#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Just Brothers Meeting; Will ATL's next mayor be Black? ATL's economic outlook; Mutombo talks biz

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

9.14.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Just Brothers Meeting in Atlanta; Will Atlanta's next mayor be African American?; What is the economic outlook for Atlanta amid pandemic and demographic shifts? Roland talks with Dikembe Mutombo and John Hope Bryant; Greenpeace's new Co-Executive Director Ebony Twilley Martin speaks; Clyde Higgs, CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. talks infrastructure#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: CEEKCEEK is a streaming platform for virtual events and Virtual Reality experiences featuring the biggest names in music, sports, and entertainment from around the globe. Check out the VR headsets and 4d headphones. Visit http://www.ceek.com and use the discount code RMVIP21Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform 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. Martin! Today is Tuesday, September 14th, 2021, and we're coming live from Atlanta for a special edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered. A group of brothers here in Atlanta, they meet on a regular basis. I was invited to speak to them, and so we're going to be talking with them about a variety of issues. First of all, will we see an end of black mayors here in Atlanta? It's a mayoral election that could happen. Also, Atlanta is known as the black mecca in terms of business. What is the future for black business in this city, but also for America? And also, what is the impact on the Georgia voting bill on the rest of the country? And lastly, we'll talk about the need for black America to be reprogrammed with John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation Hope, plus Dakeni Mutombo, who is our host. He is an

international ambassador for basketball. And we'll talk about the role that he is playing when it comes to basketball across the continent, but also education. Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Rollerball Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rolling Martin Now He's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling. Martez now.

Martez. All right, folks, we are here in Atlanta at the home of Hall of Fame basketball player Dikembe Mutombo, where there's a group called Just Brothers where they meet on an annual basis. And so some are here in person, others are virtual. And so I was invited to speak to them. I don't know what we're going to talk about, but I guess I'll figure that out later. But we decided to say, hey, let's also – I was always going to do the show, of course, and they said, hey, can we incorporate the brothers who are here into the show? And I said, well, why not?

Because that's what happens when you own it. And so we're glad to be here, looking forward to this conversation. A lot of different things we're going to cover on the next two hours, and we certainly appreciate you guys being with us. Also, I'll be talking with the sister who was the first black president of Greenpeace, the environmental organization. I'll be talking with her on today's show as well. But first off, we are here in Atlanta. And as anyone who understands the history of this city, African-American mayors have transformed the city in a tremendous way. Remember the last election, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won by just 400 votes. The question is, could we see

the end of African-Americans being mayor of the city of Atlanta? And so we want to kick up our conversation this way. So joining us right now is the former mayor of Atlanta, Bill Campbell. He joins us. Glad, glad to see him here. Also, General O'Brien told me they have a rule that you're not supposed to wear ties to this meeting. And so you didn't get the memo. I didn't get to see him here. Also, General O'Brien told me they have a rule that you're not supposed to wear ties to this meeting. And so you didn't get the memo. I didn't get the memo as well. And so, you know, I could have came in in some sweats. But, you know, I didn't want to be too casual.

But we certainly— I wanted to fit your show, sir. There you go. There you go. So you did it right, of course. And one of our elected officials here in Georgia, Roger Bruce. Glad to have both of you here. So how we doing?

All right. All right. So let's we doing? All right. All right. So let's jump right into it. A lot of people, Mayor, don't understand how the demographics have shifted in Atlanta. When we talk about other cities, Washington, D.C., people talk about how the explosion of growth in Prince George's County, well, a lot of people left Washington, D.C. Same thing here. All of the people say they live in Atlanta. They actually live in Latonia, or they might live in Gwinnett and other areas.

And so how has the demographic shifts of African-Americans moving to other places, bolstering those cities, impacted the voting population that's in the city? Well, when I was elected in 1993, the African-American percentage was almost 70 percent. Now it's 47 percent. So there has been African-Americans are 47 percent in Atlanta. Correct. The population of the voting population. So Atlanta, the Atlanta city is no longer a majority black city? Correct. But the leading candidates for mayor in the election, which will be in about two and a half months, are African-Americans, one male, one female, one the former mayor, Kasim Reed, and another who is the president of the city council,

Felicia Moore. So I think you will continue to see African-American leadership in the mayor's office for a number of years to come. And in fact, let me just also say that with the migration of African-Americans in the surrounding counties, it's been a great positive because in all those jurisdictions, they have been turning out tremendous numbers of voters and they have changed the dynamic of those counties, which were largely some almost rural Cobb County where the Brave Stadium is located that's now almost entirely run by African-American leadership mostly African-American female leadership Gwinnett County, DeKalb County, all these Henry County, Clayton County, these are suburban counties, and they were totally run by whites for many, many years, and very conservative, by the way, and that's all changed.

So even though the dynamic for Atlanta itself has changed somewhat, those suburban counties who turned out in great numbers to shift the entire paradigm for the U.S. Senate with Warnock and Ossoff all came from this outward migration. But still, the fundamentals are from Atlanta. That's where the roots grow. This is where all people know that you vote all the time. Runoffs. The only place in the country where African-Americans turn out in runoffs is in Atlanta.

That's why Kasim Reed won by only 500 votes in a runoff. That's why Keisha Lance Bottom won 500 votes in a runoff. African Americans turn out all the time because that's the history of Atlanta. Dr. King, the Civil Rights Movement, the colleges and universities, everything about Atlanta is

geared towards making certain that we understand how precious the right to vote is. And of course, we lost the paragon, John Lewis, back in July of last year. Think how much he wanted to understand that voting was fundamental. And of course, there's the John Lewis voting rights bill, which is still bottled up in Congress. If we can get something that will stop these places, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, and these insane efforts to try to stop people from voting. It's almost un-American. But yet they're trying to do that in some way as a tribute to Donald Trump's efforts to try to undermine the legitimacy of the election.

So African-Americans are going to have an African-American mayor in Atlanta. There's almost no doubt about that. But the migration outward has made a real difference also. So I think you can rest assured that Atlanta and perhaps Georgia, again, will play a leading role in the politics of the country. We often talk on this show about the role that voting plays. I mean, I get people all the time who say, man, you always talk about voting and we don't see it. What I'm constantly trying to do is play connect the dots, trying to get people to understand that there's a direct correlation between who gets elected, contracts, services. Maynard Jackson wins in early 70s. African-Americans were getting.0012% of all city contracts.

And so you don't have the economic shift in Atlanta without combining the political power that shifted the economic paradigm. But, you know, as the mayor just stated, you know, we've created new cities around Atlanta also. The city of South Fulton is 92% African American, and it's the fourth largest city in the state, and we just created that five years ago. And what has happened with that and with all of the migration that you talked about into these other cities and these other counties,

we have been able to change the dynamic around the economic piece because we now control it. And again, for the people who don't understand, we talk about the economic piece. We're talking about bond elections. We're talking about all type of contracts that are coming out of the city, out of the school district, out of the county. Even simple things. You know, the school systems, the city, the government, got to buy toilet paper, got to buy it from somebody. You know, so if we had a contractor, a black contractor, that's selling toilet paper, you know, he'd be doing pretty good right now because I'm assuming everybody uses it.

That's a good bet. That's a good bet. There are very few guarantees in life. Wiping your ass is one. See, this show is called Roller Mart Unfiltered, so we can say wiping your ass, it ain't no problem. Because it's black-owned. That's what we need to do with more things. We need to own it.

And one of the issues that we have in Georgia, I'm a state representative, so the issue that you just talked about for Atlanta, that exists in the state. We have less than 2% of the state contracts going to African-American businesses, which is crazy. We represent, we spend $26 billion in state money and then another $26 billion in federal money. And less than 2% of that goes to African-American companies. So you're right. We've got to find ways to own it and to be able to control who gets the contracts. And you do that by turning out the vote and putting people in place that make the decisions

around contracts and all the other things you're talking about. And the reason I brought that up, because what has happened is, when you talk about those state contracts, you've had the state folks who have been desperately trying to get hold of that airport. Well, interestingly enough, the airport, which is named half for the person who really was responsible for the growth of our airport, Manor Jackson. Every brick, every flight has all been done by African-American mayors, starting with Manor Jackson all the way through. So when you see the busiest airport in the world and you understand the billions and billions of dollars of contracts,

of people who work in and around the airport, all as a result of the African-American leadership coming from the mayor's office. But also let's go back to the fundamentals about why it's important to have these elections and voting. Because in each of these places that you talked about, Roland, they are electing African-American district attorneys. So the fundamental issue of justice, which almost always comes from district attorneys, you know, there's so much talk about the federal government or, but these decisions are made on a local level and they're made by DAs. And these DAs really have no oversight. So the fact that Cobb County- Because they are the chief law enforcement officer.

Absolutely, and they are a power unto themselves. But now with these elections in these suburban counties who were almost invariably, they were white and conservative and more likely Republican, that's all changed now. So we're now seeing a paradigm shift, and that makes a real difference in the dispensation of justice. So I think you have a real appreciation for what Atlanta has meant and what it now means for these outlying counties who are now being changed fundamentally. And I will continue to say that this election is going to be essential for where we go as a country.

I believe we are now in an existential battle for the heart and soul of America. It's not just the mask or vaccines. It's about whether or not we're going to move forward or whether or not we're going to allow Trumpism to take us back. And so I think that's what you have to understand. The voting in California today on a recall election, all of this is about the efforts to undermine democracy. And every election now,

think about this. If the Republicans win, it's a good election. If they lost, it was stolen. So that's a heads I win, tails you lose. I mean, there's no way you could ever have any sort of assurance that we're going to have the kind of democracy that we've had and relied on in the past. That's why voting is so fundamental. And of course, this was ground zero earlier this year for the voter suppression bill that went through the legislature. Because and look, it's a fight for democracy. But I also keep laying out that we're also battling white fear, that what this is really about is scared to death that black people are turning out scared to death that Native Americans are turning out, others are turning out, scared to death that Native Americans are turning out,

others are turning out, and they see what is coming because they're going to have to do in other parts of the country what white folks in Atlanta learned, they had to share the power and the money. Yeah, exactly. And we're in a situation, you know, when democracy was working for white folks, they like democracy. It's not working for them anymore. for white folks they like democracy right so I mean deep in my heart I really believe that they're trying to change the form of government that we have oh no no that's not just only your heart but that's in reality that's what the takeover Supreme Court was about that's what control the federal bitch

was about because if you do have black folks who are in power if they sue they go to the federal courts they can always throw those laws out. They throw them out. And that's what this is all about. It's changing it so that they can stay in control. You know, we were talking the other night, and it's almost like apartheid. You know, they want to take us back to what South Africa used to be and be able to control it as a minority. You know, when you look at this filibuster that they're doing in Washington,

that's the minority controlling the majority. Right. And so they're trying to do that in Washington. They're trying to do it here in Georgia. They're trying to do it all over the country. And people better pay attention. You know, we were talking earlier, and I'm scared to death about what's happening in California.

If they overthrow, if they get rid of that governor, and that black guy goes in there, and he changes the form of government that we have in Washington, I mean, a black person being responsible for changing the balance of power in the United States against black people, it's hard for me to fathom that. Oh, well, first of all, Larry Elder is one of the most evil, demented individuals out here. And he's a brother the heretic would have left behind. Yeah, or thrown. Or shot him. And I ain't got, look, I don't mince words.

