#RolandMartinUnfiltered - LA's Cancer Alley, Manson's Takeover Remains, Nashville's Reverse Racism, The White Dress Project

Episode Date: April 19, 2022

4.18.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: LA's Cancer Alley, Manson's Takeover Remains, Nashville's Reverse Racism, The White Dress Project The Environmental Protection Agency has launched several civil rights investigations over air pollution in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley."  That's between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where a quarter of the nation's petrochemical production occurs. We'll talk to the president of the Concerned Citizens of St. John Parish, that says there permits granted in the highly polluted industrial corridor are discriminatory. The fight continues for Mason, Tennessee, as a judge denies to reinstate control of the majority-black town's finances to its leadership.  For now, the state comptroller will continue to hold the purse strings.   Also, in Tennessee, the state Senate gives final approval to a Black history bill requiring state public schools to integrate Black history and culture into the social studies curriculum for grades five through eight.  All it needs is the governor's signature. A white Nashville councilwoman is kinda being called a racist for describing white people as white. Florida's State Board of Education rejects over 40-percent of textbook submissions saying they promote CRT. Former Superbowl Champion Marshawn Lynch is taking up hockey - as a minority owner. And in our Fit, Live Win segment, we're talking about fibroids.  We'll meet one woman who turned her own medical story into an awareness mission called "The White Dress Project."   Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� Okay, I got it. Tell them. Hey, hey, folks. Today's Monday, April 18, 2022.

Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network broadcasting from Fisk University. The Environmental Protection Agency has launched several civil rights investigations unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network broadcasting from Fisk University. The Environmental Protection Agency has launched several civil rights investigations over air pollution in Louisiana's Cancer Alley. That's between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where a quarter of the nation's petrochemical production takes

place. We'll talk with the president of the concerned citizens of St. John Parish about these investigations. Also, the fight for Mason, Tennessee continues. That is the largely black city taking over their finances by the state comptroller. For now, the comptroller says he will hold, he will continue to hold the purse strings

in Mason, Tennessee. Also in Tennessee, the state senate gives final approval to a black history bill requiring state public schools to integrate black history and culture into the social studies curriculum for grades five through eight. All it needs is the governor's signature. Also, white Nashville councilwoman,

well, she's kind of been called a racist for describing white people as white. Also, Florida State Board of Education rejects more than 40% of textbook submissions for math claiming they contain critical race theory. Yeah, I know, it's crazy. Also, folks, former Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch

is taking up hockey as a minority owner. Plus, in our FitLive win segment, we'll talk about fibroids. We'll meet one woman who turned her own medical story into an awareness mission called the White Dress Project. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network, live from Fisk University in Nashville, let's go.

He's got it, whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland, Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's on go, go, go, yo.

It's rolling, Martin, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah He's punk, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin Now Martin All right, folks, glad to be with you from Fisk University here in Nashville, Tennessee. Folks, let's talk about Cancer Alley in Louisiana.

It is an area that has been talked about for quite some time because of the high concentration of cancer cases coming out of this particular area. It is a corridor along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. More than 150 industrial facilities that produce a quarter of the nation's petrochemicals. Now, folks, this here is a look at all the petrochemicals produced in the area, an area that primarily houses African Americans. The Environmental Protection Agency, they are now investigating this area. Louisiana State Agency is also investigating the Louisiana agencies

to determine if the permits these companies were granted in the highly polluted industrial corridor violated the civil rights of African-Americans. Joining us right now is Robert Taylor. He is the president for the Concerned Citizens of St. John Parish. Joining me from Reserve, Louisiana. Glad to have you with us, Robert. Lay out for us exactly how significant this problem is in Cancer Alley. Thank you for having me, Roland. It's almost difficult to put it in words, Roland. I live in a community that's adjacent to a plant. Well, not adjacent. The plant was dumped on us back in the early 60s without us having any input into it. They violated all the rules and regulations in permitting these kind of plants.

And when they chose this community, we have an elementary school with 500 black children, 1,500 feet from the fence line of this horrible chemical-emitting plant. And as a result of the last 50 years of that plant's assault on the poor people of that community, especially in census tract 708, but the entire parish of 45,000 people, the results have been terrible. We see it in the cancer rates and the respiratory diseases and other illnesses. We saw it in the pandemic that came along, where as a result of our compromised immune system, as a result of decades of this, we had the highest death rate in the United States, St. John the Baptist Parish. The onslaught of these chemical plants has been relentless, and they totally ignore the pleas of the people that's living there,

them as well as the governing authorities. I mean, the state and local governments have to be held accountable for the slaughter that's taking place under their rule. Well, what is Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards saying? Any response, any comment from him? What is the state investigation? No comment from the governor. We have two marches to the statehouse, and the wringing their hands and complaining and saying that they are helpless in the face of the chemical industry, the petrochemical industry.

The agency, the state agency that is charged with protecting us, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. When we raised these issues and they had to come to our parish to deal with it, the secretary, Mr. Charles Carl Brown, when he stood before our council and the parish in front of the organization and the people. He accused me of being a fear monger, troublemaker, or whatever. And he accused our organization as a result of us disseminating information that came from his organization. He accused us of disseminating false information and that we were doing harm to the community and to this chemical plant.

His job, I thought, was to protect us from the chemical plant. He came to tell our people how great a company DuPont Danker was and how terrible we people were who were disseminating false information and fear mongering. When we learned that our children at Fifth Ward Elementary were under his rule, was being exposed to 400 times the limit set by EPA of that poison coming from DuPont Danker, he came and he attacked us. He has not to this day done anything.

As a matter of fact, it is 20 percent higher today than it was two years ago. They have not only not reduced the assault on our poor people and innocent children under Mr. Chuck Carl Brown and the governor of the state of Louisiana. The assault on those poor children has increased. DuPont Danker has shown us what they think of us and our children. We were fighting because of the amount that was being emitted. It has now increased 20 percent in front of God and everybody. What has been, how have you worked, how are you working with civil rights organizations? I know Reverend Dr. William Barber of the Poor People's Campaign has been down there.

What about the NAACP? What about National Action Network? What about National Urban League? Have you had any response from any of these national organizations? Reverend Barber came down and he is fighting with us and trying to help us, but nary a word from the NAA and other organizations you mentioned. No, sir. After five years. So dealing with cancer. So for five years now, you have not had any communication or involvement standing with you guys from the National Urban League, from the NAACP, from Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network. Exactly. Precisely. Reverend Barber is the only national organization in that area, besides the other environmental organizations we've had support and help from.

But these organizations you named, the NAACP, the Urban League, these organizations who you think would have come to our aid would have. So I'm a former president of our local chapter of the NAACP. But we have not had any assistance from them in our fight against this petrochemical industry. That is certainly sad to hear. And so what's happening next? You said you had a couple of marches. What do you want people who are watching, listening to do to stand with you and the folks in Louisiana in this area? We need them to join with us in a number of ways. We need we need them to bring it to the attention of the elected officials.

We have a new second congressional district representative who has reached out to us, and I think that he's going to be more supportive of us. And we need our people to stand with him and to help him when he do try and to hold him accountable as well. But he has reached out to us. That is a rare thing. Even rarer than that, the new EP administrator, Mr. Regan, not only reached out to us, he came to our community and he walked the streets and met the people and he promised that he is going to help us and that's been a great encouragement to us. He made some really stringent improvements on that plant and with the chemicals they're emitting to the people. We appreciate that.

We hope that that's a shining example to the other officials that they need to be reaching out and helping these poor people. These children should not have to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of profit of these corporations. All right, Robert Taylor, President of the Concerned Citizens of St. John Parrish from the Reserve of Louisiana. We certainly appreciate it, thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, so I'm gonna go to my panel here.

Joining me, Sharon Kay, she's the general manager of WFSK-FM, Jazzy 88, here on the campus of Fisk. Also, Reverend Jeff Carr, founder of the Affinity Fellowship. And Kia Jarman, agency director at the MEPR agency. First off, what's MEPR? MEPR. Okay, I was just checking. You know exactly what the heck that is.

Mirror for your business. So we were talking to him about environmental racism, this cancer alley that's in Louisiana. And this is one of the issues. When we talk about civil rights, we talk about what's happening in our communities. A lot of very few people talk about the environmental racism, but that greatly impacts asthma, impacting African-Americans. Air quality is just not one of those issues that you often hear African-Americans raising in terms of how our health is being impacted by petrochemical and, again, the environmental atmosphere. I think it depends on who you listen to because the folks that have worked on health disparity issues for decades

and decades, researchers and activists and public health workers, they've known this and talked about it for a long, long time. But I'm talking about when you think about the collective of African Americans, when you look at these surveys that are done, what are the top issues affecting us?

This is typically not one of the top issues, but it has a direct impact on our health. It does. There are so many dots that connect when it comes to disparities that impact people of color. And we're just now getting used to looking at just a few of them. There's many more than that because this is a mental health issue. It's green space. It's the ability to be able to live comfortably without disruption. In this community, we live in here.

We had a dump for many years in the black community, and it took a lot of work, a lot of fighting to get that to change. And the community is still dealing with the outcome, and that's cancer and issues involving liver and other bodily functions. So it has been hard across the country. I think there's so much we have to deal with, we haven't had that one as one we've dealt with. Well, Jeff, I think also what happens is when we talk about the environment, it typically has been seen as that's white folks' problems or white folks' issues,

when in fact, no, it's one that impacts us. Yes, and what we have to do is we have to recontextualize this thing because when we hear environmental issues we start hearing the words that are used for the white activism that is tree lovers or people who are you know into the wearing all the time your microphones let's just share this for right now then we'll figure out what's going on okay test one two is it on there, good. I think I'm coming through on there. We can pass this one and be okay. All right, great, great, great. Good thing I've been double vaxxed and all of that wonderful stuff and tested recently. Okay, well, good. I'm catching up with you. All right, cool.

And that is an environmental issue as well. When we talk about environmental issues, Roland, we're talking about not just people who are considered tree huggers or people who show up and sit in the park and burn sage and wear patwali. These kind of stereotypes are there. But we're talking about in Cancer Alley, your guest explained, you have up to 150 companies there in Louisiana who are putting out chemicals like chloroprene, which are proven to be a human carcinogen. These areas often are the only spaces in urban areas where black people can be, because it's also tied to issues like gentrification. It's tied to issues like displacement.

And we are often pushed to the marginal spaces, including industrial communities. Those areas that we talked about that Sharon mentioned, the Bordeaux landfill. There's a landfill that was coming off Briley Parkway. All of the landfills that you have that are happening, they're placed in urban communities and in poor white communities. This is groundwater. It's runoff. All of this goes into issues that affect us from cancer to brain development to early childhood development to birth defects. I think this is one issue that needs to rise to the top of the conversation

because, as you said, we talk about black economic development. We talk about politics. But if we are not here and healthy to be able to institute those things, then we're not going to be able to make significant change. We have to start talking about environment and see it through our eyes. Kia, in talking with Robert there, he said that Reverend Dr. William Barber, the Poor People's Campaign, Repairs of the Breach, they've come down, assisted them. He said, but they have not, in five years, they have not heard from the National NAACP. They've not heard from Reverend Sharpton's National Action Network or Mark Morial National Urban League. These are,

in terms of, you know, larger civil rights organizations, these are the folks who can amplify these issues and actually give them sort of a national imprint. He's saying they need to hear from them, and he was a local NAACP president. Well, I imagine after this show they may be contacted. I hope they will because all across the country, as my colleagues here have talked about, we are seeing the disparity all the time. What I will say is that nature is our inheritance. Being able to breathe well is the inheritance our ancestors

gave us. And so the reason why it doesn't show up on a survey, it doesn't end up in a press report or what have you, is because we don't have the luxury to talk about not being able to breathe. I imagine that while we're also being shot and killed, which is some of what those other activists are working through, that this hopefully does get an opportunity to be a part of the conversation as well. And again, after this conversation that we have here on your show, I imagine somebody will be calling, I hope. And I hope we also rename Cancer Alley to be more reflective of what the community,

the value and the culture of the fabric of the community, not Cancer Alley. That in and of itself means that I'm inviting cancerous behavior. We understand how that works. When we speak all those things out of our mouth, then they become. And so when we continue to call it Cancer Alley or we continue to allow people to perpetuate that onto us, then, of course, it's going to continue to be cancer alley. And we have a cancer alley in every city that black folks. And this is also why, look, John Bel Edwards was reelected largely with the benefit of black votes.

