that are happening. They should be done because this man deserves it. But I'm petrified of the performative realities as we continue to

fight in 2020 through this upcoming election. You know, some of the same tumultuous things that were happening and have been happening over the last couple of decades. Scott, the video we're showing right now is when his body was being, they were at, of course, the airport there in Washington, D.C. His body is going to be transported to Atlanta. That plane there, that is one of the planes from the Air Force fleet that normally carries the president of the United States, secretary of state. Again, that says a whole lot in terms of how this nation felt about John Lewis. To Brittany's point, I think that's really our responsibility. That is, as black folks,

what we cannot do is we cannot allow the narrative to be written and controlled by others. To do what I often say, we create these civil rights mascots. I always say that Dr. King has been turned into this sort of bobblehead figure in terms of how people treat him and talk about him. We, as black folks, have to be the ones who constantly remind this generation and the next generation that John Lewis, before he was Congressman John Lewis, was a radical black revolutionary who was fighting for the freedom of black people. And unapologetic about it. He was not popular. He wasn't loved by Republicans and Democrats alike when he was coming through as part of the big six.

And so now that he went to Congress and there's a raised level of consciousness, how many white conservative Republicans revisited and went down the Edmund Pettus Bridge and walked across it in solidarity with John Lewis, knowing that their policies were oppressive to black people. They went for a photo op. And John Steele did not have a problem with them because he was rooted in love and forgiveness. And he was a freedom fighter, but his was rooted in love. And I think that's what distinguishes John Lewis, his ability to forgive. And then the reality is, you know, who is the next John Lewis?

Who did he train? Who did he impact? And how many of us have the basis in our hearts and minds and brains to love, to fight, to forgive, and to lead us to the next step, not just of consciousness, but of action in moving this country forward. We've got a seminal moment here to do that

with Black Lives Matter, with his passing, and whatever honors come, whether they change the name of the bridge or not, this is a long fight for racial justice. It's not going to begin and end with John Lewis or Martin Luther King Jr. or even Roland Martin. It is a long journey. And so who else is going to pick up the mantle and lead us in the name and image and spirit of John Lewis? That's what I often wonder about. Maybe there's a part of each of us that will pick up that mantle and move forward until America's promise is reached, that is of freedom,

justice, and equality. That's what I think when I see the pictures you shared regarding John Lewis. Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't. I don't worry about that because here, you can go ahead and go to my iPad. This is a video of that Air Force plane landing at the Atlanta airport. The reason I don't worry about that, Robert, is because we see them. They exist right now. When I look at the work being done out there by young black folks, some of them younger than John Lewis in cities across this country, there are people who are putting their lives on the lines, people who are getting arrested. When I saw Until Freedom and

Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour and Kenny Steele, the NFL player and others who are out there sitting on the lawn of the Kentucky Attorney General demanding that he arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor. That's people who are operating in the tradition of John Lewis and SNCC and Diane Nash and James Bevel and Fannie Lou Hamer and the brothers and sisters who were in Loudoun County, Alabama. And so that's there. And so I think what we have to do is we have to make sure that we praise them, that we give them the same kind of attention now that folks got then, because we can't say who is the next John Lewis if we ignore them sitting right in front of us. You're absolutely correct. I think I personally know some outstanding young

leaders, people like Mary Hector, formerly of the National Action Network, James Woodall, the Georgia president of the NAACP, 26 years old, Gerald Griggs, a justice fighter. We have so many young people who are picking up these torches, who are ready to fight, and who sat at the knees of the giants, who sat at the knees of those who went before to learn those lessons and find out how they can translate that energy into passion, that passion into policy. Think about how long we've been having these discussions about Confederate monuments and Confederate flags. It was this generation of young people who decided to just go down there, put a rope around it, and pull it down. And now we're not having a discussion about it.

They're all coming down. So this level of intensity is almost as if while this nation currently is going through this metamorphosis, this racial reckoning that we're seeing some of our older lines go on to the other side, almost handing off that baton because they know that we are in the proper hands to fight this going forward. I think this is the generation that takes us across the finish line. I hope every generation believes that because we have to get there and we are in a position right now to fight for more than ever before. Brittany, you are more historian as opposed to political analyst. And I think the problem that we have today is that we do not have, let me be real clear,

we do not have black media that has the intensity to raise those voices because if mainstream is ignoring them, we have to be the ones who tell their stories. And so if we're talking about, and I think we can't let people somehow freeze us in time to somehow believe that as our elders move on to become ancestors, we've lost Dick Gregory and Reverend Joseph Lowry and Reverend C.T. Vivian and Juanita Abernathy and Dorothy Cotton. and it goes on and on and on. Those numbers are dwindling. They are now in their late 70s, in their 80s, in their 90s. I think about Harry Belafonte. Our job is to be able to let folks know who's doing the work today so we don't just get locked and somehow think that it was late 50s and 1960s and we just sort of skipped 40 plus years.

Wow. You brought up a few excellent points, Roland. I think one of the first points that we need to pay attention to, like you brought up, is media. Absolutely. Because the media has been so, so important in our communities, historically speaking, especially through the newspaper, but through television media as well. And I think that's why your show specifically is so important. And Black media really needs to be on the forefront of all of these conversations. It's imperative for us. But I also think it's really important as we talk about the Black community as a whole and we talk about leadership. I made this comment earlier about the Black radical tradition. And if you read some of our forthright thinkers in terms of black radical tradition, if we talk about the legacy of Ella Baker, if we talk about the legacy of Maxwell Stanford, which was Muhammad Ahmed of the Revolutionary Action Movement, one of the precursors to the Black Panther Party, these folks are saying as they're reflecting, which is why it's so important for us to have these intergenerational conversations, these folks are saying that it's the egalitarian style of leadership that is so important, not a single charismatic leader. So I say that to say it's very, very important. One, the media. Two, recognizing that there are leaders out there, but it's actually an

egalitarian style that most of our ancestors were pushing towards for very specific reasons. Well, I do have to say this here. I think we also make a mistake because what we have done is we've allowed white folks to even set that narrative. Here's the deal. During that period, it wasn't just Dr. King. It was, as you said, Ella Baker and Fan Lou Hamer. It was Dorothy Height. It was Septima Clark. It was Roy Wilkins with NAACP. It was Whitney Young with the National Urban League. It was CORE with James Farmer. It was Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. There were people, Ella Baker, Barbara Ransby,

break this down in her book on Ella Baker. There were people who were in all these different cities. Those four freshmen, North Carolina A&T, they were not a part of any group. They decided that on their own. And so the reality is national white media created this whole deal where it was Dr. King, everybody else. When Dr. King got, got the Nobel peace prize, he accepted the Nobel peace prize on behalf of the movement and gave the money to multiple

organizations. And so, so really what this generation has done is really do exactly what they did. The difference is that again, yes, folks don't believe this one central figure, but I think that's also was because how that was reported and how it was framed up folks, our, our real quick, cause I got to play this by my next guest is waiting. Go ahead. Why just the, these unsung heroes are what you're talking about from communities around the country who did Dr. King's work not because they wanted Dr. King

not because Dr. King had asked them, because they took up the mantle, whether it was Joliet, Illinois, whether it was Carson City, California, or some small town called Troy in Alabama. These people were motivated. These African Americans and those who didn't look These people were motivated. These African-Americans and those who didn't look like us were motivated. They were lieutenants and unsung heroes of the movement

because they had to be because otherwise Dr. King couldn't have gone to every state and every city and motivated them. We now have that clip available of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lansbottom speaking at the private ceremony in the state capitol today in Atlanta with the body of Congressman John Lewis. Governor Kent, Dean Smyre, John Miles and to the family. Some 85 years ago, the great Langston Hughes wrote of the promise and pain of America. Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plane seeking a home where he himself is free. America never was America to me. Let America be the dream, the dreamer's dream. Let it be that great, strong land of love where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme that any man be crushed by one above. It never was America to me. So let my land be a land where liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, but

opportunity is real and life is free. Equality is in the air we breathe. Some five years after these words were written, a descendant of the enslaved, a son of sharecroppers, was born. And the words of the Lord rested upon his life. Before I formed you, I knew you in the womb. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. And this prophet, our prophet, called upon America to be America again and so we gather here today in what was once a stronghold

of the Confederacy together because this prophet lived and this prophet named John Lewis loved. Like so many, I have a deep and abiding admiration for Congressman Lewis, and I've had it my entire life. I would see his lovely wife Lillian when she came into my mother's hair salon to have her hair done. She was a beautiful and brilliant woman whose love and affection for John Miles was evident in every conversation that she had. I knew Congressman Lewis as the man who worked in SNCC with my Aunt Ruby Doris Smith Robinson. She died at the age of 26, leaving a two-year-old son behind. Each time I saw the congressman, his eyes glistened with tears when he spoke of her.

He told me stories of being beaten with her and going to jail together in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He always made sure to ask about her son Trey. Although an Alabama legend, an Atlanta icon, and an American hero, Congressman Lewis to take time to let me know, to let all of us know, that we matter to him. And so I don't think it was happenstance that in his final public appearance he visited the Black Lives Matter mural in Washington, D.C. And it was around this same time that I joined him on a Zoom call with President Obama and the Obama Foundation for My Brother's Keeper. Until his last days, he was calling upon America to be America again in his words and his deeds.

