#RolandMartinUnfiltered - MAGA Marva elected FAMU prez, Diddy trial drama, SCOTUS police use of force case, Trump tariff impact

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

5.16.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: MAGA Marva elected FAMU prez, Diddy trial drama, SCOTUS police use of force case, Trump tariff impact Controversy on the yard: Florida A&M named its 13th president, but not everyone's throwing up that Rattler strike. Outrage is boiling over. We've got the reaction and what's next for the FAMU family. Drama in the Diddy trial--inside the courtroom as Cassie Ventura wraps up emotional testimony. What happened, and where does the case go from here? A major Supreme Court ruling could change the way "Police Use of Force" is judged in America. Samuel Sinyangwe, founder of Mapping Police Violence, joins us to discuss what this means for justice and reform. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. A lot of times big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways from tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no This is absolute season one Taser incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad

Listen to absolute season one Taser Incorporated on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A rapper way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop

being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the World on Drugs by Ken. Last year a lot of the problems of the drug war this year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Today is Friday, May 16th, 2025 coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Rattler Nation is pissed off after Florida A&M University trustee

for the 13th president and they pick someone literally is grossly unqualified for the office. Show you what took place today in a contentious meeting where the board chose cable lobbyist, Barbara Johnson, Never ever. Working hours. Three times more than what she made as a lobbyist. We're going to break it all down. Also drama and the Diddy trial inside the courtroom as Cassidy Ventura wraps up emotional

testimony will talk with legal analyst Candace Kelly. trial inside the courtroom as Cassidy Vintro, wraps up emotional testimony. We'll talk with legal analyst Candace Cowan. Folks, a major Supreme Court ruling could change the way police affords this judge. Our way founder of the Mapping Police Violence joins us to talk about this huge, huge Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in a 7 to 2 vote slaps down Donald Trump when it comes to using the using a law to ship out Venezuelans. Why is it DOJ trying to charge a black member of Congress with assault in that in that melee that happened outside the ICEe Teacher Center in New

Jersey. We're gonna talk about all of that y'all. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin unfilched on the Black Stud Network. Let's go. And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rollin', best believe he's knowin' Puttin' it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' It's Uncle Roll-Roll, y'all It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now It's rolling Martin, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know, he's rolling Martin now. Martin. Ms. Cummings, Martin, would you please call the roll? We will ask each trustee to state the finalist who you cast your vote for. Thank you, Madam Chair. Trustee Brown. Marva Johnson. Trustee Bryant.

Dr. Donald home. Trustee Crossman. Johnson. Trustee figures. Trustee figures. Trustee Jane gaining. Mama Johnson. Trustee Gibbons. Mara Johnson. Trustee Harper. Dr. Donald home.

Trustee Lawson. Our Johnson. Trustee Perry. Dr. Donald Hall. Trustee Perry. Dr. Donald Palm. Trustee Reed. Dr. Donald Palm. Trustee Vasquez. Johnson.

Trustee Washington. Marva Johnson. And Trustee White.'ve a Johnson. And trustee white. Marvel Johnson. Madam chair. There are eight votes for attorney Johnson and four votes for Dr. Donald Paul. Thank you. The motion passes. Marva Johnson has been selected as the final qualified candidate under the position criteria as president elect for

recommendation to the board of governors for confirmation. Congratulations, Ms. Johnson. Folks, this was a rigged election. It was fate. A complete Barbara Johnson who faced a crowded room at Wednesday's meet and greet in Florida, and alumni and stakeholders as they question her qualifications and political influence. Who is she? She currently leads the State Government Affairs for Charter Communications. Here's what's also crazy.

She requested a salary range of $450,000 to $750,000, never revealing what she currently makes as a lobbyist for charter. Well, I actually talked to a number of people who are in the cable industry. Her salary range is anywhere from $250,000. So, Marva Johnson is going to make three times as much money in one year as the president of Florida A&M as she would,

would take her three years to earn as a lobbyist. Here's what's also crazy about this whole thing here. And that is they prevented the board chair from being able to actually negotiate the salary. How the hell did they settle on $750,000 for somebody who literally is grossly unqualified? Now let me be real clear. There are a number of people who have called this

a MAGA takeover. Florida A&M is a state university. The governor can pick who's on the board of trustees. And so this is what happens. I'm not talking about MAGA. I'm not talking about the GOP. I'm not talking about any of that. And here's the deal, be very clear.

I know Marva Johnson. I've met her, I've talked to her at numerous cable events over the past 20 years. And this is what, if Marva Johnson came on this show and we did reach out to Marva, I text her last week, she was getting on a plane, and I invite her to come on the show to explain this whole deal.

But let me be real clear. If Marva Johnson was interviewing somebody for a job to work on her staff as a lobbyist for Charter Communications, and if they presented the kind of resume that she presented to be the president of Florida A&M University, not only would Marva Johnson not hire them,

I can guarantee you they would not even get an interview. That is how weak her resume is in order to lead this institution. We showed this the other day, and I believe it is incumbent upon us to do this again because when you're talking about being the president of a university, leading an institution, 10,000 students, you kind of got to know what you're doing. You kind of got to have a sense of what you're doing. I need everybody to understand, again, I'm not talking about MAGA. I'm not talking about GOP. I'm not talking about the role that she played

as being a delegate or an elector for Donald Trump and then supporting Ron DeSantis, any of that. I'm talking about qualifications. And isn't it interesting that we're living in a moment where Donald Trump and Ron DeSis and MAGA and Republicans are attacking DEI and they're talking about merit, merit, merit, and they literally put a black woman up for a job to be the president of arguably top three HBCUs in America, and this is her resume. Guys, this is not hard.

This is not hard. Group vice president, regional vice president, state government affairs, charter communications, Bright House Networks, corporate vice president, government and Industry Affairs. Then you go down to Corporate Vice President, Technology Policy and Industry Affairs, Interim Vice President, CLEC Operations,

Director, Carrier Services and Financial Operations. Y'all, that's it. That's her resume. She hasn't even been an adjunct professor at a college or university. Now she served on the state board of education. Okay. She's a board member for eight years, chair for four years of the Florida State Board of Education.

I'm sorry, that ain't it y'all. That's not it. So I can understand why Rattler Nation is angry and upset of what is going on. What's crazy is they're going to be paying a grossly unqualified person $300,000 more than they were paying the previous president, Dr. Larry Robinson. That is absolutely insane. Show these board members.

Show the board members. These are the board of trustees. And show the next one. Eight of these folks, here's what's crazy. One of these people was literally installed on the board yesterday who still voted today. Who still voted today.

Do you understand how insane that is? I don't know what these folks were thinking, but there's no doubt in my mind when the board had three esteemed candidates and they shoehorned Marva Johnson in at the last second, folks, it was already decided. It was already done. It was already done. This cake was baked.

They basically decided, Ron DeSantis said to his people, make McGraw the president. And in the eight to four vote, that is exactly what they did. It was extremely contentious today. There were folks who spoke at the hearing. It was there were and again if you if you look at social media if you look at all of the talk all the chatter chatter, I mean, it has been on fire, folks talking.

I have seen individuals make clear that they were going to, that they were pulling their money. There was one woman who said she had already included Florida A&M in her will. She was removing them. I can guarantee you, you are going to see a backlash. This is not going to sit well at all with the alumni at Florida A&M University.

It was incredible just listening to the arguments that these people made as to why she should be the president. It was unbelievable, again, listening to them. The board chair weighed in with her thoughts. I just wanna show some of what the board chair had to say. And also again, this board hamstrung her, go ahead. I want to again, thank you fellow trustees

for this healthy dialogue and civil discourse and good governance. And thanks again to the presidential search committee for getting us to this point. And chair committee chair Gibbons for leading the committee. Like each of you, I take my fiduciary duty very seriously, and this is a consequential decision that will shape the future of students and the success of those students, as well as the engagement level, or lack thereof, of faculty, staff, alumni, current and future donors,

the Tallahassee community, the members of the industry cluster, and beyond. Yes, I am a proud two-time alumna of this illustrious institution. Yes, I was the third female SGA president, Student Government Association, for those who are watching and who may not be familiar with the language and nuances of FAMU. Yes, I'm a Humphreys-era rattler. Yes, I'm a Humphreys-era rattler. Yes, I'm married a rattler. Yes, our daughter is a graduate of this institution

and is duly employed by a Fortune 100 company because of the education she got from this institution. But it's not just my personal history that shapes my service to this board and you're right trustee White this is a thankless job but I do it for the love of FAMU selflessly And there are two factors that have always guided every decision I make, every deliberation, and that is student success and the perpetuity of FAMU.

I'm a huge believer that what gets measured gets done. And I welcome the performance-based funding model. I embrace the accountability plan. I am extremely proud of the progress that this university has made with this board as well as with predecessors who have preceded the roles in which we now sit. That in our 137 year history, we have reached historic highs

as it relates to four-year graduation rates in spite of that we have achieved. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Business Week.

I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we'll take you inside the boardrooms, the back rooms, even the

signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th.

