#RolandMartinUnfiltered - NC DA: Andrew Brown Jr. death was justified; NYPD cop charged w/ bribery; Demings to challenge Rubio

Episode Date: May 19, 2021

5.18.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NC DA Andrew Womble says Andrew Brown Jr. killing was justified; Black council member accused cops of retaliation because he participated in an Andrew Brown protest; Two South Carolina detention center deputies fired for involvement in the death of an inmate; NYPD cop charged w/ bribery liked to point gun at Black people to scare them; Rep. Val Demings to challenge Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022; NYC mayoral candidate Isaac Wright shares his vision for the Big Apple; May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we'll share how you can take charge of your mental health with peer supportSupport #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.

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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. Today is Tuesday, May 18th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered in North Carolina, DA Andrew Womble said he will not pursue charters against the sheriff's deputies who shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr., saying the shooting was justified. We'll show you some of the news conference, also get reaction from the family attorney, Harry Daniels. Also, folks, in North Carolina, a black council member accuses police

of retaliation because he participated in an Andrew Brown protest. They then urinate in his yard. There's video. In South Carolina, two detention center deputies were fired for their involvement in the death of a black inmate. We'll explain. And in New York, a police officer who bragged about pointing his gun at black people

to scare them for his enjoyment was arrested for corruption. Will Congresswoman Val Demings, will she run for United States Senate in Florida? We'll tell you if that's the case. And also, Isaac Wright, candidate for New York City mayor, will join us on today's show. Plus, May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and in our Marketplace segment, we'll tell you how you can take charge of your mental health with peer support through a black-owned business.

It's time to bring the funk and roll the mark on the filter. Let's go. With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real

The best you know, he's Rollin' Martin Now Today, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, District Attorney Andrew Womble announced that he is not going to pursue charges against the sheriff's deputies who shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr. on April 21st, saying the shooting was justified. He said the officers reasonably believed deadly force should have been used in the shooting of Brown. On Wednesday, April 21st, 2021, Andrew Brown Jr. of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, was shot and killed by three deputies with the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office. This incident occurred at the residence of Mr. Brown, located at 421 Perry

Street in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. After reviewing the investigation conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Brown's death, while tragic, was justified because Mr. Brown's actions caused three deputies with the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office to reasonably believe it was necessary to use deadly force to protect themselves and others. Only 44 seconds had passed between the time officers jumped out of their vehicle and Brown was shot to death. This right here is the video footage that he showed at today's news conference. You see the video where all of a sudden there's audio, please turn it up. You see them jumping out of the car. Motherfucker! Stop the fucking car! Stop the fucking car!

Fuck! Hey! Stop the fucking car! I'll be out! Let me see your head! Hey! Hey! Motherfucker! Stop the fucking war! Stop the goddamn war! Fuck!

Hands! Let me see your hands! Hands! Hands! Let me hear your hands! Hands! Hands! Hands! Hei! Hva er det du gjør? Hva er det du gjør? Hva er det du gjør? Hva er det du gjør? Hva er det du gjør? Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, goble claimed that because Brown moved the vehicle, that put the lives of the sheriff's deputies in, well, again, he claims it put them as a threat. Joining us right now is Harry Daniels, one of the attorneys for the Andrew Brown Jr. family.

So they fought the release of this for all of this time. You heard the D.A. claim that the officers' lives were put in jeopardy. He initially said in the first court hearing that the car was moving towards the officers. In that video there, you see Brown back up. You don't see him hitting one of the officers. What do you make of what Andrew Womble said today? Roland, Andrew Womble, in my opinion, and this is my opinion, is that he has no integrity. He should not be presiding in making any decision as to whether, as it relates to this case, should be prosecuted or not.

He is intertwined with those officers. He works with those officers on a daily basis. He is basically put in a position to make a determination as whether his own people violate the law. So in simple put, he is presented with the job of having to prosecute his own prosecuting officers in Pasadena County. The reason why I say he has no integrity, he mentioned that the reason why he did not call the family and give them heads up in his decision because a conference or meeting he had with the attorneys before it was contentious.

That's absolutely not the case. That's 100% a lie. In fact, I have communication after that meeting with Mr. Womble and extensive long telephone meeting with Mr. Womble and extensive long telephone conversations with Mr. Womble. He chose not to call the Brown family

because he knew that he was going to have to tell them something that's inconsistent on the video. So just to be clear, he had this news conference today, gave the family no heads up, just out of the blue, he's announcing no charges.

That's correct. That's correct. His position was that he, it was a heated, contentious relationship between the attorneys. When we first met, I was the attorney that met with him. Ms. Laster was the attorney who met with him. We shook hands and we said we're going to try to work together to get to the bottom of it. He, in fact, called my telephone. We had a long conversation after the fact.

So his position there is an absolute lie. I'm not even going to say it's a mistaken belief. It's a lie. I have a telephone communication. It takes me to prove that he's lying, and I'm standing by it. So that tells me the type of character we're dealing with. So was I shocked that he didn't bring charges? No.

He basically set it up in court. What he said before, he wasn't that the vehicle went forward. Then not until only then shots were fired. The video ejected evidence is crystal clear in this case. I mean, it's so disheartening that a man can be killed in a matter he did. And the D.A. just took an oath to do his duty, completely dereliction thereof. And there's nothing that he can say, any law that he can try to quote, or any totalitarian circumstances, legalese that he can quote, to make the American population to believe otherwise.

This was an unjustified killing of Andrew Brown. Unjustified killing. So what now? So is the only, first of all, he's the DA. He gets to decide whether it goes to the grand jury, if there are any charges, any indictments. So the only hope now

is the federal investigation. Go ahead. Sorry, go ahead, Roland. So what now? Do we hope that the feds launch an investigation and take it to a grand jury? Well, the Department of Justice is currently investigating this matter. I'm sure that investigation is deeper or more broad than the surface in which the SBIR investigated matter. So we hope that Department of Justice, in particular Maine Justice, will be moving forward to bring charges, civil rights charges.

This is a clear case where civil rights charges should be brought. We can break this video down in many ways on Sunday. We can. You can say, well, he appears to be moving towards the officers, putting at least one officer, a wanted officer, to say, well, he was putting, you know, threatening with the vehicle. Well, that officer gets out of the way. Okay? And Mr. Brown drives by. Rowland, what is the justification now to unload as a firing squad in this man's vehicle,

ultimately striking and killing? But it's our contention that he was never a threat to the officers. As you can see, he backed up. If it was a threat to him, he could have went towards them. He backed up, turned his wheel to the left, and it was two officers on his left and right. He drove between them. One officer touched the vehicle. It's very fast.

Touches the vehicle and pushes back. That's why the vehicle moving at a very slow pace. No threat whatsoever. Roland, that officer did not shoot his gun. The officer that the DA is talking about was threatened, he didn't shoot his gun at all. Four other officers who were on scene did not shoot their guns. So when you're

talking about an objective, reasonable officer, well, hell, you got four objective, reasonable officers who's out on the scene who chose not to shoot and kill the man. But you have three that did. Three that did. So you have a policy in Pasquotain County.

They have their own policy, use of force policy. It's policy 300 of Pasquotain County Sheriff's Office that you do not shoot into a moving vehicle. You avoid shooting into a moving vehicle by all calls unless you are threatened and you have no choice but to shoot into that moving vehicle. One of the reasons is because you don't know who's in the vehicle. It could be children in the vehicle as such,

or you could shoot an individual and that person lose control and possibly cause injury or death to an innocent bystander or somebody else. So that's their policy. Their policy specifically says that you try to move out of the way. So let's take their policy. The deputy, for arguing no purposes, he was in the way, he moved out the way. He followed the policy. You get out the way. You don't shoot in the vehicle, you get out the way.

But after he moves out the way, the barrage of fire shots begin. So, violation of own policy. Further violation of own policy is you shoot a suspected felon. It's specifically forbidden in Pasco County to do so. Forbidden to do so. But when you look at this policy versus what we saw on this video, no threat. If it was a threat, the threat was eliminated, but they still

killed it. They still killed it. No justification. It's interesting here that he shows this video forcing cameras to point their cameras at the screen. He won't release the video. Well, the court has to release the video. In essence, by showing the video, he released a portion of the video because obviously media recorded the screen, obviously. However. At this point, there's no question about releasing the video because he says he's not going to press charges. So there's no real reason for the video not to release. In fact, the public have seen a significant portion of the video that we believe are the relevant parts.