I was deeply moved a couple of days ago when his chief of staff, Michael Collins, shared with me that the Congressman was intently watching the news of Atlanta and proud of the leadership that's been shown. And so, Governor, when the good trouble continues, know that it is with the blessings of Congressman Lewis. And although the fight for liberty and equality continues, Congressman Lewis reminded us to be hopeful, to be optimistic, and to never lose a sense of hope. Oh, let America be America again, the land that never has been yet and yet must be the land where every man is free.

You know you're a bad sister when you call out Governor Brian Kemp, who of course has been suing her when it comes to the mask mandate, letting him know as he sat right there, we're going to keep doing and getting involved in good trouble. Folks, Apple is paying tribute to the life and legacy of Congressman John Lewis by donating its portion of the proceeds for the documentary, John Lewis, Good Trouble, to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and the National Museum of African American History

and Culture in Washington, D.C. Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment policy and social initiatives, said, quote, representative John Lewis's life and example compel each of us to continue the fight for racial equity and justice. This film celebrates his undeniable legacy, and we felt it fitting to support two cultural institutions

that continue his mission of educating people everywhere about the ongoing quest for equal rights. All right, folks, let's talk politics. Joe Biden's jobs in the economic recovery plan is that we must build our economy back better than it was before the COVID-19 crisis. He gave his speech on yesterday saying that we have two overlapping crises. The pandemic shines a light on racial disparities in health and health care, and the economic crisis has hit black and brown communities especially hard,

with black unemployment being at 15.4 percent, Latino at 14.5 percent, and businesses owned by black, Latino, and Asian Americans closing down at alarming rates. Joining me right now is someone from his home state, Delaware State Senator Darius Brown. Senator Brown, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. What really jumps out when we talk about this plan, what black folks want to know is specifically,

how will a Joe Biden presidency benefit Black people? Not Latinos, not Asians, not white women, everyone else, but specifically African-Americans. Well, thank you, Roland, for having me. And, you know, this election and campaign is personal to me because Joe is family. The Bidens are family to me. And for all of those that are in the state of Delaware, particularly African-Americans, that in the state of Delaware, African-Americans make up nearly 40 percent of the state population, including all other minorities. And then so we look at the Build Back Better plan as a way to ensure that our country, particularly African American communities, have the investment that they need, because we know and recognize that

by the year 2050, our nation will become a majority minority country. And also by that same year 2050, it is projected that the average net wealth of African American households will be zero dollars. And so when we look at this campaign and the choice between the two candidates that are running for president, Joe Biden is the only one that has articulated a plan to invest in African-American communities. He's not someone that's new to the relationship with African-Americans. I, as a state senator in the state of Delaware, the third and youngest African-American to serve in the Delaware State Senate, served on his U.S. Senate staff and have worked with him and have relations with him over the years. His late son, Beau, and daughter, Ashley, were with me when I was sworn in to city council when I first got elected to public office,

and they've been with me ever since. And so what he is doing as running for president and his investments is ensuring that we have the investments in our neighborhoods, home ownership, creating wealth. We recognize that home ownership is the very fundamental foundational way to create wealth in the black community. It's investing in small business and small and mid-sized firms. Roland, you know personally, there's lots of African-Americans in the state of Delaware. Many of them are your friends. And so we want to ensure that African-Americans in the state of Delaware. Many of them are your friends. And so we want to ensure that African-Americans around the country understand Joe Biden's relationship to African-Americans in

the state and African-Americans around the country and his commitment to invest in our community. Well, the reality is this here. When Vice President Joe Biden was there with President Barack Obama, black and other firms outperformed white firms when it came to the management of TARP funds. But they did not get an increase in that. And so the thing here is the power of the president is real. When we talk about, look, federal government deposits a whole lot of money in various banks. The question is, will dollars be shifted to black banks? That's one of the things that took place under President Bill Clinton. Look at the Pentagon.

Pentagon spends $600 million a year annually on advertising. How much of that is going to black media? Those are the sort of tangible questions. And not only that, you look at the Federal Pension Fund, nearly a trillion dollars. BlackRock pretty much controls all of that. Black people are managing a minuscule amount. And so really what black folks want to know is, to break down these systems, is Joe Biden going to say, we're going to make sure that we're not going to continue to keep having white hedge funds

and investment funds controlling those dollars. And we're going to make sure, using our power to say, you're going to start advertising in significant ways with black media, because what does that then do? It causes black media to actually build capacity, allows us to be able to do more, be able to hire more people. The same thing for other businesses. Yeah, Roland, the African-American community knows very well that between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Joe Biden is the only person committed to investing in our community and has a record in leading reinvestment after the economic downturn. And so also with that, we already know Joe Biden's commitment through his Build Back Better plan

is that what he's going to do for America and for African Americans is ensure that we generate wealth through home ownership, through small business loans. He's going to work within the federal government system to make sure that the Consumer Federal Bureau is ensuring that our credit scores and our credit rate is being assessed differently than it has been historically in the past. He's also committed to ensuring that we're going to have—he's going to look at student loans and addressing student loan debt and moving that student loan debt from us, which for many of us as African Americans, we recognize and understand is a barrier for upward mobility and financial freedom. So those are commitments that Joe Biden has made that Donald Trump has not articulated. He continues to be divisive. He continues, as Mayor Lance Bottom talked about,

continues to push and press upon the pain of our country and the promise of our country. And Joe Biden has been committed in saying that he wants to restore the soul of our nation. And that also helps us as African-Americans. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. I appreciate it. Let's go to our panel here. Brittany, I want to start with you.

This is what it boils down to. How will Biden use the power of the presidency to be able to affect the economics of black folks? Yeah, you know, absolutely. I think the community, you know, we're certainly going to be voting for Joe Biden. Historically speaking, Black folks, specifically Black women, have always supported Joe Biden. And let me say this before I get into my real comments. You know, I lived in Delaware. I was Miss Delaware. Beau Biden was one of the most beautiful people I've ever met, rest his soul. Joe Biden as well. They're good, nice people. But we are going to have to, once we get him in office, and we will, we are going to have to really push him.

Because Joe Biden is a moderate. He is a moderate Democrat. So we are really going to have to push him in terms of his police reform ideology, in terms of, you know, I heard a lot of banter about, oh, well, you know, we have to get wealth back into the Black community. So, yeah, I mean, it does come through housing. It does come through private property. It does come through the economy. And we know he's more legitimate than Trump in terms of reversing the virus, in terms of, you know, building back the economy. But we're going to have to continue to push him and ensure that he is putting things that are set in stone federally

to help the black community, because historically speaking, he is a moderate. Scott, it's very interesting. I was looking at some of the comments here on YouTube. I was looking at some of the comments on Facebook. And when I did the Say the Black America event in Indianapolis with Stuart Speakers Bureau, I said this to the audience. I said, if you ask black people, what are the top five issues? Money is not going to be in the top five. What often happens is we as African-Americans, we we talk about criminal justice reform, mass incarceration. We'll talk about- Racism. We'll talk about racism. We'll talk about health. We'll talk about education. We'll talk about

environmental justice. But let's just be clear, money is tied to every single one of those things. I think we do ourselves a disservice by not honing in on money. But what I mean by that is where the money is and how the money is being distributed. Like I said, when I sat at the Treasury Department under Obama in 2010, and they said that black and other minority firms were outperforming the white firms on the management of TARP funds, my immediate reaction was, does that mean they're going to get more? Because where I come from, if I'm doing better than them, I should be able to get more. And I think, to me, this is where we have to be in that. We also have to understand where the money is. And so, again, when Bill Clinton was president,

Congressman Maxine Wallace was the one who said, hey, Pentagon, they spending six hundred million dollars annually on advertising. How much going to black media? So people are sitting here at home. We keep thinking, we talk about money, not realizing money is being spent on so many, you in law, they spending money on outside law, legal folks. They're spending money elsewhere. How many black law firms, how many law firms that have black partners? See, that's the kind of stuff where we have to be demanding and saying, all right, Joe, show me where the money and guess what? He can do a lot of this and he don't need the approval of Congress to do it.

No, he can certainly do it. But but but but the reality is, is that we've got to make him do it. You know, my biggest argument with Obama, or rather my brothers and sisters under Obama, was we never left the inauguration. Whatever the president does, he does it because you make him do it, not because he just happens to agree with you. And we've got to stay vigilant with Joe Biden. Now, black people are socialized to want a good job in D.C., a good government job. The monies that you're talking about are about entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship training, employing people and gaining wealth and being part of the working rich as an entrepreneur or business owner, right? And so there are only a fraction of us who implement that as an action

as opposed to I'd love to have my own business. But doing business with the government, doing business with the private sector, demanding our fair share, and making Biden put programs in place that make access to capital, access to leadership, infrastructure as an entrepreneur for small black businesses that can get to be big black businesses or big businesses generally is where the president can help by executive order, by putting money into these agencies and focusing and targeting on poor people, poor areas, black people, brown people, black and brown areas, and giving them access to capital and entrepreneurship training to ensure their success.

