#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Louisiana Cops Accused of Torture, Ark. State Trooper Resigns, Libera's Alex Cumming Interview

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

9.20.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Louisiana Cops Accused of Torture, Ark. State Trooper Resigns, Libera's Alex Cumming Interview A huge case out of Louisiana.  Baton Rouge police officers are accused of illegally strip-strip searching, torturing, and assaulting people in the narcotics processing facility, dubbed "BRAVE cave."  Two people have filed a federal lawsuit.  One of the attorneys is here to give us the details.  During a high-speed chase, an Arkansas state trooper performs a PIT maneuver on the wrong vehicle.  Instead of facing the consequences of the investigation, he's allowed to retire.  The Kentucky gubernatorial race is getting heated.  Governor Andy Beshear dropped an ad today that his Republican opponent could not ignore.  I'll have a highlight video from the 10th Annual Cedric the Entertainer Celebrity Golf Classic! And premiering tonight my interview with the Liberian Opposition Leader Alex Cumming, who's challenging President George Weah in the October 10 election.  Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Wednesday, September 20th, 2023, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network, a huge case out of Louisiana. Baton Rouge cops are accused of illegally strip-searching, torturing and assaulting people in a narcotics processing facility, the Brave Cave.

Two people have filed a federal lawsuit. One of the attorneys will be here to give us details. During a high-speed chase, an Arkansas state trooper performs a pit maneuver on the wrong vehicle. Instead of facing the consequences of the investigation, he's allowed to retire. The Kentucky gubernatorial race is getting heated.

Governor Andy Beshear dropped an ad today that his Republican opponent, David Cameron, could not ignore. You know, the black guy who did nothing in the Breonna Taylor case? That black guy, Republican Cameron? Yeah, it's time to send him to a defeat. Also, I will highlight video

from the 10th annual Secretary of the Entertainer Celebrity Golf Classic. Plus, I'll be talking to one of the candidates running for president of Liberia, Alex Cumming, a former Coca-Cola executive who's challenging President George Weah in the October 10th election. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, with Blackstar Network. Let's go. He's got the scoop, the fact, the fine And when it blips, he's right on time And it's rolling Best belief he's knowing

Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's rolling, Martin, yeah Rolling, it's rolling now It's Rollin' Martin Yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin

Now Martin A federal lawsuit claims the Louisiana Police Department has a torture warehouse where cops often detain suspects. This warehouse has been dubbed the Brave Cave. It is an unmarked Baton Rouge police facility where the city's street crimes unit allegedly detains, assaults, and invasively strips and body cavities searches people. Joining me now is attorney Ryan Thompson, who filed this lawsuit on behalf of his clients.

Ryan, glad to have you here. This sounds reminiscent to the Holman facility in Chicago. To your knowledge, how long has this been open? Well, first, I want to say thank you, Elder, for having me on the show today, for bringing some attention to what's going on here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That's exactly what prompted me to raise my antennas was the whole Holman situation. I'd heard about Holman several years ago, and when I saw what was going on here, it was reminiscent of that. To answer your question, it appears as if this has been going on for at least two years, to my knowledge. There was a press conference that was held by the Baton Rouge Police Department that said they'd been using this facility for decades, that there were some upwards of 650

people last year that were taken to the Brave Cave. And there was, at the point of the interview of the press conference, there were 350 people that were taken to the Brave Cave. So we're probably talking thousands of people who have been taken to this unaddressed facility um and what type of activities uh do you and your clients allege actually takes place there so we've conducted over 20 interviews and the activities that range from strip searches visual visual body cavity searches. The petition, the first petition in which you're referencing by client Jeremy Lee was viciously beaten gang style by several different officers. And the last petition that you're referencing, the most recent filed lawsuit with my client, who was a grandmother, 47-year-old grandmother,

she was illegally detained, illegally searched, and there was a body camera performed on her where she was required to spread certain body parts. Because my mother's watching, I won't actually say what she was required to do, but just know that they were private parts, both front and back. So I'm confused, because is this a separate place than the jail? So according to the police reports that myself and attorney Jessica Hawkins reviewed, it lists the individuals. It says that the individuals were taken to the first district, the first district, the Baton Rouge police facility, which is off of Plain Road.

However, in talking to individuals, my client and other individuals, it was clear that they were not taken to the first precinct. In fact, we filed a subpoena looking for the video images of the alleged beating that took place with Jeremy Lee. We were told there were none. It wasn't until an individual reached out to me that I was still, that I'm going to, you know, not say who it was, but to share with me that I had it wrong, that there was actually a facility in the back of the first precinct whereby individuals were taking that was being dubbed the Brave Cave. So, no, it is not a address place where the Baton Rouge Police Department identifies in their police reports. In fact, it's the complete opposite. Any response from the Baton Rouge mayor, city council, police chief?

So there was a press conference that was held first whereby the police chief and his deputy chief came out and stated that they had never heard of the Brave Cave, but that they were aware of this individual site. Subsequently, after we raised some stink about it, the mayor turned around and did her own press conference, whereby she stated that. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

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

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. She was going to permanently close this facility and that the street crimes unit would be suspended. I have not heard from them since. It's my understanding that the chief has conducted several different interviews whereby he has stated that there's a criminal investigation that is ongoing right now and that the FBI is involved. This right here is the mayor of Baton

Rouge, Sharon Weston-Broom. In an effort to keep the lines of communication open on this very serious matter that has taken place this week, I've asked you all to come and hear personally from me a statement. More importantly, to keep our citizens of this community engaged and knowing that the mayor is in control of this situation as we work together with BRPD. I have to say that the recent developments related to the allegations of abuse and misconduct concerning the findings of the processing center known as or referred to as the brave cave has prompted a thorough review of activities at the facility

and the officers and unit directly connected to it. As a result of early findings and information provided by chief Paul, we have made the decision that the facility will remain closed permanently. Let me repeat that. This facility will remain closed permanently, and it will not be used for policing activities going forward. Additionally, Chief Paul has terminated the operations of the Street

Crimes Unit. The personnel has been reassigned to uniform patrol until the completion of the investigation. Lastly, an ongoing investigation has yielded enough disturbing details to formally announce that Chief Paul has initiated a criminal investigation related to the handling of the suspects and the policing activities of this unit. Let me say to the citizens of Baton Rouge, since 2017 my administration and Chief Paul have worked painstakingly to improve the relationship between the police and our community. We have come too far to have this relationship eroded by a few bad actors. I do believe in the good men and women

of the Baton Rouge Police Department and won't let this deter the efforts to have the respectful and harmonious relationship with our community, which we all desire. To the citizens of Baton Rouge, let me make this extremely clear. priority and any any injustices is my top priority we will handle this matter with transparency accountability and fairness uh i don't think um that type of news conference is held, Ryan, and they will say nothing bad happened? Like, that's a whole lot to say we gonna change

if everything was on the up and up. You know what, Brother Martin, Elder Martin, let me say this. It's been a while since I've seen that interview. Let's start here. Two years ago, there was a juvenile that made national attention who was stripped, who strip searched on national television by Troy Lawrence Jr. We've maintained that the department has always had a policy of not stopping frisk, but stop and strip. And so there is a written policy in the Benruth Police Department that states that all you need is reasonable suspicion to strip search on one that is not in compliance with the United States Constitution.

It's as if individuals are not citizens. African-Americans are not citizens in this country. And so to answer your question, I agree with you. It sounds like there's kind of some dancing around the issue. And the issue here is, is that we have criminal activity that is happening at the Brave Cave or by African-American citizens, Banroo citizens. Rights have been violated. This is criminal activity and individuals need to be arrested right now. The comment where she states that there's some disturbing evidence and there's a criminal investigation that is taking place, I think that is telltale exactly what we have going on here, again, which is criminal activity, unconstitutional activity. Yeah, that was quite interesting there. Well, certainly keep us abreast of what happens in Baton Rouge

when you follow this case through. We definitely will. Brother Martin, if you allow me to give a shout-out to two people, please. All right, go ahead. Hey, I want to give a shout-out to my mother, Andre Renee Thompson. Mom, I hope you're proud of me. Lastly, to my elder, to my mentor, to my father figure, Dr. Ernie A. Smith, the world-renowned linguist and foremost authority in Ebonics.

I know that you're going through some health issues. Please get well soon, and I hope I'm making you proud. All right. We appreciate it, Doc. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, going to break. When we come back, we will talk about this with our panel,

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The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hello, I'm Marissa Mitchell, a news anchor at Fox 5 DC. Hey, what's up? It's Sammy Roman, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, my panel, Rebecca Carruthers, vice president for election center out of DC. Scott Bolgin, Aloysius Scott Bolgin, attorney, former chair of the National Bar Association,

D.C. Chamber of Commerce, D.C., to run Walker Founder Context Media out of Atlanta. And so let me go to the little Kappa first. So, Scott, you heard all that stuff the mayor said. You don't say all that stuff if you know y'all ain't got a problem. She knows they got a problem. Yeah, she's got a big problem, and I'm surprised that the police chief is still there. The problem

the city has is that these goon squads, you can name them in every city. We've talked about them over the last couple years or several years. These high crime intensity gang units, they're actually goon squads. And they had a place to take these people. And they had a history of complaints. And the police chief

and the sergeants bore down when they got the complaints about strip searches being illegal and what have you. When they got the complaints of young men being strip searched and violated, they actually had a press conference, bore down and said, we're going to continue this policy as a crime fighting piece. That's important because under 42, 1983, USC 1983, you've got to be able to show a pattern and practice and a policy of violating individual civil rights. I guarantee you, I haven't looked at the complaint that the lawyer just had on, but they're going to have to show that this was a policy of the police department. They have video of it being a policy and pattern and practice. And so they're going to get to trial.

They're not going to, they're going to be the motion to dismiss a motion for summary judgment. But disbanding these units, we know in every major city they have them. Disbanding these units is always after the fact. And these units act as criminals to fight criminals on the street. That's un-American. That's unconstitutional. The police have got to be above board and prosecute or investigate and make arrests lawfully in order for these cases to stay. You don't fight crime with crime.

