#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Minn. Family Sues Cop Who Killed Son, NPR's Mess, Dissecting Stephen A. Smith's Comments About Trump

Episode Date: April 20, 2024

4.19.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Minn. Family Sues Cop Who Killed Son, NPR's Mess, Dissecting Stephen A. Smith's Comments About Trump The family of a Black Minnesota man who was killed by a state trooper during a traffic stop filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging that the fatal shooting was unjustified and unlawful. Civil Rights attorney Harry Daniels is back to discuss yet another case of a black man killed by law enforcement.  #BlackStarNetwork partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase One former National Public Radio employee claims the company is too woke. Another former employee, Alicia Montgomery, says NPR is a mess, but it's not its wokeness isn't the problem. She'll be in the studio to explain what she believes is NPR's biggest issue.  A man sets himself on fire in front of the New York Courthouse where Trump's hush money trial is taking place.   And I will deconstruct what Stephen A. Smith said to millions of MAGA conservatives on Sean Hannity's show last night when he said Black people can sympathize with Trump because he's being "persecuted" by the criminal justice system. And we're opening the phone lines to hear what you have to say! Be sure to follow the prompts to be selected.  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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Friday, April 19, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network, a Minnesota family is following a federal lawsuit against a state trooper who shot and killed their loved one. Civil rights attorney Harry Daniels will join us to talk about this particular case. National Public Radio has had lots of folks

talking about them over the last week, over them being too liberal and also accusations of being too woke. Well, we'll talk to a African-American woman who worked there who wrote a counter article that talked about the problems there and how it still has to deal with this issue when it comes to race, despite the criticism of what is now a white former editor. Also on today's show, a man set himself on fire in front of the courthouse while Donald Trump is on trial in New York City.

And speaking of that, Stephen A. Smith made some comments on Sean Hannity's show regarding this case and the others against Donald Trump and also spoke about this notion that black people are sympathetic to Donald Trump because he's being railroaded by the criminal justice system. I will walk through why all of that is an absolute fallacy. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network.

Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah

Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martin. Now, Martin. The family of a black motorist shot and killed by a Minnesota State Trooper doing a traffic stop is suing him folks. Ryan Longren fatally shot Ricky Cobb, the second during the traffic

stop on July 31st, 2023. Longren is facing a second degree unintentional murder charge for killing Cobb. The lawsuit accuses the officers of unreasonable seizure and excessive use of force. Minnesota State Trooper Brett Side is also named in the lawsuit. He was involved in the traffic stop, but has not been charged.

Civil Rights Attorney Harry Daniels represents the family. Glad to have you here, Harry. So first and foremost, as always, what happened here? What happened to this traffic stop? What was the purpose of it? Hey, Roland, Thanks for having me. The traffic stop was based on a taillight that was out. In fact, the state of Minnesota

after the killing of George Floyd entered into agreement with the city of Minneapolis that the police inside the city of Minneapolis could no longer stop motorists for minor traffic or equipment defects. So we believe that a stop initiated by the state trooper was unlawful. Once the stop was made, they ran Ricky Cobb's second name. He had some type of civil order dealing with something in another county.

The troopers made a phone call to that particular county and asked if they wanted them to detain him to bring him in and answer to that civil order. That county said yes. The officers, the troopers then came back to Ricky Cobb and asked him to step out of the vehicle. Ricky was asking them why. Do he need to step out of the vehicle? What's going on? They would not tell him.

Eventually, one of the troopers who's mentioned in the lawsuit opens the door, goes inside the car, started to take off Ricky's seatbelt. At that time, Larkin, the trooper who's actually been charged with murder, he pulled his gun, has his gun out, and at that time, Ricky takes his foot off the brake and Lonergan shoots him twice, and a quarter mile down the road, he crashes and dies. All right, so guys, do me a favor.

Go back. I want you to roll the video back to when the officer approached the car. I need audio turned up. Is there audio on here? Okay, fine. I need y'all to roll the video back to when the officer approached the car. I need audio turned up. Is there audio on here? Okay, fine. I need y'all to turn the audio up. So let's do this here.

Go back. I need to hear the conversation. And so let's go. Okay, freeze the video. Freeze the video. Okay, so, Harry, the camera that we're seeing is the second officer. Have they released body camera from the officer who's talking to Ricky? We have not seen camera of the officer who's actually talking to talking. It may be there, and I've not seen it.

But I believe all the cameras been released, but we also have cameras of the shooting officer from his position from the Apache side. All right, so let's do this here. Keep playing tape, keep going. He's just ants. How you doing my man? We're gonna need you to step out though. We have some stuff to talk about, okay? What? We just have some stuff to talk about. Somebody's- Every time y'all talk about-

All right, come on. We need some stuff to talk about, y'all be taking me to jail, but for what? Okay, we have some stuff to talk about. This is Ramsey County, we just have to have you step out. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I know. I know. I know.

I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.

I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. We need some stuff to talk about. Y'all been taking me to jail, but for what? Okay. We have some stuff to talk about. It's a Ramsey counter. We just have to have you step out. Hold on. Hold on. I know. Ramsey counter?

Yes. Never. Okay. Just take the keys out of the car. No, no, no, no, no. Because I'll call my attorney right now. And this ain't no funny shit. Okay.

But if y'all talk about that shit with Terry Young. But you have to step out, okay? Hold on. Is it a warrant? No. It's not a warrant. I need you to step out the car. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

I'll explain it all out when you get out of the car. Hold on, y'all can go with some funny shit. Y'all keep it a buck with me, bro. But if y'all can go with some funny shit with me, y'all can tell me right now. Hand me the keys. Call my attorney. Can you hand me the keys? Can you hand me my keys? Hand me the keys to the vehicle.

Why? Hand me the keys to the vehicle. Why? Just hand me the key. Can y'all keep it a buck for me, bro? Y'all pull me over for my headlights. OK. Yep.

Yep. And we already passed that. So like I said, you're going to need to step out of the vehicle. OK. We passed that, so where we at then? OK. We're going to need to step out of the vehicle. So where are we at then?

And I'm going to explain it all when we step out. But when you say step out of the vehicle, you're going to explain it to me. Yes, this is not a lawful. And then y'all are su- This is- hey, man, you've been super cool. Get out of the vehicle, you're going to spray some... Yes, this is not a lawful... Hey man, you've been super cool. Get out of the car. GET OUT OF THE CAR NOW!

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Ah, I just got fucking dragged. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck. I'm going to stop the car. Alright, 40 seconds. I need to leave. Okay. So Harry, at this point, he's already been shot. That's correct. All right. All right. So now. All right. All right, so, folks, I need y'all now to go to the other

camera. I need you to go to the other camera. So, the shots were fired by the second officer. So, go to the other camera, the second officer's camera, and I want you to actually take it forward. I don't need to see the same conversation, but

move it forward to when they're in the car and, 40 seconds. License status valid. Car stop, 40 seconds. ...water. License status, Yes, sir. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

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

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. No, no, no, no, no. I need... So, where's the video of the officer firing the shot at Ricky?

That's the video you're officer firing the shot at Ricky? Control room. That's the video you're talking about. Control room, do you have that? That's what I wanna see. All right. Harry, while they're looking, so here's the deal. Okay, obviously he's questioning them. He said, I can call my cops

he doesn't want to get out he takes off i i when i heard that he was in the car heard something about shots being fired ricky never fired at these officers right no no ricky never fired the officers the the video that you're trying to get cure up from the control room actually is a vantage point of the officer who actually fired the weapon. Right, right, right. What I'm saying is were there any actions that Ricky

took to where he endangered the lives of the officers? No. No, Ricky did not take any actions to endanger the lives of the officers as we alleged in our lawsuit. The second officer is on the passenger side. During that discussion, he opened the door, he pulled a gun out and pointed at Ricky.

Then one officer is attempting to take his seatbelt off. At that time, Ricky's foot came off the brake. Came off the brake, then the officer shot him twice. Once he was shot, then Ricky took off because he realized that these guys are shooting at me. But there was no acts, no overt acts by Ricky. So I'm trying to figure out. So Ricky was shot at the initial stop, and then that's when he took off? Yes.

You can barely hear it, but he shot at the initial stop and then that's when he took off? Yes. You can barely hear it, but he shot at the initial stop. When he was driving, he had already been shot twice. Right. And again, here's what I don't understand here. Even if he takes off, why are they firing shots?

Well, that's why we filed a lawsuit. Obviously, that's why the county attorney filed murder charges against this state trooper, because clearly, you cannot use a deadly weapon to shoot into a moving vehicle

or a vehicle at all when there's no threat of deadly weapon being used against you. Clearly, in this video, Ricky is questioning these officers about why you want me to step out of the car. The officer tells him, you don't have a warrant. He's like, well, why do you want me to step out? We're talking about a defective taillight. What's going on? They didn't tell Ricky that a county wanted to bring him in on a civil matter opposed to a criminal warrant.

So let me ask you that right there, though. It's a civil matter. Yes. Why would a trooper call a county? First of all, it's nighttime. Who the hell are they talking to with the county on a civil matter? And what was the civil matter? More than likely they're talking to a dispatch.

