#RolandMartinUnfiltered - NAACP Sues Trump; McDonald's sued for racial discrimination; Central Park Karen case dismissed

Episode Date: February 17, 2021

2.16.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NAACP Sues Trump over insurrection; McDonald's sued for racial discrimination; Activists and lawyers demand Jacksonville authorities drop charges against a Black woman who acted in self-defense when she shot and wounded an officer during a raid on her home; Father wins custody of his daughter after his girlfriend put the child up for adoption without telling him; Ahmaud Arbery vigil; Black Officer beaten during protest receives $5M settlement; Central Park Karen case dismissedSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered 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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee 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. Martin! Today is Tuesday, February 16th, 2021, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, the NAACP. They're suing Donald Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, over the election and insurrection that took place on January 6th. A black McDonald's franchisee has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company. His suit was heard during a video news conference today. Activists in Jacksonville are asking authorities to drop charges against Diamond Ford for shooting an officer doing what she thought was an in-home invasion.

We'll talk with her and her attorney. In New York, Amy Cooper, the white woman who was caught on video last summer falsely claiming a black man was threatening her in Central Park, had her case dismissed today because she attended five racial sensitivity classes. Ooh, mighty white of her.

Next week will mark a year since Ahmaud Arbery was killed in Georgia, his mother planning a vigil to remember him and will speak with Christopher Emanuel, whose nightmare became a reality when his girlfriend put their newborn daughter up for adoption without telling him. So tell us how he was able to get her back.

A black undercover cop in Saint Louis is receiving 5 million bucks after five white officers beat him during a protest in 2017. They claim they didn't know he was a cop. They will also talk with Dawn Dixon, a black businesswoman who raised $1 million to support her business and will participate in a black founder's forum addressing equity later this week. Plus, we'll show you a video of a crazy-ass white people's second level Florida teacher

who tried to redefine the N-word to black students in an AP history class. Wait until we show y'all. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. Let's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks.

He's rolling. It's on go, go, go, yo. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling Martin. Yeah. Rolling with Roland now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. Just three days after Congress voted to acquit,

actually after the U.S. Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump for inciting the January 6th insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, the NAACP has filed a lawsuit against him and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, plus two white nationalist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. The NAACP filed the suit on behalf of Democratic Representative Benny Thompson of Mississippi, who's expected to be joined by several other members of Congress within his party. The lawsuit claims Trump violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was enacted to protect former slaves and lawmakers in Congress from violence by white supremacists.

Congressman Thompson, who is 72, has said that if the Senate would have convicted Trump, he would not have filed a lawsuit. Let's talk about this in our panel. Xavier Pope, host of Suit Up News, owner of the Pope Law Firm, Bree Newsome, artist and activist. Q. Bernard Driscoll, adjunct professor at the George Washington University. Glad to have all of you here. Bernard, I'll start with you. Let's get, so for people who don't quite understand, again, these laws that go back to the Civil War era or the Reconstruction era, this is certainly an interesting legal strategy by the NAACP and Benny Thompson. Yeah, I mean, I think it's something that had to be done. I mean, the NAACP, they said they would not even bring it,

but for the fact that the Senate chose not to convict Donald Trump. And so I think it's just a method, Roland, of some sort of accountability must happen with this administration that directly attempted to disregard black people and black votes and were willing to attack the democracy and put the Republican danger as a result. What about that, Bernard, this idea of, again, using this particular act that is very specific to, again, attacks against members of Congress? Roland, I'm going to take a very contrarian and perhaps unpopular view here. I don't necessarily see the benefit of this. Yes,

I believe in accountability. Yes, I believe this man, i.e. Donald Trump, needs to be held accountable for his actions. But I am not sure, nor am I confident, nor quite frankly, do I believe that this will hold up in a court of law, right? The premise behind it. So I think it's not a waste of time, but I think perhaps the NAACP could use its resources towards more sustainable actions to really improve the community. I also think it calls into question of relevance for the NAACP. Again, if we're going to hold Trump accountable for his actions, I understand whether we need to take all means accountable, but is this really the best way possible to do that? I'm not convinced that it is. Well, again, Brie, what you're dealing with, first of all,

I think we can separate this whole idea that NAACP can't do 10 things at one time. Makes no sense. I mean, they file lawsuits every single day. They file lawsuits in Georgia that dealt with the whole issue of voter suppression. They file lawsuits, partner with other legal groups to challenge voting laws. But they also still are involved in actions that also benefit the community. So the reality is you can do those two things at one time. But the reality is, but one second, but the reality is, Brie, we heard Mitch McConnell say on the floor that Donald Trump, his involvement, and should be taken to task in civil court,

or actually in criminal court as well for what he did. This is a Republican Senate minority leader who opened the door saying he should be prosecuted in those forms. This is the NAACP saying, OK, we'll start. Yes, and I think that in my view, the strategy here is you have to go after the money. You have to attack the networks. And I think that is part of the logic behind it. This is something that has been employed in the past. We see this frequently, right, where we'll have people who they want to go after Trump, but they're not really trying to take over or take on white

supremacy and challenge it. And that's essentially what we saw play out with impeachment. So McConnell gets up and he basically acknowledges, you know, everything that was put forward in the case, but they're not going to hold Trump responsible for it. And so from that perspective, I think this can be very effective, like even regardless of how it plays out ultimately in the judgment, you have the potential to bankrupt some of these white supremacist organizations and to expose the flow of money that's going to them as well. Because, see, in order for them to mount a defense, they're going to have to try to reach out

to those other revenue streams who I'm sure are not going to want to come forward on the public record in terms of supporting them. And this has been effective in past decades in terms of like, you know, really cracking down on the Ku Klux Klan. This is the thing. This is from Senate.gov. Go to my iPad, please. This is what it says. It says in his first effort to counteract such use of violence and intimidation, Congress passed the Enforcement Act of May 1870, which prohibited groups of people from banding together, quote, or to go in disguise upon the public highways or upon the premises of

another with the intention of violating citizens' constitutional rights. Even this legislation did not diminish harassment of black voters in some areas. It then said that while these committees were investigating Southern attempts to impede Reconstruction, the Senate passed two more force acts, also known as the Ku Klux Klan acts, designed to enforce the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The second force act, which became law in February 1871, placed administration of national elections under the control of the federal government and empowered federal judges and United States marshals to supervise local polling places. The Third Force Act, dated April 1871, empowered the president to use the armed forces to combat those who conspire to deny equal protection of

the laws and to suspend habeas corporates if necessary to enforce the act. And so this was about, again, protecting the rights of citizens, but also members of Congress. Xavier, here you had a group of people who were storming the U.S. Capitol who wanted to actually change the results of the election. If we don't have use of laws that are put in place to protect black votes that don't actually serve to protect black votes, why aren't they on the books? That's the reason why the 14th Amendment Section 3 is involved in terms of being able to make sure

someone like Donald Trump never holds office again. That's what the Ku Klux Klan Act has put in place to be able to protect Black votes and Black people. None of us as Black people on this panel or on your show should be advocating for a process that doesn't use the laws that are on the books

to protect Black people. We should be shouting at the rooftops for every avenue, and I'm so glad the NAACP is taking this move, to be able to protect Black people. It doesn't matter, and Brice made a great point there in terms of saying that this would weaken donors. I mean, I think that this process puts public record potentially with some sort of any discovery that comes at hand or any information that becomes available. And once the media starts reporting this, this really makes Donald Trump, it really makes the Republican Party look bad. And so it may have not necessarily have the legal effect that NAACP might want, but it may have a political effect and a social impact that the NAACP wants. And that's

why this is important. Quadrant, here's the deal. We literally saw no witnesses come forward in the Senate's impeachment trial. Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani. You don't have you don't have Congressman Kevin McCarthy or any of these people who are testifying.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi today announced it's going to be a 9-1-1 style commission to look into what took place on that particular day. So if Mitch, if Senator Mitch McConnell stands up and these 43 Republicans stand up and say, oh, it was unconstitutional to actually have this trial, even though they voted and they voted that it was indeed constitutional. So that argument really made no sense. Well, should there not be some recourse? Should there not be some effort to hold folks accountable for what took place on that day? The fans are arresting people. But what about those who incited? Why is it that should there not be recourse to hold them accountable for the lies they continue to spread and for what they basically incited? Absolutely, there should be recourse.

So what is it? What's the recourse? What you have in even the state of Georgia, the attorney, the Fulton County District Attorney, Welles, is suing Donald Trump, right? That's, I think, a very viable option versus what the NAACP is trying to do here. But, Quadricos, the Georgia case is only specific to Georgia. The phone call that Donald Trump made to Georgia. They're also investigating Senator Lindsey Graham. What took

place on January 6th, that was the nation. It wasn't just Georgia. Correct, Roland. What I am saying, and perhaps it may come across that I'm hating on the NAACP. No, no, no. I'm trying to understand it. But I don't think that this effort is going to be viable, quite frankly. Are there ways, are there other ways to hold Donald Trump and these, those insurrectionists accountable? Absolutely.

So what are they? What are they? What are the other ways? No, no, no, seriously. What are the other ways? From your vantage point, what are the other ways? The other ways? Arrest them, right? Arrest them. How? Bring them, how, what do you mean how? Okay, okay, no, no, hold on, hold on. When you say arrest, hold on, when you say arrest, one second, one second. When you say arrest them, you mean arrest Trump and Giuliani?

No, I mean arrest those who are at the insurrectionists, the rioters. Arrest those individuals. Okay, that's being done. What else? So, I mean, what else are you all trying to suggest? Right. What I'm trying to suggest, and Bree, you can speak to this, what I'm trying to suggest is I'm saying arrest those who were involved in the insurrection and go after those who played a role inside of the insurrection.

