#RolandMartinUnfiltered - NC Judge halts voter ID; FDA Pfizer booster decision; Isiah Thomas says NO Black anthem at games

Episode Date: September 18, 2021

9.17.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NC Judge strikes down voter ID; FDA declines Pfizer booster shots for most Americans; 'Auntie' Maxine Waters pressed Biden to keep housing regulator; Texas border crisis worsens; R. Kelly trial continues; Black police chief in Waterloo, Iowa faces backlash over reforms; Texas judge sets a date to hear the Department of Justice's case to block the new abortion law; NBA great, Isiah Thomas says NO Black National Anthem at pro games; Education Matters: New study shows students of color in high-poverty areas had a lower achievement rate during 2020-2021 school year. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Friday, September 17, 2021. Coming up, a Roland Martin unfiltered streaming on the Black Star Network. In North Carolina, state supreme court blocks voter I-D laws. Law discriminates against black people. Wait to hear what they said about the legislature and what they tried to do.

The only political action committee focused on black political engagement is celebrating five years of service. We'll talk about that in a minute. about the legislature and what they try to do. The only political action committee focused on black political engagement is celebrating five years of service. We'll talk with the founder of the collective PAC about what the group has accomplished and what they're gonna do moving forward. A court date has been set to hear arguments

against Texas' fetal heartbeat bill. We'll talk with a doctor in Texas about exactly what this bill is. The FDA rejects the use of the Pfizer COVID booster on everyone except those over the age of 65 and those who are high risk. And NBA Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas goes on Jason Whitlock's show to say he's opposed to the playing of the national black national anthem at sporting events. But also some other issues dealing with race. to say he's opposed to the playing of the national, black national anthem at sporting events, but also some other issues dealing with race. I'll unpack this and give you a breakdown of the history of the revoicing the scene,

start spanking a banner, but also why the right wing is all of a sudden so interested in the national black anthem. It's time to bring the funk. Roland Martin unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network, let's go. He's got it, whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland, best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics, with entertainment just for gigs. He's rolling, yeah, with some go-go-royale. Yeah, yeah, it's rolling, Martin, yeah. Yeah, yeah, rolling with rolling now. Yeah, he's broke, he's fresh Rollin' now Yeah, yeah, yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martell now Martell North Carolina Supreme Court ruled the state's photo voter identification law is unconstitutional. In a split decision, the court ruled the law was, in fact, discriminatory against African Americans. The judges barred its enforcement and agreed with minority voters that Republicans rammed through rules tainted by racial bias as a way to remain in power. Joining us right now is

Reverend Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, the state conference of the NAACP. Reverend Spearman, always glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. This is why voting matters. The state Supreme Court, the final arbiter of laws in North Carolina, make the ruling. Republicans were desperate to take control of the Supreme Court. Democrats had Sherry Beasley won as state Supreme Court justice. We had a six to one advantage is really now it's four to three. But this shows you why voting matters, putting the right folks on these state Supreme Courts. Roland, thank you so much for having me on. Good to see you again. And but I have to reel

you in a little bit because this decision that came out today, this ruling that came out today was actually at the superior court level. So we've got a ways to go before we get to the state Supreme Court. And this is we, the North Carolina NAACP actually has a very similar case that this was fought by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and Holmes v. Moore is the name of it. And so this is a state challenge that challenged North Carolina state constitution in Article I, Section 19, dealing with the equal protection of laws. Our case that will be slated for January 24th through February 4th is a federal lawsuit that actually challenges the plaintiffs are able to bypass the court of appeals and go straight to the state Supreme Court. So when people have to understand, you've been dealing with this for a while. You had previously a federal judge rule that the bills there were, frankly, racially driven,

where they said there was a laser-like focus targeting African-Americans. I mean, Republicans in North Carolina were very vocal, if you will, very public with how they were targeting black people and trying to limit the power to vote because they were angry that President Barack Obama won North Carolina by 14,100 votes in 2008. And they did not want to see black voters exercising that power on statewide races and as well as in other races in North Carolina. And they still don't want to see it. And that the measure that you're talking about, speaking about was House Bill 589, which was probably the most draconian of all of the voter ID or all of the voter suppression

laws that we've seen recently. And everything that they're doing since then has been the very same thing. They're trying to come back from different angles, if you will. And we are proving to them that we have the capability to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves as we fight them, because we are realizing that when we fight, we win. So we're hanging in there. We're coming back and attacking them from various angles and aspects. And coalition partners are joining in with the fight for the voter ID or to keep it out of the state of North Carolina. And so today's victory was very meaningful to our suit that is going to be coming in January.

And so we talk about this. This is important because what you have on the federal level now you have Senator Joe Manton of West Virginia who is trying to push for this national voter I.D. If they are successful on that level, that hurts what you're fighting right now, North Carolina. Exactly right. Exactly right. And so the very thing that we're seeing is there's a kind of a lobbying from the superior court to the court of appeals. Court of appeals, we definitely have no friends on that court. And so the best angle that we can approach things by is to make an attempt to get to the state court or state Supreme Court as immediately as we possibly can and bypass the Court of Appeals. We just had two recent lawsuits here in the state of North Carolina. We had a victory with the felon disenfranchisement challenge that we brought, and the lower court, the Supreme Court, had the decision ruling in our favor.

And immediately the legislators came and appealed it, and they were able to get a turnaround of the lower court's decision. But it's hopefully going to be temporary because the trial court has to come back in place. And when they do their findings and facts and findings, I believe that we're going to be on the merits of the case. We're going to win. Just for folks to understand, this right here is the ruling of the courts. And this is what the majority writes. North Carolina has a long and undisputed history of enacting racially discriminatory voting laws. They said the sequence of events was marked by departures from normal legislative procedure. Also, that the voter ID constitutional amendment followed immediately after racially gerrymandered districts were ordered, redrawn departed sharply from normal procedure by rushing to enact the bill during a lame duck session before it lost the ability to override Governor Cooper's veto.

And then it goes on and on and on. Proposed amendments to SB 824 that could have benefited African-American voters were rejected. I mean, you know, these judges lay out. In fact, they also say in here, African Americans are more likely to lack qualifying ID than white voters. The burden of obtaining qualifying ID, including free ID, fall more heavily on African American voters.

I mean, these judges lay out a damning indictment of how white Republicans in North Carolina were doing all they can to screw over black voters in North Carolina were doing all they can to screw over black voters in North Carolina? Most definitely. But we're going to continue to fight. And I would give you an invitation, Roland, to bring your unfiltered self here to North Carolina when we go back into

the courtroom in January of 2022. Well, you know, I've been there a few times on this issue, and so we got no problem coming back. Reverend Spearman, it's always a pleasure. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. I appreciate being on. I want to bring my panel now in to discuss this, folks, just so we can understand what's going on here, because, again, it is significant because it has ramifications across the country. Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network show. Faraji Muhammad, radio and TV host, Kelly Bethea, communications strategist. Glad to have all three of you here.

The thing that really jumps out here, Michael, is when you look at this whole deal here, I mean, it is racially driven. Yes. Simple as that. And when you get all these black Republicans out here caping for the GOP, not wanting to accept what is reality, this right here says

all you need to say because they wanted to stop black people from voting. Absolutely. And I'm reading the article here from CNBC and they, the Wake County Superior Court also said that the law quote, would not have been enacted in its current form, but for its tendency to discriminate against African American voters. So all these, not only the Democrat and the Republican, but all these black Republicans,

Larry Elder, Candace Owens, all these black Republicans who would have turned in Harriet Tubman because Harriet Tubman was still in the master's property, they have to explain this. You're talking about leaving the plantation, but some of these people would have turned in Harriet Tubman, like Larry Elder, who said that slave owners should get reparations because it was legal and they had to give up their property. He probably would have turned in Harriet Tubman. They go in to talk about the impact that poverty has. See, I'm trying to figure out, can this ruling be used to deal with other issues pertaining to the African-American community? The majority decision noted that because Black people

in North Carolina are more likely to live in poverty than white people, they thus are also more likely to, quote, face greater hurdles to acquiring photo ID, end quote, as a result of not having a car or being able to get time off from work to do so. This ties into what they're doing. The bill they just passed in Texas, which shuts down the drive-through voting, but also voting after hours as well. So I'm trying to see, can this ruling be used to deal with some of these other laws as well as it goes through the federal court? Well, only if we're only on the federal side, you know, not not on the state side. This is again, I go back to it, Kelly, for the people who sit here who love talking about being by y'all sitting here talking about voting. Y'all, why y'all talking about voting for Democrats?

If you had three Republican judges, this is not how the ruling was going to go down. Exactly. And just to show how insidious and how important voting is, the governor originally vetoed this law from being enacted, and it was overridden in state legislature to be enacted anyway. So that means that even the governor agreed that this was unconstitutional, it shouldn't

be on the books, it shouldn't be enacted whatsoever. But because of the hold that Republicans have in that state and in the legislature specifically, they were able to override even the governor's veto to keep that racist law going. This is the same state that did gerrymandering with surgical precision in the last couple of years just to make sure, like you said, that another Obama would not be elected by the electoral votes in that state. So it is, I'm happy to see that, you know, we got this ruling today, but like your previous guest said, we have a long way to go because this is not the end-all, be-all court regarding this matter. So we have to keep, you know, putting pressure on state legislators in North Carolina and elsewhere who have laws

like this on the books to make sure that they are overturned and eradicated altogether. The thing here, Faraji, when we would look at this ruling here, what it clearly establishes is what happens or what we're seeing happen with Republicans across this country. That when they have the power, they're going to wield that power in a very clear way. And this is absolutely a result of black power. The judges wrote this. This pattern has repeated itself at least three times during North Carolina's history.

The North Carolina Constitution of 1868 guaranteed every adult male citizen the right to cast their ballot in a free and fair election. From Reconstruction to the end of the 19th century, this resulted in increased African American political participation. In response, Democrats implemented an amendment to the North

Carolina Constitution that required passage of a literacy test and payment of a poll tax as preconditions to register to vote. Then it says the literacy test and poll tax resulted in the wholesale disenfranchisement of African-American North Carolinians and their removal from the political life of the state.

Following the passage of the literacy test and extending through the enactment of the voting rights of 1965, African-Americans, despite the effects of Jim Crow policies, achieved some hard-won political successes as a result of persistent and determined efforts to mobilize residents of black communities to present themselves to the literacy test repeatedly, in effect to challenge the literacy test. And then it goes on in terms of exactly what the legislature did and how they tried to do it. And I love this here. Officials claim that these actions were needed to protect against voter fraud. In reality, they were designed to thwart growing black political power. Sounds familiar.

