#RolandMartinUnfiltered - META Ends Fact Checking, Booming Black Businesses, VP Harris Honors Pres. Jimmy Carter

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

1.7.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: META Ends Fact Checking, Booming Black Businesses, VP Harris Honors Pres. Jimmy Carter  Meta is ending its fact-checking program with trusted partners and replacing it with a community-driven system similar to X's Community Notes. A conservative legal group has filed a civil rights complaint against Northern Illinois University for its Black Student Achievement and Black Male Initiative program. Black businesses have boomed under the Biden Administration.  Isabella Casillas Guzman, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration will be here to explain the historic new trend. Vice President Kamala Harris pays tribute to President Jimmy Carter as he lies in state at the U.S. Capitol.  And Botswana is under new leadership.  I'll talk to the U.S. Ambassador about the country's new direction.  #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What's really going on here is that Mark Zuckerberg is bending his knee to Donald Trump, trying to curry favor in order to protect their company's profits. A conservative legal group has filed a civil rights complaint against Northern Illinois University with Black Student Achievement and Black Male Initiative Program. Oh, didn't I tell all y'all people, especially y'all FBA and B1 people, that this was going to happen?

Yep. Black businesses have boomed under President Biden. Isabella Casillas Guzman, the administrator of the Small Business Administration, will join me to talk about this historic new trend. Also, McDonald's is making changes to their DEI program. Many folks are not happy with this news. We'll talk about that. Vice President Kamala Harris pays tribute to President Jimmy Carter as he lies in the state of the U.S. Capitol. And Botswana is under new leadership. I'll talk to the U.S. ambassador about the country's new direction. Folks, it's time to bring the funk on Roller Barton Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the biz 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 rolling, best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollingin' now He's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's Roland Martel. Yeah. Martel. Folks, members of Congress, as well as the Supreme Court and other dignitaries, they were at the U.S. Capitol today when the body of President Jimmy Carter arrived to lie in state. They were there for the ceremony for the former president. Carter's body arrived from Atlanta, was taken to the Capitol by a horse-drawn carriage. They also had, of course, a military cannon salute.

Carter's body will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol for two days, during which this period, the public can once again come to pay their respects. Vice President Kamala Harris was there to deliver on the eulogies for Carter. It was, of course, a very solemn occasion as Carter's body arrived at the U.S. Capitol. This following him lying in repose at the Carter Center in Atlanta. So this is video earlier of his body arriving at the U.S. Capitol. And so you see there his body arriving. Carter talked about in an interview that these plans had long been made. You have actually a specific office that specifically handled these plans. And more than two decades ago, it was interesting.

I was watching that interview and he talked about how he wasn't really involved with it, but he was really depending upon his wife, Rosalyn Carter, to handle the details surrounding his funeral. But of course, she passed away before she passed away before he did. So, as I said, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered the eulogy, paying respects to Vice President Jimmy Carter. All of the major cable networks carried this, except, of course, which is no shock, except, of course, Fox News. So, you know, it was certainly a sad time there. I want to bring my panel now, and I'm going to play in a moment the vice president's comments, because remember, it was Jimmy Carter who said he wanted to live long enough to cast his

ballot for vice president kamala harris for president that indeed uh did happen unfortunately uh he did not live to see a woman elected president of the united states misafir santiago a lead former senior advisor for environmental justice of the epa He joins me now, DEI disruptor. Randy Bryant also joins me out of DC, Joe Richardson, civil rights attorney out of Los Angeles. You know, one of the things that's been really interesting, Mustafa, folks have been talking about President Carter. You've had folks who were saying, oh, he was a failed president. But the reality is, I think when you look at this presidency, one of the things that we have to acknowledge is that it was Reagan's camp who did him in when it came to the hostage crisis. Craig Unger wrote a book on this and said that there was

absolute sabotage. And many believe that if they did not say if they did had not sabotaged uh carter's uh chances those houses were returned before the election he could have won uh folks talk about inflation things along those lines but this is somebody who took over uh the country after the disastrous uh nixon reign and of course uh it was Ford who pardoned Richard Nixon as well. But Jimmy Carter brought a moral standing to the White House that was very much needed. Yeah, he most definitely brought a moral standing. You know, he was a he was a man who was not concerned with himself, but how could he serve others? Whether he did it through his military service, when he did it through service as a governor, as president, he was concerned with how do I help others? How do I help our country to be better? And he also made sure that he understood the, you know, the injustices that were happening in relationship to African

Americans and others inside of our country. And he made sure that he placed people in offices where they had never been before. You know, it's interesting that when you take a look at, you know, that you had both President Reagan, you had President Carter, and then, of course, you had, you know, President Ford, who came in because of what happened. And when you put their economic plans in place, when you look at how they handled human rights, a number of different types of things, I mean, Jimmy Carter rises to the top. Yes, the Iran-Contra affair, excuse me, what was happening in Iran, and of course, also what was happening in relationship to gas prices. But we have to understand that, unfortunately, when Republicans are in place, the economy usually ends up tanking, usually ends up going into a negative direction. And then Democrats have to figure out a way to sort of shore things up.

But the most important thing for me is that he was a man of honor. He was a man of faith. And he was someone who made sure that those who are most vulnerable, not only had a seat at the table, but also had a voice in the process. You know, and that particular point there, I mean, you certainly had very difficult economic times, Randy, high gas prices, things along those lines. And the reality when these things happen, people are going to blame the sitting president. But, you know, I just think that people, you know, you constantly have this media narrative, oh, failed presidency, failed presidency, failed presidency. And you sort of have that over and over and over again. When in reality, I think there's a way to look at the presidency in a much different way. And obviously, he became the platinum standard with how a president should operate and conduct

themselves once they leave the White House. Exactly. I think that when they talk about failed presidency, they're very limited in their view, and they are just looking at dollars and cents. But what we have to realize is that Jimmy Carter was really the leader of making sure that we created bigger parks. He also created the Department of Education. He is responsible for creating the Department of Education. And, you know, as a person who was a proponent of DEI, he is a person who brought and advocated for

a lot of Black Hispanics and women to have government jobs. I mean, he opened up programs. So he was a person, he was a president for all the people. Also did a lot of work with energy. So, you know, people, if they take a narrow viewpoint and try to just talk about inflation, I can understand how they would try to say that it was a failed presidency. But he looked at the entire country and looked at every person and tried to create, was an advocate for equal rights, something that seems to be not valued these days. Also, one of the things that he did, Joe, was he created the White House office as it relates to HBCUs. That's something that's also critically important as well.

Yeah, he did a lot of things along that line. Interestingly, Bill Clinton borrowed a great deal from him in terms of his angle. You know, politically moderate, socially not as conservative Southern governor. They didn't get along particularly well and very good with black people. Clinton looked a lot like like Carter did, which may have been some of the reason why they didn't get along so well. But he did a lot of things. He thought of the least of us. He thought of black folks. He thought of all kinds of people as a regular guy, peanut farmer. He defined the modern post-presidency. But while he was there, first of all, the moral standing, frankly, that Ronald Reagan used later was largely created by Carter.

After Richard Nixon, we didn't have a whole lot of standing, frankly. There was peace between Israel and Egypt, which he got and he should have gotten help to achieve, which he should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize for all that time ago. But somebody forgot to put his name in. Fortunately, he got it all of those years later. And largely that has helped. You could listen to what he said about Israel and Gaza and things he was saying 20, 25 years ago. He could have been talking yesterday. And so and then, of course, he defined the modern post-presidency going back to go forward. I did get to meet in the 90s his very first secretary of education, Ms. Huffsteller, who was incredible, who was fantastic. And he defined the modern post-presidency. And what I said the other day is that there's a whole lot of people who think that there were certain men that were better presidents. But I don't know if you'll find a president that was a better man.

And then you can be a man a lot longer than you can be president. And so I think he is the mark for what ex-presidents are to do, as well as the mark for the morality and the moral compass with which presidents ought to lead and serve. You know, the thing that that also is important, and we've talked about this beforehand and I'll go to you, Mustafa. I mean, President Jimmy Carter was ahead of his time when it came to solar power. First of all, the United States has now risen to third in the world when it comes to producing solar panels. This is a technology that was created by the United States. But the reality, like so much other stuff, we allowed other nations to, frankly, take control. And the thing that just amazes me is that, you know, Republicans derided that. Imagine if America had embraced

the issue of climate change, then we would be having a different conversation today about clean energy. Yeah, without a doubt. I actually wrote about this a little while ago about how he actually placed, you know, the solar panels on the roof of the White House. And then when Reagan came in, he made sure that he took them down. You know, we would have had the opportunity to really sure up our manufacturing base. So if we go back and remember that time, we were starting to see the decline of manufacturing in our country. We would have had the opportunity to be the leaders in that space. And by doing so, we've been able to address many of the public health impacts from air pollution. If we had, you know, honored the work that he was doing at that time and, you know,

made sure we were making those investments inside of that space. We could have made sure that we had an opportunity to begin to address some of the wealth gap because we would have had our people both creating and working inside of that space. And we could have also set the tone for the rest of the planet, actually, all these other countries that actually follow our lead in many instances. So we would have had an opportunity if we had listened and learned from what he was putting forward with us, you know, in that particular moment. But unfortunately, we had a Republican administration that came in and because they were receiving, you know, significant dollars from the fossil fuel industry, they decided to move in a different direction, which has cost us lives, which has cost many communities wealth and has cost us our positioning, you know, as one of the leaders in the space. We have seen so much of this, Randy, in terms of how people perceive these things and how we how we operate in this country.

