#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Julius Jones' Clemency; VA Gov's race, MN Public Safety? HU & Rev. Jackson, Racist AL Judge Fired

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

11.01.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: For the second time, Oklahoma Death row inmate Julius Jones' life is being recommended to be spared by the state's Pardon and Parole Board. It's back up to the governor who declined to commute Jones' sentence last month. Tonight, Jones' spiritual advisor tells us how he is doing after today's hearing. The Virginia governor's race is too close to call. I spoke with Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe to find how what he wants to say to black voters the night before the election. It's being called the most contentious ballot item in Minneapolis in years: the public safety charter amendment, which would create a Department of Public Safety and a new public health approach to safety. We have the Communications Director from Yes 4 Minneapolis here to explain. Sen. Joe Manchin says he will not vote for the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill. He says he needs more time to consider the social safety net package's framework. Howard University students still protesting got a chance to sit with some civil rights icons. Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. William Barber gave the students what they were desiring, a listening ear. In return, they got some protesting advice. Howard isn't the only HBCU with some angry students. We'll tell you why the Tuskegee University Marching Crimson Piper Band is boycotting all school activities. An Alabama judge is no longer on the bench after asking a black man if he was a drug dealer when one of his staffers purchased a new car.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partners:Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPAmazon | Get 2-hour grocery delivery, set up you Amazon Day deliveries, watch Amazon Originals with Prime Video and save up to 80% on meds with Amazon Prime 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ArwxEh+ Don’t miss Epic Daily Deals that rival Black Friday blockbuster sales 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iP9zkvBuick | It's ALL about you! The 2022 Envision has more than enough style, power and technology to make every day an occasion. 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iJ6ouPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload 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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today's Monday, November 1st, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live on the Black Star Network from Thousand Oaks, California, where Eric Dickerson's golf tournament benefiting the young warriors. First of all, it's an amazing golf tournament. We're going to talk with Eric. We're going to talk with the founder of the foundation, Jason Hill, to talk about what they're doing to get mentors for at-risk youth all across the country. We'll talk about that.

Also, elections are taking place all across the country tomorrow. You hear from Tara McCullough, who is taking place all across the country tomorrow. You hear from Terry McAuliffe, who is trying to return to the governor's mansion in Virginia. Plus, you have the sister who's in Buffalo trying to stave off a challenge from the Democratic incumbent who she beat in the primary.

Well, he's now running in the general as well. Also, on today's show, Senator Joe Manchin now says he's not going to vote for the $1.75 trillion plan that was agreed to. What the hell is going on there? And how is that the only HBCU having issues with students? Tuskegee band members are also clapping back at the university as well. We've got a jam-packed show for you, broadcasting live from Southern California.

It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, with the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. From sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now

Yeah, yeah He's funk, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know He's rolling, Martel Martel Folks, we are broadcasting live from the gorgeous Sherwood Country Club here in Thousand Oaks, California, site of the eighth annual Eric Dickerson Golf Tournament, benefiting the Young Warriors Foundation. Of course, many of you know Eric Dickerson, native Texan, went to SMU.

We want to hold that against him. Of course, Pro Football Hall of Famer as well. It has been a fantastic day raising money, of course, for this foundation that works with at-risk youth. He joins us off the top. Eric, how you doing, man? I'm good, man. I just want to know, why don't I have my Astros uniform? Because you didn't come prepared. So you came prepared.

I came prepared. I give it to you. Come on now. You got Astros everything. Anton, go ahead and zoom that camera out so everybody can see. I got the stripes. I got the stripes here. I got the Astros socks. I had the

shoes. So I want everybody to understand who I rep. Well, you representing H-Town very well. I got to give it to you. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, man, so tell us about this foundation, raising money. You've a lot of a lot of your fellow Hall of Famers here as well to help to really to help at risk youth I got involved in this foundation through the founder, Jason Hill, who was one of those young kids that didn't have a dad in the household. And, you know, they really struggled. I mean, he'll tell you, he struggled. And so when he came to my house and he showed me the video

and he talked about his, you know, his struggles, I just got involved. I thought it was a great foundation because I was fortunate enough to have a dad in my household, even though I was adopted. But I saw what not having a dad in the household meant to some of my friends. Even here in L.A., three years ago, I went out to a prison. We went out to a prison system to talk to some of the prisoners. And they had 100 prisoners. And they said, every guy stand up.

We want every guy that didn't have a man in the household step forward. It was almost odd. About 85 to 90 guys stepped forward. So I'm like, wow. So what we're doing really, I think really will help the youth because it is a problem really rolling. And this is not just impacting black and Latino. Jason's white. Jason's a white guy. I mean, really, that's what people think. They think that white guys, they all got dads. It doesn't work like that. I mean, I know that for us, the people of color, there might be more. But you know what? It's not about the color.

It's about the human being. It's about the person because you can really mold a child early. You want to get them early to make them be a good young man, a good person. That's what I always say. You have, of course, you bring out a lot of your favorite guys. Y'all got to understand, this is the first year I played in it. Last two or three years, didn't have COVID. Eric's like, okay, how you coming for it?

Sid and Anthony. Exactly. Exactly. Then I said, well, Eric, you ain't invite me. No, I have invited you. Man, I got to go here. When you say work, I get it. Right, but I brought the work here.

You got the work here with you. See, now, before, you know, it was TV One. See, now, my show, I own it. So I can, you know, decide where the cameras go. I got you. Well, I want to say thank you, Roland. Thank you for coming out, brother. I really appreciate it.

Absolutely. I've been glad to be here. You've got a lot of your fellow Hall of Famers here. Lawrence Taylor, Ricky Jackson, Ladanely Tomlinson, of course, basketball Hall of Famer, Alonzo Mourning, Marcus Allen as well. Clyde Drexler. Clyde Drexler. Another age gap.

From H-Town. H-Town, right. Sterling High School as well. And so, look, those guys. And talk about that as well because people don't understand. Look, you're not paying these guys to come out. They're doing it. You line them up.

You got your sponsors. They love to be able to see folks take photos as well. All of that's important when you're trying to raise money. It's hard because think about it. I'm asking Lawrence Taylor to fly from Florida. I'm asking Clyde Drexler to fly from Houston. I'm asking Marcus Allen to fly from Atlanta. You know, guys here, even because people have a busy schedule, so it's hard.

You're right, you're not paying the guys. It's just your time. And that's one of the most important things, I think. People think it's all about the money, but it's about the time. It's like what we need more than anything than money is mentors to help us mentor these young men. So if you look at the website, youngwarriors.org, if you want to be a mentor here in Southern California, that's what we need more than anything, than money. And so the Young Warriors, is this just here in Southern California or other parts of the country?

It's right here in Southern California right now. We want to expand it because Jason is from Ohio, so he wants to go back and do it in Akron, Ohio. And we want to bring one to my home state of Texas, Houston, Texas. And on that particular point, I mean, when I talked to Jason yesterday, he said, look, we really need male mentors. We really do. And the thing is, it's hard for people to say, you know what, man, I'm going to give you four hours a day, or I'm going to give you three days out of a week. And I know it's difficult, because it really is. But if you can just carve out a little bit of time, because I think when you see the impact it has on a young

man, if that young man comes back to you, and he was 10 years old when you met him, he comes down 22 years old, I want to say, Roland, man, thank you. You changed my life. That happened to me. I was doing a program here with the LA Park and Recreation called the, I can't think of the name right now. But anyway, we did. It was Say No to Drugs. It was Say No to Drugs. That's the program. And about four years ago, I was at the mail office.

And a young Latino guy, he was a UPS driver. He said, you're Eric Dickinson. I said, yes, sir. And he said, man, I just want to say thank you. I said, well, he said, you changed my life. I said, really? He said, I was part of the program, your program. I said, really? He said, man, a lot of my friends are dead or in jail. I said, because of you, I have a job and have a family. I just want to say thank you. Man, it gave me cold chills. I had to hug. I said, man, give me a hug. Because that kind of stuff,

that really makes you know that, okay, I'm giving back. Absolutely. You know, one of the things that I said, you've got, you've got any number of folks. You've got Susan Taylor, her National CARES Subvention Project, and all those things. Watch out, Marcus. Watch out, Marcus. See, I'm about to save you. See?

I did. Marcus, step on over here. You're talking about multitasking, too. I mean, you're good. Oh, come on now. I was watching you. I thought your show was good. Let me tell you what, looking out for me too and

wait, in addition to that, golf swing. Can we play? Don't let the smooth taste fool you, dude. Dress smooth and swing smooth. Mark, I got to ask you this here. So talk about the importance of, again, coming out here with Eric, helping to raise money for the foundation

to help at-risk young men. Well, first of all, there's a lot of worthy causes, right? And that's one that certainly I think is worth supporting. But this is my friend right here. He's a good man. He's a good dude. He gives back. And so I'm going to support him.

In addition to that, it's a great, great cause, right? We need fathers, right? And if there's fathers that aren't there, to have people come in and substitute for that and give these kids support, encouragement, and most of all, love, is a great thing. Well, it has certainly been a great day. Marcus, his group is playing behind us.

Who in your group was bombing away? We had a guy named Andy. Bruh. Dude. You he hit it? Bruh. Dude. You said bruh. Bruh. He's not sneaky long. He's long.

Really? Yes. Bombed. And let me tell you what. Radar, too. Radar. I mean, he's a plus four. So I don't know what he was doing out here.

What was he doing out here? Yeah, he should be on tour. He was bombing. Bombing. Yeah. Yeah, bombing. I'm looking. He was bombing. Bombing. Yeah. Yeah, bombing. I'm looking back like, damn, that's their first shot? Yes.

Yeah, that's how it was the whole day. The whole day. Well, man, look. Wait, wait, can I interrupt real quick? Yeah, go ahead. What's going to happen tonight? Oh. Is it tonight?

No, it's off night. Off tonight. OK, all right. But tonight, the Braves are praying. OK, all right. See, now they got about the minute made part. I'm a Dusty Baker fan, so I got to tell you that. We love Dusty, man. He made the modifications last night.

Right. And so, yeah, travel day to day. Yeah. But, yo, we going to be ready for game six tomorrow night. And I've got to go to Houston to do this event for McDonald's. So I will be there Wednesday night. So I will be in position to go to game seven. So you're not just an Astro fan.

You're an Astro fan. No, I don't understand. They used to have a club called Astro's Buddy. I'm just making the obvious. They used to have a club called Astro's Buddy. It was for kids. Right. And so my mom and dad got me, my brother, and my sister,

and it was like a ticket package. You get like baseball 162 games, 81 home games. It's like 20, 30 ticket packages. So as kids, we would go to Houston Astrodome. We were part of Astro's Buddies Club. So, yeah. Okay. So who was playing back then?

And actually, well, my aunt, her then-husband was Cliff Johnson, who played for the Astros. So you had Enos Cabell. You had Cesar Cedeno. Exactly. You had all those players. So, yeah, we've been riding. We've been riding to H-Town.

Astros, Oilers, of course, less course They left now Texas Rockets. Hey, you know, there were a lot of people saying he's like a you know, band I said no, he's now. And the pants. Oh, no, come on now. Oh, my God. He's coordinating. The late John Witherspoon. Yeah, he would be proud. He'd open that jacket and he'd be coordinating.