Absolutely. Brother Rowland, I mean, I think that piece speaks volumes about what we're doing, what we're seeing right now. I mean, here we have a state that is going back and forth about the issue of black political power. And I think that, you know, this whole ruling was based upon a 2015 analysis, which showed that here and check out these numbers. registered voters lacked acceptable ID for voting under a prior voter ID bill as compared with 4.5% of white registered voters. So we're seeing that black people are once again put in the back. And the thing that we need to start having conversations about is now that the judges are pushing back on this voter ID bill, how do we at the same time empower our people to not get caught up in a situation where they don't have ID issues? Now, one of the big things is getting access to getting IDs. That's the gap that as Black people,

as a community, we can fill in the gaps. If somebody in North Carolina lives in a rural area of the state and they can't get to the city or any town, then how is there black transportation service that can provide that service to help fit, you know, to fill in the gap? I mean, we have some reprieve here with this ruling, but now this is where the community can step up to help our brothers and sisters. That way, our brothers and sisters aren't in a position to be waiting on some mystery guard. We can be empowering one another. So here's, just understand this here. Let me go back.

So this is what the judges wrote, shortly after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act through the present-day African-American representation in the General Assembly increased due to judicial intervention, including the decision to enforce the Voting Rights Act and force states to take down many of the barriers to African-American voting that were erected in the 50s and 60s. These measures resulted in a dramatic increase in black political participation, including a 50% increase in black voter registration by 2010.

But check this out. During this time, the state Republican Party continued to attempt to suppress black voter turnout. They mailed postcards to thousands of voters in heavily black precincts, warning recipients incorrectly that they would not be allowed to cast a ballot if they had moved within 30 days, and that if they attempted to vote, they would be subject to prosecution and imprisonment. Between 2000 and 2012, black voter registration in North Carolina increased by 51.1%. Black voter turnout, listen to everybody who's watching, listen. increased from 41.9% in 2000 to 71.5% in 2008.

Come on, come on. And in 2008 and 2012 elections, black voters in North Carolina registered. God, thank you. Please stay on this. Stay, black voters in North Carolina registered. God, thank you. Please stay on this. Stay. Black voters in North Carolina registered at higher rates than whites for the first time in the state's history. Come on.

See, that happened. That happened. The 2012 presidential election. No, 2008. See, that happened that 2012 presidential election. No, 2008. No, no, no. It said 2008 and 2012. No, no, no. It said between 2012 and 2012. But it was 2008.

It was Obama won. Remember, Obama wins North Carolina by 14,100 votes. He lost North Carolina in 2012, but they were still scared to death of the numbers. What I'm tying this to is what happened

nationwide. Nationwide in the 2012 presidential election, the percentage turnout of African Americans registered to vote was greater than the percentage turnout of white people registered to vote. That scared the hell out of white people. That scared the hell out of white people. That scared the hell out of Republicans.

And what did they do? They came back and attacked us in the courts with Shelby County v. Holder 2013 Supreme Court case that gutted the Voting Rights Act, gutted the preclearance, the oversight dealing with the Voting Rights Act. And what this shows right here, with this ruling,

courts interpret law. See, this is why Republicans fought so hard to get 225 federal judges confirmed under dumbass Donald Trump. With Mitch McConnell in control of the Senate after Mitch McConnell blocked 103 federal judge nominations by President Barack Obama. See, we have to understand the role that the courts play also. It's not just the state legislature. That's important. It's not just the governor. Courts interpret the law. That's what this is doing.

Lastly, Roland, the question I had, did they shut down DMVs, Department of Motor Vehicle locations? No. Okay, because that's what they did in Alabama. Yeah. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. What they did is they used the power of the legislature,

but the difference is they got stopped with the lawsuits on the federal level and now on the state level as well. And so, I see everybody understand. Y'all talk about, man, you sitting here talking about voting for Democrats.

Republican judges, Republican legislators want to strip you of your right to vote. Now, this is real simple. It's them or the Dems. It's Republicans or Democrats. Y'all can sit here and play stupid all you want to. All I'm saying is this here. If I got to pick between one party that is deliberately trying to strip us from having the right to vote, and one party that's not, who the hell you think

I'm going to pick? Not only that, they're trying to block everything else that's beneficial to African Americans. All these other bills Republicans are voting against. When you look at the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that has $46.5 billion in rental assistance for renters and landlords that's keeping a lot of black people in their homes,

who blocked that bill? No Republicans in the House or the Senate voted for the bill. I'm neither Democrat nor Republican. I sure as hell ain't stupid. I can look at the history and I can see what's taking place. Now, there's some Democrats, they need to have their ass kicked and voted out of office too.

For that as well. But we have to understand that elections have consequences and we're talking about self-preservation. And no one is sitting here saying, oh, Democrats are perfect. But again, y'all, the courts have shown Republicans in North Carolina, they specifically asked, when do black people vote early? Exactly. Oh, most of them vote the first week.

We're going to limit early voting to one location in each county for the first several weeks. Y'all, y'all can play stupid. Some of y'all out there who watch, y'all be sending me these old dumbass tweets and sitting here, oh, man, you sitting here, you tap dancing for the Democrats. These fools ain't playing. Exactly. They do not want to pass anything that benefits black people. Nothing.

Nothing. Nothing. Faraji, then Kelly, then I'm going to my next story. Just real quick. This is why community organizing on a grassroots level is so important. I was happy to hear our brother from the state NAACP conference know, the work that the NAACP is doing in the courtrooms and getting that process moving along. And I'm with you, Brother Michael, this is one of those situations where you need a multi-pronged strategy to employ because it's not just about the NAACP. A lot of our people, we look at these major civil rights institutions as being the one-stop shop for

everything. And we lose, we have lost the sense of what these institutions were all about. These institutions were not to be the one-stop shop for civil rights. These institutions were to serve as guides for us as a people so we can become empowered. And so if the community is not up for this, I'm still at the point that you have so many black North Carolinians or Linneans who don't have access to proper IDs. Why is that? This is 2021. Because, one, first we've got to understand this here.

There's about 20% of the population who actually don't even use driver IDs, driver's licenses. They don't. I mean, see, I think one of the mistakes that we make is that we assume that other people are flying, they are driving. No, it's a lot of people who aren't. It's a lot of people who don't have bank accounts, okay, who use their utility bill to be able to cash a check, whatever. And so that's one of the mistakes that we make. What we got to remember is that they also put up barriers, even get the free ID. And so that's what we sort of get caught. Kelly, a final comment before I go next door. I absolutely agree with everything that's been said. I just wanted to make clear that the minute that any of these laws stop benefiting white people, specifically white Republicans, that's when care about Black people. They simply do not,

because if anything, they could have taken this opportunity over the past 20 years to actually revamp their platform to see how Black people can be integrated into it so they can actually grow their base, so they can actually get the votes that they want and the like. They don't want that. They want white supremacy. They want white retained power. They do not care about anybody else being in the mix so long as they are on top. So when you are in a predicament such that you only have two choices, where our political system is so binary. You have to pick the lesser of two evils, meaning both of them can be trash whenever they want to be. Right.

But one of them is going to and has proven to have some benefit towards black people. So I'm going with the lesser evil option. Well, bottom line is here, don't go to sleep, people. This thing is real. Now, if we are not voting, then how are we putting our own into public office?

The Collective PAC, they are celebrating their five-year anniversaries, which is focused on building Black political power. They, of course, are dedicated to increasing black political engagement and actually supporting black candidates across the country. There are a variety of festivities which begin today

where over 100 elected officials and political candidates here in D.C. for events like a concert featuring Grammy award-winning artist Nas as well as being entertained by DJ D-Nice, of course, who won the NAACP's 2021 Entertainer of the Year. Joining us right now is the co-founder of the Collective Pack, Quentin James. Quentin, glad to have you on Roller Mark Unfiltered. You were just hearing us talk about, again, trying to fight for voting rights to ensure we can get to the ballot. Bottom line is this here, if they're blocking us from getting to the ballot, they're blocking us from electing black candidates.

Exactly. And that's a huge challenge. You know, one of the reasons that we started the collective PAC was because of the numbers. They're so, you know, against our community in terms of where we are with representation. You know, so right now, 90% of people in public office in this country are white. 95% of the elected prosecutors in the country are white.

And over 84% of Democratic candidates and 96% of the GOP candidates are also white. And so when we think about our representation, and we just had the census come out, think about how do we make sure Black voices are at the table, yes, we have to have voting rights to make sure folks have the ability to cast their votes.

We also got to have black candidates stepping up to run who are running well-funded and competitive campaigns to win these seats. And so these things go hand in hand, and we can't do one without the other. And so I think it's a very timely conversation. It's unfortunate that we're still fighting about these issues around voting rights, but it's a strategic decision. I think your previous guests were saying this is intentional because they see the writing on the wall. This country is becoming blacker and more browner and more diverse. And so that means that if they're going to compete with us numerically, they've got to change the rules.

And so that's what we see happening around the country. Well, and I'll give a perfect example. I brought it up earlier. Sherri Beasley was the state Supreme Court justice in North Carolina. She lost by just 400 votes. 400 votes. Statewide, exactly. Had she won, Democrats would have a 6-1 majority on the state Supreme Court.

