#RolandMartinUnfiltered - NFL's Rooney Rule, Ron Greene's Mom wants LA Gov. to resign, Fla. & CRT Debate, Chicago's Southside

Episode Date: February 4, 2022

2.3.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NFL's Rooney Rule, Ron Greene's Mom wants LA Gov. to resign, Fla. & CRT Debate, Chicago's Southside The NFL's Rooney Rule was created to promote leadership diversity by ensuring promising candidates get the opportunity to prove their qualifications. Tonight, we'll have Civil rights attorney Cyrus Mehri, who played a key role in creating the rule, here to talk about why the rule isn't working so well.Plus, the family of Ronald Greene, the Louisiana man beaten to death by state troopers, is still waiting for some accountability. Tonight, his mother responds to what Governor John Edwards said about him knowing about her son's death hours after it happened and not saying a word while he was campaigning.Ya'll remember that Florida State Representative who told the truth during a hearing about critical race theory? Ramon Alexander will be here to tell us what made him get emotional during that hearing and what's happening with this unnecessary bill Republicans are trying to pass.A father and son from Chicago are looking to bring life back into the Southside of Chicago. The duo will explain how their 6-million dollar project will create a community hub of Black life, culture, and entertainment.She's the first Black woman to be nominated to the Federal Reserve Board in its 108-year history. Today, Lisa Cook faced the Senate Banking Committee.And four suspected drug dealers have been arrested in connection to the overdose death of actor Michael K Williams.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #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.

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Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The NFL's Rooney Rule was created 20 years ago to help increase the number of black and other minority head coaches. Two attorneys led that effort, the late Johnny Cochran and Cyrus Beery. He will join us next on the show

to break down what has happened over the last 20 years and his thoughts on the lawsuit filed by Brian Flores, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Folks, the family of Ronald Green, the Louisiana man beaten to death by Louisiana State Troopers, they're still waiting for some accountability. Tonight, we'll talk with his mother,

who will respond to what Governor John Bel Edwards said about him knowing about her son's death hours after it happened and not saying a word while he was campaigning. You remember that Florida State Representative who told the truth during a hearing about critical race theory? Well, Ramon Alexander will be with us to discuss it

and what is happening in the state while Republicans don't want him to keep talking. A father and son from Chicago are looking to bring life back into the South Side of Chicago. The duo will explain how their $6 million project will create a community hub of black life, culture, and entertainment. She's the first black woman to be nominated

to the Federal Reserve Board in its 108-year history. Today, Dr. Lisa Cook faced the Senate Banking Committee and a whole bunch of Republicans who, for some reason, don't really like another smart, accomplished black woman. And four people suspected of dealing drugs in connection with the overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams have been arrested. We'll tell you all about that.

Folks, it is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it Whatever the mess, he's on it Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's Roland

Best belief 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 It's Roland Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rolling with Roland now

Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Roland Martin Now Martin All right, folks. Welcome to Rolling Martin on the Filter. Former NFL head coach Brian Flores' legal fight against the National Football League

has yet again shone light on the league's controversial Rooney Rule. The rule was adopted 20 years ago. It was proposed 20 years ago when attorneys Johnny Cochran and Cyrus Meary threatened to sue the NFL over the lack of black and other minority head coaches. But not just head coaches, but also candidates in other executive positions. Over the years, there have been some changes, some modifications, and people believe things were getting better. But not really. Flores laid it all out in a 58-page lawsuit.

There's many people questioning whether the NFL and its 32 owners who own the league and control it are truly committed to diversity. Joining us right now is Cyrus Beery. Cyrus, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Great to be on, Roland, and to talk to your audience and all the great work that you keep shedding light on. So, I was glad to have you in Roland Martin Unfiltered. Great to be on, Roland, and to talk to your audience and all the great work that you keep shedding light on. So I appreciate it.

So, man, let's get right to this. First and foremost, were you shocked when you saw that Brian Flores, who is still up for a couple of jobs, not field, the Houston Texans job and the New Orleans Saints job, that he would just move forward and drop this lawsuit on the NFL? Well, I just have to say that he's a courageous person. He's a stand-up person. And when he did this, I kind of sent shockwaves.

