#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Confirmation Hearings, Explaining Paternity Fraud, Cops Gone Crazy

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

3.21.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Confirmation Hearings, Explaining Paternity Fraud, Cops Gone Crazy She's on track to become the 116th Supreme Court Justice. The confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson started today. I spoke to Senator Amy Klobuchar, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and we have a special panel to talk about today's hearing. A Wisconsin police officer resigns from his school security job after the school releases a video of him putting his knee on a student's neck. In New Jersey, a black man is paralyzed after being shot four times by plain-clothed officers in front of his home. A Tennessee officer tasers a black food delivery driver during a routine traffic stop. Plus, a Tennessee state senator wants to help men who are paying child support for a child that DNA has proven is not theirs. That senator will be here to explain paternity fraud. And a black judge in Arkansas strikes the state's new voting laws are unconstitutional. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bP Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Monday, March 21st, 2022. Coming up, I'm Roland Martin on the Black Star Network. An historic day on Capitol Hill. The first black woman ever nominated for the United States Supreme Court has her confirmation hearings. Democrats laud her impressive credentials. Republicans, just a

bitch session about Brett Kavanaugh. We'll talk with Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who sits on the committee, who is going to vote to confirm her. We'll also talk with our legal panel about what we saw and witnessed today. A Wisconsin police officer resigns from his school security job after the school releases a video of him putting his knee on a student's neck. In New Jersey, a black man is paralyzed after being shot four times by plainclothes police officers in front of his own home. In Tennessee, officers tase a black food delivery driver

during a routine traffic stop. Plus, a Tennessee state senator wants to help men who are paying child support for a child that DNA has proven is not theirs. We will explain. And a black judge in Arkansas strikes the state's new voting laws as unconstitutional. Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the smooth, the fat, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Gro-Gro- rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin

Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin Now He's real, the best you know, he's rolling, Mark Tapp. Mark Tapp. Mark Tapp. Members of this committee, if I am confirmed, I commit to you that I will work productively to support and defend the Constitution and this grand experiment of American democracy that has endured over these past 246 years.

Today was the first day, folks, of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Katonji Brown Jackson. The committee chair, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, of course, opened the hearing with a message about the power behind Jackson's status as the first black woman ever nominated for the United States Supreme Court. In its more than 230 years, the Supreme Court has had 115 justices. 108 have been white men. Just two justices have been men of color. Only five women have served on the court and just one a woman of color. Not a single justice has been a black woman. You, Judge Jackson, can be the first. It's not easy being the first. Often you have to be the best, in some ways the bravest. Many are not prepared to face that kind of heat, that kind of scrutiny, that ordeal in the glare of the national spotlight. But your presence here today, your willingness to brave this process will give inspiration to millions of Americans who see themselves in you. As I mentioned to you, I was at the steps of the Supreme Court this morning

to see the rally in support of you. There were so many young African-American women and law students there seeing your pursuit as part of their dream. You heard Senator Dick Durbin there mention that rally of the Supreme Court. Women gathered outside of the Supreme Court today. Guys, roll that video. Before the hearing kicked off, setting the tone for what took place today. Also, of course, the hearing is going to continue tomorrow as well. We're going to play some of that

in a second. Joining me now is Candace Kelly. She's legal analyst, Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Also, Glenda Carr, President and CEO of Higher Heights. Glad to have all three of you here. Let's start, first of all, Melody, women of different backgrounds, of different colors out there today, outside of the Supreme Court.

Why was that important to begin today with women in front of the Supreme Court rallying for this judge? Thank you, Roland. And it was really, really, the energy was really, really high today. And, you know, with National Women's Law Center and She Will Rise and my girl on here, Glenda Carr, and Black Women's Leadership Collective and so many, many heads of sororities. And then you also had, so it was white, Black women led, which was really important, but also we had our allies, if you will, who showed up. And so the diversity that was there in not just race, but also gender, it was a lot of men out there, it was young,

a lot of young people. And so I think what we recognize is this is what this woman brings to the bench. She has a lived experience as a Black woman, a woman. And so people will say, this is what diversity looks like. This is what's missing in the U.S. Supreme Court. And so that was exciting,

but also we also sent in a signal that we're watching, uh, and we're not gonna allow for her, uh, her character to be assassinated. Do your jobs. You know, we understand you have to do your jobs, and you maybe have to ask hard questions, but you would not...

We would not stand by and have any of them tear her down. Um, Candace, when we look at the contrast, if you will, of this hearing and that of Thurgood Marshall in 1967, you had significant white supremacists who were doing all they can to keep him off of the bench. It was arguably, or is arguably, the most contentious in American history.

Now, today, you get all of these white senators sitting here whining and complaining about, oh, how difficult things have been for conservative nominees like Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. But none of that had absolutely nothing to do with Judge Katonji Brown-Jackson. Had nothing to do with Judge Jackson. And I think that that was clear to everybody that they were going through a little bit of post-traumatic stress disorder in terms of what happened with Kavanaugh. But that's a done deal. What was important was that this woman was making history, and we know that it was so important, especially when we talk about the timing of all this, the fact that Clarence Thomas got sick on Friday and was still in the hospital, we know that the timing is very important and that even though she won't change the court ideologically, it doesn't matter.

She is there. What she's doing is she's opening doors for people to see the possibility. Even before her name was even on the table, when President Joe Biden said, I'm going to nominate a Black woman, people just didn't understand. They had questions. They didn't realize, you know, they didn't understand what was going on. That didn't happen for Amy Coney Barrett. That's because they could not conceive that a Black woman could be on the court. So today was such a historic day because we saw her sitting in that seat. We saw women march on Capitol Hill and just, you know, have, just be kind of a festival of, you know, have this be kind of a festival, you know, kind of dancing and understanding that this was important. And like what was just spoken, we are watching, and she is not going to be done the way that you have done people before.

This is someone who's already gone through this process three times. This is nothing new. Judge Jackson knows. She's been under the Petri disk for her whole life. And I don't think that there's going to be very many surprises. I think what's most surprising to so many people is that, you know, she's someone who's going to articulately and meticulously speak her mind and be confirmed, even with the shenanigans that were pulled by the Republicans today, especially Josh Hawley. Glenda, it was interesting to sit there and listen. I mean, I'm all goodness. Uh, yes, Senator Mike Lee was talking about, oh, um, will you look at the Constitution as it was written at the time and then how the public viewed it? And I'm sitting there going,

you're going to hear me talk about this with Senator Amy Klobuchar. I'm sitting there going, you're gonna hear me talk about this with Senator Amy Klobuchar, and I'm going, uh, black people weren't Americans, couldn't vote. Women couldn't vote. So this whole idea of looking at the Constitution in its original form and how the public viewed it then, only white men mattered. They listened to just the crying and moaning of Senator Ted Cruz and the complaining. And I swear, today was sort of like the second confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh. It was, you know, the undertones

that qualified Black women deal with every day in workplace, in the community, and clearly in the Senate hearing rooms was offensive. There was, you know, a couple of times we were, we pulled together, you know, nine black women-led organizations under an umbrella called the Black Women's Leadership Collective, and we hosted a watch party here in D.C. That's where I'm here. That's why my lighting's not great tonight, Roland.

But we were all sitting around, you know, and was like the undertones. And she sat there, you know, as gracious as she can. I can't wait until she's able to articulate and be able to have a back to forth dialogue to be able to call the question on their line of questioning and actually correct the record and give them a historical perspective, both the history of our country and racism and sexism, but also a history on the Constitution and the law. The world was just introduced to her today. Tomorrow, she's going to be able to, I think, shine to really show why she is beyond qualified for this moment. Looks like we've lost our Skype machine. So our other guests, we're going to pull them back up.

The thing here that is so important, I mean, look, when you have these hearings, Linda, look, the nominee can't show any emotion. And so we talk about judicial temperament. I mean, your first example of judicial temperament is to have to sit there and listen to the BS spewing out of some of these senators' mouths. Yep. She sat there all day and moved her head over here. And so I certainly think her temperament, Joe, President Joe Biden, you know, his choice checks all the box. She's a coalition builder. She is qualified from an education perspective, from a lived experience perspective. She's been before the Senate three – this is her fourth time. She had bought – see, Senator Lindsey Graham – and I'd love to hear your – like, Lindsey Graham set the tone of how he's

going to question her when in fact he has already supported and voted for her in the past. This shows you that they are they don't have a leg to stand on for the grounds of why they don't think she should be seated. And I certainly believe that, again, the black woman led organizations and black women across this country are going to call the question. If we don't, you know, they keep saying they want this to be a fair trial with void of, you know, unnecessary venom. Trust me, Black women are watching, and we are going to call the task. And particularly, these are our elected U.S. senators, and they certainly will be getting phone calls, emails, and tweets in these days following if this isn't a fair, transparent process.

At the end of the day, they have to do their job, and we want a vetted Supreme Court justice, but it needs to be on her record. And this undertone of her qualifications, we are not having it. And then, of course, you, of course, had idiots like Senator Marsha Blackburn making her ridiculous comments about critical race theory. And I'm going, well, she's just showing exactly who the hell she is. Yep. I was actually in the room during that time,

and just like I said, offended. And showing, people are showing who they are, and we're living in some of the most racist, sexist times in our generation, Roland. And I think it's important for people to see, you know, once and again, that even though we are outside of the, you know, Trump era, is that the Trump era has created an opportunity for people to feel

like they could stand in front, well, sit in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and question someone based on race and sex. Yeah, it was, Melanie, as we listened to, again, you know, the various folks speak, I mean, you saw the contrast, frankly, between Democrats who were quite respectful of her accomplishments. And then, of course, you have Republicans who many of them were paying lip service to really who she is. And in many ways, somewhat disrespectful, because you talked about the Kavanaugh here. It was everything about what happened to the Republicans. But we're going to make sure that we treat you fairly. And in some ways, that wasn't what was happening in real time.

But she held her own, and she didn't let that affect her. And then, of course, her opening statement, you know, reminded everybody, this is why she's here. And so I think tomorrow will be a test to see, was that rhetoric that we saw from some of the Republicans today going to carry over into doing their job properly, or will they try to use her as a political football tomorrow? And that's yet to be seen. Let's play a little bit more of her comments from earlier today. Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson. Jackson! Jackson! Jackson!

