#RolandMartinUnfiltered - MLK Killed 56 Years Ago Today, Non-Shooting Police-Involved Deaths, Fla. Cop Plants Empty Bottle

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

4.4.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: MLK Killed 56 Years Ago Today, Non-Shooting Police-Involved Deaths, Fla. Cop Plants Empty Bottle Fifty-six years ago, a shot rang out and struck Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he stood on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Tonight, we'll show you how the nation is remembering one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement. #BlackStarNetwork partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbaseAli Siddiq 👉🏾 https://www.moment.co/alisiddiq"Shirley" NOW available on Netflix 👉🏾 www.netflix.comBiden/Harris 👉🏾 https://joebiden.com/ Non-shooting deaths involving police receive less official scrutiny than shootings and are not tracked the same. A recent report reveals there have been more than 1,000 deaths in the last decade. The founder of  Mapping Police Violence will join us to discuss why these types of deaths are getting the same attention.  California Congresswoman Maxine Waters will be here to talk about her new initiative to combat the maternal health crisis in minority & low-income communities. I'll also get her thoughts on the recent passing of Lou Gossett, Jr. And a Black Florida man's trial begins tomorrow for a DUI even though the officer is on bodycam video allegedly opening, then emptying a liqueur bottle and placing it back in his care before arresting him. We have the video!    Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer  Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chaston. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Today is Thursday, April 4, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin on a filter streaming live on the Black Star Network. 56 years ago, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. We will go live to the National Civil Rights Museum, formerly known as the Lorraine Motel,

where events are taking place. We'll also be live from the M.O.P. Memorial here in the nation's capital, where they're also honoring his life and legacy. We'll also share with you a couple of sanitation workers who he was fighting for, one of those 1,100 workers back in 1968. Non-shooting deaths involving police receive less official scrutiny than shootings

and are not tracked the same. A recent report reveals scrutiny than shootings. And I'm not tracked the same. A recent report reveals there have been more than 1000 deaths in the last decade. Will talk to the founder of mapping police violence right here on the show. Also, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters would join us to talk about

her new initiative to combat the maternal health crisis involving minority and low-income mothers. Folks, also on the show, the black Florida man. His trial begins tomorrow for a DUI, even though the officer was captured on video, allegedly opening, then emptying a liquor bottle, and placing it in the back of his car before arresting him. Unbelievable. It's time to bring the funk. Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network.

Let's go. 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 rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah. Rolling with Roland now.

Yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. Martell Folks, this is a live look at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, formerly known as the Lorraine Motel, where they are having a program to commemorate the assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That took place at 7.01 p.m. Eastern in Memphis 56 years ago today.

We will go live to them when they have the ringing of the bell to remember that very moment when the shots rang out that killed Dr. King. We'll also be live from the MLK Memorial here in the nation's capital, where they also will be commemorating his life and legacy as well. Folks, he was, of course, there in Memphis fighting on behalf of sanitation workers, 1,100 black men who went on strike the previous month. But one of the things that Dr King also focused on, and that is police violence and how it impacted African Americans.

If you actually look at most of the race riots, not just in the 60s, but you go back even to the teens and the 20s and 30s, nearly every race riot in this country involved police, police abuse, police shootings. And what we are seeing right now is that you are not properly tracking these police-involved shootings. The Associated Press did and found more than 1,000 people have been killed in the last decade by various officers across the country. Now, there are differing perspectives on this. The Washington Post has had an effort, the Associated Press and others, but Samuel Sengawi is the founder of Mapping Police Violence.

He has been focusing on this for quite some time. We've had him on the show before. He joins us now from Los Angeles. Samuel, always good to see you. Take us through this because here's what you find. I ripped Candace Owens yesterday. I remember seeing some video and she was like, oh, there's this belief you have all of these shootings. And no, it's not that many. But it's a lot more complicated than that, because it's not just police involved shootings where it's someone who's unarmed. It's also if somebody is armed,

but they didn't actually draw a weapon or whatever. And part of the problem is that these police departments, they do not want to report this data so we can accurately understand what is going on in the country. That's correct. And, I mean, it's not like there isn't a data collection program now for them to report to either. So, I mean, the FBI created the Use of Force Data Collection Program. It was first announced when it was still FBI Director

Comey in 2015, 2016. 2019, they started collecting data. That program has been operational ever since. And so only about between 50 and 60 percent of the nation's law enforcement agencies really participate in that program. So the federal government has created a program to report data to, but many police agencies still refuse to disclose details about anybody that they have harmed or killed in that context. And then the FBI that gets that data has also refused to disclose much of the information that it has already received from those agencies. So there are levels to this. It's happening at the local level, but there's also a lack of transparency from the federal government as well. Let me remind people

that bill, if I'm correct, was put forth by Congressman Bobby Scott, and Black Lives Matter applied a lot of pressure to get that bill signed into law. Yeah, I mean, there have been multiple now, I mean, we're talking about the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act.

We're talking about, there are a number of programs now that are supposed to track cases where people are killed by the police, from the CDC, from the FBI, Bureau of Justice Statistics. I mean, we have multiple agencies that are supposed to track this, and none of them are able to comprehensively track the number of people killed by police. And then, within that, they're not even sharing much of the data, the incomplete data, that they have already received. So it's like a black box.

It's very hard to really understand what, if anything, they really have, because they won't disclose it, which is why investigations like the AP's investigation is why databases like mapping police violence continue to be so important because it becomes the only way in which we can actually get access to a comprehensive enough number of cases to really understand what's going on with regard to police deadly force. So now for folks who don't understand, does that law, is it mandatory or is it voluntary that they have to report? So, for example, the FBI's data collection program is voluntary. Agencies can choose to report or not report to that program.

And if you talk to folks actually who are administering the program, and I've talked to some folks there, they will tell you that they are trying to prioritize participation in the program. And the decision that they have made internally is that they don't want to share the data publicly on how many people, let's say, the Los Angeles Police Department has killed or Los Angeles Sheriff's Department or NYPD. The agencies that have already reported data to the program, they don't want to share agency-level data, holding an individual agency accountable for particular cases that they've reported, because they think that agencies

won't participate anymore in that voluntary program if they're actually held accountable. And there you go though, but it's voluntary. And again, what Congress could have done, and what Congress should do, is what they did with other programs. Say, guess what? You don't participate in this, what they've done with other programs. Say, guess what? You don't participate in this,

you don't get access to federal funds. Absolutely. They should do that. And they-they could do that. They have chosen not to go that route. They've chosen to go the voluntary route. I think that's a mistake. Uh, and so, you know, what they have built to date is not nothing,

but they have made choices to collect data that is not comprehensive and then not to even share that data with the public for a basic level of transparency. So I mean, that's the Biden administration. As much as it was the Trump administration before that, this is a problem that runs deep within the FBI and their basic understanding of their commitment to or commitment to basic transparency about police use of force. Now, these are the same agencies collecting data on arrests,

for example, from the same departments, and sharing that data publicly. It's the same agencies collecting... the same agency collecting crime data and talking about crime and sharing all this information about crime, but refusing to share basic information about police violence in that

same context. Questions from my panel. Joining me, of course, is Dr. Greg Carr, Department of African American Studies at Howard University. Recy Colbert, host of the Recy Colbert Show, Sirius XM Radio. She joins me from D.C. Lauren Victoria Burke joins me from Allentown, Virginia. Of course, she writes for Black Press USA. Lauren, you're first. Sam, it's great to see you. Thank you for your work over the years. You've been fantastic. Can you talk more about the reporting requirement for the Death in Custody Act? Because there is a reporting requirement that has been ignored by the Biden administration, the Trump administration.

And as you just said, it goes back and forth. But are you aware of the details of the reporting requirement for death in custody? Yeah. So my understanding is that they have the ability to withhold some federal funding to agencies that don't participate in the program and that they have never decided to actually use that enforcement power to penalize any agency for non-reporting. Thank you. Oh, I guess it's my turn. Samuel, thank you for the work that—

I didn't hear Reesey. Oh, I didn't hear Reesey. Okay, my bad. Thank you for the work that you do. I'm curious, if you're aware of any state or locality that is actually getting it right with reporting and then acting on the data that they're finding? Yes. So in the absence of real federal leadership in this area, there have been a number of states that have stepped up and passed much more comprehensive and robust data collection

programs around use of force. New Jersey is probably the best example. They have created a program where they have participation from about 95 percent of all the law enforcement agencies in the state. They report data on every use of force incident, not only those incidents that cause death or serious injury, but the full range of use of force. And so for each case in which somebody is killed by the police, there are as many as 200 or 300 additional use of force cases where people are harmed, hurt, injured, in some cases hospitalized, but not killed. And so what New Jersey does well is they require every police

department and sheriff's department in the state to report to the AG's office in, I think it's like a two-week turnaround time. So you're getting almost real-time reporting of data that is then published publicly on the state's website, including officer names, including individual case-level information about each case in which somebody had force used against them, demographics, whether they were armed or unarmed. You have a host of information collected by New Jersey that is simply not collected by almost any other state. I mean, there are data collection programs emerging in other places. Most notably, California has a robust data collection around deadly force. There's a more expansive data collection around both deadly and what they call less lethal force.

So that's force involved in weapons like tasers and batons. New York State is now collecting data on those types of force. So it ranges, but I think New Jersey probably has the gold standard currently available in terms of a robust use of force data collection program that is transparent. They actually care about sharing those details with the public. And that data is being used. You mentioned, you know, how are these databases being used? Well, I mean, that information is invaluable. And we're seeing states, actually, California started using this early on when Kamala Harris was AG. They actually used their data collection program, which was operational years ago, to understand which are the cities and counties that had the highest rates of deadly force.

And they named Bakersfield and Kern County as having those high rates. And on that basis, they actually initiated investigations of those departments and they have ongoing reform agreements with those agencies from the state of California now as a result. So that's how you can use data to identify places that need interventions, put those places under consent decree and begin to require them to change the way that they do business. Greg Carr, I see you in that black and gold, Greg. So you're going to tell me later where you got that outfit. Go ahead, Representative Alphas. Your question is for Sam.

Got to do it, man. Got to do it. Actually, I got this in South Africa. I hadn't had it in more than a year. We got to do that, brother. You know, we got to represent the frat. And thank you, Sam. I echo what Lawrence said for your ongoing work.

Just looking at the AP report, and I know that obviously it's not nearly complete, far from it, but of the data that's been collected, they reported, what is it, 20, the 20 largest cities that have that, for which there's available data, represent 16 percent of the deaths. Is there any, and I know it's risky maybe to ask this, but can you extrapolate anything in terms of regional hot spots or problems or areas where this is more of a problem than other places, realizing that the vast majority of these jurisdictions haven't reported anything? Yeah. So, I should say, like, we can already make those assessments about deadly force. And I say that

because, while the federal government has lagged behind in their responsibility to collect and make public this information, our work through Mapping Police Violence, we have been publishing this data every single year. And we track about 95 percent of the total number of people killed by police through police use of force in a given year through media reports. Now, what this AP investigation did that was an innovation in the methodology was they not only looked at media reports and information directly from law enforcement agencies, but they also filed requests to both state-level data collection programs and to county coroners and other sort of stakeholders in this ecosystem that also have information about deaths that the

police may not have reported. And so through that process, they uncovered about 270, I think was the number they gave, 270 cases of people who were killed, not through a police shooting, but through other types of police use of force, a taser or restraint, 270 people over that decade time frame, about 27 people a year, or, yeah, about 27 people a year, who were not tracked in any of those databases. So they were not in any media reports. They were not provided publicly in any of the public use-of-force databases that were available.

