#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Miss. Capitol Police Shootings, Voter Suppression Guilty Plea, Swainsboro, GA Election Town Hall

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

10.25.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Miss. Capitol Police Shootings, Voter Suppression Guilty Plea, Swainsboro, GA Election Town Hall We're broadcasting LIVE from Swainsboro, Georgia!  The family of a Mississippi man shot and killed by State Capitol Police have been waiting for weeks to get answers why he was shot in his car during a reported traffic stop. Jaylen Lewis' shooting is the fifth officer-involved shooting by this police force created by  Gov. Tate Reeves, building a larger law enforcement presence in the predominately black capital city of Jackson.  A Russian court rejects WNBA star Brittney Griner's appeal, upholding her nine-year prison sentence. And two white right-wing political operatives plead to a telecommunications fraud charge.  They targeted predominantly black neighborhoods with robocalls, falsely claiming voter information included on mail-in ballots could be used by law enforcement and debt collectors. RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Coming up on Roller Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. I'm back in Swainsboro, Georgia, where we are, of course, focusing on the critical midterm elections. Eight days in, massive turnout in Georgia. More than one million people have already voted early. Republicans are already saying, see, no voter suppression, but they're still alive. So we will, of course, talk about that, talk to some folks here about what they're doing

to drive turnout in this city, but also in this county and in this region. We'll also talk with the mother of the young black man shot and killed in Mississippi. They still are demanding answers from police as to what happened to Jalen Lewis. That is the fifth officer-involved shooting by the state police force created by Governor Tate Reeves in the larger law enforcement presence in the predominantly black capital city of Jackson, Mississippi. A Russian court has rejected the appeal of WNBA star Brittany Briner.

She will begin a nine-year prison term in that country. Also, two white, right-wing political operatives, they have pled guilty to making robocalls to dissuade black folks from voting. Again, they targeted Dominic they targeted Michigan as well. Folks, we're going to talk about that and much more. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin.

I'm Filcher. The Black Sun Network here in Georgia. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, yo. Yeah, yeah.

It's Rolling Martin, yeah. Yeah, yeah.'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 Rollin' Martin Yeah Martin All right, folks, we are here in Swainsville, Georgia, again, for the second time the last couple of weeks,

covering and focusing on what's happening here in this state for the upcoming election. Crucial races in Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, a number of states will determine who controls the United States House, who controls the United States Senate, but also who controls governor's mansions all across the country. A little bit later, we're going to have a panel here in Swainsboro talking about efforts to get folks out to vote to maximize the black voter turnout in a city that is 65% African American. But on today's show, first we want to talk about what's happening in Jackson, Mississippi, where a police force organized by the governor, Tate Reeves,

they have been shooting black folks at a higher incident than many other places in the country. On Sunday, September 25th, Jalen Lewis and a friend were driving around Jackson, Mississippi. Somehow, a reported traffic stop ended with Jalen being fatally shot by state Capitol Police officers. Now, bullet holes in his vehicle show officers shot Jalen while he was still inside with the window up. Those unidentified officers are on administrative leave, but the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation reviews the incident. Now, this shooting is the fifth officer-involved shooting in the state's capital since July 1st.

The state capital police department functions as a stand-alone subsidiary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety, and they collaborate with existing sworn personnel. The move was made possible by a bill signed by Governor Tate Reeves authorizing MDPS to acquire the Capitol Police in 2021. This new division primarily patrols black communities from downtown, extending from Jackson State University to I-55. Jalen's mother, Arkela, says no one has contacted her about what happened to her son, specifically why the officers shot him. She and her attorney, Lee Merritt, join us right now. Glad to have you both.

So first and foremost, Arkela, certainly our condolences for the loss of your son. Too often we have had to do this and talk to way too many mothers and fathers whose children have been shot and killed by police. You say that no one has contacted you. And so this was September 25th. Was there an autopsy? Has there been a report explaining what happened? No. Well, I called the hospital.

I said that there was an autopsy done. However, they said that I'm entitled to one, but they're not ready to release it yet because it's still under investigation. Other than that, I have not been contacted by anybody. And even with that information, I have to reach out to someone. Reach out to someone. So police say that he was driving around. Have they even given a reason why the car was stopped? No, sir, they have not. Lee Merritt, what in the world is going on here? I mean, we're talking about September 25th. That's a month ago. How is it that there's no information Hello?

Folks, is Lee there? Hello? Yeah, Lee, we got you. Go ahead. Lee is there. Yeah. I'm sorry. Lee is.

Yeah. Yeah, hi. This is Dennis Week. The crow room. Is Lee there or not? Yeah, hi. This is Dennis Week. The MBI, Ministry Bureau of Investigations, they do the investigation,

and they have said that they haven't had any results yet. They haven't turned over any report yet. Turned over any report yet. Sorry, this is Dennis Sweet IV and Dennis Sweet III. Sorry, we had on my list here that Lee was supposed to be there. So, again, Dennis, I'm trying to understand here. You're saying that there's been no report has been filed? No report yet.

No report yet. No report yet. My son and I have done numerous cases, and a lot of times they have a difficult time getting reports on this investigation. This is the Capitol Police. This is not your regular police department now. This is an organization set up by statute, and they're not responsible to local law enforcement officials. They're not responsible to the DA. This is the Mississippi Capitol Police. Now, these are special contract agents. And this bill was set up July 1, 2022.

And so this is kind of new out of the box for us. And they, MBI, Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, is investigating these officers. Now, these officers are hiring the special contract agents through the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations. So we don't know what the delay is. We talked to Ms. Lewis. She has, of course, been wanting a report. And so we're about to take some action, I think, of opening an estate and using the subpoena power that you get when you open an estate. Dennis? Yeah, we're going to have to do an independent investigation and use the power of the courts, unfortunately. One second. Dennis, hold on. Dennis, one second. Dennis, one second. Okay, let me go back. I'm confused here. Who do these officers report to? The statute says they're

responsible to the Attorney General's office. They are policing in the city of Jackson under the Capitol Police, but they're responsible to the Attorney General's office. And that's set up by statute that went into effect July 1st, 2022. So in terms of this shooting, that means that the report should be filed by the AG's office. We should get it from, well, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. So it should of Investigation. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. So it should come from them, the state law enforcement office.

Not the local where it was, like you see in the police department. This would be from the state. This is absolutely confusing that a month has passed and a shooting takes place, a fatal shooting, and there's been no type of report whatsoever, which means that we don't know if these officers, so, okay, so who put them on administrative leave and how long is that? The state, the state has the authority to do the investigation. Local law enforcement, local investigators don't have any power.

The statute gives the complete authority to the attorney general's office and the governor. So all decisions on this have been coming from the state. try to get local counsel and local help so we can access the courts and try to get this scene investigated through the courts and through the legal process. Ms. Lewis there has been diligent. She's been diligent. They've gotten this vehicle back. You see the pictures where the bullet holes, she's been able to get the vehicle, secure it, Ms. Lewis has, and her family, and they have possession of the vehicle now. She was able to get that back. She's, like you said, inquired about an autopsy, and she's waiting for the report. So the legal action we have now would be to use her and open an estate for them and use the subpoena power of the court.