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

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

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcast. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not

being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap away, you gotta pray for yourself, as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov, brought to you by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Highest score of an 83 this year since the performance-based funding model has been established. That is something to be extremely proud of, but we do have a ways to go.

We do need to continue to advocate for student success that will ensure engagement across every important stakeholder group and the perpetuity of the institution that so many of us love and cherish at this College of Love and Charity. There's no leader without followers. And having spent the entire week on campus, having participated in the interviews, having participated in each and every community forum

with community members and alumni. For years, China has been waging a war on America. So folks, we're playing that as an interruption. We're playing it from the live stream that we had earlier. And so let me go back to that. So let's see if we can pick up those comments. Go ahead. And having read through the summary of hundreds of stakeholder feedback, hundreds of inputs,

having read up until maybe 1 30 a.m. this morning, every email, and I've responded to everyone that I could, and will respond to everyone if I have not yet. And if I've overlooked anyone, please forgive me. But I believe in the values of this institution. Accountability, transparency, integrity, and inclusion. And your voice matters. And leaders can't lead if there's no one who is following. As Trustee Bryant mentioned,

stakeholder groups across various constituencies have expressed deep concern and emotional sentiment around one of the four candidates. When Chair Lamb and I worked together to name the search committee. I want nothing more than a high integrity process that produced exceptional candidates. I'm a believer in God and I believe in doing things in decency and in order. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I apologize the Board of Trustees, I apologize, to any finalists or semi-finalists whose names were leaked due to a breach of confidentiality.

What was circulated about one of the candidates, one of the finalists, prior to this week, in spite of that, I came into this week with an open mind, but I was left feeling empty. Many answers were hollow. Many statements were hollow. Many statements were false. PharmD students don't require a dissertation to graduate from Florida A&M.

And today, today, there are students from over 70 countries in our student body that are represented. That's not an aspiration, that's a fact for today. There was a lack of intellectual depth and a gap in cultural connection that was just painfully blatant. Also want to make a point about the range of compensation that this board approved today. In candidates applications, they share their salary expectations. Candidates Allen and Hector,

the range was between 400 and 500,000. Finalist Johnson, $750,000 base, plus additional performance based compensation and commiserate benefits, and finalist's palm negotiable. As a fiduciary, I don't think it's financially responsible to select a finalist whose qualifications pale in comparison to others and whose salary requirements we cannot afford. I want to go on the record to reflect the hypocrisy. I also have to go on the record as a black woman. In an age of merit-based hiring decisions,

how can one justify settling for a candidate who does not meet all of the position criteria or turning a blind eye to exceptionally qualified candidates. As our beloved Joe Bullard would say, the difference is clear. With that, my vote today will be for the candidate who I believe has the executive presence, the institutional knowledge, the love for FAMU. A deep and abiding desire and proven ability to engage authentically with every stakeholder group. Because every stakeholder group matters. One who will not shrink from the pressure or the history, the challenges or the gaps

that have gotten us to this point. Because there are so many things that still we need to course correct and we need to close the gap for so that this institution will remain in perpetuity. Zayla Bryant, the Florida A&M University student body president, she said this. For the SINS, as a trustee who was chosen by the student body, supported by the alumni, taught and shaped by professors,

faculty and staff, and constantly receiving messages from aspirin potential rattlers. As a president who has made history on this campus, I'm a proud part of family history, and I understand legacy and the importance of my position. The students have spoken. The alumni have spoken. Faculty and staff have spoken.

History has its eyes on us and I would be remiss if I were to take my position in vain and not vote to be the voice that has chosen me to be their voice. Out of the selection pool that we have seen this past week, I am unimpressed. And I am concerned gravely at the choices that were supposed to be the top picks for our beloved university. I'll take this time to show my support for candidate Dr. Donald Palm, because he is the only candidate out of all of my conversations and deliberations with students that I never had to question who his priority is. And as members of this trust of this board of trustees, people in leadership and people who care about education at its highest. I think it's important that we always understand that the reason why we are here, that the

people who put money in our pockets, that the reason that we have any significance or influence in these chairs right now are the students. So understanding that that had to be a question is absolutely unacceptable. I won't speak on a specific candidate, but the amount of disrespect and disregard that I've seen this week from candidates was astonishing. And I hope to never see that or choose that for my beloved campus. Those are my final remarks. Telling us right now is Rob Hardy a graduate of Florida A&M University prominent film director as well as producer. Rob glad to have you here. Your long time your longtime, your classmate, Alpha brother, Will Packer was very vocal against this hire.

And again, this is what I said in the outset. I'm taking MAGA off the table. I'm taking the GOP off the table. I am looking at the four candidates based upon their resume. And I showed on this show yesterday, the resumes of all four candidates. And there is no way, and if you had 100 people,

and they said, pick the most qualified out of these four, and they said pick the most qualified out of these four, out of the 100, I believe zero would pick Marva Johnson based upon her resume. This is not about gender, it's not about anything, this is fundamentally about qualifications to be the president of a 10,000 student university? You know, you are absolutely right. And it's tough and it's unfortunate and it's disappointing

because our university deserves to be able to have somebody there that is qualified to lead a university of our caliber. Our motto is excellence with caring. So you need somebody that in order to create that excellence needs to care enough about the job to be able to have experience in the academic field so that way we can grow our research departments, protect our programs. We need somebody that has the ability to understand how athletic works so then that way we can expand our programs, recruit more students, leverage the

relationships that we have. Somebody that's able to inspire and support the faculty so that way they feel comfortable and seen enough to be able to pour into our students and ultimately understand that as a university our responsibility is to the students. So then that way we can forge relationships and create programs so they can do internships, but most importantly so they can grow, feel seen, and understand why it's important to go and represent FAMU themselves, the state of Florida, and our people out in the world. And if you don't have those kind of perspectives, then it's going to be tough for the university to grow. It's going to be tough to recruit new people. It's going to be tough to create an institution that is able to build on the legacy

that it's had. And I don't think that it's enough to be able to say, hey, I have relationships within the state from a business perspective. Then if you you wanna do that, then be a fundraising chair. Do something like that. Whoever sits at that seat is gonna have the ear of the board, is gonna have the ear of the governor, but we need somebody with a heart and perspective that's gonna put FAMU and its students and alumni first. And unfortunately, it doesn't appear that that's what we have right now.

Let me say this here and as someone, first of all people need to understand. My first paid job was reported the Houston Defender in 1990. I covered the firing of James Douglas as university president. So for 35 years, I've covered numerous HBCU presidents being hired, fired, actions of the board.

And one of the things that I often said about the gross dysfunction that used to take place with the Texas Southern University Board is that I would often say that as a graduate of Texas A&M who looks at the Texas A&M Board of Regents that individuals who governors would choose to be on the board of TSU would not even be considered on the boards of the PWIs in Texas. So let's be real clear.

There is no other institution in Florida where Marva Johnson would have been a finalist to be the president of the university. Not the University of Florida, not Florida State, not the University of Central Florida, not Florida Atlantic, not Florida International, not even a community college in Florida. She would not even make the cut.

But what Rhonda Santus has decided is that it's perfectly fine to put a grossly unqualified person to lead that little black school in Tallahassee. That's literally what they're saying with this choice. Well listen, I know that you have a whole situation with hiring a new president at University of Florida. So you can use that as an example as far as the candidates that were available for that job and the resumes that came with that. So that speaks to everything that you're talking about. It'd be different if even the candidate that was chosen had the qualifications on paper,

which they don't. At least that way, then it'd be a gray area as far as who's the best for the university, what are the real motivations, but it's not. It's a stark contrast between someone that has university experience, someone that has research experience, someone that has experience working with students, and someone that completely doesn't. You're absolutely right.

And none of those other scenarios would, this candidate have even been up for review. They would not have passed the first phase. Unfortunately, we don't know who the other people were that were in that initial pool. But given the group that moved forward, she clearly was not in the lead on paper as far as her experience. And on top of that, there was a really visceral response from the alumni, from the students, and from the faculty of not wanting this person to be the one that's in the top seat.

But still, the board members voted her overwhelmingly into that position. What is also strange to me is What is also strange to me is they purposely would not let the chair of the board negotiate the contract, which typically happens. And then what did they do? They chose somebody who actually had a conflict of interest. Nicole Washington, and I'm gonna show,

I'm gonna show, because her photo needs to be seen. Nicole Washington is principal of Washington Education Strategies, a national education policy advisor. I don't know what the hell that even means. But they chose her to negotiate this salary, which is interesting because she and, she and Marva-

A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max

Chafkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams and consumer spending expert Amanda Moll, we'll take you inside the board rooms, the back rooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick.

Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the World on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir, we are back.

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

John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug dance. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Karamouche.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. It makes it real. Here's the deal. We gotta set ourselves up.

See, retirement is the long game. We gotta make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org,

brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Johnson were appointed by, she's a former Rick Scott aide, who was appointed with Johnson to the State Constitution Committee in 2017. That's not who you want negotiating a contract. Right. with Johnson to the State Constitution Committee in 2017. That's not who you want negotiating a contract. Right. That's your home girl hooking you up.

