#RolandMartinUnfiltered - July Jobs Report, OK Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors Trial Proceeds, HBCU National Center

Episode Date: August 6, 2022

8.5.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: July Jobs Report, OK Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors Trial Proceeds, HBCU National Center We're LIVE from Las Vegas at the NABJ-NAHJ Conference.  An Oklahoma judge gives the green to the three remaining Tulsa Race Massacre survivors to enter the discovery process of their lawsuit. Their attorney, Damario Solomon Simmons, will tell us what this means and the next steps in the legal process. Former coach Brian Flores gets blocked by a U.S District Court judge from obtaining discovery in his lawsuit against the NFL. The July Jobs report is in, and the U.S. added more jobs than expected. But what does that mean for the black community? I'll speak to an economist to break this down. And in our Education Matter Segment, we speak with Hayley Dashiell, who serves as the HBCU National Center Program Coordinator, and several student ambassadors about what the center is doing to help HBCU students excel, including our intern, Sidney Ross.   Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Now we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and B-scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? What if? Hey, folks, today is Friday, August 5th, 2022. Coming up, a roller coaster broadcasted live from the NABJ-NAHJ convention in Las Vegas,

right here on the Black Star Network. A judge is allowing a lawsuit regarding reparations for the survivors of the Tulsa race massacre to move forward. We'll talk with their attorney tomorrow, Solomon Simmons, right here about what that ruling means. A federal judge is blocking NFL coach Brian Flores from discovery in his lawsuit against the NFL. We'll tell you all about that. A huge jobs report comes out today. Five hundred and twenty eight thousand jobs added last month. We'll talk to economist Dr. Bill Spriggs about what that means. Also on today's show in our education and matters segment, we'll speak with Haley DeSalle, who serves as the HBCU National Center Program Coordinator, to talk about student ambassadors at HBCUs.

Folks, that and a lot more. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time.

And it's Roland. breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling With some go-go-royale It's rolling, Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah.

Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. Martin. The descendants of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, they have been fighting all of these years, 101 years, for repair for the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma

to repay those individuals who were impacted by the devastation caused by that massacre. Well, now, finally, they get to move forward. On Tuesday, a judge signed the order, Tulsa County District Judge Caroline Wall signed the order saying that six descendants of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre can sue for reparations. Joining us right now is DeMario Solomon-Simmons. He is the civil rights attorney and founder of Justice for Greenwood. He joins us from Tulsa.

He, of course, has been leading this effort. DeMario, this is a huge decision. Look, folks have been waiting for this day for quite some time. So, Demario, you can't hear me? Okay, okay, Demario, one second, Demario, one second. So, y'all, let me know when you got Demario's audio fixed so he can actually hear me. So, folks, I'll just read this here. In May, Wall allowed the case to go forward while partially granting a motion that is allowing to move forward in this case. Good evening, Roland.

Good to see you. Hey, I'm out there with you in Las Vegas. Listen, the judge gave us a historic opportunity to be able to move forward with our three living survivors to go into discovery phase of this particular case. It is something that's never happened before in the history of this country, where you had an incident of racial terrorism that happened 100 years ago that we're going to be able to litigate today. These particular three heroes, 108-year-old Josefaela Fletcher, you see her there, with

a 101-year-old brother, Uncle Red, Hughes Ellis is 101, and then we have 107-year-old Leslie Benefield Ramsey. So she's narrowed our case some. We were not happy about that. But the fact of the matter is, Roland, we're still in the game. We still have an opportunity to show that the 1921 Tulsa race massacre was a public nuisance that continues to impact our community today, the community of Tulsa, the community of Oklahoma, and all black people all throughout this country. For folks who don't know the history, people don't realize that Greenville was actually rebuilt. But the fact of the matter is, this was a significant amount of black wealth that was

wiped out. And so black people could have built on top of that as opposed to having to replace it. And so what is it that you and the descendants, what are you looking to get from the city and the state? Yeah, I want to just say when people say Greenwood rebuilt, some people in Greenwood rebuilt. But people like A.J. Smitherman, who owned the only African-American newspaper, the first African-American newspaper to have a national circulation, since we're talking about NABJ, it did not rebuild. He was ran out of town. So, you know, a lot of people, a lot of our leaders were killed. They were exiled. And they did not get a chance to rebuild. And those are some of the things that we want from the city and the county and the state.

We want this nuisance to be what's called abated. Or it'd be restoration and rebuilding of a community that was 40 square blocks, okay? 40 blocks, 4.5 square miles, over 12,000 residents, over 1,500 homes that were burnt or destroyed. It was not just the Black Wall Street section, the business section, but the entire Greenville community that was burnt down. So we want restoration. We want land to be returned. Just how we saw out in

Manhattan Beach with Bruce's Beach out of Los Angeles, California a couple weeks ago, we want land that was taken during the massacre, we want it to be returned or you pay the fair market value. We want businesses that were destroyed during the massacre to be rebuilt. We want everything that prevented us from being massacre to be rebuilt. We want everything that prevented us from being the Black Wall Street of America that we were. We want that to be restored because it will impact descendants, our survivors

and our entire Black community. You have had Tulsa and the state supposedly make amends. It has been hit and miss. You've had what I say. You've had what I call performative politics, if you will, where folks want to say the right thing.

Y'all have been saying, no, do the right thing. You've had the city build this museum where they want black folks and others to come visit from a tourism perspective. But they raised, what, $30 million for that when they could have given that $30 million to the descendants? That's right, Roland. And they haven't done any amends for the massacre. They haven't paid one penny in reparations. They haven't rebuilt one business that was destroyed. They haven't given back any of the land that was taken. They haven't provided any of the scholarships that they were supposed to do. They have done nothing but enrich themselves off the exploits,

off the blood and the terrorism that they themselves inflicted upon our community. Rolling, you're right. They've raised over $30 million for a museum for what they call heritage tourism, but they did not give one penny of that money to the survivors, to the descendants. And we've called for that, as you know. We also call for them to the ongoing money that they're generating as they have gentrified Greenwood and they've making money, millions of dollars now a year based upon the Greenwood story. None of that money is coming back to the descendants. We think that's wrong. That is why we also have an unjust enrichment claim in our particular lawsuit that we will

have an opportunity. The judge said we can re-plead that. I don't want to get too technical. But we will also be putting that forth in this particular case. So those who want to stand with us, those who want to see justice, go to justiceforgreenwood.org. That is justiceforgreenwood.org. Make a donation.

