#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Louisiana Postpones Election. Roland Moderates Black men's Mental Health Forum in Shreveport.

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

4.30.2026 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Louisiana Postpones Election. Roland Moderates Black men's Mental Health Forum in Shreveport. Louisiana's congressional primaries, originally scheduled for May, have been postponed due to a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated a majority-Black congressional district. We will have one of the attorneys who argued before the Supreme Court, along with two advocates, to discuss the implications of this decision and the impact of not proceeding with May's midterms. Additionally, Roland will moderate a forum on Black men's mental health in Shreveport, Louisiana. The community is grappling with the tragedy of eight children killed by the father of seven of those kids, who had shared his dark thoughts with others. 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.

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Here's what we've got coming up tonight on Roland Martin unfiltered. Louisiana's congressional primaries originally scheduled for May have been postponed. Due to the Supreme Court ruling yesterday, that, and did a crucial component of the Voting Rights Act, we'll continue to break down what is one of the major stories in the ongoing attack on voting rights. Additionally, Roland will moderate a crucial and important panel in our ongoing coverage

of domestic violence and the role of men in domestic violence and famicide. He's down in Shreveport, Louisiana, where that community is still grieving, a brutal, horrific murder in which a father killed several of his children, and crucially, injured their mother. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin unfiltered here on the Black Star

Network. Louisiana's congressional primaries have been postponed from their originally scheduled date in May due to a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated a majority black congressional district. Early voting was already supposed to begin on Saturday for those primaries set for May 16th. However, Republican Governor Jeff Landry issued an executive order to postpone the U.S. House primary following Wednesday's court ruling. Joining me now, are Davin Roseboro, Deputy Director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, advocate Gary Chambers, and Ashley Shelton, president and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice.

I want to start by going over to Gary, who I know is on the ground in Louisiana. What is this, what is the mood and what is the response to this action for the Supreme Court and now this aggressive action from Governor Jeff Landry? We know Louisiana has been ground zero for ongoing fights over enfranchisement and disenfranchisement and disenfranchisement of black voters. We know that it has long been one of the key battlegrounds as it relates to equity and justice. And now we are seeing it becoming one of the key places

where our right to vote is going to be litigated and is being litigated. Gary, what is your response to the last few days? Your reaction? And what do the folks around the country need to know? Well, first they need to know that one of the fearless leaders of Louisiana, Ashley Shelton and the Power Coalition,

led this charge to help create the second minority district here in Louisiana that gave us the ability to have that representation. Louisiana has not always had a second majority black congressional district. People are angry. They are upset. People are figuring out what does this mean. We're getting orders from the Secretary of State, comments from the Attorney General, comments from the governor, comments from the Speaker of the House. There's a whole lot of conversation, not a lot of clarity. We don't know what map is going to. to be existing for the voters of Louisiana. We know that absentee ballots were already in the mail, which means that people have already cast ballots.

Those votes are already in the bag. They're telling us those votes won't be counted. That's a level of confusion. People are going to vote on Saturday. There will be congressional candidates on their ballots. If you click that, will you be able to click it? We don't have any of those answers. I'm sure litigation is forthcoming, if not already filed in this matter.

And so it's a ball of confusion. created by the disaster of Republicans that continue to allow these racist tactics that it existed as long as Louisiana has existed to play out in our politics today. Now, let's rewind, and you mentioned that Ashley was intimately involved with us, and so maybe she wants to come in here. Can we talk about what exactly happened and break down exactly what happened here in Louisiana? Louisiana is a state that's about a third black, has six congressional districts, and can we talk about the creation of this new congressional district, that would have been majority black, and then the legal fight that has played out since then.

Certainly. Thank you guys for having me this evening. So in Louisiana, press Robinson was the named plaintiff in Robinson versus Landry. And so we fought to realize a second majority minority congressional seat. And in that fight, you know, in the midst of many fights, because we've been fighting this fight since 2022, we were actually able to realize a second seat that is now currently held by Congressman Cleo Fields. And what Calais, you know, they intervened. And the Calais case, the Calais interveners said that the new map actually discriminated against them.

And so in the fight for a fair map in the state of Louisiana, we had nine non-black white interveners say that somehow a fair map discriminated against them. And then we saw this case play out last year. We defended this case within the Supreme Court, defended by the Attorney General's office, and then we saw the Supreme Court not decide last year. And then we also saw, you know, Jeney Nelson have to come back the next year and defend this, but with the caveat of the Supreme Court asking how Section 2 didn't violate the 14th and 15th amendments, which I will notice particularly cruel, given that those are the reconstruction

amendments that were created to protect minorities in this country and they will be used to do the exact opposite. And so here we sit in this moment with the CalA decision, which, to be clear, eviscerates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and what this means for black voters, not only in Louisiana, because I think I want people to be really clear.

This started out as a case about Louisiana and an additional congressional seat, and then what the subsequent ruling that we received yesterday, what it means is that black voters and all minorities, which include women of every race and ethnicity as well, have law, you know, like could lose the ability to elect a candidate of choice at every level of government. And I think that people need to understand what that means and the reality of the fights that we're going to certainly see in the South for sure. And the fights that we've already seen play out in places like Texas and other states that are trying to buy and jockey for power.

And I think, you know, the thing that's really unfortunate is that the Supreme Court didn't even have the, you know, like they, wouldn't even stand in their eviseration of the Second Amendment. They said that the remedies for race were no longer necessary and that somehow we all lived in some post-racial, you know, country that there's not any black or other person of color that I've ever met that has experienced this, this America where we are afforded all of our rights without the oversight of the federal government. And so this is a huge decision and it's going to have sweeping implications. If you have a seat in your community right now that is held by a person of color more than likely, that's an opportunity seat that was protected by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act,

and that protection as of yesterday no longer exists. So I want to just make sure to break it down. In Louisiana, again, it's a southern state, large black population, about a third of the state's population is black, nine congressional seats. Historically, the vast majority of black voters were crammed into one congressional seat. Due to advocacy, activism, work on the ground, a second congressional seat in the drawing of the districting was created in which black voters were significantly represented, where there are now two seats of the nine, representing a closer representation to the population of black

Louisiana. That was then challenged and taken to the Supreme Court. Dava, can you talk a little bit about what the court's argument was, what they were considering here, the distinction between whether this was a, quote, partisan gerrymander, or whether this was a racial gerrymander, and this idea that this has now been flipped on its head, the argument that creating a congressional seat explicitly for the purpose of enfranchising historically disenfranchised black voters, that they would now argue,

as the majority of the court did, that that, in fact, was somehow racially discriminatory. Yeah, I mean, and it's as outrageous as it sounds. This is really the end of the project of the robbery court to slowly piece by piece, take apart the Voting Rights Act, which was key to actually providing black voters in the South the opportunity to elect candidates of choice. It was litigation under the VRA. Very few, if any, states in the South gave that up willingly.

It's been a fight over decades. I've spent a lot of time with our case in Louisiana, the Milligan case, and Alabama didn't have a black congressional representative until the 1990. since Reconstruction. So what this did is it turns a statute that really has been the cornerstone coming out of the civil rights movement of being able to start moving toward a multiracial democracy to allow black voters and other voters of color and other parts of the country to be represented to some degree, even if not enough.

And so this is really, it's really an affront to. what Congress intended when they said, we're finally, finally going to start taking the steps we need to have the multiracial democracy that the reconstruction amendments promise. And it's a cruel, I wouldn't say irony. I mean, it's really just a cruel statement that they have taken these amendments, which were created with race explicitly in mind, and said, no, this is part of a colorblind constitution. And because of that, we can't really consider the ongoing effects of even past discrimination that's so recent where there are so many people, so many of our clients that live through

segregated schools, for instance, you know, well into the late 60s and 70s. It's just, it's really a perversion of both those amendments and what Congress intended to do with the Voting Rights Act. I was reading a piece by Adam Sewer in the Atlantic earlier today where he was breaking down and talking about this idea that key to the conservative justice's argument was the suggestion that this was just a partisan gerrymander, that because black voters are most likely to vote reliably democratically, right? That it would not be constitutional to say we are specifically drawing these districts to pack all the, all of the black voters into one district. But you are, in fact, able to say, well, we're just trying to pack all the Democratic voters, right? That it seemed to be this kind of bank shot where we pretend as if we do not know what we know about voter behavior and the reality of voting and what the impact would be here. That seems to be in so many ways the central tension point between so much of our battle publicly right now

over issues of race and how we remedy historical injustice. So this question of, are we allowed to consider disparate impact? Are we allowed to understand the way, it means what Derek Bell would have called critical race theory, understand the way that race embeds itself into otherwise colorblind policy or law, or are we forced to be, quote, unquote, colorblind in which we pretend as if race does not exist and that the actions that we are taking are not going to have impact in those ways? The fear now, and we've seen this alarm from black journalists, from black activists, and black lawyers, has been what state legislatures,

state governments are now going to be empowered to do across the country if previously they had this restriction on some of their behavior that, seeming now, handcuffs have come off. Can you talk a little bit about specifically what Louisiana has now done or begun doing, as well as what the fear is about what this could mean in districts across the south,

whether it be Mississippi, whether it be Georgia, Louisiana, in other places where we know black political power has been systemically historically siphoned off and reduced and in some ways those efforts being restrained by the Voting Rights Act which has now been further weakened. Absolutely. I mean this is this is a break glass moment. There's no question about it. As someone who is a litigator I'm you know often maybe on the more careful side about how I state things but there's no way there's no way around this. This is the final step in really taking apart the key law that protected the hard-won gains,

literally fought over blood in people's lives to create the Voting Rights Act. And the fact that it is being turned on its head in this way and that partisanship can say, as long as you say the magic words that this is for partisan reason, it doesn't matter how much you're hurting black voters. That's fine since they happen to be Democrats in certain places, right? Which is part of the whole point of the Voting Rights Act that when voting is polarized so much that you need those protections because opportunities

to participate are still not equal for black voters. So yes, we are going to do everything we can to stand up and fight with all the tools we have necessary, and that certainly needs to go beyond litigation, advocacy, organizing, everybody, it really is a break glass moment, but the effects of this are going to be felt throughout the country. Well, and we're already seeing in Louisiana.

And so just to be hyper-clear, Ashley and Gary, this, we're supposed to have a mid, we're in a midterm election year right now, right? We're already seeing primaries play out across the country. Louisiana has a primary this year, for which the election day is May 16, so 17 days from now. And what we have seen within the 24 hours of this Supreme Court ruling is Republican Governor

Jeff Landry come out and say he wants to potentially alter or postpone, push off the current primary for the current midterm fight, which is going to determine, in part, who controls Congress for the last two years of the Trump administration. And he is saying, hold on, I want to potentially redraw the maps now based on what the Supreme Court ruling is. Ashley, am I understanding that correctly? Is that what's happening in Louisiana? Yes, and so there's so much voter confusion,

and I think we have to talk about how important and critical election administration is to an effective election. And he is now saying that he is going to pull that congressional House seats from the ballot, but what will still be on the ballot, May 16th will be everything else, which would include five constitutional amendments, a Louisiana Supreme Court seat, two public service commission seats, and several local ballot measures, depending on where you live in the state. And so those things will continue to, well, you know,

and again, everything is changing in real time. So as of this moment, what we're hearing is is that that will remain, that will be what will remain on the ballot. But to Gary's earlier point, we have no idea, you know, like can voters still vote on the ballots as they currently exist?