We don't know the extent of what the civil matter was at this time. We get that through discovery, exactly what was the issue with the matter. I think it was some type of issue, maybe a domestic issue, with one of his mothers of his children. But it was a civil matter. It was not a criminal warrant as such. And there was discretion that could be made. And the agency notified the state trooper who had him on the side of the road

that, hey, yeah, we want to talk to him, bring him in. But they refused to tell Ricky that. You know, and Ricky is telling them, hey, let me call my lawyer, who he has a family lawyer, and let me call him. Y'all can tell me what's going on. In fact, you know, they chose not to do that. You're like, hey, well, it's a lawful order. Now I want you to step out of the car.

Once the officer initiated reaching inside the car, that's why he sued as well, reaching inside the car to undo Ricky's seatbelt. He had the opportunity. He could have turned the ignition off or whatever he could have done, all those things, but he chose to reach over there. And once he reached, then Ricky

released, came off the brake. He didn't hit the gas. He just simply came off the brake because now you got this officer on top of him. And once he did that, the other deputy, the other state trooper shot him twice. And if you can, in that video that you have queued up already, that we've seen already, you can hear

the shots. You can actually see the vantage point where the officer who reached in and you can see that the officer who did the shooting opens the door and tells him to step out of the vehicle and points the gun. This was not a case where a gun was warranted. There was no

deadly force. There was nothing. Each of deadly force, there was no threat of any kind, but he chose to introduce a gun to a situation was not warranted. And he clearly violated, if you look at our complaint, he violated a Minnesota law. He violated their own policies. And that's why the county attorney chose to charge him with murder. And we're not talking about voluntary manslaughter. We're talking about, she charged him with murder. And we're not talking about voluntary manslaughter. We're talking about she charged him with murder. Right.

Because there was no need. It was unwarranted. It's against the policies. You cannot pull, even if he didn't want to get out the car, okay? You cannot use a deadly weapon whereas there's nothing that's not being warranted. You can maybe tase, pepper spray, as such, but you cannot use a gun to tell a person.

It's like basically, hey, if you don't walk out this house, I'm going to shoot you. Right. You can't do that. That's against the law. You can't do that. You cannot use deadly force. Deadly force not being used against you. But this officer took it upon himself to pull his gun out on him.

This black man who's already questioning, who's already afraid, and tell him, get out of this car right now. You know, and when the other officer reaches in, then simply he shoots him. It's so quick that you can barely hear it, but he shot him before he took off. Once he shot him, he really got out and took off. So the body cam footage of the officer who fired the fatal shots, that body cam footage has not been released?

No, that body cam was released. Y'all should have not been released. No, that body cam was released. Y'all should have it. I don't. That body cam was released. That camera, that's largely his body camera. So that body camera is there. It's not there. And that's all over the, it's everywhere.

Okay. Well, again, another example, a black man being killed by cops over a basic traffic stop, a taillight. Yeah, a taillight in which the city, the state, have entered into agreement to not engage motorists on taillights. And here's the thing. If you look back at the video, Ricky had multiple lights. He had a, to my understanding, he had a back window light

as well as the left light was working. So he had ample lighting on his vehicle that did not require them to stop him, but they chose to stop him. They did not want to have a conversation. It's like, just tell him what's going on.

He's asking you. It's better to tell him what's going on. You know, he's asking you. You know, it's better to tell him what's happening than to pull a gun and shoot to kill this young father of four in his life at the age of 34 years old. Like you said, we see it all over again. And it's sick and tired of it. You know, these lawsuits we bring, you know, and seeking monetary damages, but not just the monetary damages. You're seeking change. And the biggest thing that we want here is change. And sometimes, you know, bringing change is by breaking the system

because sometimes people listen to money as opposed to listening to other folks' reasonable results and reasonable thoughts that can affect change for everybody. So like you said, Roland, once again, we're here again. It's unfortunate, but the one thing we're going to do, we're going to keep fighting. We're going to keep bringing the life of black lives, the value of black lives,

and we're going to continue to push this envelope to those who are in charge or removed, those who could commit to committing these acts are stopped and real change happen. All right, then. We appreciate it. Herr Daniels, thanks a lot. Appreciate it. Take care. All right. Thank you so very much. All right, folks. Got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about this here. Also, some breaking news out of Dalton, Illinois. The FBI has served, has surged subpoenas there regarding embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard. We'll tell you about that as well.

You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I was just in my backyard. I just was manifesting about life. I said, I would love to come back because it was a great time. And these kids need that right now. They need that male role model in the schools, I think. Even on TV. People are scared to go into the high schools.

You know, the high school, you know what I mean? I would love to bring it back, and I think we could bring it back. You know, what do you think? I think we'll just ask the people. We'll ask your people. We'll do a poll. Y'all want to hang with Mr. Cooper? Yeah, I say let's go.

We all look good. You know, Ali looked good. You know, Raven looked the same. Marquise, Don Lewis. It'd be funnier than half the bullshit you see out there on TV now. Goddamn. What the fuck?

What happened to TV? Yeah, yeah. It's some, I'm like, oh my god. What the fuck? What happened to TV? It's something. I'm like, oh my God. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million, and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits.

On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare. We'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years, and they're still going strong, speed bumps and all. I was all one-one trying to hold back, but he thinks he can do anything. He's like, no, we're going to do it. You know, let's do it. Let's just jump into it, and it has worked.

It's a thing of beauty, literally. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. This is Essence Atkins. Mr. Love, King of R&B, Raheem Devon. Me, Sherri Sheppard, and you know what you're watching. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, I want to bring in our panel now.

Glad to have them here. Michael Imhotep, host of African History Network show out of Detroit. Glad to have them here. Michael Imhotep, host of African History Network show out of Detroit. Glad to have him here. Also, Cameron Trimble, CEO of Hip Politics Media, former White House senior advisor out of D.C. Michael, we've seen this way

too many times. Again, basic traffic stop, taillight, something hanging from the window. It's always something small that escalates into something larger and a black person ends up being shot and killed. Absolutely, Roland. And, you know, I had a couple of questions for Attorney Harry Daniels because I was trying to figure out and reading the article from care11.com on this, I was trying to figure out, in reading the article from Care11.com on this, I was trying to figure out, OK, why was the—why was it necessary to use the gun? Why was it necessary to shoot Ricky Cobb, number one? Number two, I know in the article it said that his hand moved to the gear shift, and it said right before that the state trooper went to

take—went to take Ricky Cobb's seat belt off, OK? And according to attorney Harry Daniels, the—Ricky was shot before the car took off. So if he shot before the car took off, I'm trying to figure out why was there a need for deadly force. In some instances like this, the police officer would say he feared being ran over. But from attorney Henry Daniels, the shots rang out before the car took off. So what was the need for deadly force? Did more questions have to be asked here? And hopefully justice reigns true on this. But lastly, the Hennepin County attorney's office hired

an expert who found that Trooper Londrigan acted lawfully. So there's still some questions that have to be asked here. Well, I mean, obviously. Yeah, obviously. But that's why they've been indicted and why you have a federal lawsuit, Cameron. Again, this is the thing that we always talk about. How do you de-escalate? Now, we heard the initial video.

Here you have an officer. Clearly, you have a driver who is perturbed, who is not happy at all. And I say to folk all the time is that from an officer's standpoint, they need to understand when you're an African-American, African-American man, you get pulled over. I mean, you, your heart is racing. Their job is to de-escalate a situation

so it does not get any more dangerous. Roland, I totally agree. As a person who's been pulled over and stopped for small speeding or things of the nature, when you're, as a young black man, and I'm 6'2", so even sitting down, I feel tall, things of the nature when you're as a young black man and I'm six two. So I'm even sitting down, I feel tall and you just, you want to make sure are my hands, are my hands being shown?

Am I not making any sudden movements? I think even in the video, as he clearly explained, Hey, I'm not doing any funny stuff. He, he tried to deescalate. He tried to do some to really get the officer as much at ease as possible. And he also did something that I think is underreported, but I think African-Americans and a lot of folks feel often, when he asked, did he have a warrant, claimed he said he had a lawyer, he'd like to call a lawyer. I have never once in a stop or heard of them actually letting you call your lawyer, them actually saying,

hey, I have no warrant, I don't care, get out the car. And then you're kind of stuck because we've been armed and told certain things, especially as black men and black boys, that if you aren't doing anything wrong, like, and they don't have a reasonable reason to get you out of the car, your rights are that you should be able to stay in your car. And I think this police officer preyed upon that power position to be able to try to force a gentleman out of the car. But it's, they're there to need to deescalate. I'm really confident in the state attorney general, Keith Ellison, who's who's had a history of fighting injustice, especially injustice against the black community and so forth and the leadership there that this will be properly adjudicated.

Absolutely. And it just goes on and on and on. All right, folks, going to a quick break. We're going to come back. We're going to talk about the breaking news out of Dalton, Illinois, and then we'll also talk about all this drama National Public Radio has been going through after a white male editor talked about how they have a liberal

bias there. He got ripped by a lot of people saying there were errors in his piece. He eventually was suspended. He then quit. We'll talk to a sister who worked there who said that this notion of wokeness, that ain't a problem. That's next on Roller Martin Unfiltered

on the Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Cawley. Dr. Kwesi Kanadu, author, scholar, and healer. He is one of the truly representative thinkers and activists of our generation. I had a dream, you know, a particular night, and when I woke up, several ancestors came to me, and they came to me and said,

you really like what you're doing, but you have to do more. His writing provides a deep and unique dive into African history through the eyes of some of the interesting characters who have lived with it, including some in his own family. The multi-talented, always fascinating Dr. Kwesi Kanadu on the next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy.