Sign up for our newsletter. Connect with us so we continue to get this, so we can get these victories. This is just the first step in a long journey. We have a long way to go, but to a community people and people like you, Roland, we can get justice. And if we can win in Tulsa, we can win anywhere. But if we cannot win in Tulsa, when we have living survivors, we have video, we have pictures, we have records. If we cannot win here, then we cannot win anywhere. But together, we can get justice for Greenwood. We've seen other cases where we dealt with the issue of reparations

because what you're dealing with are direct descendants. And so talk about that. And so when we say descendants, and obviously, you know, your clients are very old. And so are they allowing their survivors? So are they allowing for others who are the who are the grandchildren? All of our options of appeals. But we want to stay focused on what we did get in this case. But I'm glad you asked that question because we do believe that descendants should be a part of it. We do believe that Vernon and me should be a part of it. But we're going to think about that as we move this

portion of the case that we do have forward. You know, this is, look, this is historic. And what people don't realize, there were those before you who were working on this. I mean, this has been something that folks in Tulsa have been demanding since this happened. Absolutely. Roland, I'm standing on the shoulders of giants and greats and heroes and sheroes who started fighting for Greenwood the night we were invaded by the murderous mob. They fought for their lives. They fought for their property. They fought for their businesses. They didn't stop fighting even after the massacre. They started filing lawsuits

days after the massacre. People like B.C. Franklin, Buck Colbert Franklin, John Hope Franklin's father. I stand on the shoulders of all those giants. I stand on the shoulders of my legal mentor, Dr. Charles Ogletree and Johnny Cochran and Michelle Roberts and Eric Miller and those fantastic lawyers in the early 2000s when I was just a law student and a baby lawyer, just happy to be around those folks when we had that early lawsuit in the federal courts in the mid-2000s that was dismissed. I'm just simply standing on the shoulders of our community members who, into their dying day, said, we need justice. This is not a riot. This is a massacre. We need

justice. We need reparations. And, Roland, I stand together with this community today. When we had our hearing back in May, if you remember, Roland, it was packed. It was hundreds of people in the courtroom from all around this country and this community that came and stood and supported us. That's what it's going to take for us to get justice in Greenwood. That's what it takes for us to get justice in this country. So yes, I am just now out in front, but it's only because I have so many people that I'm standing on the shoulders of and standing with my beautiful, talented, unbelievable team of co-counsel and lawyers from across this country, academics, activists, and regular community folks, we're working together. So while I may be out front and I may be lead counsel, I am certainly not alone.

You mentioned Bruce Beach. And when you're talking about these legal battles, you obviously look to other places that serve as precedent. And so what other cases, what other are there similar examples that you're looking at to assist and help you in framing your arguments when it comes to Tulsa? You know, honestly, from the litigation standpoint, this is the first time a case of this in this fashion that we know of that has ever been filed asking for a public nuisance based upon an act of racial terrorism, a historic act of racial terrorism. So far as we know, this is the first time

that this type of a case with public nuisance as a legal theory was able to move forward. And I'm not saying this is the first time that this type of a case with public nuisance as a legal theory was able to move forward. And I'm not saying this is the first time someone has filed a case based upon the violation of our civil rights. Obviously, that happens and been happening. But we had to be creative and figure out some way to get beyond the statute of limitations that really stops what should be cases that should be able to move forward. Because, Roland, what I always say, we got to remember in the United States justice system, a so-called justice system, it is about finality and not fairness. They're ready for something to be final and over than to get it right and be fair.

So we have to utilize this particular theory of public nuisance. And I don't think it's ever been done before. But we look to places like Bruce's Beach as inspiration. As we say, if that can happen, then we have inspiration that this can happen. And that's why we ask from your audience to make sure you put pressure on the city of Tulsa, on the mayor, Mayor G.T. Bynum. Put pressure on the county commissioners, Tulsa County commissioners. Put pressure on the city of the Tulsa county sheriff's office to tell them, call them, write them, email them and say, why won't you do the

right thing? Why won't you pay the reparations? Why won't you give back the land? Why are you going to make these people who suffered the massacre and waited over a hundred years for any sort of justice in the courtroom, why are you still fighting them? They can make a decision right today, Roland, that we're going to do the right thing. We're going to rebuild North Tulsa. We're going to share some of the money that we have raised and built off your story. They can do this right now and not force us

to do the work that's necessary, not force us to spend the millions of dollars in discovery and expert fees that we're going to have to do. We are prepared to do that, But I believe as a community, as our people stand together and put pressure on these entities and tell them that justice for Greenwood must happen now, we may not have to go down that route. But if we have to, we have an outstanding legal team with my co-counsel Shorty Ralton Zabel out of New York and Professor Eric Miller and many, many other lawyers. I should start naming names. We're ready to do the work. We're competent to do the work. We've already proven what we can do. We've made history. We've done something that's never been

done before in a legal case dealing with a historical racial injustice of our people. We've gotten past a motion to dismiss. This is something that we're... Is, you know, if the per capita values for black families in terms of net worth and educational outcomes and all of the things that we know historically are disparate are the same in Tulsa, then it stands to reason that the government is going to have a very hard time showing that the city of Tulsa and basically white citizens, non-black citizens have benefited from this race massacre. So I think the way that they have styled this is brilliant, and I think that the evidence that will be marshaled through discovery

is going to be really, really impactful in proving this case. I think the ultimate question, as he kind of alluded to, will be what does the government do with that? Because the evidence is undoubtedly going to be compelling. But whether they'll do the right thing, I don't hold out hope that that will happen. Michael, when you look at this, and as I said to Demario, I mean, there's so many people. You had the Legal Dream Team with Johnny Cochran. You had Willie Gary. You had Charles Ogletree. I remember them bringing the survivors, many of them who have now become ancestors to Congressional Black Caucus,

ALC, bringing them to Congress as well. I mean, they have been fighting this good fight for a very, very, very long time. Yes, they have. And I remember the documentary Before They Die. It came out, I think, in the 1990s sometime. I remember the fight of Charles Ogletree and others. I've studied the history extensively of the origins of Tulsa, which was founded by Creek Indians around 1834. And when they go into Oklahoma, they take their African slaves with them. And a lot of the early African-American landowners in what became the Greenwood District, North Tulsa, a lot of them got land because of those Black Freedmen Indian Treaties of 1866. And last year, Roland, when you were in Tulsa for the 100th commemoration,

you actually interviewed a sister who was a descendant of some of those Black Indians, former slaves who got land from those treaties, and their land was taken away. So this has been a fight on multiple levels. I've been following this strategy with the public nuisance. One of the things that I want to find out is what exactly do they have to prove? What's the burden of proof that they have to prove to actually win their case? And the other thing is, I know that in 2021, Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia, House of Representatives, Congressional Black Caucus, introduced a bill to try to get reparations for the three survivors as well of the Tulsa race massacre.

So I'm trying to find out where that bill is as well of the Tulsa race massacre. So I'm trying to find out where that deal is as well in the House of Representatives. But this is huge for this to be able to advance like this after 101 years. Indeed, indeed. Kelly, your thoughts? I echo the sentiments of both Michael and Matt, especially when it comes to the legal strategy. It really is brilliant. My main question is, is there going to be a solution past just the returning of the land, if that's really... Get to the check, and we will see what's happening right now with the black farmers, where Congress passed the money. Now you've got the white farmers suing for diverse discrimination and the money hasn't been dispersed yet.