Many voters have already voted if you are, you know, a senior or a service, a service man or woman across, you know, working across this, just, you know, anywhere where you're stationed and you had sent in your absentee ballot, absentee ballots have already been received. And so I think that there's a big question about, like, what,

like, where are we? And I think that, you know, there's been so much talking to Gary's point. And, you know, and the governor and the AG are saying, they have to do this because the map has been enjoined. But I remind folks that the legislature is currently serving and, you know, and making and moving policies, and they've been in, they're all seated on an enjoying map as well. So I think that, like, there's some things that we got to talk about.

And I think that, like, this voter confusion definitely sets up the, you know, the opportunity for more litigation because, again, you, we are already here. We are already in the midst of an election. We are already starting early voting on Saturday. And so what, you know, like, so what are, so now organizations like minds are being forced to push out all of this information, People think the election has been canceled. That's what people think.

And so we are trying to, you know, hurry and try to understand and put out of graphics and share information with the public about the fact that as we understand it today, because it could change, right? Like, this is where we are, which is that they're going to pull the House congressional seats from the election until they can redraw, you know, new maps that, you know, as we're hearing would be a 5-1 map or potentially a 6-0 map. I think the thing that's interesting is that, you know, if they do a 6-0, There's so many black people in the state of Louisiana that they actually do themselves harm if the goal is to have, you know, a trifecta, you know, or to have a complete, you know, a completely white Republican delegation that they run the risk of there's so many black people in our state that somebody's going to lose at some point.

And especially if you look at Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, Alexandria, in the center of the state. So at some point, somebody's going to have to reckon with black voters, you know, in this state, and that, you know, you can run and play some games, but ultimately you will be held accountable by these black voters in our state. Gary, I want to go back to you, this has been, we're in this moment, and I think back a few years, where we would have all this talk about whether or not we were in a third reconstruction after Barack Obama was elected, right? There was this feeling, it seems baffling now, to think back that far, where we thought, were we entering a post-racial America with something... Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart.

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When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique. He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know. Do you meet the, like, the president? You think Canada has a president?

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I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying. It is an actual thing. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time.

I actually thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Different happening. Now, look, viewers here and followers of you understand and know that that's not what happened, right? Roland wrote a book called White Fear. I've written a book called American White Lash. We've seen and talked about the ways that over the course of 50, 60 years, these crucial civil and voting rights that were established, these victories of the civil rights movement, have been eroded and.

pushed back. And yet, even with that understanding, it is pretty remarkable to think about. Even those of us who have seen it coming, who followed the Roberts courts, who've written about these issues, the idea that we have in the last 10 years seen the final two major pillars of the Voting Rights Act essentially undone. We've watched a state like Louisiana in 26, attempt to give some appropriation of approximate representation to its black citizens and seen those efforts not only opposed, but completely thrown out to the extent that we may end up with a less equitable map than existed beforehand afterwards. And the Supreme Court to pretty overwhelmingly dictate this. What do you make of this moment we are in right now?

I was in, someone was talking earlier today about this idea that we're in another period. of redemption that comes after Reconstruction, that we're in a period where white supremacy is lashing back at the perceived gains. And here we are, again, in 2026, seeing crucial components of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court being thrown out, opening the door potentially to the erasure

of majority black districts across the South, which could see, potentially could see losses in congressional representation and other black elected officials that we haven't seen since the Civil Rights era. Gary, what do you make of all this? You know, none of this surprises me. If you've been active in the fights that we've been in for the last 10 or 15 years from city council meetings when Alton Sterling was killed here in Baton Rouge, the lawyer who represented Alton Sterling's killer Blaine Salamone was appointed in a vote 7 to 2 tonight as the parish attorney of East Van Roos Paris.

I have been watching local government, white Republicans aggressively oppose the progress of black people. I live in a city where black people make up over 50% of the population, but we had one parish-wide seat that was black, and now we have none. I live in a state that consistently oppresses and suppresses black people. I live in a city again that is over 56% black, and 10 years ago, we were at 2% in city parish contracts, but we pay a large portion of the taxes in this parish. And so these disparities that exist have always existed. I think that what I think is happening today is that more of us are being awakened to the

moment because of how dramatic the racism is boiled up to at this point. But what I hope this teaches us is that we have to stay on the fight every day in every way, that those who are aggressive and loud and agitating, that you need that because the energy that is up against us is aggressive. It is loud. It is agitating. It is oppressive. And so you cannot go up to that like a little sweet church lady praying. My Bible tells me that the violence suffered violence and the violent take it by force. And so if we are going to be oppressed and subjected to this, then this is the moment where we fight back. Jeff Landry has five constitutional amendments on the ballot. The whole country needs to be helping move voters in Louisiana to kill his five

constitutional amendments. This is not a time to lick our chops and say, oh, whoa, is me. How did we get here? This is a time to say this shit will not stand. We are going to do everything in our power to secure future seats and to hold on to the power that we have. There are DA races in Louisiana. The cattle parish district attorney is up for re-election. There's a black man running for district attorney in There are people that need the vote of the black electorate in this state, and we need to mobilize them this year so that Jeff Landry understands that the people see you, and we come in place. I think we've got Roland now with us. He's down on the ground in Louisiana, making his way to Shreveport for tonight's event, continuing our coverage of black men, mental health, domestic violence. But Roland, you went long on this on the show last night. This has been a key. portion of our coverage. Speak to me about what's happening in Louisiana. Well, here's the first thing.

So Ashley and Gary there, first of all, here's you do. Has anybody filed a lawsuit against Governor Jeff Landry, the action that he's taken today? Has that happened yet? No, it has, it has not happened yet. Mostly because of the fluid nature of what's going on right now, but it is no one has filed just yet. Pending, but not filed. Are y'all expecting that NWACP or Black Roos Matter or someone is going to file a lawsuit saying that how in the hell can you postpone an election voting has already started? So, yeah, no, I think there's a bunch of us that are working with our lawyers to, like, again, understand what our options are. I mean, Power Coalition has been fighting for voting rights in the state of Louisiana since its inception, and we're going to continue those fights. And so we are definitely working with partners, including NWACP and so many other ACLU and others to try to understand exactly what power we have in this moment.

One of the things that, is Gary still there? I'm here. Gary, this is an absolute wake-up call. I believe for a whole bunch of Democratic Party strategists, other black folks. And let me be real clear, Congressional Black Caucus members who have not been going hardcore when it comes to these donors and funders, when it comes to putting money on the ground, when it comes to investing in turnout strategy, because what I have been saying and you've been saying, and the action has been there as well, is that we have to be maximizing how to turn it.

I think people have to understand what we're now faced with as we speak. We are literally dealing with folks who absolutely want Jim Crow 2.0. And if we continue to sit on the sidelines and choose the couch and listen to a bunch of these Yahoo's talking on YouTube, people don't understand. This is not just losing political, you know, individuals who are in power. We're going to be talking about losing billions of dollars that flow back to our community because we have black representation.

You are absolutely right. rolling. I think that number one, watching you bounce around on these Louisiana roads tells you that Jeff Landry's focus on the wrong thing today. He needs to be fixing roads and bridges in the state instead of taking away to vote of black people in Louisiana. But the reality is this is the time to invest. This is the time to gear up for the fight. This is the time for us to show the power of black voters in this state. If Jeff wants to fight, we need to give it to him. And so I would encourage members of the CBC, I would encourage the black entertainers, the black sports folks, everybody who gives a damn to start making your way to the Louisiana legislature, they're still in session between now and June. They're going to at some point bring these bad maps. We need to be

in there, in their faces, and we need to show people who these racist bigots are. We need to show every one of the people who vote for this, and then we need to have the resources. Power Coalition needs to have the resources. Vote needs to have the resources so that they can send mailers into these people's districts right now in this legislative session so that they can robo-call into their districts right now so that their voters know that your racist state senator, your racist state's representative is down there making an ass of you and it's eventually going to come to the point where we end up losing economic opportunities as a result of this. What needs to happen is the NBA needs to say we're not going to play no all-star games

in any state that takes away the vote or a congressional member from black people. the all-star game, whatever the festivals are. Essence needs to consider whether they want to be located in Louisiana, if Louisiana is not going to give them the 30% of the state black representation because they create millions of dollars of economic impact for this state every summer. And that festival, if it leaves the 4th of July, there's an economic drain in the state of Louisiana. And I want you to come back essence after we put Jeff out. But maybe there needs to be a pause and a state on anybody doing any type of activities in the state of Louisiana if they're going to deny a third of the state the ability to serve in Congress.

That's hundreds of millions of dollars that you robbing us up. And Roland already riding around here bouncing and we need some infrastructure for these roads right here. Gary, I know you have to go. I certainly appreciate it. Gary, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. David, I do want to ask you a question. I do.

Because, listen, y'all have been fighting the good fight. The lawyers have been in of the courtrooms, battling out. But to Gary's point, y'all do need people rising up, putting pressure, public pressure, protesting, because you have to be able to focus public sentiment on what the issue is and not just sort of make this esoteric legal discussion. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. I mean, I say, I'm a litigator.

That's my particular skill here. But I think the organizing is more important, honestly. The advocacy, getting people out in the streets, people should be furious about this. This can't be the lawyers alone, and I'm sure it won't be. It hasn't been so far. It's absolutely just so important that this be a moment

where we push on all the levers, litigation, advocacy, organizing, communications, and speak to what this means to people. As you've been saying, yeah, this affects the people who are making the decisions who represent our communities, you know, who make the choices about jobs and roads and economic opportunity. And everybody's got to realize they have a stake in it. And this is a do-or-die moment. This is a really, really important moment. And so, yes, the litigators will be there, but I couldn't agree more. I would be proud to partner with amazing organizers like Ashley and Gary.

and we need them more than ever in the fight and like they've been in for many years. And, Devin, what's so insane about this Supreme Court decision, this is the same Supreme Court that literally allowed for this congressional seat to move forward this couple of years ago. So it's like, but wait a minute, this is the same court. I mean, that was a massive legal fight against Republicans and a same one.

And so what these were because, what these white conservatives did him? Louisiana and say, oh, they're trying to find a second bite at the apple. In fact, this is a third bite. They tried the second bite and got rebuffed there as well. That's what's so insane about what the Supreme Court ruled because they ruled on this very seat just recently. I agree. It's just absolute madness. And now we see the effects. We see what they've unleashed. You know, Ashley was just describing it. And yes, I can say pretty confidently that there's going to be legal action coming against the suspension of the primary.

You know, it's the opinion is so cowardly and dishonest in how it tries to say the decisions just a couple years ago, the decision in our case out of Alabama, Milligan, where it seemed like the Voting Rights Act was maybe going to survive. And it's just dishonest the way that they've tried to say, well, no, this, we just weren't really presented with the right questions. They reached out and grabbed this opportunity to finally finish their project of taking a consideration of race, of taking the legal tools out of people's hands, and it's an absolute disgrace. So, so here's right, everybody watching to understand. We're talking Louisiana, but Republicans

are putting pressure on Alabama Governor Kaye Ivy to call his special session to wipe out. the seat of Congressman Shemari figures as well as Congresswoman Terry Soles. They're putting U.C. Tennessee, Senator Marshall Blackburn, who's running for Governor of Tennessee. They're putting pressure on them because they want to wipe out the congressional seat that covers the Memphis area. And so everybody watching to understand, this is going to target, and listen to me clearly, this is not, Indiana, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Florida. Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee. The old Confederacy is about crushing black power.

And people have to understand. It is the only reason you have the largest delegation of African Americans in Congress today is because of the 1965 voting rights act. And this is not just going to be Congress. This is going to impact Supreme Court seats across the country. It's going to impact state seats in these same states. It's going to impact county commissioners, city council, school board, water district. What this is about, and I had been saying this, my book, white fears about it,

this is all about attacking black political power because the right wing is angry with the advancements of African Americans, and what they want to do is cripple or simply eradicate black political power for the next 400 years. what they did after reconstruction, and we are now having to live through it. And so, folks, this is all hands on deck. This is no sitting on the sidelines. If you're in Louisiana, you should be emailing and hitting Ashley right now saying, how can I get involved?