I don't play, you know, I saw a tweet by Megyn Kelly. She talked about how dare these folks criticize. This man's daddy went through Jim Crow. I was like, well, clearly his son didn't learn nothing. And so they must went to the school of Clarence Thomas being raised. I don't know what the hell's going on there. But the thing that, the last question for both of you is this here though. I believe though that there are a lot of people out there who say, OK, I hear you, but they don't they don't see or feel the impact of voting. And so they do. They actually do. Well, they just don't appreciate it. Well, right. But but but that has to be properly explained.

What I'm saying is it's not going to work to say somebody died for your right to vote. They like, OK, sorry, that ain't flying with me. And so I fundamentally believe that we have to have a resurgence of citizen education workshops that walk folks through that because, again, for that person who doesn't watch this show or they're not reading the newspaper, they're not looking at sites, they're just kind of like, man, I don't see it. I don't feel it. It all doesn't sound the same. And so we've got to walk folks through that.

And that means going back to those neighborhoods and going back to precinct captains and block captains and literally retraining because you do not have the level of citizenship training in school that you used to have. But that's how Ossoff and Warnock were elected here in Georgia. It was a door-to-door effort. It was re-educating. It was getting people back to the polls, the old fundamental ways of making certain that you're contacting your neighbors, your relatives, and that's what actually happened in Georgia. Right, but what I'm saying is that has to happen when the election is over

and then in the off year and saying we need you coming to the city council meeting the state the school board meeting the state legislature because again we're very good to me at mobilizing around the election but the election is the end of one process it's the beginning of another we've got to do a year round as the bottom line and we got to do it early on they're not teaching these kids anything about black history in schools. Well, they're fighting it. They're fighting it. They're fighting it.

Which is why we've got to relaunch freedom schools. And we've got to have grandma and grandpa having, you know, come to Jesus and meet right at home. And we need to invite the neighbors over. Just to your point, we've got to go back to the way we used to do it, you know, where we're touching people, you know, face to face and we're educating people on what's going on in this country because right now we're in trouble. But ultimately, demographics are destiny.

And what that means is that the fact that more young people are voting. Asians are voting Democratic. Hispanics are voting Democratic. More African-Americans are turning out and voting. More suburban women are voting Democratic. It's destiny. And that's why you're seeing the efforts to try to literally stop people from voting. But that's not going to work ultimately. We just got to make certain, as you say, to educate and motivate and get people to the polls. Well, it's destiny in some places. The Texas Monthly just had an article how a number of Latinos in South Texas flipped in a huge way two and three hundred percent going from Hillary Clinton voters to Donald Trump voters and Democrats were just sort of assuming that was going to continue. But many of them...

But they're not monolithic. Right, right, right. But many of them... But they're not monolithic. Right, right, right. But many of them are identifying with white values as opposed to minority values. But again, that's where, to me, the education has to come in. And so at the end of the day, for us, we can't wait on anybody else. We've got to maximize our numbers.

Gentlemen, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, got to go to break. When we come back, we're going to talk about COVID, its impact on this state, and what we are going to do to ensure that African Americans are fully aware of getting vaccinated. Also, we'll talk about black economics in Atlanta, but also broadly across the country.

All of that and more as we have this special edition of Roller Martin Unfiltered from the Just Brothers meeting here in Atlanta. We'll be back on Roller Martin Unfiltered, the Black Star Network in a moment. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them.

But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road. That is so freaking dope. All right. So a lot of y'all always asking me about terms, some of the pocket squares that I wear. Now I don't know. Robby don't one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares. I don't like even the silk ones. And so I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago, and I saw this guy who had this pocket square here, and it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square. This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool. And so I tracked down the, it took me a year to find a company that did it.

And so they did these about 47 different colors. And so I love them because again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear, so we don't have many options. And so this is really a pretty cool pocket square. And what I love about this here is you saw when it's in the pocket, you know, it gives you that flower effect like that. But if I wanted to also, unlike other, because if I flip it and turn it over, it actually gives me a different type of texture. And so, therefore, it gives me a different look. So there you go.

So if you actually want to get one of these shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors. All you got to do is go to rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares. So it's rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website and you can actually get this. Now for those of you who are members of our bring the funk fan club, there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares. That's why you also got to be a part of our Bring the Funk fan club. And so that's what we want you to do. And so it's pretty cool. So if you want to jazz your look up, you can do that. In addition, y'all see me with some of the feather pocket squares. My sister was a designer, she actually makes these. They're all custom made. So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized feather pocket squares right there at RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So please do so. And of course, it goes to support the show. And again, if you're a Bring the Funk fan club member, you get a discount.

This is why you should join the fan club. Oh, it's death. Hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America. It led to a historic summer of protests. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force.

Thank you. that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. It ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We gotta deal with it. It'scom. It ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We've got to deal with it.

It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece.

Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's going to happen. Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lele.

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. Roland Martin Unfiltered here in Atlanta. Let's talk about business. We spend lots of time on our show.

That's why we have our segment called Where's Our Money? Every Tuesday, we also have the Marketplace segment where we feature black-owned businesses. And so guess what? We've got three CEOs right now on the far left. My far left here, Maurice Stewart. We have Michael Russell and Tommy Dorch Jr. Maurice, tell folks about your company. So my company is Outsource CFO Group, and we help small-owned businesses, primarily black-owned small-owned businesses,

to raise capital and manage capital for their businesses. How long have you been in business? About 14 years. Okay. Michael? I'm Michael Russell. We are in the real estate and construction company, H.J. Russell & Company. We are celebrating 70 years next year.

The largest in the country. Thank you, John. Boy, you the country. Thank you, John. Well, you can't leave that out, Doc. I mean, you got to sell it. Yes, sir. And build the tallest building in downtown Atlanta. See that?

I got my people with me, man. Right. You got to get that double second. You got to nail it, Tommy. Yeah, I've been in business 27 years. I own six businesses, a little bit north of 300 employees. I'm in parking. I'm in mattress manufacturing, consulting firms, and, of course, my transportation company.

And I've been in business 27 years. I decided after 16 years with the U.S. Senate, I needed a real job. So I created it. Yeah, precisely. Precisely. Let's talk about that, because one of the reasons in creating this show is I wanted to be able to feature voices that, one, you're not going to see on CNBC, Bloomberg, ABC, NBC, CBS. And so we've had a number of businesses that we feature every Tuesday because I get these people tell me, man, you need to have this person on and this person on. You need to have Claude Anderson or you need to have this expert. I said, well, I can have people on who can talk about the need for black owned businesses,

or I can actually have the black owned businesses talk about what they actually do. And that, to me, Tom, is really where we are and where we have to be because at the end of the day, it's not just about having a business. It's building capacity and growing it. You know, pre-COVID, there were 2.6 million black-owned businesses in America, but 2.5 million only had one employee. Average revenue, 54,000. And I said, no disrespect, if you got just one employee, I said, no disrespect, that's not a business. So we only are dealing with 100,000 black-owned businesses

with more than one employee. That is not going to get it if we're talking about being able to move forward in the future. And we got to grow it, and that's important. I'm at a point now I never would have imagined. My father was an entrepreneur. And it took me 22 years in public service to really get back around to it. But what I've understand with the most recent contract that I signed back in April, and I never would have imagined I'd be where I am. I now will have exceeded 200 million

since I started business. And, but I spend a lot of my time helping other businesses to grow, because that's very important. And working, I worked with Michael's father. His father is a legend. And we designed the diversity and inclusion programs at Hartsfield Jackson, thanks to the great man of Jackson, who started a program that still exists,

been tested in all the courts. But we designed the diversity and inclusion program for his father that managed that $5.3 billion expansion. We did $1.6 billion, mainly with African-American-owned business. You have to be intentional, but you've got to have leadership. But also we had to train people. We did financial management, construction business management institute. We did all of those things. But our businesses know how to do the work, but they got to also understand how to manage the money, how to make sure they value their

employees. But with that, you also got to have leadership that understands it should be inclusive. As Maynard told the people, corporate Atlanta, if you don't pay the way to make sure that African-American business owners get a piece of the action, then we won't build a new airport. And he held out until they said there will be tumbleweeds going down the runway. But Michael, that's the thing right there that I keep seeing all across the country of this new crop of black leaders. They've got to have that level of courage. And then, granted, you've had Supreme Court rulings since the early 70s, but there are still ways to be able to get it done. But folks got to actually do it. You're right. And you're absolutely right. Those type of

political leaders are far and few between today who have the courage and the fortitude of a Jackson. But you do have them. And you're right, Roland. It takes a very intentional focus to make it happen. And, you know, we're working in areas where that is relevant, but it is rare. I mean, you really need the right political leadership. They need to have the right support around them. And it makes a difference because firms like us, too, as Tommy mentioned, you know, we've been around. I'm fortunate to run a second-generation business, which is super rare, obviously. But, you know, the reality, we tend to hire more people to look like us.

So that's real, too. We put people to work. And that's my point when we talk about build capacity, because we are far more sensitive to the issues. You have black-owned businesses that are hiring folks who are formerly incarcerated, willing to work with folks in different areas. And so I've had people get mad at me. They're like, man, you keep going off on these companies when it comes to black-owned advertising.

I'm going, well, how in the hell do you think we're going to hire people? I'm like, if we don't get the money, there's a reason CNN does a billion-dollar profit. There's a reason they're in 200 countries and have thousands of employees. I said, because they have capacity. I said, so, you want us to sit here and continue saying, oh, let's be fine with having 12 or 15? I said, because they have capacity. I said, so, well, you want us to sit here and continue to say, oh, let's be fine with having 12 or 15?

I said, no. No doubt. I mean, you have to have scale. I mean, scale creates opportunity. And frankly, we as an organization are really being more intentional about how do we hire more black vendors? How do we partner with more black firms? And we have an institute that we've set up about growing black entrepreneurship.

That's a whole other entity that we could talk about. But I think firms like us that do have scale and have impact, we have to be very intentional about our efforts in hiring more black people. When I was at TV One, here you had this black owned company. And every time I had a big interview, they would send a white photographer. So I remember, I was like, okay, I said, now I want everybody to eat. I said, but y'all do know them white networks ain't hiring black photographers. Right. And so finally it was when I had the Bill Cosby interview. This is right before everything, all the news broke, uh, with allegations against him. Uh, and I'm interviewing him and this photographer,

he's taking pictures and the flash is going up. I'm like, don't this fool know we're shooting video? Like, using that. So I walk into the PR person. I said, don't you ever sin. I said, y'all going to send a black photographer who understands how to shoot black people. I said, now, I don't care who the hell y'all hire for the rest of y'all's stuff. Y'all going to find somebody black. And I said, I advise y'all not

to make the mistake again. This was her first day on the job. She was like, what the hell did I walk into? And so when we would travel to do our show, we would go to L.A. I would go, no, no, I want to because I don't do that cold food. Don't come in that box lunch stuff. If any of y'all got a box lunch business, sorry.