And so, Matt, just just just briefly speak to that in terms of what their legal process now has to be moving forward. The next two or three steps. Sure. So kind of to speak to both Michael's question earlier and Kelly's, I think their legal process now through discovery is to be particularly incisive on asking all the important questions to determine exactly how much the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma have benefited from this massacre, because they have to prove that the outcomes for black people, particularly in that area, have been particularly disparate. And we know that they have. That's an easy argument to make because we see it around the country. But now I think it's a matter of social science data. It's a matter of per capita net worth. It's a matter of a number of different things that they can use to prove.

And, in fact, I actually think that that makes this case maybe easier than it does than in some other cases, because it's wide open, the evidence that they can use and the ways that they can prove that the nuisance has been abated. I think the big question will be what discretion does a jury have to award monetary damages for the imposition of the nuisance? And precisely what is that going to look at? Because what look that going to look like? Excuse me, because that's really the big question for not only these three survivors, but for the symbolic importance of this and saying we're going to provide redress. What is that going to look like for this community? And the sad reality is no amount of money is ever going to be remotely enough. But this will be a good barometer for us to see what governments think this case is worth and, frankly, what citizens think cases like these are worth. So that's the next step is basically to put together that evidence and through discovery to ask the questions to determine just how bad this nuisance has been since 1920. Is DeMario still there? I saw the text y'all just sent. He wants to actually answer that. So if just bring him back quickly so he can actually answer that. So let me know when he is up. So again, so what I

really hope that our audience understands, and this is how I think a lot of people, the people I see on social media who get very emotional about this issue of reparations, without understanding, you're dealing with a legal strategy. You're dealing with a legal process. It's a political process. It's a legal process. And there's all of those things involved. This is why you've got to have lawyers doing the work and not just folks out here just saying whatever. Demar, you want to go ahead and address

a couple issues? Yeah, Bobby Beck. So I think the only thing I heard someone was asking me, what is the remedies? Well, we put forth a preliminary abatement plan. We didn't have to do that at that time. We talk about land restoration.

We talk about a victim's compensation fund. We talked about a scholarship program. We talked about abatement from taxes. We're saying, look, if the city of Tulsa and the county of Tulsa destroyed someone's property, killed someone, and then never paid anything, but that same person and or family has paid taxes to the city and the county for 100 years, it's only fair that that family shouldn't have to pay taxes to the city or county for 100 years. So things of that nature.

But our judge, and she has a right to do this, as the brother knows, as everyone knows, the judge can make the determination. She says she's not going to accept our preliminary abatement plan and that we have the duty of coming up with something more or different as we go through discovery. And that's what the discovery process is. I want to be real clear to people. Discovery happens in every case. This is when we get the opportunity to ask to take people's depositions on the oath, to get documents that we can review, and not only take the depositions of those who we are suing, but we're going to get the opportunity to work with some of the greatest experts from around the world. I'm talking about sociologists, psychologists, medical doctors, urban planning, actuaries, people that deal with real estate.

It's really, really amazing because not only is this powerful for us from a legal standpoint, but from a historical documentation standpoint, we only know about 5% to 10% of what happened during the massacre because the perpetrators of the massacre, they have hidden the documents, hidden the identities, and hidden the true nature, barbaric nature of what they did. But through discovery, we will have access to documents never before seen. That in and of itself makes this effort worthwhile. But obviously, we want to get redressed. Wow.

All right, Ben. Demario, I really appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. All right, peace. All right, Ben. So, folks, we will see what happens next in this case. Got to go to a break. We come back more on Roland Martin.

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what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. All right, folks. let's talk about the issue of abortion. And that is the Indiana House has passed a deal that would ban nearly all abortions in that state, sending that bill back to the state Senate to confer on House changes. House members on Friday advanced the near total abortion ban, 62 to 38, with limited exceptions, including in cases of rape and incest, and to protect the life and physical health of the mother. The measure now goes to the Senate.

If approved as is, Indiana lawmakers will become the first in the nation to pass new legislation restricting access to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in June removing its protected status as a constitutional right. Yesterday on the House floor, House Democrat John Bartlett proposed an amendment to the bill that shook the room ahead of today's vote. And he basically says, okay, y'all wanna go after women? Let's go after men. We're forcing young girls to be mothers,

but not forcing the men to be fathers. This bill makes it illegal to prescribe, distribute, supply erectile dysfunction drugs or sexual drugs. If in fact an unwanted pregnancy is an act of God, then impotency must be an act of God. I think that there should be some some onus put on the men for these pregnancies and that's an I urge you to vote for this amendment. I will measure my comments just because I don't want to get in trouble. So at this time, I just will just leave it at that. Please oppose this amendment. Further discussion on the amendment. Some may think this is a joke, but it takes two people for a pregnancy to come about. And to put all the onus onto a woman, I just think it's unfair.

Michael, I think it is important to have this conversation. You've got Republicans who want to go after contraception. Okay, fine. Let's deal with Viagra. I mean, what you're dealing with here are largely male lawmakers in D.C., in state capitals, who are behind these laws, but they don't want to do a damn thing when it comes to men and their penises. You're largely dealing with old white men, too.

Some of them are younger, like Matt Gaetz, but you're largely who I call sugar daddy Matt Gaetz, a.k.a. the white R. Kelly. But you're largely dealing with old white men, OK? So this goes back to what I was saying a couple of weeks ago. So now what they're doing, we see they're going after contraceptives, Republicans going after contraceptives, and wanting to have control over women's bodies. Taking this back to before the 19th Amendment, taking this back to the 1800s, actually 1868 was actually referenced in Justice Alito's opinion. So they're trying to take this back to a time when women had, especially white women, had very little rights in this country. And at a time, if you go back to slavery, like I said before, you know, African-American

women were forced to carry their rapist babies, and African-American girls were forced to carry their rapist babies to terms. Now, a lot of white men want to have that same autonomy over white women. So when you flip the script, and I knew something like this was coming, when you flip the script and start dealing with the penis and Viagra and male impotency and things like this, you're going to see a stark difference and a stark hypocrisy with these old white men that's going to make it even worse. Because what we're seeing now, Roland, New York Times has an article about this from today or yesterday, how a lot of these Republicans like Mastriano and some of these other Republicans

are trying to now moderate their stance on abortion because now they have to go to the general election. They're the dog that caught the car. And now they really don't know what to do with it. So this is, there was a poll that showed how women, showed how women's reproductive rights or abortion is number two behind the economy when it comes to the 2022 midterm election. I think by November's going to be number one. That is a crucial issue there, Kelly, because we just saw this week in Kansas, where voters went to the polls and rejected what Republicans are putting forward. That has sent shockwaves across the country. But they were extremely smart in how they also marketed what the change in the Constitution could mean.