Because I'm telling you all, this is the battle for this generation. No more talking about Fetian Lou Hamer and what they all did. That battle was then. This is the battle that we're dealing with right now. And so we appreciate y'all being with us on the show. Thank you so very much. And we're going to keep this fight going. Thanks a lot.

Thank you so much. All right, Wesley, I am pulling up to the church here in Streetport for our conversation that we're going to be having on the issue of mental health. So let me step in. We've got folks here who have already been waiting for us to have this conversation. And so let me step in where am I headed? All right. Okay.

All right. So as you guys know, Roland is making his way into an event in Streetport, Louisiana, that he is going to be hosting, moderating, and we're going to be bringing to you all live as part of our ongoing coverage following what has been a miserable, tragic, horrific set of stories. Stories of black men who have taken the lives of their wives, of their children. And so we're here in Shreveport specifically to convene a community gathering because that community is grappling with the story of a man there who took the lives of eight children as well as shot his partner, the mother of many of those children. So Roland's going to be hosting, co-hosting a event there on the ground. We're going to be bringing it to you live for the remainder of the show tonight.

But before that, we're going to get into a quick break. This is Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. With medicine and science under attack, I want to keep you and your family informed and healthy. I'm Dr. Ebony Hilton, and I knew at the age of eight that I wanted to be a doctor. So I studied hard and became the first African-American female anesthesiologist

hired at the Medical University of South Carolina since this opening in 1824. And I always say I was made into a doctor, but I was born to be a mom. And as a new mom, wife, sister, daughter, and friend, I understand how frightening a medical crisis can be. I care for individuals on some of the worst days of their lives, and it's my mission to provide you with a safe space to gain clarity on issues affecting your mind, body, and I recognize that there are health disparities, particularly as it contains your race. And I want to help bridge the gap between you and your health care providers. Join me every Thursday for Second Opelion on the Black Star Network. where each week I'll invite experts from various medical fields to share the latest health we'll discuss topics such as the vaccine debate mental and sexual health medical bias

infertility menopause andropause nutrition and aging together with my medical colleagues we aim to provide you with a second opinion don't miss it thursdays only on the black star network i'm brittany noble midwest born hbc u educated with experience in newsrooms across the country I've teamed up with Roland Martin to bring to you the breakdown. This isn't just news. It's our stories, our voice, our community. Join me for the breakdown Monday through Friday at midday, only on the Black Star Network. What's good, y'all?

This is Doug E. Fresh and watching my brother, Roland Martin, unfiltered, as we go a little something like this. Hit it. It's real. Here we go. Three, two. All right, folks, we're here in our street. Glad to be here. How y'all doing? Glad to see everybody here. After the tragic shooting that took place a couple of Sundays ago, Dr. Kevin Washington, who was on our show, said that he wanted to do something here, and I say, well, we'll come down, actually broadcast this event. So it started about 30 minutes ago. So Kevin, why don't you introduce the folks who are sitting on the panel here? And we're on the air. We're live. Let's go. All right. I want to introduce you all to Streetport, Roland Martin. Give it up for Brother Roland.

agreeing to come to the Port City. That's a powerful piece. We have the DA District Attorney Stewart is here with us. Give it up a DA Stewart. We have principal of Woodland High School, Brother Grady,

G.O. Q.S.5. We have the Shreveport Representative, the student coordinator. We have brother Marvin Muhammad of the nation of Islam. And we have Derek Henderson. So give it up for Derek Henderson. Oh, oh wait a minute. We got the

chief of the polices in the Shreveport. The chief, give it for the way. So that's what we are. We have many other people in this space that have done the great and wonderful things. We have educators. We have people who have transformed many of us in this room with Dr. Hicks, former president of Gramer State University. There's several people in this space, brother. But we want to give it up. Thank you, thank you, Roland, for being here. And we're talking again about black men and mental health.

This has been, Kevin, you can stay up. This has been a very, very difficult three weeks. And obviously, it's been difficult for this city. No one wants to go national with a story like this. And so just a sense from you, what have been... Pride is like love.

You feel it in your heart. IHR Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists, like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate, love. Take pride with you anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHartPride, Canada. Stream us on your phone, or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers.

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From My Heart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America.

apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. For free time. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam.

Run! Scagon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the I-Heart Radio Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about, and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll Show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Cougler did that I think was so unique. He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know.

You mean it to, like, the president? You think Canada has a president. You think China has a president? President de los Rousette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night. It's like the old Polish saying,

not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. It is an actual Polish saying. It is an actual Polish saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes.

Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick Dick and Poll show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

What have folks been saying as a result of this absolutely tragic heinous shooting? Eight kids left there, two women's shot. Police, this band who committed the crime, he's dead. What are folks have been talking about? And what have they been feeling insane? Anybody can jump in. Is that mic on? This happened in our neighborhood of our school at Wulon.

And even though none of the kids had made it to Wulon yet, I have several students who were related to the victims. And so we've had to give them excuses out of school. We've had to understand, you know, give them work excuses. They don't have to come and understand where they are emotionally with the tragedy. So it has been real quiet around the school. It has been real eerie, for lack of a better term, not like it has been before. What I was talking about earlier, how we were normalizing things are normal.

I think the kids understand this is way not normal. This is not normal at all. So I think this is really taking some of my kids back and hopefully they understand the magnitude of what had happened. This took place on the Sunday, did you have both available for students or your parents on Monday? We did. We reached out to the, like I said, we have family members that are there. So some of the stakeholders in the school did reach out. And some of the students did go to the school's elementary schools.

So I know for sure they had councils available with those schools. people who have been so we've had people who have expressed that they are overwhelmed outrage but they also are encouraged by conversations

like that we're having today centered around black men as it relates to mental health it is an issue that's a plague in our community and we know that if we want to

stabilize our society, if we want our city to grow, then conversations like this, efforts like this have to happen, and it has to come from us. And so, you know, those are the responses that I've gotten. People have been overwhelmed, outraged, but they also are encouraged by efforts like this where we can come together and start pooling some resources to address this issue and hopefully to create a path to move forward. I think at first it was a reaction of domestic violence. And that's been a big conversation in our community recently. But as it went on, I think people realized there was a mental health component to this.

And people trying to wrap your parent, trying to wrap around what mentally happened to a person that was literally sitting on the steps watching his kids play one day. and then the next day he takes all their lives. And so that mental health component, and so that's why we're here, because as you know, mental health is an art, not a science. If you have a broken arm, you can fix it. Middle health is a lot different

and trying to figure out, okay, well, what can we do? What can we build upon to make sure this doesn't happen again? We can't change what has happened, but how, as a community, can we come together? what resources can we put together, how can we educate ourselves, how can we reach out to try to see these actions before they happen and stop it from the result we had. But here's the thing right there.

I want to stay right there because when I talked about that after the tragic murder-suicide in Virginia with former two of government, Justin in Fairfax, shooting and killing his bike under Serena Fairfair. There were a number of people mad, upset with me saying, it's not mental health. And I'm going, but it is. And they were upset, they were mad, and a lot of it was rage. And I kept saying, well, if the professionals say it's mental health, if law enforcement

say it's mental health, if the judges say it's mental health, well, how in hell you can get mad at me because I'm saying it's mental health. and the point is to if we're saying protect black women, somebody wrote a piece who was critical of our panel discussion and I said well, you wrote a piece and you had no experts in it,

you had no clinicians in it, you're just giving you opinion and I said that if we're going to if we were saying protect black women, we want them to live we don't want the kids impacted, then you're going to have to deal with what's happening between the ears of individuals who either shoot, kill, or beat women. That is a, something is happening between their ears. And so that has to be confronted and dealt with.

Otherwise, we're only just expressing pain and outrage and not confronting what still is the problem. Anyone can speak to that. What I've been hearing, I've got to Roland, of course, is a need for unity. And out of this tragedy, the call for unity now exists like it never has in the city of Shreveport. But explain that. When you say a call for unity, what does that mean?

What we have here today? Without that tragedy, could we say all of us would be in this room again? Can we say that Roland Martin was being Shreveport without that tragedy? so that tragedy has produced the unity that we are now coming together to talk about and try to form. But does the tragedy, but the question then becomes you have a tragedy. And what often happens, and I've covered numerous stories over my 30-plus-year career, what often happens, just like with domestic violence, after something happens two weeks, four weeks,

four weeks, a month or two, it sort of just dissipates. So the question is unity is one thing, but I think what is critically important is how do you build infrastructure in this city, and not just in this city, other places as well, where it's a continuation. So if we're talking about churches and schools, if we're talking about DAs,

we're talking about police departments, that has to be there. because this state, domestic homicide, is your number two in the country. This is a problem, this ain't just charit for it. This is a problem for the state and the country. 22,000 phone calls are made every day to domestic violence highlights.

So the question is, how is that now saying, six months from now, a year from now, two years or now, five years from now, we have things still in place. Go ahead. Okay, so years ago, not too long ago, When the chief remembers is we had an incident in Queensboro where somebody died. And he died because it was a mental health issue that turned into a criminal matter and he died.

So they created a unit. They have a unit at the streetport police department now that when officers have a situation instead of just arrested a person, they called this mental health unit out to come and deal with the situation. Okay, so that's some action that came out of an event. In this event, he even had to find tuning out. So I agree with you, domestic violence is an issue in this area, but the sheriff has just opened up the domestic violence unit here. We help support that domestic violence with unit.

This next week, we're having two forms on domestic violence. So I want you to put a P.M. right there. So explain that. What is that domestic violence unit? What is that? So what happens is two different categories. You have a civil category where somebody comes to get a protective order. They get a protective order and they go back home.

Now they're going to a law enforcement agency that can take it and turn into a criminal case. You have an attorney on staff, okay, and you have a domestic violence person that to help them with resources at that time. So instead of having a gap between the action and the public. court, you're now filling in the blanks between that time and narrowing it down. You're creating ways for people who are having issues to reach out and get help. And it's growing on a weekly basis here. So now the public is realizing this is something we have to deal with. We got homicides down. We have other violent crimes down. But this is something that we need to

to put more actions. You have citizens coming forward, offering money, offering support. You have professionals now coming forward, offering and volunteers. So the more we get the public involved in it, we may not get it down to zero, but the number should

come down. So when a person is going through the court system, and that's what already happened. Chief, you're on the office is on the front line because if something happens, they get a phone call. They're now arriving on the scene. And I was capital beat did a story that I was reading it on the way over about a woman who called and she called multiple

times and police came out multiple times. What is your process, people who don't understand, if someone calls 911, it's a domestic violence situation, what's your protocol in that case? It's a high priority call. Officer will immediately be dispatched, go to the scene, evaluate things, first determine whether anyone has been injured or not in deceit. the appropriate medical health, then evaluate the circumstance from thereon. And if an arrest needs to be made, if there's signs of violence, then I think it's our protocol to do whatever is necessary to make sure that that doesn't continue. And I'm glad that finally we all coming together

because we realize there are many resources out there to help people that people don't know about. And if we can get that to the forefront, I think it helps. But you know, even more importantly than that, and using our mass incident that occurred a few weeks ago as an example, when you talked about mental health, certainly that is there is a growing need for that, in our community. The morning of when this happened when I arrived on the scene and began to

work the crowd, it would just amaze me how many people that I talked to that knew the one who committed this horrible thing that talked about his mental condition

way before that. But what I didn't hear was, any action that had taken place prior to then to bring that to someone's attention to get the appropriate help this man needed before he had a total neurological chemical breakdown that caused him to go in the direction that he did. And to go along with that, what I was hearing from the community was many incidents of domestic-related incident that was a sure sign of things progressing along, I'm going to say to the point that it got to, but that it was getting worse

instead of better. You know, these are things that run forth in the community, we that are public servants don't know about, but they are family members and others that know about it, but don't take actions prior to of getting through the catastrophe that it did. You know, we are so proud and recognized some time ago that every incident is not necessarily an incident that deserves an arrest. That wouldn't fix the problem. So we've partnered in now is able to when officers go out on the scenes, and, you know, violence hadn't occurred at that point.

