#RolandMartinUnfiltered - LA Angola Youth Heat Conditions, Trump Presidential Power Plan, Rep. Hosford schools GOP MAGA Agenda

Episode Date: July 19, 2023

7.18.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: LA Angola Youth Heat Conditions, Trump Presidential Power Plan, Rep. Hosford schools GOP MAGA Agenda A shocking lawsuit against Louisiana's Angola prison reveals horrendous conditions in which nearly 80 Black boys have been forced into solitary confinement in extreme heat and abusive treatment. We'll dive into the details of the emergency filing, which seeks to protect the rights of these children and prevent them from being placed in adult facilities. Former President Donald Trump has plans to expand executive powers if he were to reclaim the White House in 2024. We will speak with Tamia D. Booker, Founder & Managing Director of T. Booker Strategies, to find out how these plans could reshape the structure of the executive branch, concentrating authority directly in Trump's hands. The parents of Carlethia "Carlee" Russell, the Alabama woman who miraculously returned home after a frightening abduction, sat for an exclusive interview with NBC News. We will play the interview and hear why the Russells believe their daughter's abductor remains at large. Rep. Steven Horsford takes a bold stance against MAGA Republicans, shining a light on their agenda focused on fighting against "wokism." Stay tuned to hear him call out MAGA. In our marketplace segment, we'll speak with the CEO of Mylegkini, a groundbreaking bikini brand that empowers people of all shapes and sizes to feel confident on the beach. Discover this inclusive brand's inspirational story. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork 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. "See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. self. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Tuesday, July 18, 2023.

Coming up, a roll of Mark Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Shocking lawsuit against Louisiana's Angola prison reveals horrendous conditions in which nearly 80 black boys have been forced into solitary confinement in extreme heat.

Also, subjected to abusive treatment. We'll dive into these details on this terrible story. Speaking of terrible story, Texas Governor Greg Abbott literally ordered state troopers to push pregnant migrants back into the river, across the border, into a barbed wire fence. One lady was having a miscarriage, also pushing children back, leading them to their deaths. The Houston Chronicle broke this story, and it shows you these so-called pro-life Christian conservatives are not that.

Well, Donald Trump has plans to expand executive powers if he were to reclaim the White House in 2024. We'll talk with Tamiya Booker, founding managing director of T. Booker Strategies, to find out how these plans could reshape the structure of the government, but also impact African Americans. Speaking of Donald Trump, oh, he announced today he might be getting indicted again.

Jack Smith hit him with another letter saying they're investigating him for the 2020 election. Don't you just love it? The parents of Carlithia Carly Russell, the Alabama woman who miraculously returned home after a frightening abduction, sat down for an exclusive interview with NBC News. They say they want the public to withhold their comments until their daughter is able to speak about what she went through.

Also, folks, Delta Sigma Theta, they are having their 56th National Convention in Indianapolis. They're featuring the Vice President of the United States. She'll be joining us on the show, aka, it's recently announced they're opening their own credit union. We'll tell you about that. Congressman Stephen Horst for the blasted MAGA Republicans on the floor, shining a light on their agenda focused on fighting so-called wokeism. We'll show you that and also in our marketplace segment, we'll talk with the CEO of a groundbreaking bikini brand that empowers people of all shapes and sizes to feel confident on the beach. And what the hell is happening with the gathering spot in Greenwood Bank? Hmm. We'll tell you that as well. A lot of stuff to cover. It's time to bring the funk of Roland Martin Unfiltered with Blackstar Network. Let's go. just for kicks he's rolling yeah it's Uncle Roro y'all yeah it's rolling Martin yeah yeah rolling with rolling now yeah

he's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best you know he's rolling Martin now You know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. Shocking story out of Louisiana. 80 children, almost black, all black boys detained in Angola's former death row building, the nation's largest and adult maximum security prison.

Folks reported being held in abusive conditions, oppressive heat, also mandatory solitary confinement. ACLU National Prison Project, the ACLU of Louisiana, and the Claiborne Firm and Fair Fight Initiative, Southern Poverty Law Center, all of them have filed a lawsuit regarding these conditions. They say, folks, that these children are being placed in mandatory solitary confinement for 72 consecutive hours when they arrive only being released from their cells for a few minutes to shower, and they still have to remain in shackles. Punishing children with being locked in their cells for over 23 hours only to be let out. Again, to be showered in handcuffs. Handcuff and shackle as punishment even when they are allowed to go outside for recreation time.

New filing also cites evidence of extreme heat in the individual cells where children are confined, which do not have windows or air conditioning. Previously, the children in Angola have reported solitary confinement used as a form of group punishment, being deprived of their right to an education, failure to provide accommodations for children with disabilities, limited visits with family and loved ones, and being maced or pepper sprayed by guards. The emergency filing asked the court to order the state to remove the kids from Angola and place them in youth-appropriate, non-punitive settings, barring the state from placing children in adult facilities.

Juveniles have been transferred to Angola since October 2022. They usually stay there four to eight weeks. Some of them have had multiple placements. In a September 2022 court hearing, the state's Office of Juvenile Justice officials swore that the Angola Union was only temporary and testified that it would be offline by the spring of 2023. That's a lie. The state's Office of Juvenile Justice continues to send children to the maximum security prison in the sweltering Louisiana summer. Last week, the OJJ deputy secretary in the state said they might

close the Angola facility by October or mid-November, depending on construction schedules. He also said children are temporarily held in local adult jails until a placement at youth facilities is found. My panel, Dr. Mustafa Santayal Ghali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA, Dr. Larry J. Walker, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, Mignon Guy, chair of the Department of African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University. Mignon, I'm going to start with you. Again, we're talking about Louisiana, some of the most brutal conditions in the country, competing, frankly, with Mississippi, and it's not a list you want to be on, but folks in that state do not care. They certainly do not. It's interesting that you've mentioned Mississippi

because the first thing I thought about was, are we talking about Mississippi exactly? It's appalling what they're doing to these children and it's child abuse, it's neglect, it's abusive. And all I can think about is the psychological effects that they'll have on the long term with these children, right, on their sort of thinking about how they fit into the world, who are they in this world, you know, being isolated and alienated and tortured in brief. I mean, I can't even speak to it, quite frankly. I read it today and I thought to myself, I'm not sure what what world we live in.

This is like a developing nation, quite frankly. Larry, this is again, when you think about this, Louise, you can't trust Louisiana officials. You cannot trust their word because we know they lied about Ronald Green. We know they lied about this beforehand. This is where you need federal intervention immediately. I totally agree, Roland. And the thing about Angola, it has a terrible reputation. I mean, this is these, you know, these specific allegations relating to adolescents are certainly new and troubling. But Angola's reputation for years has been similar to discussions we're having right now in terms of the treatment of predominantly Black men.

So it breaks my heart for a number of reasons. My colleague just highlighted how traumatic it is going to be for these young men. And then the idea of, and I've talked about this on your show before, Roland, is that a lot of times when it comes to Black people, particularly those who are incarcerated, is that folks don't see their humanity. So the fact that they've been in these deplorable conditions and treated the way they're treated, locked away, not given the opportunity, even like you said, when you go outside when it's leisure time, to bounce a basketball freely, this is consistent with how prisoners, particularly Black prisoners, have been treated throughout U.S. history. And you talked about Louisiana, Mississippi.

We can keep going down a line of states throughout this country where we've seen similar allegations not only in treatment of adolescents but over treatment of adults. But it is important for DOJ to come in and put an end to this practice. And it will be interesting to see in terms of what kind of compensation that these young men should be receiving in the long term to make sure they get a quality education. And that also in terms of the money they deserve for how they've been treated. And also I might add, Roland, that this is the kind of issue the U.N. should be involved in also when we talk about humanitarian issues.

Look, Mustafa, I mean, unfortunately, we have seen these things over the over this country. You look at Rikers Island issues they still have in that particular prison. This is an administration of all the people out there complaining about Joe Biden and President Kamala Harris being vice president. The reality is this Department of Justice, led by Christian Clark of the Civil Rights Division, they have gone after more prisons, more wardens, more corrections officers than any DOJ in recent memory. Yeah, they've been doing a great job on a number of the issues that are out there, and we hope that they will continue to not only place a spotlight, but to make sure that there's real justice for those young men who are there. But, you know, we also have to make sure, as was just

said, that people understand that if this was a situation that was happening in any other country, there would be an outcry and it would be a human rights violation. And the United Nations and others would be coming into the space to actually, you know, evaluate what was going on and then to, you know, force a government to actually do better. We also understand that we're in the middle of a heat wave. So I've worked in Louisiana. I know how hot it gets down there. And for these young men to be exposed, you know, being locked down for 23 hours and 100 plus degree weather, probably don't have access to water, don't have access to any way to cool down their bodies. So then you deal with dehydration. You can deal with strokes. You can deal with a number of disease or excuse me, impacts that happen when

you're dealing with this extreme heat. So this is just another example of how folks don't see us as human and don't feel that we have a right to basic amenities. Well, that certainly is the case. And hopefully Louisiana officials will do the right thing. Unfortunately, even with the Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, they can't be trusted to do the right thing. Folks, hold tight one second. We'll come back more on today's show. We've got lots of stuff to talk about and also some breaking news out of Michigan. Those fake electors who rival Donald Trump, they're indicted.