And what we're now seeing, we're seeing 538 say Democrats could very well hold on to the House and the Senate. To Michael's point, we are seeing how significant the issue of choice is going to impact this election. In fact, yesterday, you look at the results in Tennessee, there were a number of hard right Republicans who lost elections in Tennessee. There is significant blowback, especially in the suburbs of this country. Absolutely, because people aren't understanding specifically these white R. Kelly, such as Michael so colorfully described, and these old white men, and frankly, the women who support these old white men. They're not understanding that not only have times

changed, but you cannot simply take away the autonomy of women that we have had for the past 50-plus years and act like everything is going to be okay. It's not. When you give someone a freedom, you cannot take that back and expect no consequences to be had. And back to the legislator of that jurisdiction talking about contraception, let's take it a step further. You know, because, like I said, people aren't thinking about this. If you really want something inside of you that is really just a conglomerate of tissue to have autonomy such that the woman

who's carrying said conglomerate of tissue cannot abort it, let's give that conglomerate of tissue a social security number so we can collect taxes on it. Let's give the pregnant woman license for HOVv lanes even though there's one person in there if it's a hov too she's technically having a second person in the car no one's talking about that no one's thinking about everything that's going to be uh impacted by way of taking away a person's freedom and infringing on their right to privacy in so doing. So I just hope that people come out to the polls, people vote against this archaic, asinine, and frankly, just dumb perception of what is life, what isn't life, what women can do, what women can't do.

I'm team mind your business. If it doesn't concern you, leave me alone. Leave me and my body alone. And frankly, the people of America are speaking now, specifically in Kansas and other jurisdictions that are having primaries right now. People are speaking out and they're tired of it, myself included. Matt, when you talk about this issue, this is where on the political front, if you are liberal, if you're progressive, if you are Democrat, you could have a very winning message based upon the type of overreach of the far right. And I think that's what we saw in Kansas. It's been very interesting watching white conservatives like Eric Erickson try to downplay it by saying,

oh, this is what the Supreme Court wanted. They wanted the states to make these decisions. Okay, you start seeing wipeout of Republican leadership, and you're absolutely right. They're going to start trying to walk back. And the other thing is this year, because it used to be, hey, they were against abortion, except in the case of incest and rape. Now they're passing these laws saying, no, incest and rape, forget it, no exceptions. That, to me, is also a huge part of this blowback.

I think so. And I think, Roland, I saw a graphic that said if you extrapolated those Kansas results out to the rest of the country, something like 80 percent of American voters would have rejected that proposition in Kansas. So I think, one, that's proof positive that the American people at large don't want this, number one. And as Michael and Kelly alluded to, I think what's especially smart or obvious about this is that they did not consider all of the things that would flow from this, i.e. whether a fetus or even before that point is a person for the purpose of the HOV lanes, is a person for the purpose of life insurance and all the other things that come with personhood. So it's clear they didn't think beyond just the political point of this. And I'm glad you mentioned this because I was on a political call today and someone mentioned the commercial I

haven't seen yet. But apparently the Democrats here in Texas are running a commercial where a husband and wife are talking about what they need to do with their doctor. And their doctor basically indicates that they need to have a procedure. But the husband and wife look at each other and say, wait, we have to call Greg first. And the whole premise is we have to call Greg Abbott to make these decisions for our family. And that's running in Texas, and that's expected to get a lot of traction. So I think it's pretty obvious that the Republicans did not think further on this issue, and they didn't think about all the blowback, and they didn't think about all the people even within their party and on the fringes of the party who don't like,

you know, divesting women of their personal autonomy and bodyhood. So I'm glad to see this happening because it's very clear that they didn't think beyond this political issue, and it's starting to bite them in the butt now. Indeed. All right, folks, hold tight one second. We come back. We'll talk with Bill Spriggs about today's jobs report. Five hundred and twenty thousand jobs added. That's a huge number. Boy, Fox News ain't happy. They sure want that number lower. folks hit that like button uh hit that share button on youtube and facebook also if you're watching support us in what we do uh and that is download our app blackstar network app all platforms apple phone android phone apple tv android tv roku amazon fire tv xbox one samsung smart tv uh you can also uh support us with your resources uh folks it is crit is critically important uh and then of, to do so,

check some money orders. PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, are unfiltered. PayPal's are Martin unfiltered. Venmo's are unfiltered. Zelle is rolling at rollingmissmartin.com. We'll be right back.

Yeah. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. Sexy to me is the exact same feeling

as running water. Ever flowing. Water always finds a way to get through. And so when you know that you're sexy, there are no questions about it. It is an ever flowing emotion. It is an ever flowing feeling. When you question it, though, you stop the water.

I actually, I struggle with this a lot, mainly because I've been told what sexy should look like, what it should feel like. As a model who did Sports Illustrated, you're told that this is what sells sexy. But then you travel the world, and what's sexy to one person is not sexy to another person. I'm more of a mind fuck kind of person.

How can you stimulate the brain? To me, that's, that's sexy. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard.

Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roller Mark Unpiltered. We are here in Las Vegas for the NABJ-NAHJ 2022 convention. We're here in the student projects room.

This is where our students do work on the broadcast for the convention. This was an initiative when I was a national student representative actually got passed. Sheila Brooks, she was the one who conceived the idea, but our board would not put the money behind it. When I joined the board in 1989 as a student rep, we actually got it passed and got the money for it and so I thought it was a great opportunity to go full circle to be able to be to broadcast in 1989 as a student rep. We actually got it passed and got the money for it. And so I thought it was a great opportunity to go full circle, to be able to be, to broadcast this show from this particular space, especially because since in the first student projects that we had in 1990,

I was the first anchor of that particular project. So I'm certainly glad to be here. All right, folks, let's talk jobs. Every first Friday of the month, jobs reports come out. And it was a big number today. Five hundred and twenty eight thousand jobs were added last month. Man, conservative media have been hot and pissed off all day. not like you bet. They have been yelling and screaming that we are headed for a massive recession. Well, really? I don't know if that is still the case. Now, the Biden White House has kept saying over and over and over again that things were indeed changing. And so exactly where are we? What's going on? Oh, by the way, gas prices have been dropping in a significant way as well for almost the past two months. Dr. Bill Spriggs, he, of course, is an economist, long-time professor at Howard University,

and, of course, also spent some time with the ACLU. He joins us right now. Glad to have you, Dr. Spriggs. Before we talk about it, here is today President Biden reveling in these numbers. Well, good afternoon. Today, we received another outstanding jobs report. 528,000 jobs were added just last month to this country's employment. 528,000 jobs. We have now nearly doubled what we were almost at 10 million jobs. Almost at 10 million jobs since I took office. That's the fastest job growth in history.

Today, we also match the lowest unemployment rate in America in the last 50 years, 3.5 percent. Yes, 3.5 percent. Today, there are more people working in America than before the pandemic began. In fact, there are more people working in America than any point in American history. You know, what we're also seeing is something that just a few years ago many experts said was literally impossible. Revitalization of American manufacturing.

Since I took office, we've created 642,000 American manufacturing jobs in America. We've seen the biggest and the fastest job recovery in American manufacturing history since the 50s. And some people may have given up on American manufacturing, but the American people didn't, and I know I never did. That's why I made it, Make it in America, that phrase, Make it in America, the cornerstone of my economic plan. And today's report proves Make it in America isn't just a slogan, it's my administration.

It's a reality. I've also made it a priority to bring down the federal deficit. After watching my predecessor every single year increase the debt, the federal deficit, every year for the four years he was in office, I said no more. The days of exploding federal deficits are over. Now, economists said we're going to have 250,000 jobs. It was double that. Bill, glad to have you back on the show. All of these people, the doom and gloom. Oh, my God. We're heading to a recession. What are you seeing? What are you seeing? Because you've got Republicans who are hoping this economy tanks leading into November. Well, the jobs report shows that the economy is continuing to be strong, at least in the job market. It has a little cautionary note to it.

