#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Moore v Harper decision; Ralph Yarl speaks; Angela Bassett honorary Oscar;Trump classified doc audio

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

6.27.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Moore v Harper decision; Ralph Yarl speaks; Angela Bassett honorary Oscar;Trump classified doc audio The latest U.S. Supreme Court decision denies Republicans in North Carolina favorable election district maps.  We'll discuss how this will impact voting access with a political strategist.  We'll also discuss Monday's decision involving Louisiana's House map and other decisions about affirmation action, student loan debt, and religious liberties that are expected this week. Today GMA had an exclusive interview with Ralph Yarl, a Missouri teen shot in the head after mistakenly entering the wrong house to pick up his siblings.  We will show you the interview and how he describes what happened that horrific night. Legendary actress Angela Bassett finally receives the honorary Oscar she deserves but is met with divided public opinion.  We will break down the debate. CNN released an audio recording of former President Donald Trump acknowledging possessing a classified military document.  We will speak with the author of "Trump is not Racist, Here's Why" about what this could mean for Trump's presidential campaign. It's summer, and finding delicious, refreshing black-owned drinks is hard.  Well, look no further today in our marketplace segment.  We will speak with the creator of Jase's Lemonade about his signature lemonade. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers

at taylorpapersilling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. It is Tuesday, June 27, 2023. I'm going to be returning Robert Petillo City and for Roland tonight, Roland Martin Unfiltered. Here's what's coming up tonight. Streaming live on the Black Star Network. In a historic decision, the Supreme Court,

the Trump-appointed Supreme Court, the ultra-mega-conservative Supreme Court, the 6-2-3 majority Republican Supreme Court, sided with progressive groups and voting rights advocates, rejecting a North Carolina bid to overturn centuries of precedent and fundamentally change the way the elections are running in the United States of America. We'll talk to Jameela Booker about this latest Supreme Court decision.

Also, today on Good Morning America, there was an exclusive interview with Ralph Karl, a Missouri teenager who was shot after mistakenly entering the wrong house to pick up his siblings. We'll show you the interview and we'll describe what happened on that horrific night. Legendary actress Angela Bassett finally receives her Academy Award, an honorary Oscar that she deserves, and she is met with a divided public opinion. We'll break down this debate.

I know you've seen it. CNN has released the Trump tape, the tape of Donald Trump admitting to all the felonies that he is charged with and basically guaranteeing his ass one ride straight to jail. We're going to break down exactly what this means for the Trump campaign and what will happen to Donald Trump. How do you defend what we heard you say directly on tape? It's summer and finding delicious, refreshing black-owned drinks is hard. We'll

look no further. Today on our Marketplace segment, we will speak to the creator, James' lemonade about his signature lemonade. It is time to bring the funk on Rolling Murder Unfiltered, streaming live 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.

Yeah, it's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, yo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. In a stunning 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court today ruled that a North Carolina legislative

challenge would not go forward, which would have fundamentally changed the way the elections are running in the United States of America. At its base, this case was based upon a challenge presented by the North Carolina state legislature, arguing that because the Constitution lays out that states alone are in charge of overseeing their own electoral processes, that any review by the Supreme Court of the state of North Carolina, by the attorney general of the state of North Carolina, by the state elections board of North Carolina, should the Attorney General of the state of North Carolina, by the State Elections Board of North Carolina, should be null and void, and that sole power should lie with the state legislatures in order to determine how elections should be run. The Supreme Court rejected that argument. The reason this is significant is because over the course of the last 15 years or so, Republicans have concentrated on consolidating power in state and local offices.

During the Obama administration, Republicans won 1,044 elections nationwide, taking over state legislatures across the country. If this challenge had gone forward, fundamentally, those Republican state legislatures would be able to nullify elections, redistrict and change lines. They'll be able to change election dates, impose poll taxes. This would have fundamentally gotten rid of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which has already been weakened by Shelby v. Holder in 2014. This decision by the Supreme Court, along with the Louisiana decision on redistricting yesterday, as well as the Alabama decision on redistricting a week ago, is the most significant upholding of voting rights that we've seen in nearly 40 years in the United States of America. This is a crucial decision, particularly coming from a Republican court. Remember, this court has three justices appointed

by Donald Trump, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Colby Barrett, as well as Clarence Thomas, Thomas Alito, and John Roberts. And they are the court that has decided to uphold voting rights in a way that even the Obama court a decade ago decided Shelby v. Holder would not do. So the reason that this is so important is that it indicates that voting rights will survive and live another day. This takes all doubt away of what may happen in 2024, where Republicans may attempt to submit their own ballots of fake electors as they did in the 2020 election. It re-solidifies the ability of states that have progressive-leaning Supreme Courts to have a veto over things that happen in the state legislature. So the reason I want everyone to pay so much attention to this is because the right to vote, if not protected, goes away. We've seen attack after attack, gerrymandering districts,

such as in the Alabama case and the Louisiana case. Those cases took representatives away from African Americans that deserve to be in Congress. And some, the Congress gave us two new Black congresspeople in the last two weeks. This is a momentous occasion. Joining us to discuss this is founder and managing director of T. Booker Strategies, Tamiya D. Booker. Ms. Booker, how are you doing this evening? I'm doing fine. How are you? I'm doing great. Can you talk a little bit about the North Carolina case today and why this is so important for people to understand the significance of this decision?

Yes, absolutely. So the first time I was here, I actually talked about this. We talked about the implications of this had it ruled the other way. And you are correct in that this is very significant because the implications would have been horrendous. And it's very shocking, like you said, and exciting to know that at least, at the very least, that this extremist theory was rejected. Our voting rights still need to be protected, and we still need to push Congress to still pass the Voting Rights Act. What's important here to note is that this right-wing extremism, this theory has been projected in many states across the country. And we saw those rulings, as you mentioned, very important at Alabama, Louisiana, and now North

Carolina. In North Carolina, they were trying to do everything that you mentioned. And what's important here to note is that this theory was struck down, correct, yes. And that this doesn't mean that gerrymandering is completely struck down as well. It just means that you can—the state legislatures cannot legislate and dictate federal elections the way they'd like, right? And so in that—to that end, we need to make sure we stay on Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act and protect us. And so that part is extremely important here. And so in this theory and understanding before that they were really trying to get away with having only four representatives in Congress that would potentially be Democrats. With the amount of African-American and Democratic-leaning voters alone in North Carolina, we know that that was not the case. And so it's exciting yet surprising to see here, but we need to be

important and we need to note the importance and stay vigilant because this is happening across the South. And yes, Alabama, Louisiana, North north carolina will see this pop up but it is important to note that and so let's continue to stay on congress to make sure the voting rights act is reauthorized and let's continue to make sure the fundamental rights as voters are not stripped you know people think of this as being kind of an arcane or pecuniary topic that lawyers and academics talk about. But we can just look at what happened after Shelby v. Holder in 2014 and the way that American politics has changed since then. So you could make the argument that we never have a Donald Trump as president if Shelby v. Holder had gone the other way. Can you talk about the significance of these additional seats in both the Louisiana and the Alabama case, in addition to the ruling from today.

Yes, it's very exciting to know that both of these seats that we know that will have representation in Congress in both Alabama and Louisiana. We saw in Alabama in particular as that because I was a part of the Doug Jones movement, I like to say, in 2017, where we saw Black voter turnout was significant. And in Alabama, where I worked on a campaign there for mayor, there is a significant Black voter population down there. And to have a state like that with only one representative in Congress and to see how that's those gerrymandering that gerrymandering was was was insane to just see. And so it's important when you think about Congress as a whole and when we are frustrated with many things that are not passed legislatively, we know most likely these two seats that will be drawn will be Democratic seats. That changes how

Congress will be right. Like we have a very slick majority in Congress right now. We have a Republican-led Congress who barely could get along, right? We saw how many times it took for them to even support a speaker. So when we think about our next congressional session and where we will be as a country, these two additional Democratic Black seats are very significant in how we will change our country. And so it's important when we think about the right to vote and making sure we are out here voting and how we can change many things for us. And so that is why both of these seats are very important. And that's why what is happening in North Carolina is also extremely critical. So it's exciting to see both in Alabama

and Louisiana. There are a lot of people down there that have been working on voter turnout and engagement and to see that we will have some more representation there and black representation. And who knows that will bring as the years come as there could possibly be even more congressional seats drawn there. What does it say about the Supreme Court that it appears instead of the traditional liberal versus conservative split that we've seen going back and forth for the better part of a century, as now we have a three-part system. On the one hand, you have the three liberal justices. You have Kagan. You have Ketanji Brown-Jackson. You also have the other Obama, or Sotomayor. Then you have the far conservative wing of the party with Alito, Clarence Thomas. Then you have the Roberts wing of the party, along with Gorsuch and seemingly Amy Kavanaugh,

that seem to be very centrist on these issues. Talk about what that might mean going forward to have a Supreme Court where the same court that decides the Dobbs decision also decides to protect voting rights. What does that mean going forward? Yes, I think it's really interesting because I think you broke it down very well where we looked at this as the liberal versus conservative. And I think there's the liberal, there's the extreme, and then there's the centrist. I think it'll be really telling as we look at these cases moving forward. When Alabama came, I barely read it because I was like, oh, my heart was broken because I knew it was going to go the other way. Then I looked at it again and I was stunned. So I think it's going to be very

interesting to see the changes that will be made in certain ways. And I think there's also a way to view this, right, especially when you even look at the North Carolina case. If these were Democrats, you have to look at it that way, too. They wanted to make some extreme gerrymandering rules as well. They may have felt that that would have also been unconstitutional, right? Because, yes. And so there has to be a standard set. And I believe that's where this ruling came from today, is that this cannot be the standard that we set for either party in power. We have to make fair lines that have to be drawn when it comes to voting rights. And I think that's important across the board.