And we determined that someone probably had or is having some kind of neurological issues that we can summon professionals to come to that scene right then and find some other way to try to resolve it other than putting someone in jail. Chief Smith, I appreciate that. Thanks a lot. Kevin, if you can speak to that point. he goes out and people are telling him different instances, but no one said anything. So part of this, as we're talking about,

how do we confront this issue of domestic violence, which is why we've had all these conversations, it really requires folks to be one paying attention, armed with information, and know how to actually start a conversation. Speak to that, because if all these folks, heard things and new things, no one did anything or said anything. So, several things happens, right?

First of all, we have to recognize that Lewis under not only leads in this idea of IPV, but also leads in capital punishment. It's also one of the lowest in education, the disconnect. Let's do with all those factors that create a condition around which you have somebody becoming violent. Now, the other thing by the student is it's clear that, I want to say this, all mental health is not good mental health. If it does not fit the population,

and you use a good classic example, the example was that the broken bone therapy is to the soul or spirit what a cast is to a broken bone. And if the person that is putting the particular cast on the body has no knowledge of what the bone looked like prior to its breakage, then the cast we put on in a manner

that would deform the particular body. Same thing then for therapy. Because if a therapist doesn't understand what it means to be who we are. And what happened is that when I was beginning to learn about inter-part of violence in my graduate program, and they gave us these particular activities to go through, and they said,

listen to what's being said. And it was a black man clearly talking about how he was aggressing against his spouse. And I began to point out what I was hearing was being said there, and he mentioned race and racism in the conversation. And so, when I mentioned that, the people that were teaching

me discounted what I was saying. And I was clearly saying that part of what's happening here's about racism and oppression that they'd respond to. They said, no, he's really an aggressive black man, aggressing against at that time. It was a person in hypothetical was a non-black woman. And so my point then is that not only we talked about the issue of, in general, what can we do?

But if I report somebody and I say, go to this therapist, are they going to understand what's happening? Black men are not going to therapy for one reason. One of them is that because they're concerned about, do you understand what's going on with me? Secondarily, do I have access to you? And thirdly, is the understanding of what it means to be who I am. So the community has to do a better job.

When we see something, say something. Also, we have to do a better job making sure that people are trained. That's how you and I met at Texas A&M, the idea of me training in psychology. And one of the problems that I ran into was talking about culture in the context of mental health, which is one of the first programs with you and I did together on multiculturalism at Texas A&M. And so I'm suggesting that we just can't say report somebody to mental health. But the services, we have to be able to also say that is a service commensurate with the population that we're doing engage in? Does it meet their needs?

And I'm very clear that, again, all therapy ain't, you're bonnetfully correct, good therapy. If you don't understand what's happening with me. So we have to do a better job of training individuals for the steward, in this space of how to deliver culturally, competent services. Secondly, we have to be able to understand what does it mean to have these patterns of behavior that exist. And some things we accept as normal, which is your question, it's not normal. If somebody's beginning to walk off the ledge, how can we begin to talk to them back off the ledge in a manner that's consistent with who they are thirdly? We have to recognize that there's a lot of self-medication going on. And we're self-medicating together.

Don't understand the self-medication is problematic. If you are mixing a particular drug that's designed to help you with stress or ADHD. And you combine that with marijuana. You are now rewiring the brain in a manner that is making you go into a volatile position. And you already were fragile. Let me give it to be clear. I grew up with my man saying, don't push me because I'm close to the edge. Right.

That's clear. And then another brother comes along years later saying, y'all going to make me lose my mind up in here. What are they saying that there's something that's what, disrupting my spirit, my psyche? And I need somebody to come in and intervene. And we have to be clear. We just can't say go to services. The question is, are we critiquing the services that they're getting that is consistent with their needs, the desires, and their particular aspiration?

We also can't tell somebody. See, this is, go ahead. See, one of the reasons why I've been, again, both have been upset, mad, upset. I don't care, because I'm asking what the problem is, it's easy to put on Instagram or threads, go seek health. One, if I don't know where to go, I can't seek health. Two, if I don't have health insurance, I don't even understand.

So that's why it drives me crazy when people just say that. And again, that's easy to say. But the issue is, how do you actually do it? And when we talk about, there was some others who said that, well, you're just, this is mental illness. First of all, I never even used that phrase. And I think part of this,

part of this conversation that we have to understand is that, so let's just say, where I'm standing, this is the mental illness end of the conversation. So this is schizophrenia, suicide ideation, this is bipolar, all the sort of stuff.

your end Kevin your end is anxiety stress and all of that well in order you got to go that end

I call that the mental health end this is the mental illness in but it's all on the mental health conspectrum and so people are going you're making excuses no you have to acknowledge that if there's

an individual who has an anger problem. Why does he have an anger problem? Go ahead. So a lot of these behaviors are kind of patterned behaviors, right? And so I used to work in domestic violence. And what you will see is if the father is aggressive and there's a son in the situation, then there's a good chance that the son will have after his dad. And when he gets into a relationship, he will start to exhibit some of those patterns. as well as if the wife is passive and she has a daughter, then she emulates or takes that position in her relationship. So there are indicators, right, that we can probably look at more closely

as it relates to. 100% of the resources that we have to address the violence actually goes to actually goes to the victim, and I think rightfully so. But when I worked in the mixed violence in this area, you know, the perpetrators looked like me, right? Right. And see, that has been, that has always been, and I said this, you know, what I was seeking,

and with Chris Brown at Brianna. I was filling in for Campbell Brown, in every conversation that were women on the air that we're talking about protect the woman, get into the safety, know how to lead, and I agree with all of that. But when I decided to host, I said I want an all-male panel.

You thought I had asked the craziest thing in the world. And I literally said, if men are committing 96% of domestic violence cases, at some point, we're going to have to talk about what is going on with men. And folk were fighting me on that.

folk were fighting me in this case here. And I said, y'all, you can't tell me y'all need to protect black women if I do not confront what's happening with men. I mean, there's no way around that. So the point that you just raised, I want to ask you in school. So you're in school.

As you're looking at students, how do you look at when you see a second or third grader who has, anger outburst on the playground or in the classroom. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio.

Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists, like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart Prime. Canada. Stream us on your phone. Listen now at iHeartRadio.ca.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, Nick? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From IHeart Podcasts, Saigon.

Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me?

They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. Four free time. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run! Stigone, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict.

Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire. Coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique.

He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know. You meet the, like, the president? You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? The Law Crosette. God, I love that thing.

I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night. It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying.

Yeah. It is an actual poem. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Because you can track that behavior in second and third grade to fifth, sixth, ninth, tenth, and it ends up being when you're talking about, what happens when they go, when they graduate from high school, and now when they're in a relationship. because we are seeing higher incidence of domestic violence among girls elementary school through high school. That's a fact. So I did use the working elementary school, and that is true. You can track those behaviors. Now in the high school, even today, we all, a majority of us in here were raised, don't hit women, right? That's what you raised from knee high all the way up. it's amazing to me now to see young men, what they call square up, put up, they sit against a girl.

And it's amazing to me like, and in that moment, we go, you know, we do handle our business, we talk to the young man, and I'm proud of the men I have on my campus that can reach this young man and talk to him and say, look, you're going to get this dissoning, but let's talk about why you feel like it's okay that you can square up. with this girl, like she's a boy. Something is not happening, and I have to talk to my teachers because they get frustrated because what we say, that should be taught where, at home? Well, look, guys, we're in a position now. We can't wait today.

We got to address this here on campus. Okay, so, okay, so when that happens, and the middle of your campus, talk to them, what's the what's next? What happens next? So, right. So, and that's something that we are working on, and it's here now in the real time, that we are working with community partners that come. Because we're not equipped.

We're educators. Like, we go to school for education. So we have to be cognizant that we can't do this work by ourselves. We have to reach out to a community partner, wraparound services. We can bring professionals. Hey, Mama, I don't know what's going on, but little Johnny trying to fight these young ladies. But here's why I say what's next. Because this is where I need our people to understand

where voting and politics connects with funding and resources because school boards need to allocate the resources in the schools for you to deal with that. So when people tell me, you always talk about voting. I'm like, yes, because that is a distribution method of resources. And so, I want people to understand, police chief, somebody gets, somebody calls. That's public.

That's public dollars. The officers. If somebody files, the DA, that's public. If they go to jail or you pick a diversion program, that's public. If they go to the state prison, that's still public. So what I'm saying to our people, what we need from you is to say, this is what I need in my school. Y'all then have to roll up on the school board and say,

principal needs this, y'all should be allocating resource. to deal with mental health, elementary school, junior high, high school. And so that's how, to me, how all this is connected. And so community is one thing, but we can't leave out all of these different pieces. And I think a lot of times we try to have this conversation. Well, what can the church do know? Church has a role. Community groups have a role.

Black male groups have a role. Everybody has a role, but we can't leave out also where the resources are. Also, that can give you what you need and do with the problem then. Because having a quick conversation with a young brother, clearly that's something going on that's far deeper than just they're fighting on the playground. And I think that's part of our problem is that we're having short, finite, quick, in-the-moment discussions to deal with far deeper problems that manifest themselves later on. That's right. So we enjoy actually dealing with the symptoms due to the thing.

We buy medication in the box. It says for the symptom due to the common cold. We don't want to deal with the problem. So I love how you couch the conversation as being a holistic one. We have people that bring actually culturally responsive solutions. And many people are actually afraid of that because they're afraid of how we may lose some dollars. But if the issue is about a population that has certain experiences, we must then be responsive to that population and give them what they need. Don't

give me some particular pizza with mushrooms when I'm allergic to mushrooms. Give me what I desire and what I need. So, Prince, you need to be able to request services that you know are going to be responsive to the needs for the population.

We've been reached up this all over the country and it's amazing how we can do this everywhere, but it's hard to do some of those things at home. Responsive to the population. The second thing I want to mention, as you go into, brother Derek is to understand that males and females typically deal with problems differently. Whereas a female in general, this is generalization, may talk, have a conversation, may go back and forth, may banter.

It's not but so much bantering men are going to do with one another, males. It's going to be, so what you want to do. You want to take it outside? Right? You want to take it to the grass, right? It becomes that. That is something about the wiring genetically, about being physical, so we see that happening. So when you talk about a male or aggressive as a female, it's like even though I get that it may be a female, it's but so much bantering I'm going to do.