And when I look at I mean, I've seen the level of nastiness. A lot of these conservatives, I have nothing good to say about Jimmy Carter. You've got these evangelicals who are being highly critical of him. And I'm sitting there going, y'all bent over backwards to kiss the ass of Trump. And you want to question the Christianity of Jimmy Carter? Give me a break. Well, unfortunately, Christianity and the way that they're using it, the MAGA people are using it has really just says that Christianity and God is for them and everybody else is left out. And Jimmy Carter

is going to go against that grain because he was a president for all people. Like we said before, you know, he came from very humble beginnings. Extraordinarily, he wasn't just poor, he was poor. And although his father was certainly a conservative, you know, Jimmy Carter learned through time the importance of embracing all people and that all people needed a fair shot. So that flies in the face of a party that is embraced, that one person, one type of people is superior or supreme over another. Well, absolutely. This, of course, when we talk about what took place, this was a fantastic shot here. Go to my iPad. This was a shot from the Capitol Rotunda as they were bringing his they were bringing his body in. And of course, that's what again, what what we saw what took place uh you know today you saw you know many of

these democrats and others who who were there uh to pay their respects uh president joe biden uh has uh made uh january 9th what took place uh you know today you saw you know many of these democrats and others who who were were there to pay their respects. President Joe Biden has made January 9th to be a federal holiday. And that's when these the state funeral will be held for former President Jimmy Carter. And so that's going to be taking place then. So, you know, it is so, so much, so much is happening. So much is going on in terms of remembering the former president.

Let's hear from Vice President Kamala Harris with her remarks. Speaker Johnson, Leader Schumer, Leader Jeffries, members of Congress, and distinguished guests, it is an honor to be with you this afternoon and to Jack, Chip, Jeff, Amy, and Jason, and all the other members of the Carter family. On behalf of the American people, Doug and I offer the deepest condolences. Being with you today, I'm reminded of the enduring words of a favorite hymn. May the works I have done speak for me. Today we gather to celebrate the life of a man whose works will echo for generations to come. A man from Plains, Georgia, who grew up without electricity or running water

and served as the 39th president of the United States of America and lived every day of his long life in service to the people President James Earl Carter jr. so I was in middle school when Jimmy Carter was elected president and I vividly recall how my mother admired him. How much she admired his strength of character, his honesty, his integrity, his work ethic and determination, his intelligence and his generosity when Jimmy Carter was elected president. And I vividly recall how my mother admired him, how much she admired his strength of character, his honesty, his integrity, his work ethic and determination, his intelligence and his generosity of

spirit. We have heard much today and in recent days about President Carter's impact in the four decades after he left the White House. Rightly so. Jimmy Carter established a new model for what it means to be a former president and leaves an extraordinary post-presidential legacy. From founding the Carter Center, which has helped advance global human rights and alleviate human suffering, to his public health work in Latin America and Africa, to his tireless advocacy for peace and democracy of his time. He was the first president of the United States to have a comprehensive energy policy, including providing some of the first federal support for clean energy. He also passed over a dozen major pieces of legislation regarding environmental protection and more than doubled the size of America's national parks,

including protecting our beloved Redwoods in my home state of California. He was a president who, between the years of 1977 and 1981, appointed more black Americans to the federal bench than all of his predecessors and appointed five times as many women and in the wake of Watergate Jimmy Carter passed historic ethics legislation to help rebuild America's faith in government. Jimmy Carter as president was also a respected global leader. To be sure the years of his presidency were not without international crises or challenges but his legacy of global leadership is well established.

In Asia, he instituted before Jimmy Carter became president, Israel and Egypt had been at war numerous times. Few thought peace could be achieved between them. Yet Jimmy Carter did that. Through his persistence and perseverance, through his unshakable belief in the power of American diplomacy, he secured the Camp David Accords, one of the most significant and durable peace treaties since World War II. And throughout the world, Jimmy Carter elevated the role of human rights in America's foreign policy priorities and uplifted the importance of civil society

in doing that work. Jimmy Carter was a forward-looking president the importance of civil society in doing that work. Jimmy Carter was a forward-looking president with a vision for the future. Consider his establishment of the Department of Energy in 1977, which anticipated the central role it would play in addressing the climate crisis. His creation of FEMA in 1979, which enabled our nation to mobilize a national response to disasters,

which has helped countless communities rebuild and recover. And his founding of the Department of Education later that year, helped countless communities rebuild and recover. And his founding of the Department of Education later that year, which elevated public education institutions and increased national standards for the education of America's children and future leaders. Jimmy Carter was that all too rare example of a gifted man who also walks with humility, modesty and grace. Recall the stories from the 1976 campaign about how he slept in the homes of his supporters to share a meal with them at their table and to listen to what was on their minds.

How on their first trip for Habitat for Humanity, Jimmy and Rosalynn rode the bus with the other volunteers. And when the group stopped for the night to stay at a local church, Jimmy and Rosalynn gave their private room to a young couple who had put off their honeymoon to join the trip. And with the other volunteers, they then slept on the floor of the church basement. And then of course his work to eradicate the vicious guinea worm disease that once disabled millions of people a year. It was one of the Carter Center's greatest triumphs and Jimmy Carter, of course, given his nature,

attributed its success not to his own leadership, but to the thousands of everyday Africans who were on the ground doing the work. Throughout his life and career, Jimmy Carter retained a fundamental decency and humility. James Earl Carter, Jr. loved our country. He lived his faith. faith, he served the people, and he left the world better than he found it. And in the end, Jimmy Carter's work and those works speak for him, louder than any tribute we can offer. May his life be a lesson for the ages and a beacon for the future.

May God bless President Jimmy Carter and may God bless the United States of America. That was Vice President Kamala Harris with her remarks today as former President Jimmy Carter lies in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Folks, when we come back, we'll talk to the head of the Small Business Administration about the successes

under the Biden-Harris administration over the last four years, specifically as it relates to Black-owned businesses. You're watching What Would Mark Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Now streaming on the Black Star Network. I was challenged by my uncle early on before I even had a career.

Like I was maybe eight years old and my uncle said, what do you want to do? And I told him I wanted to be a rapper. And he said, okay, well, I don't know anything about the music business so what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business and I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through and so I went and bought books all you need to know about the music business hit me and I just went and bought a bunch of books just start reading as a 10 year old just read and read and so of books, just started reading as a 10 year old. Just reading, reading.

And so I learned, you know, all things, licensing, mechanical rights. I learned about publishing, learned about how composition is broke up into two pieces, the writer's portion and the producer's portion. But by the time I actually learned I can't even bend, I was ready to like, okay, I got it. He was going to prison.

So I had all this information all this knowledge what's up y'all look fan base is more than a platform it's a movement to empower creators offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in black-owned tech infrastructure and help shape the future of social media investing in technology is essential for creating long-term wealth and influence in the digital age the black community must not only consume tech we must own it discover how equity crowdfunding can serve as a powerful tool for funding black businesses, allowing entrepreneurs to raise capital directly to rule their community through the jobs ad. Coming soon to the Black Star Network. Well, y'all, when you're on that stage,

and you're seeing two and three, four generations in the audience, that's got to speak to you about the power of what y'all have become. Oh, most definitely. I think we were doing our show before our break, and remember, I was watching this kid I could not take my eyes off him because he was about right nine or so He's sitting in the front row with over on the right hand side. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes I was yes, I was amazed that this kid knew everything and he was I was like Tripping to see how many songs this cat actually knew. And he knew them all.

And he knew them all. We had to go over there and bring him on stage and take a picture with him, you know, at the end of the show and stuff. Because it was just that amazing. It was like, this is crazy. You know, the music travels everywhere. You know, like what Phillip was saying, seeing this young kid. Then you see, hear our songs on commercials, cold commercials. Then you have the younger ones that sing out, hear our music and animation.

I'm Russell L. Honore, Lieutenant General, United States Army, retired, and you're watching Roland Martin on Filth. Folks, on the Biden-Harris administration, 20 million new business applications have been filed by women and people of color. Black households who own a business have more than doubled from 5% to 11%. That means more job creation and wealth building. Isabella Casillas-Guzman, she is the administrator for the Small Business Administration. She joins me now. Glad to have you back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. This is the issue, the question that a lot of people talk about. People talk about they want to be entrepreneurs. You never had this conversation several times during this administration. It comes to an end in less than a couple of weeks.