The guy she lost to was a white male Republican who was pissed off that he wasn't elevated as chief justice and chose to run against her. He beats her. Republican wins his seat. Now the Democratic majority on the state Supreme Court is now 4-3. Exactly, exactly. And that is the challenge here is, you know, sometimes our opponents are playing chess and we're still kind of playing checkers. This is a very strategic game. And I think candidates like Sherry, who's now running for the U.S. Senate, and folks should

go to her website, SherryBeasley.com, to find out more information about her. We have to support these Black candidates who are stepping up to run across the country. This year, or in the next cycle, 2022, we will have competitive African Americans running for the United States Senate in really important places. You mentioned Sherri Beasley in North Carolina. We also have to reelect Raphael Warnock in Georgia, Congresswoman Val Demings running for Senate in Florida, Lieutenant Governor Mand Demings running for Senate in Florida, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes running for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. We have some very

competitive candidates running in Pennsylvania, including State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, who was here with us earlier today. And also in Kentucky, we have our good friend, Brother Charles Booker, one of the youngest people elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in previous, is also running for the U.S. Senate. And so we have some really important races where folks, to your point, will need every single dollar and every single vote, because we saw, as you mentioned, a race decided by less than the 400-and-something votes. And so it's really critical that we understand that this is an important opportunity for us to build

black political power in this next year and a half. And for folks who also don't understand, one of the biggest problems that black candidates have is money. If you look at members of the Congressional Black Caucus, you don't have major, major

fundraisers in terms of people who are bringing in a ton of dough. And so what happens is people say, I'm praying for you. No, guess what? Your prayer ain't going to buy any TV ads or radio ads or pay for any field staff. And so that's also why we're having a black political action committee is important for folks who are running for federal and statewide office and local office. You know, many of these candidates are depending on, you know, these grassroots contributions, $5, $10, $25. We're not asking you all to mortgage your homes to become donors. What we're saying is if, you know, you can commit, right, $10 a month to supporting black candidates around the country, once we get to scale with that, right, where there are 10,000 black

people doing that every month, or 25,000, right, or 100,000, or a million doing it every month, then we can start to fund these campaigns, and our candidates can actually spend more time talking about issues that matter to them. we can start to fund these campaigns, and our candidates can actually spend more time talking about issues that matter to them. They can spend more time connecting to voters who they need to turn out and support their campaigns. And so the money in politics is a big issue. We saw, after the huge wave that we saw in 2008 with Barack Obama being elected, the

Supreme Court decided in the Supreme Court case Citizens United versus the United States that money is now equal to free speech. And so we're seeing floods, right, of millionaires and billionaires becoming major political donors because they can now spend unlimitedly to make sure their voice is, you know, kind of overrunning the people's voices. But in this country, we have this principle called one man and one vote. And so it's critical that we understand our power as voters, but also understand our power as donors to make sure our candidates have the same opportunity to have their voices heard in these really important races. And for the people who say small donors don't matter, the reality is that's what powered Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign, those small donors. And so, you know, this is not, oh, I don't have $1,000 or $1,500 or $2,000 to

give. No. A whole bunch of $5, $10, $20 adds up pretty quickly. Exactly. And let's, you know, be clear, before Bernie, there was Barack Obama, right? I mean, let's understand that that playbook was very much developed and run by the first black president of the United States. And people forget that Barack Obama, even though we kind of were create as black leaders, black progressives, black elected officials. And so that is a really important point that you raise, Roland, around don't underestimate the power not only of your vote, but of your dollar. That is the one change of our politics that our ancestors did not have to deal with when they received the right to vote, right? It was not this kind of understanding that black candidates couldn't compete financially with fundraising, right? Because what we know, right, through folks who've won in 2020, 2018,

the average U.S. Senate campaign right now costs around $10 to $20 million. $10 to $20 million. The average U.S. Congress campaign costs around $1.5 to $2 million. And so when we think about these candidates and having to, you know, raise that kind of money coming from our communities,

where we know all the stats around poverty, all the stats around Black wealth in our community, right, has been devastated due to not only COVID, but the economic depression and everything that we've kind of gone through, you know, the recession of 2008 or 2009, we know these stats, right? And yet and still,

we can make a huge difference when we come together collectively and contribute money to support these candidates. And so I am very encouraged by what we're seeing around the country right now with grassroots donors supporting Black candidates. They're building multi-generational, multicultural coalitions to compete around the country. But we still got to do more. And so I want to say to your viewers, thank you for what you already have done. But don't rest on those laurels. We have to continue supporting, both with our votes

and with our dollars, Black candidates who are running across the country. Vince, this weekend, so is the concert and party taking place tomorrow? Yes, exactly. You know, we are bringing some of our top artists and creatives to the people. Tomorrow night, we're doing a show in Washington, D.C., with Grammy Award-winning artist Nas. Arguably has one of the best albums out in 2021.

People may debate me on that with Drake and Kanye, but I think Nas is one of the best albums out right now. But also the NAACP Image Award Entertainer of the Year, DJ D-Nice, who's been rocking Club Quarantine throughout the pandemic. We are excited to come together for a party with a purpose, right? The proceeds will benefit the tremendous Black candidates running across the country. We have over 100 candidates who are in town right now who will be there mixing and mingling and talking to folks about why they should be elected to Congress, to Senate. We have black women running for governor. We've never had a black woman governor in this country. We can change that over the next 18 months. And so we're excited to invite folks. We encourage your viewers to come out and have a good night with us tomorrow night. All right, then. Well, look, I have to, we got to cover the Howard Hampton game tomorrow at noon.

We'll be there. We'll also be streaming the halftime show. And so expect to see a brother at your event tomorrow night. So be coming through. So it'll be a long day, but it'll be a black day. Exactly. And we really appreciate your support, Roland. You've been with us from the very start. So thank you for your platform and for you committing to connecting what we're doing with your audience. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Let's see you tomorrow night. Thank you all. All right, then let's go back to our panel here. The money piece is so crucial.

It's so crucial. And what Collective PAC does matters, Kelly, because if you're a candidate out there and you meet their standards and they say we're going to back you, I mean, look, to be able to have that mailing list going out there endorsing you, I mean, it's just huge. And people, I'm not joking when people say, yeah, I'm praying for you. That's not going to pay any bills. And yes, it is an arms race that is money. And one of the things that I think with the election of Obama that people really, I think, underestimate. It taught a lot of black folks about bundling. It taught them about the power of small donations. And we really have seen since that election how it has had a trickle-down effect for other congressional races, U.S. Senate

races, statewide, local races, because people have, they begin to understand, oh, hold up, so my $5, $10 put together with 10,000 other people is some real money. Money is money. If it's real money, it's real money. I can't tell you how many times I have either volunteered on campaigns or seen my friends volunteer on campaigns simply because the money isn't there to pay them. Campaigns cost money, period. It costs money to canvas. It costs money for the flyers. It costs money to attend the events. Everything costs

money. Even the things you don't think cost money cost money. And as from national elections to the most local of elections, everything has a cost. I live in D.C. and some of the most local elections, like just for like ward elections of any sort, can run you a smooth 10 grand. And sometimes they actually get that money. How? By the $1 donations that you just talked about. $1 adds up. $5 adds up. $10 adds up. And you will always have, like, you know, your occasional person who will donate, you know,

a larger amount for sure. But it can't be all, the burden can't be on that one person with the largest checkbook. It takes all of us to run a campaign. It takes all of us to fund a campaign. So like you said, the prayers, they're appreciated, but you need some prayers that fold and can be deposited as well. You know, the thing here that, again, why these PACs matter. You know, we sit back, Faraji, and we watch these campaigns, and there are people out there, and they just assume, just assume that, oh, man, it's just, it's so, to me, like an investment.

I don't have all this money. I can't, you know, I can't do anything. And, you know, I can't. And what always happens, they always go, you know, where's our black celebrities and our black entertainers? We're not realizing that there are actual federal limits when you talk about running on a federal level and then different state laws. And so somebody can be a billionaire, but they can only give X number of dollars. And so every dollar matters, it does. Absolutely, absolutely, Brother Rowland.

And you know what, going back to what you said about former President Barack Obama talking about bundling, you know, I think a lot of now candidates have taken that script from his playbook of, you know, small donations matter. And it's important that we understand that if we could put a candidate in office by giving $5 here, $10 there, what's stopping us?

And this is what I was thinking about even when Barack Obama was running. I said, if we can put money into that pot, what's stopping us from using that same collective will, so the same social and political energy, from saying, okay, let's establish a black bank. Let's do some other things. If we can bring money together,

if it's in a situation where, you know, the money is going to be managed properly, if it's in a situation where there's trust established, what's stopping us? I mean, this is just the tip of the iceberg in changing the dynamics of power in this country. And what I love about what Collective PAC is doing is that it's celebrating the wins and then at the same time it's giving us a model. And you and I both know, Brother Roland, there have been a number of models, both nationally and locally, about how we can get black folks in office. What we now need to do is start to really take the lessons from all of these initiatives and projects,

put them together and start looking at, okay, how can we get our next candidate back into the White House? Or how can we get our next candidate for the governor of this state and that state? I mean, PAC is doing a fantastic job, but PAC needs to be supported by other PACs. And I think that's the thing. But we can see just in the layout of how, you know, candidates get into office, we can use that same model to start doing some other things

for our people in our communities. Michael? Yeah, you know, this is really important, and I'm glad you had our brother Quentin James on today. This is an example of why African-American owned businesses are so important, economic empowerment, so we can

finance things like this and finance our own politicians, not so they can have a job, but finance people who are going to write laws and pass policies that are beneficial to us. Okay. And so this, this, this deals with, you know, I hear one of my teachers, Dr. Claude Anderson speaking in my head right now, but this is something that he's been talking about. We, we got it. We have to finance this and we have to take the money that we earn from our own businesses, which is why we have to support our own businesses as well,

to control the economics and the politics in our own community. This is something Malcolm talked about. People think Malcolm was against voting. Go, go read. I ain't say listen, go read Malcolm's speech, the battle of the Bullet. Malcolm talks about registering every black person in Harlem who can vote, registering them as an independent. You can be independent, you can be Democrat, Republican, whatever it is.

It's about the policies. This is something Malcolm talked about. And Malcolm talked about interjecting black nationalism into the civil rights movement after he leaves the nation of Islam. So this is extremely important, but this is the physical manifestation of

people's pontification. So this is something that we have to replicate as well, support and replicate. Absolutely. And so we'll, again, continue to be following this. So congratulations for Collective Pack. All right, folks.

Got to go to break. We come back. Congresswoman Maxine Waters is letting me know when it comes to who she wants to continue as a housing regulator. We'll also talk COVID on the show as well. A lot of other stuff we got to talk about, folks. You want to support what we do here at Roland Martin Unfiltered by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support what we do. Of course, you can support us via Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, Paypal.me,

forward slash rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And all the folks who give on those four platforms, I'll give a shout out during today's show. I'll be back in a moment. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing.

The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex. And we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out, Tiffany. I know this road. That is so freaking dope. I am to be smart. Roland Martin's doing this every day. Oh, no punches!

Thank you, Roland Martin, for always giving voice to the issues. Look for Roland Martin in the whirlwind, to quote Marcus Garvey again. The video looks phenomenal, so I'm really excited to see it on my big screen. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told.

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I'm real revolutionary right now. Roland was amazing on that. Hey, Black, I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart.

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The Food Drug Administration has rejected a plan to offer Pfizer booster shots against COVID to most Americans. The 16-2 vote is a blow to the Biden Administration's plan to increase the nation's protection against the virus amid the highly contagious Delta variant. Over several hours of discussion, members of the FDA

panel of outside experts voiced frustration that Pfizer had provided little data on the safety of extra doses. The panel says data provided by Israeli researchers about their booster campaign might not be suitable for predicting the U.S. experience. However, the panel did approve the extra shots for those 65 or older or who run a high risk of severe disease. And so we certainly will keep you abreast of that. In terms of what happens next, many people have been criticizing the Biden administration for that, but we'll see in terms of where they go next.