See? All y'all fools who keep rolling with that fool, y'all don't end up in prison. Hashtag, we tried to tell you. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstone Network. If you're on YouTube, hit that like button, y'all. We want to easily hit a thousand likes in the first hour of the

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Menthol cigarettes are a big reason why black Americans have a harder time quitting smoking and die at higher rates from smoking-related diseases like cancer, heart disease, and stroke. It's time to stop big tobacco from profiting off black lives. An FDA ban on menthol cigarettes will improve black health, save lives, and protect future generations from addiction. Learn more at tobaccofreekids.org slash ban menthol. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch. I'm real revolutionary right now.

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

I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Alright, y'all messing around with Donald Trump. You F around, you're going to find out. Guess what? These fools in Michigan have found out this breaking news that just came down.

Michigan is charging 16 electors. These electors. Go to my iPad. With a scheme to overturn the 2020 election result. They face years in prison. Not only that, Jack Smith has sent Donald Trump a letter. How do we know that? Because that fool actually put it on his Truth Social. He put on his Truth Social that he has received a target letter from Jack Smith. And so I'm cracking up big time, y'all,

with this here, this Target letter. And, of course, Republicans, Lord, they are upset. They mad as all get out because of this. This is the statement that Trump put out. It's a whole bunch of nonsense because you don't demand failed at English. But he said, deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden's DOJ, sent a letter, again, it was Sunday night, of nonsense because you don't demand failed at English. But he said deranged Jack Smith,

the prosecutor with Joe Biden's DOJ, sent a letter. Again, it was Sunday night and stating that I am a target of the January 6th grand jury investigation and giving me a very short four days to report to the grand jury, which almost always mean an arrest and indictment. Oh, hell yes. OK, so you got that going on, all right? We're still waiting on Fannie Willis, the DA in Fulton County, to come forward with her indictment as well. All of this also comes out as the New York Times report about Donald Trump and his minions

making plans to completely reshape the federal government. Now, remember, Axios reported this months ago. We talked about it. But this New York Times story makes it perfectly clear how the Heritage Foundation and others, they are spending millions of dollars. They literally want to completely reimagine and, frankly, destroy the federal government. They want to be able to fire thousands of government workers who do not agree with their ideology. They want to assume authority over the FCC, other areas. Donald Trump complains about Biden and his DOJ. He wants to literally use the presidential powers to sick the DOJ on his

rivals. Folks, understand what we're talking about here. We're talking about a level of evil that we have never seen. If you thought Nixon was crazy, this is Nixon on steroids and Viagra. Tamia Booker is founder and managing director of T. Booker Strategies, from D.C. Tamia, people need to understand what's going on here and not play games. What Donald Trump and what these Republicans are talking about. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

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and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player,

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperSealing.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. ad council. They literally want to create a dictatorship in Washington, D.C., where there are no checks and balances, and they want to punish their political enemies. Yes, that's right. He's literally trying to create a full imbalance of power, and he is making steps to create an authoritarian regime. The former president has unfortunately had a platform still after being indicted and is able to propose a plan, which is still frustrating that he is, after being indicted, after being impeached twice, after inciting a riot. And he is threatening federal government workers. I worked in the federal government for six years. You have career civil servants who

are in there who are working to protect American people, to help preserve our lives and help us have better clean air, clean water, clean food. And the president is trying to do everything he can to dismantle our democracy. And him being back in power again, and even the thought of him being back in power is dangerous. And him being allowed to actually be able to propose any plans to do any of these things is dangerous, in fact, yes. You have these folks out here like Marjorie Taylor Greene and others, and they're upset.

Oh, Kevin McCarthy is saying, oh, how they're reprimanding the DOJ. This is real simple. If you don't do illegal stuff, you don't have to worry about getting indicted. Getting indicted. Correct. And the thing here is there was a time when you had your Republican president who still didn't like the Department of Justice, who he appointed the attorney general. And he got upset when the attorney general wasn't doing exactly what he wanted him to do. That is authoritarianism. This is not how our government works. And we have the system of checks and balances for a reason. So these members of Congress, these vigilantes, they're upset because they want people to do

exactly what they want to do. But yes, we should work together when it's within the law. And they want to do these things that are not within work together when it's within the law. And they want to do these things that are not within the bounds of the law or the Constitution. And that's why when they talk and they say things, I get very frustrated because a question, you know, why they were even elected in the first place. But this is exactly what is happening in the Republican Party. The extremists, those who don't have knowledge on how the Constitution works and how government works, are the ones that are loud and are getting all of this attention and traction. Mustafa, I love these congressional Karens.

When they start crying, go to my iPad, please. A letter from Jack Smith saying the target of a grand jury investigation on January 6th. Do you have a reaction to that? Yeah, it's absolute bullshit. Yeah, that's my reaction. This is the only way that the Democrats have to beat President Trump, is to arrest him, smear him, charge him with ridiculous charges, all in a cover-up of Joe Biden's crimes, Hunter Biden's crimes.

It's unbelievable. It's hard to even recognize that this is our country. The American people are going to be furious. And what Jack Smith is doing is, is the weaponized government. And he's weaponizing the Department of Justice against President Trump in a complete lie about President Trump and January 6th. And the question that I want to ask Jack Smith, is this the plan? Are they going to arrest President Trump? Trump charge him with phony fake charges and then hold him in prison while he is winning the Republican primary, while he's going to win the general election in 2024. Is this is this where our country is now?

Because it's an embarrassment on the world stage. If this is the direction America is going in, we are worse than Russia. We are worse than China. We are worse than some of the most corrupt third world countries. And this needs to end. It's an absolute lie. And every single time, President Trump has proven innocent time and time and time again. Mustafa, I don't recall when he's been proven innocent. That's first. Second of all, if this was Russia, they throw your ass out of buildings or they poison you. China, they just throw you in prison. Don't even tell anybody you're in prison. Marjorie Taylor Greene probably is really upset because she's a co-conspirator and she knows that coming

after him, they're coming after this congressional Karen. Without a doubt. I mean, Representative Greene is on another planet anyway. It's amazing the things that they want you to believe, even though you see things with your eyes. We all watched the videos of what was going on on January the 6th. We've seen what went on at the Michigan State House. So we've seen all these folks who have had no regard for the law whatsoever and felt that their privilege allowed them to do whatever they thought that they thought that they could do. And now they're being, you know, pulled back in and folks are going to hold them accountable through that same law that they have a disregard for. So, you know, when it comes to her, you know, it's just amazing.

I worked on Capitol Hill. I've seen people carry themselves with honor and respect there. And she's just not one of those individuals. We have to keep the spotlight on this because they will literally try and convince other folks across our country that the things that you've seen with your eyes, the words you've heard with your own ears are not true. I mean, speaking of our own eyes and ears. Oh, watch this. So this is Speaker Kevin McCarthy today with the whine and complain of the day. Well, listen. Under a Biden administration, Biden America, you'd expect this.

If you notice, recently, President Trump went up in the polls and was actually surpassing President Biden for reelection. So what do they do now? Weaponize government. To go after their number-one opponent. It's time and time again. I think the American public is tired of this. They want to see equal justice, and the idea that they utilize this to go after those who politically disagree with them is wrong.

Now, that was today. This was Kevin McCarthy shortly after January 6, 2021. The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump. Accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest, and ensure President-elect

Biden is able to successfully begin his term. The President bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump. Accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest, and ensure President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term.

The president... Uh, same dude. Same dude in room six. Yep, I remember that speech. same dude, same Denny Rusex. Yep. I remember that speech. You know, Roland, we're coming up on an election cycle. And the House leadership for Republicans hangs in the balance between Democrats and Republicans.

And it's like I said before, they are trying to cater to the loud extremists of their base. We see Marjorie Taylor Greene saying what she's saying. And many of those in the party are the ones that are loud. The Republicans got scared last cycle, right? Like they didn't win. They didn't sweep the house like they thought they were going to. And so they're nervous when it comes to 2024. What exactly is going to happen next year? So what they're doing is, OK, the loud people, the extremists of this party, we need to cater to them now. So now we're going to switch gears. And just like

you said, it's not like we can't look this stuff up. It's not like we can't see this on YouTube. It's not like we can't figure this out for ourselves. But many in their party don't do the research. They just listen to whatever they tell them on a day-to-day basis. And so it's unfortunate. And what we have to continue to do is we have to continue to speak up. We have to continue to vote. We can't sit out any election cycle because we cannot let these people be in charge of anything. Not in the House, not in the Senate, and definitely not as president. Here's another one of these co-conspirators, Congressman Jim Jordan.

Oh, the wine. This is as wrong as it gets. But all I got was the news, and I saw the president's statement, which I thought was good. This is as wrong as it gets. As it gets. But all I got was the news.

Yeah, because you know if they're coming after him, your ass also next. Larry? Yeah, let's round them all up. And so, Roland, I got a new nickname for Donald Trump, Agent Zero, because there's zero chance that Jack Smith doesn't indict him. And listen, you know, you saw the congressman, you know, who once again is always complaining about the judicial system. But when black folks are underneath the boot of law enforcement, he has nothing to say, zero to say. So we need to hold all these folks accountable. I'm looking forward to, you know, when the indictments do come down.

