#RolandMartinUnfiltered - New Arbery Evidence, Potter Verdict Watch, Covid Pill, Mosby v Hogan, GA Voting, I Heart My HBCU App

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

12.22.2021 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: New Arbery Evidence, Potter Verdict Watch, Covid Pill, Mosby v Hogan, GA Voting, I Heart My HBCU AppIt's Wednesday, December 22, 2021; here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network.We are still waiting for a verdict out of Minnesota. We'll have a live report from Georgia Fort on what's happening with the Brooklyn Center jury.Two Texas teens have been indicted on hate crime charges for dressing up as KKK members and tasing a black classmate on Halloween.The federal hate crime trial of the three white men convicted of killing black jogger Ahmud Arbery may see some new evidence. We'll take a look at what could come into play for that trial.And a Georgia county is proposing to shut down all of their polling stations but one. We'll talk to one civil rights organizer who's trying to stop this blatant tactic from keeping about a third of the county from voting.Plus, Pfizer gets the go-ahead for a pill to combat Covid. Walter Reed researchers have created a vaccine that may protect against all Covid and Sars variants. We'll also have a sickle cell disease expert to explain just how dangerous Covid is to those who not only have the disease but who carry the trait.Maryland Governor and Baltimore's top law enforcement officer are in a war of words over crime - again. We'll show what Governor Larry Hogan said that prompted Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby to respond with a 30-page letter.There was a surge in Sen. Joe Manchin's PACcorporate contributions before opposing the Build Back Better Plan. We'll break that down.And in our Tech Talk segment, sponsored by Verizon, an HBCU grad found a way for you to help support all HBCUs with your phone. We'll have the "I Heart My HBCU" app founder tell you how.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partners: Verizon | Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband, now available in 50+ cities, is the fastest 5G in the world.* That means that downloads that used to take minutes now take seconds. 👉🏾https://bit.ly/30j6z9INissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPAmazon | Get 2-hour grocery delivery, set up you Amazon Day deliveries, watch Amazon Originals with Prime Video and save up to 80% on meds with Amazon Prime 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ArwxEh+ Don’t miss Epic Daily Deals that rival Black Friday blockbuster sales 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iP9zkv👀 Manage your calendar, follow along with recipes, catch up on news and more with Alexa smart displays + Stream music, order a pizza, control your smart home and more with Alexa smart speakers 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3ked4liBuick | It's ALL about you! The 2022 Envision has more than enough style, power and technology to make every day an occasion. 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3iJ6ouPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms 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. I don't think so. Verizon lets you trade in your broken phone for a shiny new one. You break it, we upgrade it. You dunk it, doggy bone it. Slam it, wham it, strawberry jam it, we upgrade it. Get a 5G phone on us with select plans. Every customer, current, new or business. Because everyone deserves better. And with plans starting at just $35, better cost less than you think. you Thank you. All right, Kenan, we good? I got you now.

All right, let's go. All right, folks, today is Wednesday, December 22nd, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll have a live report from reporter Georgia Ford in Minneapolis where Kim Potter, the jury deciding her fate in the death of Dante Wright. Also, we'll talk about Texas, where two teens have been indicted for wearing KKK costumes and tasing a black student on Halloween. Georgia, why did the Republicans take over the elections board and throw all the black folks off? Now they're shutting down all of the early voting locations, except one will talk to an activist in Georgia about that. Also, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan continues his assault against State Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

She fires back with receipts again against him. Also, folks, we'll in our tech talk segment sponsored by Verizon and HBCU grad found a way for you to help support all HBCUs with your phone. We'll have the founder of I Heart My HBCU app right here on the show. We'll talk about that and lots of other stuff. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the super fact to find. 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 kicks He's rolling

It's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yo It's Rolling Martin Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rolling Martin All right, folks, there may be new evidence against the three white men who were convicted in state court of murdering Ahmaud Arbery. It may be used in their federal hate crime trial. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William Roddy Bryan are facing hate crime charges in the death of Arbery. Evidence not used in the state case could be critical in getting a federal conviction. Joining us now from Georgia is President and Co-Chair of the Transforming Justice Coalition, Barbara Arnwine, as well as Daryl Jones as well.

Glad to have both of you here. So Barbara, exactly what is this evidence that we could very well could hear in the federal hate crime trial? I can't hear Barbara. So Barbara, are you there on mute? All right. There you go. There you go. So I was saying, Rowan, that unlike the state case, the federal case is all about hate. It's all about what was the racial motivation. They've been charged with five counts, and the counts go to the fact that they interfere with his right to use a public road because of his race. And the federal government has to prove that. So it's going to be very important. So unlike the state case, where they excluded evidence of racial hatred because it was considered prejudicial.

In this case, it will be central and will be the basis of all of the arguments in the court. So, for example, in the state case, you didn't see the Confederate flag license plate because it was excluded. And that Confederate flag license plate was important because it was a choice. This is a vanity plate that you can only get if you pay for it. And what does it mean to display a Confederate flag license plate

that the state itself banned years ago because of people's complaints about it being tied to white supremacy and racism. So that's going to be interesting. The other evidence that we expect to hear is that there are texts and Facebook posts that are very racial. I mean, they got some N-words going on in those posts. These guys, what did they say to us during the state hearing? It was basically, we are just trying to protect our neighborhood. But what you're going to hear is about the anger, the absolute racial hatred they have towards Black people. And you're going to hear a lot. It's going to be very shocking. I've heard a little bit of it in the first hearing before the judge, when they were just trying to, what Daryl will tell you was the initial appearance, they said that there was no evidence of hate, and they read a few of those texts. But I

also have heard from people in the community who received some of these Facebook posts about what they say. So I think that's going to be fascinating in the text. Remember the FBI is central to this case. They have done a lot of investigation and we're going to hear a lot of evidence or let's say more evidence than we heard in the state murder trial. Darrell, again, the feds are moving forward with this. They're simply not being satisfied with the verdict that was handed down in the state trial. And look, the prosecutors, they talked about how the judge didn't let certain things in but because this is a hate crimes trial, again, a different focus, a different purpose.

There, are you on mute there I might have turned his camera off there so let's I know Robert Portillo is there. A. Scott Bolden is there. Monique Presley is there. We'll wait to Darrell come back on. So, Robert, just your assessment of, again, how different this federal hate crimes trial is going to be compared to the state trial. Well, you know, I think the prosecutors in the state trial had to go along a very thin line when it came to the issue of race, because, remember, it wasn't all-white jury in that case. It was taking place in Glen County, Brunswick, Georgia, South Georgia. And they did not want to play up the racial aspects of it in fears of inflaming racial animus and losing the forest from the trees, as they say.

So I think in the federal case, there's a very different standard which has to be proven. And very different information can be presented to the jury. And use of the N-word, which is not presented at the state trial, will be presented. The Confederate license plate will be presented. Other interactions that these individuals had with African Americans in the community and other witness statements, which did not come in during the state trial, will come in during the federal investigation. So this will be a real litmus test of how strong our federal hate crime laws actually are right now. Because we've seen in recent years that these laws have become all but muted and negatory. If you look at Ferguson, if you look at Freddie Gray, if you look at many of these cases

where we want the federal government to step in and prosecute, we've seen the current laws that we have on the books with regards to protecting African-Americans from racially motivated violence have become nearly useless in the modern context. So if we cannot get a conviction in this case, then I think that gives even more impetus to the need of that George Floyd Justice and Policing Act and other federal updates to federal hate crime laws to actually protect African-Americans from digital anti-justice. Looks like we have Daryl back. Daryl, go ahead and let's see if we can hear you now. I'm hoping you can hear me now, Roland. Yes, we can. Go ahead. Yes. Okay, fantastic. And, you know, Robert was exactly right with regards to the analysis in this case. You know,

what we're going to be focusing on in this federal case now is simply straight-up hate. And as a result of this hate crime that was committed, the maximum offense that will be possible is a life sentence. But everything that was excluded from that state court trial with regards to the racial slurs, with regards to everything that was really race-based, will now be the central focus of what happens in the federal trial. And it will be a measure of the application

of the hate crime statute. The hate crime statute goes back several years to Matthew Shepard was when it was initially introduced and created. A new one. And so now, this federal hate crime statute that we're dealing with now under Section 39. Looks like Dara Mikus-Meader again. Yes. Let me bring in Monique and Scott. Monique? Well, I agree with everything that everyone else has said. This is one of those times where we would hope that our federal statute is strong enough to hold up. But I do think that there are some hills to climb here because it's going to have to be proven that the reason, the express intent, the purpose, the cause was racially motivated.