Let's now talk about the Texas bill. The Supreme Court allowed the bill called the fetal heartbeat bill, to move forward as it makes its way through the court. They chose not to actually stop it. But first of all, what exactly is it? You also now have seen the legal challenges take place. So joining us right now is Dr. Nicole Lee Plenty, OBGYN and maternal fetal medicine physician

out of Houston, Texas, my hometown. So glad to have you here. So explain to people exactly what this law actually says and does. So thank you, Roland, for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity. So the bill basically bans abortions after six weeks, leaves no exception for rape or incest, leaves no exception for babies that have major fetal anomalies, because obviously we can't diagnose fetal anomalies until much later on in the pregnancy than at six weeks. The law also basically leaves it up to the public to be the prosecutors of this thing, meaning if someone's in my clinic and they happen to bring someone with them and they hear me

counseling them about their option for termination of pregnancy for any various reason, that could mean that that person that's with them can sue. It could also mean that if a person was raped, the rapist can also sue if the patient decides to terminate, which they would not be able to do in the state, but they could still sue and win $10,000 if they decided to pursue it. So what predicament does that put doctors in? Because when you say to detect a heartbeat, so does the bill require a sonogram? I mean, how do you go about that? What's the process? So basically, the earliest you can detect a heartbeat is somewhere around six weeks. But most clinicians aren't going to see people in clinic until eight weeks because we know that there's a high chance of not seeing a heartbeat. So basically, they're using the last menstrual period to date the pregnancy or an ultrasound.

So if there's an ultrasound or last menstrual period that says that a pregnant patient is at least six weeks, then you cannot terminate. It doesn't matter if there is a heartbeat that's seen or not. So in terms of this making its way through court, what you just described there, if the bill says absolutely no abortions after six weeks regard or a heartbeat must be detected what's the process i mean is that paperwork you fill out or something so if a heartbeat is not detected ever then it's considered a stillbirth so then you would not have an issue to go and get a procedure

to basically evacuate the uterus if you will but usually what we would do is we would go in, we'd determine if the pregnancy is a viable pregnancy or not via ultrasound. If someone wanted a termination, we would then give them the resources they needed to then go get the termination. We would have to sign consent forms within 18 hours of a patient actually receiving a termination. That is the typical process. Now, Roland, honestly, we don't know what the process is because we don't see people that early. And so in my practice and in a lot of practices in Houston, we are trying to figure out what is the correct lingo that we have to use. How can we counsel people effectively? As a high-risk specialist, which is the same thing as a maternal fetal medicine specialist, I am seeing extremely high-risk patients, and I have to counsel patients about all of their options,

including a termination if I am diagnosing a major structural defect in a baby. However, with this bill, if I counsel them, then I can get sued. But as a high-risk provider, I legally have to tell all the options. So if I don't, I can get sued for wrongful birth. So it's put us in a conundrum. So we're not really handling it anyway. And honestly, I'm trying to refer people out if they end up having major structural defects to avoid that kind of litigation. Wow. So that's, again, it puts you in a very tough spot, which is frankly what the folks who passed the bill wanted to happen, to put that sort of pressure on doctors. All right, Dr.

Plinley, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. All right, then. Folks, let's talk about Capitol Hill. Congresswoman Maxine Waters is putting pressure on President Joe Biden to keep the current housing regulator. There are reports that President Biden is considering replacing the current regulator for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Well, Waters is endorsing acting federal housing finance agency director Sandra Thompson, who took on the role in June after Biden fired a Trump appointee. In a statement, Waters said that she doesn't believe anyone is more qualified or dedicated than Ms. Thompson. She also, of course, made the point with the Biden administration that you might want to keep a black woman in her position because it's not like you have a whole lot.

This right here, of course, she is the committee chair of a powerful financial committee there on Capitol Hill. And I'm going to say for Raji, for people who go, oh, well, you know, the CBC, what do they do? If you want to understand power, trust me, the Biden administration does not want to have to cross Congresswoman Maxine Waters on this very issue. No, I mean, and she represents the state of California, which you and I both know, Brother Roland, is a state that is, you know, she's on the House Financials. She's served as the chair of the House Financial Services Committee. So they're looking at housing disparity, housing affordability, all of those housing issues across the country. And so, you know, she is a vocal.

She could be one of your staunch supporters or she can be a vocal, you know, critic, a person that criticizes you. But at the end of the day, you know, Maxine Waters, and I agree with her on this, that you got to put black people in front of, you know, at the top of these things. I'm looking at housing. We also got to talk about the banking situation because the finances and housing in this country, when it comes to black and brown communities in particular, is, I mean, is the worst. I do work, Reverend Rowland, here in Baltimore with a couple of organizations that work in both of those spaces.

And let me tell you, we go back and forth with banks about housing in black and brown communities, from everything from, you know, doing, making sure that appraisals are done properly to making sure that Black people get the proper value for their homes, all of those things. So when you have a Black person in there, and I know some people say, well, she might just be a figurehead, but this is why it's important, and I'm going back to your premise all the time, it's like you've got to create the leaders that you want. That's the way we have to start looking at this thing if we want to look at creating power in all of these industries and in the housing industry,

where redlining is, has been a part of that industry or the legacy of those industry, when you're talking about the affordability factor, where you're talking about even, you know, there are a high number of folks that haven't gotten the stimulus package that was promised for those homeowners that have been affected by COVID-19. All of those things are huge and they hit our community hardest. And so you've got to have somebody that looks like us and that can understand our struggle to be in those spaces. The thing that we spend lots of time dissecting, and I tell you, Kelly, I see a lot of these people commenting on social media. And they don't do this and they don't do that. And this is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. There are things that black congressional members do that people don't actually even pay attention to.

They have no idea. When you talk about weighing in on who is in that position of power, that matters. When you talk about, again, changing the language in a particular bill, sure, their name might not be on it, but that language change could actually do something. And this is just a mistake that so many people make when they don't understand the role they play. I remember watching Tom Hanks play Congressman Charlie Wilson in the movie Charlie Wilson's War, and they were like, and I remember the CIA agent played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, he said, how in the world can a nondescript congressman from Texas who hasn't passed, I think he passed like two bills or something like that in his career, known for boozing and women, how he's going to get this done?

He said, because people owe me a whole lot of favors. If you don't know how Capitol Hill works, then you don't understand. Come on. And the thing is, a lot of Americans just simply do not understand. If you are not in the room where it happens, you're not going to get it. For a lot of Americans, the term, you don't knowine Waters' endorsement of this woman for this role, at the end of the day, if it weren't for black women, Biden would not be in office. If it were not for black women, the Democratic Party as a whole would be pretty shaky on its foundation.

So anything, if anything, she should be there, not only because she's qualified, but as principal, black women need to be visible. More so, more than just, you know, being the vice president or, you know, someone as a special advisor. They need to be visible in the cabinet. They need to be visible around Biden because at the end of the day, it is us who got him there. So I understand Maxine Waters' position on this and I'm anxious to see how everything plays out. Michael. Yeah, you know, Representative Maxine Waters

is using her leverage to create this opportunity for the sister, but not so the sister can have a job. So so she can so she can help people who help put Democrats in control of the White House. OK, and keep Democrats in the House of Representatives. And remember, it was you know, we speak of Representative Maxine Waters, it was Representative Maxine Waters who spearheaded the bill to try to extend the

eviction moratorium, okay, at the last minute. Yeah, it was Representative Maxine Waters. We talk about black women, it was Cori Bush, who, and Ayanna Pressley who were on the steps of Capitol Hill drawing attention to this, to put pressure on Biden to do something with the courts and try to extend this with the CDC. Now, even though the Supreme Court

eventually struck it down, it still bought some time, but what it did do is put pressure on state legislatures to figure out how to disseminate the 46 and a half billion dollars that was already passed months ago through the American Rescue Plan. Through the American Rescue Plan. Look, as Kelly said,

if you don't know how power works, then you don't know. power works, then you don't know. And trust me, you got to be in the room, know how it works. Okay, I got to deal with this, y'all. Okay, so you have these mayors and you have these governors who are giving mask mandates. And they're saying, folks, you got to wear it. Now, we've seen Governor Gavin Newsom of California get ripped for going to a private party, dinner party, no mask.

I remember D.C. Mayor Mira Bowser, same thing happened. So now they're criticizing the mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, because she was having, she went to an event, nightclub in San Francisco, and was seen partying, dancing without her mask. Now, this is what she said today. No, I'm not going to sip and put my mask on, sip and put my mask on, sip and put my mask on, eat and put my mask on while I'm eating and I'm drinking. I'm going to leave my mask off. So here's what happened. Um, a San Francisco Chronicle report actually happened to go out to a jazz spot, um, where Breed was there with several other people.

And this was the video that she shot. What time is it? Are you inside? Are they love all? We'll be right back. Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow So here I am, still in the shoes I need a drink, you know me too Who is your friend? She's doing nice, well I know she will All right.

So, person in the middle, that was the mayor. All right. So, person in the middle, that was the mayor. All right. Now, her mask mandate, strict mask mandate, saying if you're not eating, you're not drinking, even if you're vaccinated, wear your mask indoors. This is all to public officials. Do you not think folks have phones?

These things right here are busting cops left and right. Okay? I'm sorry. And then people are like, oh, this is not right. Yo, seriously. You're going to get, this is going to happen. You're going to get busted. And you can stand up and have a news conference and say, oh, I had a drink in front of me on the table.

No. You're not going to sit here and get any leeway if you're up singing and dancing and waving your arm and they're like um but it's your mask mandate and you're the mayor right and i'm just and i'm gonna get look i get these people who trip but here's the piece if you look at that video i mean it's a lot of folks sitting in that club uh who are just enjoying themselves and they ain't got a mask on. I mean, in a video, I'm just counting, one, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. I can see eleven people outside of the band who don't have a mask. Yo, seriously, you're going to get ripped as a public official, Michael, if you issue a mask mandate and you're busted not wearing one.

Rolling, rolling. Did she learn anything from Gavin Newsom? This is what spearhead, this is part of what spearheaded the recall election from Governor Gavin Newsom of California. Luckily, he survived it. You know, I understand you want to get out and go see Tony, Tony, Tony. I understand that. But it's like, wait a second, sister.

If they tried to have a recall election against Gavin Newsom because he was in a restaurant without a mask, violating his own mask mandate, sister, you're black. You think they ain't going to come after you? So we have to be smarter than this. I understand people want to go out and have a good time, but at the same time, I'm sorry. Delta variant,

I ain't going in the up and no club like that. And people not wearing masks? Oh, hell no, I ain't doing that. But still, if you're an elected official, and it's your mask mandate, especially if you're black, you can't do stuff like that. I'm sorry.