That's video of the rally. Play the video of her. Press play. And I take that responsibility and my duty to be independent very seriously. I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me without fear or favor consistent with my judicial oath. I know that my role as a judge is a limited one, that the Constitution empowers me only to decide cases and controversies that are properly presented. And I know that my judicial role is further constrained by careful adherence to precedent.

Now, in preparing for these hearings, you may have read some of my more than 570 written decisions and you may have also noticed that my opinions tend to be on the long side. That is because I also believe in transparency, that people should know precisely what I think and the basis for my decision. And all of my professional experiences, including my work as a public defender and as a trial judge, have instilled in me the importance of having each litigant know that the judge in their case has heard them, whether or not their arguments prevail in court. During this hearing, I hope that you will see how much I love our country and the Constitution and the rights that make us free. I stand on the shoulders of so many who have come before me,

including Judge Constance Baker Motley, who was the first African-American woman to be appointed to the federal bench and with whom I share a birthday. And like Judge Motley, I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court colleagues, to inspire future generations, andania, just the speechifying, if you will, of the United States senators. Tomorrow, are you really going to get into the questioning? Yes.

But I tell you, I could hear her opening remarks. It's just so powerful. And moving is not even the strongest word that I can come up with. It just, I could just sit here and listen and just what that historical moment. And she just brought it home. And if she understands the magnitude of this moment. So I just wanted to say that. And tomorrow, tomorrow is day two. Right. And so that's why we are continuing to organize, all of us, to make sure that, you know, those who can show up, show up. We're encouraging people to make phone calls because tomorrow will let us know if this is going to be fair and balanced. I think Senator Durbin, in his role as chair, is going to do everything he can, and many of the colleagues.

But I just hope that some of the rhetoric we heard today, and I'm not being partisan, just factual, from the Republicans, will come tomorrow with just asking the hard questions. There's nothing wrong with that. But don't come for her and try to tear her down, so that you can lift up and get some votes out of that by attacking her character. Again, Melody, Glenn, the car. I'm glad both of you are here. We're going to be looking out tomorrow to see what happens for day two. These confirmation hearings. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right.

Thank you very much, folks. Also, let's talk about earlier today. I got a chance to catch up with Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who was on break from the Judiciary Committee. And here is our conversation about the first half of today's hearings. All right, Senator Klobuchar, let's get right to it. First day of the hearings for Judge Katonji Brown-Jackson. So it was very interesting watching the morning session. I'm sorry, was this the Judge Jackson hearings or was this Kavanaugh part two? I could not believe the reference to all that. And I'm glad you said part two, because the part one hearing was a pretty normal hearing. While I disagreed with Judge Kavanaugh, it had really nothing to do with the allegations that came out later. I was shocked that they dwelled on that. And I think that, in fact, there have been many hearings

for judges of both parties that have been held in a dignified manner with presidents, Democratic presidents, Republican presidents. And what I think I loved about the judge, Judge Jackson, is how she just let it all go. And she was up there looking strong. Her family, incredible. I got to meet her parents. Both of them used to be teachers like my mom was, and they were something. And my favorite moment was actually when Senator Coons asked the judge's brother, are you surprised she's up here? And he said, not at all, not at all. So despite all the garbage you're going to hear from people attacking her, the bottom line is she is strong. She's got a strong moral compass. She has more experience than four of the justices on the court right now coming into this. And she

actually has more trial experience than any of the justices coming into this, except for Justice Sotomayor. So I'll put her up against any of my colleagues in their questioning tomorrow, and I know she's going to do a great job. Well, I dare say it's also for someone like myself who reads history, who loves history. It's amazing how folks forgot all of a sudden what contentious Supreme Court hearings began with Robert Bork. I just finished reading Will Haygood's book Showdown on the Thurgood Marshall hearings. Yeah, I think that was a little contentious. Sherrilyn Ifill, of course, she also talked about the Supreme Court hearings of John Marshall Harlan II, who was a conservative, where they felt that he was not going to be

conservative enough on Brown v. Board of Education. So I guess all of the conservative whining about how it's only been their Supreme Court nominees that have gotten tough hearings, I mean, I dare say, pick better people. Well, also, I agree. Also, I have sat through so many judiciary hearings for other judges. I cannot believe the gauntlet that they have to go through. Basically, scorpion-like questions time and time again, especially in this last year since Joe Biden won the presidency. So, you know, but all I care about right now, Roland, is that this woman, Judge Jackson, she is more than up for it. And she has shown that in her hearings in the past for the Sentencing Commission, District Court, Circuit Court, got bipartisan support in all of them, shows she can take whatever questions are thrown at her. So I'm actually looking forward to it tomorrow. I also, go ahead.

Could you, one of the things I would love for you to speak to, I think it's really important for the public. And it was Senator Mike Lee who said, and I tweeted this because it was really getting on my nerves when he talked about how they should be interpreting the law based upon how the public at that time knew what it was. Well, first of all, at that time, you couldn't vote. I couldn't vote. So this notion that a Supreme Court justice must look at the Constitution in the way the public viewed it when it was written,

other than white men, the rest of us are excluded. Exactly. I made this point during Justice Gorsuch's hearing, and other than white men, the rest of us are excluded. Exactly. I made this point during Justice Gorsuch's hearing, taking literally some of the words in the Constitution with references to he and him and how the world changes over time. And that's why in my opening, which went right after Mike Lee,

I made a point of saying, yes, you have to have respect. You look at precedent point of saying, yes, you have to have respect. You look at precedent, of course, which this current court is ready to throw out, as it looks like from the argument, Roe v. Wade, well-established precedent, and has been willing to throw out the Voting Rights Act, a major portion of it, against all odds. They have done that. To me, they're the ones that are disrespecting much more current precedent, they're the ones that are disrespecting much more current precedent. They're the ones that are legislating from the bench. And so this idea that it's just a static document that was written back in the horse and buggy days and that you're supposed to

then act like nothing's happened is ridiculous. What you do is you look at the plain language of laws or the Constitution. You look at the intent of when things were based. But then you also look at court precedent. You look at the effect it has in modern day. So my point today was Justice Breyer, who was mentor, is a mentor to Judge Jackson. He said that it must be workable. The law must be workable to the people of today. So you have respect for the past, but you have an eye for the future when you make decisions.

Otherwise, you're going to have some of these crazy decisions that we're seeing coming out of this court today. And my hope is that future Justice Jackson is going to be a ballast for that. You also talked about it, as well as another one of your colleagues, that we have to deal with the reality that there have been 115 Supreme Court justices. And frankly, for the most part in American history, the decision was that only white men really can decide. And the fact of the matter is, if you are a woman, you look at Senator Dale O'Connor, Elena Kagan, Justice Sotomayor, Amy Coney Barrett, Judge Jackson. If you are an African-American, Thurton Marshall, Clarence Thomas, Judge Jackson.

Perspectives, how we grew up, where we grew up, what we experienced all plays a role in this. For her, being a public defender, being somebody who represented, as y'all talked about, low-income clients, all of those things matter when a person is deciding these cases. We simply can't have the elite of the elite who are, frankly, far removed from regular everyday life making these decisions. And so that to me is important to raise in these hearings. Completely, Roland. I couldn't have said it better. I remember back when Justice Sotomayor was up and she was criticized for talking about having empathy for people that came before her. That should be the very definition of a judge, that they understand and that their combined experiences make for a stronger court. And what you have in Judge Jackson

is someone, as I noted, whose parents went to segregated schools. Not a lot of those other justices have had that experience. Someone whose mom had to basically work her way to help support her dad so he could go to law school. A lot of those justices did not have that experience. And you name dropped a bunch of those very well historically, the names of people, women, people of color who have served on the bench. But the bottom line is there are so few. There's 115 of these justices, and she's the first Black woman nominated. And when you're the first one, it's not easy. She's opening a lot of doors, as I noted today. And then the last thing I'd say is when you have those kinds of humblizing, that's not a word, humbling, humbling, humbling experiences, I think it makes you a better judge because you know who's on the

side who gets affected by these rulings. They're not just words on a page. It's someone who loses their health insurance or someone who can't make their own health care decision because of it's something that the Supreme Court decides or someone who can't vote or isn't allowed to vote because they're thrown off a voting roll. Those are real people that are on the receiving end of these decisions of the court. It's not just some marble building where it has no effect on real people. And that's what I love about her. She's a real person when you meet her. She's a warm person. She is a humble person. And she's someone that gets it. And I think that's going to come out loud and clear in her questioning tomorrow.

Well, I think, again, it is so critically important and to have the perspective of, again, of various senators on there as well. And look, I had a lot of black women who were texting me. You talked about how she sat there and asked you to listen. First of all, I'm just letting you know I couldn't do it because it's the moment Ted Cruz starts talking, my whole body language would shift. I'm just trying to picture you out there while that was going on. I'm picturing you. Oh, and I'm from Texas. Jump over the table. I'm from Texas.

And trust me, I had the eye roll, everything. Trust me. Hey, she did an admirable job just sitting there listening to Cruz and Holly. I just, judicial temperament, she gets an A+. I do not have judicial temperament. It wouldn't work. That's why you're in your job. It wouldn't work. I couldn't work it wouldn't work i i couldn't work last last question for you um we've already seen the attempts to say just jackson holds dear and near pedophiles i don't know what the hell

holly is talking about i i i do hope democrats are going to, when this nonsense comes out, fire back at Republicans and really, you know, making it clear that you're not going to sit here and play games with this woman's record and her credibility with some of these nonsensical things that they already tried to bring up. No, I mean, the fact Senator Hawley himself has supported judges, one that he won in Missouri, that have downward departed on these kinds of cases. The fact her brother was a police officer, her uncle won a detective, won the police chief in Miami. In addition to her public defender experience, she understands how the criminal justice system works and her rulings, which have been fair down the line, consistent with other judges. And yes, I think people are looking forward to getting back at this with the facts tomorrow.