So if we're going to protect our democracy, then we need to protect our democracy regardless of party. And I think that is what ended up happening today. And you saw that alignment with the exception of the extreme, to me, the extremists of the court. And so I think that's what we're going to see. I think when it comes to certain fundamental issues with both parties that are controversial and down the line,

I think it's going to be interesting. But I do think when it comes to some of these issues that are critical to the democracy, I think we'll see some more rulings similar to what we've seen over the last couple of weeks. Absolutely. And I think that it bears to mention that two of the justices who are on that extreme MAGA wing of the Republican Party that vote against the voting rights, that vote against everything else,

are two of the justices that we know have wealthy sugar daddies that take care of them. You have Clarence Thomas and his sugar daddy. You got Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito, his sugar daddy.

So when we take these people who are being paid basically for their votes, we take them out of it, it seems that there's a consensus on the court that's important going forward. And I think this North Carolina case may be just below as important as Marbury v. Madison, the reason being that Marbury v. Madison established a principle of judicial review. This case upholds the concept of judicial review when it comes to elections, saying that the state Supreme Courts can overrule state legislatures when they violate the rights of individuals. That is something which is not written into the Constitution the same way the judicial review of Marbury v. Madison was written in.

However, it does write it in through the courts, saying that even if you have the most insane Marjorie Taylor Greene legislature, you still have the opportunity to go to Supreme Court and receive justice. Thank you so much to me. Thank you. Thank you for the conversation. And hopefully we'll have you back when more of these decisions come down. We'll be back after the break on Roadblood Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be white. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

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

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. 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. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. 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 man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad.

That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes

because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Bye-bye, Papa. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch! I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America.

All the momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs

home, you dig? Me, Sherri Shbritt with Sammy Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's continue this conversation about the Supreme Court hearings, about the North Carolina case from today, as well as the Louisiana case from

yesterday, and the Alabama case from last week, as well as the upcoming cases, including decisions on affirmative action, decisions on student loan forgiveness, as well as religious liberty. Our panel today, we have Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA. Randy Bryant, DEI disruptor, Washington, D.C. Joe Richardson, civil rights attorney, joining us from Los Angeles, California. Joe, I'm going to start with you on this. What was your takeaway from the court's decision today with regards to the North Carolina attempt to ostensibly take over elections for the indefinite future. People, I don't think, understand that our entire democracy could have been gone today if this decision went down differently. No doubt about it, really. And to be perfectly honest with you, it's a bit of a miracle.

First of all, perspective is in order, right? Because had they not gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act 10 years ago, we wouldn't be here because the states in the South that has historically been racist would not have been able to change voting rules without federal approval. So that's thing one. It's part of helping to clean up a little bit of a mess. But that being said, to your point, having something happen that's so ridiculous, historically the Constitution was written in a certain way. There's two phrases that they focus on in the Constitution related to the regulations of state legislatures, of the states related to federal elections and carrying them out. And before there were state legislatures with a House and a Senate, et cetera, et cetera,

et cetera, this was written in the Constitution so that the states control, the states have some say over how the elections go. What they wanted to happen, though, and which is what was advanced with this independent theory, which they like to call it, the ISLD, was that if the state legislatures decide to do X or Y or Z, no one else involved in it. The governor can't veto it. The state Supreme Court can't do anything about it and overturn it, even if it's unconstitutional. And the people can't even weigh in with a referendum or something like that, which is ridiculous. And it's been dismissed out of hand a million times over the last 100 years. But with this Supreme Court, folks are bold. OK. And the reason why they're bold is because they got over on abortion.

They got over on voting rights to some extent. And so basically this would have centralized power where it lies with Republicans. That is with the state legislatures. So even other state electeds, et cetera, and appointed judges, et cetera, would not have been able to do anything about what the legislature decides to do. And so that's why it was really important. And we'll see if that holds going forward to your point. Perhaps we found a little bit of an area here where we can pitch something a certain way, and the not so conservatives, the not as conservatives, and not as draconian folks on the Supreme Court will let common sense prevail,

as well as congressional press, as well as Supreme Court precedent. We'll see what happens in the future, but it's extremely important because it would have broke the whole thing down. And you know, on that point, it's an insane thing to say, but Justice Kavanaugh ain't been that bad so far.

He's had some clunkers, but in large part, he's come down the right way on many of the decisions. And when you think about his lower court record, him and Merrick Garland on the circuit courts have very similar voting records. I think Republicans are going to be upset to find out that they have a non-crazy right-wing conservative on the court, but rather a doctrinal moderate. Randy, I want to go to you. So going into the Dobbs decision, we saw so many protests, so many rallies, so much public information around the Supreme Court and their decision. They had to block off streets, evacuate the court. The decision leaked. It was such a big deal.

But then this case, which would have fundamentally changed the way that we voted in this country, the last week the media was chasing a damn submarine. What do you think has to be done to make sure that we are getting people this information on the important things that are coming up? We need to somehow find a way to control the majority media so they do not distract us. Many of us said when what all that was going on with the submarine that it had to be a mere distraction. You know, of course, those families have lost their loved ones, but it certainly should not have been 24 hour coverage, particularly when democracy was at stake here. I mean, I think that's why we're seeing the decision that we saw, is that this would have, it would fundamentally have changed and challenged democracy. I mean, to allow the legislator to absolutely be rogue.

We couldn't depend. It would be no reason, almost people would feel no reason to vote. So it was so, it was so incredibly major. But I do believe that we are a society now that gets distracted very easily. And I believe the news media is oftentimes aware of that and likes to distract us. This is why, as Roland would say, Black media is so important. This is why it's so important that we're able to cover these stories and have these conversations. Because if you let the mainstream media tell it, the only thing going on this week was the submarine and the BET Awards. That's the way they want you thinking.

Meanwhile, we almost lost the right to vote in a couple of days. Mustafa, just dive into this a little bit deeper. I want to bring the Alabama and the Louisiana cases in also. Conservatives have argued, well, there's no such thing as voter suppression. You guys are making all that up. But the Supreme Court just had to overturn two districts in two separate states that add two additional black representatives to the Congress. What do you think it means to, one, have two more black representatives in Congress coming up, but two, kind of confirming

what we've been saying, that there are efforts by state legislators around the country to limit the voices of Black people. Well, it's incredibly important. You know, representation matters, as we often talk about, to have the possibility, at least, of having two new African-American members there on Capitol Hill, making sure that folks are being represented in a way based upon what the needs are inside the communities they come from. So that part is incredibly important. We also have to pay particular attention. These cases are so important. And if I could just answer also the last question that you raised, you know, all of our institutions should be doing a better job of actually educating folks on how important the courts are, on how important democracy is, so that folks have, you know, it becomes a part of nightly conversations around the dinner table or after church or after the mosque or the synagogue or wherever you might go. And when we don't do that, we create these opportunities for nefarious individuals to begin to continue to chip away at democracy. And that's exactly what we've seen going on with these cases

that were moved forward and now that the Supreme Court has ruled in the affirmative in helping to, you know, continue to protect voting rights, if you will. I'm glad that you raised Marbury versus Madison, because it's really about checks and balances. And when we don't have those checks and balances, then we know that democracy is going to continue to crumble. I mean, we just have to be real about what's been going on. And that's why we have to get engaged. And that's why we have to make sure we're raising our voices. And that's why we also have to educate the next generations of litigators, because this is not the only time that we're going to have to fight these fights. Absolutely. And on my social media today, I saw a lot more posts about Setse Red and Krishan

twerking the pound town than I heard about the Supreme Court upholding the right to vote. We got to make sure that we are helping this to penetrate through into the pop culture zeitgeist for people to understand your right to vote is not guaranteed and still under attack every day. John, I want to turn to some of the upcoming cases that we're expecting decisions on. What do you expect to happen in the affirmative action cases with colleges and universities? Well, I would love to be surprised again, but most of us seem to think that affirmative action is going to go away so that race cannot figure in at all. You know, it had been whittled away and picked at and nibbled at for quite some time. You know, you go back to Bakke, and you go to some of these other cases where we're dealing with Michigan Law School, University of Michigan Law School, and some of the other cases in the mid-'90s, late-'90s, go into the 2000s and the 2010s.

And so there is a feeling that with this Supreme Court, at the very least, they'll do 5-4. Now, again, I'd love to be surprised and love to be wrong about this. So that race cannot be a consideration at all in college admissions. That seems to be where we're going. You know, voting rights is one thing. But, you know, they've been picking at affirmative action for a while. So it wouldn't be a surprise if that's what ended up happening. And it's an interesting time for that. And we'll see what that does in terms of other accommodations. We've got other cases that are coming down, you know, related to these racial issues. And so, therefore, we'll see what happens. But the sentiment seems to be gone for having affirmative action be and be being black, being Hispanic, whatever the case may be, being a consideration in college admissions.