And that's like saying if it had been a Latino man running through the street or a white man running through the street, jogging and stopping at the houses, that it wouldn't have happened. It happened because it was a black man. And so, you know, the government has its work cut out for it. Scott Bolden. Well, normally, you know, these cases aren't brought by the Fed. They've turned down a lot of these cases because the basis and the sole purpose for the attack has to be rooted in race and bias. That's really, really hard to prove. Here, the feds clearly saw something and believe they've got enough evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, that they can prove that the only reason this individual, Ahmaud Arbery,

was being chased by these three white men was solely because of race. One, because he was running while he was black. Two, because of statements made by the assailants during as well as afterwards. And three, they believe they can get in those statements as well as other witness statements as to the character of the assailants. Because here you've got to show that the sole basis for the attack was race-based and biased. I think the government thinks they've got a strong case, but there's some hills to climb, as Monique said, because the defense has a built-in defense. That is, we were chasing him to make a citizen's arrest. We didn't care whether he was

black, white, yellow, or brown. Those would be the competing interests for the jury to consider. And of course, Barbara, one of the things that jumps out here is that to Scott's point, you don't see a lot of these cases. The Attorney General, Eric Holder, often talked about how they need to change the law because of the

high threshold. But we did see this used in the Michael Scott case where that officer pled guilty to federal hate crime statute. Then, of course, you have Derek Chauvin, who just pled guilty as well. And then, of course, you got this trial that's coming up. Well, you know, one thing that's really different about this case and it's different about what's been happening period is that social media uh you know it's it's in a lot of these cases in the past was hard to quote prove the mens rea the intent uh because you didn't have a lot that was in writing well

unfortunately for these defendants uh you know some of them were, in fact, on Facebook and social media talking and using racial slurs and saying how much they detest people, you know, black folks in particular, and talking about what they hope they could do to black folks if they ever had that opportunity. So we're going to hear some of this. Also, one of the really vicious things that's going to come out is that there was video. Remember, there's all this video. We got the video of the actual murder, but we also got video cam. You notice very little of it video also contains some statements that were made over the body itself by these defendants. And that people need to hear also, because it goes, once again, to proving what their intent was. Remember, it's the forecounsel of a hate crime, and that also includes a charge of attempted kidnapping. And that's going to also be a big part of this case about using those trucks to, quote, corner him, what did they say?

Trapped him like a rat. All of these crimes also go to this issue of using firearms. So there's going to be all kinds of, threatened to intimidate him, to interfere with his right to travel. All of this is going to come in. I think that for as far as a case goes,

this may be one of the stronger ones we see. And that it could be a very enlightening case where people don't realize how people can lie, understand about what their motivations are, but their actual conversations with others reveal what they were thinking, what they had on their mind. Darrell, this is, explain for the general public why it's also important that the feds move forward with this trial even though these three men have been convicted in state court do we lose daryl they're all still there. I think we I think we lost Darrell there.

Robert, speak to that one on one. Just real quick. Look at all the black lawyers on the screen right now. Just love looking at it. Just love seeing this black. And I think we have to take a second to acknowledge that. But the reason that this is important on the federal level is very often we see that we do not get justice on the state and local level. We do not see often even charges being brought in these cases. So the federal government is supposed to be that backstop. We've seen that throughout the history of the civil rights movement, the federal government stepping in to provide justice where the state governments have not been able to do so. So if we now see that these federal laws are impotent when it comes to actually being able to prosecute individuals, then that gives us

the Cassia Belli going into the next legislative session to tell our federal government, well, if you want Black people turning out in 2022, we're going to need new and updated hate crimes laws that makes us actually able to bring these cases. And I'll give you a hypothetical situation. If a Black man steals a candy bar and it goes outside and there's a white man in full Ku Klux Klan regalia waving a Confederate flag who shoots him, that is not a hate crime in this country right now because he stole a candy bar. And the person can claim that they shot him for stealing the candy bar, not for being African-American. That is how ridiculous some of the hate crimes laws in the federal standards are. So we clearly need to update those and fix those. And that has to be part of the national conversation going forward. And if I may, Roland. I mean, it just wouldn't be. Listen, the hate crimes, whether state or federal, Roland,

are rooted in sending a message to those who are racist and want to commit racial violence or religious violence or homophobic violence on others. That is the basis for the attack. In his scenario, the Klansmen would argue, despite him being unrobed and hooded, would argue he was hungry for the candy bar. I didn't kill him because he was black. He just happened to be black. That's a fine line and a dichotomy that every jury is going to have to

sort through. And the basis for these race-based crimes is not only policy-driven, but to send a message for those who are racist and want to commit racially-based violence for them not to do it. So DOJ has got to try this case when they've got facts this strong. they tried the other case that you did not mention that they tried was overwhelmingly race-based violence which was the killing that mother bethel and so yes i slightly disagree with my colleague you've got to have these elevated sophisticated standards of proof because otherwise it would just be a murder case or just be an assault case. Yes. Monique, go ahead. Can I... Barbara, hold that one second. Monique, then Barbara, go.

I just want to echo what both Robert and Scott were saying and say the hate is the point. It's important whether you have already been convicted for murder, for assault, for grand theft, whatever it is, it is important to bring these cases to make the point that the hate systems, there will never be an understanding in the greater population that you will pay and pay dearly.

And not just as a stopgap, but in the front, because you have done hate and race related or racially motivated actions. Barbara, go ahead. Yes, I wanted to point out something else. Robert said, look at all these black attorneys. The head lawyer in the federal case is a black woman. So that's going to be very different. But also, I mean, you know, the feds are just different. I mean, they come in. They're much more organized. The FBI is all over this case like crazy. I think we're going to hear, you know, a lot. And you need these hate crime cases because, you know, there are some people to this day who think that the McMichaels and Ryan were just dumb, that they were just overaggressive.

They were just dumb, that they were just overaggressive. They were just dumb. But people need to understand that hate had a role here, that absolute racialized hate. And how wrong that is and how that is, in fact, a federal crime when you use and act upon that hate to deny people their civil rights, the use and the enjoyment of so many rights that are common to all people, and that we got to make sure that folks understand that if they're going to engage in such an action, they're going to be held accountable. I do agree that there probably needs to be some changes of some of the standards regarding the mens rea, regarding the intent that you should lessen

the sum as former Attorney General Holder has argued. I also think that there's certain activities that are going on that should have a greater, like these Karens and these Kins who've been running around, you know, trying to have Blacks shot and killed by, you know, making false claims, that that should also now come back into a, you know, statutory framework of coverage, because it's not. So at this current time, it's not in the federal law. So there's a lot for us to do here, but I want people to remember that this trial will be held in Brunswick. It will be a trial held with all the jurors, a thousand jurors called from all 43 counties in that federal district, and that this will be a case that where the judge, from what I can see, is determined, Judge Lisa

Wood is determined to run her courthouse. She's going to run that courtroom. And we're not going to see a lot of the nonsense that we saw in the murder trial from the defendant attorneys. All right, then. Barbara Irwin, I appreciate it. Daryl Jones, thanks a lot. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, Jones, thanks a lot. We appreciate it very much. Thank you. All right, folks, got to go to. Sorry. Yeah, go to break.

We come back. We'll talk about the Kim Pinal trial. Going to get a live report from Georgia Fort. Also, a case out of Texas where a black kid was tased by a couple of white kids wearing a Klan, wearing Klan outfits. They are now facing charges. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. so so so it's time to be smart roland martin's doing this every day oh no punches 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. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I got to defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. I got to defer to the brilliance of Dr. Carr and to the brilliance of the Black Star Network. I am rolling with rolling all the way.

Honestly, on a show that you own, a Black man owns the show. Folks, Black Star Network is here. I'm real revolutionary right now. Rolling was amazing on that. 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. Bring your eyeballs home.

You can't be black on media and be scared. You dig? Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and group therapy. Hi, I'm BB Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. An Alabama family has been looking for Lakira P. Goldsmith since November 27, 2018. She was last seen getting out of her boyfriend's car in Montgomery, Alabama, but she never made it back into the house.