We're hoping that they'll have something in the next couple of weeks. And Ms. Lewis has been down. We've counseled with her. And so we'll have to use our power, subpoena power of our courts to get this information. Hopefully, they will have something. But as she said, she's been asking. She's been trying. Her minister, Reverend Pickett, has been trying to rally support to get it. So it's an effort to get it. We will get it for her and we'll report, have her report to you what we learn when we get this report and what we're going to learn from our investigation. Arkela, you're waiting on the autopsy report. Have you and your attorneys commissioned your own independent autopsy of your son? Yes, I am. Yes. And has it taken place?

No, it hasn't. I mean, I've spoken with my attorney, and he's going to do it, but as of now, no. That's right. All right, then. Well, certainly keep us abreast of what happens next in this case. It is certainly just tragic that one, he was shot and killed, but also that you have not gotten any answers whatsoever. So we appreciate you as well as your attorneys joining us on today's show as well. Dennis Sweet, the fourth and Dennis Sweet, the third.

May I say one thing too? May I say one thing too? Okay. Go ahead. When you all are looking into this and you're waiting for answers, would you all please ask some answers to how a bill like this got passed where you could have special contract agents policing individuals in the city? We're looking into that also.

What legislative action, what political action allowed this to happen? I believe it's been five, five shootings. Yeah. It's been enacted since July 1st. And I believe we've already had five shootings from this agency. Three deaths. And they investigated the bill. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, we reach out to the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus,

the Mississippi Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Capitol Police, and several Jackson, Mississippi Police Council members. We only got one response from a council member who said he had not heard about Jalen's shooting. I want to bring up my panel right now. Xavier Pope, host of Suit Up News, owner of the Pope Law Firm, Brianna Cartwright, political strategist, Randy Bryant, diversity and inclusion strategist, speaker, trainer, and writer. in Cincinnati, they allow for the University of Cincinnati Police Force to actually go into the community there when they're pursuing someone. There was a shooting that took place beforehand, and we've sort of seen this in places also where you have these state capitals,

where you also have these majority black cities. But this is strange, and you would think that if you had five police involved shootings since July, you have a serious problem with these contractors who the state is hiring to police there in Jackson, Mississippi, a predominantly black city. Yeah, Roland, I think that's a huge problem. But the other part of this is this creates a huge bureaucracy about how to hold the police accountable here, because if they're deputized by the attorney general's office, you ask correctly who actually gave the suspension if they're going to be investigated by submit FOIA requests, to be able to determine the process, gather information, to be able to truly hold accountable who actually has done

what's happened, and then also to be able to bring civil suits and to be able to further bring accountable any agency involved. Brianna so this is a very sad situation and I hope that the fact that

for a month nothing has been stated to the mother is not understandable at all. I do not know the processes of it, but it's definitely way over time, and hopefully some things get sorted out soon. Again, we often see where you have these red states

where they want to intercede in the power of local government. But there's no way in the world anyone can defend five police-involved shootings since July and not think there's a fundamental problem there with the state police in Jackson, Mississippi. And it definitely seems that there are red states that are majority black. You know, Jackson, Mississippi is almost 85 percent African-American. And it seems that these are the areas that you're seeing these kind of side policing going on of our people. Just this week, a study came out that said that Mississippi is the most dangerous state in America right now. And I think people would be surprised by that. And Jackson,

specifically, the most dangerous city. And it's because of cases like this that are, you know, where people are allowed to go unchecked. And there's almost like this private policing of black people going on. And so it's quite scary. Indeed, it is. And so we're certainly going to try to get more answers from this. Got to go to a break. We come back. I want to talk about early voting taking place all across the country. I want to talk about what we're seeing in a lot of these places as we do a countdown. We are literally 14 days away from November 8th election day, but early voting is taking place right now. So we'll talk about that and other news when we come back. Roland Martin unfiltered

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Hello, I'm Bishop T.D. James. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals. Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. Star Network. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. We're here in Swainsboro, Georgia. A little bit later, we're going to be, of course, having another conversation here, talking about the upcoming election where we are 14 days away from Election Day. But the reality is voting has already started. A lot of major things happened last night in Florida. You had, of course, the debate between former Congressman Charlie Crist,

former governor as well, against Governor Ron DeSantis. Tonight, big debate happening in Pennsylvania. Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman will be making his first statewide appearance since suffering a stroke. He'll be going against, of course, Mehmet Oz, who is running on the Republican side. So a lot of eyes will be on that race. That race has also shrunk in terms of the polls. And I want to talk to my panel about that, this whole idea of polls. And so there are a lot of people, Breonna, right now, they get fixated on polling.

And there are people who literally are watching it every single day, every single hour. And what I keep telling folks is there's not a single poll where anyone ever got elected. But you're guaranteed to lose a race if you don't focus on turning people out. And that's really what it boils down to, turning people out to the polls. And so this right now is about ground game. I don't even think if you're a voter right now, I don't believe you have people out there who are undecided. I think what you really have right now, Brianna, are people who are not undecided as to who they will vote for. They're undecided as to if they're going to vote. So it's really about a hard ground game, knocking on doors, making phone calls, sending text messages, having person-to-person contact that will determine turnout in this election.

Absolutely. Obama did it perfectly, organizing one-on-one, making sure people get out the vote. It's now October 25th, so a lot of people, it's too late to mail in the ballot. It should be dropped off in the ballot boxes. But, you know, there's a huge amount of people who are still holding on to their ballot. They have a ballot, but they didn't turn it in. It's not too late. It's not too late. It's not too late, Breonna, depending upon your state.

It's not too late. So, for instance, in Texas, early voting just started on yesterday. And so if you can't actually get to the ballot box, you can request, you got until Friday to actually get that application in. So it's not too late, depending upon where you live, to request a mail-in ballot and then to get it in. Go ahead. Correct. To request it and to get it in. However, I was saying in the sense of mail has been slow. So physically mailing it in is more risky versus taking your ballot and submitting it to the clerk's office or one of the drop boxes. But yes, different states, changes, Florida, you can still, like I said, take it to the Dropbox. Michigan, online, signing up for your ballot. Yesterday was the deadline.

However, one of the portents is that there is the feeling of not who should I vote for, but if I should vote, especially in Florida, as we see the governor's race between DeSantis and Chris. Chris was formerly a governor. Some people remember that. And DeSantis has not been serving Florida. So some people have the feeling of not wanting to vote because they don't see that there's going to be change. However, we see plenty of things and in ways that, especially in minority communities, we're being blocked to vote. And so it does matter. And it's just driving that conversation,

having those one-on-one conversations at people's doors, at the supermarkets, but really driving people out to vote. Georgia, I'm currently in Georgia right now, and it's hitting already 2018 numbers. So we are seeing a lot of excitement and voting in Georgia, and hopefully that continues. They've actually far exceeded. They've actually far exceeded 2018, and they've exceeded 2018 numbers by 159%. They've exceeded 2020 numbers by 20%. And last night we had the conversation, we were in Statesboro. When you look at black turnout, folks, we are voting in some of the places in terms of at our know, at our numbers.

And, in fact, there's a very small gap between black men and black women. And so all of these folks who were prognosticating, Xavier, that black men were not turning out, well, they all lied because the numbers are very clear that they're actually turning out. So we are seeing a tremendous amount of response, and now we're tracking what's happening in these other states like North Carolina, like you have there in Texas as well, some places like Alabama that they don't have early voting. But, again, that's what we're also looking at, Xavier, again.