They were only discoverable by filing these requests to coroners, to I think they said they filed 7,000 requests to different agencies across the country, about 3,000 different counties in the U.S. Each one of them has a county coroner. You have different state level, state AGs offices that have their own databases and processes of investigating some of these cases that have data. So they did the hard work of going to each of these different agencies and getting cases that otherwise would never have seen the light of day, would not have been reported, still have not been reported in media articles, if not for this AP investigation. So that's the expansion of what we know. And while we know that there's still gaps in many cases where people are

being killed that are not reported in the media, therefore they don't show up in our database or any other database that's trying to track this across the country. All right, then, Samuel, if people want to get a look at the work that you do, where can they go? So you can go to mappingpoliceviolence.us and see the database that we've constructed. You can also, through that database, see what the data looks like for each state, for each city and county. To answer the last question that was offered, I mean, there are places that have higher or lower rates of police violence. In particular, places in the Mountain West, Midwest, tend to have higher rates of police

violence than other areas, rural areas, county sheriffs have higher rates than local police departments, and throughout all of that we see the racial disparities where black people are three times more likely to be killed than white people. So there's a complexity to this, but also there are some trends and overall dynamics that we can already report, and we're reporting that you can find in Mapping Police Violence.

Alright, Sammy, we appreciate it, my brother. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, when we come back, a Florida man goes on trial for DUI. When do you see the video where the cop literally unscrews a bottle, empties it, throws it back into the car? How in the hell is he still on trial? That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. As bad as Trump was, his economy was worse, and black America felt it the most. unfiltered on the Black Star Network. get revenge. We can't go back. As president, I put money in pockets, creating millions of new jobs

and capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. There's a lot more to do, but we can do it together. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. 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. Terry and I, we couldn't play in the white clubs in Minnesota. It felt like such a, you know, strength through adversity type moment that I think black people just have to go through.

You know, we have to figure it out. You know, we make, you We make lemons out of lemonade. But there's a reason we rented a ballroom, did our own show, promoted it, got like 1,500 people to come out. Clubs were sitting empty. They were like, where's everybody at? They said, they're down watching the band you wouldn't hire.

So it taught us not only that we had the talent of musicians, but we also had the talent of entrepreneurship. It wasn't like a seat at the table. It's like, no, let's build the table. That's right. We gotta build the table. And that was the thing. And of course, after that, we got all kinds of offers.

Of course. Right, to come play in the clubs. But we didn't do it. We said- You're like, nah, we good. No, we're good. We're good. And that's what put us on a path of national.

And of course, when Prince made it, then it was like, OK, we see it can be done. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Roland Mark. Until tomorrow. Thank you. For, in a real sense, we all owe a great debt of gratitude to Fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. Why? Because in Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, in the midst of memorials to war and presidents. There's only one memorial that is dedicated to peace and justice and righteousness.

And that memorial was pulled together, certainly by a lot of people, a lot of corporations, but it is my fraternity, the brothers, vowed for Phi Alpha. So we all owe a great debt of gratitude, because when anyone comes from anywhere in the world to the United States on the Mall, there is now a memorial dedicated to peace. Now I'm going to do my best to remain as composed as I can this afternoon because this is a challenge

to stand here at the spot that my father walked out of the room behind me and lost his life. My life and my mother's life and the lives of my siblings were changed forever because the loss of a matter, at the tender age of 10 years old, I didn't get to have adult conversations with my father. He didn't, he did not see me graduate from high school or from his beloved Morehouse College.

He didn't get to meet my wife and our daughter and so many other things. But a great sacrifice occurred. For many years, I used to wonder, what is wrong with a society that chooses to remove someone who was only promoting love? And I remember my father saying, you know, this was back in the middle 60s. Every day we'd see something on the news that was unimaginable. And he'd say, this is a sick nation. And when you are sick, you first have to acknowledge you're sick before medication can be administered to help correct the ills. Now, you know what we see today is sickness reflected over and over.

56 years later. And I reflect because dad was killed this day. This is Thursday. 56 years ago. On this day at 6.01 p.m., just 30 or so minutes from now. But we lost our father, and my wife lost her husband. But I believe our nation gleaned an understanding

of a mission and a movement. However, we hadn't learned yet. Because dad told us we must learn nonviolence or we may face nonexistence. Some in our society are moving in that direction. And the question is, what are we going to do? Because it's not about me or I, but it's what we do to advance the day.

Folks, that is Martin Luther King III. He is speaking live outside of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, of course, his father was assassinated 56 years ago at that very hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. We have a live stream of that event on the Black Star Network. If you go to the app or simply go to our YouTube channel, you can actually see that program.

We'll be dipping in and out of that program. In addition, at the top of the hour, will be a live program happening at the MLK Memorial, and we'll be live streaming that event as well. Right now, we want to bring up Congresswoman Maxine Waters. She joins us on Roller Barton Unfiltered. She is of course working on an initiative to deal with black women and others

who are impacted by maternal health issues. Congresswoman, always good to see you. But before I talk about that, I do wanna get just your, just, you know, again, so 56 years ago, where were you? What were you doing? And what do you remember about this day,

56 years ago when Dr. King was assassinated, that when that bullet went out in about 25 minutes that struck him down? Wow, well, first of all, thank you so much, Roland Martin, for being on point and helping us to remember the history that should never be forgotten and what happened to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. No, I had not gotten to the legislature yet. I was working, I believe, for the Pacific Telephone Company as an operator. And I could not believe—I was stunned.

I was shocked. And by the time I left the workplace, I started to run into crowds of people who were gathered, who had just heard the news also. And in getting from the workplace to my house, the cars had stopped in the streets. People were screaming. People were crying. And I tell you, everybody was thoroughly shocked, upset, and angry about what they were learning. And so I'll never forget the day. And, you know, I've talked to a number of people, and they have very similar feelings just about that particular day and then the aftermath as well. And of course, in Los Angeles, like a lot of other places,

it was a very tense days following his assassination. Very tense. As a matter of fact, you know, the disappointment and the anger of Black people. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action, and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at

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

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

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

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

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. 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. Black people is always seen as a threat to everybody, and they're ready to call out the police. They're ready to call out the National Guard. They're ready to do everything but deal

with the kind of hurt and pain that we were experiencing, but rather prepared to do whatever they thought was necessary to keep us quiet, for us not to be able to display our disappointment and our anger in any way. As a matter of fact, usually in these situations, as it was when Dr. Martin Luther King was killed, they call on the certain leaders of the community to keep the community quiet. I don't quite believe in that. I believe that we have a right to be angry, a right to be disappointed. I do not believe in violence, but I do believe in freedom of speech and freedom

of expression. And so I'm always aware of that when we organize, when we want to show our disappointment, that there's always the police community that's prepared to put us down. Absolutely, absolutely. And so, again, for the audience, the live stream, we have a separate live stream going from the National Civil Rights Museum. On top of the hour, we have another live stream going from the MLK Memorial Foundation. And I can tell you this here, there's no other Black-owned media outlet that's providing this type of coverage on this day other than the Black Star Network, which is why black-owned media is critically important. Congresswoman, let's talk about this initiative that you're focused on, and that is dealing with maternal health.

It is a significant crisis in this country. It doesn't matter about income. We've seen Serena Williams talk about what she had to endure. This is a woman who is a multimillionaire, married to a billionaire, and she had significant issues when she was pregnant having her child. And it is a problem. And you have folks out here who claim

that they want to address it, they want to deal with it, especially so-called pro-life folk. But it seems that they only... they're really more anti-abortion, they so-called pro-life folk. But it seems that they only, they're really more anti-abortion. They're not really pro-life. And they're quite quiet when it comes to the maternal health of black and other minority women. Well, you're so absolutely right. And we know that this issue has been politicized and that the right wing, Republican Party, the conservatives, they use this to run on. They use this to stir up the communities oftentimes that they represent.

And they have done everything possible to take from women the right to control their own bodies. And they come up with a new trick and a new way of trying to do it from, you know, making sure that doctors are intimidated and consider breaking laws in some cases if they service women and take care of their health needs for abortion. They have done all kinds of things. But it's very, very important to know that the maternal mortality rates for black, white and Latino women increased every year from 2018 through 2021. In 2018, there were 17 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live deaths, whereas by 2021, there were 33 maternal

deaths for every 100,000 live births. Meanwhile, the black maternity mortality rate over the same period increased from 37 deaths to 70 deaths for every 100,000 live births. So this is a serious issue with women of color and in the black community. This crisis is especially severe among us, the African-American mothers and their babies. And according to the CDC, in 2021, the maternal mortality rate for black women was 2.6 times the rate for white women. Furthermore, black infants had 2.4 times the infant mortality rate as white infants. And they are almost four times as likely to die from complications related to low birth weight as white infants.

Moreover, African-American mothers are twice as likely to receive late or no prenatal care as white mothers. And so the information is there. The documentation is there. And historically, black women have not been treated fairly as it relates to delivering our babies or the attention that we need after the delivery of babies. And let me not forget that goes to prenatal care also. And so, we have decided—and in the House of Representatives, black women have decided

that we are going to pay some special attention to. In March 22, I introduced the Mamas and Babies in Underserved Communities Act, H.R. 7815, in order to combat our nation's intolerable maternal infant health disparities. This bill will establish a new initiative to expand and improve maternal and infant health services in minority, low-income, and medically underserved communities. The Mamas and Babies in Underserved Communities Act will create a new grant program for community health centers and other public and nonprofit private health care providers that serve minority, low-income, and medically underserved communities.

The grants will be provided to expand maternal health care services, including prenatal care, postnatal care for infants, and postpartum care for mothers. The grants will be used to improve the quality of care, improve health outcomes for women, infants, and to reduce these disparities. The bill has 31 co-sponsors, including Congresswoman Lauren Underwood is a nurse, and she has organized around this with a lot of legislation that includes my legislation, but a whole host of legislation to deal with these issues. Her bill is H.R. 3305, the Black Maternal Manibus Act, Momnibus act. Maternal health has risen to the top of the healthcare agenda in Congress, especially

among members of the Congressional Black Caucus, under the leadership of Representative Lauren Underwood of Illinois. The congresswoman, Underwood, is a member of the Appropriations Committee and the chair of the Black Maternal Health Crisis, and is pursuing a comprehensive agenda to improve the health of pregnant women and their babies throughout the United States. So I've just added my bill to that whole package that we're now focused on. We can save the lives of mothers delivering. We can save the lives of low-. We can save the lives of low birth weight babies

that are being delivered. And now it's time for this country and the health system to do what it has not done for years historically, and that is be fair. Be fair and make sure that healthcare services are available to people of color, women of color. And that's what it's all about, Roland. Questions from my panel. Risa, you first.

Congresswoman Waters, it's always an honor to be able to speak with you. Thank you so much for your leadership on this issue. You know, a lot of times when people think about maternal mortality, they think about what's happening. They associate it with childbirth specifically, as opposed to recognizing that there are many women that die after childbirth in the postpartum period. Can you talk a little bit about any data you are aware of about that and how this bill will particularly help those who need assistance in that postpartum recovery period. DR. NICOLE GONZALEZ- Well, you're so absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, it is now known that women and black women and Latino women, women of color, have suffered from depression after delivery. This is very common. But black women

were never treated for depression in postpartum activity. That is very common. But black women were never treated for depression in postpartum activity. That is very important. The other thing is not having the prenatal care. A lot of black women had toxicity. And, of course, when they delivered, their blood pressures just skyrocket, and they die if they're not attended to. So postpartum care is extraordinarily important, and we have not had access to it. If we were lucky enough to be in the hospital for a couple of days, they'd just send us home, despite what the indications are about other problems that have been caused by the delivery.