And this is why also put a level of pressure on him saying, we expect you to deal with this. You got back in office, but he won by around 30,000 votes. If it was not for a huge black turnout, he is not reelected. And so this is where the pressure has to be brought to bear on this Democratic governor to do more. And if that means launching protests against him, if that means showing up wherever he speaks, that has to happen. Well, he's probably not the only governor to have dealt with environmental issues. Right, but he's the governor right now. Right now, but I mean for decades, those people in Louisiana and states across the United States have been dealing with this.

Our ancestors had to deal with it. So this is not new, but just to piggyback a little bit off of what you just said, Jeff, as soon as people put the, it's tied to liberals, or as soon as they say something about the green environment or something like that, a lot of people lose interest and see it as political versus health and not seeing it as a health-related issue. We didn't even think fried foods messed with us. We ate fried chicken at church all the time, and greens and macaroni and cheese.

The church didn't even start changing its diet until the diabetes numbers rose to the level where they are, and a lot of people in churches were losing their limbs. They were getting their legs and feet cut off. A lot of people in churches and families were missing. They had cancer. So we did not discuss it until we started looking at the numbers. And maybe the numbers need to get looked at a little closer.

Well, I think that you're right when you talk about green. What we have to understand, even when we mention green, that also is economics. That's a different kind of green. And so, again, it's getting out of the mindset of, oh, you're thinking Greenpeace, you're thinking white folks, tree huggers. No, no. We're talking about what impacts us directly.

Yes, and you also, you want to be around. I'm always a health advocate for people, too. And we have to be better advocates for each other, and we have to be better advocates for our communities. Like you said, you have to bring in our organizations that are claiming to stand for the people and push this to the top of the agenda. I go to a lot of meetings and people are talking about how do we leverage our political power. We go to a lot of meetings and people are talking about how do we build

housing or how do we get involved in the economy, but you rarely hear the issue of health pushed to the top. On this show we've talked before, you brought in experts who were talking about everything from diabetes to heart disease to sarcoidosis, an amazing conversation we've had before. And people say, well, I never thought about this before. Well, you need to think about it because we need to be able to have longevity if we're going to be existing in a society where we want to fully participate as citizens. And that's why this is important. If we think about green, think about the color green, think about life, think about energy,

think about purpose, think about direction, and think about priority. And when we have these conversations in spaces like this, we push those organizations, as Kia said, to start paying attention more. We want to be in this space, and we want to have longevity. We want to have consistency for our families and for our communities, and we want to be able to build, and this is where we start. Yeah, because it's one thing to say we want jobs, economic development, we want to be able to own businesses, but if you can't breathe...

Who's going to work? If you can't breathe, come on. If you can't breathe, you can't go to work. Right. And I know this very... Look, I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas. The ship train was right behind me. So my entire life, I breathed those chemicals. I mean, I can tell you the nights when that funk was so major.

I mean, it just set. I mean, I can still smell it in my nostrils, what it smelled like living next to, and Houston is the petrochemical capital of the world, right next to the ship channel, and you've seen the billowing of smoke coming out of those plants and what it smelled like living next to that. Yeah. I want to take this a little bit further. We've been talking about this as in black people need to be aware, but we also, as you mentioned, 30,000,000 people black folks voted for this particular governor we always

he won by 30,000 and it was a black margin that made the difference to him winning and that happens in how many markets almost every we've worked on campaigns before where we know absolutely where we know that the black vote is the vote to get. And then once they get in office, they do a disservice. They turn their back on us. No, no. Hold up. Here's the deal. I hear that a lot.

They do a disservice turning their back. But part of the problem is also we leave. I hear that. I always say the election is the end of one process and the beginning of the other. So it's one thing to help somebody win, but you gotta show up at the school board meeting, the city council meeting, the county commissioners meeting, you gotta show up at the state legislature and congress,

and that's why organizations come in. I think a lot of times, I remember when Obama won, I did several TV shows, one was actually, other they were like, I did my part. I said, no, no, boom, I said, the election's over. I'm like, you got more work to do, and that's also part of the psychs, the other, they were like, I did my part. I said, no, no, boom. I said, the election's over. I'm like, you got more work to do, and that's also part of the deal, trying to get people,

and then people tell me, well, why I got to do all that, and I voted. I'm like, because they are. I said, don't think for a second that those you're opposing are sitting at home like you are. Oh, no. They're showing up in masks.

All these crazy black folks we're seeing showing up at these school boards, howling about critical race theory, and they're lying. But again, they're showing up. So guess what? You got to meet force with force. Yeah, and I don't disagree. I'm more pushing that the system also has to be looked at and interrogated, not just the individual people. And that's really what I want to push, too, is who's holding accountable. I love the local NAACP person, but who's also holding accountable these big companies that one NAACP office. And I've worked here locally with our NAACP. We don't have the power that that really is where the

system has the power. And so I want us, yes, to show that's where the national organization comes in. That is where the national organizations in general come in. You're absolutely right about that. Roland said you said something, Roland. I don't know if you want to unpack this here because this is a hot issue. I've got to live in the city, and I don't mind because I'm independent. I can say this. But how do we, and this is, I guess, for everybody in this conversation, how do we balance with local NAACP offices the priority with the national office who has a bigger bully pulpit when local offices

are often finding themselves struggling for support and beholden to some corporations for donations. So how do you walk that thin line? Well, and this is the thing that I talked about earlier when I gave my lecture to the students here, where I talked about being caretakers of the culture. When we talk about this fight for resources, we have to understand that the most fundamental problem that we're facing right now

is that African Americans across the board, our organizations, our HBCUs across the board, are almost completely reliant upon white philanthropy. Yes. Yes. And so when I said to them, okay, so y'all walk around here talking about how important FISC is and you're wearing your shirts and everything, I said, but what's your alumni giving rate? When the average alumni giving rate of HBCUs nationally is 5%.

That means 95% of all graduates ain't sending a dollar, 50 cents, a quarter, a dime, or a nickel. So we also have to readjust the view where we literally are in a position of demanding, well, why is the NAACP doing this or the Urban League doing this, but then who's funding? So Black Lives Matter is getting all this criticism because of the $60 or $90 million. NAACP got $140 million. Ain't nobody challenging them on what you're doing with that $140 million

you got from corporate America. And so that's also part of the deal. The reason color of change is so effective, they don't take corporate America. And so that's also part of the deal. The reason Color of Change is so effective, they don't take corporate money. Corporations have been trying to throw money at them, and Rashad Roberts and all of them, they're like, no, they don't take corporate money. So that's also part of the deal here.

How are we going to properly fund our institutions so we can't demand they do something if we then turn around and don't actually say, we're going to help fund you in order to be independent or, as they say, to fund black liberation. And Cher, you can speak to that because you do fundraising drive for the radio station here at this. But it's very, very difficult to get our community to prioritize. We want everything. We want it and give it to me quick and all that and all that. But when it comes to paying for it, there's no understanding of that.

No, okay, I'm going to push back again. Okay, here's, I'm going to push back here because here's, I think, what we have to do. People have to see what is being done. With the money. With the money. We only hold each other accountable when it comes to that. Right. We do not hold anybody else accountable.

Oh, absolutely. I'm talking about being very public about it. What I'm talking about is, and this is hard for a lot of us because, frankly, we haven't been raised this way. I'm talking about literally, and I do it all the time on my show. Y'all, let me explain something to y'all. This costs $55,000. You want us to do this, this, this? This costs $55,000.

This is what we need for this and for this. And then when we get it, I turn right around and say, this is how we did it. Let me show y'all it's in action. And so the first year, our donor base probably gave close to 500,000. Second year, 672,000. Last year, 827,000. Now, I am constantly stating, this is why we need to do this. This is why you should give. And I don't send them no swag. I'm like, every dollar, I'm like, if I send you a hat, a shirt, or a mug, the money. But here's the problem.

I tell them, that's money we got to spend. I'm going to put it all here. And one of the things I hear constantly from people is you're showing us and you're so transparent with what's happening with the resources We see it Yeah And I think I think when part of the deal where people say I don't know my money is going we did this this This I do this I do this every day and for every fundraiser that we have and it just got you know I invite them to the station to see the equipment that they bought that station is a complete chronicle of every dime Nashville has given because the station was broke when I got there 16 years ago.

They know it when they see it, and they don't see something broke down from Vanderbilt's basement. They see the stuff that they paid for. There you go. That board cost $25,000. Had y'all not given, I do tours like that daily. So I'm, but that only moves. You do tours, but. On air pills and everything.

No, no, no, no, on air pills. But you're also driving that digitally. Are you shooting videos? I'm doing everything. You're putting on social. Except the hula hoop on the front porch. No, good, good, good. But that has to be replicated in multiple communities. Because I deal with a lot of people who go, man, I'm uncomfortable asking.

I said, you want to be broke as hell or out of business? I said, I ain't got a problem asking for money. I said, but I don't ask for money. I show them what I'm asking money for and then show them when we use it and go, hey, that 20 grand, see, that's how we were able to do this here. And people then go, oh, got it, because we give, oh, we're good

at giving. Yes, we give $11 billion, two-thirds of black households every year. No, we give, but the problem is, it's also how do we then tell people how do you redirect giving? Because I'm a friend of the church, I don't care whether we then tell people how do you redirect giving? Because I'm a friend. I don't care whether it's church or whatever.

You got to show me. You got to show me. But we have to also begin to tell our people you cannot. I'm telling you, it's like I've been to at least 65 HBCUs. And I hear these people, oh, you didn't go to HBCU. I'm like, I don't give a damn. I say, I give more money than you have. My whole deal is you, and I'll challenge somebody, how much are you giving? I don't go to HBCU. I'm like, I don't give a damn. I say, I give more money than you have. My whole deal is, you, and I'll challenge

somebody, how much are you giving? I don't want to hear it, because you can't tell me it's important if you haven't given. Where you put your money tells me how important it is, and I think the only way our groups are going to be able to truly represent us

is if they are truly independent groups that we fund. Otherwise, corporate America will always own them. Or government. Because if you stick state and federal in and the state schools have to get on their knees to the government, they have to be quiet. They can't speak their mind. They can't teach and train.

The state schools can't do it. But all of a sudden, there are 5,000, 10,000 graduates show up. But see, again, that's why I go back to the mobilization organization. Look, I've gone to Austin in Texas with Texas Southern University. I've been in North Carolina with the HBCUs there. I've been here. And I'll talk to them and I'll say, look, some stuff y'all can't say. We good.