And that's exactly what happened here at a salary of $750,000. And I'm telling you, I know the cable industry well. Marva Johnson was not making, she was making between 200 and $250,000 and is telling that she would not disclose her salary. she was making between 200 and $250,000 and is telling that she would not disclose her salary, she's gonna get paid triple what she was making

as a lobbyist for charter communications. Absolutely. Absolutely. And listen, you know, that's the, again, that's, the actions speak for themselves. The fact that the person that was in that position that was supposed to make that transition,

that was supposed to negotiate that salary, that was supposed to negotiate what that package would look like is not able to do that. Somebody that's related to the incoming president, not related by blood, but as far as relationship is able to negotiate that. Those are all the, you know, that gets asked to the list of inconsistencies

throughout this process that unfortunately we've been forced to deal with. And it's not because people haven't been galvanized to make our voices heard on the student side, on the faculty side, and on the alumni side. It's just because unfortunately, the board is who makes all those decisions. And even though there was overwhelming support

and it was said on the call that there was overwhelming support for another specific candidate, Dr. Palm, I'll just be honest, was the name that was mentioned on the meeting. Those were largely ignored when it came down to the vote. And it's just really tough and disheartening, as an alum that cares for our university

and that we want it to be the best that it can be. And we show up and we give money and we give time and we give resources because we know what the importance of that institution and institutions like that across the country are. And so it's really tough in this moment. It's really tough in this moment. I take it you have been hearing from other alumni and like perfect, I'm going to show

this here. I saw this tweet earlier and this one me, Kristy Tillman, she posted, I'll be calling family foundation as soon as I get home to turn off my monthly gifts and will be calling my attorney to remove the university as beneficiary from my estate immediately. This is unforgivable." She then said, confirming, I spoke with the Advancement Office and my contributions have been turned off.

I'm only being public with this because this is the best way I know how to register my dissatisfaction with the process and the results. And then she posted the email, the cancellation of her gift. Are you hearing from other alumni, and are they saying that they are going to withhold their money supporting Florida A&M because of this ghastly decision by this board of trustees? I have heard that from several donors,

from several influential alumni who give money and give resources, I absolutely have. I think the question's gonna be, what do we do collectively to move family forward in a positive direction? I think that remains to be seen, but because of where we are, and more specifically

how we got here, despite us using our voice, I think that that has turned a lot of people off in this moment. And I think that FAMU as an institution is going to need its alums to be able to help transition it through these turbulent times. Rob Hardy, Fratt, I appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much. It is certainly a, what normally the selection of a president is a jubilant time for many HBCUs, but certainly not today for Rattler Nation with this pick.

Hey, thanks for having me. And as always, I appreciate the work that you do. All right, thanks a bunch. Folks, let me go to my panel. Joining me, Michael M. Hotep, host of the African History Network show. Joining us out of Detroit, Derek Jackson, Georgia State Representative.

Joining me out of Atlanta. And hanging out in the Black Star Network studios is Morgan Harper. Morgan, of course, talks about economic issues and all that good stuff, and let's just get right into it. And again, I need to preface this, Morgan, again, I know Marva Johnson. I've met her for over the years.

She's a nice woman, okay? I know her because I was at TV One since its inception, left in 2018, would often see her. She's a golfer, I've met her husband. I got her phone number in my phone, I texted her last week. But I'm sorry, if Marva hit me right now,

I would say Marva, you are grossly unqualified for this job and you have no business being the president of not just an HBCU of any university. Yeah, and we're seeing such an attack on higher education and even beyond higher education, just expertise in general. And I think, and I know you said you didn't, you wanted to kind of disaggregate this from MAGA, but I mean, that is one of the pillars

of the MAGA movement right now, is that higher education is suspicious, people who know something about a subject area that requires some knowledge are suspicious, and this does feel like it's a line of that. I mean, I would say it's really sad to see that happen at one of our institutions at an HBCU, but yeah, I mean, it's a real problem across the country

and it's hit FAMU. You know, the thing here, and the reason I say it, I'm divorcing it, because what happens here is, Michael, people respond differently. People go, oh, you know, you're being critical because it's DeSantis, he's a Republican, she's a black Republican.

No, I'm taking it off the board. she's a black Republican, no. I'm taking it off the board. I'm saying the individual had no absolutely qualifications to be in the job. I mean, I'm sorry, if they picked me as a finalist, I'd be like, what the hell are y'all doing? I got no qualifications, I'm sorry. Now, I don't care if you're a lobbyist,

I don't care if you have a great relationship with Ron DeSantis, I don't care if you're a lobbyist, I don't care if you have a great relationship with Ron DeSantis, I don't care if you say, hey, you know what, I think I could come in and I can bring in a lot of, I can get a lot of state funding for Florida A&M. Okay, apply for the VP job of institutional advancement or in a donor area. But to be the president, no skill set,

you've never worked in a higher education, you've never worked in a university in any capacity whatsoever, and the other three people, their resumes blow you away. I'm sorry, this was rigged. This was all about setting her up for the job. And I feel sorry for the other three candidates because they got screwed.

Yeah, Roland, you know, I do follow your line of thinking, saying set MAGA apart from this and just let's look at the qualifications. And based upon the qualifications, I didn't see the show yesterday where you show the resumes, but just listening to this, but also either last Friday or Friday before last, when you had Will Packer on,

we talked about this as well and how Marva Johnson is totally unqualified for this job. Now, I used to be a consultant to a local community college here in Detroit. I taught at a community college. And I've known college presidents, community college as well as universities. And I have not come across a college president that did not have a PhD. Okay?

Usually it's a PhD in education or some related field or something. Now, there probably are some. There are some that 4000 universities and colleges in America. There probably are some with no PhDs, but I haven't heard of many of them. Okay, okay. But here's the deal. Okay, you know what? I was on the phone with somebody and they said, you know, it's a bunch of people with PhDs who should be president.

Okay, gotcha. All right. So you said you didn't see it. Okay, this is Rondell Allen. Provost VP, Academic Affairs, University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Acting Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. Dean, School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. Associate Dean for Academic Quality.

Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Xavier University, Assistant Dean for Programming Assessment at Xavier University, okay, let me go back. Now, let me go up here, Donald Palm, who is Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Florida A&M, okay, let's see right here, Florida A&M, Tenured Full Professor, Associate Professor,

Assistant Professor, then you go to Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer see right here, Florida A&M, tenure full professor, associate professor, assistant professor. Then you go to executive vice president, chief operating officer at Florida A&M. Then you go down here to, let's see, those, let's go, interim vice president for advancement and executive director of family foundation, corporate engagement fundraising. Then you go down here, previously,

Virginia State University, executive vice president and provost, vice president for student affairs, vice president for research. Then you go down here to, let's see here, associate provost for undergraduate education, office of academic affairs, associate vice president for academic affairs, assistant vice president for academic affairs,

all at Florida A&M. Then let's see here, okay? So let's go to the third candidate. Again, and I just want people to understand, I'm just walking y'all down of the actual numbers. Gerald Hector, okay? Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance at the University of Central Florida.

Look at this here, Senior VP for Administration and Finance at the University of Central Florida. Look at this here, Senior VP for Administration and Finance. Then you go down here and then you see Morehouse, Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer. Then you go down to Cornell University, Vice President for Financial Affairs and University Treasurer. Then you go down Vice President for Financial Affairs. Then you go to Ithaca College,

Vice President for Finance and Administration. Johnson C. Smith University, Vice President of Business and Finance. United Negro College Fund, Corporate Controller. And then, let's see, Deloitte and Touche, a public accountant. Those are the resumes of the other three people. And this, and this, and this is the resume of Marva Johnson.

I'm sorry. It's not even a conversation. Exactly, so no background in higher education as well. No experience in higher education as we talk about. Other than being on the state board of education for eight years and for those years was chair. That's it. But actually working at an institution, none.

Zero, zilch. And just to connect this, I know you wanna try to disaggregate this from Governor Ron. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But let me be real clear, Michael, why I'm doing that. Because see, folk wanna play the, oh, you're like Magna Republican. No, no, to play the, oh, you're like, Magna Republican. No, no, no, no.

They are the ones who always talking about Mary. They're the ones who always trashing DEI. They're the ones who always saying who's not qualified and who is qualified. Right. Boom! I agree with all that. I agree with all that.

But also we have to watch for the hook because this could be their play to set her up for failure to what? Okay. No, that ain't it. This is, remember in Florida, Ron DeSantis has been trying to take over the state institutions. He has been reading.

