#RolandMartinUnfiltered - La. voters reject constitution amendments, Wis. and Mo. supreme court elections, Bishop Marvin Sapp

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

3.31.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: La. voters reject constitution amendments, Wis. and Mo. supreme court elections, Bishop Marvin Sapp Louisiana voters overwhelmingly rejected the four proposed constitution amendments backed by its MAGA governor.  We'll talk to activists about how their hard work defeated the racist laws.  Elections in Wisconsin and Missouri.  Tuesday, voters will elect a new state supreme court justice, and St. Louis is gearing up for its mayoral election.  We'll talk to an advocate about Tishaura Jones' re-election bid.  U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a sweeping election overhaul that Georgia Republican lawmakers passed in the wake of President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss in the state. White House Correspondents' Dinner Cancels black female comedian Amber Ruffin's appearance after her comments about the Trump Administration. And Bishop Marvin Sapp says he has received death threats as a result of the resurfaced viral clip where he ordered ushers to close the doors at an international church convention while rallying for the congregation to donate $40,000. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today's Monday, March 31st, 2025. Coming up on Rolling Mark Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Down goes MAGA in Louisiana. Louisiana voters reject four proposed constitutional amendments. It was driven by black voters. We'll talk to the folks who made that happen.

Big election tomorrow in Wisconsin, also Missouri. Tuesday, folks in Wisconsin will elect a new state Supreme Court Justice St. Louis. Gearing up for the May oral election, we'll talk to an advocate about Tashara Jones' re-election bid. Here's Attorney General Pam Bondi directing the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a sweeping election overhaul Georgia Republican lawmakers passed in the wake of Donald Trump's 2020 election loss in the state.

I told y'all they don't give a damn about black people. Plus, the White House Correspondents Association has canceled Amber Ruffin's opinions at their dinner. How stupid are they? Plus, Bishop Marvin Sapp is getting ripped by folks getting death threats as a result of a resurfaced viral clip where he

orders ushers to close the doors at a church convention. He goes on to Ricky Smiley, shows the defendant. I'm going to tell you why those people complaining should shut the hell up. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Barth Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Putting it down from Boston news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's go, go, go, yo It's rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with golden now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real

The best you know, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's rolling, Martin. Martin. Louisiana MAGA Governor Jeff Landry has not had a good 48 hours after he saw four constitutional amendments go down in flames in a huge way. Amendment 1, lost big, 65-35. Amendment 2, lost big, 65-35. Amendment 3, lost big, 66% to 34%. Amendment 4, lost, 65-35. Early voting was powered by black voters.

They turned out in huge numbers. The folks who made that happen, join us right now. Activist Gary Chambers Jr., Ashley Shelton, President and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. We'll also be joined by Gino McLaughlin in just a bit. Gary, I want to start with you. Look, you came on the show multiple times. They even tried to pull in 50 Cent late to send out a video as well as text messages. None of that worked. It was a resounding rejection.

I think that what you saw is when power and people collide with each other, we can have real change in our communities. I want to shout out Ashley Shelton, Cliff, and all of the organizations and organizers around the state of Louisiana and the people of Louisiana and say thank you for sending this message to Jeff Landry. This is the first time that voters in Louisiana had the opportunity to tell the governor and the supermajority legislature what they think about the job that they're doing. And the answer is that over 60 percent of the people of Louisiana said no. Over 37 percent of the people who showed up to vote early were black. And black voters led the way through this conversation. I am so proud to be from Louisiana today.

I have often said that Louisiana is not a red state. It is an underfunded state. And what we saw here was when the organizations had a balanced footing financially with the governor, the governor did spend more money. But this was not a race where they I think they overestimated themselves and didn't spend as much as they normally would. And so it was more of a fair fight. And in that fair fight, the policies and the things that are on the right side of equity and justice always win, Roland. And thank you for always elevating these conversations. I appreciate that. Ashley, here's the deal, though. I always say money cannot beat votes. When you engage people,

when you talk to them, when you educate, when you inform, and then you let them know what's going on, it can change elections. And that's exactly what happened here. Walk folks through what y'all did by traveling around the state. Yes, absolutely. And for us, this is a great win because this really is about people power. We know that we started with a town hall to kind of build some momentum. Gary and I went across the state of Louisiana talking to voters. I'm really proud to say that we had large turnout at all of our town hall meetings. We had black, white, old, young, you know, people really were in tune to being engaged and trying to understand like what was, what was at stake. And I mean,

we had folks coming out in the pouring down rain, late night on, you know, missing Bible study, whatever was necessary for them to find out and understand what was happening with these amendments. And then, you know, we coupled that with a much larger campaign led by about 60 groups across the state who came together to really fight this. And so, you know, big hats off to my friend Sarah Mojola at Vera and my friend Kristen Lewis at Louisiana Center for Children's Rights. Vote, Voice of the Experienced and so many more who really threw down, you know, so that we could get the message out. And I think that that's what happened here, is that you saw community stand up and say, like, we're not, we can't, we can't afford for politics as usual here in Louisiana because we're too poor and there's too much uncertainty. And these things were just patently bad. And I think it's also of note for the percentages you just shared that, you know,

Amendment 3 that would have put children as young as 14 years old in adult prisons got the most votes out of all of these amendments at 66 percent versus 65, 64 percent turnout. And so we know that what they meant for harm and the most egregious of these amendments was the one thing that people turned out and said, absolutely not. We will not give up our children so that we can give bigger tax breaks to corporations that aren't even here in our state. Cliff, a lot of times, I'm talking about for years, I've said to people, listen, stop sending money to campaigns

and being you big and hoping the money comes back into the community. I've said that when we fund our own organizations, we can now spend the money the way we want to. Y'all did that by working with grassroots folks, folks on the ground. So talk about that piece as well. You're on mute. Yeah, and that's really, you know, what I wanted to focus on, because certainly Gary and Ashley can really focus on, like, the work that was done in Louisiana.

We did some work there, sent out, like, $580,000, 580,000 text messages. But it's really about that work that Gary and Ashley are explaining. And as you said, that work takes resources. Part of the magic that we saw that happen in Louisiana is when you see all of these mechanisms of outreach, when you see Gary and Ashley doing those town halls, when you see the text messages, when you get the door knocks, when you see the social media, when you see all of that, that's what has the impact on folks. But all of that takes resources. More importantly, and this is something that we always emphasize in every state where we do our work, more importantly,

that work has got to take place all throughout the year. Not every text message is created equal. A text message from Ashley, from Power Coalition, from Gary is more impactful because people get that all throughout the year. They get it in a presidential year. They get it in a gubernatorial year. They get it during the legislative session. They get it during the primaries. They are doing this work. They are credible messengers because it is nonstop. And that takes resources. It's not just about what people put into these organizations in the last two weeks or the last two months. It is about the way that we sustain our ecosystems. And what Ashley is describing is an entire ecosystem, those 60 organizations doing work every year, 365 days throughout the year,

that's where the magic is at. But this is the point right there, Gary, that I have been yelling and screaming. You cannot focus on three or four months before the election. I've also made clear that the black voter has changed. If you just look at the data, the data doesn't lie. The people that vote the highest are 65 plus.

They make it clear. They are informed. They know what's going on. And then they turn out. The next highest group is 55 to 64. Once you go below 55, hey, it gets harder and harder, which means that you also have to be educating people. We also

cannot wait for a party to invest resources in a candidate. Now, the reality is that when you start looking at, frankly, the issues, more than likely, a Democratic candidate is going to align with black folks on the issues.

But you still have to reach them, talk to them, educate them, inform them. And so I just need people to understand that if we're talking about 2026, we've got to be using the time now through the end of the year to get folk ready mentally, get them ready for the primary season in 2026, and then get ready for a massive turnout season in 2026, and then get ready for a massive turnout in the 2026 midterm elections. I think you're absolutely right. I agree with everything that Cliff said, as well as Ashley. I think what you saw here in Louisiana is when all of the wheels and mechanisms are working together well, and when they are in a fair fight.

And so what we need right now is for the Democratic Party and those around the country to pay attention to the Deep South, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, these places where Black people are in community, and then empower the voices and the people in community that they trust to go do the work that we already do. When you see people from working class white men showing up at these events to brothers with goals in their mouth, you know that you are cooking with the right sauce right now and you're going to be able to get the combination that you need at the ballot box. That to me is the specialty in what we do that's

different than a regular ad on TV. The text messages, the communication, the mail, when it's coming from people that you trust, that is something that you can mobilize behind. The other thing is, while the rest of the country is telling us to stop talking about Black issues, Black issues is what motivated Black people to get out and go vote, that we need to have things that either Black people care about, that they can go out and fight for, or when we are defending our families and our children, black people will show up. We have to be motivated in certain situations unless we go out and do the work of educating and informing our population of people, because the reality is there's a whole

generation of black people that did not grow up with the understanding of what took place in the civil rights movement. They are actively not teaching our children our history. And so it's on us to get into these communities, build relationship, have conversations with our people and give them the information that they need. I say all the time, I trust the brilliance of black people when they have the information. So, all right, Ashley, this election is over. What's next for the Power Coalition? Well, we're gearing up for legislative session. So we go into session mid-April and, you know, we think we're going to build on this moment and build on this momentum. And so this is the time, you know, they use the teacher, this teacher stipend that was not a pay

raise. They absolutely had the power to give our teachers a pay raise and the legislature chose not to. But we're going to use this as an opportunity to mobilize our teachers to say, like, let's actually go fight for a pay raise, since allegedly that's what the governor was trying to do. And so using these moments to really help people galvanize and really get behind what they deserve and what is actually real and to like take the mystery out of politics like no like the legislature has the power to give you a pay raise and so um let's let's go and fight for that especially since they try to use you to drive voter turnout and you know and take advantage of you and not give you what you deserved now what also are you looking at in terms of, Gary, on keeping the momentum going? Because again, it's a lot that happens.

People say, I'm busy. So how do you see April through January and then let's say the first January through June and then July through November, Gary? So one of the things I'm already actively working on is to do a civics for the people on some college campuses, because I think that we've got to get our young people informed and understanding the policies that are impacting them, and then how they can play a role in that. I think that a lot of times we expect people to participate in the game that they don't understand. And so

it's on us to make sure that they understand the rules, understand their role in playing this game, and then empower them so that they can get out there and get to work in this field the same way that we are. Cliff? Yeah, so a couple of things. One, in terms of Louisiana, you know, we've got to keep working with Gary, keep working with Ashley on some of those state issues, as well as on some of the federal issues. One of the things that we know is critical in Louisiana is the attacks that's been coming from the administration in terms of environmental protection, right? We all know about Louisiana and Cancer Alley and a range of issues. Policies

like that impact our folks. When we can connect those dots on what exactly is happening at the policy level, at the federal level, and how it's impacting literally our lives, our health, our housing in places like Louisiana, then people will get more motivated to get involved. The other thing is, you know, just a shameless plug, we got to remember there's some other elections taking place tomorrow, Wisconsin, Florida. I'm sure that you're going to talk about that a little bit later on, Roland. But this same process that we're talking about here for Louisiana, investing in the infrastructure, investing in the local groups, doing it 365 days out of the year. There's some great groups in some of those counties, some NAACP chapters that we're working

with, some churches that we've been working with. All those organizations need support, even in these last 24 hours, right? there are things that everybody watching this can do to continue to support those elections and continue to support Louisiana. Last thing I'll say about Louisiana is this. It's all about momentum. It's like telling a story. This victory in some ways builds off of, I'm sure Gary and Ashley will talk about, the victory of that second congressional district that was recently won in the state of Louisiana. That came about because of deep organizing that Ashley and Gary and others in that state have been doing. Yes, it's litigation. Yes, LDF has done an incredible job.

But that litigation can only be successful when you've got the folks who are on the ground doing the work, even serving to be plaintiffs. So all of these strategies have got to work together. Last one. When is is it there in New Orleans mayoral election? When is that? It's this October, Errol, and so that is for me one of the critical issues for us, for all of the black folks in America who enjoyed the Super Bowl and all of that black flavor that was in it. There is a mayor's election in New Orleans. A lot of y'all going to come to town for Essence. Make sure that you're paying attention to the black candidate that's on the ballot. There is a reason that we have the magic that we have in that city,

and it has been black people and black leadership. Louisiana, over the last few years, has lost the black mayors in four out of the five largest cities in this state. And so New Orleans is the only city that is a sizable city in the state of Louisiana with a black mayor currently. And it is my intention to make sure that it remains a black mayor in New Orleans. Well, Ashley, if you could speak on that. And I would also hope that the black candidate is reaching out to black-owned media talking. We're going to make sure it happens, Ro. Ashley, go ahead. Yeah, no. And I wanted to share, too, you know, like this week, I'm glad Cliff brought up the

congressional district. We were just at the Supreme Court on Monday of last week talking to talking about keeping our congressional district because we were challenged by several white voters saying that we were disenfranchising them from their right to vote. And so we are really proud. We felt like, you know, we handled the case very, you know, our lawyers at LDF, as well as Louisiana Inspector General, did an amazing job defending the state's right to keep our second majority minority district. And then we also will be fighting for maps this fall. So we have, they also on the state level, we have nine seats that we are contending for to actually get to an equitable map, which breaks the super majority in both the House and the Senate. And those maps

will be considered in this legislative session. And so this is about, you know, bringing the power back to the people. This is about equity and voice and opportunity. So, you know, we're really excited about, you know, how we move forward and how we take this momentum to the next level. So I am very much a believer in when you have a victory, you spend 48, 72 hours enjoying that victory. Then it's time to get back to work. So to the folk out there, first of all, y'all did an amazing job. To the people I've seen the posting on, like, hey, way to go, Louisiana.

Let me also say this here, and I've seen a bunch of y'all did an amazing job. To the people I've seen the posting on, like, hey, way to go, Louisiana. Let me also say this here, and I've seen a bunch of y'all comments saying, oh, man, this is awesome. But you just said they can't deposit that's awesome. And I need our people to understand we got to also invest. Again, it's got to be on the ground, the mayoral election. You heard Ashley

talk about the fighting of the maps. All of that. If you're able to get black representation in those nine districts, now all of a sudden, they don't have a super majority in Louisiana. Now they can't ignore Democrats. Now they've got to talk to black people before they pass anything. And so, this is an example

of what happens when we use our power. And I am constantly saying, the target for black people in every place where there are a lot of us is 70 percent. If we hit 70 percent of our capacity, we completely change the elections. I don't want to see us happy with 38, 42, 50. It should be 70, 75 percent% because we're going to have a hell of a challenge in 2026. You've got the Georgia senatorial race. You've got other

races. You've got congressional races. Democrats are three seats away from breaking. Republicans are controlling that. But we have to be maximizing our power and not just talking about it. So, Ashley, Gary, we also appreciate Cliff as well. Thanks so much.

Gino is supposed to join us. Gino McLaughlin has some issues there with his connection, but we want to thank all of you. And so we'll be sure to have you all back on. Thanks a lot. Folks, when we come back, we're going to talk about the St. Louis mayoral race, April 8th. We're going to talk about special elections. Wisconsin Supreme Court race tomorrow. Two races in Florida as well.

Lots to unpack. The power of our vote is critical. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstone Network. We begin tonight with the people who are really running the country right now. Trump is often wrong and misleading about a lot of things, but especially about history. Donald Trump falling in line with President Elon Musk. In the wake of the unsettling news that MSNBC has canceled Joy Ann Reeve's primetime show, The Readout,

Roland Martin and the Black Star Network would like to extend an invitation to all of the fans of Joy Ann Reeve's MSNBC show to join us every night to watch Martin unfiltered streaming on the Blackstar Network for news discussion of the issues that matter to you and the latest updates on twice impeached criminally convicted in chief Donald Trump is unprecedented assault on democracy as well as co-president Elon Musk over of the federal government. The Blackstar Network stands with Roy and Reed

and all folks who understand the power of Black voices in media. We must come together and never forget that information is power. Be sure to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered weeknights, 6 p.m. each at youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin or download the Black Star Network app. This week on A Balanced Life, join us as our resident experts and special guests talk to us about what it means to protect your peace. I know you say you got it all together, but let me tell you, life be lifin'. We're going to talk about how do you find who you are?

How do you find your lane? How do you stay in your lane? And what it means to really date you, to look in the mirror and find out who you are and love the person that you see. When is the last time you said I love you to a loved one? When is the last time you said I love you to yourself? That's next on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here at Blackstar Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens of Air As Well Coach, inflation is on the rise. Interest rates are high. Can you still thrive during these uncertain times?