That's just a start. But if he does that and we make him do that, we're going to be going a long way in regard to creating capital and wealth in our communities. Because that is the key and that is the answer. And Robert, at the end of the day, if people actually study the black freedom movement, and if they look at the history of Reverend Jackson and the Rainbow Push, a coalition,

they understood money, the number of black millionaires who were created. When Operation Breadbasket, when they actually cut those MOUs, it wasn't just they wanted jobs. They wanted jobs for black folks. They wanted managerial and senior level jobs. They wanted black products on the shelves. They wanted them to use black businesses for other areas of that particular company. They want them to deposit money in black banks. It was multifaceted. But, Robert, we have to have organized infrastructure to SkyPoints to make that possible, which is what I laid out when Diddy made his big announcement. I said, man, look, you can't just make an announcement. You've got to have the infrastructure to say this is how we're going to actually make it

happen. And that might mean letting Biden know if he wins, we'll drop a thousand people in front of the White House and chain our sale to the fence to get your attention on these issues. And yes, black people did not do that with Obama because we were so elated with the first black president, we forgot he was the 44th, Robert. Exactly. Well, you know, as Reverend Jackson said, for 50 years, it's jobs, Well, you know, just as Reverend Jackson said, for 50 years, it's jobs, justice, and an equal opportunity at the American dream.

And that's what we have to be fighting for at this point, because we've done all of the symbolism. You know, I drove to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration the first time. You know, we all were excited in 08, but now it's 2020, and we need to have some tangible benefits put on the wall.

I remember 1959 going to the 1960 election. JFK said, I can solve all of your problems with the stroke of my fountain pen. We need to be demanding that of this upcoming administration, because what we've seen from Trump is an imperial presidency, a presidency which dares the Congress and dares the court to overturn what they have done, who would rather ask for forgiveness than beg for permission on many of these issues. So I want to see that same militancy, that same imperialism in the White House. I want to see that on the behalf of Black America. How much money is the Pentagon spending on research and development at places like Boston College or Harvard or Caltech? And how much of that can be done at FAMU or Clark Atlanta or Alabama A&M? What we

have to realize is the money is there and it does not have, we can't just sit here and say, well, Mitch McConnell won't let me do it. Well, John Boehner and Eric Cantor, there's always going to be an excuse not to do it. Do all the things that you can with a stroke of a pen. And once that money is appropriated, we have to demand that it goes to our communities because if we get okey-doped again, as the prophet George W. Bush said, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, you ain't gonna fool me again.

Well, but remember, but remember, Democrats only have to take four, a net four seats to control the Senate. If Democrats, the polls are showing right now that Mark Kelly is up big in Arizona. You've got Hickenlooper up big in Colorado. You've got Susan Collins down five points in Maine. That means if Democrats pick up Tillis' seat in North Carolina,

very doable, pick up one or two of those seats in Georgia, or pick up the seat in Montana. This is assuming Doug Jones loses. He is running in, uh, in Alabama. They now control the Senate, but here's the piece. That's great. But here's what's going to happen. If they get a slim majority in the Senate, what's going to happen is that gives more power to conservative senators like Joe Manchin to hold stuff up like we saw even when Obama was president. Everybody forgets the first

two years Obama was president. Yes, Democrats control the Senate, but you had folks like Joe Lieberman who held things up and so you didn't necessarily have actual control because they play games with that.

But again, this is where black people have to be willing to make those demands. I'm just going to give you a real quick story. We were just telling you all about Lisa Jackson, who was the highest ranking African-American and Apple. Let me tell you what this actually happened when they had the BP oil spill down in in Louisiana. Obama went and went down there, they said at a meeting, and so that was a woman who was a former head of the EPA, why is her name escaping me? I think it's Wheeler. It's escaping me right now. She was a former head of the EPA and she was Obama's environmental czar. So they said, I think it's Carol Wheeler, I think it's what it is. So they were like, she's the only person who's going to be speaking.

And I'm going, hold up. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency is a black woman, Lisa Jackson, who's from New Orleans. And so they said to all the media, well, they only sending out Wheeler to all of the shows. And I went, so just, just, just so y'all know, this is exactly why I told the Obama white house, look here. It's only going to be one person talking on my show, Washington watch this weekend about this damn oil spill in Louisiana. And that's going to be Lisa Jackson. So y'all figure out whatever y'all want to figure out. But all I know is I ain't accepting nobody except Lisa Jackson.

Now, come Friday when we take that show, Lisa Jackson walked into that studio to get the interview. Point I'm making is I was unwilling to accept whoever the Obama administration sent to me.

And I'm just going to give y'all one more. Okay? We covered the My uh my brother's keeper deal I got one interview with Obama he's in all his eight years I got one interview was 2010 they kept and they wanted us to cover this and cover this and cover this and I was like okay so it finally got to the point where I said no no, that's all right. So so they will call me and they will be like, hey, could you have Broderick with my brother's keeper? No. I said I ain't covering nothing else until Obama consent to an interview. And they call me like, but I said, can we do a special? No.

Could we have? No. Could we have? No. Matter of fact, they had a panel at Congressional Black Caucus AOC. I pulled my cameras out. They were like, well, I said, no, if you not, I'm not going to keep covering stuff. If he not going to sit down with us at some point, you got to be willing to walk away from the table as opposed to accept nothing. And all I'm saying to black lives deal.

I want Trump out. Hashtag fire Trump in November. But let me be real clear, real clear right now. And I told y'all this in 2016 after he won. And I told y'all this after the midterms in 2018. And I said this to Tom Perez, who heads the DNC. I said this to the DCCC, to the DSCC, to the Democratic Governors Association, to Emily's List and all these other groups out there. These folks going to spend more than a billion dollars on this election. Let me let y'all know right now. And I told y'all black folks are not going to be political sharecroppers.

We're not going to till the soil and work the land and then other folk who don't look like us benefit. or gearing up, we damn sure better see substantial investments in black media when it comes to advertising. We better see substantial investment when it comes to black operatives, money on the ground, black folks who have audio visual companies, black folks who have paper, black folks who have catering. That's what it is about. And I'm telling you, I want to see Trump absolutely gone, which means Biden needs to take him out. But the day after the election and the day after the inauguration, I and others will be standing there saying now is time for there to be a return on our investment. Now, y'all, I'll make idle threats. I've text this to Tom Perez.

I'm told the Biden people don't come at me with small money. Don't come at black media with small money. Don't say we got y'all in the bag and we going to go spend our money out there on some white women in the suburbs. No, you need, uh, you need to make sure that there's not a 2.4% drop of black voters, uh, like it was in 2016. That means having black surrogates on here. That means having the conversations. But I'm telling y'all right now. Don't you have I want y'all to hear me loud and clear, Democrats. Don't you have your white media buyers playing metric games with black media. The budget had better be substantial. And if it's not, I will call you out every single day. How you spend with black people in the election is how you will spend

with black people in the white house. Folks, there are 96 days left until the 2020 elections voting Don Trump out of office obviously is extremely important, but here's the deal. You can't do that unless you're actually registered. Now go to my iPad, Henry. This is vote.org. It has all of the information right here. Okay. For you to sit here to find out first, you need to check if you are registered. You can do it right here at vote.org. Second, if you are not registered, you can do it right here. If you want to request your application to vote by mail, then you can do it right here. You can also check to get yourself an election reminder, pledge to register, find your polling place, as well as fill out the 2020 census. That's what we want all of you to do.

And so it is critically important and we've got to elect folks again. We have our best interest. One of the folks you've seen her on the show is Pam Keith. She has run a couple of times for elected office before. She's now running for Congress there in Florida. She joins us right now. Pam, the district you're running in, where is that? What is the breakdown racial of that particular district? And give us that kind of information. Hey, Roland, thank you for having me. I am coming to you from Florida's 18th Congressional District. And what's so interesting about this district is it's not a predominantly African-American district,

but it does have a key component that is very, very important. And it is in the St. Lucie County area. We have Fort Pierce. It is a historic black community. It has to turn out at extremely high level in order for Democrats to carry the district. But this district just recently got moved from safe Republican to toss up. That's a big, big move. That's partly because of the strength of my campaign, but it's also because of the unpopularity of Ron DeSantis, our governor, who is just botching the coronavirus. So are you running against an incumbent or is this an open seat, openly contested seat? It's a currently held by a Republican. So it is a red and blue. It is an opera. It is a true

swing district, although, to be honest, it's actually more a seesaw. So this is one of those seats that Obama won in 2008. It went to Donald Trump in 2016. It was held by a Democrat as recently as 2016. So the Dem votes are here, but they don't always turn out. And so now, first of all, Florida, which is weird, Florida has its primary in August. And then you got to turn right around and run, not even 90 days later, in the general. Exactly. And that's the way the GOP legislature of the state wanted it. Because when you have a very late primary like that, you force the opposing party to spend a lot of money in primary. And you as the incumbent have the advantage because you can hold on to your money and you have a very short period between the primary and the general election.

So that's one of the things that handicapped Andrew Gillum, if you can recall. Before the primary, he didn't have a lot of money. He didn't have a lot of infrastructure. He won the primary. He raised $11 million just like that. But it had to be raised and deployed and made useful in such a short period of time. And that's the same thing that happens in most cases. The good news for me is that our campaign is so strongly positioned that we can start spending on general election messaging now. But we need to bring in every dollar that we can from the very beginning. There is no half measures. You've got to be careful about that all the time. So are there other candidates running on the Democratic side?