That's how we do it. And if you get a little chilly here, that's the Astros jacket right there. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Okay. Listen here. We're pulling for you, bro.

Looking forward to it. Man, always good seeing y'all. And, again, for somebody out there who's watching, and if they want to go to the Fuller Foundation, where should they go? Youngwarriors.org. Youngwarriors.org. Please go to the website. All right.

I appreciate it. We'll have dinner over there. Send Jason over here so we can talk to him. We'll be talking to some other players as well. Marcus, always good to see you. Thanks for the multitasking. Come on now. Come on now.

I couldn't have you tripping. And then you tripped. You've been trying to sue my company. So, you know, that was called risk assessment. Yes, sir. All right, folks. Again, we're here at Sherman Oaks Country Club, Thousand Oaks, California. So certainly glad to be here.

You know, we take the show on the road. We do this. We're going to be next week, same thing. We're going to be Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego. Anthony Anderson is having his golf tournament next week, and we'll be here as well. We'll be talking to Anthony, talking to all different celebrities who are going to be out there as well. So we So looking forward to that. Going to go to a break right

now. We come back more. Roland Martin unfiltered. We got some news to cover. We're going to hear the closing arguments from Terry McAuliffe, who's running and trying to get to the governor's mansion in Virginia. Talk about some other political races going on. Got a great panel lined up as well. And we'll be talking to more Hall of Famers here at Sherman Oaks, Sherman Wood Country Club here in Thousand Oaks, California. Folks, we'll be talking to more Hall of Famers here at Shermanwood Country Club here in Thousand Oaks, California. Folks, we'll be back in a moment on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. GONG Fyre! Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon.

So now, she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now, she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? Hey, I'm Antony Smith. Hey, I'm Arnaz Jane. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered.

I mean, could it be any other way? Really, it's Roland Martin. Henry, go to the... All right, folks, we are here. Sherman Oats Country Club, Thousand Oats, California. And so we are here for the Eric Dickerson Golf Tournament. It is an absolute blast. We've been having here, again, a gorgeous, gorgeous course here in Southern California. Amazing homes as well.

And so we've enjoyed our time here. And so glad to have you here. Just giving you a taste of what life is like for us on the road as we try to bring you the kind of stewards, frankly, no one else is going to bring you. That's what we do here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Earlier today, we heard from Terry McAuliffe, who is trying to return to the governor's mansion in Virginia. He is facing Glenn Youngkin. It's going to be a very tight race in Virginia. Some are saying that Youngkin has the edge. Of course, McAuliffe is trying to make the case that Youngkin is more like Donald Trump. And that's one of the reasons why he should not be in

the governor's mansion. It comes down to turnout. This is what Terry McCullough told us earlier today about what he will do if reelected as governor of Virginia for African-Americans. Governor, as you know, and got our economy, which was in chaos when I took office, left a gigantic surplus, 200,000 new jobs, lifted everybody up. Personal income went up 14 percent. Unemployment dropped in every city and county. I did the largest investment in K-12 in the history of Virginia. I also leaned

in on the social issues. I restored more voting rights than any governor in the history of America, 206,000 people. I got back to a race, get rid of a racist Jim Crow law that had been around since 1902. I banned the Confederate flag from Virginia license plates. So I leaned in, and as I say, different state when I left office, lots of jobs, a surplus, record investments in education. I'm running again to take Virginia to the next level. COVID has really been so tough on so many people, and I'm calling for $2 billion investment in education,

raising teacher pay above the national average, getting 40,000 at-risk three and four-year-olds pre-K, making sure every child has access to broadband. And I'm going to set up a Lucy Sim scholarship that if you'll go teach for five years in a high demand area, we'll pay room, board, and tuition at any college, any university, any HBCU in Virginia.

I'm also going to get everybody healthcare, lower cost of prescription drugs. So this is an important election. I'll just say finally, I'm running against a Trump wannabe. He's been nominated and endorsed by Donald Trump now 10 times. Trump tonight is doing his closing argument for the Youngkin campaign. This guy's against a woman's right to choose. He's not for voting rights. He said he wants to bring the Georgia laws here to Virginia. We don't want that. He doesn't believe that humans contribute to climate change. He is against everything that we stand for in order to move our state to a different level. So I hope you come out and vote. Let's not get Donald Trump off the mat. I dealt with Trump as

governor during Charlottesville. We don't need the hate. We don't need the division back here in Virginia, and we don't need it in the country. Please go vote for me tomorrow. Terry McCall for governor. Thank you. All right, let's bring in my panel. Tammy Ellison. She is an attorney. Eugene Craig, CEO, X Factor Media Inc. Also Faraji Muhammad, radio and TV host. Glad to have all three of you here. Eugene, I want to start with you. This is going to be an extremely tight race. Of course, Larry Sabato with the University of Virginia has right now it's leaning Glenn Youngkin. Republicans really believe that they are making a strong closing argument.

They're saying that McAuliffe and the Democrats are flailing. Republicans also are six seats away from taking control of the House as well. And so Trump is doing a teletown hall. The young folks have wanted to keep him away from Virginia. He already is saying today he's questioning Virginia results already. Election hasn't even taken place yet. And so what do you see happening in the Commonwealth of Virginia when it comes to this critically important governor's race? Well, look, you know, I'm not wanting to have a question away to Sabato. I mean, it's crystal ball. You know, the track record speaks for itself.

But with that being said, you have a decade of Virginia trending blue, going mega blue when it comes to presidential elections, but also the last two governors being, you know, Northam and McCullough. So, you know, I think Young has run a pretty good campaign. That's just discipline. Came out early and kept it very biographical on himself rather than getting into the wheeze of red meat policy. Then post, it's kind of interesting because, you know, he avoided the red meat pre-primary and then turned it up post-primary. But I think that, look, when you come down and you want to do things like, you know, ban the book Beloved and, you know, you're making critical race theory your closing argument, I think that speaks volumes.

I mean, those are dog whistles that just can't be ignored, right? But by the same token, you know, Team McAuliffe and down ballot, you know, you got to make sure you're making the investments and turning out, you know, voters across the state, you know, Northern Virginia, Panhandle, you know, the Chesapeake, Virginia Beach area, you know, Richmond and Richmond suburbs, but also Black and rural voters, you know, and those red counties, you know.

At this point, you're down to the wire. Every vote counts. Every vote does count for Raji, and the bottom line is this here is turnout, turnout, turnout. A lot of people have voted early. They say that favors Democrats, but the question is, what happens on tomorrow? That's going to be the big

question right now, and you know what, Brother Roland, I think all of us are kind of waiting, you know, like sitting on eggshells right now trying to figure out, you know, how this situation is going to go. This is the first, I would say the first big election that will kick off like the 2022 election. And then it might even be an indicator of where we are with the 2024 election as well. So, I mean, I think this is going to be huge. I was surprised and blown away by the fact that Terry McAuliffe had a sizable, had a decent lead, and then over the past couple of days, that started shrinking. And so, you know, folks got to ask themselves the question, what kind of state of Virginia do they want to be in? And when you, for me, I mean,

it's pretty simple. If a candidate is endorsed by Donald Trump, I think you should run away from that candidate. It's just that simple. If this, you know, Donald Trump is having this, you know, this last election push tonight, and it's, you know, when we see what has happened to our country since Trump was in office and then after that time in office, and we know what the impact of his words and his rhetoric can do, you know, you got to say enough is enough. And I think that at this point, Virginia has got a big, big question on, you know, a big responsibility come tomorrow to make sure that this country is going into a different direction, especially black folks in Virginia. You got to get out to vote.

But most importantly, you got to get out to serve and start doing more in the community. Tammy, we are just seeing, though, there are a lot of individuals who in this state, we've seen some stories of folks who say they voted for President Joe Biden. They plan on voting for Glenn Youngkin. That's one of the things that people that when you look at a lot of these states where a lot of these voters can go back and forth, especially white voters as well. And so it really hinges on turnout, turnout, turnout. as a sense of what could happen in 2022 with the midterm elections. They could be in for shellacking if they don't put together an agenda that says, hey, you've been doing what we sent you to do there,

but also you've got to be able to tell people, hey, we delivered, and then keep reelecting us to keep delivering. They have to do that as well. I agree with you, Roland, and thank you again for having me. And you know, one of my favorite words is ownership. And I think that Terry needs to own some of the criticism that he has been facing in order to close that gap. Stacey Abrams, a couple of days ago, had a TV appearance, and shout out to her, I have her book behind me, where she stated that this election has brought out about 800,000 Virginians. This is way more than the individuals that came out to vote four years ago. But Douglas Wilder, who was the first Black

governor in Virginia, you know, he has made some very relevant statements as it pertains to Terry and his attacks on his opponent and, you know, the blackface from the previous governor and the fact that he's now running with running mates who are those same individuals that were caught up in that blackface scandal and his lack of contributions to HBCUs when he had the opportunity to do so. I think he needs to speak on that, given the fact that he only really has a couple of hours left if he wants to edge out his opponent and beat the Republican candidate in this election in Virginia. But he also should hone in and focus on what it is that he has done positively when he was the governor of Virginia. He did make some very influential moves during his status as a governor prior to. He stated in the clip that we saw

that he restored voting rights. When we dig in a little deeper, what he is talking about is what I am an expert in, clemency. He granted more clemency than any other governor in Virginia's history. And as you know, individuals that have convictions, once they have a conviction, they are unable to legally possess a firearm. They're not able to sit on a jury. They're not able to vote in certain jurisdictions. They're not able to hold public office. So it's very important that he understands strategically which areas he needs to own that may not seem pretty and which ones he needs to highlight and really break down how it is helping the African-American community or just underrepresented

groups in general, not only African-Americans, because I consider any individual with a conviction to be part of an underrepresented group. So for them to have their rights restored, even if it was just on a state level with a state conviction, because that's what he's referring to, not a presidential pardon, which is different. That is something that he needs to really spell out and explain it. Well, Bob, why is this here? It's a little late to explain stuff. Now it's about turnout, turnout, turnout. The election is tomorrow. People go to the polls early in the morning. They close at seven. And so it's about getting people out. And that's what we're going to see right there. We see elections taking place. There's a referendum in Minneapolis. We're going to discuss that a little bit later in the show. Also, you get elections in Buffalo

as well and other places all across the country. And so, folks, there's an election in New York City as well. There's an election where you are. Please use your power and go vote. Why? Because it matters who we elect. Got to go to a break. We come back. We're going to talk with a spiritual advisor to a young man who is on death row in Oklahoma and, again, waiting for a clemency hearing to determine his fate,

whether he will be, of course, see his sentence life commuted or put to death in Oklahoma. We'll talk about the case of Julius Jones next. Also, later in the show, we'll talk about the ballot initiative in Minneapolis to reform their police department. Folks, we've got lots more to talk about here. We're going to also talk to some of the folks who are here at the Eric Dickerson Golf Tournament here at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. And so we're going to go to break. And again, so you'll see the shot right here. These are the participants right now.

They are, of course, having the dinner there. And so we look forward to being back right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered from Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Ooh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, Hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021.