On the next Get Wealthy, you're going to meet a woman who's done just that, living proof of what you need to do to flourish during these uncertain times. These are times where you take advantage of what's going on. This is how people get rich or richer. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Brown versus the Board of Education. The history books call it the court decision that ended racial segregation in American schools. But a brand new book, Jim Crow's Pink Slip, uncovers a devastating, unending consequence of that 1954 Supreme Court decision. We may, if we were lucky, have been the very last generation of black students to have experienced these generations of black teachers who have never been replaced. Dr. Leslie Fenwick joins us to talk about her book and the actions following that landmark decision that dealt a virtual death blow to Black educators.

That's next on The Black Table, right here on The Black Star Network. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of New Sherry Shepherds. It's me, Sherry Shepard. You know what you're watching, state representative out of Georgia. All right, folks, bringing in my panel right now, joining us, Derek Jackson, state representative out of Georgia.

Glad to have him on the show. Also on the show, Ben Dixon, pastor, political commentator, author of God is Not a Republican. Joining us out of Atlanta, Mondale Robinson, principal, Black Mayor Voters Project, Mayor Enfield, North Carolina. Glad to have all three of you here. I want to start with you, Mondale Robinson, principal, Black Mayor Voters Project, Mayor Enfield, North Carolina. Glad to have all three of you here. I want to start with you, Mondale.

We saw, again, the power of the black vote. 37% of all votes in early voting, African-American folks were turning out. That drove the numbers. The governor was expecting about 12% turnout. All of a sudden, they were like, oh, it's looking like it's going to be 22, 25. That's what happens when we show up. But you have to be engaging us. That's what Power Coalition did.

That's what Gary did. Black Voters Matter did. So to Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee, to all of these rich Democrats, these rich progressives and others, if you invest money on the ground early, it pays dividends. Yeah, I mean, listen, this is not a...

It should not be a new idea. The idea that winning, spending bunches of money, billions of dollars on ads is not how you're going to engage a black voter or increase their participation, which is necessary in the New South. You don't win Southern districts without Black people participating. So we see, when you're engaging with people who are of community,

have the resources to reach these voters, we go out in droves. And it also disproves this myth that Black people are becoming more conservative or has this disdain for the Democratic Party. It's just not true. What is true is it takes resources to reach our voters in a way that is not transactional and it's more transformative. And that's what we're getting right now. The thing here, Ben, it's not hard. And I've been saying it till I'm blue in the face. You can't run campaigns in 2025 like you ran in 1985. You have to spend more time, energy, and

money talking to core base voters if you're Democrats. And for Black people, this is all about what are our interests. The reality is that Republicans, MAGA, conservatives, we're pushing these four constitutional amendments. It's not, see, people get caught up in, oh man, conservatives, were pushing these four constitutional amendments.

It's not, see, people get caught up in, oh, man, you shilling for the Democrats. No, no, no. It ain't Democrat or Republican. It's understanding who's actually in power and what's best for black people. Absolutely. One of the things with that Democratic shield talking point

is that it's actually a well-funded talking point to depress the vote for these exact reasons. with that Democratic shield talking point is that it is actually a well-funded talking point to depress the vote for these exact reasons. But something critical that you all have been saying already today that's so important is the infrastructure, the networks, the people who get out and knock on these doors. They overcome these talking points. They overcome the propaganda. A door-to-door conversation is so much more powerful than a social media tweet or a radio ad, not to say that we shouldn't do those things, but it's the year-round engagement that we've been talking about, that you've been talking about nonstop, Roland, and that I know

organizations like Black Voters Matter and Cliff Albright, they have been pounding the pavement, and we need to see a lot more of that, especially as we come up to 2026. Derek? You know, Roland, I mean, I definitely don't want to sound like a broken record here, but in the end, this clearly demonstrates that when you invest in us, we will respond. I mean, you're not going to just fly someone in like 50 cents and think that that's going to be enough to convince our vote or to sway our vote. It takes mobilization and organization. And this demonstrates the power at the grassroots level. It demonstrates the power of the black church. It demonstrates the power of

those advocates like Gary and Chambers and having that voice and platforms such as yours to get that word out. So this clearly demonstrates that we can continue to do what we always have been telling everybody what we can do if they invest in us. And this next door is a perfect example. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has instructed the DOJ to dismiss a lawsuit related to Georgia's elections that was filed in June 2021. The lawsuit claimed to Georgia's elections that was filed in June 2021. The lawsuit claimed that Georgia's voting law was intentionally designed to restrict black voters' access to the ballot.

The law was part of a series of Republican-backed initiatives aimed at tightening voting rules following Trump's defeat in 2020, which was accompanied by unverified and BS claims of voter fraud. That stuff just did not exist. A December analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice showed that while the number of ballots cast by black voters increased from 2024,

overall black voter turnout declined by 0.6%. I'm going to go to you, Derek. Again, elections have consequences. The Biden-Harris Department of Justice stood behind this lawsuit. Donald Trump, they're like, no, we're good. So this is what happens when we don't show up in elections and people like Trump win. And not only that, I mean, Roland, I mean, right now, under this general legislature right now, this week, we're starting to see how they continue to manufacture these lies.

Let's just call it what it is. They manufacture these lies. Nothing was stolen. Dead people in Georgia are not voting. And they're trying to purge right now rolling 450,000 citizens from the books. And so they're all gearing up for next year. And so we got to make sure that we continue to call this stuff out, these manufactured lies. But my only concern right now, Roland, is that we do not have a DOJ to make these complaints to. And so now we're going to have to bring through everything through litigation.

And unfortunately, we got to do legislation through litigation, and that's where we are because we do not have a DOJ to continue to make sure that our votes are protected as they should have because this current administration already did away with the civil rights division of the DOJ. Yeah. And listen, Ben, these folks don't give a damn about black people. Donald Trump is systematically removing the Department of Justice out of a number of discrimination lawsuits. So if anybody was out there saying, oh, well, you know, I don't think we're going to get hurt if Donald Trump wins.

Hello. It's a level of ignorance that's dangerous, Roland. When we see people with those talking points, first of all, I just want to reiterate that a lot of these people are being paid to say these talking points. And second of all, even if they are not being paid, it's a level of ignorance that's destructive to the black community. When you see the targeting of the Civil Rights Department of the DOJ and you see the inversion, what they are doing now, they're taking up lawsuits to sue against

civil rights. They're using the language and the mechanism of civil rights to attack black people and institutions that had or went after civil rights. Here's another, another thing, I don't know if you're jumping in there, but another aspect of this that's really frustrating is the level of propaganda that we are having to sort through and sift through. And this is a critical part in terms of the funding of these infrastructures. If I could just say this really quickly, when Cliff and the rest of your first panel were talking about the need for funding, I need everybody. We need the Democratic Party, all these big donors, all these billionaires who understand how important the black vote is. It's time for them to put their money behind the people who know the truth, who know how to get through the propaganda, to disseminate the truth and know how to do it with efficiency.

And that's not putting money into old white Democratic consultants who are running those same playbooks from 1985, like you said. And the reality is, Mondale, there are a whole bunch of loud Negroes, men and women, on YouTube and social media, whose whole focus is to sow seeds

of discontent, to attack folk like me, like Ben, like you, like Derek and others. And these folks, they throw the phrases out, cut the check. They throw the phrase, they throw the phrases out, you a shield. They throw, oh, your vote's not going to matter. These are the same people. They do this.

We know exactly who they are. And I keep saying you can't, you cannot listen to these people because they do not care about black America. Yeah, I mean, listen, most of these people don't even, not only do they not care about black America, I would argue that most of them ain't even participating in the voting

themselves, like not regularly because what they're telling people is reparations or nothing, when in actuality, reparation itself is a political action where you're going to need a coalition to participate and help Black people get across that line. So even their main talking point, some of them that are talking about reparation, don't even understand how politics works. So this idea that we should be wasting our time talking about these idiots, but for combating the silliness that they're saying.

I think we should keep that to a minimum and talk about and talk at our party and make them understand that we cannot play baseball the way we've been playing. We cannot prioritize white voters in Iowa at the expense of those in Mississippi, the black voters. We cannot pretend that 2030 is not coming. We must have a plan. We've seen the study from Brennan Institute about how the Northeast and the West are going to lose and the Midwest are going to lose congressional map and seats. And when you lose those seats, you also lose the electoral votes. And they're going to move to the South, right? Most of the voters, 40 percent of Americans will be

in the South by 2030. We cannot win without a plan to engage Black people in a way that turns us on to the Democratic Party and not leave us on the couch because of stupid old tactics that worked for people that were baby boomers. And that's no shot at the baby boomers, but they're no longer the largest voting bloc. We have two, three generations behind baby boomers, and two of those generations, being millennials and Z-ers, are both larger and also blacker than any generation before them. And we can no longer ignore what these people are saying

about our failed tactics. Well, the thing, though, is you're not going to reach those folks unless the resources are being placed in the appropriate places. And that's the thing that jumps out at me, Ben, that has to happen. And I'm telling you right now, you got these white campaign strategists who want to nickel and dime black people, who want to put small amounts of money. They keep chasing that mythical white suburban female voter

or that white educated voter. But this is real simple. If you, if Democrats do not right now invest massive amounts of money in black people in Georgia and North Carolina, to Mondale's point, when that 2030 census, after 2030, when that 2030 census is done and those numbers come out in 2031 and then they start now changing reapportionment. The numbers don't lie. Blue states are projected to lose anywhere from 10 to 12 congressional seats. That's the basis upon which electoral colleges are made,

which means that you're going to have, you have to win a North Carolina or Georgia. You got to flip one of those states or you have to win out West Nevada, Arizona, uh, in those Western states. It's not, it's not an if it's a question of when. Absolutely. There should not be a single black institution that is contributing to electoral power on behalf of, I don't want to say Democrats, but people who are not MAGA. Left-leaning, center-left. There should not be a single black organization that's hard up for money. The Democratic Party, they know the numbers. The funders, they know the donors.

They know the numbers. They know the importance. The funders, they know the donors. They know the numbers. They know the importance of the black vote. And for black people to have to be begging and asking for money right now, we should be flush with money. Why? Because we know how to turn out the vote. Why? Because we know how to debunk the propaganda. Why? Because we know how to get into the fight and do the things that these white Democratic consultants have not been able to do. And they know this. So at a point, Roland, it comes back to me as I feel like they fear black power more than they fear MAGA.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And look, it's just a reality of what's going on. All right, got to go to break. We come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, folks, support the work that we do, not just this show, but all of our shows on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, folks, support the work that we do. Not just this show, but all of our shows on the Black Star Network. If you want to support this show, you want to give via Cash App. This is the QR code to give. Click the Cash App button to contribute.

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working with Roland. Matt Beck is Roland Martin and Cheryl L. Michelle. Well, should it be the Cheryl L. Michelle and the Roland Martin show? Well, whatever show it's going to be, it's going to be good. Tuesday night, we'll learn the outcome of the most expensive court race in U.S. history in Wisconsin. Voters are going to be going to the polls to elect their new state Supreme Court justice. It has been a huge race, upwards of $100 million being spent. Sarah Crawford is the candidate running, who's been endorsed by the Democrats.

It's a nonpartisan race, but in many ways, it's also partisan. Brad Schimel is the former attorney general. That's the person that Elon Musk has been putting all of his money behind. Folks, she offers a strong defense of abortion rights, also criticism of Republican voter ID laws. Schimel, he has campaigned alongside Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk, as all of you know that as well. Schimel has been photographed with a large inflatable image of the twice-impeached, criminally convicted, felon-in-chief Donald the Con Trump.

And so you know right there, he can go to hell. These state Supreme Court races are hugely important. You know this, Mondale. You're there in North Carolina. That was a point where Democrats could have had a 6-1 majority on North Carolina Supreme Court. When Sherry Beasley lost, it was 4-3. Then they lost the next two races. Now Republicans control a 5-2 majority.

They still are fighting the win from Riggs because they know what's coming up. Anita Earles, black woman, comes up for re-election in 2026. And three of those Republican seats up for re-election in 2028. The state Supreme Court are just as important as the U.S. Supreme Court. Yeah, I mean, listen, in some cases, especially as it pertains to Wisconsin, it's even more important because we're going to see the race of the White House will go through Wisconsin as they're going to get ready to fight what voter rights look like and who can and can't

vote, because that's going to be a problem right now in that state. And this is why Elon Musk is spending so much money, even if you don't know who he's running against, because we just saw one of the ads from his back, these packs backed by Elon put out the wrong Susan. They put out a professor from Harvard on the flyer that they're running against. And that's just showing how uninvolved this guy is with politics. Yet he's using his money and influence to buy elections, and people are allowing it. The fact that judges are saying it's okay to give out a million dollars to voters, the vote should be something that you cannot buy. But Elon Musk, using something he used in a 2024 in Pennsylvania playbook to win Donald Trump that election or buy that election, is

planning for a judge. We should be extremely nervous that the judiciary is going the way of candidates. And we should also know that no one is spending that much money for a judicial race, not expecting something in return. Absolutely. And look, he's sitting here trying to get people to pay them a hundred bucks to sign a petition, Derrick, that says get rid of activist judges, but he only thinks activist judges are Democrat, not Republican. Roland, I mean, everything that he's doing up in Wisconsin is illegal. We know that, right?

We as Democrats, we just got to develop a new strategy on how we go about making sure that we sound the alarm about our judicial candidates. We got to sound the alarm about our judicial candidates. We got to sound the alarm about our state legislatures. We just got to come up with a new strategy, because it's very obvious that Elon Musk, the world's richest man, he really doesn't care about the candidate. He more focuses on the power and control. And even if he's going to do some illegal actions to do it, because he had already been told by that corrupt individual in the Oval Office, if you run a foul, I'll give you a pardon.

So that's what their playbook is. We just got to meet them where they are and fight tooth and nail to make sure she wins up in Wisconsin, because they're going to keep repeating the same thing over and over again that they did in Pennsylvania, they're doing in Wisconsin, and they're going to continue to do it. Ben, Sarah Crawford, if she wins, that gives Democrats a solid four to three majority on this court right now. If she loses, it'll be three, three. And the swing vote is someone who leans conservative. And that's the critical balance there. This is why Elon Musk

is spending the money that he's spending there. And exactly what Mondale said, the election is getting ready to go through there again in 2026, 2028 particularly. But what's so interesting to me here, Roland, is the audacity, but also the lack of accountability, because the current Supreme Court refused to hear the lawsuit that was brought by the attorney general against Elon Musk for this, for the money that he is spending. And so if there's not going to be anyone who's going to hold Elon Musk or all of us accountable for that matter, then it's a free-for-all. And I have to ask the billionaires on the left, those who are progressive, those who are Democrats, step up, test the theory, see if you can get away with the same thing. Do it at the

same time, because if it's a free-for-all, there's absolutely no reason for us to go into this fight with one arm behind our back. A matter of fact, two arms behind our back when he dropped 20 million in just the last few days in Wisconsin. Yeah, you know, the Republicans always yelling, George Soros, George Soros, George Soros. All right, let's see what y'all got. I say do the same. But then like, oh, now y'all want to complain.

And so, you know, they keep accusing you of those things. Well, let's go ahead and play hardball. That's hard for a lot of people to really want to be able to do. you know, they keep accusing you of those things. Well, let's go ahead and play hardball. That's hard for a lot of people to really want to be able to do. And so I just want people to understand that all of this is critically important. Elections matter. Who has power matters. And we're seeing it happen right now in Washington, D.C., every day. Coming up next, we're going to talk with a guest who is working on the ground to reelect the black mayor in St. Louis. Huge election taking

place, the primary on April 8th. Can Tashara Jones, the incumbent, be reelected as mayor of St. Louis? We'll talk about that right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr, Brown v. Board of Education. The history books call it the court decision that ended racial segregation in American schools. But a brand new book, Jim Crow's Pink Slip, uncovers a devastating, unintended consequence of that 1954 Supreme Court decision. We may, if we were lucky, have been the very last generation of black students to experience

these generations of black teachers who have never been replaced. Dr. Leslie Fenwick joins us to talk about her book and the actions following that landmark decision that dealt a virtual death blow to Black educators. That's next on The Black Table, right here on The Black Star Network. Hey, what's up, Geeks? I'm here in the place to be. I got kicked out of your mom's university Creator, and Zach and Lisa of Fat Tuesday, the hip-hop comedy. But right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin, unfiltered,

uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Well, Amber Ruffin is not going to be performing at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 26th. She was fired on Saturday. Why?

Well, because the thugs in the Donald Trump administration took exception to her being invited. Yeah, I'm very serious, y'all. They didn't like that she said this on the Daily Beast podcast. I'm not 100% interested in being like, ha, you're here, look at your stupid head, you're burned. I care, like, you're kind of a bunch of murderers. So they were like, you need to be, you know, equal and make sure that you give it to both sides, blah, blah, blah.