And this is what I keep saying. All of the people who spend their time paying attention to mainstream media, they care about process. This is why you must talk to black-owned media, because we were not freaking out about black men turning out. Roland, I think black people know what's at stake. And black men specifically know what's at stake. Because you just start out the show with a young black male being shot and killed. We know this is the reality in this country.

And to discount black people not knowing the conditions that we are facing and the fascist white nationalists take over to take us back decades, we understand what's there. And I think this station is coming for a rude awakening, seeing on some of these early turnout numbers that black people are here to save this republic once again. Randy, we're seeing also the intimidation going on. There's drama happening in Arizona where you have these white militants dressed in fatigues, carrying guns, bulletproof vests, who are fixated on a ballot drop box.

In fact, there have been standoffs there. In fact, there's going to be a court hearing tomorrow in federal court dealing with the voter intimidation case. That's going to be at 1 p.m. Arizona time seeking a temporary restraining order against those individuals. And what I have been warning folks, and again, especially African-Americans who are choosing to ignore or sit out this election, to understand what is happening on the right. They are angry that Donald Trump lost. He has unleashed these evil forces across this country. And now what you're seeing is you're now seeing armed individuals who are literally intimidating folks.

And this is not going to be just one case. You're also seeing folks challenging voters for no reason whatsoever in places like Georgia because the law was changed to allow anyone to challenge a voter based upon literally nothing. And so these are all intimidation tactics that too often are specifically targeting black folks and brown folks. Right. And if ever we had a question of how important it is that we get out there and vote, we should see what Republicans are doing to stop us from doing it. We should recognize the power that we have. I mean, already more than 9 million Americans have done early voting in this midterm, which is beautiful. And the majority of those being Democrats, from what they're saying, right?

They don't want that to happen. Red state conservatives do not want that to happen. They're doing everything in their power to intimidate us from having us arrested to creating lies that, you know, this information can show up on our credit reports, be used against us. And it's simply not true. Do not be intimidated. Do not back down. Absolutely exercise your right to vote because we see how much it matters. I think most of us know that.

But go and call and remind your relatives, your friends, strangers in the grocery store that we do have the right to vote and not to be intimidated. And I am glad that, one, people are filming what these conservatives, what these thugs are doing to people as they are trying to vote early and exercise their rights so that we can follow up on this criminal activity. I'm going to keep hitting this thing, Brianna. That is, we have to begin to have different conversations when you look at young voters 18 to 40. The numbers are simply abysmal in early voting. In early voting, again, I showed last night in North Carolina, of the folks who voted

early, first day, 55% of them were 65 years or older. And then as you go down between the ages of 18 and 40, they represented only about 12% of the total number of votes cast. And so

millennials and Gen Zs represent the largest potential, first of's represent the largest potential. First of all, the largest group of Americans. And so if they want to talk about how do you change politics, then they got to vote. You listen to these people who complain that Joe Biden is 78 years old. Well, guess what? If you don't vote and boomers vote, shut the hell up. They're the ones who are turning out. I mean, that's just I mean, so that's why it drives me crazy when I hear people who complain about who

votes, and I'm going, well, if you don't, be quiet. We've had this conversation back and forth. I do think that And the data doesn't lie. The data doesn't lie, Brianna. At the end of the day doesn't lie the data doesn't lie brianna at the end of the day

voters 18 to 40 aren't turning out they do not vote their numbers well we hope uh this general election uh we see differently um there's very important topics on the ballot as we see inflation has been huge in our country and they can see the effect of that on gas and what that means to go to work and milk and so these are issues that affect young people but also Roe v. Wade being overturned right that's a very young issue and so maybe having that as a focus of on our conversation about economy and really needing to protect our state's rights now that Roe v. Wade is overturned, it pushes more young people to the polls. I do think it's about engaging. You said they're tired of the 87-year-old running.

Some of the issues happen in the primaries, but we're in general election, and I know that sometimes it's lesser of two evils. And at this point, we need to vote for one of the lesser of the evils. It's not perfect in some states. We don't have pretty candidates. We don't have pretty candidates. Tonight is the debate in Pennsylvania. The debate in Pennsylvania. Okay, and OK, what does that mean? What does that mean? We don't have what does that mean? We don't have pretty candidates at all.

And I get OK. And here's my problem with here's my problem with that phrase. We have the lesser of two evils. This is real simple. If you are a young voter and you don't vote in the primary, why are you complaining about who's in the general? I mean, this is real simple. If you think that you've got to vote in the primary. What if the individual did vote in the primary and upset with what the general looks like? That doesn't mean that they stopped voting. They still need to vote. They could have voted in the primary, and they still don't like what's in the general.

And they still don't like what's in the general. Actually, they didn't. They didn't, Breonna. Breonna, we can look at numbers. We can pull data. Breonna, we can pull data. And we will show you. Breonna, we will show you consistently in nearly every election,

the higher you go up in age, the higher the turnout. The lower you go in age, the lower the turnout. Please, by all means, give me an example where voters 18 to 40 outvoted voters 41 to 65 plus. I'll wait. Rolling. Not yet. It's not about the pretty candidates. It's about how voters vote. It's clear as day. Now, we saw the higher voter turnout rate in terms of mail-in ballots, in terms of drop boxes, and that swing towards Democrats. And you saw the Republicans' efforts to curtail that. And that's how a lot of young people vote, and also restricting voting on certain college campuses. And so if you make it easier for young people to vote, if you can TikTok your vote in,

oh, Democrats are winning hands down. And so we have to focus on making it easier to vote for young people. It's clear as day that's how they engage with the political process. But older people, they want to make sure they vote in, so they're going to vote in more traditional ways. That's just pretty much how people vote and how we're able to address making it easier to connect with those that are younger and how to vote and get part of the process. I just want, I'm just, the thing that gets me again is that, first of all, control room, please, working as you two folks here, there's an echo, so let me know what's going on there. All I'm simply trying to say is this here.

I think we have to literally have real frank conversations, and that is this here. You cannot talk about being a young voter and you complain that older people are making all the decisions if, one, young folks don't run, two, if they then don't vote in primaries. Three, don't vote in general elections. And then the reason I hate that lesser of two evils comparison is because the reality is somebody is going to win. One person is going to win either way. And so you have to make a decision that of the two people who are running,

then who likely one is going to support the issues that I care about, or two, who do I have a better shot at actually being able to talk to and hear from out of the two candidates? Because somebody is going to win and whoever wins is going to be determining policy. Now, I can sit here and yell, lesser of two evils, and why do I have to pick between bad choices? Well, because you have to. Because one of the two are going to win. about that, listen, if you sit out, that is just as worse as you actually voting a wrong way. Because again, you're sitting out of the process. Numbers simply don't lie. And when I pull up these numbers, Randy, when I look at city elections, when I look at some areas where a city council

member was elected with 100 votes in an area with 1,000 plus voters. That's 10 percent of the eligible voters voted. But trust me, you got more than 10 percent of people who whine and complain about something. I think, honestly, that younger voters feel ambivalent. I feel that they don't feel connected to the process or they have any sort of control. And that's what needs to happen is that we need to show them how this process actually affects them. I think they see politics and voting and honestly, the entire government as something that is so incredibly distant from them. They have nothing to do with it. And they are more focused on what their lives are.