We should be a little careful because while the payroll number was a very huge number, we also do a survey where we ask households what's going on. That's where we get the unemployment number from. And the unemployment number was back down to its pre-pandemic level. We should be celebrating that. We have payroll back. We have unemployment back. This month for women, unemployment was down for all women, white women, Black women, Hispanic women. We also saw that over the course of the year, because we had faster growth for women, we've made up for what was termed the she session, because women lost so many jobs during the immediate part of the downturn. They've made up for that. Plus, they have made gains in higher wage industries than where women were before.

Construction, durable goods manufacturing, warehouse and transportation, wholesale trade, utilities. These are higher-wage industries than where women normally are. But the cautionary note is this. Over the last three months, job openings have been falling. And for the last three months, Black workers have been showing us that it is harder to find a job. Last month, the unemployment rate unfortunately went up for Black men for all the reasons we don't like. Our labor force participation was down, our unemployment was up, our employment was down, and as a result, the unemployment rate for Black men went up.

That's a cautionary tale that the economy can reach this inflection. If we do have a recession, it will be the result of the Federal Reserve way overplaying itself. The Federal Reserve cannot address the source of price hikes that we have in the U.S. And they're happening globally. Globally, prices are up. Every nation on the planet, the United States, has an inflation rate that is slightly lower than the European Union, slightly lower than the 20 largest economies on average. So we are suffering not worse than others, slightly better than others from these price hikes that are going on. But the price hikes are all related to global warming. It's not just Ukraine and Russia, but the global warming that we're suffering from is producing droughts in India, in Africa, Italy. And then we have these unpredictable disruptions.

Who knew? There are only a small number of firms that make carbon dioxide for the United States, and their plants aren't able to produce carbon dioxide. And now we're facing a crisis for all sorts of products from beer, soda, to actually meat slaughter because they use carbon dioxide to knock out animals that come out of slaughterhouses. We all had an infinite formula crisis before. All of these things because our supply chain is so fragile. So the Fed cannot affect those things. The conservatives are jumping up and down, taking away the part. We should be celebrating today the fastest recovery from job loss. We have to share black men who are employed back to pre-pandemic levels. And that was in two years. Normally, that takes eight years. So, Bill, the point that you just, again, as I look at what's happening with the economy,

and I've seen Robert Reich, I've seen a lot of his posts. In your estimation, do you believe that there are companies that clearly are taking advantage of what's happening right now, jacking up prices? The profits of these oil companies have been staggering. And when you look at how the gas prices have been, the barrel of oil, how they've been dropping and how they compare to actually gas prices. There's a significant significant gap there as well. So our companies, are they jacking up these prices and keeping them up to fatten their pockets and saying, screw the consumers? And obviously, that's bad news for Biden because he's getting tagged and saying, oh, it's your awful economy. And how do you also explain these job numbers and other positive economic signs? But then people still saying, oh, the economy is terrible. It's so bad. It's so awful. It seems weird. Well, it is a weird economy. But going forward, we're going to have

to get used to these kind of shocks to prices because what we're seeing this summer, global warming is real. It has real effects. So apart from the fuel, the food prices are going to be erratic going forward. And these horrible storms like the flooding that you see in Kentucky, the next flood could be wiping out those carbon dioxide firms in Jackson, Mississippi for all we know next time. There are so many shocks that can happen because of global warming. But the economy itself is healthy. And people are trying to blame the prices on the health of the economy. They're trying to say the economy is too healthy. But that's not the case. And definitely we don't want to slow down people getting back to work and people getting employment. So they are blaming the health of

the economy and trying to turn ice cream into something you wouldn't want to eat. They're putting vinegar on the ice cream, so to speak. AND IT IS NOT HELPFUL. IT'S PREVENTING US FROM DOING ALL THE THINGS WE CAN TO ADDRESS THE FAULT LINES. THE PRESIDENT'S RECENTLY INTRODUCED ACT THAT IS AIMED AT CONTROLLING INFLATION. THAT ACT DOES ADDRESS SOME OF THE UNDERLYING FORCES THAT WE KNOW WERE PROBLEMS. WE HAVE TO ADDRESS CHIPS, WHICH That act does address some of the underlying forces that we know we're probably – we have to address chips, which Congress just passed legislation to make sure that we can get these smart chips so we can keep up manufacturing of automobiles. Everything we buy now has smart chips in it.

You need to keep health care costs down. Everybody knows that prescription drugs are robbing them every month from increases in those prices. That legislation controls the price that elders will pay for prescriptions, and it will give us a chance to put the genie back into the bottle where these drug companies thought that they had the right to just any price they wanted. We're supposed to print money for them to meet their price. We're going to put rationality back. That's really important.

So there are some key things that are going to make things better. Speaking of the company's profiting, we're going to finally have a global minimum tax agreement that's been agreed to internationally. We're playing our part in the rest. That legislation ties that in. So in the past, Shell and Mobil and all of the rest of them, they would have a rule here like this, and then they would pay no taxes because they were carrying back losses from when the economy was worse, and they would get away with no taxes. You go, how did they make go to state and claim that, you know, we're really Irish. We don't need to pay American taxes. We're really not American, even though every patent we hold is an American tax.

Got some questions for our panelists. Let's go right to them. Michael M. Hiltep, you're first. Your question for Bill Spriggs. Dr. Bill Spriggs. Hello, Dr. Bill Spriggs. Good to talk to you again. Question for you. Looking at the jobs report, we see that inflation is declining a little bit, according to The Washington Post.

And also, we see a healthy job number. We saw that the labor force participation rate dropped down to 62.1 percent from 62.2 percent. Can you explain the significance of the labor force participation rate, why it's so significant? It's not just the top number, 520,000 jobs, but that's also a factor. Can you talk about that, please? Because the labor force participation is an argument that economists have, how big is the labor market? So when you have an unemployment rate that's very low, 3.5 percent is a record low number, then you're going to have a lot of economists say, well, we're done. That, in their mind, is full employment and pushing any more in the labor market, trying to add any more workers to having a job. And their view is only going to bid up wages. And so the argument is, what is the size of the labor force? And so if the labor force participation can't get any bigger, that's it.

People aren't going to join for whatever reason you want to give, whether it's they're afraid of COVID, they can't find child care, they want to retire, any of those things, then you're saying, well, we can't add any more jobs because that's the number of people who are out. And people like me, of course, every time we have a recovery, we have this fight. The argument is always, they're not coming back. That's it. There are no more workers. And then lo and behold, the labor force participation number goes back up. So that's why that number is key. For Black workers, Black workers are exceedingly sensitive to are you hiring?

Because if you're not hiring, there's no point in looking for a job. And over the last three months, black labor force participation has been dropping, and the posting of job openings has been dropping. And that's consistent with firms aren't that intense in their search for workers, and there are a lot of black workers who seem to be discouraged. But being discouraged can be reversed, especially in the case of black workers. All you have to do is start hiring us again, and then we'll show up. So that's why the number is key.