I was like, there's no way I'm going to be freaking doing that, dude. Under no circumstance. But it makes that false equivalency that the media does. They want that. It feels great. It makes them feel like human beings. But they shouldn't get to feel that way because they're not some people are more culpable than others that's right and they get more jokes made by them and the jokes for me are because they're doing things that are worse yeah in a lot of ways

that's how that goes it can't be even it actually can't you could do it it can't be even. It actually can't. You could do it without becoming a part of what's wrong. Yeah. Talk to me in five minutes. We have to stick together. Who knows how I'll feel. Well, the Trump wimps objected to

those comments and they then put pressure on the White House Correspondents Association to not invite Amber Ruffin. Eugene Daniels, the president of the White House Correspondents Association, said the WHCA board has unanimously decided we're no longer featuring a comedic performance this year. At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division, but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists. Let me be as clear as possible.

That is an absolutely, positively bullshit statement. It is total capitulation. The White House Correspondents Association, y'all got punked. Y'all got bullied. Y'all got embarrassed. No, y'all got bullied. Y'all got embarrassed. Now, y'all got de-bowed. All this man does is slap y'all around like a rag doll. Y'all go, oh my God, don't do it again.

Don't do it again. Don't do it again. They completely took over the folks who traveled with the president in the press pool. Now they're talking about changing the seating order and putting legacy media in the back of the room and they're going to put nothing but right-wing folks up front. And you know what y'all do? Y'all send letters. Y'all wear cute little pins. We stand with the Associated Press.

They throw the AP out because they won't say Gulf of America. And y'all, you punk out. That's what you do. See, the right tone would have said, y'all can go to hell. We are reaffirming that Amber Ruffin is going to be the comedian.

Because see, these folks actually don't believe in the First Amendment. Elon Musk tout tops it, but he'll block anybody left and right. In fact, the White House is even thinking about having their own dinner that night at the White House with a whole bunch of conservative media people. And y'all release that weak-ass statement. And you know what Donald Trump is sitting here doing? Laughing at you.

Eugene, he's laughing at you. To the White House Correspondents Association board, he's laughing at you. And he's laughing at you. And he's saying, what can I do next to neuter these people? What can I do next to chop off their dignity? What can I do next where I can just belittle them?

And y'all gonna sit here and take it every single time. You're gonna take it over and over and over. This is what happens when you allow a bully to keep bullying you. It's as simple as that, Ben. Absolutely. Roland, it amazes me at how cowardly these institutions and these leaders of these institutions are. When we're faced with fascism, you don't back down.

You don't capitulate. You don't kowtow. And here's the funny thing about it. Donald Trump is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. He is himself a coward. I don't know if people have noticed, but when people push back on him on the international stage, he backs down. He talks a good game. That's only because he's bullying our allies. He's afraid of our enemies. He bullies our allies, and he takes cheap shots.

So why would anyone with institutional power—matter of fact, why would anyone be afraid of Donald Trump and what they are doing? What was Donald Trump going to do to the White House Correspondents Committee? What was he going to do to punish them, violate their First Amendment rights? Then stand up and do something about it. But instead, we're seeing all over the country people just lay down and prostrate themselves before Donald Trump when he is a coward himself. So what does that make the rest of you? Derek? Sometimes, Roland, you got to hit a bully in the mouth. And that's what Amber would have done at that White House correspondence. We know she would have probably said this is the most inept administration.

She probably would have said this is the most unqualified, unfit administration. Where's the lie? This is the same administration, Roland, that would allow for secret, top secret information, all right, as a former retired military officer, allow for it to be done over signal. enough comedic material to last for years. And all she was going to do in the amount of time that she would have had, she was just going to lay it out and said, this is the administration that's cutting jobs. This is the administration that is revealing their true selves and exposing our national security. This is the administration that's robbing the American people right in front of us that allows for someone that's not qualified, that's not appointed or elected to run his cabinet. She probably would have made some jokes about Elon Musk.

And so you got to hit a bully in the mouth. We're seeing, as my dear brother just said, we're watching big law firms rolling. They're saying, yeah, we'll just give you $100 million pro bono. Why? And so we just got to hit him in the mouth. This doesn't require executive order. This doesn't require legislation. We got to, again, meet them where they are. When he goes low, we got to go lower.

And kneecap him. Mondale. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think Derek is on to something. And when you think about this idea that Donald Trump and his cronies are about to get $100 million worth of free legal aid when we have people, defenders all over this, public defenders overworked, overworked, and they can't get any help. It's absolutely desolate, only so people can try and save face. So we see it with, we see it with law firms, we see it with, we see it with college institutions,

and now we're seeing it with the media. And for them to put out a statement talking about the important time it is right now for journalism, and then back down in that same state is absolutely ridiculous to me. The idea that, you know, Amber had the gall to tell the truth that I will not do both-sidedism because we see enough of that shenanigans on the media,

and it's also what normalized Donald Trump's behavior. Him and his cronies get to get away with so much. Elon Musk and other billionaires get to talk about it's okay for people on Social Security to miss a couple of paychecks. Billionaires, talking about some of the most vulnerable people in this country, should be able to miss a couple checks. And that is made OK by a media that's willing to kowtow to Donald Trump. So what we saw from the White House Correspondents Association was, like you said, a hot basket of bullshit. And for me,

it is absolutely dastardly that Amber is getting canceled by someone, the right, who said they don't support cancel culture. So I'm so confused at what they mean by cancel culture when all they're doing is trying to cancel Harvard, trying to cancel HBCUs,

trying to cancel civil rights, trying to cancel the Justice Department, canceling Department of Education. Shit, they are the canceling party. Yeah, and listen, he's going to continue what he's doing. We're not even six months in. The law firms are bending. The media companies are bending. The entire Republican Party is bending.

Somebody has to have the guts to stand up to this bully. They're so pissed off with the courts, Derek, that they're attacking them left and right because you have judges who dare to actually speak and execute the law. And the few that are standing up, Roland, he's threatening them. He's allowing those Proud Boys and others to intimidate them.

I mean, they are getting death threats. I mean, we have right here in Fulton County in Georgia, you know, my dear sister, she said, I am not giving up going after this individual. And so you got individuals on the other side of the aisle saying, well, we're going to create some legislation to go after her. Right. And so we are fighting back at the state level. We got to fight back at the federal level. And then here's the other point, Roland, that we got to really stress that the American public right now are mobilizing on April 5th, and they're going to have a massive protest across these United States to demonstrate that

the fourth largest branch of government, which is the people, standing up. And so we got to bring more voice to that and programs such as yours, platforms such as yours, allowing us to get that word out because they're about to see the largest mobilization ever. And when the people rise up, Roland, it's the same thing that

took place in the 60s, it's the same place that took place in the 80s, and it's about to take place again. You do not give an inch to a bully, Ben. You do not. And I don't know what these law firms think. If they think, oh, he's going to stop. No, the man has no morals.

Let me be very clear. Donald Trump has no morals, no values, no principles, no ethics, no integrity, no honor, no decency. And no backbone and no spine. Donald Trump is a coward. He has a lot of people around him who talk with a lot of bravado, but they can't stand criticism. They are easily humiliated because they are really easily to humiliate. They have nothing. They have no intellectual capacity that's worth discussing. They don't have any integrity. They don't have the ability to lead this country.

Like I said before, he's turning this nation into a shithole nation. He is a slumlord president, and we need to treat him like that. You don't have to respect anyone who doesn't respect us. He doesn't respect the Constitution. So we have no responsibility to respect Donald Trump ever. And the people need to speak with a little bit of depth in their voice. Put some bass in your voice when you're talking about Donald Trump. Make him intimidated. Make him have to come after us. Because if we wait, if we give Donald Trump an inch, then they will begin to codify and make

laws that take away the rights that these law firms are giving up. That the media is just voluntarily giving up right now. Oh, but if you give them two more years, three more years, four more years, they are going to solidify with the force of law fascism.

So what do we do? We knuckle up and we fight right now. Mondale? Yeah, I mean, listen, Ben is not wrong at all. And, Roland, you and Ben both know this because you guys are in my close circle, and Derek might know it as well. I'm a mayor who tore down a Confederate monument and have, for two years years been getting death threats,

more than two years now, and have not been able to sleep in my bed because of these people. And you hear Donald Trump saying that the Black Museum, the Smithsonian, our Smithsonian, is part of the woke culture, and some of the exhibits need to calm down, and we need to return to Confederate monuments. So this idea that he's trying to is actually already a lie. He is doing. Donald Trump is already enacting everything to resegregate America in a way that makes sure, that ensures that white people will hold power, even as they dwindle in population size, part of the electorate. And I think we need to be very scared about that, because when you see

these institutions not willing to stand up, when you see the Republican Party, people like Mike Johnson, who's number three in the line of succession, say, we need to possibly get rid of the federal judiciary so that Trump can have his way, we need to be very alarmed. When we hear Donald Trump giving national interviews, talking in great detail, saying out loud that I'm not joking about a third term, and there are ways to do it, and you hear his people already floating ideas and ways they can do this, we better get ready, because this, you people can pretend that you are patriots and you love the founding father, but might I remind you, it was George Washington who wrote a scathing

letter to someone suggest that he become a monarch. And Donald Trump, on the other hand, screams long live the king, talking about himself. So I'd be damned if this is patriotism. And if it is, it's a sick white version of it that does not exist in the history of America, at least the America where people that look like us fought like hell to get us closer to equity. Indeed, indeed. Alright, folks. Going to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin on foot from the Black Star Network. Don't

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Go to the BlackstarNetwork.com. Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Available bookstores nationwide. Get the book version I read on Audible. We'll be right back. This week on The Other Side of Change. The economy is not working. Trump's got trade wars, recalls, the price of groceries are through. There is a better way. There is another way.

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hey what's up, y'all? Devon Franklin. I'm Dr. Robby, pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Leland Martin Unfiltered. How many times have I told you Ron DeSantis is the devil? In Florida, lawmakers are considering a significant change to the state's child labor law. They want to relax the laws to allow people,

yes, seriously, teenagers, 14 years old, to work overnights. Yeah, these proposed changes are a direct result of the state's looming shortage of migrant workers due to Republicans and immigration crackdown. A state Senate panel has narrowly advanced the proposal to eliminate regulations of 16- and 17-year-olds from working before 6.30 a.m. or after 11 p.m. on school days. The proposal would also allow, I mean, this is just, I mean, it's beyond insane. It's beyond insane.

Republicans are really trying to do here, y'all. And so just so y'all know, the proposal would also allow these teens to work more than eight hours on school days and more than 30 hours per week while in school. Additionally, it would remove the requirement for teens to receive at least a 30-minute meal break after working an eight-hour shift. The proposal also would lift some restrictions on employing 14- to 15-year-olds who are either homeschooled or enrolled in virtual schools. In a separate measure advancing in the statehouse, the proposal would allow teens employed as

interns or trainees to be paid below the state's minimum wage of $13 an hour when it's said to increase to $15 an hour. What? Man, what the hell? So, oh, sure, let's just go ahead and just work them to death. They're teens. Ah, to hell with that school stuff. Put them out there in the fields and go have them pick those crops. It's fascinating because this is a dilemma that was the creation of Donald Trump and MAGA, right?

And so the solution to the problem that they created is child labor. And the key part to me is what you said at the very end, which is they will be allowed to pay them less than the minimum wage. At the end of the day, this has always been about capital versus labor. It's always been about getting the cheapest labor that they can. And how do you get cheap labor when you have shipped out all of your cheap labor? I mean, they were already breaking the system, cheating the system and being just downright wrong in terms of how little they were paying migrant workers. So I don't want to fan the flames of supporting migrant workers getting paid less.

But when you get rid of migrant workers, who are you going to get to work for cheap? Children. Children who you can cheat. Children you don't have to pay them the kind of money they need to pay. Children who won't speak up. Children who won't unionize. Children who won't fight back. All they would do is come to work and make as little as McDonald's wants to pay them or whoever wants to pay them. And this is exactly what we saw in Arkansas with Sarah Huckabee Sanders. We see this as something that Republicans generally want to do anyway. And it just is exacerbated by the fact that Donald Trump has now begun to deport all of our migrant working class. Boy, these... Dear, I'm confused.

They actually think it's going to be a bunch of 14, 15-year-old white kids out there working in the fields? No. That's not their plan, Roland. They want our children, our babies, our young teenagers

to be out there in the field. This is part of their Project 2025 Autocracy Playbook. And I use the word autocracy because if you think about autocracy, the very first thing you need to do is do away with the education system and then make sure you allocate and take everybody's money. And then you want to look at the labor as Ben just described. And so when you think about this whole deregulations

as you continue want to deport and detain 22 million migrants, send them to other countries, Ecuador and El Salvador and Venezuela, right? This is part of their playbook. They want to go back to whiteness. This is where we were 400 years ago. And when you think about autocracy, when you think about power and control, you got to make sure that, hey, we're not talking about our children. They're talking about black and brown children building and fielding these crops and doing those because they're going to make sure

their children are okay. And so in the end, we got to look at the broader picture. And the broader picture is this, that we built this country. They want to whitewash that kind of information. They want to sanitize that kind of information because they know if that information doesn't exist, then history will repeat itself. Then we will have to look 50, 100 years from now and see right where we were with our ancestors. And so this is part of their playbook, but they're going to cause this

and cloak this under deregulations, Roland, but the bigger picture is power and control and enslavement of black and brown people. Elections has consequences. This is what happens when people sit at home, Mondale. Yeah, I mean, listen, we can't even pretend that this is not a direct result, not just of this election,

but the re-election of Ron DeSantis. That bastard should have been thrown out on his ass a long time ago, if you ask me. Should have never won. But what we saw was that, again, I go back to my party. I criticize my party. Nobody in Florida, none of the big donors in Florida gave money to Andrew Gillum during the primary. They supported every candidate except for him, even though he was the most qualified and most and also the most progressive candidate running. Then we saw in the general election, Andrew Gillum being naive, if you ask me, turned his entire field apparatus

over to the state party. And they, instead of targeting black and brown voters that won him the primary, went back to the traditional campaign. And we saw Ron DeSantis become the monster, the elected monster that he is. Here's what I would say about what we're seeing. I don't think Ben or Derek are wrong at all. This is absolutely about the re-enslaving and deregulation of poor, and specifically black and brown people. We know that there are 31 percent of Florida people that are black and brown. So they're counting on Haitian immigrants. They're counting on the Jamaicans

and also the Puerto Ricans and the other black and brown people in that state to be in those fields. But what they forget is there's a large population, a Florida population, that is white and poor. And they're going to be out there in those fields, too. The problem is, white and poor has never been enough to stop white people from being white racist. It has always been the poor white people willing to go along with the rich elite to-to continue white supremacy in this country. It is the history of this country. It is not by mistake that every MAGA or all of MAGA

are sympathetic to the Confederate. It is not by mistake that every time, or damn near every time you see a Trump MAGA flag, you see a Confederate flag somewhere close to it. So this idea, this idea that you can separate MAGA from being anything other than making America great again to them is making America where white people are the only one with protections and rights that we are obligated to look forward to. So I think beyond the psychological and emotional trauma that we know comes with children working and being able to not fully develop and the stresses that come along with that children working and being able to not fully

develop and the stresses that come along with that. We also know that when you work as a young person, full-time jobs, it interrupts your education damn near ensuring that you will have a life of poverty. And that's what they're going for. This is not the latent. This is absolutely what they're intending. So I think people should pay attention of Donald Trump, this super rich man who thinks you need a driver's license to go to the grocery store, who didn't even know what a brake pedal was in a car, this super rich man who's probably never driven himself around,

thinking he's on your side when he continues to pass laws that are not just going to hurt black and brown people, it's going to hurt all of our asses. Indeed, indeed, folks. Speaking of monsters, the idiots in Trump administration forced out Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration's

top vaccine regulator. He submitted his resignation because they said, hey, if you don't resign, we're going to fire you. That's right. We're going to fire you. In his resignation letter to acting FDA Commissioner Sarah Brenner,

he stated that undermining vaccine confidence is irresponsible, detrimental to public health, and a clear danger to our nation's health and safety and security. Marks led the FDA's Center for Biologic Evaluation and Recent Research since 2016. This division is responsible for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of various medical products, including vaccines. He led the nation through COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in authorizing the first vaccine in late 2020. Marks also noted that he had been willing to work with anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to address vaccine safety and transparency concerns, but he also realized that he's dealing with an individual

who really is all about anti-vaccines. Now, with the resignation of the top vaccine scientist, at least five states have active measles outbreaks. Texas has the largest with 400 cases. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the country has had more measles cases this year than any other in 2024. Outbreaks in New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, you name it,

the new outbreaks confirm health experts fear that the virus will take hold in other U.S. states. Also, the National Institutes of Health has cut at least 145 grants, totaling nearly $450 million in federal funding aimed at advancing HIV care. Many of the terminated studies improve the access to medications like PEP in communities with high infection rates, particularly young trans men and black folks, especially black men.