We got this. Don't worry about it. It's like, y'all can't say we good we got this that's right don't worry about it it's like y'all sit on over there we gonna put that heat over here and y'all just sit there and go that's them but you just sit the inside going hell you'll keep saying it but that's the inside outside game but the only way that's effective is if a thousand five thousand show up one what can't happen is if 1,000, 5,000 show up. What can happen is if you got five or 10 folks show up with the president, you know, advocating. No, no, no. They got to feel that heat. Ain't nothing black people have gotten in American history that was not accompanied by heat. Yeah, that's Frederick Douglass. Yeah, there's no struggle, there's no progress. And that's part of the

foundational space. There's something you said, though, Roland, that I think is important. When you pointed out the difference between NAACP 140 million, Black Lives Matter 90 million, there's the transparency issue, there's the consistency issue. Urban League got a hell of a lot, too. And Urban League, too. But think about this, though. The track records of Urban League, the track records of NAACP allows us to have a little more public trust and even the transparency of those organizations over the long term. I found

that transparency is important in any movement. I tell people here locally and nationally, people say, I want to collaborate with you. I say, okay, who are you working with and who's giving you money? And they say, well, why do we have to talk like that, bro? Why can't we trust you? I want to know who you're repping. I want to know who you're repping. I'm going to give you my tax returns. I'm going to give you my yearly statements for my organization, and I want you to give me the same. And I know that when people say, well, I'm not really into that, that tells me that there's something else going on behind the scenes. There you go.

So I can't sit at the table with you and go move, lead the movement if we don't know who you're related to, if we don't know who's giving who money and who's working for who. This is the issue that came up with Black Lives Matter. And this is something that is called in history movement capture. When something starts to come alive, especially if it does not have the infrastructure in place, corporate America, state and local government know to throw money at it. Continue to throw money at it and know that if those protocols are not put in place, it will eventually come around and bite the organization in the butt.

It will also subtract from your credibility and it will also, because it's not independently funded at that point, limit you in what you can do to serve the people. So when we get to a space where we want to have transparency, we want to support, you can definitely work the inside out space. Knoxville College, three hours from here, they just got approval from the city of Knoxville to build 12 acres of affordable housing that they're going to be funding for their institution. Get this, 10 years ago they were going to close that HBCU. But now because of visionary thinking, they're finding a way to solve problems and they are involving their city and their community there. When we reach a point where we can come with innovative solutions to our problems,

you'll find that one leader putting vision into the world is infectious. It's the spark that gets everybody going. We always have to make sure we have transparency, because when you have community support, these leaders of our institutions, our organizations, our colleges, can then put their chest up and say, what we're doing with the rest of the community, including corporate America, is we're partnering, but we're not leaning on. And we're equally partnering.

But, Keith, that's also where the communication comes in. One of BLM's biggest problems was they weren't talking to anybody. And even with Patrisse Cullors left as the co-founder, I mean, literally she left in May of last year, they still weren't talking to anybody. And I was sitting there going, and I had someone who called me, I said, you know I ain't heard from none of y'all. Right. I mean, it's just like when people, it's just like when people running for office,

you know, I got a text message today, and I was like, okay, you're running for Congress. I live in that district. And I heard from you. Now, you might want to call me, especially because your opponents call me. And, again, but it's communication. It's talking with the general public and sharing with them. And that, to me, because, again, people have a level of mistrust. Yeah, black folks don't hold, you're absolutely right. Black folks to a higher standard is BS, but they'll give white

organizations far more leeway. But when you're up front and you're on the offensive and you're not responding or being on the defensive, I think it actually helps. And people say, you know what, I can trust that cat. I can trust it with my money, my resources, because they're letting me know the upfront about it. Yeah, I definitely call it the McDonald's effect. You know, we don't mind going to McDonald's and knowing that that machine doesn't work, that ice cream machine, it never works. The black business, the one time it's out of chicken, we got an issue. And so that's what Sherrod was talking about. I do think transparency is really important. I also want, again, I always want to go back to the system and the system to be accountable to us as well. And there's been so much harm to our community.

That's where the distrust comes from. Why do we always overshare and then they use it against us? They backbite us. And that's a lot of times what we see locally and also nationally. So that's why it's challenging from the communication standpoint to be honest. Because every time we're honest, every time we show show a hand every time we have a TV show that Even speaks to are the black experience what they do they use it against us and so we that has happened so many times It's been challenging. Well, that's also because that's also happens when you depend on why be

Hello, come on I can tell you the number of people who I deal with, they'll call MSNBC first, but then they won't even talk to you. When the Poor People's Campaign came out with their report talking about the impact of COVID on frontline workers and the working poor, I had one of the representatives on my show, and I asked her, I said, did you try to do any of the national shows today? And she didn't have the answer, but I hit it at Reverend Barber, and he said, no.

Everybody we reached out to said they were busy with Judge Katonji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing in Ukraine. Now, what does that tell you? You've got a 24-hour network. You're going to talk about two stories. And only one black story. That's it? Two? 24 hours? I've got two hours that I'm going to cover six, eight, ten stores. But that's also part of the deal. So one of the things I tell our people is stop also living by white validation where you're waiting on them to cover you when you go to black radio, you go to black newspapers, you go to magazines, you go to websites,

you go to bloggers, and you build up there. And trust me, they're going to wake up eventually, but if you're waiting on them to call you and they never do, then you can say, oh, we never got any coverage. Yeah, but you didn't call us. I agree. I only really want to go to black media and black press because I know that that's where the story actually gets told. I'm not going to be cut down to 15 seconds or, you know, a seven-minute expose. I'm going to be able to really tell the story.

And so I agree 100% with you there. And this one, historically black colleges and universities ought to cherish their radio and TV stations, just like ours. And I have to remind the Fisk family constantly, you own your own mouthpiece. Would Gabriel sell his horn? Why do we not understand? As a black newspaper, Freedom Journal,

we wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. Media is the second most powerful institution in the world behind the military. Why would you blow it off is the dumbest thing in the world. I'm just trying to tell you. So when I say would Gabriel sell his horn,

I mean that collectively and across the board to the schools. There's less than 30 HBCU College radio stations in the country. Less than 30. They've sold radio stations. They've sold television stations. They've been talking for the longest about trying to sell the license to the WHUR-TV, Howard University. No, what you should be doing is saying, hold up, we got a full power station, and fine, it's public broadcasting. How can we work the hell out of this station? There's a way to do it, but you got to have the vision to program it. Well, and our station will be 50 years old next year.

It is among the oldest in the United States. It's not the oldest, but it's in that group, that echelon of about six or seven schools that have lasted that long. The last thing HBCU should ever think about is getting rid of its voice. That's right. Its voice directly is a pipeline directly to the community. There you go. Every student, every person that works at this campus, faculty or otherwise visiting or whatever should know that this university has one of the nation's oldest historically black college radio stations. Not the oldest, but we in the group. There should be something. They should sing it and talk about it all the time, and not just every now and then when it comes up, because of what this conversation you're having is speaking to the significance of owning your own. You got it. If you

got it, then why don't you love it. That's how I see it. You got to take care of what you love. I don't care if you're a man or a woman. You got to find by that, go on where that swim seems. You got it. Flaunt it. You got it. Go on. My point.

I'm with you 100%. As someone who understands the power of media, but it's amazing to me how many university leaders don't get it. They don't care. They don't see it. They don't understand. But then complain when somebody does a story and it's all screwed up. It's like, well, you let somebody else tell your story.

Right. Well, either that or they'll take their money to corporate media, because I spent 28 of my 43 years in corporate media, and won't give it to the campus station or won't feed it back through the pipeline at the campus station to buy a piece of equipment or to get a new computer or to get paid for some services. They won't put it back in. They'll give it out and then be upset because they got gouged. Their price was so high they couldn't get much messaging with that. So the frustration is, you know, you and I can have a real long conversation about that.

But it's also, and that's why I spend so much time doing these deconstructions to our audience about black-owned media advertising, because a lot of people have no concept of what happens behind the mic, don't understand what we deal with. But also, people don't really understand the power of media. And there's a reason why Rupert Murdoch wheels Fox News the way he does

to control the Republican Party, to set the tone, to drive the agenda. And so I'm always talking about how do we build capacity where we do it ourselves with our own institutions. And so that's also a part of that. Gotta go to a break, folks. When we come back, we're gonna talk about Tennessee now gonna be requiring black history

to be taught in schools. Yeah, but also with all the crazy anti-CRT people. We'll see how that's gonna go. And also a reverse racism complaint here in Nashville. Okay, we'll explain that as well. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Fisk University. Folks, don't forget to support the show. Download our Black Star Network app.

Of course, our goal is to hit 50,000 downloads by May 1st. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Samsung TV, Amazon Fire, Xbox as well. You can also join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Don't forget Cash App, Dottleside, RM Unfiltered. PayPal's RMartinUnfiltered. Venmo's RMUnfiltered.

Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. We'll be right back. When did you know that this is what I wanted? I think right after high school because in high school I was in all the plays but I was always funny but I didn't know nobody would pay me for it you know and then I saw Eddie Murphy. This was like 84 when I saw Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy was the hottest thing in the whole wide world. Not just comedy, but anywhere. He saved Saturday Night Live.

If he hadn't started that, that show would be gone. He had done 48 hours, trading places, his first Beverly Hills cop could wear the hell out of a red leather suit, and he wasn't but 23 years old. He was rich enough to pee cream, and he got all that telling jokes. I said, shit, I've been funny my whole life. I didn't know people give you money like that,

so I went and got some Red Fox albums. I went down to my mama's basement, where I was living anyway, and I stood in that mirror and played them albums and them jokes until I could tell them like they was mad. Wow. And that started me doing jokes, and then I went and did comedy in the street.

I was standing on State Street, telling jokes that passed my hat, and white folks would come went and did comedy in the street. I was standing on State Street, tell jokes and pass my hat. And white folks would come up and just hand me money. And I liked it. On the next Get Wealthy, with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll learn how wealth begins at home and how it can set the right path and the right course. Wealth building specifically in the Black community is about making sure that we have assets that can last beyond our lifetime. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. making sure that we have beyond our lifetime. That

wealthy only on Black Sta a chair, take your seat t me, Dr Greg Carr here on every week. We'll take a the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network.

Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ass got on. He do the news God only do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling right here. Rolling. Rolling Martin. Right now. You are watching Rolling Martin unfiltered.

I mean, could it be any other way? Really? It's Roland Martin. Folks, we're in the Appleton Room in Jubilee Hall here on the campus of Fisk University. So glad for you to be with us as we are broadcasting from here. I've been the scholar of residence, scholar in residence for the past few months, giving various lectures to the students. So I had one today talking about them being the caretakers of the culture. If you missed that lecture, go to the Black Star Network app. You can actually see it in full. This is a real clear conversation that we had there.

And so I think it's one that you definitely want to check out. And so it will actually be great. All right, folks. Right now, let's talk about, first of all, we've got several different stories I want to talk about. One of them deals with, again, what's happening here in Nashville. A white Tennessee lawmaker is being called racist by a white-led Tennessee group for calling them white people. Yeah, Tim Tones of West Nashville group Reclaim Brookmead Park issued the complaint against Councilmember Jenny Welsh after she publicly blasted the group.

Tones says in the complaint that the word white was used as a racial slur. Here's what Welsh said during a city council meeting. Some tweets and social media posts from HID seem to indicate that some decisions have already been made. And this was actually a pilot for the closure of the encampment in Brookmead Park. You had a meeting just last week with the mayor's office and the rather arrogantly named Reclaim Brookmead Park group. It seems that you, that HID is being very, very reactive to very loud white noisemakers who are inconvenienced by the realities of homelessness. And we can't develop policy or allocate our resources.

Okay, y'all saw that, right? The council member accused of using the racist slurs white. Next week, an ethics committee meeting considered an important precedent about the circumstances under which white people can be referred to by their race. Really? I mean, I'm their race, really? I mean, I'm just saying, really? I mean, here's the thing that cracks me up.

You'll see stories, the mayor meets with a group of black pastors. And then when he's with white pastors, the mayor meets with a group of pastors. The real deal is, white folks have never had to be called white because whenever we talk about it you knew who we were talking about. Well, suck it up. Y'all white.

