#RolandMartinUnfiltered - McCarthy Resigns, VP Harris Breaks Historic Record, Louisiana's Black Community & Chemical Plants

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

12.6.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: McCarthy Resigns, VP Harris Breaks Historic Record, Louisiana's Black Community & Chemical Plants Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is going back on his word and submitted his resignation. House Republicans are gearing up to authorize President Joe Biden's impeachment inquiry.   We'll have a preview of the fourth Republican debate that's scheduled to begin at 8p EST.  We'll tell you about Vice President Kamala Harris shattering a nearly two-century-old record for casting the most tie-breaking votes in the Senate. More chemical plants may be popping up along Louisiana's Gulf Coast, affecting the blacks and the poor. The founder of the Vessel Project of Louisiana will join us tonight to discuss what they are doing to ensure the health of black communities.  Deadlines for Healthcare is approaching. Healthfirst's Senior Vice President of State Programs will be here to ensure you don't miss your opportunity to get Healthcare.  Federal lawmakers want the National Institute of Mental Health to research the condition--also known as post-incarceration syndrome. I'll talk to a formerly incarcerated woman about why she says Post-Traumatic Prison Disorder Legislation is necessary.  And in tonight's Tech Talk segment, a new way of networking through the Black Women Hustle App.  Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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. It's Wednesday, December 6, 2023. I'm Robert Petillo, sitting in for Roland Martin, who is in Los Angeles at the preview for the movie The Color Purple. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. A lot is happening in Congress right now. Last week, Republicans voted to expel Congressman George Santos. Today,

former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy announced he is resigning at the end of the year, meaning when Republicans return in January, they will have a slim two-vote majority in House representatives. Despite this, Speaker of the House Johnson has indicated they will be gearing up for a full vote on an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. We'll talk about that with our panel. Also tonight, we're going to be dealing with the fourth and final Republican primary debate prior to the Iowa caucuses next month. We're going to see Chris Christie, Vivek Ram Swani, Nikki Haley, and Rhonda Santos square off in a completely pointless debate that will mean nothing. We'll

tell you what to expect in that debate coming up later on. Also, we're going to be talking about President Kamala Harris's historic shattering of a nearly two-century-old record by breaking her 30-second tiebreak in the United States Senate. We're going to talk about the historic moment, play the historic statement from Senator Chuck Schumer later on in the show. Also, in our continuing coverage of the situation in Louisiana,

more chemical plants may be popping up along the Louisiana Gulf Coast affecting black and poor neighborhoods the founder of the vessel project of Louisiana will join us tonight to discuss what they are doing to ensure health for black communities also the deadline for health care is approaching health care first senior vice president of state programs will be here to ensure you don't miss the opportunity to get health care. As well, federal lawmakers want the National Institute for Mental

Health to research the condition also known as post-incarceration syndrome. I'll talk to the formerly incarcerated woman on why this is so important for people who are returning from incarceration. And in tonight's Tech Talk segment, a new way to network through the Black Women Hustle app.

It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. He's got whatever the piss he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland, best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks

He's rolling, yeah With Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's rolling Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now.

Martin! Busy day on Capitol Hill today. Of course, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy pledged when he was deposed by House radical Republicans that he would stay in office, that he will work with the moderate Senate party to bring the party together. He made many promises saying that he cared about the future of the republic. Well, that was until today when he said he will be resigning by the end of the year. Let's go to the video of Kevin McCarthy. And so this issue with Speaker McCarthy comes up a week, less than a week after House Republicans had to vote to depose one of their own members, George Santos, and expel him from U.S. Congress. Only the sixth member in the history of the U.S. Congress to be expelled from the body.

This takes the Republican hold on the House of Representatives down to two, a two-vote majority. Now, President Biden made a speech today where he outlined the importance of putting together a supplemental spending package. This includes aid for Israel, humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, as well as aid for the Ukrainians in their fight against Russia, as well as also money for Taiwan to protect against the expansion of China, and $15 billion for the border. President Biden made it clear today that this is crucial for the national security interest of the United States of America. And he is willing to negotiate with Republicans on many of their border priorities if it means getting these supplemental spending packets pushed through. And Republicans seem to have no interest in actually getting things done. They are only

interested in more conspiracies, more far right wing mega talking points and pushing this idea of an impeachment inquiry against President Biden. Joining us to talk about this and everything going on in the Capitol, we are joined by Rebecca Carruthers, vice president of the Fair Election Center, Washington, D.C., A. Scott Bolden, attorney and former chairman of the National Bar Association and D.C. Chamber of Commerce PAC, Washington, D.C. John Quo Neal, trial lawyer of the John Quo Neal firm in Atlanta, Georgia, and friend of the show, Shelley Winters, the host of The Shelley Winters Show on 95.5 FM WSB in Atlanta, Georgia. Shelley, I'm going to go to you first because you're our conservative on the panel.

President Biden laid out earlier today that he is willing to play ball and negotiate with Republicans when it comes to immigration reform, and it means passing his supplemental spending package. Why are Republicans walking away from the table on immigration again in order to make more political points? I don't know. The only thing I can think, and I've reached out to a bunch of House Republicans here in Georgia actually this morning, waiting to hear back from several. The only thing I can think, and I've reached out to a bunch of House Republicans here in Georgia actually this morning waiting to hear back from several. The only thing I can think about is that the $15 billion is not enough when compared to the hundreds of billions going to Ukraine and Israel. So that's the only thing that I can answer. In my humble opinion is that the $15 billion is not enough for our border.

You're spending much less, much, much less, tens of billions less to protect your own home than you are to protect others' homes. So that's the only thing I can say. But I don't think it's smart. We should get as much as we can for the border. I do believe that that is the more important spending priority, if you will. You know, protecting my own home is always more important to me than protecting someone else's home. And since we're talking about paying for Ukrainians, the Ukrainians' border protection, we're paying for we're paying for Israel to protect their border. Essentially, that's what the case is in these two countries. Then we should be spending an equal amount, if not more, more money to protect our own border. There are literally over 600000, I think, people in this country right now.

We have we cannot account for who they are or where they are at this very moment, at a time when the FBI and the Defense Department has told us that at no other time in recent history do we have such a threat of imminent attack from terrorist organizations. I'll throw it over to you, Rebecca, because we've heard these talking points from Republicans about needing to address the border, needing to address immigration. They have live cameras. They report the numbers every day. They talk about the caravans.

But every time the rubber hits the road and it's time to actually vote on it, we see the same thing we're seeing right now, which they kicked the can down the road. 2013, they walked away. 2015, they walked away. 2018, they walked away. 2020, they walked away. 2015, they walked away. 2018, they walked away. 2020, they walked away. Is there any indication Republicans actually want to do anything about immigration, or is it just a good talking point for them? Well, I think we're seeing conservatives in this country, especially those electeds who are now in Washington, D.C., we see them actually

kind of making the issue mushy. When Democrats want to talk about immigration reform, Republicans want to talk about border security. When Democrats start to talk about border security, then the conservatives start talking about immigration reform. The truth of the matter is this country has never had comprehensive immigration reform or comprehensive immigration policy. And that goes back to when many Chinese workers were brought over into this country in the 1800s to build our railroads.

But they were brought over and told with a caveat, hey, you can come over here, you can build our infrastructure, but we're not going to allow you to be citizens. That, of course, changed. But over the centuries in this country, there's never been comprehensive immigration reform. And if Congress, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, if they're serious about border security, you have to tackle immigration reform. And Scott, I found it amazing today during President Biden's press conference, because President Biden made a very compelling speech saying that, well, if we do not stop Putin in Ukraine, then he'll be knocking on the door of NATO nations next. And because of Article 5 of the NATO treaty, if he invades a NATO nation, we, by treaty,

have to go to war with American soldiers against Putin and against the Russian Federation. I thought it was a very compelling speech that he made. But then the very first question from a conservative reporter was, what about Hunter Biden and impeachment? Do Republicans care more about launching a Hunter Biden-related impeachment inquiry than they actually care about stopping Putin or protecting our border? Yes. Yes. Care to elaborate? I mean, come on. As verbose as I can be, the Republicans' position on supporting Israel and Ukraine borders on the nonsensical, because they want to link it to border security, but supporting Israel

and the Ukraine war as a direct link to our border security. The Republican talking point is that there's 600,000 people that are unaccounted for, many of them from these Arab countries or Middle Eastern countries. What are we going to do? Well, I got to tell you, if you don't support Israel and Ukraine, you can't really care about those other individuals coming in on the southern border. It is the height of hypocrisy and the depth of arrogance that they take these positions while Israel's money still isn't there. Now, they're going to demolish Gaza, and they're in the process of doing that. That's a whole other discussion or debate. But both of these countries are super important to our national security, and the

Republicans don't want to get anything done. Immigration is a talking point. If you solved immigration, then you wouldn't have—the Republicans would have a lot less to talk about. They like the videos of people coming over nonstop, you know, who look like you and me. They love to have that as a talking point and they're running on Fox News. But when it comes to resolution of it, which is what they should really want, they're low on ideas and they're low on work and low on action.

And, John, I want to bring you in on this conversation. We saw today Kevin McCarthy announced he's going to be retiring at the end of this year, basically putting his two weeks notice. This is going to give Republicans a grand total of a two-vote majority when they come back from their January recess, facing a vote to fund the government, facing votes on supplemental spending. Do you think that there'll be an opportunity to create a... 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 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. But 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 called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

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

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

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

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Governing coalition with Republicans only having a two vote majority where Republicans are going to have to work with Democrats to get things done? Well, you know, that's an interesting question. I mean, as it relates to kind of what you

initially brought up about with him having to, with his resignation, they're going to have very little support or have a lot of difficulty to get a lot of the legislation passed that they originally had more power in doing, right, when you're talking about a two to three vote. So, you know, as it relates to that, I think that they're going to have some challenges. They're going to have to work more diligently with the Democratic Party. And, you know, and the Democrats should use this opportunity to get more legislation passed since, you know, this is a hit to the Republican Party. Yeah, you know, it's never a good sign when you're on an airplane and the pilot jumps out the door with a parachute on. That's what it looks like when the Speaker of the House is literally,

former Speaker of the House is retiring, saying he can't work with his own caucus. We're going to keep this conversation going after the break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word.