You talked about Georgia waiting to see what's happening in Georgia, hopefully the next couple weeks before the summer ends. But the reality is, if we don't address this issue soon, Roland, in terms of these conspirators as individuals who are involved in trying to overthrow our government, the United States won't survive beyond 2024. And it's critical that we hold those folks responsible now that they go to prison so that other individuals are less likely to try something in the future. You know, Mignon, Jordan, the same guy who loves to rant about folks ignoring subpoenas, and Congressman Eric Swalwell does a real good job of reminding us when Jim Jordan himself continues to ignore a congressional subpoena. Go to my iPad. Never gets old that Chairman Jordan is complaining about subpoena compliance. We're approaching 500 days since Chairman Jordan has failed to comply with a lawfully issued subpoena for the greatest crime ever committed in America. A crime where more people have been arrested, more people

have been prosecuted. His country has asked him to assist in the investigation and he has refused to comply. Yet he is all too eager to bring to this committee people who are working hard for the government, working hard for taxpayers, to carry out the mission of Health and Human Services, to carry out the mission of the State Department. He's too good to honor a subpoena, but he has complaints, real complaints about what these hardworking government officials are doing. Again, it's never going to get old.

It's never going to be taken seriously. Thankfully, these witnesses are willing to do something that Chairman Jordan is not willing to do, which is actually show up and answer questions. Well, there you go. Mignon, look, it's a whole bunch of Republicans. And remember, Peter Navarro laid out that they had about 100 people who were ready.

He's literally talked publicly. They were following the Steve Bannon playbook. They had 100 people ready. Ted Cruz was one of them. They were actively engaged in this coup d'etat. That's why they're freaking out, because they all are going to have to testify. We hope so. We all hope so, don't we?

You know, it's interesting because when Barack Obama was elected president, I thought to myself, you know, Republicans and white people have lost their, will lose their minds, right? And then by the time Trump was installed,

I knew for sure that people lost their minds. And this whole notion of law and order and government, you know, under the Trump administration, the Republicans actually began to function as if they had nothing to lose. And I think that this is really where they are. It goes down into a bit of the fear of a brownie of America, right? They're going all in. And I think that many of these Congress people are actually going all, are And I think that many of these Congress people

are actually going all, are going to go on the ship with Donald Trump and go all the way down with him. They don't, this notion of law and, and who does it apply to, right? We always thought, thought that there was like, you know, one, one set of rules or laws for people of color, people who weren't white, another one for those who are white. This is a banana republic. This is to the point where there are no rules, there are no regulations. And yes, Steve Bannon absolutely is complicit in trying to deconstruct the government. One group that we don't talk about nearly enough, we talk about the Heritage Foundation quite a bit, but we actually don't talk about the Council for National Policy because those are the folks that are bankrolling these GOP, the GOP, all of the, they have connections with the neo-Nazis.

Southern Poverty Law Center has them listed as a hate group. If you look at the GOP and the Republican agenda under Trump until the present, you'll see that it aligns directly with the Council for National Policy. Those are the folks that we need to be looking at as well. Not just these little puppets out there in the front that do need that have to go down with Trump, but the ones who are bankrolling this from behind, because those are the ones that I think are the greatest danger to our democracy. The thing here, Tamia, I need black folks watching and listening to understand what these people want to do is pure evil. Us checking out of a process is the stupidest thing to do because what they have in store, what he did the first four years, it doesn't even compare to what they are going to do. And keep in mind, we disproportionately work in the federal government. They want to fire thousands of federal bureaucrats. That means black people. That's correct. And like I mentioned earlier, I served in the federal government as an appointee

during the Obama administration, and I worked at the Department of Health and Human Services, and you are correct. The majority of those civil servants were Black. And we have to really wake up. We cannot afford to not vote and pay attention. This is a step towards authoritarianism, period. That's what this is. And we know that what they will do is try to make sure that Black people will suffer in this process. And it is very unfortunate. And we saw after the Obama election, the havoc that was wreaked on us as African Americans during the Trump administration. And if he or any of them were ever to get in power again in 2025, we will see it again.

So we cannot tune out. We can do both things. We can have fun, but we also have to vote, and we have to make sure that our family members and our community and our neighbors are all voting because it is very, very imperative that we do it to protect ourselves. All I got to see is what DeSantis has done in Florida, what Abbott has done in Texas, what Abbott has done in Texas,

what Kemp has done in Georgia, what the Republican governor has done in Iowa, and we can go on and on and on. If that idiot gets back into the Oval Office, folks need to understand America's going to be truly scary, and I don't want to hear that crap, oh, we've been through this before. No, you haven't.

Our ancestors did, but not you. I'd be damned if we want to see a repeat of that. Tamia, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. We appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you for having me. Come back, we'll talk about the case of the black woman in Alabama who has returned home. Folks are questioning what happened.

Her parents are saying, hey, pump the brakes. She went through a whole lot. We'll discuss that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser

Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at LavaForGoodPlus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. Arapahoe, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a

dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. My early days on the road, I learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well, so I was one of the best in the city on percussion. There you go. Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on. Mm-hmm.

And with that study, I learned, again, what was for me. I learned what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. Right. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know the music.

You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anybody. There you go. Right? So you can't walk in unprepared. . Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us.

White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash.

This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women.

This is White Beat. Me Sherri Sheppard with Sammie Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B, pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. The family of a black woman in Alabama who went missing gave their first interview with NBC News. Carlithia Carly Russell's parents talked about her terrifying disappearance and her safe return. We tried to hug her as best we could, but I had to stand back because she was not in

a good state. So we had to stand back and let medical professionals work with her. But anything leading to the case itself, we can't discuss that. She's having to deal with the trauma of people just making completely false allegations about her. Carly has given detectives her statement so that they can continue to pursue her abductor. Do you believe that there's an abductor still out there? Absolutely. Absolutely.

The Russells implore the public not to speculate or spread false information focusing on their daughter's well-being and emphasizing the need to pursue justice. The daughter, Carly, disappeared on Thursday after reporting a child on the side of the highway. The Russells also pleaded for any more information about the case to contact the appropriate authorities. So here's what I've seen.

A lot of conversation. One, a lot of people. I've seen people say that a lot of black folks who were calling out saying, hey, report, report, report. Let's find this sister. Others are saying, OK, report, report, report, let's find this sister. Others are saying, okay, well, what happened? Because you just sort of walked back, you know, into the home. But you also think about the case of Elizabeth Smart,

who disappeared more than two decades ago, and the reaction wasn't the same. Do you believe that folks are making demands of her because she's a black woman compared to how other people who have gone missing have been treated? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we have a history in this country of demonizing black and brown women who have gone missing. Oftentimes, you know, we're lucky that we actually even heard about this case because oftentimes they just go unreported. And it's very interesting. And when I was thinking about this earlier, I thought to myself, okay, if this were a white woman, we would give her space. We would

give her parents space. We would, you know, we would applaud and we would be joyous and overjoyed that she was returned, that she came home. And the responses on social media that I saw were quite appalling because they were almost as if people were disappointed somehow, right? And suddenly questioning her actions and questioning, you know, where was she and what did she do for this to happen and how was she complicit? Of course, this is – again, it's the same thing. We dehumanize black bodies. We dehumanize black people. We cannot have – some people cannot have compassion for black women and black men.

And they're not afforded the same basic humanity and the same dignity and space and grace as other groups. Larry. My colleagues talk about the Black body and this idea, particularly in the age of social media, of ownership. First of all, I was, you know, unfortunately was here about the story about the young lady missing, but I was at least pleased to see that it was getting reported because, as we know statistically, you know, Black folks disproportionately go missing, but it's underreported. So I was relieved at least it was being reported on social media. But once she, you know, returned home, and like I said, we don't know what the story is, need to give her family, give her and her family the grace to kind of let this investigation unfold. But it was like the entire, you know, people turned against her.

And as my colleague talked about, it was even more disappointing that she was found. And I think this is an unfortunate symptom of social media in terms of, like I said, the way people feel like if there's a story or they read about that they feel so invested in it, they feel like they need answers right away. And I think it's dangerous. But it's also consistent, as my colleague mentioned, in terms of how Black women in particular are treated in America. We need to give her a space. It must be painful as a parent. I know that must have been very difficult to have that, you know, go on TV and have that conversation and share some of the information. But once again, we need to give the family the room and law enforcement the opportunity to investigate and let her heal and let them find a new culprit. But there is an investigation here, Mustafa.

And so here's the whole deal. Police are investigating. If this is was a false flag that will come out in the investigation if this was indeed true she's abducted that will come out in the investigation but the bottom line is uh this this this demand if you will for her to explain uh folk pump the brakes yeah i had to have a conversation with a couple of people about this. And my you know, the way that I shared it was this was your daughter or your granddaughter or your niece or another lady who was a part of your family. Would you want them out in front of the cameras? Would you not want them to have the time to heal? Especially if there was something extremely traumatic that happened to this sister. So as folks said, the key word here is grace. But also the reality that we deal with, unfortunately, in our country is that we build people up when it is convenient,

and then we tear them down. And we see the cannibalistic ways that black and brown women are often dealt with in a number of different types of situations. So we need to really begin to embrace our own humanity and demand that others who are in our circles do the same thing. Indeed, indeed. And so it's true that we're going to keep paying attention, looking out for it, and to see what happens next. But it is... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Look, what we do know, and we talk about all the time, the number of times when a black woman comes up missing, how often it does not get attention whatsoever. This was one of those stories. At the moment she came up missing, Minyoung, folks were immediately on social media, spreading the word, not waiting on law enforcement,

demanding, demanding that law enforcement step up and do something. That's right. That's right. And it's, it's, I mean, that's the, the good part about, about social media. And also, you know, there's a dark side to social media because as quickly as they, you know, put out information to try to find her, you know, that's as quickly as they'll put out negative information against her. But it has power for now until Elon Musk, like, destroys it. It has power to actually, we have the power to organize and to coordinate and to activate individuals and to, like you said, to force law enforcement to pay attention because this has actually happened previously in other cases as well. One of the things that I was thinking about, and it's digressing a little bit, but one of the things I was thinking about was during COVID, the black men that were missing around the country. And the only reason why law enforcement, some of them in California, one in New York, the only reason why law enforcement came out into the public and actually spoke about it was because people were rallying on social media. So we can use this for good and we can

harness our own power to try to force authorities or force justice in ways that we may not be able to otherwise. And the beauty is, is that we can we can catalyze individuals across the country and and virtually shame law enforcement into action. Indeed. Speaking of shame, Congressman Stephen Horsford, let's just say he had a whole lot to say to shaming these stupid Republicans who whine and complain about wokeism. These fools can't even define it. And so the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, he simply had enough of these idiots. And that same senator went on to say he thinks that white nationalists aren't racist. Well what are they then? MAGA Republicans have made it their entire political agenda to fight against quote woke-ism. Every time they use the word woke, I think they mean black.