There are. You know, I have a primary challenger. He's a first-time candidate. And I don't think it's an exaggeration in any way, shape, or form to say that I am the front runner. I picked up the endorsement of the paper of record. I've been endorsed by like Alcee Hastings and Lois Frankel and Al Lawson, some of our senior congressional delegation. And I'm bringing together the two wings of the party. I've been endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren from the progressive side and Working Families Party, but also from our more establishment Democrats and, of course, the collective and Higher Heights,

all of it coming together with both that. You know, I'm a veteran, so that's the coalition that we need to win. But what's really happening here, Roland, is that in addition to Democrats being strong, the Republicans are becoming more and more weak because of the coronavirus problem, which is not just causing a bunch of death. We have a huge unemployment benefits problem in our state, but mostly it's killing off our tourism revenue. I mean, can you imagine a state where a full third of their revenue comes from taxes related to tourism and the tourists aren't coming because our state's a mess?

That's a huge economic problem that's on the horizon. What's the most important two or three issues for you if elected to Congress? I think more than any particular issue, we need to change our methodology. I was listening to what you were saying about our expectations as a community. And one of the things that is most different about the way that African Americans approach political leverage, which is different than, let's say, corporate America approaches political leverage, is we ask for ideas and concepts.

We say we want justice, or we want funding of HBCUs, or we want more Pell grants. But what we don't do is say, here's our proposal with a certain dollar number figure in it, a schedule for when those dollars are going to be disbursed, which institution. That's the way that the lobbyists for oil and gas or health care, big pharma, they don't come to members of Congress and say, we want a better deal. They say, let me show you the deal I wrote for you. And this is my expectation of

how many votes you're going to whip to get it done. That's a totally different methodology. So, yeah, I have a lot of priorities when I get to Congress, not the least of which is restoring just basic functioning of government and the rule of law. But more than anything, I want to see a change in the way that our community asks for things. We need to be way more like lobbyists, write pieces of legislation that have specific asks, specific schedules, specific demands, and then say, you're going to vote yes on this, or you're going to lose the black vote. All right then. Pam Keith, good luck. How can folks reach you and your campaign? I can be found at Pam Keith FL. That's P-A-M-K-E-I-T-H-F-L. That is my website. You can find out about all that's going on with my campaign. You can follow

me on social media, same tag, CampeathFL. I'm on all the different platforms. I want to leave your listeners, your viewers with this really important tidbit. Florida 18 is the tiebreaker district of Florida. Whichever side wins Florida 18 wins the state. So not only am I in a position to kick out a Donald Trump Republican in Congress, but I am in a position to actually flip the state. And so it could be that a black woman brings the end to Donald Trump's presidency, because if he loses here, he loses everything. All right, Pam Keith, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. You're welcome. Thank you. Folks, going to a break. We come back. We'll talk with the president of Hampton University about a massive gift given to his university to other HBCUs as well from the billionaire ex-wife of Jeff Bezos.

We'll talk about that. Also, these anti-Trump ads, boy, they're getting real tough. We'll show you the latest and discuss them with our panel. In addition to that, tech CEOs on Capitol Hill today getting a grilling from Congress and Richmond, Virginia police say, oh, those riots there not caused by Black Lives Matter protesters. White supremacists posing as Black Lives Matter protesters.

All that next right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roll Roland Martin Unffiltered.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. All right, folks, four of the nation's most powerful CEOs join a Capitol Hill hearing today to answer the question, are their companies too big and powerful for America's good?

The participants were Google's Sundar Pichai, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook of Apple, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Of course, it was lots of drama there, of course, as you can expect. I want to pose that question. I'm going to play a little video in just a second. I'll pose that question to our panel. Robert, I'll start with you. Have these tech companies gotten too big? Do these four companies wield far too much power and control too much data in the United States? Is it time that they be broken up and regulated? Well, of course they do. I,

just the fact that it's to the point now that if you think about a sweater, one will pop up in your email because they have that much control over your life. You have your Alexa devices, which are listing at scenes at all times. You have your phone with either Siri on it or with whatever powerful other voice recognition software is on there. So I think because they have this amount of money, this amount of power, the ability to control what is in your newsfeed, they've basically taken the place of both the television and the newspaper concurrently as sources of information for individuals. So with that much power, it's difficult to see how exactly the federal government can regulate or break them up, because how do you regulate code? How do you regulate a business model which can be morphed in so many different ways?

And so it's going to be interesting to see what Congress decides to do, but something does have to be done before we give this amount of power and influence and money to private organizations. Britton, when you look at the power of an Amazon, Wall Street Journal had a story last week about smaller firms who had a meeting with Amazon, only to realize Amazon turned around and created nearly the identical products, squeezing them out, using their power to squeeze those folks out. We also know that Google and Facebook control damn near 70% of all digital ad dollars spent in the country. That means every other media company, including ours, every other one, including Disney, including

Comcast, all of them, everybody else got a share of 30. Data is king. They hold so much data, to Robert's point, that they control. Some say it's time for them to be regulated like a utility. Absolutely. And I think that's why these antitrust committees exist, is because at the end of the day, we live in a world, especially a conservative-run world, which unfettered capitalism, it's just not checked.

And that's how you end up with these major monopolies that are too big and too powerful. If people haven't already watched it, I highly recommend FEDERAL CAPITALISM IS JUST NOT CHECKED. THAT IS HOW YOU END UP WITH THESE MAJOR MONOPOLIES THAT ARE TOO BIG AND TOO POWERFUL. IF PEOPLE HAVE NOT WATCHED IT, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEY CHECK OUT THE DOCUMENTARY ON CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICAL. IT IS CALLED THE GREAT HACK THAT CAME OUT IN 2019 IF THEY HAVE NOT SEEN IT. THESE PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT HOW DATA IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE OIL INDUSTRY. TECH AND BIG DATA ARE THE

INDUSTRIES TODAY. WEOTERS. THEY ARE THE LEADERS. THE OIL INDUSTRY, TECH AND BIG DATA ARE THE INDUSTRIES TODAY. WE KNOW THAT. THEY ARE THE LEADERS. QUITE FRANKLY, THROUGH THE DATA, THEY ARE ABLE TO NOT ONLY SEE YOUR BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY TRAITS AND TARGET YOU ACCORDINGLY AND THEY TIE THAT TO HOW YOU VOTE. WHAT THEY DO IS THEY HAVE THIS PACK AND BASED ON YOUR DATA, THEY CAN SEE WHO THE SWAGGABLE VOTERS ARE. who the swayable voters are. So if you're someone who's kind of easily persuaded or can be persuaded, you're in that zone, they're going to continue to use things that you like,

things that you watch, things that you order, and they're going to continue to use that propaganda to target you to vote for the candidate that they are working with. So, I mean, that's how big data is, and it's scary, it's unfettered, Roland, and it's time that we do something about it. Not to mention the fact, you you know all businesses can't compete and

those entrepreneurs that we were discussing earlier they don't have money because these big companies are the people who need to be the company. You know our sharing piece of the pie, especially not for young black entrepreneurs. One of the things that the one of the one of the questions Scott that came up. You know Facebook when he when they bought Instagram, they were like, wait a minute, aren't you basically just using your wealth to buy everything? This is what Mark Zuckerberg had to say.

Mr. Zuckerberg, I want to thank you for providing us information during our investigation. However, the documents you provided tell a very disturbing story. And that story is that Facebook saw Instagram as a powerful threat that could siphon business away from Facebook. So rather than compete with it, Facebook bought it. This is exactly the type of anti-competitive acquisition that the antitrust laws were designed to prevent. Now, let me explain what I mean. Mr. Zuckerberg, you have written that Facebook can likely always just buy any competitive startups. In fact, on the day Facebook bought Instagram, which you described as a threat, you wrote, quote, one thing about startups is you can often acquire them, close quote.

Mr. Zuckerberg, you were referring to companies like Instagram in that quote, weren't you? Congressman, I don't have the exact document in front of me, but I have always been clear that we viewed Instagram both as a competitor and as a complement to our services. In the growing space around after smartphones started getting big, they competed with us in the space of mobile cameras and mobile photo sharing. But at the time, almost no one thought of them as a general social network. And people didn't think of them as competing with us in that space. And, you know, I think that the acquisition has been wildly successful. We were able to, by acquiring them, continue investing in it and growing it as a standalone brand that now reaches many more people than I think either Kevin, the co-founder, or I thought would be possible at the time,

while also incorporating some of the technology into making Facebook's photos, sharing products better. So yes. Okay. Now, in early 2012, when Facebook contemplated acquiring Instagram, a competitive startup, you told your CFO that donations to Instagram could be very disruptive to us. And in the weeks leading up to the deal, you described Instagram as a threat, saying that, quote, Instagram can meaningfully hurt us without becoming a huge business, unquote. Now, Mr. Zuckerberg, what did you mean when you described Instagram as a threat, as disruptive, and when you said that Instagram could meaningfully hurt Facebook? Did you mean that consumers might switch from Facebook to Instagram? Congressman, thanks for the opportunity to address this. At the time, there was a small but growing field. Did you mean that consumers might switch from Facebook to Instagram? That was my question.