And they're not understanding it, what their lives are and what the possibilities of their lives can be is dependent on voting. And, you know, who is really speaking to them? I mean, if I were speaking, for instance, to my sons, you know, who attend Hampton University, I mean, they know they must vote or, you know, that they would be repercussions. But, you know, who attend Hampton University. I mean, they know they must vote or, you know, that there would be repercussions. But, you know, who can relate to them? You know, are there people that they listen to who are putting the emphasis on the importance of voting and connecting what matters to them to them getting out and voting? And I think that's the issue. I would love to see that push that we see from many of our, you know, stars, people they look at really talk about voting and make it make sense, make the connections for them. I think that would be extremely powerful.

Or I would also say to folks, learn to mobilize and organize yourselves so then you're not depending on somebody else to actually do it for you. That also is important. I've got to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to continue this conversation about what has happened in the midterm elections, issues that we care about, what's at the top of the ballot. We'll talk about that next. We'll also talk about black and missing when we come back as well. You're watching Roland Martin on a filtered broadcast and live from Spainsboro, Georgia, right here on the Black Star Network back in a moment. When we invest in ourselves, we

all shine. Together, we are Black beyond measure. This is our time, our moment to move forward beyond the gun violence, the hospital closures, the unaffordable housing. Brian Kemp's Georgia for the wealthiest few.

Stacey Abrams is looking out for every Georgian. She'll invest our $6 billion surplus in the fundamentals, education, health care, housing, and a good living, putting more money in your pocket to build one Georgia where everyone has the freedom to thrive. When we invest in ourselves, our glow, our vision, our vibe,

we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. It's about us. Let's go! Everybody out together. We are in sunny South Dallas. The election is coming up. It's super important that folks know who they are voting for,

but more importantly, what they are voting for. Y'all, we got the free shirts and free lunch right over here. Freedom is our birthright. No matter what we're up against, we're sending a message in Dallas, in Texas, and in this country. We won't black down. That's what this bus tour is all about. The housing cost is one of the most capitalized areas that we have found. People who are marginalized, that are brown and black, we are suffering the most.

And I think that we have the biggest vote and the biggest impact in this election. I'm voting for affordable housing, for sure. We should not be paying the cost of a utility failure because our elected officials are too proud to say we need help. I know that we can bring out

our people to vote. It's a part of our birthright. It's a part of our heritage. And surely it's a part of our prison, a part of our future. That's right. That's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to Five Friends because in that's what's up. And we won't black down. Forward that message to Five Friends, because in that message, it's got links to how to get registered,

how to check your registration status. Like I said, 2.30, we'll start, um, rendezvousing right here on this street. I am voting to let our voice be heard in the rural communities that, hey, we are people too. There are things that we need. Free shirts, free food, and lots of power! MMM!

We are in Longview, Texas, where Black Voters Matter 365. Whatever type of oppression a white supremacist throws our way, we will not black down. We are in relentless pursuit of liberation of our people. Freedom is liberation for black bodies and black communities to make economic change through political power. Freedom is choice.

We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. We won't black down. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. Black women are starting businesses at the fastest rate than any other segment.

However, finding the funding to build them is challenging. On our next Get Wealthy, we're going to talk with author, Katherine Finney, who wrote the book, Build the Damn Thing. And she's going to be sharing exactly what we need to do to achieve success in spite of the odds. As an entrepreneur of color, it's first building your personal advisory board.

I think that's one of the things that's helped me the most. The personal advisory board of the people who are in the business of you, you personally, and want to see you succeed. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat at the Blacktable with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Blackstar Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin.

Holla! You are watching Roland Martin, and I'm on his show today, and it's... Huh? You should have some chew cards! Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, And you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee. Go. Folks, Jordan Clark was last seen in St. Joseph, Missouri,

on September 3, 2022. The 24-year-old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes. She has an elephant tattoo on her arm and pierced dimples. Anyone with information about Jordan Clark should call the St. Joseph, Missouri Police Department at 816-271-4777, 816-271-4777. Russian court has denied WNBA star Brittany Griner's appeal on drug charges. She appeared virtually in court today.

She will now serve a nine-year prison sentence. Negotiations continue to actually get her back. She's been there more than six months after she was arrested with cannabis items in her luggage when she went to Moscow to play for Russian Basketball League. State Department spokesman Ned Price made a public statement earlier in the month that securing the release of Brittany Griner and Paul Whelan remains a priority for the Biden administration. Two conservative activists pled guilty to a multi-state 2020 election robocall scheme today in Cuyahoga County. A police common police court is in Cleveland. Jacob Warhol of L.A. and Jack Berkman of Virginia both pled guilty to one count of telecommunications fraud.

They made 67,000 illegal robocalls in Midwestern states with election misinformation. The fraudulent calls told recipients their personal information would be sent to law enforcement debt collectors and be forced to get vaccinations if they voted by mail. The campaign led the Federal Communications Commission to seek a record-breaking $5 million fine against Warhol and Berman, Berkman. New York and Michigan are currently pursuing separate charges against the two

for robocalls made to those states they face up to a year in prison. And so isn't it interesting, Randy, that we hear all these conservatives talk about voter fraud and there's no voter suppression when here you have two prominent conservative activists who are fully engaged in spreading misinformation. And I keep saying that one of the things that we are most susceptible to, that kind of misinformation being targeted by Republicans and their operatives? They are pulling out all stops to stop us from voting. Like we said earlier, I mean, they will not, there doesn't seem to be a bottom for them.

There seems to be no standard, no morality, and they certainly seem to get away with a lot of this. I'm glad to see that these two were at least convicted and now are going to be felons. I'll be interested to see if they actually paid a fine that some are asking them to pay. But there's just no bottom for them. And it's interesting that, you know, they did. They're searching and trying to accuse us of voter fraud, where they're doing this on a mass scale. I mean, they have a system to keep us and hold us back. And I noticed, Xavier, I don't see any

tweets from GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel thanking law enforcement for the guilty plea there. You know, is it kind of quiet? It's forever going to be crooked, Roland. The reason is this. This isn't about election fraud or quote-unquote election integrity.

This is behind the whole replacement theory politics that has gripped the Republican Party. This is about a cultural election being stolen. This is what we want to do. This is how we want to rule. I mean, your book, as plain as day, is talking about white folks losing their mind. It's really about this white fear. And that is, we're willing to call people, threaten them with credits being messed up or go to jail. We're willing to have election forces to come out to do voter intimidation with guns. This isn't about democracy.

This isn't about what's legal. This is about rule. This is about power. This is about how do we do it? Now they're just openly doing it, hoping that they will get away with this, hoping to get a pardon, hoping to get passed some kind of way. And that's what we're seeing. It's not based on the law. It's an intimidation. It's in taking over. That's what it's all about the thing here Brianna when we talk about again what we see these are the type of tactics that have long been targeted

African Americans sending flies with the wrong election date things along those lines but now what we're seeing is far more sophisticated efforts where they're using algorithms how they gerrymandered districts, and again, how we are being targeted in terms of being able to suppress our numbers. And I see a lot of gloating as well from Republicans in Georgia by saying, oh, what happened to the voter suppression? Look at the record turnout. First of all, black folks have been jumping over hurdles for a very long time. But just because we still turn out doesn't mean the hurdles should always be put there.

Correct, correct. There's far too many hurdles, and they keep on pushing the bars. For example, you know, in Georgia, you're not allowed to have water in the lines. The fact that, you know, there's long lines in the first place. So then we try to encourage our people to vote by mail. And then they make different rules about mails. And they just, they keep on making it harder and harder. And I think it's a valid point that we need to try to push on making it easy and making sure we vote. That's the most important thing. We keep on talking about it, but emphasizing even the young people need to vote, even if they don't like their candidates. And, you know, we have homecoming coming up. We just had homecoming in HBCU last weekend. We have a lot of Trump retreats coming up in churches.

