#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Lashawn Thompson Autopsy, Debt Ceiling Negotiations, Tim Scott 2024,Loneliness Health Advisory

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

5.22.23 #RolandMartinUnfiltered:Lashawn Thompson Autopsy, Debt Ceiling Negotiations, Tim Scott 2024,Loneliness Health Advisory  The death of a Georgia inmate covered in bed bug bites is classified as a homicide.  Ben Crump, representing Lashawn Thompson's family, will be here to tell us what an independent autopsy uncovered about this disturbing neglect case.  The U.S. is about ten days away from defaulting on its debts.  I'll talk to the President and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation about the letter written with the National Council of Negro Women urging President Biden to reject policy changes that would increase poverty or threaten the health care and well-being of already vulnerable Americans. We'll talk about South Carolina's Tim Scott's  2024 presidential bid and examine Kentucky's Daniel Cameron's campaign for the governor. In our Fit, Live Win segment, we'll talk about a new epidemic as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily.  I'm talking about loneliness.  It's Time to Bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network.  Let's go.The #BlackStarNetwork is a 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. It's Monday, May 22nd, 2023. I'm Erica Savage sitting in for Roma tonight. Thanks for joining us. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered tonight, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The death of a Georgia inmate covered in bed bugs is classified as a homicide. Ben Crump, representing LaShawn

Thompson's family, will be here to tell us what an independent autopsy uncovered about this disturbing case of neglect. The U.S. is about 10 days away from defaulting on its debts. I'll talk to the president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation about the letter written with the National Council of Negro Women urging President Biden to reject policy changes that would increase poverty or threaten the health care and well-being of already vulnerable Americans. We'll talk about South Carolina's own Tim Scott's 2024 presidential bid and examine Kentucky's Daniel Cameron's campaign for governor. In our Fit Live Work segment, we'll talk about a new epidemic as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

I'm talking about loneliness. Y'all already know what time it is. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's get it, y'all. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. Yeah, yeah. With some go-go-royale.

Yeah, yeah. It's rolling, Martin. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah. He's rolling now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martel.

Now. Martel. An independent autopsy reveals the Georgia man who died in a bed bug infested cell in Fulton County's jail psychiatric wing, quote, died due to severe neglect. LaShawn Thompson, 35 years young, died in September of 2022, three months after he was booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Public outrage over his death spread last month after a lawyer for his family unfortunately released photos of Thompson's face and body covered by insect spikes. Thomas's brothers said they are thankful for the truth, but knowing what happened is hard to accept. But the neglect hurts me the most.

That in 2023 that we'll see people leave people, let them torture, let them rot in a cell, that hurts me the most. These images all over the internet, all over the media, it's disturbing, it's horrific, and it's a big impact on my family. I have another brother, and seeing these images

and going through this as a family, sent him into a mental breakdown. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's hard for me and my family. The independent autopsy report said the combination of dehydration, rapid weight loss, and malnutrition complicated by decompensation, schizophrenia,

which led to Thompson's fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Because he did not receive necessary medical care or adequate food, water, and shelter, his manner of death is again classified as a homicide. Ben Crump, the Thompson family attorney, joins us now. Welcome, Attorney Crump. So glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Honored to be here and thank you all for covering this very important case. Absolutely. You are a friend of the show and you have been really critical in a lot of these cases that we've seen where law enforcement, jail officials have had complete disregard for black African-American life. Talk to the

Roland Martin and Filtered Audience, Attorney Crump, a little bit about some of the findings in this autopsy report, some things that really all of us should be concerned about. Absolutely. This autopsy report was finally released today after the family had to get an independent autopsy because the Fulton County medical examiner said that it was undetermined the cause of death. Now, imagine that your loved one is found dead in the jail cell with a thousand or more bites from lice and bed bugs all in his nose, his ears, his mouth, everywhere. And they tell you the cause of death is undetermined. APRNIC and the Know Your Rights Camp Initiative, they paid for an independent medical examination by Dr. Roger Mitchell, who is the head of forensic pathology at Howard University. And it confirmed what we all suspected when we first saw those pictures, and that is that this is one of the most deplorable, if not the most deplorable death and custody cases in the history of America. He said it was a cause and manner

of death homicide, but he said he was neglected to death because for over 40 days he didn't get his medicine for his schizophrenia and he decompensated and that's why people ask how could you lay there with these bugs just fighting sucking the blood out your life it's because he needed the medicine to be able to do what normal people do right and so it is heartbreaking. Right, right. And this happened in September 2022. Before we let you go, Attorney Crump, understanding that your schedule is very, very busy,

could you just tell the audience, because I read in one of the stories that you talked about, there were an innumerable number of bites that he sustained over this over 40-day period. There were three jailers that resigned or released from duty. Could you talk to us in about 60 seconds or less, very quickly, some of the things that you all are hoping for and the family is hoping for outcomes with regard to the Fulton County Jail, the jailer there, and those jail officials that truly were participants in Mr. Thompson's death?

Yes, ma'am. We had the interview at the Capitol, the press release rally, because this happened in the state of Georgia. They had a mental health epidemic going on, mostly black and brown people. And it is blood on the hands of the Georgia governor because it happened in his state. But in Fulton County, the jail is like a cancer. And the more they fail to act, because this could be your loved one next, that cancer is going to keep growing. So we want everybody to know in the greater Atlanta area that if your loved one is arrested and has to go to the Fulton County Jail, it may be a death sentence. My goodness. Attorney Ben Crump, always a pleasure.

Friend of the show. Thank you for all that you continue to do. Thank you, Queen. Absolutely, sir. And you are tuned in to Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. will not white people are losing their damn lives there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting i think what we're seeing

is the inevitable result of violent denial this This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist

in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. We'll be right back. The moment 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? Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. Hi, I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's bring in the Monday panel to discuss the LaShawn Thompson case. Today, we have Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at California State University from L.A.

Dr. Amukago Dominga. I am so sorry, Doc. I'm a Congo, my good friend. Professional lecturer, School of International Service at American University here in Washington, D.C. And Renita Shannon, former Georgia State Representative from Atlanta, Georgia. It is so wonderful to have you all here. I'm going to start with a panelist from my home state, Ms. Shannon.

I read this story several times over, and it was difficult to get through, to be quite honest with you. LaShawn Thompson died in our home state September 2022, and that was during Suicide Awareness Month. We are now in the month of May 2023, which is Mental Health Awareness Month and to think the conditions that this young man died in. And he died in those conditions, not alone, but with people who were tasked and received paychecks as officials of that place of incarceration, tasked with ensuring that those brothers and sisters have the care and are well. But as you heard from Attorney Crump, for over 40 days, he said in a piece that he literally sat in a torture chamber while he was being, and I'm going to quote this, not being treated for schizophrenia. This brother dehydrated. Whew.

Malnutrition. And he had extensive and severe body insect infestation. He was not living on the streets of Atlanta, not living on the streets of L.A. He was not living on the streets of Atlanta, not living on the streets of L.A. He was not living on the streets of D.C. He was in a building where people received paychecks to ensure that those people were cared for. me about your thoughts around LaShawn Thompson's now told story and what should be done in addition to having the resignation of three people from the Fulton County Jail. Well, this story is truly heartbreaking. And I think the part where Mr. Crump said in the end that this could happen to

anybody's relative is absolutely correct. Because if you remember, Mr. Thompson had not been convicted of any crime. He was in the jail awaiting trial and had not been convicted of anything. So essentially that means he had been arrested. He was put in this Fulton County jail and because of neglect, he died. Anybody can be arrested. And so this really is just so egregious. What comes to my mind as a former lawmaker is a few things. Number one, you have the sheriff who is elected whose one and only task is to make sure that our jail is safe. So that's an issue. Number two, you have the problem that for quite some time before Mr. Thompson's death, at least two civil rights groups had told the Fulton County, the county of Fulton County, that they, that the

jail was completely unsafe. They made a detailed report. That was Southern Center for Human Rights, as well as the ACLU of Georgia gave a detailed report about how unsafe the jail was and how much people were being put at risk over losing their lives. So the last thing that, you know, and nothing was done about that. So the last thing that also comes to mind as a former lawmaker in Georgia is that Georgia is one of the leading states in the nation for mass incarceration. And time and time again, what we are seeing is more and more policies to advance putting more folks into jail, unsafe jails. And so anyone can really end up like Mr. Thompson. What we really need to see is wholesale policy change with getting rid of cash bail.

Mr. Thompson did not have the $2,500 to pay his bail, and that is what cost him his life. You're right. We're talking about mental health issues, but that was not what killed him. What killed him was having to be in a jail that literally nobody could survive, even with the best of mental health conditions. And so it really is a time for everyone to really just stand up and stop electing these folks who are willing to just shove more and more people into jails and not come up with real public safety solutions. That's really what we need. Absolutely.