So I know for sure depression is a huge issue. I also know that high blood pressure is a huge issue. And so we need to have the care that is deserved by women of color after the birth of the babies, because that's when women oftentimes die. JOHN YANG, Congresswoman Waters, Chairwoman Waters, or ranking member Waters, great to talk to you. Thank you for your work also on homelessness. You put a lot of attention on that, which a lot of members don't, but you do.

Can you talk about what might explain the recent spike in this problem? It feels like this issue became—this came up in just the last few years. Is there any reason that would be the case? Was prenatal care better five or six years ago, or is there any other explanation? Thanks a lot. No, no, no, absolutely. I want to tell you, it's because of a couple that followed what happened with the wife—the husband followed what happened with the wife and was able to identify certain kind of things that took place while she was pregnant and after she was delivered. And this brought a lot of attention. One of our biggest, finest so-called hospitals

in the country, Cedars-Sinai, is now under investigation because when they took a look at what had happened with women of color, more women died from childbirth in that hospital than did white women. And so it's been going on all the time. But it was not paid attention to at all. Wow. Greg? Thank you, Roland. And thank you, as always, Congresswoman Waters. You know, it actually kind of dovetails with what Lauren asked you. I'm wondering if you see an especially important role for our black medical schools in this work and whether or not they'll be eligible

for the competitive grants that are there. I'm thinking about the fact, of course, out there in the bullseye of your work in California, Charles Drew has the Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence. I know Morehouse School of Medicine has a Center for Maternal Health Equity. Any thoughts on the role that medical education in general, and particularly our black medical schools, can play in this work? Well, absolutely. And I'm glad that you mentioned Charles Drew and what's happening with that school, that university, and Martin Luther King Hospital.

They have developed a very strong maternal health program, and that's basically used by women of color in that hospital. That's what the population is, black and Latino women. And so not only have they developed a strong maternal health project there, they have reached out and they are working in the community with midwives. So the midwives are playing an important role, because midwives are not simply about delivery. They're about assisting pregnant women during their pregnancy so that they can have healthy babies and that they can take care of themselves as best they can.

They're talking about getting women to do their checkups on time. They're talking about what kind of signals and signs they should pay attention to in order to have healthy births, et cetera. So they are focused on it. And our medical students will now be able to ask more questions about it, because if it is, you know, the kind of learning that is traditional, traditional teaching, whether it is in health care or other kinds of issues that we confront, you know, just in living. Usually, they don't carve out what is especially important to deal with, with women of color. We don't, you know, get the kind of special attention that's needed based on the living conditions,

based on the lack of access to care, all of those things. So I am very, very optimistic about medical students now and what we are unveiling and what they can ask questions about and what they can pay attention to. All right, then. Well, Congressman Maxine Waters, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you for continuing your work. And we appreciate that you always make time to come on Roland Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network to share with our audience. Thank you so much, Roland Martin. I love you. And I am so absolutely committed to you because of your dedication to the black community in this country. And I want you to know that you are doing the kind of work that we don't get in other places.

And I appreciate it. the program because you deserve to have the response and respect of everybody because of the work that you do. We shall appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Welcome. Folks, going to a quick break. We come back. We're going to talk about that case out of Florida. And then, of course, we'll be commemorating at 7.01 p.m. Eastern the moment that bullet went out and killed Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 56 years ago today. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstone 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. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, people can't live with them, can't live without them. Our relationships often have more ups and downs than a boardwalk roller coaster, but it doesn't have to be that way. Trust your gut.

Whenever your gut is like, this isn't healthy, this isn't right, I don't like the way that I'm being treated, this goes for males and females. Trust your gut, and then whenever that gut feeling comes, have a conversation. Knowing how to grow or when to go,

a step-by-step guide on the next A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A., and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble

we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. Me, Sherri Shebritt. I'm Sammy Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Right now, let's do this here.

Let's actually go to Memphis. You see what they have in the commemoration for Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated on this day 56 years ago. This is a live feed of Memphis. Bring the audio up. It appears as if they were on the balcony, and it appears as if they were about to unveil a wreath,

and in about six minutes, you will hear the ringing of the bell the moment that bullet was fired. Let's go to Memphis. that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the wall question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to call those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were imprisoned. I want you to say that I tried to love and save humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major.

Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind, but I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a world song, if I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian, or if I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, if I can spread the message as a master taught, then my living will not be in vain. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. I want to thank God once more for allowing me to be here with you. You know, several years ago I was in New York City, autographing the first book that I had written. While sitting there autographing books the minute

black woman came up the only question I heard from her was are you Martin Luther King? And I was looking down writing and I said yes. The next minute, I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it, I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital.

It was a dark Saturday afternoon that blade had gone through and the x-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery and once that's punctured you're drowned in your own blood that's theured, you're drowned in your own blood. That's the end of you. It came out in the New York Times the next morning

that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheelchair in the hospital, they allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I have received one from the president and the vice president. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I've received a visit and

a letter from the governor of New York but I've forgotten what that letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl, who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. Said simply, Dear Dr. King, I am a ninth grade student at the White Plains High School. She said, while it should not matter, I would like to mention that I'm a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune and of your suffering, and I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died.

I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze. And I want to say tonight I want to say tonight that I too am happy that I didn't sneeze because if I had sneezed I wouldn't have been around here in 1960. When students all over the South started sitting in at lunch hounds,

and I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream and taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here today.

May we pause for a moment of silence in recognition of the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination at 6.01. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business,

taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

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

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

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

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama to see the great movement there if I had sneezed. Folks, that's a live look at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. You see Martin Luther King, Jr., the third, excuse me, the son of Dr. King, Coretta Scott King, there with his family in Memphis. You see, as they were playing that speech, he was quite emotional, shedding tears. And I think in a moment we're going to be live from the MLK Memorial in the nation's capital.

And, Greg, I think it's amazing to me, I think on this day, how a lot of people forget the fact that a family lost a father, they lost a son, they lost a sibling. Very recently, Dr. King's sister, Christina Farris, she passed away. A few weeks ago, a month ago, his sister-in-law, the wife of A.D. King, she also passed away. And people love to comment, people love to say different things, but we gotta remember, they lost a dad,

and we can never overlook that. No, Roland, it's very sobering. Here we are in the early days of spring. And I take it as a responsibility every semester to do what I did today when I go to class. It doesn't matter what we are in the syllabus, what we're reading and discussing. I spend about half of the classes talking about this moment, because the people have to be reminded of what that moment meant. And so, you know, play clips from the time, the news reports. And then we play Nina Simone, who had met Dr. King on the Selma to Montgomery March, and who, three days after his assassination, was performing in New York

and performed an original song written by her bass player called Why the King of Love is Dead, followed by a song, Sunday in Savannah, that she changed to Sunday in Atlanta. And then she finished up with Mississippi Goddamn. And together, it's known as the Martin Luther King Suite. And what you hear in her voice is that pain, is that anger, is that determination. And at one point, she says during Mississippi Goddamn, you know, it's too late now. I loved him because he believed it. But the king of love is dead. And I ain't about to be nonviolent, honey. Because the young people don't remember that over 100 cities in this country went up in flames, including the one they were sitting

in class in today. And I'll end with this. This afternoon, a number of students came from Atlanta, you know, spring HBCU tour. And so shoutout to Karen Shropshire and the Howard University alumni. They always bring these students. They come from Atlanta. They come from Detroit. They come from Chicago, usually. And, today, the Atlanta students came. It was like the ancestors had timed it.

And we talked about this. Martin King representing our hopes, our dreams, and, in this specific moment, our fears, and the agony that our people went through and the rage that our people went through that has never healed. We can't see this enough. Hold on one second, Greg. Gotcha. Precious Lord Take my hand Lead me on

Let me stand I am tired I'm weak, I'm worn. Through the storm, through the night, lead me on. oh Lead me home, precious soul, when thy way grows free. Link a knee and a day In his past and gone Past and gone For the glory of the King oh Precious Lord, take my hand, guide my feet, lead me home. Precious Lord, I need you to take my hand, guide my feet, and lead me home.

Precious Lord, take my hand and lay me on Leave me alone Precious Lord Precious Lord Take my hand Take my hand Guide me Guide me Guide me Lead me home

Lead me home Precious Lord Take my hand Take my hand And lead me on Shine my feet And lead me on Lead me on I want to go home. Folks may not, Greg, I want you to finish your thoughts,

but right before that bullet rang out, Dr. King was speaking to several men who were downstairs. One of them was saxophonist Ben Branch. And Dr. King said to him, Ben, I want you to play Precious Lord for me. I want you to play it real good. He would often, it was his favorite song, he would often when he was troubled call Mahalia Jackson in the middle of the night just to have her sing it to him when he was down. A lot of people don't realize that Dr. King suffered from depression, severe depression. When they had the march in Memphis that was, it was, it ended early, it was abruptly ended

when at the back of the march, some of the young folks, some of the gangs began to break windows. And if you read a number of different books, they grabbed Dr. King and rushed him into a car and took him to a nearby hotel and literally put him in the bed. He was under the covers, fully clothed, and he just clothed and he went to

a severe state of depression. And then, and he insisted when he came back, because of that, he felt that it was a huge black mark on the marchers, and he vowed to come back to plan another march, and they were planning that march on on this day they'd actually andrew young came back from court with news with regards to the injunction for them to move forward with that particular march then of course as they were headed out to dinner uh with reverend billy kiles and others that that's when the shot rang out, killing him on this day.

No, absolutely. And I wouldn't, all I was going to say when you said the family, man, it just remained, you know, when Martin III said, you know, my dad didn't see me graduating from high school and he kind of got choked up, you know, like you say, a family lost a father. But I would encourage people to read, among many other things, because, you know, our brother Dick Gregory co-wrote a book with Mark Lane on the assassination of Martin Luther King. But for me, probably, if you had a single book to read on the assassination, it would be William Pepper's book, An Act of State, The Execution of Martin Luther King, because the King family and, of course, Dexter, of course, made transition recently as well,

never believed that James Earl Jones was the primary person. James Earl Ray. James Earl Ray. I didn't say thank you. James Earl Ray. I don't keep saying James Earl Jones. James Earl Ray was the person. And when you read an act of state, it covers all of this evidence that William Pepper was able to assemble. And it also covers the civil trial. In 1999, of course, we know Judge Joe Brown, acting in capacity as a real judge in Memphis, presided over that civil trial. And it took the jury about an hour to find for the King family in saying that there was a plot that involved the execution of Martin Luther King. And if you've ever been and you've been there, you know, you see the Lorraine Motel, you see that boarding house where it was where James Earl Ray was. The idea that this guy got one shot off and hit Dr. King in the jaw and the neck and went down into his chest cavity from that distance, no, sir.