Yeah. NIH, the scientists, they're struggling to find ways to continue their important work. This is what happens again when you let idiots in charge of America. And when you talk about vaccines again when you let idiots in charge of America. And when you talk about vaccine, when you talk about HIV, when you talk about measles outbreaks, Derek,

this is the role of the federal government. You know what? These so-called pro-lifers, they don't give a damn if people die, especially if they're black and brown. Roland, let me lean in with my full chest. This is not like COVID. This is self-inflicted. This is self-inflicted.

The impact of federal jobs, these cuts that the Doge, Elon Musk, and Trump are making on our public safety and our public health is indeed a serious concern. I mean, when you think about, you know, from a government standpoint, when you start to reduce and eliminate positions and you don't even know what the roles and responsibilities are, right, it's not oops, our bad, it's a mistake. This is very critical and everyone should be concerned. White, Black, old, young, urban, suburban, and rural should be concerned. When you're thinking about critical services

that NIH and CDC provide, the surveillance around the world to make sure it doesn't end up on our shore. I mean, right here, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Roland, we get 120 million individuals come through this airport, 120 million annually. And so it's really easy for these outbreaks to spread. But not just because of other countries. We're watching as Robert Kennedy Jr. just announced just four days, five days ago now, 10,000 jobs going to be cut. And the reporter asked, well, what organizations? How and why? And he just said, well, we don't know. But we're learning right here in Georgia is 700 of them going to be CDC.

Right here, Roland, we're learning NIH. And so these two critical, I'm just going to mention these two, their primary responsibility is the reduction of disease prevention programs, surveillance, research. These are epidemiologists. And so I'm not surprised,

based on the point you just raised about the measles outbreak and the surge of measles in five states. This is self-inflicted. This should be falling on the footsteps of Donald Trump. People are dying already, Roland, and so we should have a ticker, just like we did in COVID. How many people are dying in the last 10 weeks because of these crazy job cuts that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are doing? Mondale? Listen, man, when you hear about stupid stuff like this, it is dastardly, but I'm going to tell you why.

Because so many poor white people are going to die and suffer for this. This idea, you see, Roland, I'm going to tell you, 400 cases of measles in 2025 in Texas, 400 cases in Texas alone, five, three new counties that weren't on the list last week. Now, somebody in Mexico affected from measles by somebody from America. They're playing at the most dangerous time with the most dangerous disease. People forget how transferable the measles, how infectious the measles is. And it will ravage when people are reached, when they reach these vaccination communities or these non-vaccinated communities, which are usually these rural white people who don't believe that vaccines work. These people who take and believe exactly what Kennedy believes. Kennedy

is absolutely responsible for stocks resigning. He even said that he was trying to work with Kennedy and show him the truth of all of the vaccine history by bringing in public hearings and also National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, but that ain't what he wanted. What Kennedy wanted was someone to be subservient to his ideas of this misinformation and lies. And if you question it, then you are not what they need right now. So in this letter, you heard him say, it is clear that truth and transparency is not what they're looking for.

He's basically, what they're saying is everybody in Donald Trump's administration at the secretary level is acting like Donald Trump. We saw it in the signal chat. We see it in this resignation and we see it in every day a move to eliminate the federal departments. Ben. You know, I have a comrade, a trans comrade, who came up with a phrase for this. It's the age of pestilence. It is an age of pestilence that Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr. are trying to institute. Why? Because when the population is too sick, they can't protest. They can't rebel.

They can't even make it to the polls when they're so sick. They can't stand up and fight for themselves, and the streets are on their jobs. And so part of their plan, if you hold what we're talking about and you hold it in juxtaposition with everything else we're talking about tonight, you will see that all of this is very intentional. And I think people need to be very sober about this. They intend on killing as many people as they can kill

without ever lifting a bullet, lifting a gun, without ever shooting and bullet, lifting a gun, without ever shooting and firing a shot. And if they can do it through getting rid of vaccines, they would do it. If they can do it through child labor, they would do it. If they can do it by overturning FDA regulations, poisoning our water,

making our air even worse than it already is, if they can do it that way, they will do it. Why? Because they don't need us anymore. They have figured out how they can generate all the wealth that they would ever want without us, direct subsidies from the United States government to corporations like SpaceX and to Elon Musk and to Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the oligarchy. They don't need human bodies anymore. In fact, they see us as an impediment to their power, and so they are instituting, as my

friend Andrea said, they are instituting, as my friend Andrea said, they are instituting an age of pestilence, and we need to govern ourselves accordingly. We need to do something about it right now. All true, because they do not care about black and brown people. All right, folks, going to a break. We come back. We're going to talk with rapper Tef Poe about a huge mayoral election

in St. Louis next Tuesday, April 8th. Also, all these people got something to say about Marvin Sapp. How many of y'all even go to church? Yeah, I got a few things to say as well. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Brown versus the Board of Education. History books call it the court decision that ended racial segregation in American schools.

But a brand new book, Jim Crow's Pink Slip, uncovers a devastating unintended consequence of that 1954 Supreme Court decision. We may, if we were lucky, have been the very last generation of black students to have experienced these generations of black teachers who have never been replaced. Dr. Leslie Fenwick joins us to talk about her book and the actions following that landmark decision that dealt a virtual death blow to black educators. That's next on Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. Hello, we're the Critter Fixers.

I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuned into... Rolling Martin Unfiltered. Folks, on Tuesday, April 8th, St. Louis voters will go to the polls to vote for mayor. And there are the statewide elections, but we're looking at the St. Louis mayoral race. Tashara Jones is the incumbent,

completing her first four-year term. Alderman Kara Spencer is challenging her. And the County Democratic Party, they're jumping behind Kara Spencer. Obviously, people in St. Louis are saying, oh, this is clearly a black and white thing. Joining us right now is rapper, activist, Tef Poe. Tef, glad to have you on the show.

You have been posting a number of comments on social media talking about this race, trying to get people to understand what is going on in the city. You've got folks, you know, got some folks who are not happy with the election of Tashara Jones, saying that she didn't do certain things they wanted her to do. You had, of course, the issue dealing with, of course, you know, Kim Gardner, the St. Louis city prosecutors. But just speak to how you see this race taking place in eight days. Well, what's going on right now is only 18 percent of the city has voted.

We had a primary that was pretty controversial. If you know anything about the black vote in Missouri, they don't want us to vote, period. Kansas City, St. Louis, black people, when y'all vote, we win. And I'm talking specifically about local elections, municipal elections. This is where the real power lies in this environment. And this election coming up on April 8th with Kara Spencer versus Tashara Jones is really what I'm calling the sex in the city candidate, Kara Spencer versus Tashara Jones,

who hasn't had a flawless record by any means. I've criticized her. But the truth is, only one of these individuals looks like your mother. Only one of these individuals is most likely to call the police on you if you're trying to enter your apartment late night. Only one of these individuals is what to proxy herself as a more progressive candidate and also a candidate that is trying to appease to the entire city. So as a more progressive body, sure, we've had a lot of back and forth with her, but I'm clear that we don't want to vote for more

white power. Now, you said you've had a primary. So explain that, because what's April 8th? April 8th is our actual general election. We kind of have a runoff. And I don't know the exact historical specifics about how that was determined or set up. But I do know that normally who wins the runoff, who wins the primary, also successfully takes the mayoral cabinet. We're hoping for a chance to defy history here, to push back on the red line and then actually get folks out to vote. Kara Spencer can't say that she's won if the votes haven't been casted.

You have just manipulated the system. And that is propaganda. This, of course, when you look at elections are all about money, and there's a lot of money going behind Kara Spencer. But I keep saying, you may be a real rich person, but you only can vote one time. Yeah. And what we got to realize, organized people and organized money produce power. And in these cases where we get into the real deal, Brad's politics are the matter. What are your actual political positions? How do you feel about the brothers and the sisters in them jails?

St. Louis is at a crossroads where we're challenging both Tashara Jones and Kara Spencer to answer those questions. But specifically, I believe Kara Spencer has manipulated the system, and here we are now fighting a person that is leaning into corporate interests, claiming to be a progressive, but I've seen Donald Trump's signs in the same front yards as her signs.

Now, you also are dealing with, obviously, the money issue here, but without a doubt, race is there. And you have a legislature that's trying to do the same, Louis, what they've already done in Kansas City, take over the police department. Correct. And it's going active right now.

This should be a red alert to young black men. Often black men say, where do we fit into the conversation? What are the policies that are going to serve us? What are the positions that are going to serve us? What are the positions that are going to serve us? This one right here should absolutely be a red alert. What's going on right now is

that they are realizing that it's been 10 years since Ferguson. It's been 10 years since the death of Mike Brown. And we are knee-deep in a power struggle in Missouri, a historical power struggle. And we are knee-deep in a power struggle in Missouri, an historical power struggle. And it comes down to corporations deciding that people are not important. And we can hope and pray that if Tashara Jones does successfully get another term,

we want to hold her to the fire, too, on showing the people that she actually respects the unhoused. She actually knows what's going on in those jails with the deaths and the people who are dying in the city jail every month. By no means is this a free-for-all where we're letting the mayor off the hook, but we do believe that the city is being manipulated for the greater good of a white progressive agenda, and Ms. Spencer is leading the charge on that. Questions from my panel.

Mondale, you're first. I can't hear you, Mondale. That's one of my brothers. Mondale, you're first. Mondale is your, okay, go ahead. Let me be clear. I'm not talking to a stranger when I'm talking to Teff. Teff is someone who's talking to me, but also my brother. Even though, you know, Teff is, you might not know it, but Teff is one of the architects.

When I say you, I'm talking about the audience. Teff is one of the architects of what happened in St. Louis. So while you don't see his name in billboards, it don't mean he ever left St. Louis in fighting. Listen, man, I also need to say the same thing about Tashara Jones. Me and Tashara Jones both sit as part and members of the African-American Mayors Association. And I know when I started the housing program to get low-income housing in parts of St. Louis, she was the first person to call me. She said there are black neighborhoods. This was years ago when I started a program. There are black neighborhoods in St. Louis that have not had a new mortgage in 50 plus years.

And she was trying to remit that. I know she started, you know, a brighter future program for St. Louis. I know she's started to turn on workhouse. And I think people like you said, when you have someone that you agree with all the time, it's easy for you to be out there chanting and supporting them. So my thing is, how do you reach these brothers? And I'll let you know, I'm going to be in your city sometime this week with the Black Male Voter Project. Oh, man, let's please, let's please, Link. Yeah. But how are we going to get these brothers to know that while she is not perfect, we're not looking for perfection. We're looking for someone that we can fight with. Well, tomorrow night, I might as well say it on Roland Martin, if I'm going to say it anywhere, we are having a really big coalition meeting of black men in different organizations with the mayor.

We are being honored with her presence. She cleared her schedule just to be there and to address a vast myriad of men from the community. All of us don't agree on everything. We're not in the same organization, and we're not being paid to be there. So tomorrow night, I know because I'm the one that organized it, we have close to 80 black men from all over the city coming together to hear what the mayor has to say and also hopefully by the end of this conversation find a place within her positions for us as a community.

And we also want to highlight what the enemy is doing. I think black men have grown to respect power, especially younger black men. Younger men want to see motion. They want to see action. They don't want to see any more political theater. If you don't believe in it, don't say it, and you'll be fine. I think that's where we are in this generation of people. Even when you listen to hip-hop music, a lot of the rappers, Young Thug, he got himself in that situation because he said,

if I'm not living it, I can't rap about it. That's where we are now with black politics for black men. If you're not living it, don't come spilling it on our doorstep because people need results. People need action. People need motion. People need collectivity. And I'm crushing the myth that we as brothers don't want to see it, that we as brothers don't desire it, that black men are a non-sophisticated political base. All of that is out the door. The problem is, and I'm going to say this on camera, I need the local women in the Democratic Party, the local black women, y'all have already talked yourselves into a hyperbole concerning certain constituents, certain demographics of people who already support you. I need you to do the legwork that is required of all of us if we're going to be public people

of any capacity to reach across the aisle and begin to recognize people that are living in the proletariat class. Because the policies that you are standing on, the initiatives and the legislation that you are pushing out there, they're going to affect that class of people first. But it does not matter if that class of people does not even recognize you as an agent of change, if they don't recognize you as a true representative of theirs. Yes, you got the job. Yes, you got the votes.

Now, the second part of this is you showing us that you have the actual sophistication to connect the people and bring the right relationships to the table in order for you to be successful at a job that nobody put a gun to your head and said do indeed thank you brother derrick brother i just want to tell you i salute you um for using your platform leveraging your platform but my question is this you only have days, nine days now and to educate those that this is the general election, right? A lot of folks think that general elections only happen in November. We're talking about April 8th.

So what are we doing to educate folks that this is not a primary, this is not a runoff. This is the general election. Whoever wins April 8th will be your chief executive of that city. What are we doing to educate them? Well, as organizers and activists, we ain't new to this. We're true to it. So,

there are massive efforts going on citywide. Kayla Reed, who leads Action STL, so much stuff is going on behind the scenes through her organizing mechanisms that I can't even talk about on camera. And the thing is, when you come to St. Louis, there's a few things we know how to do.

We know how to organize. We know how to do direct action. And we know how to build collective momentum. Now, here's where we are with this, if I'm being real. We are down by 30, and the clock is ticking. The game is almost over. We have to realize that no matter the outcome of this election, yeah, we're going to push folks to vote. We're going to get in them streets.

We're going to raise as much hell as we can raise. But even after the fact, I want Kara Spencer to know that if she do win, it ain't over. You know what I'm saying? We ain't going home to click our boots. You in St. Louis, big baby. Prepare. Strap up. Boot up. It's politics. We go for the long haul, not the short game anyway. It's a movement, not a

moment. Ben. Brother, God bless you. I have enjoyed every word that has come out of your mouth. Mandel, you have to tell us more about this brother. Get him over on Click, baby, because you have a class analysis and a liberation theology. I can hear it coming through every word that you're speaking. My question to you is the arc of time that you have been in St. Louis since Michael Brown and all that happened in Ferguson.

And you mentioned this historic power struggle. Here's my question. What have you seen the arc turn into in terms of blackness and black organizing, but specifically in terms of how white people have been pushing back against you all? I would never forget some of the most sophisticated campaigns I've ever seen against blackness began right there in Ferguson. And I'm curious, what have you seen that arc over the last 10 years shape up to be? I mean, I've seen that arc produce Kara Spencer, a white moderate who can proxy herself as a non-racist, non-confrontational white person. But the thing, the key word in the compounding of the word white in person is white.

It's not person. It's white. Because whiteness doesn't recognize anybody else's true and actual personhood. So even if she wanted to have the utmost respect for my mind, the utmost respect for my background, the utmost respect for my city, the utmost respect for my homeboys, my homegirls, and everything that everybody that been through, it's impossible for her to do it because she's a mechanism of white supremacy by proxy of what she trying to do, which is gentrify the hood, knock the ghetto down. She want to do us like Bin Laden did Manhattan. They want to come in and sell St. Louis to these high interest groups.

They want to bring in high levels of surveillance on black folks. And this stuff is real. You know what I'm saying? This isn't some science fiction movie where, oh, they might be doing it. No, this is real sick, demented, twisted stuff that these people are doing in the name of money. And what we can do as people who speak the truth is no longer allow folks who are speaking publicly to convolute fact with opinion, opinion with fact, real news, fake news. No, this is real news. This is reality. And we in it to win it, regardless to if she becomes the mayor, if Tashara Jones has to find a new career path. We don't believe that's what's going to happen. But I represent the might of the people, no matter who's in office. Teff, is tomorrow blackmail meeting open to the public or is it closed?

It's a closed meeting. Okay. I really probably shouldn't have said nothing about it on your show, but I did because I want people to know that we're doing more than sitting on our hands. Like, this is a dogfight no matter what the numbers in the polls say. Well, it's also important for people to also know that black men are organized, and so that's critically important as well. All right, Tiff, I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot.

Love. Folks, quick break. We come back. Lots of drama because Marvin Sapp appeared at a conference and calls for Usher to close the doors and to raise $40,000. And a lot of people got problems. I got a problem with000. And a lot of people got problems.

I got a problem with them. And I will speak on them when we come right back. Let's speak on the other side of change. The economy is not working. Trump's got trade wars, recalls, price increases through the roof. And there is a better way. There is another way.