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Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer

of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin Unfiltered. So tonight at 8 o'clock, we'll be seeing the fourth and final Republican primary debate prior to the voting in the Iowa caucuses next month. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, businessman David Fransquani, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, facing off in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to determine who will is going to determine nothing. None of these people will be the nominee.

None of these people are going to win. I don't know why they're still doing this. Shelley, you're a Republican friend. Why are they doing this? You're on mute. And understand, well, to understand this, they're all being, they're all running to possibly, let's say possibly be picked as VP. But understanding this, that there's a possibility that exists that if any of these cases go the way you guys want them to go, that Trump may have to be taken off the ballot. And that means that that vice president may step up and be the nominee. So these guys are running for two reasons. One, to be the VP of selection or a

cabinet position in a Trump White House. And the other is the possibility that exists as remote as it may be that something happens legally to where he is not the nominee anymore. And that could be a possibility. At least that's what I'm hearing from people like you guys on the left, that he shouldn't even be allowed to run, as we're seeing in Arizona and Colorado, where they're trying to take him off the ballot. And so, you know, so that's why they're still running. I understand why they're running. Vivek is not running to win. Vivek is running to be a Trump, kind of Trump 2.0, to get his talking points out there while he's not on the stage. Christie is running as the anti-Trump

candidate. And DeSantis and Nikki Haley are the only two that really have a viable shot at being picked as a vice president. And to those who think that Trump would not select them, remember Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist to his face, and she was later picked as VP. So all of what's being said now is not to be taken personally, as we've seen before in the past. But, Shirley, to stick with you real quick, just the personal attacks that we've seen in this Republican primary debate seem to be over. I mean, they're accusing Ron DeSantis wearing high-heeled shoes and pranking around in little boots and stuff. What are the actual policy positions to separate, let's say, Nikki Haley from Ronda Santos when it comes to black voters? I don't think they—when it comes to black voters, there isn't a separation because there really hasn't been any more—any conversations about it.

You're in a Republican primary. Black people vote 90-plus percent for the Democrats. So right now there's no point in having any discussion about black voters and what black people need or don't need. That's to come in the general. I mean, that's obvious. And you know that, Robert. You're just kind of throwing that out there as red meat for the audience. You all are smart enough to know there's no purpose in having a discussion about black voters' needs in a Republican primary when we vote 90-plus percent Democrat. The interesting thing is that as we are now screaming and yelling about needs of Ukrainians and needs of the Israelis and needs of the Taiwanese,

I don't hear any discussion from black Democrats as yourselves about the needs of black people. So on one hand, let's have this discussion about black voters needs in a Republican primary debate, but let's not have it by the sitting White House administration while the Senate, run by the Democrats, voted on by 90 percent African-American voters, are not having any discussion about black people's needs while they send billions of dollars to Eastern Europe, Israel, and Taiwan. But I know that's just too obvious to bring up, I guess. Well, Scott, I'm going to throw it over to you on that point, because we've been hearing for weeks now that more and more black folks are saying they don't, they're not so enthusiastic about Biden. You have the issues between Chicago and New York with the migrant crisis, and they're trying to pit migrants against poor black folks and a softening of support in polls for Democrats. Do you think there's an opportunity for Republicans to pick up black votes

or they would actually put any effort at all into campaigning to them and set any sort of type of policy agenda that might help the black community? Who? Scott. Oh, OK. You know, if you believe the polls that 22 percent of black voters want to support Donald Trump, it's outrageous that my Republican friend would say black people are irrelevant to the Republican primary debate simply because we vote Democrat. I have to remind him that we make up 13 to 15 percent of this country and this country matters to us. And black people ought to matter to Republicans and Democrats, especially if they're trying to be the president of the United States of America.

It's really offensive to see or anyone at any juncture of any political debate say black people aren't really relevant. But let's be real clear on a couple of things. That is exactly what you said. So let's not get into that debate. The Anti-Inflation Act, the Infrastructure Act. Let me finish. The Anti-Inflation Act, the Infrastructure Act, the fact that we've got the lowest black unemployment under this administration, the lowering of health care costs, lowering of insulin costs that just don't help Democrats but But Republicans, it's powerful progress and powerful messaging that this Biden administration is getting things done. I can see that there's a gap between what they're feeling about Biden and his administration and these policies that have not took hold yet. Hopefully within the next year, they have to take hold. But the Democrats and

the Republicans take black people and black voters for granted. The Democrats take us for granted because they know we're not going to vote Republican. Republicans take us for granted because they simply don't care. And they don't believe that we're irrelevant. They believe that we're irrelevant, just like your guest said, essentially, even in a primary. So the fact of the matter is that black people have got to figure out how to do for themselves, in my opinion. Whether it's an independent party or otherwise, they're not prepared to do that. But 2043 is coming, and we will be the majority.

Black and brown people will be making us a country of color. And when that happens, I hope politically and economically that we have our ducks lined up and that we're in a better position as a community to lead this country. And, Shelley, just real quick, by the way, rebuttal, you know, we've seen polling coming out showing that President Trump has more support in the Black community. Sexy Red is supporting President Trump. Woe Vicky is supporting President Trump. Waka Flocka Flame is supporting President Trump. Teddy Riley is supporting President Trump. Down the line, how can you say the Republicans have no need to campaign to black folks,

but also President Trump is promoting that the Black Lives Matter co-founder is supporting him, et cetera? The reason why, and all of, I mean, come on, let's not play the semantic game. I mean, your audience is much smarter than this. It's a Republican primary. African-Americans are not going out to vote in a Republican primary for the Republicans. We know that. There's no reason in a non-contested primary for them to have a discussion. Ron DeSantis is not going to overcome a 40-point Trump lead, or Nikki Haley is not going to overcome a 40-point Trump lead by going after African

American voters in a Republican primary. That's why that's what I'm saying. And all of you are smart enough. I mean, we just wasted this audience's five five minutes of their time talking about this. This is ridiculous. The point I'm trying to make is, is that if you're the backbone, what you say, not the base. Let me finish. If you're the backbone of the Democratic Party, the backbone, black women, black people, the backbone. And for all of us to be sitting up here having a discussion about billions of dollars going to Ukraine and Israel and Taiwan and the needs of black people specifically, not everybody. This is the argument that Obama ran on in 20 when he ran for reelection. Let's take care of everybody and black people will be included. A rising tide lifts all boats. That's BS when you're the base of the party. And that's why people are gravitating towards

people like Trump and the Republicans. They're not becoming Republican voters. And I tell Republicans this all the time, all the time. They're not becoming Republicans, but they're looking at the Democrats askance and sideways and with crossed eyes saying that I don't necessarily have to vote for you. I will let them win if I need to, to make my point. And the only people begging them black people to vote Democrat are the people who have a vested interest financially and otherwise to have Democrats in power. That's it. John, I want to bring you in on this real quick, because, you know, I feel like black voters are often stuck between a rock and a hard place because you have Democrats who often don't feel

the need to really campaign to black folks because, as Scott said, we're going to get 90 percent to vote regardless. But then on the other hand, as Shelley said, Republicans have absolutely no reason to campaign to black people, put forward a black agenda because they don't believe they'll get the vote anyway. Do you think there's any form of political agenda that a Republican candidate could put out there that actually would get black support? He did. Trump. Hold on for John Quayle. Well, I mean, that's a great I mean, that's a great question. And you previously brought up about Waka Waka fame and Lil Red and I mean, Sexy Red.

You're talking about people and I'm just going to be honest, Sexy Red at this juncture is a big artist. When you're talking about voters and young African-American voters that have the ability to vote, I mean, they are following sexy red. So in fact, if you do have sort of these hip hop celebrity artists coming out supporting Trump, right, then you are, they are affecting and younger voters are listening to that sort of messaging. But what's most troubling to me is that, the lawyer on the panel, is that Trump is facing these felony charges in all of these jurisdictions, and the country is sort of operating in this simple fact that he is going to be elected president at this point. I mean, in the Georgia case alone, there have been several co-defendants that have

taken pleas, some of his most trusted lawyers on this case, and we expect that these witnesses are going to testify against him. And so Trump is not above the law. So even aside from specifically whatever political agendas are going on at this specific time, I just think it's just baffling at this point how, in fact, that he's even still being considered. He has too many cases. Do we think he's going to beat all of these cases, all of these charges at the federal level, at the state level? So that's my take on it. Mary and Barry won re-election after being take on it. on this point, and I'm on radio all the time, and my listeners say, if Republicans came out and said they supported reparations, I will be on board with the Republican Party.