And then escapes and goes through Europe with all kind of passports. No, no, sir, and then escapes and goes through Europe with all kind of passports. No, no, no, no. The bottom line is this. As the poem went, I think it was Carl Wendell Hines, dead men make such convenient heroes. And so there's still the unsettled idea that we live in a country where a man could stand up for the poor, come out against the war, and become an enemy of the state. So many of these people, these hypocrites saying now that they love Martin Luther King, were actually against Martin Luther King. And unfortunately, there were a lot of people in the black community, including people like

Roy Wilkins, who is leader of the NYCP at the time, who were either lukewarm or also in conflict with Dr. King. It isn't easy to take the right side of history. Earlier today at the MLK Center in Atlanta, there was a wreath-laying ceremony that took place at the tomb of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King. Folks, y'all should roll it, please. The I am a last born child. Martin Luther King Jr. and Greta Scott King, and the CEO of the King Center. And I want to thank you for joining us here today.

I am with members of the King family. We all descended from Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Mrs descended from Martin King, senior. This is Alberta Williams King. So three branches of the King family are here today. As you know, over a nine month period, we lost the last members of a generation that's older than me. Um, and so this has been a very trying and difficult season for us. And we ask that you continue to keep us in prayer as we stand here today. It's particularly more sombering because those members who have been with us in the past, Naomi King and Dr. Christine King-Ferris, are no longer with us.

But we want you to know that we are here together as a family. And before we begin in prayer, I want to identify who is with us today. My brother Martin III and his wife Andrea are in Memphis, Tennessee today. And you know that's the place where my father was assassinated. So that's why he's not with us today. But we have with us members of the A.D. King family, who was my father's brother, and his oldest son, Derrick King, who will shortly lead us in prayer.

The oldest of A.D. and Naomi King, Alveda King, and then their children, Derrick's son, Kyle King, there's another son, Derrick King, Jr., who could not be with us today and then some of Alveda's children are here. All of them could not join us today. The oldest, her son Jared Ellis. Her next son Eddie Bill and her other son John Bill who was the baby Joshua could not be here today with us Celeste and Jennifer could not be here with us today. And then we have members of the Dr. Christine King-Ferris family. We have their oldest son Isaac Ferris Jr. Isaac Farris Jr., Dr. Angela Farris-Watkins,

and then Angela's daughter, Farris-Watkins. And we also have other members in the next generation who are with us as well behind the crypt. So we are here united as a family to let you know that we are going to continue these great legacies of our parents as we stand here as a family honoring the legacy of my father and especially in these times as we

know the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King are so critical to the times that we are living in. Very turbulent, troubling, difficult, challenging times. But Dr. King gave us a way. He gave us a philosophy and a methodology to transform this world. And we believe here at the King Center that if more people would study Kingian nonviolence and then practice Kingian non-violence, as Dr. King told us in his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, that I suggest that the philosophy and strategy of non-violence immediately become a subject of study in every field of human conflict,

by no means excluding relations between nations. We believe that if more and more people would study it and put it into practice in everyday life to deal with not just our societal issues because much of what happens in society spills out from our very hearts. You know, out of the heart flow the issues of life. And so as Kenyan nonviolence transforms us, we transform and change the way society looks. So if we want a peaceful society, then nonviolence is the pathway to creating that peace and the pathway to creating the beloved community. Because as Dr. King says, the aftermath of nonviolence is redemption, the aftermath is reconciliation, and the aftermath is the creation of the beloved community. So thank you for joining us today as we continue as a family to create and build that

beloved community and seek to defeat injustice, not people. We're seeking to defeat injustice and establish that beloved community through a love-centered way of thinking, speaking, acting, and engaging. So God bless you and thank you for being here again. I'm going to ask Reverend Derrick Barber-King, a singer, if he would lead us in prayer. And then afterwards, Alveda is going to lead all of us in singing a very important song. In these dark, difficult days, we need more light in the world. We need people of light. In fact, daddy said that one of the tragedies still and he said this over obviously 56 years ago because he was assassinated 56 years ago. He was taken from us. Don't forget that

because people always ask me what would he be doing today i said remember he was not finished so it's not like some new revelation and he was a prophet so he saw much of what we experienced today because he told us if we didn't do certain things there were going to be certain things that would begin to happen and so he said one of the tragedies still of human history is that the children of darkness are often more zealous and determined than the children of light. And so we have to get on our job to be more zealous and determined as children of light. So thank you for joining us here today. And I hope you will let your light shine so that we can transform this world into the beloved world.

Folks, that took place earlier today. We now go live to the nation's capital. This is the MLK Memorial in Washington, D.C., where there is a candlelight vigil commemorating on this day, the assassination of Dr. King. LLC as strategy, innovative consultant for her. She also in her time on this earth has served as Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning of Partnerships at the NAACP. But more importantly for us tonight, she is the President and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women. So please give it up for her and let me tell you a little bit about the National Council of Negro Women. It is an organization of organizations comprised of 330 campus and community-based sections and 33 national women's organizations that enlightens, inspires, and connects more than

2 million women and men. Its mission is to lead, advocate for, and empower women of African descent, their families and communities. Founded in 1935 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an influential educator and activist, and for more than 50 years, the iconic Dorothy Irene Height was the president. And you should know, Dorothy Height was the only woman present

in 1963 when Dr. King gave his speech. Would you please give a warm welcome to the president and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women, please? Reverend, I know you got somewhere to go. Well, good evening, everyone. I would be nowhere else other than here tonight. It is an honor to be here to stand with you tonight. And I'm so excited to see faces that I love, the voice that I love to hear. Harry Johnson, thank you for this invitation. It's an honor to be here with all of you tonight. And as you're here at this memorial, one of the things that's so important tonight is to consider the ground that we stand on.

This is hollow ground. And I am a preacher, which means I love gospel music. There's a song by one of my favorite artists, Hezekiah Walker, that says, Faithful is our God. And that song is such an encouraging number because gospel fans know that this song speaks to how the Lord continues to keep us. When things turn against you or enemies try to destroy you, our God is faithful. There's a line in the song, however, that continues to repeat itself. And in the black gospel tradition, if there's a repeated line, that's an important line. If there's a repeated line, that line intends to have an impact on your

soul. It says, I'm reaping the harvest God promised me, taking back what the devil stole from me. These words hit different as we stand on this ground today. The memorial for a man that was promised to us by God, a man whose work was harvested and whose people who stand before me harvested from. Folks, we have multiple live streams going on at one time. And again, this is why your support of the Black Star Network matters. So we have a live stream going from the Immaculate Memorial here in Washington, D.C. for that Cam Like Vigil.

We also have a live stream going from Memphis, Tennessee, where they are finishing the commemoration there at the National Civil Rights Museum. We're back here on Roland Martin Unfiltered here in the nation's capital. We're right here at 16th and K on Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C. Folks, go to my iPad. This is the Chicago Defender. This was their cover in 1968. King murdered. And this was the special edition, the final edition that went out. And while sitting here,

while we were listening to that, Lauren, while I was listening, watching that coverage there, I went to the Instagram feeds. I went to the Instagram feeds of a number of black-owned media outlets. TV One, Revolt, Essence, Ebony, Blavity, The Griot. Matter of fact, before I name, let me just, again, just double check. So let me go to Shade Room.

Just what I thought. Let me go to Baller Alert. Got it. Let me go to Hollywood Unlocked. Got it. Out of all those I mentioned, only Baller Alert made mention of King's assassination today. I think that speaks volumes about black media targeted and black owned media in 2024? I hope not. Oh, it does. I think that, you know, obviously we are going through a huge transformation in the media

business in a lot of ways, technologically and otherwise. And also we're dealing with the generation that was born far after, actually, the Civil Rights Movement ended. In my view, the Civil Rights Movement really ends with the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. And even though I wasn't alive then, I do think that obviously people can read books. They understand his importance. So there really is no excuse, no matter what age you are, not to know what his relevance is, particularly in a world where, you know, when I think of MLK now, I think about the

fact that it is so hard to find the type of blunt leadership that we need that is not beholden to corporate interests or being afraid to say, speak truth to power. We have people that are in our national discourse that do speak truth to power, but they're not often in the leadership ranks, which is problematic. And I actually think that Dr. King, in a lot of ways, was a perfect reflection of what it is to hear someone speak without fear and speak the truth of what's going on in front of him in the world that he lives in or that he lived in and that we still live in to this day, that's hard to find now. We're getting a lot of

people, I think, who are afraid to say what needs to be said with regard to Black media not, you know, not recognizing this day, As you know, Roland, the metrics of clickbait and the metrics of attention when it comes to making money with a media platform often dictate an inordinate amount of attention, unfortunately, to celebrity and to things that quite frankly don't matter, but do get a lot of traffic and do get a lot of attention. So the other thing, interestingly, that I think about that is actually celebrity-related to Martin Luther King is what James Brown did the day after King's murder in Boston, which that was a celebrity that was a celebrity, a singer, but did have a connection to the

community and to really into black power and Black pride in that moment in an important way. But, you know, this is interesting that you went through all of those sites and didn't find anybody mentioning the anniversary of his death. That is extraordinary because, you know, it doesn't take much. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's

just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams,

and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops 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. and episodes 4, 5, 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. Beginning of the year for a news organization to look at the dates on the calendar that are coming up

and to tailor your news coverage to those important dates. That is a classic thing that most news organizations do. But again, we're going through an incredible change in the news industry now, unfortunately, and sometimes not for the better. See, the reason I raise that point, Recy, the reason I raise it is because it's one post. It's one day. And I say that because it's not even just you recognize what happened on this day. You also remember what he was doing, why he was in Memphis, and the issue that he was fighting for, better wages for sanitation workers, a living wage.

Those are the same things we're talking about in 2024. And I believe that it is incumbent upon, because look, we know what white media not going to do. We know what they not going to do. But it's incumbent upon us to have that reminder and force somebody to go, oh, dang, you know what? I didn't realize that was today. I didn't realize that because folk do forget. That's also why we are here to remind people about these things to sort of jog their memories. Because when we as Black people forget days like this, we know what other folk going to do. Yeah, I mean, this is one of those occasions that certainly is worth taking a pause and resetting the narratives that a lot of, to be honest,

Republicans are bastardizing the legacy of Dr. King. And they have made, it's completely sanitized and made these ridiculous claims about what he actually stood for. And so it is incumbent upon Black media and thought leaders to drive that conversation again, to reset the conversation about the fact that Dr. King was always about making America fair and equitable for Black people, as well as for economic justice. And so it's really inexcusable. There's really no, there's nothing I could say other than the fact that what we see is a lot of platforms reflecting what they believe is profitable, what they believe people want to hear, as opposed to driving the conversation to things that people need to know about.

Just so folks know, I literally checked Blavity, The Griot, TV One, The Source, Essence, Ball Alert, Hollywood Unlocked, Ebony, Shade Room, Jasmine Brand, Black Enterprise, and Ball Alert was the only one that actually made mention of today. So I'm just putting it out there for folk because, again, that's the kind of stuff that I think it's important for us to pay attention to. We have going to do this year. We're going to go to a break. We come back. I want to talk about this story out of Florida. If you want to see the live streams of the other events, the event in Memphis has concluded. The candlelight vigil that's taking place at the MLK Memorial, that is happening right now. This is a live look right now. So you can actually go to our live stream there to actually see that uh of course again

we're the only black on media outlet folks who is doing this and so your support for us is critical uh and so you can send your checking money over to peel box 57196 washington dc 20037-0196 cash app is dallas sign rm unfiltered paypal r martin unfiltered vimmo is rm unfiltered zale rolling at rolling s martin.com rolling at rolling martin unfiltered venmo is rm unfiltered zale rolling at rolling s martin.com rolling at rolling martin unfiltered.com we'll be right back as bad as trump was his economy was worse and black america felt it the most he cut health insurance while giving tax breaks to the wealthy and big business as president i put money in pockets and capped the cost of medicine at 35 a a month. There's a lot more to do,

but we can do it together. 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 fan base or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. I'm Debra Owens, America's wealth coach. And on the next Get Wealthy, you'll meet Jandy Turner, who took her love of sports, expanded her network, and created a thriving business.