And that's what you have going on here in Baton Rouge. You know, the point to run Scott's making there. I mean, we know a lot of these units, they operate like gangs. Hell, we know the literal, you know, prison gang, sorry, police gangs in Los Angeles County with these sheriff's officers, how they got their own tattoos. I think it was a television show. It was on Crackle, I think, that literally told the story of these gangs. And so these folks sort of operate with their own code of conduct, their own rules,

and the police department has allowed them to rule with impunity. You know, like the brother just said, every city has a unit like this, and every city has a police unit that is guilty of crimes like this. In Atlanta, there used to be a notorious police unit called the Red Dogs. You remember back in the early days of hip-hop, Goody Mob on Dirty South talked about them kicking in doors and putting people on the ground and violating them, this sort of thing. And honestly, what this reminds me of, it almost seems like a throwback to slavery, where the black body could be taken advantage of and violated in any way by a slave master

or overseer, and you had absolutely no recourse. What's sickening about this is the fact that we're not looking at the sexual component of this. These men and some women were not taken off the street and just having their civil rights violated because of their lack of movement. They were physically violated. As to the lawyer said, to your guest said earlier, you know, their hands were placed in the police hands were placed in places that were private to these people. And what are we talking about? And what do we hear

about any sort of like success rate, whether they were actually finding anything on the people they picked up? It seems like they were just finding black people on the street, snatching them up and violating them because they knew that these people had no recourse to push back. And the other sad thing about this is black faces are in front of this sort of situation. You know, you have a black woman mayor who has to get out in front of this and almost make excuses for these police and have to give the public a very political sounding answer without getting to the real bottom of what this is going to end up in. I think it's horrific. I think it's disgusting. Rebecca. president of a police union tell me that law enforcement is the only profession in the world that's expected to be 100% perfect 100% of the time. And my pushback to him was we don't need

law enforcement to be 100% perfect 100% of the time. We need law enforcement not to violate civil rights. We need law enforcement not to beat people and kill people. We need law enforcement not to sexually assault people and call that, oh, well, that's a search. Like, just because Baton Rouge is getting rid of this brave cave, that's not enough because it's going to continue to push more things like this underground. And something that law enforcement needs to ask itself, what is it about law enforcement where these things continue to happen? It's no longer acceptable or probable that this is only a few bad people or a few bad apples. It seems like law enforcement is rotted to the core in this country.

Well, I'll say we probably also want to have 100 percent job well done when it comes to doctors. We ain't trying to hear, hey, we good at 80%? No, that ain't quite the number we looking for. So yeah, we don't expect cops to beat people, to assault people, to rape people, to break laws, because it's called protect and serve. And that's what we actually thought it was supposed to be.

All right, y'all, going to break. When we come back, we'll talk about an Arkansas trooper quitting his job. Well, he screwed up. Of course, we'll talk about that. Then also the interim president at Temple University on stage yesterday, slumps in her chair. She passes away. Also, a devastating ad out of Kentucky where Democrat Andy Beshear is going right.

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, but not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher.

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Right at Republican Daniel Cameron over the issue of abortion. All of that next right here on Roller Mark Unpiltered on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly

violence white people are losing their damn minds 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 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 every 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.

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 Feet. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. And on the next Get Wealthy, you'll meet Jandy Turner, who took her love of sports, expanded her network, and created a thriving business. I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which in and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds, if not thousands, of golf tournaments is that business gets done on the golf course.

All on the Next Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, everybody, I'm Kim Coles. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. Yo, it's your man, Deion Cole from Blackish, and you're watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered. All right, folks, let's go to Arkansas. Crazy, crazy story.

You might remember us telling you about this particular story. An Arkansas state trooper is retiring before facing any disciplinary action for performing a pit maneuver on the wrong vehicle during a high-speed chase. This took place on September 18th. Corporal Thomas Hubbard and other Arkansas State Police officers chased two vehicles, you'll see right here, chased two vehicles down I-40 while traveling more than 100 miles an hour. During the chase, Hubbard mistakenly performed a pit maneuver on a vehicle that wasn't involved in the pursuit. Police say the vehicle being pursued and the car accidentally stopped were white four-door sedans.

According to reports, neither the driver nor the passenger were injured and declined medical treatment. A 14-year veteran, Hubbard submitted his retirement letter after the internal review began. You know what? I'm a firm believer here, Rebecca. I don't believe if there's, I believe that these rules should be changed. If there's a pending investigation, an officer should not be allowed to retire with their full benefits. Absolutely. We need to start thinking about what does it look like to restructure pensions. Oftentimes we'll hear about reforms in the actual police department, but then we hear the police unions who are then anti-reform. A challenge to police unions, if you support law enforcement, then you should support us

progressing and looking at ways to make law enforcement safer, not just for officers, but for everyone. And I think cities need to go back and think about the contracts that they have structured with law enforcement. MLK, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King told us that budgets are a moral document. So inside these municipalities that spend so much money, millions and millions of dollars on law enforcement in their particular cities, they need to go back to the table and restructure some of those contract agreements with law enforcement agencies. Teron? You know, I think police departments and police officers need to start looking at this idea of bonding police officers the same way that private security

gets bonded. And if your conduct affects the bottom line of the city, then your pension and your bond need to be tied to that. And it needs to be taken from that. Any compensation that you do as a police officer that's seen as unbecoming, that needs to be taken from you. Because, you know, look, this is basically just shuffling the problem around. If you have a bad officer, you have an officer that takes somebody's life or risks somebody's life like this, you can allow them to retire. They get their full pension or they get shuffled around to different departments. They get picked up and they create the same problem somewhere else. Unless you start putting a financial punishment to some of these practices,

nothing's really going to change. Scott? Yeah, I know, Roland, that's how you feel. You want to make them stay at work and take the penalty. But you're wrong again on this one, at least. Why? That's for, I'm getting ready to tell you. Well, hurry up. Listen to my professorial response. Well, hurry up. It would arguably be forced labor. What you really mean is they should let the investigation go forward

for make the findings against their record. And if they want to come back into law enforcement, that'll be part of their record so that they cannot be hired or promoted. No, that's not what I mean. The department. That's better because that's not what I mean. The department. That's that's better because that was legal. What you want is illegal. No, it's not.

Yes, it is. Why is it illegal? Someone to continue to be employed by a police department or any other organization if they don't want to be employed. They have a right to be free of that employment piece and they can resign anytime. I don't want... What I do not want... I'm tired of these cops getting off

scot-free. This happens in Chicago all the time. And I understand your frustration. And I don't want them getting off scot-free. I also believe that their pensions should be dinged. I do not believe, I'm a fundamental believer that I'm

sick and tired of the city or the county putting the bills. It's time for these people. You cannot stop them from retiring. Well, fine. Get your ass out the building. What you're not going to do, what you get your ass out the building, what you're not going to do is keep getting your full retirement.

Say what? Affect your retirement? You could do that? That should happen. You could do that? Fair enough. That should happen. That should happen.

Get the state legislatures, get the state legislatures, Democrat and Republican, in red or blue states to do it. Or. You'll never get it to be done because the police unions are far too strong. Or change them. When you negotiate new contracts, put it in there. And tell them,

you want that 20% raise? You got to agree to this. Let's see what happens. All right, y'all. Let's talk about this ad. Dropped in Kentucky today. Andy Beshear is a Democratic governor. And the issue of abortion rights is a huge one. It played a huge role in 2022 midterm elections.

It's going to be huge next year as well. He's facing Attorney General Daniel Cameron, hard right Republican. Beshear ain't playing around. Watch this ad that he dropped. I was raped by my stepfather after years of sexual abuse. I was 12. Anyone who believes there should be no exceptions for rape and incest could never understand what it's like to stand in my shoes. This is to you, Daniel Cameron. To tell a 12-year-old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable. I'm speaking out because women and girls need

to have options. Daniel Cameron would give us none. Ooh, Daniel Cameron is not happy. This is how he responded. It's unfortunate, but Andy Beshear is running the most despicable campaign in Kentucky history. Now, he lectures us on partisanship and unity, then runs disgusting false attacks. I've said if the legislature were to bring me a bill with exceptions, I would sign it. Now, contrast that to Andy Beshear, an extremist whose record in public office is clear. He supports abortion through the ninth month. His policies are what they have in North Korea and China. He even vetoed a bill requiring medical care for infants born alive after a failed abortion.

And he vetoed every pro-life bill he saw because Planned Parenthood and Joe Biden said too. Now there's an extremist in this race and it is Andy Beshear. Okay, so here's the deal here. Y'all, Daniel Cameron is changing his tune. Oh, he was a very hardcore abortion, an anti-abortion candidate. Y'all notice that Donald Trump has been talking lately about how,

damn, we might have gone too far because we're losing. Republicans are now realizing, damn, those no-exception bills are not good. So Cameron goes, if they send me a bill with exceptions, I'll sign it.

But here's the question, Rebecca. Why isn't he saying this is what I advocate? See, he's trying to play both ears for the middle. We see what you're doing, Daniel Cameron, and you're full of crap. Well, how is he

pro-life? Like, show me where he was pro-life with Breonna Taylor. Show me those who was pro-life with Breonna Taylor. Show me those who are held accountable because of Breonna Taylor's death. I mean, I'll wait. Like, he literally could have done something in Breonna Taylor's case, and he did not. So I don't think he has a credible record in what it means to actually be pro-life. And I will say this to the Democrat in the race. Good job.

Good job for actually punching back and not holding any punches. This is the type of messaging that voters need to hear so they understand actually what these issues mean. Because for far too long, we've seen certain politicians in this country not be held accountable for their rhetoric. But in this case, Craig's rhetoric is actually dangerous because he has a legislature in his current composition that would not provide exceptions for rape and incest. So it was very disingenuous for him to say, oh, well, if the state legislature send this to me, when we know absolutely the Kentucky state legislature wouldn't send that to him if he was elected to be the next governor.

So good for Bashir's team. The thing that's interesting here, Scott, this is the this right here is the Louisville public media. Go to my iPad. So they write that Cameron has repeatedly said he supports Kentucky's near total trigger ban on abortion as it currently stands. You go through this here and then they go, oh, with this new comment, he actually is taking a position that's far different than what he

described in Republican primary. Come on, player. We see what you're doing. Yeah, the record is pretty clear on Cameron. You know, when these conservative right wing positions, when their policy and popular in primaries, look at that alliteration, man. In any event, when you have that, the best response— Actually, it wasn't that impressive, but go ahead. It was alliteration. I know you're an English major, journalism major. But in any event, but the best response to those far-right extreme policies is to make it personal.