But you have to be you have to feel pretty good with what you were able to accomplish. Well, thank you so much for having me again. It's always great to be with you and discuss this issue near and dear to my heart. Entrepreneurship, this small business dream of business ownership in America. And truly, I am honored to have served in the Biden-Harris administration and in the most diverse cabinet in history and really trying to make a difference on President Biden and Vice President Harris's vision of creating more opportunity for more Americans. And really, entrepreneurship is that pathway to building wealth in so many of our communities that have been left behind and face barriers in terms of accessing markets. And so the SBA's job is to make sure that they can

get funded, they can get the technical assistance and know-how, and they can access meaningful marketplace opportunities to grow their businesses, like in federal contracting, like in trade abroad. And so I'm incredibly proud of what we've been able to achieve, you know, tripling lending to Black businesses, opening up our investment program to Black tech writers who hopefully will be out there and funding these businesses of the future, who, as you said, are starting up at these high rates, 11% of Black households own a business. And we're seeing that change across our portfolio. So it's really an honor to be with you to talk a little bit more about it. And look, we were coming out, we were still dealing with COVID, not coming out of COVID,

where 40 plus percent of black owned businesses went under as a result. How were y'all able to bring a significant number of those businesses back online? Yeah, well, we first set out the very beginning. And this was President Biden's focus on making sure that the smallest of the small who had been left behind by those early rounds of relief could get the assistance they needed to reopen, to stay afloat. float. And we saw in 2021, those numbers increased dramatically for small dollars, for self-employed businesses, sole proprietors. And we saw over-indexing in LMI and rural communities, as well as finally studies showing that, especially with people of color, they were able to access these programs in 2021 at the rates more aligned with their ownership of businesses in this country. And so, you know, we, these are, that was a challenge that proved that the SBA and scaling to meet this moment needed to reform

to meet the moments of the future where the face of entrepreneurship is changing. It's being driven by people of color who are starting businesses at the highest rates as well as women. And so we really want to, that was what we set out to do is not only reform COVID, but how could we then take those learnings of speed and simplicity and meeting people where they are across all of our programs and change them. And that's really how we achieved the 3Xing of our lending to Black entrepreneurs. I remember under the Obama-Biden administration,

one year, some $23 billion in small business loans, $23.09 billion. 2013, we're handed out Black-ownedowned businesses only got $385 million. And I was pushing them real hard on that when it came to access to dollars. That was one of the major things that you also were tasked with. Yeah, 100%, because you see these businesses not achieving the job creation, not achieving the output that they could if they had the appropriate affordable funding. When you're hustling and working hard in your business to build it, but paying high interest or not being able to access enough money to go after and truly deliver and bid on and win contracts, then you're not contributing as much to the economy.

And it's a disadvantage for all Americans, frankly. And so, you know, then you're not contributing as much to the economy. And it's a disadvantage for all Americans, frankly. And so, you know, truly to overcome those barriers, make sure that we're directing opportunities, but as well, the capital, the bonding into communities so that they can have a fair chance of really building something remarkable. And I've traveled around the country to see that impact. And whether it's the startups that I've met with, like the Black-owned gym in Dallas, Texas, started up thanks to an SBA loan, which was able to acquire the building, build it up. Or the new music facility out in North Carolina, same thing, able to get an SBA loan to start up or any of these incredible businesses, largest black manufacturer of female black manufacturer of food products. She has a gluten free line, Iolia Foods. She was able to build a manufacturing facility, create jobs in Illinois as a result of an SBA loan when she was blocked multiple times from traditional financing. So that's what makes

the difference for our economy and for people to have hope that they can play in this marketplace and play fairly to be able to build their dreams and their businesses. And the reforms that we did, it was investing heavily in technology to simplify and streamline our processes so we can also attract in more lenders and diverse lenders who work in underserved communities as well that face barriers. It was about completely overhauling and simplifying our regulations, the biggest overhaul in over 40 years, and ensuring that we opened up licenses for new alternative lenders to come into the program because they are filling gaps in marketplaces where new traditional lenders have not gone. And so it's a result of all these reforms that we've put into place in these heavy

investments to really make sure SBA's programs work for everybody. And I do think that there's still more work to be done, but I'm so proud that just last year we put out that $1.5 billion to Black-owned businesses to help spur their businesses forward. And I would like to see that number continue to grow because we're about filling gaps and that's where gaps exist. One of the things that we also talked about was the unbundling of federal contracts. First of all, there was a record number of contracts that black owned businesses received in the last four years. And unfortunately what typically happens is under democratic presidents, they're unbundled.

Under Republican presidents, they are bundled, which makes it harder for a small business to be able to get one of those major contracts. A hundred percent. And look, there's two thirds of a trillion dollars in contract opportunities for small businesses every year. This is the largest buyer in the world. And to be able to unlock this marketplace so that we can have a diversified vendor base for federal agencies to achieve their goals is really important for the federal government, for this country. And

it's actually why SBA was started. President Eisenhower wanted to diversify to create more competition and innovation in our industrial base and thus the SBA and its great programs. But, you know, we did, the president created a lofty goal of 15% to small disadvantaged businesses by 2025. We've been marching along that path to try to achieve that, but it took some massive reforms. We hit 12.25% last fiscal year and increased the dollars. For example, just last year, we achieved $800 million more to Black-owned businesses as a result of these reforms. But it is about making sure that agencies are following the rule of two, which means you've got to look at small businesses to fulfill contracts.

It's making sure that these multiple award contracts where everything's bundled, these strategic sourcing strategies, consider small businesses. And so that fight forward in trying to make sure agencies were using the federal purse to really diversify and strengthen small businesses in this country is number one and paramount. But it is also about removing barriers to entry and making sure that people are contract ready and ready to go after these important agency projects that are out there. And so what we've done is for the first time, we've launched, we've completely overhauled our offices here in government contracting. We've completely revised all of our rules and simplified

the process so that whether you're 8A, HUBZone, a women-owned small business, or veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran, you can come into a simplified application, MySBA certifications, to get certified. You're no longer having to pay to try to get certified externally because of the complexity, but come in within 30 minutes, you can apply online, and then we take you through this application process where we, on the back end of this new system that was launched just a couple months ago, are able to provide multiple certifications at once. You don't have to submit four applications anymore. You can just get it all in one. And that's going to unlock opportunities, remove the barriers to entry.

But it is also about empowering people to grow and changing our training so that we have cohort models. We have national training webinars. We have one-on-one counseling for those small disadvantaged businesses so that we can see these numbers change. Because you know and I know that despite all of our efforts, it's still less than 2% of federal contracts go to black owned businesses. And for us to really unlock that potential, we need to attract more businesses into doing business with the federal government and train them on how to go after and win those contracts. And so I would just encourage contractors out there, maybe you've done more corporate, but to try to get into government contracting more through SBA. MySBA certifications allows you to get certified, find the training that you need to really start doing that hard work to get those contracts that

are sticky, that create good jobs. Randy, what's your question? Administration coming in and we talk about, you know, women certified, black business certified, you know, I used to have an 8 business. I mean, are they going to say that this is discriminatory and get rid of these programs altogether? Well, as you know, there was the Ultima case recently that the SBA is still pending a decision, you know, by the judge in that case, which, you know, required us to completely overhaul how we certified businesses for the 8A program. You could no longer presume socioeconomic disadvantage by

race, which the agency had historically done under the 8A program. However, we were quick to create a socioeconomic disadvantage narrative, recertify all those existing 8A firms, so that in fact, the year of Ultima, we increased our contracts to small disadvantaged businesses by $2 billion. And so it's that focus and commitment, excuse me, just in the 8A program alone. So it's that focus and commitment towards ensuring that the program still works for people, that'll still unlock opportunity. It is now in compliance with the Harvard case that was held at the Supreme Court, as well as the initial injunction against the agency. So at this point, we don't know what the final outcome of the case is, but we believe that in that spirit, we've been able to align the program to ensure that socioeconomic disadvantaged firms can present their narrative, can present their application, and can come into this amazing sole source program that allows you to access contracts and team up and get into mentor-protege agreements with folks to really make a difference in that growth of a business.

And so, you know, I feel hopeful that the agency is well positioned to continue to see that expansion. Now, leadership matters and advocacy matters and holding government, federal government to account to ensure that these programs continue into the future is something that the general public, our private partners, as well as advocacy organizations must continue to track because the president has made it very clear that he was focused on small disadvantaged businesses, but we don't know what the future will hold, except for we know we're in an environment where there's a lot of backlash against DEI initiatives, etc., despite the fact that, as I said, this agency was started because

we wanted to make sure under the Eisenhower administration we could diversify the industrial base. And if the people who are starting businesses at the highest rates and are increasingly going to become a big part of our small business ecosystem are not able to access the programs, the capital, et cetera, to competitively serve on these contracts, then our country and our democracy, frankly, are at risk into the future. So I feel strongly that these programs are necessary for our global competitiveness, our economic future, and see that there's a future for these businesses to come into play with these programs.

Joe. So it's great to know that you have certainly left, will be leaving the place, as it were, a lot better than how you found it. And I thank you for that. But give us part cheerleader hat, part practical hat in terms of people that are midway, that are starting in terms of getting qualified, you know, for to get government contracts, to get SBA loans and things like that. Some people are discouraged because of the reality of the incoming administration. But how do we make sure that they're not discouraged from trying to continue along a path that maybe they hadn't finished yet, et cetera? Give us your thought about that for someone that's encouraged. And I'm sure that

you've had this conversation at least once offline with someone that's like, I am scared to death that come January 20th, nothing's going to be able to happen for me. What do we say to those people? I have heard that. And what I would say is that the SBA and its mission and focus on helping all businesses start, grow and and build resilient businesses, has an incredible civil servant base that is committed to ensuring that these programs are effective. We've seen them work. We see them create opportunity. And so I would say that you need to persevere and continue to be determined to learn how to access federal contracts.