I can't stay in cold food. I said, no, I want a black restaurant. I said, we're going to use black limousine companies. I said, because if we are not hiring them, I said, it's a good bet other folks are not hiring them. Right. Well, I mean, I think you talk about intentionality. And so it's a good time to be black in business, in my opinion, right now. There's a lot of money out there. Access to capital is being, available to black businesses. The government's got a lot of federal money that's coming down for black communities, but we have to take advantage

of it. And we don't know about it a lot of times. And so I worked with a lot of small businesses that were looking for PPP loans, and they weren't able to get them because they weren't set up like a business, like an enterprise. Yeah, because a lot of black-owned businesses were using folks who were 1099s and couldn't get more of the money if they're not full-time.

Exactly. Exactly. So you have to have yourself set up right. You've got to operate like a real business, not like a hobby. And then once you start doing that, you can get access to being a vendor for the city, being a vendor for the airport. There are communities with federal dollars that have opportunities, but they don't have anyone looking to them to reach out and say, hey, look, you need to take advantage of this, whether it's for sewage or for broadband. So we need the communities to know about what's out there

and be intentional about going out there and getting it. But there's also, Tommy, is understanding the business of the business. There are a lot of people who are enamored with the idea of saying, I got my own company. Right. And their business card says CEO. And I'm like, yeah got my own company. Right. And their business card says CEO. And I'm like, yeah, but you broke. Right. And so I am constantly trying to walk people through.

There are people who, in content, I was literally going with, I was sitting down with somebody, and they were asking me, you know, we started this three years ago. And I was sitting with them, and so I was trying to walk them through just understanding the most basic things. I said, so you take these cameras that we're using here today. These are Canon C300 cameras. The body alone is 9,000.

You throw the lenses on it. Now you're talking about 20,000. That's just for one camera. I said, well, we started. I said, I could have spent 20,000 on one camera. The problem is I got one damn camera. I said, that makes no sense. I said, but then when I bought the Canon XA25,

they were $19.99 each. I got three of them. I said, it cost me $6,000. Then I still had $14,000 left over to buy some other stuff. I said, now we grew into buying. Now we got five of these. I said, we grew into buying them. I said, but you can't be stupid and getting that.

Yeah, but it looks great. I'm like, yeah, but you got one. But that's understanding the business of your business. I said, you can't be stupid and get a name with, yeah, but it looks great. I'm like, yeah, but you got one. But that's understanding the business of your business. And you got to understand the bottom line. You know, and I have to say here, one of the things, I've lived in Atlanta 50 years, and we have been fortunate to have a phenomenal lineage of mayors. I worked a lot of the work I did with the city was under Bill Campbell. And there were challenges,

but let me tell you, building back away where each mayor had kind of a different value system and a different, I think, talent they brought to the table. Bill had been an attorney and all, but when they challenged the DBE program that we had, Bill rallied a lot of us business folks. At the time, I had not even had a contract with the city of Atlanta. To be honest, my contract was with Herman Russell, but it was important for me to make sure that those businesses had access. And so he pulled folks together, and we went after the businesses that had benefited and said, look, you're going to put money up like the rest of us

for us to defend this program. And we did that. Bill appointed me as chair of the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority. We built Phillips Arena at the time. It's now State Farm without one penny of taxpayer money because of its creativity and when we look at Atlantic Station. And we had black people involved because Maynard was the godfather, and everybody followed him.

Ambassador Young brought a different talent. And, you know, Kaseem brought a talent. And Keisha brought a different talent. But the key was all of us standing together. And even to this day, they're still trying to keep people in. But we have to understand we have got to teach and help our folks. Because when I was with the Senate, you know, I had to create at least 31 multimillionaires, with Sam Nunn through procurement. He was one of the most powerful senators.

But I had to go sit with, I remember there was one guy who had a phenomenal restaurant, made SBA make money available to him. And I'd drive up, and he got a red Porsche sitting out in front of his restaurant. So I had to go have a little come to Jesus with the brother because SBA, I knew they were going to come in. And when they tried to take his loan, I had to pull the muscle on him, but I had to sit him down and say, look, you haven't made it yet. Why are you putting this? Because one, your customer's going to leave. Right. And other folks going to stop. So we have to teach our people how to be good business folks and to be there for them.

And that's what with this innovation center that H.J. Russell is doing and building the Atlanta Business League. We've been working one of the oldest business development groups. But I say to everybody, you know, we've been blessed, but we have to share those blessings. That's why my wife and I give away at least one-third of everything we earn back to community and with my foundation because I understand I'm not the smartest, but even though my relationships, I hold everybody accountable with

these other companies. They got to reinvest. PPP, I have Wells Fargo calling me. I had the people from BB&T. I went to National Unity Bank because I knew all of our black businesses weren't getting those opportunities. Went to a black bank.

New Birth. Because there were fees associated with the PPP, and that's why the major banks were sucking a lot of that money up. That's right. My church, New Birth, with our friend, we went to Citizen Trust. The 100 Black Men of America, we went to Citizen Trust.

We used black banks, because there are only 18 left. We went to those black banks and invested our money. We got our PPPs from them, and we continue to move. But we have to understand we can't expect folks to give us opportunities if we aren't providing opportunities ourselves. And, Michael, that's why we are literally building out our new studio in DC lighting company black the group the drapes the green screen the black drape company out of LA they black the set that was built brothers built that the new set that's being built, built that. The engineers who did our

control room, black. And it wasn't hard finding them. Right, right. Bob and I just got to look. I do want to talk about, though, and this is something that constantly bothers me, and I've spoken at a number of black chambers of commerce events all across the country. Rarely on the

agenda, murders and acquisitions and joint ventures. And I gave a speech at the Department of Transportation. It was a sister came up to me when I was done, and she said, the last three years, my

partner and I, we have been preparing to sell our business. She said, it wasn't until listening to your speech that it hit me we could actually go acquire somebody else. Right, right, right. And that's also part of the deal when we talk about capacity. You talk about Herman J. Rosso.

When y'all do business in other states, y'all have partnered with other folks. Sure. As opposed to saying, oh, we can just do all this stuff ourselves. Talk about why that's also valuable to build a business, having a partner with someone not trying to be in your own silo. We're going to take all the money ourselves. Well, it's a couple things. One, it's about risk management. I mean, sometimes partnering is about managing your risk, particularly if you're talking construction, which is a risky business. You need to have a partner who you think brings value to the table like you do,

both financially and technically, to help. Secondly, it gets to leveraging. You know, how do you, how do two firms come together and one plus one equal three? You know, which really, it can be technical, it can be political, it can be just skill set around a certain thing. And three, for us, I mean, we've probably done more joint ventures, frankly, than any African-American firm in the nation. Historically, it's helped us grow our capacity. You know, we've been able to build people. Now, the key is being able to keep those people.

After you have them on these jobs, you have to, you know, continue to work hard to grow your human capital because, you know, really, I mean, you're in the service business, and service business is people. So that's always difficult for black businesses is how do you grow people and keep them. And certainly for my business, it's difficult because particularly in these times, the majority of firms love to get a black business person that's been with Russell for 10 years. And I've trained them. I've grown them.

You know, so you've really got to. It's a very tricky proposition, but it's critical to be able to grow your enterprises. How can you grow your human capital? Which means, you know, as a business owner, you've got to, you know, keep your humility and understand that it's not all about you. It's about your people and being able to grow. It's about to grow and retain

people. It's so funny you're talking about that. Dr. Ebony Hilton is with the University of Virginia. We've had her on our show numerous times talking about medical issues and COVID and just got signed as a contributor to MSNBC. And so she, because of that deal, no longer can appear on our show. And I've got

folks that are like, oh, my goodness, you know, but you built these people up. I said, no, it's all good. I said, I'm going to go find another 15 doctors. They hired those 15. I said, that's cool. I'm going to go find me another 15. I said, I said, I said, y'all, because when you turn on all these cable networks, most of the black people you see, they all came through me. And I'm like, I'm going to go find some other black people. So you've grown capacity. I mean, you've grown capacity. And that's so critical.

Only when you have black companies of some scale can you start to train and grow people. And you're right. If they got it in them, particularly to be an entrepreneur, hey, you know, we can have an entrepreneurship. I mean, you know, I can't hate on somebody wanting to be an entrepreneur, hey, you know, we can't have an entrepreneur show. I mean, you know, I can't hate on somebody wanting to be an entrepreneur. I learned that one of my young ladies, she left to go to another company, and she was all scared. She's like, I thought you were going to get mad. I was like, I said,

I ain't never got mad when somebody left. And I've never tried to talk somebody out of leaving. And people looked at me like, I don't understand why. I said, because if you felt that you made the decision time for you to go, I said, I'm good with that. I said, I'm fine with that. Now I'm going to go find somebody else. I said, so I advise you, don't come to me trying to bluff.

They'll come in three months. Or don't try to come bluffing, saying, well, maybe I can get more. I said, no, because I'm going to let you leave. I'm going to let you leave. Go ahead. You want to make a point, go ahead. What I was going to say earlier, you talked about entrepreneurship, and I think it's one of the most underrated forms of becoming an entrepreneur is through buying a business.

And so when I left corporate America, I bought a business. And I went through the process. Do I start a business? Do I franchise? And that's what we think of as entrepreneurs. But when you buy a business, you can buy a company that has a stable cash flow. Right. They have a history.

So you know where your customers are coming from. You've got something that you can build off of. That's how you get to one plus one equaling three. And now they've got what's called the silver wave. So you have a lot of baby boomers that are retiring. These people have had businesses for a very long time that have been successful. We can come in, leverage capital that's out there and available, and buy something that can replace our income multiple times over using a limited amount of cash.

And so I think something like M&A and buying businesses is something that's very, very underrated that we should be talking about a lot more in our community. I can't tell you. I mean, I know I probably have done 30 different events, and M&A has not been on the agenda of a single one of those conferences. And I said, God, I don't know. I said, the day of being John A. Johnson launching said, God, I said, I don't know. I said, you're not. I said, the day of being John A. Johnson launching a magazine

and 65 years later, I said, you're the law. That's gone. I said, it's not going to happen. And real quick before I go to break, I knew that actually this because the thing that also drives me crazy and would love to know how have you had to deal with this. When you're dealing with black folks who want to stay in silos, when we launched this, I

literally went to every major black-owned media company and I said, I don't need to try to sit here and build it by myself. Nobody wanted to partner. And I'm sitting here going, none of y'all have digital. What are you doing? I'm coming to the table with three million fan

base. What are you doing? And I said to the table with 3 million fan base. What are you doing? And I said, if Fox and Disney and Comcast are all acquiring and merging, what makes you think we're different? I look at some of these cities. I'm sorry. And I tell people that there is no reason to have more than one black newspaper in any city. I'm sorry. The economics make no sense whatsoever. Right, and that's what,

I look at what Bill Picard and those men doing by buying them up and trying to joint those through... Their biggest mistake was letting me leave. Yeah, right. Because they didn't listen to my advice. And they came back and they were like, damn, we should listen to you.

But again, that's one of those things that when you do buy something, listen to the folk and know what they're doing. Because what they were like, damn, we should listen to you. But again, that's one of those things that when you do buy something, listen to the folk and know what they're doing. Because what they're doing, what they just announced, this website thing they just announced in 2021, I had them there in 2005. They would have been 16 years ahead of the game. So that's also part of the deal. I know. I got you.