And what the Democratic governor did in Kentucky was say, oh, that's your policy? Okay, let's hear from someone who's lived it with that Kentucky twang and that Kentucky simplicity of appearance and her courage in saying her father raped her and she was pregnant. You can't, no policy is powerful enough to respond to that personal circumstance of that young lady, black, white, yellow, brown. It's all captured us and said, my goodness, why would you make her have that baby?

And she's talking to every white woman in Kentucky, every white girl, every black or brown woman or girl about that situation that they may find themselves in. It's powerful. It ought to scare the conservatives, even in Kentucky. And look, we've seen it in all these other states to run. These Republicans are freaking the hell out

because the abortion rights issue after the Dabbs decision continues to be potent at the box. 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 one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

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

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

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

get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. At the ballot box. You know, I want to talk about this just from a marketing standpoint, and I just want to say that Bashir's ad was brilliant. And you and me have talked about this before, Roland, that a lot of times Democrat messaging is too milquetoast and a lot of times it doesn't get to the Corbyn issue. I think it was brilliant for Bashir to have this young woman who looks like she looks talking about what happened to her, talking to her about her violation and tying that right into Cameron's policies. Because this is how you get messaging across.

You know, data is one thing. Issues are one thing. But data can be a woman or a man talking about the violation that happened to them and the dramatic human effects of something that happened to them. And it's kind of funny seeing Cameron's response because how are you going to be black and have just a dry backdrop like that with no flavor behind it? That was corny, man.

Ashy. He looked ashy. I didn't want to say it, but I'm just saying, like, come on, brother. I mean, you ain't got no flavor better than this. You got a gray background. You're sitting there talking like you're doing an interview and stuff. Come on, man. But to be serious, though, the bottom line is if you're going to stand on these policies just as a man and as a candidate, you better be sure you got to back your policies all the way because the minute you start flip-flopping and looking wishy-washy,

it's going to make you look weak. And regardless, and the bottom line is you are a black man in Kentucky. They have found this attractive white woman to say that I was violated on your watch. That's going to play like hell in Kentucky. Now, the brilliant thing to go from here was to reach out to Breonna Taylor's family and maybe do an ad with her. That'll kill it as far as like for his constituents. Well, first of all, speaking of Breonna Taylor, the group Untold Freedom,

which played a huge role in that particular case, they are actually in, they've set up shop in Kentucky. They have been very much involved there, setting up an office there. Tamika Ballard has made it clear they will do all they can to defeat Daniel Cameron. Now, since they got there, Tamika has faced significant death threats, literally phone calls to their hotel. Go to the graphic, please. This was posted right here because she posted something earlier on social media on Sunday.

We shared it on Monday. Update on the security situation here in Kentucky. Multiple death threats have been made to hotels in the city towards me directly. Police met with me yesterday afternoon and again late last night. The calls later that night were more than personal. It appears to be someone who followed us.

I am safe. I have security. I truly believe I will be okay. Sharing so these cowards know our World Army is aware and on guard. We won't leave Kentucky without doing the job we came for. They can threaten me. They can try to scare us away. But I'm not backing down. Please support Until Freedom so we can have the proper protections. www.untilfreedom.com.

Even $10 will help. Vote for Breonna. Hashtag Stop Cameron, period. That right there sounds like some folks are kind of scared of the mobilization, the organization of Until Freedom there in Kentucky. Scott? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Tamika's a fearsome fighter, and threats aren't going to stop her.

She's a sister from New York and just a really strong young leader. And so we ought to all be writing checks or giving to until freedom. But more importantly, them being on the ground means that these third party groups, right, that that you advocate for, for us giving money to who will affect voting rights, who will affect get out the vote, voter education, voter participation is where the real action is. And she's in the thick of it with her people. So hats off to her, full applause for her,

and stopping Cameron is period and full stop. So God bless her. This right here, Rebecca, to Scott's point, is why I keep saying that. I mean, the reality is if you're giving money to Until Freedom, if you're giving money to Repairs of the Breach, the Pro-People's Campaign, if you're giving money to Black Voters Matter, if you're giving money to Until Freedom, if you're giving money to Repairs of the Breach, the Pro-People's Campaign,

if you're giving money to Black Voters Matter, if you're giving money to Georgia Stand Up and so many others, these are people who literally are on the ground. They're not going to be sitting here wasting their money on TV ads and all that sort of stuff these white Democratic consultants

or these other consultants do. They understand we got to go to the voters where they are. And so supporting them in this case, they look until freedom needs people's support for security. Security is very expensive. And these people are literally protecting their lives. You know, I applaud Tamika Mallory and her courageousness. And I'm keeping our foot on the gas when it comes to seeking justice for Breonna Taylor and holding Cameron accountable. But yes, you know, I know there's a lot of people, even a lot of Roland Martin unfiltered audience members who feel

cynical at times when it comes to our political system and to our political parties. And like you said, giving directly to the boots on the ground who are fighting every year for every vote in our community, but not just fighting every year for every vote in our community, but actually fighting for continual progress and positive change in our communities. So those are the types of organizations that are for black people, run by black people, and black people should make sure that we are supporting those organizations. And Tyrone, the thing is this here, there's a lot of people out there who complain,

I wish people were doing this and doing that. You've got people who are there on the front lines who need our support. And what people see here, it's real. It's real when you're there and you literally are leaving your home for seven weeks to be involved in a campaign. You're on the ground. You're getting death threats. That ain't just something just to simply just, you know, this ain't no really big deal.

People need to understand the reality of what our folks are facing, what activists face out there. I don't think a lot of people have a full appreciation of the hell they often have to deal with when they're on the road. Well, you know, I think sometimes, to be fair, if you're actually really doing this work, if you really are grassroots and boots on the ground and putting that work in, sometimes you get so involved in that work that you don't think about the importance of messaging and telling people what your work actually is. And I understand why that is because, you know, the people who really are dedicated don't think about that sometimes. But I think there has to start becoming an intelligent media component to a lot of organizations who are true organizations doing

work and saying, we want you all to support us, but this is why we want you to support us. We want you to see what we're doing. We want to see the benefit that we can provide for people who are interested in getting politically active. I think that's part of it as well. That has to start happening too. Pull the graphic back up, tell people where they can actually go to give support. First of all, let me do this here. Their cash app is dollar sign until freedom. Cash app is dollar sign until freedom. Cash App is dollar sign until freedom. And again, if you actually go to give me one second, I'm going to pull it up here.

If you actually go to their website, go to their website, untilfreedom.com. You see right here, go to my iPad. Their goal is to get 10,000 people donating $10 a month. It's right there on their website. And again, when you go here, you will see how they are fighting for what we believe in together. And they're standing up fighting for Breonna Taylor. If you click the Donate button, you'll see where you can actually go to donate right here. And so all the information is right there.

All right, folks, that's it. We're going to go to the break. I'm going to come back. I'm black to come back. Our Black and Missing. Also, I'm going to talk about updating on the Ralph Yorke case out of Kansas City. And I told y'all when I wrote my book, White Fear, how the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds. We're going to show you a white man in Nashville losing his damn minds and destroying

the fruit stand of a Latino who was just minding his business. Some of these white people losing their minds. Nuts! You're watching Roller Market Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. all change is not growth right but thoughtful change is real good fertilizer and that's what has been so beneficial to us but you also were not afraid of the pivot well and i'm a black woman in business come on i don't care how i dress up i don't care who i'm speaking with i don't care

what part of the world i am in i still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here. Respectful of change. Respectful of pivot. Yeah. Fearful? No. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. What do Deion Sanders, a lawnmower, and the phenomenon of invisible labor all have in common? They're all now part of, shall we say, a colorful lore at our historically black colleges and universities. Our Master Educator Roundtable convenes to explain it all

as we explore the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of one of the black America's national treasures. That's next on The Black Table, right here on The Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're going to be talking about common sense.

We think that people have it, know how to use it, but it is something that people often have to learn. The truth is most of us are not born with it and we need to teach common sense, embrace it and give it to those who need it most, our kids. So I always tell teachers to listen out to what conversations the students are having about what they're getting from social media, and then let's get ahead of it and have the appropriate conversations with them. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Hello, we're the Critter Fixers. I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuning into... Roland Martin Unfiltered. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug thing.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We'll be right back. is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Corey is also known as Crumb Dread because of his long dreads. Anyone with information about Corey Daniels is urged to call the Fresno County California Sheriff's Office at 559-600-3111, 559-600-3111. The white Missouri man accused of shooting a black teen who rang the wrong doorbell has pled not guilty in court. 84-year-old Andrew Lester pled that today. He's charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

He claims he shot Ralph Ural through the door for fear of being robbed. The trial is scheduled to begin on October 7, 2024. This next story is just absolutely, utterly, shamefully ridiculous. This white man in Nashville, Tennessee is facing vandalism charges after attacking a roadside fruit vendor. Apparently, David Johnson did not like

that Diego Parada, a man of Honduran descent, was running a fruit stand in his neighborhood. So David Johnson chose to be an ass and do this yeah yeah one moment let Let's go, man. Hey, no problem. No, no, no. Move.

Yeah, come on. No problem. Yeah. Yeah, no problem, man. Hey, let me show you something. Yeah, hey, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Do you see the sun? Yeah, no touch.

Do you see the sun? No touch. Yeah, no touch. No touch. Yeah, no touch, no touch. Call the police. Yeah, no touch. Call the police. Call the police.

This is what these racists do to a run. This man's minding his own business, not hurting anybody, selling fruit. This guy goes, I don't like you selling the fruit, so therefore I'm going to destroy your fruit stand. You know, watching that, first of all, I was actually kind of surprised he got as far as he did because normally, you know, people in that culture roll kind of deep, but I'll leave that alone. But there's a thing that a representative in Georgia, Renita Shannon, talks about called deputized whiteness, where anybody feels like their white skin gives them the authority to police everybody else's actions.