That's so well stated. And thank you for speaking from the vantage point of a former lawmaker, which is why it is incredibly important for people to participate in all elections, your local, your state, your congressional, your presidential elections. Because to echo what Renita just said, and repeating what Mr. Crump said, that this could be any one of our relatives. I also want to talk to the point that you spoke about, Renita, with regard to Georgia having the largest number of incarcerated bodies in the nation and tease that out further. And I want to go to my friend who I chopped up your name, my brother, Dr. Dabinga. I want to talk about

this is also an American problem globally. America incarcerates more bodies. That includes children as well. And I traveled as an emissary back in 2019 to do some work in South Sudan. And one of the first people that I spoke with in a local community, Yay State River, I spoke with a woman who was a jailer there in that township. And we talked for about 30 minutes. And what I was so moved by is she talked about their system of incarceration, also rehabilitation, that it is nothing compared to what we see and what we consider a first world country being the United States, that people who commit crimes are forced to, they stay in the town area, but they're forced into areas where they're not in community with their brothers and sisters. And when we think about social connection, when we think about tribes, when we think about people

who are very much connected with the land and the earth and also connected with family, that that is difficult. Now, there are, you know, in the capital, Juba, there are some really, really intense prisons there. But I'm just talking about the townships, how they handle people who commit crimes there. Talk a little bit about, because I know you just traveled abroad to South Africa doing some great poetry and different things, but connecting. Talk about what incarceration looks like, what rehabilitation, which is what Renita touched on a little bit, when we think about throwing people into places of incarceration, but really throwing them into places where they are, as Attorney Crump said in this piece, all really akin to torture chambers. What is it doing for the fabric of this country to continue to incarcerate bodies and not also,

while those bodies are being held, not provide real sources of rehabilitation and mental health services that so many across the nation and the globe actually need. Yeah, it's real. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future

where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st,

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Really, really tragic to see those images. And when we're talking about on the global scale, look, the fact of the matter is that the United States exports more ideas about prisons than it does democracies. And I've been in prisons in places like South Africa and other some of the ways that they talk about how people who are part of the prison industrial complex in the United States have come to these countries and say, hey, nobody incarcerates people like we do. So if you want to really get this right, do what we do. And quite honestly, it really reminds me of taking us back to World War II and the Holocaust and Hitler, because as we know, many of the ideas that he had in terms of what he did to the Jews, he got from how the United States was treating African Americans. And so we're seeing history repeat itself on many levels. And so when we come to this situation,

what we see in other countries is that there is more of a method of restorative justice in terms of how can people be integrated in society. And I'm talking about before this idea of mass incarceration starts to come to these societies. And of course, there are ways to confine people, but to remove them completely from communities and take away their spirit is not really something that has been what was normalized. Now we're kind of looking at this as a regular thing. And in these countries that I've been to, I've been in refugee camps. I've worked with populations where I've seen people dead, you know, coming into the camps the next day. I've seen people incarcerated where I've seen people dead, you know, coming into the camps the next day. I've seen people incarcerated.

I've seen casualties of war, lost members of my own family. When I was in Congo, you know, to some of these situations. And I've never seen a situation as inhumane as what happened to Mr. Thompson. I've never seen that anywhere. And so we talk about being this bastion of democracy across the globe, but our own inhumanity to our own people is committed in ways that just is never seen. And let's be also mindful of the fact that Amnesty International often,

every year, implements its human rights reports. And when it tried to do a human rights report in America's prisons, they were denied the opportunity to do this. So as tragic as this is, we have to be, and as serious as this is, we have to be mindful that this is a historic situation as it relates to our treatment of incarcerated individuals, especially Black incarcerated individuals. And as Mr. Crump said, this is the most heinous example of it that any of us have, well, I will speak for myself, that I have ever seen. My goodness, Dr. Dominga. Dr. Malveaux, you are also charged with educating bright minds at Cal State University. We had the pleasure of having them here in studio a couple of months ago. And so to Dr. Dominguez's point, when we're listening and

watching, Dr. Dominguez brought out Amnesty International was not given leeway, given permission to go in to be able to assess what is happening here in the country. Can you talk to us a little bit about, you know, you famously say on this program a lot, particularly when there's an injustice that happens in Mississippi. Mississippi got damned. Well, Georgia got damned. Could you talk to us a little bit around your thoughts around how you are helping to shape minds to be engaged in really making America reconcile with the injustices of mass incarceration to black and brown bodies? Well, thank you for the question. And thank you for being with us that day that the students came.

They really had a great time. This is graduation week, and black graduation was yesterday. The main graduation is on Wednesday. And, you know, I'm so proud of the students, especially the ones who've chosen to be politically active. Many of them are involved with Black Lives Matter. Many of them have been visiting the prisons. We at Cal State LA actually have a prison program where students are taking classes in jail, and they will graduate. We graduated the first class last year, about 30 of them. And they will graduate and they will go on

to get master's degrees and they will be fully rehabilitated. The problem with our program is that it's so small. We just don't have the resources to expand it in a way that we would like to. It's also right now in a male prison. And as you know me, ever the feminist, I'm like, where are the women? Because women are incarcerated as well. But, you know, Renita made a really important

point that I just want to pick up on when she talked about it was not schizophrenia. More than a million people a year have schizophrenia in these United States. It wasn't schizophrenia that killed that brother. It was torture. And that's what we have to basically deal with. This was torture. No, they're not going to let Amnesty International. Why would they? To see that? You know, you can't look at that without your stomach being turned. And the picture of the brother's torso with the insects on it.

This is America. This is America. And so, as I said, I'm proud of the students who are resisting the forces of predatory capitalism. So we have to look at, Renita mentioned the jailer and a couple others, the people, the guards. But we need to also talk about who profits from these prisons. Who is making money from these prisons? Is it a public prison or is it a private one? Because private prisons now are making all kinds of money. They're publicly traded on the stock exchange. People are investing in other people's misery. And so we really have to really unpack this. Who gains from this kind of unreasonable

incarceration? And somebody, believe me, trust and believe that somebody is profiting from this unreasonable incarceration. And so it's chilling. And yet, as I said, I remain proud of my students and the ones who choose to be politically involved. People who are listening, the only way we stop this nonsense is that we stop this nonsense. You know, Roland always talks about voting.

If you don't vote, you should not care what happens to yourself. If you choose not to vote, you don't care about you should not care what happens to yourself. Mm. If you choose not to vote, you don't care about the quality of water you drink. You don't care about the street lights in your community. Don't come crying talking about your child got hit because somebody ran a light or ran a non-existent light.

You have a voice in that. But when you see this, if this does not motivate you, what does? You must look at this inhumanity and say, how do we stop this? Absolutely. Absolutely. And Renita also brought forward when you look at sheriffs, when you look at all of theseling democracy, we need to make sure that we are not abdicating our responsibility in saying that the both sides are the same. They're going to do what they want to do anyway, because also, as Renita pointed out, this could be anyone. You think about $2,500. That brother did not have access to $2,500. Think about Kalief Browder and not having

access to cash for something that he did not do. And then that brother later on and died by suicide. So this is, again, as you just said, Dr. Malvo, this is something that we should all be paying attention to. As difficult as it is, we have to realize that we do actually have say in these things that do happen if we choose to exercise our power. Our panel is going to stay right here. We have more stories to cover. You are tuned in to Roland Martin Unfiltered. We will be right back after this break. And keep staying tuned in to the Black Star Network.

See you in just a few minutes. That was a pivotal, pivotal time. Kevin Hart telling me that. He's like, man, what you doing, man? You got to stay on stage. And I was like, yeah, well, I'm like, you know You know, y'all think I'm like, I'm good. And he was absolutely right. What show was the other time?

This was one-on-one. Got it. During that time. So you're doing one-on-one. Going great. You're making money. You're like, I don't need to leave. I don't need to leave from Wednesday, Thursday to Sunday.

I just didn't want to do that. I was just like, I'm going to stay here. Oh, I didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go do a gig Saturday, Sunday. I was like, I don't have to do that. And I lost a little bit of that hunger that I had in New York. I would hit all the clubs, run around. You know, sometimes me and Chappelle,

or me and this one or that one, we'd go to the Comedy Cellar at one in the morning. I mean, that was our life. We loved it. You know, you do two shows in Manhattan, go to Brooklyn, leave Brooklyn, go to Queens, go to Jersey, and I kinda just, I got complacent. I was like, I got this money, I'm good.

I don't need to go chase that, because that money wasn't at the same level that I was making, but what I was missing was that training. Yes. Was that, was that. And it wasn't the money. It was the money. You know, it was that, that's what I needed. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A., and this is The Culture.

The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith. What up? Lana Wells. And you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden are meeting,

having a scheduled meeting at 530 to come to an agreement with only 10 days to go until the U.S. risks default. The payers' meeting began an hour ago as negotiators worked to reach a debt-ceiling deal that could pass both the Republican-led House and Democrat-led Senate by the end of the month. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that June 1st is the government's, quote, hard deadline, end quote, to raise the debt limit or face a likely first ever national debt default. The Black Women's Roundtable and National Council of Negro Women sent a letter to President Biden and Congress asking them to reject policy changes that would increase poverty or threaten health care and well-being

of already vulnerable Americans. Friend of the show, Melanie Campbell, the president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, joins me now. Thank you so much for joining us again, Melanie. Always great to have you on The Roland Martin Show. Always a pleasure. Absolutely. So great to have you on the Roland Martin Show. Always a pleasure. Absolutely. So great to see you.

