#RolandMartinUnfiltered - LA State Trooper whistleblower speaks; Black farmers fight back in TX; DOJ Texas prisons abuse probe

Episode Date: October 15, 2021

10.14.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: LA State Trooper is soon to be fired after going public with allegations of brutality and racism within the department; Black farmers file motion in battle over $5B in debt relief for farmers of color; Michigan looks to replace all of Benton Harbor lead pipes in 18 months; Boston to pay over $1M to a black man who was arrested for being drunk, but he was really having a stroke; DOJ investigates physical and sexual abuse allegations in Texas' Juvenile Correctional facilities #RolandMartinUnfiltered partners:Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPAmazon | Get 2-hour grocery delivery, set up you Amazon Day deliveries, watch Amazon Originals with Prime Video and save up to 80% on meds with Amazon Prime 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ArwxEh+ Don’t miss Epic Daily Deals that rival Black Friday blockbuster sales 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iP9zkvBuick | It's ALL about you! The 2022 Envision has more than enough style, power and technology to make every day an occasion. 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iJ6ouPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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 Glott. 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.

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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 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. Today is Thursday, October 14th, 2021. Coming up, a role of Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. The Louisiana State Trooper is losing his job after going public with allegations of brutality and racism within his department. But the Trooper's accused of the brutality are still employed. The self-styled whistleblower will be here to tell us about that and his lawsuit. A group of black farmers filed a motion to intervene as part of a Texas federal court battle

over $5 billion in debt relief for farmers of color. We'll talk to one of the attorneys representing the black farmers who want to get what's owed to them. State of Michigan, they're ambitiously aiming to replace all of Benton Harbor's lead pipes in 18 months. Tonight, the Benton Harbor Health Center Chief Medical Officer is here and will describe the lead's effects on his patients.

All right then, Boston paying out over a million bucks to a black man who was arrested for being drunk, but he was really having a stroke. He did not get medical attention for five hours. Plus physical and sexual abuse allegations have the Department of Justice investigating Texas' juvenile correctional facilities all over the state. Folks, it's time to bring the funk

on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling.

Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. Yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah. Yeah. It's Rolling Martinoro, yo It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin Now Martin The Louisiana State Trooper who revealed the pattern of misconduct and excessive force against black folks will be fired after his five-week unpaid suspension ends. At the same time, the accused officers, they remain on the job. Trooper Carl Cavalier is fighting back and is taking legal action against the state of Louisiana.

Cavalier alleges he faced racial discrimination and that his whistleblowing activities led to the suspension. The former Louisiana state trooper joins me now from Homer, Louisiana. Now, folks, we also reached out to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety for a comment, and this is what they sent us. This came from the head of office, the public affairs officer, Captain Nick Manali. Trooper Cavalier received a decision of the appointing

first of authority first of all, on and about May 5, 2018 petitioner began, first of all, this is a court filing from the trooper. So guy, pull the statement up, please of the DPS. So, pull that up, please. Thank you.

Trooper Cavalier received the decision of the appointing authority to move forward with termination based on an administrative investigation that revealed he violated several departmental policies. It should be noted that our disciplinary administrative process is not finalized and Cavalier remains an employee at this time. The disciplinary letter with policy violations will be made available when complete.

Cavalier is due a fair and partial process, and as such, the department cannot provide comment on any pending litigation. All right, Trooper Cavalier, glad to have you on the show. So what you saw, when did this start and how extensive was this abuse of African-Americans by the Louisiana State Troopers? Thanks for having me. So when I first found out about, learned about Ronald Green, it was in 2020, around about May when the pandemic first really just kicked off and got going. I was in New Orleans and I was detailed at the convention center where we held COVID-19 patients. And I overheard an investigator on the Ronald Green case speak about the video, about the gruesome Ronald Green video.

At that point, I haven't heard, up until that point, I haven't heard anything about the Ronald Green case. So when he spoke of it, he was speaking to a group of troopers and overheard him saying that the video was gruesome. When it comes out, the public is going to be enraged about it. It was worse than the George Floyd incident. And I heard him speaking about Ronald Green gurgling blood and trying to struggle to breathe when the trooper came along and put his foot on his back. So from that point, I started making phone calls. I started, you know, I say, digging around,

looking for more answers to questions I had. So, first of all, the Ronald Greene video you're talking about, that particular story shocked many people where they said he died in a car crash. Then the body camera video revealed how he was beaten viciously by Louisiana State Troopers. There have been other cases as well. And what you detail is an ongoing, consistent effort by Louisiana State Troopers beating black motorists and then it being covered up and frankly not being dealt with by the state. Yes, that's correct.

The other cases you mentioned, there's one case, Joaquin Machado, Hispanic male, that was February 3rd, 2019. Ronald Greene occurred May 10th, 2019. Ronald Green occurred May 10th, 2019. Aaron Bowman, black motorist, May 30th, 2019. Morgan Blake, July 16th, 2019. And Antonio Harris, May of 2020. So these black and minority motorists were being targeted and just pointed out by these white state troopers,

you know, as they just brutalized and beat them and had the leeway to cover it up because their supervisors were allowing it to go on. You know, the supervisors were allowing it to prevail. And the administrative body and state police, they were allowing it to happen as well because the information was brought to their attention Even as as recent as this year new videos and cases were brought to their attention But they'll just simply push pushing it to the side. I guess to try to save face for this for the department Again, we've seen the superintendent of Louisiana State Police an African American

Speak out on these issues. But what you're still dealing with is others who say enough has not been done to fix what's happening in this department. What else did you see? What else did you hear about that our audience needs to know? Well, the fact that we do have an African-American colonel. But the thing is, in the public side, he's been very disingenuous, you know, coming off as someone, you know, he don't have all the information. He don't know what's going on half of the time. But he knows exactly what's going on half of the time, but he knows exactly what's going on.

As I previously spoke of, he was presented with some cases himself, and the rest of his staff were presented with new cases, new videos. They just choose not to investigate it. They choose not to look into it. It were videos and cases that the feds didn't have their hands on. They could have very well opened an investigation into these cases. They just want to save face with the public. They just don't want the department to suffer any more damage to his reputation. So I guess, you know, from the outside looking in, it may

seem like a relief to have an African-American colonel, but that's not the case right now. And it's not to slander him or his name. I had personal conversations with this guy, but he's just really not doing enough or not doing anything at all. You know, a lot of black African-American employees, state troopers, state police are being quiet for the simple fact that he's passing out promotions. He's passing out these promotions and it's keeping people quiet for the most part on

things that they know, you know? Why did you come forward? Was there a tipping point where you said, I've got to say something? Yes, of course. I've always known that, first of all, I've always been vocal. I've always been vocal about injustices and things that I deem, you know, not right, unfair to anyone, no matter the color of, you know, or where they come from or whoever they are. You know, if it's wrong, it's wrong. I speak out about it.

So I've always been known for that. And I filed a grievance of my own in 2018 when I started personally experiencing racism for myself and discrimination for myself within the department. My tipping point with this Ronald Green case is just that they murdered him. They murdered him. It could have been me. It could have been my cousin. It could have been my friend. Ms. Mona Hart and Ronald Green's mother could have been my mother. And I just, you know, I couldn't imagine that being my mom and no one speaks out about it, you know. And at the end of the day, me speaking out about these things is what I get paid to do. I swore, you know, I swore and took an oath that I would do just what I'm doing. And that's what I'm doing.

I mean, I'm not doing anything wrong. You know, they asked me to do this. They pay me for this. And, you know, but suddenly it's a problem because it's being covered up by the department. You, um, do you believe that this department is definitely going to fire you? And when they say you, you, you violated department protocols, like what? Um, what they're saying on paper is loyalty to the department, which is a joke to me, dissemination of information. A few other things along those lines, but it's all just things to, like I say, to cover the department and I guess try to paint me in a bad light. I just don't understand. I guess I understand it, but it's just,

it just amazes me, astonishes me that the department would go at this length to cover their self and save face instead of just coming out and admit, you know, their wrongdoings and separate their self from the people who are doing wrong, you know? Questions from my panel here. I want to bring them in to this. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies

at Howard University, Faraj Muhammad, radio and TV host, Recy Coburn, black founder of Black Women Views. First question, Greg, goes to you. You on mute. Thank you, Roland. There we go. There we go.

Thank you, Roland. And thank you, officer. Certainly, to hear that you've been suspended with charges of being disloyal and, I mean, it's utterly absurd on its face. I just want to ask you, for all the women and men, for all the folk who are in law enforcement around the country who are human beings first, like you, what do you say to them when they see that you are literally willing to risk it all to expose these hunters, these killers, these patirolers who invade and affect us every day?

What do you say to those folks who are looking at you saying, man, I wish I had his courage? And thank you, by the way. You're welcome. Thank you for those kind words. I would say to those folks that there are more troopers, there are more officers, there are more employees like me out here.

It's just that just like state police and many other agencies, it's set up systematically to where if you want to speak out as far as what I'm doing, you want to do something like this, they're going to make an example out of you. They're going to

hunt you down just like they're hunting the motorists down. And they're going to try to discredit you in every way they can. They're going to try to, like they're hunting the motorists down and they're gonna try to you know discredit you in every way they can they're gonna try to like they're doing to me take my money away from me um you know try to try to put you in a choke a chokehold so to say to make you give up to make you tap out to make you give in you know they're gonna send individuals at you to try to um you know persuade you to do other than what you're doing. But what I would say is what's important right now is just support, support from the public, support from, you know, anyone is great right now. We'll be great right now.

You know, and I'm not talking about just money or anything like that, just a word, an email or a message just saying, hey, you know, keep doing what you're doing. We're praying for you. You know, the prayers are great. It's just the support is very important for people like me to show officers who want to speak out, who want to have the courage to speak out, to just give them the encouragement to speak out. That's what I would say.

Thank you, Ben. Recy. Thank you so much for your courage and what you're doing. I want to ask a question, and I don't mean this in a negative way at all, but my question is why go back? I mean, you have been ostracized. You have been demonized by your department under this absurd charge of loyalty or disloyalty. Why go back to that situation where undoubtedly you're going to be hindered from promotions? You'd probably be getting worse assignments.

Is this something that's worth going back to and why? Yes, my belief is if we want to change that place, that department and many other departments, we need people like me on the inside. We need people like me on the inside to let them know, to put them on notice that, hey, you can't do these things. If, you know, someone like me, you know, standing by George Floyd and Derek Chauvin in that incident, I couldn't imagine, you know, myself standing there while you kneel on a man's neck. You about to come up off his neck for sure. You're going to come up off his neck, first of all. Second of of all you're not going to do that in the first place in front of me because you know who i am you know what i stand for but in this particular instance where um i'm asking to be reinstated my

job to be reinstated it's just it's the principle of the thing i didn't ask you to leave that job you know i didn't do nothing wrong to leave that job. So I need to go back to encourage the people who want to speak out to say, hey, you can speak out and you can keep your job. You know, they're going to run you through this ringer of all the things they try to run me through. But, hey, you could come out clean on the other end and still have support of the public and, you know, anyone else who stands for right. So it's just the principle of it, you know. And of course, like I said, I didn't ask to leave the job. I didn't ask you to transfer me or anything like that. I spoke about things that I thought were wrong, a murder and a cover up. You pay me to

do this. You know, I swore and took an oath. And that's what I'm doing. And I want my job back. Faraji. Trooper, thank you so much for joining us. I just, just a quick question. I'm wondering Faraji? Faraji Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain

Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain Hussain And are you getting, are you seeing some greater support because of the high-profile nature of the Ronald Greene case? Are you getting some greater support from black officers around the country? From around the country? It's here and there, here and there around the country. And that's from people I sought out myself, you know, people who I've Googled, who I've, you know, went on Instagram and located and found Dr. DeLacy Davis. I believe he's been on this show a few times, but he's a mentor to me.