So that, no, no, this is about Republican Ron DeSantis saying, I'm now about to run Florida A&M. I got my president, I got my board, and I don't give a damn what y'all Negroes gotta say, I got my own Negroes. Oh, I know he has his own Negroes. I've been warning people he has his own negros. Yes, I agree with that too. Yes. Yeah. This is, but you know, this goes back to when Ron DeSantis

was running against Andrew Gillum. And I remember you had some black pan-Africanists in Florida that said they weren't going to vote for Andrew Gillum because he didn't have a black agenda. And I said, Ron DeSantis has a black agenda. He has an anti-black agenda. And an anti-black agenda is worse than not having a black agenda at all. This is an example of what I was talking about. Derek, you are a state representative in Georgia. I guarantee you that if one of the state schools in Georgia hired somebody this grossly unqualified,

they will be hearing from the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. Not only will they be hearing from us, Roland, we will be protesting right now. Much like they're doing down in FAMU. It's my understanding that they've already gathered over 15,000 signatures. But in preparation for this topic tonight,

I had to go and look up meritocracy. Because, and I love the way you got this frame and not focusing specifically on MAGA, although this is part of their agenda, right? I mean, Kevin Roberts from the Heritage Foundation, he specifically put this into Project 2025, but we'll put that on the shelf. And I looked up Roland meritocracy,

because that seems to be the challenge of the season that we're in. And meritocracy says, it is built on the principle that individuals who demonstrate the requisite skills and abilities and qualification, as you've been highlighting, should be the ones to achieve the positions of power,

trust and responsibility. And she does not meet any of this definition. In fact, if we want to really expand this conversation, Roland, look at the federal government. We can't find not one individual as it relates to higher learning and qualifications that are duly qualified, starting with the person that sits in the Oval Office, starting with the person that's dismantling the Department of Education and so on and so forth.

So this is part of their plan, Roland. The question is really now, what's our next move? And I watched Will Packer and your show yesterday and some of the things that the alumni doing And I watched Will Packer and your show yesterday and some of the things that the alumni doing. And as you just already stated, people are going to be pulling their money out. And as the president of a higher learning institution, your primary job is raising money.

Is raising money. So is DeSantis going to give FAMU some money from the state treasury? I don't think so. And so we just going to have to watch what they're going to do. But the real question this evening, Roland, is what is our next move? Because those 10,000 students at FAMU deserve

and demand that. I tell you what, Morgan, if I was a Florida A&M graduate, I'm disrupting, or a student, I'm disrupting everything. I'm making your job real uncomfortable. Yeah, and absolutely. And I do think it's important to connect up to these larger trends.

Cause like at Ohio State for example, right now, we have someone, do you know the highest education that the president of Ohio State has currently achieved? What? A BA. Took over for a PhD engineer who was a disruptor, who was bringing in change, who was this guy, this is the guy that is going to co-sign on totally dismantling

any DEI effort at the university, eliminating the center for student belonging that a lot of black students found to be their home base at their experience at Ohio State. So yes, particularly at Famut, we need to be aware of what's going on, but this is a national effort. Oh yeah. And yeah, I mean, I agree. I agree with what Derek was saying about,

we need to be speaking out, but I don't know. There wasn't a lot of, there were people speaking out about what was happening in Ohio State, but it all comes back to political power because how do these people get in place? It's because the governor once said the board of trustees and so I think alums, I think you are right though, Derek, like alums staying engaged and organizing to make sure that you will continue to influence how these institutions are run. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives

in small ways. Three or four days a week I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives.

With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we will take you inside the board rooms, the back rooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

Taser, Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. May 21st and episodes four, five and six on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the World on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way.

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

band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL Enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter, Liz Karamouche. What we're doing now isn't working

and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. Here's the deal. We gotta set ourselves up. See retirement is the long game. We gotta make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them.

Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. It's very important. But also I want to remind people of something. Ron DeSantis was elected. He beat Andrew Gillum by 30,000 votes.

Yes. We spend lots of time on this show talking about these things, and people are in an uproar today. But did they vote to keep Ronda Santis out of the Governor's Mansion? See, it's real easy to be mad after the fact. It's real easy to be upset and, fact. It's real easy to be upset and man, you got signs

and you wanna protest and no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You gonna have to own some stuff. You gonna have to own it. See, if you one of those folks watching me right now and listening right now and set your ass at home, you part of the problem. If you mad about that thug in the whole office, raping and pillaging the country

and firing people left and right, violating the Constitution, selling the nation out, but you chose not to vote. You chose to stay at home. This on you. There's a reason we got the shirt. There's a reason we sell the shirt.

Don't blame me, I voted for the black woman. I can tell y'all right now, cause I remember it is seared in my head. The Tallahassee Democrat ran a story after DeSantis beat Gillum and they showed the turnout of the top 20 counties in Florida and one through eleven were all red. You didn't get to number 12, and I believe it was Broward, that was at 57%. Miami-Dade was 54%.

So it's a whole bunch of people who didn't do nothing. Remember that sister the New York Times talked to teachers aid 32 years old in Milwaukee who says, Oh, I ain't vote because I thought he was going to win. Well, your ass not voting guaranteed. He was going to win. So I hope the folk watching right now now understand that the governor of a state right now now understand that the governor of a state controls state schools, can control the board of trustees, can control the hiring process, now can control who is gonna be working in the administration.

We warned y'all they were coming after HBCUs. This ain't just Florida. But look what Republicans are doing in Tennessee, Tennessee state. I'm telling y'all buckle up. This is going to continue. But if you choose to listen to the simple Simon, all the loud mouth, Democrats ain't shit, Kamala ain't nothing, Kamala she ain't black enough,

cut the check, wear my tangibles. But now, y'all mad? I don't wanna hear shit. Now I hope that you so pissed off now that you actually gonna do something. I hope that you're now so pissed off that you say, oh, I ain't nowhere in hell, Ron is saying his wife gonna run for governor.

I hope y'all pissed off about that settlement that happened in Florida where her foundation got all that money in that corrupt deal. So what you gonna do? Are you gonna be mad for a day? Are you gonna be a keyboard gangster on Twitter? Or are you going to mobilize and organize and turn and channel your outrage into action to vote these corrupt thugs out?

Because y'all got to remember, they changed the rules in Florida. They got to do year by year contracts. She the president. I'm gonna tell you right now. I don't care if she's an AKA, if she can ski we, all that stuff don't matter. I will be on that ass every single day at every single event and what never let up. Let's see what y'all gonna do, Rattlers. I'll be right back. We are getting real about mother wounds.

While May is the month that we shower mom with love, for some people, this time of year is a stark reminder of fractured relationships and feelings of abandonment. In this episode, we will be uncovering the trauma of mother wounds and sharing tips on how we can begin to heal them. What we don't talk enough about in our community is giving ourselves permission to even heal. That's all next on A Balanced Life here, Black Star Network. I'm Russell L. Honore, lieutenant general, United States Army retired,

and you're watching Roller Martin on Viltage. States are retired and you're watching Roller Martin on Filth. More drama in the courtroom in New York city today. The federal trial is Sean Diddy Combs joining us right now is legal analyst Candace Kelly. All right, Candace, what the hell happened? Well, you know, this was really the ending of the cross-examination and the redirect for Cassie Ventura, the star witness for the prosecution. And what we got from her was really detailed explanation of what happened and that she

says she was coerced to do these things. She felt like it was her job. Now, of course, the defense, their job is to come in and impeach her, try to make her look like a liar. It was really a forensic detailing of so many texts where she did seem to be as if she wanted to do it, saying that, yes, I would do anything for Fico, and I love you, things of that nature. Even with the rape, she said that after she was raped by Sean when she decided to close everything in terms of their relationship, she had sex with him after.

So there certainly were a lot of open avenues for the prosecution, for the defense, to go in and attack the credibility of her. What came out, though, I think that was very interesting today at the end of the testimony, and this is really important, was that Cassie Ventura is in the middle of getting a $10 million settlement

from the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, where that beating on the video that we all know of took place. And this was something that on cross, they brought out in the midst of trying to also get her to say that she was having financial problems overall. For example, Roland, they said, hey, weren't you going to go on tour?

And she said, yes. And they said, but after you got that $20 million settlement, you no longer went on tour. So, you know, it was really kind of a money chain that they were getting to. And then it ended up with this $10 million settlement that nobody has ever heard of, but that the Intercontinental Hotel is responsible for.

This was a deal that was made, Roland, about a month ago. So, and again, so that strategy very clearly is to counter what took place in the previous two days of the testimony. And again, for the prosecution, I had a big time attorney in LA who said, this is a sham. The person said to me, I've heard more about domestic violence than I had sex trafficking. Mm, mm. Yeah, and you know,

and that is an argument that a lot of people are, they're really asking me specifics about when does prostitution actually take place. I'm getting that argument or that question a lot because we are seeing a lot about the domestic violence. But again, it's going to be up to the jurors to connect the dots to say that all the beatings that she was getting forced her to stay in the relationship

and continue in these freak offs. But we are hearing a lot about domestic violence. That is true. We're also gonna hear more about domestic violence from the next witness that took the stand today for about 20 minutes, and that would be Dawn Bashar. And she's from Making the Band, from the group Danity Kane. And she opened up by saying, hey, listen, I saw him beat her with a pan. And the defense said, wait a minute, we're

going to cut her off. They objected to her testimony. But as it turned out, they let her come back and she did start testifying for 20 minutes. So I think that on Monday, we're going to see quite a bit from her too, because listen, the defense was certainly on the edge of their seats and jumping up and saying, wait a minute, before she got into those details of all the beatings that she knew about.