All right, Senator Klobuchar, we appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. And yeah, very smart to slide in that Prince reference. Oh, did you like that? I noticed that Mike Lee had name checked and name dropped Odysseus before me, and I thought, I'm going with Prince. Yeah, I think the public probably prefers the Prince reference more than anything that he says. So yeah. All right. Suna, thanks a lot. Thanks, Roland. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk with

our panel about today's confirmation hearings and just some of the other nonsense we heard spewing from Republicans' mouths. You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor

or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC

Pull up a chair, take your seat, the Black Tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, there was lots of comedy at today's hearing. One of the biggest jokesters was Senator Ted Cruz. Y'all want to see Stuck on Stupid? Listen to this.

Now, what should this hearing be and what should it not be? Well, you've heard a number of members I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus.

I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus.

I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political circus. I'm going to be a political the And I was forced to laugh out loud and say, look, I understand that's a pretty good talking point. It just happens not to be true. It is only one side of the aisle, the Democratic aisle, that went so into the gutter with Judge Robert Bork that they going to be able to get a job. He's not going to be able to get a job. It is only one side of the aisle

that with justice Clarence Thomas was so reprehensible that as the president who nominated him, president george Herbert walker bush wrote at the time, quote, what's happening to Clarence Thomas is just plain horrible.

All the groups that tried to beat him up on abortion affirmative action have now come out of the woodwork. They are trying to destroy a decent man. This is an ugly process, and one can see clearly why so many good people elect to stay out of public life. As Justice Thomas observed in that hearing... Okay, well, what's so funny is, like, the people who came out against him on abortion and affirmative action,

because they were right. They were right. people who came out against him on abortion and affirmative action. Because they were right. They were right. Then, of course, you had the biggest whiner of them all from South Carolina. Here's Lindsey Graham. Check out what he had to say. All right, y'all let me know when y'all have Lindsey Graham. I'm gonna bring in my panel right now. Crystal Knight, Democratic strategist at the Omicongo Dbinga Professorial Lecture

at the School of International Service, American University, Reverend Jeff Carr, founder of the Infinity Fellowship there in Nashville. Jeff, I'm gonna to start with you because, unfortunately, you have to be represented by truly one of the dumbest people in all the United States Senate. And there's a whole lot of competition with that fool Tommy Tuberville there. Senator Marsha Blackburn, listen to this fool. Supreme Court, you have praised the 1619 Project,

which argues the U.S. is a fundamentally racist country, and you have made clear that you believe judges must consider critical race theory when deciding how to sentence criminal defendants? Is it your personal hidden agenda to incorporate critical race theory into our legal system? These are answers that the American people need to know. So we are going to attempt to pack the Supreme Court. You have praised the 16... The 1619 Project? Really? Get your dumb ass out of here, Blackburn.

Hey, I told you, I said at the beginning of the year that Ted Cruz was perhaps the most brilliant comedian that we've ever come across. And he's proven it over and over again. You can't take him seriously. You have to take him seriously when we talk about voting. But Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, people here, they do not take them seriously. It's just that their districts are so gerrymandered that they have an opportunity to remain in power. Personally, I hate confirmation hearings.

As someone who's been on city boards, my wife is on a city board now, wherever you get to in confirmation hearings, something always comes up. And it's something that irks me that Bella G.C. Howell said. She said, never explain yourself. Your friends don't need it. Your enemies won't believe it. But you're in a space where you also manifest what Plato said. Plato said that one of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. So here we have Sister Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is the picture of intellect, who is the picture of class, who is the picture of experience, who takes it on herself to write 570 opinions that she didn't have to write to explain where she stood. She is a picture-perfect candidate who is more qualified,

not only that everybody's sitting in that space in judgment, but every single person sitting on the Supreme Court now. And yet she has to explain herself. So what I'm saying is here, is this. We have an opportunity now, with all the support that's coming from around the world for Sister Jackson, we have an opportunity to put her on that bench. And what I love most about her is her demeanor and how she is approaching this space. She is manifesting a saying that I tell people every single week. When they try to bite her and they try to bait her, and you hear Blackburn bringing up the 1619 Project, she, inside her mind, I can hear her saying the same.

I decline your invitation to a lower vibration. So go, Sister Jackson. Go. I just sit there, Crystal, and I'm listening to these fools. And again, they're talking about, oh, how all of this started because of these radical judges in the 60s and 70s, really what they were complaining about are civil rights laws. Yeah, I mean, I think that I love what Carr just stated, and I also want to just say as a native Tennessean that I fully agree with his point that folks across the state of Tennessee understand who Marsha Blackburn is.

We knew who she was when she was, you know, at the state level, at the congressional level, and now at the Senate level. And so I just wanted to affirm that point. But also, you know, just opening, just Katetanji's opening today, it was very powerful in that she really spoke to not only her pedigree, but her history on the court, or serving, rather, her history serving, and then what she would offer, not only to the seat, but also what she offers as representation for Black women across this country that many people likely aspire to only serve at the Supreme Court level.

But I also thought what was interesting particularly was Lindsey Graham's opening in that, you know, this would not be a confirmation hearing where people would ask about her religious background. This would not be a confirmation hearing where people would ask about things in her past. And what he was really trying to do was juxtapose or compare what happened during the Kavanaugh hearings, as if Kavanaugh was vilified in that, you know, to suggest that she would not be. And so it would be interesting, as we get into day two and the days to come, to see

exactly what these same Republicans have stated that they would not do if they'll actually do it. Because a lot of times, you know, we hear what they say, but we also see what they do. Let's speak. You spoke of what Graham said. Let's play that. The media will be your biggest cheerleader. They're in your camp.

They have every right to pick who they want to pick. There won't be this constant attack on you like Judge Kavanaugh and other conservative judicial appointments. There won't be any questioning of where you go to church, what kind of groups you're in in church, how you decide to raise your kids, what you believe in, how you believe in God, nobody's going to do that to you. And that's a good thing. So you're the beneficiary of a lot. You're the beneficiary of Republican nominees having their lives turned upside down. And it didn't work. So I'm hoping that we can have a hearing that's respectful,

that's informative, that's challenging. And President Biden has every right to pick who he'd like to pick. That comes with winning the White House. And I've been very inclined to support the picks of people that I would not have chosen. But this is a new game for the Supreme Court. And this game is particularly disturbing to me. Here is what, here is what John Ossoff, Senator John Ossoff had to say. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Grassley, Judge Jackson, good afternoon. Good afternoon to your family. Congratulations to your family.

Congratulations to you for your nomination and then I'll ask you to introduce yourself. Good afternoon. Good afternoon to your family. Congratulations to your family. Congratulations to you for your nomination and welcome back to the judiciary committee.

I engage in these proceedings with deep respect for the responsibility that the senate has to advise and consent on the lifetime appointment of a Supreme Court Justice, who would be responsible for interpreting and applying constitutional and statutory law in the most complex and contested and nationally significant cases. The Constitution was a groundbreaking document when written, and still by today's standards as amended considering the tyranny that prevails in much of the world its guarantees of liberty and privacy and

due process are exceptional as a governing document often in our history it has fallen to the court through its decisions to ensure the enforcement of those guarantees yet our Constitution's guarantees of individual rights and the Constitution. We have made many decisions to ensure the enforcement of those guarantees. Yet our Constitution's guarantees of individual rights and equal protection under the

law remain too often and for too many unfulfilled. For any colleagues who doubt this, I remind them of a murder in Glen county, Georgia just two years ago. the police. The police were not the only people who were shot dead. The police were not the only people who were shot dead. I remind them of a murder in Glen county, Georgia just two years ago.

When a young black man was shot dead in cold blood on camera in the street. And the local authorities buried the case and looked the other way. Only a massive civil rights mobilization pressured state and eventually federal prosecutors to act. For any colleagues who doubt that those promises remain unfulfilled to too many, I remind them that in my state you can predict how long someone must wait to vote by where they live and the color of their skin. In

practice the promises made in the plain text of our Constitution are still too often broken for too many of our fellow Americans and so the court remains essential to that national process of becoming in real life what America is in text. Today's hearing, Judge Jackson, is evidence that this process continues. And above all, a testament to you personally, that in a nation still striving to transcend the legacies of slavery and segregation and institutionalized racism through your brilliance and resilience and hard work, you have already rendered great service to the nation as a federal judge. Now let's hear from Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. This is what he had to say in

today's hearing. For the first time in history. I had such great questions. I could not stop being just joyous that you were sitting in my office and I couldn't stop bringing up to you the historical nature of this. Forgive me. I grew up in a small black church where I was taught to make a joyous noise unto the Lord. And this is not a normal day for America. We have never had this moment before. And I just want to talk about the joy. I know tomorrow and the coming hearings, we're going to have tough, hard questions. But please, let me just acknowledge the fact that this is not normal. It's never happened before. The Senate is poised right now to break another barrier. We are on the precipice of shattering another ceiling, another glass ceiling.

It's a sign that we as a country are continuing to rise to our collective cherished highest ideals. Well, McCongo, I think that battle of Thurgood Marshall and how it was so contentious and it was so difficult. And so we cannot just overstate what it means to be alive in this time to actually see history before our very eyes. Man, it's just I mean, it mean, it's just beautiful, man. I mean, to see what's happening, and I'm sorry, the most beautiful picture of the day was just when they shot over to her parents, right, who lived through everything you were talking about before

with Ergen Marshall and everything, and to be able to see that with their own child, I mean, that was my biggest takeaway from the day. And then to see. Yeah. I mean, come on, man. That just gets me, you know. And then to see her and everything that she represents. And I love the fact that even though people have made so much of a stink over her being a black woman, being being nominated, that she's not afraid to sit there in her blackness, to talk about the people who came before her, and to talk about the inspiration she can be for not only future black children,

but all people across America. She embraces the moment to sit there with a nominee who has, you know, hair that looks like mine, looks like my daughter's. It's amazing. Now, today's Republicans, let's be mindful of the fact that they made us think over Judge Sonia Sotomayor making the comment about a wise Latina. These guys are full of nonsense. So when they bring up Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, hey, can we talk about that there were possible sexual assault accusations here? Can we

talk about how the FBI botched the investigation into Brett Kavanaugh so they can expedite this process? These are kind of like real things you want to bring up if you want to make comparisons. When you're talking to Senator Klobuchar and you said this was the Kavanaugh hearing part two, they are showing that they are petty and they are never going to let this go. And so I support everything that was said in the panel before us with Sister Melanie Campbell and your other guests when they were talking about how Black women are going to make sure that nothing goes down to mess around with this hearing. But I got news for everybody too. Brothers ain't taking it either. We are working together as a community to make sure that nothing ignorant comes her way. We're going to be that barrier, that force field, just to make sure that she can do her thing, man. Because her whole image,

it was like Dave Chappelle, like when keeping it real goes wrong. Like she was just waiting to kind of snap at folks, but she had to just keep that composure the whole time. And like you said, Roland, I couldn't do it, man. I'd have been all across that table. But it's just a proud day for our community. It's a proud day for the country. And I can't wait for this confirmation to be over so we can just say, Justice Contagi Onika Brown-Jackson.