Thanks. Congressman. Yes and no. Did you mean that? In the space of mobile photos and camera apps, which was growing, they were a competitor. I've been clear about that. Fine. Fine. In February of that year, February 2012, you told Facebook's chief financial officer that you were interested in buying Instagram. He asked you whether the purpose of the deal

was to neutralize a potential competitor or to integrate their products with ours in order to improve our services. You answered that it was a combination of both, saying what we're really buying is time. Even if some new competitor springs up, those products won't get much traction since we'll already have their mechanics deployed at scale. Mr. Zuckerberg, what did you mean when you answered that the purpose of the deal was to neutralize a potential competitor? Congressman, well, those aren't my words, but yes. I've been clear that Instagram was a competitor in the space of mobile photo sharing. There were a lot of others at the time.

They competed with apps like VSCO Cam and PicPlease and companies like Path. It was a- Scott, to that particular point, I mean, look, when you have that power that power look drop four or five billion All right, we stop you up. Gotcha. We own you. I mean they own Facebook controls right now is 75 percent of the instant messaging Business because they own Instagram they own whatsapp and they got Facebook Messenger

Okay, but but but Rowan are you bragging or complaining? Let me just say this. It's too late to break them up. How? They're too big. How is it too late? I guarantee you it's too late. How?

Because monopoly, because they're too big to even get legislation passed. Hold up, Scott. Who they, will you let me finish? Scott, aren't you a lawyer? They're too big.

Huh? Aren't you a lawyer? Exactly. Was Standard Oil broken up? Well, that's a different industry. Were the bales broken up? Right. So there's no such thing as somebody being too big. That's not true. In this high-tech company, the difference is those industries that were broken up were keeping competitors out of the market. These high-tech companies aren't keeping people out of the market.

They're not controlling the market. Scott, if Facebook and Google control 70% of all digital ad dollars, yeah, you're keeping competitors out. If you would listen, please just listen. You don't know what you're talking about. Oh, yes, I do. Not keeping people out of the market. You can start your own Facebook. You can start your own Google. Be my guest. But you're not going to you may not get as big as Google or Facebook, but here's the deal.

That's not a monopoly. A monopoly means you keep people out of the market and you force them out of market. Merging or buying a competitor is as American as apple pie in business and has been going on in America as long as America's been around. But you're not going to be able to make a monopoly argument. You may not like how big they are, but you can't stop them from being that big. Yes, you can. By buying a competitor.

Brittany, that's why... If you engage in any illegal activity to keep people out of the market or to disallow them from competing through some illegal or unlawful means, you're not going to be able to make a monopoly argument. Brittany, Brittany, Brittany, I'll tell you, Brittany, I'll tell you,

Brittany, I'll tell you, that's why Zuckerberg, Brittany, that's why Zuckerberg is scared to death. Brittany, that's why Zuckerberg, that's why, no, no, Brittany, that's why Zuckerberg, will you, now, now you stop. Brittany, that's why Zuckerberg is scared to death of Congress acting. Brittany, go ahead. Yes, he is. Brittany, go ahead. That's why the lobbying dollars in the past five years of the tech companies went from $15 to $105 million. Exactly.

Because they don't want them to break up. Brittany, go ahead. I mean, he should be nervous because he's been under the spotlight for quite some time now. But what I think is interesting and why I do think it is extremely difficult for new tech companies to come in and actually make a difference is because if you won't

sell to Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg will take your ideas, apply them on his platforms, and essentially make you lose money. I mean, we can look at Snapchat. That's not illegal, though. That's not illegal. I'm not saying it's illegal.

I'm saying the purpose of these antitrust laws at the end of the day is we're talking about monopolies. We're talking about people not being able to enter the market. It is to protect the small players. Robert, final comment. Robert,. Robert, final comment. Robert, 30 seconds, final comment. This is the difficulty about having a Congress full of people in their 80s and 90s years old.

We have to have a new and nimble governmental system that's able to regulate these sorts of structures, because if not, we will end up with one or two companies controlling the earth. We have no less than four private rocket companies competing to go to the moon right now. So the amount of money and power that these people have is outlandish, and we have to find somewhere to reel that back in. Absolutely. All right, folks, let's talk about what has happened. Three HBCUs have received their largest donations ever.

Where's the money coming from? Well, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, who with her 4% stake in the company, she's worth $36 billion. Well, she's handed out already about $1.7 billion. She brought together a group of folks to get suggestions in terms of where areas she should be donating money. Well, three HBCUs. They announced that, again, the single donation largest in the school's history. Howard University, Xavier University, Louisiana, and Hampton University, all beneficiaries of massive donations. Two of the schools, Howard and Hampton, revealed that the donations came from Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Bezos,

who's already donated $1.7 billion of her fortune to charity. Joining me right now is Dr. William Harvey, president of Hampton University. Dr. Harvey, I'm sure you did not mind getting that check. It was the largest single donation in Hampton history. First of all, Roland, hello. It's been a while since I've seen you and talked with you, so it's good to be on your show. But you're absolutely right. It is the largest

private donation that we have received in Hampton's history. And I'm just very, very pleased and I'm thankful to Mrs. Scott. You know, Roland, a lot of people do a lot of talking, but she actually acted. She gave away $1.7 million. Billion, billion. She gave support. Yeah, 1.7 billion, B with a B. Not only did she give to, it's actually, it was six HBCUs, but she gave support to UNCF and she also gave it to Thurgood Marshall. And I just, I'm very thankful to her

because again, I say, a lot of people talk on both sides, but she has acted. Um, I think Xavier announced the donation they got was 20 million. Uh, is that the donation that Hampton got or was it more than that? Did you hear me there? I'm sorry, Roland, but my earpiece came out. It's all good. I apologize. It's all good. Xavier announced their donation, I think, was $20 million. Was Hampton's $20 million or was it more? Roland, I apologize, but my earpiece came out.

You're going to have to ask that question again. I said Xavier University announced the donation they got was $20 million. Was Hampton's $20 million or was it more than that? Can you hear me? Just one more time, Roland. Let's try it again. Can you hear me now? Testing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Can you hear me? Just one more time, Roland. Let's try it again. Can you hear me now? Testing one, two, three, four, five.

Can you hear me? I can't hear. All right. So, guys, let's just do this here. Let's get Dr. Harvey's audio straight and then just come back to me. Let's go back to my panel here. Bottom line is that when you look at the average endowments of HBCUs, when you put all of them together, Robert, they average about $20 million.

Okay, President Harvey, can you hear me? Roland, I really just have to apologize. It's all good. Can you hear me? I really do. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Okay, Anthony, do this here. Y'all go offline, get Dr. Harvey's audio straight. Go to my panel. We'll come back to him.

I want to go back to you, Robert. Again, the average endowments of HBCUs is around $20 million. And so if Xavier gets this sort of check, that is a massive for HBCUs. This actually matters. It absolutely matters. Just as a quick aside, feel free, billionaires of the world, to give money to Clark and Lanning University. We put the U in the AUC. Plenty of great people, including myself, came from there. So please, if you're giving millions and millions of dollars to HBCUs, feel free to drop it off at Clark Atlanta University. We could definitely use it, Panther Pride. But you're completely correct, Robin, that often, as we mentioned earlier,

we aren't getting those governmental research dollars into HBCUs. Our alumni often are not giving back at the same levels that alumni of other colleges and universities do. We are getting those R&D dollars that go from biotech industries into the colleges. So we need that initial seed money to be able to build out these areas that are going to be the driving forces of the future bioengineering, biotech, nanotechnology, those sorts of things, increase those programs so then they can compete for the other federal dollars, so they can compete with the other private industry dollars. But you have to have that seed money to move into that 21st century economy. Remember, most of these HBCUs started in the 19th century when we were talking about agricultural, mechanical, and farming and

those sorts of things. Now we have to transition into the 20th or 21st century economy and make sure that we're keeping up and preparing our children for what's going forward. Dr. Harvey, can you now hear me? Yeah, Roland, I can hear you now. Got it. Okay. We're good. We're good. So Xavier announced they got $20 million. My understanding Hampton got $30 million. No, Hampton got $30 million, and the fact is that we've got that money in a wire transfer, so the money is here. It's not checks in the mail. And I don't know if you asked me when I had an earpiece problem, but this is going to be a transformational gift for us.

And I think that these other institutions, because we have the world's largest proton beam cancer treatment center, and we're going to spend ten million dollars of that at our proton beam cancer treatment center I'm going to spend ten million dollars to for student scholarships for students who have demonstrated character and then I'm going to spend another ten million dollars on other kinds of things such as upgrades of our any aspect of our physical plant and things like that. So, you know, it's just a God sin, and I'm thankful to Mrs. Scott. And as I indicated, the other schools are there, Howard and Spelman, Morehouse, Xavier, Tuskegee, and Hampton.