And that's, you know, it's because this thing I'm doing doesn't come with a blueprint. You know, it doesn't come with a manual, a how-to manual. So Dr. DeLacy is real helpful in that perspective. But as far as black troopers within a department, I would tell you that I have less friends than what I started out with. And they're mostly white. They're mostly white. I have some newfound white friends

who have supported me through and through with this. But I would say that the blacks that I do have friends, they do it in a tiptoe manner. They're tiptoeing and being very careful to talk to me, to speak with me and things like that. So I guess I consider them associates.

But they're tiptoeing. And like I said before, the Colonel is giving out promotions like it's candy on Halloween. So I kind of get it. They want to safeguard their families. But this is bigger than myself and bigger than those guys want to tiptoe around and play with this situation like Ronald Green didn't lose his life. Have you created a legal defense fund, anything along those lines, anything set up?

No, I do not. I do not have a legal defense fund. Like I said, this thing doesn't come with a how-to manual. That would be a great idea. I guess I'll take that idea. Who is your attorney? I just signed on with the Ben Crump law firm and co-counselor is Ron Haley here in Louisiana. Well, I guarantee you, being as familiar with the legal defense funds and things along those lines. And so we'll be sure to reach out to him. Folks are asking in the chat how they can assist you in this.

Have they notified you? So that statement we read, have they given you a date when this hearing is supposed to take place? No, there's no date. It's just I sit and wait on an email or a phone call. There's no date when the hearing will take place. All right then.

Well, look, it is, first of all, we appreciate you coming forward, sharing with the public exactly what has been going on in terms of in this department. We know that there are problems all around this country when it comes to police officers. And frankly, there are a lot of cops who won't say anything. They will watch things to allow these things to happen. And the reality is the Louisiana State Troopers have a series of problems that are taking place. Some even want the feds to come in to investigate the department

for patterns in practice. And so we'll see what happens there. Carl Cavalier, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Alright, folks. Got to go to a break. We come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

We'll talk about not only other police cases. You know, first of all, y'all know you still got more cops out here just lying, making stuff up. Chicago, some other places as well. In addition, we'll be talking about coming. We come back. Black farmers trying to get their money. They're now participating in a lawsuit there in Texas. And so that'll also give us an indication of what's happening there.

So lots of things we want to talk about. We're going to unpack all of this. Deal with Benton Harbor, what's happening there with the water in Michigan. Worst in Flint. Yeah, that's real. And also Boston, they gotta pay a black man a million three, $1.3 million dollars, with the cops arresting him saying he was drunk.

Dude was having a stroke. For real. You're watching Roller Marker Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, back in a moment. 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.

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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.

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. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got Be 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 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. care. 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-up way, 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. ТРЕВОЕННАЯ МУЗЫКА

ВЫСТРЕЛ НАПРЯЖЕННАЯ МУЗЫКА Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla! You are watching Roland Martin, and I'm on his show today, and it's what, huh?

You should have some cue cards. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy boy Jacob Lattimore and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! Ah, y'all know that doggone Kim Welly ain't got no dang sense whatsoever.

Historically, black farmers have been denied loans and grants from the USDA. Congress approved debt relief for farmers of color in March. But where's the money? Five billion bucks allocated to farmers of color who typically do not receive the loans like their white counterparts. That money should have been dispensed in June. Well, white farmers have been whining and crying about discrimination, and they have been holding up the fund to black farmers with lawsuits.

Right now, there's a lawsuit in Texas. Joining us from Hydesville, Maryland, is attorney Miriam Jordan, who is with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She's representing the black farmers. Miriam, glad to have you on the show. So, you know, these white farmers are yelling reverse discrimination, how they haven't been helped. But it was $25 billion that Trump handed out,

and barely any of that went to black and other farmers of color. First of all, thank you so much for having me on the show. And as you said, there is a long history of discrimination that Black farmers and other farmers of color have faced when it comes to loans given by USDA. And they've been repeatedly denied. And now so many of them face crippling debt. And the American Rescue Plan provides debt relief. And unfortunately, a group of farmers are trying to stop this. And this is a program that we should be commending not trying to stop. So these lawsuits, how many, because I know the case in Texas, I think there was one in Wisconsin,

I think. So how many lawsuits have been filed trying to stop this money from going to the black farmers? So there are multiple lawsuits filed throughout the country in Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado and other states. And these cases are essentially trying to stop USDA from giving out the debt relief to these farmers. And unfortunately, there has been an injunction, basically a court order, that has temporarily stopped USDA from giving out these loans. But what is important is that black farmers should have their voices heard. And that is why we are intervening in one of the Texas cases, Miller versus Vilsack, because it is critical for the judge to understand what is at stake and how so many farmers will lose their livelihoods if there is no debt relief. Okay. So how long do you anticipate for see this going on? Because I mean, what it's doing is it's holding up progress and

these black farmers are sitting there going man we got the money approved by congress now we're still getting screwed exactly it is very frustrating for them so many farmers had received a letter notifying them that they had been eligible for debt relief under this program and they went ahead and made some significant farming plans, expecting that they would get the money. So many of them bought new equipment, bought additional seeds, really expanded their farming operations. And unfortunately, we don't know how long this injunction will last or when the case will be resolved. But it's important to keep in mind that so many farmers are in limbo because they have no idea what their future is going to look like. Questions from the panel. Recy Colbert, your question for Miriam

first. Yes, I saw that, you know, essentially the Black farmers in Texas are concerned that they're not going to get a robust defense from the USDA and the Department of Justice. And the Department of Justice's concern is that this could set a precedent that would actually undercut future race-based or racially specific programs. How big of that, do you think that's a valid concern, I should say, from the DOJ or USDA, or do you think that there's a compelling enough case that this will, even if the farmers were not to prevail, it would not damage or hinder future legislation or any existing programs like it. Well, I think it's important for DOJ to vigorously defend the program. And it is important to keep in mind that it is constitutional to have race-based programs that are trying to remedy

and correct past discrimination. And so we support DOJ in defending that program. But again, we also want to emphasize that Black farmers should also be part of the conversation and be able to directly communicate how they will be impacted by this case. Faraji. Yes, Maryam, thank you so much for joining us. I'm wondering, do you think that this effort right here is, do you feel like this is an

effort to stop, you know, to push black farmers out of the picture at this point? I mean, yes, there's $5 billion. The president said we're going to make this happen. Congress is going to make this happen. Congress is going to make this happen. But just on an agency level of the USDA, is this an attempt to continue to discourage black farmers from doing the work and essentially pushing them out of the picture? Do you feel like there's some nefarious. We actually commend USDA trying to improve and, you know, put these farmers at a good position financially. But it is important to keep in mind some shocking statistics. Right now, I think one out of 100 farmers are black in the past and the last century. One out of seven farmers are Black. So you see the significant

decrease over the last century. The numbers of Black farmers in the country have decreased by 98 percent. And so even though there's no nefarious motive at play, the facts, I think, significantly speak for themselves when we look at this significant decline of black farmers over the past century. Greg. Thank you, Roland, and thank you, Attorney Jordan. We know that remedying past discrimination, that that rationale shifted what is far back as Bakke and Croson and all the lines of cases. And we know John Roberts, of course, with his colorblind constitutionalism, is basically saying the way you stop discriminating by race is stop discriminating by race. So we know for sure that that's what Stephen Miller and I are counting on.

My question is—I guess it's a two-part question. Number one, is the sticking point in this legislation, which may be why the DOJ and them don't really want to push this, and our courts don't want to push this, the phrase socially disadvantaged as a proxy for race— I'm thinking about Anthony Kennedy now. And what about the strategy of while this goes through the courts, is there a way to adjust the legislation? I mean, what's your opinion on perhaps changing the legislation? Or is there no way to get around that language that's a proxy for race, which seems like that's what they're targeting? Right. So even though they are targeting this phrase, socially disadvantaged farmers, it's a significant phrase given that the way USDA has interpreted is targeting farmers that have experienced racial discrimination in the past when it comes to their loan practices.

And so this is a significant interpretation. And even though there are criticisms of this legislation, given what is happening in the lawsuit, it is important to keep in mind that this legislation is the first of its kind to provide this complete debt relief that has been, quite frankly, caused by just years and years of discrimination against black farmers and other farmers of color. Thank you. All right, then. Well, it is a story that we have been covering for quite some time. We've had John Board on the show many times.

Mr. Merrim, we appreciate the work the Lawrence Committee is doing here and certainly keep us abreast of what happens with this case. Yes, thank you for having me. And if you want to support our organization, go to our website, lawyerscommittee.org, and you can take a look at our great programs and donate directly to the organization. See, there you go. See, I had to teach Kristen Clark when she led you all to always drop the website and how to give. So you needed no prodding from me to do that. So that's always important.

Tell folks where to give, where to donate, because y'all do some absolute great work. Thanks a bunch. And also, we're going to be next week. Y'all have your awards gala, and we're going to be live streaming it here on Roller Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network. So congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. All right. All right, folks. Here's the whole deal that we're facing right here. And Greg, you hit it. And that is you got these white folks who are trying their best to shave, to go after anything that helps black folks. Now, they don't want to see a damn thing with the $25 billion that went to all these

white farmers, but all of a sudden, oh my God, no, this is unfair to us. Man, get the hell out of here. That's right, bro. I mean, and again, it ties back to what you've been saying now for years, brother. Elections have consequences. This has been filed in the Northern, brother. Elections have consequences. This has

been filed in the Northern District of Texas's attempt to intervene. And if it goes through the federal courts, it's going through the Fifth Circuit. This is why appointing federal judges are important. Stephen Miller, that well-rounded racist, knows exactly what he's doing. They have the numbers at the Supreme Court now. Part of the reason the feds don't want to pursue this is because they're afraid that if it gets to the Supreme Court and they knock the teeth out of this on a racial basis, they will then go after everything else they can use as a proxy for race. And again, I didn't want to get into it with Attorney Jordan, but let's be very clear. You go back to those affirmative action cases, the Seattle and Louisville cases, where the

Supreme Court, through Anthony Kennedy, said you can use race, but you need to have a proxy for race because you can't use race. This is the exact point. The rationale for addressing past discrimination disappeared in 1974 with Bakke. You can't use race-based language to address prior issues. The Supreme Court

has decided that when there was a better number. This is unwinnable. I'm sorry. Could you repeat that for all of the dumb asses who tried to attack me and, oh, you wrong and all. And yeah, I'm talking about ADOS, FBA, B1, whatever. I want to let us y'all give all y'all folks who don't know shit about Supreme Court precedent, who don't know a damn thing about legal precedent, and how many times, well, the Asians got a bill, had to tell you fools, it wasn't an Asian bill, if you look at the language, there's nothing in there like that,

and so what precipitated a bill is different than what's actually in the bill, but no, you can't tell all these fake-ass TikTok YouTube lawyers out here, you know, who don't know anything. And this is the reality that we're dealing with. And then, Greg, you actually made another great point. We talked about the federal judges. Again, for the dumbasses who sit here and say, oh, man, this stuff don't make a difference whether it's Trump

or whether it's Biden. They the same. And I keep trying to tell these fools. Donald Trump appointed nearly 90% white men as federal judges, many of them 35 to 45 years old. And then they are hard right. They do not believe in civil rights. They do not believe in any of these issues. So for all, again, the dumbasses who say, oh, voting don't matter. Well, guess who picks judges? President. Guess who confirms judges? U.S. Senate. So y'all go ahead and play around

next year and let Republicans get control of the United States Senate. And then you're going to see more federal judges who are likely to strike down programs like this. But we don't know what the hell we're talking about. Greg, go ahead. No, brother. Listen, I'm interested to hear what you had to say, Recy, because at the end of the day, you just laid it out again, man. You just laid it out again. Elections have consequences, which also means in the executive branch.

Now, we know Tom Vilsack ain't shit because we saw what he did to Shirley Sherrod. But he done got a second bite at the apple. So now you better stand up. Use the legislation the way it is meant to be used. You're terrified of these white boys. And you're right, Roland. You said this the other night. Can you imagine a damn Senator Herschel Walker, his ass sitting up in there where he won't even

be able to read whatever they done told him to vote on. He just knows that whatever they for, I'm against. And so can you imagine who's going to be on the bench? This is going to come down to the will of those who are in elected office to make decisions, different decisions, regardless of what the statute says, because they're going to use the courts as the air of last defense. And again, I just feel bad a little bit for Attorney Jordan because she knows what it is, but she can't say it.