And I like what John, I know you're going to interview him shortly, John Bryant and what we're doing at Operation Hope with the One Million Black Business piece to try and grow and scale those. But you're right. The important thing is I've had people who were partners, and when I found out I was doing more work and doing more of the cash calls, I bought them all out. And I realized in business, now Bill Picard can be my partner any time.

He's doing a billion dollars worth of business every year. Right. That's the kind of partner I want. Right. And then one of my partners was the former president and CEO of Aflac from Cuba. Good friend, close brother, brought him in. But I had some great friends who are good people who are in public service and good people that can do whatever, but they didn't have a business acumen. And you find out...

Gotta go, gotta go. Gotta go, gotta go. I told them, you buy me out, I'm buying you out. And I have only two partners. I have my partners with Bill Picard and Mattress Manufacturing, and then I have the partners in the parking. And these young white guys came to me in 96. I have my own parking company. And they came to me in 96. We create, I have my own parking

company. And they came to me, wanted to create a company called LandCorp. That's Lanier Cornerstone. Lanier is the biggest parking company in the Southeastern region. And so when they came, they said, we don't want you putting your money in. We just want you affiliated your name. We create this company. You're the majority owner of the company. Let me tell you, we have done, even in that deal, north of $75 million since we came. And I'm the CEO and chairman. Now, they had all of the knowledge, but I had the management skills. And I told them, now I'm coming to the table with more than just my name. But I've done that with a lot of Black owned businesses. That's important. Not Black business, but Black owned business.

And so there are some great brothers and sisters but black-owned business. Right, right. And so there are some great brothers and sisters out there in the business. I was just with Case LeWall. You know, he's phenomenal. Absolutely. Started at Fort Valley, graduated at Texas Southern. So you've got to look at people who are in the business. Like you said, if they would have combined, like,

the efforts to try and get black banks to combine earlier, we'd be farther ahead right now. so you're right roland we you can't be afraid because for me i'd rather be with my brothers and sisters because you know we're all going home we're going in the same neighborhood and some are going up other i like i'm in cascade heist i'm where your dad and everybody else we have the black money i mean and i'm so. People go into Buckhead and they finally get crime up in Buckhead. We've been dealing with it in our neighborhood for years. All of a sudden, it's a crisis when the fact it's been going on for years, but now

they get hit with it. But all of that, it's simply safe. We've got to learn to trust, because if I go to, I don't eat fast food anymore. Well, I hope my sponsors don't hear that, but I don't eat fast food. When I go to... You know you eat fast food. You try, I hope my sponsors don't hear that. But I don't eat fast food. When I go to- You know you eat fast food.

You try to say that to your wife while you're- Stop trying. Stop trying. See, y'all, Tommy loves a lot of weight. You know, so he's a- Tommy like, he like Luther. This is like big time and little time. Big Luther, little Luther.

See, that's what we got going on right here. So, that was for his wife. That's his- He had nothing to do with his partner. He got his- He was like, my wife missed it. I don't want her to know I got me a burger. But you have to remember, there are a lot of our people who go have a bad experience with a company that's black-owned

and say, I'm not going back. And they have a bad experience with white folks. White folks mistreat you, and they can't wait to get back. But what I do is take a teaching moment. If I go to Buckhead and I'm at, let's say it's a McDonald's, and I get great service and I go to Bankhead and

little sister say, what you want? I take the time to have a teaching moment, but I call that manager. That's right. And I say, I'll be back, but you've got to give me the same thing. Your food, your menus are the same. You've got to train these young people. That's what our people got to understand me the same thing. Your food, your menus are the same. You've got to train these young people. And that's what our people got to understand.

Give us service. No longer do our communities go because you're black, even though we've got to get them back to be that way, like the Sweet Auburns. But we have to teach, but we also have to make sure that we are doing our part. And when it's wrong, you don't just leave. You sit and talk with them.

But sometimes they don't know. You don't know. You don't know. That's that's part of it. But we are Atlanta still has one of the largest black business ownerships and we have to keep moving and working. But I wouldn't live in any other city than Atlanta. All right, then, gentlemen, I appreciate it. I would Houston. But I'm from there. I was with the mayor last weekend. That's what I'm just saying. He's a good alpha man. Yeah. Just don't come to the Omega chapter soon, okay?

Yeah. Gentlemen, I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. We come back. We're going to talk with the first black president of the environmental group, Green COVID, and also the need to retrain or reprogram the minds of black America. And we'll chat with Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo. All of that next on Roller Mark Unfiltered, broadcasting also on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. Thank you. First on the show. Now, see, now you know you can't walk in front of the camera.

Oh, okay. Yeah, you got a duck. Oh, my God. Come on, now. All right. And so, you know, we're always covering first on this show. And she is the first black executive director of Greenpeace. Ebony, how you doing?

All right. I'm not getting Ebony. I evident i'm here now can you hear me all right now i can hear you now i can hear you all right so how you doing i'm fine how are you mr martin i'm doing great first of all mr martin my daddy i'm rolling you rolling okay tell me a lot of people out there who don't know what Greenpeace is and what they do. So let our folks know. Sure. So Greenpeace is the largest environmental campaigning organization. We are a global organization made up of about 57 offices across the world. We have an office in the U.S. Well, two offices in the U.S.

And we are here to fight ecological destruction. And of course, climate change is the biggest thing that we're focused on right now. So we do that through creative communication and also nonviolent direct action. And so, first of all, you know, a lot of people may remember Greenpeace stopping lots of ships in the high seas in the 80s and 90s. How has Greenpeace adjusted its strategy? Is it we're not operating more in a digital world. And so how are you trying to educate the world

to be more environmentally sensitive, but also bringing in African Americans and getting people to understand the impact of environmental racism on Black communities when it comes to our water? So, yes, we have evolved over time where most of our work in the earlier days were around toxics and testing of nuclear sites and pushing it back against administrations that were

trying to cause damage. What we have been focusing on over the last 20 years, as you know, climate change is the biggest existential threat to the human population right now. And we know Black and Brown folks are on the forefront and disproportionately impacted by climate crisis. So we have done a number of things, including reports that we've partnered with Movement for Black Lives to educate folks on what fossil fuels and really what the gas and oil industry is doing to destroy our planet, and also how that dark money operates within oil and gas, and also holding administrations accountable.

Right now, of course, the Biden administration, holding him accountable, holding his feet to the fire, so that we can get the solutions that we need for more clean and equitable, just climate solutions, which we have. We have the answers right now. We just need someone that is bold enough and will take action in this moment. Obviously, it's important coming to this platform, talking to African-Americans. What is your plan to bring more black voices to the table? We have Mustafa Santiago Ali, of course. I'm sure you know his work on environmental justice. But how are you looking to expand the African-American input when it comes to environmental issues? So we know that African-Americans, a study just came out by Yale that showed 60 percent of African-Americans are concerned and alarmed about the climate crisis now. The problem is no one is

talking to our folks. Also, we know that the environmental movement historically has been white-led. And what I'm excited about now in my appointment in this role is to be a bridge more, so to speak, for the Black community and the larger, broader environmental movement. We already have a vibrant environmental justice movement led by Black and brown folks that has gained steam. But we aren't talking to folks. We aren't talking to people. We aren't telling our constituents what you need to do.

How can we fight back this crisis? How can we hold our elected officials accountable? What are we looking for when we vote? So these are some of the things that we are doing. We have a Build Back Fossil Fuel report that we just released a couple of months ago that speaks to the destruction that's happening and also gives clear next steps for people to do and action that they can take so that we can build a more just and equitable future for us all.

All right, Ebony Twilley-Martin, we certainly appreciate it. Good luck as the New Secretary Director for Greenpeace. And where can folks find more information to reach out to you? Sure. Always we are on Twitter, Greenpeace at USA.com. And also you can text us at 86799. Text VOLUNTEER at 86799. We have teams all across the country that can mobilize your community and

get you involved and give you solutions to push forward in your area. All right, then we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. And of course, you'd do great with that last name. I'll tell my husband. Do that. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, going to a break. We come back. We'll talk black education here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grown-ups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention.

When you study the music, you get black history by default. And so no other craft could carry as many words as rap music. I try to intertwine that and make that create whatever I'm supposed to send out to the universe. A rapper, you know, for the longest period of time, has gone through phases. I love the word. I hate what it's become, you know, to this generation,

the way they visualize it. Its narrative kind of like has gotten away and spun away from, I guess, the ascension of black people. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans

contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUniltered.com i'm shantae moore hi i'm bb winans hey i'm donnie simpson what's up i'm lance gross and you're watching rolling martin unfiltered all right folks uh welcome back uh obviously our children are indeed our future uh and big brothers big sisters plays a huge role uh in them, teaching them, and preparing them for the future. Joining us right now is the head of Big Brothers Big Sisters here in Metro Atlanta. Glad to have Kwame with us.

Kwame, first of all, how are you doing? I'm great. Glad to be here. So one of the things that so many people, they've seen the commercials, they've seen the promos, things along those lines. And we're now operating in a whole different environment with COVID as well. And so how has that impacted Big Brothers and Big Sisters being able to serve the needs of the young men and young women who come through your various centers? Well, for starters, I like to say the need has just gone up. You know, you can think about young people who had outlets to go to school, after school programs, and now they weren't doing that during COVID. So mental health, food issues, housing issues were a lot more elevated during

COVID. So the need for mentorship was even greater. So we've been doubling down to get people to sign up to be big brothers and big sisters, to mentor young people, to defend potential. That's what we talk about a lot, because young people are going through really tough times that were going through tough times before COVID and more so during COVID. And how are you doing that? I mean, is it, I mean, is it virtual? I mean, so how are you still be able to reaching them? Yeah, we pivoted to virtual during COVID. We actually just moved our office from Midtown to the west side of Atlanta to be more intentional about the work, to be in the community, to recruit more big brothers and big sisters from those communities. And we're going to be actually setting up satellites in high need parts of Atlanta to

better serve the community. So we've been very intentional in recruiting people. And they're glad to be on your show to talk about the need. We got about 500 kids on a waiting list here in Atlanta, 30,000 kids across the country on a waiting list, mostly boys, mostly kids of color. So it's really about the community coming together to support young people even more so now that they need to support more. What are the requirements of somebody out there who's watching or listening and they say, hey, man, I'm interested in this. What are the requirements? What's the time commitment? Is there economic commitment for them to be involved? So no economic commitment.

This is something everyone can do. You know, I tell people no one can create new time. We're all busy, right? We're all running around doing different things. But incorporate this young person in your existing time. I do it myself. I'm a CEO of an organization. We can all do this.

We ask for 8 to 12 hours a month at a minimum. But you're bringing this young person along with you in your journey in life. So this is not something new, new time you have to create. This is something anyone can do that's 21 and up and cares about kids. The, the, let's see if we can decrease his audio, please. We talk about, again, so if, how, how, so what's the average time commitment that someone invests? So we ask for a year's commitment up front.