They want to ban diversity. They want to ban equity and inclusion programs and erase black history from the classrooms. Ironically, what Representative Crane's comments made clear is that the very diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that they fight against are necessary. They're necessary in boardrooms, in our schools, in the halls of Congress, and yes, in our military, which grows more diverse every day. In fact, more than 40% of our service members today are service

members from a broad array, African American, Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islanders, who are serving our country and do not deserve to be called anything other than honorable. Mustafa Heinlein, when they say woke, they want to say black. Exactly. Everybody knows what's going on and what time it is. I appreciate Representative Horsford because, you know, he don't play with folks. And he doesn't allow the erasure. He doesn't allow the erasure of our history, of the programs that are so critical for the sustainability of our community, or any of the programs that are so critical for the sustainability of our community or any of the

other aspects that are just so necessary and so important. So I appreciate them. But each and every one of us also have a responsibility to check this foolishness that they keep doing, because when you allow these seeds to not only be planted, but then to be watered time and time and time again, and that's what you see with folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene and the rest of that crew. And if you don't push back, if you don't put a spotlight on it, and if you don't pull those roots out of the ground with the untruth that they are sort of growing in, then you just allow, you know, all these negative things that continue to happen in our country. So I appreciate representatives for standing up and doing the right thing. Larry, they have to be challenged at every turn and must be put on the defensive.

Absolutely. Woke, a.k.a. anti-blackness, because that's all it is. It's interesting in terms of woke and then cancel how these are phrases that originate in the black community. We know that New York Times and other newspapers have really, really good articles about how these terminologies evolve. But what happened is Republicans, they reconceptualized it and weaponized it against Black folks. So a term like woke, which means someone who's aware, right, who's invested in the Black community, has now become some kind of, you know, they've bastardized it and created some concept that relates to something where they're trying to say it's anti-democratic, but it is really rooted in anti-blackness. We have to continue to attack these folks, force them to define it,

and then educate them. Well, no, not educate them, clown them, because we cannot allow people to continue to take things that are rooted in the black community, turn it around, like I said, then weaponize it and use it against us and pass federal laws at the federal and state level. You know, Mignon, you can always count on the fools to always expose themselves and show exactly who they are. I count Governor Ron DeSantis as one of those people. And so this very issue came up,

it was an interview that was being conducted, and watch this exchange because he embodies what we're talking about. It surveyed people, I think 16 to 28 barriers to service and beyond the ones such as don't want to die, don't want to be injured, don't want to be away from my family. The biggest issues were the number two issue, women and racial or ethnic minorities are discriminated against in the Army. Wokeness is listed here, but it's only number nine. So that would suggest that wokeness is not as big. Well, but I think there's an issue about like not everyone really knows what wokeness is. I mean, I've defined it, but a lot of people who rail against wokeness can't even define it. And so I think it's a sense of, you know, this is not something that's holding true to the core

martial values that make the military unique. And I can tell you, the veterans, you don't have to look far and wide. Go to a VFW hall, go to an American Legion. There's a huge amount of concern about the direction that the military is going with all this. And here's the thing, things like DEI and all that stuff, it hasn't worked in other aspects of society. It very well may be on the constitutional chopping block in light of the Supreme Court's decision on on racial discrimination in higher education. And so it's not a model that I think is going to be successful in the military. And so we're going to do what has been successful in the past. And I think you're going to see better recruiting as a result.

So the Pentagon says that they do try to achieve diversity in recruiting, but not when it comes to promotions. That's all merit based. Well, I mean, I think that we have seen standards watered down in different situations. I think that that's probably not accurate. Obviously, they're going to say they're doing a good job. I mean, we get that. That's going to be their thing. But I don't think that that's in tune with reality.

Mignon, I kind of recall a racist past in the military. Second of all, to listen to this idiot, Ron DeSantis, say, oh, this doesn't work for our military. And then he cites the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision. Correct me if I'm wrong. same Supreme Court allow it to be maintained at the military universities because they said there's a compelling national interest to have affirmative action in the military academies? So this same Supreme Court actually said, Ron DeSantis, no, we need it in the military because we need black bodies too. That's right. That's right. It's interesting. You know, one of the things that he did there, which I thought was really fascinating, he didn't use the term affirmative action.

He used, he flipped it and he used racial discrimination instead when he was talking about higher education. And yes, the Supreme Court absolutely stood by, yes, we can have black bodies on the fields. We can have black people giving their lives, but we cannot have them in higher education at the same rates as other folks. This whole notion of woke, it is absolutely 100% anti-Blackness. But let us not forget that while it is anti-Blackness and while they are trying to strip away our history and basically erase us, this erasure of our knowledge, our history, our culture, our bodies, our being, our capacity to have social mobility, to be able to rise. While they're doing that, they're also, and I'm very careful

about telling this to my students at Teach Undergraduates, and I'm very cognizant of telling them this, they are legislating the ignorance of white people. They are not just enforcing anti-Black policies. They are legislating the ignorance of white people. All of these issues around critical race theory and around wokeness and all of this and banning books came up after George Floyd, and it came up after they saw too many white children, white young people standing hand in hand fighting against racial injustice with Black people. And then all of a sudden you saw them lose their minds, right? And so now they're just going at it in every capacity that they can. Wanted to go for the military. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't

want our boys to go back there. We want to make sure that those other ones go out there first, right? So there is this, it's really complicated and complex. There is this inherent anti-Blackness that is woven in here, but there's also a very concerted effort, especially with these book bans and everything else, there's a concerted effort to legislate the ignorance of white people so that they don't understand how this anti-blackness also undermines their interests. Mustafa, this is, I know you got to go, but I want to comment on this. This is a piece that's in the Washington Monthly. Go to my iPad. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, noted that the decision, quote, does not address the use of race conscious admissions policies by service academies like West Point. He justified the exemption by referencing, quote, the potentially distinct interest that military academies may present, unquote.

But the move was widely seen as a politically expedient, a way to outlaw affirmative action in civilian settings without antagonizing the military, an institution voters revere. In an amicus brief to the court last fall, 35 former leaders of the armed services warned that prohibiting the use of modest race-conscious admissions policies would, quote, impair the military's ability to maintain diverse leadership and thereby seriously undermine its institutional legitimacy and operational effectiveness, unquote. So here you got the Senate trying to say, yeah, some of these black and brown people,

they got promotions they really should not have when, I'm sorry, the Marines just got their first four-star black general. Tommy Tubville is holding up only the second African-American to be the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When the brother, our frat brother, who was going to assume that, he was the first African-American to be Army, to be the Air Force chief of staff. So it ain't like the military has just been loaded with black and brown three and four star generals. Exactly. You know, once you strip off the veneer of folks like Ron DeSantis and Abbott and the rest of them, you get to really see who they are, what they stand for, and their anti-blackness. It is a part of this strategy that we've often talked about that's

been going on now for decades that is now playing out. And, you know, when we look at what the folks in the military side of the equation are doing, you can take that exact same language and apply it to other universities who are also looking to be able to make sure that they are meeting the needs of the 21st century. You can take that same thing and overlay it into corporations, since now they're going after corporations as well, and saying that if you focus on diversity or if diversity is a part of the criteria of your decision-making, then you're going to have to deal with us. So we see who you are. Yes, your sheet is showing, and we know where you're coming from. But we're going to have to deal with us. So we see who you are. Yes, your sheet is showing,

and we know where you're coming from. But we're going to continue to fight. We're going to continue to organize. And we're also going to continue to have white brothers and sisters, those young ones, standing hand in hand with black and brown folks, saying that the 21st century is going to look different than the 20th century, and your ways of doing things no longer have utility or meaning in the lives of Americans moving forward. Absolutely. Absolutely. Mustafa, I appreciate it, bro. Thank you so very much. Tommy Christopher with Mediate is going to be joining the panel in the next hour when we come back. More to talk about drama with the gathering in Greenwood Bank. Also, did y'all hear the comments Marjorie Taylor Greene had to say

about blasting what the Biden administration is doing for rural Americans? For the Biden folks, didn't take him long to flip that script and turn it into an ad. We'll show you that. And lots of other stuff we want to talk about on today's show.

So buckle up, folks. The second hour is going to be just as powerful as the first hour. Do not forget, if you want to, if you're watching on YouTube, hit the Like button, y'all, to impact the algorithm. Also, download the Blackstone Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

And, of course, we want you to give to our Brita Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. So send check-in money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself.

Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Be right back. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word.

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man. Some of us operating with the as if it's a bad honor like you even hear black women aspiring to see this why the dodgy. As their own expense. Next on The Frequency, right here on the Black Star Network. Hey, it's John Murray,

the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until then. Reunions. And he. So the other day, Marjorie Taylor Greene, being pretty stupid herself, made some comments about, oh, the Biden folks, they trying to do this for rural people. They trying to do this, trying to follow through with FDR did. And the Biden people were like, yeah, you're right. Well, they already made this suck into an ad.