That's a great way to make sure that people know the right information. The sad part is they used all that money, and robocalls used to be a technique that campaigns would be able to use to spread information and names, and they were able to take that and use it again. So they're taking a lot of the strategies that helped get the right information out, the right candidates, and destabilizing us to not be able to use it for good. It's now being used for evil. So we have to reinvent different ways that we're connecting to the community to make sure that they get out to vote. All right, then. Brianna, Randy, and Xavier, we certainly appreciate it.

Thanks a bunch for joining us on today's panel, folks. When I come back for this break, we have our conversation here in Spaniardsboro, Georgia, talking about election in this state, talking about turnout also in this city. And I got to pose the question to the folks assembled here. How in the hell are we in a city that's 65% black and ain't never had a black mayor? I need somebody to answer that question when we come back. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered

on the Black Star Network. Be sure to download the Black Star Network app available on all platforms. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One. You can also support Samsung Smart TV as well. You can also support our show. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give

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you can also get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Available at bookstores everywhere. Amazon, Barnes & Noble. Order through your favorite black bookstore. You can also, of course, download it on Audible. We'll be right back. When we invest in ourselves, we all shine. Together, we are black beyond Measure. This is our time,

our moment to move forward beyond the gun violence, the hospital closures, the unaffordable housing. Brian Kemp's Georgia for the wealthiest few. Stacey Abrams is looking out for every Georgian. She'll invest our $6 billion surplus in the fundamentals, education, healthcare, When we invest in ourselves, we're investing in what's next for all of us. Growing. Creating. Making moves. That move us all forward.

Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. I am on screen, and I am representing what a Black man is to the entire world that's gonna see this. And this might be the only Black man, a representation of a Black man that they see. Right. So I am responsible, right, for that they see. Right. So I am responsible. Right. For how they see black men.

And it's my responsibility to, if I am not playing an upstanding, honorable, someone with a strong principle of moral core, to make sure that this character is so specific... Right. ...that it is him, not black men. And I wish that more actors would realize how important their position is as an actor,

as an actor of color playing people of color on screen. Because there are people that see us all over the world in these different images that we portray. And not everyone knows black people to know. Yes. That's not all. Thank you. Join event host Roland Martin, our honorees, Reverend Dr. Jamal Bryant, Zernona Clayton, Thomas Dortch Jr., Dana Lupton, Dr. Tammy Presteel. On October 29th at the CNN Center Atlanta. There are no public libraries in Liberia, but together we can change that.

Get tickets at ledinow.org. Hey, what's up? This is Marlon Wayans. No, it's not Kenan. No, or as some of y'all say, Klignan. No, it's not Damien. It's really, it's not Kenan, no, or as some of y'all say, Klignan. No, it's not Damien. It's really, and it's not Damon, because I do not have a bald head.

It's one of the Wayans, it's not Winans, because they have been coming up to me, hey, how you doing? I love the Winanans. There's no Bebe and no Cece in this family. There's Kiki and Damon. So I am one of the Wayans brothers, or as you may want to call fraternity population.

There's the Chinese and then there's the Wayans. We, there's so many of us. Seven Wayans was born during this drop. So you are watching my man, Roland Martin, who really is swagged out. I wanna give a big shout out to my man, Roland Martin, because he inspired the generation. He's the one that got Al Sharpton in the gym doing selfies. He got a...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Reverend Al was like, oh, I see Roland trying to look like he got a little two pack. I'm going to get him one better. He's the one that got Al doing the one handed almost push up on the desk. He's the one that got him doing the one-handed almost push-up on the desk.

So Roland Martin is the inspiration behind that. So be sure to tune in and watch... Roland Martin, unfiltered. Good evening, everyone. Come on, let's generate some excitement here. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for being here, here in the wonderful city of Swainsboro, Georgia. We are more than delighted to be back with none other than

Roland Martin. Give it up. Give it up for Roland. We will formally introduce him later, but we're going to kick this off with just a couple of things. One, you know, I got to do my shameless self-promotion for the Local Matters podcast. You notice I'm wearing a shirt here, Local Matters. Local Matters is a radio program that comes on WKZK in the Augusta area, 103.7 FM, 1600 AM. And I discuss state and local government matters. We cover candidates. We cover issues. And it's our goal to make sure that you're a more informed voter and a better engaged citizen.

So if you like that kind of stuff, please go to Facebook. If you're on Facebook, please follow the Local Matters Podcast of Georgia on Facebook. Always trying to generate a number of followers so that you can take advantage of the great information that we provide on local matters. With that out of the way, I want to do something that we always need to do when we congregate and that is to pray. So I am going to invite Elder Delmas Mosley, he's proprietor of the Mosley Funeral Home here in Swainsboro to give us our opening prayer. Let us bow our heads, please.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we give you the praise and honor for your goodness and your mercy and your grace. Oh, God, we ask that thou would bless this occasion. Give us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding as we go through this process. Bless the participants, oh, God, in a special way. And the audience, Lord, give us open ears that we might hear and understand. In the name of thy son, Jesus Christ, and we give you the praise.

And the people of God say amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Our next program participant is doing double duty tonight. She is Mayor Pro Tem Bobbie Collins. She is going to give us a greetings, and then she's also going to service one of our panelists.

Mayor Pro Tem, please come up. We can bring you the mic. We'll bring you the mic, Mayor Pro Tem. Oh, she's got it already? All right, great. I would just like to say good afternoon, good evening to everyone. And anytime,

we just happy to see all of you that came. We, on behalf of our Honorable Mayor Greg Bennett and the entire City Council, we welcome you to the city of Swainsboro. We thank Mr. Martin, Mr. Roland Martin for coming and welcome back again. And to our distinguished panel, you are welcome, we are happy to have you here to be with us in Swainsboro.

So with a warm welcome, I say to each of you that made the huge effort to join us tonight, thank you for coming. Welcome to Swainsboro and do come again. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Before we get started with our panel discussion, we have somebody who has driven all the way from Atlanta, Georgia, to be in Swainsboro tonight. And that is one of our candidates for the Office of Georgia Insurance Commissioner. She was successful in winning the Democratic primary for that office, which means that she has earned the privilege of running in November for that office. Here she is. Now, our first names are spelled the same. I'm Janice. She's Janice. Miss Janice Laws Robinson, please come on up. Good evening, Swainsboro. How are you this evening?

Wow, this is lovely. Thank y'all so much for coming out. Thank you, Mr. Roland Martin, for this amazing opportunity and occasion for being here. Hello, everyone, my friends over there on the panel. I've been telling you, my friend Al Houston. Where is Al? Hey, Al. Al's been working on getting me here for a while since the primary. I was here in 2018. So many of you may remember I was the 2018 Democratic nominee as well. So I was here in Swainsboro and I'm grateful to be here again. Thank you, Al.