You know, it's just crazy. I think the climate in this country has gotten people like that. And to the name of your book, White Fear, I think there's a definite fear of people being replaced and they're trying to act out on that fear by whatever action they can take. But I don't see the point of trying to disrupt somebody's livelihood when they're not even bothering you. I mean, that looks like the highway you had. This guy had to physically stop his truck, get out of his car, get on the highway to take the effort to put the effort into doing that. It looks like it's probably the first exercise he's had in about 15 years, but I'm just sorry that it had to come to the expense of these people. But here's the deal, though,

Rebecca. The sheer presence of this Latino man is what pissed this racist off. How dare you be in my county, in my city? How dare you be in my county, in my city? How dare you be in my country?

That's really what these idiots are saying. You know, I saw the folding tables. I was looking for a folding chair. I was waiting for Diego to grab a folding chair and show that man the business. You know, I hope Diego, by the end of the day, he owns that man's pickup truck because what that man did was unconscionable. And like what you're stating, the hubris for certain white people in this country

thinking that they belong here over everyone else and that they are the ultimate authority and the enforcement in this country. It makes me think back to like cases from the 1700s and the 1800s, even the Dred Scott decision of whether or not Black people or people of color

have actual standing to challenge whiteness. Can they actually show up in court and go up against a white-infused system? Do they have the humanity, the ability to do that? And once again, we see someone right here

who deserves a folding chair, you know, FAFO. You know, fortunately, God was smiling upon him, and that didn't happen to him when he pulled up alongside the road. But just the hubris and the gall and the audacity, or like one of my cousins said, the call Cassidy to think that you have every right to do something like that. I mean, it's simply crazy. They actually believe, Scott, this is our country and we can do whatever we want. That's right.

Even white privilege with poor white people is strong. But Barola, no toe, no toe. Who knows what no toe means? I don't know what that means in Spanish, but the brother was saying, no toe, no toe. But here's the stupidest. This is more stupid than everything everybody said. He's tearing down the fruit stand and throwing it next door, making a bigger mess for this country that he thinks he protected from this immigrant. He's just making a big mess. And with this video, they reported him, and he's being charged with criminal mischief right now and will be prosecuted. He's going to plead guilty or do something because it's all on video. Look at what he's doing. He's just tossing it next door. So his goal is to disrupt that income and that business. It's not to clean

up the side of the highway or to make good on him being the immigrant, being a nuisance. It is to disrupt his business and his money. Think about that because he just made a bigger mess. So remember, we should watch this on the criminal mischief. He'd be prosecuted for criminal mischief, which is what he was charged with. But remember, the Tulsa race massacre was about disrupting the business. Lynching

people pissed off with money being made. It's just beyond stupid, and I hope he gets hit with damages. As Rebecca said, they take his raggedy redneck truck. Speaking of a redneck, a South Alabama woman, guess what? She's going to sit her ass in jail for a year for violating her black neighbor's civil rights. 64-year-old Sheryl Lynn Pileski pled guilty to a criminal violation of the Fair Housing Act in March. Pileski admitted she intentionally targeted her neighbors due to their race in 2019.

She hung racially offensive homemade dolls on her black neighbor's fence to intimidate them and force them to move out of their Ozark neighborhood. Now she gets to move into a new hood. Put on that orange suit. She hood. Put on that orange suit. She gets to put on that orange suit. I have no problem with that. Now she get to think about for a whole year how stupid she was, Rebecca. I'm sorry.

I'm still looking at her picture. Her goofy behind thought she was going to intimidate her neighbors by putting some dolls in someone's porch. Like, get out of here. Are you serious? I'm telling you, Scott, these folks, do people now understand why I wrote my book, White Fear? The melanin.

The melanin. Melanin in my skin. That's all it is. But what is it about the melanin in my skin. That's all it is. But what is it about the melanin in my skin that drives white folks crazy? That she's going to spend a year in jail because she hates the melanin in her neighbor's skin and the melanin in my skin. It is beyond racism and being trained to be racist. It's just stupidity. It makes no sense. I don't hate white people. Black people don't hate white people. We just want a fair shot, right? We want a fair opportunity. We want to enjoy the American dream and chase it, right?

But you got poor white people who the American dream and their privilege has not produced wealth for them or success. And they blame it on black people because white conservative politicians tell them it's the black people's fault that you didn't make the American dream work despite your privilege and despite your whiteness. And so she's going to spend a year in jail. Think about this. She's going to spend a year in jail because she hates the melanin in my skin. What could be more stupid here in America or anywhere else?

It's just stupid. I don't even get to racism. It's just stupid. I don't mind it at all. I hope she loses her job. I hope she loses a house. I hope she loses her job. I hope she loses a house.

I hope she loses all of that. Because I'm telling y'all, this is what these people do. And these things are... I love the people who say, wow, man, you know, you do these stories, but it's really not that big of a deal. No, it's happening all over. I'm trying to download this video here.

D.O. Hughley posted this video. This white man, I think he's in Oregon, who just, who's, who literally is menacing this sister. He is constantly on her door. Give me one second. Let's see. Video is saving. Here we go. Alright, let me see if I can now transfer

this video over. I mean, these things are happening, and these people, I mean, they are literally acting a fool. Okay, here we go. Air drop it. I'm going to show you all this video here. And again, this is just a black woman who's just trying to live where she lived, and this fool, he decides to just do this constantly. Hit play.

I'll fucking break your doggy bitch. Call the cops bitch. I'm about to get murdered. You're a bitch. 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 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 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Sh Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working

and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm about to get murdered. So, Teron, this racist threatened to murder her, threatened to rape her daughter. He's brandishing a knife, making stabbing motions. This took place in Gresham, Oregon. This took place over a week. As a matter of fact, it took the cops a week after seeing the video to arrest the

guy and apparently the woman was told that it's just menacing so he is going to be released soon. See, this right here, Toron, is when a group of bros pay a visit.

I was getting ready to say that. You know what, man? I don't know if this lady, does she have any uncles or does she have any brothers? Because I'm telling you right now, if that had been somebody in my family, we'd have got four deep and sat in front of the door and waited just for him to show up, and then we're going to open the door, and then and then we go have a conversation. Let's just say it like that. Back to the other point about that is, you know, back to the other point, like that other lady who was attacking that that system, man.

I wonder sometimes that people are dealing with some form of self-hate and they feel like because their situation is the way it is, they find somebody who they think is better than them, who they really think is better than them, but they flip it to thinking that there's somebody beneath them, and then they try to attack these people because, look, man, why would you – it's got to be privilege, and it's got to be some form of extreme hubris to risk your freedom and your life to try to disrupt somebody's life in that way. Yeah, man, that dude, I don't know what he's on,

and I don't care what he's on, but that would have got dealt with quick, man, if that would have been my people. My people from Florida, we don't play that. But, Rebecca, again, I really believe in their minds we're going to get away with it because we're white. Right. In their minds,

they're not risking their freedom. They're not disrupting people. In their minds, they're doing what is rightful for them, what they should do in their minds. It's us. It's the black people in this country that are in the wrong by simply our presence. I mean, looking at that dude, I'm like, what in the unwashed legs and feet? I mean, I, you know, I think about my male relatives and my male friends. There is no way like that. And here's the other thing. I hope that woman sues. It looks like it was an apartment complex because at the point that they knew that she was being terrorized by her neighbor, they should have provided ample security.

They could have even said that this is against the other tenant's lease by being menacing or criminal activity or mischief activity. There's something in that lease where they could even they should be able to even kick them out of that apartment complex. But if I was her, oh, I would definitely be suing as well, as well as filing a complaint with the local police department. With why does it take a week to actually respond and do something? Like this, you know, and I also hope for her sake she moves because it is not safe and she needs to call all of her male relatives

over. I'm telling you, Scott, this is where we got five chairs sitting outside his door looking like this here. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Like, I wouldn't really call the police if that happened to me or my sister. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Like, I wouldn't really call the police if that happened to me or my sister.

Well, first of all, remember, it's Gresham, Oregon. So her family probably not in Oregon. Yeah, probably. You're right about that. I'm telling you. I got some catch. There's always a black community within five miles of where she lives.

Hey, hey. This sister need to throw, she need to throw a hat in the air. Right. She need to throw a hat in the air. Hey, it was my sister. It was my sister. My sister would open the door, came out there

with her butcher knife or her frying pan and beat his ass. That's what she would have done. She wouldn't have waited on the police. And then what my sister would do is what Rebecca said. She'd sue the complex for failure to keep her safe, for failure to provide sufficient security to keep her free from being threatened by white racists. It's just a trip, man. I'm going to keep saying this, Roland.

The melanin in my skin, it make them go crazy, man. It make them go crazy. They're going to get their ass whooped. I'm going to let y'all know. All right, y'all. I'm saying, I mean, they keep... You cannot promote violence on this program, and you do it regularly.

I've been meaning to tell you that. You promote violence. That's wrong. No, that's self-defense. No, I don't. That's not violence. That's. No, that's self-defense. No, I don't. That's not violence. That's not violence. Yes, sir. That's self-defense. No, if you show up to my house doing that and saying that stupid stuff like that, if I open up the door and five Rottweilers come out at you, then that's your fault.

You shouldn't be that close to my door. I didn't say you couldn't do that. I didn't say you couldn't do that. Call me so I can do this and put it up on the Internet all day and stuff. Why didn't it happen? Black people always trying to kick somebody's ass. We got to stop that, man. We got to stop that.

But we should. Unless it's really ultimately, it's a last resort, kicking somebody's ass, man. We got to get out of that mentality. Now look at that lady, man. What is she going to do when she's sitting in the county and locked up in Big Shirley and want to watch a movie? What's she going to do? Is she going to push back on her?

What's going to happen then? Who's she going to fight? Well, she got to keep him. She never should have let him leave the apartment. My sister would have just kept him and tortured his ass. No, that's just crazy. You wouldn't find the evidence anywhere. The evidence.

We've seen somebody bomb you years. Oh, God. Here we go. There we go. There we go. You're promoting violence? You're wrong about that, Roland. No, Scott.