This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene,

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

rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

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

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

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

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

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. It's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. This is your boy, Irv Quaid. And you're tuned in to... Roland Martin, unfiltered. Folks, breaking news out of Illinois. The FBI, they raided the village of Dalton as well as Thornton Township today dropping subpoenas amid allegations of corruption against Dalton Mayor

Tiffany Henyard. This is a story from. ABC 7 there were the FBI said quote agents were conducting court authorized law enforcement activity in that particular area they obtained personnel records including those of police officers as well as business records. authorized law enforcement activity in that particular area. They obtained personnel records, including those of police officers, as well as business records. Now, of course, the mayor of Dalton has come under a lot of criticism because of her actions. She has been ripped by many of

her council members. When she came on the show here, she said, oh, she had done nothing wrong. It was all her critics. Well, now this is escalated. The council also hired a former Chicago mayor and former U.S. attorney, Lori Lightfoot, to lead an investigation into corruption against Tiffany Henner. There have been a number, a number of allegations against her. One staffer said that she was sexually assaulted on a city Trip to Las Vegas you have allegations of folks not getting paid in the city I mean you name it also People being people being illegally terminated and so it's been lots lots and lots of drama And again when Henry was on this show here, I talked, I had sources that were texting me that FBI investigators were literally talking to people as she was sitting on this set,

talking about how she did not commit any wrongdoing. So again, the FBI, they have served four subpoenas against the city of Dalton. And also keep in mind, one of her longtime lieutenants, he has also been indicted. He's been indicted for tax issues. Keith Douglas Freeman has been charged with bankruptcy fraud by making false statements in his bankruptcy petition, concealing assets and sources of income as well. Oh, by the way, that same Keith Freeman, he was the one who launched that foundation in the name of Tiffany Henner, the one that she said to me she had no dealings with and didn't know who actually did it, but he's actually an employee of hers

with the city of Dalton and Thornton Township, where she's a supervisor. Sounds like they're going to be getting to the bottom of what the heck is going on in Dalton, Illinois. All right, folks, we'll keep you abreast of what happens in that case. All right, this week, National Public Radio has been going through a whole lot of drama because one of their longtime editors

wrote a piece complaining about the liberal bias at National Public Radio. And in his piece, he made a number of allegations. He talked about folks voting records and things along those lines and who identifies as a liberal and then now the conservatives. We're like, hey, there you go.

So Christopher Rufo has been attacking the CEO of NPR, even employees of NPR, about 50 or so, who signed a letter calling on them to respond to his allegations, many saying that what he wrote was wrong. There were many errors that he had in the story as well. And so, again, lots and lots of drama with National Public Radio. Well, Alicia Montgomery actually wrote her own piece in Slate talking about her time at National Public Radio. And she counters a lot of his critiques. She is the vice president of audio at Slate and joins us right now.

Alicia, glad to have you on the show. So, first off, here's the thing. I swear, I've heard more conservatives complain about liberal buys, liberal buys, liberal buys. Of course, they never say anything about conservative owners, conservative publishers, conservative editorial page leaders, things along those lines.

I've worked in newsrooms. I've worked with white men and white women who I know were Republicans and conservatives, so they never say any of that. But what you really laid out is, I mean, this really is, I believe, is a part of this latest continuation of attack, wokeness, wokeness, wokeness,

which really is anti-Black. Yes. I mean, it is. wokeness, wokeness, which really is anti-black. Yes, I mean it is. And I worked, I won't say that I worked with Uri, but I mean it was kind of a cozy shop. And so I knew Uri and I never had a problem with him. He seemed a little grouchy sometimes, but it's news, people are stressed out. The problem with this wokeness argument is that one, it's news. People are stressed out. The problem with this wokeness argument is that, one, it's false.

And if Uri, if somebody had bothered to fact check some of what Uri said in that piece before they published it, you would have found that a lot of his information was sketchy or unsupportable. The problem is that once you label an organization woke, even if it's incorrect, an organization like NPR, that puts a lot of pressure on the organization to prove that it's not woke. And what that often means is that, you know, coverage that's supposed to give listeners a better window into communities of color and black communities in particular is suddenly under threat. You've had conservatives desperately trying to defund NPR, defund PBS. This goes back 30 plus years. Again, they say, oh, it's too liberal, even though it's white folks, black folks,

Latinos, Asians all around the country who are conservative and liberal, who watch PBS. And so it's really a small minority of folks who keep making this an issue. The thing for me here, and what this really is, and I wrote about this in my book, White Fear, how the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds.

And that is, there's a constant, a constant, constant, constant now narrative. And you have these white men who are frankly pissed off that they no longer rule the world, and it bothers them when they now start seeing not just black folks and other people of color, but they don't want to say it. They also are pissed off that a lot of white women are getting leadership positions. They never want to call it out.

And they love bringing up black folks and people of color. But they never want to talk about white women who have benefited from affirmative action, who benefited from these programs. And they're ticked off that, frankly, the world is no longer their oyster. Yes, that's true. NPR is a little bit more complicated than that, because there are plenty of really strong, really scary, and I mean that in the best way as a journalist, because some great journalists can be kind of intimidating people. Women in leadership in that organization, and there always have been, just dating back to the founding of the organization. It's like, you know, lots of organizations claim founding fathers. NPR claimed

founding mothers. But the flip side of that coin is that having all of that female representation at the top makes people think and having a lot of visible, a lot, some visible people of color and black folks, makes people think that this is a welcoming place. This is a safe place. This is a place that values diversity, that values, you know, you know, supporting women journalists. And that's sometimes true, but it's often not. It's not like NPR is this super diverse place. No. No. They try, sort of.

If you're going to say percentage, what is it? 80, 85? Or is it lower? They are. I think that the numbers that they published in response to Uri talked about how a growing number. I think that it's upwards of 30 or 40 percent of people in news leadership identify as people of color now. But that's news leadership for me. I'm counting everybody. So when you start doing that, then all of a sudden you be you. Because the reason I'm making that reason, I'm making that point is, again, what I see a lot of these times is this whole idea of, oh, and so we we went overboard with George Floyd. And we're paying too much attention to these issues over here. And in your piece,

you were like, no, no. That's another. It's like, no, that ain't really what's going on. No, because it's a cycle. It's like, if there is some big story around race or there's a mistake at the network that revolves around race, some public dust-up

about somebody who's escorted out of the building or leaves their position under sketchy circumstances. There are focus groups, there's new commitment, there's all sorts of pronouncements and memos and all that kind of stuff. Ask me in three years where all the people who are in those positions in the editorial room, are they still there?

And even if they are still there, just because somebody's present in the space doesn't mean that they have clout, doesn't mean that they're listened to, doesn't mean that they're valued, doesn't mean they're not being sabotaged by the people around them. See, what I've always said is, and I warn people of this after the death of George Floyd, I said, you've got to understand history. And if you go into history, if you go back to the Reconstruction period, what people will realize is white folks were active, oh, for a few years. During that period, after the Civil War, radical Republicans were like, let's go, let's go.

Damn the folks who want to block us, let's keep going. Four, five, six years. And all of a sudden, white people are like, you know what? We done done enough. Yeah, that's enough. Look, look. We tired talking about these people. We done done enough.

So the last four to six years of Reconstruction were a bit different. And then all of a sudden you go to the Great Compromise of 1877, which ushers in 92 years of Jim Crow. I keep saying every period of black success is followed by white backlash. And same thing, George Floyd. I said,

y'all, we better make sure this thing lasts longer than three, four years. He was murdered May 2020. This is 2024. By three years, it was like all of a sudden, all right, we're fine DEI folk. We're changing this stuff.

Okay, we're good. We did enough. We're moving on. And that's where a problem comes in because what these media institutions and others don't want to confront is, no, no, we're talking about what is deeply embedded. You can't change these systems in one, two, three years.

It literally has to be 20, 25-plus year of consistent commitment in order to move them and change them. Yeah, and the problem, you know, and it's not just about race, it's also about gender. It's about all sorts of differences at NPR. It's like if you have somebody who's used to being sort of the smartest kid in the class and you point out that they're wrong about something, you can find yourself in a fistfight. And that's what happens at NPR a lot of the time. And it's, you know, they don't treat the people of color who, I mean, if you pick your head up, if you point out a problem, if you say that, you know, this area of coverage is wrong or whatever, or even make sort of a minor correction of somebody, then you can be labeled a troublemaker. And you've got to be. I know I couldn't work there. No. I know

I couldn't work there. First of all, I couldn't work at NPR because I don't have the... This is NPR tone. I can't talk. Matter of fact, whose show did I do? I did somebody's show. And I said, oh, that was way too much

damn energy for NPR. I said, I ain't gonna be back. I said, you can't really do you at NPR. They want you to talk in whisperers. You know what? If you get in the building, because I had worked in an office right before I went to NPR, and it was

mostly black folks, and I was like, hey! You know, you greet people that way in the morning. And if you go in the building, you start to talk like this because people will have meetings talking like this and you can't hear people sometimes. Maybe that's changed in the four years since I've been there, but yeah. So I mean, what I found here is that first of all,

he breaks the rules by going outside, knowing full well you're going to get suspended. Then he gets pissed off, finally gets suspended. And so now, okay, I quit. And I'm sure Barry Wise or one of them are going to hire him, and we're going to see more stuff written about it. But the thing is, has he addressed, though, the errors? Where folks said, dude, this was wrong that you reported.