Watch this. Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on. And Joe Biden is attempting to complete programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, labor unions, and he still is working on it. Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs that is actually finishing what...

Tommy Christopher, Joe's out panel. Tommy, I gotta love it. The Biden folks have gotten a lot quicker in terms of moving. She made a comment the other day. They were like, okay, we got something for your ass, congressional Karen. Yeah, they are. They are. They're getting a lot better at it.

And, you know, I think the part of that has to do with the fact that she's got such a great team sort of, you know, sticking up for her and, you know, just looking out for her. They're sort of got used to it on the job real fast. Lully, I just think that, again, Larry, this is how you compete. This is how you fight. And what she said, please show me somebody in rural America who goes, yeah, ain't that a damn shame? They're investing in us. Shout out to the Biden campaign, folks, and some of the former congressional staff and someone who worked on a number of campaigns. Rapid response. This is exactly what I'm looking for. And they need to stay aggressive. So it's interesting, Roland, she talks about, you know, you know, talked Roland. She talked about rural poverty and some of the other things that I talk about.

Obviously, I think a week or two ago, the Biden administration announced the money for broadband, obviously passed the infrastructure bill. These bills and the Inflation Act, these are all bills that have a positive impact on the lives of working class Americans. I'm glad they cut the ad. It makes no sense to me if you're a Republican to kind of list all these things. And we know after that, she started saying a bunch of crazy things. But she literally listed everything that people who are working in America, you know, nine to five, these are exactly the things they were hurt for, hurt for. She talked about rural and urban communities that need the resources that the Biden administration has fought for hard and got the House and Senate to pass to ensure that people can take care of their kids. Like I said, inflation has dropped for the last 12 months and also to focus on black unemployment.

I love it, Mignon. They were like, yeah, appreciate that. Thank you for saying what we're doing. Exactly. It was, I couldn't even, I didn't, I don't even understand what she was thinking when she was saying these things. Someone didn't write her speech very well. Well, yeah, fair enough, right? I think that someone obviously didn't write that speech for her because, and then the intonations, education is if somehow it's a bad thing, right? And then she goes onations, education, as if somehow it's a bad thing, right?

And then she goes on to the medical care. But then when she said urban, she's like, urban, rule, you know. This woman is bonkers. And, yes, mad props to the Biden administration and to his staff who picked up on it immediately. As my colleague said, rapid response is exactly where we need to go. And it's beautiful because it shows such a contrast between the ideology and what the GOP or the Republicans are supporting, because they can't roll that back, right? She said it. They'll try, but she said it, and they'll play it over and over again. But it shows such a contrast between the Republicans' support of big business and Joe Biden and his administration's focusing on the working class people. It was strange. She

basically, she attacked him for working in the, or moving forward, the basic tenets of any sort of modern Western civilization. And I thought, well, what does she expect us to be doing exactly? What is the role of the federal government? She's bonkers. She's bonkers. I also think it's important how things are being framed. And so Congresswoman Summer Lee out of Pennsylvania, she was questioning someone dealing with the Pentagon.

She was talking about money. And look, our government is now trying to spend more than eight hundred and eighty billion dollars on the Pentagon. And it's always more money, more money, more money, more money, more money. But it's like, are they wasting money? And so during the questioning and trust me, if the Democrats were, if the Biden were smart, but they didn't ever do this because it's criticizing the military, they will show how money is being wasted in the military while we're also having a student loan debate. Go to my iPad.

How much is the F-35 joint program estimated to cost the federal government to produce, operate, and sustain over its lifetime? I believe the GAO cited that figure. I don't have it in front of me, but we can get that for you. It's about $1.7 trillion, enough to completely eradicate student loan debt. According to the Government Accountability Office, between May 2018 and October 2022, about 1 million F-35 spare parts worth $ 85 million were, quote, lost, just vanished. Losing millions of dollars in assets is unacceptable. How much is the F-35 joint program?

Now, in the same line of questioning, oh, my goodness, because, you know, the Republicans are now caught in this whole thing right now about, again, how we, you know, how to pour, how they shouldn't be buying crabs and stuff along those lines with food stamp cards. Hmm. Here is Congresswoman Lee jamming them up about Alaskan king crab. How much did the Department of Defense spend on snow crab and Alaska king crab in 2018? I do not have that amount. According to Open the Books, it was $2.3 million. Do you know how much the Pittsburgh City Council

spends each year serving the county's unhoused population? Only $1.2 million, but they're certainly not being served Alaska king crabs. How much did the Department of Defense spend on snow crab? Man, now this is the one that I loved the most right here because, you know did the Department of Defense pay on season? Now, this is the one that I loved the most right here because, you know, the

Republicans right now are on the war path about the issue of abortion. I absolutely love this one by Congresswoman Lee. How much on average does the military spend on Viagra each

year? I don't have that figure. About $41.6 million. Do you know how many bridges in my district of Pittsburgh could be repaired with that amount? About two. The rebuilding of the Fern Hollow Bridge, which, of course, collapsed the day that President Biden happened to be coming to Pittsburgh, cost about $25.3 million to rebuild. How much on average does— So, Ming-Yang, you got a big kick out of the Viagra question.

I just didn't see it coming. I didn't see it coming. But it's not surprising, is it? It's just, you know, we live in this—it's very typical with this male-dominated sort of this toxic masculinity thing that we have in this country, right? And we'll spend money on these things that support men. And sorry, I love men, but they will spend money on things to support prop-up men and not – Oh, yeah, no pun intended. No pun intended. to support prop-up men and not serve our country as it should be, right? I mean, it's fascinating to me because we're talking about not permitting military service people

to travel for medical care, which could be abortion in this case. But we're going to spend millions of dollars for Viagra for men to produce these children that the women may have complications in their pregnancy and cannot do anything about. It's, yeah, we got to elect some other folks, basically. We have to do better. We have to groom our own, grow our own. So, Tommy, I love this one again when they complain about spending money for kids and why they're getting free lunch. Congresswoman Summer Lee, hit it on the nail.

Go to my iPad. How much did the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act authorize for shipbuilding? I do not have that particular figure. The total amount of contract obligations in 2022 was over $400 billion. For shipbuilding, it authorized $32.6 billion.

Do you know how many school lunches that amount could provide to hungry children in America where for the one in eight children who go to school hungry, that may be the only meal they get. All of them. And then some. The school lunch program cost twenty eight point seven billion in 2022. Mr. Tenaglia, that's how you do it, Tommy. That's how you make the contrast. Yeah. And can I just say that, you know, the other nice thing about a bridge is if it stays up for more than four hours, you don't have to call your doctor. So. Oh, I see. I see you with the Viagra Joe's. You and me. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right.

And this is the thing. You're absolutely right that it will. You know, the White House is not in a position to make contrasts like these. But that's why it's important. I've always been on the side of activists and people who are to the left of whoever's in the White House. That's why they're important, because the White House can't argue against the defense. It's political suicide. But, you know, people on the outside can push and push and use those contrasts to advocate for things

that the rest of us need. You know, who was it? Was it FDR that used to say, you know, like, when the activists would come to him and say, we want this, this, and this, he would say, well, make me. So people like Summer Lee are making them. Well, absolutely. And that's exactly how you're supposed to do it, Larry.

And that's how, again, you also educate the public who doesn't understand these things about the budget. Well, it's a dirty little secret. The former congressional staffer about that deal, the budget and all the waste. I mean, that's that's been known for years. But you're right. We don't, you know, people don't, you know, we're not teaching this in pre-K through 12 schools about government waste. I mean, you hear certain politicians on both sides of the aisle mention it, but they don't provide specific examples and educate the populace like you saw in that hearing. And this is a perfect place. And obviously, we're playing it right now and discussing it. But I don't think—most Americans have no idea how much DOD spends on aircraft or various other, certainly, snow crab legs. But people don't know that. So educating the public through hearings described. But I got to tell you, Roland, looking at the DOD budget in the past, there are things in there. They're spending money on things that most Americans have no idea.

And we do have to spend more money on, like, child care and making sure that women have the support systems they need in terms of when it comes to pregnancy-related deaths of black women. These are all other important issues that we need to make sure we take care of, and we don't do that. All right, folks. Hold tight one second. Go into a break. We come back. Illinois Supreme Court allows them to get rid of cash bail. We'll talk about that.

And don't forget, we'll also be talking about the AKAs launching a credit union and Deltas having their convention in Indianapolis. We'll be talking with their president. Vice President Kamala Harris is going to be coming to speak to them as well. You're watching Rolling Right Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal

article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valetia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on the Black Star Network.

For decades, the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted black communities and kids with marketing for menthol cigarettes. It's had a devastating impact on black health. Tobacco use claims 45,000 black lives every year. It's the number one cause of preventable death. In the 1950s, less than 10% of black smokers used menthol cigarettes. Today, it's 85%. Banned menthol cigarettes save lives. My name is Lena Charles, and I'm from Opelousas, Louisiana. Yes, that is Zydeco capital of the world.