Lakira was 20 at the time of her disappearance. She's approximately five feet, five inches tall and weighs between 140 and 180 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. Both of her ears are pierced as well as her lower lip. She has a snake eye tongue piercing. When LaKira went missing, she wore a black velvet needling dress, a silver rhinestone choker necklace, silver rhinestone earrings, and a silver lip ring. She also had blonde hair with black roots. If you have any information about Lakira Pig Goldsmith, contact the Montgomery, Alabama Police Department at 334-625-2810, 334-625-2810. Folks, sickle cell disease impacts African Americans more than anybody else.

When we talk about COVID, it also has a direct impact on those with sickle cell. Joining us right now to talk about that is Dr. Andrew Campbell. He's the director of Sickle Cell Program Children's Hospital in D.C. Glad to have you here. So, Doc, explain to us again why folks with sickle cell should really be concerned about getting COVID. Thank you for having me on the show, Roland Martin. Yes, sickle cell disease is an underlying condition that the CDC has recognized as a risk factor for what's called severe COVID-19 disease. Sickle cell disease affects the vessels. It can also affect many organs in the bodies.

As you can see with COVID-19, it does exactly the same thing. It can affect different parts of the body the same way. Sickle cell in general causes a lot of pain, but also can cause damage to the organs, such as for example, can cause pneumonia in the lungs. It can also cause overall damage to the kidneys, for example, also increased risk for stroke. COVID-19 complications mirror some of the

complications that you see in sickle cell disease. So in a national registry called the Secure Registry, for example, and they've monitored over time in Wisconsin, and they've shown that when you have COVID-19 and sickle cell disease, especially in the beginning of the pandemic, there was a significantly higher risk of being hospitalized and also a higher risk of death with sickle cell disease and COVID-19. But because of the recent advances in treatment and also, of course, the vaccinations, that has mitigated the risk that sickle cell patients see at this time. Now what about those who have sickle cell trait? Right now there's very limited information on sickle cell traits and COVID-19 but in the data

that's been presented so far there's a slightly increased risk of more severe COVID-19 disease, but there's not been enough studies so far, nationally, internationally, looking at this. But thus far, just a slightly increased risk of complications from COVID-19 and mortality. Should someone with sickle cell, should they get the vaccine? Should they get the booster or their issues there

yes we recommend that sickle cell patients five years and older get the COVID-19 vaccine why because sickle cell disease patients are at high risk for hospitalizations and complications from the sickle cell disease in addition to being infected with COVID-19. So we have seen over, even at my hospital, we have seen a higher percentage of sickle cell disease patients being admitted to the hospital, also going to the ICU, for example, and in rare cases, death, but we haven't seen that as much recently, due to COVID-19 disease in sickle cell disease patients, and even in the younger patients. This is higher than what we see, for example, with flu or the common cold virus. So this virus has really had a significant impact

on patients with sickle cell disease, and it's dramatically increased the hospitalizations that we would generally see with, for example, the flu vaccine. So we overwhelmingly support COVID-19 vaccine right now, five years and older in the sickle cell populations. The side effects have been very minimal in sickle cell disease patients. They exhibit very similar side effects that we've seen in the general population. But overall, we highly recommend it. All right, then. Anything else you think folks should know out there who have sickle cell or sickle cell trait? Yeah. So for sickle cell disease, I would like to point out that there is,

it's called the Medical and Research Advising Committee of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, which I was a part of, that has actually put out advisory statements, not only here in the U.S., but also internationally, led by Dr. Louis Su and Brie Audemariam, SEDAA. If you go to their website, sicklecelldisease.org, and put in M-A-R-C, M-A-R-C, and you can actually see the guidelines. Also, American Society of Hematology also has guidelines, but also, most importantly, the CDC. So we highly recommend our sickle cell patients to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Please talk to your local provider or hematologist about the risks and benefits, but we highly recommend it. All right, then. Well, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. We're just trying to give

our folks more and more information as best as we can with regards to COVID, its impact. And again, there's a whole lot of misinformation out there, so we want to make sure that our folks have the right information. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right, folks. Pfizer is moving ahead with a pill

to combat COVID. Not only that particular pill, first of all, it's supposed to be taken at home, supposed to decrease symptoms for patients who take it within the first five days of symptoms or diagnosis. Now, according to Pfizer, the antiviral drug boasts a 90 percent reduction in hospitalizations and deaths in high risk patients. Now, researchers at Walter Reed have created a vaccine that protects against all COVID and SARS variants. This was done by the U.S. Army. The vaccine will undergo phase two and three of human trials before the approval. The team developing the vaccine says there have been positive results in previous trials. Again, right now, as we stand, 51 million cases in America, more than 800,000 folks have died.

And right now, 60% of the eligible population, they are fully vaccinated. And so we're seeing that continue in this country. All right, folks, let's talk about one of the issues that we have seen impacted by COVID, that is supply chain. Christmas is coming up. All these fears about whether you're going to be able to have product on the shelves. And earlier today, President Biden touted what his administration has been able to do when it comes to dealing with the supply chain issues.

Earlier this fall, we heard a lot of dire warnings about supply chain problems leading to a crisis around the holidays. So we acted. A lot of recommendations from the people that you see on the screen here. I wish we were all able to do this in person. We brought together business and labor leaders to solve problems. And much, you know, the much predicted crisis didn't occur.

Packages are moving. Gifts are being delivered. Shelves are not empty. Experts in this field look at two statistics for retail inventories, which is how many goods retail- how many good retailers have on hand and on- a phrase, on-shelf availability,

which measures how many goods are actually on the shelves there to be purchased. Today, retail inventories are up 3% from last year. Inventories are healthy. And on-shelf availability before the pandemic was about 91%. Today, it's at 90%. 90%. I'm sure you can go and find some shelf where it's empty because a particular sort of gifts are very popular.

I don't know. But 90% availability and delivery times of this season for FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service are faster than before the pandemic. Even as Americans have purchased a record amount of goods. Well, Robert, Mon uh scott is interesting look at the supply chains and how all of a sudden that's now gone away um gas prices have been going down now that's sort of gone away and so all of these doom and gloom stories about how awful the economy is going and how things are so bad. You notice how they no longer get the same level of attention? Well, you're exactly right, Roland. I think part of it is it's almost like a football game where if you have a quarterback behind center, everybody wants to replace the quarterback and think that changes the team.

No, the rest of the team has to change along with it. So the president has limited power when it comes to supply chain issues. The issue of the ports has been building for the last 20 years with regards to port capacity. When it comes to gas prices, presidents have almost no power over gas prices. That's set on the international markets. When it comes to getting things across all the shipping containers and all the trucks across the country, the shortage of truck drivers has nothing to do with the president of the United States. What the president has done by releasing oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve is do a triage to stop the uptick in prices. Also, by ordering ports to stay open 24 hours a day, we have been able to start handling that backlog of shipping containers coming in. So people don't like the complicated answer to things. They like to simply have a dumb black and white answer.

Someone's doing bad, someone's doing good. So sometimes President Biden in his slow kind of methodical bureaucratic way gets things done. And the administration has to do a better job of selling that to the American people, because if you're not selling it, then people don't know what you're doing. Yeah, Roland, but there's something else going on too. Biden's doing this. He's got to open up those supply chains by keeping the ports open earlier or longer, rather. He's also got to release those barrels of oil to keep prices down because the Republicans

are pounding them on the inflation and the Fed. They're pounding the president and the Fed on this permanent inflation versus this transitory inflation. And both of these moves by the president will keep inflation down, or at least in check until they can kind of drive it down. It's more complicated than that from a macroeconomic standpoint, but that's really what's driving this piece. But I will say this. They haven't really fixed the supply chain

because I had this really great gift for you, Roland. It was an incredible gift for you. I miss you and everything. But you know what? It ain't going to make it here. So I'll see you in January. You know, dog on whale. That ain't got nothing to do.

They ain't got nothing to do with fixing the supply chain at all. Again, really what you have here you got a whole bunch of media people who play the whole doom and gloom game as opposed to really uh dealing with where we are looking at the amount of money that's also in this system uh with the uh additional uh resources that people actually buy more as well. And so it's one thing. The narrative is always about the narrative, Monique, when you start looking at this whole deal, because at the end of the day, this economy is in a lot better shape than it has been in a very long time.