So you're going to put the whole government name out there. The whole joint. Onika Brown Jackson. So you're going to put the whole government name out there. The whole joint. The whole government name. You know, it was also, I think, you know, when you look at, you know, what was said and you look at, no, just this whole thing, that really jumped out at me. Dealing with the issue of race, the elephant in the room, and Crystal, you had individuals, again, Democrats,

being honest, who talked about the reality of Jim Crow, who talked about what that meant and this point that we're in. And then again, to listen to Republicans act as if, oh, my goodness, we've had, it was Mike Lee who said we had these men who were picked by God to be able to be there to write the Constitution. I'm going, yeah, here's a bunch of other stuff you want to skip over, huh? Right. I mean, and it's funny that people, you know,

love to quote the Constitution. And the Constitution, as it was written, it was not inclusive of women. It was not inclusive of black people. It was written with white men in mind. And so when people quote what the founders meant, you know, what the Constitution says, I always say, well, the Constitution didn't include me, and if I'm talking to a person

of color, it didn't include you either. And so people love to use that. They also love to weaponize, you know, religion in the name of politics. And, you know, even what Lindsey Graham stated in his speech or his opening statements, it was really ridiculous. But I think even more than that, the story today was really about the rally that was held on the steps of the Supreme Court by a number of black coalitions, a number of black women who showed up in support of Justice, you know, or the future Justice Brown, Brown

Jackson. And I think that that's what's really the important thing. That should not be lost on us, that there are women who are going to show up every single day on the steps of the Supreme Court to show their support for her. And this is what this movement needs right now. This is what she deserves. This is what she needs in order to show the senators that are sitting on this committee, on this Senate confirmation committee, that there is support for her.

There is a large coalition of people who believe in her. Not only does she have the pedigree, which really should not even be a question at this point, but that there's a coalition pushing aggressively, not only silently, but in your face, saying she should not be denied this seat, because America deserves parity on the court. We talk about the inclusivity. We talk about the diversity of this country. We also have a court that has historically not represented every person in America.

And so when I think about, you know, having her nomination be historic, we need her to be confirmed. We need to push not only as black people, not only as black women, but as a country, because if we really care about making sure that this country is diverse, if we really care about making sure every voice is heard, then we need equal representation. And it begins here. It doesn't end here, but it begins by confirming her. And of course, you had these powerful words by one of the members, a United States Senator, a woman, a Democrat. Listen. For 233 years, the individual making

decisions that have altered the course of this country have almost exclusively been white men. It's pretty remarkable when you consider the power that this court has and the historical lack of diversity of the people who exercise that power, the justices. But instead of celebrating the long overdue diversity Judge Jackson would bring to the court, some of my Republican colleagues and public figures have attempted to undermine your qualifications through their pejorative use of the term affirmative action. And they have implied you were solely nominated due to your race and not for other factors. Apparently, some have even claimed that you need to show your LSAT scores to determine whether you are a top legal mind.

This is incredibly offensive and condescending. Let me be clear. Your nomination is not about filling a quota. It is about time. It's about time that we have a highly qualified, highly accomplished black woman on the Supreme Court. It's about time our highest court better reflects the country it serves. It's about time that black women and girls across the country can finally see themselves who look like them sitting on the highest court, making decisions that will impact their lives.

And they will know that it is possible for them to do the same. One cannot overstate the importance of representation. Your experiences and your background as a trial judge, public defender, a mother, a black woman, and so much more provide you with a uniquely different perspective than any of the eight other justices on the court. That was really important that Senator Harano made, Jeff. And it puts into context, again, the attacks on her. But it also shows you how white fear works in this country.

Because the reality is, forget all that crap that Graham said and Cruz said about, oh, question your church, things along those lines. Well, because those are fundamental issues when you're dealing with right wing, conservative, batshit crazy evangelicals. It's important to ask those issues. I would dare say to any Republican, if you're complaining about a Robert Bork being appointed or you're complaining about a Brett Kavanaugh, why don't you pick your nominees better? And why don't you do that?

As opposed to whining and complaining, again, about those attacks. But what it also is, again, dealing with what we have to do with being black in this country. You've got to be twice as good. You've got to be perfect. You've got to be impeccable. You can't have any blemishes because we don't simply get,

we don't get those chances often. So, therefore, it has to be perfect because you've got to see the MP's whiteness. Yes, yes. And, Roland, you've got a book on it. It's White Fear. But we also look at this thing in context and we hear the language that is being spoken by people who are gearing up for a battle. They're gearing up for a battle that they're going to lose. And yet that is not stopping them. As Sister Crystal, as Brother Omikongo have definitely expounded on today, they're speaking coded language to their base. I was driving in today, and I switched over from the hearing and decided to listen to

a little bit of right-wing conservative radio. I was able to get a small clip of the philosophy that they're going to advance in between the inordinate amount of erectile dysfunction commercials that play on that station for some reason. And what they were saying was in line with what Senator Josh Hawley was saying. And they were trying to point to this myth that somehow she has enabled pedophiles and child molesters. We're seeing that being telegraphed right now, so we know that's coming. We know it's absolutely false. But again, are we talking to America? Are

we talking about fairness? Or are we talking to the base? And these people are talking to the base. They're talking to a base that is insane, that is completely out of touch with logic. If we hear this coded language that says, let's go back to interpreting the Constitution as it was originally written by the people who originally wrote them, we're talking about living in a past that no longer exists. Scientifically, the universe is hurtling forward at 750,000 miles per hour and expanding outward. If you simply stand still, that means you're going backwards, and it's impossible in the law of physics to go backwards. We are expanding. We are growing. But if you want to go back, we can go back to 1776, when medical doctors didn't

even have degrees, but they were practicing folk medicine and putting leeches on people. The number one drug that people were using were opium and mercury. We're not doing that anymore. And yes, we were property when the Constitution was written. So guess what? Whether you want to look back or look forward, the universe is moving forward, and so are we. And as Dr. Dabenga said, we are supporting this sister on every single front, man, woman, and child. And this is a moment in history that we are going to seize and we're going to be able to look back and celebrate it in the future.

All right, folks. More of the hearing taking place tomorrow. We'll have a full breakdown on tomorrow's show. Time to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about what happens if you're paying child support and DNA proves the child's not even yours?

Well, a Tennessee elected official wants to know something about that. We'll discuss it next. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm going to go get some food. ДИНАМИЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie.

We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not From politics to music and entertainment

It's a huge part of our lives And we're going to talk about it every day Right here on The Culture With me, Faraji Muhammad Only on the Black Star Network Hi, I'm Vivian Green Hey everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered.

All right, folks, Tennessee lawmakers are proposing a bill to prevent unmarried men from claiming a child that isn't biologically their own. Last week, House Bill 2698 passed the Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee, but not without a challenge from the Tennessee Department of Human Services. Tennessee Representative Antonio Parkinson is sponsoring the House version of the bill. He says the bill will help those men forced to pay child support after finding out the child was not biologically theirs. He joins us right now. He's also chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus.

Glad to have you back on the show. So this is kind of basic. How in the hell can you be paying for a child? It ain't yours. Yeah, we think it's basic. So let me throw this out there first. One-third of the signatures on birth certificates today are not the biological father.

Think about that. That's a huge number. 33%. 33% of the people that have signed a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity are not the actual father. Think about that. That's a huge number. 33%. 33% of the people that have signed a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity are not the actual father. Now, here's the rub. That means that there are 33% of real biological fathers whose children have been stolen from them through this voluntary acknowledgement of paternity program. I lean on the side that I think most fathers want to be in their children's lives. So that 33 percent has been robbed legally, state sponsored of the opportunity to be a parent to their children.

Think about that. So. So. So. So how does that how does that work? That is like who decides to write in the father portion? So, anybody can sign a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity as long as the mother is okay with it. The only thing that they have to do is sign it in front of a notary, but there are no guardrails that would ensure that this person is actually the biological father. So, you're so you're so OK.

So is your position that that whoever is actually the biological father, they should be notified that they're the father? But where does that. But what happens, though, if you are someone and you've been told it's yours and here you are forced to pay child support, then you find out it's not yours. Yeah. And that's exactly how I got on this on this situation. I had a young man stop me in a barbershop and he said I had a child. I thought I had a child with a lady that I was in a long term relationship with. We went to juvenile court when when her mother told me that she'd been with her ex-boyfriend the whole time. I got a DNA test, went to juvenile court. The juvenile court magistrate banged the gavel down, said, somebody's got to feed him, and it's going to be you.

And he was stuck with that child support. Not just that, but he walked out of that court in arrears because they went back to the birth of the child. And when he did not get... Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on, hold on. They're in court. They established he is not the biological father.

And the judge still said you got to pay? The judge still said you got to pay. And the way this thing works is this. When you voluntarily sign, you got 60 days to take your name back off of there. And I had a person come to me and say, well, he could always ask the lady for a DNA test. I said, well, okay, let's talk about that. You're in the

hospital. You know, probably the grandparents are around, the other siblings. You're in there with the lady, and she's holding her new bundle of joy, and you're in a relationship with this person. And so you're going to turn around and say, hey, oh, yeah, by the way, I want to get a DNA test. You're damned if you do. You're damned if you don't. Your relationship is over with at that point.