You're wrong about that. You're not promoting violence. Look here, man. We're recognizing black history. We're recognizing black history. There was a black man who invented that chair. Exactly. There was a black man who invented that chair. There was a black man who invented that chair. Every last one of her relatives

should have been sitting in front of her front step when that dude pulled up. Exactly. They should all come from Atlanta and Detroit and just sit out there. Now, all black people, if any of y'all got a racist who rolls up on your door like that, call Robert.

Oh, yes. Call Robert and all the guns that he got. Trust me, you're going to have some tough white racists who are going to get real meek and quiet real fast. All right, y'all. He come to Oregon for free. All right, y'all. He's coming to Oregon for free. He's coming to Oregon for free. He can't travel with guns.

Right, right. That's going to be road trip. Road trip. All right, y'all. I've got to go to a break. We'll be back. Roll the button on the filter right here on the Black Star Network. Hashtag team, whoop that ass. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene,

a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be free. 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.

There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Bye-bye, Dr. Jackie, we're going to be talking about common sense. We think that people have it, know how to use it, but it is something that people often have to learn. The truth is most of us are not born with it and we need to teach common, embrace it, and give it to those who need it most, our kids. So I always tell teachers to listen out to what conversations the students are having about what they're getting from social media.

And then let's get ahead of it and have the appropriate conversations with them. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Sheppard Talk Show. Hey, it's me, Sherri Sheppard, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all, So today, Merrick Garland, 10th ballot before Congress,

and all the yahoos on the Republican committee. And so, check out this line of questioning from former Democrat Jeff Van Drew, who, ooh, I hope he loses next year in this election. Listen to this. And Merrick Garland, who's always quiet, chill, and look like his blood pressure's like 90 over 60.

My man got a little hot at these fools. Watch this. Attorney General, through the chair, I ask you, do you agree that traditional Catholics are violent extremists? I have no idea what the traditional means here.

The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, so absurd. Mr. Attorney General, it was your FBI that did this. It was your FBI that was sending, and we have the memos, we have the emails, we're sending undercover agents into Catholic churches. Both I and the director of the FBI have said that we were appalled by that memo. So then you agree that they're not extremists? We were appalled by that memo. Are they extremists or not, Attorney General? I think that... Are they extremists or not, Attorney General? I think that...

Are they extremists or not, Attorney General? Everything in that memo is appalling. Are they extremists or not? I'm asking a simple question. Say no if you think that was wrong. Catholics are not extremists. No. Was anyone fired for drafting and circulating

the anti-Catholic memo? You have in front of you the inspection division's investigation. Just tell me yes or no, please. I don't know the answer to that. Do you agree that parents attending school board meetings should be categorized? Should parents that go to school board meetings and are very vocal about their kids' education, should they be classified as domestic terrorists? Of course not. And my memo made clear that vigorous objections to policies in schools are protected in the First Amendment.

It was just sheer stupidity just back and forth. Eric Swalwell had me cracking up because, you know, Jim Jordan was just sitting here just, you know. First of all, I really hate Jim Jordan. He's really an idiot. And so he was up here just yelling, hollering, screaming, doing his usual nonsense. And then Swalwell was like, you know what? Let me go ahead and check this fool. because he keeps making demands of who needs to be testifying and who needs to be doing stuff and all those sort of things like that.

So here's Walwell. Check this out, y'all. Rich, because the guy who's leaving the hearing room. Mr. Attorney General, my colleague just said that you should be held in contempt of Congress, and that is quite rich, because the guy who's leaving the hearing room right now, Mr. Jordan, is about 500 days into evading his subpoena, about 500 days. So if we're going to talk about contempt of Congress, let's get real. I mean, are you serious that Jim Jordan, a witness to one of the greatest crimes ever committed in America, a crime where more prosecutions have occurred than any crime committed in America, refuses to help this country. And we're going to get lectured about subpoena compliance and contempt of Congress.

Jim Jordan won't even honor a lawful subpoena. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? There's no credibility. There are a lot of crazy videos that testimonied today. But I saw this one, y'all, and, Lord, I thought it was one of the most hilarious videos. I know a lot of Republicans. I do.

But some of these people really and just utterly embarrass a lot of the Republicans who I actually know. If y'all want to see one of the dumbest people, this GOP rep LaMalfa. If y'all want to see somebody who is not the brightest bulb in a dark room, watch this one. I know the percentage of atmospheric gases. You don't know the percentage of atmosphere. What I can tell you is that climate change is real. We've got to do something about it. Yeah, this one's called autumn, sir. I'm sorry?

This one's called autumn right now, so yeah. I'm sorry, I couldn't make out what you said, sir. This climate change right now is called autumn right now. So yeah. I'm sorry, I couldn't make out what you said, sir. This climate change right now is called autumn. Yes. Yeah, that's the seasons changing, which respectively is not the same thing as the climate changing. And as somebody who is hoping to retire in the 2050s and who has kids who will be old enough to ask me as they're getting to their 30s, whether we did enough to deal with climate change or whether we just did what was convenient, I take that really seriously. Reclaiming my time. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. The trillions and whether we did enough to deal with climate change or whether we just did what was convenient. I take that really seriously.

Reclaiming my time. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. The trillions and trillions we're going to cost our kids to chase a tiny percentage of CO2 will bankrupt all of us, unbankrupt our economy, and ship it to China for all the other reasons. So I yield back, Mr. Chairman. The gentleman's time has expired. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Huffman. Mr. Gentleman's time is expired. The chair now recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Huffman. Mr. Secretary, it's good to see you. You can see that I serve here in Congress with some of the greatest minds of the 19th century. Thank you. Oh, my God. Whenever they have these hearings, Rebecca, I just sort of sit here and go, my God, the Republican voters watch and go,

we voted for some idiots. It was so painful to watch that, especially because I spent the day with some of the most brilliant minds. Today was the first day of the Congressional Black Caucus annual legislative conference. So I was able to hear from a lot of people who care about policy, who convene in Washington, D.C., who actually care about things, care about facts, and not just looking for the next soundbite. So it's very disappointing to see the people who were elected on Capitol Hill to

sit and just have silly time. I mean, you know what? If Republicans are so big and bad in policy, pass a budget. Avert the government shutdown that's going to happen next week because they can't muster up enough votes. Actually do something. If you're that great, instead of being snarky, talking about, oh, it's autumn now, when technically it's not autumn so check your calendar actually do something how dumb can you be to run and go uh it's autumn that's climate change no that season's changing you know what though i hate to say it but things like that play really well to this base we know it's ridiculous and it was actually fascinating looking at Pete Buttigieg's, I hope I'm not butchering his name, his reaction, because that answer was so ridiculous that he's almost like he'd

be stupefied by the fact that even that even came out of his mouth. But having said that, we know it's ridiculous. You know, we know that it's completely a historical and a scientific, but his base is going to eat stuff like that up because, you know, when you get used to a clown, you expect the circus, and somebody who's going to play to their base is going to give them snarky sound so they can run with.

That's the danger in people like that because people who support people like... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

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

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

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

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

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good stickers and t-shirts. That's what's dangerous. You know, I was...

See, Scott, I really... I could not... I'm just letting y'all know. I could not be in Congress. I couldn't. I'm just letting y'all know. I'm just letting y'all know. Because I know

I would be like, you got to be the dumbest mother. Look, the only reason I'm holding back cussing because Renita Shannon, of course, former Georgia State rep, she's a panelist on the show, she sent me a text

the other day and she said, my sister said to tell you that my four-year-old niece loves watching your show because you get turnt up. But you are teaching her cuss words she can't use in pre-K.

So the only reason I ain't cussing right now because the four-year-old is watching me get turnt up and learning on the show. But I'm telling you, Scott, I would be cussing colleagues out. I'd be like, you stupid, you dumb,

you a simpleton, you just brain dead. I already know. We ain't working on nothing bipartisan because I would have cussed out the entire House Republican caucus. Yeah, but Roland, let's level set it, right?

You and I both know the dirty little secret of our democracy and the Constitution. There's several, but one is there's no litmus test for education or intellectual quotient. There's no litmus test for not being a racist or a sexist. All you have to do under our democracy, state or federal campaigns, is get one more vote than the next guy. You get one more vote, you're in. And in the House, you represent what? Your district can be as small as 2,000 or 3,000 to up to 50,000 to 100,000, maybe a quarter million. All congressional districts are 700,000.

Okay, up to 700,000, right? Okay, now, those people vote for people who remind them of themselves or who they like, they want to have a beer with. And they can be, not all, but can be just as dumb, just as ignorant, and just as crazy as the people they vote for, the people they vote for as their constituents. And it does play to their base, but you're expecting too much out of that equation that I just laid out. So I'm not surprised they got ignorant. You know how ignorant people represent these districts and stuff? No, no, no. As Rebecca knows this. No, no, no, no, no, no. The real issue is not the people that voted for him. The greatest block of voters in the country are non-voters. And the reality is that's the greatest block.

And when we allow these idiots to go there, that's who ends up going. And I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I just know, I just know me. If I was sitting on that panel, my five minutes would be used. I'd be like, turn General Garland, you could just chill for the next five minutes.

Because what I'm about to do is cuss these ignorant fools out. I'll just let you know what will be happening. They'll be banging the gavel. They'll be sitting. That's what I'm saying. They'll get mad at you more will be happening. They'll be banging the gavel. They'll be sitting. They'll get mad at you more than anybody. They'll be start banging the gavel on you. Hey, dog, they'll be striking from the record,

and I'll be like, I'll be going Sam Jackson, Jennifer Lewis. It'll be Moe M.L. flying around. I already know me. They'd be in a middle-aged news conference. Yo, dumbass. I'm out to tell you what I know. I will be heckling them at their news conference because I cannot stand that level of stupidity.

I can't. So when y'all keep asking me, y'all keep people keep asking me, texting me, people on Instagram, rolling, we're off office. No, I can't run for office. I know me. I'm cussing. I don't like dumb people in organizations I'm in. I hate when stupid people talk. You be sitting there like, how dumb ass asked that question?

His simple time to ask that question. You can't discriminate against people who are not as smart as you. That's the first thing. Yes, I can. I can call dumb and stupid dumb. But that don't happen. There's no intellectual

quotient for running for office. I know. You're right. That's my point. I have an aversion to dumb people. I'm just letting you know. Lauren Boebert could come to you with some really good legislation on some issue, and you'd have to work with her. No, I wouldn't. You'd have to concede that if it was me. No, I wouldn't.