And you know the irony is years and years ago we used to say other words than white and you know what they were. And it wasn't as big a deal as this has been. This to me has been absolute insanity. I think that if you can't say white, white, white, black, black, black,

something's wrong with you. I just do not believe that we all know human beings are colors, have color and melanin in their skin and in their bodies. And you cannot tell me that person that made that statement meant it from the depths of his soul. I think he meant it like that for other reasons. That just doesn't, it doesn't make any sense. But in America, what they've done is,

everybody who isn't white, there's that scene from the movie The Good Shepherd between Matt Damon and Joe Petsch. And Joe Petsch says, I don't understand. He said, the Irish, he said, the Irish got the church. We've got our family. He used the N-word and said, they got their music. What y'all got?

Tell me the white, Anglo-Saxon proleces. This is what he said. We got the United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting. That's right. And that's, this guy right here, this is what this guy was talking about. And his whole deal is, how dare you call me white? Well, I'm calling you what you are. Yeah, your discomfort is not racism. Like me calling you a name and you feel individually uncomfortable is not racism. What racism really is, is about power and prejudice and how we dole that out, particularly

to black and indigenous and people of color. How we in particular are punitive in our behavior towards those people, how it systemically harms people, not because you feel uncomfortable for the day, not because you somehow had a bad moment. So that is not racism. It doesn't actually exist. I don't believe in reverse racism for white folks. They should get over that. When we talk, also when we talk, I think it's important to note, especially in context of something Kia said was important. We talk about the difference between prejudice or discrimination or personal hatred and racism. CISM is, it tells you that it's a system, right? There's sexism, there's racism, there's classism. But the difference is when you have the ability

to put your personal prejudice into public policy and it discriminates, that's racism. The working model for racism that we see in America is white supremacy. And now to even say white is somehow seen as prejudice or negative or pejorative. And it's absolutely nuts, as Sherrod, as you said. But we have to understand the context here because it's not just this one instance with Councilwoman Welsh. She's a councilwoman, a district over from my house. And she basically described the same crowd that you see at the Williamson County School Board fighting against black history and calling it critical race theory.

It's the same crowd that shows up and waves the guns downtown on the steps. Well-meaning, supposedly well-meaning people who had this issue with a homeless camp because the city of Nashville bowled over Tent City. They bowled over everything and mowed over everything that they gave Fort Negley, they gave people a respite there. We built six tiny homes in the first tiny home village in Nashville to accommodate people who were homeless because the city kept driving them out. They made laws in metro ordinances against homeless people being able to ask people for 50 cent with the billions of dollars that

are flowing downtown. Now you can't, there's a zone that's a no homeless zone downtown. This is part of a larger system. The area of Bellevue, which was a mostly affluent white greenway space out there, homeless people found a respite there. And the group came together, created a name for their group to say that they're concerned neighbors. And all of a sudden we have a homeless problem and we want to get them out of our neighborhood. And she described them aptly. There aren't, there's not African-American leadership there. There are community organizations that are showing up providing food for the homeless there, giving them resources. And the white folks in Bellevue want their green space. They want to be able to walk their dogs. They want to be able to play frisbee. There's nothing

wrong with that. But when she described them as a group of white people who are showing up shouting, it was an accurate description. And we have reached a point where we have this space of sensitivity where we can't talk and we can't be honest in how we describe the energy of a meeting. So kudos to Councilwoman Welsh, who is white as well. So if anybody can call a white person a white person, I think it should be another white person. Protect their civil rights to do so Let's talk about Mason, Tennessee a Tennessee judge folks decline to stop the state's

financial takeover of this majority black town or the site the plan Ford a pickup truck factory the National Chancellor and Martin said the town Mason's interests are slightly outweighed by the state's need to oversee balanced budgets and financial woes in local government under law. Chancellor Martin said she needed more information about the claims from Mason's leadership. The state is treating the town's majority black leaders

differently than prior white administrations who were struggling with their finances. The Comptroller, Jason Mumpower, who said his office would keep working with Mason to address its financial issues, released this statement about the ruling. Quote, I appreciate the judge's decision that denies the motion for a temporary injunction. Our office's interest has always been the restoration of the town's financial health and improved financial management. We will continue to work with Mason so that it can pay back its debts,

operate on a balanced budget, and deliver timely financial statements. The citizens and taxpayers of Mason deserve a financially sound government that is set up for success. Van D. Turner, Jr. is the state legal redress chair and president of the Memphis branch of the NAACP. Van, glad to have you here. Thank you. NAACP sued on behalf of Mason.

So what's next? Well, as you read, the temporary injunction was denied. However, the case was not dismissed. So the parties are negotiating. But if the parties are unable to reach a resolution through negotiation, we'll continue with the case and enter into what we call the discovery phase, where we issue questions to them, they issue questions to us, we'll have depositions, and then present that all back to the chancellor again. What's important to note is that other towns which were controlled by white leadership, which were far worse off than Mason, were not asked to surrender his charter.

However, Mason, which has been paying back what it owes to the water sewer fund, was asked to relinquish his charter. So as everyone knows, Blue Oval City is coming right next door to Mason, which is the big $6 billion Ford motor Project. And it seems as if the powers that be wanted this small black town of about 1,500 people to be moved, removed out the way so that the Republican-controlled Tipton County could have its way with, you know, realizing all of the opportunities from the Blue Over project. So we recognize what's going on. This is not the first time we've seen this.

So the NAACP is committed to continuing to fight this battle, and we won't give up just because the injunction has been denied. We'll keep litigating this cause of action. The judge says she needed more information regarding how they were treated, but is there any evidence that the state comptroller, any state officials tried to address the financial issues in Mason prior to black folks taking over? Well, there were agreements entered into. The million dollars was taken out of the water sewer fund when there was white leadership. That was about 10 years ago.

And so since that time, there have been various attempts to pay the funds back. But under this new mayor, Mayor doing really a yeoman's job and paying back these funds to the water sewer fund, all of a sudden the comptroller wants the town to give up its charter. And so the big difference here is, again, the Ford Motor Company project coming to town. So all of a sudden, people were not thinking about the town of Mason. Now the town of Mason is on everyone's radar because of this $6 billion project that's right down the road. So I think you hit the nail on the head. interest shown? Why were not these punitive measures given out to the town of Mason before Ford Motor sought to come to West Tennessee? So it's very interesting timing. And so that's why I think we can get the support that we need to get this case back before the chancellor.

And I think we can make our case before the chancellor that this is just not happenstance, but there is something that is not right here, and we seek to prove that with additional support through the discovery phase. Have y'all also offered black financial experts to assist the city in their issues? Yes, sir. There's been a GoFundMe pay started, and the amount is not a big amount. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not on me GoFundMe. I'm talking about black financial experts to come in and assist the city because in the conversations we have, the vice mayor is not like you have a lot of paid city employees. I'm talking about individuals with expertise in financial matters to assist them with their own financial affairs. Yes, sir. So there's a very well-known accounting firm in town that's black owned, Banks, Finley & White. They've been around for years. We are reaching out to Banks, Finley & White to assist us with the auditing and other things

that are necessary to make sure the town stays physically sound. So to answer that question, yes, we have reached out to Banks, Finley & White. And I think that we can strike a deal with that well-known and historic black accounting firm that's not only in Memphis, but I think they have offices in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast. And so the town is confident that with the assistance of Bank Spendley and White and with the support that we think that we can get, not only from the local community, but statewide and nationwide, you know, this is national news now. Again, the town of Mason was only known for one thing, and that was Gus's Fried Chicken.

That's the home of, you know, the famous chicken franchise and nothing much more. But now, since the comptroller has tried to ask this town to relinquish its charter, it has enacted what we would say are punitive measures against this black leadership that's now elected to govern the town of Mason. This has hit the national spotlight. It's generated national attention. And I think that that's good, because we need to stop them here, but we need to stop this type of thing happening throughout the nation.

We know that several towns were taken over in Michigan at one point in time. We just received information that the same thing occurred down in Georgia at a particular point in time. So this is getting out. I think the exposure is good. And I believe, as you stated, with, you know, black professionals coming to the aid of the town of Mason and with what we will be able to get out of the discovery phase, I think we should be OK as this litigation progresses. All right, Van Taylor, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot for the work that y'all are doing. Thank you very much. All right, going to a break. Thanks a lot for the work that y'all are doing. Thank you very much.

Alright, going to a break. We come back. Florida, still acting a fool. They're actually getting rid of math textbooks because there's critical race theory in them. I keep telling y'all, white fear is driving all of this in America. We'll discuss when we come back right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, broadcasting live from Fisk University, Jubilee Hall. We'll be back in a moment.

On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll learn how wealth begins at home and how it can set the right path and the right course. Wealth building specifically in the black community is about making sure that we have assets that can last beyond our lifetime. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life, the Bible says that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. After two years of hunkering down, we can all relate to that. Spring, sun, and fun, we may be ready to get out there, but our bodies may not be ready to party. On the next A Balanced Life, we're going to get our mind, body, and spirit on the same page. That's A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on the Black Star Network.

Pull up a chair, take your seat, the black tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. When did you know that this is what I wanted? I think right after high school, because in high school, I was in all the plays. I was always funny. But I didn't know nobody would pay me for it.

And then I saw Eddie Murphy. This was like 84 when I saw Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy was the hottest thing in the whole wide world. Not just comedy, but anywhere. He saved Saturday Night Live. If he hadn't started that, that show would be gone. He had done 48 hours, trading places, his first Beverly Hills cop could wear the hell

out of a red leather suit. And he wasn't but 23 years old. He was rich enough to pee cream, and he got all that telling jokes. I said, shit, I've been funny my whole life. I didn't know people gave you money like that, so I went and got some Red Fox albums. I went down to my mama's basement,

where I was living anyway, and I stood in that mirror and played them albums and them jokes until I could tell them like they was mad. Wow. And that started me doing jokes, and then I went and did comedy in the street. I was standing on State Street, telling jokes that passed my hat.

And white folks would come up and just hand me money. And I liked it. This is Judge Matthews. What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Mack Wiles, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, let's talk about Florida. If you want to talk about stupidity, you always talk about Florida. The Florida Department of Education, they have rejected more than 40 percent of proposed math books for next year's curriculum, claiming the math books contain critical race theory material.

The department said 54 of 132 textbook submissions did not adhere to Florida's new standards or contain prohibited topics. Some books were rejected for references to inclusions of common core and the unsolicited addition of social emotional learning in mathematics. Jeff, these really are some of the dumbest damn people I've ever seen. And these white Republicans in Florida, and we're seeing it across the country, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Idaho, Arizona. These people are math books. Right. Well, math books, math is usually seen as the great equalizer. Right. I don't know how DeSantis is going to figure this one out. Actually, still something wrong with that microphone. So let's. Yeah. Yeah. OK, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Math is usually considered the great equalizer because it doesn't lie.

Two plus two equals four. No matter what color you are, no matter what your background is, no matter what your ethnicity, we are sending binary code through NASA out into space because astrophysicists will tell you that math is the language of the universe and it has nothing to do with where you came from or what you believe or what you want to teach or what you want to learn or what you want to share with your kids. So what DeSantis is doing here is he is outlining and detailing the utter lunacy in these arguments about black history. We talk about black history, there's a separate space that we must talk about this outside of what they consider to be critical the schools is that the common core curriculum, which teaches math by grouping as opposed to carrying the one, is somehow connected to critical race theory.

I can't find a connection. I'm decent in math. I recognize that the common core is a little different. It's what black folks, if we're at home, we hear people say the new math. When parents are trying to help their kids out. So it's that new math. We used to just do the carry the one. But what that has to do with race and understanding of race and context, I can't figure it out. But my hope is that in this embarrassing revelation of whole riddled intellectual draws that people will see that this is complete lunacy and perhaps even people

who follow this concept of quote unquote anti-critical race theory, anti-blackness, anti-everything will see that it does not hold water. I also wonder what's going to happen if somebody sneaks around and accidentally reveals to Santas and the Floridians here in many in those states that math was created by black people in African civilizations. Don't do it. Our children will not be learning math at all. And this is what's dangerous.