And the tools are there, whether you're accessing my SBA certifications to get your certifications and multiple categories that you are eligible for so that you're better positioned in front of a contracting officer. Or if you're going through the trainings of Empower to Grow to really learn how to go after and successfully bid against and win contracts, including subcontracts where you'll get your experience. I think that it is hard work. It is a challenge. But we've tried to create these access points because walking away from these programs that Congressman Perry Mitchell created to try to create opportunities would be devastating to the legacy and the history of that congressman,

as well as everybody who's followed, who's advocated and protected these programs. Because if we don't try to continue to access them and try to be a big part of the base of applicants and the base of successful 8As and SDBs in these federal contracting programs, then we're walking away from opportunity. So I would say that we need to persevere. We need to have grit and determination. The SBA has district offices around the country with career civil servants who know these programs, who know how to help you navigate whatever that certification is, and can help you connect through our local business opportunity specialists, our local procurement center representatives who can give you those tools. And so I would say that

that's not changing. That workforce is there, they're strong, and they're committed to ensuring that SBA's programs continue as they have for the past 70 plus years. Mustafa. Administrator Guzman, thank you for your service. Thank you for also uplifting the civil servants who will continue to do the great work spent over 20 years in federal service. And, you know, they say that it was a 1900 to 1930 was a golden era for black businesses because they continue to grow and grow during that time. I'm curious. I know when I left federal service, I had a moment of reflection and said, if I had an additional year, I would have loved to have been able to do X. I'm curious if you had that little bit more time, what's that

one thing that you would have also liked to either continue to do or the thing that maybe folks don't know about that you would have loved that got across the finish line? I had a long list coming in. We've been able to accomplish quite a few of them. And next week, we'll be publishing a full account of all those accomplishments. I am incredibly proud of unlocking opportunity through the capital reforms, of course. And so what I would say is that I would, you know, if I could continue on, I'd want to continue to create new entrants into our programs. I want the check writers and the funders to look like the businesses that are starting and understand those markets, understand the economic power and consumer spending power that exists in those communities,

and the connection and diaspora connection to markets abroad that are going to become increasingly important to this country, in Latin America and Africa, where we need to compete against China. And so I think I have too long of a list, but for sure, capital I think really is core to unlocking the potential of a business. And so expanding our base of lenders is what I would continue to fight on if I were staying. Thank you. All right. Secretary Guzman,

I surely appreciate you being with us. Again, a great four years. We appreciate all the time that you came on this show to provide much needed information to our audience because this obviously is an issue that I'm always emphasizing,

being a Black-owned company. And so we appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you all. Thank you. All right. Folks, going to go to break. When we come back, owned uh company and so uh we appreciate it thank you so very much thank you all thank you all right folks gonna go to break we come back we're gonna talk about uh meta making some changes all about kissing donald trump's but mcdonald's pulled back on their dei efforts and guess what i told you all these white conservatives are now going after black male achievement programs

it is not over, folks. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. If you want to contribute via Cash App, please use the QR code from Stripe. Cash App closed down all of our accounts because they changed their rules. And so in order for you to contribute via Cash App, this is the QR code. If you are listening, simply go to BlackStarNet dot com or Roland Martin unfiltered dot com to access that QR code or to use Stripe to pay via cash app.

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Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Spark TV. Back in a moment. Coming soon to the Black Star Network. Well, y'all, when you're on that stage and you're seeing two and three or four generations in the audience, that's got to speak to you

about the power of what y'all have become. Oh, most definitely. i think we were doing our show before our tour before our break and remember i was watching this kid i could not take my eyes off him because he was about right nine or so he's sitting in the front row with over on the right hand side yes yes yes yes i was yes i was amazed that this kid knew everything. And I was like tripping to see how many songs this kid actually knew. And he knew them all. And he knew them all.

We had to go over there and bring him on stage and take a picture with him, you know, at the end of the show and stuff. Because it was just that amazing. It was like, this is crazy. You know, the music travels everywhere, you know, like what Phillip was saying, seeing this young kid. Then you see, hear our songs on commercials, cold commercials. Then you have the younger ones that sing out, hear our music in animation. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase. Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page.

Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the JOBS Act. People just like you help build Fanbase, and we're looking for more people to help build Fanbase. We are currently raising $17 million in a Regulation 8 crowdfund on StartEngine. We've already crossed $2.1 million, but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now I'd like you to go to start engine.com slash fan base and invest.

The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in fan base right now, today, and then use fan base to connect with friends, grow your audience and be you without limits. All these tech CEOs are running scared of Donald Trump, including Mark Zuckerberg. Guess what? They now will be getting rid of their fact checking after Zuckerberg announced their ending fact checking, removing restrictions on speech across Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg created Facebook's content policing efforts after the orange man's first presidential election now the meta platform ceo is reversing course saying he wants to restore free expression on their platforms he also said

that what he wants to do is that you know what have more positive things to say now remind y'all remind now let's remind y'all this is the same facebook that has been suppressing content, suppressing black content creators, suppressing news as well. And so this is some of the video. I'm not going to play the whole five minute video because, frankly, I'm going to end up throwing up. But just here is some of what Zuckerberg had to say. I want to talk about something important today because it's time to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram. I started building social media to give people a voice. I gave a speech at Georgetown five years ago about the importance of protecting free expression,

and I still believe this today. But a lot has happened over the last several years. There's been widespread debate about potential harms from online content. Governments and legacy media have pushed to censor more and more. A lot of this is clearly political, but there's also a lot of legitimately bad stuff out there. Drugs, terrorism, child exploitation. These are things that we take very seriously and I want to make sure that we handle responsibly.

So we built a lot of complex systems to moderate content. But the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes. Even if they accidentally censor just 1% of posts, that's millions of people. And we've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So we're gonna get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms. Okay. All right. Enough of that crap. So you heard that the recent election, oh, let's get

back to our roots of free expression. No, what this is about is Mark Zuckerberg is scared to death of getting whacked by Donald Trump. That's all this is. And in fact, at that ridiculous nutcase news conference he had today, Trump said, yeah, that's probably why they're making these changes. Not only that, he's swapped out his of his public affairs office, putting in a longtime Republican. And when they announced these initiatives they went on fox news this morning that's all you need to know these tech ceos are all about kissing donald trump's ass uh and and that's all this is joe very simple yeah i mean it's kind of a problem right um and i guess you couldn't tell that mark zuckerberg looked like he was maybe he was on his knees. But in any event, it's just amazing how they everybody has been over backwards to kiss the ring.

And so they don't want to be left out. Right. got a person that will be that will use retribution to carry out things against people, to carry out things against organizations, to carry out things against behemoth organizations like Facebook. I mean, the fact of the matter is, an organization that big that was run successfully on some level, you know, would be distinguished from a lot of the things that Donald Trump has run. And so, you know, therefore, I mean, it'd be great if somebody would take a stand in that regard. But clearly, you know, he's being moved, as are Bezos and other folks, by the fact that the wind seems to be blowing in the way in the direction of Donald Trump. And they want to make sure that they don't get left out as pertains to it.

And that's too bad. So sad, because now, you know, you've got free reign of bullcrap that can be on social media, things that are untrue. He can say that there's too much censorship, but there's also some such thing as too little censorship, particularly when you have things run that have to do with people's lives, that has to do with people's livelihoods, et cetera. My sense is that a lot of people are going to get hurt the other way because of the decision they're making. And I think that's a problem. I'm telling you, it was hilarious watching that hostage video, Mustafa. We see the bending of the knee by Jeff Bezos. We see we see Elon Musk kissing his ass. We see all that they're doing. And look, you know, this this, you know, the United States calling for TikTok to be shut down by January 19th or potentially. So you've got these conservative folks lining up trying to buy that. The right wing is desperate to control access to information, has access to hundreds of millions of people.

And we saw how Elon Musk used Twitter to flood the timelines of so many people with nothing but right wing propaganda. Well, you know, it's all about misinformation, disinformation, being able to control the narrative, to reframe the narrative, all these different types of things, because they understand where people get their information from. They're not watching mainstream media. They're going to social media platforms or going to digital services to be able to get their information. So if they can control that or they can at least manipulate it enough that they can keep people confused, they can make sure that folks feel like they're in a chaotic situation and people won't do anything. Most people won't. they're like a deer in the headlights and you know zuckerberg when he when i was watching that i was thinking about

something my daddy used to say he used to ask the question how's your spine and what he meant by that is if you don't have a strong spine they used to say the winds are going to blow hard someday and then what's going to happen to you and and that's just what you see playing out here with these these tech folks who for for decades you, people thought that they were untouchable, that they, you know, for some of them, they were going to move and do the right things. And now we see not only the bending of the knee, but there are some other ways descriptors we could use for what they're actually doing in this moment. But what's most important is to ask the question that Joe Madison would say, what are you going to do about it? So how are we going to react to these types of situations? Are we going to continue

to support entities that do not have our best interests at heart? Are we going to continue to support entities that are going to give us, you know, not truthful information or going to allow things to be, you know, misconstrued? So we have power in this moment also. Sometimes we feel like we don't have power. This is about a power grab. So we have to answer the question my grandmother says when she says you have power unless you give it away. So what are we going to do in this moment? Look, you know, they're running scared because they don't want the federal government changing how they do business. This is about billions upon billions of dollars. And what we're seeing here are individuals, Randy, who are scared to death

of Donald Trump. And he is going to make them do what he wants to do. But what we have to be concerned with is what ends up happening, how they may end up screwing um screwing over voters uh screwing over regular ordinary people when it comes to content and don't be shocked if you see a lot more right-wing stuff left and right then this whole deal with with musk and now zuckerberg oh more stuff. They want to penalize criticism of Donald Trump. That's all this is about. That is all it's about. You know, he who controls the media controls the mind.