And her constituents. Hell no. Because she'd probably try to grow. What good idea is this? I do this with Calvin. I do this with Calvin. What good idea is this going to do? Tell me what legislation he could try to grow. What good idea is this? I do this with Carmen. Tell me what legislation she can bring to him.

Please tell me. Lauren Bover will be coming. She'll be coming to support Hands Across America. That's what she'll be coming to do. That's it. Toron, Rebecca, Scott, I appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. Folks, when we come back, one of the candidates running for president of Liberia, the former Coca-Cola executive, Alex Cummings, I sat down with him when I went to the country last year. The election is October 10th. Here's what he had to say about the future of the nation founded by formerly enslaved people of African descent 201 years ago. That is next right here on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Sun Network. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and

concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. 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, rates $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. All change is not growth. Right.

But thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us. But you also were not afraid of the pivot. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on. I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world I am in.

I still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here. Respectful of change. Respectful of pivot. Yeah. Fearful? No. Uh-uh. No. Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Franklin.

It is always a pleasure to be in the house. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. Well, Alex, it's been a while since I've seen you. Normally, it was at the Estes Music Festival. Absolutely. It's been a while. Welcome to Liberia. Glad to be at the Essence Music Festival. Absolutely, it's been a while. Welcome to Liberia. Glad to be here, glad to be here. So let's start with that. How long were you at Coca-Cola?

Almost 20 years. I retired in March 2016, 19 and a half years, so almost 20 years. I started at Coca-Cola in Nigeria, so I ran Nigeria. I ran all of Africa for Coca-Cola. And then for the last eight years, Roland, I was executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

So I had global responsibilities for strategy, human resources, legal, all of the technical functions. So R&D, procurement, manufacturing, even a secret formula. The foundation, Ingrid Sanders Jones worked for me. So I did it in 2016 and retired in March 2016. The reason I want to start with that because when we talk about Liberia, we talk about other countries as well. When folks talk about the need for investment, it's the need for investment,

it's what corporations can do in terms of being able to help economies build and grow. You've got Firestone here. They've been here since, what, 1925, 1926. And one of the things that was interesting to me when I was having conversations with people this week is that they've never actually had a manufacturing facility here.

Rubber is taken out, going to the United States, but never had anything here. From what is needed from a corporate perspective in order to build economies like Liberia's that go beyond the natural resources being stripped and taken out, but literally providing jobs and skills for folks who live here so roland the the challenge we've had in liberia over the history of our country is that we have never focused on building a vibrant private sector uh for whatever reasons um people in government have been threatened, I think, either consciously or subconsciously about having a strong private sector. I think they've always felt it would be a threat to their political control. And so we have not created an environment for a vibrant private sector with manufacturing. We have not demanded of people who come to Liberia to extract our resources that

they do some local manufacturing, some value addition. So it's been a combination of not creating the right environment. You know, the rule of law, the sanctity of agreements, the judiciary has to be independent. You have to provide the right incentives. You have to develop and train your people. And you have to be comfortable that you will create strong, powerful, rich business people. Right? And then you have to be demanding of the concessionaires. We have to change the model with which people extract our resources. And so we haven't done that.

We still are not doing that. And therefore our resources just leave Liberia and our country is underdeveloped. I keep reminding us, Roland, that we are a rich country and a poor people. That is a huge contradiction. We have gold. We have diamonds. We have rubber. We have arable land.

We got 350 kilometers of seafront, of beaches, and yet we're among the poorest countries in the world. So it's a function of leadership. You know, I keep reminding us Liberians, we can't keep doing the same things and expect different results. The government has been organized this way for the beginning of the country. We keep electing people with the same kinds of experiences. We're not going to get different results. So long answer to your question, we just have

not created an environment for a vibrant private sector, and we have not been demanding enough of the concessionaires in terms of what they need to do to add value to our resources before it's taken out of the country. Well, that was one of the things that the conversation I had with a CEO here, she talked about the lack of skilled workers. She talked about the need for training for folks. If you're in construction, people who've been adequately trained to be carpenters

and electricians and drywallers and things along those lines, you also have an extremely young population here. Many folks would be shocked when they hear, you know, the median age of this country under 20 years old. 19, yes. So it's a young country, and you do need to train the workforce. So what that means is, until-

So they gotta be trained for something, though. Absolutely. But what that means is until they got to be trained for something though. Absolutely. But what that means though is you have to start with low-skill manufacturing. So you talk about Firestone. Let's at least produce rubber gloves, condoms, very basic stuff. Doesn't require very sophisticated trained people because that will take time for us to do. Or let's invest in tourism. Tourism, you create a lot of jobs,

but they're service-oriented jobs. We can train people very quickly to provide service. I mentioned there's 350 kilometers of beaches. There are other natural beauties. So if we invest in ecotourism... But in order to get to those beaches, you've got to have roads because that's one of the things that folks have said to me.

It's difficult when the roads only go a certain distance Now you're adding hours to be able to reach places where it should be really I want to have two three hours you do But you have to start somewhere right, right? You have to Innovate around in fact if you have bad roads, so I'm making this up as we go but so you maybe you get helicopters or something and you can career people from here to Harper to Maryland County beautiful beaches So we have to be creative and make do until we build a road infrastructure So we can't wait until that happens before we start. So so the point is we gotta be creative We gotta be innovative. We can't let the barrier stop us, right? We have to say, okay, the country doesn't have electricity,

we don't have train people, what do we do? And I believe there are solutions. That's why I mentioned ecotourism. When you add the word eco, people are not expecting five star infrastructure. They want to rough it out. They want to live in the huts. They want to get on the kinos.

And we can offer that until we can build the infrastructure, the roads, et cetera, and we can take up the value chain of tourism if you will so my perspective Roland is that they are barriers they're challenges but we have to confront them we have to find solutions around the barriers and we can let that stop us from the country moving forward we talk about our responsibility, how we can use our positions, how did you use your position as a corporate leader at Coca-Cola to help Liberia? So we did it in many ways, but what I first remind Liberians is that Coca-Cola is a private for-profit business, is a big multinational that focuses on creating shareholder value. In that process, there was a strong recognition

that you have to invest in the communities and societies where you live and operate. And so the other reality is, in relative terms, Liberia is a very small market. It's in the rounding in terms of what the corporation does. I mean, you know how big. The market cap of Coca-Cola is almost $250 billion. The GDP of Liberia is around $2 billion. I mean, that's a different scale. But what we did for example when I worked for the corporation, we put a second production line. The market didn't really justify it but we were anticipating growth. We put a second production line

which helped to create jobs. We invested in Liberia entrepreneurs. So we created kiosks. We put coolers in place to help During the Ebola crisis the company was very active in providing PPEs in providing Support to employees to make sure They were looked after and taken care of so we we disproportionately invested in Liberia relative to its size, relative to returns. And because I had the role I had, I could influence. Even though Liberia is a very small country, very small market, we did significantly more than we would have on a normal second chance, even versus bigger markets in the region. We did more because of my role. But we did that because we could,

because we cared for the country. And again, I just remind people there was only so much you could do because, again, you had sort of rules and regulations as to how you invest and based on returns and outcomes. Well, the reason I ask that, you've got one million Liberians in the United States. And so what do you want 1 million Liberians in the United States and so what do you what do you want to see a Liberians in America do where they're

working for companies with working corporations to be able to help the country grow right so let me also add that their Liberians also we helped get roles at coca-cola globally other Africans, so not just Liberians. And I don't want to take any credit for it because they earned it. It wasn't because, you know, they were just Liberians. I think that's an important distinction. But Liberians today in the diaspora do a lot to help the country. I think the number is something like $, 400 million dollars come to our country every

year from the diaspora. So, I mean, folks who no longer live in Liberia, they're sending back 350, 400 million. Yes. So even though your government budget is 700 million, you're getting, people are sending half essentially of your budget. Right. And so that is significant. You know, I think in relative terms compared to, I think, Mexico, for example, Philippines, large diaspora populations, on a per capita basis, on a per person basis, librarians send a lot of money back home to help their friends and relatives. In fact, there's an opportunity to work with them to actually channel that giving

rather than just give to folks. Maybe create an investment fund that can be used. We talk about value-added manufacturing. So we need to be creative about how we actually can channel those funds in a way that is more productive and is that not only to pay the rent to buy food. Those are important things. Librarians need that, right? But I think we can be smarter about how we channel those resources. So librarians do help today and it's important that we acknowledge and recognize that. But the diaspora, I have to say, also needs to get perhaps more engaged in offering solutions. I encourage the aspirants to actually come home

and help to implement some of the ideas they have. It's not good enough just to criticize, and they do a very good job of that, and maybe deserve a bit so, right? It helps when you make recommendations, that's kind of the next step in the value chain, if you will. Then we need someone to actually come and let's implement these great suggestions, right? And not just suggest it. But the aspirants do

a good job, I think, of trying to help the country. And we need to acknowledge that. When we talked about that young population, I mean, obviously, young folks are not sitting around waiting. And so is there a fear that if you don't have services, if you don't have jobs, if you don't have skills, that you're going to have a brain drain? And so if this is no different than young folks who are leaving rural America going into urban populations, people want to go where the jobs are, where there's a different lifestyle. So how much of a concern is that, that brain drain? It's a huge concern, but there's a bigger concern because this young population is both an opportunity and a threat.

And it's actually, I think, it's a national security threat. If we don't create the opportunities for these young people, the stability of the country over time could be at risk. Green drain is clearly one of the risks. But the West, Roland, is fighting back, as you know, even the United States, pushing back on immigration. The same with the Europeans. So, young people having the opportunity to leave and go to the West is becoming more and more difficult. And this is why we have to create opportunities here, because the West, they don't want us. I mean, let's be honest, right? And it's up to us, Liberians, Africans, to create opportunities for our young people. Otherwise, again, we have a national security risk if we don't take care of that young population. And my fear is we're not doing that.