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Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon. And you're watching Roll Roland Martin Unfiltered. Alright, folks, we are here in Thousand Oaks, California. Sherwood Country Club. Glad to be here broadcasting the show.

We are here on the terrace here, Anton and I. And so having an absolute fabulous time as we have been sitting here, of course, with a lot of the Hall of Famers here. As they have been, of course, supporting Eric Dickerson in what he's doing. And so certainly glad to be here supporting him and with this tournament. So it's always a great time being here. Folks, that doesn't mean that we don't cover the news. In Oklahoma, we've been covering the case of Julius Jones, a brother who is on death row.

He's been proclaiming his innocence. Of course, remember, it was the partner parole's board recommended that his sentence be commuted. The governor insisted on a clemency hearing. Well, the hearing actually took place today in Oklahoma. The recommendation was clemency. Now the governor has to sign off on it. Joining us right now is Pastor Keith Jostle,

the spiritual advisor to Julius Jones. Pastor, how you doing? It's been an extraordinary day, Roland. I'm having a great day today uh share with us what took place in that hearing what was said uh there was a lot you know you had you had a district attorney the prosecutors were saying remove a couple of those members from the board saying that they uh should not be voting on this. But it was really powerful to hear individuals in this red state say they have too many questions about this particular case and they were uncomfortable

saying that Julius Jones should be put to death. That's exactly right, Roland. This is the second time that this pardon and parole board had to hear the totality of the evidence regarding Julius Jones' innocence. And for the second consecutive time in less than a month, they have voted three to one, recommending to the governor life with the possibility of parole. You're correct. We have five Pardon and Parole Board members, and they have endured lawsuits after lawsuits after lawsuits, threatening, bullying, intimidating them to step off of the Pardon and Parole Board, not because they are unethical, not because they've done anything illegal, but simply because there are certain political leaders in this state that did not like the way that they were going to vote

or thought they knew how they were going to vote and did not want that to happen. And so I applaud the courageousness of the Pardon and Parole Board members who looked at the evidence, considered it all, and then still, in the face of that intimidation, made a moral and just choice in recommending life with the possibility of parole. Julius Jones spoke at today's hearing. Here is what he had to say. You know, I would like to address

the family in the essence of... I have felt terrible, you know what I'm saying, about their loss. The family in essence. I have felt terrible using about the loss and I don't want to get lost it we did not or any me my family do not recognize that they've lost a loved one. You know live with it every single day. You carry the weight. They may need to something I didn't even do. I know I have broken the laws but I've never been about man.

If you really look at my actual record. It is large it doesn't make it going to any better. I just don't think that I never cost you people that was not what I was into. But again I just want to have them to know me I do recognize the loss and I hope is not what they do you and to keep cherishing and love. And I hope his board is the chance to really you know is that who I am not the fear has been talked about me and they because this is not about it is just about the truth and truth is I didn't I didn't shoot that man you know i didn't kill mr paul

i wasn't involved in any way i wasn't present i didn't even know he had been killed until after the fact you know i wish i could have made better decisions when i was younger i wish but i can't i can't change the past. And, I mean, that's all I ask you all to consider. I got it. Keith, clearly that was, you know, important for Julius to speak.

And there's so many people who have been taking up his case who have been just fighting for this day. Now it's in the hands of Governor Kevin Stitts. What are you and other pastors doing to get him to sign off on this clemency? Well, Roland, let me just first say I am so proud of Julius. The strength that it took to testify today, most people don't know. Julius has been on death watch for 18 days. He's had lights on 24 hours a day where he has not had the ability to be

able to have reasonable sleep. He has been going through literally psychological torture. And to be able to come off of death Watch today and to be able to speak on a video to the Pardon and Parole Board took incredible endurance, perseverance, and faith. And so I couldn't be more proud of him. What we are going to do is we're asking the governor to really trust the recommendation of his own Pardon and Parole Board that he's appointed. Twice now, this Pardon and Parole Board that the governor has appointed has recommended, based on looking at all the evidence, that Julius deserves the opportunity for life with the possibility of parole, which would give him the possibility of time served and being able

to come home. Roland, Julius wants you and everyone else to know. You guys were just talking with Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen earlier. Julius recognizes that he's made some mistakes, but he told me today that he wants everybody to know that he's ready to show up for others. He's ready to show up for young people and help make sure that they don't make the mistakes of associations that he did when he was 17 and 18 and 19 years old, that he has been a mentor while he's been incarcerated, and he plans to do more to make sure that young people don't make the mistakes that he did that could possibly cost them 22 years of their life like it has for Julius or even their life. So we're asking everybody, the pastors and us are asking everybody, please reach out to Governor Kevin Stitt in the

state of Oklahoma. Call, letter, you can go to justiceforjulius.com and you can be able to use our website to be able to send communication directly to the governor, letting him know that you understand that Julius is innocent and he deserves clemency based on the recommendation of the governor's own pardon and parole board. But, but so correct people on this one here. If he is granted clemency, does that mean he is going to be released? The pardon and paroleole Board recommended... Explain that.

Sure. There are three options that the Pardon and Parole Board considered today. They could have gone forward with his execution on November 18th, or they could recommend clemency. And within clemency, there's two options, life without the possibility of parole and life with the possibility of parole. The partner parole board today recommended three to one life with the possibility of parole. And that means that if the governor signs off on that, that there's the opportunity for Julius to have time served for the 22 years he's already been incarcerated, and it would allow him to be able to come home to his mother, his father, his brother, and his sister, and be able to reclaim the life that was taken wrongfully away from him 22 years ago.

So, but the key, though, is have a governor's decision first, correct? That's correct. If the governor makes that decision to honor the recommendation of his own pardon and parole board, then Julius has the opportunity to come home. And so that's what, folks, that's what we are waiting to actually see what happens. What's the timeline for the governor to make his decision? Well, the Pardon and Parole Board officially doesn't adjourn until Wednesday. And then there's four to five days that it takes for them to get the information over to the governor. His timeline is indefinite. And so that's why we need everyone

out there that's listening on your show tonight, Roland, to reach out to the governor. Go to justiceforjulius.com and access the communication devices that we have that will allow you to communicate directly to the governor and let him know that you want him to honor the commitment, the recommendation that his pardon and parole board made, and sign off on life with the possibility of parole. All right, Pastor Johnson, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Roland.

Faraji, Muhammad, I want to start with you. This is, again, one of those things where we have to understand why voting matters because whoever is the person in the governor's mansion, that's who holds a lot of this power. And so whether we're talking about the the governor's mansion, that's who holds a lot of this power. And so whether we talk about the Virginia governor's race, whether we're talking about so many other states as well, we cannot cannot ignore who sits in the governor's mansion and the kind of person you're going to have there. Somebody who's going to show compassion or somebody is going to say, hey, forget it. Lock him up. Sentencing the death and move along.

That really is what people need to understand when we talk about these elections. No, that's the big part of that, and I'm so glad that you brought that up, Brother Rowley. I mean, one of the big things that we need to consider, especially for governor races across the country, is what is their record, what is their stance when it comes to issues like this? How many people have they, you know, set free? You know, where do they stand on things like this? And I'm just blown away by the story of Julius Jones. I mean, he's been in prison for 20 years. And what we heard from the pastor saying he's undergone psychological torture. I just could not imagine. And it just goes to show you that our, you know, the criminal justice system is so, so...

I mean, it just needs to be uprooted, and it's just so archaic. And in some cases, like this case, it's just inhumane. You have a man sleeping, you know, lights on 24 hours a day. You expect him to have his sanity intact. You bring him in front of the board that is going to determine his fate, whether he's going to, you know, a couple of, you know, three weeks before he's supposed to be executed and he's going to supposed to testify. I mean, that is just great, great pressure on a man who's going through all of this trauma and his pain. And, you know, I know that

people are saying, well, what about the victim's family? But if this brother didn't do the crime, then what about his well-being? I mean, it's going to be hard as hell for him to recover, to make a full recovery. And so, you know, I'm happy to see that the board voted twice for him to be released. And I'm glad that you asked the question, Brother Roland, about how soon does that open the door for him to come home. But I really hope this governor understands the situation of this, that this onslaught of locking up Black men, torturing Black men within the prison walls, and then not giving us the option to have any justice, this has to stop in this country.

Again, Tammy, you know, I stress this all the time and people sit there and they go, well, you know, it really doesn't matter. But look, as you said earlier, McCullough being governor, you saw the voting rights restored for thousands of individuals. Republicans were not doing that. When you talk about cases like this here. And so when people think about politicians, they think about policy, it's not just bills that are passed. It's also the power of the executive office, of executive orders, the power of the governor to make allocations. Those are things

that are critically important when we're making these decisions. And so in the case here, you have some hard right Republicans who would say, I don't care, put Julius Jones to death. You have a different situation going on here where this governor at least is considering this action. He could reject what the pardon parole board say, but I would think having two votes now, three to one, a lot of pressure on Stitts to follow their lead. Well, Roland, you're speaking to the first minority expert in federal in clemency having worked at the office of the pardon attorney at the united states department of justice for over half a decade in the other half of the decade former federal prosecutor and also an attorney with the federal bureau of prisons while federal executive clemency is different than state clemency there are a lot of parallels everything about what i

did exactly one year ago today, launching this law practice, the part of an attorney that I am the managing attorney of, is to dispel the misconceptions that I just heard. Julius Jones' situation with the state of Oklahoma is for his sentence to be commuted from a death sentence to a life in prison sentence. That does not mean that he would be released. I have to say that again. That does not mean that he will be released. It does not mean that. It would mean that the sentence is commuted from a death sentence to life in prison. If, in fact, the Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole recommended that it's life with the possibility of parole, that also does not equal time served,

because then there has to be the whole parole hearing. It is very important to me, especially when we talk about criminal justice reform, especially when I sacrificed my entire career as a senior attorney at the Department of Justice to quit and launch the only law firm dedicated to clemency to correct the terminology that is used and to make sure that everyone understands that clemency is not a partisan issue. It does not matter if it's a Republican governor or a Democratic governor. It does not matter if you have a celebrity with pom-poms and doing cartwheels. It doesn't matter if you have political affiliation. There are hundreds and thousands of Julius Joneses that are watching this and feeling discouraged as if they are not worthy of the forgiveness

of clemency, because they may not have access to celebrity or politician. I am here with my firm to dispel those misconceptions and correct terminology so people understand and not have a false sense of hope. So, again, in the case of Julius Jones, yes, on the state level with clemency, it's up to the governor pursuant to the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma. He can take the recommendation of the Board of Pardon and Paroles, or he can't. And it's up to him. He can do whatever he wants to do. Another panelist did mention the victim's family, and that is something that's important because the victim's family have stated that they

witnessed Mr. Jones commit this crime. They were very adamant, and that is probably something that's going to be taken into consideration. So we don't know what's going to happen, but what we do know is that the recommendation, which was favorable three to one for clemency, specifically commutation, which is a form of clemency, is a positive recommendation for clemency that the governor does not have to listen to. But if he does grant clemency, all that means is that there won't be a death that would be commuted to life, which is something totally different than a pardon. Right, right. Absolutely. I got it. Eugene, I want to go to you real quick here. And that is, again, he of a Republican governor who supposedly was about compassion, and now he is going to be under pressure to follow the lead of this board who's now voted twice. Look, you appoint the board, claim to be evangelical.