We know if you come in a young person's life and you leave within a year, you can actually do more damage. We ask for you to spend 8 to 12 hours a month. This is something that anyone can do that wants to defend the potential of young people. You're not adopting this young person. This is not foster care. This is really spending some time with a young person and helping them navigate life. This is something I've been doing my you know, my whole entire career. When I was 17, I was in prison. And I met a young person named Anthony. And I met him in the hole.

And he kept coming back to the hole. And I said to him one time, I said, Anthony, why do you keep coming back to the hole? And he said something to me that started my journey on this, defending young people. He said, Kwame, your father comes to see you every week. He said, I met my father here for the first time and he's in the next unit. Fast forward 15 years, I joined Big Brothers and Big Sisters. I get matched with a young man named Anthony, right? And I've been able to do it, fit it into my life. This is something anybody can do. It's really about helping young people and defending their potential. When you talk about the waiting list, 500 in Atlanta, 30,000 across the country, and you say most of them are young black men? Yes, young boys, yep.

Young black boys, boys of color. There's been a huge uptick in Atlanta with crime and violence and young people getting involved in different things that they shouldn't be involved in. And my suggestion has been not to have more cops, cameras, and curfews, because that's what most cities do. And there's definitely a need for police, support police. I believe in community policing, for example. But just locking young people up is just going to be part of the whole mass incarceration deal we know that does not work. Instead, we've got to address some of these root causes and these root problems that young people are facing around food, housing,

mental health. That's why some of these young people are making these bad decisions. But as we as a community come in and address some of those issues, we can avoid having to resort to just more cops, cameras, and curfews. All right, then. If somebody wants to reach out and connect, how do they do so? Go to our website. We're in pretty much every city. You can go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters, whatever city you're in. We'd love to have you here in Atlanta. We got about 500 kids on our waiting list. We need more people who are trying to help defend potential of young people and help young people reach their full potential. And that's what it's all about. All right. Carmen Johnson, we appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot.

All right. Good luck. Folks, when we come back, we're going to talk transportation, mobility. How vital is that for African-Americans to improve their lot and lives it's something about people just simply assume and take for granted no it is a real issue that is next but also talk about reprogramming or retraining the minds of black America when it comes to success and we're here from Hall of Famer to Kim de Mutombo but the work that he's doing all across the globe as a global NBA advisor or ambassador. All of that, Roland Martin unfiltered at the Just Brothers meeting here in Atlanta,

broadcasting on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. White supremacy ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We've got to deal with it. It's injustice. It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation we've got to do more

around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's gonna happen. All right, so a lot of y'all are always asking me about some of the pocket squares that I wear. Now, I don't know. Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares.

I don't like even the silk ones. And so I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago and I saw this guy who had this this pocket square here And it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square. This is how the Japanese Manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect So I'm gonna take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like and I said man This is pretty cool. And so I tracked down the it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they're basically about 47 different colors. And so I love them because, again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear.

So we don't have many options. And so this is really a pretty cool pocket screen. And what I love about this here is you saw when it's in the pocket, you know, it gives you that flower effect like that. But if I wanted to also, unlike other, because if I flip it and turn it over, it actually gives me a different type of texture. And so, therefore, it gives me a different look. So there you go. So if you actually want to get one of these shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors.

All you got to do is go to rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. We have them in 47 different colors. All you got to do is go to rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares. So it's rolling this martin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website and you can actually get this. Now, for those of you who are members of our bring the funk fan club, there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares. That's why you also got to be a part of our Bring the Funk fan club. And so that's what we want you to do. And so it's pretty cool. So if you want to jazz your look up, you can do that. In addition, y'all see me with some of the feather pocket squares. My sister was a designer. She actually makes these. They're all custom made. So when you also go to the website, you can also order one of the customized feather pocket squares right there at RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So please do so. And of course, that goes to support the show. And again, if you're a Bring the Funk fan club member, you get a discount.

This is why you should join the fan club. Hello, everyone. I'm Godfrey, and you're watching... Roland Martin Unfiltered. And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. All right, folks, welcome back. Lots of conversation in Congress when it comes to raising taxes, not only on corporations, but also the individual tax rate. What could the impact be on African-Americans? Joining us right now is Earl Peek. He is in, we just say he in the money business. Yes, sir.

In the money business. Earl, glad to have you here. What's the name of the company? Diamond Ventures. And that is? Diamond Ventures is a venture capital and finance firm. We deploy capital for the Black Economic Development Fund. We also advise corporations and governments on deploying capital,

both in the United States and private companies. A lot of folks say that corporations are not paying enough in this country. There should be an increase in the corporate tax rate. It was cut by Donald Trump. Also, President Joe Biden and Democrats are talking about raising the highest income tax bracket to what it was pre-Trump. Your thoughts on those moves? I think that it's going to be very important.

We've come out of a crisis. Now we have to restore revenue back to the budget. Right now we have many of these finance programs. You have the CARE Act, you have the stimulus bill, you have the American Rescue Act. These are all responsibilities of the American people to bring our country back and we that when we look at the amount of money, corporations are parking so much cash. I forgot, one of the banks literally said, hey, y'all got to send your money elsewhere. Now, I ain't never heard that, but it goes to show you in terms of where we are, but it becomes so political because you got Republicans who say, oh, no, you can't actually do that. That's good. And that's when all of a sudden it's going to hurt black-owned businesses, hurt small businesses.

But how in the heck do you also pay for stuff if you're at your corporate rate at the lowest in decades? Well, right now there was some tax laws that were changed that were supposed to bring some money back overseas, repatriation of money back over here. Did it happen? Which needs to be taxed. Still fuzzy. Right.

That really happened. That didn't happen. Other stuff didn't happen. So all things that were promised didn't happen. Didn't happen. And it needs to be fixed now in legislation. I don't know if it's a part of the discussion of the stimulus bill and the infrastructure bill and all of that, but somehow we've got to balance the revenue against the spending. That's very needed to get these companies back up and going.

And one of the things that's interesting when we have this conversation and when we talk about increasing black-owned businesses, folk have a totally different view when all of a sudden they see a few more dollars in their pocket with that Trump tax cut. Right. Yeah, they see this cash flow,

but somehow this is a time where you've got to be more wise in planning. You've got to deal with cash flow. You've got to deal with building equity to be in a position, like what you talked about in your earlier panels, about acquisitions, about mergers, about collaboration, and finding a way to come into an investment fund, even if it's on your block, to do these type of small acquisitions that grow into bigger acquisitions.

So we're flush with cash. I tell people there's a lot of candy in the air. Everybody's getting a cavity, to do these type of small acquisitions that grow into bigger acquisitions. So we're flush with cash. I tell people there's a lot of candy in the air. Everybody's getting a cavity, but it won't last forever. So this is a time to be wise and do planning, engage our black lawyers, our black CPAs, our black financial professionals to find out how do we build a lasting business that goes beyond the crisis. And obviously you're going to have a battle on Capitol Hill when it comes to actually trying to make those changes. What are you telling? Where should black businesses be? Because you're going to have some people who say, I don't want to see that increase.

This is going to hurt me. Well, Roland, one of the things I met with the deputy secretary of commerce with a bunch of black leaders, some of who in this room a couple of weeks ago, There's a plethora of cash over there for infrastructure and for connectivity and for telecommunications. These are the digital ways to deal with the future, the digital infrastructure and to build the human infrastructure, and they have to take all of this and build it into a thesis that comes up with a solid business foundation.

Okay. All right. Well, look, we'll see what happens. It's always contentious when you start talking about missing folk money, and we know a lot of these companies have massive lobbyists. They do not want to see those tax breaks go away. But as you said, at the end of the day, look, if we want to pay for nationwide infrastructure, the money got to come from somewhere. Got to come from somewhere. Got to raise revenues. And the way to raise revenues is through taxes. All right. And all that. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Stay right there. All right, folks, going to go to a quick break.

When we come back, we're going to talk with John Hope Bryant on the need to reprogram black America. You don't want to miss this conversation. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Atlanta on the Black Star Network. Black women have always been essential. So now how are you going to pay us like that? And it's not just the salary.

I mean, there are a whole number of issues that have to support us as women. Yeah, but that's what we deserve. We shouldn't have to beg anybody for that. I think that we are trying to do our best as a generation to honor the fact that we didn't come here alone and we didn't come here by accident. I always say every generation has to define for itself

what it means to move the needle forward. I want to talk to the Trump supporters for a minute. I don't know who you are, and I don't know why you like this guy. Whatever he does, he accuses everyone else of doing it. The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist. A narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen. And my concern is that he would grab up that power and really treat the country as sort of his little bully fiefdom. Donald Trump is everything I taught my children not to do in kindergarten.

He's been exploiting working Americans for 40 years. He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He says he's for the little guy, but he's actually done a lot of his businesses on the backs of the little guy. You know, Donald Trump the other day said that, quote, if he tells a soldier to commit a war crime, the soldier will just go do it. I don't think Donald Trump has even read the Constitution, knows what's in the Constitution. A toxic mix of demagoguery and mean-spiritedness and nonsense. I just cannot support Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag. Donald Trump is a con artist. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. I think he's a kook. I think he's crazy. I think he's unfit for office. People our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The

challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them but i'm able to say watch out tiffany i know this road that is so freaking dope I'm Deion Cole and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay woke. All right, folks, welcome back to Atlanta. This is the Just Brothers meeting. And it was John Hope Bryan, the founder of Operation Hope, who invited me to speak to this group. I don't know what the hell he asked me to talk about, but I guess I'll figure that out since I'll be speaking in about 45 minutes.

Of course, we had John on the show before. The work that they do, helping folks fix their credit scores and deal with financial literacy, is vitally important. He is also the author of a couple of books. One of them is called The Memo. And, John, welcome back to the show. Honored to be with you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Honored to be on a show that you own. A black man owns the show, the cameras, the masters.

As in nobody is his master. He means he owns the publishing masters. No different than Prince or Michael Jackson owns their publishing masters. This is the same concept. And so people don't realize the importance of somebody owning their own content. So when I called Roland and asked him, did he want to come down? He didn't have to go check with 15 people or go to a committee. He was a committee. Or ask permission. Or ask permission. He just said, yes, I'm doing it and brought his whole crew here mobile. We need social justice through an economic lens now. And the new color is actually not black or white or red or blue. It's actually green. And you are walking your talk.

You're expressing your principles through your economic power, who you're hiring, who you're contracting with. I was listening to some of these. This show, everybody needs to go back and watch this show again. I mean, you experienced the only city in America where black folks are running almost everything.

And it's not the exclusion of anybody else. We invite everybody here. In fact, I think that's really the way it worked is that it's been inclusive. But we decided not to argue in the 60s about who were at a water fountain but who got the contract, right? And so you have the biggest black business in America for real estate, Herman Russell's business, his son was here. You've had Tommy Dorch, 100 Black Men of America, and his business is here. You've got a brother coming up who's running a $4 billion budget with the Beltline,

great brother Clyde. You've got all these heroes and sheroes who are doing stuff in the South Coast, in the moral capital of America, the 10th largest economy in the U.S., Atlanta, Georgia. And this is an example of where diversity and inclusion helps all boats to rise. And I would like to see other cities model what's happening here in Atlanta. It's not perfect.