So it's not as if there's no legislation or no political agenda that would result in this. Is there anything that any of these candidates can say in the debate tonight that you think would actually make a blip on the radar? Because, as Shelley said, the Republican Party is behind Donald Trump. If you're going to win, you have to bring in new

voters. Is there anything that can be said or done at this debate tonight that will make any difference in this race? Robert, I got several things to say. First of all, Black voters are extremely savvy. They are rational choice voters. They look at what their options are, and then they choose what's best as they see fit for their particular home and their greater community, the black community across this country. So that's the first thing. If Republicans had something to say that spoke to black folks, then black folks would tune in and listen. Not only that, but when you are running in a primary, you are running to ultimately represent, especially a presidential primary. You are running to ultimately represent everyone in this country, regardless if they support you in the primary or not. And so you

should be speaking to those issues. That's what determines and makes people actually presidential. If you're just in the Republican primary, just as a, hey, I want to raise my profile, then you're in it for the wrong reason. We don't need that. We need leaders. We need leaders on the Democratic side, and we need leaders on the Republican side. Finally, when it comes to—when it even comes to this audience, and even when it comes to the people who are on this panel tonight, we constantly are talking about Black issues and how different issues, whether it is foreign or domestic issues, through a Black lens and what it actually means to us. So I do take an affront for it to be suggested that, oh, we're not talking about Black issues. We do that every day. If you don't know that, you must not tune in to

the show. And American issues are Black issues because we make up 15 percent of this population, period. And Scott, on that point, do you think Republicans are missing the boat by simply writing off black voters? Because we have seen that black folks, if you articulate an agenda that they support, will change parties. It happened in the 1930s, happened in the 1960s, it's happened before in American history. I've said before, the Republican Party went back to their platform from 1865 to 1876, the radical Republican Congress, the reparations Republican Congress. You'll be amazed the number of black folks who will quit the parties. Do you think it's just simply an issue of political will,

or why do you think they refuse to campaign to black communities? Because, well, one, the Republican Party isn't a Republican Party anymore. It's a cult. The name of the cult is called Trumpism, if you will. Even if 60% or more or less don't support Trump, they are silent endorsers of Trump, and in the end, they are gonna vote for Donald Trump and whoever that nominee is gonna be. But what does the Republican Party offer black people in this

country? You know, they're anti-abortion, they're anti-human rights, they're anti-civil rights, they're anti-employment, they're anti-diversity and inclusion. Tell me what the Republican Party that doesn't pass any legislation in the last 10 years, what does it offer a Democrat, a black Democratic voter, other than the fact that they're not Democrats or that the Democrats take them for granted? If I'm a black voter and I'm a Democrat, I got a shot because I share the same values as the Democratic Party does in freedom, justice and equality. When you look at the Republican party, their values don't line up with my values. I'm not talking about skin color. I'm talking about

values. And so with that juxtaposition, it's not hard to know why 80, 90 percent of Democrats, or rather the backbone of the Democratic party, are black people. We got a better shot at making the Democrats better than we do convincing the Republicans that we matter and that they should even be talking about us doing a Republican primary or even doing the general primary. So if the Republicans want black voters, then they ought to focus on black men, black women. Our issues are American issues, and yet every message you get out of the GOP. 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 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. But 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 called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

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

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

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

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good black people in this country. And, Shelly, before we run out of time, you've got to run and start your show also, 7 o'clock, WSB in Atlanta. You know, you have this former Speaker of the House resigning from Congress.

George Sanders has been kicked out, two-vote majority. They're talking about launching an impeachment inquiry. Chip Roy says, can you guys send me back home? We'll leave something to campaign on. What can Republicans actually get done with a two-vote majority? Really nothing. And it's really, it's stupid. It's self-inflicted wound. It's when the crazies, we let the crazies take over. I said when this vote was going on, leave Kevin McCarthy alone. Now what he's doing is a bit of revenge by retiring at the end of the year and making the majority slimmer. I think voting to get Santos out was dumb, self-inflicted wound. You didn't have to do that.

You could have just let it go down party lines and it wouldn't have been two-thirds. So these are just silly moves by Republicans. I talk about it. I criticize the Republicans all the time on my show for these kind of short sighted listening to the nutbags in our party situations. But to answer Attorney Bolden's question, tax cuts, when you have tax cuts and many of you on this show right now believe that African-Americans make less money than do their white counterparts for the same jobs—I know you all believe it because I've heard you all say it—then tax cuts benefit those who make less money. But you all allow the Democrats to go out and tell people that tax cuts are only for billionaires and millionaires. That's the first thing Republicans would talk about for black people. The second thing Republicans would talk about for black people that Donald Trump did was criminal justice reform. The third thing that Democrat Republicans will talk about that Donald Trump did was

opportunity zones that many of my black Democrat friends in state of Georgia and city of Atlanta took advantage of making money off of the opportunity zones that Donald Trump signed into legislation. And the third and the fourth thing, the most important thing that Republicans, all of you are shaking your head at the things I'm answering your question. I'll tell you this, though, before I say the last thing, don't ask a black man a question and then shake your head at his answer. The fourth thing, school choice. School choice for black failing schools, for black parents, for black single mothers, school choice is the number one issue for them, getting their children into better schools. But what do you all do?

You back this teachers union who fund the political party that you all want people to vote for. all the time that resonate with black voters every day. Lower working class and middle class black families resonate with tax cuts, opportunity zones, less regulations to start a business and be an entrepreneur and school choice. As to the abortion question, the majority of Republicans look at 15 weeks as a standard. Go with 15 weeks and that issue is off the table. Most of you all want abortion on demand and you've run on it and you've talked about it. That's not true.

That is so not true. That is true. You should go to your show and deal with your crazy audience. Rebecca, hold on a second. We'll give Rebecca a chance to respond before we're out of time. Rebecca, get the floor. Well, let me not shake my head. I wouldn't I wouldn't want to offend someone by shaking my head because, you know, you could control other people's actions. But that said, here's the thing. If you want to talk about cutting taxes, if Republicans actually focus on cutting taxes for lower and middle class families in this country, you would have everyone on board with that. Instead, Republicans used to be the party of fiscal responsibility. But we saw the Trump tax cuts actually added to our not only our national deficit, but our national debt. It added over a trillion dollars. So it's unbelievable.

Yes, it's eight trillion. So it's unbelievable to all of a sudden pretend like Republican and specifically tax cuts actually benefited the average middle class person in this country, benefited the average black person in this country. It did not. It's math. Your math isn't mathing. The next thing, if Republicans actually wanted to get more black folks to listen to them, it's more than just offering a school voucher. Because one thing that we see is that the elite private schools are choosing not to accept vouchers. And when you say school choice, what you're really talking about is the vouchers. Now, but that's what your Republican counterparts are often talking about. That's what Republicans are—that's what they're running on.

When you actually look at school board races, I was looking at a school board race in Oklahoma. And bottom line, they weren't just saying school choice, but they were actually talking about reappropriating tax dollars to allow people to go send it to parochial and private schools, which is different. So, look, do I think there should be education reform in this country? Absolutely. Do most Democrats and progressives think there should be education reform in this country? Do we firmly believe that the current education choices that we have and the curriculum that we have is not doing well for our black kids? Absolutely. But if you want to talk about curriculum, if you want to talk about school choice,

then tell me what Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida. Tell me about what the governor is doing in Arkansas, what the governor is doing in Texas with actually diluting actual curriculum, not correctly teaching science. How the heck are we supposed to be competitive with the rest of the world if we refuse to actually teach real science? So what Republicans are doing by focusing on social

issues, they're actually going to have us where we don't have a competitive edge finishing out the 21st century, but even going into the 22nd century because our students simply cannot compete with the rest of the world because Republicans would rather have these penny-ending conversations around social issues because it's tied to white supremacy. And, Shelley, on that point, we've seen Ron DeSantis, who said he would get rid of Opportunity Zones if he was elected president. Vivek Ramachandran said he would overturn— then you have Vivek Ramachandran, who said he would overturn the First Step Act if he was elected president. We've seen many Republicans say that they would go against many of the diversity and inclusion efforts that President Trump put into place.

So how can we—we can't—we can't—Republicans both campaign on what President Trump did, but also say they will overturn what President Trump did. The only answer I have to that is the obvious one, Robert. That's why he's up by 40 points. Many conservatives did not like the First Step Act. Ben Shapiro, many other conservatives, they didn't like it because they thought they were releasing dangerous felons back into the community. But he still got it done anyway. I just want to talk about this because this is very important. It's one thing to say, hey, what are Republicans going to do for black people? Tax cuts, when you cut taxes from 32 percent top level all the way down to 18 percent, you've benefited everybody.

If I save two cents, if I get two cents, if I pay two cents less to the and follow my logic here, I know it may be hard to fund a racist white supremacist system with my own tax money. And you tell me I'm going to pay less in taxes. I don't care how much less it is. I'm I'm funding less of my own oppression because that's what all of you believe. This is a white supremacist racist system that's oppressing black people. So why would you not be for tax cuts that pays even a penny less than what you would pay into a federal system that oppresses you? That was not the argument. The argument is that it disproportionately helped those on top. It did not proportionally help those who are at the bottom in this country or the middle class. So for instance, if you, so in our graduating...

Hold on, hold on. We can't hear everybody at the same time. Hold on. Hold on, Shelley. Shelley, hold on. Light-skinned folks, damn. All right, Rebecca, last word on this before we go.

Hold on. I'm not going to figure it into colorism. I don't do that dark-skinned, black-skinned, light-skinned stuff. I don't do that. I think that's toxic. As a black community, whether you're Republican or Democrat, we've got to cut that ish out. That said, so, Shelly, responding to your specific argument, I want to be as charitable as possible. The issue with Trump's tax cuts is that when you look at the top rate, the 32 percent margin rate, that's all fine and good. But the majority of folks in this country never get to that 32 percent mark.