So you and the National Council of Negro Women collectively came together with this letter. And what struck me as a bit interesting is we both know that Speaker McCarthy was a failed speaker 13 times up until he actually was elected by his own party. But when we look back in the annals of history back in 95, 96, we see this same playbook from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who during the Clinton administration wanted to make sure that tax cuts were extended for the wealthy, kind of ensure that the rich and the wealthy were still taken care of at the detriment of education, other policies that President Clinton wanted to put forth. And they actually shut down the government for a total of about 26 days, five days, one time, and then three weeks in 95, 96. So the Republican Party has a blueprint and a playbook that they always go by. The Biden-Harris administration has said that they want to make sure that, as you all put in the letter, vulnerable Americanstered audience what it means for the Republicans to be

have this slight majority. I think it's 222 to the 213 for number one. This is why people should have made sure that they came out and voted during 2022. We're now dealing with the hostile Republican-led Congress, why it is important for our bills to be paid. And if there is a default, what does vulnerable Americans, what does that actually mean for us here at home? Thank you. Thank you, sister, for the invitation. Well, at the end of the day, it's about poor folks, you know, folks who are already vulnerable. That's black people, white people, Latino folks, children. Right. It's about health care quality. It's about our seniors. It's about the most vulnerable being the ones who take the brunt. It won't be the wealthy who receive tax cuts.

It's going to be those who are struggling every day to try to make ends meet and those who are not even able to make ends meet. And if we default, it's going to impact the economy. And although people say the economy is thriving outside of inflation issues, the reality is you're still poor folks are still poor. Right. And what was able to happen, we look at being able to offer more SNAP benefits and things like that.

It helped pull people out of poverty. And so what it will do is drive up the poverty rate basically overnight. And so that's the concern. And a lot of times people don't want to talk about poverty or that's somebody else's problem, but it's all of our problem. And so we have to speak up. We have to continue to push. And so I thank my sister, Reverend Siobhan Arlene Bradley, who's the new president of the National Council of Negro Women. We partner up on this. And many, many others have spoken from the civil rights and social justice community to just continue to raise our voices.

And you mentioned elections do matter. And so the reality is there is another election coming, too, by the way, right? It's right around the corner. And so we have to make sure we pay attention to these. This is what the left, what makes the difference. Who is controlling the purse strings? Who is controlling your tax dollars? Because we talk about also talking about our tax dollars that we send up to Washington, D.C., and that we want to make sure that our communities and the most vulnerable

are taken care of and have a shot at not just surviving, but have the opportunity to thrive. Absolutely. And to be able to live well. You know, when we think about and you talk about those vulnerable Americans, you're talking and you spelled out, we're talking about people across racial lines. But when we think about those individuals that work in the service communities, when we think about people that aren't able to go to work because child care where the state would match benefits of the parent that's working well, that parent is unable to work. So now they're not able to contribute to. And a lot of those parents are in the service industry, when we're thinking about

who's watching our kids or watching your grandchildren, what we're also thinking about, and if you would speak to this also under vulnerable Americans, thinking about seniors. You know, Republicans, if they could have it, Melanie, would see Meals on Wheels. Meals on Wheels is not only for seniors, but I've mentioned this before. I am a person that has disabilities because of a brain injury. And so when you think about people who have differing or disabilities and they aren't able to be out and about, move out and about, that for some of these people, that hot meal is perhaps the only hot meal that they get. Perhaps they don't have family or a community of people that they can trust to bring them the meals. So when we're talking about

vulnerable Americans, we're talking about all sectors of Americans. Can you talk about Republicans who would much rather be chaos agents than actually ensure that the people that they represent in their respective districts are taken care of. Can you talk about, you know, this this notion of not paying bills and really putting at risk people not being able to go to the Veteran Administration and not being able to get medicines that they may have paid a fraction of the dollar on or may have gotten at no cost, not having those services or the VA having to take a significant cut and them not being able to see the practitioner because they've been released? It's just you laying it out, right? All I can say is that's the bottom line.

It is about just basic, in many cases it's life or death issues that we're talking about. It's about just being able to survive in this country and what you have and I'm nonpartisan as an organization but I also can

analyze the situation and unfortunately you have a house that has a leader that is not a leader. He does not have control over his caucus. And so he can sit there and he can say one thing and go back, and they're not there for it. They want people who are out and out saying that they want to this country to default on its debt. You have a former president who's saying that outwardly, let it default. And so at the end of the day, they don't care about the country. And unfortunately, they would rather in order for and this is my analysis and not my partisan viewpoint,

but my analysis is you would rather see, uh, have it so that Biden doesn't have a, uh, the Biden Harris administration doesn't have, does not successfully do their jobs, um, while, while, uh, so that they can embarrass them, uh, for partisan gain. And that's all it's about. And they don't care about what this is going to do. You have people who have gotten elected, unfortunately, in this last midterm election who actually don't believe in taking care of the job that they were elected to do. They feel like they're there to make sure that the former president is elected again. They're there to make sure that they're able to only have a few. It's really about power at the end of the day at the cost of the least of those who can afford it.

And those, but I do believe, I'm still a glass half full person believes that we can still keep fighting and the voices have to be louder and louder and hopefully and prayerfully and I believe in the power of prayer that some kind of way this won't end up defaulting because we don't even know what that looks like. People think they know but

until it happens and that would be a tragedy for and it won't just be the United States. It will affect the global market. Global, absolutely. So preferably we will continue to raise our voices and ask others to do the same.

And one thing that is important is people would like to put a face on poverty that is black and brown people. It's poverty across this nation. Yes, we are disproportionately poorer because we don't have the wealth, and that's black and brown people. It's poverty across this nation. Yes, we are disproportionately poorer because we don't have the wealth, and that's historic. But at the same time, it's going to come to everybody's door. Absolutely.

Other than those who are the most wealthy who can afford to lose a few million, in some cases, billion dollars, and keep moving. Amen. I stand in agreement with you on that prayer and that also we're only 13% of the population, but definitely do disproportionately run across a lot of those sectors. I want to bring in my panel here. We only have time for about one question. So Dr. Dominga,

in about 30 seconds, your question for Melanie Campbell. Thank you, Ms. Campbell. I really appreciate everything you do for our community. My question is, could you speak about the idea that the Republicans are saying, well, we want to get these people working who aren't working, this notion that they're targeting people who are already working and trying to basically stereotype them? Exactly. I see my sister, Dr. Joanne Melvoe. I want to let her answer that question quite frankly because I know she can break it down in real time. But I do have a very fresh Julianne, right? But at the end of the day, we know that disproportionately black and brown people, because we have a higher poverty rate, do have to depend on things like SNAP and TANF and others.

But we are not the majority of the population, as mentioned. And so when you talk about work requirements, as if there aren't work requirements in many cases anyway, but it's really sending a signal that this is about the folks who don't want to work and that dog whistle. So the person that's sitting up there going, yeah, tear it down, going to be the very white person, quite frankly, who's going to need that same thing. They're going after saying this is about the black and the brown people, but it's truly going to hit their street, just like it's going to hit our street. But that's not how they want to frame it. And so it's been a historic problem that we've had in this country, welfare queens, all those historic things. We think about Ronald Reagan in my lifetime, just seeing how they want to paint the face of poverty as it being

black and brown people only. The truth of the matter is we are not the majority population. As a collective of people of color, we are the majority. But the poverty rate in this country is still very, very high, and people are having a hard time just making ends meet. And so now we're going to put more stress on the backs of poor people in this country just so somebody can have a partisan advantage. Wow. Melanie Campbell, friend of the show, freedom rights fighter. Thank you, as always, for being a guest on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. And we're going to hear from our panel. Roland Martin, Unfiltered. We'll be right back. We're going to take this quick break. Keep stay connected with us right here on the Black Star Network. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us,

speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us.

Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible.

Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Next, right here on The Frequency, the woman they call the gifted eye, hip-hop celebrity photographer Corey Soldier. She's the master storyteller

that captured the history of hip-hop through the lens of her camera. Tupac comes out, the next thing you know, you didn't know who they were at first. You just seen all these dudes just come rushing the stage. Then you realize, Biggie gets a bottle of champagne, he pops it open,

sprays it on the crowd, he drinks the bottle. Poi Soldier, the hip-hop celebrity photographer, joining me right here on the next episode of The Frequency on the Black Star Network. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hi, I'm Amber Stevens-West from The Carmichael Show.

Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Oh, South Carolina, South Carolina. Your senator, Tim Scott, officially launched his 2024 presidential bid. The only black Republican senator spent roughly 40 minutes telling supporters in his hometown of North Charleston why he's the best man to become the next president. Biden and the radical left are attacking every single rung of the ladder that helped me climb. And that's why. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. B one two and three on may 21st and episodes four five and six on june 4th ad free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts i'm announcing today that i'm running for president of the United States of America. I'm the candidate the far left fears the most. You see, when I cut your taxes, they called me a prop. When I refunded the police,

they called me a token. When I pushed back on President Biden, they even called me the N-word. I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control. The truth of my life disrupts their lives. Would we truly be one nation? Bless him, Lord. Last month, Scott released a video anchored around the anniversary of the start of the Civil War, criticizing Joe Biden and the, quote, radical left for promoting, as Tim says it, victimhood instead of personal

responsibility. My, my. He says Democrats weaponized race when challenged over failures and accused them of trying to indoctrinate children into believing they live in an evil country. Well, I'm going to bring in the choir. Dr. Malveaux, you have the distinct pleasure. We're talking about the debt ceiling. We're also talking about the lone black Republican, the one responsible for making sure the George Floyd Justice Act did not become a reality.