It should be an open-set case here. You know, it should be an open-set case. Part of the role of being governor despite election doesn't matter is the appointments well I know look even here in Maryland governor of Maryland makes more appointments than the president of the United States and there are a lot of governors across the country that make a lot of appointments that deal exactly with this

parole board, clemency board you know it's crazy right so the thing is this if the local governor appointed his parole board or his clemency board, you need to follow the recommendations of the people that you trusted enough to serve on this board. And so if the board votes three to one,

not once but twice, then it should be open, shut, and caged. Give your signature. Let's keep this thing moving. Thanks. Thanks. Well, again, we'll see exactly what this particular board

decides. It is what this governor decides, and so that's the sort of thing that we have going on. All right, y'all. We've got to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to, of course, talk about what's happening in Minneapolis. An election is taking place tomorrow. How are they going to reform their police department? That is on the ballot tomorrow.

We're broadcasting live from Sherwood Country Club here in Thousand Oaks, California, at the Eric Dickerson Golf Terminal, benefiting the Warriors Foundation. They help at-risk youth get their male mentors. And so we'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live here on the Black Star Network. Pretty gorgeous scenery out here. We'll go to the break, giving y'all a view of this back in a moment. I'm sorry. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon.

So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson. Like, really loves. I'm Angie Stone. Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Oh, Roland. Hey, Roland.

I am so disappointed that you are not here, first of all. Where's our dance? It's like we get a dance in every time I see you. And so now you're not here for me to dance with, sir. You and your ascot. I need it. I need that in my life right now. OK.

I love you, Roland. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Martin! All right, folks, so we are here at 1000 Oaks, California, Sherwood Country Club for the Eric Dickerson Golf Tournament. It's been a blast we've been having here,

and so I wanted to give you a sense of the sights. Again, gorgeous course. We've been playing here raising money for the Ultimate Warriors Foundation. We'll talk with the founder, Jason Hill, when we come back in the next hour. And let's now talk about what's happening in Minneapolis where they're voting on the issue of their police department, putting it on the ballot to make reforms there. Of course, it was the center of so much attention with the death of George Floyd last year. And so that's led to this ballot initiative. Joining us right now is Janae Bates. She's a communications director for the Yes for Minneapolis Coalition. Glad to have you here on the show. Janae, tell folks again what the actual ballot initiative is.

You have people saying, oh, this is about defunding the police, reforming the police. Exactly what are y'all trying to accomplish there in Minneapolis? Yeah, we are really working on and have been working on for a really long time a measure that makes it possible for the people of Minneapolis to be safe. And that is definitely safe from police violence and also in community harm. neighbors who have been knocking doors. 22,000 people put this on the ballot in the city of Minneapolis is really the ability to be able to do two things. One is to expand public safety so that what used to be the Minneapolis Police Department becomes the Department of Public Safety so that it can house both police officers, but also other qualified professionals, like mental health professionals, like homeless outreach specialists, like substance abuse specialists.

Because we know that currently we are asking police officers to be all those things. And they're saying, look, you're asking me to be a social worker. That's not what I'm trained to do. And so we're sending them into situations where a social worker is probably the best qualified person that needs to be there. And so we get to expand public safety and have these other professionals also getting to work in the same comprehensive department with police officers. We also are changing the infrastructure. Currently, the Minneapolis Police Department has been able to do quite a bit of harm and

to do it with impunity. We have and are becoming more and more aware of many, many situations where police officers have violated policies, have lied about it after the fact. We definitely saw that when we all witnessed the murder of George Floyd and the sheer fact that these officers named that as a medical distress crisis. And we're seeing more and more frequently issues like that are taking place. And so we're changing the infrastructure of the department so that no longer will policies be made behind closed doors in a black box, but instead by having the mayor and city council nominate and appoint a department commissioner

in the same way that every other department in the city operates, we can finally have real representation and a citywide public process to name how policy is made, what happens when policies are violated, what kind of discipline takes place. And so this is really an opportunity for the city of Minneapolis to have finally some accountability and transparency with those who are called to protect and serve, as well as finally have

these added professionals as a department of public safety, really expanding what the city and the ability for people to be safe, quite frankly. You've had a lot of people, again, keep focusing on defund, defund, defund, defund, but that's not really what y'all are doing there in Minneapolis. That's right. That's right. The reality is that, you know, these slogans, I've been doing policy work, especially around policing and accountability for a while.

And every good piece of policy that we've ever passed, none of it would ever fit on a bumper sticker or a T-shirt. And so the reality is, is that, you know, it is a mischaracterization of this particular charter change to say that it is defunding the police. But what it is doing most certainly is adding the kind of resources that the city needs. Even our police chief, Chief Arredondo, had named when he was testifying in court against Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd that the majority of 911 calls that come in actually are not law enforcement related.

And yet, that is where we're constantly asking police officers to handle all of these things. And so even with a fully funded police department, we are seeing an uptick of violence in the city. It's time that we really invest in strategies that we know work, that are about lowering issues of gun violence, that are about intervention and prevention. And quite frankly, having the integrity to name it, that is not what police officers, what we've hired them to do, and that's not what they've been doing.

And so we want to lean to them for the well-trained, disciplined job that we want to deploy them for, but also we need to deploy the right response, the right mix of people to situations when folks really need it. We got some questions from our panelists. I want to go to them.

I go to a break. We come back. We'll talk about this initiative in Minneapolis right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be back in a moment. Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Oh, yeah, class was brutal. Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat.

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And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, let's go to our panel. Questions for Janae. Let's start off with Eugene Craig. Eugene, what you got?

Hey, appreciate it. I love the work you guys are doing, hopefully this ballot measure passed. But I guess my question is, you know, when it comes to ballot measures, I know a lot of jurisdictions, you have to, like, have a super majority. Have you guys been, like, reaching out to, you know, pro-justice conservatives and libertarians that could very well be allies on this issue, you know, that, you know, before it was popular, it was, you know, on the forefront of things like police brutality and changing the way police and policing are handled in this country.

Yeah, yeah. You know, what's been particularly interesting about this particular ballot initiative is that it was put on the ballot by a very broad coalition of folks across the city, across race, income, region, and even political ideology. But it is also important to note that the city of Minneapolis in itself is considered a democratic city. And so what we are finding, which adds an interesting nuance to this fight, is that our opposition has actually really been people who consider themselves Democrat and yet have been getting a bunch of funding from folks who usually fund Republican agendas and initiatives. And so the agenda has been the same, regardless of the partisanship. Faraji Muhammad, your question. Jene, thank you so much for joining us and hearing about this work. I'm interested. It is interesting that in Baltimore, we actually have a mayor and a city council

that appoints the commissioner. The mayor provides the nomination. The city council appoints. But I'm wondering, with this department set up as the Department of Public Safety, if that does not, does that shift the money from taking, you know, I don't

know what the percentages for Minneapolis Police Department get from the city, but talk to us a little bit about how this thing is going to work out in the future. And more importantly, like, what do you and other organizers think will happen over the next couple of years as we kind of move forward if this ballot is approved by the public on the election day tomorrow? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So in the city of Minneapolis, Minneapolis is actually an anomaly in the state of Minnesota. Their police department is anyway, that in 1961, the police federation cut a deal with the mayor of 1961 to give this mayor, that mayor, unilateral control of the department. And in exchange, the police federation got what is equivalent to a police federation contract in the city's constitution. No other city in the entire state has this. And so what that has led to, of course, is completely abandoning any kind of leverage for the city to have in negotiations with the police federation. And so we have this minimum staffing number of armed police officers in the city's charter that equates to a little over 35% of the city's budget. And again, we have a fully funded

police department at that 35%, which is about a little under $200 million a year. This is in addition to the $60 million that we've been paying out in police brutality lawsuits and police murder lawsuits. In addition to the $30 million in counting that we've been paying out for overtime and PTSD claims and early retirement. And so we are in a position in Minneapolis where this isn't even a conversation about defunding police. This is how do we actually stop the Minneapolis Police Department from defunding the city. And so this is really about ensuring that this Department of Public Safety gets the necessary funding to really keep people safe. You know, we have a, for example,

we have a Department of Office of Violence Prevention that sits in the health department. And anyone in that department will tell you they have made magic happen on a shoestring budget. Compared to what the Minneapolis Police Department receives, they're getting pennies on the dollar. And yet they're able to actually do some, make some real waves and do some real work in terms of violence prevention. And so it is most certainly the hope that the Office of Violence Prevention will become integrated into the Department of Public Safety, where we can utilize a lot of their preventive strategies and measures and start to add, again, a lot of these other very necessary life giving folks like mental health providers and social workers,

qualified specialists to show up when we need them. And and, you know, considering that the city is very well funded, it's an abundant city, the funding is there. It's just time that we make smart investments and steward our resources right. Makes sense. Makes sense. Thank you, Janae. Tammy? Thank you for explaining the Police Federation situation. I can only imagine that they would

be opposed to the reform. And right here in Texas, in San Antonio earlier this year, San Antonio Police Department attempted to reform their police department. And you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the Democratic candidates that take money from these organizations that are quote unquote allies, the fake woke allies, I like to call, where they're silenced from speaking up for the same reform that we are supposedly fighting against. In Texas, with San Antonio, unfortunately, the reform bill did not pass because of AFL-CIO. The Texas branch of AFL-CIO endorsed a lot of the Democratic candidates from the congressional race in the Texas District 6 special election down to the council members who were in the race who got endorsed by AFL-CIO. And AFL-CIO, the police union that was fighting against the

reform in San Antonio successfully successfully essentially silenced the Democratic candidates, even whenever I particularly called them out as a congressional candidate that was a Democrat. Like, you can't be bragging about your AFL-CIO endorsement when they're fighting against police reform, and you're pretty much bought into silence. So how do you plan on addressing that ahead of tomorrow so that individuals really understand that some of these candidates are actually hurting the cause towards reform? Yeah, I mean, most certainly that is the battle that we continue to have in the city of Minneapolis. The reality is it's not a new one.

Just as I named it, the opposition to this measure most certainly has been the Police Federation writ large. But also it's been the big corporate landlords, the big corporate developers, the Chamber of Commerce. That is most certainly a group that on the statewide level, they have been fighting police reform and accountability for a long time. And they are funding Democratic candidates, ones who are ostensibly, you know, saying that they're pro-police, but really when we're saying we're just pro-safety and making those two pitted against one another. And it is definitely a reality that we have to face here. And knowing that, you know, many cities across the country, just as you named, are going to be facing these same fights. I think we all have to go in wide-ed, recognizing that we need to pay far less attention to who has a D next to their name and actually listen to what they're saying.

If they are using fear based, you know, dog whistles, race based dog whistles, if they're talking law and order all day and actually not leaning into what the people of your city can actually have, that should definitely trigger your ear, right? We've spent four years being inoculated against, you know, these kinds of fear-based tactics. And sadly, many of us haven't gotten leaned into that inoculation. And so it is most certainly something that we're navigating here in Minneapolis. Well, we applaud the work that you're doing.