But I think there's other relevant parts to this video. For example, I believe one of the main reasons why they don't want the entire video released, because you may have incriminating statements on the video by one officer. Hey, man, why did you shoot? Well, I didn't shoot. Or i thought that he had a gun or i fought this incriminating statements this district attorney rolling sound like a damn defense attorney he was poised and positioned that at all costs to defend the acts of these officers that was no he was not an ambassador of justice. He was an obstructor of justice. That's what he did. And when the reporters

started questioning him, challenging him, based on what they saw and based on what he concluded, he didn't want to ask any questions anymore. He wanted to flick. He wanted to talk about something else. That is the exact reason why it should have been an independent

prosecutor appointed on this case for transparency and a neutral decision maker. Let's be very mindful. The SBI did not conclude that the shooting was unjustified. They made no conclusions. The DA made the conclusions, not the SBI. What was the family's reaction to Juan being surprised by this news conference and hearing what he had to say? Well,

they really was shocked and surprised that he was not going to bring charges. You know, I mean, they kind of knew that based on his unwillingness to speak with him early on, unwillingness to communicate with the attorneys to work in tandems early on, his unwillingness that his statements that he made in court,

be mindful that Mr. Brown's 92-year-old grandmother, a lot of his aunts and uncles was in court when the DA made the position that we believe that the shooting took place once Mr. Brown moved forward. So he already prefaced it as though he was going to call the shooting justified. So there was no shock. But what is downright disgraceful is that this man did not have the decency to call this family and let the family see the video and tell the family what's his decision. 2016, the District Attorneys of North Carolina came up with a standard practice committee. And inside their standard practice committee, that was one of the things that they determined you should do.

Even if you're not going to bring charges, let the family know. Get the family an opportunity to come in and explain to them. Any other use of force cases, I've been a part of a lawyer, and the DA decided not to bring charges, they would at least afford the family with the opportunity. He didn't. He has his own motives, agendas. I don't know.

He is running for a Superior Court judge. Maybe he don't want to piss off his potential voters or constituents in that particular county, that particular circuit that he's in. But one thing I will tell you, that what he gave today and his reasoning was subjectively his reasoning. Because the law that he applied, the law he's used, was not correct. He stated that when Mr. Brown,

if he refused to obey to the officer's command and stay in the vehicle, he believed that he's using the vehicle as a weapon. Well, what if Mr. Brown decides to stay in the car? Is he using the vehicle as a weapon. Well, what if Mr. Brown decides to stay in the car? Is he using the vehicle as a weapon? No. His district attorney believes that. So that shows his incompetency.

And he's incapable to preside to make any decisions. And his lack of integrity that I personally know he has. This is certainly sad. It was expected uh by his uh by his actions um and i gotta ask you this here i gotta get your thoughts just on this the comment that he made uh during this whole deal where he literally uh talked about he he didn't have to deal with uh attorneys because they weren't they weren't under the bar north carolina. I mean, how arrogant is that? Well, that's, you know, and some folk don't realize that, you know,

it's some constitutional rights and some things ended a long time ago. But nevertheless, what I will tell you is that Rule 5.5 of the North Carolina Rules Professional Responsibility Unhorized Practice of Law is very clear that if an attorney, myself, Ben Crump, Bakari Sellers, associated with an attorney in North Carolina, Chantel Lester, Chance Lynch, and you're not engaging in anything that requires you to come to court and argue before a court, you do not have to file pro hoc vice. That is a discussion I had with a county attorney.

That is what he did not want to hear. The judge doubled down on it. The county attorney doubled down on it. And the district attorney doubled down on it. What you got is a conspiracy between the judge, the district attorney, and the county attorney because both of them made the same statement and it do not make sense. It don't make sense. It is not the law, the rule of law in North Carolina Bar. So when I use the word conspiracy, yeah, I don't know if they

talked about it. So I'm not going to make allegations as such. But it's ironic that all three of them said the same exact thing that is not in conformity with North Carolina rules of professional responsibility in the North Carolina bar. That's rule 5.5 on the authorized practice of law in North Carolina. You can see it, read it for yourself. Attorney Harry Daniels, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Roland. Appreciate it. I'm going to bring my panel right now, get their thoughts on this while we are doing this here.

I do want to play the video here of Andrew Womble talking about how this all started as a drug investigation. This is what Womble had to say. Again, it's a two-minute and 32-second soundbite. So listen to how he detailed what this was all about. Law enforcement involvement with Mr. Brown began in the weeks prior and put the wheels in motion that eventually led to the attempted service of arrest and search warrants on April 21, 2021.

In the early months of this year, Detective Johnson with the Dare County Sheriff's Office received information from a reliable confidential source that Andrew Brown Jr. from Elizabeth City was selling drugs in Dare County. Detective Johnson contacted Pasquotain County and confirmed Mr. Brown's identity and that he is a known drug dealer. Upon learning this information, Detective Johnson, with the aid of the confidential informant, made two undercover buys from Brown on March 17, 2021 and March 29, 2021. Those buys were of cocaine and heroin, respectively.

A later SBI lab analysis determined that the heroin was laced with fentanyl. Subsequently, arrest warrants were issued for Brown's arrest on April 20, 2021. Simultaneous with the activity of the Dare County Sheriff's Office, Pasquotain County Sheriff's Office began collecting their own intelligence on the drug activity of Mr. Brown at his residence at 421 Perry Street. Detective Ryan Means applied for and obtained a search warrant for the residence and vehicles of Mr. Brown. On Tuesday, April 20th, 2021, law enforcement now possessed two arrest warrants for the sale of controlled substances in Dare County, as well as a search warrant for the residents and vehicles of Mr. Brown. A joint team of law enforcement from Dare County and Pasquotank was assembled. The Dare County Drug Task Force was to provide surveillance, and the officers present that day were Detective Johnson, Sergeant Ruth,

and Detective Langley. The Pasco Tank Special Operation and Tactics Team would serve the warrants and take Mr. Brown into custody. Their team consisted of Lieutenant Judd, Sergeant Meads, Deputy Morgan, Deputy Llewellyn, Deputy Bishop, Deputy Swindell, and Deputy Lunsford. Deputies Morgan, Llewellyn, Bishop, and Swindell were wearing body cameras. Their original plan was to serve the warrants on the night of April 20, 2021. However, Mr. Brown was not at his residence and could not be located by the surveillance team. At approximately nine o'clock on April 21, 2021, I received a call from Special Agent in Charge Mache Rogers with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation informing me of the officer-involved shooting. Sheriff Tommy Wooten and I jointly requested the SBI conduct a thorough investigation of the

shooting. Shortly after speaking with Special Agent Rogers, I contacted District Attorney Investigator John Young to meet me at our office here in Elizabeth City and to proceed with me to the scene of the incident. We viewed the scene, and later that day, I met with Sheriff Wooten, Special Agent Rogers, members of the SBI team that would conduct the investigation. On May 11, 2021, the SBI lead case agent, Jason Godfrey, began releasing the SBI report gathered to the district attorney's office. I immediately began review of the written SBI reports and other documents as investigated by the SBI. I reviewed the SBI investigation, which included interviews of the deputies involved with the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office, interviews of civilian witnesses, interview of Dr. Karen L. Kelly, a forensic pathologist at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University

in Greenville, photographs of the scene, ballistics and trajectory report of Kaysen Reynolds, analysis of weapons and shell casings, the law enforcement personnel records of the deputies involved, video footage of the body cameras at the scene, and the crime scene report. In addition, I have met or had telephone contact with Jason Godfrey practically every day since April 21, 2021. Agent Godfrey and I viewed the trajectory rod analysis performed by Agent Candace Pegram and assisted by agents Rob Evans and Steven Stile on April 22, 2021. Further, I sought advice and counsel from numerous elected district attorneys around the state who have had recent experience with officer-involved shooting cases.

There are 14 houses near 421 Perry Street, and each location was canvassed for evidence and witnesses. Four civilians provided statements to law enforcement. Ms. Demetria Williams stated she lived in the vicinity of 421 Perry Street and heard gunshots from inside of her residence. She further stated that after hearing the first shot, she exited her home, went down the street, and saw the remainder of the shots being fired. Ms. Williams home is approximately 100 yards away from 421 Perry Street. The total elapsed time from the first shot to the last is five seconds, calling into question Ms. Williams statements regarding witnessing the shooting. The second civilian to give a statement was Daniel Sturdivant.