So if the bulk of the tax cuts were for those in the middle and at the bottom of our graduated tax system, then you would have more people actually supporting it. Because bottom line, look, I'm from Omaha, Nebraska, home of the Oracle. And one thing that Warren Buffett has often said is it's no reason that the percentage in taxes that he pays is less than his assistant. And that's the point is that if we're going to have tax, if we're going to talk about tax cuts, then let's do it in a fair way. And I think you will have Democrats behind that. I totally agree with you. I totally agree. All right, Shelly, 30 seconds. We got to wrap. To that point, Warren Buffett's money is not an income like the rest of us. So that's a separate

aside. That's a huge talking point. We're talking about income taxes. And the vast majority of people that pay income taxes that don't get a refund got a tax cut. They saw it in their paychecks. That's all I'm trying to say. That is an issue that Republicans can run on, because that's the original question. That is an issue that Republicans can run on. And I know they can, because I tell them all the time they can run on it. Leave the social stuff. Leave the anti-woke stuff to the side, leave the Biden impeachment to the side, leave Hunter Biden to the side, and talk about the issues that matter to people, to Scott's point, all people. But in a Republican primary, you're not going to get a specific question as to,

hey, president, future president Vivek Haley or DeSantis or Chris Christie, what are you going to do for black voters? You're not going to get that question in a Republican primary. And in the Democrat primaries years ago, as you know, Clinton ran to the left in the primary, drifted to the center in the general. Obama ran to the left in the primary, drifted to the center in the general. Bush ran to the right in the primary and drifted to the center in the general. Bush ran to the right in the primary and drifted to the center. That is how primaries are run. You run to your base to get the nomination, and then you go for everybody in the general. That's just politics. And for anybody to think it's different for Republicans than Democrats, you're really just not telling the truth to this

brilliant audience listening right now. Thanks for your time. I love you very much. Thanks. Thanks so much for joining us, Shelley. We got to time. All right. Thank you very much. Thanks. Thanks for joining us, Shelley. We got to hit a quick break. We're going to keep the conversation going on the other side. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network.

We'll be back after the break. Hatred on the streets. 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'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Businessweek. 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 Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we 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 called this taser

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

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1 Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at

Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. 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. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not be free.

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

This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is Whitefield. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. There's a lot of talk about the inevitability of another civil war in this country. But on our next show, we'll talk to a noted author and scholar who says we're actually in the middle of one right now. In fact, Steve Phillips says the first one that started back in 1861, well, it never ended. People carrying the Confederate flag, wearing sweatshirts saying MAGA Civil War, January 6, 2021, stormed U.S. Capitol, hunted down the country's elected officials, built the gallows for the Vice President of the United States, and to block

the peaceful transfer of power within this country. On the next Black Tape, here on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network

for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Blackstar Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. Hello, we're the Critter Fixers. I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuning in to... Roland Martin Unfiltered. We've covered many stories on the situation going on in the Gulf Coast, in particular Louisiana.

The corridor of black and brown communities along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge has more than 150 industrial facilities that produce a quarter of the nation's petrochemicals. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is on the verge of permitting an expansion of operations on the 500-acre space and two pipelines that run between Texas and Louisiana, mainly affecting rural minority areas. Rosetta O'Zane, the founder of the Vessel Project to Louisiana, joins me for a discussion on how we can stop this from happening.

Thank you so much for joining us. Can you kind of give us some insight on these projects and how they will affect Black and poor communities? Yes, thank you so much for having me. I apologize. I'm currently in the airport headed to Dubai for the UN conference on climate change. But yes, I am Roshetta Ozan, the founder of the Vessel Project. And currently we are fighting several new proposed fossil fuel extractive industries that are slated to come to the Gulf Coast. The LNG build out in the United States, which involves the extraction of gas, LNG, which actually stands for liquefied natural gas. But as we found out, what it is is methane gas that's being polluted.

It poses a significant risk and many challenges. And the LNG expansion contributes to climate change. As the process of extracting and transporting methane gas through fracking and super cooling releases harmful emissions, the Biden administration and FERC have approved the expansion, despite studies showing that exporting LNG could be even worse for the environment than coal. What you see in the videos and pictures that I've given several tours is right behind my home, where me and my six children live. My children suffer with things like asthma and eczema, which are respiratory and skin conditions.

My sister, my baby sister, was facing cancer and is now in remission. None of my other siblings or myself had ever had cancer before, but this is my baby sister and one of my mom's only children who spent the majority of her adolescence in Louisiana, as we are originally from Mississippi. So there have been several things that brought me to fighting against these industries and understanding the interconnectedness of this environmental fight, how it's playing a part on our health, on the climate, and on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. And you know, it's interesting because I remember back probably 20 years ago, there was all this discussion about how liquid natural gas would be a safer alternative to

petroleum, to oil exports, et cetera. Can you talk a little bit about, you talked to Rakel about how it's affecting your family. Can you talk about how this industry has affected the region there and the health issues that are affecting many parts of the population? Yes, of course. Thank you for that question. So as you stated, 20 years ago, everybody was talking about how LNG was going to be this safer, healthier alternative, this cleaner energy. 20 years ago also happens to be the time when I moved to Louisiana and I first saw all of this industry. I had never seen industry like this in the Delta of Mississippi growing up in Ruleville, home of Fannie Lou Hamer. So when I got here to Louisiana,

I had so many questions because I saw all of the emissions and all of the pollution and I wanted to know what it was. But at that time there was this site being built called Cameron LNG. Well, I live very close to Cameron LNG and I've noticed, as I stated before, my own baby sister is one of my mom's, the baby of my mom's five children, and the only one who has experienced cancer, and we live close to these industries. But my children, the youngest two, are the ones who are dealing with the asthma and the eczema, as my other older children aren't, and they lived some of their

time in Mississippi. So that wasn't adding up for me. I started to talk to different scientists with the organization Healthy Golf. I began to work with Healthy Golf, and I understood more of what LNG was actually doing. LNG is emitting things like methane into the air, ethylene dichloride, and other pollutants because of the way that it is processed and the way that it is shipped. And so this makes it more harmful than coal because of the way that it has to be super cooled and processed and then it's packaged and it's shipped across. It also increases heavy traffic, tanker trucks coming through our communities, more rail and trains going through. We've had a train derailment to happen.

In fact, the trail derailment that happened in Ohio was carrying the stuff that comes from my community and Westlake Chemical that's polluting my community. So all of these things were just like light bulbs that were going off in my head and I was like, wait a minute, does people know what's happening? How people in communities are impacted? There is also an environmental injustice aspect to LNG as big oil and gas corporations intentionally locate their plants and terminals in and near low-income and black communities and other

communities of color. We know that these type of communities have very little resources, very little access to public health, public transportation. And so when folks are getting sick, it takes them longer to get to a doctor and see what the issues are, see what's causing it. And so we saw numbers going up in cancer rate, cancer rates in children. We saw numbers going up in asthma, numbers going up in other respiratory conditions. And then in my own personal children, again, my daughter, who is 11 years old, you can find her story in Teen Vote. She talks about being diagnosed with Giannotti-Crossi syndrome. I'm talking about a condition that the doctors had to pull out the book and look this up because they hadn't seen something like this in several years. And so these are the type of things that we're seeing, and these are the type of

things that I'm advocating against and trying to educate the community on what LNG actually is. It is a false solution. It is greenwashing. Well, you know, the Biden administration has talked a lot about the investments they've made in quote-unquote green energy and the Green New Deal, as it would be. What can people do who are experiencing similar situations in their own communities? What are some organizations they can reach out to? What are some things that you're working on that can help people who are in a similar situation?

What we're working on right now is there are more than 30 proposed new terminals, 30 proposed new facilities for the Gulf Coast region. That's including Louisiana and Texas. One of those major facilities is CP2, Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass 2. If this facility is approved, it would be the largest LNG facility in the United States. It would emit more methane into the atmosphere further exacerbating our climate crisis. Right now there is a climate change conference happening in the UAE in Dubai that is where I'm heading and I am going to bring the message that we need to phase out fossil fuels.

The only true solution is a fast, fair, and equitable phase out of fossil fuels. Now, that does not mean that we want these false solutions like carbon capture and storage or this direct air capture that the Biden administration has invested money in. What needs to happen is that groups, organizations, the federal government needs to come down to communities like mine, like other communities in the Deep South, communities along the Gulf Coast. Talk to the people who live there. Ask us what the solutions are. What we need is renewable energy.

We need affordable solar for everybody. We need to talk to the folks in the community and understand that we can't even plant and grow our own food. But yet, if we could get more green spaces and more money to plant community gardens, those are the type of things that we need in our community. 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 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. But guests like Business Week 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 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for 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 war on drugs. 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 a Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means

to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

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

Absolutely. Well, we are going to keep you in our prayer to travel to Dubai there. One of my favorite places to go to. Keep us updated on the changes you're making. Ms. Ozan, thank you for joining us. We're going to keep this conversation going on the other side of the break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. Grow your business or career with Grow with Google's wide range of online courses, digital training, and tools. Gain in-demand job skills with flexible online training programs designed to put you on the fast track to jobs in high growth fields. No experience is necessary. Learn at your own pace. Complete the online certificate program on your own terms.

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complete the application. There are 1,000 scholarships available. Grow with Google and Jay Hood and Associates. Be job ready and qualify for in-demand jobs. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, have you ever had a million dollar idea and wondered how to bring it to life? Well, it's all about turning problems into opportunities. On our next Get Wealthy, you'll learn of a woman who identified the overload bag syndrome and now she's taking that money to the bank through global sales and major department stores. And I was just struggling with two or

three bags on the train, and I looked around on the train and I said, you know what, there are a lot of women that are carrying two or three bags. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dee Barnes and next on The Frequency, have you ever heard of Pinkster? If not, you aren't alone. It's an African-American holiday that predates Juneteenth by a hundred years.

This week, we're talking with my special guest, the founder and CEO of Trans Art and Cultural Services, Greer Smith, to talk about Pinkster and why it's so important. Those exhibitions really got the most play because we don't know about this. Other people have been telling our stories for so long, but we have the opportunity to find people that tell our stories. It's an easy sell.