If you continue to believe like the pessimists, never going to get back in terms of the – normally we look at the prime age workers, those who are 25 to 64. And that number is getting close to the pre-pandemic level. It has not returned to the level where it was in 2001. I mean, yes, in 2000. Sorry. Yes, way back in 2001. I mean, you know, like we're 20 years behind getting our labor force participation back where it's supposed to be. So some of us believe we can get back to 2001, and we argue that we can continue to expand the labor market. Wages are not going up. They have stalled. They have only been going up here over here, not because the labor market is tight, but because we have 26 states that have been raising the minimum wage. So if you look at the growth here, then you're going to see a big jump

because you're certainly seeing the effect of these minimum wages. But as you look month to month, or you look in a six-month window, then you see that wages aren't really going up that fast. They're going up around 4%, which is consistent with a healthy labor market. The only problem for workers is that prices are going up 8%. So the labor market has been falling for workers. And so it's this whole issue. Are wages being pushed up because the labor market is too tight? Are any more workers going to come back?

Or are they all gone? How sensitive are workers to actual labor market conditions? All of these are the things that we looked at with signs, whether there's more work for the labor market to continue to expand. I would argue that there's still space left. Black labor force participation can go back up once hiring picks back up again. That's great. Others get heartburn.

People didn't like this 500,000 job thing. But there's still room for more people to get a job. All right. Let me go to Kelly. Kelly, your question for Bill. Kelly? Sure. So really quickly, of course, you see in the news and the light, even though this job support came out today and it's great, you know, people should be happy about that.

The narrative is still we are entering a recession, even though the numbers don't appear to be that way. We frankly have never been in this situation before where, frankly, half a million people in our workforce died because of COVID. So, I guess my question to you is, with everything going on, with the numbers looking good, but we're still in this predicament of not really being able to afford basic needs, such as medicine, food, gas, and the like, even though some of those prices are going down, they're not going down fast enough for American people to take advantage of it. Is it possible for a recession to look different or recession light, something to that effect? What does a recession look like to you? And is it possible for that vision to change to match this narrative that people are spewing right now? Well, as I mentioned, we're going to have problems with prices going forward because our whole system is so fragile.

And in particular, global warming going forward is going to be a problem. And we have to get used to these price spikes that are going to come about because global warming is real and we have to take global warming seriously. That's why the Inflation Act has a big component for us to finally commit ourselves as an economy and as a nation to do something about global warming, which we have already apparently passed the red zone for, even though environmentalists want to tell us we still have some time to go. It's not a recession until general economic activity starts to slow down. We have clear headwinds. The global economy is slowing down because of global warming, and countries are suffering from droughts.

The price of fuel is going up. And for many countries, that's a far bigger burden than in the U.S. So I would say I'm going to redefine what I think of as a recession or any of this is going to cause a redefinition. The economy is strong enough and healthy enough to continue to add workers. Their wages are still going up, not as fast as prices, but their wages are still going up. That's not a recession. It is possible for the Fed to make the same mistake it did in the 1980s,

to believe that when you have massive supply shocks austerity just at the time you need to think okay we're in a storm if a hurricane hit the united states we know the cities that need relief we know which households need more money to help them navigate the shocks of these price increases that resulted from supply shocks. The economy is healthy because people are navigating the price increase. They're buying something different. And so that's why the economy is able to hold up the employment. I can't buy, like earlier in the year, you couldn't buy cream cheese.

But okay, but I have enough money, I can buy something else. That keeps people employed because I bought something else. Earlier, we couldn't buy new cars because the amount of cars we were making had collapsed back to Great Recession times. So people bought used cars. People were paying more to get their automobiles fixed. That kept people employed. We were still ordering cars, so we didn't lose jobs in our auto factories. In fact, we have over 90,000 cars in Detroit, warehoused, waiting for the chips,

so we can actually deliver the cars to people. All of these things, keeping them in Detroit means that we can shift our demands. We know people who have less money have difficulty making a shift. And just as if this were a hurricane, we need to find ways to deliver relief. We can expand food assistance and expand SNAP benefits. It would have been good, unfortunately, it got dropped. But it would have been good if we had made permanent the $300 totally refundable child tax credit because we know the families that struggle the most who can't make shifts

because we saw that with the child reform, right? You got a baby, you can't tell people, oh, well, diapers cost more, so you find an alternative. But there's no alternative to diapers. There's no alternative to the baby formula that we saw, you know, that got taken off the shelf. So we know there are households we should be helping because they don't have these kind of alternatives. And we know how to do that. Got it.

You can't do that. You can't do that. People are feeding you by saying, oh, the economy is overheating. You can't do anything to help anybody because that will make the economy overheat. So we can't deliver the type of work that we need to be delivering right now. And most importantly, that other countries are doing it. So throughout Europe right now, they have been delivering additional help to lower income families because they know that lower income families are having a hard time being able to afford substitutes for when there are shortages.

Okay. All right, Matt, got your question. I got two minutes. I got a next guest lined up. And so, Matt, quick question, Bill, quick answer. I got to go to break. Sure. Very quick question, Dr. Spriggs. I know that in this jobs report, government jobs are down almost 600,000 jobs from pre-pandemic levels. Does that, in your estimation, pose an opportunity for black people in particular? Thanks a bunch. Thanks. watching YouTube, hit the like button, y'all. We should be at a thousand likes already, okay? Why am I asking y'all for the second time? Hit the doggone like button. This is real simple. We had a little more than 700. It's 300 more to go. Just hit the button. It's real simple, okay?

Same thing on Facebook. Hit the share button as well. Folks, download the Blackstar Network app, please. We need to have way more downloads. This allows us to be able to build our capacity with our app to be able to, when we go to our advertisers, we're able to show what our downloads are and show what our viewership is. And so Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, that's all the apps. You also can support us. Trust me, folks, I'm telling you, we're $100,000 down behind from where we were last year.

We're preaching every dollar. If 2,000 of you contribute $50, that means, which is the OBS for the year, that's $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. Keep in mind, you're getting this show two hours a day. You're getting Faraji Muhammad's show two hours a day. You're getting Deborah Owens' a day. You're getting Faraji Muhammad's show two hours a day. You're getting Deborah Owens' Wealth Building show on Monday. Dr. Jackie Hood Martin's Wellness Balance Living show. You're getting Greg Carr's Historical show.

You're getting Stephanie Humphrey's The Pivot show. You're getting Rolling with Roll in our interview series with the phenomenal folks. We've got great interviews coming up. Sally Richardson and Flexie Alexander. We have Rachel. We've got so many folks who interviews coming up. Sally Richardson and Flexie Alexander. We have Ray Chu. We've got so many folks who are coming up. Again, Laz Alonzo, Michael Ealy. Folks, you're getting all of that.