We've got problems galore. But we're working on all of them. And when folks have a meeting in Atlanta, folks show up. I mean, it could be 7 a.m. and the ballroom is packed with folks who are serious about transformational change. So we wanted you to come here and see it for yourself, experience it, and share

it, the Atlanta model, with others. We talk about, we often talk about this idea of reprogramming. That's the phrase that I use. You use another phrase. It's the exact same thing. The reset software upgrade.

Yeah, software upgrade. And the thing for me is it's just like I made the other day. So we launched almost two weeks ago. We launched Black Star Network. That's right. We launched it. Congratulations. We announced it on September 2nd.

Folks have no idea what that is. On September 4th. Just subscribe to it. And the thing that is very interesting that I try to walk people through. I walked them through. I said, so 620,000 followers on Instagram, 619,000 followers on Twitter, 1.3 million followers on Facebook, 798,000 followers on YouTube.

So that's 3.3 million. Right. And so... By the way, my 2.5 million are mostly because of you, because you told me to go do this stuff for the first time. So really, you got five, six million. We're going to go ahead. And the thing here that I walk, explain to people.

So that's 3.3 million on the social media platforms that we don't own. Right. So I'm trying to get hit 10,000 downloads on Blackstar Network. Right. And what I'm trying to explain to people is even, let's just say 10% of the total of the other platforms shift over to Blackstar Network. We're now at 300,000 downloads. Completely changes the conversation when it comes to going to advertisers.

In terms of leadership. What Isaac Hayes III is doing with his app Fanbase has audio rooms just like Clubhouse. Has photos and videos just like Instagram. Black people made Clubhouse a $4 billion valuation in nine months.

And I said, we can make fan base sexy and it's black owned. It's getting our folks to understand that if we make they stuff sexy, what happens? We make our stuff sexy and we own it and we control it.

Yeah, the new movement has to go, said another way, my view, we got to go from a movement in the streets, civil rights, marching, to a new movement in the business suites, civil rights, partnerships, prosperity, economic opportunity. And the best way to stop a bullet in our neighborhoods, as you know, is a job, right?

We gotta create jobs. You mentioned this earlier. Most of our black businesses don't have an employee, right? I mean, I love, I own the largest owner of single family. People know me from Operation Hope, but I also am the largest owner of single family rental homes in America, a person of color, not just black, of color. I own 700 homes in Atlanta and North Florida. Well, 65% of my vendors are black. Plumbers, lighting, electrical, roofing, landscaping, painting. I'm going to miss something obvious.

Help me. Roofing. Anything to do with housing. Anything to do with housing. Landscaping. I'm going to pay you a living wage and give you a good contract, right? It's not welfare. It's not a handout.

It's not one-time charity. This is renewable philanthropy. I'm going to spend millions of dollars a year in my neighborhoods reinvesting. And the more homes I own, the more infrastructure I have, the more people pay me rent, the more contracts I can give. And so we've got to change the game. We've got to own the game. I started that company three years ago, Promise Homes Company. It didn't even exist before. So this is financial literacy in action. People talk about, John, this financial literacy stuff. Can it really transform or change things? It added to my net worth.

It's a $125 million platform. It was zero three, four years ago. And everybody watching this can go buy one home you own and one home you rent. Go ahead. I had a sister who did makeup for our TV One show. And when the show got canceled, she said, Roland, I just gotta tell you thank you.

I was like, why? She said, hiring me to do makeup on this show changed my life. She said, that's how I was able to buy a house. Now, that was intentional to say, y'all hiring makeup artists. No, we need black makeup artists. That's right.

Because they're not getting hired at the networks. That's right. No, no, no, no. We're going to go find somebody who also knows how to do makeup on black people. You're also creating a feeder system for the networks. As you said, a lot of folks you have hired have now, God bless them, been hired at whoever the network is. And that's a beautiful thing.

This young lady here, you gave her a step up. You hit me with somebody last week and rolling. This is what he does when nobody's looking. Hey, John, the sister owns a home in Atlanta. She's in another state right now. She's tripping out. She needs a plumber or whatever. Well, it just so happens because I spend so much money with these vendors, I can call somebody immediately and get her attention and probably get it done for free or whatever, the discount. But it was wonderful for me to feel that I could help somebody on a business basis. Yeah, and for me, I don't know.

I don't fix toilets. So I was like, well, I know somebody in Atlanta. You probably know how. No, I'm saying I know somebody in Atlanta who's in this space. Here's a connect. And that's... But that's what everybody else does. You guys watching this? You hearing? This is what mainstream

America does. This is what Asian America does. This is what Latino America does. This is what everybody does but us. I mean, everybody's used the capitalist and free enterprise system to set them free, except you and me, right? We got to knock this stuff off, right? We got to... Oh, I hate rich people. No, you don't. Stop lying. You hate rich people until you become rich, right? What you hate is a game system.

Stop lying, right? We say, oh, you know, we want to be socialists. You don't even know what a socialist is, right? Even if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you got to first collect it like a capitalist, right? So that's why we started One Million Black Businesses with Shopify, $130 million commitment, create a million new black businesses in America.

And Tommy Dorch is involved with that. A lot of these brothers are involved with that. We're commingling prosperity, commingling community involvement, commingling up from nothing. That's why we're launching financial literacy for all. Me and the CEO of Walmart launching that effort, get all the Fortune 500 companies involved. We've got a platform rolling. A whole new generation of priorities, of leadership, of effort. You gave me this inspiration,

and we need to give the indirect credit to the Reverend. Third Reconstruction? Third Reconstruction. Me and the Reverend need to mean something different by it. Reverend William Barber. William Barber, but much credit to him. The title I love. I mentioned this. He said Barber. Much credit to him. The title, I love. I mentioned this. He said,

yeah, John, somebody started doing that, so I'm giving proper credit. I stole his idea and moved it into economics. I had been using third reconstruction. Then when I got his book with third reconstruction, I was like, good. Then when you did yours, I was like, hell, I said, let's not come up with a different term. Hell, let's use the same term and start driving third-world construction.

So this is it. It's civil rights. It's social justice through an economic lens. It's a hand-up, not a handout. It's teach you how to fish. You don't need to beg for a fish. Can I get an amen? It's about building black wealth and our prosperity, financial literacy for all,

black wealth through one million black business, and corporate inclusion initiative. I haven't launched that yet, but giving blacks on boards of directors. This is how you change hiring, management, decisions, investment, and how our communities collect wealth. An inner city in France, it's called Paris. Why are we running away from America's inner cities? They're gold mines. They're gold mines. We should be buying up everything in our sight. In fact, it's interesting. I don't know how many years ago, probably four or five, I guess, the National Urban League had their State of Black America report. And they had this

televised event. It was on TV One. I moderated it and the focus on gentrification. Yeah. So at one point, literally, I turned I was like, I'm sorry. I said, we're having a conversation about gentrification. I said. Don't we know it's for sale? I said, you know what? I knew that I said, Mark, we should come back next year, and the Urban League should have a fund that was launched to literally acquire land and property. I said, I'm sorry. I'm no longer interested in coming to these events bitching about the problem,

but we're not spending twice as much. He can say that. He sees that work as he thinks that works. He owns it. That's right. Twice as much time laying down the solution for the very problem we're complaining about. That, to me, that's why any time I do one of these panels,

my whole deal is like, no, no, how much time are we going to spend on solutions? Yeah, so first of all, kudos to Mark Morial and the Urban League. Roland and I both like, our motto is, we like what you're doing much better than what other folks are not doing. Right. We don't have the perfect, the death of the good. But we also need a software upgrade. Like Urban League's done their job, and they're essential.

NAACP has done their job, and they're essential. That was created 100 years ago, 100 plus years ago. We need a new generation to build on that, to complement that, not to replace it, of new leaders that complement that. We need to go from cashing checks to writing them. Right. Right. Or endorsing them. Or endorsing them.

Like somebody, I think I said that. Somebody said, well, man, what you doing? I was like, no, no, no. I said, I am endorsing a check. That's right. Ownership. What he means is he's going to give that check as philanthropy or make that check as an investment, but that's probably a check for services rendered, which means you control your talent.

You are human capital. You are involved in the capitalist system whether you like it or not. The only question is whether you use it or it uses you, right? What did Malcolm X say? We've been bamboozled. We've been tricked. We've been fooled. Led astray.

Run amok. So we need to take control of our own narrative. We've got to own our own product. We have to own our own content. We have to own our own street. Own our own blocks. Dr. King's grandfather, A.D. Williams, owned all that land around the King Center. Nobody knows this. Dr. King's father, Daddy King, served on the board of a bank

for 40 years, Citizens Trust Bank. Nobody knows that. He preached on Sunday and banked on Monday. Nobody knows that. The reason that Dr. King could work for free is that his daddy and granddaddy owned everything, right? There you go. But when the neighbor across the street didn't want young Martin to play with his son, white merchant, Daddy King had to remind the white merchant that he was leasing property underneath his land. Boom. So bring in modern day. By the way, he became much nicer after that.

I'm quite sure. Bring in modern day. So Salamander Resort, Middleburg, Virginia. Oh, yeah. he became much nicer after that. I'm quite sure. Bring in modern day. So Salamander Resort, Middleburg, Virginia. Oh, yeah. Owned by a black woman. Sheila Johnson. So if any of y'all go to Middleburg, if y'all go to the Salamander Cafe.

So she opened a cafe. What y'all don't know is I think that was a gun shop or a pawn shop. I forgot something like that. But the problem was there was this massive Confederate flag that was being flown outside of the building. It used to be flown. Okay. Outside of the building. Amen. Until the building got purchased. That's right. Now. By her, right? By her. Okay. Outside of the building. Amen. Until the building got purchased. That's right.

Now. By her, right? By her. Yeah. The flag is no longer there. No screaming, no hollering, no protesting. Now, but here's the thing that, for somebody who's listening. No name calling. For somebody who's listening, people don't understand. She was able to do that

because Bobbin Johnson and Sheila Johnson sold BET. That's right. A billion dollars. $3.3 billion. Thank you. $3.3 billion. Now, when we've had a conversation about this here, and this is for the people who keep telling me I'm wrong for going after these companies

when it comes to advertising, BET was getting $1,500. This is our thing. Right. Because we've tried the nice approach. We're still broke. You're not broke. You're doing really well. We tried the nice approach. We still broke. You're not broke. You're doing really well. You got five cameras.

You're doing really well. I'm saying collectively we tried the nice approach. It ain't worked. But here's the deal. BET was getting $1,500 per 30-second ad while MTV was getting $8,000. When CBS Viacom bought it, they saw that and said, oh, we can get $8,000 per ad. If BET was getting fair market value, $8,000 the whole time, Bob and Sheila could have sold one-third of BET for the same $3.3 billion. Yeah, but they're not crying about the $3 billion.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So what I'm trying to unpack here is there's several things. One, they sold the company, which allowed them to be able to acquire other things, and they actually have more black employees today than they had with BET. Nice. But the flip side is that if we're getting fair market value, then we're in a position to still own that and still be able to sell a portion and still go buy other stuff.