And so here he is, a single man running for president. I think that last time I checked, he was polling in single digits in his own state, saying that he is really Captain Save the Soul of America. I'm not going to say the other thing, but, you know, Captain Save the Soul.

Dr. Malvo, what say you of Timothy Scott here to save America with all his gums. I guess I can't use any profanity. So let me just say this man is an abomination and a vexation. Republicans have been very canny in using black Republicans to send signals. They're not going to elect them. They will send signals. I was just reminiscing with a friend about the 2000 election.

Yeah, I've been around that long. When I wrote a book with a with a white Republican called Unfinished Business, a Democrat and Republican take on the most important issues women face. We ended up doing town halls in Philly where the Republicans had met. And I got put off the Republican bus because they knew that I was not a Republican. So I had a pass, but they put me off the bus and we did a town hall also here in LA. But the reason I bring this up is because you would have thought you were watching BET in 2000 if you watched the Republican convention. They had a black choir. They had, I forgot the black conservative that they were pimping out that time. They had a black choir. They had, I forgot the black conservative that they were pipping out that time. They had a black conservative that was on three or four different things.

And they're very canny in doing that. But these, you know, I don't just, I don't, Tim Scott is entitled to his opinion. He's entitled to his politics. But the way that he will be used is what gives me must pause. He will be used. And let's not, you know, we talked about the budget in the last segment. I just want to say one quick thing. We're forgetting about social security. We're forgetting about social security and the number of people who paid into that system and will be cut. They have said they

will have to cut the budget by 22 percent of non-defense spending. Think about it. So if your mama was getting a thousand dollar check, now she's getting seven. She's getting seven 80. She needed that money to pay her rent. Right. She's going to get less. So we really have to be clear about the electoral consequences of this debt ceiling and all these shenanigans. And he's part of what he's one of the shenanigans. I mean, he is a full fledged shenanigans. Um, this, this, you know, he quotes the scripture. This scripture says something about, I was hungry. You didn't be anything to eat. That's scripture. This other stuff, this other stuff is nonsense. But, you know, again, I don't doubt his sincerity. I doubt his intelligence.

And you are a resident economist. So really, thank you for bringing forward, because that's why I said we definitely going to talk about continue our conversation on the debt ceiling, as well as the lone black Republican in Congress responsible for the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act not coming to light. But, you know, in terms of thinking about, and I'm glad you brought forward Social Security because, you know, Social Security, there are many people that receive Social Security across the strata. And so when you think about, and I'm glad you teased out that 22% cut and what that will mean, then what does that mean for people who, you know, don't have that $300 balance or less, and there's no one else in their family that can do that. We're talking about

meals on wheels, social security, we're talking about childcare, we're talking about veterans, we're talking about the breadth of America that Republicans are saying we don't give a damn and we're going to continue to be chaos agents. And you might not have any election power by the time we have anything to do with it. It is why it is important for people to engage, because the math does impact you. Renita, you are a former lawmaker. Mr. Tim Scott, and I'm glad that Dr. Malvo, you brought forward the scripture because he was also quoted as saying, amen, amen, and amen, Tim Scott was. But there's also a scripture that talks about woe, which is for people that study and connected with the Bible understand that's a huge word, woe unto those who legislate evil.

So while they're all dancing and, you know, Tim Scott has 22 million in his coffers that he can pass over to his presidential election, they're racking up points elsewhere that will be for their own detriment. Talk to us a little bit about the responsibility of lawmakers and what it means when lawmakers won't speak truth to power to say things that always crack up when I hear the leftists and, you know, all of this kind of language that is ginned up by white nationalists, black, white-facing nationalists, whatever people, you know, however they identify themselves, Republicans, people that would literally take food out of the mouth, kick, dance on the graves of people

who are suffering and don't have enough to assume these positions, Renita, and then really use it for their own political advancement. Talk to us a little bit about then what does it mean when people don't engage in the vote and allow this type of person to continue to advance? Well, so my feelings on him running are kind of complex, because having been a Democrat who was in elected office, I've seen what it looks like to be a black person, regardless of party, but particularly on Democratic side, running for higher office. And so my thoughts in seeing him run are that this is familiar.

This is what happened with Herman Cain. The Republicans are really good at allowing black candidates to run for whatever office they want and have aspirations to run for whatever office they want. They're great at that. The problem is, is that when you read their platform, it is inherently anti-black. And so I say that because look at the slogan of what he's saying. He's saying victory over victimhood. What that does is that kind of minimalizes what black people are facing every day that they have no control over. When you're talking about a mentality of victory over victimhood, what that almost says is that any problem that you have black people in your life is due to the way that you think about living life. It basically erases systemic oppression that we know is obvious.

Look at what we just saw with LaShawn Thompson. Once again, I think the most important part of that case is the fact that that man had not been convicted of anything. He had just been arrested. Anybody can be accused of anything. And so I think people like Tim Scott miss that there are systematic things that are, that there are systems in this country that actively and every day work against black Americans. And it doesn't matter what your attitude is about those systems. Those systems are in place. And so to pretty much chalk this up to, this is all about your attitude. And if you just didn't see

yourself as a victim, then you could be doing a lot better. It's just really disingenuous. But I will say this as someone who, uh, ran for higher office, um office as a Democrat, what I tend to see, and I was having a conversation about this the other day with some elected officials, racism is thick on the right, but anti-Blackness is thick on the left. And we still have a problem with holding back Black candidates when they decide to run for higher office. they do not get the support. In fact, we get outright pushback from folks on the left and within the party. And so this is where they are, you know, Democrats have got to get it together because you're going to allow Republicans to beat you when it comes to having these historic first elections. I know we're going to talk about Daniel Cameron later on in the show, but you are going to allow them to sort of beat you to some of these firsts because they do not put any guardrails against black folks running for higher office

in their party. Like Dr. Malvo said, they're not going to vote for him. But the point is, there's not another black person going out saying, well, the Republicans stopped me from running. They love that he's up there. It helps them as a shield for the racism that they regularly get accused of. So all is well as long as you don't read their platform. That's just really where I am with that. Yeah. I mean, and the truth of the matter is, you know, folks like Tim Scott, Timothy, definitely always will have nice coffers because they themselves are anti-black. So it gives those people that

are in the party that, you know, for some, you read where there were some people that talked about they weren't with the Trump rhetoric. So they felt a lot more safe. They felt a lot more shielded being behind a black facing person who is just as harmful to black and communities of colors as a Tim Scott, but not an outright white nationalist racist Russia sympathizer like Donald Trump. What's interesting that also was watching some programming a couple of weeks ago. And when we look at that type of that type of Republican stronghold, they were at a college in New Hampshire. And just want to have Dr. Melvo touch on this just quickly.

18 to 24 year olds. And they talked about their support of Donald Trump. Not necessarily one was vocal, one wasn't vocal, but because they wanted to see the party advance. If you could just very quickly, Dr. Malveaux, talk about the importance of that youth vote. We've seen that number continue to be a troublesome number, just as it is for the 50 percent in this country that don't vote across whatever age group, but particularly for that 18 to 24-year-old age group. In the final just minute, could you just talk about the importance of engaging?

Because I'm telling you, the 18 to 24-year-olds, the white kids at college, they are definitely engaging and they are volunteering on campaigns. And our kids are not. Black kids do not tend to be. Some of them are, and proud of those who are. But many of them, especially when you look at a campus like Cal State LA, students are working. They've got kids.

They're taking care of elderly parents. And they feel like they don't have time for politics. And yet they must know that politics, again, affects everything. But the other thing about youth is that many of—many of them have a short timeline, because they're young. So their mantra is, what have you done for me lately? So many of them, as an example, love the fact that Biden, President Biden, talked about

cutting student loan debt. But what have they—what has he done for them lately? So the word lately comes up a lot. And without understanding the political process, Pew just released a report that said that I think it was like 13% of young people understood the legislative process. Something like 20% could understand the constitution. And schools have cut civics, high schools have cut civics education. So when you see that, you're basically systematically separating young people from the political process. I love seeing these young white kids involved, but I want to see young black kids and brown kids involved, too.

Many of them are, but we need more. The youth vote may be the balance of who wins this election. Get engaged. Thank you so much. And our panel, and we will be right back. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Stay connected with us. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Cole. Democracy in the United States is under siege.

On this list of bad actors, it's easy to point out the Donald Trumps, the Marjorie Taylor Greens, or even the United States Supreme Court as the primary villains. But as David Pepper, author, scholar, and former politician himself says, there's another factor that trumps them all and resides much closer to many of our homes. His book is Laboratories of Autocracy, a wake-up call from behind the lines. So these state houses get hijacked by the far right. Then they gerrymander, they suppress the opposition, and that allows them to legislate in a way that doesn't reflect the people of that state. David Pepper joins us on the next Black Table

here on the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're talking about leveling up or to put it another way, living your very best life. How to take a bold step forward that'll rock your world. Leveling up is different for everybody. You know, I think we fall into this trap, which often gets us stuck because we're looking at someone else's level of journey, what level up means to them. For some, it might be a business venture. For some, it might be a relationship situation, but it's different

for everybody. It's all a part of a balanced life. That's next on Black Star Network. Hi, how's it going? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What up, Lana Wells, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And you are tuned in to Roland Martin Unfiltered. I am Erica Savage filling in for Roland Martin. We have just been having a robust conversation on the debt ceiling and on Timothy Scott, Senate Republican, lone black Republican that has thrown in his hat in the presidential race.