Well, he doesn't work at NPR anymore, so he doesn't have to correct his errors. But it's just one of those situations, because this is one of the things that really pisses me off, is that there are so many people who suffered harassment, who suffered folk trying to make passes at them for their jobs, that suffered racism or other kinds of bias, who had folks in public radio leadership try to ruin their careers because they pissed off the

wrong person. And none of those folks are out there running to the gram, putting stuff up on Facebook Live, talking about how the organization did them wrong. They're out there just trying to move on with their lives. And because this guy is a white guy, he gets to make these statements, slur, frankly, a whole bunch of people, even, you know, there are a lot of white folks at NPR who are like Frida in Insecure. They really want to get it right. They're trying hard, da-da-da-da-da, to learn stuff and be unbiased and be more thoughtful. He

slurs all those people. He slurs all of the people who are trying to diversify the organization. He gets a platform. He doesn't get fact-checked because he's more credible because he's a white guy and he's reinforcing a stereotype that conservatives have about public radio. And we also, and we talk about, again, NPR. When you look at the audience, I mean, I can tell you right now, I've never consistently listened to NPR. Oh. I didn't. I'm sorry. Not even Kojo? No. I ain't listening to nobody. First of all, it's too quiet. It's way too quiet. And it's just, okay, I can't drive and go to sleep, okay? I'm sorry, I can't.

I've tried and I'm like, yo, can y'all speak up? Can I get some energy? There are, mm. I'm just letting you know, I've tried and I'm drowned as me Damn hold up I got That's wrong

You know I ain't lying Some of it is a little quiet A lot of it is quality journalism I'm just going to say that A lot of smart people are doing great work Really quiet I'm just saying So I don't

I've never it work really quiet i'm just saying i'm just saying so i don't i don't i'm just like that's i've never i've never so i i can't call myself an npr fan because i just it's just too slow and quiet for me uh i need a little bit more energy uh but but with that but the reality is the audience is a white audience and they they've tried over the years to increase their numbers, and they've added shows, they've added hosts, and they've gotten rid of shows, got rid of hosts. And the reality is they've not been successful really at having a much broader audience, and that's an issue because if you're just thinking that people who haven't found anything on your network to listen to for 50 years are just going to happen to be hanging out, you know, on your network when, you know, Michelle Martin of Tell Me More, who's my mentor and a dear friend of mine, or any of the other sort of bright journalists of color or, you know, some of the really great other journalists, white journalists there, folks aren't just going to be happening by a network where they haven't heard anything that speaks to them

for 30 or 40 years. And so it's like the folks who are making the quality journalism, the organization isn't built to find the audience to support it. They don't have the muscles, they don't have the connections, they don't know where to market the shows. And so the shows die for lack of audience, even though there are black and brown folks out there who I think would really enjoy some of the programming.

Maybe it's not as loud as you would like, but there's a lot of great stuff on NPR. Question, Cameron. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

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

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

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

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

Listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast season two on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to lava for good. Plus on Apple Podcasts. What's your question for Alicia?

Alicia, I did have one quick question. I've been in the building there, too, and with the quietness there. Guys, I need audio in here. No, it's not on. All right, Cameron, hold on one second. Let me do this. I'm going to do a quick break. I'm going to come back with your question because I need to get audio in here so at least you can hear it.

We'll be right back on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fan base or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. What's up everybody? It's your girl Latasha from the A. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We're talking about all of the contentious drama NPR has had to deal with for the last week. Cameron Trimble, your question for Alicia Montgomery. All right, Ms. Montgomery. I've been to the NPR building, and I hear you in terms of speaking quietly.

But something that has affected NPR and media outlets across the country for the last several years as they've downsized and had to cut back. And with this issue of being seen as maybe with the liberal bias, and then there may be a swing backwards with some of that coverage, does this put undue pressure on the black folks, on the people of color,

on those who are doing good journalism, on the podcasters, the different folks here in NPR, when stories like this do come out, now their integrity has been questioned and that may lead to a self-fulfilling cycle of losing even more viewers, which loses more sponsorship and more money and maybe have to downsize even more.

Yes, that's exactly what happens. When you have one of these accusations and there's any kind of credibility behind it, or even if there's not, the organization, for some good reasons but not great outcomes, goes into a defensive crouch. to prove that this rumor isn't true. And that empowers the people inside the leadership who are hostile or skeptical to the idea that we need to, well, we, I was there for 20 years, it's not we anymore. But that NPR, you know, it empowers the skeptics who never really were bought in to the idea of diversifying the coverage or the listenership in the first place. Michael.

All right, Alicia, thanks for sharing this information with us today. My question is a little broader. When we deal with mislabeling media organizations as woke, when we deal with this attack on DEI, things like this. These are all buzzwords that are used by conservatives, by Fox News, things of this nature. What are some of the best strategies since you're a journalist, you're in the industry? What are some of the best strategies that we can utilize to fight back against this misinformation, against this attack, which really is an anti-black attack, and they're using media to do this. What are some strategies that we can use to fight back against this? You know, I think for a lot of years, there's been

this idea that the way to handle organizational change and these kinds of problems is to be quiet about it, is to go and have the meeting and do the presentation and not ruffle any feathers and try to bring people along. And I did that for 20 years at NPR. I love the place. A lot of the people are awesome, but the organization just resists change. And if you don't make these kinds of issues, frankly, a problem for an organization like that, they're not going to address it because the people on the other side, Christopher Ruffo, the conservatives who mislabel NPR as some kind of, you know, temple of wokeness, they're not playing fair and they're not being quiet and they're not sitting down and having the reasonable conversation. And if they're making more noise and making it more difficult than you are, you know, than the people who want the

more expansive coverage of the country and the world, then they're going to win. You also talk about in your piece an example of how NPR should have operated with, oh, if we're doing this story on Trump, we've got to find this other one, you know, that's critical of Hillary Clinton as opposed to. No, that story stands alone. It is what it is. This is my deal. It's very simple.

If the guy over here lies 20 times, okay, and it's one lie or let's say there was an error over here, okay, that's 20 to 1. Yeah. Okay, that's 20 to one. But his idea, well, if I got 20 lies over here, his 20 equals his one, or I need to go find 19 more over here. No, you cover what it is. The lie is the lie. You know, I was talking about this with some folks at my new organization at Slate,

which is that NPR is in a tough spot and always has been because they have this sort of upper middle class, affluent white listenership that they need to keep their loyalty. And they've got this Congress who, you know, every two years, you don't know who's going to be in there. And you have to be able to not just fight off the charges that are unreasonable, I'm sorry, that are reasonable, but you've got to be able to fight off the charges that are unreasonable but might justify

somebody coming after the organization. And too often, the answer to that is the kind of coverage that you're talking about. Where it's like, if Hillary Clinton and there were problems with that candidacy, no doubt, but it's like if Trump is telling 20 lies and Hillary Clinton is telling five, is telling 10, that's still twice as many lies over here. And if you're doing impartial, objective coverage,

you know that 20 is bigger than 10. Yeah, but this is, to me, a problem not just with NPR, but with, frankly, what I call nearly all the white media. I'm going to call it what it is. Washington Post, New York Times, we can go on and on and on. Because what happens is, and let's just be frank, the real problem is all these white folks who work there are scared to death of, oh my

God, they're calling me a liberal. They're calling the question of my reporting. And so what they then do is they go overboard because they don't want to get their names mentioned on blogs. I saw it when I was at CNN. And I was sitting there going, tell them to kiss your ass. I'm like, you're afraid

to get criticized. No, tell them to kiss your ass. I'm like, you're afraid to get criticized. No, you report exactly what it is. If that person lied, they lie. And if that person and that person and that person lie, and they happen to be four Republicans, sorry, you simply say the four of them lied. But what we then do is, it's kind of like, oh, well, we try to do all of these histrionics, and I

once said that if CNN went out and hired a thousand conservatives, I said they're going to still call us liberal. That's true. And that's because that's actually part of their grift. Part of their deal is, I got to keep calling them liberal

because that's what we do. I just, I want to draw a distinction between the people who are doing the reporting I gotta keep calling them liberal because that's what we do. I just, I want to draw a distinction between the people who are doing the reporting and the people who are calling the shots. Because, you know, CNN is different, TV people are different from audio people. They're all, they all have a profile,

they're all trying to be famous. No offense, there's nothing wrong with that. But people who are reporting for NPR, they just want to do reporting. And lots of people there are reporting on veterans. They're reporting on disability rights. They're reporting on wildfires. They're reporting on all sorts of things that are not interesting to conservatives who are culture warriors, because there's no percentage there. There you go.