Yes, inflation is a concern, but this notion that somehow we have this debilitating economy is just nonsense. Complete nonsense. And it's like they really are allergic to sharing good news. So if there is anything good that's happening, they're going to put a butt right at the end of the sentence, or they're going to find some other way to turn it into gloom and doom. I mean, there's there's this is why people are so frustrated with our government. One of the reasons. And so discontent because what they're getting is not delivering them the facts. They have zero reason to be encouraged. Well, absolutely. And I do believe, again, how, you know, in terms of how you control your own narrative is really important.

And so that's one of the things that you have been seeing taking place. One of the things that they announced today was the extension of student loan relief until May 1st. Now, earlier, the White House said they were not going to do that. Now they're saying because of the explosion of the Omicron variant, they're going to actually begin to put that in place. Payments were supposed to restart on January 31st. Interest rates still around 0% during this pause as well. And so as we stand, 36 million Americans owe one point three six trillion dollars. And where I'm stuck at is this year, Robert, you've got members of Congress. You've got Congresswoman Cori Bush, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Sarah Elizabeth Warren, others saying that the president has the authority to cancel up to $50,000 student loan debt. OK, Sarah Chuck Schumer says the same thing. He says he doesn't. Can somebody give a real damn answer? And here's the other deal. All Congress

has to do is also pass a bill. So, okay. Where's the bill? Well, look, Roland, on that point, I think we have to break this down for a second. One, nobody in this country, for the most part, has had to pay student loans in the last two years. Everything has been fine. The economy has not collapsed. Public education has not fallen into the ground. Colleges have not gone bankrupt. So apparently it will not hurt the economy at all if we cancel student loan debt. We've been just fine for the last couple of years doing so. So on the question of whether or not the president has the authority to do so, remember, student loans are a federal agency. They're not statutory, as they say. So what Bernie Sanders proposed when he was running for president, when he said he will cancel student loans on day one, is simply

instruct the Department of Education not to collect the debt. And all they really have to do is zero out the balances. So the president has the ability to do so, according to Bernie Sanders. And this is what I think we can learn from President Trump. President Trump, if you told him he couldn't do something, he just did it. And then you can figure out whether he could do it or not. So if President Biden really is about that life, he'll just do it. And then let somebody else figure out later on if he could do it. President Trump did it with the Muslim ban.

President Trump did it with the border wall. President Trump did it with the border wall. President Trump did it with a whole lot of stuff. We just said, look, I'm just going to do it. Y'all work out the details later. And I think President Biden is going to have to get on that same train because while you're sitting here waiting on stuff, trying to figure out if you can do it or not, your poll numbers are in the 30s.

Kamala's poll numbers are in the 20s. And Republicans are getting ready to sweep the midterms because you can't pass Bill Beck better, apparently because Joe Manchin has more power than the president does. So President Biden is going to have to get on his horse and do something soon if he wants to maintain any sort of majority and any ability to govern going into 2024. Monique, here's what I don't understand. 36 million Americans owe $1.36 trillion. Didn't we just forgive $600 billion in PPP loans? It ain't like the country ain't forgiven money before.

Right, no, it's not. But I mean, I vehemently disagree with everything Robert said in the whole be like Trump scenario. Every example he mentioned, whether it's the Muslim ban or any, I mean, those were colossal mistakes. They were rash decisions that were inaccurate. The reason why I support a Joe Biden or a Kamala Harris is because I know that they will not do things like that. And I want people who govern based on facts. So I don't think is a question of whether the amount of money that is owed to the federal government can be forgiven. I think there are all kinds of questions with respect to all of the lenders involved in the loan packaging.

And so there are real questions to which apparently the president got a no and others like Senator Warren believe there's a way to get to a yes. But you know, Roland, he's not talking about forgiving all the debt. I think he's talking about forgiving like $10,000 of student loan debt per person, whatever he's talking about. No, but here's the point that I'm stating. We just forgave nearly $600 billion that was handed out to PPP. Okay? $600 billion. Exactly. handed out to PPP. Okay. 600 billion. Okay. That's almost half of what's owed for student loans. Okay. Why in the hell we don't just forgive fine. Fine. How about this year? Let's not, let's not, let's not say Congress. We're not going to forgive all student loan debt. Fine. Forgive half of it. I mean, we just did it for PPP. Right. right right but there was always a plan to do it for ppp

that was the point was to loan it and then for it to be able to be forgiven okay okay but here's the deal they could actually do it on student loan debt what's the problem that's not a distinguishing fact that's not a distinguishing fact i think ro Roman's right on this one. I mean, they're just printing money anyway, so why not forget it? But the real question, I think, is why won't the Biden administration just do it? Thank you. on this progressive agenda and he's got the power to do it and Robert's right about one thing just do it if there's a dispute the courts will sort it out and by the way he stayed it for two years and as Robert said we haven't we don't have a failed economy we have a growing economy actually and so I I guess that my answer is a question is that why won't you just do it?

Just do it. And why can't you get your marketing and communication teams together to sell your successes, make this one of them, and damn the Republicans? What are we so afraid of as an organization? What are we afraid of in regard to Manchin and these other moderates who certainly don't belong to the Democratic Party. They go to Republican Party, they'll be a small fish in a small pond. They stay in the Democratic Party and one of them acts like they're the president of the United States.

It makes no sense. I blame the administration on the media, on their bad media because of their bad communication. And this is another example of it regarding student laws. And so on that point, Scott Malik, I wasn't saying that to support Trump's Muslim ban or support him on the border wall. I'm saying the same thing as Scott, which is just do it and quit trying to work out every bit of minutiae beforehand. You got a bureaucrat and stuff who'll work out the details. We're not really going to see the full thrust of this student loan crisis for the next 10 or 20 years. Note, highly educated millennials, people in their late 30s and early 40s don't have kids anymore at all. You don't see

kids playing in the park. Do you know why? Because of student loan debt. We got pets and we got plants. Plants are the new pets. Pets are the new children. Children are just some kind of exotic creatures that only rich people can afford because I got a choice between paying $1,600 a month in student loan debt to pay back this law degree, or I can have some kids. Our country cannot survive with this level of debt hanging over the heads of the most well-educated, successful people in the country. So Joe Biden has an opportunity to change things generationally in this country. And the fact that they're saying that I can't do it because X, Y, Z, just get out there and do it. You really think these people are going to turn out and vote for you again in 2022? Because you say, well, bureaucratically, I couldn't do it. The Senate

parliamentarian told me I couldn't do it. So I didn't do it despite the 81 million people who voted for it. Democrats don't understand how to win elections. They don't understand how to market things. Joe Biden should be on this show right now in the C block talking about how he's about to cancel student loan debt and then do a media tour across the country. That's how you motivate people to turn out and how you keep your majority in 2022.

But hiding behind bureaucrats is a way to lose going forward. And what's this about research, by the way? You know, you could get any associate at any big law firm in America, this research project, and give them eight hours, not only just to research it, right, but to write it up. They have it to you in a day, no later than a day and a half. It's all nonsense. You know, the Democrats, the problem with the Democrats is they want to win the argument. They want to be right on the issues. They care about how people feel about them who are never going to support them,

like white Republicans and even white Democrats. And they just won't stand up and want to win the vote. Win the vote because you're going to lose in 2022 the way you're doing right now. Win the vote, right? Damn the torpedoes and fight for what you believe in and fight for what's right and fight what's in the best interest of america and they just won't do it they're so scared they're scared of their shadows makes no sense and another thing

i don't have another thing. Look, just last point. Nobody wants to get it on today. Look, Scott, last point on that, though, for me. Just think about the headlines and the way this writes itself for Democrats. You cancel all student loan debt or you cancel half a student loan debt or you cancel $50,000 student loan

debt, however you want to do it. Then the bureaucrats come back and say you can't do it. Now Now you can campaign in 2022 saying, well, this is why we need 60 votes in the Senate so we can do it. We tried to the first time and the bureaucrats wouldn't let us do it. That rights itself, but simply saying, I'm not going to try because I'm scared that they might overturn it later. That's not effective. This is how you lose. Right, right. And then blaming on them, or better yet, blame it on the courts. And just keep it moving. You know, if you're fighting for your people, if you're fighting for your constituents,

whether you win, lose, or draw, or whether you get it done or not, they're going to stick with you. Right now, half the Democrats in America are mad at Joe Biden and the Biden White House, Biden-Harris White House, right? You're losing Democratic votes by your inertia and not getting anything done and not fighting for what you ran on, whether you get it done or not. It's not that hard. It's not that hard. Well, Nick, you still ain't taking the bait.