And see, I'm telling you, it was just, look, a lot of people hit me and they're like, man, you were hard on the panel last night. You know, when DeMario and I went at it, he was like, man, you were hard on the panel last night. When DeMario and I went at it, he was like, well, if this is how they're going to roll, might as well let the other party be in charge. I'm like, oh, hell no.

I'm like, I'm sorry. Look, I'm with everybody on the George Floyd Justice Act. I'm with them on the For the People Act. I'm with them on the John Lewis Act. I'm with them on now the $3.5 trillion plan. It needs to be $6 trillion helping the poor because we damn sure find money to help the rich. We find money on defense as well. But the thing that pisses me off is when people don't understand connecting the dots. They don't understand what they like. Well, we didn't get this.

Well, we need to make the Democrats pay. And let me be real clear. I'm a firm believer in whooping their behind. But what I do know is the other side don't give a damn about us. Black Republican Burgess Owens don't give a damn about us. Black Republican Burgess Owens don't give a damn about us. That brother in Florida who said he would oppose Juneteenth holiday, he gonna oppose.

He's staying with Donald Trump, Byron, I think with Donald. Don't give a damn about us, okay? Mia Love, when she was there, she wasn't sitting here repping for black folks. Now she's mobbing out and running her mouth on CNN.

I'm like, they ain't sitting here swinging for us. So I'm like, y'all play around and see what happens by saying voting don't matter, I'm just going to stay at home and then see who's in charge of DOJ, who's in charge of every federal agency, who's in charge of all the contracting programs. To all y'all people who don't understand anything, under Obama, they broke down contracts by race. Trump bundled the contracts back up. Smaller

black-owned firms couldn't even compete for them. Didn't even keep information about race because they're like, no, we ain't giving y'all a damn thing. But all these fools say everybody the same. And I hear these fools, oh, what do they call Joe Biden? Jim Crow Joe.

Okay, well guess what? I'm going to show you some white federal judges who don't give a damn. Oh, by the way, all y'all out there, yeah, FBA,

ADOS, B1, tell me how many black judges Biden has named. Since y'all want to run your mouth, and yeah, I'm calling you out by name. And yeah, and I want your punk asses doing some videos on me, because you need some click bait.

Do the math, do the math. Show me how many black judges, how many black female federal judges who will be there for life. They have been appointed so far in under Biden-Harris since y'all smart asses know so much. Risa, go ahead.

I mean, this goes back to the conversation we had last year around Ice Cube's black agenda, agenda for black America, whatever he called it. And I pointed out at the time that black people, we have to stop looking for the word black, black, black, black, black, black, black, and everything because it cannot pass a court challenge, especially not after Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence appointed over 200 right-wing, white supremacist, white judges. We have to be smart. Even this legislation,

what they're attacking is the term socially disadvantaged. So even when you don't have the term Black specifically being used, there's still an issue. So we have to be clever, and we have to look at the impact of legislation instead of looking for the word black, black, black, black, black, okay? Because all I hear is, where's the black shit? Where's the black shit? The Asians got some. The Asians did not get something from the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. As a matter of fact, it did not create even a new class of hate crimes. It just merely, I'm not going to go into that again. The bottom line though, is that we have to be smart and we have to be strategic about how these, how these legislations impact our community, as opposed to being so focused on plastering the word black everywhere, because we do not have the judiciary that is going to, who was going to uphold any of these things.

The 200 judges are gone. All we can do is hold on to what we have right now. Joe Biden, as Roland has pointed out, is appointing a record number of black women. Matter of fact, a vast majority of, I shouldn't say a vast majority, a large number of his new appointees have been black people of color, men and women.

Okay, I got you. See, y'all go to my computer. Y'all see it? Okay. Y'all see my, hold on one second. Y'all go to my computer. Y'all see it? Y'all see my... Hold on one second. Y'all don't see the computer? Let me go ahead and... Since, you know, again,

all the smart asses out there who love running their mouth. This is from the Washington Post here. Biden nominated as many minority women to be judges in four months as Trump had confirmed in four years. Y'all, you see them right here.

And watch that contest. Y'all, y'all, she gonna be on the court. For all y'all people who are blind, here you go. Now, this is the first four months. They've actually had more in the last five months.

But these are the people who say it's all the same. It don't matter. And again, Recy, they are here for life. And can I just say one more thing, too? Because I want to be perfectly crystal clear. I am not saying black people should not get stuff specifically for black people. That would be asinine for me to say. I am not saying Black people should not get stuff specifically for Black people. That would be asinine for me to say. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is we have to recognize legislative and executive strategy so that we actually get the shit that's for us,

that's intended for us, instead of it being mired in court challenges over and over and over again. And so that's why I'm saying we have to elevate our way of looking at things and look at the impact of things. Fifty percent of children have been raised, will be raised out of poverty as a result of this child tax credit. That's a disproportionate impact on the black community. And so we have to stop looking at things only from a lens of is the word black there, yes or no? If the answer is no, it's not for us.

No, we have to look at impact. And we have to go after those things that have an impact on our community more than anything, celebrate when we get the win, and push harder when we are not getting what we need. If we focus on that instead of going after the CBC, going after the politicians that are actually fighting for these things that impact our community, then we will see success. And just one more thing I want to say, because I remember when Vice President Kamala Harris, when she was running, she had a small business plan that she wrote down, and it was mocked to death. I mean, it went viral on

Black Twitter. Everybody was mocking it because it was like, oh, she's using Pell Grant as a qualification and she's using X, Y, Z, and I can't even qualify for that. That's called strategy because who disproportionately qualifies or gets Pell Grants? Black people did because I remember when they was attacking Obama over his revisions to Pell Grants that hurt HBCU and Black students. And so you have to look beyond the clickbait, look beyond the headline, look behind the neon sign, okay? And you have to look at the impact of things and actually be focused on that, because that's what the other side is focused on. They didn't see Black, but they saw something that said, oh shit, the blacks is going to get that. We got to stop it.

We got to start looking like the way they look at it. And when we talk about this case, that when it comes to these black farmers, Farashi, it's going through the federal court system. Y'all, go back to my computer. Fact. I don't care how you feel about Biden and computer. Fact. I don't care how you feel about Biden and Harris.

Fact. Joe Biden has appointed more black women to the U.S. appeals court than nearly any president. Listen to me clearly, y'all. To everybody out there, again, all of you,

YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, constitutional experts. In the history of the United States, 11 black women have been confirmed as federal appeals court judges in history, three of them in the last eight months. 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,

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Right. I mean, but I just need people who don't know shit to understand. And I know that's somebody for rising life. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, that's judges. But that really don't have an impact on me. Well, it has an

impact on any federal lawsuit that is filed. Because a federal lawsuit file goes through the federal court system. Oh, for all of you, and like what Chris Rock said, oh, you smarty art, ma.

I would, because y'all know what I really want to call y'all. State law. The Texas abortion law. Federal. Federal. Mandates. Federal. Federal. Mandates. Federal. Prop 4.

Florida. Federal lawsuit. We could go on and on and on. But that's for all y'all people who say elections don't matter. Roger, go ahead. Real quick. I think you've proven the case right

here, Brother Roland, and understanding the fact that, you know, and I love what Reesey was saying, that we don't always have to think black, black, black. You know, we're talking about making some progress. We're talking about making some gains. And when you're talking about this situation with black farmers, I mean, this is $5 billion on the table. And as I was listening to Attorney Jordan, I mean, and I'm with you there Dr. Carr, when you said that, you know, in the back of her mind, she knows that this is an uphill battle.

But look at, I want to bring everybody's attention to Texas. What the hell is going on in Texas? Regarding what? In terms of everything. Okay, y'all, this ain't hard. Okay, this is not hard.

Okay? Republicans control every statewide office in Texas. That shit ain't hard. That's not the hard part. That's the point that I'm making. That's the point that I'm making, that if you are talking about really waging

war, go to those key states, Texas, Florida. If you want to really get into the ground, and look, as much as we talk about the higher offices, look, I was always taught as a community organizer, politics is local. You start with your local jurisdictions. You start on the ground. That's where the changes are. And why? Because you have to do the part of waking people up and to educating people. You know, before you have any type of voter rights voting registration campaign, you have to have a voter education campaign. You have to lay it out for people to understand, okay, here are the big issues that affect us.

Here are the big money. This is the issue regarding education. And helping people to get a sense of what they're up against. And that's the problem, because we're just jumping, jumping all over the place. And if we don we understand that you have hubs like Texas, like Florida and a couple of other states that have the power, they have the power in Congress. They have the power because of the population and they have power because of the

resources. They have power. So look, if I was the Democrats right now, I would be looking at Texas 2022. I'm looking at Texas. They're not. They're not looking at. No, they're not. Because the problem because the problem is you do not have a party that understands long term implications. The only reason Georgia changed, the only reason because Stacey Abrams, Raphael Warnock, and a host of others said, you know what? We're not going to wait on y'all to do something. So we're going

to do this ourselves. I'm telling you, that's the only way Georgia changed. But, but, but, but, But here's the other deal, though. What you can't do is you can't go into Texas just in the election year. Right. No. You've got to go in and understand looking at the numbers. Right now, and again, why do I keep talking about voting on state level?

It's because of gerrymandering. Right now, there, you have, there are 20, there are 30 state senators in Texas. Okay? You now have the Republicans who actually want to stretch their margins. They actually want to take away two more Democratic state districts.

Okay? Senate districts. That's happening right now. Same thing in the House. Because we got people who want to sit here and play games. If you want to talk about how do you play chess dot checkers, what people should be saying to the Biden administration is, throw out the Donald Trump census. How about that?

See, if we want to go there, throw that census out. File that lawsuit. But see, here's the deal. You got a bunch of, and I'll be straight up, you got a bunch of rich Democrats'll be straight up. You got a bunch of rich Democrats rich progressives Okay, who who want you to come kiss their ass and they're not doing what the Republicans are doing See you don't have you don't have the same energy Into a democratic donors as you see that coke network

Okay, now you got George Soros funding a lot of stuff. But I'm talking about, show me the rich progressives who are sitting here saying, you know what? We need to put $100 million into Texas, and we need to register 70% of those 2 million eligible unregistered Latinos. And we need to move 1,000 people into the state. Oh, you know what? We need to sit here and say, okay, we need to go into Florida and say, fine,

we're going to start paying off. You heard Desmond Meade. They raised $25 million. Oh, for everybody out there, remember all that money that Mike Bloomberg said he was going to give to pay off the fines in Florida. Didn't send a check.

I checked. Nothing came to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Okay. And so if you want to sit here and change the state, then say, all right, we're going to drop $100 million on the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Y'all can pay off the fines of these folks. All of a sudden now now those million four eligible folks who now can vote in Florida, now you can change elections there. See,

that's what we're dealing with. But what I need black people to understand, I need black people who sit in there. I saw some fool today. Oh yeah, that Reese and Greg Carr and Roland, y'all all sitting here about the Democrats being puppets.

All right, this is real simple. Who the hell going to be in control? This is real simple, okay? It's real simple. Democrats or Republicans, which one are you likely to get a bill to fund the black farmers? I'll wait.

Which one are you likely to get investigations of patterns and practices in police departments? I'll wait. Which one are you likely to get investigations of patterns and practices in police departments? I'll wait. Which one are you likely to get $7 billion in a year and a half to HBCUs? Oh, that was not Donald Trump. Don't believe the hype. Please, by all means, show me the $6 billion in loan forgiveness that went to HBCUs under Republican president. I'll wait.

See, this is the problem. We get a whole bunch of trolls out here who love spreading misinformation, who love sitting here, oh man, you on somebody's plantation. No, I actually have a brain. I have eyes. I have ears. And I see exactly who is trying to screw me. All I want to know is this here.