This is someone who's known Sean for 20 years in business and in friendship. In fact, when she filed her lawsuit, which came right before this particular indictment for this lawsuit, he said, I'm very surprised, we're friends. He really didn't understand it. So Monday is going to be another very important day

for someone who has seen firsthand that the beatings of Cassie and herself saying that she was sexually assaulted as well as there were some copyright by violations a lot she's going to get into on Monday. Wow, that is a whole lot. Um, uh, in summation, how would you lay out this first week? Well, I would say this. They say that in every lawsuit, there's the plaintiff's side, the defendant's side, and someplace in there, there's the truth. And

that truth comes about and is presented in terms of how each side tells the story. What is the story and what are the holes that can be broken into, the holes that are open that we can break into. I would say at this point that Cassie has made a very, very compelling argument. And it looks like they are setting up for more witnesses to support what she was saying. If we think about it, anybody that is a part of a relationship that might be abusive or coercive, this is actually what they do. They are taught by their abuser. They are taught by the person, forcing them to do something,

that this is normal. And so I think that's what I got from what she was explaining while she took the stand. After a while, she felt like it was her job. She felt like it was her normal. And then she was just stuck. She couldn't get out of it because every time she turned, Sean Colmes was there making threats

against anybody that she was going to be with or blowing up their cars or calling them. And she felt like I'm stuck. And so she's assumed that role for years. All right. Candace, great work. We'll chat with you next week. All right then. All right, appreciate it. Thanks a lot great work. We'll chat with you next week. All right then.

All right, appreciate it. Thanks a lot, folks. We'll come back. Black Caucus in Maryland, not happy with black Governor Wes Moore. He vetoes a reparations bill in the state. I'll explain next right here. Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

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On the next get wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach. We're talking about the difficulty of being able to acquire wealth for Black Americans. My guest, Emily Flitter, is the author of The White Wall, how big finance is bankrupting Black Americans. The bad stuff that you feel when you're dealing with the financial services industry is not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault and you don't deserve to be treated like this.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. Roland Martin. I'm Phil 2. the folks. Um, in Maryland, Gov. Westmore, of course, the nation's lone black governor, uh, issued 23 vetoes today, and one of those includes a reparations bill. Uh, this is, uh, the Washington Post story came down about an hour ago. He read this. They say Maryland Governor Westmoren Friday vetoed a bill that would have required the state to define the economic harms to black descendants of enslaved people and recommend remedies dealing

a blow to reparations supporters who counted on the only black governor of a US state to be an ally. The veto of the reparations study was the highest profile of two dozen vetoes, more issued late Friday. The most, the governor and rising Democratic star has fought back against the democratically controlled legislature during his two and a half years in office. This of course is big news and trust me it was not well received by the Maryland Black Caucus. This was the statement that they released at a time when the White House and Congress are actively targeting black communities dismantling diversity initiatives and using harmful coded language Governor

Moore had a chance to show the country and the world that here in Maryland, we boldly and courageously recognize our painful history and the urgent need to address it. Instead, the state's first black governor chose to block this historic legislation that would have moved the state toward directly repairing the harm of enslavement. They said, we are elected, let me go over here. They said, we are elected leaders in the state that enslaved renowned abolitionists, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. And we convene in a state house

that is less than a mile from the Annapolis city dock, one of the nation's earliest and most high traffic ports of enslavement. We owe this bill to those who endured forced labor and all black Marylanders impacted by enslavement, discrimination, and its long-term harm. As federal efforts to erase our history and attack the most vulnerable continue, Marylanders need decisive, courageous action at the state level. And so this is that statement. Oh, they also said the bill, which passed by an overwhelming majority

in the House and Senate was crafted to bring together leaders impacted residents and experts to study and make recommendations on reparations in Maryland while unilateral executive actions and piecemeal legislation addressing disparities can contribute. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from

Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm Stacey Vanick-Smith. Every Friday we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,

even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is absolute season one, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the World on Drugs podcast. Sir, we are back.

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

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug thing. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL Enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouche. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. ...progress. They cannot substitute meaningful, sustained,

and comprehensive efforts commissioned in this bill to address reparations and repair. Now, Governor Morris said that the actions that he is taking as governor are going to address the issues that they have outlined. He also, this is from the Washington Post story, Moore said, given the state's economic problems, he was focused on laws that helped the state

recover from the severe impact of the Trump administration's federal spending cuts. I was very transparent with the leadership and members of the General Assembly that anything that fails to meet the urgency of this moment, I will not sign it and must wait for another time. Moore said in an interview called on the reparation study, the most challenging of his veto decisions.

The article says Moore said he's ready to engage in conversations about repairing the legacy of slavery now and he doesn't need to wait two years for the reparations commission to draft a study. Michael, your response? Well, here's the thing. Number one, I have a little bit of experience in this field. I actually did a presentation for the Detroit Reparations Task Force here on March 2nd, 2024. Now, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told them and the same thing I say on numerous shows and the African History Network show. I would not put the term reparations on anything that you actually want to get past, especially if a

lot of people that got to vote for it are white. But even if they're black, and the reason why is I'm all for repairing the damage of a legacy of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, all that. I'm all for that. But what happens is a lot of these efforts get attacked, undermined, imploded, and you get a lot of people who walk away disheartened. Now, one thing he did say is that he was already enacting policies and, quote unquote, a culture of repair to remedy the harms of slavery. This is from the Washington Post article that you're

reading from as well. So what I would focus on and what I encourage people to focus on is the structural inequities that exist right now in Maryland, California, whatever it is, and deal with the laws and policies that were put in place that created those structural inequities and trace that back to slavery, trace that back to Jim Crow, et cetera, and deal with repairing those structural inequities. But I saw a previous article six days ago from thegrille.com about this, and I'm someone who focuses on actually being able, not focusing on studies, but actually getting policies put in place

that are beneficial for African-Americans that will withstand legal challenges when you get sued to overturn it. I'm focused on the end game. Morgan. Yeah, I mostly agree with that. I do think a study as the policy making process tends to go is usually the first step in any,

if anything's gonna become a law, you've gotta have some kind of study that the government's done to check the box. But yeah, I generally agree. It's like, we all kind of know the history. I think the fact that this was a study that would have been focused specifically on Maryland makes it a little bit more sense than, you know,

some of the national bills that have called for a federal study. I think there is a pretty broad understanding generally of the issue. But look, I mean, this is a situation is Westmore has higher ambitions than being the governor of Maryland. If he wants to someday run for something else, like president of the United States,

then he probably doesn't want this on his record. And I imagine that that is a factor in why he decided to include this in his vetoes. Derek. Yeah, listen, I guess I'm gonna come from a different perspective being a state legislator and being one that have a reparations bill right here in Georgia, it didn't get any action rolling because I did use the word reparation. And the reason why I

use the word reparation, slightly disagreeing with my dear friend Michael, is that Abraham Lincoln created reparation. He created reparation in April of 18 it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it.

And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so, I think that's the way I see it. And so you think about the grand scheme of things, as I tell my Republican friends, there's no difference between reparation and tax cuts. There's no difference when government take in the money rolling and then redistribute.

And so we just passed this huge tax cut here in Georgia. And then you got the federal government right now looking to pass another tax cut. And so tax cuts and reparations in my world are synonymous. And so I know a lot of folks try to shun away from the word. I'm not sure why. For example, California, they killed their own reparations bill. I'm still boggled around that. New York. They killed their bill because the governor gave a head nod that he was going to veto it. So they pulled the bill, which is stupid. You pass the bill

and you force him to veto it. You force him to veto it. That's right. Roland, can I respond? Can I interject? Yeah, go ahead. Roland, can I respond? Can I interject? Yeah, go ahead. So, my dear friend Derek, I won't hold it against you, but you talked about Abraham Lincoln. So you're talking about the Compensated Demarcation Act of April 16th, 1862, which passed Congress and it abolished slavery in Washington, D.C. That was spearheaded by a

man who became Senator, Senator Henry L. Wilson, if I remember correctly. And what that was, was they were abolishing, that was really designed to abolish slavery in the district of Washington, DC, and also compensate the slaveholders, okay? So that wasn't Lincoln's idea. But when we talk about, I'm somebody who not just studies history, but has also been involved in writing public policy in the city of Detroit.

And I focus on actually getting policy put in place, one, two, structuring it so you withstand legal challenges. Because they're going, any of these, just like with Everstand, Illinois, from my understanding, and Roland, you've had Robin Ruth Simmons here on the show, I've interviewed her twice on the African History Network show, when you talk to Robin, she said they structured their reparations program to withstand legal challenges because they knew they were coming.

So a lot of people focus on, and I'm not saying you are saying this, Derek, but I've been involved in this for some time, a lot of people focus on cut the check, cut the check, cut the check, and don't understand, one, at the federal level, race-based policies are illegal at the federal level. That's Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Section 601, non-discrimination federally assisted programs. Two, a lot of states have various laws that ban race-based programs. California was one of them, which is why the California Reparations Task Force,

they structured theirs based upon lineage, having to trace your ancestry back to someone who was either the descendant of slavery or came to the U.S. prior to 1900, because they knew, you talk to Camila Moore, who's an attorney, who was either the descendant of slavery or came to the U.S. prior to 1900, because they knew, you talk to Camila Moore, who's an attorney, who was the chair, Camila Moore said they knew they were gonna be challenged in court.