And they expect it to go away. I would love to be wrong. You know, but people who don't think this is a big issue. Remember, in California, they got rid of affirmative action already after they they got rid of it, black enrollment at UC Berkeley dropped by 50 percent, and it has never rebounded. Randy, we only have about a minute left. What do you think happens in the student loan cases? It's not just the student loan cases. Not to ignore your question, but I just want to say that, yes, affirmative action probably is going to go away. And what makes me so angry about it is they're not talking about how people are put in legacy. You know, all the legacy admissions,

almost 37% of Harvard new students are from legacy, which of course we didn't have the luxury to be legacy students. And so it's just interesting to me. I really want the audience out there to understand how just this is planned out, how strategic they are being to ensure that we don't become more successful in this country, because we do know one of the major ways is to get a college education. So by blocking our ability to get in these schools, they're

blocking our ability to be more economically successful. So, again, I think it's important that people recognize how important these decisions are and how much planning goes in to – it's strategic to block us from these schools and to block us from ultimate economic success. Look, at most deficits, you start keeping pace, they start switching up the tempo. They try to attack the vote. They try to keep us out of schools. They don't want us reading, all those things. But then they will swear up and down. There's no systemic racism. I'm talking to you, Tim Scott, that dumb ass speech you made this week. How do you say that there's no systemic racism as there are Klan rallies happening around the country and they are attacking voting rights and educational reform all in the Supreme Court? You're making a fool out of yourself i'm saying will be president you don't have to be

a fool on that student loan case my prediction is all right that's my own question uh my prediction is it will be thrown out on standing and joe biden student loan reform would actually go forward uh mustafa before we we run out of time there's another case on the issue of religious liberty out of Colorado, a baker who says she does not want to do a website front page for gay couples. And because of that, she's challenging it in the Supreme Court. What people don't understand is if they rule in her favor, she's right now saying, I don't want to, on religious and free speech grounds, I don't want to work with gay people. Well, then you can have a bed and breakfast that says, well, black people are the descendants of ham, and I don't want them in my bed and breakfast either. You can have a restaurant that says, well, I don't want Jewish people in my

restaurant because the Jews killed Jesus. And therefore, you're basically resegregating America based on a website designer cake case. What do you think happens in that case? Well, I'm hoping that they, you know, have the forethought to make sure they understand how this will impact all kinds of folks across the country, as you just laid out. So I'm hoping that the ruling moves in a positive direction and they rule against the lady who brought this forward. It's always interesting. They try to use gay cases because they know there's still a resistance to that in many communities. But then they hope you don't realize on the backside there's a Trojan horse of resegregation taking place. They're trying to resegregate the voting booth, resegregate colleges and resegregate all of American society through the Supreme Court cases. We're going to talk more about this and others.

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

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

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

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

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

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 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 always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling.

The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Stories after the break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered,

streaming live on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. My early days in the road, I learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion. There you go.

Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on. And with that study I learned again what was for me. I learned to what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. that prepared me to know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know the music. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than any.

There you go. Right, so you can what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us.

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You hear me? You may remember the case of the Missouri teenager who was shot for going to the wrong home in order to pick up his siblings that were attending an event. In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, Ralph Yall described what happened the day that he was shot in the head for mistakenly going to the wrong house to pick up his siblings. Into the driveway, I walk up the steps. I ring the doorbell. I see three different cameras, like one looking at the driveway, one on the porch. As far as I know, I didn't know their family at all. Like, I had never even seen their friends or their parents before. So maybe this is their house.

I'm just on the porch. So then I hear the door open. I see this old man, and I'm assuming, oh, this must be, like, their grandpa. And then he pulls out his gun. And I'm like, whoa. So I, like, back up. He points it at me. So I kind of, like, brace, and I turn my head. Before that, I'm thinking, there's no way

he's actually going to shoot, right? The door isn't even open. He's going to shoot through his glass door, and glass is going to get everywhere. Then it happened. And then I'm on the ground. I fall on the glass, the shattered glass. And then before I know it, I'm running away, shouting,

help me, help me. I was bleeding from my head. I was like, how is this possible? Like, I've been shot in the head. Had you ever seen that man before? Never. Were there any words that were exchanged before he shot you? He only said five words. Don't come here ever again. There are a lot of things that are going on inside my head that aren't normal.

I've been having headaches, trouble with sleep, and sometimes my mind is just foggy. Like, I can't concentrate on the things that would be easy for me to do. You're looking at a kid that took the SAT when he was in the eighth grade. And now his brain is slowed. So physically he looks fine, but there is a lot that has been taken from him. What do you want people to know about you, Ralph?

I'm just a kid, not larger than life, because this happens to me. I'm just gonna keep not larger than life because this happens in me I'm just gonna keep doing all the stuff that makes me happy and just living my life the best I can what is justice to you in this case justice is just the rule of the law regardless of race and age, he should be convicted for the crimes that he made. I am past having any personal hatred for him. He should suffer repercussions because that is what our society is made of, trust in each other and reassurance that we can coexist together in harmony.

Andrew Lester is charged with one count of felony assault in the first degree reassurance that we can coexist together in harmony. Andrew Lester is charged with one count of felony assault in the first degree and one count of armed criminal action. Lester pled not guilty and was released on April 18th on a $200,000 bond. You don't have to have $200,000 for a $200,000 bond. You need 10% of that. Or if you don't have a criminal record, you can usually get a signature bond in many cases uh that will allow you to go home uh his preliminary hearing is scheduled for august the 31st i want to bring the panel in on this randy uh what do you what do you think it says that this young man who has gone through this tragic activity still has faith in our system to get things right and then you hear someone like Donald Trump, when he gets in trouble, he says, the whole system's rigged. Everybody's against me. This is a witch hunt. What does it say to me, the maturity and the poise of this young man and

this family in this tragic situation? He has a better brain and a better heart than Trump, obviously. His parents should be just so incredibly proud of this young man. I just, every time I see him, it just breaks my heart that he was trying to do what any of us would ask our children to do, to go and pick up their siblings, and that he almost died. And that, but, you know, and this is a kid who's a good kid. You know, I believe as Black Americans, we try to educate our children and try to make it where they're almost perfect

so this will not happen to him, to them. And here you have a child who was playing multiple instruments, who was in honors classes, who was just doing everything right. And still, because of racism, clearly racism, because of just this anger this man had against us, he was shot. And so it's just heartbreaking. But it should speak to America.

How dare someone suggest that we don't still face racism in this country every single day. And it's not just the damage that's done to him, but the damage that's done to all of us parents out here, not just parents, aunts, uncles. I mean, those are our children. And what can we do if we can't even get them to go in our own neighborhoods to pick up our siblings? Mustafa, you know, right after Trayvon Martin died, my law firm, we started doing a lot of those seminars where we talked to young black boys on how to respond to police

officers, how to interact with them, you know, pull your pants up, take the headphones out, say yes sir, no sir, be cooperative, you know, don't be argumentative and those sorts of things. And then Tamir Rice happened and I stopped doing them. The reason being that we should not have to change who we are to make someone else see our humanity. The onus should not be on us to fit this to be the perfect version of the upstanding Negro in order to receive justice in this country or even just basic human and civil rights.

The onus should be on the society to change, to see the humanity in all of us, not this idea that if you speak a certain way, walk a certain way, talk a certain way, et cetera, that somehow you have a lesser level of rights in America. What do you think has to happen in order for people like Mr. Lester to understand and see the humanity in young Black men, not simply this caricature presented to them by Fox News and conservative media? You know, to be quite honest, I think there are some people who will never see us as human. They will always see us as less than human.

They will see our children as not children. But sometimes as adults, they will continue to see black and brown folks as a threat. And when that is the case, then we're dealing with this very, very difficult situation. But with that being said, through continued education and making sure that folks like DeSantis and Abbott and others who don't want our story out there of how amazing folks are in our community and have continued to be will play a critical role in helping folks to rehumanize, if you will. We also got to make sure that when folks

do these types of injustices, that they are held to the full letter of the law. And yes, you know, folks will say, well, the gentleman is 84 years old. Well, we've seen often folks who come from our communities who may be in their 70s or 80s who get convicted and are sent to jail. So there has to be accountability. And I appreciate the young brother, Ralph, you are talking about accountability and making sure that there is equalness in that accountability for everyone who's inside of our country, but also that we should find a way to live in harmony with each other. And if we can't find a way to live in harmony, at least being able to respect each other. Absolutely. And Joe,

you get the legal question on this one, because often in these cases, there's a, you know, officer-involved shooting, so there's civil justice from the city and settlements, et cetera. But this is just an individual person who violated civil rights of Mr. Yarl in this case. What other remedies may be available to him and his family, particularly given the lifelong trauma and potential injury that he has suffered, even if it's just psychological, this will affect him for the rest of his life? Practically speaking, you need a pocket, right? And so, you know gwen guthrie said there's no romance without finance so something that happened that where the where the police are potentially involved uh where it happened where a public entity can be looped in you're suing the public

entity in this particular case you're suing the individual the individual's a homeowner you're probably coming after his um homeowner policy. But what has to happen is that has to be considered and maybe the charging, I forget what they're charging them with, the charging helps with that, helps or hurts, because when something is considered intentional conduct, a carrier may not want to deal with it. But if it's a negligent situation, then perhaps they can hit that particular policy and get a recovery that way. But the only defendant would probably be the individual himself. And therefore, if he's a homeowner, then maybe something can happen if he's got some money somewhere, maybe something can happen. But at his age, if he's got things in wills and trust, etc. And therefore he was potentially judgment proof without something that allows him to connect to a policy that he has, then he would be out of luck in terms of collectability. I think that's a really important point because at the end of the day, you know,

you can sue somebody and be awarded a judgment for a million, billion, trillion, quadrillion dollars. If they ain't got it, they ain't got it. And so, as you said, often we see people try to move assets to relatives in cases like this, give the house away to his daughter or some other relative, sign over his pension, those sorts of things, so that there'll be nothing that can come along. So I'm hoping that the Dior family is getting the proper legal counsel necessary to help protect them and potentially salvage any sorts of settlements that can take place. Randy, just back to you quickly. When we talk about this young man and we talk about this situation as tragic as this, and we saw throughout this spring over and over

again a cheerleader shot for pulling on the wrong car door, a woman turned around to somebody's yard and they started shooting at them, what policy-wise can be done so that maybe an 84-year-old man who maybe doesn't have it all together mentally, who probably doesn't even have car keys now, can still have a gun? What can we do legislatively to help curtail these issues? Gun control. I mean, we need to do gun control and not where everybody can have a gun, regardless of age, mental health, and they can go anywhere they want to go. I mean, someone I know in my family, once people are reaching a certain age, we start to get them tested and have sometimes to take their ability to drive away because they're not making good decisions. But the fact that he can still have a

gun is sad. And I know people, you know, get really uncomfortable about having these guns. But if that man had not had a gun, Ralph would not be shot. And yeah, gun control. And wouldn't it be interesting when we do these mental checks on people if we did some of those racist bias tests that they do on police officers? I think quite profound to me. I know I can't imagine anybody would ever allow that to happen, but that there are gun totem. I believe this man was an open racist. It's terrifying already for us to live as black Americans in America

and it has become increasingly so lately. You're absolutely correct. And I'm hoping that maybe at least we can get red flag laws on the books so crazy people don't have guns. That just seems to be reasonable. I'm a pro-gun person. I'm a big fan of guns. I got a bunch of guns in this room right now. But maybe crazy people shouldn't be allowed to have them. If you're too old to drive a car, maybe it's to take your gun away. Just putting that out there. We're going to keep talking after the break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network.