If the DNA results come back to say you are the father, your relationship is over with. If the DNA test comes back, say you're not the father, your relationship is over with. And so that's not that's not reality. Right. And I had a young man. I've gotten more calls about this than any other bill I've passed. Right. I had a young man call me today. He said I was 19 years old and I was in the hospital. All her family is around. And there was no way that I could ask for a DNA test. No way. Right. And so what we're doing is making it required only to validate your name on that birth certificate. So what we're saying is this. You can still voluntarily sign, but you have to produce DNA results that say you are the actual father so that your name can be validated on that birth certificate.

So, okay, so who is paying for that? So is that going to be the state? Is that going to be the individual? So how is this thing going to work out, that when a child is born, are they going to take the DNA at that moment? I mean, so what's going to actually happen? So this is how it works. So, and I got to give you a little background

for you to understand this. Per Health and Human Services in D.C., they say the states have to have three ways of acknowledging paternity, three ways. One is voluntary acknowledgement of paternity program. That's for people that want to sign. And this is who we're targeting, right? Then you have DNA tests for contested births, ones that didn't want to sign, right? Then you have the fact that people are married. So it's automatically presumed by law that the

father in a marriage is the father of the child. But we're focusing on voluntary acknowledgement, the ones that want to voluntarily sign. They feel like or have been told maybe by the mother or have been led to believe that they are the father of this child, right? And so they want to sign. And we don't have a problem with that. You can want to sign and sign, but it will not, the process will not be complete until you produce the results of the DNA saying that you are the actual father. Because if that DNA test comes back and says you're not the father, then it's paternity fraud for you to sign on there. And if that DNA test comes back and says you are the father, then it will be validated.

But think about this, though. And this is the angle I'm coming from on this. Not to, you know, fault women or anybody else, but I believe that if you are a father by DNA, you deserve the right, you have the right to be a parent to your child legally. Under the law right now, they are taking that right away from the actual biological parent by not having safeguards in place to make sure it's the biological parent that gets that right. Because

once you sign, you are the legal parent of that child. Questions from my panel. Jeff? Want to make sure I hit that? There you go. I'm here. Thanks, Representative Parkinson, down the street from you in Nashville. Man, it's good to see you here. I know a lot of people who talk about the work that you're doing. Congratulations.

Listen, there are tons of stories that you're saying. As a pastor, I have tons of people. I had a gentleman come years ago. He spent 19 years paying child support and got into an argument with who was his wife at the time, and that was when she revealed that it wasn't his and there was nothing he could do. There are tons of stories like this. Let me ask you about the state and the federal complex here around this, because when people say, well, it's about just getting a DNA test or not, there's an entire court system involved.

Tell me about this. There's a 40 percent match that the state or federal government gets from circumstances like this. Can you talk about that so that people can know that this is bigger than just a few people taking a DNA test? You know, thank you for the alley-oop that felt like an alley-oop anyway. And I need Roland to understand. Roland, thank you for this platform because you are breaking a major, major story nationally with this. People ask me, well, why is the Department of Human Services fighting you so hard on this bill? They are throwing the kitchen sink at me to stop this bill from passing. Well, here's the reason. They get paid for people to blindly sign on a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity. Three things that's happening. They're chasing a 90 percent quota,

90 percent quota of acknowledged births in the state. They get millions of dollars for reaching that 90% quota and then get a bonus of more millions for surpassing that 90% quota. What would happen if a person sees the DNA test and says, hey, whoa, not mine? They're not going to sign. So that quota may be in jeopardy. Second piece, they also get $52 million here in the state of Tennessee to have a voluntary

acknowledgment of paternity program in place. This money goes to child support enforcement programs. Then thirdly, for every single child support order, they receive a 40% match from the federal government. So it's state-sponsored. Think about what I'm saying. This is state-sponsored child theft, paternity fraud, however you want to call it, but they are literally taking children

from some biological fathers. Crystal, your question. I want to say good to see you, Representative Parkinson. Hey, friend. Touche. That's what we call him down in Memphis. But I want to ask a question just from the female perspective. I think a lot of what you're talking about, you know, men experience these hardships because they, you know, agree to something that they obviously were misled or tricked or whatever the case may be. But are there any is there any kind of legislative tools you can use so that women will be discouraged from doing this in the future,

meaning that if I am asking a man to sign my child's birth certificate knowingly with the knowledge that he is not the father, and then, you know, it comes out later, you know, 19 years as Carr just stated, or in the case that you brought up, you know, years or months later, what are the repercussions for women? later, what are the repercussions for women? Like, what are the repercussions for the women who acted egregiously in this manner? So I'm just curious, like, what can be done? And then are there anything, are there any legislative tools that can be put in place in our state legislature to ensure that this doesn't happen again, that women will stop doing this and men will be better informed, obviously,

but also for, and I'm not saying every woman has done this and does this intentionally, but there are some bad actors out there. And so I'm just curious what can be done. Interesting. You know, the majority of the support in regards to this legislation is coming from women. So I would say 99.9% of the people who have contacted me about this legislation, most of them were women, and 99.9% of them were tremendously in favor of this legislation. Let me answer your last question first. If we enact this bill, it kills any fraternity fraud because we will know on the front end. And I want you to think about something. This, an individual that's going through this has gone through multiple traumas,

including that child. Like, in the case of the guy that brought this to me first, the child was five years and one month old. And so when he brought it to juvenile court, he was one month past the five-year statute of limitation to rescind his voluntary acknowledgement of paternity. And so think about what happened. You got the trauma of the grandmother telling you that, you know, your girlfriend wasn't faithful. Then you got the trauma of the DNA test that comes back that you're not this kid's father and you've been raising this kid for five years, right?

Saw this kid's father. And you've been raising this kid for five years, right? Saw this kid being birthed. Then you have the trauma of the magistrate saying, nope, you're stuck. And you're going to be paying for child support until this child ages out. Then the trauma of he lost his license because they were enforcing. He couldn't get caught up.

He was riding dirty, got pulled over, got sent to jail. When he went to jail, he was in jail for about three or four days, lost his job. And he had another child that was his biological child that he was supporting. This man's life was turned completely upside down when it could have simply been fixed on the front end. And, but now, you know, it's the state of, the state of Tennessee department of Services, wants it to continue. And that's crazy because lives are being affected by this situation when it's a simple, simple fix.

Just find out and make sure that this is the actual father and take it out of the father's hand. Make it mandatory. And so he doesn't have to ask for it. I think it would actually encourage more people to voluntarily acknowledge and sign because they know a DNA test is coming with it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Omokongo, your question. Yeah. I've been kind of bug-eyed throughout this whole segment because I was just completely unaware. So this is really a breaking story. The question that I have is, first of all, thank you for your efforts on this. I'm wondering, are you hearing anything from the actual biological fathers,

the ones who didn't get an opportunity to sign the certificate? Is there pushback from them, or are they in support of this? What kind of feedback are you getting? I'm sure many of them may not even know, but for the ones who do, are you hearing from them or are they in support of this? What kind of feedback are you getting? I'm sure many of them may not even know, but for the ones who do, are you hearing from them? Most of the people that I know, most of the men that I know that have any involvement in this situation want to be a father to the children. You know, I just feel so bad for that person that did not get the opportunity,

either because the woman did not tell them that they were possibly a father. But let me tell you about this phone call that I got on my way from Memphis to Nashville today. This lady, she's older than I am, and she called me. She said, thank you for running this legislation. And she went on to explain this to me. I just met my father because they kept it from me and told me that my stepfather was my father all of my life. I met my father.

The reason I met my father was because he is right now going through treatment for, I forgot what kind of cancer it was that he has. She said, if I would not have met him, I would not have known that I am high risk for this cancer. And now I'm being screened. Think about that. Wow. Wow.

That's ridiculous. Unbelievable. And state sponsored. They are encouraging people to blindly sign because they are motivated by money. Millions and millions and millions of dollars that are churning from Health and Human Services in DC, right? And they are, what the state of Tennessee is doing is loosely interpreting the regulations from Health and Human Services to say that if we add a DNA test, we will be out of compliance and lose this money.

But it has been told to me by an HHS attorney that the federal government only lays out the minimum requirements for your voluntary acknowledgement of paternity program. Everything else is left up to the states. The feds never said what a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity program looks like. They just said it needs to include this. And that's it. And so the states have the ability to make their program what they want it to be. But again, we can reach this

90% quota if we just get all people signing regardless of whether or not they're the father or not. Unbelievable. Folks, I appreciate it. Representative Parkinson, thank you so very much. Keep us abreast of how this bill goes

through committee and through the legislature. Thank you. Thank you for the platform, Roland. Appreciate you, brother. Not very much. Keep us abreast of how this bill goes through committee and through the legislature. Thank you. Thank you for the platform, Roland. Appreciate you, brother. Not a problem. Thanks a lot. Good to see everyone. Thank you. Gotta go to a break. We come back. We're gonna walk through a litany of police misconduct cases. Man, waiting to show you this one video. Brother's just driving, trying

to deliver some food, and the cop end up tasing him. What it means to be black in America. Folks, support us by downloading the Black Star Network app. Of course, available on all platforms. A lot of y'all were trying today. Apple had a massive worldwide outage, so that's why it was difficult for y'all to download the apps today.

So please do so. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. Of course, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Your checks and money orders. You can help us via Cash App. Dial the sign RM Unfiltered.

PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be back in a moment. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Norske Kliniker Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr your seat at the Black Tape with me, Dr. Gregg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА What's up, what's up?