Y'all done? All right. First of all, I'm going to go to a break. When we come back, I got to show y'all this video of Herschel Walker saying he doesn't believe the John Lewis Act is what John Lewis stood for. Oh, he didn't. Even though John Lewis wrote it. stood for. Oh, he hit me. Even though John Lewis wrote it. Plus Marilyn Mosby, she is not mincing any words as she fires back at Maryland Governor

Larry Hogan for his constant attacks on her. I'm going to show you her latest video. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the black star network folks black star network is a real uh revolutionary right now support this man black media he makes sure that our stories are told thank you for being the voice of black america rolling i love y'all all momentum we have now we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Donnie. Charlie! Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin,

my man, Unfiltered. Roland Martin, Unfiltered. You know, I'm trying my best, uh, not to, uh, smack Herschel Walker. Um, but it, it, it, it is a little, little hard, uh, for me not to do so. Uh, Keenan, I'm about to send you this video. See if you can go ahead and pull this video up, please. Um, I want to, cause there's some audio that I want to play. So Hershel Walker, of course, is running for the United States Senate in Georgia.

And he wins the primary. He'll be facing, of course, Senator Raphael Warnock, Pastor Raphael Warnock. Well, internal polling came out today showing Walker at forty nine, forty eight. Conservative Eric Erickson said that if your internal polling showing you at forty nine, forty eight, it ain't good for you in a state with about fifty five percent disapproval numbers. So let me know if you can pull that up. But I got to show y'all because, first of all, Hershel Walker is not the brightest bulb in a dark room. I mean, he ain't bright at all, y'all, at all. So he was doing a radio interview he was doing a radio interview y'all

where they were talking about the john lewis act okay now prior to congressman john lewis passing he literally wrote the voting law. So Herschel Walker was asked about this law. And Ken, if you can go ahead and pull that up, I want you all to hear what one of the dumbest people you've ever heard. If you think his son is dumb you see exactly where his son got it from kenny go ahead and play it I can't hear it. Can y'all hear it? No, we can't hear it. Hey, Kenan, if you could go ahead and double check the mute, make sure the mute button's not on.

And then start the tweet over i i just want y'all to hear for yourself uh because sometimes you just got to go ahead and uh let dumb be dumb um so let me know if you have it uh if you have it ready All right. Can't get the audio. I'm going to try to play it on my end. But basically what he said here, Robert, was I don't really think the John Lewis Act is what John Lewis stood for. Well, look, I've invited her to Walker on my radio show. I've invited the other Senate candidates. I've had Calvin King, who's running that Republican primary. I was on my show last week. Gary Black, who's the

current Agricultural Secretary, who's going to be coming up in the new year. I hope Herschel will come on. But, you know, Herschel down here has done a CTE patient zero. He's not all the way there. And I think the Republicans are making a grave mistake nominating. So they try to nominate somebody like Herschel Walker. We've already given all

the numbers and all the hermeneutics going into this election. This should be a landslide for Republicans. And you just put default Republican in there. They should win this seat going away versus Warnock because was the aberration year with Democrats taking both Warnock and Ossoff and Joe Biden winning the state of Georgia. So without Donald Trump on the ballot, without everything going on in 2020, Republicans should have a very good chance of winning. But when you have someone like Herschel Walker, who might be the nominee, you are talking about running an admitted woman beater, somebody who beat his former wife, who is a domestic violence attacker, and you're going to run him against a Baptist minister in the South? What is wrong with Republicans? You're going to take somebody who literally beat women for 20 years and does not

live in the state of Georgia and run them against a Baptist minister. So I think that Republicans are going to have to rethink this. They should take another look at Kelvin King, another look at Gary Black, that they want any chance of winning. But this is just another and a long line of gaps that Herschel Walker has made and is going to make. And when your son is the best spokesperson for the campaign complaining about gas prices and a $1,200 hoodie, I don't think the worst mistake can be made by Republicans than nominating somebody like Herschel Walker, who I repeat, beats women, and they want to run him against a Baptist minister. You can't make a worse mistake than that

in the state of Georgia. Mike! You want to meet... I said he's just not a serious person. Roland, let me tell you what you should do. And I know you can get this done. You should put together a one or two minute piece on all of Herschel Walker's gaffes.

And when he's, as well as when you can't understand him. I can't really understand him. I don't know what his language is. So he doesn't have to be bright, but he's got to be able to communicate. And I just, every time I've heard him, I can't put a string of English sentences together or the King's English or the Queen's English. So I'm not sure what to think.

I wish he had the video so I could hear it. But in any event, I don't know. I can't really take him very serious. Trump's back in him. I mean, he manifests the ignorance of a number, not all, a number of Republican supporters and voters in Georgia who like all that idiocy and all that stuff, that minstrel show, if you will.

And so we got to, I guess you got to cover it, but you know, I think you're going to have to be slapping a few times before the general as well as the primary, as well as the general. I think you're going to have to be slapping. But also let's not forget, let's not forget... Go ahead. Let's not forget, though, the Republicans nominated and elected Tommy Tupperville in our neighboring state of Alabama to the United States Senate. So for Republicans, you do not have to be

a PhD or well-spoken in order to be a United States Senator. You've got to be involved in SEC football. That's pretty much their main requirement to be a United States Senator down here. So I think we cannot write off somebody like Herschel, despite his history of domestic violence, his history of mental illness, his admissions that he has committed various violent acts and torture against women throughout

the years. And they will run that against a Baptist minister and say, well, look, he ran that ball back in the 80s. And that's all that they require in order to elect you to Senate. So it's a very scary place that we're in in America. And I would like to see these women's groups come out and stand up, because, Roland, you've mentioned often that when it comes to Black issues, there's always Black folks standing by ourselves. We need all these national women's organizations to come out and stand up against an admitted woman's beater. We need to have all those people down here marching and protesting and pouring money into the state to ensure that you do not have somebody who has admitted to domestic violence in the United States Senate. Because how exactly can you stand up and say you really defend women if you're not going to fight back against someone like Herschel Walker, who beat women for the last 20 years?

All right, then. OK, now we talk about clapping back. There's been this constant back and forth between marilyn mosby uh of course the state's attorney there in baltimore and republican governor larry hogan he is constantly saying that she's the reason why crime is increasing in baltimore saying she's not prosecuting people uh fast enough not going after them with tough charges. Well, you know, we played for you last month, a news conference when she just went ham on Hogan. Well, yesterday she dropped this video smacking the governor. Watch. Dear Governor Hogan, I deeply regret having to respond to you via a public letter. But after my numerous attempts at collegiality, I recognize that your entitlement, your privilege, and your political posturing are

guiding your disrespectful refusal to meet or even speak with me for the past two years, despite being the twice-elected state's attorney for Baltimore City. For seven years, I've proposed that we set aside our philosophical differences in order to work toward the betterment of the city of Baltimore. And for seven years, you've not only refused to collaborate and engage with me, but you've consistently refused to collaborate and engage with almost every black Baltimore city leader. At this point, it's clear to me that you would much rather attack disparage and continue to use the city of Baltimore as your punching bag in order to score political points with your conservative base. As I expressed in November in response to your politically motivated press conferences,

Baltimore City is the heartbeat of the state of Maryland, which is why I'm baffled by your lack of leadership, disregard, and apparent disdain for our city. This has been evidenced by your decision to cancel the red line, which would have provided economic opportunity and stability for the residents of our city. Your decision to veto the Kerwin Commission legislation that would have provided more support to high poverty schools, such as those in our city. Your lack of prioritization and disparate distribution of vaccines during the height of the global pandemic when you told the media that our city's elderly residents had already been given far more than they were really entitled to.

And your vetoing of the Baltimore crime plan drafted by the city's delegation that would have required increased oversight of offenders on parole and probation. Coming out of a global pandemic that has significantly thwarted public health, the judicial system, jobs, and the economy for the past two years, as the governor of this state, you had a unique opportunity to showcase leadership that could have brought state, federal, and local resources and agencies together in order to resolve the endemic challenges that our city has faced for decades. You have chosen to do otherwise.