So when we deal with this, and I think it's also important to understand, we have to go after low-hanging fruit, because we're in an even more anti-black climate because we're in an even more anti-black climate where you had the $2.2 billion that was given to black farmers, okay, under the Biden-Harris administration. That got attacked.

We know it was 5 billion before that, farmers of color, including black farmers, in the American Rescue Plan. That got stopped by groups like Stefan Miller's group, who's a senior advisor to Trump right now. Go ahead, go ahead. Derrick? Yeah, but it only got stopped

because it involved giving black people money. It got stopped because it's challenged in court, yes. But, but- Wait a minute, wait a minute, Michael. So if you go back to 1862, Yes. I don't know the reason why I used Abraham Lincoln because he was the president. But 1862, April 18't know why you use Abraham Lincoln cause he was the president.

But 1862, April 18, when he gave $300 per slave owner, they were all white men. No, there's about six black slave owners in Washington DC that also filed petitions and they got reparations as well. Go ahead. Hold on, but majority of the population. Correct. $300 per slave were white European men.

And then they turned around four months later, Congress said, hey, we're gonna give you land too. So if you're a white European man, we're gonna give you 160 acres. The only thing you need to do. The Homestead Act. Mm-hmm. The only thing you need to do, that's right,

the Homestead Act, the only thing you need to do is live on this land, use this land, till's right, the Homestead Act. Only thing you need to do is live on this land, use this land, till this land, and you got 160 acres. Pay the taxes. Yeah, with about $5. But that 160 acres amassed to 271 million acres of land in the United States. Yeah, and they gave away land for 124 years up until 1976.

I'll teach this history. I'm familiar with it. The homestead act. The demographics, my dear friend, they were white men. Of course. Of course. And so if the court of law is going to say,

you can't give money to black people, but you turn around right now, if they pass this tax cut, this tax bill, the top 1%, what's the number of population of the ethnicity and race of the top 1%? Probably 90% white. Oh no, I understand that. But when we talk about legal challenges,

we're talking about- Morgan, do you want any part of this? Well, here's what I would say is, the fundamental thing is if we're in a position now, to me, is if we're in a position where we have only one black governor in the entire United States of America and he's not even willing, because I don't know, Michael, I consider a study defining economic harm for Maryland

as pretty low-hanging fruit. If you're not willing to support that, God help us. But here's the thing. Right? Here's the thing. Right? Here's the thing. Studies- Like what have we been talking about?

Studies and actually implementing law, implementing policies that have been official. It actually- But Michael, but Michael, but Michael, wait a minute, wait, Michael, hold up, hold up. Yeah. All across the country, all across the country, cities, counties, school boards, they've done disparate, disparity studies. Yes, harm

report, things like that. First to show for when it comes to contracts and then created a program based upon the study. So to Morgan's point, what's the big deal with a study going forward, but as the governor, you still do the things you say you're doing. Why can't two things happen at one time? Well, as I said, I'm all for repairing the damage of a legacy of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, things like this.

What I would do is focus on, if you wanna study something, I would focus on studying the present day structural inequities, study the laws and policies that created those structural inequities, that created the harm, and trace that back to slavery.

I personally, and I've said this repeatedly over and over again, I would not put the term reparations on anything that you actually want to get passed. When you are a minority population, when you dealing with an anti-black society, no, we gotta, let me, Roland, you smarter than me. Why do most slaves that run away,

run away at night time and not in the daytime? That's true. Why do most slaves run away at night time and not in the daytime. That's true. Why do more slaves run away at nighttime and not in the daytime? Because they knew they had a better chance of staying gone if they ran away at night. I'm saying we got to learn how to run away at nighttime. OK?

Hell no. And the other thing that we have to learn how to do is show how the policies that disproportionately positively benefit black people are good for everybody. That reduces opposition. Didn't say it eliminates opposition, but it reduces opposition. Too many of our people get caught on the reparations treadmill and keep running around generation year after year after year doing the same damn thing. And it, no, we haven't figured this out.

I'm all for repairing the damage. Focus on present day structural inequities. Focus on house and disparities. Focus on educational disparities. Got it. When you do your study. I got it. Cause I've read some of those harm studies.

I got it. Trace that back to the policies that go and trace that back to slaves. Final comment from Derek, final comment from Morgan, then I'm going to a break. Roland, Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. King, and all the others who were part of the Civil Rights Movement, they didn't create something else.

They used the Constitution. Absolutely. They used the language from the Constitution. They didn't create a new word. They didn't deviate. They said the language from the constitution. They didn't create a new word. They didn't deviate. They said the constitution. And so all I'm saying, if we're going to go back to the past

and look at the ills of this country, then we just say, Abraham Lincoln and everybody else in 1862 used a form and it's called reparation. Morgan. And I'll just make a very practical point that if at some point, and this kind of builds off of what you're saying, Michael,

is the goal, you're trying to actually, based on law, make a case for why there should be economic return, then you need some information about what that harm has looked like. That can be a big effort if you're just an individual citizen, even if you find a lawyer who's willing to represent you, they're gonna have to take on all that risk for themselves.

This is shifting that burden to the state that has more resources to gather that information and can be the basis for further legal action. And then whatever you ever said. No, no, no, no, that's it. What? That's it. Oh, okay. That's it.

That's it. All right it. That's it. I done let this damn thing go as far as I'm gonna let it go. I'm going to a damn break. Okay? That's it. That's it. I'm cutting this. I'm cutting this off.

All right. Go to the break. On the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everywhere, and I mean everywhere, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vlithia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture.

You crystallize it by saying who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? the structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on the Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. Now streaming on the Black Star Network.

In France, me and Tony, and accidentally went to the Louvre, but I had never been and I saw a side door. And we got off the little bus, I said, come on Tony, let's go to the Louvre. I mean, I'm just like, let's go to the Louvre. Right, we're here. This black girl is at the door with this white guy,

black African girl, and she says, oh my God, Vanessa Belle Calloway. And I'm like this, you know me? And come to find out we were at the wrong door. But she said, I want to join, just go in here. like this, you know me and come to find out we were at the wrong door. But I was embarrassed friend and that shocked me. She knew my name. She knew me. My movie. You know, so it's like. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our

lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Business Week.

I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, Sports Reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we'll take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? And they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two and three on May 21st,

and episodes four, five and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamouche. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early

and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care.

Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSK, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. You just gotta, as they say, build a naval car. Put it out there, people will find it. They won't know it. How you doing? My name is Mark Carrot and you're watching Roland Martin unfiltered deep into it like pasteurized milk without the 2%.

We're getting deep. You want to turn that shit off? We're doing an interview, motherfucker. Okay, this is not a typo. I did not fall and bump my head. This actually happened. This current United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous nine to zero ruling that could actually make it easier to challenge police use of force in court. Okay, I'm just want to make sure lightning is not going to all of a sudden hit. This is real.

The justice has rejected the moment of the threat idea. Okay, I want, yeah, I know, I know. This is a conservative Supreme Court. of the threat idea, okay? Yeah, I know, I know. This is a conservative Supreme Court, okay? Super duper about law enforcement, okay? But they actually heard it. They rejected the moment of the threat doctrine, which limited courts to evaluating only the exact instant

an officer perceived danger before using force and stay at the court ruled that judges must consider the totality of the circumstances, including events leading up to the critical moment when deciding if an officer's actions were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Samuel Sengawa, founder of Mapping Police Violence, Jones us right now. And Samuel, were you even shocked with 9-0? You know, I was shocked that this was a 9-0 decision

given this court and some of the previous decisions that it's made on a host of issues. So it was a shocking ruling, but it was a good ruling. And so, you know, I'm not mad about it. Okay, so explain to people who have no no idea like literally people in the chat are going what what the hell is this joke? So explain what this actually means. So this moment of threat doctrine is a doctrine that has been in place in four of the judicial circuits. So a lot of the south even New York, Connecticut you know a number of states not the whole country about a third of the judicial circuits. So a lot of the South, even New York, Connecticut,

you know, a number of states, not the whole country, about a third of the country, the jurisprudence was saying that when you look at an officer who uses force against somebody, if they shoot somebody or beat somebody up, whatever the type of force is, the courts instruct the judgment to be made only looking at the moment that the officer used force and not the events leading up to that.

And there are a host of situations where looking at the events leading up to the officer using force can very much change your decision about whether that officer acted reasonably. And so in this particular case, and a number of cases like it, there are cases where, for example, the police will conduct a traffic stop. And they'll walk over to the vehicle, they will get license registration, and officers have policies,

usually where they're instructed not to reach into the vehicle, not to get in front of the vehicle, because if the person drives off, that could put the officer potentially in danger. But in some cases into the vehicle, not to get in front of the vehicle, because if the person drives off, that could put the officer potentially in danger. But in some cases, the officers, let's say they think the person's gonna try to get away and drive away.