My brother, Dr. Dominga, before we continue to have conversations around people that are throwing in their hats for different races, I wanted to get your thoughts around Senator Tim Scott and something that I just find to be profound, which is, you know, you heard Dr. Malvo, you heard Renita talk about, you know, how he's positioned and postured himself. His campaign slogan, from victory to victim, from victimhood to victory, however that goes. But he continues to pound on this thought that this country is not inherently racist, which I find to be really interesting to him. And as I was just saying in a conversation with Dr. Malveaux, that, you know, he really is one that folks are, some folks who were willing to share,

feel more comfortable, they say in the primary, voting for him rather than a Donald Trump who is outright a white nationalist. And this is in my opinion. Can you talk a little bit about Timothy and his $22 million for his presidential campaign run and what he's signaling to people with regard to being a safe person to vote for? Yeah, when you came to us, when you started this segment and I was covering my mouth, it was because I was laughing when in his ad, he said, the left fears me. And, you know, he's not running for president. He's running for some other form of office, maybe to set him up as a potential

vice presidential candidate, maybe somebody who could have a secretary position, something to that effect. He's not even going to win South Carolina, let's be very honest. The fact of the matter is he wants to be somebody who has influence. He's going to raise, obviously, he has $22 million already. He wants to get more so he can be able to gain influence as it relates to supporting other candidates. But when it comes down to his policies, let's be really clear. There are Republicans have never had a non-white male presidential candidate in his history, nominee, I should say. And the fact of the matter is that in this cycle that we're in right now, with this wave of racism and extremism, no white male candidate,

only a white male candidate will be a nominee for the Republican Party. Scott doesn't have a chance, Nikki Haley doesn't have a chance, and so on and so forth. But look, if Senator Scott owned a restaurant, the restaurant would be called Waffles. Why? Because he's demonstrated no serious

commitment to anything. He's never fully answered the question on what he would do if an abortion bill got to his desk. He talks about supporting the police, but he then at the same time he talks about, oh, I actually worked with Democratic senators on police reform, though he tanked it, like you mentioned. When it comes to other policies relating to guns, he's waffled on that as well. And so, really, at the end of the day, he is going to be somebody who, like Mike Pence,

who's going to straddle the fence on every particular issue while coming back to this Protestant work ethic about pulling himself up from his bootstraps and growing up in an apartment with a single mom. He speaks as if he was a single mom. So he acts like he understands all the issues single parents go through. No, you lived under it, but you weren't that. So he can't really speak to the experiences other than speaking down about Black people. And so when he talks about the country's not inherently racist, he's talking about something that his donors want to see. But the rest of the country, as it relates to independent-minded voters, I can't think of a particular issue that independent-minded voters are going to side with him on outside of the issues relating to maybe

gun control. We see, generally speaking, even with that, there's more of a desire to have more gun control. We see more people are fighting more for women's rights with all of these decisions that are being made across the country. And so, yeah, there might be some independent-leaning Republicans, but generally speaking, to appeal to the larger party, he has no shot. So he's not running for president right now. He's running for influence. And I am not dining at Waffle's. Period. And listen, I want to add to that name. I love that restaurant, that whole piece. I want to add Waffles and Pretzels because he will absolutely contort himself to any form for that level of acceptance.

And I agree with you that he that has been my long held belief that he is absolutely, absolutely not running for president, that it was historic to have that amount of money in the coffers for the presidential bid. So I'm really looking at, as you just pointed out, Dr. Dominga, if not vice president, some type of cabinet position, because he absolutely is not going to win the primary. As I mentioned before, he's polling in single digits. Him and Nikki Haley, both in their home state of South Carolina, is definitely a dead horse. So this brings us to Kentucky's first black attorney general has won the Republican primary for governor, becoming the first major party black nominee

for the governor in the state's history. Daniel Cameron, who former President Donald Trump, the son of a Klansman, endorsed, emerged victorious from a 12-candidate field. Cameron will face off with Democratic incumbent

Andy Beshear in November in Kentucky. Democrats say Cameron... I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Can't be trusted.

The last four AGs here, the last four AGs were more aspiring governors than they were law enforcement officials. You had two attorney generals that you just noted who have decided that after three and a half years that they want to run for another office. I'm running for attorney general and nothing else. With General Beshear, he doesn't find this job satisfactory. He doesn't find the job challenging enough to stay in this office. He's looking for a different platform. Again, I think this office needs continuity and stability over the next decade. And I intend to bring that over the eight years. I'm hopeful if I can get through this first hurdle in November. We've had individuals that have run for this office just as a stepping stone to another office. And I think the law enforcement community

is tired of that. I think Kentucky is ready for an attorney general that thinks that this is a job worth having. And it's a job worth having for more than just three and a half years. The last three consecutive attorney generals have all been looking for different pastures. Look, I have no interest in any other job. I'm Daniel Cameron and that's exactly the kind of governor I will be. Cameron faced much criticism about how he handled the Breonna Taylor shooting case. He told Fox News he did what was right regarding that investigation. Kentucky history to see an African-American assume the governor's office. But there is, you know, the criticism you and your handling of how police responded to the Breonna Taylor shooting back in 2020. And I'm just wondering how you negotiate that. Explain that. Do you feel a need to? Well, I'm proud of the work that our

office did in investigating and prosecuting this case. My responsibility, and I know folks here in Kentucky understand that, my responsibility is to the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, not narratives that are created by MSNBC or CNN or the far left. And people here in Kentucky respect me because I stood my ground. I did what was right by our laws. And I did what was right without fear, favor, and regardless of folks, even if they protested on by our laws. And I did what was right without fear of favor and regardless of folks, even if they protested on our front line. And so that is what folks want here in Kentucky for a governor. They want somebody that's going to stand firm for our values and not cower to the far left or the woke ideology that's trying to make its way into Kentucky.

I'm going to be a governor for the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and that's why we're going to win in November. Renita, your thoughts on Daniel Cameron? And this is a person who was sworn in with two black women by his side, his mother and his sister. And honestly, he still has the blood of Breonna Taylor's hand, Breonna Taylor's blood on his hands. Talking about he's standing his ground, what are your thoughts on his primary win? Well, my thoughts are that this exactly makes my point about what I was saying before. Now that he has gotten the nomination for them, he has a very good chance of becoming Kentucky's next governor. And the only reason that that

could even really happen is not because Republicans are so wonderful. It's happening because Democrats do not have a, do not allow black progressive candidates when they decide to run for higher office to actually, to actually do that and support them in the ways that they should. You need a black progressive candidate to literally say to Daniel Cameron, you know, how do you soothe the concerns of everyday black Kentuckians who are probably worried that they could be sleeping in their bed and find themselves getting awakened to police shooting and killing them? You know, this is something that he's been unable to resolve. And so when he says that they, you know, the police did the right thing, you know, that is something that does nothing to resolve anybody's concerns. Breonna Taylor was sleeping in her bed and she was murdered by

police. That can happen to any black person. And anybody who knows the story knows that that is the truth. And so I think this really just makes my point about in order to defeat these black Republicans who are running campaigns that are not centered on the real issues that black people have to deal with, you've got to have other black candidates from the left who actually know what time it is and who can force people like him to have tough conversations. Otherwise, you're going to continue to see people like Dan Cameron float right up and the Republicans will can elect him to office. And Dr. Dabenga, to Renita's point, I remember there was a candidate in Kentucky that ran for office, Charles Booker, who didn't win. He didn't advance and move forward. So, you know, besides having the social media power, can you talk a little bit about, number one, your response to his primary

win? But then what are some of the other resources that are needed? That first video that we saw was something that was launched by Kentucky Democrats. What are some of the other resources that are needed? That first video that we saw was something that was launched by Kentucky Democrats. What are some of the other resources that are necessary to propel an exact wins in a state like Kentucky? Well, first of all, I think when we, going back to this idea of waffling, I mean, that video that you shared was classic as it relates to him not showing that he's committed to the community. Look, the fact of the matter is that, as Renita was saying, you know, he has, I know that people say Andy Beshear has a 63 percent approval rating and that therefore, you know, there's probably no chance of winning. But one of the other reasons, in addition to everything Renita said, which is

true about support, which I'll get to in a second, that these people are able to rise to the top is because we take things for granted. We think that if we have a Democratic governor, it's going to remain Democratic. If something has in place, it's not going to change. That's how Hillary lost the election, to be quite honest. And so when people see that and see the popularity of somebody like Governor Beshear, they think that this is a wrap. But look, this is somebody who has the backing of not only Donald Trump, but also Mitch McConnell, who still holds a lot of sway in Kentucky, whether we like him or not. And so that's something that we have to be mindful of. In order to beat him and other people within these states, one of the challenges of the DNC is that they have a very bad history, even outside of Black candidates, of not supporting Democratic candidates in

these red states. I was just listening to a representative from Nebraska over the weekend who was talking about the legislation against her trans son that's taking place there. I forget her name. But she was saying she's actually thinking of leaving the Democratic Party because the Democratic Party will put out advertisements about supporting LGBTQ rights and the like, but won't pour money into Democratic candidates in red states because they feel like it's already a lost cause. And so Democrats' inability to actually fight in these red states is what leads people like Daniel Cameron to believe that they have a chance to be able to rise to the governorship and maybe someday even the presidency.