So we have to be able to help not only the idea of understanding gender in relationships, but also help people understand how they can regulate the emotions. What's pushing you to that point? And if we don't teach that from our perspective, because we get these wonderful models, I get them, well, just simply. just say no, right? If you just do this, right? That is not going to resolve what's happening because not only is it about my emotions but it's about

the things that I have to encounter. I think encounter a person who may be in a household who is underemployed. He comes in angry and upset. Have to deal with the issue of the fact that though as a black male I bring home a dollar,

that dollar is about 7% of the whole dollar with the white man brings home the entire 100% of that dollar. I got to deal with the dynamics around the issue of I can't get a FICO score to move in any direction positive, right? I have to deal with all these things are compounded. And so when you have a child coming out of that frustration,

and they come into your space, yet everybody is gained. So we have to be clear then about this process of how do we help one to regulate. It is to be clear about the terrain. And what was mentioned earlier on, Brother Rowland, was what was powerful about the issue of racial socialization. That we know the two things happened,

that when a child has racial socialization, that is that they're aware the dynamics of racism and oppression in their space in what's called America, they tend to perform better academically. Somehow we want to move away from the race conversation. No, that's clear. Secondly, we've got to deal with the issue of how it impacts how individuals perform on jobs

because they're very clear about how they're navigating certain things. spaces. And the third thing is that it tends to promote greater marital satisfaction. Just simply by knowing the terrain which you are operating, our services must have infused within them this knowledge of what it means to be and to become human from a perspective that respects our experience, our condition, and our aspirations. So I was going to speak, make a comment. You know, We have some of the best and most talented people at all levels, but we do have our challenges with efficacy. And that's, you know, that's because we're plagued with identity politics to be honest with you.

And so, you know, we have a lot of people. When you say plagued with identity politics, what does that mean? So last thing, my mama did it, my daddy did it. And so, you know, because we represented this area forever, then, you know, we go and we go. re-elect these people but when you look at the results that they bring to the community you know it's it's this one right and so we have to decide collectively what it is that we won't we need to educate ourselves more become more familiar with I don't assume people don't know so but you know maybe refresh ourselves in terms of who's responsible for what in terms of legislation

we have school board but actually our state and the people at the state legislature, you know, make the rules that the school board has to operate by. But then we need to make sure we have the right people on the school board who understand those rules, right? We need to make sure that we have the right people at the city council level and at the parish commission level. And so it's imperative that if we're going to address this issue, that we have the right people in the right places making decisions that's going to affect and impact all of us. But I'll say this here. You're correct. You have to have those things. But this is what I often see or don't see that. And again, I understand where I come from.

My parents were co-founders of the city club. Didn't go to college, graduated in college, hardworking, had five kids, but the kid about the community. And so when they got involved in their community, they then said, okay, we're looking for this and looking for that. So they begin to learn, okay, what does the city do? What does the school board do?

What do the county do? We're looking for these services. Who do we call? We're looking for this and this and this. What we have to recognize is that if we do not present an agenda to the people that represent us, well, then we're not going to get back what we think we need. Absolutely. So the reason I asked, so the reason I asked, what do you have and you don't have?

See, that's how I just, how, my brain is sort of just wired that way. You know, when these tragedies happen, folks are like, well, you only respond to because your paternity brother. I'm like, no. It was a tragic situation. I could not bring her back. I could not bring him back. I could not talk to him.

I could, the case in Florida with the vice mayor. And her husband could not. I said, so I can't do anything in the situation. But the question is, what can I do? So I think where we have to be as communities, okay, what can I do? You cannot bring those eight kids back. Those two women are going to have to deal with the trauma of this shooting the rest of their lives. The question then becomes, how can I do all I can to keep the next one from happening?

which now means, which now means if the assessment is these are the gaps in our schools, then we get for the professionals who get with the school folks who then say, what is that you need? And the community then comes back to the school board

and say, we need the allocation of $12 million, $15 million, $20 million to hire, to hire 30, 60, 50 people, whatever the number is, and here the numbers, here's the problem. This is the issue with the state. Number two in domestic homicide, laying the whole thing out. So if you don't confirm this on the front end,

you're going to always confront on the back end. Now, when that happens, it's now communities, you have to put pressure on the electives to do their job, and then if they then don't follow through, you then say, well, then we're going to take y'all out at the next election. It's not enough to go to the school board and Yale. Y'all got to fix this. there has to be a community-driven plan of action

to the school board, to the city council, to the state rep, state senators, and the governor, and so I don't care if he's MAGA, you're still constituents. So a community-driven plan has to also be a part of this. Yes, also, we must be inclusive of programs that we know work. You know, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us. He said that a child does what is natural until he learns what is normal.

What is it, what is normal in society? So once we learn what is normal, then the child conducts itself to the norms of the society. He also teaches us, he said that the black man, is righteous by nature, but he's been made other than righteous by circumstance. He said that if you change the circumstance, the black man will return to his nature, which is uprightness.

So we saw the paradigm shift in full effect when the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan called for a million-man march and nearly two million of us showed up on that mall many of them were gang members enemies of each other that swore

on that day to put down the guns to not take another life to not make another black mother cry so we've seen the transformation so we want to just include

the nation of Islam in the conversation of transforming our communities. Take the best of everything that we've discussed today. But don't leave out a big part of what you see working. We're in a process of evolving our people from one stage of development to another. We're going to hold tight one second. I'm going to take a break. That's a kissing in the microphone so we can get that fixed.

Let's go to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin Fulton on the Black Stud Network live here from Shreveport. We'll be back in a moment. With medicine and science under attack, I want to keep you and your family informed and healthy. I'm Dr. Ebony Hilton, and I knew at the age of eight that I wanted to be a doctor. So I studied hard and became the first African-American female anesthesiologist hired at the Medical University of South Carolina since this opening in 1824. And I always say I was made into a doctor, but I was born to be a mom. And as a new mom, wife, sister, daughter, and friend, I understand how frightening and medical crisis can be.

I care for individuals on some of the worst days of their lives, and it's my mission to provide you with a safe space to gain clarity on issues affecting your mind, body, and soul. I recognize that there are health disparities, particularly as it contains your race. And I want to help bridge the gap between you and need a health care provider. Join me every Thursday for Second Opinion on the Black Star Network, where each week I'll invite experts from various medical fields to share the latest health groups. We'll discuss topics such as the vaccine debate, mental and central health, medical bias, infertility, menopause, andropause, nutrition and aging. Together with my medical colleagues, we aim to provide you with a second opinion.

Don't miss it, Thursdays only on the Black Star Network. A decade of love, joy, and power. Black Voters Matter is 10 years old, and we are just getting started. This is love with the purpose. This is black joy in motion. This is unstoppable power. Across campuses, neighborhoods, and back roads. Let's go!

We show up, not just to vote, but to be seen, to be heard, to belong. We ride together. We organize together. We remind each other that our voices matter because they always have. Black voters matter is about more than balance. It's about housing and health care, clean water and living wages, education, reproductive freedom, and dignity. It's about turning pain into action, turning belief into movement, turning community into power. We don't wait to be invited.

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We organize. We build. We whip. 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 approach from Trump, storm to the U.S. Capitol.

We're about to see the lives 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 that every 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 die. This country is getting increasingly of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking out women. This is white people. I'm Brittany Noble, Midwest-born HBCU educated with experience in newsrooms across the country. I've teamed up with Roland Martin to bring to you the breakdown. This isn't just news.

our stories, our voice, our community. Join me for the breakdown Monday through Friday at midday, only on the Black Star Network. Hey, yo, what's up? It's Mr. Dalvin right here. What's up? This is Casey. He's in here representing J-O-D-E-C-I-D-A-R-A-D-Soddy. Right here on Roland Unfiltered.

Come on, turn it up. All right, folks, we're back here in Shreveport. Glad to be here. We, go ahead. As a panelist, dad's on duty. Tell folks your name, and what do y'all do? Craig Lee, co-founder of dance on duty. And ironically, five years ago, Roland helped to promote our program once we launched at Southwood High School to respond to the gang violence at Southwood.

And we're happy to promote the news that five years later, that is not an issue. We've had three good principals since 2021. and at this stage in the ballgame, what we can report is that when you bring positive male role models into a school, especially at the high school level, but if we start at elementary and junior and high school, you can now start to change the direction of the thinking, the behavior, the conduct, and the actions of young people in any particular school. So how do you see regarding this issue of domestic violence role that y'all can play in reaching these young brothers in the early stage? It's a very important role, Roland, because I'll give you a prime example. There was a program, and Woodland has this program as well called JAG, Jobs for America's graduates.

They actually have the best program in the city along with Huntington. But in that program, it allows individuals like myself, our chairperson, Mike Morgan, who is a very effective city worker, to come into the school, engage young people in real conversations about life. Because a lot of these, a lot of times the children don't get these conversations from individuals who are not outside of their household. So when you can engage them in real dialogue and they begin to trust you, they now begin to confide in you a variety of different things about relationships. We were able to stop three murders back in 2021 based on the fact that we had connected with these children.

And so we gathered intel. And when we gather the intel, then we can report that back to the principal. the principal then reports that information to law enforcement, and now you have that active engagement. Look, you look around this room. Everyone is older. And we're talking about how do we have an impact on, let's say, 5 to 25. The question then, who are the folks who are you also engaging with in this city,

where you have peer-to-peer discussions, peer-to-peer conversations, how do you see, how do you envision? Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. I-R-Radio, Canada's number one streaming app

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anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play I-H-H-H-H-RILS. Heart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone. Listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. and guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a...

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From IHeart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam?

I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches.

I'm on a landmine. For free time. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run! Cigone, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this.

There's a fire. Coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique. He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is?

I don't know. You meet the, like, the president? You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? Lozah Crosette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it.

It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Yeah. It is an actual poem. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes.

Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick Dick and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Teaching and teaching and training these young brothers to deal with their fellow young brothers when it comes to violence, domestic violence, being able to control emotions. Is there anyone in a group who's doing a great job of that in the city right now that can be replicated? the fraternities and some of the mentoring programs that we have,

such as the Capital League and the Lamplighters and the Alpha Esquires. I think that's where it started. I happen to be president of my chapter when we reinstituted the Capital League in the city. Oh, yeah. That's Kit, the Youth Group. But one of the things that we wanted to do, you know, is we wanted to make sure that we had a game. good mixture of young men who we were working with. There definitely was some young men who

came from situations where they had to support. Maybe their family had the financial background, but then there was some young men who didn't, and we wanted to make sure that we had a good mix. And then we wanted to make sure that our program met the needs of what they were doing. And at the time, the top ladies of distinction, you know, they had the boutelion for the boys. And the women would always come to me and say, Mr. Hemperson, that's good. But we really want some men to pour in to our boys and what kind of programs are there to support our boys and where it can come from them. Because the mothers are doing it by themselves, right? And so we thought it was prudent that we do that.

So I think that that's a place to start. I think, you know, form partnerships. One thing I say to churches is that, you know, you don't have to invent the will. There are nonprofits. There are organizations out there. Boy Scouts of America is a great program for young men. And if you have that at their church, it's structured. You can measure it as rewarding.

There's training involved. And so you don't have to invent the will, but you just need to know. where the resources are, and then form partnerships with the people that are subject matter experts and to help you in that resolve. But I'm going to go ahead and say this, and I've got no problem with saying it, but let's just be real. The programs that you're talking about, I've spoken to others around the country, those are speaking to a certain group of young brothers. And the reality is there are so many other.

young brothers who are not been reached, not been talked to. And I, and this, I get cotillions, botillions, I get all of that. But what I'm talking about, we have to create real engagement directly in those neighborhoods with folk who may not show up in ties and jackets. And so, What I'm curious is, is that happening? And if it is, if it, hold on one second, hold on, hold on, oh. Because it might, you just may not know. If it isn't happening, and if it is, how do we now expand that? So, so Roland, it is happening and primarily it happens in the youth sports leagues.

You take express sports. They're one of my clients. They produce nine NFL football players out of that. particular program since 1996. The addition to that can be a etiquette, cultural etiquette component to that where you're teaching them how to interact with young girls but they are actually dealing with the hardcore young people who are coming up in the inner cities and there are several and that's really your biggest volunteer ship of African-American males because a lot of guys used to play football,

basketball, so they're pouring into the young folks. And I remember when Lonnie, Brian, and Warren Brown told me to just come out. And parents, actually, especially mothers, they support their children. And this is an active engagement, but with a little tweaking, kind of like to what Kevin is talking about, the culturally relevant component that deals with etiquette, how you talk to young ladies, how you approach them, these particular things, that can then help. Turn your phone on, Kapper. But that could happen tremendously.