My name is Margaret Chappelle. I'm from Dallas, Texas, representing the Urban Trivia Game. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin on Unfiltered. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real

from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org

to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. All right, folks. cash bail in Illinois. Supreme Court says the state can move forward in outlawing it. This has been a huge issue all across the country impacting criminal justice reform. The governor, J.B. Pritzker, he welcomed the decision and marked the transition to a more equitable and just Illinois. Again, this has been talked about in many places around the country. Republicans have been criticizing efforts to end cash bail. They've been, of course, in Harris County, where Houston is. This was one of the issues that was also being talked about because a lot of folks, criminal justice reform advocates say this has been part of the problem where folks who

simply can't afford are sitting in jail for months, even years awaiting trial. This new system focuses on the individual's danger to the community rather than the ability to pay for their release. Larry, again, this is controversial

when it comes to the left and the right, but this is a good move because there are some people with petty crimes, they shouldn't be sitting in jail for six, nine months. No, they shouldn't. And Ronald, we have plenty of criticism about, you know, eliminating cash bill throughout the country. But this goes back to something you say frequently, elections and the implications of what happens after you vote, when you vote Democrat or Republican. This is critically important to make sure, like you said, that those underserved, marginalized populations aren't spending weeks, months in jail, losing their jobs, child care, all the other issues, housing, all the other challenges, societal challenges they could create for someone who may be innocent. That's one of the things I think we lose sight of in terms of those individuals in the criminal justice system is that just because you're arrested doesn't mean you're guilty of a crime.

But once again, there's always a relationship between criminality and being black in America. Absolutely. Tommy, obviously, the people on the right are going to be upset by this, but for the governor to make this state law, this is a lot different than different cities making this their policy. Yeah, and I do think, of course, you know, they're going to have the reactionaries that are going to react. It's what they do. But what I find encouraging about this is, you know, Roland,

you know, guys our age, we remember, you know, it wasn't long ago that, you know, a Democrat could never, it would be really hard for a Democrat to say, I support, you know, doing away with cash bail. And now we have a president who campaigned on it. And I think that's just remarkable. And, you know, yes, like a lot of the things that he campaigned on, especially to do with crime and criminal justice, you know, it's stalled because we don't have quite enough of a majority. We don't have quite enough Senate majorities in the Senate and we don't have a majority in the House like we should. But the fact that, you know, the world is safe for Democrats to say these things is a huge step. And I know it's not as big as as actually getting it done, but it's big. Also helps when you're a billionaire governor, Mignon.

Does it helps when you're a billionaire governor? I think, though, that that one of the things that I that I want to be cognizant of is that the impact is going to be. This is a huge issue and it's a really important issue, but the impact could be different on different groups. So when we think about the number of black women, because we always think about people being incarcerated, we think about black men, we also have high proportions of black women

that go to jail for a variety of reasons and single moms in particular. So when these women are sitting in jail for extended periods of time, who's caring for their kids? Not just child care, but who's caring for their children? We have individuals that are sick, that are ill, that have health issues that are exacerbated when they're sitting in jail because they cannot afford to to post bail. Right. That that becomes sort of punitive. We're layering issue on issue on issue and making it more difficult for that person to be well, healthy and successful when they come out, particularly if they were actually innocent to begin with.

So, yeah, it's easy for it's nice to see a billionaire governor do this for someone. And it's even more promising that we're able to have this conversation so that we can have larger conversations about criminal justice reform in this country. So this is a good step in the right direction. Are we there yet, you know, in terms of having proper justice for all groups? No, we're not there yet. But this is a nice step in the right direction. Well, and understand we talk about impact on these things. I'm sitting here again. I'm on, I'm looking on Twitter right now. Let me pull this up. Amisha Cross, who's been on our show a number of times. This is what she posted. She said, my mom passed in jail, suffering from a mental health condition plus cancer. If the cash bail system wasn't in effect, her final months could have been spent with our family. I devoted a great portion of my career to ending cash bail and reforms in the pretrial justice system.

That's what you're talking about, Mignon. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then think about the percentage of the people who actually are arrested and go to jail that have these mental health conditions, because we know that we don't have our mental. Their health issues become exacerbated. And then people lose family members, as we've seen in some of your previous shows. People lose family members in jail because they could not get out to get the help that they needed. You know, it's just, it's unconscionable that we would even have a system of this nature. This will be one, as I said, one step in the right direction. But it's it's terrifying that that we have so few safety nets and we use the criminal justice system as a safety net. And then and then just lock people away and just leave them there to sit.

And unfortunately, this case to expire, to pass away. And don't forget, Sandra Bland died in jail because of this very issue. All right, folks, hold tight. One second. We come back. We're going to talk about the AKs launching a credit union, the Deltas meeting in Indianapolis. A lot of discuss coming up next right here in Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. You watching on YouTube, hit that like button, y'all. We should be over 2,000 likes easy. Y'all comment like crazy. Hit the like button. Also, download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV,

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copy of my book white fear how the brownie Brownie of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Bookstop. Also, download a copy on Audible. And of course, you can also watch our 24-hour, seven-day-a-week streaming channel. It's on Amazon News. Go to Amazon Fire, check us out. And we just launched on Plex TV. You can check us out there as well. We'll be right back. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, Dexter Jenkins is a faith-based financial mentor with more than 20 years in the financial services industry. He's passionate about helping families build generational wealth. Even though I'm talking about things like prayer, I'm talking about things about reading the word, I'm talking about things like fellowship, I'm talking to

members who are dealing with losing their houses or I'm talking to members who because of a lack of the handling of finances and they're working two or three jobs and so what I'm talking to members who, because of a lack of handling of finances, they're working two or three jobs. And so what I'm finding is that they're not coming to church because they don't have a handle on their finances. We're talking how to get wealthy through faith and our finances on the next Get Wealthy right here, only on Blackstar Network. On the next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things

mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next

A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch. I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.

You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? Early days in the road, I learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion. There you go. Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on.

And with that study, I learned again what was for me. I learned what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know them. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anybody.

There you go. Right, so you can't walk in unprepared. hatred on the streets a horrific scene white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress,

whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes

because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Hi, my name is Brady Riggs. I'm from Houston, Texas. My name is Sharon Williams. I'm from Dallas, Texas. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me? Thank you. All right, folks, welcome back to Roller Martin Unfiltered.

So a bunch of y'all, I saw your comments, and y'all wanted a little bit more of Reverend Frederick Haynes III when he spoke Sunday in Chicago to be named president of Rainbow Push Coalition. And so I just want to play a little bit. We played some of his speech on just the other day. So I want to play a little bit more and then we're going to come with our panel. So here's some of that right now. Now, I must say a word of thanks to my honorable homie, the one and only vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris is a trailblazer. Kamala Harris is a game changer. Kamala Harris has demonstrated

with dignity, competence, and brilliance what it means to be a supportive servant leader in that she supports the president. That's her role. She has her voice and she never has forgotten where she has come from. They may lie on her about her record, but even the devil in hell knows that Kamala Harris is about that life. And so I salute and thank God that Kamala Harris has shared with us on this historic occasion. The Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson, Sr. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about

what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet.

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad.

That's Dadication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. I stand here on his shoulders because no one with sense would try to stand in his shoes. His shoes are too large. They've taken us so far from the streets of Greenville, South Carolina, to the south side of Chicago, to the road to Damascus, to the cold mountains of Russia, to those who were struggling and suffering in Armenia, he's been right there speaking truth to power, empowering the powerless. His shoes are quite large. And so Reverend Jackson, thank you

for where your shoes have taken us. Thank you that your shoes have injected in the veins of a people who have suffered from what Frantz Fernand called systemic negation. And yet you dare to tell us that we are somebody. And as you gave us a sense of somebody-ness, you also gave us the power to declare, respect me, protect me, never, ever neglect me because I am somebody. I am God's child. Thank you, Reverend Jackson, because your shoes have gone there. Your shoes have taken us there. But not only have your shoes taken us places reminding us that we are somebody, but thank you that in 1984 and 1988, you dared to have a nation that had too much death dealing, a nation that had so many of us in despair because of the pushback against the

progress of the civil rights movement. And yet you took the baton of freedom fighting from the hand of the drum major for justice, Martin Luther King Jr., and you dared to say to a nation, go ahead and keep hope alive. And so because of you, hope has been kept alive. We thank you, Reverend Jackson, because you have brilliantly continued the prophetic tradition of reuniting in a holy wedlock Jesus and justice. He recognized Reverend Jackson does that our Jesus was born homeless in Bethlehem. Our Jesus had to deal with a death sentence of genocide through public policy. Our Jesus found himself going from Bethlehem to the hood in Nazareth, where he was able to hide there in North Africa. Our Jesus found himself then growing up in Nazareth that was so hood that somebody said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And

if NWA was rapping in the days of Jesus, they would have dropped an album entitled straight out of Nazareth. Our Jesus gave free health care to those with preexisting conditions. Our Jesus took the two piece and five biscuits and gave food to those who were food insecure. Our Jesus led a march on Washington. We like to call it a Palm Sunday processional. No, it was a march. It was a demonstration against the Roman occupation and oppression. And our Jesus, when the crowd told the kids to chill out and quit making noise, Jesus said, no, the only way to get attention of the power structure is to make some noise. And Jesus made noise until he was lynched on a cross on Calvary. And when he got lynched on a cross on Calvary, the good news is y'all know I'm a Baptist preacher, Dr. Brazier.