On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, a relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it. 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 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded 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 man. Benny the Butcher.

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

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves.

Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. That's right. We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge. Balancing your relationship

with your pocketbook. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is debt and taxes. The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're going to have on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you've ever had. You've really got to know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hello, I'm Jameah Pugh.

I am from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, just an hour right outside of Philadelphia. My name is Jasmine Pugh. I'm also from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. Legendary actress Angela Bassett will finally get the Oscar she deserves, but the public is divided over the Honorary Academy Award. To celebrate her decades-long career and exceptional performances, the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts, and Sciences will give

Bassett an honorary Oscar in November at this year's Governor's Award. This achievement follows her contribution to the 30th anniversary of What's Love Got to Do With It and her performance in the Marvel movie Black Panther Wakanda Forever as Queen Ramunda. Many people are expressing their disappointment on social media that Angela Bassett did not win an Oscar for her stand-up performance in the 2021 film. Some say it is long overdue, while others question the decision. One tweet from user Kelly underscore 23 states, Angela Bassett awarded an honorary Oscar for someone who played Katherine Jackson, Tina Turner, Rosa Parks, Akilah's mama, Wakanda, et cetera,

to receive an honorary Oscar award. That is so disrespectful. That is like a participation trophy. Another tweet from user Jess Vision reads, they could have done this for Jamie Lee Curtis that gave Angela Bassett or Stephanie Hugh the Oscar they deserved. The public response to Bassett's honorary Oscar raises questions about how winners are selected in the film industry. We'll start with you, Mustafa, on this. This was such a big controversy last year, where Angela Bassett had an award-worthy performance with Queen Wormanda and Wakanda Forever. We all know her catalog of movies throughout the year, but it seemed that the Oscars had an interest in promoting a certain dynamic. This year will be about the foreign

directors. This will be about Asian Americans. This will be about LGBTQ people. And it seems that instead of picking who's best at what, it's as if they're trying to paint together a diversity collage for getting what the actual point of the awards are? Well, you know, we got to look at the system. So first of all, let me say I think that making sure that Angela Bassett is being honored is not necessarily a bad thing because she has been an incredible actress. And so I honor that. But then you got to swing around and actually look at the system because that's where people should be focusing their energy, because that's where real systemic

change is going to happen. And being able to put the pressures that are necessary to make sure that there's the education that's happening in that space. And then to also be very clear with folks that if you are not going to support in a honest way black actors and actresses, then we are no longer going to utilize our dollars in that space. Now, of course, we want to continue to be able to support them financially, but you have to make some decisions about how you are actually going to change the system. And when I see people getting upset about the surface stuff and not also utilizing the same level of energy to dive deep on how do you really change things, then I think we're

missing an opportunity. Absolutely. Randy, on this point, we've said for years as the black community that we need to stop being validated by these outside groups. Stop waiting for other people to say that your work is valid or not, that we should have our own sorts of award shows and our own apparatuses to honor each other. But then Patti LaBelle gets up at the BET Awards and forgets all the words to the Tina Turner song. Where's the balance to get in this where we're not trying to, one, be completely beholden to what Hollywood says, but then, you know, the VT awards were a hot mess. Okay. Yes. First, let me deal with the Oscars. Oscar is so white. It hasn't been that,

you know, just been a few years since we had a campaign to try to, you know, to, to highlight the way that we are not winning these awards that we rightfully should win. I do believe that we should have our own award shows. I believe that it is almost, it will exhaust you if you are looking for validation from the majority white culture, right? Because we don't seem to get it. And it is almost like a consolation prize that the queen, Angela Baffet, is being given kind of this, it does seem like a consolation prize that the Queen, Angela Baffet, is being given kind of this, it does seem like a ribbon. Like, here you go, let's give you something without honoring the specific work that she did in movies that we know that she deserved an award. It just seems like a, you know, just let's pacify her. We can do better. We can have award shows that are reflective of the BET Awards.

I know that so many people were disappointed in. I did not see it. The clips I've seen, they were not quite honorable and not what I'd like to see, although I do know that they were trying to honor hip hop and go 50 years through that. But I think those are two different subjects. Just because the BET Awards weren't where they should be, we have done some magnificent, beautiful, classy award shows. And we just may have to seek that out. At the same time, though, you know, oftentimes when actresses and actors, when they get their awards, they are given even better parts and they are able to earn more money. So they are somewhat beholden to playing in the system, playing within the system that pays them

and feeds them. So I believe they have to do both, which Queen Bassett has typically done. We do see her come to our award show. She's not one of those stars that has been away from the Black community or walked away from the Black community. She's still very immersed with us. But I do believe that we need to have something that continues to uplift us. I think we know as people going to work day to day to day, it kills pieces of your soul when you are not rightfully given credit for the work that you do. Absolutely.

And, Joe, kind of on this same point, one, I think people forget this. Somebody can find that picture of Angela Bassett and Jamie Lee Curtis. Angela Bassett and Jamie Lee Curtis are about the same age. And Angela Bassett still looks the same as she did in 1993.

I think she should get an award a couple of times a week just for that. Just the melanin award. She should get the melanin lifetime achievement award every time she walks out the house. Let's just establish that from the beginning. That's why when they say black don't crack, they are talking about Angela Bassett and Tina Turner

and Eartha Kitt. But all this idea of getting this outside validation from these people, the Academy or whoever else, why do you think it is that black actors, after being snubbed and disrespected for so long, even

still deal with this? I'm of the mind and angel to just say, look, thank you and all, but y'all can keep it. I don't need it. I don't want it. What y'all say means nothing to me. Why do we still put ourselves through it? It's like Urkel on Family Matters. Laura keeps telling you

no and you just stalk her for like five or six seasons creepy in retrospect but why do you think we still keep going back well i mean there's a couple different ways to look at it first of all i you know i would rather her have a real oscar she absolutely deserves it the one that is for you know her being acknowledged as the best in a category. I don't want to, to Brother Mustafa's point, make this honorary any less real. I don't think that that's a bad thing. But yeah, she could have won the Oscar for Wakanda Forever. She could have won the Oscar for her Tina Turner role.

I'm still talking about that. And to be honest with you, I really don't like watching it because she did it so good. Because you knew Ike was going to do something to her and you were hoping that she would get away and you knew how the movie was going to come out. Now that's acting. You know what's going to happen

and you're still scared to watch it. But in any event, money's green. And so because of that, even though she can't rise or fall on the feelings that are projected to her by the Oscar folks. And so yes, to be celebrated from our own is a huge thing and a wonderful thing. But it also takes you to another level if you have recognition all the way across the board. When you deserve it.

If you deserve it, why not? And, you know, it's not even so much about them being in this category or that category. Listen, if you got crossover appeal, you in a movie that made $300 or $400 million, and you are the best actress, you should be acknowledged as such, regardless of who's doing the acknowledging. And so therefore, to me, you know, to my mind. So, yeah, you know, I wouldn't let the sun rise or set on it because now you hold your breath. Next thing you know, you're going to be disappointed and dead. That's not good. But at the same time, money is green. And so she's getting 450 grand episode for the TV work that she does. And maybe it's a little less true in terms of her not having made it,

her not doing well as well as she could be doing. But it takes you to another level and it opens the doors for others of us. And so it's important that way. If it's deserved, it's deserved. Ms. Bassett, if you need appreciation anytime, if you don't want to worry about the Oscars, the Academy Awards, my Instagram is R-O-B-E-R-T. Mustafa. Mustafa.

So we keep doing this song. It seems like the Oscars started with the Oscars so white hashtag, and then they wanted to overcorrect for that. Then they wanted to overcorrect for that. Then they wanted to go significantly in the other direction. Do you think it cheapens these awards when they're kind of setting out with an agenda as opposed to just awarding whoever did the best job that year?

Yeah, you know, I was an athlete in college, and I wouldn't want anybody to just, you know, give me something because I was the only brown person there or something along those lines. So I think it does, it cheapens it if it's because you have not truly earned it. But when it comes to Ms. Bassett, we know that she has earned it. If anybody saw that role she did when she played Betty Shabazz, it was just amazing. And she has actually been, you know, represented many of our female leaders there on the screen. So she deserves whatever accolade she receives. But let me just say this also, Robert, that in our minds, the NAACP Image Awards or other awards like that should be on the exact same level as the Oscars.

When you look at the quality that we bring forward. So one, we should make sure that we're honoring our own, but at the same time, we can compete on this other platform as well, and folks just have to be able to honor that. So kudos to Angela Bassett for all the amazing things that she continues to do. And that's the thing we often forget. So she has an honorary Oscar award. She's not going anywhere. She is still going to continue to put out high quality content. And we should make sure that we get behind because there are these campaigns that help people to get across the finish line for the Oscars. So we should make sure that we are utilizing our ability to push and support in those spaces for both Ms. Bassett and other

Black actors and actresses who deserve that recognition. And Randy, you know, one of the things I think about with Angela Bassett is you've seen other actresses basically sell out and debase themselves in order to win these awards. You know, they want you to get naked on screen. They want you to be abused by a white man or something. They want you to play a slave somewhere crying. But Angela Bassett never did that. What does that say about her as an individual, that she was never willing to stoop to what they wanted in order to win one of these awards? Yes, that's why I keep calling her queen. I believe that she has standards of how she wants to represent Black women.