All right, then. Janae, we certainly appreciate you joining us. Good luck with tomorrow's initiative. Thank you. All right, folks, got to pay some more bills when we come back. More of the Eric Dickerson Golf Tournament here in Thousand Oaks, California. We'll talk with the founder of the Walrus Foundation, Jason Hill. Also talk with some other Hall of Famers from different sports here as well.

So looking forward to that, folks. It's a whole lot we're ready to do, want to unpack. And more on the show. Got some breaking news regarding Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. He fell at Howard University an hour or so ago. We will go live to Mark Thompson of Make It a Plane, who was with him when it happened. And so we'll give the update on Reverend Jackson. When we come back, Roland Martin unfiltered,

right here on the Black Star Network, live from Thousand Oaks, California. Oh, my God. Nå er det en av de fleste stående stående i landet. We'll be right back. Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson. Like, really loves. Hey, I'm Cupid, the maker of the Cupid Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan.

And if you're ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks, some breaking news. Jesse Jackson Sr. is in a Washington, D.C. hospital as we speak after he fell earlier today after meeting with officials with Howard University. He was on the campus yesterday and today meeting with the students who have been occupying the Blackburn Center, protesting housing conditions and other elements there on the campus. And so joining us right now is Mark Thompson, the host of Make It Plain. Mark was actually with Reverend Jackson when it happened.

Mark, are you there? I'm here. I'm here. Can you hear me? Yeah, Mark, you're actually at the hospital right now. I can hear you just fine, Mark. I can hear you just fine. You're at the hospital right now. Tell us hear you just fine, Mark. I can hear you just fine. You're at the hospital right

now. Tell us exactly what happened earlier. First of all, what is the condition of Reverend Jackson and what actually happened earlier today? He fell and staff brought him to Howard University Hospital. There was some tests around, including the CT scan, and everything is checked out normal. So he's fine. He's going to recover. He's going to be just fine. Small confusion on the end.

He'll probably be released tomorrow. They're going to meet Evan here tonight just for observation. He was going to Blackburn to report to the students on his meeting with the president of Howard University today. Reverend Jackson has volunteered himself to help the students in the negotiations, and that's what he was doing. And so that's what's happening. People should understand that he's here spending his time here in support of the Howard University students. And I think we should take his example, and all of us should be supportive of the Howard University students as we can. They've asked the president for amnesty. Reverend Jackson is trying

his best to negotiate that, as well as other fundamental things like inspections where they live, inspections of the dormitories, upkeep and improvement of the dormitories. very moment, there's several hundred alumni on a call at this very moment with Mayor Ross Baraka of Newark who led the 1989 mobilizing, parents mobilizing, and that's what Reverend Jackson was doing, mobilizing when he fell. And again, so they're going to be putting out an official statement in a second. I did text Shelly Davis, who was always with him, his body man as well, and said, yeah, he said he has a pretty large bump and scar on his head, but he's going to check out. Reverend Jackson, of course, just celebrated his 80th birthday

with several celebrations in New York and Los Angeles as well. And so it's always a scary time when one of our elders falls, Mark, because a lot of times it can be very serious, including death, when they fall. Well, we're fortunate that that's not the case with Reverend. He's fine. He's fine. He's strong. And he has his challenges. But he's a lot healthier than people might think.

And he's here for these students. In fact, you know him, Roland. We kind of argue with him because he wants to get about to be and go back to Blackburn. But he shouldn't. He needs to rest and be treated and taken care of by the doctors. But I suspect Reverend Jackson may very well be back on the campus in the morning because he's very committed to getting this done and to helping these students. And so I'll –

Mark, let's talk – Everyone. Mark, let's talk – Everyone. Go ahead. Let's talk about that because you've had a lot of back and forth. I was on the campus last week talking with the administration as well as the students. I've been actually talking to both sides, talking and texting.

And it feels as if the Howard University administration, they're not budging. The students are not budging. We're at a serious impasse right now at Howard University. Well, again, I think Reverend Jackson made a lot of progress today, a lot of headway. There were some small concessions. I won't give it all away, but their attorney, the student's attorney, Donald Temple, is involved. There are tentatively more talks planned in the morning between Donald Temple and the general counsel. Bo Gurvin and Jackson, I pleaded with the administration today.

You know, amnesty is something that all student protesters get, no matter what student protest is then. And we look back on 1989 and 2018 at Howard University, there was amnesty. So there's precedent for that. And that's important. These students cannot be retaliated against. All they're asking for is better living conditions on that campus. And that's a reasonable demand. And all of us who are alumni, I get hundreds on a call right now as we speak, all of us who are alumni and all who are parents are very, very concerned. And Reverend Jackson is always using his body the way he always does. He's always, he's always, he pledged to the students on Sunday when we were here after Reverend Barbara preached. Reverend Barbara, Reverend Jackson, myself went

over there after Rankin Chapel service went over to Blackburn. And Reverend Jackson said that if the authorities try to pull these students out or do anything to them, he said he'd go to jail with them. So he's very dedicated to this. And he made a very passionate appeal to President Wayne Frederick today. Hopefully he heard it. And hopefully when Attorney Donald Temple convenes with the general counsel in the morning, we can try to come to some solution about this. 19 days. This is the longest protest in the history of student protests, I believe, in the history of Howard University. Well, it is certainly good news. Reverend Jackson is doing well. Again, folks, he fell earlier today on the campus of Howard University. He's in the Howard University Hospital.

CT scan has been performed. He's cleared, but they're going to hold him for observation overnight. And so, Mark Thompson, we certainly appreciate you jumping on from Howard University Hospital and giving us the latest with Reverend Jackson. Thank you for all you do, Roland. We couldn't do any of this without you out there informing our community. So God bless you folks. Continue to pray, Reverend Jackson. Do all you can to support the Howard students, please.

Thank you. Mark, thanks a lot. Tuskegee University students, they are also now complaining the ban. They say that they have significant issues when it comes to pay, personnel, food, other complaints as well. What we are seeing right now, Faraji, we are seeing HBCU students utilizing the power of social media to raise concerns. Many of them did things internally, but now what you're seeing is not just at Tuskegee. You see the protests there. We've seen students protesting at Clark Atlanta and other HBCUs as well. And so, you know, I tell you, if you're the administration, you better get used to these students using their voice.

You're raising them to be the next generation of leaders. Guess what? They're starting now. Absolutely. But, you know, I think it's interesting that that that we're starting to see these student leaders emerge on HBCU campuses. Right. I mean, a lot of folks or people, people are saying, well, you know what? We haven't put enough attention on HBCUs. And then when we start to put the attention on HBCUs, we find that that that all that glitters is not gold. And I think that's the issue. I mean, there have been and you know, you know, this brother Roland and the panel notice there have been considerable concern. I worked at an HBCU. There has always been a considerable concern for what's going on behind the scenes of these HBCUs. And I think that the students need to raise their voices. But my question is, you know, when we look at Howard University,

the president, he said that there were 39 cases of mold in the building, and he just kind of brushed over and was very dismissive of the fact, not as if mold is not a health and well-being issue. So I'm confused. Got it. Even if we have these institutions, why don't we have this urgency? Well, look, the administration has said

they have a sense of urgency, but students are saying not enough. You have the back and forth there. Tammy and Eugene, real quick, again, what you're seeing here, you're seeing the students using, look, they're using social media to get their story out. That's how this thing has blown up on Howard University campus. I suspect you're going to see more protests than other HBCUs

if the students have issues. I've got about 30 seconds each of you before I've got to go to a break. I suspect you're going to see more protests than other HBCUs if the students have issues. About 30 seconds each of you before I got to go to a break. I love it. I just want to know where I got that money, all that HBCU money, because I went to a PWI. I didn't get no money. U of H didn't give us no money like that, but I'm glad the students are speaking out, and I hope that other individuals speak out with all the earmarked money that was for black people, also for businesses. That is MIA, but hopefully they get the conditions worked out. Well, there's a difference between money that's earmarked and money that actually is deposited.

Eugene, your comment. You got to hold them accountable just like we hold any other institution accountable. I went to HBCU, I went to Boise University, had a pound of corn on Boise where it was efficient when I was there. That's part of the role of, part of the mantra, part of the role of HBCU, I went to Boise University, had a pound of corn, I believe, where it was deficient when I was there. It's part of the role of part of the mantra, part of the role of HBCU to create leaders. Right. And a lot of that starts at home. And so I support what's going on at Howard University with the protesters and whatnot. And look, especially what you're paying when the tuition with you are deserving of top tier services.

You are top new point, point, period. And it's incumbent upon the universities to deliver the services they promise to deliver. Otherwise, fraud. Oh, not fraud. All right, then. Well, look, bottom line is we're going to see, again, we'll see what happens at Howard University.

We've been covering this. We were there as well, so we're going to get it latest. All right, folks, got to go to break. When we come back, we'll talk with the founder of the Young Warriors Foundation, which is the beneficiary of today's Eric Dickerson Golf Tournament here at Thousand Oaks, California. Sure would a country club. We'll chat with him when we come back. Roland Martin unfiltered, broadcasting live on the Black Star Network. right back. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Norske Kulturskapital I'm going to go. Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson.

Like, really loves. Hello, I'm Bishop T.V.J. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What's up? I'm Lana Wells, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Welcome back to Sherwood Country Club here in Thousand Oaks, California. We are here for the eighth annual Eric Dickerson Golf Tournament, benefiting the foundation founded by this gentleman next to me, Jason Hill.

Jason, glad to have you here. Let's talk about the Warriors Foundation. How did it start? Well, I started it in 2008 because I was that kid. I was a young warrior growing up with no daddy in Akron, Ohio. Mom was on drugs, I was a young warrior, growing up with no daddy in Akron, Ohio. Mom was on drugs and I got lucky. So once I made it out and I became pretty successful, I realized, you know what,

imagine what my life would have been like if I would have had somebody step in at a young age, because there was a lot of consequences between 10 and 25 that I wouldn't have had to deal with. Y'all, Eric is not a light-skinned brother. One of the things I said to Eric Dickerson is that when we talk about mentors for at-risk youth, a lot of times people automatically jump to the conclusion you're talking about black and Latino. And the reality is you're white.

Eric said, look, this is young white kids who don't have daddies. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, I grew up in Akron, Ohio, like I said, in Section 8, a place called Eastland Woods. Love it. Proud of it. There was a few white families and I was one of them. But the interesting thing about that is the black families really is where I really learned family and got the love. So there's a whole little side of that. They're coming out with some stuff on that. But I'm really, really grateful for black people loving me the way they did because there's a misconception how I grew up and how other white kids grow up. And so,

man, we're all the same. We're just a bunch of hurting kids. Just need men to step in our lives and love us. How many young folks do you work with on an annual basis? There's a few hundred kids we work with on an annual basis. With COVID, LUSD is shut down, so it's been challenging, but about three, four hundred kids. And in what areas? Are they in county jails, state prisons? Are they in juvenile detention centers? Are you dealing with people who are in high school, junior high? What's also the age range? Absolutely. So we originally started in just the school districts. We work in a place called Nickerson Gardens, which is Los Angeles, 112th Street Elementary, 75th Street Elementary in South LA, areas like that. But due to COVID,

it's really opened up opportunities to look outside of the school district. And so now we're getting ready to start working with the juvenile hall in Los Angeles. So there's five juvenile halls we're going to start working with. We're really excited about that because, you know, those are the kids that really need to have a vision and hope, and they can absolutely change things. I mean, absolutely. But if someone doesn't step in and show them the way, then they won't. How many mentors do you need on an annual basis? Right now we need a ton. 50, 100, 200?