Please, y'all, show me which party don't want to pass the Voting Rights Act. Come on. Come on. I'll wait. I got time. I'll wait. So we can sit here and engage in these conversations. See, we can sit here

and sit here and tout rappers who sit on panels talking about public policy, yet when have you actually seen them fund public policy initiatives? Oh yeah, I

went there because see, I'm tired of people pontificating about who ain't done this, who ain't done that, and they're not using any of their resources or any of their social media capital to actually leverage something.

And excuse me, wearing a hoodie and snapping a photo on Instagram ain't the same as being in the game. Yeah, I said it. So for every ADOS, FBA, B1 person, and when y'all little punks do your little videos and y'all know who y'all are, I didn't give a damn about your punk ass last week. I don't give a damn about you today. And I don't give a damn about you next week. Just so we're clear.

I'm going to a break. We'll be back on Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. That owned, I don't hide behind curtains. You see my face and hear my voice. Yeah, I'll be back. Oh, that spin class was brutal.

Well, you can try using the Buick's massaging seat. Oh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure. It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password?

Buick Envision 2021. Oh, you should pick something stronger. That's really predictable. That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too. Hey.

Really outdid yourself. Yes, we did. The all-new Buick parallel parking. Me too. Me too. Hey. Really outdid yourself. Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision, an SUV built around you, all of you. Once upon a time, there lived a princess with really long hair who was waiting for a prince to come save her. But really, who has time for that?

Let's go. I'm feeling myself. I'm feeling myself. She ordered herself a ladder with prime one-day delivery. And she was out of there. Now, her hairdressing empire is killing it. And the prince? Well, who cares? Prime changes everything.

My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. All right, folks, in our Black and Missing segment, this is about Aaron Michael Barnes. He's been missing from Billings, Montana. He's 5'10", 130 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. Folks, you have distinguished features as well, And hair is in dreads.

And so it is, just again, one of the cases of a brother who has been missing. He's been missing since July 19, 2021. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, please call the Billings, Montana Police Department, 406-657-8461, 406-657-8461. 406-657-8461. Alright folks, in Michigan there's a state led response to the lead water crisis in Benton Harbor. Of course, we told you about that yesterday.

Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist said the state is providing Benton Harbor residents several resources amid the water crisis in the city including an ambitious plan to replace the city's lead pipes. Joining us now is Reverend Dr. Don J. Tynes, the public health director for Benton Harbor. Doc, glad to have you on the show. How did we get here?

How did we actually get here with these pipes? Whose fault is it? Was this simply natural? What happened? It's not natural, no. This is an event that started out in 2015. There was a research study that was done in 2015. There was interaction between the city and the state.

At that time, EGLE was called the Department of Environmental Quality. 2017, they notified the city. 2018, they did a follow-up notification. Then after that, 2019, the commission and the city residents became aware that there was an issue. You had an activist named Reverend Edward Pickney, who formed a Bent Harbor Community Water Council that went out to work with the city, Mr. Michael Mallet, who ran the water department at that time, to go out and to do testing.

And the testing revealed that they had some higher levels than Flint, Michigan itself. And so that caused an action item. And then at that time, what I, all I can say is that history kind of repeated itself and that we in the city thought that it was better than what it was, but it wasn't. And as a result, we did the exact same thing that Flint did. We made the exact same mistakes that Flint did. And the people got exposed to lead for several years. The action items started where individuals

were given water filters. The water filters, initially they were just being given, but then the Benton Harbor Community Water Council, what they did is they asked the people, did you understand the directions on the box? And if they said no, they tried to explain it to them. If they still didn't understand, then they actually personally went to their homes and installed them, and they would follow up in three months. Now, what happens is that you find in America systemic racism is prevalent.

So the water filters came from the state and went down to the county health department. The Bend Harbor Community Water Council received credit, which is predominantly African-American and youth that are doing this venture. And the county did not receive the recognition. And therefore, based on emotional response, they shut down the whole water filter program, even though the lead was still there, the crisis was still there, and the people were still exposed. And so now, after the efforts of Reverend Pickney to work with the EPA, to work with EGLE, and to work with the governor to bring this up into a higher level of awareness that we have the efforts. Also, what happened at that time was that a company called Albon Marche, which is also called Atomarche, for some reason told the city that they would fix the problem if the city raised the water bills and that they

would do it over a 20-year period. And what happened is the city commission agreed to 20 years of poisoning. That has been an issue. But to help the city out, because of their inexperience, the governor actually stepped in and said, we can replace the four-mile-by-four-mile city probably within one year, and got the Republicans to buy in to give money to actually replace the water piping. But it was told that the company, Alba Marche, did not have the resources in terms of personnel to do it. And so the deputy mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Dwayne Seeks,

requested that Reitman and Associates be added on as an engineering company so it could be done in half that time. So the governor wanted it in two years, so the compromise was five years. And now Reitman & Associates will be coming on board to maybe cut it down to two and a half years. But then there's actually a third company that's involved, another so that we should be able to do it less. Album Marche is a response. What they did for the first time ever in decades, wind up having African-American contractors have a meeting so they actually know after all these 20 to 40 years that there was African-American contractors and found out who they were that could have actually assisted in

this problem. And so what you have to do is look at the systemic racism that's permeating through all our cities, that the only reason that there's an interest right now is because there's money. And so money brings interest. And before there was no money, there was no interest. And so that the African-American people have suffered. And what we found that we, you know, we have found lead in patients in terms of kids. But for the first time, I found lead in the an adult and the patient presented with mental status changes in terms of memory elevated the

blood pressures and what we call some kidney insufficiency and then what also was noted was that that I checked the lead level just to be on the safe with their safe side exposure found that they should have lead level just to be on the safe side exposure, found out that she had a lead level. So I talked with Dr. Walter Davis, who ran the whole Wayne County, Detroit lead program, lead poisoning program. And he was alarmed because you should not be lead in an adult because of the size of the person, that it should totally be absorbed by the tissue and nothing in the blood or in the serum. And so a level of even one or greater shows a massive amount of exposure to that of 10 or 15 that you would find in a child, which would make you want to do IV or chelation therapy.

So we have adults, and they were missed. The adults were overlooked and missed in Flint. Even though they were living in the same house, even though they were drinking the same water, that no one cared about the adults were overlooked and missed in Flint, even though they were living in the same house, even though they were drinking the same water, that no one cared about the adults. And so what you find in Flint now is there will be individuals who are adults have it. Now, you know that in terms of environmental justice, that any time you go into an African-American community, a minority community, you're always going to find the presence of special ed. And what you're going to do when you look at a community for special ed,

you go to the educational system and you'll see that they have a special ed program. And that special ed program is called special ed. And those are a lot of times your victims of ed. So we talk about how we got to this point. First of all, it's crazy that you have city officials agree to replace them over a 20-year period. I mean, literally, a child born would be an adult by the time they're actually done. That's malpractice within itself. And so are we actually going to see the work done? Is the state intervening, saying, no, we're going to make sure that this gets done, and you don't have all the shenanigans going back and forth?

And that's what I was pointing out to, that they had agreed to 20, and then the negotiation is that the companies are being forced that one company cannot do it, and they have to break up that monopoly. That monopoly of that one engineering company goes back more than 20 years. So you're talking about a 20-, 30-year monopoly, even though right outside, a mile to two miles outside of the city, are other engineering companies that are doing it. And their sister city, which is a predominantly white city, hired a company who's going to do it within a year. So a white community is done within a year,

and an African-American community is done within 20 years. So you have to explain that. So the governor had to intervene. So Governor Whitmer said, we've got to help this city out because that doesn't make sense, like you just said, because there's no acceptable lead level in a human body, especially in a child. So she's the one who's advocating to try to get it

done. She's the one who's advocating now to try to get it done with maybe in six to 12 months that you really push it hard. So that's coming actually from the governor's office, personally from her. And I can't say, from what I understand from speaking with Reverend Edward Pickney, it's more the governor effort than the lieutenant governor effort that she's the one who's spearheading, trying to make up for the accidental misunderstanding of the Ben Harbor City Commission. So the city commission made a gross error. City commission did not respond after learning from the lessons of Flint. So we have that young and inexperienced situation of history repeating itself.

So if you, you know, Malcolm X said, history best rewards all research. So if you don't study history, then you're going to make some of the same mistakes that were made in the past. And so your progress is less. But if you study history and know the mistakes, then you can skip those mistakes and learn new mistakes,

but you've been further in your progress. Well, it is unfortunate to listen to this. Black folks have been greatly impacted, just like in Flint. We're going to have Mayor Mark Muhammad on tomorrow. They reached out to us to talk about this. And so, you know, hopefully the work gets done and the people don't have to sit here and drink bottled water and listen to these admonitions of doing nothing.

I mean, you know, not being able to use the water, take showers, baths, things along those lines. That just makes no sense whatsoever. But I must say, I must say this, that I need you to make sure that you also reach out to Reverend Edward Pitney, because he is the one who brought this to the forefront. He's the one that the governor's talked to. He's the one that Eagles talked to. He's the one who brought this to the forefront. He's the one that the governors talked to. He's the one that Eagles talked to. He's the one what EPA brought to. That came from a community activist point of view. That was not city-related.

City ran or city promoted. And all the water that's actually coming in now is directly related to that Benton Harbor Community Water Council, which he is the president of. He pushed a hand. He put in a petition. He's the one who's threatening to do the lawsuit. I want some answers from the city because what I want to know from the city is why did it take all of that?

That's what I want to know. You're going to have to ask them that. Oh, trust me, I will. So, what you find is that here, the people need to know two that. Oh, trust me, I will. So what you find is that here the people need to know two things. One, that you can as a person, as a community activist, you can make a change, make a difference. The thing that happened in Flint, there was African-American doctors who notified that this was a problem with Flint, but it took a non-African-American pediatrician to speak up when they say this was a problem. And so now you have to deal with that issue.

The second thing is that adults, adults need to be tested as well as children because they've been exposed and you're not going to see it in the blood because it's already absorbed in the tissue, but you're going to find them. They're going to have headaches that they cannot explain. They're going to have memory problems that they can't explain. And people are going to throw it off to Alzheimer's. They're going to have elevated blood pressure. They're going to have kidney disease. When you look in African American communities, you're going to find dialysis centers that may be your kidneys-related centers, like you have special ed, which is special ed in the community. So we may be seeing the ravages of ed in these communities. A prison study showed that they looked at the African-Americans

in prison, and they looked back and they found that in infants they had been exposed to lead. And then in Wayne County juvenile system, they're seeing that individuals who've grown up from murder that haven't been exposed to lead. So we have to really look at this. But the bright side is that the people who've been injured by lead, if you give them special concentrated efforts, they actually excel those who have not been expelled. The body tries to overcompensate in helping them to learn. But in our special ed programs, once we put them special ed, that special ed, that wouldn't have been especially dead and that we don't really do any efforts to try to enhance the academics.

So we need increased academics. We need to test try to enhance the academics. So we need to increase the academics. We need to test the adults and the children, and we need to do that now. All right, Doc. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Keep up the good work. Thank you, sir. All right, folks. Thank you very much. Got to go to break. We come back. Boston got to pay up $1.3

million to black couple. We'll explain that when we come back. And also some news that just came down regarding yours truly. I'm going to tell you all about that. I've been holding it for two months, but now I can tell you all. You've got to wait for it. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered with Black Star Network. Back in a moment. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА I'm going to go get my stuff. Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon.

So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson. Like, really loves. Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin 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. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

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. 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. of ourselves or up away 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 the city of boston is paying a black man 1.3 million dollars if the cops arrested him while he was having a stroke. Al Copeland got sick and pulled over on the side of the road. Two hours later, police arrived and assumed he was drunk. In the holding cell, he fell and hit his head.

Cops let him, quote, sleep it off. After Copeland vomited in his cell, police then took him to the hospital, where after several hours of waiting, the medical staff finally realized he had a stroke. He needed weeks of rehabilitation and has lost some of his motor functions because of the stroke. Copeland has not received an apology. What, Faraji, that is unbelievable. Recy.

Yeah, I mean, you know what? This just shows the kind of medical racism and the hostility that people have when they approach black people. It's not just a problem with the police officers. We see this in hospitals where black people are not believed when they talk about their pain threshold. And so this is how we constantly have these disparate outcomes and they try to blame it on personal responsibility.