Bree? Yeah, like, if I may, I continue to feel that the magnitude of what happened on January 6th is way underplayed, like in general. This is arguably like the most significant event since the United States Civil War. It was an attempt to overthrow the government. And so I think on one hand, it's a question of what does an organization like NAACP do in response? And I think what they're doing is the appropriate thing. I think arresting the folks who were there is key. But we've also seen that the failure that's already happening in terms of arresting people, they're going after the lowest level folks. We already know that there has been

involvement and coordination with police and military. I mean, the scope of this is enormous. And I think that we have to meet it. I kind of agree. It's like every single possible avenue that can be used in going after it is necessary and should be employed. I was quite frankly disappointed in the way that impeachment played out. I think that they should have called witnesses. I think they should have made it extremely clear, the seriousness of this, that this is not anything to rush through. But I am glad that they're talking about putting together an independent commission, because that's what is required. We need to know the exact networks that were involved in this. There were a lot of people. This was a massive conspiracy that was going on. And it's only

just by chance and by circumstance that more people weren't killed that day. They came very close to assassinating Congress people, to possibly taking siege of the Capitol. And I know that Republicans and conservatives and white supremacist sympathizers are going to constantly try to downplay this. And I think we can't allow them to do that. Last thing I would say about the importance of what the NAACP is doing is their action really refocuses the fact that this was about attacking the black vote. And, you know, there's a lot of like trying to kind of like steer away and downplay that this was specifically

about trying to overthrow the black voters. The places that they were trying to target were specifically places where black voting made the difference. And I think that the NAACP case really brings that to the forefront. I think that that is absolutely correct. I do believe, Xavier, that this, to hear Ron Johnson, well, I mean, this really wasn't an insurrection. I didn't see weapons. Dude, there were folks with baseball bats. There were folks with zip ties. There were

individuals who were using flagpoles, who beat Capitol Hill police officers. I'm saying, I mean, this, this effort by Republicans to severely underplay what took place on January 6th. I mean, this was, for all of the whining and complaining about the protests in Portland or Kenosha, Wisconsin, other places, these individuals literally discarded barricades around the U.S. Capitol. They were beating one guy's down being pursued for gouging out the eye of a Capitol Hill police officer. And they act like things got a little out of hand at the Capitol Hill picnic on January 6th. There were bombs planted in DC. Can I say that there were bombs by American citizens

who are supposed to be the most patriotic of people, yet they are planting bombs in our cities. Five people are dead. It is amazing a month after this insurrection that now there's an attempt to downplay how violent it was in a threat that was to this democracy. You saw a video of Officer Gene Goodman directing the life of Mitt Romney, who was just short steps from being attacked by the individual that stormed the Capitol. There is no way that we can turn around and let the narrative be posed that an insurrection that led to death should be overlooked.

And I do believe that the best way that an organization that represents Black people should go along and to address the direct issue, which is people who are willing to burn down the democracy for white supremacy, we cannot sugarcoat this. People that are opinion hosts that are riling people up on other networks, we should hold them accountable for the things they have done as well. This is a step by step by step. Now, the Republicans, they would have took every single avenue. They would have called every witness. They would have called the mamas of the witness, the cousins of the witness. They would have done everything possible to be able to,

we saw what happened with them guys. They would have gone every length to do this if this were black people storming the capital to protect the presidency of barack obama so let's be clear we can and not sugarcoat we can't put kid gloves on this every step every avenue must be pursued they put through a multiple-pronged state attack legally that were that failed to be able to attack democracy and. And when that didn't work, they stormed the Capitol. So they must be held accountable in every possible way there's avenues available to this democracy. I just think, Quadrico, that

what has happened so far is not enough. You know... It's just not enough. What Brice said, what took place, I mean, that was vicious. That was real. We had Congresswoman Maxine Waters on this show. She said there is no doubt in my mind that if I had not left the U.S. Capitol early and they had gotten to me, I would be dead.

These folks, I mean, they were out for blood. This was to hear to hear Capitol Hill police officers say, this was a coordinated attack. Donald Trump and his administration actually got them to move one of the events to January 6th. This was specifically to target the U.S. Congress. I believe in some courtroom, there has to be a reckoning. And look, if Giuliani, if Trump, if any of these folks are found guilty, fine. But there needs to be a real trial,

not that crap we saw in the U.S. Senate. What really fuels my frustration here is, quite frankly, I feel that this is not our fight. One of the reasons that white people, good liberal-minded white people, don't have the wherewithal to understand what happened January 6th is because precisely their identity is wrapped up into maintaining power, right? And they're trying to wrestle and understand this. Let the NAACP take this effort. I'm just not convinced that it will actually do anything to warrant the injustice that continues to take place and that took place on January 6th. It underscores the reality that Black folk continuously try to call America to be its better self. This is for white people to deal with.

I don't think it's our fight. But, Bree, it is our fight in that what they were trying to overthrow was the result of black votes. Exactly. Like, this is an attack on the concept of multiracial democracy, in my view. So, and two, I think we should recognize

white people aren't going to do this. Like, white people... I mean, the whole reason that we are here is because white people are not going to ultimately lead the charge in overturning white supremacy. I mean, that has just never been the reality of this nation ever.

And that's part of the reason why an organization like the NAACP exists. So again, you know, it's not that any one of these things on its own is going to address the issue. I think it's like, what is the role of an organization like NAACP? And I think they are playing in this moment the role that they have played historically for 100 years. I mean, the NAACP and the Klan are, you know, they go back to the

same century. They date to about the same century and the same time period for this reason. Because the Ku Klux Klan, you know, formed in the aftermath of the Civil War. It's always been about attacking free Black people. And the NAACP has always been about leading the legal fight against those attacks on Black freedom. So, you know, I think that that is the role for them to play. Yes, there's a role for white people to play. Yes, white American society should stand up and do this. But the reality is that they're not going to.

And, I mean, that's part of what we just saw play out with the impeachment. We knew that they weren't going to hold Trump accountable, even though it is all obvious. Why? Because Trump is the embodiment of modern white supremacy. He is like the emblem. He is the mascot. And that's why, you know, like it has been said time and time again, of course we know, first of all, if it had been Black people even planning a rally on January 6th, they would have had National Guard out there. Like, there's no question we wouldn't have even made it to the steps of the Capitol.

The fact that people made it all the way inside is because they had the assistance of the white power structure. The reason that we are having this conversation of trying to figure out how to hold people accountable is because of white supremacy, sympathizers with white supremacy within the white power structure. So, you know, I think NAACP is doing their role. And here's the deal. The NAACP, Xavier, is not the only group that could actually file a lawsuit. I think what you're seeing here is an attempt to say, OK, you guys did not want to move on this. Let's take it to a form. Let's actually see. A judge will decide if they are standing to actually move forward. But to Bree's point earlier, this whole and that's just sort of move along. I mean, when you listen to Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

talk about vividly what that day was like, when you see the reports being feed away, when you saw the House impeachment managers, I mean, to me, this requires a real, true accountability that needs to take place. And the bottom line is here, if it's the NAACP, fine with me. If it's some other group, fine with me. I'm saying hold their asses accountable. I mean, there's a fight over whether a black man can sell cigarettes on the street

or whether a man's $20 was actually a real $20 bill, and he died as a result of it. But every attempt is being made to sugarcoat white supremacy in America. We saw with our own two eyes people climbing up the fences. We saw with our own two eyes people are in our congressional chambers. We saw through the impeachment trial the different steps that we're taking. We heard the different calls of Donald Trump. The evidence is laid bare before our eyes.

And we as Black people, we have to be the... We have saved this democracy over and over again. Saved it with our votes. We are... We have James in New York, simply to save it with that state there. We saw with how people's borders were organized. We have to keep saving this democracy. It is what it is.

We are the head of how this country moves and protecting its citizens. We signed up for it, unfortunately, in terms of what we are doing to push back on our lives and our vote, but it is what it is. It is what it is. It is what it is. And so, again, we reached out to Derek Johnson with the NAACP and Congressman Benny Thompson to get them on the show.

They were unavailable, so we'll certainly try to do that in the future. All right, folks, let's talk about this story here. Herbert Washington, a former Major League Baseball player at McDonald's largest black franchisee in the United States at one point, is alleging the fast food company racially discriminated against him. He claims the food chain forced him to operate low-volume restaurants in black neighborhoods and downsize his store base years later after grading his locations unfairly.

Washington filed a lawsuit against McDonald's in Ohio federal court today. He says once he started standing up for himself and other black franchisees, McDonald's began dismantling his life's work, forcing him to sell his stores to white operators. However, McDonald's put out a statement saying that Washington was facing business challenges and the company had asked him numerous times to address those issues. This is not the first lawsuit. There have been several other African Americans who have filed a lawsuit against McDonald's alleging the targeting of black franchisees. We covered that before on this show.

Bree, this is significant because when we think about franchisees, McDonald's has been perceived as being the model company for African-Americans being able to be franchisees, being able to build wealth, being able to own multiple stores. I've actually spoken to the Black McDonald franchisees, a keynote in the last two years. I spoke to them before. I know many of

them have spent time with them at Essence Festival as well. But more and more have been coming out talking about this very issue. And we've also seen a lot of this happen since McDonald's forced out black CEO Don Thompson. There also have been people alleging that since Thompson was forced out as CEO, he only served in the role for 18 months, that there has been a significant wiping out of black executives in McDonald's. And so you have all of those things

that have been going forward. African-Americans have operated as significant supporters of McDonald franchisees in terms of as customers. When you look at also in terms of what they do with advertising as well. And so this lawsuit and other lawsuits certainly is critical to understanding the relationship between African-American entrepreneurs and these major corporations? Absolutely. And I mean, it's like you said, it is from top to bottom. I'm sure y'all are aware you had a lot of fast food workers going on strike today over the issue of wages.

In many of our communities, people really rely on these franchises for as a source of employment, you know, and because of the lack of access to other food sources, it's something we rely on as a source of, you know, cheap, accessible food. So you can't separate the economic issues from the racial issues. You know, I mean, of course, that's the case in everything, but particularly in this fast food industry, right? And so, again, you know, this is another instance where I support the Black franchise owners bringing lawsuits because we have to bring this stuff to the forefront. There continues to be all of this denial about structural racism. We know structural racism is racism. We know structural racism is real. We know structural racism is a thing. The gaslighting around it, the constant denial of it,

the claims that an industry remains predominantly white, or the ways that we see the unequal distribution of wealth and money as though this is something that just, you know, just happens by chance and is not something that is structural, that is thought out. It's completely false. So we know that. If we had an industry that was structured in, you know, a more equitable manner, not only would you have more Black franchise owners who were seeing equal returns, we would see it as a more stable source of income for the people who work there. A lot of employees in these fast food chains, they are Black women. They are people who are trying to support families on low wages. And all of that comes from the top down in terms of how the business is structured.

So we have to take on these corporate fights. We have to start fighting these unequal racist structures and quite frankly, in every industry, you know, but you've got to fight it in your industry wherever you're at. Well, first of all, I mean, you're absolutely right. And I think one of the things that we have to understand, Quadricos, is when we talk about, first of all, go to my iPad, please. This is the website of a law firm that has been involved in this, is Piper Wolf. And you see the number of stories that have been posted with regards to this particular lawsuit. We're trying to pull the video up.

A news conference was held today at 1.30 Eastern. I mean, this is important because what we're dealing with is, we're dealing with, again, based upon the allegations, but not just with this franchisee and McDonald's. We're dealing with African-Americans across this country being consistently locked out of the ability to create wealth. I've been talking about on this show this notion of where's our money and black economic justice, that America has no problem if we are talking about black, if we're talking about criminal justice reform, talking about mass incarceration. But whenever black folks start talking about the money, the whole attitude changes.