I would say at least we need about 30 more mentors. But you've got to understand, there's thousands of kids that could be in the program but we're missing men. Specifically, we need black and Latino men because this is Los Angeles. It's a very brown area. I'm a white guy.

I care about him. But, you know, it's different coming from. Right. So, you know, they don't understand that I can relate to them. And so hearing it from someone that looks like them is just a different level. So we need a ton of mentors. What's the time commitment? The time commitment right away is a 10 weeks. So it's a 10 week commitment. So once the boys, they go through a 10 week process of becoming a young warrior, once they become a young warrior and they earn their stripes, they're officially young warriors for life. The kids we had shared today, they've been in the program for nine years.

We don't leave them. That's one thing growing up, not having a family. That's one thing we do at Young Warriors. We create a family. We have hundreds of boys and single moms. We're all a big family. That's really thing we do at Younger Wars. We create a family. So we have hundreds of boys and single moms. You know, we're all big family. Right. So that's really what we create. So the 10 weeks, after the 10 weeks, they're free to go, but typically they want to stick

around. So we keep redoing the 10 weeks and work on different things. Okay. And so obviously you have this golf tournament where you're raising money, but in terms of what other programming do you have going on throughout the year? For fundraising? Yep. We have just online donations right now. We're working on a couple of things.

We have a Super Bowl event coming up. And that's really it. This is one of our main events. How is it for you when one of those young men comes back or someone you hadn't seen in a while and they share with you how important it was to go through this program. Man, there's just nothing I can explain. It's the best feeling just to have another kid look, you know what they went through and you've seen them grow up and you see them and then they say, man, thank you. I mean, the thank you is such a beautiful thing coming from them because that's something that they're not used to looking at another man

and saying thank you. They're used to being defensive with him. So I love it. I mean, it's a blessing. I'm really in love with what I do. Obviously, the opportunity also for some of these young men to be out here and to rub elbows and shoulders with a lot of these Hall of Famers is also pretty cool.

Oh, very cool. Some of them are so young, they have no idea who they are. When they Google them, they're like, what? I'm like, yeah, that's right there, yeah. Trust me, trust me. Ty Gurley looks at Eric Dickinson like, wow. But, you know, they know the current players. Right.

So they're in awe. All right, then. Well, look, it has been a great day being out here. One of the players, one of the guys, he said, well, I know you probably were thinking sunny Southern California. I said, no, I take the weather first. I said it was cloudy. I'm like, y'all understand, it's chilly right now.

I want to let y'all know, okay, you saw I put the Astros jacket on for a reason. And so Jason's sitting here with shorts on. No, no, no, I had the pants. So I knew what was going down. See, that's the acronym, I can't, I keep forgetting. Yeah, uh-huh. I can't wear shorts. Yeah, you're right, you're sitting in the Midwest, so.

Exactly. Nuh-uh. I spent six years in Chicago, I left for a reason. Too damn cold. I heard that. I'm with it. Too cold. I'm with it.

I heard that. I'm out. Well, Jason, it was great to be here. We're certainly glad to bring the show here, and hopefully we'll play a role in driving some mentors to your program. Absolutely. They can go to the website and go to the volunteer section, fill out the form. We'll get back to them right away. Okay.

All right, Jason, thanks a bunch. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, going to pay a few bills right now. We come back. We'll chat with some Hall of Famers here as well,

also share some other news with you right here. Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Blackstar Network from Sherwood Country Club here in Thousand Oaks, California. We'll be back. Oh, that spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Oh, yeah, that's nice.

Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. OK, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021. Oh, you should pick something stronger. That's really predictable.

That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too. Hey. Really outdid yourself. Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision, an SUV built around you,

all of you. Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now, she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ascot on.

He do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling. Right here. Rolling. Roland Martin. Right now. You are watching Roland Martin.

Unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really. It's Roland Martin. All right, folks. 14-year-old Jeshea Moore disappeared on October 14th after visiting an East Orange, New Jersey, deli. Jeshea stands 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds. She has black hair, brown eyes, and a nose ring.

Deshae was last, Deshea was set to testify before a grand jury against her stepfather, an East Orange police officer, in a domestic violence case from last year. Essex County prosecutors don't believe her disappearance is related to that case. She was last seen wearing khaki pants, a black jacket, and black boots. If you have seen Jeshea or Nova whereabouts, call the East Orange Police Department at 973-266-5041. All right, folks, let's go to Capitol Hill where a Senator Joe Manchin, I don't know what the hell is wrong with this guy. Now, all of a sudden, here they are, 24 hours away from voting on the $1.75 trillion plan that the Build Back Better plan that President Joe Biden announced he had a framework for last week. Now, all of a sudden, he's hedging, saying he's not going to vote for it. Roll the video, y'all.

I've worked in good faith for three months, for the past three months, with President Biden, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and my colleagues on the reconciliation bill, and I will continue to do so. For the sake of the country, I urge the House to vote and pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my

support for the reconciliation bill. Throughout the last three months, I've been straightforward about my concerns that I will not support a reconciliation package that expands social programs and irresponsibly adds to our $29 trillion in national debt that no one seems to really care about or even talk about. Nor will I support a package that risks hurting American families suffering from historic inflation. Simply put, I will not support a bill that is this consequential without thoroughly understanding the impact that it will have on our national debt, our economy, and most importantly, all of our American people. Every elected representative needs to know what they are voting for and the impact it has, not only on their constituents, but the entire country. Eugene, I am so sick and tired of this pompous ass. I am tired of him.

Look, I'm going to say it. Trump Manchin is full of shit. He is full of shit. It is about time to either look, just go ahead and become a Republican or somebody primary and get him a bottle of air. Because at this point in time, he's holding the entire country hostage for demands that he won't even truly explicitly lay out.

And he's playing a dangerous game here with a lot of lives that go well beyond the borders of West Virginia. So at this point, you know, you're either going to fight fire with fire. And I'll put it this way. Hey, you want to play games? Let's do something like nationalize the patent for the EpiPen, you know, or let's actually really, really go after coal in West Virginia. I mean, but at this point, you can't keep letting them play games with the entire country's livelihood, the entire country's safety. I mean, at this point,

Joe Manchin is a literal national security threat to the United States of America. You know, he's full of shit, and that's a security threat to the United States of America. So at some point in time, you know, either Schumer or Pelosi or Joe Biden, somebody has to deal with them in a major way

and figure out how to move forward without them. Tammy, it's a joke to listen to this man keep talking about social programs. He is from one of the brokest states in America. If there is any state that needs these social programs, it's West Virginia. And you know what? This is where you need to see, frankly, hundreds or thousands of West Virginians, frankly, uprising against him. The Poor People's Campaign, they've been mobilizing those folks.

They've had several hundred. I'm talking about there needs to be a massive protest in that state to get this man's attention. And wherever he goes, he needs to be met by these people who need these services. And all he is doing all. Oh, no, this is our our our national debt. OK, we're talking about a plan that if you spend $175 billion a year, okay, over 10 years, you get to $1.75. This is the same man who supported a military bill that's $750 billion a year. That means that the $175 billion that you will spend on this program, literally, you can spend that five times on defense. You tell me about cutting. How about you cut defense?

You know, Roland, ain't nobody about to protest against that man, especially nobody in West Virginia, okay? You know these folks is too scared to say anything to this man. The thing is, you know, Joe Manchin, he has the largest donations from the coal, oil, and gas industry. But I think that we need to take a deeper look into why he is so concerned, why he's trying to stall this. There could be some

money issues up in this, because the thing is, a lot of these politicians, even our Democrats, are getting that same type of money that the GOP members are getting. But at the same time, I just want to caution everyone. I know we have very strong opinions here, but this president of ours, Joe Biden, he has done a lot of damage in underrepresented groups in the past. And perhaps we should take a pause and take a closer look at this Build Back plan

to see if, in fact, it is going to build up the underrepresented groups or if it's going to leave us impacted with disparities as a lot of the policies and procedures that he put in place before have left us in. Faraji. Faraji, we can't hear you. You're on mute.

Thank you. We're 24 hours before this bill has passed, and I hear you, Tammy, but I have to disagree. I mean, we're trying to get some wins out of this situation. And, I mean, next year, 2022, but I have to disagree. I mean, we're trying to get some wins out of this situation. And I mean, next year, 2022, things will change. The dynamics of power will change. And so

we can't go back to the beginning. What Manchin just did was like he torpedoed the whole situation, just put a bomb in it. And at this point, it's like, we at a point now in our country where literally... Check this out, folks.

Literally, one person can stop a situation for, uh, benefiting millions of people. I mean, that's how... that's how crazy our government is right now. One person. One person. And it's... And I'm not... And the one person's not even a president. our government is right now. One person. One person. And the one person's not even a president. It's somebody in Congress.

It's somebody that is like, oh, well, you know, I just decided. I mean, Tim, you're right. I mean, the level of oil interest, coal interest, and all of that. I mean, look at that. And we as the people, we get the short end of the stick

if this one person decides that they don't want to go along with the plan. And we have to, we are the ones that suffer. And it's sickening. I've seen this time and time again, whether it's Harry Reid, whether it's somebody on the Democratic side, it comes down to one person. And it's just bad. It's just bad governance. It's bad for the people. It's not good policy. And, I mean, each year, we always fighting for one or two extra votes. And in this situation, I mean, the country needs an infrastructure bill.

I don't know about what city y'all in, but in Baltimore, shit, we need... we need something to build up the damn roads. We need some social programs. I mean, we need something to build up the damn roads. We need some social programs. I mean, we need all types of help over on this side. So I'm just blown away by what's going on and the fact that our government has been diminished down to one vote.

Well, bottom line is this here. We have laid out actually what's in the bill. We know who the impact is, and so we're going to keep doing so. Alright, got to go to our final break. We come back. We'll talk with Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis about what? I don't know. We'll figure out something. We'll figure it out. You're watching

Rolling Rotten Unfiltered. Live on the Black Star Network from Sherwood Country Club here in Bowsett, Oaks, California. We'll be right back. Kjell Kjell I am to be smart. Roland Martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punching! Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving voice to the issues. Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again.

The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I gotta defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network. I am rolling with rolling all the way.

I don't be on a show that you own. A Black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Roland was amazing on that. Stay Black. I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be able to share

who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be Black on media and be scared. You dig? I'm Kim Whitley. Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube.

Hey, yo, peace, world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all, welcome back. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered, man. Let me tell y'all something, okay? I know all y'all people talking about it never rains in Southern California.

It's sunny, y'all. It's cold, okay? The temperature say, this is what the temperature say right here, y'all. It say it's 55 degrees in Thousand Oaks, California right now. Now, this feel like about 40, 42. Jerome Bennett is my next guest. He know, he play in Pittsburgh.