Thank you, everyone, for this wonderful opportunity. So I am Janice Laws Robinson, and I am your next insurance commissioner for our great state of Georgia. Let me hear you if you are ready for me to be your next insurance commissioner for Georgia. All right. Show me your hands if you already voted early. Amazing. Show your hand. Keep your hands up if you already voted for me to be your next insurance commissioner. All right. Wonderful. So I'm not going to be long, but I wanted to make sure I made my way here to Swainsboro to show my face because I know you guys are here working hard to get Democrats selected up and down the ballot, working hard for me to be your next insurance commissioner. So I just

wanted to come out, say thank you for your votes. Thank you for your support in 2018 to make me your nominee. You will remember that in 2018, I came within three percentage points of winning. I got almost two million votes. My race and Stacey Abrams' race for governor were the last two races to be called. It was that close. And so the person that won my race for insurance commissioner lasted about six months and is currently sitting in federal prison. So we have, the current governor has appointed an insurance commissioner, and under his watch, we've continued to see our rates, auto insurance rates, climb through the roof. Our home insurance rates climb through the roof.

And insurance companies continue to take advantage of the most vulnerable among us. And so I'm committed to this fight. I'm not new to this. I'm true to this. I've been working with Georgia families just like you for more than two decades, working to protect you and your family and to keep premiums in your pocket, not the big insurance companies. And so when I stepped up to run in 2018 is because I was tired of watching

everyday Georgians struggle to make these premiums and to watch, to see claims get denied left and right, your policies get canceled because you've had a claim. All of these issues that just happen every day and we don't have a voice. We don't have anyone at the state level standing up for us and fighting for us and holding these insurance companies accountable. So if you're ready for change, I know you already voted. So I'm preaching to the choir. I'm asking you to tell your friends, your family, if you're tired of overpaying for car insurance, if you're tired of overpaying for home insurance, if you're tired of not having access to quality, affordable health insurance, quality, affordable health care, if you're ready to see an insurance

commission that's going to work with Governor Abrams to expand Medicaid, you've got to vote for Janice Laws Robinson. Because I'm the only candidate in this race that is licensed in all lines of insurance, that is experienced, that knows how to navigate the industry, knows what you're dealing with, and is ready to fight for you and your family. I promise you the current insurance commissioner that's been appointed is not going to do it because if he was going to do it, he would have already done it because he's had time to do it, and he have already done it. Because he's had time to do it and he has not. Allstate just took a 40% rate increase. 40% in a 12-month period. And all he had

to say was he's disappointed that Allstate took advantage of a loophole in the law. And oh, you, if you're insured at Allstate, call your agent to find out why your rates went up. That's ridiculous. I promise you that as your next insurance commissioner, these insurance companies will have to justify every single rate increase to me. And if they can't justify to my liking, they will see me in court. I will stand up to them. I will challenge them. And I will make sure we have fair and affordable rates here in Georgia. I will stand up to them. I will challenge them and I'll make sure we have fair

and affordable rates here in Georgia. It is time. It is time that you have representation because insurance impacts all of our everyday lives. Raise your hand if you pay car insurance. Raise your hand if you pay home insurance, health insurance. Exactly. You get the point. So it impacts all of us. And this office typically just flies under the radar and goes unnoticed. But I've been calling attention to this race since 2018. We did well. We had a very narrow loss. So this time, we are committed to crossing the finish line. And I know that with your support and your votes, we're going to get it done. We're going to send Senator Warnock back to Washington. We're going to elect Stacey Abrams as governor. And we're going to elect

Janice Laws Robinson for insurance commissioner and Democrats up and down the ballot because this is our year. this is our time. I'm ready to do it. I know you're ready. So let's get it done. Thank you so much. Janice Laws Robinson, your next insurance commissioner. Thank you so much. Okay. All right.

Roland loves selfies. I told everybody, y'all should come, because Roland would take a selfie with anybody. All right. Thank you so much. Again, that was Janice Laws Robinson, Democratic candidate for Insurance Commissioner in the state of Georgia. All right. It is now time for me to introduce our esteemed panel. A couple of these folks actually were with us a few weeks ago when we did this before,

and we were asked or they were asked to come back again this time around. So we appreciate them giving of their time and energy to come back to Swainsboro for this important discussion. The first panelist I want to introduce, I'll try to get them in order. This is someone that is no stranger to anyone in Augusta, Georgia. He is State Senator Harold Jones II. He was elected to the Senate in 2014. He represents the 22nd Senatorial District in Georgia, which includes most of Richmond County, to include my house. So he's my state senator. Senator Jones serves as the Democratic whip. He is also secretary

of the Ethics Committee and has served on the Economic Development and Senate Rules Committees. In 2004, he was elected as the first African-American Solicitor general for Richmond County. In 2008, he was re-elected to that office. As solicitor general, Senator Jones handled misdemeanor crimes and strived to balance representation of the state with advocacy for victims and to maintain policies that apply standards of fairness and equality for all concerned. Senator Jones earned his bachelor's degree from the South Carolina State University in 1991. And he also is a graduate of the North Carolina Central University Law School.

He is also a former adjunct professor at Georgia Military College, Payne College and Voorhees College. Thank you so much, Senator Jones, for being here. One of our other panelists is Dr. Muriel Bell. I think he is quite familiar to many of you here in Emanuel County because he is in charge of a program called Redirection, and the goal of that program of Redirection is to keep people moving through and out of the criminal justice system with the goal of keeping folks from having to go to prison. How's that for a goal?

He works throughout the 12th Congressional District of Georgia, and I understand that he'll pretty much go wherever he's needed to be in order to help people with that goal of getting through the criminal justice system. Thank you very much for being one of our panelists tonight. Our next panelist is State Senator David Lucas, Sr. He was born in Peach County, Georgia, and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the Tuskegee Institute, which is where my son just graduated, too. So y'all got that in common.

Got a Juris Doctorate degree from Mercer University. He is a member of the Georgia State Senate from the 26th District, having served since 2012. He is a member of the Democratic Party and also served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1975 until 2011. In addition to his long political career, Senator Lucas was an outstanding athlete at Appling High School and at Tuskegee University in the late 60s and early 70s. He is also the father of comedian David Lucas and gridiron football player Al Lucas, who died during a game while playing for the Los Angeles Avengers. And of course, last but not least, Ms. Bobbie Collins, very, very familiar to you all

as you all's Mayor Pro Tem, who was a last minute add. So I'm sorry I don't have as much biographical information on her, but we know that she is going to represent you quite well, just the same. Thank you so much for being here, all of you. There is one more order of business that we have to take care of before we introduce, before we get this panel going, and that is to formally introduce the star of the hour. You want to skip that? You want to skip that? But your frat brothers back here want to introduce you.

Okay. Okay. All right. You ain't got to introduce me. That's a big old sign. They can Google me. That's just a waste of time. Let's get right to the conversation.

We ain't got to do all that. You don't know me. Google me. You just read it. Don't worry about it. I got a long bio. Go to RolandSMartin.com. All right.

Here's the deal. Two weeks left. Two weeks left. The question I have for y'all, anyone can jump in here and answer. How is the mobilization effort, organization effort going here to drive people? Are you looking at the numbers every day? Are you studying them, seeing where people are to get them to vote early as opposed to waiting for Election Day? Anybody?

I think the mobilization efforts right now are going pretty well. Well, we had an issue. We had to actually open up another precinct in Augusta to make sure that we dealt with lines that were actually forming our one precinct for early voting. So now we'll actually have a couple of more open. But, of course, the numbers themselves kind of show that the early voting mobilization, as far as Democrats are concerned, is there. But it's actually a three-pronged battle. Number one is the absentees, which is there. Of course, early voting. But we also have to remember to continue to mobilize for Election Day, too, because you have persons who are going to still be voting on Election Day. And if you look at it, we've been winning the absentees almost 50-50 as far as early voting is concerned.