Mr. Sturdivant stated the incident occurred prior to 8 a.m. He stated he heard officers shouting commands at which time he walked to his window. Sturdivant stated the officers were firing into the car while they were giving Brown commands to get out. The third civilian to give a statement was Ashley Bechtel. Ms. Bechtel stated she did not see the initial shots fired but heard them and went to her window. She stated Brown's car was heading over Roanoke Avenue and the officers were forceful when removing Brown from the vehicle. Bechtel further stated she heard additional shots after Brown's vehicle struck the tree and his officers approached the vehicle. The fourth civilian to

give a statement was Amber Santiago. Ms. Santiago stated she was in a relationship with Mr. Brown and stated they had a telephone conversation the night before where Brown stated he believed the police were following him. Ms. Santiago further stated that Mr. Brown said he was going to stay at a hotel rather than staying at his residence at 421 Perry Street. The weapons used by the three Pasquotank County deputies who fired were two Glock 17 handguns and an AR-15 223 rifle. These weapons were seized and provided to the SBI. The SBI recovered 14 spent shell casings, nine from the Glock 17 handguns, and five from the AR-15 rifle. These 14 spent shell casings were recovered from the cement driveway and in the yard

adjacent to 421 Perry Street. These 14 shell casings were consistent with the body cam videos and physical examination of Brown's car as being fired by the deputies. All right, folks, let's go to our panel. Joining us right now is Kilimathia Communications Strategist. Joining us right now, we also have Benjamin Dixon, of course. Ben is with his own podcast, The Benjamin Dixon Show. And also joining us right now is Omokongo Dibinga, professorial lecturer, School of International Service, American University. Ben, I'll start with you. This is frankly no shock. We've seen the actions of this DA from the beginning.

We've seen this in so many other cases where the DA acts more like the defense attorney or the officers as opposed to somebody representing the people. Absolutely. And that's what stood out to me from attorney Harry Daniels when he said that the district attorney, Andrew Womble, was acting like a defense attorney instead of a prosecuting attorney, a district attorney rather. And so in this case, it really sounds, he gives us the impression in that last two minutes that you played, he gave the impression that there was this thorough investigation by the SBI. And he also gave the insinuation, just listening, you would think that the SBI concluded this investigation.

But as the attorney, Harry Daniels, stated, that's not the case. And so we see that he's actively inserting himself into this in a manner that's beneficial to the people that he's charged with investigating. And it just shows you that there's an inherent conflict of interest when a district attorney who is in league with these officers often, at all times, he works with them when he's charged to investigate them. And so this suggests that there should always be a separate prosecution, a separate investigation that is not controlled by the people who are friends with the officers who commit these types of shootings. Kelly, we've watched this man literally go through this. In today's news conference, he spoke about, you know, laying out this, you know, making the decision, how his office arrived at this decision. I want

to play this sound bite and have you respond to it. And so, because obviously he was speaking about the public opinion, the public opinion, how this is being portrayed with the protests and things along those lines. So let me know when we have that sound bite ready, folks. Again, it's a minute, four second soundbite. On April 21, 2021, Mr. Brown's body was transported to the medical examiner's office in Greenville, North Carolina, where an autopsy was performed. The autopsy was conducted by Dr. Karen Elk, and the relations between police and citizens in which deadly force is used are among the most important cases the district attorney's office will ever handle.

My prosecutors and I have a duty to objectively analyze the totality of the evidence and circumstances, and that means we must face difficult issues which have been discussed at length in this report. It is my sincere prayer that no one is ever killed by law enforcement. But I also pray that law enforcement are never placed in the position of having to make the decision to use lethal force to protect themselves or innocent lives around them. I want our community to understand that this office put significant effort into ensuring that this decision was based on the facts, the evidence, and the law, and not on public opinion. Kelly.

So the thing that I literally just wrote down is how he was saying it's his prayer that essentially police are not ever in a position to do something like that, which is for me a dog whistle saying that they were forced to kill somebody, and necessarily so, because their lives were in danger, so to speak. But if you look at the very little video that we were able to see as the public,

the police put themselves in that situation. They created the chaos. They are the ones who... who ame-upped the response and the exigent circumstances. They created that. And for him to talk about his office did this and his office did that, there's been no transparency. There's been no collaboration. There's been no transparency. There's been no collaboration. There's been no cooperation. There's been no working together

with the victim in this case. He is acting, I believe Benjamin just said it, as the defense attorney. Like, we've seen many DAs across the country act like, but he's also acting like judge, jury, and executioner by way of how they've been handling this case. And I wanted to go back to the fact that they are the ones who looked at all of this video

and Andrew Brown's people, his representation, were only able to see less than 20 minutes of it. There's almost two hours of video. I believe it's like five videos or something like that. They've only, out of two hours, they were only able to see less than 20 minutes of video. I believe it's like five videos or something like that. They've only, out of two hours, they were only able to see less than 20 minutes of it. And it shows me how much of a cover-up this is. It shows me the lengths in which they want to go

and are willing to go to evade accountability in this case. And it's not about a few bad apples. It's not about, you know, singular bad cops, because he also wanted to point out that only one person shot or very few people shot in the grand scheme of the chaos that was that moment. But the fact that one person shot and the rest of the good apples, quote-unquote,

did not do anything is showing me that it is a rotten tree. It's not just a few bad apples that are falling from the source of the tree. The entire tree is rotten. And it is unfortunate that justice will not be served in this case because the people who are supposed to be serving justice are essentially corrupt. Makongo, all of this to execute a drug warrant? This is incredibly ridiculous. We just saw in the neighboring state of South Carolina, they reintroduced the firing squad, and now we get to see North Carolina doing it right in front of our very eyes, again, for a drug warrant.

Like you said, you know where the person lives. And you see in the press conference this conversation basically saying, well, this man was involved in drugs. He had a criminal record as if he was worthy of death. This is a man who was a human being whose family didn't even get the rights, the respect to be told that these officers were not going to be prosecuted or indicted in any way, shape, or form, again, over a drug warrant? How many times across the country do we have to see our own people be killed for the most minor of issues?

And when I say minor, we know that he was not going to pose a threat to them. He was not armed. We see people shoot up movie theaters and grocery stores who are armed to the teeth and end up surviving. He should have been able to survive this encounter. And as it was just said, these officers put themselves in the line of fire and then say that they are justified in these types of killings. And we see by the video that they made,

like you said, Roland, made all of this hoopla about not releasing, but now he's saying, well, there's not gonna be a prosecution anyway, so I can do whatever I want with it, forget the judge. They are working together at the disrespect of this family and to our entire community. And I'm very happy that the federal agencies are going to be looking into this. Again, folks, the only thing now is what do the feds do? So we'll see exactly what happens there. All right, folks, some breaking news. Just moments ago, the United States Senate moved to advance the nomination of Kristen Clark to the full U.S. Senate for a vote. Of course, if confirmed, she'll be the first woman and CEO for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

And so, in fact, in committee, in committee, they only had, folks, it was 11-11 vote, 11-11 vote that took place in committee, they only had, folks, it was 11-11 vote, the 11-11 vote that took place in committee. And so, but now she moves forward with that, which means that, and I have not seen if you're gonna see Joe Manchin or someone vote against her. And so again, Kristen Clark's nomination moving forward for a full vote in the U.S. Senate, that is certainly good news, Kelly. I'm elated. History is certainly being made here, but more importantly, accountability will, you know, finally come back to that office.

The fact that she's the first Black woman, first woman, if I'm not mistaken, to hold this position. Again, history is certainly being made here. But at this point, I'm just glad that there's some normalcy as far as ethics and policy coming back to the DOJ. people like Kristen Clark and her personal code of ethics on top of the ethics that she holds as an attorney at law to bring back some form of integrity to that office. So congratulations to her in advance for being the first. And this is just overall Black girl magic for me. I'm just happy about this. Omokongo, this has been, of course, a battle, a constant battle with Republicans. They do not want freedom fighters like Christian Clark at all. And so we actually see this. And of course, they don't want aggressive civil rights

attorneys there in the Department of Justice. That's right. And they've been so used to getting away with so much under the former President Trump and Barr in terms of what they were doing or not doing. They gave these police officers across the country a blanket pass to do whatever they want with impunity. They basically took every case that we thought I was going to have anything having to do with an inkling of getting some type of civil rights justice and said, we're not going to look into that.

And now, as it was just said, when we see this decency coming back and we know that when these types of prosecutions are not going to take place or indictments in places like North Carolina, that maybe on some level we have a federal government that is going to intervene. But we also have to be mindful of the fact that these Republicans are playing this game to delay as much as possible in hopes that they're going to get back in control in 2022. And when they do that, they're going to try to continue to block all of this. So you mentioned Joe Manchin. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to the Senate, but we have to keep fighting. We have to keep speaking up, putting

pressure on our legislators to make sure that all of this delay, deny, and try to make sure that we don't have the opportunities to get the justice that we are entitled to. We have to make sure that all of this delay, deny, and try to make sure that we don't have the opportunities to get the justice that we are entitled to, we have to make sure that it does not continue. And Ben, again, having Kristen Clark there running the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, it's hugely important. She has been a strong advocate for civil rights, a president, CEO of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. And so to have her in that job is absolutely great. See, these institutions don't work by themselves, right?