And so if we haven't learned our lesson now, when are we going to learn it? At the end of the day, even with DeSantis in Florida, he didn't win because there was a massive wave to get out and support him. It was voter apathy that got him in and he won by 34,000 votes. So if we don't start to get this together now, there's no telling where Cameron can go. My goodness. And we're going to come back from this break and have Dr. Malvo share her sentiments. But I also want to say, and you all, not you all, but folks have got to stop listening to celebrities. Okay? Get engaged in the vote.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back right after this break. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy, I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem to bring resources to Blacks and people of color so they can scale their business. Even though we've had several examples of African-Americans and other people of color being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up. That's right here on Get We for being the voice of Black America.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Hey, I'm Arnaz Jake.

Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1.

Taser Incorporated. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st. And episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts Thanks for tuning back in to Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. I am Erica Savage filling in for Roland Martin today. And we've just been talking about we've got Timothy Scott, senator out of South Carolina, that has announced his run for president. Now we have Daniel Cameron, the attorney general of Kentucky, with the hands of Breonna Taylor still on his hands, has announced, well, he's won his Republican primary for governor there.

And so we were just having that conversation with Renita and Dr. Domingo. Dr. Malveaux, definitely wanted to bring you in on this conversation because one of the points that Renita brought up is the failure of the Democratic Party to really support progressive candidates. And Dr. Domingo was talking about someone who was saying that they wanted to leave the party because as a result of the Dems, they do run ads in support of LGBTQIA plus communities and trans individuals, but there's not a full-throated support. And I was just saying before the break, with regard to the voter apathy that Dr. Domingo

mentioned in Florida, that one of the things that people need not do is rely or take direction from celebrities when they are making an educated decision about whether or not to engage the vote. And not engaging the vote is a vote. And as we can see, and maybe we'll get a moment to talk about this later, there's been now an advisory that was issued from the NAACP about doing, you know, travel in Florida. So if you would take us back to Daniel Cameron and what this win means for him to now be representing Republicans in the primary to possibly be the governor of Kentucky in November. Well, the issues could not be more stark.

If you look at what's going on in Kentucky, this man, he's not 40 yet. He was on Trump's short list to appoint to the Supreme Court. The list that had been developed by, I forget, Judicial Watch, I believe the name of the organization is. So, I mean, he's dangerous. He's young.

He's hungry. You know, he's attractive. He's well-spoken. But guess what? He's also basically, as you said, has the blood of Breonna Taylor on his hands, doesn't think he did anything wrong. And without thinking he did anything wrong, there's no room for growth here. He's stuck in these positions. But the Democratic Party has an awful lot to account for. I call myself a yellow dog Democrat because I vote for a yellow dog if they were a Democrat. I sure

wouldn't vote for a Republican. But the fact is that the Democratic Party has dropped the ball all too many times. They have not supported black candidates. As Renita said, they have a ceiling for Black candidates. You can only go so far. I know Black folks who are Republicans. They're Republicans because they say the line is too long in the Democratic Party. As a Black person who's well-spoken, who's relatively progressive, they can move up in the Republican Party. They can't move up in the Democratic Party because someone just wrote a piece, um, it called it the octogerontology, which the basis of that meaning that we have so many Democratic legislators who are 80 something, 80 something. Now I ain't mad at them. I'll be

70 in September, but there's some, there's a point at which you sit your behind down. You nurture the young talent. You have a posse around you. You know, Senator Feinstein, I've known her forever when she was mayor of San Francisco. I think she's terrific. I also think at this point, I don't think it's sexist. I don't think it's ageist. I think she's losing it.

And given that, it would do herself and the Democratic Party a favor to sit down and enjoy her retirement. But she's not going to do that. And so you have too many Democrats. I love Bernie Sanders. I think he's terrific. He hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. But guess what, dude? You know, maybe it's time.

And so Democrats don't do that. They impose a ceiling. The power of incumbency is way too strong. And so very few in the Democratic Party are willing to stand up to an incumbent who may be too old, impaired or something else. It's their turn. They tell people, wait your turn. Well, younger people are not trying to wait their turn. They want change and they want it now. And so if you look at it and they and younger people, that's, you know, what was it? The boy who got kicked off CNN, Don Lemon, talking about Nikki Haley being half past her prime. It's ironic that someone in their 50s would be considered, you know, old.

But basically, this is what we're looking at, a Democratic Party that has not moved with the times. I personally think that both Democrats and Republicans are played out. I think it's time for a movement that really talks about establishing new political parties. I would love to see the multi-party system that you have in European countries, because it really does force people to negotiate. You would not end up with a debt ceiling crisis if you have multi-parties and people having to meet each other halfway. These people are just ossified.ies and people having to meet each other halfway. These people are just ossified. They don't have to meet each other halfway. They are where they are and they're not trying to change it. And we need to be where we are in terms of saying time for new leadership or new early leadership. I think it's over time. And I just don't think

that the powers that be, I really get it. I mean, when you look at the Congress, last, you had Nancy Pelosi, who again, my Congresswoman from San Francisco, lover, lover, lover. Jim Clyburn, solid brother from South Carolina, loving, loving, loving. And who was the third one? Anyway, they all were 80 plus.

Right. What does that say to younger people? What does that say to younger people in terms of looking for their turn, their possibilities? And it didn't seem to me that any of the three had really developed a cadre around it so that if, heaven forbid, something should happen, who's going to, were you going to have a scramble where Republicans come in? Or are you training people to be potentially your successors. Well, I will say this now with Republicans, and we're going to go on to our next story, that they definitely do start the training early. So they have, you know, Republican clubs throughout high school. You know, their parents are Republicans, college, things of that nature. And with respect to Dianne Feinstein and to

Bernard Sanders, you know, Dianne Feinstein is actually maybe in the way of a black woman being appointed by Governor Newsom to be in the Senate. And then we think about Bernie Sanders just very recently. I call him Mr. Post Office, but he actually did not vote for one of the article, the newest Article 3 judge there that will be seated in Atlanta, Georgia, Nancy Abadou. It was, I believe, a 49-48. It was a very, very close vote. Chris Coons came up from New York after his daughter graduated, but Bernard Sanders did not vote in that very, very narrow vote

that did make Nancy Abadou from Georgia the 12th judge on that appellate court. So congratulations to her, but Bernard, do better. And we definitely do need to be more aggressive and make sure that that 50 percent that's not voting in the United States does vote. A Michigan hospital employee instructed to walk through a state-run psychiatric hospital for children doing an unannounced active shooter drill after was being was suing after he was handcuffed by police on december 21st 2022 the hawthorne sitter conducted an active shooter drill without telling patients, most of the staff, or the Northfield Township Police. Many people inside the center said they were terrified when an announcement came on the loudspeaker that active shooters were on the premises. Brandon Woodruff was armed with a fake rifle when patients panicked and dialed 911.

Dozens of officers in tactical gear rushed to the scene to find employees sprawled on the ground telling officers it was a drill. According to the lawsuit, Woodruff did not know people had not been warned of the drill. When Woodruff exited the building, he was met with, get this, heavily armed police officers yelling at him to get down. Woodruff reportedly got down on the ground, face down, and activated his smartwatch to call his wife, who recorded what she heard. Woodruff said that he feared for his life and wanted to make sure that his wife, my God, listened to the last moments of his life. Y'all, it is so much going on. And again, here we are talking about a story. I definitely want

to bring my panel back in for the next couple of minutes. But here we are talking about a story, I definitely want to bring my panel back in for the next couple of minutes. But here we are talking about a story from 2022, this one in December 2022, of a man who could have lost his life, quite frankly, because we know the police are all too trigger happy when it comes to black and brown folks. This is really good that he still had the presence of mind to at least alert a family member, his wife, and ask and get her to record. Thank God those weren't the last minutes of his life. this level of trauma that we continue to see played out over and over again, brought to the media's knowledge or not brought to the media's knowledge? What does this mean for our community? Well, first of all, I mean, this whole, I cannot believe that he was not killed. I mean, all of these stories that we see as relates to us getting killed for less,

I'm thankful that he was able to survive. And secondly, I mean, this is something that no Black person should ever agree to in the first place to do something like this, whether everybody knows about it or not, especially nowadays. As somebody who works in schools and speaks at schools across the country and former classroom teacher, K-12 before I started teaching at the university, everybody always knew about the drills and what was going to go on. So I think the people who organize this should face some type of charges criminally for endangering so many people. And I'm glad they're facing the lawsuits.

As it relates to our community, this is important that people understand that it's not just the actual killings that traumatize us. It is situations like this as well. What this whole thing, we've been talking about this, even with the story of Mr. Thompson, you know, Renita said this, Dr. Malveaux said this, how many times have we said this tonight? It could literally be any one of us as it relates to notice how he kind of knew the procedure. What do we do whenever we encounter cops? Stop, make sure our hands are up, and activate some type of recording device, right? Because we just never know, and we don't want to leave it up to their dash cams, which they can redact and do whatever they want. But then the fact that his wife would possibly have to hear his last words, how many situations have we seen?