Some officers will jump on the front of the vehicle, jump in front of the vehicle, put their arm inside the vehicle, try to restrain the driver and the steering wheel as they're driving away. And then as the car is going towards them, let's say they jump in front of the vehicle, then because of their actions leading up to that decision, right, they jump in front of the vehicle,

then they say the vehicle is coming towards them and they shoot the driver saying that their lives were in danger. So if you're looking at moment of threat, the courts in those four circuits instruct the judgment to be made only in that moment that the officer fires their weapon. So they'll say, okay, the car was coming towards the officer in that moment. And so the officer might have reasonably believed that their life was in danger.

And they will say, well, the officer acted reasonably. Now we can't pursue a lawsuit against that officer. We can't hold that officer criminally liable because we're only looking at that moment. But if you zoom out just a few seconds and see actually the officer broke their own policies, jumping in front of a vehicle, putting their own life in danger, and then using that as an excuse to then take somebody's life or seriously harm somebody, then you might actually rule the officer acted unreasonably and pursue accountability. And what the Supreme Court said is you actually do need to take into account what the actions of the officer leading up to that moment that they use force. And that's important because there are so many cases in which the officer sort of their actions precipitate, they escalate the situation, then use that escalation as an excuse to harm somebody. This is a huge decision because again,

it gave cops so much leeway to do whatever they wanted. Absolutely, and it also didn't make sense that in a third of the country, the courts were looking at police use of force differently than in the remainder of the country. So you have this uneven sort of justice system where in some places it's easier to hold police accountable but not others.

And those places that it was more difficult tended to be in the South, tended to be places with large black populations. So we were bearing the brunt of that. And what the courts did with that nine zero judgment was say all across the country, you need to take into account the officer's actions leading up to using force.

And that accounts for about a third of all cases where the police kill people in the United States are within those four judicial circuits that now have to change their judgment to incorporate that past actions of the officer in that decision. Questions for the panel, Derek, you first. Yeah, I appreciate this ruling. I really do.

But I do know that police force is a problematic, polarizing topic. And so my question is, do you anticipate us seeing changes in police practices and police accountability? The reason why I ask that is because we thought body cameras was gonna change police behavior. We thought police started implementing

independent investigation. We thought that was gonna curtail these kinds of behaviors. And unfortunately, we still see the number of lives taken and no longer with us, even after we implemented policy that we thought was going to curtail behavior. Yeah, so it's an important question. And I think what's clear is even in places that have a broader sort of what they call a totality

of circumstances judgment, instead of moment of threat, what they call a totality of circumstances judgment, instead of moment of threat, they look at the totality of the circumstances, including the officer's actions before using force. Even in those places, it's not like, the police are routinely being held accountable. They're actually, the rates of accountability, rates of officers being charged,

the rates of officers being punished, disciplined, suspended, are very low all across the country, but especially in places where they can't even look at whether the officer escalated the situation, whether the officer put themselves in danger and then used that as a pretext to use force against somebody. So this is an improvement, but it is not the only thing that needs to change. There are a host of other wholesale changes that need to happen in the context of policing, in terms of what the police are being called in to do, in terms of how they interact with people when they do that, in terms of how they're accountable

and held accountable and investigated after they commit any type of misconduct. All of those things need to be changed fundamentally in this country. But this is something that was still unexpected, I think, when we think about this court. And so I'm hopeful that more changes can happen as well. Morgan? Yeah, thank you for the overview, Samuel. That was really helpful.

I'm also thinking about enforcement. And so this would still rely on someone who has been harmed by excessive force bringing a lawsuit and now it's a better legal standard in proving the likelihood that lawsuit would be successful for them? Or does Department of Justice need to play a role and with this Department of Justice, how are you thinking about,

how should we be thinking about how this will actually be enforced? So this will make it easier for individuals to bring lawsuits against officers, for individuals to bring lawsuits against officers, family members to bring lawsuits against officers who might have taken the life of a loved one. But there's still a host of other barriers that need to be looked at.

I mean, you think about qualified immunity still exists, right? The courts didn't repeal qualified immunity. So even when you look at the totality of circumstances of the case, what they then will say is, well, maybe the officer acted unreasonably, but was there a prior precedent, an almost identical circumstance like that, where the officer would have known that what they were doing was violating that person's rights.

And if there wasn't a prior case exactly like that or similar, then often they throw that out and you can't hold the officer accountable because of qualified immunity. So that needs to be looked at in the case of civil accountability. And then on the criminal side, prosecuting officers, investigating whole departments and putting them under consent decrees, we've seen backtracking, especially from this administration that is trying to walk away from some of those agreements that were already in place and certainly isn't interested in pursuing new ones. And that comes at a time where, in fact, the data is suggesting, you know,

it's been a long time trying to gather data not only on cases where people are killed by police, but also non-fatal force, which impacts 300,000 people in this country a year. And when you look at the police departments that have had those DOJ interventions, those pattern and practice investigations, been put under consent decree,

they reported pretty substantial reductions in overall use of force while they were under that consent decree. So those things matter as well. And it's a problem that this administration is not pursuing that like the previous one was. Michael? All right, Sam.

My question is, understanding that when Donald Trump was on the campaign. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg

Businessweek. I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm Stacey Vanick-Smith. Every Friday we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing.

So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the War on Drugs Podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit,. We got Ricky Williams NFL player Heisman Trophy winner It's just the compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves music stars Marcus King

John Osborne for Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug thing. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL Enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouche. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcast.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov,

brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Trail, he said that he was going to give 100% immunity to police against criminal prosecution for doing their jobs. And then also, we know there was an executive order he just signed in the last couple of weeks on policing. How do you think all this will play out with this Supreme Court ruling when it comes to holding police accountable for criminal prosecutions, being tried for unreasonable force for criminal prosecutions.

We know you have Donald Trump appointed 234 federal judges when he was president before. So how do you think all this will play out, all things considered? So first and foremost, while the Trump administration has been signing these executive orders, they aren't gonna be able to intervene in cases where the officer is charged at the state level.

And it's been extremely rare for the federal government, for the DOJ, to actually successfully prosecute individual officers. There have been a handful of cases, but it hasn't been as widespread, even as the state level charging officers and convicting them. So that will continue and that will be something that as the courts now are being instructed to look at the totality of circumstances, hopefully there will be a higher probability of accountability in those kinds of cases.

So, because of federalism, there's still the possibility of holding police accountable at the state level, even as the federal government tries to do everything they can to make that more difficult. Right, all right, thank you. Well, and I guess, and just one final thought in a takeaway for everyone at home is,

I mean, individually, it sounds like, Samuel, we still all have an obligation to be engaged, seeing how police departments at the local level are run, because still all have an obligation to be engaged, seeing how police departments at the local level are run, because that's the best way to prevent any sort of lawsuit or investigation from ever having to happen, right? Absolutely, and I think at the state level,

we need to be pushing for the state to take on some of the responsibilities that the federal government is walking away from. So in states like California, the AG of the state can initiate a pattern and practice investigation and put a police department under a consent decree, just like the federal Department of Justice can do. And they've done that repeatedly

in a number of police departments. And that's important because as the federal government walks away from that, as they try to walk away from those consent decrees, and they certainly aren't doing new investigations, the state can actually step in and take on that responsibility, initiate those investigations, hold police departments accountable.

The data suggests that that actually substantially reduces use of force and, in addition to that, can pursue individual charges against officers and change some of their practices to have those independent investigations and prosecution of those officers, to make sure that the standards that they are using are consistent with the Supreme Court jurisprudence,

and to also make sure that at the civil accountability dimension that they're addressing qualified immunity. So there have been states, I believe Colorado is one of those states that took action after the murder of George Floyd to create their own state level statute that essentially invalidates qualified immunity. It allows for officers to be sued and for those lawsuits no longer to be obstructed by this judgment of whether there was some prior precedent that's almost exactly like

it that would have to be in place for that officer to be deemed to have acted unreasonably. So states can step up, they should be stepping up, especially in states where, you know, legislators, you have more democratic legislators, they should be pushing for policies that can take on these responsibilities and hold the police accountable right now

because we can't expect the federal government to do that for us. All right, Samuel, we surely appreciate it man thank you so very much. Absolutely. Folks going to a break we'll be right back Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network don't forget support the work that we do join the Breena Funk fan club. I'm gonna contribute via cash out this is the QR code to use this is the Stripe QR code you can also use that QR code for credit card as well if you want to make a check of money order

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We'll be right back. Now streaming on the black star network in France Accidentally went to the Louvre right behind their been and I saw a side door and we got the little buzzer So come on, let's go. Let's go. Let me I'm just like let's go to the right. We're here This black girl is at the door with this white guy, black African girl. And she says, oh my god, Vanessa Belle Calloway. And I'm like this, you know me?

And come to find out we were at the wrong door. But she said, I'm gonna let you in. Just go in here. But I was in Paris, France. And that shocked me. She knew my name. She knew me. She knew my movies.