But as a young coach, a superstar coach with a great career ahead of him, this was a true act of courage. But it didn't surprise me because the frustration levels have increased year after year the last few years. And so sooner or later, something like this was going to happen. To me, it seems almost inevitable based on what's happened the last few years. The point that you just made there, I think is important, the frustration. That was what led to you and Johnny Cochran threatening to sue the NFL. Take us back to that. What happened there? How did you all arrive at that point?

How did the two of you connect even on that? Well, Johnny and I have been working on a lot of cases, but on that MLK Day 2002, I opened up the paper like I normally do, starting with the sports section, and I just had it. Coach Dungy turned around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fired. A week earlier, Dennis Green, who was spectacular with the Minnesota Vikings, fired. And I said, you know, I'm just going to take my civil rights skills and use statistics to show a double standard. And Johnny and I teamed up to create what became Black Coaches in the NFL, Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities,

a plight that so many Black executives, professionals, and so forth have seen over the years. And we just said, you know what, we're going to put a spotlight on it. And little did we know it would become such a catalyst for change. And that we specifically asked for, let's break down racial barriers and biases by getting black candidates in the interview room where they can show what they have to offer and to kind of change the hiring cycle so people aren't just focused on one particular person, but casting a wide net and an inclusive process. And it led to spectacular results. But it has backslided. And I have a very strong feelings about why that happened. And when you talk about that backsliding, first of all, it was expanded. Now, first of all, before we get to that, you you also co-founded with others the Fritz Pollard Alliance,

which was designed to oversee this, to work with the league. Every single year when these hiring decisions come around, the questions get asked and people come back to them and they go, man, we thought it was getting better. We hoped it was getting better. And then it's sort of the same thing as well. And I keep reminding people, when you talk about the NFL remember Roger Goodell Forget the fact that he gets paid 50 million dollars. He is an employee of the 32 owners

The 32 owners they are the ones who own and control this 50 15 billion dollar annual enterprise own and control this $15 billion annual enterprise? Well, let me say that Fritz Pollard Alliance built a great relationship with the league office and infrastructure around the rule. It's probably the only civil rights group within major league sports of minority coaches, front office, scouting personnel, and even game day officials. And we provide the league ready lists and who people that are capable. And at one point in time, we had eight minority head coaches

and close to that in general managers. We had Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith break the barrier and become the first Super Bowl head coaches. We had 10 Super Bowls with a minority head coach or general manager. We had efforts to enhance the Rooney rule, and the league offices was always there. But you are 100% correct. In the end of the day, it's the decision-making of 32 honors,

and that's where the decisions are ultimately made. And, you know, what they do is, look, first of all, these folks have other businesses. I would dare say, you know, Mark Davis with the Raiders is probably one of the few where this is the primary business. They own other things. I mean, Stephen Ross, he owns companies in New York with the Dolphins, U-Take. I mean, we can go on and on and on. And so in many ways, this is a play thing for

these owners. So what do they do? They hire team presidents. They hire head of player personnel. They hire general managers. Typically, those are white men. And we can go down the line. And so then we talk about how many coaches in the NFL are related to other coaches in some way that exists as well. And so it's very familiar. Then what happens is, it's like, oh, I'm comfortable with that guy. I know him well. So when I get hired as GM, I'm going to hire him as head coach. Well, what often happens is the black coaches don't have those relationships. When you talk about the Rooney Rule, it's very interesting,

was named after the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, they are a perfect example. Mike Tomlin right now is the longest tenured head coach, I believe. Second longest. Second longest behind Bill Belichick. 17 years. People forget Mike Tomlin was not on the original list. He was brought in as a result of the Rooney rule,

and they were wowed by him. That's how he got the head coaching job. In fact, there were a couple of other white candidates who were pissed off that he actually got hired, and they bolted because they were upset that he wasn't one of the original finalists. He was brought in later, but that was the whole point of the rule.