And the people who are enforcing a little bit of pressure to make sure that, you know, this Republican or that Republican or whomever isn't upset with the network, those are the folks and they're not necessarily the people you're hearing on air who are, you know, pushing people to tell you that Hillary Clinton lied as much as Donald Trump. But those are the people who approve budgets, those people who approve hires, those are the people who determine the resources, and those are the people who also determine what is going to be our coverage plans. Yes, all true. And that's just the reality. Again, I really believe that what has to happen is

you have to have a group of people who have the willingness to tell somebody, you can kiss my ass. Because again, they're going to sit here and they're going to say it anyway. And you've got to be willing to say, oh really, is that what it is? Okay, show me.

Prove it. Because what happens is, they're going to do it regardless. If you bend over backwards and forwards and left to the side and right to the side, they're going to still say, yeah, you're still liberal. Yeah, but that is,

I mean, here's the thing, is that NPR for decades, decades, decades, had audio journalism on lock. And if you got pushed out of NPR and you were an audio journalist, you need to start filing your application at Starbucks. You didn't have any place to go. And now there's podcasting, but it's still not the same kind of opportunity as NPR. So it's like if you tell your bosses to, you know, kiss my ass, I'm not doing this.

Because, and this is the thing that really gets me about Uri's report, if you want to call it that, is that the people who are going to get dinged for that, the people who are going to get dinged for that, the people who are going to be empowered, the people who are going to be, you know, those people are gonna be able to use that. The people who would undermine the reporters anyway, they're gonna use that to pressure reporters of color and journalists of color. They're gonna use it to pressure people

who are their allies, and there are a lot of them at NPR, into being quiet, not just about racism and bias, but about everything. And the way that woke reputation works behind the scenes is it makes it easier to pressure black talent, talent of color, into taking worse assignments, into taking smaller salaries. Because if you leave a place like NPR that everybody thinks is so woke, it's like, oh, you must be a difficult black woman. You must be a dangerous black man. You're so ungrateful, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

because if you can't make it at a place that's as woke as NPR and so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, then you must be a real troublemaker. Well, what I lay out in my book, White Fear, is that this idea of when you're black and you're facing BS in newsrooms, that ain't coming just from conservatives. No, it's not.

I keep saying that's coming from white liberals, white independents. I said white conservatives because the operative word is white. I mean, and too long, folks don't want to actually confront that. Some of the biggest examples of the crap I've had to deal with were from so-called white liberals. And so when you black, you like hell. We catch incoming left and right.

So it doesn't matter, you know, who the hell is coming from. And what people have to understand, and again, I go back to how I started this here. Guys like Yuri have to now accept the reality. This ain't the world that you used to always run. The fact of the matter is, white men don't get to control everything now. You now have to compete. You now have to deal with people

who are going to give their impression, their opinion, and speak up in newsrooms, and they can ignore you. And they're going to have to also deal with this reality of what coverage actually looks like because, frankly, in order for you to grow and exist, you better have a diversified audience. Otherwise, you're DOA.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's happening with a lot of legacy audience. Otherwise, you're DOA. Yeah. Yeah. And that's happening with a lot of legacy media. Yeah, absolutely. And they're having a hard time because they cannot let go of what they've always been. All right. Alicia, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you so much. Folks, we come back. Stephen A. Smith went on Sean Hannity's show last night and talked about Trump's trials and spoke about this notion of some black folks who support Trump and identify with Trump because he's being persecuted like many of us have been in the criminal justice system.

I've got some thoughts. And they're next. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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

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

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

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. $17 million, and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code.

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On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how to live the dream without it turning into a royal nightmare. We'll meet an entrepreneurial couple who've been living the dream for nearly 30 years and they're still going strong, speed bumps and all. I was all one trying to hold back, but he thinks he can do anything. He's like, no, we're going to do it. You know, let's do it. Let's just jump into it. And it has worked.

It's a thing of beauty, literally. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Hello, I'm Jamea Pugh. I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Stay right here. All right, folks. So today, here I am. I'm moving and I'm, you know, I'm moving to a new house and unpacking and packing and lots of it's happening. So I'm looking at social media

and all of a sudden, I see people acting a fool, losing their mind, talking about some comments Stephen A. Smith made on the Sean Hannity Show. And I see this 30 or 40 second clip that was posted. And anytime I hear some comments, what I like to do is I always have to say, what actually precipitated the comment?

What set the comment up? What was the question? What was it? And so I want to walk through right now this whole segment, because even when I saw it at home, there were some problems that I had with it from a factual standpoint. So roll it. All right. Now, last night we showed you a clip from my next guest who has a message for the Democratic Party. Here's a reminder. It's much ado about nothing. To my liberal friends out there, all you're doing is showing that you're scared you can't beat them on the issues and the merits. Here now with more ESPN hosts, the one, the only, he hates to admit he's a friend of mine.

You can admit it. Just say it. My friend Stephen A. Smith is here. Of course we're friends, man. Anyway, great to have you. I thought that was gutsy. I kind of like your podcast because you go off into, you know, other topics besides the area of expertise that you're in, which is sports. You said that.

First question I have is what was the reaction to that? Obviously, I took a lot of heat. A lot of people didn't like the fact that I said it. They wish that I had it. And when I give a damn, I'll let you know. I don't care. I'm going to speak my mind. I'm going to speak what I believe to be true. And when I think about Donald Trump, I think about this case in New York. I mean, I'm looking at the Democrats right now. And again, primarily, I have voted Democrat throughout my life, but I'm utterly disgusted with what I'm seeing, because it seems to

me that they're trying to use the law in the courts. They've clearly politicized this thing with Donald Trump because they can't come up with a strategy to offset the momentum. He's clearly gained in at least five polls. He's up. He's up in the polls over Biden, at least five polls that I counted. That's the reality of the situation. Despite the counts against them, the indictments against them, being impeached twice and all of this other stuff. He is the presumptive GOP nominee, and you don't seem to have the issues in your favor, you believe. So because of that, you're going to manipulate the system as best as you possibly can to avoid him possibly running for reelection again. That appears to be their strategy, but I'm here to tell you, it's not working. It's not working at all. And to be quite honest with you, I don't

mind the fact that it's not working because I might not be a supporter of Donald Trump, but I want him to lose the right way. I want him to lose because you have better ideas and you make your case to the American people better than he does. That's why I want him to lose. I don't want him to lose the way they're trying to make him lose, because I actually think that the case in New York City is pretty weak, if not flat out bogus. You remember John Edwards? Have you remembered Gary Hart? Have you remembered some of the things that Clinton has gone through? Now we're going to talk about a hush money case that took place while he was running for election in 2016, but he was in office until 2020, and now here you are in 2024,

months before another election, and he's the presumptive GOP nominee, and this is what you're trying to do? It's a disgrace. It's weak. It's pathetic. And somebody needs to say it. The Democrats need to come up with a better strategy.

We all can have our opinion on something, but what we cannot have are our own facts on something. So what Stephen A. had to say in terms of by saying that this is bogus, here's the problem. What Donald Trump is on trial for is literally the exact same thing his attorney pled guilty on. Henry, go to my iPad. This is a press release from August 21st, 2018, from the Department of Justice, from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Southern District of New York. It says Michael Cohen pleads guilty

in Manhattan federal court to eight counts, including criminal tax evasion and campaign finance violations. So wait a minute. If the charges against Trump are bogus, were the charges against Michael Cohen bogus? The facts are the facts. If you break the law, you break the law.

Here we have the attorney for Donald Trump who pled guilty to the charges. That wasn't a Democratic setup. No Democrat made Donald Trump illegally pay off a porn star and use his attorney to hide the payoff because he did not want the voters to know about it. Let me remind Stephen A. and Sean Hannity,

this happened before the election because Trump did not want the world to know that he paid off a porn star. This is called a fact. So it's hard to call Trump's trial bogus when it's literally the exact same charges

that his own lawyer faced that he pled guilty to. So this is not a question of they're trying to get Trump. They got Cohen and he pled guilty to the exact same thing. Now when Stephen was talking there he mentioned several people. He mentioned

John Edwards and he mentioned Bill Clinton. Interesting. Henry, go to my iPad. On June 3rd, 2011, this is a press release from the Department of Justice. Former Senate and presidential candidate John Edwards charged for alleged role in scheme to violate federal campaign finance laws. Now, this was, of course, after the fact. Now, remember, he was the VP nominee for John Kerry. He was

charged 2011. He, of course, was a former United States Senator. Was this Republicans going after a Democrat, John Edwards, in order to keep a Democrat out of the White House? Hold up. My bad. The date here says Friday, June 3, 2011.

Oh, a Democrat was in the White House. Oh, I'm sorry. Obama was, I'm sorry, was Obama president? Obama was elected 2009. Am I right? Oh, so this is six-count indictment against former Senator John Edwards for violating federal election laws

during his campaign for president of the United States. Quote, public servants are held to the same laws. This is the key. Public servants are held to the same laws as everyone else in this country. The position sought does not exempt anyone, even those running for president of the United

States. See, here's the problem here. When I saw the segment, and then when I hear these conservatives, what they're suggesting is going after Donald Trump is just so wrong. But if you don't do wrong shit, they don't go after you.