And Hampton did get $30 million. And as I said, the money is in the bank, not on the way here. We're operating now in a world where obviously corporations and others are being moved to act when it comes to Black Lives Matter. And to me, this is a way where these other billionaires out there, you know, again, whether it's her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos, whether it's, you know, a lot of them have joined the initiative of, of course, the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, to give all their money away. Bill Gates and his wife, heFL players should do that as well. You know, the thing is, look, HBCUs are churning out products don't necessarily have. I mean, they're doing more with less. This is where other billionaires could step up and really

significantly stabilize and allow for HBCUs to be able to be able to grow with these sort of large checks? Well, Roland, let me say this. You know, I'm a product of the 50s and 60s. I'm from Alabama and I'm so blessed. I had an opportunity to go to Talladega College. I went to Virginia State. I went to Harvard for my doctorate. But the fact is, back then, racism exemplified itself with dogs and hoses and jails and hangings. Now, people talk a lot, but they don't do a lot. And the fact is, if somebody really wants to do something about that, then they can support black causes. They can support minority causes. They can support HBCUs. And because we are doing such an outstanding job, and yes, I'm the president of Hampton, and I'm the longest serving president of HBCUs in the

country, one of the largest in the entire country. This is my 43rd year, but I'm not just talking about Hampton. There are so many of us that are doing such great jobs, and if these people really want to do something about it, quit talking and doing it. You talk about these billionaires. Follow Mrs. Scott's model. Support us. Support the research that we are doing. Support the students that are coming from homes that need this support. Do this kind of thing and don't be talking so much. Do something about it. Now, that's my mantra. Well, and one of the things that I also say not only to those, but I make it perfectly clear, which is one of the reasons why we created our hashtag HBCU Giving Day, is we also got to have black people who matriculate through HBCUs to also write checks. You can't have a situation.

I've had numerous HBCUs on my shows over the years. Florida A&M, folks love wearing their letters. But when the Alumni Association president says that only 5% of Florida A&M graduates give back to the university. Claflin is the highest, more than 50%. When you look at, when I had the Howard president, he said when he arrived there, the number was around three percent of their undergraduates, not people who went to the law school or the medical school. And so and trust me, Dr. Harvey, I got to Howard, excuse me, to to Hampton graduates sitting in the control room right now. And yeah, I have jammed them up on numerous times saying, how much have you given? So, yeah, Henry and Anthony Henry said And yeah, I have jammed them up on numerous times saying, how much have you given? So yeah,

Henry and Anthony. Henry said, yeah, he's given with his class. I told him I need to see receipts. But Anthony, I say, I got to make sure you give too as well. So, but you do got folks too, too sitting here who say they have given back to the university. Well, Roland, I know you've got two proud graduates today, but let me say something. You're so right. We need to give back. And the fact is Hamptonians do that. Do you know, for the first time in our history, Hamptonians have given last year over $3.5 million. And we talk about the things that you're talking about. And I'm not afraid to get in our graduates' face.

They need to support this wonderful institution and the Hamptonians are doing that role. Can you imagine that? Over $3.5 million, the most that they've ever given in the history of Hampton. And we were founded in 1868. Well, that is absolutely important. So we need to have these billionaires giving and the graduates giving back because the bottom line is no community can be sustained if you do not have educational institutions that are surviving. More importantly, thriving. We don't need HBCUs to be surviving. We need them to be thriving. So certainly congratulations on that as well. And good luck in the future there at HU. I got a Howard graduate in there, too. I'm sure she's probably saying they're the real HU.

But I'm going to let them fight it out because I'm Texas A&M, so I don't need to hear all that. Well, listen, Roland, you are down here, and I want to get you back here. And all of us can pray that somebody can find a vaccine and get over this COVID-19 because it absolutely is the worst health and economic crisis in any of our lifetimes. So you keep on doing the good work that you're doing. And I look forward to seeing you back here again, my brother. Yes, sir. Looking forward to it. Dr. Harvey, thank you so very much.

President of Hampton University. All right, folks. Got to go to a quick. Thank you, sir. I got to go to a quick break. And we're going to talk about these anti-Trump ads. Ooh, there's some doozies. That's up next on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

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contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I can! Alright, every day we're showing you ads that tell you why we really need to dump Trump. Ooh, they got, we got some doozies. Watch this.

You know, I don't want to sound too much like a chauvinist, but when I come home and dinner's not ready, I go through the roof, okay? There's not a lot of disagreement because ultimately, Ivana does exactly as I tell her to do. See, wait a minute. I'm gonna shove in this stuff. Right, right, man. Is that right?

Putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing. I create stars. I love creating stars. I've really given a lot of women great opportunity. Unfortunately, after their star, the fun is over for me. It's like a creation process. It's almost like creating a building. It's pretty sad. Pregnancy is never...

It's a wonderful thing for the woman. It's a wonderful thing for the husband. It's certainly an inconvenience for a business. And whether people want to say that or not, the fact is it is an inconvenience for a person that is running a business. And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5% of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card. 47% of white women voted for Donald Trump 47% to 45% for Hillary Clinton to the 47% I would like to ask how did Donald Trump win your vote was it this

do you believe in punishment for abortion yes or or no? As a principle? There has to be some form of punishment. For the woman? Yeah, there has to be some form. Or maybe it was how he talked about his own daughter that won your vote. I've said that if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her. Stop it! Oh, it's so weird! Stop it! You know what? You are sick! Was it his close friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein?

Or was it when he bragged about sexually assaulting women? They let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the pussy. I can do anything. He stood by Trump after more than 25 women accused him of raping or sexually assaulting them. And as he destroyed families and threw children in cages.

Yes or no, are we still putting children in cages? CBP never purposely put a child in a cage. Through multiple extramarital affairs. You, you are special. You remind me of my daughter. He's very proud of Ivanka. He said I was beautiful like her. As he attacked one female journalist after another. I'm not thinking this is fair. That's okay.

I know you're not thinking. You never do. I'm sorry? No, go ahead. Go ahead. What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot.

You ask a lot of stupid questions. Don't ask me. Ask China that question. Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically? Has he appointed two conservative white men to the Supreme Court? What is it about Donald Trump that he likes so much? This election is going to come down to six states. We need to cut into the margin of white women voters.

We need 10% of white women who voted for Trump to vote for Biden. Talk to your mothers, your sisters, your daughters, your grandmothers and friends. Show them this video. Throughout his life, Donald Trump has used his power to attack, harass and humiliate women. You have the power to stop it all. Stop Trump's abuse of women. Vote for Joe Biden. It's going to disappear one day.

It's like a miracle. It will disappear. Frankly, I think we're way ahead of ourselves. We slowed the spread. It's going to disappear one day. It's like a miracle. It will disappear. Frankly, I think we're way ahead of ourselves. We slowed the spread. We flattened the curve. We saved lives. This is a great success story.

At some point, that's going to sort of just disappear. I still believe so. Disappear. I do. I do. Yeah, sure. We're opening up America again. We've done too good a job. We're going to build a wall.

It's going to downtown Portland. Close to a thousand people out here. This crowd stretches about two blocks. You are putting yourself in between the protesters and those federal agents, the most dangerous place to be. Moms, along with everyone else, have realized it's time that we need to put our bodies on the line because the stakes are so high. We are brothers, grandparents, aunts. We are a community that is going to stand united. We're going to build the wall. We have no choice. Moms are here. Let's make clear. Moms are here. Let's stay clear. Dear Donald Trump, just because your polls are down and you're losing to Joe Biden doesn't mean you get to kill our children or threaten our teachers and schools. There's going to be a funding problem because we're not going to fund when they don't open their schools.

We're not going to fund them or lie about the dangers of the coronavirus. I think that at some point that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope. Or co-opt and falsify critical virus data. Or blame China for your failings as a leader. The plague came in from China. They could have stopped it. They should have stopped it. I can name Kung Flu. Or get your ministers of propaganda to lie to the american public it is being contained and do you not think it's being contained or let your fake doctors break their oath to do no harm he's been

so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data or tell us the economy is strong when tens of millions of americans can't pay their rent or mortgage or send your secret armies into American cities or beat peaceful protesters. All right, what happened? That ad got cut off? Right, that wasn't it. Well, that was, they, trust me, Don Winslow's been putting out some really hard-hitting ones.

That one, he didn't play games. Britney's saying, white women. He said, white women. Y'all need to not vote for him. He called him out. I mean, I hope these ads are enough, Roland. I really do. I think they're very powerful.

I think they've done an excellent job with them. But it's true. White women did come out and vote for him. White supremacy is a hell of a drug, even when it comes to white women. But we've seen that historically. Robert, why are you making those ads? I actually don't know how affected they will be, because all of that is information that we knew in 2016. None of that is new. This is reaching out, the same people who respond to those ads

are the people who already were not going to vote for Donald Trump. The real question is, where's the positive messaging? Instead of this Kafkaesque vision of a burning America, I think some people would rather have a campaign run on hope, run on ideas for the future. No, that's not true. That would cause a dump people to the vote. That's not true. I don't know how effective this is going to be. That's not true because all the candidates, Scott, who were the hope and change candidates,

got their ass whooped in the Democratic primary. No. No, I'm just straight up. No, I'm just straight up. Right, right. I'm telling you right now. This is not a, this ain't no hope and change. What did actress Erica Alexander say?

I interviewed her. She said, fuck hope, fight. No. Democrats out there are like, fight. They don't want to hear Obama talk about no hope, fight. No. Democrats out there are like, fight. They don't want to hear Obama talk about no hope, no change. They don't want to hear the best of us.

They're like, no, no. Throw that thug out. That's what folks are saying. Well, I got a couple points. We promised America what a Trump presidency would be like, and he's kept every promise that we told the American people as Democrats. I think the difference with these ads is this is what he's done during the presidency, right?