A fascinating conversation about Black culture on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes, right here on the Black Star Network. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family, you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Welcome back. If you are paying for your insurance plan, we are in the middle of 2024 open enrollment period. Joining us is the Vice President of State Programs for Health First, Mr. Arol Pierre. Mr. Pierre, tell us about this open enrollment period and what people need to know about getting themselves insured in the new year. Sure. Great to see you. Yes. Right now it's action packed because if you haven't chose your benefits yet, there's still time. But the annual enrollment period and the open enrollment period are happening right now. So if you're over 65, it's time for annual enrollment period where you're choosing your

Medicare benefits for January 1st. That's a big deal. If you're under 65 and you don't get your coverage through an employer, then this is your open enrollment period where you can see if there's coverage for you on what we call the exchanges. And that started back in November, but you have to act before December 15th if you want coverage on January 1st. So now is the time to figure out what your benefit options are. If you have coverage, now is the time to check if it's the right coverage or do you want to switch for January 1st. And now, you know, I've always argued that things like this should probably be in high school being taught, you know, how to get health care, how to paint hats, those sorts of things. For

people who are novices at this, how can they find out exactly what programs are proper for them, and if they're actually getting the best deal possible? It's a great question. You know, you can do your best online to try to get information, or, you know, we have offices, so at Health First, we make sure we're in the community so we can speak people's languages. They can come to our community offices. They can call our number. They can look on our website, healthfirst.org, and we'll break it all down for you in language too, if English is not your first language, and let you know what benefits you're eligible for. And then also, if you are eligible, what's the best product to buy? Something to think about is, does the plan have your doctor in their network?

When you do switch plans, you always have to make sure that your primary care physician or your specialist that you go visit or the hospital you like to go to is in the network. And we can check that for you. And the second thing is prescription drugs. Are you taking prescription drugs? You want to determine if the drugs you're taking are in the formulary for the plan you will select. And those are things that we can help you with. We'll help you face-to-face or over the phone or even through

video. And when you talk about Health First and the services they provide, can you talk a little bit about the company and how people can learn more about it and of course go to you for many of these healthcare needs that they have? Yeah, great question. So Health First has actually been around for 30 years. This is our 30th anniversary. We started in 1993. Back then, we roughly had 500 members. This year, we have up to 1.9 million members. We're owned and partnered with some of the best hospitals in New York that everyone knows. And we are a nonprofit plan. So we're not here to make money. We're actually here to advance what we call health equity, which means everyone gets access to a high-quality doctor that treats them with dignity and respect. That's what we're known for.

That's what we want to continue to do. The one thing I do want to mention, too, is this is also time for what we call redetermination or recertification. Medicaid program, everyone needs to go in and determine if they're still eligible for Medicaid. And we're in that throes of it right now. Ninety-one people across the country have to do this. We can help you do that as well to make sure that you keep your coverage. So how will people, if they don't have an opportunity to visit the site, how can they find out what plans they qualify for? You know, I know there's a difference if you're over 65

versus under 65. There are economic questions involved. How can people really find out what exactly they qualify for? Yeah, so we actually do a screening, and it's based on all your information. So we take your age, we take your income, we find out your family size. All these things determine what you're eligible for. And so, like you said, if you're over 65, there's Medicare programs. If you're over 65 and you need help with activities of daily living, this is like you need help getting up the stairs, paying bills, eating, making food, washing, taking showers, we can find a special plan for you as well, which is in Medicare that's called Medicare Advantage Plus. If you're under 65,

determining whether you're eligible for a product called Medicaid or the Essential Plan or the Obamacare plans, it all depends on your age and your family size and other things that's going on with you. So the best thing to do is to come see us, healthfirst.org. You'll see our phone number there. You can stop by our community offices. We have 24 across New York City and Long Island and upstate New York, and we'll break it down for you. And in layman's terms, so you can actually understand what all the nuances are, and we'll make sure that you keep your coverage intact. Now, unfortunately, a lot of folks in our community in particular don't start thinking about health care until they're already sick. Can you talk about the importance of getting in during these windows as they exist, particularly for open enrollment, and what happens if you miss the window? Yeah, it's a great point. So as you know, the Black community suffers from health care disparities. What are health care disparities?

It's when certain communities have higher rates of sickness or disease burden than other communities. And we're trying to wrestle with that and trying to normalize it so that we don't have these discrepancies and these disparities. Particularly in the African-American community, we have these disparities, especially around pregnancy for black women, making sure that they have healthy births. And so it's important to have coverage when you're healthy. That's why we want people to enroll in health insurance when you don't need it. Health insurance should only be used when there's an emergency, but you want to have it when you don't have an emergency so that when you need it, you can actually use it. And that's why the redetermination and the recertification that's happening in Medicaid

is so important because many people are finding out they don't have coverage until when they go into the doctor's office. And that's the worst time. So if people can stay active with their coverage, we can reduce these health disparities. That means there'll be healthier people of color and we'll actually lower healthcare costs. So it will help the industry overall. And kind of concurrent with that same point, can you talk about the importance of these programs for preventative care? Because often if you catch something early, you end up being a whole lot easier to catch it once it's already metastasized because you waited and put it off. Can you talk about the importance of these

programs when it comes to the preventative care, healthcare screenings, et cetera, to keep people from getting into those terminal situations? You hit it down the head. All of our plans, we cover preventive care at low or no cost. This is for necessary tests, procedures to find out if you do have something. So we'll check your blood pressure. We'll find out your sugar levels. We'll do cancer screenings, breast cancer screenings. These are things you want to do early because if we can find it early, it's cheaper to take care of it and we can keep you alive longer after the fact. And so we always promote preventive care in our communities. It's good to see a doctor when you're healthy just to get the annual checkup to find out if

anything's happening. And it's the best time during open enrollment to think about your preventive care visits because you want to get them done early in the year. So you want to get it done in the first couple of months of 2024. So make sure you have coverage for January 1st. And then once you know you have coverage, let's work on booking that first appointment with your primary care physician. If you don't have a PCP, we'll help you do that too. So it's hard because sometimes it's hard to find a doctor or a dentist. We can help you schedule those appointments and gets you in to see the doctor as well. All right, before we run out of time, how can people find out more information on Health First?

How can people contact you to make sure they're getting their services as they need it during these time periods? Yeah, the best way is healthfirst.org. Our phone numbers are there. All of our office locations are there. Any information that you need is there. You can actually contact the rep. So on healthfirst.org, you can find where our sales folks are, and you can look up them by age and by race and language and see their phone number and contact them directly.

And so that's the best way, healthfirst.org, and we're here to serve you and help you. Thank you so much, Iroh. Pierre Health First, Senior Vice President of State Programs. Really appreciate the information. Thank you so much, Erol Pierre, Health First Senior Vice President of State Programs. Really appreciate the information. Everybody visit that website so you can get those windows. Make sure you sign up. Your health is your wealth, the most important thing you can have. Thank you so much for joining us. All right, we're going to hit a quick break, and we're going to come back and talk to you about some of these things before

panel. You're watching Roland Marder Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks.

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Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud. 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 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 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 called 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 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

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

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

from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet.

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Family louder and prouder. Right now I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? All right, we're bringing back our panel, Rebecca, Scott, John Quayle. So, Scott, I want to go back to the story we were just reporting on in Louisiana. What is the legal recourse that people may have for living in these communities where they are building these industrial sites at? Because we've seen the

Not In My Backyard movement. Everybody wants all these low gas, fossil fuels, et cetera. They don't want it anywhere near them. But if you live in those communities, what kind of legal recourse can people have? Well, your first call would be to the regulators or to the state attorney general's office to complain. The more you complain, the more the regulators will review and determine whether these levels of toxins that are either in the air or on the ground are at a level that are too high under federal and state regs. But these oil companies and these gas companies are very powerful. They are powerful lobbyists, right? And so getting organized as a group, joining nonprofit organizations who are advocates to allow stronger safety measures. And then also calling your

congressmen and your elected officials and complaining, you know, and being organized with these community groups make a difference. It's not easy work. It takes time. But we have to keep people in these organizations accountable, especially if you can show health disparities between those who live in poor communities closer to these factories and these generators, as opposed to those who don't. Whether it's the railroad industry, whether it's the oil and gas industry, the reason they set up near these poor communities is because that's where the land is, if you will. And they need lots of land, whether it's, again, whether it's the oil and gas industry

or the railroad industry. But getting organized at the community level, finding advocates at the federal and state level as your elected officials, right? And then ultimately suing these industries or these participants that are making our people sick, our young people sick with these rare diseases, filing class action suits to bring accountability to the table. You won't make us safer unless you win those lawsuits and then their direct orders as to how they clean it up. But it's well worth it because it's only through community action and community outcry that these conditions in these communities are going to be better. And, John, on that point, we know there's an old Gil Scott Heron lyric where he says,

when it comes to people's safety, money wins out every time. And it's clear that until we can change the economics of many of these oil and gas producers, that they're not going to care about what they do to poor communities. From your legal perspective, where do you think the litigation has to start? And what do you think the outcome has to be to actually get these companies to change what they're doing to poor communities? Well, and also to kind of piggyback on what Scott talked about is certainly one of the biggest ways to put these companies out of business are the class action lawsuits, right, where you have the community in a combined effort. If you can show the damages where our communities have as a result of these toxins in the air with them living in close proximities to these companies, if they are getting ill or having permanent injuries, conditions, anything like

cancer or any kind of respiratory issues, if you come together in a class action lawsuit and you have the power of the forces of these law firms behind you, then you can bankrupt these companies, right? You have the potential to bankrupt these companies. And when you're talking about economics, you know, that's a powerful way. In addition to speaking to, reaching out to your local congressmen and all of those things, all of those efforts are important. But in terms of really putting a dent in them is suing them for sure and winning. And Rebecca, kind of on the same issue, I'm going to ask you the political question on this, which is how can we help to encourage our elected officials to care more about the