But really, this racism is baked in. And so I wish this was something that we can call an isolated incident or even just one of the many issues with police. But we see medical racism rearing its head in so many different ways. And unfortunately, you know, this gentleman has suffered consequences, you know, health consequences that are going to be long term. But I think that there is a very small, it's not a big, but a very small consolation in the fact that the police department has been obligated to pay up, but they should absolutely apologize. But they won't because that would require, as Dr. Carr says often, seeing a human being and a person that they're actually there to protect and serve as opposed to a person that they're to oversee and terrorize. Raji.

Raji, you're on mute. I think the whole situation is a tragedy just simply because, I mean, police officers should be, police officers are trained to assess the situation and to figure out the best response. And when we keep hearing situations like this happening, and then for a man not to get the medical attention that he needed in a given point in time, I mean, it's just embarrassing to say the least. And so it's almost like now it's just hard to try to put any type of trust or faith that any officer that comes into a situation is going to be competent enough and trained enough to know what to do in that emergency. And when you're talking about this ongoing, you know, if this was just one issue, one incident, I could say, okay, that was just the one incident. But there is a pattern where we're seeing police officers who think one thing and it's actually another. You know, police officers that don't know the difference of dealing with the issue of mental health and they don't know how to deal with a situation.

I mean, it's just becoming a longstanding systemic pattern. And, and it's, you know, I don't know if it's just training, but it's just should be common sense. You can't pop out the car with your guns drawn and then automatically make an assumption that, you know, a person is responding a certain way. The man is having, was having a stroke. Like, you just to take the moment take a beat to take to take it in so case of what's going on with you. Yeah, it's just it's unacceptable, it's absolutely unacceptable. Great. Not that yes, yes, yes, that no yes that is exactly right.

I mean reminds me of a Doug Fresh's sample of Slick Rick, this kind of shit that happens every day. In other words, think about the fact that we even have this conversation. Why are we even talking about this? Because Ms. Copeland, Valerie, called looking for her husband when he didn't come home to find out the car was towed, to find out why it was towed, to find out her husband was in jail, to find out, and this man lost two months of his life in a coma, woke up like, what the hell happened? And they still wouldn't even got that million point three. And I'm wondering, is anybody else looking at that number like, that's low as hell. You should have gave them 50 million.

But they wouldn't have got that if they hadn't gotten a lawyer and tried to sue. And the paddle rollers, why should they apologize? As you say, Reesey, they're hunting. That's what they do. Now, what is your training? Did everybody have their sense of smell detached? Because if he was drunk, get a smart look on his breath. But guess what?

You didn't care. That man could have died. And the only way we even know about it is because his wife went after them and then the two of them got together and went ham on the city and they gave him a million point three before taxes. This kind of shit happens every day

when people hard get told when they get pulled over with no apology. And meanwhile, the stress factor, as my friend, Jules Harrell, the Howard who studies stress has been doing it for the last 50 years, talks about this. The stress of being black in America, every

time your heart constricts when you see them lights hitting behind you in the rearview mirror, or you walk past them, every time that happens takes a few seconds off the end of your life. This ain't gonna stop till we stop it, y'all. These people are doing what they were trained to do. They ain't even apologized. And they don't need to apologize.

We need to erase them. Erase them, because this type of shit happens every day. Folks, the Department of Justice, they're investigating the Texas Juvenile Correctional Facilities after receiving reports of physical and sexual abuse. The inquiry focuses on conditions at five detention centers operated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. The investigation will examine

whether the state provides children confined in the facilities reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints, and excessive use of isolation. The investigation will also examine whether Texas provides adequate mental health care.

Governor Greg Abbott says the state will fully comply with the investigation. Hmm. You'll fully comply with the investigation, but not vaccine mandates. Okay. In Kansas, federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into the actions of a retired Kansas City detective who's believed to have harassed black residents for decades.

Roger Golubsky has been accused of crimes by community members, including rape, murder, discrimination, and framing innocent people for crimes. One of those people Golubsky may have framed is Lamont McIntyre. He was exonerated and released from prison after serving 23 years for a double homicide in 2017. This is one of the most racist police departments in the country, Recy. And you've had black folks in that city

who've been saying it for quite some time. You know, and you've had this battle back and forth. You know, they opposed to Sharma Jones when she ran for mayor. She still won. I mean, it is a major deal. But when you hear this, this reminds me of John Burge out of Chicago,

when he was beating folks with phone books and sitting here and using Vietnam era tactics to frame black folks. Yeah, but that's well within the handbook of the police department. I mean, we just had the state trooper on earlier who was fired, essentially, or suspended for disloyalty to the police, to the force, and yet this person who has, and it's a different jurisdiction, I understand that point,

but the point is that loyalty is not about humanity. Loyalty is about the blue line, and as long as he's doing what is there designed to do, particularly when it comes to black residents, then it's free reign. It should not have taken decades. It should not have taken decades. And he needs to be in jail somewhere,

not just fired, but he needs to be in jail. Or as Dr. Carr would might suggest other measures. But hey, if you can't get that, you can't get street justice, then maybe we could get some sort of in-court justice, but that doesn't seem to be on the table either, unfortunately. And this is why you've got to have people who are elected. What did I just say, Faraji? Elected? Elected?

Elected. When Kim Gardner was elected DA, Wesley Bell was elected DA, one county, one city, Tashar Jones, elected mayor. Those things matter when it comes to ensuring we get justice. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. And, you know, and even with these situations, brother Roland, there's also, as it relates to this particular case, Jay-Z's social justice group, Team Rock, they took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post calling on the Kansas City Police Department to get rid of this level of police corruption. I mean, it gets that deep for a lot of people. And I just, you know, we often talk about the fact that people are elected. Let me just say this, folks. We are in a very, very serious, serious time in this country that you really have to, I don't

care what faith you may be, but you really have to just hold on to something much deeper than just your title. You have to hold on something much deeper than just your title. You have to hold on to something deeper than just your demographic. We're really in a time right now where we're seeing humanity. We're seeing people's faith. We're seeing sanity is really getting thrown out the way and people are just losing it. And it's showing each and every day in this country. And so, you know, we're fighting for justice, but we got to fight for people's humanity and sanity at the same time. I mean, you have a police officer that's committing all types of crimes, being on the force for so many years,

and they're still talking about doing an investigation, which takes more time? As if no one didn't know that this officer was doing these things. I mean, you know, I mean, we, I mean, Dr. Carr, you could probably go down the list of examples throughout history of dirty cops, right? And that people knew and have allowed it. And like you said, Recy, we had the Trooper Cavalier on, dirty cops that were allowed to be dirty. And when we're talking about any type of police reform, how come we don't talk about the sergeants, the lieutenant, the captains? Not just talking about the commissioner or the one that's running the department. I'm talking about middle management.

The commissioner gets chopped off. The police officer may get kicked out. But then the middle managers of leadership that still remain, that have allowed all this madness, they still keep their jobs. They still get their pensions at the end of the day. Indeed, indeed. Man, we talk about elected. Some folks do some stuff and it doesn't end well.

A Los Angeles City Council member and former University of Southern California dean indicted on 20 charters of conspiracy and fraud for a professorship scheme. Mark Ridley Thomas, a longtime Los Angeles politician, and Marilyn Louise Flynn, a former dean of the University of Southern California's social work, will face decades in prison if they are convicted. The crimes allegedly happened in 2017 when Thomas promised new city contracts and to grow current contracts in exchange for his son's admission and professorship into the school. According to the indictment, money was funneled through the campaign coffers of Ridley Thomas, a former state lawmaker, to help his son, who also served in the California Assembly, who resigned citing health reasons when he got caught up in a sexual harassment lawsuit, a first-, investigation.

This story has been an explosive one in L.A. And when you talk about impact, I mean, Ridley Thomas is extremely, extremely popular in Los Angeles. Someone who has been in public life for a very long time, very well known. And I've already been talking with people in Los Angeles who say he pretty much got the goods on him. And so we'll see what happens next. As I said, he is a member of the city council there, and already L.A. city leaders are calling on him to step down as a result of the indictment on federal corruption charges.

He was actually one of the leading voices fighting the homeless problem there in Los Angeles, which is rampant. But again, many folks are saying that, again, that he should be stepping down. And like I said, he was accused of funneling $100,000 in campaign funds through the universities, through the university to a nonprofit to be operated by a family member. And so according to ABC7, it said that he also was going to amend a contract with the Department of Mental Health that would bring the school millions of dollars in revenue. And so both of them were informed of the indictment, and they're going to be appearing in L.A. federal court

in the coming weeks, according to the U.S. attorney's office. And so we'll be watching that story to see how that unfolds as well. Got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about some student protests at Howard University. And I'm going to reveal to you some great news I learned a couple of months ago. I have not been able to say anything until now.

Y'all be the first for me to tell. Before I even put it on social media, I'm going to tell y'all first. You're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered, on the Black Star Network, back in a moment. 007 007 massaging seat oh yeah that's nice can i use apple carplay to put some music on sure it's wireless pick something we all like okay hold on what's your buick's wi-fi password buick envision 2021 oh you should pick something stronger that's really predictable that's a really tight spot don't worry i used to hate parallel parking me too hey really outdid yourself yes we did the all-new buick envision an suv built around around you. All of you. Once upon a time, there lived a princess with really long hair

who was waiting for a prince to come save her. But really, who has time for that? She ordered herself a ladder with prime one-day delivery. And she was out of there. Now, her hairdressing empire is killing it. And the prince? Well, who cares?

Crime changes everything. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Alright, students with the group Live Moment, excuse me, Live Movement, a coalition of historically black colleges and universities who advocate for

education reform began their sit-in at Howard University's Blackburn University Center Tuesday evening. The purpose to demand university officials agree to a town hall meeting by the end of the month to negotiate their demands. Howard released the following statement in part. The well-being of our students is always one of our top concerns,

and we will always support the right to a peaceful protest. The Office of Student Affairs continues to provide support to students who come to us in need. On October 12th, during a student town hall hosted by the Howard University Student Association, a small group interrupted the constructive dialogue and instigated a sit-in in the Blackburn Multipurpose Center and moved to occupy the building. Some students will be asked to meet with Judicial Affairs today to discuss all student code of conduct violations.

Now, they are demanding that the student leaders on the Board of Trustees be returned as well as other demands as well. And so, we've been seeing the social media reports and so we'll certainly keep you abreast of what happens with that on the campus of Howard University. Alright, folks. Let's talk coronavirus cases, how they're impacting kids.

The number of new infections in children remains exceptionally high with nearly 150,000 cases reported last week, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children represented nearly a quarter of weekly reported cases. Nationally, COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have been dropping in the past week, an average of 87,676 people reported infections, and 1,600 people have died of the virus a day, according to Johns Hopkins University. Anthony Fauci has said the infection rate should be below 10,000 a day to say the pandemic is under control.