So I got to go there early Sunday morning. God raised him from the dead. And the brilliant theologian Juergen Moltmann says that the resurrection is a protest symbol. So every time we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, it's a symbol of protest. And what Reverend Jackson did was say faith without works is dead. It's not enough to shout in church on Sunday. You've got to hit the streets during the week. You've got to speak truth to power in the corporate suites. Thank you, Reverend Jackson, for reuniting Jesus with justice. But not only that, thank you so much, Reverend Jackson, because we find ourselves sadly in a day where the courts are doing everything in their power to remind us that everything legal ain't necessarily just. Yes,

what has been passed by the Supreme Court is now law. It is legal. But we all know that everything that's been legal has not been just. Slavery was legal, but God knows it wasn't just. Jim and Jane Crow apartheid was legal, but God knows it was not just. Banning affirmative action may be legal, but God knows it is not just. But I'm glad I'm standing on the shoulders of a Jesse Jackson who says when they ban affirmative action, we've still got action that is affirmative. Our action that is affirmative can push this administration to expand a Supreme Court that is not normal. Yes, we have our own affirmative action, and that is we can register and vote, mobilize our vote, get out the vote, and then turn them out. In the name of Parliament Funkadelic, we're going to turn this mother out because we've got action that is affirmative, even though you tried to ban affirmative action.

Yes, I'm simply trying. All right, so y'all want to see the full program. We live stream this on the Black Star Network app. You can get our YouTube channel as well. Larry, I want to go to you first, and that is what really, what I think really is necessary when you start looking at our organizational structure, and that is obviously new energy, but more importantly, understanding what we are up against.

And we talk about this all the time. Literally what Republicans are plotting and planning, we discussed it in the first hour, is going to have, already has had, but is going to have a detrimental effect on future generations of African Americans. We cannot check out of this process next year because what they have in store will cause great harm to the future survival and the viability of black folks moving forward. Absolutely, Roland. First, congratulations. It's great to see this peaceful transition, so to speak, when it comes to the Rainbow Push Coalition.

But what you highlight is really important, Roland. We talk about a lot of important topics. But I really hope people understand that 2024 is a significant milestone. And you're right. We saw what happened in front of action. We've seen what happened in terms of reversing Roe v. Wade in terms of women's right to choose. This is just the beginning. And if we are not careful in terms of not just Donald Trump, but, you know, obviously holding on to the Senate and then retaking the House, we're going to be serious trouble.

Our democracy is at stake. These people have been planning for decades to implement certain policies and procedures that make it difficult for minoritized folks, particularly black folks. And listen, Roland, black folks are not going back to Jim Crow. So we don't want some of these, you know, these archaic policies to come back. We have to make sure, as you've talked about all the time on your show, we have got to get out to vote. We have got to support progressive candidates who will talk about issues that impact black folks and hold those who support policies that are anti-black, hold them accountable and make sure if there are politicians already been elected, make sure they don't get reelected

and make sure black folks who support individuals who policies are anti-black, make sure we shame them and move them off the deck. I mean, it's a whole bunch of whiny ass Democrats. Joe Biden too old. First of all, his ass was 78 last time. You voted for old dude last time. Okay. He was always going to run for a second term.

I mean, y'all are cracking up laughing, but he was. His ass was old last time. So I'm trying to figure out, did folk not think he wasn't going to get older? And so, and here's the other deal. Right now, and this is what's so stupid to me, all these people keep saying, yeah, he too old. There are seven U.S. senators who are 80 plus.

Dianne Feinstein, 90. Chuck Grassley, 89. Hell, Dick Durbin is one of the younger. He's 78. If anything happens to one of those Democratic senators, they lose their majority. So I'm sitting there going, why are we acting like now granted, Maxine Waters, black don't crack, does not

move the same way Biden does. She older than him. Yeah, no, you know, you're absolutely right. And there's a few things that I want to say about this. First of all, you're absolutely right. Of course, he was always going to run for a second term. I love what Biden says when people talk about his age. He says, watch me. Now, you know, the guy is probably better shaped than me. All right, granted,

that's not saying much. But also, the second thing that I would say to these people, even like when they're trying to push somebody good like Gavin Newsom or whatever. Who else do you do you have that can actually win now? OK, nobody else polls above like, you know, a room temperature than than than Joe Biden. But also the guy's done a fantastic job, a phenomenal job. You know, what is it? Thirteen million jobs created, you know, unemployment at 3.4 percent. You know, he got a bad deal with inflation because of the pandemic. But, you know, every other country had worse inflation, which sort of proves that it wasn't him. It was the world, you know, messed up in this COVID thing. But I also want to say this is also about maligning

our vice president and sort of trying to kneecap her. There you go. No, she's the vice president. She's next in line. And, Roland, you know, while I was during the commercial, you know, I saw we were going to be talking about the vice president. And I, you know, I keep three sets of emails because I've been covering the White House for 14 years. And I want to point this out and I want you all to pay attention and tell everybody that you talk to in the media about this because you never hear about it because I just checked it for the first time, really. But I mean, I knew about it, but I didn't check the numbers. I have every email from the White House, from the Obama White House, Trump White House and Biden White House. And I checked to see how many times did vice presidents

do a solo statement. That's when something happens. The vice president puts out a statement by themselves. I checked under Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden put out a solo statement six times in eight years. Wow. Vice President Mike Pence put out a solo statement five times in four years. Do you care to guess how many solo statements Vice President Kamala Harris has put out under Joe Biden? 32. 36. Damn, I'm good. 30 freaking six. So you get all these people out here in the media and these are White House reporters and they have the same frigging email that I have. And they say, oh, what is what is Vice President Harris doing? No, she's not stepping up the way these other. What are you talking about? 36 to 6 to 5 get out so you know

we i think we can all see what's going on here uh man you're on that point right there and that's what the real deal is a lot of these hand-wringing from democrats we look at the polling data they don't want kamala harris to be because they're throwing out well if anything happens to biden then she's going to take over let me this here, and I'm being real clear to a whole bunch of white Democrats. Let me help you all out. To all you white Democrats who are, one, and a lot of y'all out here, your billionaires and your other donors, let me help you all out. One, without black people, Joe Biden's ass would have lost.

That's number one. Two, without Kamala Harris on the ticket, Joe Biden's ass would have lost. That's number one. Two, without Kamala Harris on the ticket, Joe Biden ass would have lost. So y'all can sit all out here and y'all can opine and hope for Gavin Newsom or the governor of Michigan, or y'all come up with all your lists. Here's a fact, Biden the president, Harris the vice president. She ain't going nowhere. Y'all, and one of the reasons, one of the reasons that her numbers are so low is because Democrats kept trashing her the first 15, 18 months, and they helped bake in the negative view of her and what Tommy just said.

So the same folks who are complaining, contributing to the problem, the bottom line is this. Folks need to understand, Republicans are trying to cement power for the next 50 years. Too many Democrats keep focusing on the next two years.

That's stupid. That's right. That's right. That's right. Yeah, unfortunately, the Democrats are playing checkers and the Republicans are playing chess. They're playing the long game, right? And this entire thing with Kamala Harris, it's quite sad when you think about it

because this woman has worked so incredibly hard to get to where she is. And as the segment was saying she hasn't forgotten who she is right but yet we cannot stand and these are these are also allies right these are the the fair weather allies the white democrats they have a fear of a of another black president in many respects as well they're they't understand, they don't know for sure if she's got what it takes or if she can actually take the position,

which obviously we know that she's well-equipped to do so. And so this whole notion about playing down, you know, playing Joe Biden's age, I'm sorry, that was just really funny to me because he is old and he's always been old and he'll still be old. But he's the most qualified individual that we have right now.

He's our best chance in any kind of social justice, racial justice, any sort of advancement in black and brown communities. And Kamala is going to be there right behind him to make sure that we get to where we need to go. So I think that people need to understand she's a strong woman and they should never underestimate. And she came from an HBCU. They should never underestimate the power of a strong black woman. And I also think that that that is what the Republicans fear the most. Listen, all y'all watching. Listen, I'm trying to tell y'all what these people are playing on is ugly. And if we don't sit here, excise our power, trust me, they're going to do so. Going to break last segment. We're going to talk about marketplace segment.

That's next on Rolling Mark on the Filter on the Blackstar Network. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet, MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepaperceiling.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network

and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? My early days in the road, I learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion I was all city percussion as well so I was one of the best in the city on percussion

also studied trumpet cello violin and bass and any other instrument I could get my hand and and and with that study, I learned again what was for me. I learned what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know to be a leader of men,

they have to respect you and know that you know them. know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know them. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anything. There you go. Right, so you can't walk in unprepared. This is Essence Atkins. This is Love King of R&B, Raheem Devon. We'll be right back. Folks, after losing more than 100 pounds, overcoming body dysmorphia, my next guest figured out that, you know what? How about if I do my own line of swimwear? So she created MyLegKini for women who didn't want to show too much skin.

MyLeda Butler, designer and founder of MyLegKini Swimwear, joins me in Tampa, Florida. All right, so glad to have you here. So, okay, so explain this when you say folks who are afraid to show too much skin. Well, hi, Roland. Thank you for having me. I just want to say, before I say that, I'm going to say you look great. Looks like you've been losing weight. And I know one thing about losing weight, it's not for the weak. So I just want to congratulate you on that.

That's called walking 18 holes playing golf. There you go. That'll do it. But you know what's funny? That's how I lost a lot of my weight, doing what I love. See, people think you got to go to the gym to lose weight, and I love to dance. So I was embarrassed to go to the gym, but I knew I could dance in my living room, so I'd turn on MC Hammer, Beyonce, and just go at it for about a good 30 minutes every day, five days a week, and that's how I lost the first 32 pounds.

So I congratulate you because you found what you love, and that's how you were able to get the weight off. So what it was, once I lost all the weight, I thought, you know what, I was happy, I was excited rolling, going to buy new clothes because you don't lose over 100 pounds and not have to buy a new wardrobe. So I did. And I remember going to the store and trying on swimwear and just crying in the dressing room. And I thought, you know what, I have to do something. And old people always say, well, we not change and we choose it, right?