But what we try to encourage, whether it be the Divine Nine or the Masonic Order, come into the school, because a lot of people are not going to go into the habitat of these young people. they're not going to do it in deal with the gang warfare. The safest place to deal with them is in the school. Right, but the reason I'm, and just follow me here, why I'm going down this line, because just literally how the panel is set up,

if we're talking about domestic violence and we're talking about violence, what we're trying to do is we're trying to keep them from coming to him. But before they go to him, they're going to go to him. So what I'm trying to understand is what are we creating that's here, this direction, which means if we're talking about, as I think about, when I think about anti-violence, anti-gang initiatives in Chicago and other places, where they have former gang members who have created organizations that do that,

then what is the missing piece? Is that missing piece creating something of peers of young men, Chief, you can jump in and speak to this, that then they are going in those places. They are having those discussions where they are because I think what often happens is we want to be comfortable with the conversation. So y'all come over here and they're not going to come.

I'm saying we have to be creating initiatives right where they are dealing with what they're going through. I'm glad you brought that up. One of the things, to your point, we had probably about 15 guys who had spent 20 plus years in Engover, and they joined dads on duty. But the issue we faced was getting them into the school based on the regulations because the school tries to say, if you're a convicted felon, Hold on, hold up, that's my whole point. Yeah.

If I'm creating a community-based deal, I don't need their permission. True, but now we deal with logistics. See, you've got to be able to get them to those places, and now logistics becomes an issue. Right. So, again, I understand how I'm seeing this here. Okay. You said lodge. Mm-hmm.

You say, you, are there community rec centers? Yes. okay we've said churches yes so what has to happen is we have to take what we control oh i agree and say these are going to be our centers to have the conversations so if y'all are limiting these folks from coming in gotcha ain't no problem we're going to do it over here over here yes but that's all that's just a part of the community infrastructure building yes because again it's easy to say we need to be doing it. It's different actually doing it.

Yes. Chief, you want to jump in. Yes, so thank you so much for that. We have here within the city's limits of Freeport. We have taken on an endeavor to do just that, to avail ourselves to the community much more than we had in the past by decentralizing our complete operations, resources, and equipment. Instead of being totally located in one place,

we are decentralized all over town. To give you a great example, there's a model that we are beginning that we think is probably going to be a model for the country. We are building a new facility that's about 80% complete out in South Freeport, the Cedar Grove community, a community that needs us most where the tragic event took place. The thing is we've partnered with a concept called, which is police athletically, which is what most young people recognize.

What's unique about this, we are building our facility directly in the middle of a park. We're taking over the park. It is our objective to get to the young people at a young age to develop those relationships to be role models so that we won't see them otherwise. when something has happened. In that place of transportation, free press bus transportation from anywhere in Freeport to there and back home.

We see this as a big, big plus for our community in becoming more embedded within our fabulous community. That's happening as we speak. And we are so thankful to all our other people in public service, the DA's office, our sheriff department, and everyone who serves a purpose in public government to be a part of that. We want to get involved in the young lives of our community before they make some mistakes and errors that's going to cost them the rest of that life. That's happening as we speak. Thank you. So one of the things, we give up for the chief, one of the things that we don't want to happen right in Washington, D.C., we were doing this work, we were doing interventions with individuals with youth. And so as a youth was murdered, you get his picture on a t-shirt and it's rest in peace. And then there was this banner as you entered into Southeast D.C. It was a banner and had the names on it. And then some of the children begin to say, do I have to be murdered to be acknowledged? So we have to watch out. I'll also.

that we don't just simply show up when there is in a place that it seems to have the greatest amount of need because let me say it like this, the place that is good for the harvest is not always good for the planting. So we have to be clear that the desert may need greenery. There's a place that you begin to plant.

And I think that there should be planting all over the space. And not simply going to places just because there's a need. And what Brother Roland said is very critical in the spaces that we control. We don't have to go to the school system. However, children are short-in-bent schools because school is compulsory. However, we need to also have spaces

that we control where we are controlling not only the location, but the content, the information, the process of transformation, right? That's a gradual process. So we want to, and here's a hurtful part about it. If the prevention program actually works, we really don't know. Until we sit on the backside, right? We all let you. So when there's an event that takes place, then we run to it.

But if you prevented it from happening, you really don't know that it was prevented because it didn't happen. Until you see the numbers that Brother Rowland is saying on the backside. Is there a decrease in homicide? Is there a decrease in IPV? Is there an increase in other behaviors such as a proper school behavior, right? That's critical. We don't want to attend only when it's negative. we want to control the space

we want to be able to put pressure on the populace to be able to say that we make the change and we don't wait for the change to happen we make the change happen all right so we're going to do we're going to take some of your questions we're not going to do the line and stuff so here's what's going to happen

one on this side over here I need one person who has a question to stand over here with Kevin one person on this side there are a question over here then after those two ask a question then the next two folk can walk up so we have some

ground rules. First of all, we don't need you touch of the microphone. We got it. Okay? Keep your hands in your pockets. Assume the position. Do not touch the microphone. Two, there are questions. Question. No sermonettes. No speeches. No benedictions. No dissertations. Questions. So we'll start. So who has the first question? Come on up. Slide out that way.

Stand right here. If you have a question on that side, come stand right next to Kevin. He's going to stand right next to the pop-up. Come on. What's your name? Hi, my name is Francine Monroe Brown. And my question is, what can I do as a community activist to communicate to my community that this has to be a community-driven plan?

We cannot depend on anyone else to help our communities, just us. When I was growing up in Eaton Gardens, the parents in the community, we had less, but we had organizations because the parents were willing to take up time. We had Mr. Pickens who produced professional baseball players. We had coach Pennywell. There were people throughout our community, and we took care of ourselves. So I just want to encourage everyone to get their mindsets in today's society. let's move forward and let's take over our own community. All right, so I got a question for you.

So you say you're a community activist. Do you have an organization or you're part of an organization? Yes, I founded Seniors First, and I'm the executive director. We help seniors to integrate back in their communities to become liaisons and leaders in their own neighborhoods. We also help seniors in college and seniors in high schools, so we touch those milestone areas. Okay, so in your program, how are you bringing in next generation to help with that and then be a part of this training we're talking about in terms of how do they have conflict resolution? Well, presently, I have something coming up on July the 10th right here in Shreveport. I'll be working with the city of Shreveport, and we are going to be catching children at much younger ages.

Because by the time they get... Hold on, what's the thing on July 10th? HOOP don't shoot. And what is that? A hoop don't shoot is an annual program that we have where we put in children and we connect them with organizations to provide guidance for them beyond the basketball in the online game tournament. So somebody's out there and they want to participate, how do they reach you?

They can reach me at 318-2306697 or a senior's first plan at gmail.com. All right. Cool. Appreciate it. Kevin. Name and what's your question? My name is Willie White and I live over here in Allen. My question is besides athletes and athletics,

can we be more diversible? And if so, what programs can we start? What programs do y'all have in mind that we can sort of? My thing is agriculture, economic communities. Okay, so now I got a question for you. What do you do? I'm apparel. soon here in Streetport and I'm also a gardener.

Gotcha. What organization are you involved in? Right now, I'm with the Front Porch Ministry in my neighborhood at St. Paul Methodist Church over here in Alameda and we're starting to front porch ministry. It's going to have different components to it. We're going to be doing our ministry in gardening, ministry in our feeding and educating how people at the early age about tapping into the gifts and talents and start developing. So how are your, how are your reaching people who are not in the church?

Who are not in the church? Or recently we had the citywide cleanup. So we went to different streets within that area. No, no. What I mean is the initiative you just talked about. If you want people to be involved in that initiative, how are y'all reaching out to people to say, this is what we're doing, and we want you involved in this program?

Right now, we're having meetings, not just only meetings, we're gathering within the community and spread now going from door to door. right now. Got it. Within that area and stuff like, like I said, we did the citywide cleanup. We didn't just do right there location. We went down the streets, no one would normally go down. Gotcha.

You know, people with beer cans in the yard getting out to picking up their beer cans. We went out to picking up trash, and, you know, they started tagging along. Right. So, so the ministry of y'all launching, when is that launching? When is it? I don't know the tentative date right now. Okay. And since you've been going door to door, what's your target number?

how many people in the community that are in that certain radius around your church that you want to be involved in the program. Well, I like to talk at like 10 right now. We got guys to play dominoes. We got two barbershops right there and on Looney Street. On the street. So I want to show with the people who I feel like this mostly overlooked. Gotcha. The reason I ask you all those questions because you just answered your own question.

Okay. Well, thank you. No, no, no, no. Again, I want you understand. The reason I ask the questions, because you answered your own question, one of the things, one of the greatest mistakes that, and I've seen this in churches all across the country, what happens is we have programs that are only internal, not external. And so if there's a church here, church mosque, whatever you want, anybody here, what they should be doing is they should be drawing a circle around the church.

and saying this is the 0.05, 0.10.25 radius. And we're going to, what you just said, go door to door, and then knock on those doors and say, this is what we're doing, this is what we're providing. It doesn't matter if they're not church members. What then happens is, then they not may realize, wait a minute, this is a church that's actually doing something, so your ministry outreach may end up causing them to show up on Sunday.

So the problem that we often do is we like to talk we like to talk macro so when you said citywide the reason I wanted to ask more questions because you brought it door to door so the only way we go we have to go micro macro not macro micro

so the issue that we're talking about here how do we reach people so we're talking about a Kappa program or an alpha program how do we expand those things we have to say No, we're going to go from five to 15, 15 to 30, 30 to 60. You have to build it that way. One of the biggest mistakes is when we want, well, we can get everybody involved.

You're not going to get everybody involved. But it has to be a methodical bill, micro to macro. So the question you ask is exactly what y'all should be doing. And the component of that should be, you're talking about gardening or whatever, as we said, conflict, resolution. Kevin, what did you say? You called it, we've been talking about regulating emotion. These should be things that are

part of the program you're talking about because the folk who commit domestic violence, they're in churches. They're in fraternities. They're in other groups. We just don't talk about that part of it in our programming. All right? All right, good job.

Thank you. What's your question? You're walking up like a straight, Oh, gee. I mean, you blue hat, blue suit, come on, you coordinated. Go ahead. Thank you, sir. My question is to the panel

is about mental illness. He goes in and out of his sister. Go to jail and come back out. I talk to him. Talk to the corners. I talked to the nurses up there. I talked to him out of him. It's like, it's stated.

It happened under this administration. That administration been gone a long time ago. How can we get all of these people on the panel? All these people out here that's in position to come

together and work together for one of cause for a purpose. Is there a body like that in place? I mean that you can reach them. Now, I'll throw it to the panel because part of the question he asked I mean, the brother who shot and killed their kids, he was in the VA for a week.

And he kept saying, I told him, Mama, I can't overcome these demons. So part of this issue, and Chief, maybe you can speak to the DA, part of this issue is, especially with the massive cuts that we've had in mental health. How do we deal with somebody who actually went through a system, came back out and then ended up committing this sort of heinous crime. Excellent. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart.

I-R-Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must-have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists like back-in-the-day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play I-Hart. Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone. Or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca.

Number one hits, millions of records sold. Awards, sold out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey, Jonas is available now and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell

is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot. Thank God he. He He didn't listen to me, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country.

From IHeart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire.

Do you rate me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. Or freeze on. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run!

Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity,

the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique. Who's he? He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is?

I don't know. Do you mean the like the president? You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president. Those law a rousette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night.

It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It's a good one. I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Yeah. It is an actual thing. Better version of Play Stupid Games win stupid prizes.

Yes. Which by the way wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first. time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the Iheart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My question, you know, and I'm of the opinion

totally that the issue system sometimes say it, and when I say that, I'm talking about incarceration. Incareration is not always a method to prevent further things from happening because there's not much of a

opponent for rehabilitation. I hear exactly what you said, and that was some of the information I was getting from the people who knew him that very morning of the incident. I don't have a good answer for that. If medical attention had been sought, he had been going through professional therapy of, you know, the people with doctors behind their name, I honestly don't know. what else could have been done. I don't know. So I did. One of the issues you have in dealing with mental health is people get medicated,

and then there's no one to make sure that they either take the medicine. Right. Or they decide the side effects of medicine. They don't want the side effects so they don't take the medicine. Or what we see a lot of is they have a substance abuse problem, and they have a medication and a substance abuse, and it doesn't. work. So as Wayne

say, there's only so much we can do within the system when they've been treated supposedly and released and on medication and there has to be some way to make sure they stay on their medication. And you've got to hope that they're on the right medication because often in

mental health they're not on the right medication because it takes a while for them to doctors to figure out what medication they need to be on to get them into a normal situation. So to finish your point, you said, we almost come together

absolutely, but that cannot happen unless we're working through organizations that are dealing with this stuff every day. Again, state policy is different from county, different from state policy, parish policy, city policy,

school board policy. That's how we have to be using our organizations. And so what I keep saying to people, if you are operating as an individual. Understand, you need to be aligning with an organization where the organization is putting pressure because a sole person is not going to be able to do it. But if you have one organization, collection of organizations, not all of a sudden that changes

the conversation. Let me do this right here, right, Roland. So a year ago to date, family, I was a psychologist with the VA. And my role at the VA, my role was around cultural trauma. veterans. I say a year today because it was on a Wednesday. I got a phone call that says Friday is your last day because I was using the word culture. And so I had over 50 men and women on my case load who did not get a chance to close out because a decision was made by someone because of the discourse was around

cultural trauma. We want to be clear about this because certain services are available, but they're not consistent. So what I'm telling you is not what I heard. This ain't nobody's a story but my story. And this story is that you get a call on Wednesday. I want to be clear about this one, Brother Roel, and talk about emotional regulation. If it had not been for me going to present

at a conference on intervention, I'm not quite sure how I would return back home that day based on what I heard from the VA. So just because I'm a psychologist, that doesn't mean that I'm about to lose my mind. I get on edge as well. Does that make it sense? So we have to be clear that sometimes the services, that's what I'm saying, all services, no, I say ain't.

I ain't, I ain't good services. What's your name? And I'm assistant principal at CMCTS, which is a theater school into Dr. Smith. school, Will I high school. And so really my question, and I don't even know if it's

really a question, but what is your take on addressing mindset of the parents? Because I feel like us at the school level, we are doing our best to instilling the children

what the listening is that we know that we'll take them on to the ladder, but it's like we're fighting mindset. And so how do you, we want the parents to be involved, but how do you address parental apathy where you want them in the school, but they just, they won't come. You know, you want all these different organizations, but there's no exposure because we're a neighborhood school. We're only, we only have 358 students on our campus, and most of them are impoverished.

So how do you, how do you address mindset of parents that trickles down to our children? And Kiv, her question is the most important aspect, because what we have is what you just said. I have a saying, the absence of spirituality and right culture is the foundation for all negative, toxic, evil, demonic thought, behavior, conduct, and action. you can pour into these children in a righteous way at school, but then they have to go home, right? And so how do we actually do it? Because you can't legislate spirituality, you can't legislate culture, you can't legislate morality,

you can't legislate morality, you can't legislate ethics. So then the focus is on, oh, what is the teacher doing? Y'all are doing your job in most instances, but we have a fractured situation in the home. And that's why I said, you have to have people who are willing to become village fathers and village mothers inside of the school and outside of the school to wrap around these children because other than that,

they're going to be lost. It's just the bottom line. So our thing with Dads on Duty is it takes an empowered village to empower our children. And if we don't get more village fathers, people willing to be village fathers and be village fathers, we're not going to be able to help them because they're going back. And the point you just made, the principal at my former alma mater, Fair Park, which is now a junior high school, he said the same exact thing. They can't get the parents to get involved. So now the community has to get involved.

but the challenge is, I, mind me, the Eurocentric mindset of I'm taking care of my child, they're on their own. But now when little Ray Ray comes and beats your child up or kills your child, now you want the community to be involved. That's the challenge. So I'm going to say this here. And this is really anywhere. One of the things that we have to do is what I call community resource assessment.

we have lots of problems and we want to address all the problems but one group one person can't address all the problems I'm a firm believer in what lane are you in so when we're talking about we're talking about how do we change our communities one of the things that most of us have never done you've never actually done an assessment of what's at our disposal. So if I'm, so this, again, because I'm literally writing this book that's going to drop next year, Dr. King said in his book, where do we go from here, chaos or community. He said there are four institutions that are prime to liberate black America. He's the Negro church, Negro press, Negro fraternies and sororities,

and Negro professional and business organizations. He said, but neither of them have fully committed themselves to liberation of our people. then we critique to each one. And so what we have to recognize is that we have massive capacity in our communities. We have a ton of organizations. We have a ton of nonprofits. The question is, do we even know what exists?

So if I'm you in Shreveport, I'm sitting here going, Okay. Who are the anti-violence prevention lane? Who's in that lane? What are the groups in that lane? What are the groups that specifically deal with black women? What are the groups that specifically deal with black men? What are the groups that specifically deal with

economic development? What are the groups that deal with housing? What are the groups that deal with mental health. Now all of a sudden, you now have a real assessment of what's at your disposal. So if she says, I'm looking to do this, I guarantee you there's already an institution that exists, but she don't have to start a new nonprofit. The nonprofit is waiting for her to show up. But we got to be able to say, go here and go here. And so if we're talking about how to you move forward, that then means, and someone mentioned earlier, a million man march, really what should come out of this really is the model of the local organizing committees

that came out of the Million Man March. So what should come out of this is, all right, people who showed up here care about this issue, care about this community. So now it's like, okay, how do we now harness the people? So here's the first thing. And I'll ask this question to Kevin or your sister or anybody else. Has anyone collected the data of all the people in this room? Right there is our first mistake. It is the greatest mistake that we make as black people. We call meetings, we gather.

We have no idea who's in the room. We have the event and they leave. And then no one knows who showed up. so that's first so so so uh see he pulled the legal pad out but we're going to be going to make it easier so Kevin yes give folks an email give folks an email and the people in the room or if you are watching from Shreveport send to the email your name your email your email your number in the area that you would like to work on. So what then happens is you've got more than 100 people here.

Now you have a database to work from to say, okay, more than 100, 100 of y'all showed up on April 30th. You're going to meet in two weeks, and each one of you have to bring one person. That means that your next meeting will have 200 people. And then when you say your next meeting, I need the 200 to bring one. You're then going to have four. In one month, you're going to have 400 people prepared to now mobilize and organize.

That's how we have to approach this. So what's the email? Email address is Mwata 357. Hold on, yeah. Hold on. I'm going to spell that. I'm going to give it to you. Wata 357.

Hold tight. Hold tight. Listen fast. Am I told faster? All right, so M-WATA, capital, no, not capital. M-As-N-M-A-S-N-W-S-N-W-A-T-A-N-A-N-A-A-N-A-A-T-A-A-R-A-B-A-W-A-T-A-V-A-V-A-V-A-V-A-R-A-V-A-R-A-V-A-R-A-V-V-A-G-M. Why is that critical to the conversation? Because my birth-name is Kevin, that is Irish. My last name is English, Washington.

I've taken the liberty to move from that, from one space to another, and so the name is legally Muata Sankara. Is that making sense? I can tell you more about that as well, but WASA is a whole thing. So MWATA, I like this, brother Roland. You said it. 357 at gmail.com. We can say a whole lot of names.

We trip on stuff. Now I'm going to give you a second one, and if you email me, I'm going forward to him. It's easy. rolling at blackstar network.com. See, now rolling. See, I keep it simple. So, see, follow me here. I need y'all understand.

I need y'all understand. Bishop William Barber hit me up a month and a half ago, and he said, hey, I want to get a thousand alphas. We want to teach them to organize and mobilize for voting. We put it out there. We hit the thousand, but we probably had another thousand people who were not in the fraternity, men and women who followed up. This is what I'm telling you, this is the biggest mistake that we often make.

We meet and we gather, but we don't organize and mobilize. So the data is critically important. So how is that right there, y'all? Look at it. M-W-A-T-A-357. There's a reason for that. At g-mail.com. That's all.

So all I want you to do, and you just put Treeport in the subject line, your name, It's going to be your email, your cell, social media, whatever. Now, as y'all go from here and now begin to organize, you'll now have a database of the people to begin to work from and build from. Question. We're going to dig. This is the last two questions here. You got a question over there?

The last three questions. Go. Yes, Roland. Thank you for having me. I'm just concerned, just like the young lady was, about the situation and her excluded and all. regarding the parents and everything, coming back to my mind and all when I'm growing up with my grandparents before, it was a whole lot of other things more instilled in us at that time.

Our parents were the guiding forces. We would obey them. We would listen to them. We would learn from them. A lot of young ladies and young men now, their mindset, It's not even, it's still a child. And yet they're raising children themselves. Right.

And so? So, the question is, what I'm trying to state in this, the beginning point, the first point, is we've got to start at home. Before anybody thinks about mental health and all, it's got to be a family figure to start in. working with. No, no, no, no, no, no. Follow me here.

Follow me here. How old are you? You're 68 years old. And this is why people didn't understand. I grew up, both of my parents, I'd be married 59 years in June. You're dealing with a child today that is born into a social media world

where the moment they're born, the moment they're born, They're born to a social media world. Okay. So all of a sudden, you have a third grader who is being bullied by classmates in social media. And those classmates have people around the country who follow them. So now that child is getting DMs. That child is getting attacked with what they're wearing and how they look.

So the parent has no idea. So you now don't understand why your child, is withdrawn, why your child is angry and emotionally upset, you don't even realize it's because they're dealing with something that you have no idea about. So you being 68 have no idea about that world. And so it's hard for, like, I'm 57. I raised six of my nieces.

It's hard for us to understand what life is like for a young person today because their world is not our world. So what we have to do is we got to, yes, how we grew up was one thing. I have to accept the world that they're living in and now come up with solutions that apply to their world today. Otherwise, it's not going to work. And so we can draw from how we grew up, but I got to understand where they are. And so the point is if we're not having dialogue with them to understand where they are, what they're dealing with, then we're just going to be sitting and talking past one another,

we're not going to get to the solution. We've got to be communicating with them where they are. Question here, the last question here. Good evening. My name is Joshua Hoover. I am 21 years old, and I am representing the youth, not speaking from a distance, but in proximity. And so my question is, as a 21-year-old minister,

social media influencer, and advocate, are you all willing to collaborate with youth like myself to create pathways to promote continuity and empowerment for our community? community and combat surface level solutions for deeper issues to prevent reoccurrence. All right. I'll ask you a question.

I'll ask you a question. What are you, what are you currently working on to address these issues in what group? So I pastor an online church called Hoover Ministries that's organically grown about 7,300 followers. In addition to God and trust with influence to reach about 1,000 300,000 people through Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook. I advocate as a vessel. And so any time that I'm speaking on an issue,

I'm not speaking from a place of confusion. Like my mother, for instance, is a victim of domestic violence. So with this issue that we've just experienced, it hit me personally. And so I was able to create a 25-minute statement on YouTube and posted for my audience to see. In addition to that, I realize that I cannot just speak about these issues without addressing men's mental health.