Kelly, you can't. And folks can try to say, first of all, you already see what the right wing is doing. In fact, so perfect example, let me see if I can pull it up right here. So this is the New York Post. Just so you understand, again, how folks, give me one second, I wanted to get knocked this off the screen, how folks try to play these things up. You know, they had a San Francisco mayor, London Breed, breaks mask, mandate at club. Now, then what they tried to say, you know, one of the people she was photographed with was Black Lives Matter founder,

Alicia Garza, who also had her face completely uncovered. All right, so they're going to go through all this other stuff. But the bottom line is, this is what they're going to do. This is how they're going to try to sit here and attack you. And so what people have to understand, Kelly, is that you just can't

be the mayor, issue a hardcore edict, and not follow it. And that makes sense. I mean, if you are leading, lead. If this is a mandate that you set, you too need to follow it.

This is not a situation in which, you know, do as I say and not as I do. We are in the middle of a global pandemic. And what you have put in place, Mayor, is something that was intended to keep everyone safe, including yourself. So the fact that you're not even following your own mandate implies that you don't care about your health either. So leadership is a tricky thing in that it doesn't care whether you're human. It doesn't care whether there's, like, some nuances in regards to how you do

certain things. You put a law out there, you need to follow it yourself. Because, like you said, phones are everywhere. It doesn't make sense. If I were her, I would not be seen anywhere. Frankly. Y'all would be coming to my house to congregate.

But here's the deal. If I ain't trying to wear the mask, here's how this is going to go down. Y'all come to the crib, put your damn phones away. Ain't going to be no photos. Ain't going to be no videos. Ain't shit getting posted. Nothing like that.

And if you post a selfie, it's going to be at the end of the party, where we all masked up. But again, and look, I get it. And I get this knee-jerk decision to be, you know, no, I'm going to defend myself. But here's the video. She goes, if I'm sipping, I'm not going to sip, mask, sip, mask. Go video, guys. Come on.

Okay. Sorry. You're up dancing. You're up dancing. You're up singing to the lyrics, and you got no mask on. Here's the easiest thing. The easiest thing is to say, my bad. Exactly.

And move the hell on. Like, I'm not going to get indignant and then make matters worse. Yo, take the L. Sometimes just take the L. Sometimes just take the L. But what's also worse than that is that, if I'm not mistaken, the Oakland Bay area was one of the original hot spots for COVID. Well, shit, first of all, everything, America is a hot spot. No, America is a hot spot now.

I'm not saying now. One of the original ones was Seattle. But it's all a hot spot now. I'm not saying now, but originally that... One of the original ones was Seattle. But it's all... It's Seattle. It's all a hot spot. It's all a hot spot, but, like, that region was definitely one of the original hot spots. So it is even an added layer of hypocrisy for you not to be as safe, um, as possible

regarding your public health initiative. I-I just don't... Look, just take the L. Just take the L. Just take the L. Move on. Don't make it a second and third day story. And then what you do is, and actually what I would do if I'm her, I would go out

tonight with a mask on. Masked up. Right. Boom. Story changes. But don't get indignant. Like I had somebody try to come at me. Roland, you were at the Daenerys record concert. In this photo, you and your wife don't have any mask on. I'm like, yeah, dumbass.

There was nobody within 50 feet of us on this side, that side, in front of us, and behind us. Duh! I mean, but I love these people who somehow think that, oh, my God, what are you doing? Yeah, guess what? And I'm gonna sit here and mask up. And if I'm not wearing a mask, then I ain't got a problem saying it.

I was at a dinner in Block in Baltimore. Well, there's some photos where I took masks, took photos with no mask on. Yeah, because I took it off. It is also understanding who's around you. That's also part of the deal. And that's the thing that people understand. If I'm in an enclosed environment,

that's a small joint. That's a lot of people in that one space. Yeah, oh, hell no. I got mask and goggles on. No goggles. Oh, hell yeah. And they're singing also. Hold up, COVID, right, they're singing,

which means that you're spread. Oh, yeah, no, no. Right. That's why when people want to take selfies with me, I tell them, stop talking. Open your mouth. And I actually have been teaching people how to take COVID selfies.

Some of these folks want to stand right next to you. No, no, you ain't standing next to me. This is what I do. I have them stand in front of me. I go, hold your phone up. And I stand behind them. I would say, do it this way or this way. Click, snap.

Boom, that's a COVID selfie. We got to be next to each other. We got distance between us. You in front. If your ass talk, it's going that way. But you know what, though, brother Roland? Like, and this is the crazy part. I'm all for a mask.

And, you know, sometimes if you got to wear a double mask, you got to wear a double mask. The crazy part about this is that this is still an issue, and we're over a year and a half into this pandemic. Like, we're still fighting for it. It's just to wear a simple mask. No, no, no, this is no shock. No, it's not. It's...

Well, the shock is, one, like you're saying, with this story, this is the mayor of the city. Let me tell you, in Baltimore, we have an inside mandatory, you got to wear a mask inside, mandatory, right? Man, people come up into spaces and like stores in Baltimore, no mask. And guess what? Places are tired of trying to police people and telling them to pull up their masks because we're hearing story after story of people going to physical violence, even shooting people, because the work at the store simply said, can you put your mask on? And that's the issue. And when it gets to that point where you feel like you got to pull out a gun,

not just on a black person, but just on any person, just because they're telling you to do something that you already know. I mean, there are big-ass signs on the door. Oh, no. In New York, three Texans were arrested for physically

assaulting... It's right here. Okay, hold on, hold on. It's like a waitress. Right here. The host is right? It is. Right here.

Vax attack. Tourist tussle with New York City restaurant hostess who asked for vaccination proof. And there's a cell phone video. Let me see if I can go ahead and just play it. Come back to me. Let me go ahead and play it. And it's crazy how these folks are acting a fool. I can't find, let's see here.

And again, first of all, the city regulations require to show proof of vaccination. But here's the whole deal. I am not about to go to jail because somebody said, where's your vaccination proof, your card? I am not about to go into the legal system. That's about the dumbest thing in the world. You think if I am visiting New York, which means I have paid, I bought

my ticket, I got a hotel, I've traveled there, you think I'm about to mess my damn time up to get into a fight. Hell no, now I got a pay bail.

I'm still paying for that hotel room. Then if I'm held on longer than I'm supposed to fly back, now I gotta buy me a new ticket, oh hell no. Here's the video y'all right here. I said go! Get out of here! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! All right, tell me what's going on. She keeps walking up on us. Okay. This is all on us. She keeps walking up on her, y'all. Somebody walking up on you does not mean you get to swing on somebody

and assault them. Those three people, sisters from Texas, all have been arrested. Dang. Why are you going to mess... I ain't messing my trip up. those three people, sisters from Texas, all have been arrested. Damn. Why are you going to mess? I ain't messing my trip up. But you know what, though, Brett Rowland? This speaks to something else, though.

Because you talked about it a couple of times. It speaks to the fact that this whole pandemic has really made people imbalanced mentally. You know what I mean? Like, mental health and dealing with this pandemic and this ongoing just kind of, you know, rules and regulations around this pandemic, this has taken people to a whole nother level

of just sanity. Like, to think that that is a good idea, to beat on somebody simply for asking for a vaccination card when you know it's COVID. I mean, like, you knew this when before you even touched down in the city that the city has certain requirements. If you are traveling in 2021,

I think that you should check the places that you go beforehand to say, okay, what's the rules around COVID right now? Yeah, I mean, that's the rules around COVID right now? Vaccination. When I went to the Darius Rucker concert, it was at Wolf Trap. First thing I want, okay, what are the rules? Like, perfect example,

when I was in Houston for my aunt's funeral, they had Kim, Babyface, Music Soulchild. All right, so we roll up. They turning people away who had basically purses or bags that were like no bigger than this, that were bigger than this.

Then it had to be clear or whatever. Well, first, look, just so y'all know, I had a bag. I had, first of all, I got two phones, roll, I had my Pirell. I can't stand ash. I had my bottle of lotion. I had my goggles.

I had two masks. And I had a sweat rag. We're talking about this outdoors in Houston. I ain't stupid. Now, I got laid in with my bag because I'm a VIP. But do understand, I was going to get in with that damn bag. I ain't going to. Y'all don't give a damn what y'all say.

I'm going to have the mask, the goggles. I got everything. I am not sitting here. Hell, I might have some gloves in there. I ain't sitting there playing with these people. But you're right. Find out before you go somewhere, hey, what are y'all rules?

I just think what's happening is one of the downsides of people in this country, we are Americans. It's about freedom. There's a downside to that. And see, the reason, and I'm telling everybody right now, okay, this is very

simple. This is very simple. Y'all can fight on the mask. Y'all can fight on the vaccine, but you're gonna lose. I'm just letting you know right now. No, you're going to fight on the mask. Y'all can fight on the vaccine, but you're going to lose. I'm just letting you know right now. No, you're going to lose on this one. You're going to lose on this one. I'm just telling everybody, and I don't care how you feel, you're going to lose on this one.

Because what you have to understand is when you got a significant number of people who are like, no, no, no, no, we ain't trying to play these games. This is now 2021. I'm telling y'all right now, if this thing continues, be prepared for us to be shut down for all of 2022. I told everybody, y'all, as my wife, as my family, I told everybody in June of last year, y'all need to go ahead and wipe off 2020

and wipe out 2021. I said, because these folk ain't going to act right, I said, until 2022. And here we are on September 17th, and we're dealing with this, we're dealing with other folks, all kinds of stuff, and we're going to be in the same

situation because folks, freedom! I'm an American! It's my right. Okay? Keep playing. You know, very quickly, Roland, it's interesting we're having this conversation. Talk about freedom. Today's the anniversary of the

U.S. Constitution being signed, September 17, 1787. But I've said this on this show before. If you go study the great pandemic in 1918, 1918, 1919, 1920, it killed 675,000 Americans at a time when the U.S. population was 106 million. I think that's about 0.67 percent of the population when I calculated it before.

We're almost at 675,000 Americans dying from COVID. No, actually, we're past that. Yeah, OK, we just went past that. We're past 675,000 Americans dying from COVID. No, actually, we're past that. Yeah, okay, we just went past that. We're past 675,000 dying. But the U.S. population is 330 million. It's three times as much as it was in 1920. If 0.67% of the population dies of COVID, you're talking about like 2.1 million people dying,

which means we're not at the halfway point if this continues the way it looks like it may continue if people dying. Which means we're not at the halfway point if this continues the way it looks like it may continue if people keep acting the damn fool. And again, I got people who are sitting here, well, the masks don't work. Look, let me

tell y'all something. I play golf. The reason my ass got black marks on my damn leg right now is from mosquito bites. I thought that damn off worked. But if you think I'm not going to walk my ass out there playing golf, especially in Texas,

with big-ass mosquitoes and not have some off on, you stupid. I'm going to use whatever protection I can and not go, well, you know, this stuff not working. I'm telling you, I'm just, and it's driving me crazy because we keep putting these scientists on and doctors on, and I

got people who are sitting there. I had somebody who said, you know, why are you mad because Nicki Minaj spoke her truth? Because it was batshit crazy. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it's just, it is, somebody put on YouTube, off attracts mosquitoes. Yeah, you ain't lying.