If you point to the Pythagorean theorem, if you take them to the pyramid of Khufu, Khafre, Aminkara, and show them the geometrical designs there and say isn't it awesome that people of color invented mathematics and introduced them to the world and that Arabic cultures preserved it through geometry and the scriptures that they put together

in their religious teachings. Maybe perhaps that is how we just get math wiped away completely from every single curriculum in the United States of America. Sharon, I think these people are taking edibles in Florida. I mean, these people are crazy. I mean, you trying to find CRT in a math book.

Right. It goes past edibles. It's into smoking it. It's past edibles. And what is in their pipe is the question. Now, this is starting to feel a little bit like Vladimir Putin says you can't say war, you can't say this, you can't say that. It's leaning.

We're just leaning in that direction because there's so many words we can't say. When a white person can't say white, and a black person, if we say white, then Lord knows we're going to get sued. And our comfort level doesn't matter. So I just would like for there to be a lawsuit where I can sue when I'm discomforted and something racially is bothering me, and I can change laws or I can ban it, because the rest of us don't get to do that. It's only people that are elected, and he's auditioning for the White House.

I mean, that's all. I mean, this has really gotten silly. This is now silly. Be honest with me. What I would say is, we're talking about common core. I would say one of the core tenets of white supremacy is confusion. This lives right in the middle of confusion. It is to make people get distracted. It is to make people concern themselves

with what analogy will be in the book or what word problem is in the book that makes us think it's racialized in some way. Yes, we live in a racialized society, but math, as you mentioned, is the great equalizer. The way you deliver math, however, is where racism or race might have its presentation. But I would just say this is, you know, number one tenet of white supremacy is confusion. And this is real confusing to most of us who are smart and been to school. And most of us who haven't been to school, it's still confusing. So either way. For white people, they struggle with it too. And they should, we should not be the only ones that always have to say something is wrong about something. They should be fully aware that this is lunacy and it doesn't make any sense.

There is enough problems in this world and enough that we should try to fix. And if they do go to church and read the Old Testament, it is nothing but about math and how the temple had to be laid in so many cubits and don't measure. So I don't know where they would possibly get that from because it certainly couldn't be from the side of religion or faith. I know. No, I'm just stretching.

I'm stretching. I know I'm stretching. I'm stretching. I know I'm stretching. You know, dog, you know, those fake Christians ain't read that Bible. 80% of Christians have not read the Bible completely, 100% through. But even if you. I ain't talking about 100% through.

I'm talking about these fools here ain't read. No, they ain't read. They ain't read. Because first of all, this is the same party that will say to hell with the poor but keep voting for tax cuts. We know they ain't read the Bible. Yes, yes. And you might point out that the people in the Bible are African people of color. So that would shock them as well, too. Oh, yes. Maybe they'll throw out the Bible. Yes, yes. And you might point out that the people in the Bible are African people of color. So that would shock them as well, too. Oh, yes. Maybe they'll throw out the Bible.

Oh, well, I'm just saying it's going that way. It's going that way. That space is in there. And while it's shocking, it's also revelatory that one particular company, one particular company has gotten a contract for everything. They've gotten the K-5 books. Only one company has received a contract that all of their career books... I think something's still wrong.

I don't know whether... I don't know if it's this cable or whatever the heck, but we switched mics. Go ahead. Sometimes it's a bad XLR. It happens to me all the time. When we talk about this kind of context, we also have to tie the economic issues. And I think that when we have an opportunity to do a really deep dive, somebody is going to connect the dots financially. Because there was one company in the cancellation of this 41% of the books,

the curriculum books in there, one company's books were accepted K through five. And when you have that happening, you have the same thing that happens in states where they approve a test model, where the state has a no-bid contract with a particular company to do the testing. We saw this happening with the Bush administration with the No Child Left Behind initiative that he put into the space. So I'm wondering if something like that may be happening in Texas as well, where there are these insiders deals to say, we're going to pick this particular company's curriculum and usher it all the way through while we pick apart everybody else's under the auspices of

mathematics, teaching blackness. Who is funding his campaign? And the math adds up to what Roland was saying earlier. Right. And what you said earlier. The math is, who am I really talking to? I'm gearing up for a White House run. And this is bigger than just what's happening in Florida.

It's speaking to the masses. It's speaking to your people and saying that, I don't care if it's math. We're going to get rid of CRT. It's also saying, if we don't have anything to back it up, we can still push things through and nobody has an issue. Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. Look, bottom line is you always follow the money. All right, y'all. Can I go to a quick break? We come back. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered here from Fisk University. I do want to talk about maps, congressional maps, state maps. Republican judges in Wisconsin

approved the maps there. We also want also talk about what Republicans did in this state, breaking this city up. And they already control 80% of congressional districts in the state. They want to control 90. And they could get rid of the black district in Memphis. They damn sure try that. We'll discuss next.

You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered, the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life, the Bible says that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. After two years of hunkering down, we can all relate to that. Spring, sun, and fun. We may be ready to get out there, but our bodies may not be ready to party. On the next A Balanced Life, we're going to get our mind, body, and spirit on the same page. That's A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on the Black Star Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat, the black tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in.

Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Oh, from blackest... What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Really? You talking a lot? Folks, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is adopting Republican-drawn maps for the state legislature. Friday, the state's highest court reversed its decision, approving maps by Democratic Governor Tony Evers. Following the march ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, state justices ruled Wisconsin's maps were incorrectly adopted. Now, this is one of many states where you have the ballot lines being drawn in the courts when it comes to who controls various

districts. I'll tell you how crazy it is. Again, this is why elections during census years matters, because what happened, of course, Republican legislatures, that's where districts are being redrawn after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, led by Justice John Roberts, that they don't have anything to do with political gerrymandering. So it left up to the states. And so one of the things that you have had is you had some crazy things happening. You see it in Texas. You see it in Georgia.

You see it all over. Here in Tennessee, Republicans were so shameful, they literally broke up the congressional district here in Nashville. So there used to be, there were 10 districts here in Tennessee. Republicans controlled eight. Democrats had two. District here in Nashville, district in Memphis. Well, they decided to split Nashville into basically three different congressional districts

to take away a Democratic representative. Kia, I want to start with you. This is, I mean, again, I'm always trying to explain to people how we have to connect the dots, that how you vote in these elections, especially in the census year, matters to the people who control the setting of the maps. They control power for the next 10 years. Congressional maps, state maps as well, state senate, state representatives, and that's what we're seeing.

And what they did here was just utterly ridiculous. Well, I mean, that sounds like welcome to Tennessee. We do a lot of utterly ridiculous things. I won't speak too much on politics. That's not my wheelhouse. What I will say is that watching it from a viewer perspective is frustrating because what it does is it takes away the ability of colleagues who are running in those elections. It takes away their ability to really do a good service for our community.

And when we talk about community engagement, we talk about how we engage with communities of color, in particular black folks, we're always left out of the conversation until it's time for, as we talked about earlier, the money piece. Until it's, you know, watch where the money goes, watch where you need us, the labor part. But other than that, we're not necessarily valued. And this was a great display of not being valued or valuable to the community or to the politicians because they took away one of our rights, as has happened many times before. Sharon?

Well, all I know is that there will be three people at the table asking for different things for different parts of this county when we have disasters and floods and tornadoes, and they're all going to be competing against each other. And it was a move to get rid of Congressman Jim Cooper because he had been in Congress for years and years and represented this district and probably could have gotten reelected again.

But now what it's going to do is it's trying to take Nashville is the largest city and Memphis is one of the largest cities where the minorities are. They know Nashville is a cash cow. This country is king and music industry is king here, and they know Nashville is booming. People want to control. The Statehouse in downtown Nashville is run now by the Republican Party, but they want to control the city of Nashville.

Yeah. And that is what is the underlying issue, is the absolute control, because with the control, you control the money. Oh, it's all about the money. Well, no question. But this is part of something that's been systematically going on here for many, many years. And I've been covering it

on my show, in my newscast, simply because they have been slick about it and systematic about it, about the undoing of the power base in Nashville. The governor just wants to control everything, not some things, but all things. But this is not just Tennessee. This is the

Republican strategy all across the country. They want to, I mean, we were talking about how Kansas City is the only city in Missouri where the voters, they don't control their police department. The police board is nominated by the governor. There's no other city in the state. And so we can go down the line in a number of states how Republicans, look, Georgia, when they pass their law, how they can replace members of the county elections board. They want to put their people, this is about the legal rigging of elections. It is. That's what we're seeing here. It's how they're abusing power. And so what I keep trying to explain to people is this is what we're up against. And this is not just how African-Americans are going to respond. It's also how are white folks going to respond?

How are these so-called white liberals or white independents going to respond as well? When we talk about democracy being in danger, that is real, Jeff, what we're seeing. It is in serious danger in this country because what they are trying to set up in 2022 is a test run for what they want to execute in 2024. And that is to make the big lie, Trump's lie, real. And they want to steal elections, city, county, state, federal elections. They want it all. Yes, and I think you're right when you say that this is a test run for the future. This is all very systemically connected here.

So it is no secret. Is it working? Am I good? Do I need another mic? Okay, well, good. We're here. I'm going to make sure I set this down gently. I don't drop the mic.

But when we talk about systemically what's going on, all these dots are connected. Nashville was considered a blight on the Republican Party because of gerrymandering that took place when we were not paying attention over the last 20 years of what happened. Tennessee was a democratic state. It was more blue than this tunic that I'm wearing right now. It was solidly in the columns of every presidential candidate for the last 30, 40 years. Governor Ned Ray McWherter had the state senate and the local representation in the state legislature,

all of that was locked down. And what happens is Democrats got lax. And they stopped doing voter outreach. And they stopped doing outreach to minority communities. And what happened is power got shifted to rural America. If you want to understand how this works, look no further than the governor of the state of Tennessee. I have to remind people when I tell them for Tennessee, they say, y'all crazy down here.

I say, look, no, no, we're not crazy. It's not us. It's the result of 20 years of political strategy that has gerrymandered our state and given more power to the rural communities. It's almost as if you're using the Montana model where somebody in Montana who literally has six people per square mile living there has more power than a city block that has a hundred thousand people living in it. And that's what's happening here. When we talk about rural communities like West Tennessee, it's the same issue that we talked about with Mason. When the president of the NAACP was on

here, Mason, Tennessee is a test ground as well. You've got a city of 1,500 people in an area of West Tennessee that is primarily black. The governor of the state of Tennessee makes a deal with a town called Stanton to bring this blue oval city here, gives $500 million to Ford as an incentive to bring them there, then partners with Ford, who is investing $6 billion, SK Innovation, who is the microchip and the battery maker from South Korea that is also partnering with Ford, are putting another $5 billion into it. All of a sudden now, the city is in financial trouble. So you have this connector city two hours from here, 12 miles from Stanton, 47 miles from Memphis, but now you have a chance for black political

empowerment to raise its head in West Tennessee again. And Senator Cohen and the people who are representing the state of Memphis, of the city of Memphis, connecting to Nashville, now they pull Jim Cooper out of the mix by splitting his district into three Republican districts so that numerically you cannot win. This is where it comes down to what Irie Fleischer said years ago, that we've all adopted without understanding the reason behind it. All politics is local. When we hear that, we say that. But we don't see the connection of the dot,

because when it happens at this level, it becomes gerrymandering at the state level. The state begins to put policy in that reflects the national politic of the Republican Party. So we also are talking about what we should really be calling it, and it is a state of white minority rule. That is what is being moved, we are moving toward as a society. So we have to be in a place where we can participate in this democracy. And one thing that I suggest to people, I had some young white liberals come,

and they said, well, Rev, Rev Jeff, how can we help? We really want to help. And I said, move out of the inner city. And they said, oh, but I like my neighborhood. It's diverse. I mean, it's really, it's a really elderly black woman at the end of the street. And, you know, next door there's this hipster couple. And I said, you're part of the issue because the urban areas now that are rife with gentrification, they are stacking people, stacking people into the urban areas. And meanwhile, Governor Lee and DeSantis, all of them are saying what? We need to make sure that we get broadband to our rural areas. We want to make sure we have infrastructure in our rural areas.