Simply because we have a Department of Justice doesn't mean that we're going to get justice. It really depends on who the human beings that are in these positions are and their goals and their perspective as it pertains to justice. And so this is very significant, the fact that Kristen Clark is going to be potentially make this position, right, depending on the politics and Joe Manchin and all the hurdles that she faces in the floor vote. But if she is to make it there, that is a signal that we can finally start getting justice in these in the civil rights department, because like the other guest said, under Donald Trump, it was an opportunity for them to ignore civil rights as well as just take the banner of civil rights. That's what they want to be able to do in this country too often is to have the appearance of justice, but not giving us the reality thereof. Absolutely. And so, folks, we are going to be watching and see who votes for

Christian Clark when that comes up for a vote. I want to go back to Elizabeth City, where this story is crazy. An Elizabeth City City Council member believes the cops there are retaliating against him, returning protest demanding the video be released on the death of Andrew Brown Jr. Councilman Gabriel Atkins spoke to his colleagues hours after Brown's death, expressing his fear as a black man and later calling for the release of the footage showing the fatal incident. Well, guess what? Atkins posted this surveillance video to his Facebook account of two instances last week where a uniformed police officer is urinating on the property of his funeral home. He believes his advocacy and

organization of protest are the cause of police retaliation. Atkins says the Sheriff's Dept. Department has previously provided escorts for his funeral home, but is not responding to escort requests since his calls for action. Hmm. I guess the sheriff's folks didn't realize on the Congo that there were cameras there. This is the kind of action we see and the fact that they're not even responding to his funeral home.

Yeah, these are sheriff's departments. Sheriff's deputies now being pissed off that they're being challenged by the public. And I think you might have had that pun intended when you said pissed off. It's just shameful, not even respect for the dead. We're talking about a funeral home here. And I do fear for this councilman because we have seen across the country, we saw it with the person who filmed Eric Garner's killing. We saw with the person who filmed the killing of Walter Scott as

well, that these police will retaliate if you out them in any way, shape, or form, if you speak up. And to go and find that, and then again, to deny the escorts as well, these officers do not want to do their job. And that's why we need this civil rights division, because if you can't respect the dead, if you can't respect families and say, we're not going to have indictments, if you can't respect families and say we're not going to have indictments, if you can't respect people who are city council members enough to not go and do something like that, what type of hope and respect does the average person on the streets of Elizabeth

City have? Not much. The thing here, Ben, is that these cops all across the country, they cannot stand folks demanding accountability. Absolutely. And the other component of this is, Roland, that so too often we think of cops as being

fair arbiters of justice because they put on a badge and they have on a uniform. But when in reality, underneath that badge and uniform is a person that has political ideologies and that are in some proximity to or servants of white supremacy, they are human beings who are carrying out their own personal agenda. They just so happen to have on a badge and a uniform and guns. And so in this case, we're seeing that, and not just this case, but all over the country, these officers absolutely are acting out because they have been able to go with impunity. They've been able to do these things for years without any accountability. And the nerve of black people to actually say enough is enough.

And they're saying that they just can't handle it. You know, Kelly, look, look, bottom line is this here. I keep telling people the hell with them. They don't like accountability. Guess what? Stop shooting folks up, killing folks. Ain't that hard? I mean, you would think that it's not hard, but for an entity of people, especially in the South, whose history is rooted in clansmanship and racism, police officers will have a difficult time not giving into their instinct of seeing black skin as a weapon and trying to either apprehend it or subdue it altogether. So the fact that we are looking at footage right now of a police officer in uniform desecrating holy ground for the most part, you know, when you go to a funeral home, any funeral home,

it is sacred ground. That is a neutral territory away from chaos, away from conflict, away from drama. You are there to honor loved ones. You are there to honor those who are no longer amongst the living.

And for an officer, anybody to dishonor that shows you not just how disgusting they are, but who they really are as a person. Like, they are disgusting, not just the act. They are disgusting. And the fact that this disgusting act is stemming from this good old boys mentality of having to stick together in wrongness and shame. There's something to be said about that. There's something to be said about the fact that people are so willing to uphold racist status quo that they are willing to trespass on sacred ground and show just how pissed off they are about it, pun intended.

Folks, in South Carolina, two detention center deputies, they have been fired for their involvement in the death of a black inmate. Body cam footage of the incident has been released showing the moment detention sergeant Lindsey Fickett and detention deputy Brian Ahul of the incident has been released showing the moment detention Sergeant Lindsey Fickett and detention Deputy Brian uh who tased and kneeled on Jamal Sutherland's back Sutherland who had been who'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder was arrested the previous day at a mental health and substance abuse Center for his involvement in a physical altercation

the victim's mother Amy Sullivan says the family was never informed her son had been transferred to the jail. In a statement, Charleston County Sheriff Christian Graziano said, In my career as a law enforcement professional, I've seen my fellow officers take on mental health responsibilities, and they are not equipped to handle. This must be changed, and I am committed to implementing that change. Well, it certainly starts with folks getting fired, and so we'll see if that happens. Folks, police unions across the country are reevaluating how they respond to police misconduct. Fifteen law enforcement unions have endorsed a plan that would update how they

defend officers accused of misconduct and encourage police to intervene if they witness wrongdoings like excessive use of force on the job. Now, unions will still have a responsibility to represent members that they believe are wrongfully accused. The new plan challenges local unions to look at the merits of an officer's actions when considering whether to defend them. The effort to improve how police unions operate is a direct response to the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other recent deaths at the hands of law enforcement. Are you buying this one, Benjamin?

I don't know that I'm buying this one because the connection between the police unions and the roles that they play, particularly in the propaganda that they spew, that has been a huge service to policing agencies across this country to the detriment of Black people. I'll believe it when I see it, Roland, because there's just too many instances where the police unions have actively, actively been the vocal part in saying out loud the things that police officers who are on duty cannot say. So if this happens, that would that would be a good thing. But I'll believe it when I see it. Same here. I'm not necessarily going to buy it. Folks, a white retired New York City police officer who bragged about pointing his gun at black people to scare them for his enjoyment was arrested on corruption charges. Prosecutors say Robert Smith admits to his misdeeds in text messages with other cops and even boasted on video about being one of the most corrupt cops in the Queens district. Smith also exchanged messages about committing numerous robberies and shakedowns while he was on the force.

Two other current NYPD officers who work with Smith at the same precinct were also arrested. They're all accused of various corrupt dealings, including robbery and transporting heroin. Well, Omicongo, what happened to those few bad apples? Man, this is some, wow. Everybody keeps talking about these few bad apples, but we're seeing time. And again, that as Kelly said earlier, we're talking about entire departments. Look, I love what Dr. King said. He said, you can't legislate morality, but you can regulate behavior. And every example that we're looking at right now about these police gone wild thinking that they can do whatever they want. I do not count on these unions to police themselves. And when you see this incident right

there, what if this guy pulls out his gun and it goes off by accident, quote unquote, air quotes accident, right? This is entirely ridiculous. And that's why we need that George Floyd Police Reform Act. I put more faith in that than I do in these unions creating more, quote unquote, opportunities to hold their fellow bad apple officers accountable, not buying it. Again, the proof is in the pudding, Kelly. And whether the officers are actually going to step up these unions and do that, we'll see. Unless these unions came up with the idea of community policing, community involvement when it comes to decisions being made. Unless qualified immunity is off the table, I'm not going to

really put a whole bunch of weight into anything that is a recommendation coming from the body in which the recommendations are needed, if that makes any sense. It's like the person who's doing the bad deeds coming up with the rules on how to either rectify the bad deeds or cover up the bad deeds. And I'm leaning towards the latter in this, given the history of police unions in this country. All right, folks, got to go. Actually, before we go to a break, it's official. The city of Columbus, Ohio, will pay $10 million to the family of Andre Hill, the unarmed black man who was killed by police in December. Of course, approved by the city council last night, the largest settlement ever will be split into two installments. The

family will receive half by the end of 2021. The remaining balance will be dispersed in the first quarter of 2022. A local gym will also be renamed in Hill's honor by the end of the year. And so we'll certainly have thoughts and prayers to the Hill family there. And, folks, it's real simple. If you don't shoot and kill unarmed black men, cities would not have to be paying millions of dollars in settlements. We come back. Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader, is against a commission. Y'all, this is too funny. I can't wait to discuss this. Is against a

commission to look into January 6th. Wait until I tell you what he actually had to say. It's going to be too funny here, y'all. He literally wants Congress. He literally wants them to investigate BLM and the protests in Cleveland, excuse me, in Portland, and even go back to the shooting of Steve Scalise at a congressional baseball practice. That was four years ago. It's amazing how y'all love looking over January 6th. That's next to Roller Mountain Unfiltered. Racial injustice is a scourge on this nation,

and the black community has felt it for generations. We have an obligation to do something about it. Whether it's canceling student debt, increasing the minimum wage, or investing in Black-owned businesses, the Black community deserves so much better. I'm Nina Turner, and I'm running for Congress to do something about it.

Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin, holla! Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. So the House is gonna be moving forward on a bipartisan bill to create a commission to look into the January 6th insurrection led by the white supremacists backing Donald Trump. Now, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, says he's not going to vote for it. He released a statement, y'all, that's hilarious, because he wants them to all see that it's too narrow.

We should focus on just January 6th. We should include protests in Portland and Black Lives Matter and TIFA and even go back four years to the shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise at a baseball practice. Y'all, this is what he actually said. Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the non duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the speaker's short-sighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence. In America, I cannot support this legislation. Oh, McCongo, here's the problem.

This was a deal that was struck between a Republican and a Democrat. It was negotiated. Representative John Katko of New York. So it's not like Republicans had no involvement in this whole deal. No, this is Kevin McCarthy still trying to kiss the ass of Donald Trump. 100%. And let's be mindful of the fact that the Democrats made good faith efforts in putting this commission together because Nancy Pelosi originally wanted to have it be all Democrats or majority Democrats, whatever it was in the beginning, and she decided on having this even split.

And so they made their attempts to do this. This is completely ridiculous. And Kevin McCarthy is spineless and only interested in trying to maintain power at the feet of Donald Trump so he could become House leader again. And so what we're seeing right now, when he talks out of the other side of his mouth, there is no accountability for anything that happened on January 6th, even though he mentioned earlier that the president shared some blame with this. And we are seeing that these Republicans, whether they're talking about these guys are just tourist visits and just taking pictures and all of that, they are going to engage in every aspect of denial of what these insurrectionist

terrorists did on January 6th. And they're going to engage in whataboutism on every other group until there is nothing left. They're going to try to take this to the ground and we can't let them. It really is interesting how these people, Kelly, have no integrity whatsoever. I mean, they are so hell-bent on kissing Donald Trump's butt

that they will deny reality. I mean, that congressman from Georgia who called it a tourist walk in the Capitol, and they got photos of this dumbass helping Secret Service blockade the door. I mean, these people will lie with impunity. That's why anybody who supports, who steps, who continues to support Donald Trump and not speak the truth of January 6th should be thrown out of office. Any, all of them on the federal level, local level, does not matter.

Get rid of all of these Republicans. Well, my thing is, it is insulting to the nth degree, the denial that Republicans are exhibiting. Because I know people who were there that day. I know officers who were there that day. I know officers who were there that day protecting the Capitol. I know staffers who were there that day with their respective congressmen and senators. And it was hell. It was absolute hell. And the video that all the videos that we have seen shows that. And for these Republicans to be so rooted in denial as if they didn't see the noose that was there to hang Mike Pence,

as if they didn't have video footage of a man with his feet up on Nancy Pelosi's desk looking to kill her, as if we don't see Trump caps, literally what you're seeing right now, Trump hats, Trump flags, Confederate flags, just flying all willy-nilly out there. How do you not see the insidiousness of it all? How do you not see that? But if you don't want to, McCarthy, if you want to

really encompass all of it, let's go back. You know, let's go back to Jim Crow. Let's investigate that. Let's go back to reconstruction when you denied us 40 acres and a mule. Let's investigate that. Let's investigate the fact that my ancestors were kidnapped, put on a boat, taken thousands of miles away to service you against their will. Let's

investigate that. If you really want to encompass it all, let's go there. But if you're not going to go there, shut up. These people have no decency, no honor, no integrity, no principles,

no values, Benjamin. none. They must be defeated badly at the ballot box. They're bad faith actors, and they have no compunction, they have no hesitation about being straight hypocrites, because the only way they can maintain their power, Roland, is by lying. And it's through suppressing the vote. And this is part and parcel of the 70 percent of Republicans, right? This is not just Kevin McCarthy, even though he is the crown jewel of it right now today. But 70 percent of Republicans still don't believe that Joe Biden won this election. They believe it was stolen from Donald Trump.

And that's why we saw the insurrectionist terrorist attack of January 6th. And so what they want to do is they want their cake and eat it, too. They want to be able to overthrow the government with no accountability whatsoever for treason and for insurrection. And so one of the reasons he's afraid, Kevin McCarthy and Republicans are afraid of this bipartisan investigation is because they know at the end of the day, it's going to lead back to Republicans. It's going to lead back to the GOP. It's going to lead back to Fox News. It's going to lead back to all their friends because they are all a part of this attempt

to overthrow the government simply because they couldn't get their white supremacist way. It's as simple as that. Folks, we have been, of course, having numerous candidates who are running for mayor of New York City on the show. That is going to be coming up real soon, next month. Joining us right now is Isaac Wright Jr., who's running for mayor. Isaac is going to be coming up real soon, next month. Joining us right now is

Isaac Wright Jr., who's running for mayor. Isaac, glad to have you here. Look at the latest polls. You look at who's leading, Eric Adams, Andrew Yang. How are you going to make the case to vault to the top of the leaderboard? Well, you know, Roland, and thank you for having me. One of the things that we've learned about polls in recent history is that they've slowly, over time, have gotten more and more out of touch with the public. Of course, you know, when any candidate is dealing with, in modern times, times is and actually for a very long time is the issue of money. There is a sense that that media they want to follow the money. There is a sense in politics that the person with the most money is the guy that you want to jump on

the bandwagon with. But but but that's not the that's not the sense of the people. And I think what's happening with politics today, and I was just watching the segment on Donald Trump, is that there was insurrection, but the ultimate power is in the people. And that's why Joe Biden is president, because ultimately, the power in this country is in the people. And I think it's the same thing that's happening now in New York City. I think the power in New York City is not in the money. The power is in the people. And I think the people are going to speak loud and clear come January.

I'm sorry, come June 22nd. So how are you going to connect with them? What are you saying to voters why they should pick you? Well, there's a number of reasons. Well, one of the things that is very clear with voters is, you know, you've got to look at, you know, how have your lives changed election after election after election? What is what is these these these leaders have done? What have they done election after election that have changed your lives? What promises that they've made that that that was really directed at you promises that they've made that was really

directed at you that they've actually kept? There's a number of policy issues that I have from new jobs for young entrepreneurs, kids coming out of high school that may not want to go to college, but have these great ideas and they want to start their new businesses. The city's going to get together. They're going to partner with them, and they're going to provide funding so these young kids can start businesses. There's public works programs in New York City. The infrastructure in New York City has been failing for a very long time. And I think billions of dollars need to be thrown into public work programs that will create thousands of jobs.

There's issues with New York City being, you know, and it's always been that way. New York City is the richest city in the world. There's more billionaires that live in New York City than anywhere else in the world. And so there has to be a time when New York City looks at the ingredients it has, brings these ingredients together to help bring New York City back on its feet for the good of the people of New York City. And I think a lot of these things is happening in New York City right now.

A lot of the promises that the candidates have been made are just promises that have been repackaged from promises of old. If you look at what Einstein said, and I think it's very significant here, that the candidates have been made are just promises that have been repackaged from promises of old. If you look at what Einstein said, and I think it's very significant here, you know, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. But what specifically is your agenda? What specifically are you running on to say this is why you should elect me?

What issues? I have three marquee issues. One is housing. If you look at New York City, New York City has the biggest housing population in the country. NYCHA houses over 500,000 residences. And if you look at that from a population standpoint, New York City is bigger than the city of Atlanta, the city of Miami, the city of Oakland, California. Think about that for a second. Think about driving into a city where no one owns their own home.

And I think NYCHA, New York City Housing Authority, they've been serial landlords for several decades. People are born in these complexes and they die in these complexes. And one of the marquee issues for me is to change NYCHA, to convert NYCHA from a serial landlord to a conduit for home ownership. I think everybody, every one of these individuals

in these low-income housing should have the option of buying their own home, should have the option of being able to leverage that home so that they can send their kids to college, so that they can start their own new businesses, so that they can probably sell out and find a better place to live. But at some point, New York City has to change that diagram.

They have to empower the people that have been encycled. So housing is one issue, other two? Excuse me? You said housing is one, other two issues. Housing is one. The other issue, obviously, is criminal justice reform. As you know, there's been a serious problem across the country with criminal justice, with policing, with the militarization of police. It's something that has been reaching its apex.

It's been bubbling for decades, especially in black and brown communities. And it's reached its apex because of social media. New York City has a problem with that. And I think one of the things that needs to happen is that there needs to be a disconnect that needs to be torn down and a reconnect between what the community sees in the police and what the police sees in themselves. And I think that's been a failure of mayors in the past. And one of the things that, you know,ors in the past. And one of the things, and my background speaks for itself, one of the things that is at the forefront of my background is my relationship with law enforcement. I believe one of the things that has to happen, and that's one of my marquee issues, is to bring law enforcement and the community together,

create New York City NYPD as a blueprint for what it means to protect and serve. And that's one of the things that I'm going to do. So criminal justice is number two. Last issue, what's number three? Number three is a very, very serious issue. And that's something that's going to be coming soon. Right now, because of COVID, you have tens of thousands of people who are going to be facing eviction, who are going to be facing foreclosure. And something has to happen. We've been pushing that ball down the road with moratoriums.