Join us as we talk more about it and reimagine something better on the other side of change. Only on Blackstar Network. Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim. You are watching Roland Martin unfiltered. He always unfiltered, though. I ain't never known him to be filtered. Is there another way to experience Roland Martin than to be unfiltered? Of course he's unfiltered. He always unfiltered, though. I ain't never known him to be unfiltered. Is there another way to experience Roland Martin than to be unfiltered? Of course he's unfiltered.

Would you expect anything less? Watch what happens next. All right, y'all. Gospel artist and pastor Marvin Sapp is responding to criticism over a resurfaced clip that shows him telling church ushers to close the doors while asking for donations,

which some say was an overly aggressive move. The controversy stems from a viral video in which Sapp speaks in front of the congregation at the 109th Pentecostal Assemblies for the World Convention in July. In the video, he called on churchgoers in the building and those watching online to help raise $40,000 by giving $20 each. The clip circulated online and folks just lost their minds and have been commenting left and right.

So here is what he actually said. I was taught a long time ago that it costs to sit up here. Y'all don't like me. Y'all don't like me. I'm telling y'all, it cost. Went upstairs today to get my license and ordination renewed. I'm not telling you. I was two years behind. I had to pay $2,000 to get my ordination

and my licensing renewed. I pulled out my credit card. I paid him $2,000. I don't know how I'm going to preach up here and not lead by example. He asked me to give $800, went in my pocket, gave $800. Because leadership lead

and they understand the cost that is involved. There's 1,000 of you. I said close them doors. Ushers, close the doors. Close the doors. Close the doors. We all lead together. Y'all ain't going no place but to the restaurant.

There's 1,000 of you tonight and those that are watching it's 1,000 that's watching online this is a small seed if I get 1,000 online to give this if I get 1,000 in the sanctuary to give this that's $40,000 tonight I'm challenging each of you all down here to give a $20,000 tonight. I'm challenging each of you all down here

to give a $20 seed. I used to think $20 was a lot of money. $20, believe it or not, when my late wife Melinda Peace happened to be alive, was a good date. I could take her to the movies, buy a box of popcorn, get one soda, two drawers.

I wasn't cheap, that's swag. I was looking at her eyes. She's looking at mine. Can't do that no more. Everyone up here, we've all sold and seated. But I need everyone sitting up here with us, with me, to plan to see $100. Because again, it costs to sit up here. I got you.

So put your 20 away, preachers. That 20 wasn't for you. And this is what I need you to do. If you're giving electronically or you're giving tangibly, I'm going to have you come to the altar and give it because I need to see a thousand people moving. Bring them baskets. I want the baskets up here.all come to the altar and give it because I need to see a thousand people moving. Bring them baskets. I want the baskets up here.

I want to see the phone. Y'all start moving. Y'all can bring it right now. Come, come, come, come. Even if you're giving, just put your hand on the, take your phone and stick it on the, on the bucket.

Worship. Giving his giving his giving his worship. This ain't the time to talk. Giving is worship. Giving is worship. This ain't the time to talk. A thousand people need to give $20. A thousand people need to give $20. A thousand people online need to give $20.

This is easy, saints. This is an easy miracle. We should be able to raise $40,000 tonight just from all giving. So, the blogs took off. Whether you're Hollywood Unlocked, Jasmine Brand, Shade Room, Ball Alert, they all posted this video. Other people were posting left and right on social media. As a result, Pastor Marvin Sapp had to come out and make a statement, and then he appeared today, this morning, on the Ricky Smiley Morning Show.

And my membership had dwindled after my wife had passed because I had to travel more in order to take care of me and my kids. Right. So, you know, my membership had dwindled, but we never lost anything. And as a matter of fact, this is factual. The day I announced the new pastor, I burned the mortgage of the church. I left my church

not only debt-free, but I left them six figures in the bank and put a brand new pastor in and walked away and moved to Texas. I'm not walking around here trying to be a pimp. I'm not trying to take advantage of people. That's never been my passion. I'm not walking around here trying to be a pimp. I'm not trying to take advantage of people that have never been my pastor. I'm serious about ministry. And let me go a step

further. There are a whole lot of other pastors around here that are doing the same thing. Most pastors in America are bivocational, meaning they have jobs outside of their churches. The average church site in America is only 75 people. Look it up. It's factual. So we're not getting rich off the church. I am bivocational. I'm a W-2 employee at my church. I have a syndicative radio show that I do every week to oversee different markets.

I own real estate. I have mutual funds. I have mutual funds. I have annuities. I have stocks. I play the market. I took my money and I didn't trick it. Money that you made. Money that I made from hit records.

I'm one of the only gospel artists in billions of streams. And you tour. And I tour. I just came off of a tour. So here's Marvin Sapp walking through all of this. A bunch of people out there comment and comment and talking about how he said, lock the doors. Well, if you actually listen to the clip, he never said lock the doors. He said close the doors.

He also spoke on that. That's the narrative that has been shared., that, that locked folks up in my church that, you know, I made them give $40,000 and I wouldn't allow them to leave until they gave it to me. And to be honest with you, that is absolutely false. Number one, uh, that offering was taken last year. This was a service that happened last August. Number two, it didn't happen at my local church. It actually happened at a national organization's national international meeting where churches from all over the country, all over the world came together for the purpose of celebrating the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. People took issue with me saying,

shut the doors. Understand, I never said lock the doors. Yeah. I said shut the doors. Shutting doors mean that people still have the ability to go in and out. They've taken issue with my tone. And I can honestly say, you know, looking at the video, maybe I was a little more assertive than I should have been.

And I can apologize for that. You know, I can apologize for that. But three things I need to make sure that people understood. Number one, the $40,000, if it was $40,000 that was raised, was never given to me. That money was raised for the purpose of taking care of the budget for their conference, not Marvin Sapp. Number two, it didn't happen at my church. It happened in Baltimore. Number three, you know, people take issue with me being firm with the ushers. Anybody that goes to church ushers one-on-one, the first thing they teach you as being an usher is that there are three times you don't walk. You don't

walk during the altar call. You don't walk during prayer. You don't walk during the offering. One of the reasons being is because of the sacredness of the moment. But it's also about security. As a pastor, we understand and we know that churches are being robbed at gunpoint. It's happening all over the country. This is not something I'm making up. This is factual. So if you got 5,000 people in a room, you want the doors closed. You don't want the doors locked. I couldn't get them locked anyway. It's a convention center. But the doors needed to be closed. And there was a lot of pandemonium and stuff that was going on out there. But I wanted to share that first. But that ain't even the reason why I'm here.

Here's the reason why I'm here. The reason why I'm here is because what has happened is people have taken clickbait and made something out of it that it isn't. And because of that, my church has been getting phone calls. People have called my church and cussed me out. My staff are afraid because I've received death threats over $20 and shut the door. People have come to our campus. They have come to my church to try to cause problems, issues, challenges. And again, my children, I don't look at comments.

We used to talk about this. I don't read comments. When you got millions of followers, you ain't got time to be reading all the comments. You just don't have it. Right. My children do. And they are afraid. And the reason being is because I'm their only parent. I'm a widower. They're afraid for my safety. So now we've had to update and increase security and all the things I've never had to do before because of the vitriol and the anger that people have shown,

the things that they've said in my thread and stuff. And all of this is because of a misunderstanding. And I'm not blaming people. Let me be clear. I'm not blaming anybody because of their misunderstanding. I'm just saying in all your getting, get an understanding. And if I'm sharing with you that the $40,000 that I was trying to raise, and again, I don't know if the organization got

$40,000, $10,000, $20,000, any of it. I don't know. I'm hoping that I actually raised more money so that I can help the organization that has been such a great support to me. And again, let's be clear, not a dime of that money.

Not a dime of that money came to me. Not a dime of it. And where did your money come from? I've been blessed. I've been extremely blessed. I've sold millions of records. Millions. I'm a songwriter. That was Marvin Sapp.

Y'all tripping over $20. This ain't no Johnny Taylor, my last $2 song. Y'all are tripping over $20 at a religious conference where, last I checked, folk are accustomed to giving. Now, what Marvin Sapp was doing was basic math. Marvin Sapp was saying if there are a thousand people in the room and there are a thousand people watching,, if each person sold a seat of $20, that raises $40,000 for the conference, for the convention, for the organization. On March 4th, when we had our show,

and when Tiffany Lofton talked about their student association, and she said that they didn't have the money for some 30 students from Florida A&M to attend the conference. I stopped her and said, how much do y'all need? Tiffany said, I said, calculate how much and get back to me. Later, she then said, we need $39,000. I pledged $20,000. I then put it out to the more than 101,000 people who were still with us after midnight. 2.30 that morning, Tiffany called me and said they had raised $85,000.

That allowed not just for the Florida A&M students to attend, it allowed for other students to attend. I actually just hit her and said, what was the total amount? Because we later went online and said, we want to raise an additional $17,000. The total amount raised for that student conference was $108,000. Now, mind you, last year they had this conference and five students from three schools were in attendance. Then they asked Tiffany if she could help them organize this year, and there were almost 130 students at this year's conference. Nobody is forced to give anything.

Nobody is forced to give $20. When I make the call for this show, what do I say? I ask folk to give on average $50 each. There are many people who cannot give $50. So some people have given $25, $30. I had a check for $19.05 of the other day. Ten, I had a series of $5 checks. Folk have given $1 via Cash App. Other people have given more. I've had some people give $100, $150, $250, $300, $500, $1,000. Last month, we had a woman from New Hampshire who sent 10 $1,000 cashier's checks. I don't send folks hats and T-shirts and swag.

They are investing or sowing into this show like some folks sow into a ministry. But see, here's what I find interesting. I was talking to a sister and she had a friend of hers who was complaining about tithing at the church. Now this same sister rolls up to the church every Sunday, drops her child off in the church's daycare while she goes into the sanctuary. Now that sister don't think for a second with the folk in the daycare actually get paid. That sister gives no thought that the church actually must get insurance for the daycare. Now, she goes into the sanctuary and she sits down in her seat. At no time does a sister ever think about the air conditioning in the church? At no time, if it's cold, does she ever think about the heat in the church?

She doesn't think about when she drove up to the church, the security in the church. She doesn't think about the parking lot attendance. In fact, she ain't even thought about how was that ground paved to actually create the parking lot in the church. So now she goes in and guess what? If her child needs to have its diaper changed, the daycare got it. That sister don't think about how do they pay for those diapers. Then when service is over, she then goes to the counter to get her a cup of coffee. She don't pay for the coffee.

At no time does she think, come, I wonder how they paid for these cups. I wonder how they paid for the coffee to provide it for free to the folk who are walking up. And so what does she do? She comes to church. She gets her a free concert with the choir singing. Oh, I'm sorry. It never occurred to her that that organ has to be paid for. Does she think about that those robes must be paid for? Does she think about the church must pay a licensing fee for the popular music that they actually sing? Does she somehow contemplate, my goodness, those drums and those saxophones and those horns, they all cost money. Oh, I'm sorry.

When your mama gets sick, when your daddy gets sick, you call the church. Can you come to the hospital and pray with my mama? Pray with my daddy. Somebody is getting paid to actually do that. We can go round and round whether we want to admit it or not. Church is indeed a business. There are costs associated with it. But I love these folk who sit here and say, Pastor, can you please pray for me? First Lady, can you pay for me? Deacons, can you pay for me? Elders, can you pray for for me and all that sort of stuff they don't ask

you for a fee to pray this ain't like creflo saying y'all help me buy a new jet this ain't like that trifling ass uh paula white saying oh give a thousand and god's gonna send you these seven specific blessings no it's a bunch of a whole bunch of unchurched folk who love running their miles. And you know what? Right now y'all getting in church business. You ain't got no business getting in church business if you don't go. The reality is this here. I may have an opinion on how said church does their business, but if I am not a member of that church, an attendee of that church, a tither of that church,

a love offering person of that church, I should mind my own damn business. But I really am sick and tired of folks in social media who always got something to say. I had some punk ass come on my Instagram. What about the $350,000 you got from the Kamala campaign? Dumbass, that was for advertising. But you don't say a damn

thing when ABC and NBC and CBS and MSNBC and Fox News and all of them get advertising. You don't say nothing when iHeart gets advertising, but Urban Radio, Radio 1, can't get advertising because y'all think black folks should work for free.

If white folk can get advertising, we can get advertising. If white folk can tithe and give at a conference, black folk can too as well. But see, it's a lot of people who always got something to say. I heard people on social media, look at that, he's a lot of people who always got something to say. I heard people on social media, look at that. He's wearing that Dior jacket. He's also a prominent gospel singer, a man who records all around the world, who's made millions of dollars. He can actually afford a Dior jacket, but most of y'all, your broke asses are sitting at home wearing Dior and Louboutins and you actually got a roommate in an apartment. But you got something to say. So here's Marvin Sapp having to come out here.

A man, by the way, who had a church, who had a school, who was paying for all of that, who was sitting there providing and helping people. Now he's got to come out and explain to folk what he did. He's now got to come on a radio show, and here's the whole deal. Marvin, you better than me because I know you, church, and that's all good. Let me tell y'all something.

People tell me, I don't, Roland, you be sitting here cussing. You a pastor. Let me be real clear. Roland Martin ain't no pastor. I ain't never wanted to be a pastor. I ain't never gone to school to be a pastor.

Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood Martin. She went to seminary. She's a pastor. She's ordained. I'm not. So I'm going to tell y'all right now. If I was Marvin Sapp, I would tell all y'all haters to kiss my entire ass. I wouldn't be explaining nothing to all of you fools, but I'm so tired of folk,

especially black folk as well, who ain't got no clue about nothing. I got some simple Simon Gisele ass on YouTube, broly. That's not the point. That is the point. You talking about what's the tone when you see some of y'all sitting here running your miles. Y'all ain't never had to raise money because, you know why? Y'all used to sit in your ass. They're getting freebies. I'm going to go ahead and go there. It's a whole bunch of y'all who comment on our YouTube channel. You ain't never sent no money. You never thought about sitting no money. But you got a whole lot to say about stuff you ain't never paid for So, you know what ends up happening? I don't like I don't like his tone

I don't like how he said that never said lock the doors never said y'all can't leave You don't know anything about that. You don't know if this was day one or day three of the conference You don't know if they didn't hit their goal on day one or day three of the conference. You don't know if they didn't hit their goal on day one or day two. See, I've actually been to various events. I remember the New York Urban League. I'm sitting here at the New York Urban League dinner and the guy gets up to raise some money. And I personally didn't think he was doing a great job. I was only there to present an award. And so I just happened to say out loud, do they have a goal? And the sister next to me said, well, no, we don't have a goal. And I said, baby, y'all should never raise money and not have a goal in mind. And so he's

sitting here talking and he's telling the room the cards are on the table. And if y'all could fill it out, take it home. And I was like I was like man you'll never let money lead a room No, they how you raise money so when he got done I went to the microphone and I told the dude it was I was presenting the war to a Geico executive I said brother, and I was asked to do this by Alfred Liggins the CEO of urban one I said I said my man take a seat. I got some work to do. I said, we about to raise $10,000 in 10 minutes. You know why I did that?

Because, see, I know it was a whole bunch of Negroes who were at that Urban League dinner who had a free ticket because they company bought the table. I knew they had not sold any seed in helping the Urban League raise any money. And so I began to raise some money. And so all of a sudden, the brother who was up there before me, he all of a sudden was some embarrassed. So he comes to me on the side. He goes, we were at 7,000.

He goes, my table has contributed 3,000. We now hit the goal. We can move along. And I said, hmm. I said, y'all, the brother said his table is giving $3,000. We can move along. I said, no, the new goal is $15,000. Raise the money in 10 minutes.

Joel Klein, who used to be the chancellor of New York Public Schools, Joel, Jewish, stands up and said when he got his award, he said, Roland, you're welcome at the synagogue anytime. Pick which Saturday you want to visit. He said, that was quite impressive. It was so crazy, y'all. The Urban League asked me to come back the next year to raise their money again. I politely declined.

It ain't the first time I've done that. You know why? Because when we're talking about churches, when we're talking about organizations, there's work that they actually do. I got somebody sitting here saying, Roland, you so mad. No, I ain't mad. I'm sad. I'm not mad. I'm sad. I'm sad because it's a lot of folk who got a lot of stuff to say who don't have any clue how things are constructed, how

things are paid. See, we love talking about what the black church needs to do. And the black church should be doing this here. And the black church should be doing that. And the black church should be doing this when it comes to home ownership. The black church should be doing this. The black church should be out here campaigning. We want the black church to do everything.