They don't care if you put 150,000 people in 37208. They got less power than West Tennessee, East Tennessee, or Johnson City. How do you have a city like Nashville with a large minority population, a city like Memphis, the two out of the three major cities, Nashville, Middle, Memphis, West, Knoxville, East, how do you have it that this was supposed to be two-thirds blue, and yet we're an overwhelmingly red state? This is politicking. This is strategizing. This is boilerplate legislating. And the Democrat Party is going to have to step up now and figure out a way to strategize for where we're going to be in 20 years. And it connects to something that we said on the show, Roland, you've said it on this show before about voting. Notice what you said in Wisconsin. You didn't say the state

legislature affirmed. You didn't say the president of the United States affirmed. You said a judge affirmed, right? So this is about also who gets to select the judges so that you can do something crazy like redistrict things in Nashville and the state of Tennessee, break up into three congressional districts, and then you send it to the judge. Well, who put the judge in place? If it was Governor Lee, if it was Trump, then you don't know how crazy the plan is. It's going to get affirmed, and you're going to be disenfranchised. That's why voting as a part of the strategy is important, and that's why we have to step up now and start living on a whole new level of strategizing for the future.

It's census time. And again, what I keep saying is connect the dots. Connect the dots. All right, folks, got to go to break. When we come back, we're going to talk about fibroids in the black community, huge issue facing a lot of sisters, and we'll talk about that.

Plus, we're going to talk about what's happening here at Fisk University with leaders in terms of what is next. We have seen across the country resurgence, if you will, of folks giving and donating. We've seen endowments go up. We're also seeing a lot of leadership changes at HBCUs. And so we'll talk about what's happening here at Fisk. You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll learn how wealth begins at home and how it can set the right path and the right course. Wealth building specifically in the Black community is about making sure that we have assets that can last beyond our lifetime.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. When did you know that this is what I wanted? I think right after high school, because in high school I was in all the plays. Well, I was always funny, but I didn't know nobody would pay me for it, you know? And then I saw Eddie Murphy.

This was like 84 when I saw Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy was the hottest thing in the whole wide world. Not just comedy, but anywhere. He saved Saturday Night Live. If he hadn't started that, that show would be gone. He had done 48 hours, trading places, his first Beverly Hills top, could wear the hell out of a red leather suit.

And he wasn't but 23 years old. He was rich enough to pee cream. And he got all that telling jokes. I said, shit, I've been funny my whole life. I didn't know people give you money like that. So I went and got some Red Fox albums. I went down to my mama's basement where I was living anyway.

And I stood in that mirror and played them albums and them jokes until I could tell them like they were mad. Wow. And that started me doing jokes. And until I could tell them like they were mad. Wow. And that started me doing jokes. And then I went and did comedy in the street. I was standing on State Street, tell jokes would pass my hat, and white folks would come up and just hand me money.

And I liked it. All right, folks. I'm going to actually get to Fitly. We're in our next segment. But right now I want to talk about being here on the campus of Fisk University here in Jubilee Hall. COVID, of course, has greatly impacted HBCUs all across the country. Folks are now in many campuses getting back to having students back on campus. Not only the impact in terms of classrooms, I've talked a lot about the amount of money that has actually come from the federal government over the last couple of years from nine different pools of funding that has greatly impacted historically black colleges and universities.

But also what has happened to HBCUs in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, the kind of investment that's also taking place on various campuses. So let's talk about what's happening here at Fisk. With your representatives, let's start from the far left. From my far right, tell everybody who you are. Microphone. Use the microphone. I'm Arnold Berger, and I'm interim provost and vice president for academic Affairs. LaTanya Rogers, Associate Professor of English here at Fisk and Director of the Honors Program. Good evening.

Brandon Owens, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Library. All right, glad to have you here. So what is the status of Fisk now in terms of what is your enrollment like? How have you been impacted in the last couple of years with COVID? And are you seeing the same resurgence or the interest in Fisk that we are seeing at other HBCUs across the country? Well, I will say, as far as our current enrollment, we're actually trending upwards since COVID,

which is actually a blessing in spite of everything that's been going on we have benefited from the funds I know personally with me and as Dean of the library the cares Act provided a lot of money for us to provide digital resources to our students and that was a big area that we wanted to focus on making sure that the students still had the same level of access online that they previously had on campus with the resurgence we haven't really seen that

number yet here in Nashville we are intending to have face-to-face graduation we did have a return to mask indoors and outdoors this previous past week but as far as our numbers, we are still looking good and we're projected to close out this semester fairly good. Now, when you said an increase in enrollment, have you seen an increase in online enrollment? Is that where the increase is coming from? A combination of creating new programs. We have a satellite campus that's in Clarksville now that's focused on working with veterans because of that location being close to Fort Campbell. So we're in and launching new social justice programs as

well as academic programs that are going to generate more interest in student enrollment. The focus is continuing to do face-to-face, but our enrollment increase has been due to, I would say, the climate as far as historically black colleges and universities and the interest in those again. I think it's the new Negro movement to me, and I think it's a blessing. I sort of labor the third reconstruction in that in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, the focus on social justice, the amount of money that has been committed not only from foundations but also from corporate America as well. And then, I mean, I can tell you, you go to a lot of these places and all they're saying is HBCU, HBCU, HBCU. But what I've been challenging HBCUs on is making sure they're not getting pimped

in that process. That if folks want to sit here and talk about HBCUs, that they're actually ponying up the resources. You're also building your first, President Newkirk said, what, your first academic building since 1960 that's been built? That's correct. We have a new building that started more than a year and a half ago. Pretty soon we'll have a ribbon-cutting ceremony,

and it primarily will be used for career development for our students to have a place where they can interact with the job fair people who come on campus to recruit our students. Well that obviously says a lot if the first your first new building first academic building since as he put it since Eisenhower was president. I mean, that, and again, that's what a lot of HBCUs are dealing with, older buildings, trying to make that level of reinvestment to be able to compete with a new generation of students. Yes, so at the time, 60 years ago, FISC enrollment was at peak, around 1,400, even 1,600 students. And then we experienced a huge drop over the years.

And only in the past four or five years, we're back to the slop one world. And that went hand in hand with very good fundraising, even before the Black Lives Matter movement, we experienced like a three-fold increase in fundraising in the past years. And it's very steady and continuous, and as you said, private donations are up, in particularly aimed at supporting stipends for students and fellowships, both at undergrad and the graduate level. But, look, the university was dealing with a financial issue. Doc, you came from Howard.

You all are coming here. And that was a major issue. And that is when you talk about those negative headlines, those negative headlines chase people away. They do. But in the aftermath of George Floyd, I think people are more interested in what you're now calling the new Negro movement. I've been teaching a course this semester called the Harlem Renaissance. And we've been talking about how students are beginning to look back toward culture, back toward race. Fisk University has always been the center of cultural, racial, social justice matters

in this city. And I think now with new presidency, new laws, new interest, Fisk University is re-emerging as a center of social justice in this city. And we've just named a John R. Lewis Center on campus. He is an undergraduate, was an undergraduate student here at Fisk. W.E.B. Du Bois was an undergraduate student here at Fisk. And so Fisk has always been at the center. And I think the interest is returning to the HBCUs in the aftermath of George Floyd.

You're located, obviously, Meharry is right across the street. Talk about the focus on science and how critically important that is to building and developing your next generation of students, taking advantage of the proximity to Meharry. Yes, we do have a bridge program with Meharry that gets our students to a doctor level within five years. I think that's a great benefit, and we've always partnered with Meharry since it moved here in 1930. A lot of people don't know, but Meharry's library was actually on the campus of Fisk University for more than 30 something years,

where the students walked over and accessed Cravath. They had their own branch. But as far as the connections with science, it goes far beyond just medicine. And Dr. Berger can focus on a lot of the Science Foundation funding that we get. But as well, we have a lot of funding that's coming through partnerships.

Right now, I'm teaching a class with a partnership through HTC, T-Mobile, as well as a company called Victory XR, where we're taking students into the metaverse and using the metaverse to instruct students. And I'm using that platform to show them how they can use their history background as well as the technology in the metaverse and VR virtual reality and 3D scanning to teach history to the world online. Because it gives people an opportunity to leave their space, leave their home, go anywhere

in the world and you can talk them through the space, have them experience that space. And I think what we're trying to do is create a cutting-edge environment for African-American students to be able to compete in the future, in the near future, especially in technology, as well as medicine and physics. How are you also dealing with, and look, we've seen this, Morehouses campuses, we've seen it at Howard. Students are protesting living conditions, they're protesting food, cafeterias, things along those lines. And so how are you also ensuring that you have a strong quality control when it comes to dorms, when it comes to food, because you got students

that are paying a hell of a lot of money to come here, and those are two big issues for students. Yes, and I think this goes hand in hand with the enrollment. When finances are up and when donations are up, we survey the students every year to know exactly what are our weaknesses and address them. But you also need to have the funds to address those. And now we are able more than in the past to address all those deficiencies. I think it also goes back to what you all were talking about earlier with transparency. We have been focusing a lot more on having town hall conversations

where the president and as well as student affairs and administrators sit down and talk to the students about their concerns and what's going on and rising the level of expectations especially when it comes to our facilities that's always been an issue especially i've seen at hbcus across the nation but i think the focus is listening to the students and being specific about addressing those concerns in a timely fashion. One of the issues that has long been up for discussion here, the massive art collection that you have here, what are Fisk's plans for that? Traveling road shows, how are you taking advantage of that? Obviously you have historic pieces of art, this one of course,

that sits behind us as well. And so how are you looking to share this story with more folks and use it as a recruiting tool for fundraising for students across the country, across the world? world. I don't understand. So first the art gallery is by now known nationally and we have made a sharing agreement with the Crystal Bridges Museum in Benton, Arkansas. That's a new startup museum that we're sharing. So every three years the collection goes for three years at Fisk and for three years in Arkansas. This way every cycle of students gets to see at minimum one year and as much as three years.

And our director of art galleries very active in the community. He is connected with all the other museums and art galleries in town, serves on their boards, and he is very plugged in and making sure that we are one large art community in Nashville and we serve them as well as they come here to support us. It's also tied to the curriculum, and speaking of the art gallery director, just recently had a conservation program. So we're tying it to the sciences as well with the students, getting the students involved

with conserving the paintings and looking at the scientific background of maintaining that piece of artwork over the centuries, as well as dealing with things like light and storage. And then also tying that to digitization, getting digital exhibits and collections online and available for the world to see what we have here because it is I'm not gonna lie it's a goldmine as far as the wealth of not only artwork but historical books as well as artifacts that are here and in our possession and I wish I missed your conversation earlier because I think that's a big issue right now as far as us being gatekeepers or controlling our culture. One of the big things that I've been really resistant on is this whole Giddy image grant that they're talking about focusing on getting HBCU photographs.