But again, I just want people to understand, especially black people, don't go to jail because somebody asked for your vaccination card. Don't go to jail because somebody said, your vaccination card. Don't go to jail because somebody said, please put your mask up. And you know what?

If you don't want to put your mask on, don't go in that restaurant. Don't. Don't they have drive-thrus in New York? Don't. Don't they have drive-thru restaurants? But don't stand there and yell, this is my right!

They're going to show your ass real quick what's your right. Alright, speaking of rights, y'all, I, you know, I got to break this thing down when we come back from the break. You know, my man Isaiah Thomas went on Jason Whitlock's show and right there, Isaiah messed

up. I don't know why he went. He didn't talk to that fool Jason Whitlock about anything dealing with race, because Jason Whitlock, about anything dealing with race. Because Jason Whitlock is probably the most, one of the most self-hating black people you've met in your life. Uh, I mean, he fighting for first place with Candace Owens and Larry Elder

and Jesse Lee Peterson. I mean, they like neck and neck and neck. Uh, it's a photo finish to the line, to the finish line. Uh, so, uh, they talked about a variety of things. When we come back, we gonna break to break down some of those things, and I just want to walk you all through some history and also what this angry attitude regarding the national anthem and people mad about Lethargic Voices and seeing what this thing is really about.

I'm going to unpack that or do one of my deconstructions. Alone Dr. Gerald Horne next on Roland Martin Uncultured. White supremacy ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We gotta deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed.

Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's going to happen. It's time to be smart. When we control our institutions, we win. This is the most important news show on television of any racial background.

Y'all put $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $15, $20, $30 on this and keep this going. What you've done, Roland, since this crisis came out in full bloom. Anybody watching this, tell your friends, go back and look at the last two weeks, especially at Roland Martin Unfiltered. I mean, hell, go back and look at the last two weeks, especially at Roland Martin Unfiltered. I mean, hell, go back and look at the last two days. You've had sitting United States senators today, Klobuchar and Harris. Whatever you have that you have, you can bring to Roland Martin Unfiltered to support it. Please do, because this information may literally save your life. Watch Roland Martin Unfiltered daily at 6 p.m. Eastern on YouTube, Facebook, or Periscope,

or go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Hi, I'm Gavin Houston.

Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore. And you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! All right, Basketball Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas went on this idiot Jason Whitlock's show on Glenn Beck's The Blaze. That tells you all you need to know right there about this.

And so they had a conversation, a long conversation about race and some other issues, and the national anthem came up. And, you know, you've got white folks like Megyn Kelly and Bill Maher and others who are all upset and mad. Oh, this is separating us and all this sort of stuff like this. And I saw this and I was like, you know what? I said, I got to weigh in on this because there were some things that are factually not correct. But also I want to explain to you really what is at play here while all of a sudden this is a thing. So go ahead and roll it. You said that we have to eliminate the race box.

Yes. Tell me something. How do we eliminate the race box when we sing the Star Spangled Banner on this hand, but then we sing a National Negro Anthem here? How is that bringing something together? How do we eliminate the race box if we're doing that? First of all, great question.

So in, you know, for a long time, we fought, you know, not to have the race box in the census report. Right? We fought a long time, and they just really kind of got it on, where we got classified black, white, yellow, blue people of color. Now, when you sing the national anthem and then you sing the talking about bringing us together under one umbrella, under one Constitution, where all men and women are created equal, not these black men. Okay. First of all, go ahead and let me finish the play. Then I'm going to come back.

White, red, yellow, color boxes, you know, we were aspiring to be that. So when you sing those two different anthems... Okay, so here's the deal. So, not true, Isaiah. Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal.

Not women. When they said all men are created equal, they meant white men. They didn't even mean all white men. They really meant white landowners. One of the mistakes that we have in this country is that, and I keep telling you all, there's a difference between learning history and learning history. And the reality is we have been sold a fallacy in the United States. We have been sold a fallacy that America is great and wonderful

and things were done the proper way and we're the greatest democracy. God loves us more than anybody else in the world. That's America. That's what we've been sold. What we have to understand is that there's no such thing as the framers wanted everyone to be treated created equal. That's simply not true. Why? Because they wrote it. They said it. That's literally what they did. Now, the other day on the show, I told you, and I love to watch it. I love to watch it because it is so succinct in explaining exactly the reality of what it means to be black in this country

and to understand what folks wanted in terms of the creation. Here's Barbara Jordan, 1974, in her Watergate testimony. Listen. Jordan, purpose of general debate, not to exceed a period of 15 minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I join my colleague, Mr. Rangel, in thanking you for giving the junior members of this committee the glorious opportunity of sharing the pain of this inquiry. Mr. Chairman, you are a strong man, and it has not been easy, but we have tried as best we can to give you as much assistance as possible.

Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States. We the people. It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the 17th of September in 1787, I was not included in that we the people. I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in we the people. Today, I am an inquisitor. Now, not completely, because the reality is we continue to have to fight to assert our rights. Press play on more of the interview.

Size and that, okay. There are two different statuses, not races, because I'm going to call it what it is. It's status. There are two different statuses in this country, black and white. So there's a black national anthem. There's a white national anthem. Okay? Now, if you want to just have one national anthem, then let's come together collectively and decide, okay, what the national anthem is going to be for this country. Okay.

Isaiah, that's just not true. There's a national anthem. There's one. First, which is the Star Spangled Banner. Now, let me just remind people when the Star Spangled Banner was written. And again, this is what I need us to understand, because one of the things is we have been taught so many things in this country, but we were not really taught everything in this country. What we have to understand is that first and foremost, the Star-Spangled Banner, when it

was written, okay, was not the national anthem. It was a poem. If you actually read it, you realize that third stanza, which has been quite debated, deals with the issue of race. Let's just deal with that. Okay second of all when we talk about the Black national anthem that's not what it's called The song is called lift every voice and sing written by James Weldon Johnson in

1900 in 1919 the NAACP called it the National Black Anthem. And ever since then, that is what we refer to it as. But it was simply a song by James Weldon Johnson. Why is that important? It's because if you fall for how they are framing this whole thing, then it becomes, oh my goodness, we have two anthems. Actually, we don't. And remember, Charles Spangler Banner written 1814, it did not become the national anthem until 1931. Now, they're making a big deal out because the North Air Voices Sing is being sung before the Charles Spangler Banner.

Y'all do realize that sometimes when you go to the game, they sing America the Beautiful before the Star Spangled Banner. So what's the issue? That we're singing another song before the Star Spangled Banner or that it's the North American Voices Sing? Play more of the interview, please.

...national anthem, because the white national anthem has classified as status. We can have an anthem that speaks for Italians, that speaks for Greeks, that speaks for Irish, that speaks for Polish, and that speaks for the aboriginals who were native to this land already. And that speaks for the aboriginals who were native to this land already. And that's us. And so, Isaiah, the only thing, what you just said, takes us down the path that they want us to go down. Well, let's come up with a new national anthem that we all agree on. And once you do that, then their next step will be, well, let's come up with a new constitution that we all agree on.

Oh, now let's come up with a new Declaration of Independence. And the only thing I'm trying to tell black people every day, like, hey man, I know shit started out bad, but that Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and National Declaration, it worked for us. Maybe it wasn't intended for us,

but it did work for us. And these people that want you just to throw these things out, and let's come up with all new, it's a game. It's a booby trap. It's no different than

the same people that ran the game and threw hip-hop. The N-word is now a term of endearment. We, the KKK, we're going to gift y'all the end. See, I can't even listen to any more of that sheer stupidity from Jason Whitlock. And this is why Isaiah even going on there is just a waste of time.

Because, see, Jason Whitlock is a buffoon. When he says the Constitution worked for us, no. What we did was make that shit real. When he says the Constitution worked for us. No. What we did was make that shit real. That's what Dr. King even said. He said, what did King say on April 3rd, 1968 at Mason Temple? Be true to what you put on paper. So what black people have done since we've been here and said to America, this your paper, this what you put on paper.

Be true to what you put on paper. The reason Jason is a buffoon and lying is because we, and y'all heard me say this, 1619 go to 1970, use 1970 as a mark and we were technically fully free, we have only been fully free Americans for 51 years. And we're still not fully free. Because if we were fully free, there would be no reason for the

Superior Court decision today in North Carolina. If we were fully free, there would be no reason for there being an EEOC. If we were fully free, there would be no reason for COVID showing the EEOC. If we were fully free, there will be no reason for COVID showing the health disparities in this country when it comes to black and white. If we were fully free,

you would not have the economic gap that exists right now. See, the whole deal is this here, and this is the real reason why I say Isaiah, anybody else, the reason you don't even engage in that silliness when it comes to the national anthem versus the black national anthem is because they want

to put any conversation that breaks down white supremacy and now invokes fairness, they don't want that to happen. The battle against critical race theory, they want to put, they said it,

they want to put everything that's race underneath that. Everything about equality underneath that because they don't want to change it. You hear, oh, no, no, no. We're like, we'll do, they talking about changing some stuff. Well, yeah, that's why you have constitutional amendments. Some things need to be changed. That's why when you saw the photo of John Lewis and Andrew Young and C.T. Vivian and Reverend Joseph Lowry, Eric Holder said that's founding fathers 2.0.

Because, see, there was no American democracy from the Declaration of Independence until the 1965 Voting Rights Act. See, this is the game being played. Because the reality is this. White folks are born in America. They don't ask about what are my rights. They get them. We have to have special rules because it's still written for them.

And this is the thing I need people to understand. And so, y'all, do not, Isaiah and everybody else, don't, if you do any more TV shows, they bring on the National Avenue and say, I ain't wasting my time with that. This is what I would have said, Isaiah. Jason, let's talk about how many black owners in the suites. Let's talk about do you have equality with black coaches on the field. Let's talk about, Jason, how many black folks you got in the press box as well. See, they want us caught up in this.

And black people didn't ask the NFL to play the national anthem. They chose to do so because they got their ass kicked up a Colin Kaepernick. Game recognized game. So I'm not going to fall for the silliness of Bill Maher and Megyn Kelly and the rest of these people. We're going to deal with the reality

of where we stand in this country. And that, folks, is what must happen. Let's go right now to our good friend, Gerald Horne. He is the author of numerous books, The Bittersweet Science, Racism, Rocketeering, and the Political Economy of Boxing. He's a professor at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. He also has another book we've talked on the show about. This is the one that drove all these white folks crazy who don't like the 1619 Project.