I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace, world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. 33-year-old Ella Goody has been missing from Scott, Louisiana. The contracted driver last spoke to her family on March 9th. She is 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 168 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a denim jacket and blue pants. If you have any information

regarding her disappearance, please contact the Scott, Louisiana Police Department at 337-233-3715. Again, that is 337-233-3715. In Wisconsin, an off-duty police officer resigned after a video of him putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl's neck is released. Friday, the Kenosha Unified School District released redacted footage of the March 4th fight, showing Officer Sean Getschall using excessive force while intervening in the fight. The school district initially placed Guestchild on paid leave, but he has resigned from his part-time security job with the school. Here's the statement from the Kenosha Police Department. We continue our investigation,

paying careful attention to the entire scope of the incident. We have no further update at this time. Really, no surprise. An unarmed black man in New Jersey grabbing iced tea from a car was shot and paralyzed by plainclothes officers. He's now suing the Trenton Police Department. Yeah, shortly after midnight on February 12th, Jawan R. Henderson was getting a drink from a Saturn Ion parked outside of his home, y'all, of his house, when plainclothes of officers in unmarked cars approached and boxed him in. Henderson said when he reached into his car to grab his phone to call for help, he was

shot four times through the window. He is now paralyzed from the chest down. He was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and obstruction of justice. The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office dropped the aggravated assault charges. However, Henderson still faces resisting arrest and obstruction charges. A 29-year-old suit alleges excessive force, negligence, and racial profiling. I'm always confused here on the Congo.

How do we end up being shot, but we obstructed justice? Right. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And you act and this actually connects to your first case as well, because they were quick to bring up charges on the two girls who were in that incident. But with the officer, there's ongoing investigations, even though he was allowed to resign. And so you see this situation where they roll up on this brother. And I believe they were also wearing masks or something to the sort, but completely unidentified and shot four times. So again, just like, what was the story we covered? Was it out of Houston?

You don't know who the hell is rolling up on you? Exactly, exactly. And we have this magical power as black people to be able to turn phones into weapons, right? So it doesn't really matter whatever they do when they roll up on us, as long as they feel like they can be suspect of something that we're doing, they're gonna open fire first. You don't identify yourself and you shoot him

four times. This man has a child, I believe. And so really at the end of the day, all of these cases that we're bringing up that we talk about daily, and we have to talk about them daily because America tends to do it when it's convenient on some of these other networks for ratings or whatever. But this is our life. Every single day, it could be any single one of us, this is why we have to continue to push for police reform, and this is why every single day when we don't pass the George Floyd bills, these guys feel like they can get over on this stuff.

And if I recall, this happened on February 12th, and they have a policy where they're supposed to release videos of things that happened within 20 days. We're damn near at April right now, and they haven't done that yet. So I smell a cover-up from beginning to end, and I hope that this brother gets paid, but it's never going to pale. It's always going to pale in comparison to be able to, you know, to losing the use of your body in its full capacity.

It's tragic, man. Let's talk about tragic. We'll go to, uh, Jeff's Tennessee, where a Tennessee police officer fired his stun gun at a food delivery man, a brother, who began recording his traffic stop, saying he felt unsafe. Watch.

You will be tased. Get out. He said he pulled me over for a traffic stop and he's gonna tase me. You can't do that, officer, because I called for your supervisor. Get out. Get out. What is the reason I'm getting out? You refused to give your information., because I called for your supervisor. Get out! You refused to give your information. I told you to get out of the car. Now you're resisting.

I had to refuse. I asked to speak to your supervisor. Get out! Sir, I feel uncomfortable. Please get your supervisor. I don't give a shit what you're talking about. Please don't touch me. I said get out. Please stop it. Why are you being like this? Is this how y'all really are? Please stop.

This is all on tape. Please stop. Get out of the car. Please don't hurt me. Why are you doing this? No, sir. I'm telling you to get out. I'm telling you that this is not lawful.

Ah! Oh, my God, that's not lawful, sir. Get out! That's not lawful. Get out! Jeff, all I'm saying is, brother's just sitting here trying to, he trying to, you know, do his job. And here's the whole deal. Okay, so the cop said, okay, he was speeding.

Fine. Man, write my ass a ticket. Right. But this is what I keep trying to warn people. Because the same thing happened in the Sandra Bland case. The cops know the moment that, in fact, I want y'all to listen to it again. Play the video, but listen to the magic words from the cop. You will be tased.

Get out. He said he pulled me over for a tracking shot and he's going to tase me. You can't do that, officer, because I called for your supervisor. Get out. I have my license. What is the reason I'm getting out? You refused to give your information. I didn't refuse.

I asked questions. Now you're resisting. I had to refuse. I asked to speak to your supervisor. Get out. Sir, I feel uncomfortable. Please get your supervisor. I don't give a shit what you're talking about.

Please don't touch me. I said get out. Please stop it. Why are you being like this? Is this how y'all really are? Please stop. This is all on tape. Please stop.

Get out of the car. Please don't hurt me. Why are you doing this? No, sir. I'm telling you to get out. I'm telling you that this is not lawful. Ah! Oh, my God, that's not lawful, sir.

That's not lawful. So here's the whole deal. When he gives the lawful order, you have to comply, even though you know it's bogus and BS, Jeff. And you hear the language that people in law enforcement are trained to use. They say things that are not true in the moment.

You're resisting. You're resisting. They make sure that they say that over and over again. I had a friend who's a 38-year veteran from law enforcement. And I asked him, frankly, I said, and he's a brother, I said, what do we do about circumstances and situations like this? And why do you feel that we have no power? Obviously, that young man had been trained. He obviously knew his rights because he, number one, asked for a supervisor. Number two, he kept calm and he's tried to de-escalate the situation. That's some of the things, those are some things that legal experts

teach us as young black men and as old black men. But we also know that all of that goes out of the window when you're by yourself and you're in a town like Collegedale, Tennessee, which is a suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee, with 12,000 people and 12 percent black. You realize that you might be in trouble in that moment. But the law enforcement friend told me, he said, it's easier sometimes to just kill a person. And I said, that's horrible. I said, well, why would you say that? And he said, literally, they train us. It's easier to kill a person because then you can claim that you feared for your life.

And the entire infrastructure, the wall of blue, will support you in law enforcement. What happens if you tase somebody or injure somebody? You might open yourself up for a lawsuit. So now we're seeing the same kind of thing happen all over the place. If it's not a death and a civil suit and possibly a conviction or a firing, it's instances like this. It's instances like the young brother in Trenton who was getting his tea from a car, and four guys just roll up on him out of nowhere. How many of us would have reacted the same way if four people rolled up in dark clothes, not identifying themselves and screaming? This same situation here where this young man thinks that he's being peaceful, he's got the video camera going, and he's trying to comply, and yet he ends up getting tased.

And we see the same trauma over and over again, and many of us have felt that. We've seen it up close. I think that really we're moving toward a space now where there are going to be some youngsters out there who are going to say, I'm not taking a chance anymore. And that's what we're going to see. We've seen it before where people say, I'm not taking a chance anymore. And that's what we're going to see. We've seen it before where people say, I'm not taking a chance anymore. I'm going to run. We may see, I'm going to fight. I'm going to fight back. But until this kind of behavior is corrected and codified in law enforcement, where we all truly feel as if we are protected and we are the people who are supposed to be served, we're going to see

this thing get worse before it gets better. But eventually it will get better. All right, folks. So let's go to our next story that again, again, when you when you start going through these stories, first of all, I'm going to finish this this one. OK, now the man in that video is Delane Gordon. And again, he is facing several charges, including speeding, resisting arrest. Oh, and here's the magic one, obstruction of justice. Now, Gordon began recording the encounter during a March 10th stop by Collegedale, Tennessee, police officer. Now, of course, collecting separate investigations. Okay, I got you.

All right. Here's another case out of Tennessee that's real strange, Katrina. A former Tennessee state senator convicted of using federal grant money on wedding expenses will not serve prison time. A judge sentenced Katrina Robinson to one year probation. She was found guilty of wire fraud in September. In 2020, federal prosecutors accused her of paying personal expenses for more than $600,000

in federal grant money awarded to the Health Care Institute, the school she operated to train nurses. The jury found her guilty of two of the 20 counts. Now, what's weird about this is that, I mean, 18 got thrown out. And we were talking about, frankly, extremely minor charges here and minor amounts. And she says, OK, my accountant went through this whole deal. You know, look, you're in that area. What do you make of this case with Katrina Robinson?

Well, that question is directed to me, correct? Yes. Yes, so let me just start off by saying I personally know Katrina, and so I recruited her and trained her to run for office when I was leading the Emerge Tennessee chapter. I'm also a native Memphian, so our history goes back. That stated, this has been short of a witch hunt. And I'm not a legal expert or a scholar or I don't have a legal background.

But when you think about and look at this case on its face and on its whole, all of the charges that she was initially alleged to have committed, most of them, like 70 percent, 80 percent of them were dropped. And so the challenge here is that she is she has been indicted. She has been convicted. She has been charged. She's now been sentenced over thirty four hundred dollars and she has a felony. she's now been sentenced over $3,400, and she has a felony. She's also been removed from her seat. And that's something that we have not seen the state legislature in Tennessee do, the

state Senate do. But they moved swiftly to do this. While many of the same senators who voted to remove her from her seat, they were also facing their own legal challenges, meaning that they have misused money, meaning that they have, you know, either, you know, have been accused of, you know, sexual, alleged sexual acts while holding office. And so this case is a, it shines a light on hypocrisy in the state, but it also shines a light on when black elected officials get elected at high seats, that

there is always a scrutinizing eye that will be looking at every single thing. There are a lot of speculations about why this case was brought against her and how it's ironic that right after she got elected, really right when she began to announce her run, that this case, you this case began to be discovered. Now, she wasn't made aware of it until after she was already a sitting senator. But there are so many discrepancies that have been involved in this case. And I really do commend the judge who ruled over this in that she does not have to have any time served in jail, but there are still

some inconsistencies that have happened, because she did bring forth her accountant. She did bring, you know, she did also admit that there were some clerical errors or there were some, you know, financial errors, and she could have done a better job. She stated that on the record. She's also stated that very openly as well. But to receive, you know, a felony for $3,400 or somewhere in that amount, that is really unfortunate. And it also means that if she, if this, you know, she appeals it and it's not overturned, she cannot run for office again. And so that's something that the folks that she represents, and she represents