Has anyone bothered to remember that there's a reason why he is the first former president to ever be indicted after serving? Because he did wrong shit. Now, Stephen A. also mentioned, well, he did these things before he won, and they waited all this time. That's because there is a document in the Department of Justice, which, by the way, was written under the Richard Nixon Department of Justice

because it was written so he could not get indicted while president. That says you can't go after a president while they're in office. That's actually a DOJ letter. That's actually not a ruling from a judge. That's not a ruling from the Supreme Court. That's not a ruling from the Supreme Court. That's not a law from Congress. That is a memo written under the Nixon Department of Justice. These folks are facts.

That's the case. Now, the actions of Trump took place before. Guess what? Can't go after him while he's president. You pursue the charges afterwards because he no longer has immunity from prosecution. So that's actually why you waited. And then we talk about these cases against Donald Trump. We look at these four indictments.

Okay, you got the hush money. You got that one. And then, of course, you have the federal indictments on classified documents in Florida. Why is that important? That's important because, let's remember, the Library of Congress kept asking Trump, the archives, can you turn the documents in? Can you turn them in? He wouldn't turn them in.

Can you please turn the documents in? He wouldn't turn them in. Can you turn the documents in? He wouldn't turn them in. Can you turn the documents in? He wouldn't turn them in. The lawyers were negotiating with his lawyers for a very long time. He told his lawyers what he didn't have. Then, of course, then he said, oh, no, I didn't move documents, but he did.

He wasn't the only person who was charged. So, Stephen A., Sean Hannity, why is that a case? Because he broke the law! There's a sign above the Supreme Court that says, equal justice under

law this man has never been held to account so how is he somehow being persecuted all he had to do was turn the documents in end of conversation

no FBI showing up at Mar-a-Lago no lawyers no indictments no no drama, no trial. No. He said, my documents. I can keep my documents. But he was wrong. They were classified documents. He did not declassify them while president.

You can't declassify when you no longer have the power. So to even suggest that this case is political persecution. No, he broke the law. I just did a segment where a black man was pulled over for a broken taillight and when the cops pulled him over he had a civil issue, a civil warrant. They called and said yes bring him in and they tried to bring him in he eventually gets shot. That happened. If you break the law

or you're alleged to break the law or if there's a, or you're alleged to break the law, you're going to go to trial. You have the third case. Okay? The 2020 election. In the funeral of the election. Is this trial bogus?

Did Donald Trump not call and say, find me those 11,000 votes? Oh, guess what? There have been at least three people who've already pled guilty who were indicted with Trump. So if this is a bogus case, why did they plead guilty? One of them was a lawyer. It could be because they realized their asses were guilty, and they agreed to testify against the other defendants, including Trump.

You can't call that trial bogus. You can't say it's unfair the Democrats are going after him. If you break the law, you break the law. This man is not above reproach. This man cannot just do whatever it is that he wants. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

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

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

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

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

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. What to do? Tish James in New York.

Took him to court. For inflating his assets. Is that bogus? Reminds me of a certain man named Dan Morales. Dan Morales was a former attorney general of Texas. Henry, go to my iPad. Dan Morales pled guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return.

Morales pled guilty to counts 9 and 11 of the March 6, 2003 indictment. He admitted that he backdated official government contracts and forged government records for his personal enrichment and that of his friends. Count 11 of the indictment references Morales claiming his 1998 income as $39,734 when he knew the income to be substantially in excess of the amount stated on his income tax

return so now let's compare Dan Morales with the prison for four years that's a federal indictment Donald Trump was accused and went to civil court of inflating his assets in order to apply for business loans. The reason I know the Dan Morales story, Dan Morales did the exact same thing. He went and applied for houses and cars, inflating. So are we saying that the Dan Morales case was bogus? See, this is the problem when you

don't want to deal with facts. I'm not dealing with emotion. Here's the reality. Donald Trump literally lied about the size of his condo in Trump Tower. You know the same man who they call small hands and you know that bothered him because he thinks something else is small?

He lied. He lied. He told them, oh, my apartment is 30,000 square feet. It wasn't. I think it was like 11, 10 or 11. It's a lie. He literally lied to obtain loans.

You can't do that. If Roland Martin filled out a loan application and said, I've got a 25,000 square foot house, and my house is valued at $4 million, and I got a 6,000 square foot house, and my house is valued at $4 million, and I got a 6,000 square foot house, and it's valued at a million, I lied. I can be prosecuted. So if I can be prosecuted, why can't Trump be prosecuted? Prosecuted and persecuted are two different things.

Press play. Because this ain't working. Let me ask you this. We look at polls. Polls are always broken down demographically. And you see this major erosion in the Democratic base for Biden. African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, young people, suburban women, for example. I mean, numbers that we've never seen before in terms of a Democrat. If he doesn't get his base back, which I would argue he's been trying to do, starting with the State of the Union and his jacked-up address, he's got no shot. And if Donald Trump could hold on to 5, 10, 15 percent of the numbers that he has now, he will win the next election.

Why is that happening? That's my question. Right there. Now, see, right there would have been great for Stephen A. to say, Sean, allow me to correct you. Because what Sean is doing is he is speaking about these polls, namely the New York Times and Siena poll,

that has been showing that, oh, Donald Trump is going to get 20, he's getting 23% of black support. Okay? Really? That's what you've been seeing, right? Well, guess what? Do you know what Fox News hasn't done? And unfortunately, what most mainstream media hasn't done, but we've done,

we actually talked to the two black pollsters who did polls that specifically surveyed black people. Terence Woodbury did a poll for higher heights of America and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation in the Black Women's Roundtable. He did a poll. They specifically po poll black people. Their poll is completely different from the New York Times Siena poll. Now, let me help you out with some basic math.

If the New York Times Siena poll polled 800 people. That means they polled a very small number of black people. So of their poll, a small number of black people said, I'm backing Trump. So when the stories were done, oh, my God, Trump is getting 23% of the black vote. They were hyperventilating on Fox News, on MSNBC, and CNN, and all about, oh, my God, oh, my God. They were like, oh, my God, every single day, every single day.

But then Terrence Whitbeard's poll comes out where 800 black people were polled. None of them covered it. Told a different story. Cornell Belcher, he did a poll for BlackPak. Told a different story. Cornell Belcher, he did a poll for BlackPak, told a different story. Who did he poll? All black people. So if you're going to cite a poll on television or in Sean Handy's case, he told Stephen A., five polls.

That's where Stephen A. should have said, let me help you out, Sean. This poll here, this poll here of specifically black voters told a whole different story. That completely changes that narrative. But it's not just that. If you don't want to go with that poll, if you don't want to go with that one, well, guess what? The folks at Pew recently did a poll. And the folks at Pew recently showed that Trump ain't getting more than 10% of black voters. Oops. Oops. Say what? Did you just say that?

In fact, check this out. I was sitting here looking at a tweet today, and you're going to love this here. This came out, and it shows, and the tweet was, at this stage of the race, the black and Hispanic support for Biden at this stage is on par with previous years. Do you see that orange line? That's the 2020 election.

The green line is 2016. So at this point, so you see right there where the purple line is, at this point right here, at about 15, 18 weeks. The numbers are on par with previous elections. This right here is net black support. Then you have net Hispanic support. So what you're now are seeing, you now are seeing Biden's poll numbers increase with black and Hispanic voters.

Guess what you also are seeing while that is happening? You are now seeing Biden closing the gap in the various battleground states with Trump. Y'all, it's April. So to think that April is going to look like November is crazy. This is why research, studying, examining the issues absolutely matter. Press play. Well, first of all, the streets don't seem safe, and people want safety. We can sit up there and lament, quote-unquote, law and order, which is what Donald Trump used to verbalize,

but the fact is the American people like law and order. We want our streets safe. We want to make sure that you've committed a crime. You get to go to jail. You don't sit up there and get arrested, and you're out the same day. You don't want to assault people, and you're out the same day. That's number one. Obviously, number two, the economy, which is usually number one, because people don't understand this when it comes—especially the black folks, okay?

Let me tell you something right now, Sean. When you talk about the economy, to black folks, that means money. To everybody, it means money, but especially to us, okay, who are no longer the dominant minority in this country. Those are the Latinos. When we talk about the economy, we're not talking about, oh, the state of affairs economically or even the job participation rate. We're talking about the money that you keep in your pocket. When you go to the gas station and it's exorbitant prices, when you go to the supermarket and milk and bread and cheese and all of this other stuff is exorbitantly high compared to what it once was. That is a red flag to a lot of folks because the Right there. So we want to compare an economy pre-COVID to

post-COVID? Sure we can do that. While doing that, though, we might want to talk about that the black unemployment rate hit a lower point under Biden than it did under Trump. We might want to talk about

that more black businesses have been created under Biden than Trump. We might want to talk about the fact that you have corporations that continue to jack up prices, even though the supply chain has been significantly diminished. We might want to talk about those different things. But here's the deal. Even with all of that, the fact of the matter is, when you look at these numbers,

and this right here was the Newsweek story that just dropped last week. Donald Trump's hopes of black support stung by a new poll. A new poll has suggested Donald Trump would not garner significant support from black voters in November election. This is the Pew Research poll. It says 83% of black voters favor the Democratic Party, a 3% decline from 1994 when 86% aligned in this way. 12% support the Republican Party. This marks a 1% decline

from 1994 when 13% supported the party. Y'all, this is the actual Pew Research story. So here's my whole point. If we're going to talk about black voters and what they are saying, we can't speak anecdotally. We actually got to use data. And the data totally disagrees with the assessment. Press play. Money you keep in your pocket is what tells you

whether or not the economy is flourishing or not. So those are just a couple of components that come into the equation. And there I say something that might— will probably be termed the most uncomfortable thing that I've ever had to articulate out of my mouth from a political perspective. But I got to tell you something.