We, the people that live in the city of Baltimore, are not naive enough to believe that your attacks come from any form of sincere concern about the problems that we face. Rather, your actions are purely political, which is why you continue your incessant dog-whistling attacks about Baltimore crime, which contrasts with your deafening silence on the increased crime in the rest of the state. In your time in office, you have blamed the mayor, the police commissioner, the judges, the city council, and even the state legislature for the crime in Baltimore City. Yet many of the city's problems can be laid at the door of the state agencies you oversee. This past week, you appeared on

Fox News Sunday and were asked a question in connection with the attempted murder of a Baltimore City police officer to which you shamefully responded. We have a prosecutor in Baltimore City that refuses to prosecute violent criminals, and that's the root of the problem. None of this is true. fact, the truth is that the lead suspect in the shooting of that police officer who is currently fighting for her life was supposed to be under the supervision of your state agency at the time of that horrific offense. That suspect, who was presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, was not only on state-run pre-trial supervision at the time of the brazen shooting, but he was released on his own recognizance pending trial for being a felon in possession of a handgun in Baltimore County, not Baltimore City. Disgracefully, you attempted

to blame my office yet again in two recent press conferences where you had the audacity to cite the case of a 69-year-old woman killed in an East Baltimore church, spreading the falsehood that this is an example of my office not holding a violent repeat offender accountable. Once again, in reality, according to the murder suspect's bail review hearing, the suspect arrested in connection with that case was fresh off of parole and was not given adequate state supervision by your state agency, given his level of violence against others, his criminal history of violent rape by force, felony assault, and robbery. The suspect actually committed a robbery while under state supervision in 2012.

Despite numerous red flags and continued mental health issues, the state supervision level was lowered for this violent repeat offender by your state agency. And what's clear is that the suspect, who's also presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, should have never been allowed off of state supervision in the first place. Similarly, in 2018, your Department of Juvenile Services secretary erroneously attempted to blame my office for the release of a juvenile that ultimately killed a Baltimore County police officer. Once again, this was not true. In fact, your state-run Department of Juvenile Services pushed for the release of that juvenile over the objection of both my prosecutors and his own

mother. So yet again, your state agency failed to properly supervise an individual who then took the life of a police officer. You see, Mr. Governor, these breakdowns in your state agencies are not isolated incidents either, but are a part of a pattern of malpractice on the part of your government. That is why I intend to ask the state legislature for an audit by the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits of not just DPSCS, but of the Division of Parole and Probation and the Department of Juvenile Services, specifically to evaluate why these failures have occurred, continue to occur, and how we can prevent such tragedies from happening again.

As I have said before, our seniors and our babies should be off limits. Yet under your leadership, we continue to see innocent, vulnerable lives lost due to the ineptitude of your state agencies. In short, it's time that you accept your share of responsibility for the problems our city and state faces. Problems that have occurred on your watch. The answer to the crime problems that continue to plague the city of Baltimore cannot just be found in the antiquated, tough-on-crime and zero-tolerance policing proposals that you have introduced legislatively over and over again. Refunding the police and more mandatory minimums

do not deter crime. We know this because for decades, these antiquated solutions haven't worked. Utilizing holistic, evidence-based solutions that address the root causes of crime deters crime. Ensuring economic stability, education, transportation, jobs, and housing deters crime, none of which you've been willing to do for the city of Baltimore. As you are aware, Baltimore City has faced unprecedented challenges and expansive instability in the past seven years, which include the constant change in leadership of four different mayors, five police commissioners, the untimely killing of Freddie Gray and the

subsequent uprising, a scathing 163-page report by the Department of Justice exposing a pattern and practice of discriminatory policing, the subsequent federal consent decree, dealing with the aftermath of one of the largest police corruption scandals in the history of this country, where police officers were planting guns and drugs on citizens for decades, and withstanding court closures and case backlogs, staffing and budgetary challenges due to a global pandemic. Despite all of the aforementioned challenges, every day, my highly skilled and talented prosecutors who are overworked and underpaid, even according to the Baltimore Sun, dedicate their lives to the pursuit of justice on behalf of the citizens of Baltimore City. As you will see from the data provided, every single day my prosecutors go up against voluminous case dockets, uncooperative witnesses, and demanding judges to ensure accountability

against violent individuals in this city. How dare you say otherwise? For the past seven years, my office and my prosecutors have been the only stability in this city, and they should be valued and appreciated for the public service and commitment that each of them exhibit every day. Had you chosen to meet with me or simply pick up the phone, you would have realized that much of the data that you publicly requested is already published on our website and is also already provided to your agency by way of the governor's office of crime prevention youth and victim services on a quarterly basis as part of the grant process. Turning to the data, you will find that despite every unprecedented challenge

that the city has faced over the past five years, my office has maintained a 90% conviction rate on average for violent offenses, an average 88% conviction rate for mandatory minimum eligible cases, and a 92% conviction rate for violent repeat offenders, all of which are consistent with the conviction rates of my predecessors over the past 10 years. According to our data, the no-prost and stet rate is also consistent with the last 10 years. Please note that a no-prost or a stet does not mean the case was dropped and or dismissed in its entirety. In fact, on average, over the past five years, 25% of the cases no-prost or stetted were prosecuted elsewhere, such as by our federal partners, where there are more resources and sentences are more severe, or the case is the subject of plea negotiations

in another case. Governor Hogan, I know that you are a lame duck governor and you have your eye on another job and feel the need to play to your base, but I implore you to focus on the job you have now. I urge you to work with me, the mayor, the police commissioner, the public defenders, the judges, and every other stakeholder to fix our justice system. End the campaign of disinformation against our city. Stop finger-pointing and work together with every stakeholder to improve public safety in our city and in our state. Sincerely, Marilyn J. Mosby, Baltimore City State's Attorney. Monique,

I think she read his ass. Yes, I thought you would have gone to my brother first. For a better, obvious test. Yes, I thought you would have gone to my brother first. I'm biased. But yes, she took her time and she covered all of her bases, dotted her eyes, crossed her T's and said what she said, which it's a shame that she has to do that but um there we go um i must say uh scott first of all you represent marilyn mosby in uh her battle with uh the feds uh and this is the second video the last one she did last month when she held a news conference while she steam was coming out of her ears.

This one, she decided to do a sit down and recorded video. But again, one by one, one by one, read his ass for filth. and citations to support her very thoughtful, cogent, painful for the governor to listen to response. You know, the pattern, you know, me and Ben Crump did a press conference last month about the attacks on Black female progressive prosecutors, whether it's Kim Fox or Marilyn Mosby or a few others, one in Missouri, forgive me, I think Kim, I want to say Porter. But white conservative men, elected officials, seem to have problems with strong black female progressives who are tough and who run to the fight. They don't run away from their politics or their bona fides or what they deeply believe in. And the Republican Party doesn't seem to have an answer to that, whether it's AOC, whether it's Marilyn Mosby,

and they keep making these attacks as if they're going to diminish them in some way politically or personally or socially within the party. And the progressives like Marilyn Mosby run to the fight because they've got a story to tell, and they stand by their principles and their politics and the results of their hard work by statistics. The other thing you'll notice is white conservative men in the Republican Party not only attack them but try to strip them of their broad discretion, unlike their white counterparts who have held that position, their predecessors. You'll see that around the country and so I'm just very proud of my,

I'm just very proud of my, my client. And she's absolutely right. She's fearless to take on the governor. And so accolades to her. And this is the beginning. It's not the end of the fight. Cause remember she's up for reelection in five months. Got it. This is all about that part of Baltimore doing that. Robert, you know, this is the thing that I want our white brothers to understand. Because I know if you look at all the commercials now, every single commercial got like a goofy looking white guy with a fine black woman. What you have to understand is if a black woman is mad and like tearing stuff up, that's OK. You can come back from that. But if she is sitting there like that in front of you, reading a script and laying out evidence, you're done. It's over. They bring you

into the room. They sit you down. They bring up all your text messages, all the Instagrams, all the pictures you've been liking. It's over when they sit down like that. And the composure and the steadfastness that she presented her information, I think to let Larry Hogan know that I know you were trying to run for president in 2024. I know you want to come off as being the tough on crime, moderate, non-Trump Republican in the field, but you're not going to do that on my back. You can get your bona fide somewhere else, but you're not going to do it as the diminution of me and my prosecutors and what we're doing in our office. The problems in crime in Baltimore did not start with Marilyn Mosby. They did an entire TV series on The Wire about those issues.

So this idea of Larry Hogan trying to pin those on her, these are systemic issues that have gone back more than a generation and that require state, local, and federal cooperation to take care of. And I think she is doing the best that she can given the cards that she has been dealt. And Larry Hogan is going to have to decide are you going to actually finish out the end of your term and try to have some successes before you run for president or alternatively

are you going to try to dive into these culture war issues against black women in politics we've seen this with Father Willis in Atlanta we've seen this with Kim Porter in Chicago we've seen this with Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore. Quit picking these fights with black women.