people than these oil and natural gas lobbyists? Because it seems that the lobbyists always find a way to get exactly what they want regardless of whoever is in office. But when it comes to elected officials, they seem to be a whole lot more recalcitrant to handling the issues of their constituents. Well, to be clear, even with the footage that's being shown on the B-roll that the producers are showing, that is actually on the refining side, which is downstream. So with the oil and gas industry, you have three parts. You have upstream, which is the extraction when you remove it from the ground. Midstream, which is pipelines. And then downstream is actually the refining process. And just something to inform the viewers, even if we 100% got away from fossil fuels for

transportation, we still use petrochemicals in everyday things, including latex paint, including carpet and carpet fibers, even in synthetic hair, even in makeup, in lipstick, in nail polish. We use petrochemicals in our everyday life. So realistically, we're probably at least another 50 years before we remove everyday life reliance on petrochemicals, which is the majority of what the oil and gas industry provides once the crude and then the other raw materials are actually refined and then go to market in everyday goods. But that said, when it comes to the immediate impact of people in what's called Cancer Alley in Louisiana, is having conversations. At this point, because we

know the industry is not going anywhere in the next 5, 10, 15, 20, and probably 50 years, are there ways to actually remove people and move them to a safer area, especially as with increased technology, we're able to determine and detect the health care issues for populations that live in or around a refinery. On the upstream side where you're doing the extraction, you tend to not have a lot of people who live in those areas because you have extraction sometimes in the deep sea. You don't have people living in the middle of the water. But what we're seeing in Louisiana is areas around petrochemical plants, i.e. refineries, where you're actually refining the raw products. I just want to say that. And then finally, Cedric Richmond, he used to represent that area.

Cedric Richmond went to the White House and was the chief senior advisor to President Biden so if anything you would think that people in that area would have a direct ear to the current administration and so one thing I would say even for the guests who is on the show tonight talking about this is having a serious conversation with Cedric Richmond and what I would say from working on the Hill then also me, I used to lobby. I did represent some petrochemical facilities in my portfolio. And one thing that I will say, Democrats and Republicans alike do take oil and gas money. Not only that, it's that there are good union jobs and very good middle class jobs when you look at Black folks in and around the Houston area

who support their families because of oil and gas. So I'm not suggesting that we should not take people's health into consideration. It absolutely should be. But I just want to reset the conversation that, realistically, this industry as we know it isn't going anywhere in the next 50 years. Well, of course, he can keep an eye on this and make sure because it's not about just shutting down things immediately. What's about making sure there's parity and that the weight is not just being borne by the poor black and brown communities. It was fine for us. It was fine for the rich part of town also.

We're going to keep the monitoring situation. All right. We'll be back after the break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the BlackstoneS. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress,

whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear.

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 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. But guests like Business Week 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 called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser

Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

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

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

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from LA. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad bad and the downright ugly

so join our community every day at 3 p.m eastern and let your voice be heard hey we're all in this together so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into it's the culture week days at three only on the black star network it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. This is your boy, Irv Quaid. And you're tuned in to... Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Part of the conversation that we have to have on mass incarceration in this country,

it's a question of what happens when people return home from internment by the United States. More than 600,000 people get released from federal and state prisons annually. There are programs to assist reentry, but there's an aspect that isn't getting addressed for many formerly incarcerated, their mental health. Members of Congress want leading federal mental health research agencies to study post-traumatic prison disorder, a condition potentially impacting millions of people who have been incarcerated. Shawana Vaughn, formerly incarcerated and founder of the advocacy group Silent Cry, is spearheading an effort in New York to address these issues.

Ms. Vaughn, how are you doing today? I'm wonderful. How are you? I am outstanding. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved in this work regarding the mental health for individuals who are returning citizens. Absolutely. I am the work. So I was born in prison. I was a product of foster care. And at 17, I went back to prison and I came home with my mental health exacerbated.

Everybody's used to the terrain you're used to in your own habitat. But prison is a terrain that you can't get used to, and it dilapidates your mental health. It creates issues. When you get there, there's a medication line. They give you Elavil and Ritalin and all types of pills. And unfortunately, for those who did not have paid lawyers to go fight for us not to take pills, they create mental health disparities. And we'll talk about some of these mental health disparities that are a result of incarceration because many of us who have had friends or family members who have returned home have seen firsthand kind of the institutionalization that happens to people when they're in that unnatural situation. Can you kind of dive a little bit deeper in for people who maybe do not fully understand the mental toll that it takes on human beings? Absolutely. If I take you and put you in a room with seven other human beings that you've never met and everybody has a different crime.

So like I'll use myself. Diane Downs was my roommate at one point. And for those who don't know who she is, she's from Oregon in the 80s. She killed her children. Now, mind you, I'm 17 going into incarceration and that's my roommate. I was a trigger for her. But me knowing that she killed her kids and told me roommate. I was a trigger for her. But me knowing that she killed her kids and told me she was famous was a trigger for me.

And so it's just all different types of personalities and people and dangers, because what nobody ever talks about is that prison is a rape culture, that people die there, that people don't make it home, and all these things happen while we're all watching. And so it's a gladiator environment.

And it's not a holistic healing. The model says corrections. That's far from what it is. It is mental torment. And it creates interpersonal relationship problems. It creates sleep deprivation because prison has the lights on, like most of the time. It's a very inhumane environment that creates schizophrenia, paranoia. It creates a lot of things that don't get addressed and everybody calls it post-traumatic stress disorder. And we don't get the benefits that people get who go to the military. I didn't.

I have post-traumatic prison disorder. And the only way America wants to deal with that is to give me medication because that's what it covers, psychiatric medication. And there's no holistic way to heal from incarceration. And when you talk about that, can you talk a little bit about what would be the more holistic methods to address these issues? Because as we mentioned, 600,000 people a year are returning back to society, many of which are not receiving the type of mental health care services they need to be able to fully function and fully reintegrate. What needs to happen on the federal and state level to help reintegrate people back into society? What definitely needs to happen, Roland, is that Congress, I'm urging them, and thank you, Ayanna Pressley, for taking post-traumatic prison disorder.

Congress needs to understand that mental health is not a privilege. It's a human right to be whole as well as you can be. And I think that we need to push to pass post-traumatic prison disorder as federal legislation because holistic healing has to happen. I'm asking for alternatives to medication, including marijuana. And that's a big controversy. But African Americans have been disproportionately affected by marijuana, yet we found out that under medical guidance, it's a healing tool that isn't given to people who have incarceration or felonies because of parole and probation. I know we also talk a lot about the recidivism rates that we have in America, which are higher than almost any other nation. And I've always believed in, you know, two decades of practicing law that a big part

of it is this post-prison mental toll that it takes on people, where they feel more comfortable, they feel safer, they feel more at ease in jail than they feel out of jail. Can you talk about how giving the proper treatment may help us to stop this recidivism crisis that we have in America? Absolutely. I believe that if we go back to holistic healing, Martin, and offer people alternatives to medication, therapeutic animals, art therapy, music therapy, listening. Listeners are very important. And I think if we use other alternatives,

food is even messing with people's mental health. In prison, the food, the bags, say not fit for human consumption. And I think that recidivism would reduce itself if post-traumatic prison disorder was passed into law because it's dealing with a whole person and not in a catalystic way. It's individualized service plans for each individual. It'll make sure that people come home with insurance. So there's no gaps in services that people who absolutely have to have medication get that medication, but that people are offered numerous alternatives. And I opted to add in correctional officers into my legislation

because nobody ever talks about they have the highest domestic violence and divorce rate and suicide rate because they go to work in a traumatizing environment and they're not mandated by their unions to get therapy either. So it becomes a toxic environment for everybody. And I think it can reduce recidivism for those in the revolving door because you're finally going to get the help that you need. And it would actually create a functional working system for people who go there who make $25 an hour to be able to go home and cope and come back to work and be decent people. And we can actually change the narrative of what prison is in the U.S. and reduce recidivism and make sure that people come home to their families whole.

I often ask the question when I'm talking to people and lawmakers, because you don't know who your neighbor is, how do you want them to be? And on that point, Hugh, talk a little bit in the couple minutes we have left about what exactly is included in this legislation and where does it currently stand? What is the call to the community to help get this passed? The call to the community is New York has my bill, Jabari Bridgeport, and I am hoping that in this legislative session in January, that New York is the first state to pass it as we say we are progressive and forward-moving when we're looking at one of the states with Rikers Island and the most deaths.

So I'm hoping that New York is the first model to pass it. But I'm asking organizations, grassroots organizations and corporations to stand with me and hashtag post-traumatic prison disorder. Call your governor, call your legislators, and make a push that everyone supports mental health for all, because mental health is not a privilege. It's a human right. It has no color, no gender, no border, no economic standing. COVID should have taught everyone that mental health, 8 million people are impacted. Some of us just function better than others. I thank you, Roland, for allowing me this opportunity to come on your show and talk about post-traumatic prison disorder. And in Michigan, Stephanie Young, Rep. Stephanie Young is going to carry post-traumatic prison disorder. I implore other states to look at it, adopt it, and let's create a holistic environment for those who are impacted by incarceration.

We make up 70 million people, and our kids are impacted. So imagine if we start to heal 70 million people and their families. Because it's 70 million people, but we all have children or families, and everybody's suffering. Well, Ms. Vaughn, we, of course, want to keep us posted on this legislation and how it's moving through. And I'm hoping more states take up this as that issue, because, as you said, it is crucial that we don't simply lock people up, but that we help them return to the community as whole individuals. And that's how we stop the cycle that we see of continuing crime, arrest, incarceration, and repeat.

I thank you so much for everything that you're working on. Thank you so much for joining us. All right, we will be back after the break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Blackstone Network. We'll be right back. Next on The Black Tape Table with me, Greg Carr. There's a lot of talk about the inevitability of another civil war in this country.