So I thought I want to design something that would allow women the opportunity to choose how much of their body they want to show and how much they want to hide. And so that's when I started just thinking, okay, now I don't answer my door in my bra and panties when the UPS delivery comes. But I thought, why am I forcing myself to wear something year after year that I feel uncomfortable in just because it's the norm and it's what's conventional? And so I thought I would take something I didn't like, which is necessarily a conventional bikini, and mix it with something that I felt comfortable in, which was leggings. And that's when I came up with bikini leggings. So I love it because it gives women the opportunity to either go from the gym

or swim or from the beach to the street without skipping a beat. It's reversible, moisture we can tan through lightweight. And so they actually can stop doing that whole cover up, if you will. You know, they'll buy the bathing suit roll and then they turn around and buy a cover up, you know, because then they're insecure and buy a cover-up, you know, because then they're insecure about certain parts of their body showing. And so I wanted to design something so where they didn't have to actually put the cover-up because they were already covered but also feeling and looking amazing. Well, hell, we had an expert on yesterday talking about skin cancer.

And he talked about, you know, again, protecting your skin when you're out in the sun. So this does it as well. What has been the response from people? First of all, when did you start the company? So I started the company last year. We launched last year at Miami Swim Week. It took me a couple of years to find the right manufacturing because that's one thing about me. When I make my mind up, as most Black women, we are determined and focused. And I got a lot of no's, Roland, which you'd be surprised that going from a manufacturer,

when I'm asking them to take something they were already making, swimwear, and marry it with something they were already making, leggings, they were looking at me like I had multiple heads, that it was too hard to do, that they didn't want to actually sit and actually come up with the best way for the design. So after getting several no's, I got the yes that I needed to work with the manufacturer to come up with great designs that complemented women's curves. And so the response has been amazing. When I first set out to do it, I thought about women who might have a little bit of insecurities, not so much a size because there are smaller women who may just not want certain things

shown. And those are the women that I've actually come across, which kind of surprised me in a sense of it touched me because I came across burn victims who told me, you know, they have so much scarring that they haven't worn a bathing suit in years. I came across a woman who suffered a motorcycle accident and she has several scarring as well and bruising and just said, you know what? I haven't, didn't think I would ever wear a two-piece again or a bathing suit again or a conventional bathing suit again. And so she's like, this makes me feel amazing. And then I actually had breast cancer survivors come to me and tell me, wow, I really feel amazing in this.

You know, after the rounds of chemo and all the treatment, you know, I have this going on and that going on. And so this makes me feel beautiful again. And so I felt amazing knowing that it wasn't just about losing weight, which that was my initial thought when I first designed it, because I'd lost all that weight and I wanted to feel good, but it was that I wanted to feel good in my skin without showing all of my skin. And I'm not taking away from women who are confident in a two-piece role. And don't get me wrong, because confidence is the best accessory any of us can wear. But I wanted something that made me feel comfortable and confident in my skin, and I knew I wasn't alone in designing that for other women who, too, felt the same way.

Cool. Questions from our panel. Mignon, you go. Sure. So my question to you is, I looked up your story a little bit, and it's so incredibly inspiring. One of the things that I wanted to understand a little bit more is oftentimes we have these ideas about what we want to do and, you know, we don't necessarily go off on our adventure. We stay in our normal jobs, in our nine-to-fives, constricted, right? But we never really have that push to the next level. And so because there's so few Black-owned businesses in this country, I wanted to know what was it that made you sort of take that extra step to go out on your own? And did you have mentorship or did you have other resources that you used to help you

make this decision? I'm trying to encourage some family members that don't belong in corporate America to pave their own way. So I'd love to have a little bit of insight from you about how you started your business. Well, thank you for those comments and thank you for asking. I would say this. I think a lot of people are sitting on their gift. I think there are things that naturally come to us that we second guess because we are in that nine to five and we don't think that we should step out on that. Now, I continue to work my regular job while I was pursuing this. And sometimes that's what we

have to do. I use that to fund what I was doing. And in my case, I researched and realized there was nothing out there like what I had designed. And actually, it came to me in a dream. I literally woke up one night and God put it on my heart, my vision. And I knew right then, this is why we all tell people, listen and trust the Holy Spirit and trust God when he speaks to you. I woke up and I began to sketch and I could see the designs and see the drawings immediately. And then I got up and began to just cut up like a bikini and some leggings and begin to marry them together. And it just came second nature.

And so then I looked and realized, okay, there's nothing out here. I probably should protect it, which another thing black and brown people don't do. And I applied for patents. So I did have a mentor that I ran it by, and I asked, you know, what do you advise me to do? And the number one thing was, of course, you know, if I can apply for patents, apply for patents and also trademarks to protect the name. And coming up with the name, you know, taking bikini and leggings and coming with my legkini, so as a bikini for your legs. So I would advise people if they're thinking about it, if it's coming second nature to them,

we are, you know, I have a shirt that says daughter of the king. And I have to remind myself sometimes that we're multifaceted, just like God. And so we're here to do more than one thing. So if they're thinking about doing whatever that it is, and it keeps coming to them and God speaks to us in different ways, I would encourage them to do it, but also to seek mentorship. Those that are already doing it have gone before because they can share with you the things, the lessons that they learned. But let me preface this though. I always tell people to protect the dream in its infancy because that's when it's the most

vulnerable. Because I think sometimes when we are setting out on something, especially something different, then the dream could be killed before it even got started. That's right. Thank you. Larry. First of all, congratulations. I think this is a great concept and I love the name. So can you talk a little bit about your marketing strategy and how it's evolved since you initially developed the concept? So when I first got started, I was not in the social media world. I was a dinosaur, according to the world of social media. And that was one thing my mentor had told me is that when you start a business,

you want to make sure that you have a social media footprint. And so since we all hold in our hands a free marketing tool, I had to get comfortable with going on social media and using the different platforms to market my business, to talk about my story, and to get my brand out there. Also, I'm learning the importance of people's stories. So as more people are purchasing the product, have continued to purchase the product, I've learned to really listen to them, to take the feedback so that I am able to continue to market the product, but also to hear from my customers, to know how we can improve the product and also to share their stories, to know that it's not just me, not just

something that I love, that it's something that they're loving and falling in love with and how it's affecting their lives positively. Tommy. Yeah, hi. You know, well, first of all, I want to say that I would absolutely wear something like a three-piece swimsuit for men. So hopefully you could start working on that. I would absolutely buy that. But I want to do, you know, I can't even imagine what it must be like to go through all the steps that it takes for you to launch an invention like this and i was thinking when you were speaking can you think of a time when somebody when you had to deal with a rejection what that was like and how you got past it like what was the hardest rejection you

experienced and how did you get past it um the hardest was that i was told that my concept would you know basically it wouldn't sell, that it really didn't make sense, that women want to show their skin, that they want to be, you know, in a two-piece and exposed, or that it meant if we wanted to cover up, it meant we didn't love ourselves. And I feel like that's the biggest misconception. It's not that we don't love ourselves. We just don't want certain parts of our bodies shown. So I think when I went to the first two manufacturers and I was basically told, no, like, no, it's too difficult. This can't be mass produced. It doesn't make sense. You know, we're not going to be able to do X, Y, and Z. And I could see it as clear as day going back to my sketches. And I realized that in life, especially when you believe

in something and it's been put on your heart, you're going to get no. Like I knew there were going to be no's. I didn't expect automatically it would be a yes. But I realized that was practice for the yes that I was going to get. And I needed to continue to keep pushing, especially I knew it was something that I believed in. And it was bigger than myself. Yeah, it sounds like you didn't blink. I got to tip my cap to you.

Way to go. Malina, where do folks go to check out the swimwear? Yeah, so go to swimwear is MyLakini.com. I also have on the website where you can share my book, My Weight Loss Journey of Where I Lost Over 160 Pounds. I teach people that we plateau because we lack a plan and how to have that plan to be able to overcome that and how to be successful in life in your personal as well as your professional life.

I share little tips and tools and things like that. But MylaKini.com. I'm also on Instagram, MylaKini, and at Mylita underscore Butler on Instagram as well. All right. Well, appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Good luck. Thank you so much, Roland.

All right. Mignon, Larry, Tommy, Mustafa left early. I appreciate all of y'all being on today's panel. Thank you so very much. Great time had by all. Before I go, shout out to my on today's panel. Thank you so very much. Great time had by all. Before I go, shout out to my sister LaVita Martin-Marshall. She turned 53 today. Is it her birthday today?

Her birthday today? What's today? Hell no. It's next week, but whatever. She turns 53. So I got our days mixed up, but I ain't gonna be here when she's at her birthday, so I'm gonna give her a shout right now. So that was one of the dresses I got for her when she was in Ghana. So, yeah, sorry, y'all.

She taking. Don't worry about it. Brothers, don't be sitting here texting me, putting on YouTube. She's been married 20-plus years, so get over it. All right, y'all. That's it. I'm going to see y'all tomorrow right here on Rolling Bar. I'm Phil Chut.

I'm on Black Star Network. Don't forget, download the app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Of course, check your money orders, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear,

How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, download it on Kindle. Folks, I will see y'all tomorrow. Hope! Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now.

Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. is here. Oh, no punching! I'm real revolutionary right now. I'm proud. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network

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With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering in the weight and pressure of the world that's consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie.

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I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1,

Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.