But at some point, the banks and the landlords are going to call on that money that's being owed. And we're going to run into a very significant housing crisis in New York City. One of the things that I propose that is a marquee issue is a forgiveness program, a program where everybody that's been affected by COVID, because of COVID, they're in eviction or behind in their rent or they're in foreclosure, to enter them into a forgiveness program ran by the city. And that program will not only forgive that back debt, but allow them to start anew and also make the landlords and the mortgage companies whole.

All right, then. Isaac Wright, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. For many folks who watch the show For Life on ABC that was originally canceled, that inspiration for that TV show is based upon your life, getting your law degree while you were in prison. And so certainly good luck in your race for the New York City mayor. Thank you very much, Roland. All right. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks. It is one of the issues that we've also been looking at.

We talk about, of course, next year, the election. And that is who was going to be running for U.S. Senate, running for governor. In Florida, could Congresswoman Val Demings be opposing Senator Marco Rubio for the United States Senate seat? Hmm. Folks close to Val Demings say she is definitely going to run. She was deciding between whether she was going to run for governor or for United States Senate. Apparently, that choice is United States Senate. She has not made it official, but we're waiting to hear more about that. Benjamin, what do you make of this? Florida Democrats are in complete disarray. The Cuban Venezuelan bloc of voters, huge for Republicans. Here you have Val Demings, very strong. Of course, when she was one of the impeachment managers, does she have a shot?

Her name was even floated at one point for the VP spot. I think she definitely has a spot, a shot rather. The difficult thing is the disarray of the Democratic Party there in the state of Florida. I hearken back to how Marco Rubio got the spot in the first place. It was because of the divisions in the Democratic Party and the split support between the congressman there and his opponent. The names escape me. Since that time, there has been such a wide opening for Republicans to continuously win over and over again. Here's the thing about Val Demings, though. She is a heavyweight in terms of her political prowess, in terms of her communication

skills, in terms of her background. And Marco Rubio is simply not going to be up to the task of going one-on-one with her. So if there is a chance that the Democratic Party can get their thing together, she can handle Marco Rubio if the Florida Democratic Party can get their thing together. She can handle Marco Rubio if the Florida Democratic Party can get their thing together. Kelly, I think that Florida Democrats really are going to be in need of Stacey Abrams, some organizations that are focused on the ground. They've got a year. Of course, the election will take place next year. This is already made. They can't wait. Again, the entire state party is just in shambles. Republicans have solidified their support in Florida. It used to be a swing state. It's a reliably red state. And so it's going to be an uphill battle for Congresswoman Val Demings to beat Senator Marco Rubio. What do you make of her chances? I think that if we are looking for a Stacey

Abrams in Florida, it's not necessarily going to happen. However, because I'm not all that familiar with Florida politics, it is possible that there have already been boots on the ground, you know, rallying the troops in regards to solidifying the Democratic Party such that they can actually be a formidable opponent against the state Republicans down in Florida. My main concern isn't necessarily, well, Val Demings has a shot or not. She absolutely does. My concern is her positioning in the House is so crucial as far as her committee assignments, as far as her voice in the House, and the fact that the majority that the Democrats hold in the House is dwindling what

feels like by the day. Her leaving that seat for senator, while great for her and her state, as we all know, as should know, legislation starts in the House. If it doesn't pass in the House, it doesn't necessarily get to the Senate. And the power that the Democrats have in the House, frankly, is all we kind of have at the moment because it is split all the way down the middle on the Senate side. So that is my only concern, that the power dynamic shift in the House should Val Demings, and I'm sure other Democrat congressmen, will have that option of leaving for bigger and better things. But what does that mean in regards to the balance of the House, when, frankly, Democrats across the country are more or less in shambles right now.

Well, Congo, bottom line is here, Democrats, they've got slim margin for error. They currently have 50 seats. They want to pick up, obviously, a seat in Florida or pick up Pennsylvania or pick up North Carolina or pick up Wisconsin. And so it's going to be an uphill battle, but it's all doable. But you got to put together that, you got to put together a broad-based coalition and Democrats are going to have to cut into the inroads that Republicans have made Latinos in Florida, but also they've got to turn out blue counties. They have done a horrible job the last two or three cycles, turning out voters in Broward and Miami-Dade, which is which is supposed to be Democrat strongholds. Absolutely. Well, I think that there are a couple of things that could be working in Val Deming's favor.

And, you know, between her and Vice President Harris, they were my one in one A for VP. I could I was great with either one. But for me is there's a couple of things. These Republican shenanigans relating to January 6th, I think, have the ability to rile up much of the Democratic base in Florida, as they see where this direction is going. Marco Rubio used to be somebody who had a little bit more respect before he caved in and became a second fit to Donald Trump. But we also have to remember that we have many people who came out who are in prisons who have the right to vote, and they ran into a lot of challenges in the last election because of the blockades that were put up against them. And we've been working, people like LeBron James and other people paying

their different fines to get them more engaged. So what I'm saying, and then you have Val Davis with her law enforcement background as well. And her husband is also very influential. So I do believe that there is the ability to create a broad coalition there, but people definitely have to hit the ground and reach people outside of the normal news stations and airwaves to really get them to the polls, despite all of the challenges that are going to be made for them. And like you said, a Stacey Abrams type, I believe that they're already boots on the ground doing this type of work. And if anybody has a chance of pulling it out for the Democrats, it is indeed Val Demings.

That's something that we're actually paying attention for and looking for her formal announcement. Let's go to Virginia where critical race theory workshops mandated for teachers are now required learning for youth sports coaches. Baseball coaches in the Alexandria Little League received an email urging them to cancel practice to attend the Sports Can Battle Racism class. The league is requiring its coaches to take the anti-racist workshops before the season ends. The virtual learning sessions cost up to $10,000 for the league and minors and mirrors similar critical race theory training teachers in many Virginia school districts and now required to take to foster actively anti-racist learning environments. Nothing wrong with going to class. I'm quite sure Republicans in Virginia being are not going to be happy.

They'll be bitching about this real soon. I yeah, we can expect this before the end of the night. They're absolutely going to lose their minds over the fact that this is being offered as a class. And then, God forbid, it's going to cost the county $10,000. The number one thing that white supremacists fear is the ability of the people who have been oppressed in this country because of racism to be able to tell their own history. And so they are going to come.

I expect a full court press. In fact, I think Fox News is probably going to cover it tonight, if not tomorrow, because the number one thing that they're afraid of in this country isn't COVID-19. It's critical race theory. Kelly, I do laugh at how Republicans just go so crazy with critical race theory. And hell, they can't even define it. That was what I was about to say.

I was like, do they even know what critical race theory is. I don't think to date I've seen an interview in which anybody on the Republican side either answers the question outright or gives a correct answer at all. But I will say shout out to Kimberly Crenshaw for just changing our mindset when it comes to race and intersectionality as a whole, she is the one who coined the term and created the notion of intersectionality. And she is also the mastermind behind critical race theory, what it means and what it does. It's not diversity inclusion training. It's not just some course that you take.

It is a theory. It is a set of mindsets and thoughts that have been documented that really just give you a basis for how and why things are. If you look at Christianity, there's a theory behind, there's Christian theory, theology, you know.

There's a theory for everything. And critical race theory is basically saying, you know, racism didn't pop up out of thin air and neither did this system that we exist in that is inherently racist. It comes from something and here are the tools needed to show you how we got here. It seems complicated and it seems too advanced for children if that's what people are thinking, but just like how we started off with math at one plus one and two plus two, critical race theory does the same thing.

It's not like we're just gonna put kids in a room and be like, hey, this is why people are racist. No, there are steps along the way that children can understand and comprehend. And frankly, they're a lot smarter than even we think. So I think it's an excellent idea, but I am, you know, admittedly a little giddy as to see how Republicans and conservatives who don't know what crt is is how how they're going to react to this news well i'm a congo my deal is get the hell over it most definitely look i'm just i'm just annoyed that they didn't call me to do these trainings

because i do them all day across the country and i live right down the street but more to the point i literally spend my days working in k-12 institutions in public, private, and charter schools. And one of the things that is factual is that kids can learn to discriminate as young as three years old. Some say even earlier. They are learning this. we have these elementary school students who are engaged in racist behavior, who are talking about making jokes about George Floyd or hands up, get up against the wall. I'm literally seeing this happening with kids ages five, six, seven and older. It is actually happening. I just got off a call doing a training with about 200 principals from across the country. So this is real. And if

we don't do the work to reach our kids now and the people who are around these children, such as the adults who are part of this program, we can guarantee that some of those adults who may have some issues relating to their own ideas of race are going to be passing them down. I remember a story where during their election, the last election, you had a teacher who was telling elementary school students that if they didn't vote for Trump, they weren't good Christians. So we see every single day that adults are passing their beliefs and their racist ideas down to these kids, and it's high time that we continue to have these intervention programs

to reach them at a younger level so we can all work together to create communities where people feel like they are celebrated and not tolerated. Folks, can I go to break? We come back. We'll talk about May being a mental health awareness month. It's a black owned business working in that area. That is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hello, I'm Nina Turner. My grandmother used to say, all you need in life are three bones.