But on our next show, we'll talk to a noted author and scholar who says we're actually in the middle of one right now. In fact, Steve Phillips says the first one that started back in 1861, well, it never ended. People carrying the Confederate flag, wearing sweatshirts saying MAGA Civil War, January 6th, 2021, stormed U.S. Capitol, hunted down the country's elected officials, built a gallows for the Vice President of the United States, and to block the peaceful transfer of power within this country. On the next Black Tape, here on the Black Star Network. I'm Faraiq Muhammad, live from L.A.

And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. Today marked a historic moment in the United States Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris broke a nearly two centuries old record by casting the most high-breaking votes in Senate history. As you guys remember, after the midterm elections in 2022,

we, after the midterm elections in 2022, we saw Democrats had a 51 to 49 majority in the Senate. However, because of Manchin and Sinema, often the Senate ends up in these 50-50 ties where Kamala Harris is left to break the tie. Let's see this moment from the Senate today with VP Harris. I'm in the chamber who wish to vote or change a vote. If not on this vote, the A's are 50. 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 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. But guests like Business Week 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 called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad 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. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

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

And to hear episodes one week early And ad free with exclusive content Subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. And the nays are 50. The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative and the motion is agreed to. Madam Vice President. Majority Leader. Today is historic.

Vice President Harris has just cast her 32nd tie-breaking vote, the most tie-breakers ever. I join all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Now, this is the most tie-breaking votes cast by a vice president since John C. Calhoun won the big proponents of slavery back during the mid-19th century. I want to bring the panel in on this real quick. Rebecca, you know, we always hear these questions online from people saying, what was Kamala Harris even been doing? She's been breaking 37 ties in the Senate. How can we help the people to understand how important the work of the vice president is,

particularly when you have a Senate which is so evenly split? You know, Vice President Harris is actually very busy. She's helping to run the country. However, I'm still not sure that this is really something to celebrate, the idea that Washington is in such a gridlock state that the vice president has to leave her normal portfolio work to go down to the Senate and actually do some of their work because they can't figure it out. I'm still not sure if this is something to really celebrate. This is true. We have also Chuck Schumer did present Kamala Harris with the golden gavel to commemorate her breaking this record. Has cast more tie-breaking votes than anyone in America's long and storied history. She's done a great job. and without her tie-breaking votes,

we wouldn't have had the IRA. We wouldn't have had the rescue plan. We wouldn't have had so many of the good judges and appointees we've had. So no one deserves this more than she does. It is my honor to present the Golden Gap, 32 tie-breaking votes. Thank you, John. Thank you. to present the Golden Gap, 32 tie-breaking votes.

Thank you, John. Thank you. I'm honored. When I think about the tie-breaking votes that I've had the honor and pride to cast, whether it be the Inflation Reduction Act and what that has meant in terms of an historic investment in addressing the climate crisis, what it has meant in terms of capping insulin at $35 a month for our seniors, what it has meant in terms of supporting small businesses and small business owners, and, of course, today,

what it has meant in terms of confirming now our 161st judge to the federal bench. So I am truly honored and proud to have been able to do this. And I thank you for your leadership and all your work. And it's very appropriate that the vice president cast all those votes for judges because two thirds have been people of color and two thirds have been women. We have moved the bench forward to look more like America under her many great... And with that, Vice President Harris

mentioned the number of federal judges that she's helped confirm the legislation has gotten passed. Scott, we talk about the legacy of Vice President Harris as a historic figure. You know, often we think

Benjamin Franklin called the VP your superfluous excellency. She's really showing that you can have a very strong legislative impact even by being vice president when the Senate split in this way. Yeah, I can't remember the names of many vice presidents over my 61 years. I certainly remember the name of Kamala Harris. I think her legacy is still being written. Right now, all that's written about are her low numbers with the country. But the country is ignorant about her hard work and her excellent work. That's part of the Biden administration's fault.

That's part of America's fault. But more importantly, I think Kamala Harris's legacy will be written by not just these 32 votes, but the accomplishments that majority, Senate Majority Leader mentioned, these historic legislative acts and the number of people of color and women who were named judges for sure. But her legacy has got to be defined by more than that. I think one of the challenges with Kamala Harris isn't just how separated we are and how divisive politics are, but that it's incredibly difficult to be a supporter and a cheerleader for someone else's agenda and to find your independent voice. And I think she has some difficulties with that, at least difficulties in being able to carve out

her independent voice and her independent leadership as she travels the country. She's very popular with the Democrats, very popular not just with people of color and women, but young people as well. The polls don't show that. And so her legacy is still being defined. She won't be remembered for running for the presidency and not making it. What she'll be defined for going forward is what happens after the party retools post-Biden. Will she run and win? Can she beat Gavin Newsom? Will she wait? Or will she do something else with this incredible public as

well as private life of hers? And so we'll just have to see. But this accomplishment is helping define her. But there's so much more that she's done as California attorney general, as a senator from California, as a district attorney from San Francisco. Incredible resume, but incredible service record. She is truly, which magnifies that she is truly a servant leader. And, John, on the point that Scott was making, you know, I feel that Kamala Harris's poll numbers don't reflect the work she's done as vice president, whether it was her going to Africa to meet with foreign dignitaries in order to restitch together our relationships after the America First agenda of the last administration, meeting with our Central and South American allies to deal with the border crisis, going to Dubai to talk about the climate crisis, what she's done with regards to federal judges and legislation. What do you think, what do you think to have these consistent low poll numbers, despite being one of

the most active and most accomplished vice presidents we've had in recent memory? Well, I think, I think part of that think part of that is in reference to what Scott mentioned, right? That part of that is the White House's problem as it relates to that. I mean, if she's doing all these wonderful things that are affecting the world as well as our country, and it's not trickling down to the masses, right, then those are some issues with the White House. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with Rebecca in terms of whether or not this is a day to celebrate, because I do. As previously stated by our panelists, that Vice President Kamala Harris is extraordinarily accomplished, right? And however, this marks this is another mark in what she has done for America.

I mean, the simple fact of the tie breaking for two thirds of 66 percent of the Biden appointees being people of color and being women is so instrumental to our criminal justice system, just how that plays out and how it affects the country, that the more diverse that our judges are, think about just how that affects the criminal justice system. I mean, we just had the young lady on speaking about the post-traumatic prison disorder, right, and the effects of being in prison for long periods of time. Your judges are making those direct decisions as it relates to the sentencing of these very defendants that we're here talking about with this legislation. I mean, there are alternatives to sentencing, right? You have alternatives to sentencing to go into prison. You have drug court. You have alcohol abuse court.

There are several other courts or other alternatives to sentencing. But these judges are so important in making these decisions. You asked about in reference to bringing what can the individuals, what can our community do in Louisiana? Dealing with, and we talked about filing these class action lawsuits. Who are presiding over these very cases? The things that she has done, whether that is tie-breaking in our favor,

it is to be celebrated and it is, and it is making a difference. And I do not want to downplay at all her contributions or as it relates to what this day signifies. So I do think it's a day to be celebrated. The cost of insulin was a huge issue amongst the community and disproportionately affects African-Americans. So the very fact that she was a tiebreaker, I mean, what if it was someone else and the vote went the other way, right? You're talking about the cost of Medicare that disproportionately affects our race. So today she is to be celebrated. And I do agree. I think that there needs to be some changes and some improvements as it relates to the masses and her contributions and what she is doing

for the community and for the country. And, you know, I find it interesting that I can't tell you a damn thing Mike Pence did in four years in office. Not one thing, except for the fly land on his head that one time. But we have this entire portfolio of things that Kamala Harris has done. I have no idea what Dick Cheney did, because I shoot a guy in the face. But we have an entire portfolio for Kamala Harris. I think once the public understands better the work that she has done and the role she has had in this administration, those poll numbers will start turning around. We're a year out from the election. Folks don't need to panic, but the White House communications team has to do a better job of getting the

messaging out to the American people to understand exactly how consequential of a vice president Kamala Harris has been. All right, we're going to hit a quick break. We will be back after the break. You're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things

that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people

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PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hi, I'm Dee Barnes, and next on The Frequency, have you ever heard of Pinkster? If not, you aren't alone. It's an African-American holiday that predates Juneteenth by 100 years. This week, we're talking with my special guest,

the founder and CEO of Trans Art and Cultural Services, Greer Smith, to talk about Pinkster and why it's so important. Those exhibitions really got the most play because we don't know about this. Other people have been telling our stories for so long. When we have the opportunity to find people that tell our stories, it's an easy sell. A fascinating conversation about black culture on The Frequency with me Dee Barnes,

right here on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Marissa Mitchell, a news anchor at Fox 5 DC. Hey, what's up? It's Sammy Roman and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. 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 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. But 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 called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st,

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of

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

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Today in our Tech Talk segment, to make it in the world, you must master the art of networking. One marketing strategy has created a way for black women to cultivate social capital, catapult careers, and entrepreneurial pursuits with the Black Women Hustle app. LaShawn Dreyer developed this revolutionary all-in-one networking application for entrepreneurs, professionals, and creatives. LaShawn joins us now to explain how all this works. Ms. Dreyer, how are you doing this evening?

I'm well. How are you? I'm outstanding. So tell us about the Black Women Hustle app, because we all know Black Women Hustle, but what made you turn that into an app? Well, of course everybody's hustle looks different, right? So I wanted to create a space about five years ago when I first developed the concept for Black Women Hustle.

I wanted it to be a networking platform and a space where Black women can actually find not just the people, but the education and the resources that they needed wherever they are in their careers. You know, we have a lot of spaces where, um, like you don't necessarily sure like where you want to be, or you might be behind or feel like you're behind. And it's not the case. You know, there's always a space for you. There's always some information out here for you. And there are always people out here who are ready to connect with you.