But how many people ever go, I wonder how much this stuff cost? Now, I get it. It's some charlatans out there, like that fool so-called bishop with that storefront church in New York who wore all designer stuff, who was stealing money, sitting his ass in federal prison. Oh, I get that. There's some other people who sitting here, they pastor very small churches that got barely any budget, but they drive in a Rolls Royce. Oh, I totally get all of that. But this this is stupid. This is silly. This is childish. And it's real simple.

If you one of those folk who don't go to church and you are atheist or you don't like any of them, that's fine. Mind your own business. But here's what I do know. There are church folk who are out here doing some amazing things every day. They literally are sitting here trying to feed a ton of people by breaking bread in half. They literally are out here trying to help folks stay clothed and help folks get into apartments and help folks not be homeless. I know many of these people. So maybe if you're one of those folks commenting and you don't like what Marvin Sapp did, let

me ask you a question. What church do you go to? And what is your church doing doing and what is your ministry? And the next time you want to ask a church person to pray for you when your husband leaves, when your wife leaves, when you lose your job, when you're on the verge of homelessness. I want you to understand that that person don't work for free. I'm not saying you should pay for a prayer, but here's what I do know. It's a bunch of church people who are out here truly doing the Lord's work for a small amount of money, and the last thing they need are a whole bunch of folks running they damn miles.

Marvin Sapp, I ain't had no problem with your tone. Marvin Sapp, I had no problem with you saying $20. And I got no problem, Marvin Sapp, with you telling people on the stage, y'all got to give more because there's a whole bunch of people love sitting on stage who love also riding for free. At some point, some folks need to shut the hell up and stay prayed up before you get cussed out.

Pastor Ben, I go ahead and get your thoughts. I had a feeling you might come to me first. Roland, you know, one, I want to appreciate and thank Marvin Sapp for him being willing to offer an apology for his tone. But nothing else that he said or did is problematic to me. I do, though, I do understand the sentiment. But I want to divide what I'm going to say from the blogs. First of all, with all due disrespect to a lot of those blogs, they're trash. And they're trash, and they're trash for the purposes of putting out stuff like this to cause division amongst the black community. So for any of these blogs that are continuously putting out this content without even putting out the proper information,

without giving any kind of substance, any type of journalistic integrity to what they're doing, and they're just stirring up mess. One of the things that God hates the most, according to the book of Proverbs, is those who cause so discord amongst the brethren. That's what those blogs are doing. That said, I also know there are a lot of churches that are doing fabulous things, but I feel like if we had more, and what do I mean by more? I feel like that there's something missing and it's missing from the black church because it really points to the fact that there's this huge gap between a lot of the culture and the black church.

We can't blame it all on the black church, but me being in the black church the way I am and working with them and coordinating with pastors, they're all seeing it. And they're all wondering, why is there this huge divide in this Gulf? I don't think it has anything to do with how they raise money. I don't think that's the problem, but I do believe it's a problem that has left an open gaping hole that these blogs are filling in. They are filling in our culture with a level of mess and discord and dissent and foolishness that our people gravitate towards. So we need more from the black church and we need more from the black church in the black culture. We need us to assert our voices.

Take those resources and assert our voices in that space, in the space where these lies come up, in the space where they are spreading misinformation. These are the same spaces that helped Donald Trump win this election. These are the same spaces that are helping spread all of the misinformation that we're dealing with. And I do believe that there's a role for the black church to serve in that specific capacity. So when I say more, it's nothing to do with how they raise money. It has everything to do with how we as black church leaders assert ourselves in the culture.

Here's the deal. When you talk about, first of all, the black church is broad. So the black church is way broad. It's extremely broad. So when I sit here and when some people talk about what the black church should be doing, no, it's what your church should be doing. See, so when I'm talking about the black church, I'm real clear on who's doing stuff and who isn't and what are they doing. And also, as somebody says, Arola, you should respect your viewers.

I donate monthly. But what, Max, I'm going to disagree with you? I'm going to disagree. On this one, I'm going to disagree. People are sitting here talking about, well, Marvin brought it on himself. No, he didn't. First of all, Marvin wasn't talking to Hollywood Unlocked. Marvin wasn't talking to the Jasmine brand. Marvin wasn't talking to Baller Alert. Marvin wasn't talking to the Shade Room. Marvin was in a church talking to a church conference and by

the way for all y'all folks running y'all miles the thousand who are watching online has it ever dawned on y'all at the fiber-optic line costs money the streaming equipment costs money the cameras cost money. The equipment cost upkeep costs money. That's why this thing is just so silly. It's silly. Somebody actually sat here and said, oh, they should budget better. Derek, that's the simpleton stuff that's absolutely ridiculous again, but it's

a lot of people running their mouths who don't even have any understanding of that. Money is raised at, I ain't never went to a church conference where that wasn't an offering. Every Sunday, Roland, we are raising money. You know, at the previous duty station, I served at a church

on their finance committee. And during those six years, I served on that finance committee, much of what you're talking about, the church took up a benevolent offering, which was separate and apart from tithing, and a general offering. And that benevolent offering was specifically to take care of those who were in need, pay light bills, utility bills. We got folks out of jail rolling with that benevolent offering. We help individuals

to pay their rent. We help soup kitchens purchase food to feed the hunger, right? And so there are a lot of things in addition to what you already described in terms of the operations of the church. And so every Sunday we were raising money. We call it benevolent offering. Here's the other point, too, Roland, and I appreciate Ben's perspective. This is to divide us and simply to go after the black universal church, because if black people do not have faith and trust in the Black church, the Black church is where we mobilize and organize when it's time to go vote. The Black church is where we conduct meetings. As you well know, Roland, the Black church is where we have conferences.

And so that is the central pillar of the Black community. And so if we no longer have faith and trust in the black church, our whole community will fall apart. And so they're going after the black church. This is the bank shot to divide us because they know it's the black church. In fact, we even have legislation right now, Roland, that says that they will penalize a black church if they get more than three individuals out of jail. Who do you think got Dr. King out of jail? Who do you think got Rosa Parks out of jail with a black church? And so I appreciate the point that you're raising and having this real conversation, because we need to make sure that the black church that's also under attack by way of Marvin Sapp. But they're trying to attack the black church. And so I appreciate you bringing light to this topic because we got to have a real conversation. And we're only 10 weeks into this Trump administration and so they're going after everything

black. And that includes the black church. You know, Mondale, somebody in the chat said, y'all gonna really regret this segment later. No, I'm not. Look, here's my thing. I challenge anybody who heard about this story

to say that they didn't hear from one of these viral moments and they didn't watch the entire clip. When you watch this entire clip, this is a nothing burger. Every priest, I haven't been to churches where they took three or four offers where they didn't meet their goal. And this was not church, this was a conference. Would it have been better

had this church charged people $500500 I bet you these same people Complaining than paying $500, $600 To go to a conference before I'm not upset about churches Raising money I am upset In this case with myself because you know what I heard people talking about it and I didn't Go do my work myself and that made me lazy

And I hate when I feel lazy And especially when you see Somebody doing so much. And what I saw in this brother, Marvin Sapp is not a person who gets uncomfortable in speaking. I saw a level of uncomfortability in him talking to Ricky Smiley that's not normal for him. And it was when he was talking about what he did for his last church. When you see this brother stumbling and stuttering, he's not like me. I talk so fast that I stutter all the time.

It is absolutely disgusting that this brother is in a position where he's walked away from his church years ago and never had to mention it and now has to mention it as a form of defense for what he's done and who he is to prove to people that he's not a thief from God. And that is tragic.

And all of these people who said that he could cut a record and raise that $40,000 himself don't really understand what it means to be Christian. God don't require one rich person to pay for all of us. There's love. The offering is part of being a Christian.

And I think that the fact that when you sit back and you understand the entire context, this is a conference and everybody raised money. And if they had a problem with his tone, I'm upset that he apologized for his tone. You should see how I fundraise. I talk shit to people when I'm raising money because I'm working to bring more black men into the political space. And that is not work that someone that is 45 should be doing in 2025.

And it is not work that is old, that the brothers who I'm trying to reach owe. It is work of everybody who has benefited from the systems and institution of white supremacy in America. So when I'm talking to people, I'm way more aggressive than shutting doors. I'm calling people out and telling them that money that they're sitting on, tens and twenties of millions of dollars they're sitting on, they don't own it. They owe it to black men because of white supremacy. So I think people are, the people that are complaining fall into one or two categories. They've never been to

a damn black church before or any church that raised money. And secondly, secondly, they have a grudge that they're trying to act with black institutions. And this is a wonderful way to get clicks and views on it. And I think all of them are disgusting. So, you know, I think the tragic part of this is neither one of those outlets that went

viral and got clicks or are going to get ad dollars off of this little silliness about this brother will go back and publish the entire clip and say, oh, yeah, we screwed up. He didn't say lock the doors. This was not a joke. This was not his church. He was raising money for somebody else. And now this brother's getting death threats and we should never joke when black men are getting death threats because people get killed for real. So, uh, I'm gonna do this. See, see, this is what happens. And this is not the same at all. Let me real clear. This, this is, this is not the same. I remember when I was at, when Reverend Jeremiah Wright, when his sermons came out and older folk lost their money.

And I'm on CNN and all the folk are sitting here. Everybody's talking about what Jeremiah Wright had to say. Everybody. And I was on the air at WVON radio. And I remember being on the air and I see it because it wasn't online because they had actually pulled stuff offline. So I then said, I need some members of Trinity to please bring me a copy of the sermons.

Because I wanted to hear the context of what Reverend Wright was preaching about. I was not going to go on CNN and react to what Sean Hannity posted.

And so what I then did was there were two sermons and I then listened to both sermons and I then did a deconstruction of Reverend Wright's sermons. I laid out the scripture that he was speaking of. I laid out what he was talking about. I laid out all that he had to say. And I wrote something up and I actually posted it on CNN's Web site. And I remember going on the air and then I remember John King was questioning me and I was interviewing Babe Buchanan and Babe Buchanan, they were like, well, what did he mean by this? What did he mean by that? I said, well, first of all, let me explain to y'all what he

was. Because see, first of all, these are people who had no concept of sermons. And then I remember Babe Buchanan saying, well, he was just up there. He was just loud and he was just yelling. I said, Babe, you obviously ain't never been to a church in the South. You obviously ain't never been to anywhere. Guys, freezing.

I said, I could show you a whole bunch of white preachers who have done the exact same thing. See, that's what you're dealing with. You got folk who always got something to say about any and everything. So what I need people to understand is that that entire night was a three-hour event. Let me say it again. That entire night of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., it was a three-day event. So this broadcast happened to be three hours and 39 minutes and five seconds.

So I didn't have to do this. I decided to do this. So here's what's going to happen. When we sign off of the show, I'm going to play the full sermon of Marvin Sapp that night. So I need, you're going to hear the introduction. I'm not going to play the whole three hours and 39 minutes, everything that happened before that. But I'm going to play for y'all the whole sermon.

So I ain't going to, see, I can't be like everybody else. See, I can't be like everybody else. See, I believe in context. I then want you to hear what Marvin Sapp had to say that night that led him to then call for the $40,000 offering. See, that's what happens when you understand context, when these things matter. Somebody sat here and said CarMax 202, we still ain't giving $20. Well, you don't have to give $20. Nobody's asking you. Nobody's demanding you give $20.

But you always got something to say about this very deal. Because here's what I do know. Again, I'm going to say it again. It's a lot of folk. Y'all always want the church to show up for you. And you ain't never ask yourself, when do I show up for the black church? Ben, Derek, Mondale, I appreciate y'all being on today's show. Thank you so very much. Let me just remind folk that when we talk about black institutions, why has the black church, I'm going to use that phrase, why has the black church been so powerful?

Because it has been the only place where black people have been able to get unfiltered truth that was not brought to us by anybody else. The black media is just as important. that was not brought to us by anybody else. The black media is just as important. See, I told y'all what King specifically said about the black church, about black media, what he said about black organizations, black institutions. See, what I need from us is to have an understanding of what is required in our community. What I need for us to understand that when we talk about how do we transform the

black community, King writes in Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos of Community, he writes, there are already structured forces in the Negro community that can serve as the basis for building a powerful united front. The Negro church, the Negro press, the Negro fraternities and sororities, and Negro professional associations.

We must admit that these forces have never given their full resources to the cause of Negro liberation. There are still too many Negro churches that are so absorbed in a future good over yonder that they condition their members to adjust to the present evils over here. Too many Negro newspapers have veered away from their traditional role as protest organs agitating for social change and have turned to the

sensational and the conservative in place of the substantive and the militant. Too many Negro social and professional groups have degenerated into snobbishness and a preoccupation with frivolities and trivial activities. So speaking as somebody who is a Christian, who's a member of the Negro church, who's a member of the Negro press, who's a member of a Negro fraternity, who's a member of Negro professional organizations, I'm just letting you know that we fully embrace what Dr. King is saying.

And our goal here at the Black Star Network is to be fully convicted and focus on the liberation of our people. That means using our means to do so. What it also means, though, we cannot be fully liberated. We cannot be fully unfiltered. We cannot be fully unapologetically black if somebody non-black is footing the bill for the work

that we do. Which is why our folk and our Bring the Funk fan club have given to us and said, you want to support what we do every single day, 365 Black. We don't celebrate Black History Month here because we do it 12 months out of the year. We don't celebrate

Black Music Month in June because we do it 12 months out of the year. So you want to support us, then you support us. And if you don't want to support us, then you don't support us. But we're going to always shout out the folk who do support us like Nehemiah did in Nehemiah chapter four. So if you want to join our Bring the Funk fan club, get your name on our crawl that runs every single Friday where we celebrate 52 weeks out of the year. The people that support us

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PayPal is rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle, roland at rolandsmartin.com, roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Be sure to get your Black Star Network Roland Martin unfiltered swag by going to our store, our merchandise. Go to RolandMartin.Creator-Spring.com. The QR code is right there as well. You can also, of course, support, get my book,

White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. And you can also get that book, get the audio version I read on Audible. Then, of course,

you can also download the app Fanbase. And you can also, if you want to contribute, be one of the investors, go to startedgy.com forward slash fanbase. And don't forget on April 11th, this is also what you fund. We are having a town hall in Raleigh, North Carolina

regarding St. Augustine's University, all the drama that is happening there. That will take place at a black church, Martin Street Baptist Church. No, I didn't pick it because my name is in it. But the alumni, the students, we're going to be focused on how do we successfully keep St. Augustine's going, but also require that accountability happens with the leadership there. That's taking place on April 11th. Doors open at 5 p.m. Open to the public.

We will stream on the Black Star Network. And so right now you will hear Pastor Marvin Sapp speaking at the Pentecost, the Assemblies of the Word, Inc. This took place July 23rd, 2024. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holler. Do you know who you are tonight? Do you know who you are tonight? 2024. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Hallelujah. Do you know who you are tonight? Do you know who you are tonight? It's time for the word of the Lord tonight.

I'm going to ask the Honorable Bishop from Texas to come and to introduce our speaker for tonight. He is very well acquainted with him. I ask the Honorable Bishop Richard E. Young to come at this time. Thank you, Brother Presider. I'm honored tonight, privileged to present. I don't need to introduce because I think everybody in here has heard of Marvin Sapp. And it is my privilege and honor tonight to present him to this awesome congregation to minister to.

I've had the privilege of knowing him probably since he was a teenager. We come up in the same church under the same leadership of the honorable bishop, late honorable bishop William C. Abney was our pastor. Yeah, some of y'all remember him. retire from pastoring in 2019, the Lord put this young man in my spirit, and I couldn't get away from it, and so

I asked him if he would succeed me as the senior pastor of the Chosen Vessel Cathedral in Fort Worth, and he accepted and has been the senior pastor at the Chosen Vessel Cathedral in Fort Worth for the last four years

and has done just a tremendous, I can't even describe the progress and the growth the church has had under his leadership. We love him and celebrate him. Bishop Satt is an anointed preacher who happens to be a singer. He's not a singer who preaches every now and then, but he is a preacher who happens to be able to sing. This dynamic man of God is the co-founder of the Lighthouse for Life Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is now the senior pastor of the Chosen Vessel Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Bishop Sapp is the vice presider

of the Global United Fellowship. In 2020, he established the Elv and Entertainment and Media, LLC, a global media and entertainment company. This company is comprised of media, recording, film, and television. Bishop Sapp has received 13 Grammy nominations, 24 Stella Awards. Two Soul Train. I wish I'd have had this before I called him to pastor my church.

But two Soul Train Awards. Two BET Awards. four Dove Awards, eight BMI Awards. His accomplishments are many. He was married to the beautiful Melinda Sapp. Bishop Sapp is the proud father of three children, Marvin II, Makila, and Madison. Bishop Sapp is an anointed, appointed by the Lord for this particular season that we end.