my mother's district in Memphis, they won't, they don't have that voice anymore at the state Senate. And so, thankfully, you know, there is a new young black woman who also has been appointed to that seat. But, you know, the case really is about how, you know, Senator Robinson was targeted and how, ultimately, what the prosecution wanted was for her to be removed and to not be able to run for office again. And so she is fighting back against that. But it's also, you know, important to highlight that many of the senators who voted to remove

her also have hypocritical backgrounds. And they're also in cases where they may have to step down or be litigated themselves. And Jeff, on the Congo, it was a vote in the state Senate of 27 to 5, the first time in history that anyone has been removed, has been expelled from their seat, Jeff. Sure, you've got Cameron Sexton, you've got people who are serving the state legislature who are high school coaches who many people came forward and testified, as Sister Crystal said, that they had been molested by him, defended, still in the seat, still in the space. And it absolutely is hypocrisy. I'm kind of bothered because I'm like, all of this stuff is happening in Tennessee,

man. I'm telling you what, man, Lake Tennessee, come on, y'all. We got to represent better. Thankfully, it's not particularly us who's doing this to us in this circumstance. But definitely with that vote, the first time someone has been removed from office before even the case was cleared. It's important to note that the removal didn't happen after she was cleared of the charges or after those 20 charges were there, the 18 went away. It was in the process. So she didn't even get the due process. This was a targeted attack. And it's very concerning for those of us who live here and have to deal with the Republican supermajority, but also have to deal with brilliant, bright young people who are getting out in these streets and are getting themselves into these elected offices who absolutely need our support and need us to step up and continue to be there for them in any way that we can. I am really appreciative of Sister Crystal giving us that background that I did not have. And to be quite honest, this really has me thinking that on a national level, we're going to get more of this, these types of attacks on black women in response to having a black female vice president and having a black female Supreme Court justice and so many of the other things that are happening on a national level. And I think we're going to see more of this vindictiveness and vitriol directed at black women in particular,

because they just can't stand black women taking themselves to the next level in every way, shape or form. So and if we didn't get this history from from Sister Night tonight, this would have just been looked at as any story of a corrupt politician just out there. I ran for public office. I know how you can have discrepancies and little things over a couple hundred dollars here and there. This is targeted, and I think this is part of that national not backlash but whitelash. I do believe that. And, Roland, can I just also say when the case was brought, she was alleged to have misappropriated in the upwards of $600,000 federal grant dollars that she wrote a grant for without any prior knowledge or help or

assistance. She wrote this grant for the Health Care Institute, her business, which is the first of its kind in the state of Tennessee, an accredited school that would allow people from all backgrounds to have access to the medical, you know, system and the medical field by way of being trained through her school. And so for all of that to be reduced down from, so to go from $600,000 to $3,400, that's what's not being, that's not the story. It's not sensational. It's not sexy.

No one wants to talk about that. But when the $600,000 number was on her head, it was all over the news. It was on every outlet. And these are major, major networks, major news outlets that, you know, her story was on. And now that it's been reduced to this $3,400, no one wants to pick it up. But, you know, her name has been vilified. Her career, her elected career at least, has been tarnished. And she has this kind of cloud over her. But really, hopefully, this will be a story of redemption. And it will also show how she was unfairly and unjustly targeted because of some small discrepancies.

And there are still people serving in office in the state of Tennessee who have much more egregious cases and they have hindered the lives of many of their constituents. And she has not done that. I don't mean to stay in Tennessee, but this decision came down

just a little while ago, folks. And that is Lorenzen Wright was a prominent NBA player from the Memphis area, well-known, and this gentleman here, Billy Ray Turner, was found guilty of killing him. And in fact, Lorenzen's white former wife earlier pleaded guilty and got 30 years in prison for being the mastermind of this case as well. This was a shocking and stunning case. They lured him out to a field in Memphis. The wife said she was meeting someone to get some money. He met her out there. They ambushed him. He tried to run away. They shot and killed him. He made a phone call to 911. That's how they actually knew because he was on the phone call.

And this happened a few years ago. So it has taken a long time to even get to this point. And again, it was one of those stories that shocked a lot of folks in Atlanta and in Memphis as well. But the killer of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright found guilty today. It took the jury just two hours to deliberate and found him guilty as well. And so, man, talk about just certainly a sad, sad case in terms of how it ended. But you know what? The thing that we always talk about is how greed plays a huge part for a lot of different people.

Got to go to break real quick. We come back. Vice President Kamala Harris in Louisiana today. We'll tell you about that. And then I will also pay tribute in memoriam to gospel singer LaShawn Pace. She passed away at the age of 60. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told.

Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shantae Moore. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris was in Louisiana doing her visit. First of all, she was the first supposed to visit them.

But on the day that President Joe Biden announced Judge Brown Jackson as his nominee, and so this trip was delayed during her visit, the VP discussed the Biden administration's bipartisan infrastructure plan highlighting the major gap in access to high-speed Internet. She also said the administration's focus is making services affordable for all Americans. Every household in America should be able to access and afford. I separate those two points, access and afford, because you need both you need to lay down the fiber but you also need to be able to pay for it and afford it so these both are priorities for our administration and that is why through the bipartisan infrastructure

law we invested 65 billion dollars to expand and modernize our nation's broadband infrastructure. $277 million in grants to 13 communities across the country will receive that money for Internet upgrades. A huge win for voting rights in Arkansas, where a judge rules four different voting laws to be unconstitutional and violates the Arkansas Constitution. Judge Wendell Griffin said the following about his decision. Acts 249,

728, 736, and 973 are each and all declared unconstitutional. Plaintiffs motion for permanent injunction as to each is granted. The court will issue a memorandum order and judgment accordingly after parties submit their proposed findings of fact and conclusions of the law.

Here's a look at the specific laws and what lawmakers in the state were looking to do. Act 249, voter ID. An act to amend the law concerning voter identification, to amend the law concerning verification of provisional ballots, to amend Amendment 51 of the Arkansas Constitution and for other purposes. Act 728, poll campaigns. An act to amend the law concerning electioneering, to amend the law concerning penalties for

misdemeanor offenses related to voting and for other purposes. Act 736, Validation of Ballots. An act to amend Arkansas law concerning absentee ballots, to amend election law, to amend the law concerning voting by absentee ballot, to amend the law concerning spoiled ballots and for other purposes. Act 973, Mail-in Absentee Ballot Deadlines. An act to amend Arkansas law concerning absentee ballots to amend Arkansas law concerning elections and for other purposes. What's all this about? I'm a Congo easy.

Republicans have fallen for the big lie for supporting Donald Trump, and this is the latest effort to try to overturn or change the laws in these states. But what's kicking their behinds are judges. People keep hearing me talk about voting and why voting matters. Then I got these old simple Simon-ass people out here who want to sit here and say, oh, if we don't get

tangibles, we don't get this, we're not voting. Okay, but guess what? You're not going to get any reparations voted by anybody if the people who you want to vote for it can't win. That's right. Period. Bottom line, right? It all goes together. It all goes together. And it's a beautiful thing to see situations like this happening because

we have to understand that, yes, Donald Trump had so many lawsuits, went over 60 of them and lost all of them but one. But it hasn't stopped. This whole big lie mentality, it has not stopped. It's going into the midterms. It's going into the next election. And so it's great to see that these judges are speaking up. And some of them are also speaking up in these gerrymandering cases as well. But we have to keep the pressure up.

We have to keep doing the work to make sure that some of these laws never get proposed in the first place. And so in every area that we have, and we're not even talking about Tennessee right now. How about that? Thank you. But who knows? We might be next, right? So, but in every area- Well, Arkansas not far. That's right. That's right. And so I just, I'm just thinking that this is great. We know that they're going to push it up to the Supreme Court and go as far as they can, but I'm just glad that these judges are reading the law as it's supposed to be read. This isn't about a personal thing.

They are these states and these legislators are trying to introduce draconian racist policies that target people who look like us. And we have to make sure that we're speaking up. But in the legal in the legal realm, we have to make sure that we get in these decisions as well. So I'm so happy that this happened. Absolutely. And look, I don't tell y'all YouTube people. I should have to be asking y'all to click the like button. It's 543.

We better hit 1,000 likes in the next five minutes, okay? Don't let me have to go there. Crystal, here's the whole deal. So hit the like button right now on Facebook and YouTube. Here's the crazy thing, Crystal. Again, we're seeing Republicans losing all across the country. We're seeing them lose even when Republicans control the Supreme Court because they are seeing through the bullshit.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think what you're saying is absolutely true. What we see Republicans do time and time again, they create rules, they, you know, abide by them for a little bit, and then they move the goalposts. And so that's what they're doing with these voter registration laws. So we saw it in Texas. You know, we see it in Florida. We saw it in Georgia, right?

We saw it in Georgia after the election of Ossoff and Warnock that all of a sudden voting isn't, you know, what it should be in the state of Georgia. We need to move the goalposts. We need to make sure that, you know, black voters in a certain district have a harder time gaining access to the ballot. We need to make sure that black voters and brown voters who are waiting in long lines, you know, get dehydrated, because you can't give them water. You can't give them something to eat. And so, really, what we're seeing these laws do, these are just copycat laws. That's all that this is in Arkansas. That's all that it is across all of these states, where new

voter identification laws or new voter, you know, voter I.D. or voter protection laws are popping up. when Republicans are saying that they're protecting the right to vote, they're ensuring that every single person has access to the ballot, it's actually the reverse. What they're doing is trying to subvert elections in this country by way of codifying legislation that makes it harder for Black and brown people to vote, because what they understand is that this country is getting browner and black and brown folks are voting more and more because we're seeing more and more of us who look like us in elected office. And so that's really what this is about. That's the conversation that we're not having, that we have to continue to keep in the forefront and understand

the history of these laws and why they continue to pop up all across the country. Look, I know these folk, they get mad at me. Okay, YouTube, y'all 202 away from hitting 1,000 likes. Come on, speed it up. Jeff, the thing, because look, it's 2,000 watching. Hell, it's 2,000 watching, 200 likes. Y'all, just hit the damn button. The thing, his was crazy, Jeff.