King, Coretta Scott King said, when my husband started talking about the money, then it was a whole different view. When Patrice Lumumba was talking about the money and having independence in the Congo. The role the CIA played in having him disappear and Mobutu becoming the leader there. What we're talking about is the money. And so we're talking about, on the federal level, the lack of access to contracts, the lack of access to capital. We talk about pension funds.

Oh, VCs not loaning out money. Later on, we'll be talking to Don Dixon, her raising a million dollars in a crowdfunding campaign. But the reality is the people who actually fund VCs are pension funds. That's the money of black and brown people. And so I just really believe that while we have folks who are on one hand, tomorrow is going to be the hearing on Capitol Hill dealing reparations. I'm talking about the money that's sitting there right now and how we should be moving on those dollars and challenging companies and challenging people to get these resources. Erling, you're absolutely correct. It is fundamentally about the money. to this point, there needs to be a mass boycott, not just against McDonald's, but for any corporation or industry that does not support Black dollars, right? When you think about the Montgomery

Improvement Association, what hurt, of course, was Black folk not getting on those buses and putting our hard-earned money into the bus development authority in Montgomery. It's the same sort of situation here. If anything, the NAACP should sue McDonald's on behalf of the franchisees and the black community ensuring that there's no boycott. But they can't. They don't have the standing. The difference here is these black franchisees...

See, again, hold up, now, Quadricos, the NAACP suing McDonald's on behalf of the black franchisees, they don't have standing. The franchisees are the ones who are saying, I was the one who was impacted.

So that's why they're suing. Now, if you said the NAACP should be standing with them and joining them and demanding answers, first of all, from the press release that we had yesterday, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio, River Jesse Jackson Sr., and others were participating in the news conference. And again, we're going to be pulling the video. But that's really what the role is.

Right. So there needs to be a massive effort to boycott them, right? That's the point here. No, actually, no, no, no. Because to be perfectly honest, that's one of the biggest mistakes that black people make is we automatically go to the boycott, but we don't actually plan it. I talk about this all the time. When you look at Operation Breadbasket, no, follow me here. When I look at what King did with Operation Breadbasket, which he got from Reverend Leon Sullivan, what they did was boycott was the last thing they did.

It was the other thing they did up until that particular point. One of the mistakes that we do is we yell boycott and we ain't playing for a boycott. So when we yell boycott and nobody boycotts, they say, hell, that's ineffective. So the next time we yell boycott, they can ignore it. We've got to actually walk people through, teach, educate, organize, mobilize. Then when the company is unwilling to then meet the demands that we lay out, then, as Dr. King said, we then practice economic withdrawal. They never open with economic withdrawal.

So to this conversation, I'm talking with economic withdrawal. I... So, to this conversation, I'm talking about economic withdrawal. I'm talking about economic boycott, pulling our dollars and our resources completely from McDonald's, and again, other corporations that do not support us and that continue to oppress us. And this, in my opinion, is not the focus should be upon.

And you're right. If the NAACP is standing behind the Black franchisees, then wonderful. But this is what needs to be the effort because time and time again, we see a lack of economic movement that continuously hurts our community. And yet we're not educating our people

about wealth and economic empowerment. We're not educating about the harmful effects that McDonald's, of course, has done to our health. So all of this needs to be wrapped up into making sure, and I would also add, the Black people that work for the McDonald's corporations needs to take some internal, uh, changes within themselves and look at how to make McDonald's more inclusive

and-and, um, bring in more people of color so that these systemic issues don't continue. But Xavier, what they're doing is exactly, to me, the way you should do it. And that is by the franchisees filing a lawsuit, you're actually shining a light on it. Then when you have your lawsuit, you have discovery. Then you go through these different things. Then you have, you can take the depositions. You can ask those particular questions. You can compare whether or not what he's saying, compare the notes, whether what he's saying is correct. Was he forced to sell to white franchisees? I know another black McDonald's franchisee who said that he, that they allowed a white franchisee to open a store within a mile of him taking significant dollars away from his

particular store. I mean, those are the things that happen. All I'm simply saying is, and I got no problem with economic withdrawal. I'm saying that the mistake that we make is when we launch economic boycott campaigns and we have not prepped our people for it. So therefore, it's then rendered ineffective. Yeah, we can't sit and complain about the system. And then when we have the system in our advantage to be able to use it to be able to address systemic issues, don't use them. We talked about this earlier in the ACP case, and same thing is here. You as black franchisees,

you want to be able to make sure there's discovery and maybe public information about what has happened that we've not heard of before. And this puts some signs of light on McDonald's. And with the threat

of potentially losing business and potentially the threat of losing some sort of the public. You talked about this earlier, Roland, how people view McDonald's being the most socially active, being every time you look up in our neighborhoods, there's McDonald's everywhere. There are bouncy houses. There are all these different things. And so putting that image at jeopardy with a structured process of how to handle getting information. And once you get past certain procedures in a legal case,

then now you put the keys on McDonald's to be able to make decisions. And so that is an avenue that must be used. The legal system is used by this society all the time to be able to box us out of opportunities, to be able to box us out of wealth. They must be used by us to be able to attain the wealth as well.

And the thing, Bree, and I have been talking about this in so many other areas, especially when it comes to government contracting, because of private companies as well, is that there's an education process of walking people through to understand what's going on. I think it's very easy for people to respond quickly and emotionally when we see a particular story. But again, as someone who who has studied Operation Breadbasket and studied how they did it and understood what the negotiations were and how they use their activism.

The king understood because, again, Reverend Leon Sullivan taught, explained to him what their program was in Philadelphia, how they were able to achieve gains. And in reading Martin Depp's book, Operation Breadbasket, 1966, 1971, what he said is, this is what he said. He said the greatest mistake they made wasn't in getting companies to sign MOUs. It was the follow-up and monitoring to make sure that they did. And so what happens is we have the news conference, we have the rally, we have the protest, then we have the negotiation,

then we have the sit-down of the announcement. But then when you come back and check a year or two or three years later, you realize a whole bunch of stuff wasn't being done. I'm saying, and if we go back to King's April 3rd, 1968 speech, where he talked about redistribute the pain, economic withdrawal, that was a clearly defined way of doing it. I think, unfortunately, what has happened in many cases, we've gotten away from that. And folks have just launched stuff and had no plan, no backup, no strategy. And it failed. And then our people, then our people are mad and frustrated by saying, well, damn, nothing changed.

I completely agree. And I think that education is an essential part of it. And that's why, you know, as as an organizer, one of the things that I'm constantly pushing, all organizers are pushing is we have to study that movement history. Because a lot of times what we see is the highlight reel, and we're trying to kind of like copy, you know, what we have seen without understanding both what worked and what didn't work, right? Like, where did things fall short? One of the key things about economic withdrawal is you have to have an alternative, right?

So if, you know, for instance, you're boycotting the bus system, you've got to have an alternative around transportation. How are people getting to work? How are we protecting people as they're participating in the boycott? In the case of, you know, these fast food chains and especially a chain like McDonald's, what is the alternative for folks? You know, so not only is it about racial justice and economic justice, it's also about food justice. It's also about how a lot of these McDonald's exist in neighborhoods and places where people don't have, you know, an alternative place to go. You know, somebody mentioned the bouncy houses. I mean, this is a place where you can go and you can get an affordable meal.

You know, the kids can play. So if we're boycotting, what is the alternative? So those are things that we have to think through. And then exactly to your point, Roland, like, you know, it's not just that we go through the motions of the boycott, but what are we changing in terms of the infrastructure on the other side of it? You know, so I would like to see a scenario where not only are we changing the corporate structure of McDonald's, but we're also looking at what are the other alternatives? Can we have some more Black-owned, standalone restaurants in our community? Can we have some more nutritious options or can we force McDonald's to provide some more nutritious options in our community? So that's to provide some more nutritious options in

our community? So that's kind of like the follow-through that we have to do. A lot of times we kind of set the bar, quite frankly, kind of low, right? So we want to, yes, we're going to go through this legal process and address the complaints of the Black franchise owners, right? But more broadly, how do we, through this process, address racial justice, economic justice, and food justice, and health justice in our communities,

would be my question. So, absolutely right. And so, we look to have Herb on the show to further talk about that. Gotta go to a break, folks, when we come back. We're gonna talk about the case of a South Carolina black man had no idea that his child was put up for adoption.

Later found out and he fought to get that child back. We'll also talk to a sister in our tech segment who raised a million bucks through a crowdfunding campaign showing the power of black entrepreneurship. All of that next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. This generation, which gets so much inspiration from entertainment, you know, this generation is influenced. I mean, every generation has their influence. But I would argue by and large, when you talk about Harry Belafonte or you talk about, you know, how it was, you know, in the 60s, 70s and even 80s, there was, you know, you had

the entertainers, you had the church, you had the activists. In our day and time, you know, the church is somewhat losing its influence. Entertainment influence is growing. The activists are losing their influence. So where do most, you know, this younger generation go? They go to entertainment. You know, and so the influencers, entertainment can actually move the needle. And when you see people become active, I love how this younger group of people are saying, wait a minute. We don't like what just happened with Kavanaugh. We're going to do something about it. We don't

like the fact that there's no gun control. We're going to do something about it. And I do think that as tragic as these events are, they are becoming more galvanizing to get this younger group of voters, which is so influential, to get out and do what we know they can do, which is to help move the needle in a massive way. Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ascot on. He do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling. Right here. Rolling.

Roland Martin. Right now. You are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really. It's Roland Martin. Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the cops on a black man and falsely claimed he was threatening her in Central Park, had her case dismissed at a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court. The prosecution asked the judge to dismiss one count of filing a false report against Cooper. The judge did that.

The decision came after Cooper completed five sessions of an educational program that included instruction about racial biases. Cooper, of course, made headlines when that cell phone video went viral last year showing her harassing a black man named Christian Cooper. No relation in Central Park. Come on, guys, roll the video, please. Christian asked the woman to leash her dog. She was unhappy with his request and falsely called the police, claiming he was threatening her. Cooper lost her job shortly after the incident went viral.