And so I am aware that it is going to take somebody like myself to reach people my age and my generation with the assistance of established nonprofit organizations that are willing to work and collaborate me. But hold on, hold up, hold up, hold up. But you said you said you speak on the issues. Yes, sir. But how are you organizing around the issue? So I build events. So I work and collaborate people all across the world. and we have, one of the ones we did was an event called Skating for the Savior.

And I was reaching youth from the ages of 5 to 17 years old. And we taught and disciple them and equipped them with resources. And we even gave some money and a few things. One-time event? It was a one-time event. Yes, sir. I just heard of my online church about six. No, no, no, no, no.

No, no. But I want you to follow what I'm saying here. Yes, sir. There's a difference between speaking. Yes, sir. And organizing. Yes, sir. Okay.

So you said I, you're reaching all the people. around the world. Yes, sir. Okay, but do you know who you're reaching? Have you broken the data down of what countries, what states, what cities they're in? Yes, sir. Okay. Now, how are you now communicating with people who are following you to create the organizations or the groups in those cities to... Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHeart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have

party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists, like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you. Anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHeart Pride Canada.

Stream us on your phone. Or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Number one hits, millions of records sold, awards, sold out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey Jonas is available now and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd.

You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to him, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From My Heart Podcasts, Saigon.

Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me?

They're pouring patrol all over. over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. Or freeze on. Let's get out. Freedom. Mommy! Run! Run! Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this.

There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about, and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll Show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique He's the writer-director Who do you think he is?

I don't know You mean the like the president? You think Canada has a president You think China has a president Those law crusade God I love that thing I use it all the time I wrap it in a blanket

And sing to it at like It's like the old Polish saying Not my monkeys, not my circus It was a good one I like that saying It's an actual Polish saying It is an actual point. Better version of Play Stupid Games

Win Stupid Prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Address this very issue. So my priority demographic is the youth. I realize that analytically, it's ages from 13 to 25 years ago. That's fine. That's right. There's not a question of age.

Yes, sir. It's a question of organization. Right. Because understand, I was in the junior nights of Peter Claver, junior division of the world's largest black capital organization. I was a state leader nationally when I was 14. Eight is not the issue. It's organization. So what I'm saying is, so you have this following. How are you now taking that following and going beyond speaking to them, but having them organized where they are to address these issues where you are in essence creating those different entities in each one of the cities. Are you doing that? I came to this mic exactly for that.

Okay. And so my point is, you don't have to ask for collaboration. You should be creating the entity yourself with the reach that you have and now say we've created this, now we can begin bringing on other people and now collaborate.

One of the greatest mistakes that we made, and I'll say this, that young people always made. A lot of young people are waiting for us to mind the hand the baton versus just starting off running. And so what I'm saying is you create where you are, how in yours grouping here. You create it. So then when you come to the table, you say, this is what I've created, this is how many different groups I have, how many different chapters, X number of cities, this is what we're doing online now.

Who wants to not partner with us? Yes, sir. That's how you take your following. Because remember, you have right now followers. No, take it back. Right now you have fans. Family for me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I get you listen to what I'm saying. How many people you said you have? About 1.3 million. Gotcha. You have 1.3 million fans. I have 5 million. But I've had 47,709 donors to my show. Those are followers.

fans are not followers. So you may have one point. You can throw that number out. But if you ask any pastor of a church, they don't measure members by individuals. They do by families. So it's not I got 10,000 members. No, I got 2,500 families.

What I'm saying is you have to take your fans and now convert them to followers. So you're speaking to them, but now you need to organize them around the issues we're talking about. And then when you do that, now you have a body of people through organization to now be able to achieve the issues. That's your homework. Build the on table, yes, sir.

All right. Appreciate it. Question. First of all, thank you for coming here. We appreciate you here and putting on the event in our panel. My question is to restore funding to a national model initiative when I was a commissioner. It was called Swag Nation USA.

Save with Amazing Grace, she wants a gentleman and styled with American glory to stop sag and start swaggering. We had a female and edict academy trainer that did with most of the things that you talked about. Conflict, resolution, anger, man, and crime, a social issue, how to deal with police when you get out the car.

We had psychologists and psychology and sociologies that did an evidence-based study initiative and we were tracking our young boys and girls that were involved in the program. we started out with like 100,000, so we're trying to get more. The problem is, do we really want to put the money at it and be proactive, but we want to be reactive? Because this was a national model, the National Associated County Commissioner,

awarded with a National Achievement Award that's one of the best programs in America. Okay, hold of. So, I'll call it all of the program you're talking about. How many cities was it in? How many cities? It started right in Shreveport. It started in Shreveport. How long did it last?

It lasts about four or five years. Who funded it? County did, the parish commission did. Gotcha. How much was it? 100,000. All right. So do you still have the model of the curriculum of the program?

Yeah, I still have the concept and the model. We do. And so when have you last presented to new parish leaders? We could talk about that. I'd like to talk about it. No, no, no, no, no. No, you answered my question. When did you let, you said you had it?

And so it ended, right? This is not a story I could talk about right here on the panel about it. But you walked up to come into this microphone. So if you're going to walk up in a public meeting and talk about a program being re-institutional, you can't say you can't talk about the program that you just brought up that I ain't never heard of. Let me say that in a certain sheriff years ago. He was a sheriff of crime. He was the chair of the incarceration.

we would have the opportunity to participation to keep education. So we had a... No, no, no, no. Follow me here. Follow me here. Follow me here. I understand what happened then. If you're telling me that that was a program that was effective that worked then, I'm saying

how you partner with other folk to put it back on the table to get it funded. Well, here's the... I would like to talk to you about why it's not funded. No, no, no, no, no. bro, bro, follow me here. No, no, no, no. I'm being very serious here. This is one of the greatest mistakes

that we often make when we meet. One second. This is one of our greatest mistakes when we meet. We spend a lot of time on the problem and little time on the solution. What I'm saying is if you are saying there was a program that worked, that was successful,

that cost $100,000, and it's no longer being funded, turn around you've got a group of people sitting in the room who clearly came here prepared to address the issue so now I'm saying

take that concept partner with these very people go to the same body and say fund this to deal with the issues that we are facing so we don't have the next tragedy in the seat you can't fund unless you're elected

see right down you just missed it If the people, when the people go to the political people, political people know, hold up, those are voters talking to me. And then if I don't do what voters say do, I'm not going to be sitting in this seat. So what I'm saying is stop saying what you can't do and turn around and partner with these people to do what you just said do. Okay? All right. We want to give a special shout out to Mount Canaan Church. together for Mount Canaan Church for allowing us to be here back to search.

They were able to turn on a pivot. Thanks to Brother Bogan and Scoot Nym and everybody that pulled this together in this space. I want to make sure that we acknowledge them. Thank you to Pastor Oliver for allowing us to be in this space. This has been a space of activism of movement. As you all know, the late Pastor Harry Blake was not only an action, activist, but he was, one person rode a horse into a church and severely beat him in that church for standing up to liberate black and brown folks in this space.

Drug amount of church, they had to take him to another state to be able to get his medical treatment. So you were in a space of sacred grounds of activism. So thank you. Let me thank everybody for coming out when Kevin's, said he wanted to do this. I said absolutely it's important because whenever one of these tragedies

happens, national media, look, I spent six years at CNN, national media comes in, does the story, they put people on the air, but they never deal with the folk on who had left to deal with the after effects of tragedies.

And one of the things that we have been doing in the past couple of weeks is having extensive, deep, real conversations not listening to critics who are mad and upset, and we've been focusing on our experts. It amazes me to listen to black people say, black men need to get help,

and then we put the very people on the air who the ones who offer help, and black folk don't want to listen to the people who are giving advice, and I'm like, but that's what they're there for. And so what we have to do is we have to be utilizing our resources in a completely different way. And so that's why we're here. Tomorrow we're going to be in Mount Bayou, Mississippi.

Trump is sending those white Afrikaners there to farm the historic black cities. We're broadcasting from there. But that's really what our role also in black-owned media has to be. The reality is, we saw this with the Supreme Court decision yesterday, and Louisiana versus Kaleigh decision, like this on us. We have to recognize that this is a moment where we have to be using our collective power.

April 3rd, April 3rd, 1968 when Dr. King gave his last sermon at Mason Temple. He said black people individually are poor, yet collectively, represent one of the largest economies in the world. He talked about the collective. Part of the problem is that we love talking about the collective. One of our greatest mistakes is we always are waiting for group consensus. So what happens is we'll say, we invited 100 leaders, and 15 showed up, and we'll spend the two hours complaining about the 85 who didn't show up,

as opposed to the 15 who did. So what I want each one of you to do is just look to your left, then look to your right, then look behind you, and then look in front of you. And I want you to realize is that everything that we've talked about, the starting point of any movement starts with a moment. There has never been a single movement that did not start with a one person saying, hey, we need to do this thing. And so the question now is, after today, after you've gathered here,

it's now in your hands to now take this thing and run with it. The reality is you may look at one, two, three, five years from now and see a dramatic decrease in domestic violence in this city. A dramatic increase in parental involvement. You might see a dramatic increase in resources because a group of people chose to gather in a room on April 30th, 20, 2006 to say, enough is enough. What can we do? not I as an individual. And so now it's upon you

to now do the work after this. I can't do it. I can amplify had him on the show, talking about what they were doing. I know what we can do. But I'm telling you, our history tells us this. When black people

use our collective power, it then leads to our collective resources, our collective knowledge. and we're working and leaning on one another, we can do incredible things. We can do things that have transformed the world. But that cannot happen if we don't take a single meeting and now do the next and the next and do the organization and do the planning and do the mobilizing and hit all the various efforts. And last point I'll make is this here.

if there are some people in this city who do not want to participate, ignore them. I talk all the time about the book of Nehemiah. When Nehemiah surveyed the wall, the wall that crumbled, Nehemiah surveyed the damage, came up with a plan, went back to the people, and the people said, let us rebuild. If you read that, that were haters. They said y'all cannot rebuild that wall. Nehemi said, ignore them, keep building.

When they made progress, the hater said, oh, we got to stop y'all because y'all actually about to build this thing. I'm telling you right now, you are going to face some haters in Shreveport who are not going to want you to take this and turn it into a movement. What you must do is ignore the haters and keep building. And the last part, which is what I love about when you read, Nehemi, when you read it, they have the names of the people who built the portions of the gate. Meaning the people who didn't do any work, their names were never called. And so the point here is you build where you are, you do the work, you don't sweat who gets the credit, because the reality is everybody who built the wall, all their names were mentioned.

You can do this. You can achieve this. You can completely transform what's happening in this city. That can become a model for the state. It can become a model for the country. But the people have to actually get to build it. So we appreciate y'all coming out. Dr. Kevin Washington, we appreciate it as well.

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Thank you very much. Y'all late, y'all should be showing that. All those products you see right here, these are black-owned companies that are on-shot blackstar network. com. Download the app, fan base. Follow me at Rollin S. Martin every noon, Eastern. Let's check out. And coming up next, Dr. Ebony Hilton, her show,

second opinion with Dr. Ebony Hilton. That's our weekly health show, talking about critical issues facing our community and health. And so we appreciate that. Shreveport, thank you so very much for having us here. We appreciate it. Folks, I'll see you all tomorrow from Mountain Bayou, Mississippi. Hall!

Number one hits, millions of records sold. Awards, sold-out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being an ask. questions. Hey Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something?

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