But we have not necessarily won the Election Day over the last few elections. So it does not end just because the numbers look good now. We have to continue to make sure we go forward. So on the absentee ballot part, I mean, obviously folks have requested them, but what is being done to remind them what is happening? I mean, are you using media? Is there text messaging going on? Are you phone banking or reminding people what's happening? Chasing ballots. That's basically what you call it, is chasing ballots. So whether you actually go to door-to-door to persons that the absentee has actually been sent out, but also at the same

time, as you mentioned, text messaging now is a little bit more familiar than actually doing the robocalls. That actually has been more successful. So you have two ways to chase ballots, actually more than that, but two that I'm seeing is actually physically going, if you have a good team to do that. And we found that a lot of organizations are doing that, actually knocking on the door and saying, hey, we know you received your ballot. And another aspect of it is also text messaging to remind persons to get it in. Anyone else? Yeah, Martin. In Macon, Georgia, we are up 20% in early voting.

And we've been knocking on doors, but I've been making phone calls and I've been driving folks to the poll. The most amazing thing is when I go get them, the conversation is do you mean to tell me my senators come to take me to the poll to vote? I say, I sure am. Make sure you vote for me. Well, at least they know who you are.

That's important. Anybody else? Yes, I think we here in Swainsboro, we have different civic organizations that's been done, they did a voter drive, and after that, I think have been, that have been signs erected and campaigning for the candidates, urging our citizens to vote. And I think that I, too, personally have been urging the importance of voting. I did an announcement to my church congregation where I serve as clerk. And then, too, I think Facebook has been doing a whole lot,

and people have been texting and that type of thing. We're also trying to do a push and making sure on Election Day that people have a ride to vote, getting out to vote. Some people don't have a ride to vote, getting out to vote. Some people don't have a ride, don't know how to get there. Encourage the churches and other people to make sure that you contact whoever need to get to the polls to vote. So churches, vans, and et cetera, other organizations trying to get together to make sure everyone has the opportunity to get out and to vote by any means necessary. So I often talk about data, and I'm always looking at numbers.

And when I look at, obviously, early voting, I talked about this a little bit earlier, you see, obviously, older voters who are turning out. And so do you have, last time I was here, you had some students who were here as well. Are you seeing activism that's specifically targeting young voters in this city, in this county, in this region to get them out to the polls? What I'm actually seeing is that the push is to reach the younger voters. Even some of those that are just being registered to vote is to encourage them, to try to show them that their vote matters. One of the number one things is to explain to them the importance of them voting, the importance of policies, things that they don't like. You want them changed, you've got to get out and vote. So there's a push to reach the younger voters to change their mindset on what they believe that they vote do not count.

So we are trying to reach them in their own language, in other words, meet them where they're at, and to just get them to understand things better. Yeah, and I would actually say the same thing, for instance, in our county. We actually are having a rally tomorrow, which will kind of help with that. And also our chairman actually is in his 20s as far as the local Democratic Party is concerned. And he also has been kind of spearheading that. But certainly we'd always do better. But I think also from a statewide perspective, when he's talking about from a Democratic perspective, I am seeing some things, especially more so in the metro area, metro Atlanta area, trying to reach out to that area. But, of course, it's always a difficult task. It ain't easy.

Yeah. And earlier today I had a conversation with a brother who owns a barbershop. And he was talking about that one of the issues also that he's experienced here, the number of individuals who are of age, but they've been incarcerated. And he said so he said, look, you may say you've got a 65% black population here, but what's the percentage of people who are eligible to vote as well? He said that's one of the issues. Because he said he just got his first felony commission when he was 14 and just got his right to vote just two years ago, three years ago.

And so when you think about that, that's also part of the deal. So when we're having these conversations with young folks, especially young brothers, the actions that they take early in life is going to have an impact on whether they can now vote on those issues later. Well, and also what had just happened here in this particular district, coming up even in November, and we just had one in Toombs County throughout this 12th district, is that we are offering something what we call the expungement. People that have a record to come in the DA office and the sheriff's office, along with the clerk, and sitting down with them, and those that come in and say, hey,

if you got a record, we're going to help you get it expunged. It's coming to Emanuel County next month. We're pushing it hard through the DA office. But at the same time, they got to understand that once they have a criminal record, there's what they call the early out now. A lot of people don't know that, that you already have an early out. Go back. Make sure you pull it up. Research it. See what you got to do in order to get your record spun or get your record sealed. There is a process. So we're in the process now throughout the circuit to make sure that everyone has that opportunity where they will have their voting rights back. Gotcha. All right, folks, I'm going to go to a quick break.

When we come back, we're going to continue the conversation. But I do want to talk about organizing and mobilizing. i want to talk about organizing here in this area as well beyond the election because obviously so much focuses on that certainly we would love to see uh senator rafael warnock reelected to go for a full six-year term love to see stacy abrams become the next governor but a lot of people have to understand is what needs to happen after the election even if the candidates that we like don't win. And that to me is also a huge problem that I think we have in black communities all across the country. You're watching Rollerball Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Spacesboro, Georgia, the Black Star Network, back in a moment. When we invest in ourselves,

our glow, our vision, our vibe, we all shine. Together, we are Black Beyond Measure. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering

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between voting or violence. And the end of rights generations have fought for. The extremists have a plan, a roadmap for a nation where your voice is silenced and your vote is a memory, where they count their votes and cast ours aside. That's why this year, this fight, this vote is so important. Register, engage, volunteer, fight back against the disinformation and despair, and most of all, vote. Because your vote is all that stands between our future and theirs. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives.

And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. Hi, this is Essence Atkins, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. Hi, this is Essence Atkins, and you're watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. Ayo, peace, world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, unfiltered.

Hi, my name is Bresha Webb, and you're watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. And, well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be unfiltered. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. If you ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin unfiltered. What's up, I'm Lance Gross

and you're watching Roland Martin unfiltered. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph and you are watching Roland Martin unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really, it's Roland Martin. Georgia, glad to be back here at the City Editorial. Thank you so very much. I went to break and asked this question in terms of mobilizing, organizing after the election. And I think that

really is one of the big fundamental problems that we often see. People complain about what they're not getting. People say, oh, I don't want to vote because my community looks the very same. But I often tell folks as well that voting is the end of one process, the beginning of another, that we also have to be mobilized and organized, going to city hall, going to county government, going to the state legislature, demanding various things for our community. And so from your perspective, do you see that 365 mobilization effort through organizations and how real is it or is that an area that needs to be worked on here in this city, in this county, in this region? There's some people down here like, yeah, it needs to be worked on. Well, where I'm from, I go to the Shad House. That's the house of ill repute.

They have no license to sell nothing. I go and talk to them. You meet a lot of guys who are ex-felons, gone straight, working, hadn't done anything, but never went back to register to vote. And I have to tell them that once you serve your sentence with no probation and you find the pay, you become a registered voter. They go, well, how? I say, you put down your fellow.