If you look at every role, she shows something where we've had to overcome. She always shows us to be strong. That's why we love her so much. She's consciously done that. So I would think in her mind, she probably doesn't put too much weight in these awards, but I liked the fact that she showed that she was disappointed when the, when I liked the fact that she didn't smile. I mean, Jamie Lee Curtis, I believe only acted in that movie for something like eight minutes.

She was barely in that movie. You know, she wasn't carrying a movie so much like Angela Bassett was. I like the fact that she just showed, like, I know the deal. I'm here. I'm going to play the game, but I know the deal. She's a queen. She's a queen. And I will protect you. Advance.

I don't hope advance doesn't come for you, though, after you gave out your... Hey, look, I'm just saying. There's some things that just have to happen in life. And if I got to take a hand from Prams or Bassett, that's one of them. All right, we'll be back after the break. Sorry. We'll be back after the break. You're watching Roller Barter Unfiltered. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

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

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

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. 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. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. We'll be back after the break.

Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. She's known as the Angela Davis of hip hop. Monet Smith, better known as Medusa, the gangsta goddess, the undisputed queen of West Coast underground hip hop. Monet Smith, better known as Medusa, the gangster goddess, the undisputed queen of West Coast underground hip hop. Pop locking is really what indoctrinated me in hip hop. I don't think, I don't even think I realized it was hip hop at that time. Right. You know, it was a, it was a happening. It was a moment of release. We're going to be getting into her career, knowing her whole story, and breaking down all the elements of hip-hop. This week on The Frequency, only on the

Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. Succession. We're hearing that word pop up a lot these days, as our country continues to fracture and divide. But did you know that that idea, essentially a breaking up of the USA, has been part of the public debate since long before and long after the Civil War, right up to today? On our next show, you'll meet Richard Crichton, the author of this book, who says breaking up this great experiment called America might not be such a bad thing. That's on the next Black Table right here on the Black Star Network. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin, Unfiltered.

Last night, we saw a political bomb chill as the tape of Donald Trump talking about the classified documents at his Bedminster Golf Resort that was mentioned on page 15 of Jack Smith's indictment against Donald Trump, the 37 felony count indictment that came down earlier this year. Well, the actual audio tape leaked, and it was far worse than you can even think. We're going to go to the tape. That was your coup, you know, against you. Well, it started right at the beginning. Like when Milley's talking about, oh, you were going to try to do a coup.

No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in. That's right. Trying to overthrow your election. Well, with Milley, let me see that. I'll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn't it amazing? I have a big pile of papers.

This thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this. This is off This was him. They presented me this. This is off the record, but they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. Wow.

We looked at some. This was him. This wasn't done by me. This was him. All sorts of stuff. It's pages long. Wait a minute. Let's see here.

Wait a minute. I just found, isn't that amazing? Wait a minute. Let's see here. Yeah. Isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like highly confidential secret. This is secret information. Look at this. You attack.

Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. She'd send it to Anthony Weiner the pervert by the way isn't that incredible I was just saying because we were talking about it and he said he wanted to attack Iran

he's a dangerous this was done by the military given to me I think we can probably we'll have to see You did. This was done by the military, given to me. I think we can probably do it. We'll have to see. Yeah, we'll have to try to figure out a, yeah. See, as president, I could have de-classified. Now I can't, you know, but this is.

Now we have a problem. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. It's so cool. I mean, it's so, look, we heard Ivan, and you probably almost didn't believe me, but now you believe me. No, I believe you. It's incredible, right? No.

Hey, bring some cokes in, please. That is the former president of the United States of America casually laughing and talking with a room full of people while ordering Diet Cokes, looking at classified military documents. The reason we know they are classified military documents, because he said, these are classified military documents. And then not only did he say they're classified military documents, then he goes the extra step of even saying, these are not declassified. I could have declassified them as president. I can't classify them now.

He said that. What was the purpose of even saying that? That doesn't just come up in regular conversation. And the reason that this is significant in the Trump case is those documents still have not been turned over to the federal government. Those battle plans, those attack plans to attack Iran, those were not discovered during the Mar-a-Lago raid. And Donald Trump has not voluntarily turned them over. So that means one of two things. Either A, he lost the battle plans to attack Iran, and they're just sitting around somewhere next to the omelet bar at Mar-a-Lago, or B, he sold them to a foreign power in order to handle some of the presidential debt that he has. There is not another possibility.

Those are the only options. And so the fact that President Trump still has not turned over the battle plans to attack Iran means that his charges could go from these simple espionage act charges to a charge for treason, which is what would be if it's determined that he turned these documents over to a foreign power. But yet and still, the president is denying any wrongdoing or liability in this case. Let's play a little bit of President Trump's response. I said it very clearly. I had a whole desk full of lots of papers and mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories having to do with many, many subjects. And what was said was absolutely fine and very, very perfectly. We did nothing wrong.

This is a whole hoax. This is just like the Russia, Russia, Russia deal. This is like the fake dossier. The dossier was a fake. It's all been a big fake. Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine. We went through these things ad nauseum. And this is seven years of this stuff. And now this one. And the one who's done it wrong is Biden. He has 850 boxes all over the place. Nobody even knows where they are. He's got many boxes in Chinatown, D.C. What are they doing there? And he's accepting money from China. He's got boxes all over the place. Nobody even knows where they are. He's got many boxes in Chinatown, D.C. What are they doing there? And he's accepting money from China. He's got boxes all over the place. I'm covered by the Presidential Records Act. I'm covered also by the Clinton-Sox case. It's a very important case. It's law. And we did absolutely nothing wrong. This is just another hoax. It's called, I would say, election interference more than anything else. It's a disgrace that they can do it. Next question. But everything was fine. We did nothing wrong. And everybody knows it. You're not concerned then with your own voice on those recordings?

My voice was fine. What did I say wrong in those recordings? I didn't even see the recording. All I know is I did nothing wrong. We had a lot of papers, a lot of papers stacked up. In fact, you could hear the rustle of the paper and nobody said I did anything wrong other than the fake news, which of course is Fox too. Are there any other recordings that we should be concerned of? I don't know of any recordings that you should be concerned with because I don't do things wrong. I do things right. I'm a legitimate person. I'm not like Biden that gets hundreds of millions of dollars from people and countries and says we won't give a billion dollars but you got to get rid

of the prosecutor and then guys like you don't do anything about it because nothing happens. Now, we do things right so I don't care about any recordings. Supreme Court. So a couple things I need to correct. I think the first is that nothing happens. Now, we do things right, so I don't care about any recordings.

So a couple things I need to correct there, Mr. President. One, the Presidential Records Act covers presidential records. It does not cover national security documents because that's not a presidential record. If you've scribbled some notes on your own notepad, that's a presidential record. If you wrote a letter to somebody or someone wrote a letter back to you, that's a presidential record. If you're narrating things for your autobiography or to go into your presidential library,

those are presidential records. The battle plans to attack Iran are not presidential records. Secondarily, the Espionage Act. Let's just say everything President Trump says in those documents are not classified. He declassified them with president. The Espionage Act was written in 1917. We started classifying documents in the 1920s. The Espionage Act does not have anything to do with classification. It simply says if you have national security documents in a place that

they're not supposed to be at, you violated the Presidential Records Act. Indeed, it can be said that Jack Smith went soft on Trump because there are more charges he could have brought against him for this same action. Joining us to talk about this and have this discussion about what Trump's possible defenses could be to him admitting on tape to everything that he did, we have conservative commentator Ms. Mikhail Bethelamy. Mikhail, how are you doing today? How are you doing? I keep freezing up here. Thank you for inviting me, Ro.

I was going to call you Ro. Robert. Well, thanks so much for joining us. You wrote a whole book on President Trump. But, you know, even as a Trump supporter, can they at least admit that he seems to be in a pretty significant amount of trouble here? You know what? Ever since President Trump came down that escalator, he's been in trouble by the people that want to take him down. I mean, hoax after hoax. We have basically seen a nothing burger out of every single thing that they've thrown at this president. And every single time he's come out clean. I mean, everything from let's see. I wrote it down. Everything from the Steele dossier.

OK, remember that the Russia hoax and that Donald Trump was a Russian agent. How did that pan out? Okay, number two, the lab leak theory, which is right-wing conspiracy theory't understand or even heard the entire context of this recording. We don't know, okay, exactly how the entire thing played out. Now, we heard those snippets, but we do not have the context. But we did have President Biden on stage with foreign agents, I mean, a foreign president, an Indian president on stage saying that he has sold state secrets and other important things. So real quick, that requires context. President Biden was speaking to Modi, the prime minister of India. He discussed the exchange of ideas between countries. And he was making the point that to allies, there have been various transactions that have taken place to improve the lives and the military technology of those countries, particularly countries like

India. So it's not that he said I was selling state secrets and that I had secret documents that I sold to people. It was during a conversation with heads of state. But on this point about not knowing the context around these documents, under what context is, hey, I have the plans to invade Iran. They're classified. I could have declassified them, but I didn't. What context belongs around that? The entire day, OK, the entire day of everything that took place, we did not hear the entirety of the recording, not to mention, again, let's go back to president biden okay he did say that he sold secrets and a lot of important things i don't think that that was out of context robert because i think that it was a freudian slip look right now we have the hunter biden um investigation going on where it's

been shown that hunter biden has been on the phone texting, okay, about saying that he has his father with him right now, and he's demanding $5 million from a Chinese agent, from a Chinese company. But real quick, hold on. Let's assume everything about Hunter Biden is correct, that he's a criminal and he should go to jail. How does that help Donald Trump with having these classified documents in Bedminster when they're supposed to be with the National Archives and them still not being located? And my thing is, if it was classified, why is the media releasing it? I mean, we weren't supposed to be releasing classified information.