What they tell us is what people believe. We've seen that with Fox News and how powerful, what a powerful impact it has had on those people who just believe anything that they say, regardless of how ridiculous it sounds. And so it's quite scary that Trump is now controlling the media, which is very, you know, which is what dictators do. They control what we hear. We're not able to hear a balanced viewpoint or any opposing sides. And, you know, Zuckerberg, yes, he is, he is bending down right now, but he has for a while. I mean, Meta gave a lot of money to the Trump campaign. He just gave a million dollars a couple of weeks ago to the Trump fund. We saw what happened with Twitter, as soon as it

turned to X. As a matter of fact, you know, the day that he bought Twitter, I got off of it because I just did not want to see what was happening. And I'll tell you, as a person who has a fairly large community on social media, my site has been shut down, suspended countless times. And namely, whatever I said, anything that was not positive about Donald Trump. So I literally are Donald Trump. I just avoided saying anything whatsoever. So it's censorship in the way that will work for them and get the messages out that they want so they could run this country and ruin free speech. I mean, real free speech and real free thought. It's scary. Zuckerberg added three new additions to his company's board of directors, big time Trump supporter and wife beater Dana White, the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. John Elkin, the CEO of XOR, a European investment company, and Charlie Songhurst, a technology investor.

I was looking at social media they also have been deleting criticism of those appointments on their internal message boards and so I guess they don't really believe in freedom of expression if you work for Facebook Isaac Hayes a third who is the founder of fan base released this video in response to what Zuckerberg announced today. Today you saw a video of Mark Zuckerberg walking back the policies that kept Instagram and Facebook trusted platforms for their users to turn to. Real trust, the kind that makes you feel seen and heard,

is what social media is supposed to be about, right? But these days it feels like that trust is slipping away. When platforms start stepping back from accountability, it makes me think, where does that leave us? Freedom of speech thrives on informed discussions where individuals can exchange ideas rooted in truth. If platforms allow unchecked misinformation to spread, it pollutes public discourse. This makes it harder for the people to distinguish fact from fiction, undermining the very foundation of meaningful communication. It is apparent now more than ever that the oligarchs only seek to increase their wealth,

suppress the truth, and consolidate their power all at the expense of the communities they've built their fortunes on and claim to serve. But we have a choice. We can stand idly by and watch as trust erodes, or we can act boldly, decisively, and invest in platforms that value us, that respect us, and that empower us. And that choice starts right now. I'm asking every single one of you to download Fanbase today.

Don't wait. Don't put it off. Become part of something bigger at fan base we're dedicated to building an environment that is not only free from misinformation but is safe and welcoming as well so be heard become part of the shift in power and download fan base this is our moment to redefine what social media can be this is our moment to own the future. So I went on social media earlier, Mustafa, Randy and Joe talking about this. And one of the things that I tried to explain to people is that they need to understand what platforms are. I need to understand, uh, what your, you know, pages are.

And so perfect example. Okay. So we're streaming right now on YouTube, Facebook, uh, I think Twitch, we might be on Instagram. We also are streaming on our black star network app. So we have our own platform. So if YouTube decides that, you know what, you can't run this. If Facebook says you can't run this. Well, then we can still get our content out to our audience and not have to be, frankly, censored by anybody else. And what I've been saying to people, this is a perfect example why we as African-Americans and even those who aren't black, who watch us should be one

downloading fan base to investing in the fan base. So let me explain. So a little bit earlier today. I went live on Instagram. And if I look at my Instagram account, if I look at the account, I have 744,000 followers on Instagram. When I went live today, the maximum of people who watched was about 323. 323 who watched us early so Keep in mind. That's that's that's not even point 5% Of all of my followers. Okay, so I went live on Facebook. I think we got up to

850 or something along those lines. I got 1.4 million followers there. Mark Zuckerberg basically admitted that they've been shadow banning, that they don't allow all of your content to go to all of your followers. He admitted that. And so we have to understand that a platform like Fanbase, if you have, let's just say Fan base had a hundred million users. Let's say I had a million people who are on me while following me on fan base. Well, my million folks would actually be seeing my content would be getting my content because they're not trying to make their money off of advertising. And that's the piece. And so Elon Musk and Twitter, Facebook, Instagram threads, all these platforms, they're not sending your content to all of your followers. Mustafa, they are still controlling who gets to see it when they get to see it. to and i keep saying as black people we have got to stop being consumers and users and being equity

players which is why i have been so bullish when it comes to us investing in fan base building that up to millions and millions of followers being able to go public and now we only create wealth we have an equity stake in the company and we are in control of the content because I'm telling you the next four years, we're going to see a deluge of right wing content hitting us on every social media platform, especially Facebook and Twitter. Yeah. And again, it's about power. It's about, you know, being able to make sure that the information that that's being shared, not only with your family, if you have children or, you know, folks that you care about is authentic and that it's truthful. And hopefully that it's culturally competent. But, you know, there's this game that's being played in so many folks. I don't want to think folks are asleep, but I know people got a lot

of things going on in their lives. But, you know, when you have entities that you can trust and that have your best interests at heart, whether it's fan base or the Black Star Network, we should be investing in those. If you look traditionally in our communities, the entities that have been, you know, not sharing our stories and our successes and also the tribulations that we may have been dealing with. So we have that same opportunity in this moment to make sure that we are supporting our own because other people will do that. And they are also taking over these other platforms. And we know what they're going to be pumping into that so we have power in this moment and you can make the investment or you can continue to invest in these other types of entities that have no concern for our community

so once somebody posted can be on our YouTube channel Randy said if you have to pay you have to pay to pay to like if you like something on fanbase it's not free that's a lie that's not true now they have a system where you can like something but if you want to give a heart if you will you want to click a heart what that then does is that system allows for you to basically pay someone saying I liked what I saw but you don't have to there are some people on the platform they have content that you actually subscribe to and so that's that that's all there so it's a free app but the point that I'm trying to make to our people Randy we have made so many other people billionaires we We, man, blew up Twitter. We blew up Facebook. We blew up Clubhouse.

I could go on and on and on. And I'm like, why don't we blow up stuff that's black owned? Right. We need to decolonize our minds and realize that we can make things bigger and safer for us. We have made so many people millionaires and billionaires None of these platforms would be nothing without black content makers and users And so we have to trust in ourselves. We have to invest in ourselves That is the only way we're ever going to get free Because trust me they are going to censor all of your content creators That speak a truth that they don't like and only the truth does set us free Even if the truth is uncomfortable, even if it's a truth that they don't like. And only the truth does set us free, even if the truth is uncomfortable, even if it's a truth that they don't like. So it's the reason

why they took away Twitter, which was very much centered in Black Twitter, and changed it. It's the reason why they're trying to shut TikTok down. It's the reason why they're censoring us on Facebook. And they will continue to do so. And so we must go to our own platforms where we can hear base, and feed it to our people again. It's important. It's imperative. No one's going to trade us but us. That's it, Joe. Yeah, I mean, that's where we've got to go.

And, you know, we're at a new year. We're at a new time. And there's a lot of things, you know, even the Bible says you can't put new wine in the old wineskins. And maybe your old wineskin might be the procrastination of not doing something that you thought you'd do. Whether you're talking about cleaning your garage, whether you're talking about starting a business, whether you're talking about writing a book, whatever it is that you're doing.

I think it's important to use this time to look at our lives, to look at what we're doing, to look at what we're doing as individuals, as families, as people, as people of color. If you really are concerned about what's going to happen in this next administration, then you should be battening down the hatchets in terms of what you invest in, in terms of what you support, what groups you support, what stores, what chains you support, where you purchase your products, where you shop. This is an opportunity to really do the things that maybe we've talked about doing and that we deprioritize. So how is it that we prioritize making other folks rich, making other folks prosperous, consuming in something that we can never have an ownership stake in. But we don't prioritize actually doing the opposite, something that can actually help you help us help you.

It helps everybody that you're concerned with, everyone that you want to protect, et cetera. So we can all use this time to put to prioritize and look at areas of our life where we have pieces of unfinished business. And I think one of those pieces of unfinished business for our community is really going all in and supporting Black-owned businesses and businesses that have a concern for and a regard for our community and go all in on supporting those.

And I think Fanbase is a great way to do that Folks, we want to invest start engine calm for slash fan base start engine calm for slash fan base We can also download the app and just follow me. I'm at Roland S Martin on fan base. Alright y'all we come back Lots more to talk about on the show We're going to talk about McDonald's Pulling back on their DEI efforts I'm sure Randy has something to say About that Also we're going to be talking

To the US Ambassador to Botswana And then also Ghana They had their change in leadership That took place With their inauguration yesterday, was today. So lots more to talk about right here on Rollerback Unfiltered on the Blackstone Network. Hi, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase.

Fanbase is a free-to-download, free-to-use, next-generation social media platform that allows anyone to have followers and subscribers on the same page. Fanbase was built through investment dollars from equity crowdfunding from the JOBS Act. People just like you help build Fanbase. And we're looking for more people to help build fan base. We are currently raising $17 million in a Regulation 8 crowdfund on StartEngine. We've already crossed $2.1 million, but we're looking to raise more capital from people just like you that deserve the opportunity to invest in early stage startups without having to be accredited investors. So right now, I'd like you to go to

startengine.com slash fanbase and invest. The minimum to invest is $399. That gets you 60 shares of stock in Fanbase right now, today. And then use Fanbase to connect with friends, grow your audience, and be you without limits now streaming on the black star network i was challenged by my uncle early on before i even had a career like i was maybe eight years old and my uncle said what do you want to do and i told him i wanted to be a rapper.