As much as people may have been abhorred by Donald Trump's statement weeks ago talking about how black folks—he's hearing that black folks find him relatable because what he's going through is similar to what black Americans have gone through, he wasn't lying. He was telling the truth. When you see the law, law enforcement, the court system and everything else being exercised. Stop, stop, stop. Hold on, hold on. Because I want you to run that back. Because this right here is where I'm like, huh?

So what Stephen A. is saying, because I actually posted a tweet and then he responded. What he is saying, because see, two things were said at one time. So I want you all to roll it back. Two things were being said at one time. He says that he's not saying that Trump is being persecuted like black people. So I want you all to roll it back. I want you all to play it again, because I'm going to unpack what he just said. Go. That I've ever had to articulate out of my mouth from a political perspective,

but I got to tell you something. As much as people may have been abhorred by Donald Trump's statement weeks ago talking about how black folks, he's hearing that black folks find him relatable because what he's going through is similar to what black Americans have gone through. He wasn't lying. He was telling the truth. When you see the law, law enforcement, the court system and everything else being exercised against him, it is something that black folks throughout this nation can relate to with some of our historic, iconic figures. We've seen that happen throughout society. Stop right there. So no matter what...

I would have loved to know specifically what historic, iconic figures, because I know Dr. King went to jail. I know Dr. Jim Lawson went to jail. I know that they went to jail, but they did not hold classified documents. They did not pay off porn stars. They did not try to overturn an election.

They did not overstate the value of their properties to apply for business loans. So therefore, there literally is no comparison. Press play. What race, what ethnicity you may emanate from, we relate to you when you're suffering like that because we know we have. Stop. And that's what he articulated.

When you're suffering. Go to my iPad. This story is from June, this is 2016. Hundreds claim Donald Trump doesn't pay his bills in full. Dozens of lawsuits allege the businessman didn't pay what he owed. And you go through right here. The small businessman won a bid for a $100,000 grand piano to install in Trump's Taj Mahal. Guess what?

Trump refused to pay him, only paid $30,000. Show me a black man who could do that. 200 liens since the 1980s were filed by contractors and workers who said they were stiff. Show me a black woman who could do that. 253 subcontractors on a single project were not paid in full or on time. Show me a black woman who could get away with that. 24 Fair Labor Act violations by Trump Plaza Casino

and Trump Mortgage for failure to pay minimum wage or overtime. Show me a black person who could do that. Show me a black person who could get away with having a fake university and have to shut it down and still run for president and still win? Show me, in fact, show me a black politician who actually, while in office, has refused to pay the bills for security at rallies they had and still run for president.

I would love to see him. I would love to see him. Got a story right here. Donald Trump has a long history of not picking up the check. Huh. He loves promises unfulfilled and bills unpaid. Yo, please, by all means, show me somebody black who could get away with that. Black folk don't identify with Donald Trump because Donald Trump is not being persecuted.

Show me a black person, please, who could be in court and the judge issue a gag order and then this person violates the gag order, show me a black person in America who could insult a judge and his daughter and still be walking around free. Don Trump did that. He did that.

Press play. As unpopular as it was, as much as we didn't like to hear it, it's the truth. And there's no way around it. Those are all contributing factors to the state of affairs with the slippage that appears to be taking fold when it comes to President Biden. Unfortunately, back to me. That's simply not true. It's in the data. It's in the data. BlackPak poll, Higher Heights poll, Black Numbers Roundtable poll, Pew Research poll, the last four, all of that other stuff was based upon one poll with a very tiny percentage of black people.

This is why facts matter. This is why data matters. Not emotion. Data. Not feelings. Facts. And we know Sean Hannity ain't going to cite any of these facts that counters Trump's lies. Because he believes it.

One final point I'm going to make, press play. About racial disparity in our justice system. And you know what, Stephen A., there has been. You're a thousand percent right. Roll that back. Roll that back. I need you to roll back what Sean Hannity just said. You're talking about racial disparity in our justice system and you know what steven a there has been you're a thousand percent right now just for the record come back to me all right so here's sean hanny oh steven a you're absolutely right about racial disparity in the criminal justice system well sean tell me the last time you actually covered that. Tell me, Sean, you have actually covered the case of Tara Moorhead, the white woman in Kansas. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

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

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

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

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Who for 40 years was putting black folks in jail, was putting black people again in jail, made up confessions. She now has surrendered her law license. She's going to get disbarred. Show me how many times you, Sean Hannity, have covered these cases of

black men being shot by cops. Show me, Sean Hannity, how many times on your show you have fought for black men who were incarcerated in prison and wrongfully convicted and some of them still not being paid. Show me, Sean Handy, where you and Fox News covered the black man in St. Louis who has an undercover cop, was beaten by other cops, and earlier this week

was awarded $27.5 million. Don't you sit your punk ass up there and go, oh yeah, Stephen A., you're right. There is bias in the criminal justice system when your sorry ass never talks about it and never covers it. In fact, you denigrate black people on a regular basis on the network. But no, you only said that

because Stephen A. was supporting your position that the trials against Trump are him being persecuted when he's actually being prosecuted. But what I'm not going to do is let Sean Hannity even remotely get away with that when you have never seen them cover these cases. We do this every single day. And I can guarantee you're never going to see

Sean Hannity on a consistent basis speaking against the criminal justice system. Because, oh, matter of fact, play it again for the folk who didn't hear it. Just run it back one more time. You're talking about racial disparity in our justice system. And you know what, Stephen A.?

There has been. You're 1,000% right. Now, just for the record... Here we go. All right, Sean. Well, then you tell me, Sean, how many times have you covered black folks being beaten by jailers

and by wardens in prisons? You tell me how many times have you covered these sorry, stank, nasty, decrepit prisons in Mississippi and Alabama and in Texas? You tell me how many times have you covered these cases? You tell me have you covered the case we did earlier of the brother who was shot and killed in Minneapolis and the family filed a federal lawsuit? Tell me, have you covered the case of the brother who was shot in Alabama we covered the other day? Tell me, Sean Hannity, how many times did you do stories on the goon squad who beat two black men, sexually assaulted them in Mississippi, and no six cops have been convicted on state and federal charters. Don't you dare sit there and pimp black people with that throwaway comment when you know damn

well you do not nor have you ever, Sean Hannity, stood with black people fighting racism, fighting what's happening in the criminal justice system, and Stephen A., you should have corrected him. You should have challenged him. Y'all, if I was on Stephen A.'s show, and I've been on many times, and Stephen A.'s supporter of this show, I could call him and text him. But his facts were wrong. The data was wrong. And we have an obligation. I don't care whose show we do.

Whether it's ours or somebody else's. To present truth. To present facts. And the reality is. Black folks ain't caping for Donald Trump. Or feeling for Donald Trump. to present facts. And the reality is, black folks ain't caping for Donald Trump or feeling for Donald Trump, thinking he's been persecuted. Donald Trump is a rich white man

who has never, ever, ever been held accountable for his actions. That man started his career on racism. They used to mark C at the top of applications, and that's why the Department of Housing and Urban Development sued them for racial discrimination. That is a fact. Donald Trump was running around

talking about illegal immigrants, and who do you think was working in his estates in New Jersey and in Florida? See, I'm going to call it what it is, and we're going to speak factually about this. Let me be absolutely clear. Above the Supreme Court, equal justice under law. But we know, because we can see it our own black eyes that Donald Trump don't identify with any black person

whatsoever. Because I dare I dare anybody to put Donald Trump on a stage with that brother out of North Carolina who was in prison for almost 30 years. Put him on stage with black men who were on death row who never did it. Please, by all means, I can't wait to see Sean Hannity invite Stephen A. Smith back and invite Michael Harris because he has a long thread on Twitter about it.

But talk about Tara Moorhead in Kansas City. Oh, I can't wait to see a full week of coverage on Sean Hannity's show about discrimination and racism in the criminal justice system. It's one thing I will not do is hold my damn breath, because if I do, I ain't going to be here on Monday. I'm going to go to a break and I know Cameron and Michael got some thoughts. You're watching Rollerbox Unfiltered

on the Blackstar Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest,

visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. White people are losing their damn minds. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance.

We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women.