With winter sending more people indoors, expect worry among specialists, especially among kids who are eligible for vaccines, of course, facing high risk. Total infections, about 45.4 million. 738,000 folks have passed away. Now, there's been a lot of discussion about this issue because of Kyrie Irving. Well, last night, Kyrie Irving posted a video on Instagram where he actually talked about why he is choosing to not get vaccinated. He also is not going to be able to play as a result. I'm going to play some of what he had to say. And then, of course, I want to get a reaction from the panel. And so here we go. I had to stop running

away from using my voice and using my platform to, you know, speak on what's true and what's mine. You know, nobody's going to hijack my voice. Nobody's going to take the power away from me that I have for speaking on these things, you know, and don't believe that I'm retiring. Don't believe that, you know, I'm going to give up this game for a vaccine mandate or staying unvaccinated. Don't believe any of that shit, man. Like, like really be aware of what's being said before I even get a chance to be on the podium and speak for myself. You know what I'm saying? Like all these people saying all these things about what's going on with me and it's just not true. Pay attention to what's going on out in the real world. You know,

people are losing their jobs to these mandates. people are having to make choices with their own lives which i respect you know and and i don't want to um sit here and and play on people's emotions either just use logic you know what would you do you know if you felt uncomfortable going into the season uh when you were promised that you would have exemptions or that you didn't have to be forced to get the vaccine. You know, this wasn't an issue before the season started. This wasn't something that I foresaw coming where I prepared for it. And, you know, I had a chance to strategize on what was going to be best for me and my family. I came into the season thinking that I was just going to be able to play ball, you know, be able to use my

my talent to continue to, you know, inspire, influence people in the right way. You know, like putting this on me is just like, why are you putting it on me? You know, like this, this is not part of, you know, what's going on in conversations with scientists, physicians and doctors. I'm just a hooper, right? Like I'm just a person who's being utilized as an example for some odd reason. You know, people love to have my name in the mix of just some BS, like just hearing the way people speak. So, you know, with so much conviction about what I should be doing with my life and and what you know my teammates should be feeling about me what the organization be feeling about me and all right so uh the nets announced first of all you have the

new york city rules where they said he could not practice with the team or play in home games then the nets came back and said it's not going to play at all until the issue is resolved. There's been a whole lot of conversation about it. Bottom line is I have no problem with the decision of the NBA and the Nets requiring folks to be vaccinated. Look, it's his right not to get vaccinated. But here's the deal. They don't have to actually play you.

They don't have to play you. And he's talking about people losing their jobs. I have absolutely no problem with the rules that people are putting in place, because the reality is when you are an owner, when you're a CEO, you have to be concerned about the well-being, not just of the individual, but all of the individuals who are in the workforce. Let's get thoughts of our panel. Recy, I want to start with you. Well, first of all, let me just get through all the numbers here. There have been 404 million doses of the vaccine, COVID-19, various vaccines administered in the United States to date. Over 189 people are, a million people are fully vaccinated exempt from something that hundreds of millions of people in this country have gotten. Matter of fact, there have been six billion doses administered throughout the entire world. This is a safe vaccine.

It's fully approved by the FDA, at least the Pfizer vaccine is. There's no medical reason to. He didn't even invoke that he had religious reasons for, even though we've already discussed on this show that there's no legitimate religious exemption for that as well. What he is mad about is the fact that he didn't get special treatment. He's upset about the fact that people are not showing deference to him. People have a right to their opinion. He has a right to his opinion. He has a right to not play if that's what he chooses to do. But it sounded to me like he expected some sort of exemption in special treatment. He's not being targeted.

He's not being singled out. Over 90% of the NBA athletes are fully vaccinated. So he's the one who's going against the grain. He's the one that's not taking into consideration his team. And we are in October, folks. The vaccine has been out since December. How much more damn time did you need to have a consideration? They're just making this decision after there have been months of, you know, discussion about NBA players being vaccinated. They have been bringing, they have brought all kinds of experts

to come and cater to this particular audience of very wealthy, very privileged people. Yes, I understand that they deal with racism as a Black man. Every Black person does, regardless of stature. But he has every resource at his fingertips, and yet he's deciding not to take the vaccine. That's his choice. We do not have to show deference to him. It's not a matter of respecting or not respecting it. It's a matter of saying we don't agree with any person

that is putting themselves above the shared values and the shared need that we have to get outside of this. And last thing I'll say is that it doesn't just impact him and it doesn't even just impact his teammates. It's a very physical sport, you know, respiratory droplets and all kinds of droplets are all over each other, but it also impacts the staff. You don't have staff members, whether it's janitorial staff or whether it's training staff that are getting paid $30 million, whether they work or not. Okay. And so when those people get infected, they have to quarantine their different protocols in place for those people. So he's all about himself and he has that right to do it.

Obviously he's a big star, but he's not under but he's not being persecuted. He's not under siege. He's not under attack, and he's not being singled out. It's a blanket requirement for everybody in the city of New York that wants to go into these venues in different states who have instituted our different cities. It's not about you personally, and you don't have to get it, but we don't have to bow down to you and wave a cheerleading flag and throw a parade for you, Kyrie Irving. Get over yourself. Faraji, and one of the things that he talked about, the exemptions, that was never a guarantee. You could apply for the exemptions. It was determined whether it was granted or not.

Go ahead. So that's what, and I just got to disagree with you there on that part, Recy. I mean, I don't think he's taken a stand, like he's took a stand like so many other athletes and people have taken a stand at this point, where they're just simply saying, I'm not going to take it. Now, how people have interpreted that stand, that's something that's out of his control. But if you go back to the video, he said, promise that you would be exempted. Or as you just clarified, Brother Roland, the fact that they were going to at least take a look at your exemption. We're at a point now where you can't even put up a religious exemption. People say, oh, no, the church has nothing to do with this.

Huh? I mean, but I thought that that was a part of the federal rule. Actually, hold on, hold on. Actually, hold on, hold on. Actually, you can, there are, well, you do have some religious exemptions, but you have some religions that have actually said, we're not going to give you exemptions. That's fine.

And so you do have in some places where you have religious exemptions. Go ahead. No, and that's the point. If the federal government provides protections where religious institutions can provide exemptions to getting vaccinated, it seems like that is not being respected. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But I got to clarify this here. The federal government can only offer recommendations to any non-federal entity.

The only jurisdiction the federal government has is over federal employees or contractors. So they've offered guidance. Now, a private company can decide we're not going to listen to that. So for instance, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive auditor saying, I'm not allowing any company in the state of Texas to require vaccine mandates. IBM and others have already said, the hell with you. We're going to ignore your order.

We're going to keep requiring it. So that's the piece. Go ahead. And real quick, Brother Roland, that's why we are in this position where people are confused because the federal government provide a recommendation. The state can enforce, companies can say, no, we're going to do it our way. That's the issue. But, and I think the stand of that Kyrie Irving, he's just saying, I don't want to take the vaccine. Why we got to prosecute people that just don't want to take the vaccine at the same time. If he's masking up and if the vaccine is I would say if he's

masking up and taking the proper precautions, then he shouldn't have to feel like, you know, he's going to be penalized for it. But it doesn't matter though. It doesn't matter if you don't, even if you take the proper precautions and you wear a mask, you can still get COVID.

That's everybody. Right, precisely. But the point is it is offering protection for all. So United Airlines, when the United Airlines CEO said we are going to require you to get you actually get vaccinated, 97 percent of the people have done so. Hospitals have required that as well. Again, here's the thing that I think that people keep missing. There ain't no guarantee that you get to work somewhere.

Yeah. There isn't. That's true. The reality is I've applied for jobs and they were like, here's a cup, urine sample. Now, if I object it to the urine sample, they can say, okay, thank you very much.

We're done. But, Brother Rowland, that's different. How? Here's how. They already built that into the application process. No, they didn't. There's no, wait a minute, hold on. When there's no vaccine,

when companies are just making up the vaccine policy now. Right. Because COVID just hit last year. Because COVID just hit last year. And without really having a look, a deeper look into the legality of it, they have understanding that they couldn't possibly. No, no. For Faraji, Faraji, Farajiaji, first of all, Faraji, that ain't hard. First of all, that's why we pay lawyers. I'm going to tell you right now. No, that's why we pay lawyers. I have lawyers.

It wasn't that hard. It was real quick. And the bottom line is this here. When you own a company, you can actually put in requirements. You can put in mandates. You can put in mandates. You can. And so these companies, and here's the deal. This is very simple.

Kyrie, you don't want to take it. Not a problem. But if we have to abide by the New York City standards, New York even gave them, Greg, they even gave them a pass, but they said the practice facility of the Nets was a private facility. But the Nets said, you know what, we need team continuity. We can't have you, you know, practicing sometimes, not practicing, playing sometimes, not playing.

I mean, that's just the reality of the business that they're in. Greg, go. Yeah, yeah. That's one way of looking at it, brother. They met with James Harden and Kevin Durant the other day, and they made a business decision. Can we win this championship without Kyrie? And if those brothers said yes, now the Nets have decided,

because they did have it lined up to allow him to practice, and they've explored trade options. They've done some other things. This is a business decision on the side of the nets. Risa, you often talk about misinformation. And that's the most intriguing thing to me about this story. You see, social media has destroyed, is in the process of really undermining legacy media.

And if we're not going to cover a story, if it's not going to be covered in a broad way, what is happening is the Internet is out there and you can flood everything with everything. Now, I don't know what Kyrie Irving's rationale is. I've seen him saging the court in the bubble. I've seen him miss a lot of games during injury. And so I don't know whether this is I'm against the vaccine or I'm standing up for the workers because he said he's standing up for the workers. But I know this. He went live on his Instagram, which means he has subverted any need to go through any channels.

In the Nets case, they want to win a championship. And since they had an exemption, they could have made a choice to allow him to practice and go on. But they've made a calculated choice. I speculate, because it's all speculation, that they can win without him and or that he will come around. Now they're saying they may not give him an extension. And I'm saying that for me, the most interesting thing about this is in an era when misinformation is everywhere, platforms, companies, legacy media cannot control it. Because right now, our students, who I stand with completely, who dozens of students' organizations have supported, the law students over there as

legal observers, our students who the police were called on, and our students have been uploading stuff on social media for months about the conditions at Howard. And when they took those trustee positions away, everybody was like, what are y'all doing? And guess what? The reason that we're in this moment, just like with Kyrie, is because they have decided we don't have to go call ABC, CBS, MSNBC, whoever. We will just upload to the gram, upload to TikTok. And so with all this confusion, Kyrie has decided, I don't want no more money from the

NBA. And now, after listening to him, I'm no more clear now about why Kyrie Irving doesn't want it than I was before he went up on the ground. But I guarantee you there are people who before this said, I ain't trying to hear that, who are sitting there thinking, hmm.

And once again, this means everybody viewing every platform has to make a decision. You got to sift through all this stuff to try to get at the truth. And it's more difficult than ever now. I do hope that Kyrie now realizes the earth is not flat, though. Well, I mean, does he? That's what I'm saying, man. I don't know, brother.

Can I also just say, too, just to be clear, the NBA does not have a vaccine mandate. I think the NBA has bent over backwards to try to accommodate the small faction of NBA players who are anti-vax. But you're not exempt from the laws and the rules that these different cities, which they're absolutely empowered to do. You're not exempt from that. And so, no, Kyrie, nobody can guarantee that you can go into New York and do whatever the hell that you want to do, despite the public health measures. That's why it's called public health. Because everybody can't just do what they want to do. You have to do what is best for the overall society. And unfortunately,

that kind of behavior has to be compelled. Well, that's one of the reasons why Andrew Wiggins, he was adamant he was not going to take the vaccine. But guess what? He had to make a business decision. And you know what? And that's the piece. A lot of people do. And this is what I tell people. There have been people who have been fired who did not want to take the vaccine.

Okay? You know what? That's on you. This is what I say to people all the time. There are repercussions to all decisions. All decisions. If you say, I ain't taking it. Okay. Repercussions. So as long as you're perfectly comfortable with what those repercussions are, do you. But there is going to be a flip side to whatever decision that you make.

Got to go to break. We come back. We're going to quickly talk about the undercounting of black folks in the census. I mentioned that earlier. I told y'all. And then remember when I called out the advertising agencies who was not giving money to black-owned media? Yeah. I'm'm gonna unpack that we come back and roll them out and filter the black star 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 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.