I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which in and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds, if not thousands of golf tournaments is that business gets done when the golf clicks. All on the Next Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network.

Hello, I'm Paula J. Parker. Trudy Proud on The Proud Family. Louder and Prouder on Disney+. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. A routine traffic stop in Florida turns into a legal nightmare when a Tallahassee cop is caught on body cam video planting evidence to justify the arrest of a black man. This took place on May 7th, 2023, when 26-year-old officer Kirsten Oliver pulled over Calvin Riley Sr.

Now, Oliver did not, again, did not tell Riley why she pulled him over. In the deposition, she said that he was hoovering lanes. Okay. But this is what happened. This is what happened when Oliver approached Riley's car. Hello, sir. I'm Officer Oliver Tala, police department. Do you have your driver's license, registration, insurance? Would you be willing to do some voluntary field sobriety exercises? Not really.

Okay. Here, go ahead and step out of the vehicle for us. Just go ahead and face the corner of the car for us. Your license is suspended, so we're going to... No problem. Mr. Raleigh, I got a quick question for you. No problem. So I smelled marijuana in your vehicle. Did you recently smell?

No. Did somebody else smoke in your car earlier? He has a cover on his seat and in the cover where the knee would sit, there's an opening and he had it tucked. And then the whatever he had in his cup also stuck. We'll get you to jail, okay? That's about what happened the first time I got here. The jail on the first floor? Yeah. Okay, nothing in there?

No. Well, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Bye, bye, bye. All right, we'll get you to jail, okay? Bye. All right. That's about what happened the first time I got here. Did you get jailed on the first car?

Yeah. Okay, nothing in there? No. Well, okay, so he had a bunch of alcohol stash in there, but... Nothing open or anything? Yeah, open. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Yeah, in his, like, turvis in the center console, he had a mixed drink, and then under his knee he had, like had a little bottle of vodka tucked away. Marijuana and he doesn't smoke hemp, so he's not in the research car. Any evidence of that? Marijuana? Yeah. Are you still on? Mm-hmm.

Riley was charged with having a suspended license and a DUI. Public defender Desiree Goodfellow attempted but failed to get the bottle evidence dismissed during Oliver's second deposition in the case. She stated

I don't remember at least 16 times. Was he cursing during this period of time? I don't remember at least 16 times. Was he cursing during this period of time? I don't remember. His left blinker was on, is that correct? I don't remember. Which was the registration for his car, correct?

I don't remember. Because the car had automatic lights. I don't remember if it had an auto setting. It was a strong odor. It wasn't strong, but but I can remember smelling it. Vehicle. I don't remember if she searched the vehicle. You don't remember her searching on the passenger side while you search on the driver's side? No I don't remember that. You told Officer Muth that the bottle was open? I don't

remember my exact phrasing. You can just show me where it's recorded. Objection. Incorporate impeachment. Do you not remember? I don't remember the exact placement. You told Officer Muth that the bottle was open? I don't remember my exact phrasing. I don't remember what my thought process was behind the statement. I don't remember the conversation. So you don't remember discussing indicators of impairment that you saw in Mr. Riley?

I don't remember discussing that, no. Did Officer Muth or Sergeant Smith ever convey to you that their body-worn camera was on after you had turned yours off? I don't remember. That I don't remember. Have you previously testified that the protocol is to dump out open containers? I don't remember. That's a lot of I don't remembers, Recy. She's full of shit.

And all a motherfucker has to sit up there and do is drop it. You know? But instead, she wants to sit up there and do a lot of these bad apples, if you want to call it that, do, which is fuck up a black person's life for shits and giggles, because there's no excuse for any of this. And it's crazy that this is even going this far with the so-called checks and balances in the system. What the hell is the district attorney, the state's attorney, still prosecuting this case for on this flimsy evidence? What the hell is the judge doing by allowing evidence that's faulty to stay in? This is why the system is not set up for people who are innocent to walk free. This is disgraceful. And if I was in Tallahassee, I would be putting pressure on the district attorney's office,

not the district attorney, I'm sorry, it's the would be putting pressure on the district attorney's office. Not the district attorney, I'm sorry. It's the state's attorney. The state's attorney's office. The state's attorneys are elected. Maybe not the assistants, but the state's attorney is an elected position. And there should be raising hell over that person proceeding with this case. This is disgraceful. It is crazy. And I don't understand

for a second, Lauren, why in the hell would she pour the alcohol? That's evidence. You know, people, I don't know, some of these jurisdictions will just hire anybody. They'll just hire anybody to these police forces.

And then it just becomes self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating. And basically, you're trying to justify your existence by these arbitrary stops. Why was he stopped in the first place? I mean, these arbitrary stops of people, these discretionary stops, are a pain in the ass. Because, of course, who is going to get stopped more? Is she going to do policing where she grew up in her neighborhood? Of course not. You're going to police in the neighborhood of the people that you don't know, that don't look like you, that you can annoy. And quite frankly, also over indexing on to poor people who don't have the power, generally speaking, to fight back.

You know, it's all that. Right. I just want to shout out to Louise Lucas, who did pass a bill in Virginia, I believe it was 2020, to stop cops from, you know, arresting people over the smell of weed and pulling people over, making that basically a probable cause standard. Because, of course, that is another thing that runs wild. I smell weed now, so now we have to get into a whole big conversation. But to Recy's point, a lot of it is just jamming people up to justify the fact that you're on the job. You've got to do something. We look at these crime stats, by the way, and they're going down. And notice how even when they're going down, we're still getting all of these incidents. We're still getting all the stops. We're still getting all that, right? So it is just amazing. You know, when you put money into something,

it has to justify itself. And some policing, of course, does have to be done. Everyone understands that. But these discretionary types of things, these low-level stopping people, that, for me, is a huge red flag because it's always targeted to a specific community. So

here's why I'm laughing, Greg, because Carol, is this correct? She said he was hoovering? Greg, I looked up hoovering. And I don't know if you can actually do this while driving, but if y'all go to my iPad,

hoovering is called the act of cleaning floors and other surfaces with a vacuum cleaner oh man i guess i guess now maybe if she said he was hovering but i as hovering is in the air. I don't... Kirsten Oliver was recruited because of her diminished, underdeveloped capacity. She was recruited, I'm sure, by this punk police chief in Tallahassee,

Lawrence Revell, who once said that he was, quote, God's choice to be chief of police in Tallahassee. She was recruited. She ain't 26 years old, and that shouldn't disqualify her. But, you know, she is straight from central white premises. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways.

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

and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

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. 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. Settler Colony Casting. As you know, I mean, you know, and this is why you have to consistently tell these stories, because it is a reminder that the concept of policing comes out of the slave patrols. And to quote Adam Serwer, who you've had on the show a number of times from The Atlantic, the cruelty is the point. So whether they can stop you or not, and you see these little Casper the Friendly ghost cops hovering around a man's car trying

to figure out what they can put on him. How many times have you covered stories where we've seen see these little, you know, Casper the Friendly ghost cops hovering around a man's car trying to figure out what they can put on him. How many times have you covered stories where we've seen this exact same thing? Let's stop him, and let's get back here and scheme. So, her and the other white girl get in the car, Margaret Miff, and they're like, OK, so what can we get on him? I mean, you know, because if you do this once, you do this. And she had to pour the liquor out. Now, this judge, Jones, Jones, who's a former prosecutor himself, who won't throw out the liquor evidence, talking about he thinks he heard a seal being broken. And the cop, oh, so now you got super hearing. Are you Steve Austin, the Bionic Man? Are you Dr. Strange or some shit? The bottom line is once you get caught up in this thing, whether you walk away or not, you've been harmed.

Now, hopefully there will be a civil lawsuit because the injury here, whether it's putting someone, you know, them cowboys that are down there around Capitol Hill, ostensibly on a broken taillight. And then they started searching, took me over to the place and had me in the cell. And I was very kind and very, very, very calm. And I'm calling all the officers by their full names, signaling to them that, you know, you might want to reconsider this. And then when they're going through my stuff, oh, you're a professor? Hey, I'm at Howard University, officer, whatever. And they said, okay, well, we're going to let you go.

No, motherfucker, you want to play? Do you want to dance tonight? Because the whole point is, it don't matter whether they let you go or not, the stop is the point. They want to harass you. They want to remind you that you, sir, are still in what Karjee Wilson called the sequel to slavery. We can stop you any time we want.

And we're just doing this because we can. So, you know, shout-out to the police chief of Tallahassee. Shout-out to the mayor that hired him, the white dude who's scared of him, apparently. And shout-out to these young Guha cops who, apparently, according shout out to these young Guha cops who apparently, according to the critiques of the police chief, who has developed this warrior mentality among them. Shout out to the ones, even the ones who don't

measure up, who can't get the brush cut buzz cuts, like Officer Oliver, who, while she can't get the buzz cut, is trying so hard to measure up to the buzz cut mentality. But when you get punched in the face on the stand, you can't remember nothing. Yeah, well, you know, it's funny. I remember

when I was in, I was working for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and I was in H-E-B-R-H-E-R-S-T-U-L-A-S-B-E-T-F-O-R-T which is basically between Dallas and Fort Worth. And I'm on the phone and a cop pulls me over.

And so I had hanging from my, I always kept my Texas Department of Public Safety press credential hanging from my rearview mirror. And so cop rolls up. I was like, hold on one second. I put the phone down. So he comes up. And so then he tells him, I says, why did I get pulled over?

I made an illegal lane change. I didn't use a signal light. I said, oh really? So then he asked for ID. So I handed him my driver's license and my Texas Department of Public Safety press pass so he could understand that he was pulling over a city hall reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I didn't get a ticket. Because he knew what was going to follow after that. So as you said, you want to swing, let's swing. But we'll let you know how it's going to end up if you do that. All right. When we come back, and I know Lauren and Reesey and Greg got something to say about this here. All I'm going to say is Emmanuel Acho and Angel Reese.

We'll be back. No. Fan base 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 As bad as Trump was, his economy was worse, and black America felt it the most. We'll be right back. As president, I put money in pockets, creating millions of new jobs, and capped the cost of medicine at $35 a month. There's a lot more to do, but we can do it together. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. but I could. Or I don't play Obama, but I could. I don't do Stallone, but I could do all that. And I am here with Roland Martin on Unfiltered.

Oh! If your name is Emmanuel Ocho, a piece of your ass has been chewed up and spit out. Folk, they've been lighting this Fox Sports brother up after he made these comments following Angel Reese's news conference after they lost to Iowa. I'm sure y'all heard it. Press play.

I'm about to give a gender-neutral, racially indifferent take. Now, if you want to say, well, Ocho, K to your take based upon gender. Ocho, K to your take based upon race. I will understand that. But I'm about to give a gender-neutral, racially indifferent take. Angel Reese, you can't beat a big big bad wolf but then

kind of cry like courage the cowardly dog because if you want to act grown which she has if you want to get paid like you grown which you are if you want to talk to grown folks like you grown which you did post game when you told a coach for an opposing team watch your mouth if you want to tell people get your money up then post game-game, when you take an L, you just got to take it on the chin. Nobody mourns when the villain catches an L. And Angel Reese, you have self-proclaimed to be the villain. Shout out to you,

because you are the second best basketball player on the court, and it was not close. Outside of Kaitlyn Clark, it was you. 17 and 20. Dog. Showed up. Biggest game, second biggest game of your career. Absolute dog.