And he said, okay, well, I don't know anything about the music business, so what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business, and I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through. And so I went and bought books, All You Need to Know About the Music Business, hit me in, I just went and bought a bunch of books, and I just started reading as a 10-year-old, just reading and reading a 10 year old. So I learned you know all things licensing, mechanical rights, I

learned about publishing, learned about how composition is broke up into two pieces the the writers portion and the producers portion. By the time I actually learned I came back I was ready to like, okay, I got it. He was going to prison. So I had all this information. All this knowledge. All this knowledge. You like, well, what am I going to do with it now? Now that Roland Martin is willing to give me the blueprint. Hey, Saras.

I need to go to Tyler Perry and get another blueprint because I need some green money. The only way I can do what I'm doing, I need to make some money. So you'll see me working with Roland. Matter of fact, it's the Roland Martin and Sherlock Holmes show. Well, it should be the Sherlock Holmes show and the Roland Martin show. Well, whatever show it's gonna be it's gonna be good folks today they have the inauguration in Ghana for their president John Mahama in fact he is the former president so he lost eight years ago the president no no he served eight years and then mama was re-elected by the people there in Ghana I was chatting earlier this week with a former congresswoman in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen

Bass. She was there. This ceremony took place in Black Star Square in Ghana, where John Muhammad spoke. And so Ghana, they have their new president. A lot of folks, a lot of course african americans i have been making uh the visit there some 20 different african leaders uh were in attendance at the inauguration there uh in ghana and so uh certainly congratulations to president uh muhammad hopefully i will have an opportunity to sit down with him like I did President Nano in 2019.

And we look forward to that. So they, of course, had a huge celebration. That square there is, if I'm correct, it's the second or the third largest in the world behind Tiananmen Square. And I visited the, of course, Black Star Square when I was there in 2008, as well as 2019. And so I just wanted to give a shout out there as there you see the presidential motorcade arriving for the inauguration of President John Muhammad. So let's now talk about Botswana. But last month, actually a couple months ago, I had an opportunity to drop by their celebration of their independence and so and enjoyed that at the at the embassy here

in Washington DC shortly after that they had elections there as well and so I want to chat with the U.S. ambassador to Botswana Churchill Mofoting one that did I get it pronounced correct let me know if i pronounce the last name correct you pronounce it good good good thank you so much martin all right uh glad to have you here so let's let's let's talk talk about uh again you had elections uh and so uh you had a you know botswana a lot of people don't realize one of the more stable African nations when it comes to leadership, when it comes to transition. And so let's talk about that. Thank you so much, Martin.

I think a lot of people don't know Botswana. And I think it's very important to give context. It's one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of population because we are only about 2.6 million people in Botswana. But it's one of the countries that makes a very big impact in the world, especially when it comes to issues of democracy, when it comes to issues of good governance and good leadership. And Botswana has been an exemplar for the past 58 years when it got into independence from Britain in 1966. And we have had the longest undisturbed democracy in Africa. And we still have that title.

And that's one of the most important thing. But apart from that, for the past 58 years, even though it was a democratic nation, but we have seen only one party which has actually been ruling Botswana, actually winning the elections up until last year in October, when the opposition party, which is more united, called the Umbrella for Democratic Change, took over the reins from Botswana Democratic Party, which has been in power for the past 58 years. And it has been a wonderful occasion, well celebrated by people. I think people were thirsty for change.

So you talked about people not knowing and when I dropped by the embassy uh one of the things that botswana uh uh is known for uh y'all uh it's elephants and and and how um uh so many people travel from around the world to be in the present presence of elephants in this in the country yeah in terms of wildlife conservation, just apart from elephant, when you're talking about the big five, you'd find them in Botswana.

And Botswana, as a lot of people might not know, we have the largest head of elephants in the world, roving at around about 35,000. They are found in Botswana. And that's a plus to Botswana, but at the same time also it's a minus in terms of the issue of imbalance to the environment. And I think the country, the nation has been actually concerned,

the government has been concerned for the past few years in terms of the elephant population actually growing. But if you want to see elephants, if you want to see lions, if you want to see all the big five, you go to Botswana. And when you look at Botswana also, it's the only country which has actually reserved the large portion of its land, almost three quarters of its land, to wildlife conservation. So that's how Botswana takes the issue of wildlife conservation, the issue of tourism, which I think is a protection of the animals, not only to Botswana, but to the rest of the world. Because a lot of these animals,

you don't find them anywhere. And you have to travel long distances, fly to Botswana, to go and find them. And for that, we feel very proud and we feel very honored. Again, for folks who are unfamiliar in terms, I'm just gonna show this map here, the location, Botswana, is in the Southern region of Africa. And it's of course to your left, Namibia above you zimbabwe uh and you also share a border with south africa yes those are our neighbors um that we have just mentioned and

unfortunately also botswana co-exists in a region which is fairly stable. And I think as you might be aware, it, SADC, which is a Southern African Development Community Region, is one of the most stable nations. It's just unfortunate, I think we have had instability in about two countries. Mozambique has actually been experiencing a little bit of instability as well as in Angola, but the Siq community

sorry not angola drc and the sadiq community has been very active in terms of trying to bring peace to these two countries so that stability reigns in sadiq um when i was uh when i visited the embassy uh i mean first of all um um you know i have been been to Liberia, been to Ghana, been to Ethiopia. And, of course, you said, hey, you need to visit Botswana. For folks who are here, let's talk about from a tourist standpoint, if folks from the United States, if African Americans want to visit Botswana, where would they go? The resorts you have there, you obviously landlocked, so you're not taking it like a lot of other places. They are emphasizing their beaches and things along those lines. And so what are you emphasizing for those folks who are interested in traveling and

visiting Botswana? Okay, I think the first one really is the Chobo National Park, which is in the north, the northern region. It's closer to the border with Zimbabwe and with Zambia. And as you know, that's the only also in the world with a quadra point where four countries actually meet. Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. And that's, I would say, it's a tourist attraction. It's very unique on its own. And that's also the portion where we find the Chobo National Park, which has the largest number of elephants in the world. So that's one of the most interesting places to visit. You will see almost all the big five in that particular region.

The other reason also why you are there, you are just basically, I would say, less than an hour drive to places like Victoria Falls, if you want to visit Victoria Falls. If you want to visit Namibia also, it's very, very closer and very near. The second place that you should go to Botswana and never come back, if you never come back visiting that place, you have actually missed a lot of portion is the Okavango Delta. The Okavango Delta also is up in the north and is the only river that actually ends in land. It starts all the way from Angola and when it reaches Botswana, it sprays for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers into a delta. And you will find all the different types of animals there, even the species of animals, including bears, about 600 species of bears that you will find out in the Okavango.

So that's one of the best areas to also visit. Yeah. Guys, go to my map, please. Thank you. So you see it right there where you see the river coming from Angola, then all of a sudden it splits into three different directions in Botswana. You see it right there. Yeah. One of the things that I've seen other African leaders talk about is the importance of what you see in Europe, open borders. You know, how easy, let's say someone goes to Botswana, how easy is it for them if they want to travel to Namibia or Angola or Zambia or Zimbabwe or even South Africa? Is it, you know, is it difficult?

You know, just talk about that. It is actually very easy. And a lot of these countries also coordinate and collaborate in terms of tourism across. And you'll also find that if you are talking about an American tourist, also because you don't need visa to go to Botswana. Also, some of these countries around Botswana also, you don't need visa. So you'll find that some of even the tourist safari companies that are actually operating in Botswana or in Namibia, they even do their final tours also in Botswana.

So it's very, very easy to go across the country. And also even for the, not necessarily for the tourists from outside the world, Botswana also has actually started, I'll say a very good thing. When you look at what Botswana has actually recently done with Namibia, for you, it's the only country in the SADC region where you can go from Botswana

to Namibia or Namibia to Botswana without a passport. All you need is a national ID to be able to cross into Botswana and Namibia. So that is the first point in terms of making it very, making it very easy for the citizens of both Botswana and Namibia. So that is the first point in terms of making it very easy for the citizens of both Botswana and Namibia. That's a starting point. And I think Botswana is selling this idea around southern countries so that in future we should see free movement of people and goods across these countries. That will also improve not only tourism, it also improves the issue of trade across the borders.

Questions from my panel? Mustafa, you first. Yeah, well, thank you for joining us. I've had a number of friends from Botswana. They often talked about the education and health care and how, you know, in this country, you often have to pay for that. And it was different in Botswana. Could you talk a little bit about that? Because it speaks to the infrastructure of the country. Yes, thanks a lot.

And that's one of the bigger differences that you find in a lot of countries in Botswana. Botswana, I think, threw out since 1966 when it took independence, and thanks to the discovery of diamonds in the early 70s, where we find that most of Botswana's economies derive from diamonds. And that money has actually been invested in a lot of infrastructure in Botswana,

both the road infrastructure, the rail infrastructure, the air infrastructure, the education of Botswana, even in terms of health. And like you have already mentioned the issue of education, when you go to Botswana right from the pre-primary level education all the way to university or the college level, you don't pay. And even if you do even better, they've got certain programs and elite scholarship programs and other programs that you are able to choose any college or any university in the world as long as you have done better it can be able to get scholarship to go and do any cause of your own so that's what really makes botswana so unique free education free medical health that you're trying to see wherever you go.

And then the country has invested a lot in health, in the health system, wherever you go, whether you go north, south, east, in almost all the district, there are primary hospitals, there are referral hospitals that you'll actually find in Botswana. So that's what makes a very big difference about Botswana. Randy. Well, of course, I'm interested in the diamonds. And so I did. So I. Yes, yes. Shocker.