We're not doing enough to develop, to invest in our young people. We pay lip service to it, but we have to take more action because over time, folks that's suffering, they're hungry, they don't have a future, they have nothing to lose. And it becomes a national security risk, in addition to the fact that if they can leave, they will leave. One of the things I consistently have heard from folks, they talked about where this country was prior to the Civil War, prior to the coup. They talked about what it looked like.

They talked about the development and how so much of that was destroyed in that 15-year war. Can you paint the picture, what was Liberia like pre-Civil War? Things that I've read, the reign of Tupman, in terms of what was brought in. What was this country like? Because what many historians have said is that Liberia was far ahead of many other African nations, even though they gained their freedom, and then all of

that work was destroyed during those 15 years. So that is correct. Liberia was, in relative terms, ahead of the other African countries. In fact, when I was based in Nigeria, I had a discussion with, at the time, the Kenyan ambassador to Nigeria. And he said, Alex, you know, in the Kenyan Foreign Service, everybody wanted to go to Europe and the US, that sort of stuff. If you had to have an assignment in Africa,

you wanted to go to Liberia. So that explained where the country was relative to other African countries. In fact, a lot of multinationals who had expats, expatriates in other African countries, when they took their leave, their short breaks, so you had home leave, you went back home, short breaks, they would come to Moravia, to the beaches and that sort of stuff.

So in relative terms, the country was developed. But I have to say, though, the country at the time, although relatively, didn't benefit everybody. And we have to say, though, the country at the time, although relatively, didn't benefit everybody. And we have to acknowledge that. And that was part of the cause. Who did it benefit? It benefited a few of the elites.

And that's why the war was precipitated, the civil unrest. Because our country has always had a sort of a top-down model. A few people, the old sort of Republican model, you power a few people, a few rich people, and somehow the poor people will develop. That really hasn't happened. So Liberia was... You mean the trickle-down theory? The trickle-down theory. And Liberia has had this sort of trickle-down mentality and still does until today. And so even the government today,

when we criticize them, you know, it was done that way in the past. Well, it hasn't worked. And they were elected to change the model. They were elected with this pro-po attitude. And they're repeating the same philosophy, the same with our concession agreements, whether it's a Firestone or Asselin-Mittal, the same constructs.

And somehow the country hasn't developed. We need to change the model. We need to develop from the bottom up as opposed to the top down. It hasn't worked. And so Liberia was relatively developed. Liberia has a lot of firsts we should be proud of. The origins of what's now the African Union started in Liberia with what was called the Organization of African Unity in Santa Coli.

One of the first head of the World Organization, Dr. Tukwawa, was a Liberian. I believe, and you should check this for me, I believe the first African to graduate from Harvard was a Liberian. The reason why Liberian has this maritime lots of flight convenience, I believe again Liberian lawyers were involved in writing the laws of the seas. So we've had a lot of firsts. The country was relatively developed, but it never has benefited the majority of Liberian people and still doesn't today. And this is what we have to change. We have to upend the system and this is what we're

saying to our liberians that we can't keep doing the same things and expect different results rolling we have to invert the system now that's easier said and done but we have to do it because librarians are not mutual abilities not benefiting i was in the western part of our country, a county called Cape Mount, an area called Gold Camp and King Joy, where there's a lot of gold. And literally, Roland, you see the trucks leaving with the gold. And there's no development.

Today. Seriously. There's a part of Liberia called... 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.

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This is inheritance from before. We've got to upend it. We've got to change the model. The gold's going out. Diamond's going out. Timber's going out. Ore's going out. Rubber's going out, diamonds going out, timber's going out, ore's going out, rubber's going out. A country with means for war.

That is just unacceptable. This is my passion, right? And for me, it's not, you know, I'm aspiring to serve our country as president. The job is not the destination. It's a means for, and the destination's to change the country. That's what we need to do, to upend this thing, because it hasn't worked.

And it's just a fact. You just said, gold, diamond, diamond, and it's a poor country. On that point, when I interviewed the Ghanaian president in 2019, he said to me, he said, it makes no sense that the continent with the most resources is also the poorest. Yeah, absolutely. And some of that is because the West wants it that way, the engineering that way. You know, all of these multilateral institutions are designed that way. But we Africans have to take responsibility. We own these resources.

We need to challenge the order. We need to change the models. And in many cases, we need to work together to do it. Because doing it individually, we don't have leverage. So a good example is what Ghana and Africa have done. Between those two countries, Roland, they control something like 70% of cocoa production. They were addressing cocoa sort of separately.

They've come together now. And it's benefited farmers. Prices have gone up because they have leverage when they combine. And so as Africans, individually, we farmers prices have gone up because they have leverage when they combine and so as Africans individually we need to exert some leverage but if we work together we can exert more leverage and again up in the order reverse the order this is what ECOWAS for example is so important economic community West African States because then you got scale in terms of the population if you

want to do manufacturing because manufacturers were scale, right? Economies of scale. This is what even the Manor River Union, which is Liberia, Surrey and Guinea, the Ivory Coast, it provides a scale. And if we can collaborate, work together, it gives us more leverage in how we manage our resources. Iron ore, iron ore in Liberia, Iron ore in Guinea, right across the border. The Nehemiah Mountains, right?

We need to be collaborating more with the Guineans, right, to extract more value for our resources. So the Ghanaian president was right. We got all the resources, and yet our currencies are weaker than the currencies in the West. Why? And again, I think the responsibility is ours. Yes, the West

has engineered, but we can't blame them. We've got to blame ourselves. We've got to bring leverage to them to change the model. Right now, seven of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are African economies. One of the concerns that people have, and I've heard this from numerous folks, and they've even asked me on my show, the question was asked, are the Chinese in Liberia, because of the criticism of their investments in other African nations. And one of the things that they've also been criticized on is not only are you investing, but importing their workers to do the work as opposed

to training the very people who live there to do the work. So it's sort of the same thing. Taking up resources, but that money going to their own workers. How do you get

international investment into Liberia? How do you get someone's attention to say, this is a value add for you to actually do this? Whether we're talking about major corporations or even smaller African American owned corporations from the United States. So let me first react to the point you made but the seven fastest growing current economies in Africa that's a good thing but ruling we

shouldn't get carried away with that statistics because this is a relative comparison these are relatively small economies so the u.s. only growing 1% that 1% growth it's probably do the math, bigger than the entire economy is growing because you know the math, the size, right? Right. So, yes, it's a good thing and we should be proud of that. I just remind us we should be growing any faster, right? I mean, to catch up because we're so far behind.

But in terms of how we attract foreign investors to sort of add value, one is this is where collaboration becomes important with other African countries. Because in a small country like Liberia alone, you only have so much leverage. So I'll give you a real-life example. If the terms we try to extract for iron ore is different from what the Guineans try to extract, they will go to Guinea. Right? But if we work together with the Guineans, right, we can... So basically what you're talking about is African nations should be like, should be doing what OPEC is doing.

Yes. That is, they're creating a, when OPEC gets together, they're controlling, they're setting the price of oil. Right. Now, if you have a resource that only you have or very few countries have, you have more leverage because they can't go to many other places, right? But if you have a resource that they can get anywhere else you're competing with. No leverage. No leverage, right? Having said that, though, even in the current environment,

we should be pushing more. We need different kinds of agreements for extracting our resources. And I believe, Roland, that we should simplify the agreements. Because today, I'll give you a real life example. I was on the board of Chevron globally, Chevron Corporation. And Chevron has more engineers, geologists, lawyers than we'll have for the next 100 years, right?

And so entering an agreement where we need those expertise to monitor the agreement, we're going to lose. And so, we need to rethink the concession agreements so that it's simpler. We can control the resources that come. So, if we take IOW, for example, and again, I'm oversimplifying. It's not as simple as it is. Right. I got you.

We should say to Mattel, 10% will do the math. 10% of whatever you produce, we want to sell it on the open market. You can take the 90%, whatever the number is. We will sell it on the open market, take the resources, and we Liberians will invest it, however we choose to do it, as opposed to trying to share in equity and monitor the stuff. So we need to just change how we think about all of these things, right? And require that they do local manufacturing, or we do it.

So we take the funds. We say librarians produce rubber today. We will create a factory. Librarians can invest in our factory. The government can invest in our factory. And we do gloves. We do condoms. All this basic rubber stuff for the local

market, for the Manitoba River Union, for ECOWAS. Just new and different thinking and this is what we have to bring to bear across the continent but certainly we need to do that in Liberia. I was having a conversation with one business leader and she said we import most of our fish. She said as opposed to us having a strong fishing industry. She said, which means that we're actually paying for it to come in. And her argument was to really build

a much more self-sustainable Country versus being on the end where you're having to pay Double or triple for things that are coming in what can actually be a homegrown and built Yeah, and that example applies to all of our commodities and it happens to Africa generally meaning We import iron ore Export iron ore and we finish steel. So we're losing. We got the seacoast. So you provide the iron ore, it goes out and comes in yeah you gotta pay for it to come back. Right, as steel. So you're paying more. As opposed to saying if you want our iron ore... We do the steel here.

Yeah, do the steel here, or you're going to give us a huge break on the cost if it comes back. Yeah, something like that. Or the Ghanaians or the Ivorians, they export their cocoa and then they buy chocolate. Value is added in Switzerland or wherever, Belgium, and they buy chocolate. Now the Ghanaians are producing chocolate locally, you know, and that sort of stuff. Without the Ghanaian cocoa, ain't no chocolate. Right, exactly. And so

this example happens, unfortunately, across the continent. This is why, again, we Africans, we gotta take control of this stuff, right? And so, you know, going back to the point where Liberia used to be, there used to be a company called the Mascherato Group of Companies. The what? Mascherato Group of Companies.

It doesn't exist anymore. That used to have ships, trawlers, used to fish, Liberian company ship, freeze it, ship it to Europe. So kind of finished product, right? Right. Freeze it, package it, ship it to Asia, Japan, Europe, North America, and all of that went away with the war, you know, all that sort of stuff.

Today the Chinese got boats on the coast, apparently taking the fish, the shrimp and everything, lobsters are going out. And then we kind of buy the frozen stuff. Like literally, like I've been here all week and we have not been able to eat shrimp anywhere. Yeah. And one person was like,

I know it's some shrimp off the coast of Liberia, how the heck you don't have any shrimp here? But if you're not if you're not catching it and producing it here and selling it here Yeah, and some of that is because the the shrimp have different spawning seasons So you should always have a year round but you have more abundant when this right from when they're not but yes human us The beaches right here right right? The coast. And 350 kilometers of beach. And we're not leveraging it, we're not using it.