But you can't, under any circumstance, go to the podium and now try to ask for individuals to give you sympathy. No one has sympathy for the villain. You painted the bullseye on your back. Why are you surprised when people shoot at you? So if you want to act grown, if you want to pose grown, if you want to talk grown, if you want to talk to grown folks grown, then you got to take the L like you grown.

Because what frustrated me is when you want to be the villain, but you want to hope for sympathy like a hero. I'm about to give a gender neutral racially. So that was the commentary. Now, keep in mind, y'all, keep in mind that at the news conference after they lost to Iowa, somebody, a reporter, asked Angel Reese a question about the last year since LSU won the national championship. This is what she was talking about. I don't really get to stand up for myself.

I mean, I have great teammates. I have a great support system. I got my hometown. I got my family that stands up for me. I don't really get to speak out on things just because I just try to ignore and I just try to stand strong. Like, I've been through so much. I've seen so much. I don't think just because I just try to ignore and I just try to stand strong like

I've been through so much. I've seen so much. I've been attacked so many times Death threats. I've been sexualized. I've been threatened. I've been so many things and I've stood strong every single time and I just try to Stand strong for my teammates because I don't want them to see me down and like not be there for them so I just want to always just know like I'm still a human like all this has happened since I won the national championship and I said the other day I haven't had peace since then and it sucks and but I still wouldn't change I wouldn't change anything and I would still sit here and say like I'm I'm unapologetically me. I'm going to always leave that mark and be who I am and stand on that. And hopefully the little girls that look up to me and hopefully I give them some type of inspiration that, no, hopefully it's not this hard and all the things that come at you. But

keep being who you are. Keep waking up every day. Keep being motivated. Staying who you are. Stay in ten toes. Don't back down, and just be confident. I don't really get to stand up. That was what she was talking about. Well, in the past few hours, let's just say, Acho got a info, and this was today's video. I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has respectfully reprimanded me and offered brilliant opinions on the Angel Reese conversation. I do not believe there is any one way to think about things,

but thank you to the Ryan Clarks, the Essence Atkinses, the Bozema St. Johns, the Trellas, the different individuals who have publicly and privately just given me good wisdom, good feedback, good discernment. I understand. I understand. I understand. I think life is all about understanding. And so I just want to applaud those publicly, you watching, and those privately who have respectfully, the operative word there being respectfully, who have respectfully reprimanded me. Matt Barnes, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly wise words. So I thank all of you all for that. I do not stand on a hill saying that I am right

and you are wrong. I simply stand on a place saying, hey, this is what I believe. What do you believe? Let's listen to one another and construct a collective belief. So, love to everybody who's respectfully reprimanded me, and I appreciate it so, so, so very much. Thank y'all for that. All right. So, I just wanna let y'all know something. Um, Roland is not a body language expert. But y'all can go ahead and show it.

Let me explain something to you. Come on, show it. When you're talking and you're rubbing your neck, y'all need to give me a tooth shot. Y'all need to put a tooth shot. See, when you're talking like this here,

and you, come on, you two box. See, when you doing this here, and then you, then you doing this here, you like, I, I. You lied. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened

when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

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

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

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. I appreciate y'all calling me. I appreciate y'all getting in my ass privately. I appreciate y'all getting in my ass privately. I appreciate

y'all, you know, letting me know that my ignorant ass sounded like a damn fool. I really... Thankfully... Ooh, is it

warm in here? Am I the only one? Is it? That's really what you just saw right there Everybody watching right now. Let me go ahead and give the cussing disclaimer. Oh, that's about to ensue cuz I saw Reesey earlier on Twitter, so Lauren I'm going to start with you. Let me go in you know, you know, because you also text me like uh are we gonna lauren was like are we gonna deal with this tonight well i'll say this there's a lot to unpack a little bit here i mean i get what he was trying to say i do get what he was trying to say i do do think I'm a big Angel Reese fan. I think she's fantastic. And it's great to see women's basketball like blow up in the ratings and everything else.

But the I think what people were probably really sensitive to was the terms gender neutral, as if, you know, there is no difference in criticism, you know, but, you know, women, women, athletes are coming into their own now. And I think people are now starting to have to make this adjustment. But after we saw the thing that happened in the LA times, right. Uh, and then we hear Angel Reese tell us that she's been getting death threats for a year, which the first thing that I thought about was, wow, isn't that interesting that we can get a 40-minute, 10,000-word piece in The Washington Post about Kim Mulkey, but we can't get one piece in The Washington Post

about Angel Reese getting death threats for a year? That, to me, is an extremely serious thing. And it's kind of like taking as, oh, no big deal, whatever. And I think about that with a lot of folks that are in the news. Fannie Willis getting up on the stand telling everybody she's been getting death threats and everybody acts like this is normal, you know, business as usual. And it's not. It really isn't. And you do at some point have to attribute some of that to the gender of the people who are saying it. It's like nobody cares. But I do get some of his point, because I do think that, you know, didn't the women's movement tell us that we were equal to men and we could do whatever we want? And then we get out there and do it and we get criticized. Some of us get sensitive to that.

So it's like if we're equal, we've got to be equal with the criticism. And frankly, the guys get criticized a lot. You know, Cam Newton, I can remember, Deion Sanders. You know, people who are black, who are very assertive out there, particularly with sports, I think both men and women get criticized. I think it was just last week we saw a soccer player that plays for Brazil break down in tears because of the racism that he was dealing with.

Right. And nobody talked about that. You didn't get the big outrage. You didn't get the big thing that you get. But here's where Acho screwed up. No, no. Seriously. Where he screwed up was

is that he didn't understand context. What he did was he asserted that Angel Reese was crying because they lost. That's not what happened.

She was literally asked a question. Also, let's factor this in, she announced a couple days later she was declaring for the WNBA. I can tell you, I remember having a conversation with someone on the bus coming back from our award ceremony in 1991 at the National Association of Black Journalists, and it was my last night as a national student representative. And I remember shedding tears. And I remember this sister was like,

why are you emotional? Because what I did for two years and how much I invested and what it meant to me personally. So he screwed up by getting the context wrong. Well, he, Acho should have shut

his mouth, though, the minute that he heard that she was getting death threats for a year. Let's stop on that one for a second. But that's my whole point. So he... That's my point. Why was she getting any... Why was she getting checked after that and after what we saw with the L.A. Times?

But that's my point. He should have shut his mouth on that. So he got nailed. He got nailed. Yeah, he got... I mean, it wasn't like, it wasn't like she came in and was crying because they lost the game. But here's the deal. Even if she cried after the loss, I've seen men cry after their last game. I've seen college players who go,

there's no tomorrow. I've seen guys cry on the court. You'll see them, you'll see them, they'll lift the jersey of their eyes because in that moment, they know that it's over and they may not be going to the NBA and even if they go to the NBA,

it doesn't matter. We saw the other night Steph Curry have on-court emotion when Draymond Green got kicked out of a game in the first four minutes, and here's the Golden State Warriors fighting for a last, they're literally in the number 10 slot, one game ahead of my Houston Rockets. In fact, they're playing right now. I just got the alert. And so Steph is

sitting here going, dude, what are you doing? I'm 35 years old. I don't know how much longer I play. And Steph was emotional and where he kicked the chair and he put the jersey over his face. So, okay. The villain.

So all of that, all of that, that's why he sounded like a damn idiot. That villain thing, he sounded like a damn idiot on that villain thing because that's exactly what the dude at the LA Times did. I don't know why he wasn't paying any attention to that. But just to wrap it, I do think

the point that he was trying to make about the gender neutral criticism is that he's trying to say that the lady player should get criticized just like the men do or that if you're going to get out there and sort of be like the person who's always sort of asserting themselves in a certain way, you can expect some criticism. I think that's what he was trying to do there. I don't know what... Frankly, I don't... Frankly, okay, here's the deal. I don't know what the hell he was trying to do there. Frankly, okay, here's the deal.

I don't know what the hell he was trying to do because, before I go to Reesey, I don't know what the hell he was trying to say here when he was on Van Lathan's podcast and he actually said this. When white people say, well, racism doesn't exist, I know why they say that because I've been in them rooms when they're saying that. When I kick it with black people and they're like, all white people are racist, I know why you're saying that. All the while, I have the privilege and luxury of not having generational trauma because my parents were born in Nigeria. My method is removing some of the sting because I don't have that sting and trying to deliver a message in a manner that people can receive it.

Okay. Let me tell you why what you just said offends me. Okay. All right. and I have to name it, you're saying that you don't have any generational trauma in some way meaning or that in some way meaning that your delivery method to white people is going to be either more effective or more sanitized is to me dangerous. And let me tell you why. Everybody that you just named and what you're talking about does what they do in different ways. I don't think that any of the things that they do are necessarily harmful. them the most milquetoast, unspicy, unseasoned brand of racial discourse and accountability possible could definitely be harmful.

Like, we're fighting for our lives. And to me, having a conversation like that at that particular time, it's not that it's a different method. Everybody has a different method. It's that it's the wrong method. It's that it gives cover for... Recy. Wow.

Is it my turn? Yes. You know, I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed, and somebody tagged me on that apology video, his emphasis on respectful, and respectfully reprimanding him. And I have to say, fuck your respectful, because I think that it is arrogant and ridiculous to expect.

And this is a very normalized thing that people expect deference to their feelings when they just shit it on a Black woman unprovoked. Okay? Here you have a young Black woman who has been subjected to death threats, who had AI porn. Okay? That's what she meant when she said sexualized, because they made fake porn of her through AI, and she had to defend that, and has been called a slave and all kind of racist insults. I mean, hell, let's throw Dr. Jill Biden there. She was going to invite the losing team because she liked, you know, Kayla Clark and Andra Reese taunted her a little bit. Yeah, last year, last year. That was last year. But I'm

saying you've had a person who is literally tearfully pleading for her humanity. That was not a sports conversation. That was a human being talking about her humanity and just asking for people to treat her like a human being. And he missed all of that shit, because he saw a chance to dunk on, punch down, and shit on a Black woman who lost. A Black woman who came to prominence because she was a champion, because of her style, because of her confidence, because of her bravado.

And here is the first time where you get to say, aha, bitch, and you took it. And you tried to play the whole gender neutral and racially indifferent thing when that's bullshit, because that's exactly why people have the hot takes that they do. There are a lot of people that have confidence, that do the trash talk. That makes it entertaining. That's part of the reason why you're seeing record ticket sales for women's basketball and ratings. And that's part of the reason why you have, for the first time this year, women's basketball being able to even use March Madness branding. So it's bullshit to try to sit up there and disregard that and to attach

words. I understand it's a cartoon character like Courage the Cowardly Dog because she showed emotion. Well, which one is it? You don't want her to be the biggest, baddest bitch who is, you know, who's leaning into, and mind you, as a defense mechanism mechanism leaning into the villain

role because they're going to paint her with that no matter what. Anytime a black woman opens her mouth, she's a villain, period. So, okay, maybe she leaned into it. She made something up for good for her. I am mad at that. But that has nothing to do on court with what she was talking about in that interview. You don't hear Angel

Reese out there, you know, having, failing drug tests, fucking with people or anything like that. She has respect from her peers. Kayla Clark, the darling of white America, basketball, has expressed respect for her. So, how did

he miss all of that shit? How did he miss the moment? How did he miss the message? It's because it was a black woman who had the audacity to be confident, who had the audacity to affirm her own confidence and encourage other girls, not even specifically Black girls, but other girls who look up to her to maintain their steadfastness and being confident. And so I applaud her. That's not cowardly. That's actually courageous. And you can be a champion, and you win some and you lose some.