All right, let's go to our panel on this. Brie, five classes. Yeah. So, you know, one of the key things in this case is obviously I recall how the jogger, he didn't seem like he wanted to push for for much more. But this is another situation where I think the magnitude of what happened has really kind of been downplayed. Right. This could have easily ended in him being killed. We have seen this cases like this happen time and time again. And so while I certainly respect the feelings of the person who was most directly impacted by it, she needs to face more penalty. We have to establish a precedent that really discourages people from engaging in this kind of behavior. I think at the very least, she should be paying some kind of fines or restitution. She needs to be performing some other kind of community service. The idea that you just go through five sessions and that's

enough. I mean, again, this is a case of whiteness, you know, I mean, just the way that whiteness plays out. And her case, what we see on video is just such an obvious, blatant example of someone who is consciously lying, consciously trying to weaponize her whiteness against this Black bird watcher. I called him a jogger. I'm sorry. Black bird watcher in Central Park. I mean, she was very knowingly doing what she was doing. And so to kind of like just sweep this under the rug, oh, well, she's attended a few sessions and, you know, let her go. Meanwhile, of course, we know we have Black people who are locked under the jail every single day, held without bail, dying in jail without even facing a trial for things that they didn't even do, you know. So again, this goes to the heart of just the racism in the criminal justice system from beginning to end, from the interaction with the police to the way that it plays out in the court system.

So, Xavier, five classes that good enough. So she just read Robin DiAngelo, Robin DiAngelo's white virginity, and that got her off. You saw the right-wing media go insane over Justice Smollett, and they wanted him to spend years and years and years in jail of his life. And here is Amy Cooper, who weaponized her white privilege and attempted to basically put a man in harm's jeopardy. That was on camera. We didn't see Justice's action in terms of what he did

and all the different crazy machinations that he did on camera, but where are they? Where's the Fox News saying it's talking about what should happen to her? What about the D.A. there? And they went after Kim Fox here in the state of Illinois, where I'm from, in Chicago, and went after her, even had a whole political campaign against her that failed miserably. Where is that? It's obviously the clear is justice is black and white. Didn't know that you could just go read a book and get a book report and get off for putting a man's life in jeopardy. And that

really is the thing, because the bottom line is, Quadricos, when these things happen, when the cops get a call, a lot of times we end up dead. And she was using her white privilege, and so I get the further adjudication and those things. But, oh, she went to five classes and her attorney said, oh, she's learned and grown so much.

You know, I agree with all the comments that have been echoed. But realistically, are allowed to go on holiday, vacation, or allowed special treatment in jail for certain meals, organic meals, then we can't possibly be surprised that the fact that this white woman gets to read a couple books and she gets off. I'm surprised she even had that, quite frankly. And I guess my frustration here is, at what point does this end? At what point do, not necessarily holding them accountable, but at what point do we turn the tide to ensure that white people cannot weaponize their whiteness, that white women cannot weaponize their tears to continuously do harm to black and brown people. I'm tired of these stories over and over again, and yet we see these people getting off scotch-free. At what point does it end? I'll be honest with you.

I think it's the same thing, Bre, when it comes to these cops. It ends when folk go to jail. It ends is it see here's the whole deal I'm gonna do To all of these white supremacist folks they always did to us Lock them up throw away the key. They don't teach them a lesson I mean bottom line is is here if if the answer is I can just take a class and get away with it. No, no, no, no. These folks need to see somebody like them punished for what they did. Put behind bars. It's the same thing like the whole scandal when it came to getting it,

the college scandal. All right. These celebrities, oh no, y'all, it's no big deal. I mean, I know they bribe people, but they're celebrities. They're rich. They shouldn't go to jail. No, no, no. Felicity Huffman sent her ass to jail. Seeing that other child, I forgot the hell, another white woman sent her to jail. All of the CEOs who had to quit seeing they punk asses to jail as well, because they need to feel the same thing they've been telling black folks that is go there then you sit there in prison to figure out what you did wrong the thing is i just don't know how you make that happen because more black judges well yeah i mean

that's the thing you're gonna have to you're gonna have to change who's making the decisions because that's really what it comes down to right because so long as you still have these same folks in power making those decisions, they're always going to make sure that the treatment is unequal. But I agree. I mean, until people face consequences, there's no reason to behave differently. And so the outcome of this, what this teaches people basically is like, first of all, don't get caught on video, right? That's the number one thing is just make sure you're not caught on cell phone video as they continue to make these false allegations against people and endanger people's lives. But even if you get caught, you know, just cry the right amount of tears. And, you know,

all you have to do is go to some classes and say that you've changed and they'll let you off. And meanwhile, you know, black and brown kids are going to be continued to be killed on the on site in the street by police without getting any kind of hearing or anything at all. So, you know, again, it fundamentally comes down to we have got to to get the racist out of power. They are sitting on benches. This is one of the things that I'm constantly driving home as an organizer to folks that people have to understand. Like when we are talking about changing structures, there are individuals sitting in offices, sitting in positions, sitting in benches every single day who are making the choices. And that's why we're seeing the outcomes that we see. That's why we have to focus in on local elections. We've got to be really clear on who is, you know, making these decisions, you know, at a local level, at a state level, because that's the only way we're going to be able to change this.

Absolutely. That is the only way. All right, folks. A year ago, a year ago, Maura Arbery was killed in Georgia. His mother is organizing a public candlelight vigil to mark her son's one-year death anniversary. Wanda Cooper-Jones plans to have Aubrey's family gather at his final resting place, New Springfield Baptist Church in Waynesboro, Georgia, on February 23rd. She's asking everyone to wear a blue ribbon in a show of solidarity and in remembrance of his death. She also says blue was Aubrey's favorite color. He was killed on February 23rd, 2020, while jogging in Brunswick, Georgia. His death grabbed national headlines

and ignited a demand for justice when graphic video of the incident surfaced in May of last year, three months after the killing. Travis and Gregory McMichael were arrested and charged with murder. That only took place because of the public pressure and after three prosecutors actually declined it.

In fact, one of the things that took place there, Xavier, is that the prosecutor who initially declined to pursue the case lost her election. That's also the consequences that's important when we utilize our power, making sure and this is where making sure that people like that, these DAs who do not pursue these cases, that they are targeted and then they are then dismissed and they lose in office. That's what has to happen. Absolutely. And I go back to Brie's point, 85% of the legal performance is white. And so the people that have to look more like us, obviously they have to be able to take steps to be able to protect us. They can't just be black. But we need more of us that are pursuing the field of law. We saw all the district attorneys that attempted to overturn the 2020 election.

Those are white men attempting to do that. The men that would not attempt to try for the death of Armand, these were white men. And so it's important to be able to change the color of law to make sure that the system looks more like us to be able to protect those that are like us. And so political pressure must be paid. And so legal pressure, there must be political pressure. There must be economic pressure to be able to make sure there's lasting change in our legal system. And again, that is one of the things, the outgrowth of this, Bree, was the level of activism. When you combine Ahmaud Arbery with Breonna Taylor,

then of course George Floyd, the kind of pressure that took place. But if it wasn't for the media attention and that pressure, they would have gotten away with this. It was only because of that pressure which led the case to be given to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. And in a matter of days, there was an arrest for murder in this particular

case. And now three folks have been arrested in the death of Ahmaud Arbery. That was public pressure. It wasn't because it was right. It was because those DAs were protecting the white men allegedly who killed Ahmaud Arbery. Absolutely. And that's a really important thing to note about a lot of these cases. You know, there are a lot of cases that we may not even know about, you know, and this is, you know, just in my lifetime, obviously, I think back to like the Trayvon Martin case, because that was like one of my first introductions to a case where there was this clear, you know, kind of like modern day lynching, and also this awareness that we would have never known about that had it not been for social media,

had it not been for, you know, communities protesting for weeks before they even arrested, you know, George Zimmerman. And so for every case that manages to grab the national attention, where we're able to mobilize and seek justice, there's a lot of cases we probably don't even know about. So I just, I agree, like, I think it's everything from how we mobilize, recognizing the power of media, recognizing the importance of, you know, programs like yours, you know, how are we having our own outlets where we can make sure we bring these stories to the forefront, right? And then how are we also organizing to follow through on these cases, not only justice in the individual cases, but changing, like you said, the color of law, changing who are the decision makers in this entire process from beginning to end,

because that's, again, the only way that we're really going to see systemic change. Absolutely. Rodrigo? No, I absolutely agree. I think we, as has already been echoed, we need to focus more on our local elections, those who we're electing at the state and local level, from the local district attorney, of course, to even the clowning clerk. Additionally, I think that there needs to be a countywide or citywide effort, depending on our particular municipalities, where we're, quite frankly, looking out for one another.

I mean, as has been said, this would have never been, this would have never came to the forefront had we not known. And I think there needs to be more concentrated efforts, sort of like the guardian angels in New York, where we actually are looking out for one another when these sort of incidences come to the forefront. But more importantly speaking, I also think that when we see something like this happening, yes, it's important to record it to make sure that the public sees it, but it's also important that we attempt to stop it as much as possible. I've told my friends personally that if I'm ever stopped, please don't record it, but step in to help. And so I think that also needs to be a call to action

in many respects as well. That recording was by the white supremacists. So if it wasn't for their brazen feeling that they could get away with what they did, we would not have known about this. No, I'm not talking about this specific case. I'm speaking generally.

Okay. Just want to make sure that the white supremacy, just like we talked about earlier on this show, at every instance, feels that they can just do whatever they want to do. They can climb the Capitol and take over the government they want to. They can go shoot up... They can go drag a Black man in the back of the truck

like it's 1950s if they want to and get away with it. So it's important for us to understand that this would never have happened but for the brazenness of white supremacy. Absolutely. Speaking of white supremacy, the city of St. Louis will have to hand over $5 million as part of a settlement to a black police officer who says

he was beaten with a baton, thrown to the ground and kicked in the face by several white cops during a protest in 2017. Luther Hall, a 22-year veteran of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, says he was working undercover and investigating protesters who had damaged property when his fellow officers assaulted him. According to his suit, Hall suffered a tailbone injury and had to have surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck and back. Five officers have already been federally indated disc in his neck and back. Five officers have already been federally indicted while a civil case is ongoing. See, this is the thing right here, Bree, right here that is important because when we talk about cops,

you can be black, but if you don't have the blue on, you just black. And I've heard a number of cops say the last thing that they want to be is undercover in order to deal with other cops. Yes. And even if you have the blue on, let's go back to the first segment right on on January 6th. And Officer Goodman, we know that there were police who were on the other side who were in the mob storming the Capitol. So even if you have the blue on, it doesn't matter. And this goes to the heart of policing being inherently racist and, you know, why we are saying that the only real way forward is to defund the police. If we are trying to address harm in our community, if we are trying to prevent harm in our community, we have to use other methods than policing.

We can't just keep throwing police at everything because it's not working, right? We already know this. And the key thing to me about this story out of St. Louis is that they didn't know he was a police officer, right? So the whole thing is like, clearly he wasn't breaking the law. I'm sure he's not saying like, oh, I was in the middle of doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing, and that's what led to this altercation.