I'm purposely not charging people a subscription. And so what I want to do, I want August to be a $100,000 month. I want 2,000 of our fans contributing, hitting that $50 number. Trust me, that is crucial for us to continue to do and build and we're building. Folks, I'm here at NABJ. I'm here at NABJ and listen to me. I'm telling y'all, and I'm working on this right now, and I'm going to tell y'all right now, I am working on, as we speak, locking down and launching a 24-hour Black Star Network channel. That means we will be on a number of those streaming services. So in addition to the app, we have a 24-hour streaming channel.

And so then that means you'll see our program is going to be going continuously. So I told you what we are building. We're building something here that is for us and by us. You are a huge part of this. Trust me, I'm talking to advertisers as well, but I need your support in doing so. So in the month of August, I'm looking to get 2,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each or more. If you want to give more, that's great. If you can't give more, you can give less.

That's great. If you can't give more, you can give less. That's fine. But I'm looking for 2,000 of our fans to contribute at least $50 this month for us to hit $100,000. And I want to hit $100,000 in August, September, October, November, and December. And trust me, folks, the things that we got going on, I got two other shows in development, another daily show. I've got another weekly show. Trust me, the things that we're building are absolutely amazing. And this is about black owned media. And then, and trust me, I'm giving these advertisers hell. I'm sitting here at NABJ. I'll be talking to some potential sponsors as well. So these things are happening. We need your support. So please cash out money order Money Order, P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered.

PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. We'll be right back. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, 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. All right, folks. Shawnee Alton has been missing from Columbus, Georgia, since July 25th. The 17-year-old is 5 feet 6 inches tall. She weighs 120 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Sade Alston should call the Columbus, Georgia, Police Department at 706-653-3150. Let me say it again, 706-653-3150. A city in California has reached a settlement with a wrongfully arrested black man. Folks, first of all, the city of La Mesa, California has agreed to pay Amari Johnson $125,000 in a lawsuit filed by Johnson that former officer Matthew Diggs used excessive force and wrongfully arrested him.

Before a settlement was set, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed the case set for a trial in mid-November. The city will pay $50,000 of the settlement while their insurance will cover the remainder. Folks, a U.S. District Court judge has denied representatives for NFL coach Brian Flores' request to obtain discovery before arguing against the NFL's attempt to take the case into arbitration. Flores sued the NFL and several teams for racial discrimination against minority executives, including himself. In a statement, Douglas H. Wigdor and John Eliphakeris, Flores' attorney, stated, We are confident that we will defeat the efforts of the NFL to move this matter into a private and confidential arbitration behind closed doors. It is obvious that the NFL is trying

to hide behind the arbitration process and avoid public scrutiny of the racial discrimination and retaliation claims we have brought. If they are confident in their defenses, they should let the process play out in court so the general public can see. The response to the motion is due to be filed by August 19th. The reply from the NFL and the teams that have been sued is due on August 26th. A family in South Carolina has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of their loved one who died in custody at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. 27-year-old LaShawn Butler was arrested and taken to jail for traffic violations on January 31st. Butler was found

dead on the floor of his cell covered in rat bites. According to rule, his death a homicide, the cause being dehydration. The lawsuit says Butler was denied medical care and was in a mental health crisis when he was arrested. Two other inmates have died at this facility this year. And folks, here's a sad case of flying while black. Two Sudan-born American men were speaking and texting in Arabic when they were removed from their Alaskan air flight two years ago. Another passenger alerted the airline staff of them utilizing their native tongue, and the staff member forced them off the plane. Abokar Dira and Mohamed El-Amin are suing the airline for discrimination.

They are still traumatized from the incident. And Teresa David, Thar. What a pleasant, let's see here, they've all given during the show, and so again, everybody who gives is going to get a shout out on the show as well, and so again,

we want to get, let's see here also, let's see here, hold on, Joyce Johnson just gave on Zale, and so again, we're going to be tracking these, giving you a daily update, again, 2,000 people, $50 each. Want to give more? That'd be great. And less number of people. You give less, we understand. But the goal is to hit $100,000. 2,000 people times 50 is 100,000. Folks, it's $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. That's all it costs. But this is about us being able to grow this platform and build

something amazing. Again, cash, checks or money order, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM unfiltered. PayPal or Martin unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSmartin.com. Venmo's RM Unfiltered. Be right back. Sexy to me is the exact same feeling as running water. Ever flowing. Water always finds a way to get through. And so when you know that you're sexy,

there are no questions about it. It is an ever flowing emotion. It is an ever flowing feeling. When you question it, though, you stop the water. I actually, I struggle with this a lot. Mainly because I've been told what sexy should look like, what it should

feel like. As a model who did Sports Illustrated, you're told that this is what sells sexy. But then you travel the world and what's sexy to one person is not sexy to another person. I'm more of a mind mindfuck kind of person. How can you stimulate the brain? To me, we all shine.

Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture, with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. When we invest in ourselves,

we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Creating. Making moves. That move us all forward. Together, we are Black Beyond Men. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond,

and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. years ago a dc couple offered a spare room in their home to help a student interning on capitol hill for the summer. Today, the couple has founded the Washington Intern Student Housing Program, which has provided temporary intern housing to more than 100 colleges and universities worldwide. Inspired by President Joe Biden's call for diversity in the workforce, Jacqueline Lewis established the HBCU National Center in November of 2021 to directly eliminate students struggling with the cost of living while in D.C. The program provides experiences and opportunities for HBCU students to connect with mentors and alumni, network with

community leaders, and explore the nation's capital without having to worry about the expensive cost of living while interning in Washington, D.C. Joining us now is Haley. So right now you're on a floor. So how many people can the building hold? Like 200 students. So you're looking to fill that up, which means you have available room, but you need the people, right? Correct. Now, is there a cost for the students? I mean, who's paying for this? How does that work? No, there's no cost. Once they receive the grant, it's considered fully paid for.

The HBCU National Center is founded through the profits of WISH. So we make the money through WISH and use that to funnel into the HBCU National Center. So let's just say it's a perfect example. So let's say if I have, so this year I have four interns. I've got a student from Howard who, a student from Morgan State, and then one from Norfolk State and then one from North Carolina A&T. So let's say I have four interns who are HBCU students, but they're all from somewhere else. And so let's say, again, if I provide the paid internship, how would I or someone else connect with you to be able to work and link those students up to provide a place to stay?

Yeah, so far we've worked directly with universities and with congressional offices because that's where the bulk of our connections are. are, but this right now is great to connect with more intern providers so more people can know about us and reach out directly to me. Our email is HBCUNC at InternsDC.com. Anyone can reach out there if they have interns they want housing for we we can help so uh to your two student ambassadors i mean it must be pretty cool uh obviously you know coming to work here in dc and then being able to connect with other students. And so talk about the camaraderie. Talk about, I mean, obviously folks are working and folks are tired as hell, but it has to be a pretty interesting and unique experience

to have all of you sort of living together, communing together. You want to take this one? Yeah, I'll take the one next time. So it was a great experience for me, honestly. Everybody went by. All of us stand on the same floor. We all have different internships. Like, I work at Department of Homeland Security.