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 ban 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-up way, 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. Norske Kulturskapital Maureen is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon. So now she's free to become Maureen the Marrier. Food is her love language. And she really loves her grandson, like really loves. Hey, everybody, it's your girl, Luenell. So what's up? This is your boy, Earthquake. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Two new analysis claim nearly 2 million black people may have been undercounted in the 2020 census. The data is crucial for federal and state funding for citizens such as Medicare, Medicaid, government housing, food stamps. Lower population counts will limit access to these services and more. It also determines how lines are drawn. The pandemic and natural disasters negatively affected the 2020 census. The 2010 census shows African Americans may have been undercounted three times higher, and black children were undercounted ten times as high. You might remember when I called out the advertising agency that got the federal

contract saying, why are we not spending with black-owned media? I had Congressman Stephen Horsford on here, where Young and Rubicam told him point blank they were not going to buy any ads in any paper, circulation 50,000 or less. To me that was stupid because you're trying to reach everybody. What's the problem? If the ad costs 1,500 or 1,000 or 2,000, then you pay it. You're trying to reach people. This is why, folks, voting also matters because whoever is in charge of the federal government,

they are in charge of the census. That's what we saw right here. And what this undercount speaks, it speaks volumes, Faraji, because, again, we're talking about billions of dollars. We're talking about literally congressional districts being redrawn. The state of New York lost a congressional

district because it was less than 100 citizens. And I think that when you're talking about the, and this is, again, this goes back to my other statement, Brother Rowland and Dr. Conrice, about politics and understanding where the power lies. When you're talking about that level of undercutting,

undercounting, when you're talking about redistricting, here in Maryland, for example, every time we have an election, there's always a big conversation about the lines being redrawn. And I think that this is probably, as much as we talk about the importance of taking the census, and I'm saying in our community, in our organizing efforts, there isn't as much emphasis placed on the redrawing of lines. There isn't as much emphasis about money. We can talk policy, but then when you're talking about money, when you're talking about how much is being, we seem to be powerless in that space. And that's something that has to change.

And so when we look at places like, you know, other states around the country where that money is flowing into some neighborhoods and it's not flowing into other neighborhoods, that's where the real work is. And we have to really figure out a way to get our hands on getting the proper funding to those communities in need. Racy? Yeah, I mean, it's a domino effect. I mean, the census is an every 10-year, you know, issue. Then we have gerrymandering that comes into play, like Faraji is discussing. And unfortunately, the damage is already done. And we have to talk about now the impact that we can't necessarily undo with the snap of a finger.

And so sometimes I just wish that we didn't have to beg people to just impact that we can't necessarily undo with the snap of a finger. And so sometimes I just wish that we didn't have to beg people to just do something that's so simple. Now you can just go online and fill out your census. And I know people harass the hell out of you about the census because you got people that come to your door, you get emails, text messages. Like we have to start realizing that we either become active participants in it and voting, in my opinion, is not asking a whole lot, filling out the census is not asking a whole lot,

or else we're going to be left behind. I mean, this is a very serious problem. And I think, to Roland's point, yes, there was a delinquency and there was a deficiency. And it was probably intentional, because we have to keep in mind this was the Trump administration who was overseeing the census and not targeting Black communities and really launching these information tactics. But now we're having a conversation. So in the back of your mind in 10 years, y'all fill out your damn census, please. Greg? Yes, Roland. You raised something earlier that I think was very important. You said it quickly in passing, but it dropped like a bomb.

Redo the census. Right. See, these white nationalists, I mean, and I'm not afraid. I mean, I'm alive in the world and I'm black. We here, which means if we could have been killed, we'd be dead. So we have to fight. But this next 10 years, 2030, we may be talking we will be talking about a very different country. Come on. Come on. It's quite understood after the Immigration and Nationalization Act of 1965 that their play was to move to the state houses. They continue to play at the federal level, but the last 50 years has seen them move sharply

to control state governments. And now with this census in place, they are not just trying to lock in the next 10 years. They're trying to lock in white minority rule in this country. This is Rhodesia. This is the model in South Africa. They realize they can't win the numbers game.

Take your home state again. We've been talking about it over and over again. Between this census and the last census, four million people came into Texas. Four million people. Ninety five percent of them are not white. Texas now has less than 40 percent non-white Hispanic. I mean, white, non-Hispanic, less than 40 percent white, non-Hispanic live in Texas. And they run the legislature like the Ku Klux Klan because of how they've drawn the lines. They're going to get more seats because of this, even though 95% of the human beings who were there, they weren't there the last census, are not white. The six of the 10 largest growing exurbs in the country are in Texas. Dallas-Fort Worth is number one. And then guess

who's next? Austin. These are not white people. But this census is going to allow them to control the federal legislature. And when that happens, you think it's bad now? You think it's bad now? Look at what they're doing. They have decided we're going to drop all pretenses now. So what you said earlier, Roland, it was a small comment. It was an aside. But brother, I think that's something now. You people in the Democratic Party need to get some serious about this because this L that's getting

ready to happen, it ain't going to be just these people or that people. You're about to see the fracture of this little experiment. These white nassers paying for keeps. Indeed, indeed. All right, y'all. Gotta go to a break. We come back. Some great news I'm gonna reveal. You wanna hear this?

It's pretty cool. Back in a moment. The Roland Martin Unfiltered. That spin class was brutal. Well, you can try using the P.O.X. massaging seat. Ooh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to putick's massaging seat. Ooh, yeah, that's nice. Can I use Apple CarPlay to put some music on? Sure.

It's wireless. Pick something we all like. Okay, hold on. What's your Buick's Wi-Fi password? Buick Envision 2021. Oh, you should pick something stronger. That's really predictable. That's a really tight spot.

Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too. Hey. Really outdid yourself. Yes, we did. The all-new Buick Envision. An SUV built around you. All of you. Betty is saving big holiday shopping at Amazon.

So now she's free to become Bear Hug Betty. Settle in, kids. You'll be there a while. Ooh, where you going? Hi, I'm Israel Houghton with Israel and New Breed. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. A.O. Peace World, what's going on?

It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All y'all, today is Reese's birthday. She posted that on social media, and so... Oh, snap! Yeah, so she wanted... It's a Oh snap Yep so she wanted It's a birthday and so we wanted to give I was wondering if you was going to say something

Rolla better know it's my birthday Oh first of all we all know It's your damn birthday We all know it's your birthday I have the birthday shoulders out So that should have been a giveaway The birthday shoulders What's the What the hell shoulders out, so that should have been a giveaway. Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. The birthday shoulders?

What's the birth... What the hell is the... What the hell is the birthday shoulders? I'm just giving you a little survey. Oh, Lord. Okay, all right. So, y'all, so Reese posted her Cash app on Twitter. Tell them what your Cash app is if they want to hook you up.

Come on. It's Dollar Sign Black Woman Views. Apparently, that's the red flag to post your Cash App on your birthday. But I don't give a damn. Close my eyes. Don't get fed. And I never ask for money. It's a red flag?

Oh, that whole thing? Okay. The whole red flag thing. Okay. Red flag, green flag. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Okay.

Also, I want to post this here. The last time Erica Savage Wilson posted was July 15th, but she posted this on October 7th. Recy, did you send Erica some flowers? I did. I did. She was on my heart. Come on.

Go to my computer. Thank you. All right. So this is the photo she posted. These are flowers. So you. All right, so this is the photo she posted. These are flowers. So that's Erica right there. So she is on the mend.

She is on the mend. She is getting better. And so y'all keep praying for Erica. Like I said, she was in a very, very serious car accident. And she told me she was going to miss all of 2021 because of that accident. And so we definitely got her in prayers. And so, Erica, we definitely miss you and definitely think about you. Can't wait to have you back on the Thursday panel.

And so a couple of months ago, I got this phone call. I was actually, of course, you know, I was playing golf. It was a Sunday evening when I got the phone call, and I could not say anything. But about an hour and a half ago, the National Association of Black Journalists dropped their announcement of their inductees of Hall of Fame, special honor recipients and finalists. And I am one of the folks who will be getting inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame. Go ahead. And one of our members

told me that I am the youngest living inductee. Stuart Scott was possibly inducted after he had passed away. So at the age of 52 that I'm the youngest living inductee. That's what I was told. So I'm like, y'all check, check the facts. But the other folks who are being inducted, A.J. Smitherman, Tulsa star. I actually sponsored that. His family is excited by that. He, of course, lost his newspaper during the Tulsa race riot in 1921. And remember, he left Tulsa and

then started a black newspaper in Buffalo. So I wanted to make sure that in this year, 2021, that got done. Claire Smith, one of the most pioneering black female sports writers in American history, the first black woman who was part

of the baseball writers, the folks who actually choose, who gets into the hall of fame for cooperstown. She's an international in American history, the first black woman who was part of the baseball writers, the folks who actually choose who gets into the Hall of Fame for Cooperstown. She's an inductee. Neil Foote, Foote Communications, teaches at University of North Texas. Neil and I served on the B.J. Board of Directors when I joined as a student national rep in 1989. We also ran blackamericaweb.com under Tom Joyner, so I go way back with Neil.

Kirk McCoy, Kirk McCoy, photographer, formed with the L.A. Times. Monica Roberts, trans griot posthumously, Monica, a trans journalist. She also was out of Houston. She passed away last year. Rochelle Riley, a longtime columnist. She, of course, right now works for the city of Detroit, but she's worked in Dallas. She's worked in Louisville. She's worked in Detroit as well. My man, Rodney Brooks, U.S. World Report. Rodney was longtime deputy managing editor of USA Today, their money section, now retired. His wife is Sheila Brooks. Both of them longtime friends of mine. And so it is great to be in this class of folks. The other honors honorees you see a Labore Janie starts being Journalist of the Year. Malika Andrews, the Michael Feeney Emerging Journalist of the Year Award.

Michael, of course, a brother, young brother who passed away. He's our frat brother, Greg. Art Norman gets the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achieving Award. Yeah, Art, you're winning an award named after an alpha. See how yellow megas are? Janice Griffin, Journalist of Distinction Award. Janice Ware, the Black Newspaper in Atlanta, the Atlanta Voice, the Legacy Award. And so she gets that. Sonseria, Sonny Messiah Giles, Houston Defender, the first place where I worked. I used to be the managing editor there as well. She gets the Ida B. Wells Award.

Anaz Percy-Coboza, Foreign Journalist of the Year Award. Dr. Sherry Williams from American University, Journalist of the Year. April Turner gets the Pat Tobin Media Professional Award. Tanisha Taylor, my homegirl, used to be executive producer at CNN. The work that she does for Ezekiel Taylor Scholarship Foundation. She gets the Angela B. Henderson Community Service Award. Angela was a great brother, passed away of a blood clot, but is a great, was really a great journalist.

Julia Hayward with Student Journalist of the Year. And we have, of course, finalists for the NABJ Student Chapter of the Year, Howard University Association of Black Journalists, the University of North Texas Association of Black Journalists, and then, of course, on the professional side, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Memphis. They are the finalists for the Professional Chapter of the Year. And so December 4th is going to be the ceremony. I'm going to be in Hawaii, but it's going to be all virtual,

and so we're looking forward to that. So to NABJ, thank you so very much for the honor. Like I said, folks, there's no or I'll say this here and there's no disrespect to any of the other organizations out there. But the reality is there's no organization that has played a more crucial role in my career than the National Association of Black Journalists. I was a national student rep serving on the board as secretary as vice president. Digital, my lifetime member of NABJ, won the President's Award, Journalist of the Year as well, and now can add NABJ Hall of Famer. And so we certainly appreciate that and look forward to our introduction.

Thanks so much, folks. Congratulations. We're all in well-deserved. I appreciate it. And so we've got, if y'all see, we're putting stuff up. Actually, here, y'all can take a watch. So here's what we're doing. I'm going to give y'all see, we're putting stuff up. Actually, Henry, y'all can take a watch. So here's what we're doing. I'm going to give y'all a sneak peek.

So we're putting up a lot of the artwork, a lot of the stuff in the office space here. And so I brought in some of my awards that we're going to place on some of the shelves. These are some of my awards. And so, first of all, I ain't got time to bring the plaques in. You can go ahead and zoom in. And so these are some. So we're going to actually, so we got shells behind us. So we're going to be putting some of this stuff up.

So I got to figure out what I do have. I do have on the far side over there, the Texas A&M Ring of Honor for the journalism department. So my NABJ one is going to go somewhere in here. And that bit when you see right there, that glass plate, that's the Alpha John A. Johnson Award right there. That's what I was going to ask about that plate,

man. That's John A. Johnson Award? That's the John A. Johnson Award from Alpha Phi Alpha. Yes, sir. So, folks, that's it. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Literally, I called two months ago and said, okay, don't tell it. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. It has been – literally called two months ago and said,

okay, don't tell anybody. I'm like, why the hell are y'all calling now? And then they sent an email out, don't even sit here, and tell us – I got a text message from Gary Howard. Gary, one of the few Omegas I like. I'm just messing with him. So Gary texted me talking about welcome to the club because Gary was

inducted in Miami a couple of years ago. Y'all know I'm ignorant. At one point, during Gary's speech, I hollered, A-5! During his speech. He was like, I can't believe you did that. Is that what he said?