No, they attacked him because he was a Black man. So we know that that is what they do on a regular basis to protesters. That's what they do on a regular basis to Black people, regardless of what we are doing. And the fact that he is a police officer is not the only thing that makes it an injustice, because they do this on a regular basis to regular people, and you don't see the same kind of outcome that he is getting because this case is so obvious, because he is a police officer. So, you know, when we are talking about how do we address the issues of racism or even, again, going back to the Capitol insurrection and folks talking about, you know, we have got to look at what are these connections between police and right-wing groups, the

reason that exists is because for so long policing,, like if you want something that will pay you to go out and be racist, you know, the police was a place to go to and do that. So we have to do structural change. We've got to find other ways to address these issues. A question that I raised to folks, you know, when people were comparing the protests of last summer to what happened in January, I was like, in the past year, from January 6, 2020, to January 6, 2021, give me an instance of a riot in America that didn't have police involved in it. All of the rioting that we saw last summer arose because of police brutalizing someone, killing someone, and then escalating violence against people who were justifiably outraged. The insurrection on January 6th involved police officers mobilizing from around the country to attack the Capitol. So we have to talk about

the problem of policing as an institution. There's no other way forward. Absolutely. That's what it boils down to, Xavier. And again, five million bucks. And this is the thing. Where are all the fiscal conservatives complaining about police brutality, saying, why are you costing taxpayers money with your actions? Yeah, I think it's interesting they just go silent when it's time to pay up the victims of police brutality. Then it's it's it's it's nothing in terms of the amounts that are being paid. I think the interesting point here is that this he stepped up. He could have taken even with his treatment, decided not to do anything at all. And so credit him with having the courage to be able to bring

this lawsuit. I think that we do need more officers that are among the ranks being able to speak out and say, this was something that was wrong that happened. We need more snitches in the police department, the department. Sorry. And we're talking about defunding them. Those are definite steps that we should be exploring. but we need more courageous police officers who know what's happening around them is wrong, particularly if you're an African-American police officer. I know that there's a pressure to be able to get in the fraternity and move along, but we need systemic changes. And I've talked about this all show. We need to be able to have system changes using the system itself to be able to make those changes. So if you're an African-American,

you're a police officer, you see what's going on around you, you now have an obligation as an upholder of the law and any oath that you have taken to be able to truly uphold the law, not just uphold the paternity. Absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back with talk to a South Carolina man who had his child adopted. He had no idea he fought to get that child back. That is next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. The U.S. uses more than half the world's health care resources, but we're ranked 43rd in the world for life expectancy. How did we get here?

The political determinants of health include how we structure relationships, how we distribute resources and how we administer power. What does this look like at the individual level? Take Jessica, for example. Jessica is 19. Her dad relies on mental health and substance use programs, but when these programs get cut, he becomes too difficult to live with. She leaves home.

The neighborhood Jessica can afford has no grocery stores, limited public transit, and limited healthcare. To save money, policy makers change the water source to a more polluted river. Jessica has a minimum wage job with no health insurance at a convenience store that offers free snacks while she works, which she takes advantage of because they're free. When Jessica becomes pregnant, she can't get health insurance because pregnancy is a pre-existing condition.

And she doesn't realize that the salty, fatty snacks that she eats at work are bad for her baby. Jessica gets a ride to the closest clinic for a prenatal appointment, but the doctor is rushed and rude to her. She doesn't go back. Jessica develops preeclampsia and almost dies during her son's premature birth. He's born with cognitive defects because of poor diet, contaminated water source, and lack of access to prenatal care. As he grows up, Jessica learns that her school district doesn't have the resources to accommodate her son's special needs. He drops out after eighth grade and will repeat the cycle of poverty. Through Jessica's story, we begin to see how social determinants, environmental determinants,

healthcare determinants, and behavioral health determinants take their toll on our lives. And Jessica's story shows us how political determinants supersede personal responsibility. Equity in our policies is a process and an outcome. Change comes when we can identify political champions at all levels and figure out how our most pressing issues align with their policies. For more actionable solutions to close the health gap, read The Political Determinants of Health by Daniel E. Dawes.

Folks, this strange story I saw today, man, just sort of just blew me away. It deals with the issue of adoption. Imagine you being the father of a child. You having no idea that actually took place. And then all of a sudden you later find out that your child is put up for adoption. This story was crazy. Christopher Emanuel said he had to fight in order to get his daughter back. His journey also inspired him to create the Sky is the Limit Foundation where he travels, where first of all, where he travels around the country dealing with this issue. We're going to be talking to him a little bit later, but that was just an unbelievable story

that we actually saw right there. Also, as another story, we talked a little bit later in the show, so that'll be coming up next, but also the story out of Jacksonville, Florida, which is, again, we were talking about the crazy cops and how these things happen. This could have been a Breonna Taylor case all over again,

where a group of activists and lawyers there are demanding the Jacksonville authorities drop charges against a black woman who said she was acting in self-defense when she shot and wounded an officer during a raid on her home last year. 28-year-old Diamond Ford said she never heard the SWAT officers identify themselves as law enforcement and thought she was firing at her intruder. Ford and her 28-year-old fiance, Anthony Gant, who was in the home at the time of the shooting, faced charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer

and armed possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute. She joins us right now along with her attorney, Stephen Kelly. Diamond, I'm glad to have you here. As I said, this could have been a Breonna Taylor case. I mean, you're at home. You don't quite, you know, all of a sudden you hear cops busting through. It's like, what's going

on? Explain what happened. Explain what happened. Explain what happened with this incident. Hey, how you doing? So for me, of course, the night before we were prior to going to a funeral and everything

we went out to eat late we didn't get home until maybe two or three and we didn't fall asleep to like three or four the first thing i hear at seven o'clock in the morning is glass breaking now automatically we know we're not in a good neighborhood for one we found a you know a good spot that we thought was okay just to stay in until we found somewhere else to go. But once I hear that glass breaking, that's the first thing I'm thinking like, okay, who is trying to get in here? It happened so quick, honestly. I hate to relive this moment.

I really do. And so you were in your home. You were, what, were you watching TV? Were you cooking? And then all of a sudden, you hear this? What time was it? We were actually asleep. We didn't go to sleep until like 3, 4 o'clock that morning.

So we were probably asleep approximately 3 or 4 hours before we heard the glass break. We were absolutely knocked out. So this is like 3 o'clock in the morning? No, they got back home at 3 o'clock in the morning. Got it, got it, got it. And the actual, the issue is the timeline is so unclear for us because with all these officers involved, the SWAT,

the Joint Task Force, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, there's no body camera footage of this incident. So the timeline is up in the air, but let's say right before 8 o'clock in the morning, they're waking by glass shattering in her bedroom. It was a rake and break on the exterior on the home, and that's the very first thing that she heard. Being mindful, she is, you know, this isn't her home that she's lived in, she grew up in. She's new to the area and it is a high crime area. She had simply reached out maybe months prior and got a gun because of this. There has been known home invasions and things of that sort in that area. So she's awakened by glass shattering. And what did she do? She jumped out of the bed.

She armed herself. She's licensed to carry. And she shot out of the window. The justification that they're saying on why they were breaking that window is because they couldn't see inside of the window. And that means that she couldn't see out. It was privacy curtains that she had installed for herself so that she could sleep. And from there, she ran to the bathroom after shooting the five shots that she had installed for herself so that she could sleep. And from there, she ran to the bathroom after shooting the five shots that she had, and she phoned 911. And as simple as this, Roland, you know, like I know, you do not call the police on the police when you've just knowingly shot the police. She's saying that she didn't hear any announcement. I have over 15

residents in that same area saying the same thing, that the very first thing that they heard was gunshots and other booms and bangs. There was flash grenades. There was all kinds of things going on. When you're awaking by this, you don't think immediately that this is law enforcement outside of your home, especially when, like Ms. Ford, you live a crime free life. So from there, in most of these cases, they will say, well, Mr. Kelly, why didn't she call? Why didn't she call 911? She did. And if you listen to that 911 call, you can hear the terror in her voice.

She really thought that she was going to die. But you can hear... So were there no body cameras, or were they not on? They were not on. Well, we're not sure. There is a report that says, the initial arrest and booking report says that there were body cams.

And once I read that, I said to myself, this is going to be an easy one. Like, this case is going to resolve the way that it is supposed to. I said that, OK, well, she was arrested. I don't think that she should have been arrested. But once this body camera footage comes out, we're going to see the lack of an announcement or given her benefit of the fact that you would assume that a reasonable person in her position wouldn't have heard these announcements. But there's no body cam. There's 30 officers coming into a high risk, what they're saying, they're exercising a high-risk warrant. They all have military-grade firearms.

They all have protective vests on. But you're entering into this home where she resides there with her daughter, 11-year-old daughter. Who were they looking for? They were not looking for Diamond's Fort. That's what I do know. We're still going through the— No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Hold on. What I'm saying is you say it was a tactical unit. There were 30 of them. 30 of them. What were they trying to execute? What were they trying? They were executing a search warrant, not an arrest warrant, a search warrant,

based off of the actual target of that search warrant was not Ms. Ford, and the actual person who led them to that home is neither Ms. Ford nor her fiance, Mr. Gant. No, no, no. That's my whole point. So the search warrant wasn't on the wrong home?

Yeah, the search warrant was on the right home. It was one of those things where a CI made some claims regarding being in this home and dealing with some other individuals outside of Miss Ford, and that led to them executing multi-search warrants throughout the city on that day,

and her house happened to be one of the two homes that were hit. Were they looking for guns, drugs? What the... Human trafficking? What? They were looking for narcotics. 30 people, 8 o'clock inotics 30 people eight o'clock in the morning eight o'clock in the morning and again they bust through and then you inside going i

don't know who the hell this is and so your natural instinct is to is to is to grab a weapon uh was it that you have uh was it uh did you have a permit for that uh of course you're also in florida so you got a right to carry state as well. Yeah, I'm actually registered. I go to multiple gun shows. I've gone to two concealed weapons classes. I make sure everything is in line. So it is, the thing

here, and this is again part of the problem here. So I just want to be clear. Did they have body cameras or they simply not, they had body cameras? Well, they didn't have them with them during this operation. No, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

There's body cameras assigned. Okay, hold on, hold on. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has body cameras. Right, that's, okay, so this, okay, was this, okay, let me just walk through. Was this the Jacksonville Police Department or the Sheriff's Office? This was Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. They were employed to execute this search warrant by the DEA. Do the Jacksonville does the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department have body cameras? Absolutely. So it just so happens on this day they just didn't have them or they were not turned on.