If you will, put your hands together and welcome this honorable anointed gift to the body of Christ, the honorable Bishop Marvin Lewis. Come on, make some noise. Some P-A-W noise.

The honorable Bishop Marvin L. Sapp. Great is thy faithfulness. Oh God, my Father, there is no shadow of turning within thou changest not thy compassions

they fail not as thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is God's faithfulness. Great is God's faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hands have provided Great is God's faithfulness O Lord, unto me. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 ¶¶ © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Father, we thank you tonight.

We honor you for this moment. We praise you for this opportunity. God, we honor you and we give you praise. Now, God, we pray that you would walk up and down each and every aisle, that you would hit each and every seat, that you would sit on each and every person. Do not allow them to leave here the same way they came into these doors. However, allow there to be a metamorphosis that takes place.

Throw your weight around. Execute your will and your authority in this house. Anoint me indeed afresh and anew, the anointing that causes teaching and preaching to be easy. For yokes will not be broken

because indeed broken things can be fixed. But yokes will be destroyed under the weight of your glory. God, we are already experiencing you. So God, we just ask that you would just do that which you do best, even that much the more.

Just show up and show out in this building. We have a spirit of expectancy, Lord God, and we believe that you're going to move mightily on our behalf. We thank you even now. We give you praise in the name of Jesus, we pray. And everyone in the building said, Amen. We greet you in the match of the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You may be seated in his presence, and we are grateful for this amazing opportunity

that the Lord has afforded us to be able to stand in this capacity. We are just grateful to God for giving us traveling mercies, bringing us safely. Together, once more and again, we worship him in the beauty of holiness. And I'm just honored to be able to stand here in this capacity. We give honor to our presiding prelate. Let's put our hands together for the Honorable Bishop Peter Brooks. Y'all can do better than that.

I said, let's celebrate our presider. We also thank God for the assistant presiding bishops that stand with him in ministry and to the presidium of bishops, the board of bishops, and just to all of you all, we greet you in the match name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I'm grateful tonight that our pastor emeritus

is with us. Amen. The honorable Bishop Richard E. Young. Amen. Who we absolutely love and adore. And the forever first ladies in the building. Thank God for her being here too. Somebody say, who's the forever first lady? That is none other than Lady Arlene Young.

Amen. And we thank God for her and for the family. And, you you know the fact that I'm in Fort Worth Texas now I never imagined that I would ever leave Grand Rapids Michigan and things are going well and the spirit of the Lord

just told me it was time to transition and shift and I tell people all the time it's easy to make a decision to leave something when you're 22 it's a little more difficult when you're 32 when you get 42 you really begin to consider and begin to weigh out all the options but when God tell you to move at 52 you better know it's God and I packed my bags and left all my furniture in Michigan. Still got three storage units worth of furniture in Michigan.

And I brought my cars and my clothes. I moved into an 800 square foot apartment. I can't get no help in here. I had a 7,000 square foot home in Michigan. And I moved into an 800 square foot apartment that wasn't even the size of my bedroom. And when I got down there, I was like, Lord, is this really you?

Is this really you? But it was him. And I take great pride and joy in being his successor. I'll say that one more time. I take great pride and joy in being his successor. I'll say that one more time. I take great pride and joy in being his successor.

And one of the things I've committed to his family is that they ain't got to worry about it. That we're going to make sure that we look out for him and we're going to take care of him and his lovely wife. Because I felt like

that's a part of my assignment. So I'm just grateful to God and I'm glad he's here with us, and I'm glad his lovely wife is here with us. And I'm not going to hold y'all long. Y'all been here for a period of time. But there is a word from the Lord tonight that I believe that I need to share. We thank God for Bishop Weeks, who is with us as well. And amen.

Dr. Smith, who has been a great, great, great, great friend. Our relationship is, it's a whole nother conversation. And then also to Bishop Noel Jones, who's in the building as well. Thank God for him. The word of the Lord tonight is found in a very familiar passage scripture. I wonder if you would just go with me to Psalms chapter number 30. Psalms chapter 30. I'm an expository preacher. In other words, I like to deal directly with the text upon my completion of exegeting the text to the best of my ability. I go to my seat. So if you would just grab your Bibles quickly and go to Psalms 30 and stand to

your feet and reverence to the reading of the word of God. I'm a very strong believer. Whenever the word of God is read, we should stand. Let me tell you why. It's amazing to me that whenever a judge walks in the door, we have to stand in reverence of his or her office. If we don't stand in reverence of their office, we can be found in contempt of court,

fined and or thrown in jail. And I just believe if I can stand for somebody who didn't die so that I can live, I ought to be able to stand for the word of God for a few moments. The only ones that should be sitting are those who are physically unable to stand. If you're physically unable to stand, I understand.

Note what the writer declares in the King James version, Psalms chapter 30. We're going to look at one through five. When you get there, just say, I got it. The writer declares, I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up

and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord, my God, I cry unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave. Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness for his anger. Endureth but a moment. In his

favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. If I could, Dr. Smith, I want to look at verse number five, because that's what I want to try to extrapolate my thought from tonight. The writer declares, for his anger endureth but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may. I want you to underline that word may. Endure for a night, but joy cometh. Underline the word cometh in the morning. For as anger endureth but for a moment in his favor his life, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Just because I need to tag this text with a particular title tonight, I want to just talk

to you all from this particular thought for a few moments. I just want to talk from the thought temporary tears, temporary tears. Just look at somebody and tell them your crying days are over. I wish I had some real help tonight. Just look at somebody else and tell them, say neighbor, your crying days are over. Some of y'all still looking at me me I need y'all to help a man of God look at somebody and smile at him and tell him say your tears are temporary God told me to tell you that your crying days are over now if you believe that prophetic word over your own life why don't you put your hands together and give God a quick praise as you go to your seat. Temporary tears. Temporary

tears. Understand you hear my dear brothers and my dear sisters, all of you, all of you who is a part of the household of faith, indeed, because of his death, his burial, as well as his resurrection, which has in turn made us all heirs and again, joint heirs. I've learned, family,

that one of the most difficult questions to ask God in times of trouble, one of the most difficult questions to ask God in times of trial, one of the most difficult questions Evangelist Riley to ask God in times of trial. One of the most difficult questions Evangelist Riley to ask God in times of difficulty is the question, why? Why am I going through the situation that I'm going through? Why am I in dealing with the circumstance that I'm dealing with? Why have I been faced with this particular challenge

that I'm being faced with? One of the most difficult questions to ask God in the time of challenge, in the time of struggle, in the time of hardship, is the question, why? But I began to realize, beloved brothers and sisters, I began to realize at first I thought without question that that was probably the most difficult question. But then I began to realize that there is even one that is even more difficult than that. The question that is far more difficult than the question why is the question why now? Out of all the times when this could have happened, The question why is the question why now? Out of all the times when this could have happened,

out of all of the times when this should have happened, out of all of the times when these ordeals decided that they wanted to come into my life, why in the world did they have to happen now. The fact of the matter is, is that if I would have got the information on the front of this particular situation, I would have at least been able to prepare for it. I would have at least been able to position myself so that it wouldn't have shaken me that the way it's just shaking me. I would have at least been able to put myself in a position where I could handle the situation a little better but because it came out of nowhere now I find myself in a place and in a posture where I'm shook and don't know how I'm going to get through it Lord why in the world did this have to happen to me now? Perhaps, beloved brothers and sisters, many of you all have been taught that it is spiritually wrong

to ask God why must we endure certain trials. However, I am reminded that God, the God that we serve, that he is a loving and caring father who does not, without question, abandon his children in their quest for understanding. When the seasons of life suddenly and abruptly change, he knows, beloved brothers and sisters, that we as individuals have feelings. And he knows that the changing of life circumstances, that they will offer the licit reactions from us, some good and some the result of our human natural inclination just to want to understand why. I've learned that maybe

you've learned already beloved brothers and our sisters that our God has not designed life to be experienced in a vacuum but he has designed the life if you will to be experienced in an environment where he is the only real constant. The fact of the matter is that our character is often sorely tested without warning. And we are often, if you will, at a loss of words to even understand or even to describe our situations. So when we find ourselves in positions where we can't explain it and we can't share with people why we are where we are and why we are going through what we're going through, What usually happens is that we just shrug our shoulders and without having the words to say, we'll look at people and just declare and decree that stuff happens. Sometimes I've learned what we do, beloved brothers and sisters, is that we seek refuge in the port of human hurt.

And when we seek refuge in the port of human hurt, we end up questioning, if you will, the unfairness of it all. And with tears just rolling down our faces, we just begin to sit in silence and, or we begin to sit in the corner and we just begin to declare, God, why in the world is this happening to me? Now, given the inescapable fact that we must not only go through trials in life but also that we must tackle everything that we go through it is easy for us to feel beloved brothers and sisters as if we are being treated unfairly and many times when we feel this way we won't say it out loud we won't declare it in the atmosphere, but we'll think it. We'll think it and we'll begin to converse with ourselves because of the simple fact that we are

facing so many challenges. We may not say it out loud, but we feel like giving up. And many of you under the sound of my voice that is sitting here, that you, you're hearing what I'm saying and I realize that I may not be talking to everybody and I'm a slow starter but I promise y'all we gonna get there before the night is over many of you all may not say it out loud and many of y'all that have come here tonight you may not want to be honest about it but that's where you are you're in a position and you're in a place because you've been challenged on every level because you are dealing with stuff that you didn't know how it even came into your life.

You're sitting back saying to yourself, I didn't sow this so I shouldn't have to reap this. So this doesn't make sense that I'm dealing with some of the issues and some of the challenges that I'm dealing with. And God, I just literally feel like giving up. Many of you have come here tonight and you came to this particular convention and you said before you left your house, God, if I can't get a word this week, I promise you this may be the last time I show up. This may be the last time I make any type of

effort. God, if you don't come in and deal with this situation quick, fast, and in a hurry. I feel like I am about to just throw in the towel. And the truth of the matter is, is I want you to understand, beloved brothers and sisters, without anything, I want you to understand that that is where the enemy wants you. The enemy wants you in a position. He wants you in a place where you feel like giving up. And I've learned, beloved, that when we get to that place where we feel like giving up, what ends up happening is, is that we end up allowing despair to lead us to a place called depression.

And can I pause here to tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, that in this particular season, that is where the enemy is trying to get you. He's not trying to discourage you anymore. He's trying to let that doggone despair take you to a place of depression. He wants the anxiety that you are dealing with. He wants the challenges that you are dealing with to cause you to think and or believe that where you are right now is the planned place of destiny of God for your life. And he recognizes, catch this, that if he gets you to a place called depression,

that you will stop seeking after God because your focus will not be seeking God. Your focus will be seeking pity from people that don't even have the power to deliver you y'all gonna get it in a few minutes I feel like preaching I hope y'all praying with me so what the enemy is trying to do now beloved brothers and sisters is he's not trying to get you to a place of despair anymore because he understands that discouragement if you will in despair that you can be encouraged it's easy for us to find encouragement in this particular season. All you got to do is just pick up your cell phone, go to Facebook, go to Instagram, go to Twitter.

There has, there are always some form of encouragement, some form of affirmation that is at your disposal. Y'all looking at me like y'all don't know what I'm talking about. If you get discouraged, you can always pick up the phone and call somebody. Somebody somewhere will have a word of encouragement for you. As a matter of fact, even during our sermon moments, even during our times of preaching, we may have you touch somebody, tap somebody, rub on somebody, look at somebody, point in somebody's face and speak a word over your life there is always a place a moment in time when God will send encouragement and or you can seek and or find encouragement and that's why the enemy is trying to get you past the whole point of discouragement and trying

to get you to a place called depression because depressed people they just want to walk around looking crazy y'all ain't gonna talk to me depressed people just want to walk around looking crazy y'all ain't gonna talk to me depressed people just want to walk around looking as if they don't have a friend in the world depressed people just want to walk around and they want to feel like they're hopeless and helpless but I stopped by here to tell you beloved brothers and or sisters that this is not the season for you to believe what the enemy has told you this is the season for you to believe what the enemy has told you. This is the season for you to make a conscious decision that I refuse to believe the report of the enemy. I refuse to believe the things that he's trying to get me to believe about myself. I refuse to allow myself to be stuck in a position

and a place where I'm going to believe the lies that have been spoken over my life. Whose report are you going to believe I I choose to believe the report of the Lord and the report of the Lord says that I'm the head and I'm not the tail the report of the Lord says I'm above only and I'm not beneath the report of the Lord says that I'll be a lender and not a follower is there anybody in the house of God tonight that understands that if you're going to rise above your circumstances that your mentality has to rise first so it's imperatively important beloved brothers and sisters that you understand without anything else what the enemy is striving to do he's trying to get you to a place called

depression yet yet yet i suggest to you beloved brothers and sisters i suggest you today that god god in his infinite wisdom and knowledge in your situation, in your circumstance, in your dilemma, that he has literally created a built-in purpose for each trial that he allows in your lives. Even those that seem to hurt so much, God has a purpose and a plan for it. And can I pause here to tell you what God does? What God does, and I want you to catch you what God does what God does and I want you to catch this family what God does is that God uses our trials thank you Holy Ghost as opportunities for us watch this to embrace moments of greatness for I've learned that true greatness is defined by one's desire to serve Christ in the midst of crises and not just on the mountaintop. In other words,

what I want you to understand is that I've learned, family, I've learned that it's easy for us to praise and to worship and to magnify and to glorify God when everything in our lives is going great. I've learned that it's easy for us to magnify and to glorify God when everything in our lives is going the way that we plan for them to go. It's easy for us to give God glory when we got checks that's coming in the mail and we got money in the bank and our children are doing everything that we need them to do and our wives and our husbands, we're on great terms and we got two cars in the garage and hold up, we got a garage. I can't get no help here.

But it's easy for us to praise God when everything is going the way that we plan for it to go but the true test of your relationship with him is not when everything is going the way you plan but the true test of your relationship with God is can you worship magnify glorify and live a life that is alignment with him when they foreclose on your house? Can you can you live a life that is is conducive and magnify God the way he deserves even when they take your car, when your children are cutting the food, when your relationship with your husband and your wife is in turmoil? Can you open up your mouth and give God the glory that he deserves then because the true test of your relationship with him is not just in mountaintop

experiences but the true test of your relationship is can I give God the glory he deserves even when all hell is breaking loose in my life and I just want to pause here because some of y'all came here in the midst of a hellacious situation. And you showed up wondering if you were going to get out before you go back home. And God sent me by here to tell me if you act like you out, I can't get no help at this house. He says if you act like you out, when you get home, you will be out. You need to understand that it's a faith move before it's a manifestation. So understand, beloved brothers and sisters, understand, understand that the greatest, the greatness, true greatness is rather defined by our desire to serve Christ in the midst of crisis

and not just on the mountaintop. However, beloved, the key thing that we must remember is that God is doing something in us through our trials if you don't remember anything that I said to you tonight remember that even as you go through God is in it with you I'm gonna say that one more time just for me I said even as you go through God is in it with you and you need to understand that his ultimate goal is to build a creature that is complete and entire in his relationship with his creator. And that is why the apostle James, the blood brother of Jesus, he dropped a bombshell, if you will, in his letter to the beliefs of that day in James chapter number one and

verses two through verse number four. Nobody declares, he says, my brethren, I love this text. He says, count it all joy. Thank you, Holy Ghost. When you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith that it worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that he may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. Notice, notice if you will, Dr.. Smith verse number two is what I love.