But at the end of the day, we need to move forward with humanity. So I was one of those people that disrespectfully reprimanded him. And I will rhetorically stomp a hole in your ass every time people feel comfortable coming for and shitting on black women for doing nothing more than having the audacity to be unapologetically confident and excellent period. I have a feeling where Greg is

going to go, but I'm going to hold this. No, you should say it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I got something queued up, but I have a feeling Greg is going to go there instead. Greg, go right ahead. I don't know. I mean, look, everybody, this is why we have to have the Black Star Network.

We can't have this conversation in white spaces. Brother Samuel Ochoa, Igbo brother, ask your mama and daddy about generational trauma. There's a little thing called the Biafran War in Nigeria. Ask your people, the Igbo people, because clearly you didn't learn it at home, and you damn sure didn't learn it at the University of Texas, Austin. That's probably why DEI is important.

You should have took a black studies class there, or an African studies class. You know, Toyin Falola is the University of Texas, Austin. He's an Igbo man. Maybe you should ask your people about generational conflict when it comes to difference, because sometimes it can be black on black. Don't get me started on that. So we can kind of

put him to the side. But the reason, you know, the man, he's rubbing his neck and stuff. He don't want to lose his job, because everybody's come for him. And I think that this is the issue. This is the issue. Now, I've been a fan of the women's game since, you know, my girlfriend was a forward at Tennessee State for the Tiger Gyms, which is part of the problem. You know, HBCU women's teams used to have their

own identities. They weren't lady anything. Now these Negroes have forgotten their history. Now they're the lady. Tiger is the lady, whatever. No, no. Tiger Bells, Tiger Gems, Tiger Sharks, Sharks. And that speaks to the point. I've never been a fan of slave master politics and plantation athletics. You know, I'm from Tennessee. I was in New Orleans over the weekend for the National Association of Black Social Workers. And they love those Black—they love Flage. They love Angel Reese, till they lose. And at that point, the N-word throws freely, like the Mississippi. The point is this. You know, an old girl, the coach, Kim Mulkey, she dodged a bullet. She dodged

a bullet. The L.A. Times did her a favor, because I read that full, like y'all did, the full article in The Washington Post. And, you know, nobody who, you know, W. Du Bois in Black Reconstruction would have called her probably the poor white, you know, the striver. But I'm—I live in Philly for 17 years. So I remember when John Chaney threatened to kick John Calipari's ass when he was coaching at UMass. And that's when Marcus Camby and boys was up there. And John Chaney, whose boys were always in class, who practiced at 6 a.m. So they could never have an excuse for missing class. You know, that Don Staley mentality, Don Staley coming out of Dobbins High School in North Philly, you know, I'm not sure that any of Don Staley's girls would be in Sports Illustrated swimsuit.

But again, I'm having a serious conversation. I'm coming to this point. This isn't a critique of Angel Reese. I'm looking at the coaches. I'm looking at the mentality. I'm looking at the uses and abuses of black people. I'm looking at the race war that is athletics, because, see, I'm a fan of the women's game. I'm sure we all remember Don Imus, ancient dead ass, when he called Vivian Stringer's

young ladies nappy-headed hoes on the Rutgers team. This was the race war between Rutgers, between Pat Summitt and them at UT. And, you know, if you read the Washington Post article, you know, Kim Mulkey worships Pat Summitt. But then so does Dawn Staley in many ways. But remember when the black women on the University of Tennessee team and especially Rutgers team was going up against the slave master in stores, that would be Gino, who always seems to find a couple of white girls to surround the sisters with. I'm sure for every Maya Moore, you got a Paige Buckets, you got a Rebecca Lobo. In other words, women's sports no different than men's sports in terms

of race war. And what I'm saying is that anytime I see a person like Kim Mulkey got all these sisters down there in the bayou in a racist as hell Louisiana State Baton Rouge and then you basically don't care what they do as long as they help you win a championship. Shout out of course to Kim Mulkey who ain't say a

damn thing when the sister who got her a national championship was locked up in Russia because she's mad as hell. They mad her about the national anthem. Trust. That's a woman who would have the day. I don't even want to see where she might have the tattoo because I don't need to see anything on Kim Mokki's body. But I'm saying she did not take those players off because of the national anthem. She MAGA as it gets in many ways. The point I'm trying to make is when you get to this, Samuel Echo is, look, man, you're

not even a sideshow in this. You're not even a sideshow in this. You're not even a sideshow in this. What you have is young people. And, you know, I got all the room in the world for young people. But you got young people in a space where these coaches in a plantation system, if they're not black women coaching them, and I'm very serious about this, they will engender this sense of anything goes that will have a sister from West Baltimore trash-talking the white girl, because that's what she would do. And we all love it until it goes sideways. Were those tears because of the abuse? Absolutely. And you're right. She should—look, the minute you hear

death threat, all bets are off. At the same time, of course, you are crying in part because you lost, because there's all this emotion there, because you want to beat these white girls and you want to keep going. But you know what? When the national championship is played, the only thing that I see flawed about Dawn Staley in South Carolina is that I wish there was one more word added to her title, head coach, South Carolina State. I swear, I wish these black players would go play for black coaches at HBCUs, because once you go to these white schools and you're up under these plantation system people, it becomes race war, and it's not gender. It's Shemeika Hoseclaw at UT and Candace Parker in them.

It's, remember, UNLV under Tarkanian. Remember the U, University of Miami football team? In other words, it's always proxy waste war, and they love their Negroes until they lose. Samuel Echo, brother, you wandered out in the middle of a race war and caught a stray, and you need a little bit more history before you start saying you don't

identify with generational trauma, because, son, what you don't know is a lot. So I knew Greg was gonna go there a few months ago. No, no, I knew that because a few months ago, I actually came across

this on Instagram. And you know what? Maybe Emmanuel Acho needs to watch this. The origin of Nigeria that shocked the hell out of me. Nigeria was never meant to be a country. It was something else entirely.

In this video, I'm going to tell you what I discovered. Oh, and I want to acknowledge Burner Boy for bringing my attention to this in his song, Another Story, on his album, African Giants. Thank you for inspiring this video and all of you let Burner Boy know that he got to me and now I'm sharing this information with you. The creation of Nigeria was never about democracy, never about Christianity. It was about money, business and profit. None of it for us. Pay attention. The area now known as Nigeria was called the slave coast up to 1870. This was the point at which the British had stopped slave trading and moved on to palm oil

as their primary commodity out of Nigeria. One of the main suppliers of palm oil was the Benin kingdom and you have to watch my video on one of the greatest African kings most of you have never heard of, Oba Vanraen. This is an important story for me personally because I'm from that region, so they are my people, and his fight with the British Empire over palm oil is one of the greatest stories of African colonial history. Anyway, everyone wanted palm oil, and especially the British. A man called George Goldie set up the United African Company in 1879, which was then changed to the National African Company. He structured the palm oil business in the Niger Delta region, and by 1884,

he had a monopoly that the British could exploit. So in 1886, Goldie violated the agreement he had made with the chiefs and moved his operations into River Niger and Benway. The company was also renamed to Royal Niger Company. Goldie tricked the chiefs into signing unfair trade deals, giving Goldie exclusive rights to export palm oil instead of what the chiefs thought would be free trade. These contracts were written in English, a language we didn't understand and based on laws that were not our own. This is similar to the land negotiations done with Native Americans in what is now known as the United States of America, where deals were done via contracts in English with laws that had nothing to do with the Native Americans. There was a meeting called the Berlin

Conference in 1884 to 1885, set up by Germany's first Chancellor Otto van Bismarck. This was where colonial powers discussed how to carve up Africa and structure trade across the pieces of our continent they would take. We were not part of these conversations. The best way to think of this is like the NBA draft. Guys were out there making bids between lunch breaks and spa sessions. At this conference, the kingdom of Opobo was given to Britain. When King Jaja of Opobo tried given to Britain. When King Jar Jar of

Opobo tried to export his own palm oil, he was accused of obstructing commerce and then exiled. How crazy is that? And on his way home in 1891, he was poisoned with a cup of tea. Guys, I couldn't make this stuff up. The Jar Jar of Opobo story made other chiefs wary of their deals with the British. King Coco of Nembe Brass was one of them. He tried to take down the Royal Niger Company and attacked the company headquarters in Akasa, Bielsa on January 29, 1895. King Coco captured 60 white men and lost 40 of his own soldiers. He used the 60 hostages to demand he be allowed free trade, the agreement he believed he had with the British company. They refused and he killed 40 of his hostages.

The British Royal Navy retaliated by leveling the city of Brass completely on February 20th, 1895. King Coco went into exile and the British not only took control of the palm oil he once had, but also fined the people of his kingdom 500 pounds, as well as confiscating their weapons. Tragically, King Koko committed suicide in exile in 1898, after being branded an outlaw by the British company that had taken his kingdom, palm oil, and reputation. The Royal Niger Company sold its territory to the British government for £865,000 in the late 1800s. This territory was known as Nigeria. In 1914, the Southern Protectorate and Northern Protectorate was combined by Lord Lugard. And like that, the Royal Niger Company was

rebranded as a country which would gain independence on October 1st 1960. And Lugard is a street in Nigeria that still exists today. The Royal Niger Company changed its name to the Niger Company Limited and it was then acquired by Unilever. Unilever still operates in Nigeria to this day. And that's my brothers and sisters is how Nigeria came to be. We have a long way to go to fix the country but we won't ever have a long way to go to fix the country, but we won't ever have a hope and a solution to our problems if we don't know how they started. What I told you in this video is just a small part of the foundations that led to unrest, civil war, economic instability, and so forth. Remember, it's not about asking anyone else to fix this, or even wasting

time blaming those we know caused and perpetuated it. This is about knowing our history. Nigeria was never a country we created. It was a company designed by colonizers for profit and a lot of the infrastructure put in place for that siphoning of resources out of our land is still very much in place today. Crude oil simply replaced palm oil, and soon lithium may replace crude oil. Honestly, I feel angry, not just for what happened to my ancestors, but for the fact that I wasn't taught about this in school in Nigeria, and that our children are not being taught about these things now. Every Nigerian should know everything about who we are and what we are up against. Subscribe for commentary on Africa, history, current affairs, politics

and the diaspora. See, this right here, Emmanuel Acho, is why what you said was beyond stupid. For you to sit here and say that oh, unlike you African Americans, unlike you black Americans, those of you

of people of Africa, people who had relatives who were enslaved to African descent, oh, I don't possess that generational trauma. So therefore, I can come here and I can talk to white people and I can talk to black people. No question. Just like every other African who hails from the continent where they were colonized. You literally represent a part of Africa

where the country never even existed. That's right. But then you sit here and sit your ass on Fox Sports. They used to employ Jason Whitlock and it's no surprise that Jason is on Twitter and he is sitting here saying, oh, Emanuel's correct and the rest of you are wrong. But see, this is the problem when you try to be one of the good ones. Right. you try to be one of the good ones. See, this is the problem, Emmanuel.