Philando Castile, Walter, the brother in the store, I believe it was Scott Walker, I believe, in the store who's walking around with a toy gun in the Walmart, right? Whose girlfriend had to hear him die. And I apologize if I got the name wrong, but who had to hear him die. And the father hearing him say, the gun's not even real. So those type of situations are traumatic for us because we don't even need to be carrying a fake rifle. We could be in a Trayvon Martin type situation. And so people need to understand in my book that's coming out, Lies About Black People, How to Combat Racist Stereotypes and Why It Matters, I cite a Harvard study that shows that when these situations arise before social media and the internet and the like,

these situations will be traumatic for Black people within a certain radius of where a situation happened. But now because of social media, it's something that is impactful for us, not only across the country, but across the globe. And these are real psychological issues that we as Black people, and we don't have the services in our community

to be able to treat these or recognize the signs. So we are re-traumatized with situations like this. And it's really tragic. Absolutely. Lies about black people. Dr. Dominguez-Book is going to be out on shelves really soon. So make sure you cop that. We got about 30 seconds. We're going to go to Renita and then to Dr. Malvo. Renita, your comment. Well, I'm a Congo made much many of the points that I wanted to say, but I just want to reiterate one thing. You know, I never assume that I know what's going through a person's head when they make

certain decisions, but to Omicongo's point, black people, please think about what people are asking you to do. Think about if that is a good idea for you as a black person. Now, maybe this man was thinking that he would be fired if he didn't, you know, assume the role that they wanted him to assume. But if you do, you know, just speaking to the black community in general, if you do have the resources and that is not a worry for you, please think about what you're being asked to do, because he is very, very lucky that he did not lose his life. I'm glad that he is suing. But I also think, too, that too many black people are walking around thinking and believing the nonsense that we hear from some people, as we mentioned before, like the Daniel Camerons of the world, that, you know,

everything is all equal and situations and circumstances will not be different for you because you are black. Yes, it will be different. And you need to take that into account before you make decisions about what you will or will not do. That is an excellent point to bring up. He was five months on the job, Renita, to your point. Dr. Malvo, in about 30 seconds, your comment. Well, I wonder what possessed who to ask this brother to play the role of an active shooter? What possessed who? Would they have asked a white man to do that? No. Because it seems to me that whoever did this either is missing a brain cell or just was not very thoughtful, has a head in the clouds as I watch the news.

You see a black man with a rifle. What do you think is going to happen? I mean, truly, what do you think is going to happen? So, I mean, he's suing the hospital and he's perfectly or he's suing and he's perfectly within his rights to do so. But I would certainly question the administration at that hospital. And as Omokongo said, perhaps look at some of them as being liable for criminal charges. They willingly, deliberately endangered this man's life. That's what they did. And he must be traumatized. His wife must be traumatized. And as Richard Wright once said, when there's a lynching in Mississippi, I can feel it in Chicago.

When black people watch this, when black people watch this, this is trauma. So people tell folks, will you cooperate with the police? Answer to that would be like, oh, hell no. I mean, why would you cooperate with the police and put yourself in physical jeopardy? That's what this man did.

He cooperated with his supervisors five months on the job. That did make a difference. But still, why would you ask such a newbie, such a newbie to do such a thing? Was it a test to see if he was down with the program? My goodness.

Well, we're blessed to still have Mr. Woodruff here. Thank you so much, Dr. Malvo. Don't you go anywhere. Stay right here. Roland Martin Unfiltered will be right back on the Black Star Network. to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st violence. On that soil, you will not replace us.

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

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch.

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

You dig? Hey, I'm Cupid, the maker of the Cupid Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. And if you're ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Take a look at this baby. London Gray has been missing from Fort Wayne, Indiana since May 2, 2023. This 9-year-old baby is 4 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs 65 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She may be in the company of her mother. Anyone, please, if you have information about this baby, London Gray, should call the Fort Wayne, Indiana Police Department at 260-427-1222. So we're almost at that time, y'all, almost the unofficial kickoff for summer.

And for many of you, you may be planning your summer vacations. Well, listen to this. The National Board of Directors of the NAACP says Florida is unsafe and issued travel advisories to the Sunshine State, calling it, quote, hostile to African Americans. The formal advisory calling on travelers to forego visiting Florida directly responds to Governor Ron DeSantis' current policies. From the NAACP, they say that Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ plus individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of and challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color. AAA estimates that 42.3 million Americans plan to hit the road this coming Memorial Day weekend.

DeSantis says the travel advisory is a joke. Imagine that. The man charged with second-degree manslaughter after fatally choking a homeless man on a New York City subway train has spoken publicly about the incident for the first time. Daniel Penny told the New York Post that Jordan Neely's death had quote, nothing to do with race and everything to do with

a system that so desperately failed us. Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old black man who was also a street performer was at the time experiencing homelessness. Penny, who is a white, said, quote, This has nothing to do with race. I judge a person based on their character. I'm not a white supremacist. I'm deeply saddened by the loss of life that he caused.

It's tragic what happened to him. Hopefully, we can change the system that so desperately failed us. This is from the man that killed Jordan Neely. Cell phone footage from the May 1st incident shows Penny wrapping his arm around Neely's neck and wrestling him to the subway floor in a chokehold. Witnesses confirm Neely did not, we repeat, did not physically attack anyone on the New York subway train that day. Penny is facing second-degree manslaughter charges and is free on $100,000 bail, in part because over the million dollars that he raised. A teacher was suspended after dressing as a Ku Klux Klan man. A Southern Kentucky, check this out, Daniel Cameron. Middle school teacher is suspended while an investigation is underway into a controversial assignment. The suspension comes after a student was filmed

wearing a Klan costume on a school bus. The video was reportedly part of an assignment where students dressed up as Get Fist historical figures. The teacher allowed the students dress as Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army general and the first and clarified that the teacher wrongly identified in a video on social media was innocent. Interesting. Independent candidate Yemi Mbola-Day becomes the first black mayor of Colorado Springs and is a non-Republican leader in at least 45 years. He defeated longtime Republican politician Wayne Williams. Winning by 14 points in last week's runoff, this West African immigrant without, get this, previous political experience, ran an aggressive campaign that included more than 100 meet and greet events and saw campaign volunteers knock on nearly 40,000 doors. His win is seen as an upset for a city that's long been considered a GOP stronghold.

He also sees his victory as having national implications for a new way politics can be done and for bringing communities together. And so I want to bring my panel back in and definitely want to talk a little bit more about the advisory that Ron DeSantis said was a joke for the Florida State.

We saw that Disney pulled back, I believe it was about $13 billion in investments that they were going to make. We also saw a basketball player and 2003 draft class person, Dwayne Wade. He and his family moved from Florida, citing their hostility towards LGBTQ plus folks. His daughter, Zion, as we well know, does. She's she they fear for Zion and her safety. We've also, you know, I've talked about this a couple of months ago. It might have even been late last year when I really did say, and I've seen this conversation now kind of come out over social media to say that I felt that students in Florida, I said this either earlier this year or late,

late, late last year, that when they're being courted by schools from Florida should make sure that, listen, I don't, I don't agree with your policies, especially since Governor DeSantis is also being hostile towards HBCUs and teaching black history and sororities and fraternities. And so before we go to break, I just want to get your thoughts, Dr. Malvo. You're one of the resident educators here on the show. For if you could just in about 45 seconds, talk about this NAACP advisory and what it means when we think about the economics of Florida. Well, tourism is a major resource in Florida. And so if people take this seriously, and I hope they will, it will mean less revenue for Florida. DeSantis wants to call this a joke or whatever.

It's not a joke if it impacts the economy. And I think tourism is either the second or third largest economic driver in the state of Florida. You see why? Beautiful beaches, beautiful leisure activities. But it doesn't matter if basically you will not be respected, if you can be shot or killed. And then the black community really does need to pay attention to this and basically look at the, I think the NAACP, I have to give them high props. It was a courageous stance to take. The mayor of Tampa, that's the show in Tampa, she's an out gay woman. And she has said, well, you're still welcome in Tampa. Well, you can't take a spaceship to Tampa.

You've got to drive from the airport. You're still going to be dealt in a hostile way. And of course, our HBCUs there are really having a hard time with this governor. I have a faculty member. I'm losing a faculty member to Florida. But I told him, I said, baby, take a leave because you'll be back. Because the brother is openly gay. And he's already received a memo that says he cannot use the words diversity, equity or inclusion in his classroom. He cannot use these words in his classroom. I couldn't match his offer. He got a lot more money than I'm able to pay him. But the fact is that money cannot buy you safety.

And there was just a sign that said something about kill all gays that was on the side of the highway. So this is what we're dealing with. And the NAACP is to be commended. But we have to make sure that DeSantis feels this. And how do we do that? Don't go to Florida. Now, I know people already bought their tickets and already got their reservations, may be reluctant to switch those. But the fact is that this state is dangerous because its governor is dangerous and because open hostility towards black people is allowed. Absolutely. And thank you for pointing that out, a resident economist as well, Dr. Malvo. And I also just want to kind of quote Dr. Greg Carr here when he talks

about breaking their political backs. You definitely got to do that because this is a person who many are watching and waiting for him to maybe even as early as this week or next week, throw in his hat for the presidential presidential ring. So definitely want to make sure that we are being engaged in politics and keeping an eye on Florida. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on a Black Star Network. Stay with us, everybody. We'll be right back. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Cole. Democracy in the United States is under siege. On this list of bad actors, it's easy to point out the Donald Trumps,

the Marjorie Taylor Greens, or even the United States Supreme Court as the primary villains. But as David Pepper, author, scholar, and former politician himself says, there's another factor that trumps them all and resides much closer to many of our homes. His book is Laboratories of Autocracy, a wake-up call from behind the lines. So these state houses get hijacked by the far right. Then they gerrymander. They suppress the lines. So these state houses get hijacked by the far right. Then they gerrymander. They suppress the opposition. And that allows them to legislate in a way that doesn't reflect the people of that state.