So what I'm trying to get people to understand is when we're talking about leveraging capital, when we're talking about getting a fair share, it's not this, oh, you're just trying to get something. No, no, no. It's when we're able to get something, when multiple businesses, multiple companies are able to grow, everybody can eat. It's not just one person eating. But I need people who complain and go, well, man, why are you doing that? Because it's not just about if Roland Martin Unfiltered gets money. It's the number of other black-owned entities as well.

Yeah, so Roland is right about this issue. Let me just say that. We differ on style. But he's right about this issue. My philosophy is talk without being offensive, listen without being defensive, or even your adversary their dignity. Roland shakes the cage and waits for something to drop out the bottom. Different style. Both approaches are important. One of the words of Reverend Jesse Jackson, he said, I'm the tree shaker.

And you're the movie maker. He said the tree shaker. But we agree that the change has to happen. So it's just different styles, different approaches. Now, my point is this. We're both going the same place. And as you're saying that, I'm thinking the reason that just brothers exist, there's no membership fee here. This group doesn't exist. You can't find it on the Internet, right?

It's because me and Tommy Dortch write a check. A few other brothers. We write a check from our money. Operation Hope, which is another one of our philanthropies, writes a check to this nonprofit. It's just some private brothers. This is black money fueling a black group of brothers trying to do something positive in their neighborhood,

and we're sitting in black wealth at Kimbae's home right now, his home studio. Isn't that a beautiful thing? That's not a negative on anybody else. That's not a knock on anybody else. It's self-determination. The more I can grow my real estate company or Operation Hope or any of this,

the more I can do for everybody else. And so this is about getting off the... Stop being a spectator. Stop being a spectator. Stop spending all your time talking about somebody else's celebrity

and get into the game. You need to be a hunter, a skinner, or a cook. Okay? You've got to pick a role. And now every family needs a hunter, a skinner, and a cook. Every company needs a hunter, a skinner, and a cook. The hunter is the salesperson. The skinner is the analyst.

The cook is the person who developed the product. Figure out what your role is and create a team and then go get at one of these priorities for our self-reliance in this 10 year of the third reconstruction from the year 2020 to the year 2030. What happens in the next 10 years will set the course for the next 100 for our people and for the world. Don't sit around whining

and complaining about how bad things are. Go do something about it. I'll also add right now. I'll also add... Right now. Right now. I'll also add in the last point before we go to break. It also don't... And this is the thing that really irks me

and has always irked me since I was a kid. And that is I'm not going to waste time going man, look at that. This person over here just talking mess and got 3,000 folks

watching right now. Roland, why you got 1,600? My whole deal is I'm focused on the 16. I'm not going to focus on people saying... What's your cumulative views? If I'm 100 million, you must be 500 million. No, we don't. We did 330 million last year. See, he don't. We did $330 million last year.

See, he doesn't have to rub it in. I'm $100 million total. No. I got $300 million last year. Right. The cumulative effect of this. Oh, no, no, no. We're at $500 million.

Yes, we did $100 million. We had $100 million our first year. I see your broadcast in my sleep. $330 million the second year. I can't turn on social media without seeing one of your broadcasts. But he owns it. Do you want to have 10% of something or 100% of nothing? But see, I'm trying to get us to stop whining, complaining about, well, man,

you know, it's like this person over here, they got 5 million followers. I'm like, that's great. I'm going to focus what we're doing over here. It's focus. It's focus. It's focus. And I think a lot of times, a lot of people, they get off focus when they're, to your point, when they're whining and complaining about something versus, y'all, if 5,000 people right now want to go listen to Mess, and 2,000 want to listen to this conversation, I'm going

to focus on the 2,000, and then when I'm going to tell the $2,000, y'all should be bringing one person each. So we need to stop talking about floss riches and start talking about real wealth. Floss riches is enough money to pay your rent or your mortgage, pay your car note, and go on vacation once a year and buy you a suit. By the way, this is a black-owned company that even makes my suit. My landscaper is out in the lobby, Jamel Thomas. But just this sort of floss riches, which is what black folks tend to do, is not real wealth.

Real wealth you build in your sleep. Please pay attention to me. Please, please, please. Riches is a paycheck, okay, and it can go away. That's why somebody can get a $100 million contract and poof, it's gone in three to five years, right? Dikembe, who's coming up to speak to you, he made some money in the NBA, but he really made his wealth in business. Any billionaire

you know in the arts or in sports, they made their billions in business, not in front of a camera. You build wealth in your sleep. It's called compounding. His vault of publishing grows up in value when he sleeps. He licenses it when he sleeps. My real estate has gone up $40 million in 15 months. I didn't do anything magic about it other than go and buy it, rehab it, take care of it, and hold it. They aren't growing any more land. Stop whining about, oh, there's going to be a recession.

Of course there is. Also, you know, the sun's going to come up and go down tomorrow, too, and somebody's going to be racist against you. So what? Let me tell you something. There's five, four things that have never gone bad in America's history. Real estate values have never gone down. They've done this and done this and done this and done this correction and done this.

Stock market value, same thing. GDP, gross domestic product for America, has never gone down, even with recessions and done this. Stock market value, same thing. GDP, gross domestic product for America, has never gone down, even with recessions and depressions. And the fortunes of a college educated white man has never gone in reverse, right? But three of those things are available to you. Stock market, real estate, I'm not talking about complicated stuff, and participating in the economy, which then sets you free to do whatever you want to do. Roland Martin goes where he wants, does what he wants, talks who he wants,

curses out who he wants, obviously, with Mr. Christie a few days ago. I didn't curse him out. Oh, you didn't curse him out. No, it just sounded like a curse out. No, you just told him the truth. I just hit him with that punch Ali hit Sonny Liston with. Boom. Yeah, he didn't see it coming.

So watching this is a great example. This closes out. My wife is upset with you, Shatra, because you come in town and you don't come see her. But so Shatra. They live way the hell out. We live 15 minutes from the airport. You know, you're just bougie. 15 minutes from the airport. You're just bougie.

But when I'm coming downtown, they on the other side of the airport. That's all right. You're just bougie. He's 15 minutes from the airport. You're just bougie. But when I'm coming downtown, they're on the other side of the airport. That's right. You're just bougie. People, he's just bougie. The second thing is Shatra's father is Dr. David Dalton. You never heard that name before. He's the 22nd largest black-owned business in America. Check the BE list, Black Enterprise list.

$250 million a year in revenue. He doesn't have a website. No one's ever heard him. It's in the medical field. He built with three Jewish guys, two Jewish guys, Rite Aid from 40 locations to 4,000, I think it was. And he tried to get a job as a, he bought people's drugstore. He tried to get a job as a pharmacist who can get the job in his little hometown. So when he became the guy in charge of locations at Rite Aid, he put a Rite Aid next to the location of the pharmacist who wouldn't hire him

and put them out of business. Now, today he says he feels a little bad about that because he doesn't think that racist guy knew what he was doing. He was ignorant. But the point is, Dr. Dothan didn't have to scream, didn't have to holler. He was just style. I ain't got a problem with it. But isn have to scream, didn't have to holler. I ain't got a problem with it. Here's your style. I ain't got a problem with it. But isn't it beautiful to have two brothers in the same family with basically top 100 businesses from different genres?

And it's completely legal. We pay our taxes. We employing people. This is the vision for our people. Own something. I don't care what you own. Own a toothbrush. But own it.

Own a toothbrush in your own house. Own some stock. Whatever you're flossing, whatever you're wearing. That's wearing, you wear some Nike shoes, get you some Nike stock. That's right. You go into Target, Tarjay, then own one share of Target stock. You go into McDonald's, own one share of whatever it is, the 10 things where you shop, own it. Because then you get, as a shareholder, rights to all their financials, devoted their shareholder meeting to have a say in how these big companies can port in our neighborhoods.

All right. John Hope Bryant, I appreciate it. Tell people the book that you get. Up From Nothing is the last book. The memo is a second from that. But go to Operation Hope. More importantly, go get you some free financial coaching at Operation Hope. It's free 99, everybody.

Free 99. Costs you nothing. Free financial coaching. We raise credit scores 54 points in six months, 120 points in 24 months. Nothing changes your life more than God or love than moving your credit score 120 points. So go get some. We're in 30 states. All right.

We appreciate it. Paul's coming up. We're going to talk transportation, mobility, and we'll talk chat with Kimmy Mutombo. Kimmy Mutombo! Next on Roller Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting on the Black Star Network, the Black-owned Black Star Network. I'm rich. No, I ain't rich.

I'm trying to get rich. We'll go get there. Back in a moment. George Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force, right? The Four Tills murder. We saw struggle for civil rights as something grown-ups did. I feel that the generations before us

have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things Generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D. James. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seales. 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. Folks, you want to understand how African Americans have been able to grow. It's also transportation. A lot of people obviously who do not have cars, but you look at a lot of the major cities, whether it's buses and subways, they've played a huge role in the mobility of folks. Joining us right now is Clyde Hughes with the Atlanta Beltline, of course, that plays a significant role in this city. How big is it? And how many passengers are you serving?

So, yeah, so the Atlanta Beltline roll-in started in 2006. And so this is an outgrowth of the city of Atlanta. So it's really interesting. So when people think about Atlanta, you think about all sorts of positive things. One of our challenges, if we're being honest, is the traffic, the challenges there. So what the Beltline is trying to do is provide transportation options within the city of Atlanta. So that means a multi-use trail system, that means light rail.

And so what we're trying to do is create these whole communities within the city of Atlanta where you don't necessarily have to get in a car to get to a grocery store, to get to a job, to get to housing, to get to amenities. We're trying to create these pockets around this 22-mile loop. Again, a trail. There will be light rail all around in the city of Atlanta. And see, what a lot of people don't realize is, if you read the history of Robert Moses, how highways were built, split up black neighborhoods. They also don't realize how in a lot of cities there's a reason you don't have subway stops in certain areas.

Or where they do have public transportation, they don't extend out to suburban areas because they said, no, no, no, no, no. We don't want folks hopping on those trains coming out here for jobs. And so there has been racism in the public transportation business. That legacy, that is the wonderful piece. When I became CEO for Atlanta Beltline, this is the part that really charges me up. Because if we think about infrastructure and the history of it, you've got to think about what infrastructure did. You're right. It actually separated communities. infrastructure and the history of it, you've got to think about what infrastructure did. You're right.

It actually separated communities. But what we're doing with the Atlanta Beltline is we're flipping that and we're actually going to connect 45 distinct neighborhoods within the city of Atlanta. That is unheard of. And so, really excited about it. I know some people, when they hear the word transportation, they start to kind of glaze over, like, ah, transportation.

But it is, and again, I'm biased here, but it is perhaps the most exciting redevelopment project within the city of Atlanta, perhaps the entire southeast. And just like we talk about city, county, school, we're talking about a significant budget that spends money and who you spend money with matters. Absolutely. So one of the things that happened in March of this year is there was a special assessment that was passed to help complete the rest of the Beltline Trail Network. So roughly, we're going to raise about $350 million. And one of the things, if we talk about the spirit of Maynard, what we are going to do is push 50% of that construction budget,

which is roughly gonna be $300 million, to DBE firms within the city of Atlanta. That is significant. And you have to be, and again, you talked about your earlier guess, being intentional. That's what we're doing within the city of Atlanta with the Atlanta Beltline is being intentional to make sure that

the wealth, that the opportunity for those construction contracts are spread out within the DBE community. And again, that's the thing that I'm constantly trying to get people to understand. When you talk about public dollars, there are a lot of white-owned firms that became mega-millionaires through public dollars, school board dollars, through construction, through engineering, through architecture, through communications, all of that. Absolutely.