And again, I keep saying this, and I get these fools. I get these simple Simons who want to holler me on Twitter everything else and they say all this sort of stuff this is real simple this is also why you vote because if you don't put the right judges in place they not gonna make rulings in your favor this is so basic but again is so many people who clearly just completely skipped civics class, who skipped government class, but they love talking

on Twitter and Instagram and posting on social media all these damn YouTube historians and these YouTube political scientists who don't know nothing. Yeah. It's the culture we live in, man.

And I'm surprised that you pay attention to them because it's hilarious. Well, no. The reason you have to... I mean, it's tough because they're trolls. The reason you have to... The reason you have to is because there are other fools who listen to them. And so, who watch their programs

and who watch them lying. And so, the problem is, you can't let a lie just sit there because, again, folk will believe it and it just spreads and spreads. When you don't take time to study, when you don't take time to deal in facts, when you don't

take time to base something in the present on something that had a historical precedent, you are committing from where I sit, an act of spiritual, intellectual, and even political terrorism as it relates to our people. It's completely irresponsible to mislead people. It's completely irresponsible to say, well, everybody's got a right to an opinion, surely. But if you're putting yourself in a place where you're going to tell people to vote against

their self-interest or to not vote at all, which people to vote against their self-interest or to not vote at all, which is a vote against your self-interest, you're being irresponsible. You are creating an act of terror. You are enacting an act of terror. When we talk about Tennessee, and we're close to Arkansas. Sister Crystal is like right across the bridge from Arkansas, so she's a lot closer. What we see is the cloning of the laws that are working for the Republicans. There is a concerted effort, so she's a lot closer. What we see is the cloning of the laws that are working for the Republicans. There is a concerted effort, whether it's abortion, whether it's charter schools, whether it's voter rights and voter suppression. When they find a space where they

get fallow soil, where they can take root, then it seems as if the entire party comes together and they say, how do we write this legislation for every single house in every single state across the nation and start small? It goes back to what Irie Fleischer said in the 80s, all politics is local. It was a direct initiative to take over state houses. And that's why we're struggling. When we have federal government with support there, we've struggled because we're not even voting locally. So my question would be, and I might defer to Christopher for a comment on this, because you know you've done some exceptional work with Emerge Tennessee. You're doing exceptional work now as a strategist. What is preventing the Democratic Party from sitting down and doing something similar and saying we're going to draft legislation that allows us to combat these very issues that we're dealing with? And we're going to do everything we can to do to multiply it from the infinitesimal towns to the major cities.

That's a that's a great question. It's a loaded question. I think there are a couple of reasons that, you know, we see the fracturing or the withering of, you know, our party as we know it, right, in its current faction. I think one of the things is that we lack systems, right? We lack some of the basic things that we see Republicans do. So I'm talking about, you know, ALEC, for instance, where they can go and have a legislative summit among all of their, you know, state legislative bodies where they are literally drafting legislation and they are handing it over to state senators. They're handing it over to school board members. They're handing it over to state house members and even people that are potentially running for office. And so what they do, they just go back to their states. They take the name off of it or they rework the name and they submit it.

And so you see this happening all across the country. When we think about the critical race theory debate, that didn't start this year or late last year. That started right after the election of Joe Biden. That started long you know, long before people were really talking about it because we were focused on the wrong thing. The other thing that I think, you know, and I want to just highlight and I want to open it up for the other, you know, other guests, we lack a solid base and system of messaging. Our messaging is not unified as Democrats. We are all over the place.

We don't quote unquote fall in line like Republicans do when we think about messaging around a particular subject, a particular topic. We play a lot of defense and we don't play a lot of offense. We don't get ahead of the curve when we see something happening. We're reactionary. And so we're always- Well, let me explain that. Let me explain that because it's very

simple, okay? What the Republicans have is they have a very sophisticated echo chamber. So, if you live in the South in this country, live in the South in the Midwest, you literally are

inundated with anywhere from six to eight to ten conservative talk stations. Yes. So you name Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Salem Broadcasting Network. You look at the largest owner of local TV stations, Sinclair, Conservative. They are literally driving where they have dictates. Their anchors have to read this copy. And so they are infusing in those local newscasts the conservative talking points.

And so what's happening is, and this is what they do. They come up, this is what happened with critical race theory. They come up with a theme in their group. And so conservative talk radio builds it up. Conservative digital media amplifies it, then Fox News, look, you have right now, you got Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, Real America's Voice, you got The Blaze, you've got all of these entities. You've got conservative billionaires who are funding these things. PragerU.

The New York Times had a story on them about three years ago where they hit a billion views. Well, guess what? There were two billionaires out of Texas, in Wiley, Texas, who gave them $7 million. They raised $22 million their first year, $25 million their second year. You look at

Ben Shapiro's group, The Daily Wire. You look at The Daily Signal. So conservative billionaires are funding it. This is where liberals go. Oh, we got mainstream media. No. Because see, they think MSNBC, yeah, but guess what?

You got MSNBC whose morning show host is a Republican. Joe Scarborough. You got MSNBC whose afternoon show host is a Republican? Joe Scarborough. True. You got MSNBC, whose afternoon rising star is the former communications director for Bush, Nicole Wallace.

Really? That's your apparatus? And so liberals are looking at, again, mainstream media. Think Progress was the liberal arm, it was the media arm of one of the Neera Tanden. She used to run the think tank here.

And so what happened? They were in debt, they let it die. Conservatives don't, no, they pay that debt. How do you have a successful media arm? So part of the problem is you do not have the same large, sophisticated ecosystem that is driving the messaging

and then mainstream media are punk asses. So what happens is the right go, why aren't y'all covering this? Why aren't you covering this? Why aren't you covering this? Why aren't you covering this? Then they go, oh my God, we got to cover it. That's why I kept telling everybody, do not do the critical race theory studies.

Look, when Joanne Reed had Christopher Rufo on, folks were like, man, Joy was killing Rufo. No, that was exactly what he wanted, because by having him on, it validated their strategy. See, so that's what they're doing. So that's that's what Democrats don't have. And then they don't fund entities that, again, are able to drive messaging. And that's part of their fundamental problem. And that's why they keep getting steamrolled. But you got these, but just because you got many of these billionaires who are progressive, who, oh, they focus on making a movie

and doing all kinds of other stuff like that, where the right, they are funding the communication apparatus because I've been telling people this, and this is why I tell people all the time why this show matters and why people got to support it. If anywhere in the world, this is historical, anywhere in the world where a coup has taken place, the first thing they get control of, the guns. You always got to have the guns.

That's the military. The second thing is always media. It used to be the TV stations and the radio stations. Now it's the internet. Now it's the media. Not the banks. Not the ports. Media. Because if I could control the guy in Turkey, what did he do? They shut

off the internet. Media. Iran shut off the internet. China. Iran. Shut off the internet. China. They control the internet and social media because they don't want the message to get to the people. And so when people sit here and go, man, are you out here

begging these folks for money? I'm like, no, I understand. Henry, roll a video again of that mural that's in my office. Black-owned media matters. Y'all, the only reason, the only reason where we are now is because of this. That was our infrastructure. So to your point, Crystal, from a Democratic progressive thing, that was our black infrastructure. WVON radio, Negro Digest, Ebony, Jet, Emerge, all of those.

They're in Memphis, Ida B. Wells, Barnett's newspaper. That, Chicago Defender, Atlanta Daily World, Pittsburgh Courier. You have to have a communications apparatus. Absolutely. That speaks to the people. Dr. King had a column in Ebony before he was on CBS. And that's the piece that people don't get. You got to be able to control media.

All right, folks, the story we did last week, Howard University's administration and non-tenure faculty are still in negotiations. If an agreement cannot be reached by Wednesday, the strike will begin. Last week, Howard's non-tenured track employees made their demands for higher pay. Over 300 adjunct and non-tenured track full-time faculty have been trying to negotiate union contracts for more than three years with the Howard administration to provide greater job stability and fair pay. So we certainly are going to keep you abreast of that, folks. We're going to close the show out with here. Today we learned that gospel artist LaShawn Pace passed away. She was from Atlanta, 60 years old, of course, from one of the most well-known gospel families, the Pace family.

She had had a significant number of health issues. She had cancer. She, of course, she battled weight, all those different issues. And so her family announced, her management also announced that she passed away due to heart congestion or heart failure. But she was 60 years old. And so tremendous, tremendous voice and will certainly be missed. Folks, that is it. Let me thank Omokongo, Crystal, Jeff, all being here. Let me thank our other guests as well.

Sorry about Candace and Glenda as well as Melanie, our machine crash. But we got folks back. And so we thank them for their comments as well. Hey, folks, it was real interesting today how C-SPAN kept dipping in and out of the Judge Brown-Jackson hearing. Well, y'all, if you watch the Black Star Network app, you ain't got to have that problem because we're going to be carrying the hearing from beginning to end. And so if y'all want to watch the hearing of Judge Brown Jackson, skip the network, skip all of them. You can watch it right there on the Blackstar Network app. Download the app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And please support us in what we do by joining our

Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing at least 50 bucks each a year. That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. That would be a million dollars to fund our operations, to fund our travel, the things that we're doing. If y'all saw some amazing stuff that we had on Friday, our third part of our Ghana series. I mean, that amazing institute Renee has there in Ghana. If y'all did not see Friday's episode, part three of our docuseries, you need to go to the app and check it out. I mean, what Renee is doing there, y'all, is just unbelievable. I sent her a text, told her how great it was. And so, again, it's just unbelievable.

Unbelievable. Supporters, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. For all my people who don't believe in digital stuff, y'all got to believe in checks and money orders. Trust me, money is money. I take it. I don't do crypto because I want to actually see the real money. Also, Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered.

Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And so please support us. All right, folks, I'm going to see you guys tomorrow. Thank you so very much. Thank you for watching. We did hit 1,000 likes, but y'all got to go ahead and do that thing early.

Don't be having me sitting there begging y'all for likes. Y'all be having 2,000, 3,000 of y'all watching. We should be able to hit 1,000 likes in the first hour of the show. And so we certainly appreciate it. Folks, that's it. I'll see you tomorrow. Holla!