David Pepper joins us on the next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. Next, right here on The Frequency, the woman they call the gifted eye, hip-hop celebrity photographer Kory Soldier. She's the master storyteller that captured the history of hip-hop through the lens of her camera. Tupac comes out, the next thing you know, you didn't know who they were at first. You just seen all these dudes. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

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

and episodes 4, 5, and six on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. He drinks the bottle. Hoi Sojer, the hip hop celebrity photographer, joining me right here in the next episode of The Frequency on the Black Star Network. Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili.

And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. A new epidemic is as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions annually. I bet you won't guess what this public health crisis is. It's loneliness. Researchers found lonely people are 50% more likely to die prematurely than those with healthy social relationships. Mental health care expert,

Dr. Troy Beyer, joins me from Los Angeles to explain how loneliness can be deadly. Thank you so much for joining and welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered again, Dr. Beyer. Thank you. It's great to be here. Yeah, I'm really happy that loneliness is getting the attention that it deserves because it is lethal and it is an epidemic. Human beings are not born to be alone. Even, you know, we can get biblical about it. God says man shall not be alone. We can be psychological about it. We can even be biological about it. We need to interact with other human beings. It's very important. And I think it's also important that people understand there's a very clear distinction between loneliness and being alone. And that gap that I have really been focusing on in my work

recently, because to be alone is a physical experience. You're alone. There's no one around, but to be lonely is an emotional experience. And that's why it cuts deeper and it hurts more. Right. And then a step further, um, is it's not just about, um, being in the company of people, right? You want to make sure you're in the company of people that you are connected to, that you can have a common union with, which is why community is so important. That's what community is. Absolutely. And I'm so glad that you raised that distinction, Dr. Beyer. I was, and I moved in the wellness space. So when I read this report, it's about an 82 page report. I'm sure you're familiar with it, but I was really glad that our Surgeon General who served during the body and So when I read this report, it's about an 82-page report. I'm sure you're familiar with it.

But I was really glad that our Surgeon General who served during the Abadian administration, Dr. Murthy, released this report, the executive summary. And he talked specifically about some of the points that you made about social connection. the priorities in partnership with Health and Human Services, HHS, he released that loneliness and isolation were a public health concern, that he'd done a listening tour and kept hearing the word lonely. And so when I read Dr. Murthy's letter that he had in front of the report, and it talked about some of the other conditions that are specific to, as you made the distinction between being alone and being lonely, but being lonely and being isolated, not having those healthy social connections. Schizophrenia rose up. We talked about bringing you forward. We talked about premature death, also dementia. There are cardiovascular disease.

There are all of these disease and conditions. And I'm going to bring in my panel to ask you specific questions. But I thought it was very important, considering May is Mental Health Awareness Month, that this is on the eyes and on the list of priorities for the Surgeon General and HHS, and that it is a public health crisis. Could you talk to, before I bring the panel in, really why it is important? You mentioned we can take it from a biblical lens, we can take it from a psychological lens, but why is it good for the wellbeing of a person overall, um, to have not just social connections, but healthy social connections? Yeah, that's great. Well, let's just get biblical for a second. You know, God always knew what he was doing,

right? He says we should not be unevenly yoked, right? We can't be unevenly yoked because that means we're, we that means we're moving with people that we don't share the same energy with. And that's why it's important to have people that there's a background of relatedness, that you are really connected, you share the common interests. Because when you are evenly yoked, you're going to be vibrating at the same frequency and frequency generates energy and energy gives life. So that's why it's really important to be vibrating at the same frequency and frequency generates energy and energy gives life. So that's why it's really important to be with the right people, because if you're with the wrong people, the same holds true in reverse, right? And it's the difference between ease

and dis-ease. When you are associating and congregating with people that are resonating in your energy field, I say, you know, your vibe determines your tribe. When that's happening, you're in a space of ease. And so you're thriving. You're vibrating. You're happy. Your cells are happy. But when it's the opposite, I mean, you've been around people that you don't vibe with, right?

It's a horrific feeling. Like, it really, it's dis-ease. You're not at ease. From dis-ease comes disease. Absolutely. Absolutely. Love that breakdown. Renita, I'm going to start with you. Your quick question for Dr. Beyer. Sure. So my question is around what are some solutions that people can use to cure sort of their loneliness. And the reason why I ask this, it may seem obvious, but the reason why I ask this is because some people do thrive on not needing a lot of social interaction. All of our personalities are just different. And, you know, so it's hard sometimes for some folks who feel lonely to sort of lay that on other people who need alone time to recharge or who need a lot of alone time to recharge or feel that they do better without lots of social interaction. So folks who are lonely, what is it that they should do?

So if you're lonely, well, there's three things that I'd like to address that you brought up. The first thing, we have to talk about an introvert and an extrovert. Some people really do love their alone time and they want to be alone. That doesn't mean that they have a wish to be lonely. Remember, alone is a physical space. Lonely is the removal of connection from another human being. You don't have access to that. So that's very distinct right there, right? Now, if you have someone who is really lonely, what they need to do, and I say this to my clients all the time, is find something that you love doing. What are you passionate about? And then make it your business to connect with others who share that passion. Love that. Absolutely. Social connection is the fabric that weaves us all together.

Dr. Malvo, your quick question for Dr. Beyer. Dr. Beyer, first of all, thank you for your work and especially for honing in on this loneliness issue. COVID caused a lot of loneliness. A lot of us spend more time alone than we ever have before because of quarantine and other things. And so I found in my own case that it's important for me to mindfully schedule social activity with friends or with others, because otherwise you can just get into the rut of not doing that. I call myself an ambivert. Some days I'm extrovert. Some days I'm introvert. Some days I'm... Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Yeah. But in any case, how much time should people plan, mindfully try to be with others, you know, outside of work? What should, what is there a yardstick to

say, you know, once a week, twice a week, go to church, what kind of yardstick should people use so that they can say, gee, I haven't been outside the house for a week. Something must be wrong. Yeah, that's a great question. I don't think there's any formal way of measuring that. I would say to anyone who wants to know how much interaction they should have, I would just say, how much joy are you looking to experience? Right. Because that's what traction does. It brings you joy. So if you don't need a whole bunch of joy all the time, you know, then cool. You're good. Right. Just you have to be true to yourself. Take some personal inventory. Like, what do I need in order for me to feel good about this day?

Oh, I need alone time. Okay, then manage your life that way. Oh, you know, I'd like to go to church on Sunday, and I'd like to just fellowship with the congregation and be in touch. Then that's what you should do. But you have to be truthful to yourself. You have to tell yourself the truth about what you want, but especially what you don't want.

I love that. Let joy be your measuring stick. And Dr. Dabinga, your question very quickly for Dr. Beyer. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Beyer, for these comments that you've been sharing tonight. It's very important for us to understand and hear this. And trust me, I'm receiving it. My question is about tech. This idea of when I see people gathering at restaurants and they're like, first thing everyone does is pull out their phones. And this idea that, does the idea that you can always be somewhere else when you have your phone, does that contribute to this idea of loneliness? The idea that you can never be fully present in the space that you're in? Is there a connection between loneliness and this tech and social media space is my question. You know, I think there is to a certain extent.

If you are a gamer and your interaction with another human being is restricted to digital communication, then I think that's a problem. I don't, outside of that, if you're with people and they're on their phones and you're on their phone, they're, you know, you're on your phone and they're on their phones, believe it or not, that is a silent agreement that they have between themselves to be connected while being disconnected. Interesting. Wow. That's a good point that you raised, Dr. Dominga. I've often wondered

when I see people in restaurants eating together, that the joy of being connected with each other should be being present. So thank you for lifting that question. Thank you for asking it. Dr. Troy Beyer, mental health care expert. Thank you so much, friend of the show, for stopping by to share with us during Mental Health Awareness Month. It's always my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. And so I am so incredibly grateful to this fantastic panel, my friend, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, also my buddy, my brother, Dr. Dominga, who gave me so much grace for chopping up his name. And my homegirl, former lawmaker, state representative from my home state of Georgia, Renita Shannon. I want to thank the three of you all for your incredible, incredible commentary.

And I also want to share, Dr. Dominga shared, he has a book that is coming forward. Definitely want to make sure that you bookmark that. My book, A Southern Girl's Green Thumb, which was number one new release on Amazon, is available right now. It drops Saturday, so if you've purchased, I'm so thankful to you. You still do have time to purchase

the number one new release, A Southern Girl's Green Thumb. It is to help you connect and gain interest and purchase plans, especially for your mental health booster. We so appreciate you for joining Roland Martin Unfiltered again. Make sure you are clocking in on Tuesday. Got a good guess

that's going to be on here tomorrow from all of us at RMU. We appreciate you. Everybody on Black Star Network appreciate you. And in the words of Roland, holla. See y'all tomorrow, 6 o'clock p.m. Be well. Folks, Black Star Network

is here. Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. I support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. 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 scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? 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. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. 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. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. This is an iHeart Podcast.