You're looking for them and they're looking for you. So I figured why not create this space where we can all come together and just be this powerful community of black women that's all aiming for the same goals. We all want to make it. So at the end of the day, I felt like if I can put us all in this one space and make it happen, all of our dreams can come true. We can, we can do this without all of the bells and whistles that come with the pressures of today's social media. So this app is, you know, it's my, I feel like I'm living in a dream, you know, just to see black women connecting and doing all the things together as one. All right, so tell us the mechanics of it.

How does it work? When people sign up, what exactly are they learning or how are they connecting on this app? Oh, absolutely. So as soon as you get on the app, you know, there's a breakdown of exactly how the app works. You'll know exactly. We have a collaboration board. So whenever you get in there, if you feel like there's an opportunity you want to share or if you're looking for opportunities, as soon as you post it, every woman that's in the app gets notified. So we're making instant connections with the things, like, let woman that's in the app gets notified.

So we're making instant connections with the things. Like, let's say if you have a podcast, you drop that information in there and say, I'm looking to interview guests in 2024. They get notified, they get to connect with you, and here you go with guests lined up for your podcast. There's a job board. You've been looking for opportunities, trying to figure out, how can I grow as a professional?

How can I grow in this corporate role? Or I'm looking for something new, something exciting. We've done the search for you. You know, there are plenty of job opportunities out there. You've been looking for funding opportunities. We've listed everything we could possibly find in terms of finding that funding. And in terms of education, there are free and paid courses in there. You can learn from some of the lawyers who have worked with some of the largest companies in America. You can find marketing strategists, of course, by myself, but teaching you how to strengthen your story, tell your story as an entrepreneur and engage with your audiences. There are entrepreneurs who've sold books, bestseller campaigns for HBCUs, and we're teaching you how to do all these things. We're always trying to find ways to just strengthen our education and strengthen the knowledge

and power that we have as Black women. So once you get in the app, you'll see all of these things. And so walk us through, like somebody's just hearing about this now. Tell, just walk them through how exactly you go about getting the app, signing up, posting what their particular hustle is, and getting connected to like-minded people, and then moving on to the next level. Absolutely. So when you go to blackwomenhustle.com forward slash app, you'll be able to access the app. It can only be accessed from our website. When you download it, we do not play about the purity of black women, we are here for protecting not only our

identities, but our information. So once you log in, you can go to our social feed and start sharing the information that you have. Start making the connections through our chat, there's a connection page that shows you every woman who's in the app, you get to see the information, their titles, their interests, who they're looking for, if they are certified in case you have supplier diversity opportunities. And you go to their profiles and when you hit chat, you're instantly able to make those direct connections with those women. So as soon as you

get in, there's the ability to not just do your own hustle and share the information that you have, but you get to find women who are looking for people like you, those who are in the corporate spaces who are looking to help mentor or build their teams and add to them. Or you find entrepreneurs who are just like, I want to find volunteers. I'm looking for a virtual assistant. I'm looking for someone who will come and lead a free webinar for our nonprofit organization. You know, once you get in the app, all this information is, when I say it's there immediately, everything is there for you. Whether you're looking to grow as the entrepreneur who's just getting started, you're trying to figure out how you can scale your business,

get to that five or six-figure mark, or you're in the professional state and you're looking to grow into this executive state, there are women who are already in this app, or we have the connections for you. If we don't have them, we'll find them. You know, we're all about finding what people need and getting the missing pieces in order for us all to grow. Absolutely. Let's bring the panel in for questions. John Quayle, do you have a question for Ms. Byer? Sure, sure. As it relates to membership, like is there a selection process in terms of who can be a member on the app? Absolutely not. And it's it's open to all black women at all levels because I feel like there are already enough barriers for us. And one thing about this app is it creates accessibility when it comes to getting in touch with people who are in certain

positions of power, it can be pretty difficult when you message them on other social media platforms. There's, of course, protection with like a request mode or something like that, but open this space up because we truly believe that some of those barriers do need to be broken down. So when women get in there, I have no hesitation. Like if you are a black woman, we are here to help. You know, that's what this type of community is for. We want to make sure that you're comfortable here, that you know, that you are welcome here. It's not a place where we have some elitism going on.

We're only going to help you if you've made a certain amount, or if you have a certain amount of followers, the vanity metrics don't matter here. You know, your position doesn't matter here. We want to help you get to where you're desiring to go. Rachel? All right, Scott? Yeah, I can jump in. Good evening.

I think the app is just incredible. I've certainly pulled it up and what have you. Let me see, am I on? Yeah, I'm on. Certainly pulled it up. Let me ask you this. How do you, and I ask all entrepreneurs, how do you define your success, at least with this particular product? Is that by metrics or based on the number of people who you are serving and making a difference from, not just black women, but everyone in our community? I love that question. The success in this step is not defined by—

You had to get those from lawyers. The success in this is not defined by the number, defined by the impact. You know, and if someone came to me, for instance, they're women, when we do our list of honorees at Black Women Hustle, there are 20 black women entrepreneurs to watch. When they come through, we put them in the app now. And one reached out to me and let me know, like, hey, because I was on this list this year, she just sent this email last week. She said, I secured a $5,000 grant. And she was able to get her in locations.

And I had another woman who told me somebody at McDonald's in essence reached out because they were looking to interview them. So they're coming in, you know, getting the confidence and getting the opportunities for media placements, for funding for their businesses, all by

connecting with us through this app and platform. So for me, that's success. See Black women thriving and doing the things that they set out to do by being connected with this app. That's complete success to me. Yeah. Thank you for your leadership and service in this regard. Without a doubt. Good luck with it. All right. Rebecca, do you have a question? I have no idea who Rachel was. Just random thought, but Rebecca. I was wondering.

I said it was someone's confidence. I just knew there was a Rachel here somewhere. Nope. It was a baby. It's too ascetic for the boy. Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to?

You saw me know, like, my face did not do anything. I didn't even shake my head. I didn't shake my head at you, if you noticed that. And I wasn't going to start talking like I was Rachel either. Now, if y'all want to do it, go right ahead. I do have a question how long has the app been around about how many subscribers do you have and what's your plan for growth uh the app has launched in october of this year um and right now we have about 200 over 200 downloads and as far as growth goes it's to me it's more of a long game it's not something I'm not looking for instant success or gratification to log in every day and see women posting on the social media feed that we have to see women sharing the collaboration opportunities.

That to me, that's that's enough. As long as I'm seeing that, you know, every day that I'm logging in, it feels really good. So as far as growth goes, you know, opportunities like this to be able to share it with fellow black people in media, different outlets and connecting with all of us. That's that's enough for me. You know, and I plan to stay patient with it. I plan to, of course, stay consistent with it, but just reaching more of our communities and sharing it every chance I get. And the women in the community, they're sharing it every chance they get and letting people know that this space does exist. And it's a place for us to truly just be ourselves, but also grow in a way that unites us, that removes all the competition that typically comes with what people put under that blanket of women's empowerment.

But we're doing this together. We're growing together. And I'm just looking forward to what it's going to look like over the next few years. All right. And the final question for me, are there any plans to expand this out,

not just to Black women-owned businesses, but for businesses to serve or cater to Black women? Are you going to include brothers in there at any point in time? Or do you just want to keep this as a niche just for Black women to have a social system? I feel like that's something that may be down the line.

At this point, there are so many black women out there, not just entrepreneurs, but of course, professionals and creatives that I want to touch as many of them as possible first and focus on who we actually created this for in the first place. And of course, down the line, and hopefully we can created this for in the first place. And, of course, down the line, and hopefully we can get something for the brothers in there. I actually had one reach out last week and was just like, this looks like it's for women only,

but are you open to collaborating? But the answer is yes. But as of right now, Black women. All right. Well, we're looking forward to... That is an eventually, Scott. one. All right. Well, we're looking forward to that. That is an eventually, Scott.

It is an eventually. We're going to get there. All right. You got the best with her in the interview.

I'm glad she responded the way she responded. You go on. Do your thing. We're going to get there. All right.

Before we run out of time, how can people get the app one more time? BlackWomenHustle.com. That's B-L-K-WomenHustle.com forward slash app. If you follow us on social media at Black Women Hustle,

you can go to the links in our profiles and you'll find it there. Or you can just go directly to BlackWomenHustle.app. And as soon as you go there, you'll have the login screen. You'll be able to instantly access the app and subscribe to our app. All right. Well, we're looking forward to continued success. I've already sent it to my sisters for them to download. And we're going to post it on our social media, of course,

because we want nothing but success for you going forward. And keep us updated on how the app grows. Really appreciate you joining us today for a great conversation. All right. Great show. I've got to thank our guests today. I think our panel, Scott, Rebecca, John Quell. Got to thank our guest earlier, Shelley Winter,

for joining us from conservative side of the aisle. Also, folks, I don't argue with people, if y'all haven't noticed. For the people who want me to be rolling and argue back and forth, I ask the question, I report the news, I allow the panel to discuss with the other guests. We have three panelists. That way they can ask the probative questions.

Otherwise, it just turns into a food fight. That's the way that it works. It's a lot easier that way than everyone yelling over each other. So everyone on Twitter being mad, the idea is that you allow people to talk and then make your decisions based on their responses. Thanks so much for rolling,

for allowing me to keep the seat warm for them. Gotta thank everyone in the control room for making all this possible. And as I say in every show, in the words of Gil Scott Heron, no matter the consequences or the fears, you grip your senses. You gotta hold on to your dreams.

Hold on to your dreams, America. Holla! Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. up. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scary. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Thanks for watching! 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 Chastin. 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 your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. 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 podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.