You know what cold is like. I'm telling you, man, people talk about, you know, how California, oh, man, uh-uh. It's chilly right now. It's cold. It's cold right now. Right. You're right. Like, my feet are like, what a heater.

Like, what a heater. It's like you need, it's jacket cold. I need a coat. I need a coat. I need my Roland Martin unfiltered wool coat. Right. That's what I need. It's like a Letterman jacket.

That's what I need. Yeah, it's chilly. Man, how you doing? I'm great, man. Can't complain. Last time I saw you, we were in Cincinnati. It was a barbershop tour thing. We were going around.

And y'all were acting a fool on the bus. We had a good time. We were having a good time. It was hilarious, y'all, because we had a couple of white executives with Ford. And they were like, uh. Because, look, we had the music going on the bus. We told them, said, look, we're going to hit some black barbershops. We're going to hit some black barbershops.

We're going to have a good time. Yeah, yeah. We're going to have a good time. And we did. And we did. It was a men of courage. Yeah. Yeah.

It was a ball. It was really good. Absolutely, man. So what you up to? Man, I can't complain. Just raising two kids. I got a 16-year-old daughter, 14-year-old son. And going through the process with them, making sure that I'm trying to input everything I can before they get out the house.

Because as we know, once they leave, they leave with the moral compass that we provided them. So that's where I am now. Gotcha. And where are you based now? I'm in Atlanta. So I am watching this World Series. Obviously, I see you decked out. Come on now.

With your ass. Come on now. And I must say, I am on the other side. I'm on the other side of that. It's all good. Somebody got to be on the other side. I mean, somebody got to take the L. The other side look pretty sweet right now.

No. I'm just saying, from where I'm standing, the other side looks pretty good. It's going back to Houston. So, yeah, we have to let them know tomorrow night. This time tomorrow night. We'll see. We'll see. This time tomorrow night, you're going to be getting a text.

I'm going to be like. I'm not going to answer the text. I'm not. All I'm saying is I'm watching intently. I'm not a Braves fan, per se, but I live in Atlanta. And so if there is one side I'm cheering for, I'm cheering that side. I can't do that. Right.

No, seriously. I can't do that. You're not cheering for them. You're not a fan of them. You're not cheering for them. No, it don't matter. It don't matter. When I moved to D.C., obviously, when the Astros played the Nationals

in the World Series. But I went to the only Washington Nationals game I have gone to is when they play the Astros. That's it? I don't – no, when I lived in Chicago for six years. I didn't give a damn about the Cubs or the White Sox. But if they play the Astros – In fact, the only time I went to a game at Wrigley Field

was when they played the Astros. Okay. I've never – I don't – like, I don't – even if my team out and that team is in the playoffs or the Super Bowl or whatever, I still don't cheer for them. I am only a hometown cat. Okay.

And I get that, but raising kids in different places and my loyalties are where they are. Because you were born and raised where? I was born and raised in Detroit. Okay. Detroit, Michigan. So I grew up a Tigers fan, always been a Tigers fan. I wasn't a Lions fan.

Really? No, because the Lions, they could never win, man. See, but that's okay. So as a kid, I got so frustrated with them, I had to go the other way. See, I quit. Even I can't do that. Like, I don't, like, I've met people who live in other cities, and they're like, yeah, our team suck, so I chose for that,

I cheer for that team. I can't. Well, when I was as a kid, this wasn't as an adult. As a kid, I only watched football because I didn't grow up playing football, so I didn't play football until high school. So when I was a little kid, the only times that I watched football was on Thanksgiving. And there was only

two teams playing. The Lions and the Cowboys. So it was either you were a Lions fan or you were a Cowboys fan. So I became a Cowboys fan only because they would win that game on Thanksgiving. And it wasn't... And I didn't... That's just, that's like cheering for the devil.

No. But what you. That's like cheering for evil. It eventually changed. Henry Peters in my control room, Henry a big time Cowboys fan. He knew I don't give a damn about the Cowboys. I don't either. I don't either.

But then. No, you don't understand. Then I was a fan. No, hell no. Of the Cowboys. I ain't never cheered. Now, it's Pittsburgh. I ain't either. But then. No, you don't understand. Then I was a fan of the Cowboys. I ain't never cheered for them one down. I understand that. You would never do it.

Hell no. Right. So you anti. Hell no. It's like the Klan Cowboys. Which one is worse? No, no. I wouldn't do that.

I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't go that far. I can't stand it. I wouldn't go that far. Cowboys and the Clans, same to me. Oh, no. Don't do that. Dude, I'm from Houston.

You don't understand. I do understand. Four hours down the road. Damn Dallas. I got you. Okay, so you were an Oilers fan? Oilers fan. Okay.

Through and through. Through and through. Astros fan. Rockets fan. I got you. Okay. Period. Period. That's it. Period. That's the only... That's it. Through and through. Astros fan. Rockets fan. I got you. Okay. Period. Period.

That's it. Period. That's the only. That's it. Discussion. That's it. I go to other people's game. I'm like, I go watch the game.

Like, you care who went? Nope. So since the Oilers have become Tennessee Titans, would you at least cheer for them a little bit? No. No. No, because they left. If it doesn't have H on it.

Because they left. It has nothing. Because they left. You're done. They. No, because they left. If it doesn't have H on it, it has nothing. You're done. They left. Man. They left. You're just hardcore. They left. We wanted to keep the Oilers, but we didn't give a damn about Bud Adams, who was the owner. We said, you can go. Right, but keep the team here.

You take your ass home. He screwed that whole thing up. He screwed that whole thing up. He screwed that whole thing up. You talked about not playing football in high school. Yeah. Your son play football? He does. So he's a freshman.

Did you want him to play football? You know what? I told him when he was young that I played football so you don't have to play football. And so I didn't really want him to play, but he wanted to play. So I didn't hold him back once he got of age. You know, we wanted him to be 10, but we let him play at 9. So he started playing a little bit later than a lot of kids. But, you know, we decided to allow him to play.

What position does he play? He plays wide receiver. So he was like, no, I ain't playing running back. Well, no, he played running back as a youngster at 9, 10. But then he had a growth spurt, so now he's taller than me, unfortunately. I don't know where that came from. On his mother's side. His mother's side got some height.

So my side, we go wide. We don't go tall. Y'all don we go wide. We don't go tall. Y'all don't go up. We don't go up. We go out. But what ended up happening, he got the height. And so now, you know, he's 14 years old and he's taller than me, six foot. Well, but here's the deal, though.

Truth be told. The game is wide receiver now. I know this is hard for you and Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen and all these great running backs. That's no longer the money position. No, it's not. It's hard. I know this is hard for you and Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen and all these great running backs. That's no longer the money position. No, it's not. It's not. That's the frustrating part.

It's cornerback, wide receiver. Wide receiver. It's changed. Totally it's changed because the game has changed. Now they're taking a lot of the hitting away. Right. So as a result of it, it's making it a lot easier for the quarterbacks to get the ball.

And now they've softened the rules or hitting the quarterbacks. So now it's a quarterback receiver-driven league. And I get it. I understand it. It's just not as physical as the football that I grew up playing. Right, right. But I understand that. A little physical.

A little harder. It was a little harder. Yeah, a little harder. A little physical. A little harder. It was a little harder. Yeah, a little harder. A little harder. If I had a kid, if I had a son, I wouldn't want him playing. I would say, son, play baseball. Yeah. Gamron key contracts. But, but.

When you got baseball players, multiple cats. Mike Trout signed a 400, I think it's 424 million. But here's the other part, other side of that. Right. It's so hard to make it to the majors in terms of in baseball. To the majors in every sport. You're right. Football, basketball, baseball.

It is. But Mike Trout signed a $424 million contract. It's guaranteed. $325 million contract. Carlos Correa with Astros is about, he going to get a $325 million contract. Bruh. It's big money. There's no way around it. But I'll say this.

I was born, you know, 20 years too early. So you played baseball, what position would you have played? I probably would have played. There's only one position your big ass can play. I probably would have played first base. That's the only position your ass can played? I probably would have played. There's only one position your big ass can play. I probably would have played first base. That's the only position your ass can play. I probably would have played first base. Hold on. I was super athletic, though, man.

What are you talking about, man? I could do it all. Drone. I could have played third base. Hell, I could have played third base. No, you. I could have played third base. Drone, stop.

I could have played third base. I'm trying to tell you, man. I got good reaction time, man. I'm trying to tell you, man. I got good reaction time, man. I'm trying to tell you. Jerome, Jerome. Quick. Jerome. I wasn't fast.

I was quick. When was the last big-ass third baseman you seen? I wouldn't be. Jerome, Jerome. I would have went baseball. I wouldn't have went that big. Jerome, you big now. I could have played catcher.

Thank you. I could have played catcher. It's only two positions you could have played. I'm telling you. Catcher, first base. Third base, I could have played catcher. Thank you. I could have played catcher. It's only two positions you could have played. I could have played catcher. I'm telling you. Catcher, first base. Third base, I would have had a shot. I'm telling you.

I'm just telling you. It would have just been a big third baseman. Just like I'm a big tailback. I was a big running back. Big third baseman. You know, it's out there. It's possible. I could have DH'd for sure.

There you go. There you go. But you went to the National League. You're going to have to be catcher, first sure. There you go. There you go. There you go. But you went to the National League. You're going to have to be catcher first base. That's right. Can y'all imagine, Jerome, going out to the baseball team? I'm here to try out. I want to play shortstop.

Man, go get yours on first base. Third base, man. Hey, man, that's some good feet, man. No, you need an arm on third base. No, no, no, no. You need a rocket. I got touchdowns in the NFL thrown.

Okay? So I do. How long was the touchdown you threw? About a 40-yard touchdown. Hello? That's right. I got three touchdowns. Right. I think I got four touchdowns. Three or four. That's right. Touchdowns.

Now, there's not no completions. Touchdowns. So, there's not no just completions. Touchdowns. Right. So that's what I'm trying to say. I had an arm. Let me go to YouTube right now. I'm trying to tell you, man.

Don't hate on me. Don't hate. No, I ain't hating. I'm stating. I had it. I had it. I could get it. I could get it from third to first with some sting on it.

Yeah, okay. I could, man. If you had been shot down the line, you'd have been like, yeah, there you go. It would have been different. One of my panelists got a question for you. I'm going to hear this question. Farage, you got a question for Jerome? Oh, yes, sir.

Absolutely. First and foremost, I'm a Ravens fan. So, you know, Pittsburgh used to do a lot of damage to us until Lamar Jackson came through and, you know, recovered us. But, Jerome, it's definitely a pleasure to hear from you. Lamar Jackson came through and, you know, recovered us. But, Jerome, it's definitely a pleasure to hear from you. But I would love to get your take on this, Buss. You know, with the direction that the NFL is taking around CTE and racial justice issues,

you know, people are still kind of salty about Colin Kaepernick and his stand and whatnot. Where do you stand on this whole thing? How do you see the league moving forward and addressing some of the real concerns affecting black athletes, black football players, and even some black coaches? Where do you stand on that issue? He's asking about social justice in the NFL and also the issue of black coaches.