If it is classified, that's what really makes me believe, Robert, that it's a nothing burger, because if it was classified information, why is it being released to the public right now? Well, we're not seeing the actual classified documents. We're hearing Donald Trump talk about having the classified documents and the fact that he says they're not declassified, because on that tape he could have very well simply said, well, under the presidential records that I'm allowed to have these documents, I declassified them as president. So it's okay for everybody to look at it. That's not what he said. So we're going to go to a break. I want to keep this conversation going on the other side because I want to talk a little bit about the political ramifications around this, because since Trump has been indicted, he's up five points in

the Republican primary polls. He has a 30 point lead over Ron DeSantis. People like him more every crime he gets arrested for. And that's just a fact. We'll be back after the break. You're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star 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. 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 Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-stud 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 Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them.

Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American

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

This is white people. Hey, what's up? Keith Turino, the place to be. Got kicked out your mama's university, creator and executive producer of Fat Tuesdays, an air hip-hop comedy. But right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Welcome back. We're still talking about those Trump tapes that leaked to CNN last night.

I want to talk a little bit about the Iranian battle plans and why this is so significant, just to give context to the audience. So if you remember back during the Trump administration, there was an airstrike that President Trump launched to kill Iranian General Soleimani. That airstrike took place from secret U.S. military bases located in the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. These battle plans would have the locations of those secret military installations on them. It also would have the locations of naval assets that we have in the Straits of Hormuz and patrolling the Persian Gulf. It would tell the locations where special forces are located within the peninsula and in theater, because those will be the first actors to interdict in this situation. It would have the names of U.S. assets inside the Iranian regime

who are working and cooperating with the U.S. government as assets to assist us as covert agents. That information will be inside of those attack plans. It would have the location of U.S. air bases that are currently unlisted that will carry out airstrikes against the Iranian regime. It would also have the name of any internal rebel forces that we are working with, who we can ally ourselves with, to be similar to what happened with the Taliban during the Mujahideen during the Afghan-Russian war, where we worked with the Mujahideen at that time because they were our allies within theater working against the Russians. All those things will be included in those Iranian battle plans, and we have no idea where they're

currently located. We don't know. He did not turn them back over to the FBI, did not turn them over to the National Archive. They were not discovered in Mar-a-Lago. So, Mikhail, just I want to bring you back into this conversation. Do you think it is a danger that these documents are out there? And why hasn't Trump returned them yet? Well, again, this is why there is an investigation, because we do not have the details as to everything that is going on. Again, that recording was not in its entirety. Now, I know that you're saying that he said specific things, but at the same time, we do not know the context. And from what I understand, that recording, who recorded this? Robert, who recorded it? Well, at the time, President Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had a writer with

him to work on his memoirs. So that writer was recording meetings and following him around, shadowing him in order to have notes ready to help with him with his book. That's why he heard Donald Trump say, this is off the record. He was aware that the person was recording. He was aware that the person was there. This is not there. It wasn't a secret recording in a hidden wire or something. He knew the person was there. He just said, you know, this is off the record, which I remind people means nothing. So if something's off the record, just don't say it, but go ahead. Absolutely. So that's what I just wanted to hear you say that he knew that this was being recorded.

So obviously there was nothing there. Again, Robert, everything after every mud fight, mud sling, everything that they've thrown at President Trump has turned out to be a nothing burger. What about the Presidential Powers Act? What about everything that he removes from the White House that is automatically declassified because he is the president? I don't see them going behind any other president. This is the only president that has been attacked and persecuted over and over again. Again, I think that this is going to turn out to be a big nothing burger. It's another hoax. Okay. And so just because we were running a long time politically, we've seen Donald Trump's support increase the first time he got indicted by Alvin Bragg in

Manhattan. And then he had a five point jump to 51 percent in the Republican primary polls after this last indictment. What does it say about the Republican Party that the more he gets arrested, the more they support him? It says a lot about the left and the media and everyone that has come against this man that you guys have made him, the left, have made him a martyr. Now, we know that that is a powerful thing, that when you martyrdom or martyrize someone, that you make them even more powerful. Guess what? The conservatives, we know what's up. We've seen the Russia hoax fall apart.

We've seen everything fall apart. We saw when they said that Hunter Biden's laptop was a hoax and Russian disinformation. We've seen that be a lie. Just about every single thing, again, Robert, that has been thrown at this president has fallen apart. And that's why the American people have lost faith in the DOJ, the White House, and the media because of these attacks. So this is one reason why his popularity is increasing. All right. I want to bring the panel in. Randi, do you have a question for Mikkel?

Well, I'll start out with a statement. You know, the sad thing, because we heard what we heard on the tapes. There's no denying that he was sharing that he had classified documents and wasn't supposed to share them. He said it himself. But the problem is the support continues to grow for him because I believe that people like you have decided to believe whatever he says. So it doesn't matter how much evidence is up against him. If you wrote a book that said President Trump is not racist after he was went after by the Department of Justice back in the 1970s, after we have the birther theory and he attacked President Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris questioning if there were even citizens of this country

because they were Black Americans, after he said a Mexican judge should recuse himself, after he said that on tape... Well, hold up. He didn't want Black people counting his... Because of the word Black, you're saying that. You're saying that. Why has he not said... Why does he think that President Barack Obama

was not born in this country? Why did he say on tape... Why did he say on tape that he didn't want Black people counting his money at his casinos because they were lazy? I mean, where is the Muslim? The Muslim. I mean, like like the fact that someone would say of all the things, if you could say I choose to support him in spite of. But if someone were to write a whole book that says that he is not.

Can I say something? But what that says. Can I say something? And you've decided not to believe no matter how much evidence comes out. Well, right. Let me say something? Real quick. Let me say something, please. Let me fast forward to the platinum. I want to answer that, Robert. I want to answer that. The platinum plan.

What other president, not even Barack Obama, have come up with a plan to assist Black America? He had a plan for the LGBT, but he did not have a plan for Black America. President Trump had the platinum plan, and that was for Black America. That was to increase our wealth by $500 billion to pour into the Black community with the Opportunity Zones and all of this money funneled into the Black community. Tell me, what has President Obama done? What has Biden done to Black America besides destroy it?

Tell me. Mustafa, we're running on time. How is that racist? Let's bring Mustafa into the conversation. Mustafa, do you have a statement or question? Well, you know, I worked in the government for a number of years, and when I left, I had to go through boxes and boxes to make sure that I was living up to my responsibilities. So, sister, I'm just curious. You know, Donald Trump had a number of opportunities to make sure that the information that was supposed to make it back

to the National Archives actually did. And I'm just curious, based upon your perception, why didn't he take advantage of that opportunity so that he wouldn't be in this situation now? MS. Again, there is an investigation. We don't know all the details of anything. We don't even know if that's even true, you know, depending on everything that I mean, regarding everything that has taken place in this presidency. While he has been tarnished, he has been blackballed, he has been everything thrown at him. And it all has turned out to be false. Let's look at what happened underneath President Trump's tenure underneath his presidency. Look at the growth. Look at our look at the stock market growth. Look at the growth. Look at the stock market growth. Look at the economy that took place.

Look at all of the wealth that poured into the black community. So why is it that we would rather see him destroyed than to see him back in the White House doing the job for the American people, putting wealth back in our pockets, making us all dependent?

Mikel, just real quick. Mostafa, I don't think it's asking the political question. He's asking the legal question. There's pictures of the boxes in the man's bathroom. You know, he admitted to it on tape. So even if you support him politically, if you want him to win an office and win the election, you still have the law, which is written. You have the pictures of him doing it. You have him saying it. What other information would you need? All I saw, I saw just yesterday President Biden admitting to selling state secrets

and other important information. Now, what about that don't you guys understand? Nobody is going against him. Nobody is attacking him. Nobody is arresting President Biden for selling state secrets. He admitted to that on television. All right, Joe, do you have a question? I want to bring you in also. Quickly, I mean, you know, we'll have some objective disagreements about these things. It pertains to what Obama did, that Trump did. Well, he got elected twice, didn't get

impeached twice, didn't get indicted twice, didn't get sued for defamation. But that's another thing. I'd be interested to know your thoughts about how Donald Trump would actually win a general election. I understand how he may win the primary. And some of us that think that Biden might be a weak candidate, whether he should be or not, are hoping that Trump wins the primary. But how does he win a general election when he lost the last one, didn't get the majority of votes the first time he did win, and that I don't know that his perception in terms of moderates and others that will carry him over the line, carry most folks over the line and win an election. I don't know that he's changed with them, even if he's strong with conservatives.

Well, I mean, he's gotten more votes than any other president, period, okay, in history. But he's still- Other than Biden last time, right? Yeah, other than Biden. Well, and my thing is, that is up now, you guys are looking at be honest. Look at him. Look at him and listen to him. Do you believe that he was the most popular president? I don't know. I don't believe he was particularly popular, even as a candidate. I don't disagree with that. I think he. Well, Michael, remember, as the old saying goes, you don't run against the opposition, not against the almighty.

I think part of that was people voting against Trump as much as it was voting for Biden. But go ahead. Why don't you respond to the question? Well, there were a lot of irregularities to the point where we can't even talk about it without being shut down and censored. And we know that, that there was something that had taken place that we can't even talk about. And you guys know that. And that's why you're asking the question, how will he win? Because we know that there's something set up already. But again, you're looking at the more that this man is being persecuted and attacked, the more his popularity rises. The young lady just asked me the question. I mean, how do I believe, you know, that he is more popular? I mean, you asked me that, Robert. How do you how do I believe that he's more popular?