Well, it's not their policy to be required to wear them SWAT. And that's what I was listening to you guys earlier speaking about policy change and local policy change and things of that sort. And that is one of our true intentions with this case. We hope that moving forward, that when you're executing a search warrant in a private residence home that you call high risk and you're entering into these homes with this type of military grade ammunition and firearms that you will take the citizens risk, the citizens safety in consideration for true transparency. You wear your body camera. If you

don't have your body camera on, you give this woman the benefit of the doubt to tell you what her present sense of mind was at this time. It's 8 o'clock in the morning. So this system, it felt her from start to finish thus far, and but for the people, she would not be in, she would not be out. She would still be down at the Duval County Jail, Roland. Diamonds, how many times have you actually

thought about that you could have been a hashtag like Breonna Taylor? Honestly, I thought about that, you could have been a hashtag like Breonna Taylor. Honestly, I thought about that multiple times. I'm still at this moment, still trying to process it. I don't know. I keep getting the same question.

How are you? Like, how's everything going? I don't know how to answer that question because I'm still processing it. I still wake up and it feels like a dream. Like, my daughter's walking into the room like, okay, I'm really here right now. Instead of being in jail. I've been in there so long that I feel like,

okay, that's it. Like, they're just going to treat me as if I'm this horrible person and I'm not. Hold on one second. Diamond, how much time did you spend behind bars? I spent 131 days in jail. 131 days, more than four months. The judge at one point declined to lower your bail.

That was back in November. When did you get out? I got out February 5th. And for people who don't understand that, um, who never experienced that, I mean, that had to be jarring for you to be sitting in jail going, why in the hell am I sitting in here? What hap...

How did I just all of a... go through my life doing the right things and I'm the one sitting in jail? Right. Honestly, for me, it felt like a horror movie. It felt like, you know how you normally watch First 48? You watch these little shows. You're like, oh, okay, this can't happen to me.

I don't do stuff like this, so I don't have to worry about it. But when it happens to you, it's like, okay, so I can literally live life just fine, and no matter what I do, this can happen to to me how do I prepare my daughter for stuff like this how do I tell her you know what just stay in school make straight as you go straight to college and it soon at some point now anything can happen for her to just not be able to go to college now my daughter is in fear she doesn't want to go anywhere. Yes, of course, she's happy. We have happy moments when we're together, but she doesn't want to go anywhere.

I'm scared to go anywhere. I don't even want to go visit no one's house. I don't want anyone to come visit me. I'm that terrified. That anything can happen. And, Roland, one thing I would like to add is that for quite some time, when she was incarcerated, she was on 23-1 lockdown for the simple fact, considering her lack of no criminal history, for the simple fact that her case was high profile.

The thing here, Diamonds, is that, first of all, there's been tremendous response from the public. How has that made you feel to see people all across the country coming to your defense saying that you have been wronged? Honestly, I feel thankful. I feel blessed. I completely thank everyone because there are still righteous people out there that understand right from wrong. I easily, like you just said, I easily could have been another Breonna Taylor, but I'm not.

So I'm here to tell my story and I'm here to fight for those who have gone through this or will possibly go through this so we can stop it. You talked about going, taking the classes, doing everything the right way. You're living in a state where they have a stand-your-ground law. And I would assume that as a part of this, you want to send a clear message not only to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department, but to every law enforcement agency, this is why there must be body cameras. And my whole deal is this here, not saying that that is the be-all to end-all and the solution,

but I've argued that they should be mandatory, and if an officer does not turn that camera on, I believe they should be fired because the camera is there to protect you as well as the officer. So if they had that camera on and then they were like, oh, no, we shouted, said it loud, she didn't hear us, you press play, there it is. The problem now is you now are dealing with a system

where it's going to be your word against that of law enforcement and we know how juries ought to respond. Absolutely. And that's a problem. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I want to get Diamond's response. Then you, Stephen. Go ahead, Diamond. Right. I was going to say right. I'm sorry. Didn't mean to cut anybody off.

No, no. You're fine. Go ahead. I just want to... What do you want to see? First of all, you're trying to get these charges dropped. That's the first. That's the most important thing. One, I want to see? First of all, you're trying to get these charges dropped. That's the first, that's the most important thing. One, I want to get these charges dropped. Two, I want to make a change so that this

does not happen to anyone else. I should not have to live in fear. I should not. I lived a happy life. Not saying I had a perfect life, but I lived a happy life. Take your time. Take your time. I lived a happy life. Now I live Take your time. Take your time. And then the simple fact of being the fact that I no longer have a weapon right now, I don't know how to secure myself.

If something is to happen, do I call 911? Are they going to protect me? So because of this incident, they they they seize your seize your gun. It's a condition of her release. And Roland, the one thing that I wanted to add is that. If this makes it to a jury of her peers, there's been a grave injustice. And from the very beginning, in cases like this, considering what's available to them reasonably and what was actually used, what was there and what's not there, considering the 911 call, there shouldn't have been an instant arrest. She's talked to everyone. There's one thing about Ms. Ford that I never had a problem with her doing

is talking to anyone, talking to the initial arresting officer. She was in an interrogation room for over four hours. Her story has not changed. It's pure. It's nothing that I have to do with her at all because it is a true story. And from there, she was arrested

and she shouldn't have been. Then she was held on a $535,000 bond, considering that she's not a flight risk and she hasn't historically proved to be a danger to the community. That was the step two Felder. Then she was criminally charged, considering no agreement on the bond

or anything of that sort. We went to a bond hearing, we presented this 911 call to her. The 911 call is telling. The judge refused to reduce or modify the bond at all, considering her financial circumstances. And that's another issue with the bail system and the cash bond system that we're dealing with now as well.

Ms. Ford has made $25,000, the most that she's made in her life a year, annually, and she was held on a half a million dollar bond. That's a ransom, considering the circumstances. If this goes in front of a jury of her peers, Roland, it's going to be an injustice. This should be dropped. And it's our hopes that Melissa Nelson does that.

Diamonds, what has been the conversations you've had to have with your daughter? First of all, how old is your daughter? She just turned 12 November 13th. And what have those conversations been like? Because here you are, you obviously want to keep her safe. She sees you as her protector. And I would

take it that the two of you are living in fear because of the unknown. And also the possibility that if they don't drop this and it goes to trial and you're convicted, not being able to be with your daughter for a number of years.

Right. The conversations are, I try to be as open as I can with her. At this point now, I used to hide certain conversations from her because, you know, she's a child. She's not going to go through that. But now I literally have to open up to conversations that I don't want to talk to her about. The possibility of someone coming in and possibly killing you or where you should hide or who you should call or a safe place to run if something is to happen. I have to have these conversations with her. I'm to the point now where we're both crying. We're not crying because of joy.

We're crying because we're living in fear now yes she wants her stepdad to come home but how how do i tell her okay well we're gonna go pick him up no we're not and realistically this is what's going on right now and i i literally she has as a matter of fact she's doing a project at her school her three top her three top people that she had to do was Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, and Emmett Till. I do all of her projects with her so she understands what she's doing. Showing her those videos, letting her read the articles, it brought tears to her eyes. And I myself cannot stop the tears from coming is what hurts me the most. I feel like I can't protect my child

in reality right now. And unfortunately, that is the case for far too many black parents. Diamonds Ford, Stephen Kelly, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Bree Newsome, the point I made there, and this is critically important, I have long said that body cameras are not the be-all to end-all. But this is precisely why they matter. Because if you have them and you're wearing them and it's on, then when these things, if these things happen, go to the tape. But when it's, when you are forced to have your word up against a police officer, that's like damn near guaranteed you're going to lose.

Yeah. And it's a couple of things. I think one is what are we doing to force these officers to have their cameras on? Because, you know, even in cases where they have physically had the cameras on, they're picking and choosing when they turn it on, you know, when they turn the audio on. And then how are we getting access to it? That's been the other issue where, you know, we'll find out or we might even be aware that body camera footage exists and people are having to fight in court. That was the situation with the case in Chicago, you know, recently, where in that case, she was having to fight for like over a year to even get access to the footage that she knew existed. So I think it's both of those things. And then number three, what I would

add is just this whole issue of our right to self-defense. I mean, this is another case where essentially what is at issue is do black people have any right to self-defense? Do we have any right to our homes and our space and protecting ourselves? You know, of course, yes, Florida is the stand your ground state. Florida is a state that allows you to carry a gun. But again, we see how these laws that are on the books don't apply to Black people. That was the central issue in the Trayvon Martin case, was that they ruled that George Zimmerman, who attacked Trayvon Martin, had a right to stand his ground when he initiated the conflict, but Trayvon didn't have a right to defend himself. And what's horrible in this case with Ms. Ford is she's already being

punished. She's already, you know, let's look again, compare it to the case with Amy Cooper, right? She has already spent more time in jail than Amy Cooper has. And for what? She didn't do anything. She was in her home. She had no idea who was breaking in. Do we have absolutely no right to protect ourselves under any circumstances? That seems to be the central issue. The thing here, Xavier,

I mean, this literally could have been a repeat of Breonna Taylor. Yeah, it could have been. What did your last guess, it could have been. What did your last guess, I would have asked them, did the NRA call you? Oh, hell no. As a gun owner?

Hell no. Hell no. You ain't got a hell no they ain't call. We know better than that. We know better than that. And so we see the hypocrisy, right? We see two fact patterns. One of Trayvon Martin in terms of being able to protect your home. Then we see another of Breonna Taylor being able to be,

would like to be safe in her own home. We see it playing out right in front of our eyes. But we also heard her attorney talk about having, transforming the system down there because, yeah, okay, if you have no law on the books that's telling you must keep the body camera on, then there's a disincentive. You're not disincentivizing not using it. And then on top of that,

we have the... Brie talked about the flow of information and Laquan McDonald here in Chicago having to take 13 months before the video was released. And so we have to be able to change the structure and the process around video. You know, video is not the end-all and be-all. But remember, the police are operating

as a function of the state. And so the state is supposed to be operating in the best interest of citizens. And so if you're operating in the best interest of citizens, then the camera itself is the citizens looking at the state administering and protecting its own citizens. So it just makes

basic common sense to be able to make sure that's on the books that every municipality, if you have cameras, you are required to use them to protect and serve the public. Quadricos? We know that Black people are three times more likely to die than white people being killed by the police when they are not attacking or do not have a weapon.

My questions are, you know, why does it take so long for officers to be charged? Why are bad cops still allowed to stick around? And at what point does the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department actually get involved in cases like this? And what reforms can we actually implement to change police accountability? Because time and time again,

we've seen too many of these stories, and quite frankly, they're heart-wrenching. And so at what point, yes, body cameras, there are other solutions, defund the police, but we have to continuously call and hold their feet to the fire with regard to police accountability and ensuring that this doesn't happen again to the next black or brown soul.

We have to ensure that when they have the consent decrees, we have to make sure those consent decrees are being held accountable. Yeah, but the consent decree is after you go through all of this, after you have federal intervention, after they become. No, no, no. I'm talking about what has to happen before consent decrees. And this is where this is the moment where city councils are going to have to learn how to play hardball with these cops. I forgot the city. I know what happened in San Antonio, but there's another city where these damn cops were saying, oh, no, no, y'all got to pay us extra to wear body cameras. Hell no.