I say, they're going to check the record. And the other reason is I'm taking folks to register now, even though they can't vote. But there's a libertarian in the race with Reverend Warner. If he doesn't get 50 plus 1%, it's a runoff. And then you'll be able to vote the next time. And so we have to... If you register, because didn't they also change the law that because of after 2020 that you can't,

so you can't register for the runoff after the election? No, no, no. You can register now, today, even though voting going on, you can't vote in November 8th. But if you register now, if there's a runoff, you will be able to vote in the runoff. Okay, gotcha. I think we need to do better after the voting has happened, after the ones have elected here and the surrounding counties to get the message out, to educate people, not wait until it's time to vote.

Again, we need to mobilize now. We need to plan now. I think we need to do a better planning and start now, even after the election. Let's go ahead and set plans and all. They definitely need to be done. Emanuel County, throughout this whole district, I think we definitely need that. So you have two things going on. Number one is that I think we bought into the lie, as far as the public is concerned, that voting doesn't matter.

In fact, the matter is, I tell people all the time, legislation is being passed. It's just not legislation that you like. But understand, we're passing laws all the time. That's not even an issue when a certain somebody says like. But understand, we're passing laws all the time. That's not even an issue when a certain somebody says it doesn't matter. We're passing laws all the time. Secondly, though, I think we as elected officials, we have to be more open as far as actually presenting the bills that we're doing to directly help our community. One of the big issues that I've really been, about being a former prosecutor that I'm really into is the drug war because it has just been

such a travesty that was impacted on our community. Persons don't realize, and you may kind of know this, but, you know, President Obama actually changed,

you know, the crack and cocaine discrepancy. But he really didn't go out and sell it. So here was something that directly really impacted the African-American community, but we, even as a party, we really didn't go out and say,

look at what has just happened. This is important. To some extent, I think we try to hide those things that maybe disproportionately help African-Americans, and we say we've done them, but we don't really go out and actually promote it. And I think whether we're passing that particular legislation or promoting legislation that really is attractive to our community, we've got to do a better job.

We can't hide and say that we're not trying to do things that disproportionately affect our community. We have to be open about that because the other side is very open about what they're trying to do. And I think we have to be very open and say, this is something that diamond that really is for us. It affects everyone, but this is something that really will impact our community and not be afraid that somebody will come back and use it against us later on. That's, I think, one of the things we can do. Well, I think that the first thing, one of the, that's very important, is to have more unity in the community. Now, you first got, you have to be able to reach out to one another, and that's just something that we don't do. For whatever reason, you have a group here that have ideas and maybe on the other side of town and whatever, but we will not work together.

I don't know why, but I think that's our biggest problem. We will not, and I have tried, and I'm sure others have tried, but we have to unite and engage the community into what's happening around them so they can be involved to make things better. Roland, one thing we see in the community, we're talking about younger voters, people that have criminal records that will not go out and vote. Well, you've got to understand, one thing that happened in our district, which would make some of those that have had records fearful about going back, is recidivism.

And when you look at an individual, they say three strikes, you're out. With our court system, what you actually find is if you got a record in 1988 and something comes up in 2008, they go back and pull the 88 and bring it up, and that's two strikes. If you've done anything different in between that, no matter how many years it has been, they bring it back up in the court system, and guess what? You got three strikes.

I really believe that something like that we need to educate our people on and talk with them about to give them a better understanding. Look, you don't want a period of time, you don't have a record. Hey, let's go ahead and begin to work on this where you'll be able to vote.

Get your record sponged before anything else happens. You never know what may happen tomorrow. So I'm a firm believer that we need to work on those things. The reason I raised that question in terms of our mobilization organization because when we had the conversation earlier today

in the barbershop, I was absolutely shocked when they said that I asked the question of racial makeup of Swainsboro and they said 65%. And they said there's never been a black mayor in this city. And I mean you thought about Ferguson after

Michael Brown was killed. Ferguson, Missouri. 67% African American and they never had a black mayor. I think they had just gotten the first black city council member. And my deal is that's nuts. That's absolutely crazy. And then I went and looked at the vote total. So you had an election in November.

The mayor won here with 858 votes. How in the hell can you have a city that's 65% black and you never elect an African-American mayor? To me, that points to a lack of mobilization, organization first, and then mobilization to understand black power. Atlanta is what it is. It's because black folks in Atlanta organized and mobilized, and that's how folks have been elected, and that's how they were able to actually maintain power. I can show you other examples as well. And I just think in a number of smaller rural cities across the country,

Mississippi and Alabama and other places, the exact same thing has happened. We're not taking advantage of our numbers to maximize power. So what is it going to require for that to happen here? Easy to answer that. Let me answer that question for you. One thing that we must do and it's something that was brought up earlier and you brought this up. If you've got someone in office that's not willing to do what they need to do for your community and for you, put them out get them out go ahead and vote them out have them replaced don't be afraid to vote them out no matter who they are just because we got the same skin color don't mean that we can't

vote them out so we begin to work on that and we begin to do that and let people know that look this is what we stand for this is what we want you to do. You are a elected official. And if you are elected, you can get unelected. And if we do that and work together, we can change the dynamics of everything. I would 100% concur with that. I think the key thing is that you have to hold the elected officials accountable when you start talking about mobilizing later. We're talking about felons voting. There is a bill pending in the state legislature to allow nonviolent felons to vote. It's my bill. There's a bill to lower the penalty for marijuana.

That's my bill. Here's the point that I'm making. You have to hold folks accountable. In other words, if I represent the district that I represent, of course I represent everybody. The district I represent, though, is over 60% African American. If I don't present bills like that and try to pass them, I should be held accountable on that. This is where I would say that the public sometimes misses the boat on things. Here's the thing. You allow us as elected officials to come to you

and say, well, if I present this, then I can't get other things done. You allow us to hide behind getting things done without presenting things that may actually affect our community a little bit more. Don't allow us to do that. Don't allow us to do that. The fact of the matter is I told you about those two bills, but I've also passed other legislation in the Georgia Capitol. My point is this.

Don't allow somebody to hide behind I can't get anything else done if I push these issues. It's not true. It's not true. But I will tell you this. Don't allow somebody to hide behind, I can't get anything else done if I push these issues. It's not true. It's not true. But I will tell you this. I said when I got elected solicitor, I was first African-American solicitor. If I never hired one African-American, I don't think anybody would have held me accountable for it. Nobody would have held me accountable. You've also got to do that too. As the doctor said, don't let us off the hook because we will try to play that game with you. Well, I can't push this issue because if I do, I can't do that. Guess

what? Go look at their record and find out if they're even doing the other thing too. I bet you they're not doing that either. But see, that's why I raised the question because I think part of the problem is we say we have to hold elected officials accountable. No, we have to hold organization leaders accountable. See, I think what happens

is we've got ministerial alliances that ally with nobody. That are actually ally. We've got community organizations that do nothing. We've got fraternities and sororities that are focused on inward

and not outward. You've got Prince Hall, Masons, Eastern Star, Lynx, other groups that are also about themselves. And so, to me, I mean, I'll give a perfect example. You know, I'm in Signal 55 to Boulay, and I was practicing me up with all these trolls be talking about, ooh, the Boulay running this, running that. I'm like, no, they're not. I mean, we had the Grand Boulay in the Bahamas, and there wasn't a single session on public policy. Which I'm like, I don't know what the hell y'all talking about. And I was highly critical of that. And I said,

why are, I said, you cannot assemble the so-called, uh, group of all these powerful black men. And there's no public policy conversation here. That to me is a fundamental problem. And so coming down to the local level, again, if I'm looking at, this is an I heart podcast.