Well, for one, the issue of black coaches, I think, is crystal clear. We all see that there is – the issue is still not solved. You know, they had the Rooney Rule, and they're trying to encourage the coaches to be interviewed. It's still not where it needs to be. Obviously, it's made a difference, but they've not gone where they need to go. They need to introduce some type of program that gives these young African-American coaches an opportunity to develop, and I think that's what we're not seeing.

So we're seeing the same coaches get the opportunities when you want to get some of the young, fresh coaches the opportunity. But they need some mentoring to see and understand what needs to be done. So I think that's one issue there. And on the social justice side, I just think the NFL has been behind the curve this entire time. And obviously they're trying to play catch up. But it has to be with great intentions.

And I think right now they're doing it to save face because they were on the wrong side of history for so long. So I just think they need to do a better job of catching up and being on the forefront of some of these social issues that is clear what needs to happen, especially when you see the number of African-American players that are in the NFL. I mean, there's no question about the NFL. Is it an African-American league?

Absolutely it is. And so they need to be on the forefront, much like the NBA is being very, very aggressive and progressive in these social issues. All right, then. Listen, I see a bunch of y'all running y'all damn miles on YouTube. Let me be real clear. I played varsity baseball in high school. Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh. I cannot. baseball in high school. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. So, shut your punk asses up. I played, was a starter. Starter. First base and right field.

Just all y'all little punk asses on YouTube running your mouth. Oh, don't think I don't read your comments. Yeah. Varsity. Starter. I could have played third base. I'm sticking with that.

I'm sticking with that. I know you played first base. First base and right field. And right field. See? Let them know. That's right. Let them know.

Let them know. Sometimes you got to put them on notice. Let them know. Anton, who's the batter up. Let them know. Sometimes you got to put them on notice. Let them know. Anton, who's the better up? Who's next? Who we got over there? Who's next? I cannot.

All right. Tell Eric to come sign us out. We'll close it out with Eric. So, yeah, I would love these people here sitting here talking to us. But, see, y'all, they missed earlier, you know, when Marcus Allen was like, he can golf that ball. See,, y'all, they missed earlier, you know, when Marcus Allen was like, he can golf that ball. See, same thing.

See, they don't believe it. No, they don't know. They don't believe it. No, no. Bring your ass out here. Put it on the line. Tell them to put it on the line and see. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Hashtag bring your ass. See? See? See? Folks love running their mouth, but I'm like, okay, all these keyboard gangsters.

You know what I'm saying? I'm like, come on out here. Let's see. I'll take some. I'll take your lunch money. Come on. Come on. I'll take your mortgage money. Your rent money. Come on. I'll take your your

your PPP money. Yeah, I'll take your PPP money. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I take your PPP money. Yeah, we'll take all that. Yeah, I love running a mile. You know what? What about Tyson? Everybody got a plan till they get hit. That's right. Billy Martin's attorney in Baltimore. So we were playing. Billy was talking to all his trash. I'm like, Billy. And we got the same last name. We related. He's married to Michelle Martin of NPR. So, man, Billy was talking. I said, Billy, I'm trying to tell you, Billy. I said, I'm going to put it on your ass and we can get out there, Billy. I said to Billy, I thought trash back it up. Man, we get to that

first hole. Billy hit his little cute little drive, probably about 210. I sit in just, yay! By 265. Billy went, oh, shit. He knew he was in trouble. He went, oh, shit. And I was like, I turned around, I was like, for the next 18 holes. You mind? Was on that ass. He was like, I ain't saying nothing.

I was like, I said, I warned you. I tried to tell you. I said, I tried to tell you. I tried to tell you. You know, I tell people. I said, come on. I said, y'all bring it on out here. Let's go.

Let's go. That's it. Drum man, always good to see you, Doc. I'm always in the ATL, so we got to get out and play. We got to catch up. And so next time we play, right now, you see, this is the 2017 World Series shirt. So the next time you see me, I'm going to have a 2021.

I don't know. I don't know, brother. I'm going to have a 2021. I don't know. I don't know, brother. I'm going to have a 2021. I'm calling it. I'm going to have a 2021 shirt for you. You're going to wear one. It might not be this one. It might not be this one.

But you may have one that says 21 on it. Let me know. I'm done with these Detroit people. Let me go ahead and end today's show talking to somebody from Texas. Come on, Eric. We're going to close the show out. It's chilly out here. Jerome over here running his mouth.

You know, come on. Bring a Texas running back in here. You know, Jerome sitting here coming at all Detroit nonsense, you know, coming up in here. Man, it's been a great day. I told you. I said I'm going to come out. I'm going to do the show in here. Man, it's been a great day. I told you. I said I'm going to come out. I'm going to do the show from here.

We're going to have a good time. How did the auction go? It went very well. I got to say it went very well. We had some great auction items, raised a lot of money, so I'm very pleased with it. All right. Well, I hate I missed it.

Because I get a lot of my black art in auctions. That way you can buy some art and write it off so you know so so next time I'll look at the auction stuff first you know and leave my be it because you know because you know I will I'll spend money really I'm like, not me. No, no, no, no. I'm scared of that. I do. I do.

There is a golf course in South Africa where they have a safari and a golf course. I would go play, but I'm not. I don't give a damn about nothing. Oh, hell no. I ain't playing on that. Something might go wrong. The line might get out. No, no, no.

Oh, that's what they always say. Oh, no, no. No, no, no. Oh, you know what the next thing is? What? This ain't never happened before. No. Come on now, Roland. Come on. It happens all the time. Man, a, no. No, no, no. You know what the next thing is? What? This ain't never happened before. No. Come on now, Roland.

Come on. It happens all the time. Man, a dog bite. This dog ain't never bitten nobody. It's the first one they ever bit. Eric, come on. Come on, man. Eric, come on.

Wait, wait. Hold up. There are golf courses in Africa where there are no lines around. But you said, then you said Sephora. No, that particular one. Okay. I'm saying, but you got courses in Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa. I want one where I have a real lion phobia.

Like, I'm afraid of lions. Well, no shit. Really? I mean, I... Well, you see the white people go out there. Oh, look at the lion. Okay, hold on. What was the operative phrase there?

The white people. Thank you. I'm not cheating. No, no, that's not happening. Like, all the people who do it, like, car where the car is open and animals come up. No, no, no. I'm good. I'm not winning, brother.

I'm good. Yeah. Now, have you been to the motherland? Never been. Really? Never been. See, I've been to Ghana twice. Doc, you got to go.

Really? You got to go. I'm telling you, it is a, I'm telling you, the moment your feet touch the ground. Is that, it's like that? No, seriously. I believe it. There's certain places like that. I went to Israel, and it was like that when I went to Israel.

I'm like, wow. I mean, I was, like, taken aback, you know, by all the history and, you know, the things where, you know, Jesus was here. You see Mount Sinai, where when I was there, they had just discovered King David's Palace. I mean, it was just a real history. No, you got to go. Because, first of all, everybody black. I mean, it was just a real history. No, you got to go. Because first of all, everybody black. I mean, you open a newspaper, everybody black. Everybody black.

You turn the TV on, everybody black. I like to see that. You go into the stores, everybody black. I'm telling you, it's a whole different vibe. It's a whole different vibe. Yeah, but I'm glad you're going. Yeah, so I've been, like I say, so I've been to Ghana twice. So next year is the 200th anniversary of Liberia.

So we're going to broadcast from Liberia next year. Oh, cool. Which, of course, was founded by freed slaves. And then, of course, folks in Nigeria are trying to get me to go, Kenya. And so we're going to take the show on the road. My friend Christian Nakoya always tried to get me to go to Nigeria. Come on now. That'd be the way to go.

Doc, I'm telling you, you've got to go. It's going to blow you away. I do believe that now. It's going to blow you away. If you think going to a black city in America is chocolate city all you want to. No, it's just a whole different vibe. I'm looking forward to it. I hope I do go one day.

Alright. We're going to make it happen. Man, enjoyed it. I appreciate it. Had to support the homeboy from Texas. Even though, what's that town you from? I'm from Sealy, Texas. Sealy. See, it's S-E-A-L-Y. But see how black he is? Where in the town are you from? I'm from Sealy, Texas. Right. Sealy. Let me help you out a lot.

See, it's S-E-A-L-Y. But see how black it is? He leaned on Sealy. It's Sealy. It's called Sealy. Oh, people say Sealy. It's Sealy. But you know what?

That's where the Sealy Pasta Petting Mattress first started. It's a mattress town. Oh. They got the olfactory there in Sealy. Oh, got you. Right. Sealy. It's Sealy, Texas.

Sealy. Sealy, Texas. So you leaned on that Sealy. Sealy. That's football country up there. Yeah. Football So you lean on that Sealy. That's football country up there. Yeah. Uh-huh. That's football country. You know it's Texas.

That's football country. Well, that's the whole damn state. Y'all be talking to these guys from Florida and California. They don't know. They don't understand. They don't know. That's football country. They don't know.

Well, you know, I'm a Jack Yates High School graduate, so, you know, we know about it. I know Jack Yates. Yeah, we know about football. Yeah, I got some players come out of that. Yeah, we let them know. Yeah, a lot of my cousins, Dexter Manley came out of that. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, we let them know. Dexter Manley came out of that. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

So, you know, we let them know. You know, Dallas Carter think they got something. You're not like Jack. No, they can't tell. But maybe now, but back in our day, no. Not even now. Yeah, I don't know about now. Not even now.

Really not now? Not now. Okay. No, not now, not now, never. Okay, all right. Yeah, even that little team they won in 1988, they had to get a trophy back. Okay, all right. Yeah. Even that little team they won in 1988, they had to get their trophy back. Okay, all right.

So. All right. I remind them that all the time. We ain't able to get none of ours back. We ain't able to get no trophy back. They had to get theirs back. Right. Theirs was revoked.

I heard that, brother. Yes. Eric, always good to see you, man. Man, bro, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Hey, y'all, that is it for us. It has been great being out here.

I'm back. We're going. Hey, y'all, that is it for us. It has been great being out here. I'm back. We're going to be in Houston on Wednesday. Of course, McDonald's has their gospel celebration tour. We're going to be there for that. Also, I plan on being live. As a matter of fact, I might not be on the show Wednesday because I expect the Astros to be playing in Game 7 on Wednesday. So I'm going to be at the game. So if I do go live, I'm going to be outside of Minuteman Park at least for the first hour of the show.

So looking forward to that. So we'll be in Houston, Texas Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Next Monday, we're going to be in San Diego. Anthony Anderson Golf Tournament, we'll be there. And again, special time, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. And then we're in L.A. all Tuesday through Friday. And so, folks, we got lots of things going on. The Black Star Network, a lot of shows that we're launching.

I cannot wait to unveil those for you. Please support us. Download the app. Of course, Apple TV, Android TV, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Roku, Samsung, Xbox, all the platforms. And, of course, please support us with our Roland Martin Unfiltered Fan Club. Every dollar you give goes to support the show. That's, of course, Cash App, dollar sign R, dollar sign R Martin Unfiltered.

PayPal is R Martin Unfiltered. Then, of course, we have Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. For Raji, Tammy, and Eugene, thanks for being on today's panel. Folks, I will see y'all tomorrow from our

studios in D.C. right at Black Lives Matter Plaza, 16th and K. Have an absolute great one. Holla! ... this is an iHeart podcast