The body camera is just as important as your gun and your badge. These city people say, we ain't paying your ass no extra damn money. They actually called it an accountability bonus. No, your job is an accountability bonus. The bonus is you getting a check. But see, that's what they do. These unions operate as stick-up artists against these cities,

and because these city officials are so desperate for the endorsement of the police union when they're running for office they've been to their will i'm looking for a politician to say hell no we ain't giving you no extra money for a body camera and if y'all don't want to wear one well then you can go find you another job that's really how you're going to deal with this because i'm just sick and tired of these cities cities playing footsie with these police unions. Everybody's scared to say something bad. You got the NYPD act the fool, dogging people, saying you always got to come to our defense.

No, no, hell no. When you act the fool, we're going to call you out. But but but to sit here and act like we got to kiss their behind all the time. That's part of the problem. that's part of the problem. That's part of the problem with these city officials. And it's time for them to get tough and literally say we're going to hold out. And then when these cops threaten to slow down and say we're going to stop policing, then you say you slow down, then we're going to fire you. See, at some point, we got to end this nonsense where they can pretty much do whatever they want to and the last point I'm sick and tired of these punk-ass cops who involved in a shooting and they don't have to give they don't have to give an interview for 48 hours

No, if you as a police involved shooting They should immediately be sequestered and have to give an interview once your attorney present fine Have your attorney present but But this whole waiting 24, 48 and 72 hours? Nah. Ask all that crap on these contracts. That's also a part of the problem when it comes to police in this country. All right, folks, I was telling you about this story in South Carolina. Talk about a nightmare. Man finds out his girlfriend placed a newborn daughter up for adoption without telling him. Christopher Emanuel, that's what he experienced. And he had to fight like hell to get his daughter back.

He joins us right now in Roland Martin Unfiltered. Christopher, how you doing? Do we have Christopher? Okay, all right. Christopher, he stepped away. All right, he's back. Christopher, you there? Christopher, are you there?

Can you hear me? Christopher, Roland Martin, Can you hear me? I'm going to the station, okay? Yeah, that's true. Christopher Roland Martin, can you hear me? All right, let's try that. All right, folks, I'm going to go to a quick break. We'll come back. We'll have Christopher and Roland Martin unfiltered back in a moment.

You do know that there's not a piece of your life that government in some way does not involve now i cracked up these conservatives down to your name everything down to your name everything i mean just if you if you actually sat down and said okay what part of my life let me try to find something in my life that government in in does not have a part of i can't think of a single thing you can say fine they don't impact my marriage which they do because you gotta get that marriage license yep yep from the birth to the tomb and if you're gonna be here in the United States of America, whether you like it or not, you got to know about it. You got to know its history.

Because when somebody knows about you more than you know yourself, that's slavery. That's volunteer slavery. So it's almost like double the education we got to pick up of what this place is all about, how it works, how it runs. I'm a firm believer being in 112 countries that you got to think global and act local, but you better ACT, act local. All right, folks, let's go back to the story with Christopher Emanuel, of course, who started

the Sky's the Limit Foundation after he had to deal with a very difficult situation where his daughter was put up for adoption. He had no idea. Christopher, glad to have you on Roller Mountain Unfiltered. First and foremost, OK, it looks like. So, Christopher, what when when did you find out that you that your child was put up for adoption? How long ago was this?

2014, February the 22nd. February 22nd, 2014. How long had this taken place? And so you found out February 22nd, 2014, but how long before that was she put up for adoption? I'm sorry, it's a little bit of static in the background, but I think I heard you. How long before that was she put up for adoption?

Okay, so my daughter was involved in an unethical and predatory adoption for about three and a half months. So from February the 11th all the way up until May the 3rd, 2014. And so at no point, so your girlfriend didn't tell you? from February the 11th all the way up to May the 3rd, 2014. And so at no point, so your girlfriend didn't tell you? So I was involved throughout the entire pregnancy.

I went to April pre-mortem and provided for her emotionally, physically and financially. Even had dreams of even getting married and moving in together. So I was thwarted. I was lied to. I was deceived. And I was under the impression that I was going to be involved and engaged in my child's life.

And when the biological mother didn't come to the diaper bash, that's when I registered on the Responsible Father Registry. And I didn't know I was going to experience what I experienced, but I thank God for the responsible father registry. How long was this battle to get custody of your child? How long was the battle? Yeah. From February the 11th, the day that she was actually declared the ICPC

to prevent me from actually being involved, all the way up until May the 3rd, 2014. So I got actual physical custody of her May the 3rd, but I had to wait six months to terminate the biological mother rights. Even though she signed over her rights, she still had the opportunity to come and fight me. So we terminated her rights in November of, well, we filed for TPR in November of 2014, and we terminated her rights January 2015.

I've covered other stories over the years where fathers have talked about how they believe the system, the family court system is set up to reward mothers and to disenfranchise fathers. That is very difficult when you want to be involved in your child's life, if you want to have custody of your children, or in this case here, where the system pretty much says, you mean nothing, your voice means nothing. Is that what you felt like that your girlfriend

could put a child up for adoption and you have no say so? No, we hear so much. And, you know, being an African-American, indigenous man that I am, we're painted as deadbeats. We're painted as dope boys and drug dealers, you know. So, you know, the structure of the impediment that was totally different. So, can you hear me? Your video is breaking up there.

So you're going in and out. But go right ahead. Let's go ahead and continue. Okay, so I've heard of, you know, the structural impediments that we face as a race and as a nation, but I never experienced it. I didn't see any challenges. Christopher, one second. Christopher, whoever is talking where you are, we literally cannot hear you.

And so that noise is interfering with you, so we can't make out anything that you're saying. OK, go ahead. All right. So, yes, again, you know, I hear the structural impediments that we face as a nation and as a culture. But I never actually lived it until, you know, fighting for my daughter. So to answer your question, I was willing to be the wolf to climb the mountain, for lack of a better word. But to really see how valuing and demeaning those who work for the system can be is truly one of the things that enlightened me. For example, you know, I was served on the ninth day out of 10 days with an improper notice of adoption proceedings. It stated that I had 30 days to conduct. So I didn't drive to Greenville, South Carolina, which is approximately two hours away from Aiken, South Carolina.

You know, I wouldn't be here telling you the story today. But not only that, they knew I registered on the responsible father registry and still decided to violate my constitution and my state rights by trafficking my daughter to San Diego, California. So I still had to prove what mothers are given by default so that I can provide a safe and healthy environment for my child, I could provide financially for my child, that I was obviously healthy to be able to take care of my child. And the mere fact that I did everything that I was supposed to, it's so easy for a responsible, unwed dad to get trampled on if he doesn't know his rights, if he isn't educated. I didn't know about it.

If I didn't register, I wouldn't have had, I wouldn't have legally obligated to be notified about the adoption. But even though I was notified, I was still violated. And it's just so easy, Roland, for dads to get outmaneuvered due to lack of knowledge. I mean, you're absolutely right. And so since the story was published and, of course, folks begin to learn about it, what kind of response have you received? Have you heard from other fathers across the country, people seeking your help to help them as well? Because the reality is there are a lot of men, especially a lot of black men out there, who want to be involved in their children's life, who want to raise their children,

but don't get the same sort of media attention and focus as the case when a mother is involved. Absolutely. And I talk to dads every day. When the article originally came out in the Atlantic Journal, we started out just educating dads. We recently acclimated to training agencies and institutions to work with fathers and families and not against. Because one of the things that I realized even within myself, fighting for my child, there wasn't anybody that I could talk to that could tell me I was going to get my child, that I was going to see my child again, and that I was going to, you know, be successful.

And when I sit there, I read my Bible every day. I read my Bible and I made my work ethic to align with God's grace and just doing what I'm supposed to do. When I talk about the dads, I say they have a chance, but there are things that we as unwared, responsible dads must do. We have to be serious about the women that we intend to marry. We've got to get as much information as possible. Something as simple as a driver's license number,

a social security number, documenting everything, opening up a bank account for the child, depositing money in an account, just being intentional. So, you know, through these lessons, those are some of the things that I tell the dads that, you know, I work with on a daily. So the response has been tremendous, man. Dads calling from all over the world. And granted, you know, we can't save everybody, but one of the things that I do say is the only way that you won't see your child is if you don't want to see your child. It's a process, an ugly process. And process means it's not going to happen overnight. But if I can go through it and I can push through, then so can they.

And I hope that I answered answering your question, Roland. Absolutely. Christopher Emanuel, man, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. And it's great to see you do that. That's why we certainly want to have you on the show to amplify this story. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Thanks a lot, Christopher. You take care. Thanks a bunch. Quickly go to. Thanks a lot, Christopher. You take care. Thanks a bunch. Quickly go to my panel, Quadricos. The thing, look, there is this assumption by a lot of people that men, especially black men, don't want to be fathers. Again, I've covered many stories. We know the stories where folks are deadbeat dads, but you also got some deadbeat moms. And the system should be looking at people

fairly when it comes to the children. Well, unfortunately, we know that the system doesn't look at black families holistically, and that's part of the problem. In addition to the continuation of this racist trope that somehow Black fathers are deadbeat or don't want to be involved in their parents' lives, excuse me, their child's life. And Christopher Emanuel's story sort of amplifies that here's a father who wants to be involved and actually got his child back at the hands of the mother who was not probably the best mother that she could have been. And so we need to not only continuously talk about the need for fatherhoods,

but I think we need to continuously concentrate on how fathers and mothers are doing the best they can to raise their children given the resources that they have and that's within their power. Xavier. Yeah I grew up a foster kid, product of the child welfare system, so it needs to be, we need to have reform in order to make sure the kids are going back to the right homes that are gonna be best for them. In addition to that being able to protect black men and giving them the same benefit of the law as they do moms as well. And so we must be able to address that. We must be able to amplify programs for black fathers to be educated. And also, I've talked to so many black men, even professionals, that they've

been hindered by the system. And so we need to be able to address that. It is a glaring problem in our community that we are flat out ignoring. Thank you for bringing it to light on your program, Marla. Brie, your thoughts? Yeah, no, I'm just grateful for the work that he is doing because the system is way too quick and eager to just rip families apart and pull children away. And we know that racist tropes play a major role in that. You know, just the assumption that black people are incapable of taking care of our children. And of course, it has an impact on black men. When we know that statistically,

black men are actually more involved in the raising of their children than any other race. So that trope is completely false. So I'm just really glad that this issue is being brought to light and more is being done to push for that systemic change.