And so as a result, I don't think that's enough to change any minds on that 40 percent that's with him. But what it is enough of, and it's real, and it's from his own words as president, is that the focus on the independents, the moderate Republicans, the conservative Dems who gave him a chance in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, and those three other states, and to give them every reason not to vote for him again.

Those many take a chance on Biden, but it's just hard data that he's done himself. Whether they're effective or not, he's given you so much data to look at and to put together. It's a goldmine for the Dems. And then if we have our ideas, if we have an agenda, and we give the reason, we fight, but we give hope hope and these ads, that ought to be enough, I think. But they're very powerful and effective.

Folks, this just in. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has laid down the law in the House there. Of course, Congressman Louie Goldmert, one of the dumbest members of Congress. This idiot refuses to wear a mask. He's been walking around, tested positive for coronavirus. And then after he finally tested positive for coronavirus, the fool went to the House gym. Well, of course, now, of course, they had already told them,

y'all got to wear your mask in the committee hearings. So she finally dropped this today from the chamber. The chair announces that during the pregnancy of a covered period pursuant to House Resolution 965, members and staff will be required to wear masks at all times in the hall of the House, except that members may remove their masks temporarily when recognized. The Chair expects all members and staff to adhere to this

requirement as a sign of respect for the health, safety, and well-being of others present in the chamber and surrounding areas. The chair would further inform members and staff that they will not be permitted to enter the hall of the house without wearing a mask. Masks will be available at the entry points for any member who forgets to bring one. The chair would also like to remind members that the speaker has the authority to direct the sergeant-at-arms to remove a member

from the floor as a matter of decorum. To reiterate, the chair views the failure to wear a mask as a serious breach of decorum. As always, the chair appreciates the cooperation of members and staff in preserving order and decorum in the chamber and in displaying respect and safety for one another by wearing a mask. Robert, let me translate that. What she's saying is, Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, you walk your punk ass around these halls one more time and get in one more elevator without your mask on, I'm going to have your ass arrested.

Well, the problem is that we live in a nation right now where we have COVID truthers. The COVID truthers are the people who believe that this is entirely a hoax, that there is a one-world government hoax where every nation on the planet Earth, along with every major corporation, every airline, every hotel chain, the Major League Baseball, soccer, basketball, the Olympic Committee, FIFA, all the banks and every county and municipality on the planet Earth has all come together in a conspiracy to stop Donald Trump from getting reelected by pretending that this virus is out there. They simply put, do not believe it. And these are the same as Matt Gates, who wore a gas mask to make fun of the virus on the floor. Even President Trump is part of this truth or movement. Every once in a while, they can medicate him enough to stick him in front of a podium to say that he doesn't. But then as soon as he starts tweeting, he's tweeting the Nigerian doctor slash minister slash pediatrician.

Slash nutcase. So when you have this going on in a country, it's no wonder that our lockdown is lasting longer than any other country because we don't have enough social discipline and enough trust in our government and trust in our leadership to be able to just sit down at home for six to eight weeks, wear a mask when you're outside, socially distance and wash your hands. How hard is that? But we can't do it as a country. In fact, Brittany, I also just seen this story, Bill Montgomery, the co-founder of that conservative group Turning Point USA, the one that that idiot Charlie Kirk runs, the guy who discovered Charlie Kirk and boosted him up,

who Charlie used to live with his mama and daddy. Now he just bought him an $800,000 condo or something along those lines. Well, Montgomery died of coronavirus-related illnesses. Yet this fool Kirk, go look at his timeline, he's whining and complaining about masks, things along those lines. That's how dumb these folks are. If you work for Louie Gohmert,

who does not want to wear a mask, he has exposed you to coronavirus because he's stupid. Absolutely. You know, anti-intellectualism is really pervasive in the United States. It's something different. It's embarrassing.

Like, I literally, like, it is embarrassing to be here. We can't travel anywhere because of these idiots, including people in elected positions. That is wild. It's the anti-intellectualism for me. And it's also the privilege. Like, how much privilege do you have to have to believe that wearing a mask is a political issue instead of a public health issue? I mean, it's scary, Rola. It's scary and it's foolish. Folks, folks, let's talk about this story real quick here. The recent riots that took place in Richmond, Virginia were instigated by white supremacists

who were posing as Black Lives Matter protesters, according to Richmond, Virginia police. Six people associated with right-wing hate groups were arrested. Two were charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer and felony possession of a firearm while rioting. Four others were charged with unlawful assembly. Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith identified them as Boogaloo Boys, officer and felony possession of a firearm while rioting, for others were charged with unlawful assembly.

Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith identified them as Boogaloo Boys, a loose organization of anti-government extremists and some others associated with Antifa during a news conference on Sunday. Now, the majority of the protesters were white and came from outside of Richmond. Now, we told you yesterday that in Minneapolis, they've identified that a member of white supremacists with the Hells Angels biker group, he was the one seen breaking windows, carrying an umbrella and breaking windows. Scott,

what this says is that, again, all these folks on Fox News, they call you, they don't call me. All these Fox News people, Sean Hay, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, all the trashing of protesters, white supremacists, ones who are out there acting

a fool. This is why I said yesterday to those people in Portland, there has to be self-policing where you see somebody acting a fool out there, snatch their ass and say, no, no, no, no, we ain't here for that. And literally jack them up because what that does is it causes people to say, see, look at them and look at them. They're the reason why this stuff is happening. Well, and they were many of these Boogaloo boys, they were, they weren't accosted,

but there were black protesters and white protesters that said, what are you doing? What are you doing? And they rejected them, but they kept doing it. And eventually they ran off because these protesters reported it to the police. And then, of course, the rest is history because the looting started after that. But it's just incredible. I mean, my colleague calls it anti-intellectualism. I mean, I just don't believe that this is going on in this country. And it hasn't reached a level of complexity where racists and white supremacists are infiltrating peaceful protests to cause violence and to cause these groups to be perceived as violent. I mean, it's a level of complexity that I got to believe that John Lewis and others, while they dealt with the FBI informants and what have you,

didn't really deal with these these infiltrators, if you will. They did. Well, actually, they did. I mean, COINTELPRO was all about infiltrating. I mean, that was all it was about. But again, what they want to do is... But not to incite violence with the report to the FBI. No, no. Actually, in fact, many people believe that that march that took place in Memphis,

shortly before Dr. King was killed, when they were leading in the back of the march, there were some black gang members. They talked to the elders there. They say then that they were put up to that by others to purposely disrupt that particular march. I do want to guess this final thing before I go to my final guest. And that is here. The absolute racism. When I say racism by the idiot who is sitting in the White House, I don't know how many of y'all saw this particular tweet that he sent out to tweets today. And this is this is not a dog whistle, y'all. This is flat out screaming, hey, white racists, please vote for me. Trump sent this out. I am happy to inform all of the people living their suburban lifestyle dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood.

Your housing prices will go up based on the market and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden-AFFH rule in joy. Robert, I covered housing when I worked in the Austin American Statesman, also when I, at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And let me tell you something. I remember when, and I've covered, I've discovered, I've covered dispersed housing. I can tell you, I interviewed neighbors in neighborhoods, people who had no idea at the house across the street from them was actually public housing. They had no idea that the people living in there were getting a government voucher to pay for the housing.

But when I was in Fort Worth, when they announced that we're going to do dispersed housing, the white folks in Fort Worth in this particular neighborhood sounded just like Trump. Oh, our values're going to do dispersed housing, the white folks in Fort Worth, in this particular neighborhood, sounded just like Trump. Oh, our values are going to go down. Oh, my God. Crime is going to go up. Because their whole deal was projecting these black and brown people, they're going to come in and take over. That's what this racist is saying.

You know, people on the wrong side of history often don't know the time that they're on the wrong side of history. If you look at those old newsreels from the 50s and 60s, those white folks who are standing there protesting school integration, standing up against redlining and other things, those people thought they were doing the right thing to defend their communities, protect their property value, make sure the kids got the best education. This is being on the wrong side of history. Housing discrimination goes back to 1492 when Christopher Columbus got off the boat and said, y'all Indians can't come to where I'm at right now. That is the beginning of housing discrimination. As long as you can keep a certain group boxed into a low income area, you're based educational spending on taxes from

that area. Therefore, low income areas always have the worst education, always have the least number of jobs, always have the least amounts of construction, and always have the highest rates of crime because you've discriminated them basically into ghettos, basically into the types of communities that cannot grow, cannot prosper, cannot, as we often hear, do for themselves or pull up by their own bootstraps because there are no boots available there. So it's a disgusting idea that we're going to go back and brag about going back

to an era that makes it more difficult for low-income people to bring themselves out of poverty and to live out the American dream. So this is just more evidence of what we already know in this country, which is that the hatred and discrimination against black and brown and poor people in this country is as old as the nation is itself and it's not going away anytime soon uh britney what folks don't realize is who don't know nothing about history that uh the 64 civil rights act the 65 voting rights act and the 65 fair if 68 fair housing act were actually one bill that mok and others wanted john f kennedy to push through he gets assassinated lbj says i can't do all that at one time. We got to break it up. It passed, of course, 64 Civil Rights Act, public accommodation, 65 was Voting Rights Act.

But people don't, people forget Northern Republicans joined with Southern Democrats and they filibustered for two years that Fair Housing Act because they did not want black folks living in their neighborhoods. This tweet, and look, Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, the first black elected since Reconstruction, helped break the filibuster in the Senate, but they filibustered in the House. King was assassinated, and LBJ sent a letter on April 5th saying to honor his life, pass this bill.