And the seafood is leaving the country. What role do you believe, I mean, first of all, African Americans have an extremely unique relationship with this country. It is one that a lot of people don't even know about, don't even really focus on. There's no other African nation that has the relationship in terms of being founded by people of African descent who came from America, folks who came from Virginia, from Mississippi, from different places. Now, obviously, you had issues with that as well in terms of treatment, in terms of essentially them being colonizers.

And so you've had that battle politically and economically as well. What role do you want to see African Americans play in terms of partnering or collaborating with Liberia? We, and I approach this from two perspectives, right? One, to your earlier question, are we fully leveraging the diaspora? And two, are we fully leveraging African Americans? And we're not. And somehow we are threatened by what they could bring. So there's sort of a zero-sum game mentality that if we allow even the diasporans to come, they will take our jobs, they will take stuff from those people who are here.

We let African Americans come and do this. My point is, two plus two is five. We've got to change the model. I describe it, Roland, that we've got this pepper bush that we've protected for. But there's no pepper in the pepper bush so let's put pepper the pepper was and then we can regulate it with so like it's like I use analogy you're questioning how much I'm gonna make but right now you make a zero so if I come in and provide you with a hundred thousand and you're worried

about how much I'm making, okay, right now you're getting zero. So ain't nobody doing well. Right. The question is how much can we make together? Exactly. I mean, the other way I describe it, I'd rather have 50% of $10 than 100% of $1. So I'd rather have $5 than $1, right?

Right. And, but somehow our mental model, our model is, no, I want my $100% at $1, right? As opposed to, I'll take $50% at $10. And so what we have to do is we have to be more aggressive in educating African Americans about Liberia's history and that relationship so that we can attract both the economic financial resources but also the intellectual resources of African Americans. We have to do the same with the diasporans. Even today, there's this kind of rift, oh, diaspora Liberians and Liberians, Liberians.

We got to get rid of all of these divisions. We do it even on a travel basis. We separate ourselves. And all of these things. We do it even on a tribal basis. You know, we separate ourselves. And all of these things have kept us behind, right? Look, Roland, you don't choose your tribe, right? You don't choose when you're born. You don't choose the religion you're born into. You don't choose your gender.

Those things shouldn't give you any advantage or disadvantage over anybody else. But somehow we kind of use these things. They're forcing power. They use that to protect. These are all the power, and use that to protect. These are all the paradigms we have to break. And African-Americans, diaspora Liberians who live in the United States can make a big difference in terms of financial resources, in terms of intellectual capacity, right?

Now, they can't come with an arrogant attitude or colonial attitude because that was part of the problem. So sometimes diasporas, they come here and they think they're holier than thou. That's not gonna work. You can come and you may be better off because of circumstance, but you can't make me feel like, excuse me, like a shit. You can't make me feel like that.

Right, and sometimes that's the attitude people come with and that's just not acceptable. But we can manage it. We have to be more secure in ourselves. We have to recognize the benefit and value and we have to aggressively go manage it. We have to be more secure in ourselves. Ron Charles, Right. We have to recognize the benefit and value, and we have to aggressively go after it. We're in the context of a strategy.

What do we want to achieve with that? How can it help us? What sectors do we want to develop? And then how can it come and help us develop the sector? What is agriculture, education, tourism, infrastructure? We need to be clear about what we want to do, how we want to do it, and there are African Americans and Liberians in all of those sectors

that will be willing to come because of the opportunities that the country provides. Do you think, how does this bicentennial help? This 200 bicentennial celebration, that's, first of all, that's why I'm here, understanding the history. I'm looking at, obviously, the events here. One of the things that I have said to different ministers is you can have Bicentennial celebrations here, but there should be Bicentennial celebrations in those American states where folks came from,

where you're creating the linkage, in those places where you have significant Liberian populations, in Houston, in Washington, D.C., in Philadelphia, things along those lines. So talk about this bicentennial celebration. And is it truly a nationwide celebration? What do you make of it? I think we've underleveraged the bicentennial opportunity significantly. It should have been a much bigger deal across the country. leveraged the Basin General Opportunity significantly. It should have been a much bigger deal across the country.

We should have organized it so that even more African-Americans should have been made aware to come. I agree with you. We should have plans so that it's reciprocal. We're doing it in those cities where there are large Liberian communities, because that's how you create the awareness of the linkage between the United States and Liberia. So we've underleveraged it.

And then my other fear, Roland, is that there will be these opening events and then there will be nothing. There will be no follow-up, no follow-through. I don't think they've thought through, so what's the next event? What happens in March? What happens in April? What happens, you know, so on and so forth. Because God really, really leveraged the year of return. They did. They really leveraged the year of return.

It brought significant financial benefits, a lot more tourists, people coming in, spending hard currency in Ghana. We have not thought about it on that scale. We are not leveraging. And this is the original land of the return. Right. Not Ghana, right? And I think we've underleveraged it. And again, it's this, what I call small mindset, right? Whether it's the thread, the fear, or the history of where we've come from as a country.

But we've underleveraged it. There's still an opportunity. You know, it's not too late, right? Right. To take advantage of it. I mean, you've got a whole year. You've unleveraged it. There's still an opportunity. You know, it's not too late, right, to take advantage of it. Right. I mean, you've got a whole year. You've got a whole year, right? But I have not heard, maybe it's being worked on, I have not heard what the plans are to leverage it beyond these kind of opening events, which again, I think were relatively small

and could have been much bigger, much bigger scale than it was. So I think unless we take advantage of it, we're missing another opportunity, which is unfortunate. You've had to, you're leading the opposition party here. You've been battling the legal system here as well. And so talk about, if you're going to talk about the celebration and the president talked about unity in the ceremony at those sports complex, even with political parties battling no different than the United States, the Democrats and Republicans, how do you work together

to achieve that unity, to leverage the bicentennial and build Liberia together, even though you have opposing views? Yeah, and this is why, Roland, in all of my critiques, criticism of the government, I always offer solutions, alternatives. I never just criticize. I mean, I may in a particular interview, but over time, I always offer alternative solutions in the hopes that they will take advantage and use it. They haven't because at the end of the day, we all suffer or benefit. We're all Liberians. We all have to work together. And so we always offer, even through this conversation, we offer solutions and alternatives in terms of how we can move the country forward.

The government is unfortunately using the judiciary to prosecute me. It's not, it's a persecution, it's not prosecution, right? And look, in the end, I think it will prevail because the law is on our side, we did nothing wrong. But President Weah and his government should want to take the lead in seeing how we can collaborate despite our differences politically. That leadership needs to come from him. He's the president of the country. He's the leader of the country, right?

And rather than doing that, they're trying to split the opposition, which politically that's not a bad thing to do, right? But even more, they're trying to persecute me because I think we provide the biggest threat, the biggest contrast. Even my other colleagues in the opposition, Roland, we offer a different set of experiences. We offer a different vision that is radically different from anything I've offered. I'm like saying we need to change everything, upend the system.

Not overnight, not all at once, because that's chaos. But that's the goal is to change everything, right? And so I'm a major threat to the establishment, to the few thousands of people that benefit from Liberia and the spoils and the trickle-down economics, right? And so the government is, what I'm being charged with under Liberian law is a misdemeanor. Yet the chief prosecutor of Liberia,

so this is a general, is leading the prosecution. There have been significantly more serious charges of other individuals, criminal charges, never involved, never around. But a misdemeanor charge is leading it in the courts, in the court of popular opinion, prosecutorial misconduct, which we'll call him out on, by the way, But it's okay.

You know, we're fighting for the soul of Liberia. We're committed to our country. I've been incredibly blessed with different experiences, resources, strong intellect, and I'm going to do everything we can to try to change this country. And we'll take the bullets. We'll take the hits, because it's about Liberia. And then that was my follow-up, which is really the last question. Look, you're a high-ranking official at Coca-Cola. You were well compensated.

You could very easily be using this time to serve on corporate boards, travel the world, relax, do other things, write memoirs, teach, or whatever. Why do this? When that very well could be a much easier life. Yeah. Yeah. Every now and then, I wonder why as well. But that's only 30 seconds because... Does your wife want to say anything like, how's what you're doing? Right. So I, every now and then for 30 seconds, and then maybe she for 60 seconds. But we are, I'm very committed to this country.

I view everything you've described as I've been blessed. And I use that word deliberately, right? And I don't think I was blessed to kind of go on the beach and play golf and be on boards. I could be making more money. I play golf. I love golf, let's just be clear. My wife plays golf. Teresa is very good at it. There you go. All right. So I'll bring my golf clubs next time and she and I will play. I love golf, let's just be clear. My wife plays golf. Teresa is very good at it. There you go. All right. So, I'll bring my golf clubs next time and she and I will play.

Absolutely. I really think I was blessed to, with these experiences, to help the country on my part, to help Liberia, right? And I'm passionate about it. I believe we can change this country. Liberians are smart people, Roland. I'm not just saying it. I'm biased, but we are. We're industrious. We're resilient. And if we work together, if we think about leadership

as most servant leadership, we can change this country. And I'm committed to that. There will be time for relaxation, you know, to play golf and do this stuff. But for now, it's how we can get Liberia back on track. And I use the word we, not I. It will take us collectively as a people, right, a few hundred leaders committed to doing this, not just in government, in government, in the church, in the mosque, in civil society, in the private sector. We get a few hundred librarians who are committed.

We can change this country. And I want to be a part of that transformation. And God willing, I want to lead that transformation and to serve the Liberian people so we can achieve what I believe this country has the capacity to achieve. We have the resources. We have to manage it well. And then we will no longer be a rich country and poor people. We'll be a rich country and rich people. And I think that can be achieved. But the battle, the obstacles are huge because human nature, the folks, the men and women today that benefit from the system that is, they are fighting.

And they are going to fight, but we're going to fight back. All right. Alice Cummings, I appreciate it. Roland, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. Great questions. I appreciate it. This is an iHeart Podcast.