Absolutely. All right, folks, time for our tech segment. We live in a space where we always are talking about the problems that African-Americans have when it comes to accessing dollars to grow our businesses. We know for a fact that we're not necessarily getting the necessary money when it comes to venture capital funds. I mean, we can go on and on and on when it comes to that very issue. And so we talk about it a lot on this show the reality is, if you don't have black businesses, then you're not in a position

to be able to grow and build wealth. In honor of Black Heritage Month, Amazon, LinkedIn, and the Michigan Employee Resource Group for Equity, they've teamed up with the nation's largest equity crowdfunding platform, StartEngine, to host a Global Pound discussion to showcase the inspiring journeys of five black founders who raised as much as a million bucks in capital from the crowd on Start Engine. We've, of course,

featured other folks, Isaac Hayes and others, who have raised money via crowdfunding campaigns. One of the folks is Don Dixon, the founder of Flat Out of Heels, a company that provides rollable ballet-style flats that can be used as an emergency flat and one for everyday use. Yeah, a whole bunch of y'all who go to Essence Festival probably would love to hear that. Now, the Black Founders Forum, which takes place Thursday, will include a Q&A and address the topic of equity

as it relates to access to capital for black and brown founders. Joining me now is, to talk about her journey, is Dawn Dixon. Dawn, how you doing? I'm doing amazing, Roland. Thanks for having me. All right, glad to have you here.

So, you know, again, for people who don't understand, when you're trying to grow a business, you're trying to build a business and all of that, it's harrowing, but when you do not have the ability to be able to access capital to grow and build, it just people don't understand. You simply cannot do anything. You're stuck in a particular place. This is exactly right. And, you know, the expectation of black people to bootstrap, figure it out on our own or come to investors with an extreme amount of validation and sales before we get an investor is definitely unfair to us. And so as I've been an entrepreneur for 20 years now, you mentioned my company Flat Out of Heels. I've had that company for 10 years.

And the company that I've actually raised capital with on StartEngine is called PopCom. And we're a technology company and what i found that when raising money for a tech company it was easier but the journey for raising capital for me over these 20 years has definitely been a very interesting lots of winding roads there and and and walk folks through that i mean how did you arrive at the point where you say you know what the crowdfunding platform this is better as opposed to the traditional way of raising money? Yes. So for my first couple of ventures, I just raised money from friends and family. I've started five companies and four are still in business.

For Popcom, which is a tech company, a software company, we raised our first million from venture capital and accredited investors after we finished a program called Techstars, which is a technology accelerator. And the experience that I had as a black female founder coming from the Midwest, coming from Ohio, and not in Silicon Valley, not from Stanford, not from Harvard, not from the good old boys, good old girls club, it definitely was different. And so I said, I really want to raise money in a different way. And several of my mentors, who are also founders founders advised me, if you can find another way to raise capital, you should explore that so you can get more traction and more sales before going to institutional capital. And so the jobs act started in 2012 by the Obama administration

didn't come into effect till 2016. So as soon as I was able to use that and leverage the crowd in my community to raise capital, to me, that was just, there was no other way for me to go. I knew I wanted to leverage my community and give my people an opportunity to get access to early stage company like mine. Let me bring my panel here for questions. Bree Newsom, I'll start with you. Any questions you have for Don Dixon? What is the greatest challenge that you face? I mean, obviously, we know that, you know, access to capital is a systemic kind of barrier. So how do you kind of approach dealing with that? And what recommendations would you make to other people who are confronting the same challenge? You know, I always call what we're experiencing, even over the past five years, the civil rights

movement to access to capital, because there were so many things put into place into law, including the law in 1933 that prevented non-accredited investors from investing in early stage deals. And so these laws were put into place, and they're really systematic things that kept many communities from being able to generate wealth, especially generational wealth. Because when I researched how people get wealthy, it's from inheritance, investments, and entrepreneurship. Well, we know we couldn't really invest because we weren't allowed. We couldn't inherit things because we couldn't

own anything. And then for entrepreneurship, you see what happened on Black Wall Street. So for me, you know, the challenges came with just breaking down those barriers and keeping moving forward despite all the statistics that say we can't raise money, despite all the odds against us, because someone has to sit in the back of the bus of raising capital. Someone has to go ahead and do the things that are hard so that everyone else can have an easier path. Quadricos, question for Don Dixon. Hi, Don.

So this is absolutely phenomenal, and I'm certainly going to look you up after the show. But I wanted to know, as I think about this broadband access issue, right, how are you using what you have learned through the steps of establishing your own business to teach, really, to pay it forward and making sure that other little brown skin girls have access to capital as well as starting their own business? That's a great question. Thank you for asking me that. And it's very important to me because I wouldn't be where I'm at today if people didn't pay it forward for me, many people, as a matter of fact. So I do teach. I write extensively on blogs. I volunteer my time to speak at conferences and events to benefit people that look like me, especially young women. I'm very transparent with my process. I'm always very open. So I have several things

out there. Like I said, my medium blog or my YouTube or my social. So I share my process. I tell people step by step. I'm also coming out with a book. It's in the process of being written. And I'm going to really just be all the way open and tell everyone the things that entrepreneurs don't want to share. It's a dark time. We're in this shark tank era where everybody seemed like an overnight success. And people don't realize the many years of work and just time it takes to even get the headlines, to even be sitting here talking to you today.

I've put in 20 years of work to even do that. So I definitely give back in any way that I can. Let's go to Xavier. Mark, there was a recently released interview with Mark Zuckerberg. He was 21 years old. And he was interviewed and he asked him when he got his first stage of investment

what his plan was. He openly admitted that he didn't have a plan. And talk about the difference between you being an African-American business owner going in front of investment rounds, being completely buttoned up, everything, dyes dotted, T's crossed, and then you're seeing, you know,

certain white companies being funded on shoestrings. Can you imagine if I said I didn't have a plan? I mean, even my plan now is constantly being challenged. So, you know, it's... I don't get caught up in it. That's the only way I stay sane. If I thought about all the times where I could be perceivably at a disadvantage, it would be discouraging for me. And so I just keep my confidence high.

And I know that for every barrier, it can be broken down. And there's a collective effort, not just by myself. If you look around at the black tech scene, it's just, it's grown exponentially. And we're all, we all work together and support each other and we make introductions and we build each other up. So I really want the narrative to change from how hard it is for us to raise capital, how hard it is for us to build businesses. Just a couple of weeks ago, a list came out. There's about seven black unicorns right now. That means companies founded by black founders that are over a

billion dollars in evaluation. Those times are changing, and I just refuse to even accept that as my current reality. All right, then. Dawn, the discussion later this week, when is it taking place again? The discussion? The one that we're all having with the founders? Yeah. It's Thursday, and it's going to be a panel of several founders that I know and I've worked with as well as StartEngine team. And we're going to just talk about our journey.

You know, we are definitely pioneers in this space. I was the first female founder of any race to raise over a million dollars in crowdfunding. And since then, I've seen it just take off. And I have a round open now. I'm raising capital in StartEngine again. So it's just an amazing tool for us. All right, then. Don Dixon, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much and good luck in the future. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks a lot. All right, folks, we're almost done. Let me give a shout out to a few people. Dr. Piles, certainly the one to

thank Dr. Nancy Piles for contributing to our show. This 50 bucks is for investigation of the census money. My $50 yearly membership was sent via New Vision in January. God bless you and all your staff and guests, your weekly panelists. Keep up the extraordinary work of keeping us black folks informed. Dr. Nancy Piles. And Nancy said, do you receive all the money when mail? Yes, Nancy, I do. It all comes, and I actually have to sign each one of these checks and money orders

and physically deposit it. So yes, when I say I receive it, like literally, I receive it. So let me just read one more. I appreciate all the notes and stuff that we get from folks who send us checks. Some of these letters are hilarious, especially when they're trying to hit on my panelists. And so, if any of y'all in my panelists today, if y'all single, I'm just letting y'all know, it's going to be some folk

trying to hit on y'all. And so, I'm just trying to tell you, you can ask. They've been, they hit on Erica Savage-Wilson, who's our panelist every Thursday. My man sent a photo in and everything for Erica. Let me read this real quick. So let me think. Okay, who is this?

Okay. Y'all got to do me a favor. If y'all send me something, I got to make out y'all name. Oliver Black. Praise the Lord you put it on the outside of your envelope. Oliver Black, I appreciate it. Y'all want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered. Every dollar you give goes to support the show.

We just talked about what Don Dixon does with crowdfunding, what they can't. So we don't actually do the crowdfunding with them. We just do it ourselves. If y'all support us on YouTube, remember, we only get 55% of any money y'all give on YouTube because of 5545 revenue shared. So when you support us via Cash App or PayPal or Venmo or Zelle, all 100% goes to us. Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered, paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered. Venmo.com is forward slash rmunfiltered. Zelle at Roland at RolandisMartin.com. I want to thank my panel, Xavier, Quadricos, and of course,

Bree Newsome. Thank you so very much. Glad to have y'all on the show. Enjoyed the conversation. Look forward to having y'all back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Y'all be sure. Thanks. Thanks a bunch. And all my people in Texas, y'all stay warm, please. I pray for the folks there. Millions in Texas still without heat. Republicans there, y'all trash ass. I see it. Governor Greg Abbott, you're full of shit. So is you, Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor. Y'all criticized the Democrats in California when they had the energy blackouts. Look what the hell's happening in Texas. And yeah, all my family is still there. So I got a problem with y'all doing what the hell y'all doing there. So get it together. And this is what happens when you also don't want to be a part of the federal

energy grid. Y'all want to sit here and have your own because you don't want to buy by federal regulations. Now the whole grid is screwed up. People don't have water. Folks don't have heat. We got people sitting there being impacted all across. And then we're seeing again the haves and the have-nots. And Ken Paxton, you sorry-ass attorney general of Texas who blocked me on Twitter, who's under investigation for corruption, why don't you do your damn job to go up to these hotels who are gouging? You got two-star hotels in Texas charging $779 to rent a hotel room for one damn night. The state should be prosecuting

every single one of these prowess gougers. And so all you Republicans in Texas, I'm holding y'all accountable. Y'all talk all that trash about Democrat-run cities. Well, guess what? It's a red damn state, so do your damn job. That's all I'm saying. So somebody had to say it, and I'm sick and tired of y'all folk doing what y'all doing.

You're screwing over the people there, talking all that trash. Last thing, let me find it real quick here. Alexander and Ann Henderson. Y'all, they sent me this jacket right here. It says, Dream Big, Chase Hard. And so I appreciate it, so I decided to wear it on today's show. I love my fan base. Thank you so very much. Now,

everything y'all send me, I don't wear. Okay? Don't be, all of a sudden, turn this bad boy into a fashion mall. Alright, I gotta go. I'll see y'all tomorrow. 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. 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 two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your 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 Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council This is an iHeart Podcast