You hit it on the head, and that's what we can do with the Beltline project. So as we finish this off, because ultimately the program is going to be over $4 billion, but when we finish, what we want to leave is a legacy of black owned businesses within the city of Atlanta that said, you know what, I was a part of the Atlanta Beltline. And so when we finish, when we go away, that you, again, you have the capacity that we helped to create. And again, that's all in the spirit of kind of what Maynard did with the airport. And we're trying to do that in a much smaller way than what Maynard did, but still trying to push that envelope. Okay. All right, then. Well, certainly, good luck. Yeah, thank you. Hopefully, we'll learn more about it and it will serve as a model for other cities. Absolutely. Thank you, bud. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. All right. All right.

All right. I'm going to go to a quick break. We come back. Hall of Famer to Kimmy Matombo. He's our host. We'll talk to him about being a global ambassador for basketball. That is next on the Roland Martin show. And also you're watching the Black Star Network. And I got some good news coming up about that. I'll tell you when you come back. 007 007 007 007 Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights

as something grown-ups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. 007 007 007 Organizing is really one of the only things I have offered a lot of instruction. ¶¶ Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered,

that's what attracted our attention. ¶¶ You get black history by default, and so no other craft could carry as many words as rap music. I try to intertwine that and make that create whatever I'm supposed to send out to the universe. A rapper, you know, for the longest period of time has gone through phases.

I love the word. I hate what it's become, you know, to this generation, the way they visualize it. Its narrative kind of like has gotten away and spun away from, I guess, the ascension of black people. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to

address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road. That is so freaking dope. It ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We got to deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong.

I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's going to happen.

Everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond. Hi, my name is Bresha Webb, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And, well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back. We are here at the Just Brothers meeting in Atlanta. They meet every 45 days uh and

john hope brian invited me out uh to address the brothers here and i said well i gotta do my show and then they said okay well we'll make sure you do your show and then they moved this they moved the meeting uh to the home of the kimmy matambo and i said well uh you know he tall and seven feet so you know he got some extra extra room for us to do the show. And so we are here. He is the host of the meeting. He's the host of us doing the show. And my brother, I appreciate it.

It's always good to see you. Good to see you. Hall of Famer, who I call former Houston Rocket. I don't care about the other teams he played for. Yeah, I don't care about them other teams. You know, I'm from Houston. Hey, we know you're from Texas. That's right, from H-town. So, man, how you doing?

I'm doing good, man. Thanks for having me. Man, no, thanks for having us. Y'all, he was remarking, he said, y'all just brought a whole studio with y'all, huh? Yes. I never, I've never gone to see so many cameras in my house before. Yeah, well, you know, look, we had, you know, we got to look good because, you know, we're sitting here, you know, we stream on, you know, I launched the app. And, of course, we got it going. And so we got to look right now.

We got to look right. Yes, we're looking good. Yo, you always got to look good. Let's talk about what you're doing. You have your foundation, but you also are really doing some great stuff all around the globe as a global ambassador of basketball, especially in Africa. Yes. Not a long time ago, we invested a billion dollars to launch NBA Africa Basketball League.

It went great. It was very successful. We have a great turnout. The game was watched in almost over 200-some-plus countries. So we are very happy with the step and the progress that we made. And I also launched Mutombo Coffee. Mutombo Coffee? Yes. You have to know this one.

Coffee is a $485 billion commodity trade. And when you look at that, there's no black man in the coffee business. There's no black woman in the coffee business. And all those trades happen with the people from a different ethnicity. So why not us? That's the question that we've been asked. Why not us? Why we cannot be on the table when you know that almost 75% of the coffee comes from Africa? Boom!

And there's no African men in the trading floor where the coffee price has been discussed. That has been my debate and I'm so happy that I put my foot into this game and I want to be part of this game. I'm want to be part of this game. I'm tired watching the game from outside. And that's the thing that I'm constantly talking about when we talk about these vast riches coming out of Africa. Six of the ten fastest or seven of the ten fastest growing economies are African nations. America talks about the role the Chinese are playing, but guess what? If the United States is not investing in these

countries... Somebody else will go. Yeah. Absolutely. That's what is happening. The Chinese are controlling almost the entire mining trade right now with cobalt and copper and lithium and our next electrical car, all the material that goes there

is coming from Africa straight to China, then to the rest of the world. But there's no African man who's there on the front to lead even one of the company. So I went out, raised about $1.7 billion. We're a couple group of investors. Now we're getting some money. You went out and raised $1.7 billion? Yes, and Now we're getting some money. That went on to raise 1.7 billion?

Yes, and now we're getting also in the business in a combo. So we have some money allocated to us and we're going to start working soon. You have to put your foot in the game. You cannot always buy a ticket, go sit in the seat and watch the game. Once in a while you can't say, can I play this game?

Well, and the thing that I'll never forget, the joke that Chris Rock said, he said, let's be clear, he said, Shaq not rich. The guy who pays Shaq is rich. Yep. And the thing, I tell this story all the time. We went to a Houston, Texas football game and afterwards we were talking with the players and the coaches and my little nephew, Chris,

he probably was three at the time. He had a football and he wanted Wade Phillips, who was the individual coordinator, to sign it. And so Wade goes, Chris, what position do you want to play? I said, no, no, no, no. Chris has not been raised to play a position. Chris is being raised to own the team.

And he sort of... That's good. Nice dream. He sort of stepped back. But again, that's the piece there. Everybody's not going to be born and grow to seven feet tall. Everybody won't be able to dribble a basketball. I'm always telling people,

you can be in the NBA without playing. Definitely. A lot of them who never thought that me, Dikembe Mutombo, would have an opportunity to have a piece of ownership of more than 12 teams in Africa today. The league will grow to 30-some-plus teams in the next couple of years.

So you have an ownership stake in the league? In the league will go to 30-some-plus teams in the next couple years. So you have an ownership stake in the league? In the league. No, in one club. In the league. All right, then. All right, my brother. See, you didn't say that. You didn't add that part.

You said, okay, all right, then. So, you know, I play the game. You know, so many guys will play the game and walk away from the game. That's right. But sometimes if the game good, you can stay in the game, but you're doing something that's different. And that's what I choose to do. Oh, man.

How have you, being on the business side, I talked earlier about understanding the business of the business. How have you applied the discipline that was required to be a great basketball player to business? You know, I use the platform with the gift of talent that God gave to me to play the game of basketball. Met so many wonderful people. And most of the people that I'm talking to them doing business are the people who came to the game, the people who sit on the call side. So many guys would go play the game, and because they're wearing their uniform, and when they finish wearing their uniform, they go straight to the door. They forgot who come, who pay you, that guy who sit on the call side. Have you tried to meet

him? Have you tried to ask what his name, what his wife's name, what his kid's name? Those are the things that we need to learn how to do to build life after the game. Building relationships. It's all about relationship. I build the hospital through relationship. I'm building a $4.5 million school that is opening in four weeks from kindergarten to 12th grade through relationship that people have made to my game. I'm not putting a dime, but I've met so many wonderful people, and I go to them, I say, listen,

there's kids in Africa who don't have no place to go to school. Can you guys help me put a building for them there? And people came in. It's all through relationship. You cannot be successful in life without relationship. Steve Jobs didn't build Apple if he didn't have a great relationship. If you look at his history, he struggled at the beginning. But through some of the relationship that he did have, they was able to call him back to come back to Silicon Valley to build the

Apple company that it is. It's not just a relationship. Someone on YouTube, they were asking, they said, where do you get Mutombo coffee? They said, where do they get it? Oh, you go to MutomboCoffee.com or you go to Amazon. You will find me there. OK. All right, then. Well, look, first of all, here's what we're going to do.

We're going to come back. We're going to come back. I'm going to be here next month. We're going to sit down for a much longer conversation. You know, we do these one-on-ones. I launched this OTT network, and I guess I'll get an exclusive here. I'm going to be launching a part of that, a weekly interview series. We've already shot seven. We're going to do about 20 in LA next month in 20

in November and that way it's a one-on-one conversation we can spend a whole hour going over this sort of stuff because I know we got the brothers back here I'm scheduled to speak in two minutes and so I don't want them to be waiting because they can be like I mean I need to get my house at 9 o'clock but man I it's always good to see you. Tell the wife I said hello. I will make sure. And we're going to sit down and we're going to have that long conversation

because folks are really getting some great stuff out of this. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Folks, that is it for us. Before we go, guess what? We have hit 10,000 downloads on Black Star Network. And so we appreciate all of you who have downloaded the app already.

Of course, we launched it September 4th. And so we hit that in 10 days. And so now let's hit 20,000 downloads. If you have not downloaded, go to Apple TV, Roku TV, Amazon TV, Amazon Fire Stick. Of course, Samsung TV, Xbox. We're all the platforms. You can download it to your Apple phone or your Android phone as well. Again, this is a network that we're building. We're going to have multiple shows.

I just told y'all. I broke the news there. I'm going to have solely a one-on-one interview series that's going to be on. I've already interviewed Jack Kay, interviewed Glenn Turman, Bill Duke, Jeffrey Osborne, Richard Lawson, Michael Collier, and I'm missing somebody. I have not you yet, but I've done those other men in the can. So we're going to do these. So we've got some great stuff. And so please, we want you to also support Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Trust me, the dollars that you give, I'm trying to explain to y'all. We've got two crew members here in Atlanta. When we come places, we hire local talent. When we went to Atlanta, we hire African Americans in L.A. When we were in Atlanta, we did it when we were in Tuskegee, Alabama. When we were in Houston. And so when you support us, you're supporting black businesses as well. And so please join our Bring the Funk fan club.

Our goal is to get $20,000 fans giving at least 50 bucks a year, $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. You can give cash at DallasSideRMUnfiltered. PayPal.me is forward slash RMartinUnfiltered. Venmo.com is forward slash RMUnfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered Venmo.com is forward slash RM Unfiltered. Zell is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

We've had people give us as much, little as a dollar. We've had people give us as much as $30,000. We don't put a number on it. And it's also why the app is free, because we want to expose as many people as possible to this great content. So your contributions really, really make that possible. Folks, I appreciate all of y'all watching us. Share this video. great content. So your contributions really, really make that possible. Folks, I appreciate all of y'all watching us share this video. Amazing content. You're not going to get anywhere else. I'm telling you, there's no other platform to give you these kind of experts in two

hours. And so please share it. Follow us on YouTube. We're about 1500 away from having 800,000 subscribers on YouTube. And let's now hit 20,000 downloads. We want to be at 50,000 downloads of Black Star Network by December. And so tell a friend. Let's make it happen. Folks, I'll see you tomorrow. I'm back in the studio, and I'll see you tomorrow. Y'all know how we always end the show.

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