As a black man married to a black woman, you can't win this. Just let it go. Try to work with her. All right, then. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not real quick. You talked for a very long time. You should have got everything out when you did.

I need to go live. I need to go live to Minneapolis. Nobody interrupted you. You just simply forgot. So take some ginseng pills and get your memory together. I want to go live to Georgia Fort, who stepped out of the courtroom, where I stopped talking. Kim Potter, of course, waiting for the jury deliberation.

Let's go live to Minneapolis. So Georgia, what's the latest in the case in the Kim Potter trial? Roland, the jury has continued deliberating now for almost, I think, 23 hours since Monday afternoon. And the family, I had the chance to sit with them for most of that time. They're remaining strong, hopeful, and they continue to pray. They're surrounded by prayer warriors who are hopeful that this verdict is still going to come back. Not guilty or guilty, rather. Now, of course, they sent word yesterday sort of asking what happens if they get stuck and they have continued.

Yeah, well, they have continued. Judge Chu, we heard her break in and say that it wasn't really an option for them to get stuck. She encouraged them to come to some kind of agreement. We even heard from some of the attorneys that they are not, they're not thinking that the jury's going to get stuck at this point. But on the outside, the community, we saw a lot of people here who are concerned that this is going to be a hung jury. And the thought of the family having to go through all of this or even the thought of them coming back with a not guilty verdict is very emotional. It's a very emotional time for the city. Roland, as you know, I know you followed what happened after the murder of George Floyd and all of the protesting that happened. And then

Roland, you covered the Chauvin trial. Dante was killed three weeks into the Chauvin trial. And so it's very emotional time in the city for people to gather and consider that Kimberly Potter could mistake her gun for her taser and she could get away with it. Or that a jury, which we know is predominantly white individuals, there's one black woman on this jury, Roland, two Asians, and the rest are white men and women. And a lot of them are older. When I was in the courtroom for jury selection, I did observe that there were some other diverse candidates maybe who could have been on this jury that weren't selected. And then when

I was back in on the day when Dante's dad testified, I saw some of the jurors sleeping. And so it's disheartening to see people not taking their civic duty seriously. And now that's contributing to hours and hours and now days of deliberations. So the family is really hoping that at least they're going to come back with guilty on one of the counts. The family is really, really hoping that it's not a hung jury, because could you imagine having to go through this entire process all over again? All right. Georgia Fort, we surely appreciate it. Thanks a lot for giving us that update. And we'll keep watching to see what this jury does. Absolutely. Thank you, Roland. Thank you very much, Monique. Again, right now, you're the prosecutor, you're the defense.

All you can do is simply wait for this judge to come to a decision. Right. I mean, and the longer it goes, it's not looking good. When we say the longer it goes, it's not looking good for the prosecution or the defense? For the prosecution. Because, I mean, it's one thing for the jury to be steadfast and deliberate and going through all the evidence and et cetera. But the cues that they've been sending is like that there's some sort of deadlock. And just going longer and longer doesn't it doesn't lean toward people in favor of the prosecution, convincing those who are not.

It usually means that somebody is in there and is very stuck in their position. I mean, in this case, there are problems. There are problems. I mean, I know you all did those segments on her and her crying on the stand and all of that. But it was likely persuasive to the jury. I don't think that they're sitting there believing that she intended to do that. So what do you make the decision? We'll kind of ask Monique was saying that this is not the most complicated set of facts here.

So the fact that you are, they have taken this on to deliberate, you are dealing with this threat of a hung jury, definitely does not bode well for the prosecution and for a conviction. Question, did she shoot somebody? Yes. That should be kind of the beginning, middle, and end. And so the question of was it accidental? We've heard the testimony about the difference between the taser and the gun, how difficult it is to make a mistake and mistake your taser for a gun. The fact that they do not feel the same, they're not the same weight, they're not the same color, they're not held on the same side, they are not facing the same direction. So it should be a pretty easy case to come to a decision on. And the fact that they are taking this long

really indicates that there is at least one or maybe a couple jurors who are just holdouts who are intransigent. They were not going to be changing their minds regards to what the set effects are. And so this is what makes it very difficult. This is usually what you're trying to shoot for, trying to find one juror who is not willing to convict you on these charges. So this may be what's going on in this case. Of course, we all hold out hope for justice for this family. Of course, as we mentioned earlier, for justice for this family. Of course, as we mentioned earlier, this is part of the need for, you know, sometimes having a federal backstop if appropriate in these cases. But, you know, it ain't looking great for them, so we can only hope what the jury comes back with. Scott? and it's tough because you've got facts that support a mistake being made and not recklessness,

if you will. That coupled with her emotional testimony. In New York, when I was a prosecutor, we used to say if they deliberate wrong, they deliberate wrong. And in this case, you've got a couple people held out. They do not want to bring about a conviction of this white woman who was well-trained, if you will, who just made a mental mistake based on what the experts say, whether that's possible or not. And it's going to be tough. And by the way, way remember this tomorrow is the 23rd of december they're not going into christmas eve and christmas they're either going to come back hung or they're going to come back not guilty and that's the debate going on in that room right now all right folks hold tight one second we come back we're going to talk about what's happening

in georgia voter suppression isn't interesting what happened when Republicans start removing black Democrats from election boards, how they start trying to get rid of voting locations? We'll discuss that next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. I love you. so so Thank you. We'll be right back. are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Rollins. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't

be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? All right, folks, welcome back to Roller Martin Unfiltered in Georgia, in Lincoln County, efforts by Republicans to eliminate six of seven polling locations. Now, this rural county has one third African-American. And so why all of a sudden are they trying to get rid of the early voting? First of all, the polling locations? Probably because they start removing black folks from the board. Joining me now is Ana Dennis, the executive director of Common Cause Georgia.

Ana, glad to have you here. So what's the deal? What's going on there? So thank you for having me tonight, Roland. As we've mentioned before, through our chaotic election cycle, we know that Georgia is ground zero for voter suppression. It's ground zero for the new Jim Crow or the old Jim Crow or Jim Crow in suit and tie or Jim Crow 2.0. It definitely breathes and lives here. So what we see happening is that we have this reconstitution of our election boards where the state decided, hey, I want to take over these election boards. And when they take over these election boards, they're replacing folks who are from different parties and putting them in with the, you know, the good old boys, the folks who are going to answer to certain political demographics, the Republicans.

So that's what's actually happening in Georgia. And we know that this is definitely a response to all of the energy of all the voters who came out in the 2020 election cycle and the 2018 election cycle. OK, so what? And so this was one of the concerns that we raised when they passed this law of what happens when they can put in partisans to take over election boards? And we're seeing Republicans, these these MAGA people all across the country. Steve Bannon has said it. They want to take over elections boards to overturn the result if they don't like it. Yeah, we see that folks are acting out of fear. They fear the new populace. They fear the energy of what's happening in voting, especially in Georgia, because we know now that in Georgia, when we get people out to vote, it dominoes across the

country. We are a sounding board and we are a drum that down here. So there definitely is a systemic problem with how folks are looking at the administration and how folks are looking at administration and how folks are looking at how to own power because they're afraid of new populace and what's growing in Georgia. We're not a scared state down here. That's obvious about how many folks came out to vote. So we're not scared down here. So we're coming out. We're coming out in the millions to vote during early voting. We're coming out during our actual November election and we're coming out for runoffs. And now folks are running scared. And what they're trying to do is intimidate these small rural counties because they're afraid of 11,000 vote margin. So that's what we see happening down here. And this is one of the reasons why

we have been warning people about the efforts that they are undertaking in Georgia and across this country. Definitely. We have warned people. We have said repeatedly for months that this is going to across the country. We're going to see and heighten voter suppression laws. There are over 34 states that because of the energy in the 2020 election and the flipping of certain chambers, the Senate flip, other chambers flip, there are folks who are afraid. So we've seen 34 states that have instituted voter suppression laws. Common cause nationally. We are a part of many lawsuits to combat that in Georgia. We are still in proceedings of a lawsuit to combat our anti-voting bill, which we call down here the Zomni bus bill,

because I know you've told your viewers and we've told our members and folks that that bill started out as a two page bill. And then it ended up as a 90 page bill for some of us who had to go through the fine lines and reading all the attack, voter suppression and all the attacks to the voting freedom that we have here in Georgia, because some folks just don't want people to be free. And some folks just don't want people to vote down here. All right, then. Anna Dennis, we surely appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, two Texas teens are facing hate crime charges for Halloween Day assault on a black classmate.