So how do I get one? No. You know, I know that, you know, there's a lot of conversation or a lot of conversations about that countries in Africa have not been treated fairly when it comes to getting our gems out. What has Botswana done to ensure that, you know, the country is receiving and being paid fairly? Because I know it has helped the economy greatly. But are there more conversations to ensure that we are getting and that you are getting what is fair from trade? Thank you.

I think that's a that's a question which is ongoing. Even since we started mining these diamonds, we continue to first of all, I think is's the good leadership of the country. And what the leadership realized that diamonds are like oxygen to Botswana. It means everything. So they had to have a very good negotiation skills and get into partnership with partners who are very genuine. And as you are aware, Botswana has been in good partnership with the DBS for quite a long time.

It has diversified its partnership with the dbs for quite a long time it has diversified his partnership with the canadian companies also it has diversified partnership with other countries but the majority of the diamonds that are mined is a partnership between botswana and the dbs and it's a 50 50 share what i i i need to admit though in the the past that Botswana did not take advantage of. And I think this is something which is slowly changing. Botswana was more immersed in terms of the diamond mining, but did not really participate in the entire value chain. So it is only in recent years that is actually realized that it is really important also as part of the diversification of the economy especially the mining sector that it has to actually participate all the way from

mining to cutting to polishing to design and and that's what the country is actually doing and that's what people are looking for different partnership in terms of doing that with either partners from outside the country even within the country also that's where the Botsw the country, even within the country also. That's where the Botswana government, as well as the Botswana, want to participate in that space. And I think it is pretty taking shape, even though not at the rate at which we want to take shape.

There continue also to be negotiations with the DBS also, with other companies in terms of how best can we be able to include the rest of Botswana in terms of the value chain of diamonds in Botswana. So it's a continuing conversation but I think the best part of it is in terms of leadership. You know in a lot of countries sometimes some of these things are you know in a lot of countries sometimes some of these things are not run in a very professional way but i think botswana from the beginning with the leadership and the transition of leaders as it as they came also they just took over and the professionalism continued the leadership continued the value

chain continued even in terms of finding seeing that these diamonds do not particularly belong to a certain region it belongs to the central government and the money is equally distributed throughout according to the national plan we don't say no because diamonds comes from sector x or sector y it has to benefit more than the other sectors that's not how it is done in Botswana. Thank you. Joe? Great information, and I appreciate you being here. It's always a great history lesson to learn more directly from the source about a country

that you think you know a little bit about. Clearly, Botswana is still very much a well-kept secret. Too much. So tell us about the things that are being done to let more people know. And how can we help Botswana be less of a well-kept secret, whether you're talking about tourism, investment to people in America, black people in America and and black people all over the world. Thank you so much. I think it's important also, especially for the black people in America, that we should understand that the rest of the world is actually going south. We talked about what used to be called the economies moving from west to east and south.

And a lot of countries are taking advantage of that, even including the Western countries. But I think it's also important to promote Botswana before the African-American community in the US to see what areas could they be able to invest, especially in areas of green technology. Everybody is going into that space and we think it's really important also.

We all want green energy. We all want the electricity to be able to reach even the poorest place in the country. And that is where the type of investment that we want. We want the internet also, the entire country to be fully connected. That's a space also where people can continue to be able to invest. We want also to grow the agribusiness in Botswana. Agriculture, both the crop production as well as the animal rearing in Botswana and the

export of beef and the rest. And there are a wide variety of areas which I think are very, very important. Even the space of tourism. We really don't want people, especially the younger generation in Botswana, not to participate, only to participate in tourism in terms of them being waiters or anything like that. They have to say, to have a say in the economy also and ensure that they actually participate in the deeper part of the economy. So these are the things that I would request that we make Botswana known. And I think today is the first step and a very critical step in terms of ensuring that Botswana is known also. We need also to be able to use the platform,

all the different types of platform, the internet, whether it is X, it's Facebook, it is the different podcasts. And I know your podcast has got, commands a lot of influence, actually. And this is basically the right platform. And we know and understand that sometimes it's not cheap to be able to advertise, for example, Botswana. But we need to use every type of platform, every type of method to be able to, Botswana. But we need to use every type of platform, every type of method to be able to sell Botswana. And one of the areas that we sell Botswana with,

particularly with the U.S. government, I think we resonate a lot of similar things. Good governance, democracy, these are the type of things that every time, you know, when we sell, when we sell, we say we have got values that are very similar in a lot of ways with American society, this is what we actually mean in Botswana. It is a country that has become an example of a good democratic state, of good governance,

of literally very low corruption indexes when you compare to a lot of countries around the world. And that's what Botswana is really all about. And that's what we want everybody to see and understand and recognize Botswana as a true symbol of democracy, a true symbol of good leadership, a true symbol of good governance. All right, then. Well, Ambassador, we certainly appreciate you joining us on the show and look forward to visiting one day. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for having me on the show. We are looking forward for for you to visit Botswana and you are more than welcome. And thank you for for having me on the show. All right. Thanks so much. Take care. Thank you, Martin. All right, folks, let's talk about the continuing the continuing unlawfully discriminates based on race and sex in violation of the Constitution.

The Black Male Initiative was founded in 2001 to address the low graduation rates of black male students who are among the most underserved demographic groups in higher education the equal protection project which has filed more than 40 similar complaints against universities nationwide as a subdivision of the legal insurrection foundation the organization's mission is to fight the threats of critical race theory diversity equity and inclusion and cancel culture so really what they really are fighting uh are black people so let's just go ahead and call it call it what it is and so I don't have a problem and actually calling it what it is but that's what's going on a conservative activist activist Robbie Starbuck is claiming success because McDonald's is the latest company that has announced they're rolling back their DEI initiatives.

This year is the headline in the Associated Press. And when you read this particular story, McDonald joins companies like Walmart, John Deere, Holly Davidson and others rolling back their DEI initiatives. The story says McDonald said money, it will retire specific goals for achieving diversity as senior leadership levels They also will end a program that encourages its suppliers to develop Diversity training and to increase the number of minority group members represented within the own leadership ranks now McDonald's

Said that they achieve a lot of their particular goals which they a lot of these initiatives were rolled out in 2021. AP says McDonald's, they said they rolled these diversion initiatives in 2001 after a spate of sexual harassment lawsuits filed by employees and a lawsuit alleging discrimination brought by a group of black former McDonald's franchise owners. Now, if you go through this particular story here, they cite the Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action in colleges and universities. And many of these white conservatives, they have been using that as a way to target these various corporations. And so one of the folks who is claiming credit for what happened is Robbie Starbuck. So Robbie, let me

pull this back up here. So Robbie Starbuck, he got mad that I called him a white man, said he's Hispanic. I'm like, there's a thing called white Hispanic, but he didn't respond to that one. So this is what he did. So he got his Twitter post here and he says, oh, he said he was three days ago, he told McDonald's he was going to do a story on their quote vote policies. And then they made their announcement. And so he is sitting here taking a victory lap. And, you know, and he's writing to him what they're going to be doing here. And so the thing that I want to go to Randy here first, because here's what these white conservatives and folks like Robbie Starbuck are doing. You know, they are targeting these companies and trying to get them to back down. But you know what? I've got to show some love to Costco because Costco, Randy said, hell no, we're not we're not sitting here backing down from Costco stood by their DEI efforts.

And that's what more companies need to be doing. And I call this and I told a number of different corporations, you're going to get targeted by a lot of these people because they're going to go after every single program that's been created to provide some opportunities for African-Americans and others. And folks like Robbie Starbuck, they love talking about, oh, it needs to be colorblind and merit. But they say nothing about legacy. They say nothing about in these corporations, in these franchises, how white owners have been making millions and billions all of these years. They say nothing about those different things. And so this is attacking any program that exists. And you know what? Let me also say this here. White women have been beneficiaries. And you got guys like Robbie Starbuck who act as if white men somehow are being disenfranchised when, oh, let's look at boards of directors. Let's look at McDonald's franchise owners. Let's look at corporate executives. And so they want to stop black advancement. That's what they want to do and so corporations like mcdonald's are giving

in uh to these uh thugs and i call them thugs because what they're doing is uh they uh don't care about uh diversity uh they don't care about any of that and you don't see any of these folks uh talking about oh let's fighting uh inequity when it comes to funding in schools and elementary schools, middle schools, high schools. We're not talking about any of those things. No, they want to play this. Oh, no, we're all on the same equal playing field. And we know that's BS.

It's absolute BS. And I want to make it clear that diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives were started to neutralize the obvious discrimination that was occurring in companies. It was not a favor for us. It was not to get less qualified people. It was to neutralize what was already happening. the years of discrimination. Okay. And even with these programs, we have to understand that 88%, okay, 88% of CEOs, CFOs, and COOs of companies are white men, 88%. So either you have to decide that you believe that only white men are qualified to be in leadership positions or you have to recognize that there obviously are biased hiring decisions and promotion decisions and supplier decisions going on. So they develop these programs. But what's happening now is a war for the small progress that we've made. For instance, in 2021, there were six Black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, like 2%. After the George Floyd murder, it moved up to eight. But they don't even want us to have that. They're saying, oh no, we will sue you if you continue

with these programs. So what McDonald's has done, and I work for McDonald's as a consultant in DEI, and they were making great strides because what they did is they said, they would say something like, we want 25% of our executive staff, our management and above, for instance, to be women, right? And so they would tie the people's compensation and everything to diversity equity and inclusion goals do you know why they did that they did it because it doesn't happen people don't aren't nice people don't work for diversity equity and inclusion unless they're incentivized they're not doing it out of the kindness of their heart. So what McDonald's is saying now is we're taking away all of those goals. We're just going to have conversations.