And I've been really, a lot of people, when it came out, they started sending me messages, why don't we do it, why don't we do it? It'll get all our stuff online. And like I told them, I said, look at this deal that they're offering us. We're talking about, OK, they're going to take all our photographs, they're going to digitize them for us. But then at the end of the day, we're only going to get 50 percent of the profits. They're going to say they're going to invest 30 percent back into the project and 30 percent,

20 percent is going to go to funding the whole grant. So why can't we create our own platform and put our own pictures out there and sell them and license them ourselves instead of giving them the Getty images? I thought I was appalled at the fact of when you had the riot on the Capitol and less than two hours, you had Getty image on the pictures of the people riding. So obviously there's a government contract where they have the security images or the footage before it's even produced, they own it. No, no, no.

What they had is they had their photographers that were there. And so what happens is, yeah, you talk about, look, what has happened, the explosion of the Internet has caused archival photos to be, as you said earlier, a goldmine because they're now using commercials, they're using other projects, and what actually would end up happening was you had a bunch, you had

a number of, in every city there was always this one black photographer who shot everything. And what happened was the families had no understanding of the value. It was sitting in boxes. And so getting others were literally traveling around the country,

snapping up photo archives for pennies on the dollar. And then you're talking about when Dr. King, when others would come to cities, they were literally staying in homes. So they had these amazing photos. And so now if you want to buy one of those photos, you're spending three, four, five hundred dollars for one photo. And so photo archives have become hugely valuable. And look, I read the Chicago Defender and the Chicago Defender's archives are in the in terms of the folks who who requesting historical researchers. It's like in

the top three or four, top three to five when it comes to African American history. They also are not, we're not properly monetizing it. And so that's what I was talking about earlier when I was talking about how we are literally giving our culture away and we're taking small dollars right now

and other folks are making millions and billions and then we're wondering why our institutions are broke. So that absolutely is a part of this piece. There's a group called Obsidian out of Chicago, where there actually is an archival project that serves that particular purpose to maintain. It is a goldmine, and these large companies are just, again, people are jumping at the small amount of dollars, but not understanding the bigger, as Masterpiece said, when Jimmy Irvine offered him a million, he said, wait a minute, this guy's offering me a million, what am I actually worth? And he turned him down. And his brother C Murdo's like, dude,

what's wrong with you? He said, if that man's offering me a million, I could be worth 10, 15, 20. So why am I going to take the million? And that's why he turned it down and his brother C Murdoch was like, dude, what's wrong with you? He said, if that man's offering me a million, I could be worth 10, 15, 20. So why am I gonna take the million? And that's why he turned it down. And so that's part of the thing that we're also dealing with in all of our institutions. Go ahead. Well, I think that's so interesting

because what you're talking about is controlling our narratives. And I think, you know, in HBCUs may not have the best dormitories. However, I think our students are really coming to HBCUs may not have the best dormitories. However, I think our students are really coming to HBCUs more so now than ever because they're interested in being purveyors of their own culture. They're interested in learning how to share that, how to become the narrators of their own stories. And so it's really interesting to hear you all talk about capturing that narrative,

being able to tell that story, and then being able to monetize that story rather than allow someone else to come in and monetize that story. And I think that is one of the benefits and beauties of an HBCU, is that those of us who choose to work at institutions such as these really are interested in maintaining the culture and really are interested

in teaching our students how to do the same. And so more so than ever, I think our students feel the love from us when they come to our HBCUs. They are learning about themselves. They're growing. And eventually this world will be theirs to manage. And so those of us who are here, we're doing our best to give them the tools and the skills they need to be able to be cultural purveyors.

Well, that's why what I have said is I I said this a few weeks ago with my commentaries, that HBCUs should be examining every single contract, every media contract, every rights deal, and fully understanding it that's coming from any of the conferences. And if you have HBCU presidents and board members who have no idea what the hell they're talking about and no expertise in that area, then go. There are African-Americans who are experts in these areas, who are experts at TV rights deals, who are experts at licensing deals, whether it's art, whether it's photographs, whether it's video, all of those things.

And they should be tapping into that knowledge because I can tell you, as somebody who has sat down with many HBCU presidents, many, many boards of trustees, you have people who are sitting on these boards who do not have expertise in these areas and not realizing they're leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars on the table because they don't know because they're getting played by people who know they don't know. And so that's also just one of the things that I think is important. So glad to hear how things are going. Sorry Dr. Newkirk couldn't be with us, but we'll definitely get him on again. And so good luck with what you're doing here. Thank you.

All right, folks. When we come back, we're going to chat Fit, Live, Win, fibroids, and African-American women next on Rolling Mark and Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Black power! We support this man, Black Media.

He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. Stay Black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� All right, folks. 90% of black women will be diagnosed with fibroids by the age of 50. They're usually benign muscular tumors that grow in the uterus wall. It could be a single tumor or there can be many. They can be as small as an apple seed or as big as a grapefruit. My next guest experiences her own experiences with fibroids.

Led her to create the White Dress Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing awareness and supporting women suffering from fibroids. Tanika Gray Valbrun joins me from Atlanta. Tanika, glad to have you on the show. And so we've had this conversation many times before, and I know many sisters in my family and others who've had surgeries for fibroids, very painful, and still part of the issue is what causes fibroids and why do they have such an impact in black women? Well, thank you so much, Roland, for having me.

It's so great to be talking to you. And thank you for just wanting to bring more attention to this issue. As you said, yes, 90% of Black women will suffer with some type of uterine fibroid by the time they are 50. And to your question, what causes them, you know, we really don't know. There are a host of theories out there like vitamin D deficiency, estrogen dominance, which means that there's an increase of estrogen in your body that is causing these tumors to form. But really, that's why a part of why I started my organization to ensure that we get to the bottom of this question, which is what causes fibroids

and why are Black women disproportionately impacted with them? So what is the White Dress Project? Exactly what is it? So the White Dress Project is an organization that we're a nonprofit that I founded based on my own personal story. It was so interesting to hear the last segment when the Fisk executives leaders talked about owning your own narrative. And that's what I wanted to do. I really wanted to get support for suffering with this condition. I felt that this was an issue below the belt that nobody talked about. But when I got with my girlfriends, my cousins, my family members, everybody was like, yeah, girl, everybody has fibroids. And I just didn't understand why we weren't talking about it on a national level, why there wasn't legislation policy and advocacy. We have events across the country,

really allowing people to know that they do not have to suffer in silence with this. They can share their story. Their story is important. And really, that's what we do. We curate events all across the country to ensure that people understand that they do not have to suffer with this alone. And, you know, to the earlier point of controlling your narrative, if we don't begin to share how much this is impacting our lives, then nobody will know. One of the things that we're most proud of is that we've been a part of the legislation that is currently in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. It was introduced by our vice president, Kamala Harris, and also by, can you guys hear me? Oh, I lost you guys. Okay, there you are.

Yeah, we got you. No, we got you. Okay, awesome, awesome. You know, I'm at my mom's house in Florida, so you know this Internet. But anyway, introduced by our vice president. Also on the Senate side, introduced by Cory Booker and Senator Capito, and also on the House side, Yvette Clark. So this Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Uterine Fibroid Research and Education Act is our hope that we will get this passed, get funding behind this, really to answer some of those questions that you have about cause, et cetera.

All right. How can people get more information about your project? How can people get involved? Yes, I think I heard that question. Yeah, if folks want to get more information, where do they go learn more about your project if they want to get involved? Yes, we are thewhitedressproject.org. You can also follow us on Instagram at We Can Wear White. We're also on Facebook and Twitter. So just search for The White Dress Project and you can find us.

All right, Tanika, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. on Facebook and Twitter. So just search for the White Dress Project and you can find us. All right, Tanika, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. We'll go by panel here. I mean, this is, I mean, this is a perfect example of one thing that we talked about, research. How often we are not participants in studies, things along those lines.

And this issue of fibroids is a major one. You're talking about 90 percent of black women by the age of 50. There should be a hell of a lot more research being done on the issue of fibroids because of their impact on black women. Yeah, I was looking during the break at University of Michigan and they've done research around why there is no research for the black women. Research while there is no research. There's quite a bit of research. That's a short project. That's a short project, right? There's a lot of research around Hispanic women who have fibroids. The unfortunate part about having fibroids is that there is no, there are indicators, but there's no real research that, of course, shows what it's linked to. I often tell people to look back, though, at birth control because we have the tenure in our community of fibroids at a very young age,

and we know that at a very young age, black young girls are put on birth control. And so that's a place where we should really take a look. Of course, the last guest that you had gave other places in which we should take a look, vitamin D and health and being outside, exercise and so forth. But I would say there's a real reason why a great majority of us end up having hysterectomies as it relates to this. So this is not just about having fibroids. I remember having my son and the doctors, when I had a cesarean, he said, oh, I see some fibroids in there. Maybe you get them taken care of when you, you know, if they start hurting. And so at some point I may have to have some type of surgery to get rid of those or the unfortunate occasion of having a hysterectomy. We should follow, as you said,

follow the money, follow the footprints. We should follow the footprints of that. Why is, why are there so many women who have fibroids that lead to hysterectomies? What is that about? What are we trying to do there? Is that controlling our community? I'm not a conspiracist at all, but there's just something to look at there. And again, we don't have the research to even begin to look at it. So I'd love to see that happen at some point. Absolutely. Jeff? Yeah, sure. Fibroids, it's a difficult issue, and I've heard lots of conversations around the subject. I've had tons of conversations around this with my female parishioners. I've had tons of conversations, intimate conversations about this subject with my wife.

And as a man, I can't imagine what I would have to go through if I had to deal with a complicated issue like fibroids. Not being able to trace the source of it, but to know that it affects so many of us and so many of our women. My wife and I made the decision, and she made the decision, actually. When a woman makes a decision about her body, our man's job is to not say we, but to just back it up. That's right. We say, yes, dear. Yes, dear. That's what we do. But to not go on traditional birth to just back it up. We're going to say, yes, dear, yes, dear. That's what we do.

But to not go on traditional birth control because we were seeing that. We were seeing it at public health clinics when we were on the Affordable Care Act and as an independent ministry having to use that. A lot of the public health spaces encourage, especially young black women, to go on birth control, to get new shots, to get birth control that's going to last for five years. We do not know what's in these products. So when she decided to say we're not going to do that,

obviously she decided not to. We've got five kids. So she decided for her health. Luckily she's not had that issue at this moment. And preventative health is important too. So it's a shout-out to Sister Tanika, to the White Dress Project, and what they're doing to bring about the awareness. As Sister Kia said, it's also about getting the research.

It's about getting us participating in research and kind of piggybacking on what we heard in the previous conversation with our HBCU leaders. It's about us leading the research, right? We have to put ourselves in a scientific space where black women, black men are studying this phenomenon and actually finding ways to cure ourselves. And that's something that's very important. It's an opportunity that's on the landscape there.

And nobody, I don't think we know anybody who does not know somebody who has been infected, effected, or affected by fibroids in their family. And I've got three daughters, so these are the thoughts that I have going forward. How do we navigate preventative health measures for them to try to make the road a little bit easier? This also is full circle, just bringing this back full circle until we start the conversation about Cancer Row or Cancer Alley and not being able to have, so the preventative part of this

is being able to be into the soil, right, is being able to be able to eat directly from the land. But so much of our land has been affected, as you just mentioned. So I wanted to bring that full circle moment back. Well, in addition to that, Roland, many times black women have said over the years that the positions that they were saying were not treating them right as black women, particularly if it was white males. They weren't asking them the type of questions that would lead them to reveal this. They didn't feel comfortable. They felt inferior.