According to the indictment, two 17-year-olds have been indicted on third-degree felony charges connected with the assault on Halloween night in Woodsboro, Texas. The two teenagers, one white, one Hispanic, both 17 years old, dressed in Klan outfits, harassed and tased a 16-year-old Black classmate. All of this took place by being recorded by another classmate. If found guilty, the teens face up to 10 years in jail. All right, folks, when we come back from this break we're gonna talk about uh we're gonna have our course a tech talk segment brought to you by verizon uh where um if you want to be able to help uh your favorite hbcu guess what it's just uh the click away from an app We'll tell you exactly what that is right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Thank you. you know how some carriers give you so little for your older busted phone you just end up living with it i don't think so verizon lets you trade in your broken phone for a shiny new one you break it we upgrade it you dunk it doggy bone it slam it wham

it strawberry jam it we upgrade it get a 5g phone on us with select plans every customer current new or business because everyone deserves better and with plans starting at just 35 better cost less than you think all right folks uh dominic king created the i heart My HBCU app in order for folks to help their favorite HBCU. Of course, 104 across the country. She joins us right now. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered. Dominique, how are you doing? Hi, how are you doing? And thank you so much for having me tonight, Roland. All right. So exactly what's the app? What does it do? All right. Well, so the app is the official I heart my HBCU, the official spare change app for strictly black colleges and universities.

And it's really simple. You just go to iOS or Android and download the app. You sync your bank account. And then whenever you are out shopping, your spare change that the app is able to view all your spirit your transactions and it rounds it up to the next dollar so your spare change goes to the fit your favorite HBC use that you select all right so so basically if you if you spend a buck 29 and you want that additional 71 cents to go to your HPV HBCU with the app, you can actually pre-select to go to that one HBCU or can it actually go to several? So you can pre-select it to go to several HBCUs, which is actually what is a unique feature about our app. You can select up to five HBCUs to donate to at one time.

And the great thing about this is you can give to your alma mater, but you could also give to other HBCUs that may be in more need. Gotcha. When did you create this and why? What led you to do it? Well, so a lot of things really led me to do it. But what really spurred it at the time was back in 2017 when Bennett College was near closing. I'm an AKA say to myself, how can we prevent this from happening again? I'm a Howard University graduate. I'm a product of two HBCU graduates my parents met at Tuskegee University. And just having all those ties to HBCUs, it just made me say, what impact can I make? And so after that, I really started thinking,

my background's marketing, I've been in marketing for 15 years and made this switch to tech, but I really, I put on my marketing hat and I said, what is going on? What are the challenges that these alumni are facing that's preventing them from donating to their HBCUs. So really after conducting all that research,

I knew a spare change app was the solution to make giving easy for everyone. All right, questions from our panelists. I'll start with Monique. I don't really have a question, just a comment. Thanks so much for everything that you're doing as a proud Bison alum. I just am so excited that people who are bright and gifted as you are could be doing anything and choose to do this. So thank you.

You're welcome. And I'm happy to do this again because I'm a HBCU grad and I just think it's so important whether you graduated from an HBCU or not that these institutions they're a part of our legacy so while majority of them they were not started by us they were made for us and it's so important that we protect this part of our history Robert so much of things for all that you you're doing in this space can kind of give people details on how this works I know we see this for other charities often and other initiatives can kind of just give people the details on how exactly it works and how they can sign up for it? Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, again, to sign up for the app, you go to the iOS app store or you go to Android and just download it.

And then the very next thing you're going to do is actually you could preview the app and explore it. Right. And as you're exploring, don't forget to add your bank details, your credit card or debit card or your actual bank details and then after that whenever you are shopping you know our app is able to track those purchases that you make so whenever you make a purchase just like Roland said if I spend a dollar twenty nine you know grabbing a burger at McDonald's that's 71 cents in spare change around that purchase up to two dollars and that 71 cents in spare change it can go to the HBC use that you that you select and once you select those HBC use we send we send those dollars over to the HBC use you select as unrestricted funds so they can use it and you know really as they see fit

at that time All right, then where can folks follow you follow the app more information? Well, you can follow the app at at I heart HBCUs on Instagram and then on Twitter and Facebook at I heart my HBCUs on Instagram and then on Twitter and Facebook at I heart my HBCU. So I heart HBCUs on IG and then say it again for the other ones. It's on IG and it's also on Facebook and Twitter at I heart my HBCU. And another thing I also wanted to mention that makes our app really unique is we have donor communities. So we're more than just a spare change app. And another thing I also wanted to mention that makes our app really unique is we have donor communities.

So we're more than just a spare change app. We're also a community where you can connect with old classmates, you can network. And for every HBCU that we have in the app, we have a donor community for each of those HBCUs. So it's about, it's really, it's about building a movement. Cause one of the things that I learned in my journey when developing this app is that, you know,

I wanna make it easy for all alumni and supporters of HBCUs, right? And we're talking spare change, we're talking five cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, and it really adds up, right? And sometimes're talking spare change. We're talking five cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, and it really adds up, right? And sometimes you can feel like, man, you know, I'm doing this by myself, but is it really making a difference? And it can really make a difference. And that's with all of us just really coming together and supporting our HBCUs. And Roland, I wanted to mention, you know, I watch your show and you always talk a lot about

the divine nine and us coming together and really supporting our hbcus and so that is what this app allows you to do we have the donor communities for each hbcu we also have chat rooms for the divine nine so you can uh you know join the chat room represent for your sorority or your fraternity and they also each sorority and fraternity gets credit for uh the donations and they get ranked based on that each month so if you want to you know have bragging rights and say you know alphas are number one um in terms of supporting hbcus then show up that's actually not subjective so that's actually true okay well you know um i i would actually agree with that you know for the bras for the bras and aka's of course for the sororities but yeah so if you definitely want to have some bragging rights actually right now deltas are number two aka's are number one in the app so you know for all

my divine nine that are listening if you want to are number one in the app. So, you know, for all my Divine Nine that are listening, if you want to be number one, you need to download the app and, you know, show us with your spare change how much you love your HBCU. Additionally, we also rank the HBCUs each month based on how much they're giving. So, you know, again, I went to Howard University. We're in the top five, but we need to be number one. So all my Howard University. No, no, no. Who's number one, two, three and four? Oh, gosh. I don't know the top five off top, but I'm going to encourage you download the app if you want to view who's in the top five.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You don't know top of your head, but we rank monthly. So, again, if you want to see your hbcu in that top five leaderboard then you need to download the app so you so your university can shine for that month and so i think those are some of the creative unique aspects about our app that community um that community feature is really what's going to keep people coming back and just remind people it's a movement if you want our hbcus to be here for a long time to come we we really can't depend on just one person to hold our community down right i love the fact that we have you know oprah robert f smith beyonce may uh megan the stallion a lot of giving back. And my dream would be to partner with one of those celebrities, but not so they can give back, but in order to get everybody else to give back.

And that's what this app is about. It's not about let's get one big check from a celebrity. It's about let's get a lot of spare change from a lot of people. And it can be up to us to really preserve our cultural institutions. All right, Dominique King, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much for telling us about this app. Thank you so much for having me. All right, folks, that is it for us. Robert, Monique, Scott, we certainly appreciate it.

Thank you so very much for joining us on today's panel. Y'all be sure to have a great Christmas. Folks, I am getting better. You can actually, I think you can tell with my voice. I still have some slight stuffiness. I still have an occasional cough, but I am getting better as I'm isolating. I started Sunday, so this is my this is a day three of my uh quarantine isolation uh watching a whole lot of netflix uh but uh i'm sure i'll be uh

checking out a hulu kwele tv uh and some of the other uh apps as well doing some reading as well so again i appreciate it thanks a lot hey don't forget to please download our Black Star Network app of course our goal is to get 50,000 downloads by the end of The month and so you can download your Apple phone Android phone Android TV Apple TV Roku Amazon Fire Stick Xbox and Samsung Smart TV also Please join our bring the funk fan club for every dollar you give, go support the show. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com.

Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. And so, again, I appreciate it. Folks, y'all have an absolute great one. I will see you tomorrow right here on Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network holler Thank you. This is an iHeart podcast