This is white fear. Hey, yo, what's up? It's Mr. Dalvin right here. What's up? This is KC. Sitting here representing the J-O-D-E-C-I. That's Jodeci. Right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let me be real clear. I'm very clear, Michael. We all can disagree. We all can... And the fact of the matter is, you can say Trump being persecuted, I can say he's being prosecuted, but the fact of the matter is,

the things that Donald Trump, especially the case... Let's just deal with the case that he's on right now. It's hard to say it's a junk case when his own lawyer has already pled guilty to it. It's not like he's being targeted and

Michael Cohen wasn't. He is. Well, not only that, when Michael Cohen was in prison, when Trump was in office and Attorney General William Barr was when William Barr was Attorney General Michael Cohen was persecuted also

by the Trump Department of Justice as well but Michael Cohen I don't want you to speed past that let's say that again Donald Trump's attorney was prosecuted by Donald Trump's Department of Justice

for the exact same charges that Donald Trump is on trial for in New York City by Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bradd. Alvin Bradd, yeah. But then also while he was in prison, he was also persecuted by Donald Trump's Department of Justice as well, okay? So Michael Cohen spilled the beans in the House of Representatives hearing where he talked about Donald Trump

inflating the value of properties when it came time to get loans and devaluing the value of those properties, deflating the value of properties when it came time to get loans and devaluing the value of those properties, deflating the value of those properties when it came time to pay taxes. But so I watched part of that segment that Stephen A. Smith did on Sean Handy's show on white nationalist TV known as Fox News. First of all, I noticed in that whole segment Stephen A. Smith didn't talk about Donald Trump trying to overthrow the government

January 6, 2021, sending domestic terrorists to the U.S. Capitol to interrupt a constitutionally mandated bicameral session. Here's the deal, though. That wasn't the topic. The topic was about him believing that Trump is being

persecuted with these sham trials and his Democrats getting back at Trump. But, see, I want to—here's my whole point. I want to stay on facts. I just want to stay right there. See, it's like I want to stay in the pocket. Yeah, but there's a special counsel. But Jack Smith is prosecuting Donald Trump.

Now, that's part of the case with Jack Smith, okay? And wait, wait, wait, wait. And this is based upon... Let's be real clear. This is based upon law, based upon facts, based upon allegations. So again, if you did not lead the insurrection,

if you did not make the statements you made, and if you didn't... See, roll up, because Stephen Amey mentioned impeachment. If you did not do any of those things, you wouldn't have gotten impeached. Right. And again, guess what? If we want to pull it up,

Mitch McConnell said on the floor of the Senate, I hold Donald Trump responsible for his actions on January 6th. That's also why he's getting, he's on trial. So to call it persecution when it's based upon shit you did. No, you did it. I can't sit... If I sat here and went outside on 16th and the K, matter of fact, if I went on... If I walked two blocks and walked to the White House and punched a Secret Service man in his face,

they gonna arrest my black ass, charge my black ass, indict my black ass, and conv arrest my black ass, charge my black ass, indict my black ass, and convict my black ass. And what would I sound like saying? I'm being persecuted. And Donald Trump, do you identify with me? I'm being persecuted like you. He's going to sit there and say, hell no, lock his black ass up. Yeah. So one of the points I want to make here is Donald Trump was trying to invalidate the votes of 16.9 million black people,

the same people who Stephen A. Smith is trying to say identify with Donald Trump because he's being persecuted. Donald Trump in Georgia, Donald Trump put the lives of Shea Moss and Ruby Freeman in danger because of the lies he was telling. Right. When we look at... Those black women had to leave their house. Those black women had to leave. And they

have won a judgment against Rudy Giuliani, who still lies on them. Again. $145 million. You can't say somebody's being persecuted when they on tape doing it. He on tape.

He was tried and convicted by a judge for defaming E. Jean Carroll. You know what his ass did? Went out, defamed her again. You know what she did? Went back to court, won another judgment. You can't say he's being persecuted when he did it. defamed her again. You know what she did? Went back to court, won another judgment. You can't say he's been persecuted when he did it. You look at the New York City civil trial, $454 million judgment for overinflating the value of properties and committing fraud against banks. No black person in America could get away with something like

that and not go to prison. He did it! These black people that Stephen A. Smith is talking about that identify with Trump, where are they? Candace Owens. And guess what?

Even on that, Cameron, there's no data. I actually asked Cornell Belcher, posed with Brilliant Strategies. I said, Cornell, has anybody

actually presented a poll and showed any data, again, any data, regarding African Americans and this whole notion of aligning with or being, or saying that, hey, you know what, Trump is getting persecuted sort of like we are.

This was, he sent me, this is the quote. There's no polling dumb enough to ask black people do they think Trump, who would be in jail already if he were black and by no means able to run for president if he were black with his record, if they feel he's discriminated against and feel his plight is in any way like that of us. It's so stupid to be more hilarious and insulting.

That's a joke. Now, Stephen A. says, that's not what I said. I think what happened is two thoughts were running together at one time, Cameron. But the fact of the matter is this here. Trump people have said that. Trump said it. And remember, Cameron, when he got charged in Fulton County,

on Fox News, other places, they would say, oh yeah, well, black people are identifying with Trump because he got a mug shot. And we're gonna get, they would say, oh, yeah, well, you know, black people are identifying with Trump because he got a mugshot. And we're going to get, they literally were like, we're going to get black votes because black people, see, that's unfair that Donald Trump got a mugshot. First of all, black people

also know that we don't get to just show up when we want to show up and turn ourselves in and not do a perp walk. Black people also know that when we don't get to go to our doctor and volunteer to write down our weight, no, they're going to tell us to step your black ass on that weight scale and go write that down. So even Donald Trump, when he got charged, got special treatment when he got charged. Ain't nothing that has happened to Donald Trump even remotely

identifies with any black person in the history of America. Roland, I so agree. Even one silly thing Trump said, he said, yeah, the T-shirts are selling out. You know who's buying them? Black people. I had so many problems with Stephen A's, even his framing there. I'm so glad in the last segment, you walked down the actual data and the facts, because dealing in this space for the last 15 years, I've been on both sides of this. We'll take a poll and make it say what we want to say, or we'll take the headline we want out of it, but it may not actually be accurate or it may not actually tell the entire story. And I think this one little small poll is being misconstrued so many different ways

and so many different headlines, and people are running with it. That is not to say that there is not work that the Biden campaign and that Democrats need to do to ensure that Black people, ensure that they really earn the vote of Black Americans, Black men. We still have to hold that party and both parties to task in terms of showing up for us. But when Stephen A. said that, and then also, I just had a fundamental disagreement in saying this is politicizing and this is not how he wants Donald Trump to lose. Go after him after the issues. We are going, people are going after him after the issues. But to your point, he broke the

law. We all saw it. We've heard about it. He's kind of admitted it in so many different ways in different times the man admitted it on the courthouse steps two days ago exactly so that's nothing about the democrats coming to get you or the boogeyman coming to get you

that's about unfortunately sometimes the law our judicial system takes a little extra time. But that's just what happens to happen. Like, you can't, no one's above the law. I think we in American history, in where we stand in the world right now, are watching what is going on and how we will hold what everyone across the globe, this is the internet social media age. Everybody's seen this stuff. They've seen January 6th. They've seen so many different, they've seen him admit to

so many things. And if we don't, as American people in judicial system, at least prosecute and go through the process, I mean, what is there? So Stephen A saying that this is how the Democrats are trying to beat Trump is like, no, Trump beating himself. And here's the whole deal. And this is this. This is this is very simple. If you did. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

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Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

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

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You do not want to be prosecuted for trying to overturn the election results in Georgia,

but then you don't pressure the Secretary of State on tape. Right. You don't. folk who work with you try to impound voting machines. That happened. You don't attack black poll workers and lie about them, and you continue to lie about them.

You did that. Now, a jury will determine whether you are guilty, but you are charged. In America, you're innocent until proven guilty. He is being afforded what the system says. You go through the system. There are trials. You go through all of that.

But this notion that Democrats are targeting Donald Trump because they want to beat him in 2024 when in one of the charges he actually suppressed a payment in 2016 because he wanted to win in 2016. Let me say that again for everybody who's missing. Donald Trump feared that if the world found out that he had paid off a porn star, he would have lost in 2016. Right. He won. he won so his actions in 2016

actually helped him to win you can't now blame Democrats for his actions in 2016 for saying oh we're going after him now because we want to win when you've already convicted his attorney

six years previously for the exact same thing. And like Michael said, his attorney, Trump's attorney, was prosecuted slash persecuted by Trump's Department of Justice. So, Sean Hannity and Stephen A., if this New York trial is bogus and Trump is being persecuted,

what you're saying is that Trump's Department of Justice prosecuted a bogus case against Michael Cohen. And Michael Cohen was persecuted. Can anybody show me any evidence of Donald Trump saying in 2018 that my former attorney, Michael Cohen,

is being persecuted by my Department of Justice because what he did for me was much ado about nothing. If Bill Barr as the attorney general, if his DOJ felt that it was beyond much ado about nothing, then how can we say what's happening with Trump is much ado about nothing, then how can we say what's happening with Trump is much ado about nothing, Stephen A? It's the same charge. Michael, Cameron, I appreciate y'all being on today's show. Good conversation. We will, I will see you guys on Monday, of course.

Man, quite interesting, quite interesting. Quite interesting. Folks, first of all, it's going to be great. I'm still moving, but also Sunday, I'll be celebrating my 23rd wedding anniversary with Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood Martin. So looking forward to that. I will see y'all on Monday.

I will be in the house. I'm sure there'll be a lot more for us to unpack. As always, we want y'all to support us in what we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each, $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. Please send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.

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and of course, be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Folks, I'll see y'all on Monday. Holla! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. More time Thank you. Thank you. This is an iHeart Podcast.