You know, ever since he's been indicted and in charge and arrested, it doesn't matter because the American people, you know what they want? They want their money back. They want their 401k plans back. This is what's going on. We are in a recession. We have seen the gas prices go skyrocketing. People cannot afford, my mother cannot afford her mortgage anymore. She cannot afford her homeowner's insurance anymore. She cannot afford her anything anymore because the prices are going way up. People are looking at their bottom line. They want their money back. And the only way to get that back is to put Donald Trump back in the White House. People know that. Well, just real quick, just for way of clarification, gas prices are down $1.20 from last summer. Inflation has dropped for 11 straight

months. It's holding at 4%. If you want to talk about economic growth, we just had last month 357,000 jobs added to the economy. Unemployment is steady at 3.4%. The inflation rate is stable at 4.3%. The Federal Reserve has stopped raising rates in order to address the insolvency crisis that we saw in the economy. So I think that when we talk about these things, they have to be rooted in the current facts as they exist. But just before we go, because we only have about a minute left, to Joe's point, Donald Trump lost a popular vote in 2016 by 3 million votes. Republicans lost the midterms in 2018. Donald Trump lost the election in 2020 by 7 million votes. Republicans

underperformed in the midterms in 2022. Who is the alternative to Trump that might be able to win or might be able to galvanize the conservative movement, particularly when Trump also has been indicted twice and is currently facing 70 plus felony counts? Well, as you can see right now, he is smoking all of his opponents in the polls. other person. I just want to go back to the numbers that you just addressed concerning the inflation that you said everything is back, it's down, but it's still not beneath the numbers that Trump produced. And you know that, Robert. You know that everything is still up. Gas prices are still up. People are still finding it hard at the grocery stores. I mean, we can't even buy, I mean, our coffee was $6.99. Now it's like $11.99. Still, I don't care what you guys are saying about inflation going down, prices are still high.

And people feel it. Okay. And so just of the remainder of the field, we've got about 30 seconds left. Is there any other Republican in the field that you think, let's say Donald Trump gets locked up, who do you think will be the Republican nominee in that case? I don't have an answer for that because nobody believes in anyone else but Trump at this point. I'm talking about Republicans. All right. How can people get in contact with you? Because I know we have a lot of conservatives listening who might be loving what you're saying.

Oh, they can reach me on Instagram, Mikkel Bartholomew, or they can reach me on Facebook, Mikael Bartholomew. All right. Thank you so much, Mikael Bartholomew. You're watching Rolling Martyr Uncensored, streaming live on the Black Star Network. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. 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. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Be back after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Be back after the break. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch. A real revolution right now. Thank you for being the voice of black America. All the momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? My early days in the road, I learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion. Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on. And with that study, I learned again what was for me. I learned to what it meant to do what the instruments

in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know the music. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than any.

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Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hello, we're the Credit Fixers. I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuning in to... Roland Martin Unfiltered. Today on Black and Missing, David Ibbila has been missing from his Cleveland, Ohio home since June 7th, 2023. The 15-year-old is 5'9", is tall, weighs 145, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about the David Ibila is urged to call the Cleveland, Ohio Police Department at 216-621-1234.

That's 216-621-1234. That's 216-621-1234. And of course, we hope for his safe return home. That's why we focus on the situations in these cases of Black children in particular who are missing, because the mainstream media is chasing that damn submarine. Going to the headlines, a white woman in Florida who shot and killed a black mother is formally charged with manslaughter. Susan Lawrence is accused of the fatal shooting of A.J. Owens in front of her nine-year-old son in a cold of Florida earlier this month. State's attorney, William Glatson,

says there is insufficient evidence of hatred, spite, ill will, or evil intent for a murder charge. The wrench faces up to 30 years in prison with a manslaughter with a firearm and assault charges. I'm going to bring the panel in on this. Mustafa, what do you think about this decision to not charge this woman with murder for this killing, which I think if it was a slightly different dynamic, we wouldn't see this much nuance in this prosecution. Yeah, they fell short of what was required in this moment. You know, when they talk about intent, I mean, she has been very clear. Neighbors and others

have shared the language that she's used, you know, the derogatory language, I should say, that she's used and a number of other things. So it's not like there's not a track record of her having a problem with the children who were black and the black family there. So it's such a shame because it also sends a message about the value of certain people's lives and which ones don't measure up to the letter of the law, really. Absolutely. And Joe, I'm going to call you Professor Joe for a second. I want you to take us to a 1L criminal class and explain the difference between a murder charge and this manslaughter of a firearm charge that she's facing. Your levels of murder, when you're involved in the death of another, are going to be connected to the intent, what's going on in the mind. So, you know,

your first degree is going to be, you know, it's planned, it's premeditated, you thought it through, you had an opportunity to be cool and you didn't do what you needed to do. Second level is going to be a little bit lower than that. In this state, you need hatred, spite, ill will, evil intent. Those are the things that could have gotten her second degree murder. There is an argument that that was there. There was an extensive history. This woman admitted to calling children of color out of their names in this community. There was a documented thing between these folks. And so, you know, there's an argument that this didn't just come out of nowhere. There was no, you know, lack of, oh, this is accidental. I was honestly protecting myself. No, you actually hated that woman. And that could rise to the level of what would get you second degree. Manslaughter is,

well, you killed somebody. You were reckless. You were less than intentional and thoughtful where you were cool and had an opportunity to do something else. I think there's an argument that she should have been, at the very least, at the second degree because of the history they had. And she did it from behind a door. How much do you fear somebody? You can't be irresponsible with a gun and shoot through a door. And I thought you were going to go deep and go through mens rea and actus rea and those things. But Randy, on that point, you know, this is kind of the concept of imperfect self-defense, which often results in a manslaughter charge,

as in you either misunderstood the situation, you responded disproportionately to a situation, but ultimately you thought you were acting within the law to defend yourself, but you unfortunately were mistaken in that understanding, and thus now you have criminal liability, but not to the point of being murdered. We don't see that type of nuance often in cases where a Black person shoots another Black person. Why do you think someone's leniency is being given to the woman, particularly given the circumstances, given the history that she has, and given that this murder took place directly from this woman's nine-year-old son. She's a white woman. She has been set up her entire life to be seen as the victim. Any

time you watch even a Dateline or a 2020, typically it is a white woman being posed as the victim. Any fairy tale you read, most movies you see, it's the white woman being posed as the victim. In the fairy tale you read, most movies you see, it's the white woman being seen as a victim, although they are less victimized than Black women. So they can't even frame their minds to see her as a killer, as a murderer. And also, how often do we see white people own up to racism? I mean, they always say racism, race was not a factor. So short of somebody wearing a KKK robe and burning a cross, it's very difficult to get white people to the frame of mind where they say this person acted on behalf of or from a hatred in her heart. I don't see how this, like you said, I mean, how can it be fear behind a closed door? It just doesn't make sense. So, you know, for those reasons, but, you know, convicting a white woman, placing a white woman as a murderer is a very hard

concept for this country, extremely difficult, because they've been brainwashed to think that white women are always innocent. That is what has been so beautiful about people filming things now and us seeing the Karens of the world, because before, white women have always been placed as these innocent people that need protection. And actually, Black men, I mean, how many sit in jail and have been killed on behalf of protecting a white woman? So when it's reversed, it becomes very difficult for them to get the justice that we deserve. And Mustafa, how do you get to imperfect self-defense when this woman was inside of her house with a closed door holding a gun and there's an unarmed

woman on the other side of the door with a child with her? What imminent fear was she in? What imminent danger was being presented to where she thought she needed to resort to deadly force in order to do so? Unless this woman was breaking and climbing through your window, unless she was on the verge of kicking the door in. Otherwise, there's no idea of imperfect self-defense here. What do you think the rationale is for lowering this from murder down to imperfect self-defense manslaughter? Prosecutors want to win cases. So it went for the low-hanging fruit. I mean, we all know, any of us who worked around or are in the legal system know that prosecutors want to win cases. So I think that's a part of it. You know, the other

part, there is no rationale for this because she could have very easily, if she felt that she was under threat, she could have picked up the telephone, she could have called the police, and they would have been there. And then folks could have worked out whatever the situation is. We know that there was, you know, based upon reporting from folks who lived in the community and others that this lady had a problem with black children and with black people. So we know where this is coming from. And then on the flip side of the coin, we understand that the way that the legal system unfortunately still operates when it comes to the injustices that happen to us and when our lives are taken, we know that in many instances they go to the lowest common denominator in relationship to the charges that are going to be put forward.

So that's why we have to continually stay engaged and pushing. And that's why folks have asked for legal reform in all of its forms and fashions. And we are not there yet. We have made some progress, but we continue to see these types of cases where it's very apparent of where there are disparities in how people are approaching the cases and the level that people want, whether it's going to be manslaughter or it's going to be, you know, man to or whatever the situation might be. And I say this all the time in some of the police shooting cases, that at some point in time, somebody's got to go for the gusto. When either it comes to the prosecution or when it comes to settlements in some of these police shooting cases and other cases, people are not going to respect us until we finally, as Randy said, convict a white woman for murder of a black woman or a black man in this country. I don't think any of us can remember in our adult lives a case where a white woman has been convicted of murdering a black man or a black woman. It just very rarely happens to her point. Similarly,

in these cases, when we hear about families settling with cities, I understand we need the civil justice. Civil justice often is just as powerful as criminal justice in cases. However, I would just like to see one of these cases go to trial one day. I would like to see one of those cases go to trial and win and get punitive damages against a city. Because it's one thing to get tens of millions of dollars from a city. It's another thing to send a city into receivership, where they got to start naming buildings and roads after your family members because they can't afford to pay you off, where they got to start auctioning

off statutes to pay off the settlement against you. I'm talking about treble damages and cases for punitive damages. I want them to have to peel the gold off the dome here in Atlanta in order to pay off some of these judgments. That's what gets people to change, and that's why I wish the prosecutors went for the murder charge in this case. We're

going to keep the conversation going on the other side of the breaker, watching Rollerbarred and Unfiltered stream live on the Blackstar Network. 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 was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

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

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

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice

to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this

quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA

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

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 always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperSealing.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. A balanced life with me, Dr. Jackie. A relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it. That's right.