Anaya also works at Department of Homeland Security. We have Shandre, who works at the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated Headquarters. We have Javon, who's also an Edward Waters student who works here at HBCU National Center. And then we have Nicole and Ian. They also work for the Congress members. And also, like, we have students that also work for the U.S. Chambers. So all of us come from, like, different states. Most, majority of us come from different states.

Like, I came from Alabama. Naya came from Kentucky. We have one that came from Louisiana, one that came from Dallas, so we are all from different places and I just feel like you know it made us like a family together like we're all in this place staying here together we all stayed on the same floor so we all connected with each other so if we needed something we all were like a door away from each other so it was a real great experience real great experience, real great experience.

Pay for housing, pay for food. That's one of the reasons why the internship pool is so white. And so there has to be that level of assistance provided to sort of break down those barriers. I remember Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, when she came in, she made it clear she was paying her interns. She said they should be working for free. And so that also is crucial. Right. And I just, you know, even with our within the HBCU National Center, when you go on our Web site, we have like different resources for students also to apply for internships. But, like, the United States Senate, you know, we have, like, White House scholars who's also part of the program.

We have students who also, we have that resource on our page also for you not to only get that free housing, but also for you to earn or get an internship within the Congress and the Senate. I would agree. Our biggest challenge so far... I mean, I... Oh, I was saying... I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Okay.

I was saying one of our biggest challenges that we've noticed is working with universities to find those students that want to come to D.C. and actually intern. That's been our biggest challenge, probably why we haven't been able to get the amount of students that we want, but our numbers have increased from the first class where it was six of us and then the spring, and now we're up to 12. We're making slow progress.

And I think to your point that students can't afford it, so they don't think of it as an option. So kids aren't thinking, oh, I want to go to DC for my spring semester because it just is financially out of the question. So we also are doing constant outreach to career centers at universities. So the kids there, they can do outreach to their students and say, you can go to D.C. We have this thing to help you get there.

So, look, we're going to make it easy for y'all. Bottom line is we've got people who are watching this show. We're going to help spread the word. I've got 3.7 million social media followers. So we'll push it out. Don't be shocked and surprised if you get some inquiries. So, because I mean, I just think this is a great idea uh and again uh jackie lewis uh this is awesome what they are doing uh and and more people should be aware of this because yes this does look at the end of the day the reason people hbcu students don't think about it because the first thing they factor in man i can't i can't afford to actually uh go live there. Now, so last question for you. Is it for any internship in the nation's capital?

Obviously, Sydney worked with my show, so it's not limited just to on Capitol Hill, correct? Correct. You can intern anywhere. Like me and Mashawn said, we both intern for Homeland Security. Sydney interns with you. If they have any internship here in D.C., they're able to stay with the HBCU National Center. Wow, that is absolutely awesome. Again, I love it. This is a great idea. We'll push this thing out. I appreciate y'all housing Sydney.

Hopefully she learned something in her internship. Today's actually her last day. She's here in Vegas. She's behind the camera. Sydney, walk out here. Congrats, Sydney. We miss you. So, all right, Sydney, you can wave at everybody. So y'all, so this is, hold on, you gotta bend down, Sydney.

You didn't zoom the camera out. Oh. She's working the camera,. You didn't zoom the camera out. She's working the camera, and she didn't zoom the camera out. I went to Bowie State, so my proximity to D.C. was, you know, a lot closer than other HBCUs, so I was lucky in that regard. But it was still really difficult trying to find one and also securing the necessities that I would need in order to keep the internship. So I can only imagine what it's like for students, you know, now who live further out with likely fewer resources to try and fulfill their dreams of working on the Hill or just working in DC in

general. Programs like this are vital to students at HBCUs. And I'm happy that it exists. I wish I knew more about what exactly they need to sustain this program and to expand this program because they need all the help that they can get. Because what I would love to see is it being fully funded between, you know, like a stipend for transportation, you know, housing's covered, what about food, what about other needs? Because things are more expensive in D.C. than, say, southern states and the like.

So I would love to see something where the student is covered in a holistic point of view, like 100 percent where they don't need to need for anything. But this is a fantastic start. And I'm extremely proud of those who started this program because it really is needed. Michael. Yeah, you know, Roland, this is something that's fantastic. I had not heard of this before today. And yeah, I think this is something that really has to be funded and expanded, because this can help to level the playing field so that we have more African Americans who are congressional staffers. Because if you can become a congressional staffer, you can learn how Congress works,

the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, then you may actually run for Congress. You may run for the House of Representatives, especially the U.S. Senate, because the Senate is 95 percent white. So if you can get in there as a college student and learn how things work, get relationships, make friendships, things like this, this can help level the playing field. You are correct. The reason why the congressional staffers are so white is a lot of our people can't afford to go work for free. So this is really important.

Matt, close us out. You know, so this is really important. Matt closes out. I had the benefit of work interning on Capitol Hill when I was a freshman at Howard and it was formative for my career. I think Michael's 100 percent right, because it was so important in demystifying how things worked. And I had the benefit of working for a black member and it was just a formative experience for my career. So what I wanted to suggest to them, if they are still listening, is to reach out to all the respective HBCU alumni associations, because I think there are so many alumni in those ranks who would not only want to donate, but who have found it to be formative, their own internship experience in D.C. and otherwise, and understand the import of it. So I think that connection can just further buttress what they've already done, but I think it's an extraordinary program.

All right, then. Folks, I appreciate it. Matt, Michael, Kelly, thank you so very much for joining us. Folks, that is it from NABJ, NAAJ Convention here in Las Vegas. Thank you so very much. So real quick, real quick, in the studio at home, I need all of the interns caught in front of the camera right now. So I already showed Sidney. So you got three interns who are back at the office. Get out to the studio right now. Get out there.

Let's go. Let's go. Moving interns. Move it. Anthony'all probably didn't turn the lights on in the studio. So today is the last day of our fort. Okay, y'all hurry up. Turn the lights on. Today is the last day of our fort. You got a little alpha wristband. How you... I'm going to have to train.

I want a wristband. I want a lanyard. And I want a couple t-shirts. I'm going to have to let you know. You're going to have to do better. Fratch, you're going to have to do better than that. You got to represent a whole lot better. All right, y'all.

Again, let me thank our four interns and let me thank he didn't reveal it publicly, but there's a major entertainer who put the money up for three of our internships.

There's a major entertainer who put the money up for three of our interns. And I did. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to have them, y'all going to write this person individual letters and then I'm going to deliver it to them. So I haven't revealed his name, but when I brought on Sidney, I said, hey, I'm trying to find the money for the other three. And he said, don't worry about it. I got it. And wired over the $30,000 that paid for those other three internships.

And so that was just awesome, awesome that that actually happened there. All right, folks, that is it for us. I got to go. I got stuff to do. Carol over here, y'all, is sick. I'm about to make Carol real sick because a few moments ago, my friend Lionel Richie hit me up, and I got tickets. He said I can go to tonight's show or tomorrow night's show. He's in Vegas.

John Legend's here tonight. I was texting John yesterday, and then I just The Thank you. Să ne vedem la următoarea mea rețetă! Thank you. The I'm Martin. Martin! The Thank you. this is an iHeart podcast