The wishbone to keep you dreaming, the jawbone to help you speak truth to power, and the backbone to keep you standing through it all. I'm running for Congress because you deserve a leader who will stand up fearlessly on your behalf. Together, we will deliver Medicare for all. Good jobs that pay a living wage and bold justice reform. I'm Nina Turner, and I approve this message. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy Jacob Lattimore,

and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Yee! May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Joining me right now is Tamar Blue, the founder of Mental Happy, the first social network designed to help people of all races, genders and economic statuses improve their emotional well-being through positive peer support. See, we find black people who got all kind of creative stuff going on. Tamar, how you doing? Hi, thank you so much for having me. All right, so where did this come from? Where did the idea originate from to start this social network? Yes.

So Mental Happy is a digital platform that is on a mission to make emotional wellness and mental health education and tools accessible and affordable. The idea really just came from my own life's journey. As most people, you're either in a place where you have a family background that really doesn't talk about mental health, or you have a background where you do talk about mental health, but maybe it's unaccessible or it's unaffordable. For me, I've lived both those experiences. I was once in that place where I couldn't afford it. And then when I could afford it, I had a hard time getting an appointment because everything was always booked. So I just started this mission to create this place where people can find something accessible, affordable, and they can get the education they need when they need it within this community and professionally led group support.

Where did you start and how long has it been active? We've been around for four years. We're currently based in San Francisco, California. And how has it gone in terms of your following? How has it increased over the last four years? Mental Happy has a community of over 100,000 followers. Individuals can find anything from these expert-led peer support groups to a supportive community for specific life events that they're experiencing, in addition to even free health resources. Questions from my panel. I'll start with you, Kelly.

Do you need health? Can you use your health insurance for the pricing of it, or is this just solely regarding the social aspect of mental health? This is, we're hoping to have a pricing where you can use your health insurance one day. That's something we're actively working on. In the meantime, we're keeping the prices affordable so people can join support groups for free. There are some support groups that are free to, you know, even as little as $10 a month. Awesome. Ben, are you seeing any trends in terms of the type of support that people are coming to look for more than any other type of mental health support? Yeah, you know, one of the things that we see on the platform the most is people are needing help

through specific life things that they're navigating, whether it's going through grief or maybe they were diagnosed with an illness or injury. I think what people are realizing now as individuals themselves is that there's a strong connection between the things that we go through in life as adults and experiencing some type of emotional decline during that hardship and needing some type of support and understanding from other people who are experiencing the same thing. The most interesting trend that I've seen in the last four years of doing this is more men on the platform looking for resources and help. So that's great. When we started off, we were probably a community 80% men, 80% women and 20% men. And we're starting to see that eat towards closer to a 60-40.

My hope is that one day it's 50-50. Omokongo. Omokongo. I think that what you're doing is so commendable. And you mentioned the services that you're offering as it relates to adults. I was wondering if there are any plans to do work to reach younger audiences who may need that assistance, especially coming out of this whole COVID pandemic. Yeah, so that's our 2022 initiative.

We are working in private beta right now with schools and organizations to reach children where they are, which is in school, in after-school programs. So it's something we're playing around with testing and early talks with some organizations. But it's actually been my dream since I started Mental Happy to really reach children as young as 10. You talked about 100,000 folks being on the platform. How have you been doing with African-Americans? You know, in the beginning, not so well. I wasn't as vocal with Mental Happy.

I was kind of on the nerdier tech side, just building the product. But over the last few years, really just kind of getting out, engaging with our community, doing more content, videos, really just sharing my own personal story. I'm first generation born in the United States. My parents are from Haiti. So just really sharing my own journey within the Haitian community about really how we don't speak about mental health and how we can navigate it. And it's not really a stigma anymore. And we can find these resources has been helpful to really advocating for other people of color on the platform. The other thing that we've had a strong influx of is health and wellness professionals who are also African-American themselves,

who are starting these groups on the platform, which has been amazing to watch and see, because my personal problem that I had was also finding a health professional or a wellness professional or even a life coach who looks like me. And so, and so it has, has the, has the outreach also been effective or has the outreach really been folks referring one-on-one as more people hear about it, they're more and more likely to come to your social network? Yes, we find that once an individual has been experiencing something, they're more likely to invite another family member. It could even be the person that they're having an issue with, a conflict with, or sharing in the same problem to the group. wellness professionals, life coaches themselves are also inviting their own clients, their own followers, whether it's through social media or an existing group that they had on another platform to our more secure and private platform where we don't have ads. We don't market to anybody about anything. It's just purely about the health and wellness and education.

All right, then. Tell folks where they can go check it out. Mentalhappy.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, we're on Instagram and Twitter as well. Okay, well, look, we certainly appreciate that. We hope folks will take advantage of that. Mental health is critically important and the more resources,

frankly, we have, the better. And so I think for a lot of people who also have been running away from that, it's great to be able to get to a place where they can feel comfortable going to. Yes, absolutely. Thank you guys so much. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Again, Tamar, thanks a lot, folks today in Detroit. Joe Biden was in Detroit and he was went to one of the four plants. But one of the interesting things, though, that took place today was that on the tarmac, the New York Times has this story, on the tarmac, he was confronted, if you will, by Rashida Tlaib. She, of course, is the member who is from Detroit, and she confronted Biden with regards to his support of Israel. The New York Times posted this photo, and things got, you know, a wee bit heated.

And then, of course, when he spoke to the crowd there, he actually shouted her out and thanked her for her leadership in this effort. This here was Tlaib last week speaking on the floor of the U.S. Congress about what's been happening in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israelis. Very important to hear. Check this out. TLAIB- And my mere existence has disrupted the status quo. I am a rem— colleagues that Palestinians do indeed exist,

that we are human, that we are allowed to dream. We are mothers, daughters, granddaughters. We are justice seekers and are unapologetically about our fight against oppressions of all forms. And colleagues, Palestinians aren't going anywhere no matter how much money you send to Israel's apartheid government. If we are to make good on our promises to support equal human rights for all, it is our duty to end the apartheid system that for decades has subjected Palestinians to inhumane treatment and racism. Reducing Palestinians to live in utter fear and terror of losing a child, being indefinitely detained or killed because of who they are, and the unequal rights and protections they have under Israeli law.

It must end. One of Israel's most prominent human rights organizations, B'Tselem, has declared Israel an apartheid state. Human Rights Watch recently recognized it, too. This is what Palestinians living under Israel's oppression have been telling us for decades. I have been told by some of my colleagues who dispute the truth about segregation, racism, and violence in Israel towards Palestinians that I need to know the history. What they mean, unintentionally or not, is that Palestinians do not have the right to tell the truth about what happened to them during the founding of Israel. They are in effect, in effect, they erase the truth about ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Israel

that some refer to as the Nekba, our catastrophe. As Palestinians talk about our history, know that many of my black neighbors, indigenous communities, may not know what we mean by Nekba, but they do understand what it means to be killed, expelled from your home, land, made homeless, and stripped of your human rights. My ancestors and current family in Palestine deserve the

world to hear their history without obstruction. They have a right to be able to explain to the world that they are still suffering, still being dispossessed, still being killed as the world watches and does nothing. As Peter Beinart, an American of Jewish faith, writes, quote, when you tell a people to forget its past, you are not proposing peace. You are proposing extinction. The Palestinian story is that of being made a refugee on the lands you called home. We cannot have an honest conversation about U.S. military support for the Israeli government today without acknowledging that for Palestinians, the catastrophe of displacement and dehumanization in their homeland has been ongoing since 1948.