What this racist Donald Trump is saying to those white folks, we're going to keep them out of your neighborhood. Y'all good. That's what he's saying, Brittany. Absolutely. I mean, this is Trump's M.O. This is also America's M.O. I think for all the listeners today,

I would grab Kevin Cruz's white flight. This was always sold in the language of rights. It's my right to live around who I want to live around. That's how they've gotten away with it for so long. It's my right to send my children to where I want them to go to school and with whom I want them to go to school with. But, I mean, this doesn't surprise me. One, Trump is voting, is his polling very low. He's absolutely botched, you know, messed up COVID-19 to reinvigorate his white supremacist base. And this is one of the best ways to do it. And this isn't something new to Donald Trump. Don't forget, Donald Trump was accused with his earliest apartments that he owned of not allowing black renters to live there. I mean, this truly is, it's all coming full circle.

Indeed, indeed. Panel, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us today. Scott, Robert, Brittany, and thanks a lot. Scott, we're going to break up big tech. Bank on it. All right, y'all, got to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about a black woman who's created her own doll company.

That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there?

Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. All right, black children need to see themselves when it comes to images. Y'all remember, of course, the doll study of Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark,

which was a significant part of the Brown versus Board of Education decision in 1954. Now, for too long, the only dolls little girls could play with were white ones. We've seen an increasing number of sisters create black doll companies. Well, Yalysha Jean Charles, founder of Healthy Roots Dolls, built a business to change that. She joins me along with Zoe. Yalysha, how you doing? Hi, I'm good. This is Zoe. All right. So first of all, who's Zoe? Zoe is the first Healthy Roots Doll and she is the first doll with curl power. I like to call her my curl friend and her hair is uniquely designed so that little girls can wash and style it just like their own.

Okay, so when you say Healthy Roots, explain it for folks who don't know. Yeah, so just like you mentioned before, the Mammy Clark doll test, that's actually part of the research for the development of the company. And I named the company Healthy Roots Dolls because I wanted to teach girls to love their healthy roots, their literal hair, but also their cultural roots. And so when did you start working on this? When did you say, you know what, I want to create this doll? Yeah, so it started while I was studying at the Rhode Island School of Design. I had gone into my junior year, and I had had a lot of experiences with my own hair.

My best friend, Tiara, had cut off all her hair. She did the big chop. And I was like, wow, I'm 20 years old and I have no idea how to do my own hair as it naturally grows out of my head. And so I had a lot of work that was related to my identity and my experience with hair. And I took Rapunzel in one of my classes

and redesigned her into a little brown girl with kinky curly hair to show girls that we can be beautiful princesses too, just the way that we look. And my friend said it looks like a doll. And that ultimately started my journey of learning about how toys influence kids, their perception of themselves, and recognizing that if little black girls can't find dolls that look like them, it can negatively impact their self-esteem. And so I wanted to do more than just paint a doll brown, but create an educational play experience around hair play. I'm going to go to my iPad. I'm showing your website right now. And folks can see that. And so what's unique about this is that you say that it allows for young girls to actually style the hair. And so if they want to keep it curly, they want to do braids. And so is that what we're seeing here? And then I see you have what's coming soon.

Yeah. So we're going to do like very cute video tutorials. We actually partnered with Procter and Gamble's My Black is Beautiful last Christmas. So when you purchase last Christmas, the dolls came with their My Black is Beautiful hair care products and you can wash the doll's hair with it and you can wash your own hair with it, so you can learn how to take care of your curls. And so Zoe can do box braids, bantu knots, a lot of the really fun natural hairstyles that girls use to protect their hair and learn how to take care of their curls. Why'd you call her Zoe? One of my really good friends in college, she was this beautiful African girl, and she was very confident, and I loved her, And I just was really inspired by her, and I loved the name.

So I just felt like it would be a great name to give the doll. And so you've had the company open for how long now? So, yeah, it's been about six years. So the first year was 2014. That's when I came up with the idea in college. And it's been five years building the company now. And how many units are you moving and how many do you hope to move? And where can folks get the dolls? Are they in stores? Are they only online?

Yeah. So we actually sell direct to consumer. We actually are sold out. So we sold out of all the units that we had available. We're bringing in more now. We're actually, our pre-sold units are going very quickly too. So we are also looking at retail in 2021. It's been really exciting to see how many people want to have the product and can connect with the company's mission of teaching girls to love themselves just the way they are. Somebody on YouTube said, now all that you call is Zoe and she's got curly hair. You made her bow-legged. That's what somebody said.

No, somebody on YouTube said she's curly, she's named Zoe, and she's bow-legged. That's what somebody on YouTube said. She's curly, she's named Zoe, and she's bow-legged. That's what somebody on YouTube said. You know, everybody's got different bodies. We've got to love us just the way that we are. You know, she's plastic, so her legs can go all the way around. It's a little bit different. I just get cracked up with some of these comments on here. Because, in fact, one person was like, well, I wish she named the doll Africa.

And then then of course you said zoe you named it after a sister from africa whose name was zoe so uh so folks uh uh that's what's her well we certainly hope that uh uh folks uh uh take advantage of this uh the response i mean that is great that you've actually sold out that's never a bad thing so i was never a bad thing when you have a product. Yeah, the only bad thing about being sold out is all the kids that want the doll but can't get it right now. Yeah, then again, then this is America,

which means it increases the price of the doll because they are hard to get. Last question, where do you manufacture them? Yeah, we manufacture overseas. They're designed by me. We have a really great team that helps, you know, keep up with customer service and with shipping and fulfillment. All right, then. Well, Yalisha, certainly good luck with that. And again, the website where they can go to? HealthyRootsDolls.com.

HealthyRootsDolls.com. Well, congratulations on that. You know, I'm the uncle of nine nieces, four nephews. All of mine, my youngest nieces now are 16. But I guarantee you when they were younger, they'd probably be clamoring for me or their moms and dads to certainly get one of these dolls. And so, folks, so last question, when you expect to have your shipping or can people go ahead and pay now? And then once they come in, will you ship to them? They can do pre-orders right now and then once they come in and we ship to them they can do pre-orders right now and it'll ship at the end of the summer okay all right then we appreciate it uh good luck with it thank you so much thank you for having me thank you well folks it's one of the reasons why we created this segment to be able to uh empower black businesses

uh there are a lot of folks who have great products that you never heard of and so we certainly appreciate your least for being on the show that's what we want you to support what we do this black-owned business uh roller martin unfiltered we want you to join our bring the funk fan club of course you can do so via cash app paypal venmo you can also send a money order to new vision media 1625 k 455k Street, Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. Of course, paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered. You also have venmo.com, which is forward slash rmunfiltered. If you want to use a credit card, just go to rolandmartinUnfiltered.com, and you can use the, of course, you can use Square for your credit card.

Let me shout out to the people who contributed 50 bucks or more to our Bring the Funk fan club. Aaron Burrell, Addie Zachary, Agent Black, Alicia Jerry, Andre Williams, Anita Harmon, Anton Sanders Sr., Arnel Simmons, Simonis, I'm sorry, Beverly Newsome, Camille Mooney, Cirilla Paulo, Claudia Bias, Kyle, Dave Davis, Eric Black, Eric Jordan, Felicia F., Gail, and Johnny Bush, Iris Brunson, Jerron Cunningham, Jarvis Davis, Jelani, John Hopp, Johnny K. Day, Julia Smith, Kathy McCowan, Carrick Burke, Kimberly Hill, Correct Technology, Inc., Land Communications Corp., Mark Salney, Michelle Carter, Monica Collier, Nashaka Davenport, Nathaniel Allen, Paula, Sahira Threats, TBC, Tumba Johnson,

Trevia, Tyrone Smith, Wanda, and Willie Beavers. Folks, again, I want to thank all of you for joining us. Bring the Funk Fan Club your dollars. Make it possible for us to do what we do. All right, last one. Check this out. So, yeah, remember the story. Here, go ahead and Zoom out.

Yeah, I remember the story. Celeste O'Brien told when she wanted to have me on her show. Now, Zoom out. I don't need to see the whole shirt. And then she told the story that she went to an executive, and they said that, oh, no, Roland, he's not the right kind of black. They wanted her to book, like like Charles Blow instead of me. And so when I, when,

now some of that told me when that actually happened. And so, you know what we do. We went, I went to hell. I went ahead and had a shirt made. And so actually we have three designs of this shirt, not the right kind of black. You have Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Show at the top. And of course, RolandMartinUnfiltered.com at the bottom. So if you want to get it,

and so we use Teespring, but also my sister does. She actually printed these for me and sent them to me. You can actually go to her Etsy page. Just simply go to, let me pull it up. Let me pull it up. Where is it? I was just looking at it. And so today's the first day I wore it. So it's etsy.com forward slash shop forward slash house of Xena. E-T-S-Y dot com forward slash shop forward slash house of Xena. That is Z-I-N-A. And so you want to get your shirt like this here.

Cause y'all know some of us, a lot of y'all, y'all ain't the right kind of black either, which is a good thing when you are not their kind of black person. All right, y'all, we got to go. We'll see you tomorrow,

right here on Roland Martin unfiltered. How? 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.

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