And here we sit right across the street from Harry Medical College where there is an abundant, I hope, supply of women who are studying to be researchers over there as well as their services that they offer there for women. But we need to speak up about that and be more proactive about that ourselves. We can speak up a lot about outfits and shoes and pocketbooks, but when it comes to our health, we're quiet. We're not asking any questions. We're not saying anything, and we just fall into fear, and that is something that we can do. If we have the strength to stand out and do some of the things that we do in the

communities and other things that we do with our children and our lives, we should at least stand up for our own health and say, I'm having this problem. I need help. And Kia, I had a hysterectomy 27, 8 years ago. There is life after a hysterectomy. Oh, absolutely. I don't disagree with that. I'm sure that there is. What I will also say to your point is that many times when black women go in, we know this based on lots of research that this is normalized, like the pain that we have is normal. So we go in and say, we're bleeding extra days. We go in and say, I have an abdominal issue. And so that has been normalized. And also that has been normalized.

And also because of systemic racism in our health community, health departments, and our physicians, we also then, what happens is they don't take us seriously. So there's a systemic part to this. I think I've tried to echo that as much as possible. There's a systemic part of this is really that sometimes we do advocate for ourselves, but we sit in the waiting room for a long time or the emergency room bleeding out, and we've seen that happen in a great amount of cases. Serena Williams is an example of that.

You have to find you another physician. Oh, I don't disagree. And be proactive. And speaking up and asking questions. When I go to the doctor and I go to a female doctor, I worry her to death because I want to live. And no one else is going to come in there and ask her questions for me. So I have to do it myself. And I have to learn how to do that and not be intimidated or afraid of them.

That's why I wanted to have a woman physician because the men just didn't get it. They just did not get it. So for me, that has worked, and I have gotten her to the point where she doesn't freak out if I ask her a lot of questions. She just answers them because I am determined to be proactive for my own health. I agree. I absolutely agree. All right, folks, that is it for us. First of all, YouTube, seriously, we're not at 1,000 likes on YouTube. What are y'all doing?

Y'all falling asleep. I don't understand what the problem is. So between now and I close out, y'all should hit that like button so we can hit a thousand likes. We are here on the campus of Fisk University, folks, in Nashville, Tennessee. And earlier I talked with students. I talked to them about, again, being caretakers of the culture. And one of the things y'all have heard me talk about a lot, and that is we can't talk about the value of our institutions if we don't support our institutions. You heard me say earlier what we're dealing with in terms of where we got people who are HBCU graduates

and they're wearing their shirts and they're talking about how they're proud graduates of Howard and Fisk and Meharry and Hampton and North Carolina A&T and Tennessee State, Texas Southern University, Stillman and Lane. But you need to be asking them, are you sending a check back? Because it is embarrassing. It is embarrassing to say the national average of giving at HBCUs is 5%. Claflin University is the largest. They exceed 50% of their alumni giving back to the institution. Spelman has a high number as well.

But the reality is it is those dollars that come from African Americans that is going to make sure that we survive. Henry, go to a wide shot. So, folks, this piece that you're seeing behind me, one of you can explain it better than me. Go right ahead. But I need people to understand that this is not necessarily a piece of artwork, that it was the voices of the Fisk Jubilee Singers that played a role in keeping the institution alive, fighting against white racists who wanted to shut it down. We cannot sit here today and so-called be the smartest generation

and have more money and all these different things and so technology advance, and we don't actually ensure that our institutions are surviving. They should not be surviving. They should be thriving. They should not be surviving based upon the donations of billionaire McKenzie Scott, the former wife of Jeff Bezos. The reality is we should be giving back. Unfortunately, folks aren't.

So when you see somebody talking about going home to homecoming, ask them how much money they're gonna spend on airfare, hotel room, food, alcohol, and buying of swag, and are they gonna give even 10% of that to the university? But just talk about, for people who have no idea about this painting and what this art piece means to this institution. The Fifth Jubilee Singers are celebrating 150 years as an institution that represents spirituals and Negro music in the United States.

And this painting was sent over by the Queen of England. And many people come from around the United States to take photos of it, to examine it, because it had to be shipped here. Because it's pretty substantial in size. But it does represent, it's a true representation of what the original singers looked like. And they had to travel to keep the school open.

And the students were the ones who were the, I would say, the gatekeepers. And when you say travel to keep it open, they were fighting against people who were trying to close it. So they were raising money. Yes. Singing along the way, singing their way to keep the school open. Now, that is not a story that America needs to understand.

And additionally, I think people in the music industry need to understand it as well, and particularly our African-American singers that don't understand the sacrifice that they made so that our music could move forward into America's mainstream. Because now, for that reason, that 150 years ago, we weren't singing R&B, we weren't singing hip-hop, you know, we weren't singing a lot of the genres that we sing today, but these Negro spirituals that the Jubilee Singers sang helped educate a community and help lift up a community

and has kept the name of Fisk University strong now for many years and it's because of their sacrifice it was a student sacrifice it wasn't alumni because it worked but a handful it was the student sacrifice that made this place really what it is. And it's interesting because I actually got someone who's trying to do a movie on the Fisk Jubilee Singers and this whole story, and they're trying to do a crowdfunding effort. I actually got an email on that last week, so I thought that was real interesting.

Jeff, also explain to folks, we're here in Nashville, and Nashville's moniker is Music City. Yes. Nashville did not get that name because of country music. Oh, no, absolutely not. And it's important that you said it because, as Sharon said, the sacrifice of young black, of young people, of students. You think about kids who are 18, 19 years old, some of them a little younger than that, who said, we love this school so much

that we're willing to build it out as an institution, sacrifice going to classes, follow Ella Shepard more around the world, traveling, singing these songs that came out of the fields that became the foundation for American music, and then taking the funds and putting them literally into the buildings on this campus. When they sang in front of Queen Victoria in the 1800s, when Edward Havel, who was her

personal painter, made this painting behind us and shipped it over here, when that money came in, from the moment that those singers there who were depicted behind us, when they performed in the court in front of Queen Victoria, the newspapers in England said, this must be a music city. So music city got the name not from country music, although country music got its influences

from those same field hollers. We could talk about that forever. But that's how Nashville got its name. It became known as Music City USA. The building that we're in now, Jubilee Hall, which was built between, I think, 1873 and 1876, was a collective effort of black excellence. These students went, they sang, they collected money, they brought them to this campus, and they built the first educational building for the education of blacks. And that's why Jubilee Hall's other name is literally Frozen Music. That's what they call it, because it commemorates the sacrifice that those students made. So when you understand that connection there, when you understand the power in institutional building,

when you understand that you're standing on the shoulders of those who came before you, you can't help but to feel it when you walk inside this building. You walk inside those stairs there. And I say I went to Tennessee State, so this is my Tennessee State blue, but I also say I'm the wisest man on the campus here at Fisk because I went to Tennessee State. People get angry, they get mad, and I say, but I'm wisest because I married a Fiskite. So sons and daughters ever on the altar, we can sing an alma mater, right? I know all the lyrics, and she knows the ones at Tennessee State too. But when you walk in that building,

you can feel the energy there. And when you see that grand staircase that when I was in school down the street at Tennessee State, you couldn't get on the staircase. You come near that staircase, they say, back up, back up, back up. I'm talking about an 18-year-old. Stop, stop. You cannot touch those stairs unless you have graduated from Fisk for 50 years. You have to be alive and have been alive for 50 years after graduating before you could even stand on the stairs in the lobby. Why? Because those timbers for those stairs were shipped here as a contribution when the hall was first built. Those timbers were sent here by an alumni in the 1800s who sent them here from Sierra Leone in West Africa. So that energy

is in this building. And that energy with an E creates an energy and that understanding that you are connected to everything that came before. So it's insane when people say, one of our stories we got rolling that you sent us was about the cat talking about the CMT Awards ain't Wakanda. Right. You know, he's like, oh, the CMT Awards ain't Wakanda. Right. You know, he's like, oh, the CMT Awards ain't Wakanda. They don't conservative rhapsody. And he upset all the black people who were presenters. Oh, yeah, yeah. Let me tell you, he was upset because black people

are participating in country music. Well, baby, you haven't. Like, you've heard my brother say this because my mom and daddy said it to us growing up all the time. They said, hey, boy, when you open your mouth, you put your brains on display. And that's exactly what that talk show host did. It means he doesn't understand how Country Music City got its name, Music City. He doesn't understand Linda Martell, 1941,

who sang at the Grand Ole Opry and set the standard for country music by putting her energy in. He doesn't understand the harmonica wizard, this little bitty guy who they called an imp who was named D. Ford Bailey, who played the harmonica, who played the guitar, who played the banjo and was the first star of the Grand Ole Opry. He didn't know anything about Charlie Pryde, kissing the angel good morning,

let her know you think about her when you're gone. I heard that growing up. Yes, it's been black for the whole time you just didn't know it but everything that came out of america came out of those fields of course and as a result it's all black music so when we see the resurgence exactly so they want to oh wait a minute you talking about history or well there you go youtube youtube hurry up y'all got y'all gotta hit 77 before we get to 1,000. Hit those like buttons.

It closes out. Well, the last piece I was gonna say is, let's just call this what this is, is black philanthropy. And it's really important to me that we use the word philanthropy when we talk about black people because very often we are seen as charity cases. And as just was so eloquently spoken by both my co-panelists,

that these students became philanthropists and made sure the world knew that. And so many of us are because we give our time, our talent, our treasure, our truth, and our testimony, which we've been showing on display today. And so it's always important for me to make sure I pull that out. Of course, people can go to blackgivingback.com to make sure locally that they can give to our Black Philanthropy Initiative. And it supports FISC. It supports many of the initiatives we have here around the city to make sure locally that they can give to our black philanthropy initiative. And it supports Fisk.

It supports many of the initiatives we have here around the city to make sure that we're seen as not just recipients, but as narrators of our own change, as you were talking about earlier with the students. So I appreciate the opportunity to close out with that. All right, folks. I appreciate it. It has been great to be a scholar in residence here at Fisk University. I have quite some time.

Real quick, tell everybody who the scholar in residence is named after so they know who that is. Who's named after? Reverend Mitchell. Oh, Dr. Reverend Mitchell. He was the historian extraordinaire. He knew more about this university and this state of Tennessee than any other person. And he is sorely missed, and we loved him.

And Dr. Revis Mitchell, they're working on something special in the library to honor him. And everybody in Nashville and around the world who knew him loved him because he was a walking encyclopedia when it came to black history. All right, Tim. Well, I certainly appreciate being the first Reverend Mitchell Scholar in residence. Folks, it has been great. Appreciate the time here. Thank all of you for

watching. Let's see, YouTube, y'all stop messing around. Y'all finally get to a thousand likes. I told y'all, y'all need to hurry up. Y'all being a little slow. Let me see if you hit a thousand. I told y'all, y'all need to hurry up. Y'all being a little slow. Let me see if you hit 1,000. I'm checking. All right, come on, y'all. 26 away. Y'all freeloaders, hurry up. Folks, download the Black Star Network app. Every available platform, Android phone, Apple phone, Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, as well as Xbox, Samsung TV as well.

And of course, support us at Bring the Funk Fan Club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do all across the country. I am here today, back to D.C. tomorrow in the studio. I'll be Thursday. I'll be from the campus of Clemson University speaking there. I will not be live. That's my wedding anniversary. So we have a guest, but I'll be on Friday back in D.C.

And then, of course, travel Texas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles. So we'll be on the road. And, of course, in May we'll also be in Kansas City with our town hall there dealing with black police officers and their police department. And then, of course, we'll be broadcasting from Texas ahead of the runoff of primaries happening there. So, of course, check your money order at the PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Cash app is Dallas Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Unfiltered.

Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zill is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Thank you very much to our panel here. We haven't had an in-person panel in quite some time. I thought, hey, let's go ahead and do it. We're on the road, so I certainly appreciate all three of you being with us today.

And again, thanking everyone here at Fish University. Folks, that is it for me. I'll see you all right here tomorrow. Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Ha! This is an iHeart Podcast.