We're going to go back to having people like Randy come in and make speeches so it looks like we're committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are going to encourage and suggest that our suppliers also care about diversity, equity, and inclusion. It's very soft. It's not objective. It's not tied to business goals. It's not tied to compensation for managers, which means it will not happen. And how do we know it won't happen? Because it never did in the first place. When senior leaders, mostly of whom, like I said, are white and male, were given this edict to, yeah, could you please maybe hire people that are different from yourselves? They didn't do it. They've never done it. And the only time we have made progress is when we had these initiatives and goals, which makes Donald's is

wiping out. They will say to us, we're not killing all of our initiatives. Well, let me tell you what they're not killing. They're still going to have diversity in the workforce because you can't help but to. McDonald's is a worldwide company. If they're hiring locally, they by default have diversity. But what they did not have, and they probably will not anymore, is have women, Black people, Hispanics at powers of position. So they're fine with us working for them, but they're not fine with us leading them. So it sucks. It sucks. It's a funny lot. Well Well I'll say this here What they also are fine with Mustafa They are fine with black folks walking

Through the doors spending their dollars But the question is are you Seeing the return on investment to black communities And I'm not talking About just you sponsoring something at Essence Festival The paltry spending on black owned media I'm talking about, again, the ability to build and create wealth.

This is the press release they put out, our commitment to inclusion at McDonald's. And, of course, there are critics, they're like, oh, the goals that you established, those goals were quotas, which is just BS. And so they want to attack any of these programs that are about providing opportunities to black folks and people of color. That's what it boils down to. And so these yahoos in there, oh, in woke, in woke, in woke. That's how pathetic they are. Well, I'm going to tell you something right now. Black folks, you start withdrawing. As Dr. King said on April 3rd, 1968, we start having economic withdrawals. Then you'll see a whole bunch of these same white conservatives feel the pain in their communities.

And that's the only way that is going to change. And, you know, I always ask the question, you know, when we started talking about McDonald's, I was like, is the McRib worth your dick? Because there's a whole lot of folks who no matter what these companies do and it's not just mcdonald's you know there's a whole lot of randy can lay out you know the whole list of folks who are you know doing these regressive types of actions but if we continue to fund our own oppression then of course they're going to continue to do it. So the only thing that gets these types of people's attention is the money, is economics. And if you begin to take that away,

then I guarantee you, then they will change these sets of actions that they're doing. And we should also be supporting those entities that are standing strong, Costco and others. So it is both sides of the coin. If you ain't going to do right, you take our dollars away. If you are, then we are going to support that. And, you know, so we have power once again in this situation.

We just have to make sure that we're actually utilizing it. I'll tell you, Joe, my wallet's upstairs. And in my wallet, I've got a Sam's card and a Costco card. Well, Walmart, Walmart came to the pressure in their D.I. programs. I don't walk into a Sam's, but I can tell you right now, I damn sure will provide my business to Costco. Right. I mean, you know, for so long, they have had the force of tradition, the force of legacy, I've said it before, the force of relationships. And when we try to get just a little piece of something through the force of law, now it's a problem. So it's as if, you know, what underlies this is this notion of entitlement and that therefore the two or three percent that we get, apparently we don't deserve. And so what that means is that all of that belongs with you and with them.

And so it's a serious problem. And what's interesting is they're getting ahead of the law. The law doesn't keep them from doing what they're doing right now. And so there is a political play that's being made, right? It's another. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They are. They are scared. They are scared of these whack jobs. Oh, we're going to boycott your companies. We're going to boycott your companies. That's what they're scared of. And they don't and they're unwilling to have the guts to say, bring it on and saying we stand with diverse customer base. That's what it's all about. And as John Hope Bryant, founder of Operation Hope, keeps saying,

he's like, listen, ain't enough white men in America to continue building America's gross domestic product. He's like, so you're going to need black and brown people. Right. I mean, you look not just to the corner, but around it. At the end of the day, the people of color is where the growth segment is. And so you have to make this decision. And so will we be as disciplined

as we were all those years ago with the Montgomery bus boycott, when we decided that nobody black was riding the bus and you choke that city economically? Will we be that disciplined to stop going to McDonald's, to stop going to Walmart, to stop going to fill in the blank. Because if we're not, then we are, you know, funding our own oppression. And so we're really going to have to make a decision about where we go here, because these guys have jumped ahead of even where the law is. The law does not require this at all. And so, you know, it's it's it's sad for that reason. And on top of everything else now, brother, Katie, you get a quarter pound.

Well, I want you all to to definitely take the time to check out a conversation on YouTube. The man, John O'Brien, had and he talked about the issue of can DEI withstand the backlash. I just want to play some of it. Check this out. I've known that for a long time. I think President Bill Clinton sort of was able to get that right, right in the center. He had lower deficits and higher GDP and an inclusive agenda. And I don't think a lot of people have gotten it right since then. But this was about insecurity and people who want a narrative that for a time that has long past.

I'm about the future. And I think that's why in your car, the front windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror. Look, I just think there's not enough white men. Why do you say that? That is not a popular belief. Probably not what you thought would come out of my mouth. Yeah.

Look, I like math because it doesn't have an opinion. It's a Melody Hobson quote. I just love it. The math is that I want every white male to be successful if they can be. I want everybody to be successful. But we need every successful college educated white male to be on the field of economics. But mathematically, there's not enough college educated successful white men to drive GDP for 30 years. So do you think education is the problem here? What went wrong? I mean, leadership's always the problem and courage is always the problem. But yes,

education is the ultimate poverty eradication tool. I think financial literacy is a civil rights issue of this generation. I think that AI literacy is right behind it and next to it, which is why I'm co-chairing the Financial Literacy for All Initiative with the CEO of Walmart, Doug McMillan, and co-chairing the AI Ethics Council with the Steve Jobs of this generation, which is Sam Altman. But going back to, let's hit your question directly, though. I want to answer the question. White population in 1950 was 90%. Not 1850.

1950. Today, 40% of this country so I want you to actually go to YouTube it's that's a fortune conversation it's about a 14 minute video we'll check it out and what John what John lays out there Randy is very clear right ain't enough white men so these white folks or these, you know, Latinos like like this, like this, this, this, this dude, you guess what he calls himself or whatever he is, if he's Latino. I mean, they can sit here and yell all they want to. But guess what? who wouldn't have contracts or would not have built businesses in this country if you did not have MWBE programs, diversity initiatives. And the rally is, as you said, Randy, the reason these programs are put in place, because these white executives weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing. They were actually depriving opportunities of people of color to interview

to be able to get jobs and that that's what says what's so hilarious it's amazing you know these conservative these conservative groups uh they don't they don't sit here and go after white white white white white because you know what they assume the white folks got hired they're all fully qualified it It's all good. They say nothing, nothing about them constantly being hired, constantly getting contracts. But all of a sudden, oh, no, you can't have any programs where you're trying to bring in some people of color. That's all this is all about. And guess what? You ain't going to tell you right now, America, y'all play games all y'all want to. But if you keep playing this game in 10 years with the white death rate being what it is and the white birth rate being extremely low, you're going to have a gross domestic product problem. And if America wants to maintain being the world's number one economy, you had better recognize that you're going to have to include

people of color. And that doesn't mean us being sharecroppers and tilling the soil. And include us in a real way because we are smarter than they give us credit for. I believe, just like you said, they feel if they put up a tent at the Essence Festival and give out some free prizes at HBCU homecoming, they look as if they have a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. And we need to let them know. We're looking to see how many board members do you have that look like us and represent us? How many people do you have on your executive board? What suppliers are you working with that look like us? Are you actually feeding into the Black economy? and do you see us in that way and

if you don't we will not spend money in your store and that is like we said earlier that is the only way they will listen my mama used to say you know money talks and walks so they don't care about our our protests as if it doesn't hurt their pockets and i really respect companies like target and costco that are saying no we're going to roll with our with with this and we have to show them like okay i mean first go to my you know black owned businesses if possible but if not you know you go to those businesses that are saying we're we are truly and showing that they're committed all the businesses have statements i've written quite a few of them. They have statements that say, we are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, but we're

not going to set up any programs where you could be successful here. Or, you know, we're not going to hire your people at any levels above management, but we're still committed. I really wanted to ensure that all of your viewers out there, because if they're watching this, they they they are you know, they are about the black cause. I want them to understand that there really is a war going on out here. I mean, it is. Oh, yeah. And they're doing everything in their power to ensure that black people do not progress. So we have got to fight back. And the way we do that is, one, support our own businesses and media outlets. And two, do not give money to people who are basically saying that we don't care about you and we don't respect you. And the reason we even have these current black McDonald's franchisees is because you had programs in the late sixties, early seventies and eighties. And those are that,

that created economic opportunities, uh, black car dealerships, uh, as well, the opportunity for black folks to participate, uh, in this. Oh, and let me also remind a lot of these same white conservatives or people like Robbie Starbuck, affirmative action programs started under Richard Nixon. Republican. Conservative. Republican. Go Google

Arthur Fletcher and trust me, America ain't changed that much from 1969 to 2024. Joe, Randy, and Mustafa, I appreciate y'all being on today's show. Thank you so very much. Folks, don't forget, support the work that we do. We're about doing the business

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