To read the statements from President Biden, Secretary Blinken, General Austin, and leaders of both parties, you'd hardly know Palestinians existed at all. There has been no recognition of the attack on Palestinian families being ripped from their homes in East Jerusalem right now or home demolitions. No mention of children being detained or murdered. No recognition of a sustained campaign of harassment and terror by Israeli police against worshipers. Kneeling down and praying and celebrating their holiest days in one of their holiest days in

one of their holiest places. No mention of Al-Aqsa being surrounded by violence, tear gas, smoke, while people pray. Can my colleagues imagine if it was their place of worship filled with tear gas. Could you pray as stun grenades were tossed into your holiest place? Above all, there has been absolutely no recognition of Palestinian humanity. If our own State Department can't even bring itself to acknowledge the killing of Palestinian children is wrong, well I will say it for the millions of Americans who stand with me against the killing of innocent children, no matter their ethnicity or faith. I weep for all the lives lost under the unbearable status quo, every single one, no matter their

faith, their background. We all deserve freedom, liberty, peace, and justice, and it should never be denied because of our faith or ethnic background. We all deserve freedom, liberty, peace, and justice, and it should never be denied because of our faith or ethnic background. No child, Palestinian or Israeli, whoever they are, should ever have to worry that death will rain from the sky. How many of my colleagues are willing to say the same, to stand for Palestinian human rights as they do for Israelis. There is a crushing dehumanization to how we talk about this terrible violence. The New York Post reported that Palestinian death toll as Israeli casualties. ABC says that Israelis are, quote, killed, while Palestinians simply quote die.

As if by magic, as if they were never human to begin with. Help me understand the math. How many Palestinians have to die for their lives to matter? Life under apartheid strips Palestinians of their human dignity. How would you feel if you had to go through dehumanizing checkpoints, two blocks from your own home to go to the doctor, or travel across your own land? How would you feel if you had to do it while pregnant,

in the scorching heat, as soldiers with guns controlled your freedom? How would you feel if you lived in Gaza, where your power and water might be out for days or weeks at a time, where you were cut off from the outside world by inhumane military blockade? Meanwhile, Palestinians' rights to nonviolent resistance have been curtailed and even criminalized. Our party leaders have spoken forcefully against BDS, calling its proponents anti-Semitic,

despite the same tactics being critical to ending the South African apartheid mere decades ago. What we are telling Palestinians fighting apartheid is the same thing being told to my black neighbors and Americans throughout that are fighting against police brutality here. There is no form of acceptable resistance to state violence. As long as the message from Washington is that our military support for Israel is unconditional, Netanyahu's extremism, right-wing government will continue to expand settlements, continue to demolish homes, and continue to make the prospects for peace

impossible. 330 of my own colleagues and Democrats and Republicans here, 75 percent of the body here, signed a letter pledging that Israel shall never be made to comply with basic human rights laws that other countries that receive our military aid must observe. You know, when I see the images and videos of destruction and death in Palestine, all I hear are the children screaming from pure fear and terror. I want to read something a mother named Iman in Gaza wrote two days ago. She said, quote, tonight I put the kids to sleep in our bedroom so that when we die, we die together.

And no one would live to mourn the loss of another one. The statement broke me a little more because of my country's policies and funding will deny this mother's right to see her own children live without fear and to grow old without painful trauma and violence. We must condition aid to Israel on compliance with international human rights and end the apartheid. We must, with no hesitation, demand that our country recognize the unconditional support of Israel has enabled the erasure of Palestinian life and the denial of the rights of millions

of refugees and emboldens the apartheid policies that Human Rights Watch has detailed thoroughly in their recent report. I stand before you not only as a congresswoman for the beautiful 13 districts strong, but also as a proud daughter of Palestinian immigrants and the granddaughter of a loving Palestinian grandmother living in the occupied Philistine. You take that and you combine it with the fact that I was raised in one of the most beautiful blackest cities in America, a city where movements for civil rights and social justice are birthed, the city of Detroit. So I can't stand here, I can't stand silent when injustice exists, where the truth is obscured. If there's one thing Detroit instilled in this Palestinian girl from Southwest, it's you always speak truth to power even if your voice shakes.

The freedom of Palestinians is connected to the fight against oppression all over the world. Lastly, to my city in Palestine, I stand here because of you. Thank you. Certainly a powerful floor speech delivered last week by Rashida Tlaib, congresswoman from Detroit. This continues, Ben, the actions. Israel has said they're going to step up their attacks against the Palestinians. Also today, President Joe Biden approved a more than $700 million arms deal to Israel. There was one report that Congressman Gregory Meeks was going to send a letter to Biden holding that up. That did not happen. What do you make of what's going on and the United States reaction to it?

I felt it all back last week. Rashida Tlaib mentioned the fact that the State Department couldn't even recognize or condemn, rather, the murder of Palestinian children. She was speaking specifically of the State Department spokesperson, Ned Price. And he was asked repeatedly, can you at least condemn the murders of Palestinian children? And he couldn't do so. Everything else has flown directly from that in terms of how this has played out, because there are those of us who see the humanity of any child, whether it be the Palestinian children who are being obliterated by the Israeli forces, or whether it be the Yemeni children who are being emaciated by the blockade and the civil war there being headed up by Saudi

Arabia and the United States' complicity with both of those atrocities. And the fact that those are our weapons, that those are our bombs, that those are our fighter jets. And that now, even in the middle of this, just yesterday on tax day, Bill, I almost said Bill Clinton, but Joe Biden has agreed to a $735 million weapons package for Israel. And that's just a slap in the face of every American who does not want their tax dollars being used to kill children. And so this really just speaks to the American relationship and the amount of influence that the right wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu has on American politics to the point where we can't even condemn the murder of children. That is a statement of the that is a statement of where we are as this as a country and the nation and how bereft of any integrity

that we have. We have no moral standing to say anything except for us to hold Israel accountable so that they can at least be held to human standard, human rights standards in terms of our aid that we give them. If we can't do that, then what are we as a nation, if nothing more than an empire that is committing our own terrorism across the globe? Kelly? I mean, Benjamin said almost all of it. My issue with this is to acknowledge Israel's wrongs and to acknowledge their just aberrant actions towards, frankly, their own people. It would be hypocritical of the United States to actually side on Palestine, because we have done, and by we I mean administrations, American administrations have done the exact same thing to our own people and across the globe since America has been America.

And I think that's really how and why we come into this predicament where we know it's wrong. And if it were any other country, frankly, we would be on the side of Palestinians trying to save them. But because of the stronghold that Israel has on us and vice versa, mainly because of the hypocrisy that both countries share, we can't come to terms with our own atrocities. And it's kind of like they don't, as a country, America doesn't want to throw a stone on a glass house when we have a very thin glass house of our own. For those who think that this is just a religious issue, there are Jewish, I mean, I'm sorry,

there are Palestinian Jews, there are Palestinian Jews. There are Palestinian Christians. There are Palestinian Muslims. It's not a religious issue. This is political. This is an ethnic cleansing. This is genocide. This is xenophobia to the highest power. And American actions like this create the terrorism that comes on our shores, like 9-11. And people don't really want to think of it that way, but everything is connected. If we continue to be on the wrong side of history

on this matter and others, we will see what we reap in time. So, if anything, this is a warning to do the right thing. And it does not appear that the Biden administration sees it that way, considering that even in the middle of pandemic and people losing their jobs by the day, still, we found a billion dollars to send to another country committing apartheid. Mokongo, final comment. It's tragic.

As somebody who, as a child, was out on the streets by my parents, had me protesting to have Nelson Mandela freed and apartheid, to see this happening right now, it is really terrible. And President Biden needs to really man up and be serious about this. You can't have low-level dignitaries over there. Anthony Blinken needs to be the person who's involved in these negotiations. You can't have a situation. We talk about this arms deal, but this is the arms deal on top of the last arms deal that was used to blow up some of these buildings from last week. And we see Jen Psaki and other members of the administration express more frustration that a

building that had journalists in there were targeted. But guess what? Those journalists got to go home. There were people who were in those buildings who lost those homes. And when you have the Israeli government continually saying, well, we have intelligence that this happened and intelligence that that happened, but never fully provided or make it public to the people, then we always have to be skeptical about what they're saying. President Trump completely ignored Palestine in his quote-unquote negotiations that he was making under his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who knew all things Middle East. And now we see Palestinians once again exercising their right to speak up. And if President Biden really wants to honor his commitment to Rashida Tlaib that he made to her

today, he needs to really get off of these private phone calls and publicly come out and say Israel needs to stop this. Because as long as Bibi Netanyahu knows that he can use this for political gain, because violence is what he uses to maintain power, and as long as the Republicans here in this country and other conservative groups can make Hamas look like they're the Palestinian government when they are not in charge and say that they are worthy of death so we can do whatever we want, we are going to continue to have this happen. So I stand with Rashida Tlaibib 100%. Folks, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

I'm a Congo, Kelly and Ben for joining us on today's show. Folks, if y'all want to support what we do here at Rollerball Unfiltered, please do so by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans each year supporting what we do, contributing an average of $50 each. Some people give more, some give less. You can do so via Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered, paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. Sale is rolling at rollingmartin.com or rolling at rollingmartinunfiltered.com.

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