Because when I begin to look at verse number two. Note if you will what James says. James says count it all joy when you fall and not if you fall. Y'all missed it. I saw it go past you. I want you to understand that every last one of you under the sound of my voice. If you don't remember anything that I said tonight remember this that you have an appointment with failure God is quiet in this Presbyterian

church but I feel like preaching anyway I said look at your neighbor and say you got an appointment with failure I know you may think you all that in a bag of chips but you got an appointment with failure don't walk around here acting like you ain't never did nothing like you ain't never been through nothing don't act like you ain't never failed slipped up tripped up you got an appointment with failure simply put that if you ain't had your appointment your appointment is still in the works and that's why it's easy for us in this season or it should be easy for us in this season to show grace and mercy to our brothers and our sisters because when we show grace and mercy to our brothers and our sisters when they slip up mess up and trip up that simply means that we got some grace and some mercy that's going to be

released our way stop looking down your nose at people funny when they mess up and tell them but for the grace of God they're gone y'all they go help me preach but I feel like preaching anyway understand beloved brothers and sisters you got appointment with failure appointment with failure appointment with failure that's why he says to count it all joy not if but when you fall into diverse temptations in other words he's declaring that we should expect hard times he he tells us that followers of Christ that they're not exempt from troubles of this world but note if you will that God God doesn't leave us out there God God doesn't leave us out there God does not does not promise if you will to take us out of the trials he does not promise if you

will to take us out of the struggle but what he does promise is that he will be with us in them and that's that's the most exciting thing about when I go through stuff I'm excited because people may be some timey and they may distance themselves from me when stuff begins to get difficult but I can stand firm and know that even though I may be by myself, I'm not alone. I can't get no help. Even though I may be by myself, I'm not alone. Why don't you touch your neighbor? That's a good place to touch your neighbor and tell him, say, I'm by myself, but I'm not alone. And the reason why I know I'm not alone, because if God be for me, I can't get no help. He's more than the world against me and I recognize that as long as

I got God on my side if you walk off and leave me if you walk off and dismiss me if you walk off and disconnect from me it makes no difference because me and God are still the majority I wish you would just touch your neighbor and tell him say you're not in this by yourself you might be standing by yourself but you're not in this by yourself because you got a God that sits high and looks low who's omniscient who's omnipresent he's everywhere at the same time I wonder is there anybody other than me that can feel him right now just look at somebody tell him I feel him right so you need to understand beloved brothers and sisters that God

does not promise to take us out of the trial. He doesn't promise to take us out of the struggle but he does say that he's going to be with us in it. Notice notice that James also says beloved brothers and sisters that the trials of the testings that we are facing are not in our lives to destroy us but but they're in our lives to develop us and to strengthen us that's why you don't need to run from your trouble look look at somebody speak to them speak to them real fast and tell them stop running from your struggle y'all y'all ain't hearing me tell them tell them say stop running from your struggle why why bishop because I want you to understand that it's only in your

life to strengthen you y'all ain't getting me no help in here it's only in your life to strengthen you. Y'all ain't getting me no help in here. It's only in your life to build you. It's only in your life to make you better. So finally, brothers and sisters, James, he also says that when we understand the big picture, when we understand the big picture, then we ought to be able at that particular point in time to rejoice. Not with a weak and sincere praise the Lord, but with a sense of gladness welling up from deep within us we should be able to lift our hands and bless God because we understand

watch this that he is working it out in us but not only is he working it out in us but he's also working it out for us which leads us beloved brothers and sisters which takes us if you will to the historical event that caused David to pin these particular words, which is our subject text. Understand what's happening at this particular point in time because the Bible begins to let us know that this occasion for this particular psalm, that it was for the dedication of the temple and after a time of military success just to lay some background

and give you all some history about this the bible begins to let us know that David's pride that it got the best of him and the bible goes on and declares that he decides that he would conduct if you will a census of the people of Israel in order to glory in the greatness of his kingdom the bible goes on and begins to let us know in 1 Chronicles chapter number 21 and verse number 1 that he is told specifically that Satan, that he rose up against Israel and literally excited David to take a census. And not only did he rise up and take a census, but David was warned, if you will, by the general of the army Joab that this would be

displeasing to God but David overruled him and had him conduct the census anyway and the Bible begins to let us know that God is extremely disappointed in David's decision because David did what Satan told him to do rather than listening to what God told him to do. So then the Bible says that God decides that he's going to discipline David and in disciplining David for his act of pride, God decides I'm going to discipline you but I'm going to give you a choice of your punishments. I got to pause here because that's deep to me. Because I always used to wonder why it was that my mother gave me options as it pertains to what she was going to whoop me with. Y'all missed it. I saw it go past you. I used to wonder why in the world did mama give me options?

She would say, you can either get it with this belt, you can get it with this extension cord, y'all ain't talking to me. You can go out to the house and go outside and bring me three switches so that I can braid them babies together. So I can, y'all looking at me strange. But as I begin to read this text, I begin to realize exactly where my mama got it from. She got it from God. Because the Bible says that God gives David three options as it pertains to his punishment. The first option that he gives him is he says, you can take three years of famine.

And then God says, or you can do three months, if you will, of being swept away by your enemies with the sword overtaking you. And then he said, but the third option is three days of the sword of the Lord, days of plague in the land with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel. The Bible begins to blow my mind because Scripture declares that David chooses the three days of plagues. However, beloved brothers and sisters sisters as I begin to do my study in this particular passage I begin to understand that in the middle of the three days the Bible begins to let us know that the Lord was grieved because of the calamity and said to the

angel who was destroying the people enough withdraw your hand and the Bible says that at that moment the angel of the Lord was standing at the threshing floor with with a sword in his hand ready to strike the city of Jerusalem with a plague and the Bible says that David looks up oh thank you Jesus and when he looks up he saw the angel of the Lord standing between the heaven and the earth with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem and the Bible begins to let us know that David paused and began to pray to God. Note what he says in his prayer. He says, was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? He says, I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. He said, these are but sheep. He says, what have they done?

Oh, Lord, my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family. But do not let this plague remain on your people. Can I pause here to tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, that this is what's so amazing about this text. What's so amazing about this text is how God shows us how one man's bad decision can affect everybody that he's connected to. Okay, I'm going to pause here for a few moments and let that sink in. It shows us how one man's bad decision, how one man's prideful decision, how one man's ego can mess up for everybody else and that's why can I pause here to talk to some leaders in the house I want you to understand beloved that no matter what God does in your life remain low I can't get no help here I don't care how God causes you to ascend I don't care how God gives you platforms and has your name before people.

Make a decision that no matter what God does in your life, that you don't take none of his glory, but you make a decision and say, all the glory belongs to God. Just look at somebody and tell them, say, all the glory belongs to him. I wish you would tell your neighbor one more time, all the glory belongs to him. And the Bible begins to let us know, beloved brothers and sisters, that David, David, David, David, David is in a precarious position because after he prays, after he intercedes, if you will, on the behalf of the people in response the bible told the bible says that

God told David through the prophet Gad if you will to build an altar on the threshing floor the bible begins to let us know that David purchases the site and that he builds an altar of the Lord and he commands as the Lord had commanded and the bible says that he sacrifices a burnt offering and not only does he sacrifice a burnt offering, but he also sacrifices a fellowship offering. Just touch your neighbor and tell him, say, Bishop is going somewhere. Then the Lord, the Lord, the Bible says he accepted his sacrifices and answered David with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offerings as it declares in first chronicles chapter number 21 and verse number 26 and this is where the psalmist is in our text because you need to understand if you will the backdrop and the reasoning behind David writing what he wrote here the psalmist

is reflecting on what has transpired. He's reflecting on his decision. He's reflecting on him being in a precarious position because of his ego. He's reflecting on the fact that because of the decision that he made, it put the people that were submitted to him in a bad place and then when God delivers out of that particular position particular situation the Bible declares that David writes this psalm of thanksgiving or rather this todah psalm and he starts by saying four words what does he say Bishop Marvin I'm so very glad you asked me he said the words I will extol thee. Understand that the phrase, I will, the phrase, the phrase, I will, it is one word in the Hebrew aspect of scripture. And that word, I will, it literally means to think.

It means to meditate or then and then to resolve. Again, when he said, I will, it literally means to think. It means to meditate deeply. And then it means to resolve. Understand that this phrase speaks of agreement and unification of the outward man working in harmony with the outward man. That this phrase, I will, it speaks conclusively and harmoniously about the totality of our inner man. It speaks to the union of our hearts, our minds, our spirits, and our physical frame. When David says, I will, it is a phrase that speaks literally about all of me. Because I may, I might, or I should, it leaves the possibility for doubt and speculation to speak in. But when he says, I will will it literally slams the door

emphatically with a kind of dogmatic emphasis look at somebody and say I will when he says I will he says that I've thought about it but I have come to a full resolve and now I have no reservation I have no hesitation nor do I have any procrastination about the matter. David says, I will. And when he says, I will, it is a phrase, if you will, that speaks about our feelings, our focus, and our faith, shaking hands at the table of collaboration and mutual agreement. David says that literally that I am rock solid and that I am fully resolved to do one thing

after reflecting on all that I have done and that is when I look at what I've done and when I look at what God has done for me I've made up in my mind that I only have one option and that option is to extol thee notice if you will that the word extol beloved brothers and sisters in the Hebrew aspect of scripture it simply means to raise or to lift up or to make a loud noise in other words what David is saying is after I've thought about what I did and not only when I thought about what I did but when I thought about what God has done for me when I thought about the decisions that I made that may not have been the right decisions to make but I still look at the fact that God in his infinite wisdom and knowledge

decided not to hold it against me. I got one choice and one focus in mind and that is to open up my mouth and to lift up my voice and to make a loud noise. See, some of y'all, y'all ain't never did nothing. That's why you act in the way you act. But the truth of the matter is, is that if you would just take a few moments and reflect on all the mess that nobody saw but God. If you would just take a few moments and reflect on all the foolishness and the botchery that you had did that nobody saw but God. If you would just take a few moments and reflect on all the foolishness and the botchery that you had did that nobody saw but God. If you would just take a few moments and reflect on the fact that you are a filthy rag and that you are unworthy to even be in this sanctuary today.

Something on the inside of you ought to make you open up your mouth and just bless God because he gave you another chance just look at somebody and tell them say I'm grateful for another chance that's what David is saying David is saying that I'm grateful for another chance and that's where we should be as believers beloved brothers and sisters after we have thought about it after we have weighed out and pondered the matters in deep meditation, we should conclude, if you will, that from the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, that the God of our salvation, that he is worthy to be praised. After we have itemized and after we have

analyzed our lives, we should conclude, beloved brothers and sisters, that he's been better to us than we've been to ourselves so after our feelings and our focus and our faith have all been factored in our resolve should be to praise and to exalt him without any restriction I wonder are there any unrestricted praisers in the house? Oh god is quiet in this episcopalian church I'm gonna say it one more time. I wonder are there any unrestricted praisers in other words? I don't need no music To praise the god of my salvation. You ain't gotta give me no track The fact of the matter is is that you don't know the hell I had to come through

And if I don't praise him, I just may cuss you out. If I don't praise him, I just may go off. If I don't praise him, I just may, I'm going to extol him. I'm going to extol him. I'm going, I'm going to extol him. But then as I begin to look at this particular passage of scripture as I begin to look at this picture in particular passage of scripture uh bishop and bishop Nelson I know I'm about to do something wrong but I note if I will note if you will that

there are two points that I need to pull out the text now I know I'm supposed to pull three out but but but I'm just going to grab two just for the sake of time tonight because David begins to show us he begins to give us if you will two specific reasons for this worship moment he says now I'm reflecting I'm reflecting on what God has done for me in spite of what I did to him in spite of my disobedience and in spite of me not doing it the way that he wanted me to do it and now I'm reflecting on this because I need to share two reasons why this moment of worship at this particular time is significant and needed without the two reasons Bishop Marvin I'm so very glad you asked me, because number one, he says that the reason

for his praise is because of his awareness that God had raised him up. Oh, God is quiet here. He says, the reason for this praise is because of my awareness that God has raised me up. Prove it to me. It's right there

in the text. Just go to verse number two. If you go to Psalms chapter 30, verse number two, know what the writer says. He says, oh Lord, my God. Thank you. Thank you. He says, I cried unto thee and thou has healed me. He says, oh Lord, thou has brought up my soul from the grave. He goes on and says, thou has kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit

understand understand understand beloved brothers and sisters that the Hebrew word used for the words brought up even though it's two words in our Bible it's only one word in the original text and it is the same word catch this that is used it's the same word the same word to use that means if you will to draw up a bucket out of a well or a pit I'm gonna say that one more time because that's good all by myself I say it is the same word that's used to talk about how a how a bucket is pulled up from a well or pulled up from a pit. In other words, the psalmist, beloved brothers and sisters, he's saying that the reason why I'm going to lift a praise to God,

he's saying the reason why I'm going to lift a praise to God, the reason, the reason why I'm going to lift a praise to God is simply because he has lifted me y'all missed it I saw go past you David says the reason why I'm going to lift a praise to God is because God has lifted me he describes if you will his situation metaphorically as if he was trapped and deep in a hole like water in a well. And then what the psalmist is saying is the psalmist says that God literally reached way down into that well that was dark and that he could not scale himself out of and lifted him up out of his crises and or his condition. Okay, let me make it a little more practical.

Because some of y'all can understand it. But let me make it more practical. Some of you all under the sound of my voice remember when you got so caught up you didn't know how you was going to get out. Oh, God is quiet again. You were so caught up that you didn't know how you were going to make it. You were so caught up you didn't know how you were going to get out of this situation. And it was dark and you couldn't climb out of it. You couldn't scale your way out of it.

But aren't you glad that God loved you so much that even when you couldn't get out of the situation in your own strength and with your own ingenuity, aren't you glad that God reached down and pulled you out of some stuff that you could not pull yourself out of? Just look at somebody and tell them, say, I'm glad he pulled me out. Some of y'all still looking at me.

I said, look at your doggone neighbor and say, I'm glad that God pulled me out. Okay, some of y'all still spiritual. Okay, let me come down your street even that much the quicker. Some of y'all ought to be glad that when he was pulling you out, he was covering you at the same time. Look at your neighbor and say he pulled and covered. Y'all looking at me strange. Because the reality is, is that the only reason why you still have influence is because he pulled and covered. The only reason why folk listen to your testimony is because he pulled and covered. The only reason why some of us are sitting on this dais tonight is because he pulled and covered.

Everybody in this house ought to lift up your hands and give God glory because he was pulling and covering all at the same time. Can I preach like I feel like preaching? So understand, beloved brothers and sisters, he's describing his situation. He's saying the reason why I'm praising God because the truth of the matter is, is that he was pulling me and covering me so he can maintain my influence. Ah, beloved brothers and sisters, but that's not the only reason and I'm almost finished because I got seven minutes and 23, 22, only reason and I'm almost finished because I got seven minutes and 23 22 21 seconds and I'm almost finished but he says the first reason why I'm giving God glory is because of the simple fact that I recognized that he raised me up out of

some stuff that I couldn't get myself out of I got myself in it but I couldn't get myself out of it God that's good we're all by myself I might want to stay there a little longer I said I got myself in it, but I couldn't get myself out of it. God. That's good wrong by myself I might want to stay there a little longer. I said I got myself in it, but I couldn't get myself out of it Y'all looking at me strange one more time one more time I got myself in it, but I couldn't get myself out of it And what's a trip is is that God saw it all the time? He saw me getting in it. He knew I couldn't get myself out of it. But thanks be to God, I had enough sense to cry out to him.

See, some of y'all, the reason why you still stuck, because even when you get in it, you don't cry out to him. But I stopped by here to encourage somebody tonight to tell you that you may be down, but you ain't out. All you got to do is just say like the old saints father i stretch my hand to thee there's no other help i know understand what's happening here now beloved because as we begin to read this particular passage of scripture it's amazing to me that the text begins to reveal to us that the reason why

david give god praise in the beginning is because of the simple fact that he recognizes that God has raised him up. But then there's the second reason as I rush to my clothes. The second reason, beloved brothers and sisters, that David says that I'm going to praise God is he says, I'm praising God, catch this, because he has not allowed my enemies to rejoice or get the victory over me. That's good all by myself. I'm going to say it again. He says, I'm giving God glory because he has not allowed, if you will, my enemies or my foes to get the victory over me. Not even to rejoice over me. Prove it to me, Bishop Marvin Bishop Marvin is right there in Psalms

chapter 30 just look at verse number one beloved brothers and sisters he says I will extol thee oh lord but thou has lifted me up y'all got it and has not made my foes to rejoice over me understand beloved brothers and sisters, if you have not learned this yet, you should have learned it by now. And if you haven't learned it by now, I'm about to give you some important information. The information I need to give you is the fact that real enemies,

they never sleep, family. They never sleep. They plot, they plan, and they scheme and dream of ways to try to bring you down I'm talking about real enemies y'all real enemies aren't happy unless you are sad they love to hear that you are struggling they love to hear and to see you cry but what blew my mind is when I begin to look at this bishop mark and I looked at the word foes in the original Hebrew. And I've learned that the word foes in the original Hebrew simply means one who hates.

So David is saying, beloved brothers and sisters, he says, the reason why I praise God, I praise God for my deliverance from my haters who have planned my demise. Do you not know, beloved brothers and sisters, that there are some people that are sitting close to you even as we speak? They smiling in your face, always trying to take your place. Y'all can't help me. They're backstabbers. Y'all got folks sitting next to you, folks that you flew here with, folks that you in

the room with. Y'all ain't gonna talk to me. They don't want to see you accomplish. They don't want to see you succeed. Y'all looking at me strange. There are people that are in your life who have literally been assigned to try to keep you down, you down, you down. This is an iHeart Podcast.