He didn't say 06? Gary's an Omega. So he was... Oh, I see. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. What? That's what I was going to say right there.

Well, you broke up the man's moment. So Gary's like, man, I can't believe you did that. He said, I got to figure out how to get you back. So So Gary's like, man, I can't believe you did that. He said, I gotta figure out how to get you back. So then Gary's gonna say, well, you know, I got in before you, and I'm like, well, you are almost 60. I said, you should

have. He did not out-pet you. He did not out-pet you. No, he can't. He can't. So he told me, he was like, well, you know, Ro, I got him before you. I was like, yeah, because Gary, you're damn near 60. I said, I mean, I said, you know, I said, I was in junior high when you were in college. Oh, I was killing him.

I was killing him. Don't they know not to dance, man? Tell them, don't they know not to dance by now? You be setting them up, man. You know I had to mess with them. And you know what? I'm going to go ahead and do this. I was not going to do this here. I had some dumbasses sending me

y'all know I don't care what nobody think. Y'all already know that. So when we were in L.A., we were in L.A. before, we were about to interview my girl Damaris Lewis. We wait for her to come in. So we were in L.A. before. We were about to interview my girl Damaris Lewis. We wait for her to come in. And we were so we were we were jamming.

And I'm talking about jamming. OK, I had that James Brown going and I had the James Brown going. And it was so hilarious because so Damaris is knocking on the door. We don't hear the door. We don't hear. And like I mean, I got it cranked up. And so she's like, I know, rolling on the door, and we don't hear the door. We don't hear, and like, I got it cranked up. And so, she's like, I know rolling on the other side, cause she can hear the music.

She's like, I know on the other side of the door, he dancing. I know he dancing on the other side of this door. And so, the door opens. So, they open the door, and this is all you see right here. Watch this, y'all. Turn up, come on. Oh.

Come on, turn it up. Turn it up. Come on. Oh. Come on, turn it up. Oh, man. Oh, man. What is that? Oh, man. Oh, man. What is that? What is that?

What is that? First of all, I had to let them know, OK, I understand why y'all can't hear. You'll need to hear the music now, because I want to know which James Brown's movie. Oh, no. It was James Brown, It's a New Day. Yes, sir.

Yo, that was, okay, y'all can, can y'all tell me why we came here? What's going on? The volume is up. Everything is up. Okay, I don't know why y'all not getting anything in here. So we were grooving it. So somebody had the nerve. Somebody was like, man, what were you doing? I said, first of all, don't be mad at me.

Your shit don't work. Don't be mad at me. Your stuff don't work. You did not prod you off the screen. You all right, bro? Right, right. Don't be mad at me. Don't be mad at me.

Don't be mad at me. You ain't got no Megan Thee Stallion knees. Don't be mad because my knees and my hamstrings and my thighs and my ankles work. So y'all hate all you want to, but

don't be all upset because your stuff don't work. That's all I'm saying. You know, I mean, everybody want to sit here. And then, right, I mean, some folk got a little runny mouth. And so then, y'all, then, so Demarys was in a movie with my boy Michael Ealy. Okay. I love that movie.

Okay. So they were in a movie together. And so I interviewed Michael as well. And so I was telling Michael about, you know, y'all see 11? Okay, so what happened was I was telling Michael about what happened with the marriage. I interviewed him the next day. And so we were sitting here. I put the song on.

Y'all watch this here. Michael from D.C. He act like he act like he ain't used to no damn rhythm. Check this out. 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.

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 ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. 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.

Come on, the man! Look right here! Come on, man! I can't do it. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Come on, man. You gotta hit that shit. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. We were sitting there grooving. So, you know, again, for all y'all folk who ain't got no rhythm, because there's some people, see, I love these people, Reesey, who love trying to talk trash on social media, who get upset

and get all mad and tell me about what you doing, everything like that. Because see, here's the problem. My deal is real simple. You don't know when you're not going to be able to use when you can't dance. So, I'm going to use my stuff as long as I damn well can. I'm waiting for the big payback James Brown video.

Because I want to see you get down to that. Because that's my James Brown. See, I mean, but just my stuff. Are we putting in requests right now, Reverend? I don't know. Y'all must think this club quarantine or something. I'm saying at some point, put it in a rotation. Big payback.

Get ready. You mother— That's my shit. No, no, no. You know what he should do is pay the cost to be the boss. Oh! Oh! Pay the cost to be the boss, baby. All I'm saying is, all I'm saying is, and for all the other people, again, who don't know how to get it,

I'm just going to play this one more time, and I'm going to remind y'all of something. While you're watching the video, I just want you to know, y'all punk asses didn't see no pause. Y'all didn't see no pause when I went down and came back up. See, let me go ahead and

remind y'all that again. Because see, some of y'all don't quite understand what I'm talking about. See, those of y'all who your stuff don't work, see, if you went down, you had to pause. You got to, like, you know, you got to. You know, you got to. You, like, need a lift.

You need a lift coming back up. And I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Everybody can't do that. I just want y'all to know, there was no pause. There was no pause as your homeboy was coming. Let me see if I can pull this video up. If this one will work.

Hold on, let me see here. I really honestly, by rolling, when you went down, and the way your back was kind of posture, I didn't know what to expect at that moment. I didn't know what to expect at that moment. I didn't know what was going to happen. You obviously don't know you're talking to a

grown-ass man. You obviously don't know. See, I just want to remind y'all. See, Reese, you're going to have to practice this, Reese. Watch this here, Reese. Watch this, Reese. Watch this here. Down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up. It's like squatting. See, that was, Reesey. But watch this here. Down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up. It's like squatting.

See, that was six. That was six, Reesey. But why was y'all synced up, though? Why she come in the door synced up? No, no. The Maris came in. All we saw, the Maris, y'all understand, she 5'11". She's 6'3", and I'm healed.

And we opened door. All we saw was legs just getting it. Just getting it. I can't wait to y'all. First of all, the interview was fantastic. It was wonderful. But again, some folk,

if you can't dance, that ain't my problem. You ain't got no rhythm. Some of y'all listen to Rhythmless Nation by Janet Jackson. That ain't my problem. Everybody ain't able. That ain't got no rhythm some of y'all are listening to rhythmless nation by Janet Jackson that ain't my problem oh that ain't my that ain't my problem and see and again I don't somebody said rolling about to get dragged I don't give a damn what the haters think I ain't never danced for now one of y'all anyway I dance for me music going I get it and I'm telling you I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna close shoulders here's one of the fundamental problems with a whole bunch of us and let me go ahead and say this here and I'm being very serious it's a whole bunch of us don't know how to have fun. My grandfather,

okay, was dancing all the way up to the time he passed away. Alright? I don't understand the people who go to parties and they just stand around, they watch everybody else. No. We are meant to move. Here, that's biblical. When David danced. But the problem is,

is too many folk out here, y'all worried about what somebody else think. I don't care what nobody else think. When y'all hear the phrase, they can go to hell, I reserve that for all of the haters. And I'm telling you, there's too many people around here recently who don't know what it means to have a good time, who don't know what it means to dance, because here's the deal. If something happened, and I'm going to tell this story, and I need all y'all to understand this is 100% true story. I was at this conference. It was in South Carolina.

It was New Year's Eve. Clock strikes 12. We at the party. Man, so we grooving. Clock strikes 12. We at the party. Man, so we grooving. We grooving. Dancing all get out. Man and woman comes in. Man, you could tell she want to dance.

Her husband's like, oh, I got two left feet. I was like, Mark, go dance with your wife. Man, stop tripping. Man, y'all, I could see her right now. She out there. She just dancing and moving. She was dancing on the 1-3. We on the 2-4.

But it don't matter. Y'all, she was just smiling and she was just dancing. And I'm telling you, I could see right now the smile on her face. She was having a ball. Seven days later,

we're sitting at home watching TV and they have breaking news and breaking news they're reporting on a shooting in Arizona at a supermarket they showed the picture

and I'm like to my wife I said didn't we just meet that woman so I go to my case, I said, didn't we just meet that woman? So I go to my case, and I pull out some business cards. And I pull out a card, and on the card is her name, and she wrote her cell phone. That was Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. No way. The week earlier, seven days earlier, we were dancing up a storm. A week later, she was almost killed.

She is still impacted from the injuries from her shooting. Walking is difficult. Her speech is still difficult. That may have been the last time she danced with that, with just freely, with her husband Mark, who's now a United States Senator. So for all y'all folk who sit here and run your damn mouth, you fools talking about, oh, no, we questioning his sexuality,

shut the hell up, you punk asses. What? I'm going to dance till I no longer can. No question. I don't care what none of y'all think about it. I will do it in the aisles at Essence. I will do it at the Apollo Spring Gala. I will do it at an Alpha convention. I will do it at the Apollo Spring Gala. I will do it at an Alpha convention.

I will do it anywhere. In fact, I don't even need nobody to dance with. Because you know what? I could dance by my damn self. And that's something, Reese, more people need to embrace because you don't know what might happen when you no longer are able to dance. That's the truth.

You damn right. Anybody knows me, I'm the first person on the dance floor and the last person off of it. And I always say that black joy is an act of resistance. You can't drag joy because it's joy. And some of y'all need to get some. And I have a little red microphone. If you see me in my Tesla.

Yo ass be doing a damn karaoke car video. I sure do. I sure do. Or if you see me driving home and I have Tidra Moses on, I am dancing and waving my hand and singing

and I don't give a damn because I am joyful and I'm going to keep that joy in a society and in a world that says I'm not supposed to have that. And if you don't like it, you need to get you some of what I got, which is joy. And what Roland has and what Dr. Carr has and what Faraji has.

All day long, Greg. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm more of a singer. I play music at the beginning of every class, even now that we're virtual. This morning I played some John Coltrane. But always moving, brother. But I will say, I mean, I watch you even the opening every night. Roland Martin unfiltered. The moves you got in the video behind you as in vogue is singing, brother.

Anybody, you're going to dance now. Hey, I don't even need permission. I don't care. you're going to dance now. Oh, hey, I don't even need permission. I don't care. I'm going to dance. That's going to happen. All right, y'all. That's it. We want to thank y'all for being on the panel. Recy, Greg, Faraji, thanks a lot, folks. If y'all please download

the Black Star Network app. Things are going phenomenal. We're almost at 20,000. Let me just see real quick. But we do want you to, let's see here. Let me pull it up. We want to hit 50,000 by December. So right now

we are at 17,675. Almost at 18,000. Please download to your iPhone, your Android phone, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Xbox, and Samsung TV. Also, please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show, what we're able to do, some amazing things, the stories that we're able to cover, the places we're able to go.

Next week, we're going to be in Atlanta for Operation Hope's Global Hope Forum, broadcasting live from there. And so some amazing stuff we're going to have from there, and so looking forward to that. Cash at Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash RMUnfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com,

and please let me give a shout out, Amazon, Nissan, Buick, three of our new sponsors. We appreciate their support for Roland Martin Unfiltered, Let me give a shout out Amazon, Nissan, Buick, three of our new sponsors. We appreciate their support for Roller Martin Unfiltered, supporting black-owned media. And so thank you so very much. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Game one, America League Championship Series, Astros, Boston Red Sox in Houston. We're going to handle that business.

Ho!好 ТРЕВОЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА It's time to be smart. Roland Martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punches! Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving voice to the issues. Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again. The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. Support this man, Black Media.

He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I gotta defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network. I am Roland with Roland all the way. Honestly, on the show that you own,

a Black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Roland was amazing on that. Hey, Blake, I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're created for us to be able to share who we are,

what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be black on media and be scared. You dig? I 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 Glott. 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 star-studded 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 two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your 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 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. This is an iHeart Podcast.