You know, so it's like, you just gotta, as they say, build and they will come. But it happened. People were saying it. They were all, you know. MUSIC I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on proud family louder and prouder. Right now I'm rolling with rolling Martin unfiltered uncut unplugged and undamned believe

him. Yep. All right, folks, Republicans on Capitol Hill did not get the required votes in the budget committee to move forward with their big, beautiful bill. But Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, let's just say she was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Thank you, Mr. Chair and my fellow member of the Ways and Means Committee, which I agree is the greatest committee in the Congress. We have come to the end of a very long week here in Washington and anyone watching now will likely have watched this week as we work through the night.

And anyone watching now will likely have watched this week as we work through the night. Starting on Tuesday, Ways and Means Committee spent over 18 hours working through the night and into Wednesday trying to avert the catastrophic impact that this legislation will have. We watched Republicans give away the farm to greedy billionaires, the CEOs and corporations making permanent tax cuts for the richest and trying to trick the rest of Americans with a set of minuscule measures that are all temporary and only serve to pull the wool over taxpayers eyes. That overtime tax that they were talking about, temporary. Tips, temporary. Taxes for the wealthy, permanent. Don't be fooled. It's about the wealthy people in this country, not you and me. Our Republican colleagues in the Energy and Commerce Committee tried to rip away health care from Americans

that need to pay for their giveaways to big corporations and the rich. Republicans are stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, feeding the king from the people's forest, from their own communities while cosplaying as Robin Hoods. My colleagues talk about a strong country. We're gonna be weaker because of this legislation. You can believe that. And listen, when Democrats were in charge, we instituted so many things that expanded work for all Americans. We increased health care. We guaranteed safe, affordable, high-quality child care for every worker and family. We supported for every worker and family. We supported new energy. We supported growing this economy.

Democrats temporarily expanded the child tax credit, giving so many children a chance. And we did this in a manner because we were concerned about the deficit. Listen, I'm concerned with SNAP. I'm concerned with Medicaid, Pell grants, energy manufacturing. Those are important to me.

That represents trillions of dollars that they have cut. But if they're really interested in being fiscally responsible, then don't give such big cuts to the rich. Actually try and balance a budget. Actually try and bring down the deficit. If you want to take away all of those things from the neediest, take away some shit from the rich as well. But you don't want to do that. You want to give them more off of the backs of American people. You're going to

cut SNAP by $300 billion. Medicaid, health care for the poorest, $700 billion. You won't even give a cut to billion, individuals making over a billion dollars, which would have taken away a trillion dollars that we could put back into other things. This is about the wealthy. This is not about the American people. I yield back.

Well now, Morgan. Signs of life in the U.S. Congress. I ain't got no problem with her cussing going right ahead. No, I mean, I think the times demand it. This reconciliation bill is ridiculous. It's, like she said, going to cut so many support services that are critical for people like health care, but just let me count the ways. I mean, there's a moratorium on any state

being able to pass a bill that would regulate AI. Imagine what that would be. But that's just dumb. What? That's just dumb. That's just dumb, exactly. But that would unleash free rein to big tech to further endanger children, pick your poison, whatever.

So, but you know, I do think it's important. Like one of this real sticking points in this bill is the salt deduction. And so, you know, we have the moral arguments that we love to make, but ultimately this thing is coming down to a very, not even rich person. I mean, it's a kind of, it's definitely an upper middle class to rich issue, but it brings in a lot of different

types of people that don't wanna have to do that. Well, the problem Republicans are facing is that there are a lot of Republicans who come from blue states, and numbers don't lie. There are a handful of blue states that drive 70 to 80% of America's GDP. Right, right.

And so those Republicans are like, I got constituents who are high, who have homes that are 500,000 on up, they want that damn deduction. They want that deduction so that they're not getting double, what's considered double tax on property taxes. They will deduct more of that, especially if you own multiple homes, for example, all of that.

So it'll be really interesting. Yeah, I agree, Roland. The politics on this are not clear and it is not clear what Mike Johnson is gonna do about it. Derrick, they couldn't, they had a vote, they couldn't get it out of committee. And then they're like, wow, y'all just go home. We'll see y'all next week.

You know, listen, I enjoy the fact that they couldn't get it out of committee that in fact, that's where we get the opportunity to kill some of these bad bills in committee. But here's the broader picture rolling. This Doge agency that was illegal, never created by Congress, they said, hey, we're gonna be able to pay for this. We're gonna be able to pay for these tax cuts. But when you ask where you're going to get the money from, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, where 73 million citizens rely on Social Security right now rolling, a good

— A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week I would buy two cups of banana pudding but the price has gone up so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's

going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull,oll will take you inside the board rooms, the back rooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about V-chain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes,

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

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser, Inc. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd.

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

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamouche.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2. On the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives.

Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSkids, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. A chunk of those citizens are elderly, children, and the disabled. They're some of the most vulnerable citizens

in our society. We're gonna take from them. So Jeff Bezos can get a bigger yacht. So Trump can accessorize this $400 million jet he got from Qatar. This makes no sense to me. We should be focusing on Medicaid expansion, helping the least of these. We have over 700,000 unsheltered individuals in this country. And we are up here talking about continuing to extend a tax cut to help the top 1% that do not look like us on this panel.

And so that's just incredulous to me. It's appalling when we have so many other pressing themes, but yet Republicans do not wanna talk about debts and deficit right now, because they're trying to pay for a tax cut that they can't pay for. Michael. Yeah.

So the bill didn't make it out of committee today because basically for the main four Republicans that voted against it, like Chip Roy and Andrew Clyde, part of the Freedom Caucus, they don't think that this bill is cruel enough. They don't think it cuts enough. They don't think it cuts enough. They don't think it cuts enough for Medicaid. So they're going to play with this over the weekend, come back with something else. I think it's going to pass the House. Now, when they go to the Senate, they're going to push this through the the budget reconciliation process and you just need 51 senators. So you and if it's a tie, uh, junior varsity, junior varsity Vance will be the tie breaking vote. Um, so there's going to have to be

pressure put on some vulnerable Republican senators to block this if it passes the House and when it gets to the Senate. But once again, this is consequences, dire consequences. People can literally die from losing Medicaid. These are the dire consequences of elections. And I know we keep talking about, don't blame me, I voted for the black woman. But a lot of these Republicans, their own white Republicans who voted for them, poor Republicans who voted for them, are going story, I saw this, and when it came across my feed,

I was shocked, I was stunned, I was overwhelmed. I could not believe my eyes. I was praying, could not believe my eyes. And as this was happening, I was praying, I hope the water doesn't work. The Nottoway Plantation, the largest antebellum plantation remaining in America. Folks, burned down, built in 1859 by enslaved black people. John Randolph, a sugar plantation owner,

he owned about 150 slaves. It was converted to a resort for weddings, events, and tours. And this is what happened today. I'm sorry. I want that shit to be ashes. Need some water, Nottoway Plantation? I want that shit to be ashes. These punk asses literally turn it into a resort, Michael. Yeah, you know, I've heard of different things like this and a couple years ago, I heard about this trend of white people going to plantations as a resort and on vacations and things like this.

And they tended to skip over the fact that they were enslaved Africans. Take them through the tour and all this. They talk about the workers and this is where the workers slept and things like this. It's like, yeah, okay, all right. You know there's a song called the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire.

We don't need no water. Derrick, go ahead. Listen, I have no sympathy when these types of things happen. And the reason why is because what they're trying to do up in Washington DC, Roland, I mean, they're trying to stop the African American, Smithsonian, they wanna talk about DEI,

DEI as if it's a bad thing, diversity, equity, inclusion. And so, yeah, I have no sympathy of this particular horrific place that were built by slaves is the roof is on fire. Morgan. Yeah, share the sentence, co-panelists here, goodbye, no sadness. And anybody who's getting married

on a former plantation, I know where they might wanna go to. YouTube probably is going to block us, so Keenan, you're probably gonna have to edit this out. And so when I was going to the golf tournament, the Afro Peak Pre-Golf Tournament today in Maryland, and I saw this video I was I just immediately thought of Morgan. We appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Ohio players fire. All right Morgan we appreciate it.

Thanks a bunch. Thanks a bunch. Thanks Derek. Thanks Michael. I appreciate it. All right y'all. That's it for us. I'm going to be live in Philadelphia tomorrow.

Then Monday I'm going to be at the 7th annual Anthony Anderson Celebrity Golf Classic. Don't forget support the work that we do. Join our Breena Funk fan clubs and your checking money. First of all use Cash App. Use the QR code. and then going to be at the seventh annual Anthony Anderson Celebrity Golf Classic. Don't forget, support the work that we do. Join our Breena Funk fan clubs and your checking money. First of all, use Cash App, use the QR code for Stripe. See your checking money order at PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Makes checks and money order

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It's a real revolution there right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All the momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, this is between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, ya dig?...... A lot of times big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways.

Four days a week I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chaston. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more.

Brought to you by AdoptUS Kids, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war this year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes, we met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two The stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. This is an iHeart podcast.