When you think that you somehow are set apart from the rest of us, when the fact of the matter is you've got lots of trauma coming out of the continent, and in fact, your trauma still persists. When you've got kidnappings of girls in Nigeria, when you've got the United States, the reason we pay so much attention to Nigeria

is because of your oil. But let's talk about the economics of the people in Nigeria. Look, I hope to visit one day. I'm told it's a beautiful country. I'm told that you have exhibitions of significant wealth of those Africans who have money, those Nigerians there. But please, Emmanuel, don't you dare.

And I was trying not to, but, no, I'm not gonna go ahead and cuss. I'm gonna go ahead and keep it. I'm just cussing, because I was about to cuss. But don't you dare release a video and talk about how I don't have the emotional trauma and how I can listen to white people and them, the Romans, what they're saying, that I can go listen to black people and what they say. Well, hell, Emmanuel, I've been in real... A lot of times,

the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up,

so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action, and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith.

Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

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

King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. 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. Well, white folks said racism didn't exist. Hell, just the other day, some white woman on Twitter evoked Morgan Freeman when she said racism will stop if we just stop talking about it. Really? Tell that to the black man who's on trial with a DUI tomorrow with a white woman who poured the liquor out

that then said she smelled marijuana. Tell that to the people who have been killed, which we talked about with Samuel Sengawe, people who have been killed by cops. Tell that to the little black girl who was trying to sell some lemonade on the side and a white woman said, I'm going to call the cops on her because she was selling some lemonade. Tell that, please, to the brothers who tried to deliver FedEx and UPS packages just because they were black, but the white folks

got to call the cops on them because something was wrong. Tell that to the black man who had shots fired at him in Mississippi trying to deliver a package. Please, by all means, tell that to Walter Scott, who was shot and killed by a cop while he was running away. Tell that to, please, Kadarius, the brother who was run killed by a cop while he was running away. Tell that to please Kadarius,

the brother who was run over by a cop in Mississippi. Please tell that to the police departments right now that are being looked at by the Department of Justice for the vicious beating of black people. Come on, bruh. No. What you try to do is, let me just take out race,, let me just take out race

and let me just take out gender. Well, that's the last thing you can actually do in a country where the original sin is race and where it was meant for women never to vote, never to own land, and their only job was to lay down and birth babies and cook in the kitchen barefoot. And that's who they hired. See, when you decide, Emmanuel, when you decide,

sit here and say, oh no, you're the villain. Really? That's not the villain. That's called somebody saying, I'm leading my team to victory. That's called somebody saying, I'ma my team to victory. That's called somebody saying, I'm going to give it as good as I get it. Because see, what's

interesting is, if I put Angel Reed side by side with Caitlin Clark, Caitlin Clark talk mad shit. You know what? I'm not bothered by that. Because do you know who was one of the biggest trash talkers in NBA history?

That white boy Larry Bird. Larry Bird could back his shit up. You know you bad when you walk out to the NBA three-point contest with your shooting jacket on, and you don't even take it off and you win the contest. Matter of fact, Larry Bird was so bad, when the coach put a black player on him, he said, this is some disrespectful shit.

No, I'm sorry, when he put a white player, he told the coach, this is disrespectful as hell, you putting a white boy, a white boy can't guard me. That was Larry Bird. Michael Jordan talked a lot of trash, too. But see, I'm saying all of that because

Caitlyn talked trash. Caitlyn was cussing on the court in the tournament. Her dad told her, shut the hell up and play! But you want to assign villain to the black girl. Just like white writers assign thugs to South Carolina. Just like the LA Times writer did the exact same thing. Because the reality is folk, white sports writers,

and let's be honest, if you want to be honest, Emmanuel, you saw the LSU Iowa contest the same way folks saw Duke versus UNLV. Of course. The same way they saw

Notre Dame versus Miami. The convicts versus the Catholics. The reality is that's black versus white. We know exactly what that is. And so, brother, brother, why don't you actually spend a little more

time with brothers and sisters because the reality is if your ass can't even understand the generational trauma that exists in your homeland, you damn sure have no clue, no concept of the reality that exists in sports in the United States of their America

So I know you feel so blessed with the respectful Private phone calls you got I Ain't got your number ain't got your number. I ain't never met you. But here's what I do know. You went to that little school in Austin.

At A&M, we call it small U, small T. You a University of Texas graduate. I'm a Texas A&M graduate. But I'm going to end with this. You had so much to say about Angel Reese, but you ain't had a damn thing to say about the 60 people fired at the University of Texas when it came to DEI. So why don't you, Emmanuel Acho, have the courage of Emmett Smith, who stood up and spoke out against what happened at Florida and called it like he saw it? Or maybe, just maybe, you're just going to stay quiet because you, Emmanuel Acho, you have that pain and you don't have that experience.

Because you are so blessed to be able to sit among the whites and listen to them talk without them noticing your skin. They do, because they notice your parent's skin and your grandparents and the other folk in the tribe where you came from and your homeland. Bruh, you are not one of them and they will remind your ass of that. Trust me, go ask Candace Owens, who got her Negro wake-up call. Greg, Lauren, Recy, certainly appreciate y'all being on today's show.

Thank you so very much. Enjoyed it all. Folks, coming up next right here on Rollerball Unfiltered, we got something special. Are we going to a break, we all gonna play it from there? Okay, all right, so here's the deal. When this show ends, we're gonna stop,

we're gonna end the show, and then following that, so I want all y'all who are watching, we're all y'all who are watching. I interviewed, when we did MLK 50 in Memphis, I interviewed a lot of people who work with Dr. King. C.T. Vivian, Shadona Clayton, Clarence Jones. Claiborne Carson did not work with him, but he ran the King Institute at Stanford. John Lewis, Elmer Holmes Norton.

We got comments from Billy Dee Williams, from Angela Bassett, and on and on and on. And all of these people are reflecting on April 4, 1968. So a few years ago, what happened was, so MLK 50 was in 2018. And so it may have been 2020, and I was at home, and it was April 3. I said, damn, tomorrow's Dr. King's anniversary.

See, I didn't do what these other black media people do, and I just completely know today. Oh, by the way, y'all, after I posted my comment about black media and not posting about King, the Shave Room posted something about 15 minutes later. I just want to let y'all know that. So I was sitting at home and it hit me. I said, wait a minute.

I have all of these people who I interviewed talking about that fateful day. And listen, I just, boom, I just put it together. Just put it together. I just put it together. And so it's called April 4th, 1968. We're going to get around to producing it and making it all nice. But bottom line is, folks, there are some amazing stories. And wait until y'all hear Zanona Clayton talking about being so angry at the funeral home's makeup job on Dr. King

where she took some makeup from the white wife of one of the activists and the black wife of one of the activists and she mixed it together and climbs into the casket to reapply the makeup of Dr. King. And then you're going to hear her talk about when Richard Nixon showed up at the house with the check for Coretta Scott King. Some amazing stories. Y'all, don't nobody else have this?

The compilation that we have, nobody else has. Nobody. It's called April 4th, 1968. And we're going to run that right after this show ends. So I want y'all to come, all y'all watching, I want all y'all to come right back. Folks, what we provide for y'all, I keep telling y'all this and I'm not lying.

Nobody else is doing. You can do a roll call. And I'm going to tell you right now, I will call the rest of them out. None of them are doing this, y'all. None of them. Blavity not doing this. The Grill not doing this. TV One, The Source, Essence, Ball Alert, Revolt, Hollywood Unlocked, Ebony, Shade Room, Jasmine Brand, Black Enterprise, BET, none of them are doing what we're doing here at the Black Star Network. None of them. We are giving you daily information, two hours a day this show, two hours a day for Raji Muhammad. We're giving you weekly financial show with Deborah Owens, a balanced living show with Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, a tech entrepreneurship show with Stephanie Humphrey, a history book show with Dr. Greg Carr. Of course, we have

the frequency with Dee Barnes. We have my one-on-one show, Rolling with Roland. Folks, we want to launch a cooking show, a fitness We got other ideas the news conferences that we cover the live streams that we cover it. Nobody else is doing this Nobody not ABC not NBC not CBS not Fox News. None of them are doing it We got to be able to make sure that we're covering our own your support is critical our goal is simple y'all I keep telling y'all this. The goal is to get 20,000 of our fans who contribute every year. Y'all, $50.

You can't do $50. You do less. I appreciate that. I had folks this week give a dollar, give $5, give $7. That's all I can give. And I appreciate that. I had somebody come up to me the other day when I was in Nashville and say, brother, I'm on fixed income,

but I'm going to send you something. I said, I appreciate it. I told y'all the brother who put $50 in my hand. He said, I'm going to give it to you right now. When I was out listening to Go-Go on Saturday night, y'all, a brother named Ryan Gould, he spent 35

years in prison. His wife, who's been married to him 25 years, she was married to him while he was in prison. He spent 35 years in prison. That brother stopped me, he said, "'Man, my wife loves you, she's up," he didn't realize I was going upstairs listening to music. He said, "'Man, can you meet my wife?'

I was like, sure. So we go upstairs, she was just ecstatic. That brother said, bro, here's my $50. His name was Ryan Gould. And so I say that because I just need y'all to understand. And I get it. People come up to me all across the country telling me what the show means, the information that they get. They tell me this all the time. So your support is critical. Your support matters immensely to us with what we're doing. And hold up, let me quickly show you this.

I got to find his name. I'm just going to show his picture. This brother stopped me. He didn't want to do this, but I went ahead and said, nah, bro, this is a picture right here. He gave me his to do this, but I went ahead and said no, bro, this is picture right here. He gave me his $50 right there after our rally the Tennessee State Capitol. So your support is critical.

So you're checking money order PO Box 57196 Washington DC 20037 dad 0196 cash shop dollar sign RM unfiltered PayPal or Martin unfiltered Venmo is RM unfiltered Zelle Roland at Roland S Martin dot com Roland at Roland RM Unfiltered. PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

And when you also, of course, we need you to download the Black Star Network app. Apple Phone, Android Phone. Apple TV, Android TV. Roku, Amazon Fire TV. Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. That brother's name is Sam Lofton. That's the one who gave me that $50 in Nashville. Also, remember to watch our

24-hour streaming channel. We're available on Amazon News by going to Amazon Fire. You can check out Amazon News to Alexa to play news from the Black Star Network. You can watch us on Plex TV, Amazon Freebie, Amazon Prime Video. Those are our 24-hour fast channels. And lastly,

be sure to get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Get the audio version on Audible. Folks, that's it. I'm telling y'all right now, I'm going to put them on the spot. Pull up Greg. Pull up Greg. There will be some new episodes

of The Black Table coming up. Okay? Let y'all know. All right? Y'all been emailing me like, yo, man, we're tired of these repeats. Go and pull a brick. It's me. It's me. And there gonna be some. That's right. I'm gonna

lean on the shield, Fred. I got you. We're coming back with some new ones coming up. Absolutely. And short order. Short order. That's right. I just want to let y'all know that. So we are on this thing. So please, thank you for supporting us. Thanks for watching.

Thank you for listening. We're going to be restreaming the memorial, the commemoration out of Memphis. We're going to be restreaming the event out at the MLK Memorial today in Washington, D.C. We got all that for you. Appreciate y'all watching. And I will see y'all tomorrow

in all your black brilliance. And here's the list up. I got white folks, Latinos, and Asians who listen to us as well. So I appreciate y'all as well because I get y'all emails saying y'all watch us. And see y'all, that's what I'm trying to say. They learn as well. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways.

Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain.

And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.