It is called the Counter-Revolution of 1776, Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America. And Gerald, always glad to have you here. The thing that I was just laying out there is, again, we're dealing with history and his story. America was not created for all men and women to be equal. It was for white landowners. And even if you study the Constitution today, which is why Jason Whitlock is a sheer idiot. The electoral college today was a slave compromise. That wasn't democracy

because they still wanted to be able to control those white landowners who became president. Well, I have to say I was disappointed in Isaiah Thomas. I know that he matriculated to Indiana University, one of our leading institutions, but I guess he must have missed

classes in history. He was at basketball practice, I assume. But now he is a grown man, and he should be aware that history is constantly being rewritten. Recall that W. E. B. Du Bois changed our understanding of the period following the Civil War with his epical volume, Black Reconstruction. And today, we have various creators, writers, scholars who are rewriting the story of the United States of America. I would include the Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck in Exterminate All the Brutes, of course, Nicole Hannah-Jones in the 1619 Project. And what they're all telling us is that the traditional narrative that we've been fed,

per what you were just suggesting, suggesting Roland Martin, has basically been nonsense and poppycock. I mean, for example, Isaiah Thomas says that we are separating ourselves. The fact is, we have been separated. He gives out this inaccuracy concerning the U.S. Census and how

supposedly we're trying to get away from boxes. If you go back to the original U.S. Census in 1790, it, of course, was grouping people according to, quote, white, unquote, according to whether or not they were slave, unquote. And just like today... The first one!

Hold on. The first U.S. census since 1790 had racial classifications. We didn't vote on that. That was them. Well, clearly. I mean, that's why I was so disappointed by Isaiah Thomas. And I noticed that he was speaking against the backdrop of the NBA, the National Basketball Association. And I would assume that

the NBA would want to dissociate itself from his inflammatory and indeed ignorant remarks, because they're quite misleading at the end of the day. And I'm happy to see, Roland, that you mentioned the third stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner, which in no uncertain terms denounces the Black population, because recall that that anthem was written by a slave owner, Francis Scott Key, during the war with Britain, 1812 to 1815. And he was denouncing the black population because the British were offering us a better deal. And so we defected to their side, helped them to burn down Washington, D.C., and then fled

on British boats to Trinidad and Tobago, where our descendants continued to reside. we defected to their side, helped them to burn down Washington, D.C., and then fled on British boats to Trinidad and Tobago, where our descendants continue to reside. And so Francis Scott Key was very upset by that development. That's why he denounces it. It's one of the rare national anthems that singles out for denunciation a significant portion of the citizenry. See, the thing, but see, here's what you're dealing with here.

And... You hear Isaiah talking about status and class in terms of, you know, in terms of race and black. But the issue for me, which is, I think, which is the most fundamental issue is, is what's the agenda of the person I'm talking to? The agenda of a Jason Whitlock, and I don't know who that fool was he was talking to on the set,

and Glenn Beck's The Blaze ain't got nothing to do with black liberation. And see, when you hear, again, a Whitlock talking about, oh, you know, these people, to go from rewriting the Constitution to hip-hop. I mean, his arguments are so weak because what we have to understand when you are a student of history, when you are a student of this country, when you are a student of how this was constructed, what we are dealing with today and what we've been dealing with

since 1619, what we were dealing with during the period of Reconstruction, what we are dealing with today and what we've been dealing with since 1619, what we were dealing with during the period of Reconstruction, what we were dealing with during the 92 years of Jim Crow, what we were dealing with during the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Freedom Movement, and ever since then has been an unwinding of this tightly wound, knit ball of white supremacy. And we have been trying to peel this thing back and unwind it.

If you tear a baseball apart and you begin to pull the string and tear it apart, what you're trying to do is unwind this tightly wound ball that has constrained and constricted black people from being real, true American citizens. And when Jason says these things, what really what Isaiah's response should have been is the changes have to be made because police departments today were slave patrols yesterday. And when you see their actions today, they're rooted in their history. When you look at the housing issue in this America, in America, look at redlining,

the lack of access to capital, all of these things get all traced back to that very document that Whitlock was praising as if somehow that document serves as the true freedom piece for black people. You can't say it is when the document itself was designed to choke us. This is a very serious conversation we're having, and I hope your audience realizes that. As you suggested a few moments ago,

in state legislatures across the United States, there's this demagogic attack on what's called critical race theory. Now, the attacks on critical race theory really are misleading. In fact, what you just sketched and outlined, Roland Martin, in some classrooms, particularly in the South right now, you could have a teacher being fined... Right. -...for telling the truth. Or fired. Yes. Or fired. And so, that's why this is very serious,

because what I'm afraid to say, uh, Isaiah Thomas and Jason Whitlock were feeding in to this right-wing ideology, which at the end of the day may well come to bite them in the behind. And the fact that they don't even realize it makes it even more disturbing and troubling. I'm going to pull my panel in here as well. And look, I talked to Isaiah today. And I said, look, I sent him a text.

I said, I'm going to talk about this on the show. Isaiah, supportive of the show, joined our fan club early on. And the thing that he said is that, he said, I really wanted to, he said the focus should really be on these birthing rights, if you will. And that is, again, if you're white in this country, what do you get when you're automatically white and we're still fighting for these battles? But the thing that I am conveying is that they don't want us focused on the national black anthem versus the

Star Spangled Banner. Not they want us focused on it. They want to focus on that. Because really what the strategy here, Gerald, the whole strategy, whether it's this critical race theory, 1619 project, anything, it is really all about how can we rile up our white base to get them to think that they are about to take this stuff over, and they want to change our values. And when people say our values, they're not saying our American values.

They're saying our white values. They want to change what we have constructed because America has been constructed through the prism of whiteness. It has been defined by that. And what they do not want is for us, now that we have voting rights, now that we have representation in Congress all the way down, all of a sudden, oh, no, no, no, we don't want them having to change this. And I keep going back to, if I played it, they would block us on YouTube.

That scene from The Good Shepherd when Joe Petschie asked, he said, let me ask you a question. The Italians, we got our family in, he said, we got our family in the church. He said, the Jews got this. He said, he used the N-word by Black

people. At least they got their music. The Irish got it. He said, what y'all got? And he said, we have the United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting. That is what all of this is about. Well, I'm afraid to say that you're onto something, Roland Martin.

And once again, I have to say I'm sort of puzzled by the fact that Isaiah Thomas would say what he said and still be a contributor to Roland Martin unfiltered. When you talked to him, how did he explain himself? Well, no, he said that what he wanted to focus on was, again, these birthrights and what we don't have compared to whites. And look,

but it's also understanding who you're talking to and who you're going up against and what their goal is. If Jason Whitlock said roll the call on my show, I know exactly what he's trying to do. I know who he's talking to. I know who he's talking to. I got

some fool, another black dude who worked for the Blaze, who been trying to come at me for the last week on Twitter, trying to ask me all these other questions. I'm like, dude, I'm not playing your little game. And he rolled up some little article about me, oh, how I'm selling out black people to stay on the Democratic plantation. And I'm sitting

there saying, yeah, but it's your party that's the one trying to keep my people from voting in North Carolina. And so the thing that I want African-Americans, whether you are basketball players or football players or singers or entertainers or whatever, is to be fully cognizant of this really intensive effort to keep us from actually asserting our rights. Because I'm telling you, Gerald, all these people not fully understanding, because they got to be asking, wait a minute, how all of a sudden, hell, the NFL and NBA, they've done every voice

and scene before games before. Why all of a sudden, now it's an issue? Who all of a sudden plucked critical race? Jared, this is my 13th black media experience. Do you realize in the previous 12, I never even heard of

critical race theory? And that's black. I've been black, three black newspapers, Tom Jonah, blackamericaweb.com, Savoy magazine, major broadcasting cable network, Dallas Examiner, Essence, Ebony. I can go on. All of a sudden, where is it coming from? I keep telling people all of this in my book, White Fears, coming out in the first quarter next year, y'all. It all emanates from this question that was asked in 2009 after Obama got inaugurated. Who is optimistic about the future of America for your children?

Every group except white Americans, a majority, were optimistic about the future of America for your children. Every group except white Americans, a majority, were optimistic about the future of America for their children except white Americans. That is what we're dealing with, and that's why the Republican Party wants to appeal to these crazy, demented white folks who are going to be here in D.C. tomorrow because they are afraid

that we, Gerald, now have political, economic, social power, and we are not afraid to use it. Well, I'm glad you mentioned 9-18, this rally that's taking place in Washington tomorrow in support of the insurrectionists of January 6th. The FBI is reassuring us that there's nothing to worry about, move along. But that's what they told us on January 5th, 2021. And you almost had the vice president of the United States lynched. You almost had the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, lynched.

So I hope that they know what they're talking about with regard to this manifestation, this demonstration tomorrow. And if they're wrong, I'm afraid to say that there is going to be a hot time in the old town tomorrow. Well, I don't think it's going to be that because they are Trump. Trump has already yelled this is a setup. And I think they're going to be a little too scared to come in. I want to bring in the panel here and I want to start with you, Michael. I'm going to go Michael, Kelly, Faraji. The thing here, again,

is understanding what the goal of a Whitlock is. And that is to absolutely be an agent of white supremacy. And what I'm trying to get everybody, I'm trying to get anybody who's out, who's talking about these issues, to be

very careful to understand what is going on. It's the same reason why I lit in the Chris Christie. I'm not going to sit here and praise you for your speech at the Reagan Library about how the Republican Party has lost its way and what it

needs to do to go forward, and you take these unnamed jabs at Trump when you are also complicit because you helped put him in power. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Hello, Dr. Gerald Horne. This is Michael Imhotep from the African History Network.

How you doing, brother? Right on. All right. I met you at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History here in Detroit in either 2017, 2018. Man, come on! I'm coming to it, Roland. I'm coming to it. You want to know when you met somebody winging out there?

Let's go. Come on. I'm coming to the question. Can you talk for a minute? You know, in the clip we saw, Isaiah Thomas talked about class and the census. And we know that when we look at the census and the racial classifications, people immigrating

from the Middle East and North Africa are classified as white, based upon the U.S. census and the U.S. government. Can you talk about why those particular, how those particular racial classifications came about, why people coming from North Africa, Egypt, Libya are classified as white in the Middle East? Well, obviously, it's to bulk up the community that's defined as white. There is a demographic struggle taking place now. One of the reasons for voter suppression, and I noticed Roland mentioned the North Carolina decision, which is very important, but one of the reasons for voter suppression and trying to make sure in particular that Black folks don't vote is that the Republican Party has transformed itself into being the party

of whiteness, if not the party of white supremacy. But it's very difficult to get people who are not defined as white to vote for the party of whiteness. And so you not only have voter suppression, you have sort of a redefinition. So therefore, Ralph Nader, the former presidential aspirant whose roots are in Lebanon, he is defined as, quote, white, unquote. And even though I use the term Euro-American,

oftentimes in lieu of white, in some ways that's a misleading term because of what you just said. Because you don't necessarily have to have roots in Europe. You can have roots in Lebanon, for example, and still be defined as white. But it's a numbers game that's basically taking place. OK, thank you. Kelly.