We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge. Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is death and taxes. The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're going to have

on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really gotta know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hey, what's up, y'all?

I'm Devon Franklin. It is always a pleasure to be in the house. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. In today's Marketplace segment, there's a project to help a parent out during the pandemic has turned into a booming business for 10-year-old Jace from here in Atlanta. Jace's Lemonade offers a unique and refreshing addition to your events and will drink so you can customize yourself. Jace, the CEO of Jace's Lemonade, joins me from Atlanta to tell us about his sweet business along with his mom, Kiara Adams.

Jace, how are you doing this evening? I'm doing pretty good. Hey, this is a great business. This is a great idea. What made you think of coming up with a lemonade company? Well, basically, my dad gave me a project during COVID, and it was basically to start a lemonade idea. And we went to try lemonade, and it wasn't that good.

So I wanted to make my own recipe. So I wanted to make a lemonade business. So that's how we started. Okay. And so how'd you go about taking, you know, a lot of kids had projects during COVID. A lot of kids probably picked up new things. How did you think of turning this into an actual business well it's basically that we well we had online businesses his dad and I and that motivated him wanting to have one as well so the

project came about to come up with a business idea and it's been rolling ever since oh that's outstanding and Adams, I just want to commend you because I think often we don't talk enough about having great parents and how important it is to put kids on the right track towards this. What made you think to get your son into entrepreneurship so young? It was something that I wanted to do when I was a kid, but didn't know how. And as I became an adult and just learning and growing in society, I picked up things on the way.

Again, I had an online business, and he wanted to have one as well. So that's how we stuck with the idea. That's outstanding. And, Jace, can you tell me about the customization? How exactly does this process work for people buying your lemonade? Okay, so first you pick a size. And then, like, so a super size is 32 ounce. And then regular size is, like, 20 ounce. And then you pick a flavor.

The flavor is, like, many flavors. We have, like, over 20 flavors. So you pick a flavor. And then if you want like other stuff that has like souvenir cups, that's fine. You can get one. And you can put the lemonade inside the souvenir cups. That's outstanding. And so, Ms. Adams, how do people buy the product?

How do you market this and sell it? So I run the social media. We're on Facebook and Instagram at Jace's Lemonade. And we just promote when we're having events or if we're teaming up with someone. And I do that on Facebook and Instagram. And then I just started a YouTube as well. The YouTube is more of us going out trying other black businesses and writing their food. Since we're in the food truck industry, we started with a tent with Jason's Lemonade and we grew to a trailer.

So, yeah, that's how we navigate throughout Atlanta. Well, that's great. I want to bring our panel in on this discussion. Joe, do you have a question for Jason? Miss Adams? Yes. First of all, thank you for making question for Jace and Ms. Adams? Yes. First of all, thank you for making me thirsty. You messed my whole situation up. I'm trying to drink water. Now I'm going to go look for some lemonade,

and it's not going to be Jace's, so that's going to be a separate problem. But in any event, Jace, tell me about what you want to do next, man. I mean, you started with lemonade two, three years from now. What do you think you'll be selling then? Well, I want to, to like sell more food, maybe. Like maybe we can have like more toppings for the hot dogs we have. Oh man, you got hot dogs too?

Yes. Yes, we do. Now I need a hot dog and some lemonade. Thanks. Good looking out. All right, Randy, do you have a question for Jace and his mother? I'm very impressed with what you're doing, Jace. What is your most popular lemonade that you have?

You said you have over 20 flavors? Yes. To be honest, it might be the strawberry. Strawberry, that sounds good. Yeah. That sounds good. Well, thank you and best of luck to you. And Jace, what's your favorite flavor?

My favorite flavor would be pineapple. Okay. Now, do you guys mix? Can I get a half strawberry, half pineapple? Yes, you can. You can get multiple flavors. That's what I'm talking about right there. You got to know the market. You got to order that market. Mustafa, do you have a question for Jace and his mother? Yeah. Well, Jace, congratulations to you and your family on this. I'm curious.

So we're having a heat wave that's happening across the South, and, of course, Atlanta is heating up. Do you have a plan to take advantage of this moment? Well, we do events every weekend. So sometimes we pull up in the local parking lot and sell, or we may have a booked event where we service everybody. All right. And since all that point, what are some of the things you guys have, have you guys connected with any resources here in Atlanta that can help

you grow this business, grow this business? Have you connected with any corporations that might be interested in investing? What's your plan on growing this out? No, we haven't connected with anyone. We would like to grow our online sales. We started with bottles and like I said, we transitioned to the trailer where we do a cup size. But we also want to keep that revenue also with the online sales. So we are working on trying to grow that. Absolutely. Well, you know, back when I was with Rainbow Push, we did a yearly youth entrepreneurship panel where we will connect youth businesses with the corporations that were in their same field to help them get the type of experience and education necessary to build these things out. We had one kid who was 13 years old who had a business fixing

cell phone screens in his community. I wanted to prevent that. We had another young girl who made her own wigs and was selling wigs at her high school and had monetized that and turned that into a career. And one of the great resources, I'm going to shout them out right now, over in Stonecrest, Mason Wright has a hot dog stand. It started off as a hot dog stand on Morehouse's campus when he was 12 years old, so just a little bit older than Jace. And that has grown into a freestanding restaurant now that he's 16 years old. And he has a couple times a year a youth entrepreneurship fair where his restaurant is. And I'd be more than happy to connect you guys to make sure that we are encouraging

this next generation of entrepreneurs and giving them the guidance necessary to keep them on that track. And just kind of on that point, do you have a five-year growth plan on this? Do you have a place where you want this to go that you're aiming for, or is it just you're seeing where it will go organically? It's kind of a little bit of both. We do have something written down where we want to get into stores. Actually, today is Jason's birthday. He turned 10 today. Oh, wow.

He got into one of his, he got into his first store today. So we are now selling in a store off of Jonesboro Road in Atlanta. But, yeah, we want to grow, kind of see where we land. We have talked about doing like a container store somewhere, maybe on the Beltline or somewhere, wherever we can land. Now, have you put together any, I'm getting into weeds here, folks. So if you have a kid that you want to start a business for, grab your notepad. You're about to do the same thing you would do if you were in my office. So now, Wolf, have you guys put together a presentation or a deck that could explain to people, basically a one-pager, on what the business is and how it can grow, how they can invest in it?

Because often working capital for small black businesses is the number one barrier to growth. We all think that we have to have, you know, $500,000 cash to grow our business out, when in reality, if you look at what most majority company or small startup companies do, they'll either, A, get a medium size loan in order to finance their growth, or B, they'll do a round of investing to get help people uh and put money into it so they can grow out of that so if you guys consider putting together type of presentation where people can invest in the business and help uh to help it grow even beyond simply buying the product we haven't done that but i am open to it. I just don't know how. Like I said, we started. I didn't think it would grow as fast as it's growing,

so we're just trying to learn as we go and get where we need to get to. Things change a lot with Jace. I always ask if he wants to continue to do the business. He always says yes. So as long as that's the answer, then we'll continue to do the steps we need. All right. Well, now you're on black shark tank. So this is what I want you to do.

Okay. One, put this business down on paper. Make sure that you, the flavors particularly, make sure you brand those individually and write those recipes down. So instead of it just being pineapple, it'll be Jace's Magic Pineapple or something like that. Instead of just strawberry or whatever the mixtures are, et cetera. And make sure that these recipes are repeatable and consistent. Now, I want you to also put together a five-year growth plan on this, comparing it to other small startup beverage businesses and where they were able to take those things to revenues-wise. A perfect example would be like Jones Soda, where they started out with somebody bottling it out of their garage, and now you can get it in most stores or most specialty stores around the country.

Then also, I want you to do a SWOT analysis. So it's basically an analysis of your competition, of other people who are in this field, who are in this market. Find out who else is doing what you are doing, who's doing it better, who's doing it worse, and what makes your product distinctive from the things that they're doing. Also, I want you guys to contact me after the show. There ain't no reason we should be in Atlanta, and we're not helping each other out on things like this. And the reason this becomes important is, one, you can go the independent route of taking this, branding it, getting a big social media following and selling things directly. Or two, you can go the acquisition route. We're right here in the world of Coke here in Atlanta. If you build this thing out, I couldn't imagine Coke not wanting to partner with somebody like Jace

in order to sell products to Generation Alpha and Generation Z. So it's all about putting this thing together and seeing how big it can grow. Just remember you have to make your ambition bigger than anything you can imagine and you'll see where these things can go. How can people get in contact with you guys? How can they order the product?

They can go to our website jaceslemonade.com. That's J-A-S-E-S lemonade.com. And then we're all on every social media, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Jaces Lemonade. Well, thank you guys so much. I'm so

proud of you. Happy birthday, Jace. You're an inspiration. You're going real far, fella. Thank you so much for all that you're doing. All right. That's the episode of Rolling Martin. Unfiltered Rolling should be back with you tomorrow. Got to thank the panel. Mustafa Santiago, Ryan D. Bright. Also, Joe Richardson for joining us.

Thank you to Mikael Bartholomew also for taking the conservative position. It ain't easy to be in the gauntlet, but she held her own. And as I say to end every show, the words of Gil Scott Heron, no matter the consequences or fears to grip your senses, you got to hold on to your dream. Hold on to your dreams, America. 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. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else but never forget yourself self-love made me a better dad because i realized my worth never stop being a dad that's dedication find out more at fatherhood.gov brought to you by the u.s department of health and human services and the ad council this is an iheart podcast