Yes, Dr. Horn, thank you. Something that I haven't really heard in this debate or discussion, rather, because it's not much of a debate, is, and I think I already know the answer to it, but the fact that we don't talk about, there are four other national anthems that we have outside of our main national anthem. We have America the Beautiful, My Country Tis of Thee, God Bless America, This Land is Your Land. All of those are regaled or heralded as a national anthem in this country, not the national anthem, but certainly up there as an American hymn. every voice and sing, one that is not rooted in any type of racial bias, one that was written by a black man, composed by another black man, his brother, all of a sudden it's a problem. So if you can give us some insight as to why you think that is, I think I know the answer. But the fact that there is this stark dichotomy regarding lift every voice and sing that isn't

considered an anthem for anyone outside of NAACP dubbing it as one versus the other four songs that are certainly played at NFL games and the like? Well, the short answer, and I'm sure you know this already, is that Black people are treated differently as a people apart. This goes back to slavery, when we did not want to be enslaved,

and so therefore we were always rebellious. We were always trying to ally with the real and imagined foes of this United States of America, including Native Americans, including the British, as I said, during the War of 1812. And as a result, when you engage in that kind of seditious behavior, motivated by a desire to escape slavery, you're treated differently and you're treated as a people apart. I recall when I was at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and I was supposed to be organizing and forming a so-called black cultural center. And the white supremacists say, well, that's separate. Well, I said, well, if I walk down the street, I see a Hillel Center, which is for Jewish students. Is that separate? And of course,

it was not deemed to be so because they were considered to be part of the overall white community. So the answer to your intelligent question is quite simple. We're treated as a people apart in part because of our rebelliousness, which goes back to the slavery experience. And that's this great article, folks, that is called in the Washington Post, it's called The Ugly Region, the Star-Spangled Banner didn't become our national anthem

for a century. And one of the things that the article lays out is that, first of all, as Gerald said, Francis Scott Key was an enslaver, came from the family he also enforced as a DA of D.C., enforced slave laws as well. And he also recommended his brother-in-law to the Supreme Court, Roger Taney, you know, the dude with the Dred Scott decision. That tells you all. But the thing that's interesting about this, Gerald, and this is where, of course, Jason Whitlock would never admit to because people don't want to understand. People don't want to accept history, but they want to believe his story. And this article lays out in here is that not only did Francis Scott Key, was he a racist and believe black people were inferior and that

if they actually were free to be shipped back to Africa. Guess how this song became popular? It became popular among post-Reconstruction white Southerners and the military. Who pushed for it to become the national anthem? The United Daughters of the Confederacy. Mm-hmm. Yep. The United Daughters of the Confederacy. Yep. The Confederacy. Yep.

But the folks want us to act as if those things didn't exist. Faraji, your question for Gerald. Yes, Dr. Horn, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Just very quickly, I mean, I think it was absolutely very ignorant of Isaiah Thomas

to say that a song emphasizes our separateness when it wasn't a song. It's been history. It's been something that's been researched. But even more so, Dr. Moore, I want to get your thoughts on, you know, there's often, when we have these big conversations, especially about race, there's often Black people and white people who jump to the point of talking about unity, talking about reconciliation between the races, without really talking about truth and accountability, without saying, hey, some things have to be done to repair the damage that has been done to black people all across this, you know, in the United States and across the globe. So how do we take this conversation beyond everything is all right, we had a black president, things look at the issue of let's look at the truth of

the history. And this is the part that I think scares both black and white people. Somebody has to take accountability. White people have to take accountability for what they have done to our people. It's not enough just to say we give you a little bit here, we got a couple of celebrities there. I'm talking about a full-grown, massive, full-scale accountability. How did we get the conversation going in that direction, sir? Well, if you look historically, the way we were to escape both slavery and Jim Crow is that we lifted the battlefield. We internationalized the struggle.

That's why we were in alignment with Native Americans, for example. That's why you had Paul Robeson, for example, and Martin Luther King Jr., who raised the question of the war in Vietnam. In that light, I was very disappointed to see that at a historic gathering that took place on September 7, 2021, just a couple of days ago, a few days ago, you had a virtual summit of the African Union and the Caribbean community, CARICOM. Present and speaking were the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, President Kenyatta of Kenya, Prime Minister Motley of Barbados. They lay out a whole

Pan-African agenda. We really haven't seen something of this scope, perhaps since the Pan-African Congress of 1945 in Manchester, England. Now, what's disappointing is that there was no Black American participation, and it was a wonderful opportunity for us to raise our issues, because, of course, they raised the question of reparations. The Caribbean brothers and sisters, you know we're going to raise that.

And yet we were not there to amplify that call. I think that one of the things we have to do is get our organizations to try to be more globally minded, to try to not let these opportunities pass, and to make sure we have delegations meeting regularly with the African Union, headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the Caribbean community headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana. Because as our comments this evening have suggested, the forces on the battlefield right now in terms of the four corners of the United States of America, given voter

suppression, given we're talking about coup d'etats that might happen as soon as tomorrow. It's not a very promising scene just looking domestically. So here's what, to button this up, here's what I want to see happen. And that is, and like I said, I talked to Isaiah. I talked to several other professional athletes who reached out to me, who I talked to today as well, about the segment and the various thoughts. What I want us as African Americans to do, I want us to please go read Jackie Robinson's book, I Never Had It Made.

Why? Because Jackie Robinson, in the book, wrote why he would not stand for the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance. Jackie Robinson, the same man who tried to court-martial in the military, the same man who broke a court martial in the military. The same man who broke the color barrier in baseball. First of all, the true major league players were in the Negro Leagues,

but they called the major leagues because that's where the white money was. Jackie Robinson said the reason he called his book I Never Had It Made, he said because as long as one black man is a victim of racism, then I don't have it made, he said, because as long as one black man is a victim of racism, then I don't have it made. That's what Jackie Robinson wrote in his own words. Go read the book every time someone wants to throw Jackie Robinson in somebody's face when you want to talk about how we all come together. But this last point is the critical point. And I only played a snippet of the interview. If you want to go back and look at the whole interview, that's fine.

But I need black people to stop embracing others when they go, can't we just come together? Because I need you to understand what they're really saying.

I saw people saying, why can't the nation come together like we did after 9-11? Mm. And the reason I'm going to put these two together, because I need you all to listen to what I'm saying.

America has always asked us to put our issues down. Down. So we can stand together as one. America

asked our black athletes when you run and box for America in the Olympics you are representing America the red white and blue yet when Muhammad

Ali came back from Rome and went into a diner in Louisville, Kentucky in his U.S. of A jacket with a gold medal around. They said, nigga, you can't eat in this restaurant. And that's when he went and threw the medal into the river in a fit of anger. The reason folk want to play the games, and this is why I disagree when I saw that clip with Isaiah,

is when they say, why can't we just come together as one? Why can't we just have one song? Why can't we just stand unified? Because I cannot stand unified in a song at a game if you don't believe that when it comes to the ownership, if you don't believe that when it comes to the press box, if you don't believe that when it comes to the people who can afford to buy the tickets and the sweets in the games, if you don't believe that when it comes to you can have black players on the field, but you don't have the same percentage of black coaches

on the sideline. You cannot ask me to stand here in unity and singing a song if you don't practice that when it comes to housing, when it comes to eating, when a white person with a high school degree makes more money than a black person with a college degree. Don't dare tell me to stand as one if you don't want that to happen in every single aspect. Let me remind y'all, clearly if you don't understand history, the United States threatened to shut down black newspapers. All you got to do is read Gerald Horne's book on Claude Barnett and the Associated Negro Press. Read Ethan McKay's book on the Chicago Defender. They threatened to shut down black newspapers during World War II because they dared to write about fascism and racism.

Y'all need to go look up. Google this, the Double V campaign. Google the Pittsburgh Courier and what they created when they said we're going to fight against racism at home and abroad. They threatened to put black publishers in prison because they said you are creating tyranny and committing treasonous acts for writing about racism in the U.S. Armed Forces. They said this is no time for you to be focused on racism. This is where we are supposed to stand as one. And the history will tell you, when black soldiers came back from World War II,

they put white German POWs in front of the black soldiers. History will tell you that when they got back to those depots in the United States, black soldiers and white soldiers had gunfights because although they were so-called on the same team in Europe, when they got back, the white soldiers

said, nigga, we gonna kill you. And that's why black soldiers were lynched in their uniforms. That's why Byron Della Beckwith struck down a Medgar Evers and armed forces veteran in his own driveway. So please, I don't want to hear the bullshit about can we all be as one singing a song?

Because if you don't want to stand with me on fighting racism, sexism, and bigotry, I don't want to hear a damn thing about you trying to sing a song with me. Come on. Folks, I can't give y'all one Gerald Horne book to write to look at. Go to my computer. Gerald got about 4,000 books. Check them all out.

I told y'all about the counter-revolution of 1776, slave resistance, and the orders of the United States of America. You should check out White Supremacy Confronted, U.S. Imperialism and Anti-Communism Versus the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela. Also, I told you The Rise and Fall of the Associated Negro Press,

Claude Barnett's Pan-African News, and The Jim Crow Paradox. I have absolutely read that one. And so, there's another one on here that I gotta recommend. Oh my goodness, where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?

Where is it? I told you all, Gerald got all these doggone books. I'm trying to get to all of them. And, of course, a couple of books, obviously, on W.B. DuBois. And then I got to get this one, The Color of Fascism, Lawrence Dennis' Racial Passing, and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States. Yeah, I got to get that one right there, y'all. Gerald, it's always a pleasure to have you

here, Distinguished Professor from the University of Houston, my hometown. Thanks a bunch. Thank you for inviting me. Yes, sir. Let me thank Michael. Let me thank Kelly and Faraji as well for a great show, folks. Thanks for being on the panel. Great conversation. Folk,aji as well for a great show, folks. Thanks for being on the panel.

Great conversation. Folk, when y'all read this show, that's why you got to have some notes because we give you homework on this show. If y'all want to support what we do, please join our Bring the Funk fan club where every dollar gives goes to support what we do. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, Venmo.com, forward slash RM Unfiltered,

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I'll see y'all on Monday. This is an iHeart Podcast. So y'all, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. I'll see y'all on Monday. Holla! This is an iHeart Podcast.