You give somebody a shot who you ordinarily wouldn't talk to just to give them a shot. Now it's turned into, man, let me just bring somebody in and get them out of the way. Right. Well, this goes to whether you're going to do the rule in a good faith manner, right? And Dan Rooney showed how it could be done. You

cast a wide net. You look at people that were otherwise overlooked. And a lot of teams have done that. But it's not consistent. And a lot of times people are doing this as a check the box, not really saying, hey, I want to win a championship. I want to get the best to win a championship. I'm not trying to win a press conference. I'm trying to get to the Super Bowl.

And if you take that approach, you're going to be in tent. And you're going to cast a wide net. and you're going to be serious about the interviews. But, you know, Roland, you know, discrimination, as you all know, is a tenacious foe. I've been fighting it from company after company, industry after industry. One way it comes out is in-group favoritism, hiring the person that's most like you as a decision maker. Instead of thinking, hey, what other kind of skill sets or qualities that might really make this person most successful? There's one thing I'm worried about that might be a phenomena here is being looking at it. It's not me, but what are the fans going to like the most? Is this person going to fit the mold of what people expect as a head coach, as opposed to, hey, is this person going to inspire the players and get the best results?

So it creeps in. That's why we need to have the interventions. But this is where things went wrong here. In 2003, the NFL showed it was serious about the Rooney Rule and put the hammer down on the Detroit Lions when they didn't comply with the rule. And they basically already selected somebody and asked black coaches to come in who rightfully said, I'm not going in if it's not a true interview. And then a few years ago, in contrast, when Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, already had in his mind, already had a deal with John Gruden. And then we were supposedly going to interview, have his GM interview candidates that he, as the owner, never even interviewed. And we said, as the Fritz Pollard Alliance, and I'm no longer running the Fritz Pollard Alliance, so I'm speaking as a private citizen, said, let's put the hammer down. They crossed the line. And when you send a message of enforcement

and accountability like they did in 2003, tremendous progress happened. But when you send a message of a blind eye and we're going to let people off the hook, the reverse happens. And that's why the league is in where it is right now. You had a chance. Now they're at another fork in the road. And I certainly hope this time they're going to find a way to send a message loud and clear what the expectations are of the decision makers, whether they're GMs or head coaches. Jason Wright is the only black team president in the NFL with now the Washington Commanders. And he was at the Economic Club of D.C. today giving a speech, and he talked about this, and this is one of the things that he said.

He said, look, it's not that hard. You just got to actually be committed to doing it. This is what the story says. Washington has a Latino head coach in Ron Rivera and a black general manager in Martin Mayhew. It has the only woman, Julie Donaldson, as part of a team's

NFL broadcast crew. Jason said, I have built the most diverse leadership team in the NFL. Where there's a will, there's a way. He said that's what it is. And so, at the end of the day, this isn't about if you start asking

how do these things change, the way this thing changes is if you have these 32 owners, 31 who are white, one is Pakistani-American, Shahid Khan, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who simply says enough is enough.

Get it done. But they're not doing it because what you have is, this sort of reminds me, sorry, this sort of reminds me of company CEOs that say, we're committed to diversity. And the underlings go, that's bullshit. I'm not wasting my time. The best example I can think of is Al Newhart.

Al Newhart was the CEO of Gannett. And Gannett owned USA Today. And Al Newhart said, I'm going to tie diversity to your check, to your bonus. And he said, if there's anybody in this company that has a problem with our commitment to diversity, you can leave. And there were people who came to him complaining,

and he said, you are more than welcome to go find a job elsewhere. And there were people who left, and he said, tough. Gannett became the leading media company in America when it came to diversity. And here's what ended up happening. Knight Ritter, a competitor, said, damn, we're going to lose our minority talent. We've got to commit to diversity. Cox said, oh, my God, Cox Media, we're going to lose our talent. We got to do it. Times Mirror. All of a sudden, the other media companies, because of what Al Newhart

said, and that's how you got black general managers at TV stations, black top editors at newspapers. That's how you got black folks as editorial page editors, because the CEO said, I don't want to hear it. Get it done or you're out.

Well, you're completely right, Roland. And I've seen it. I did that same kind of reforms in my settlements with Coca-Cola, Texaco, Morgan Stanley, that if you really want to create equal opportunity, you have to link compensation to performance in that arena in a meaningful way. And an interesting paradox over at the moment, the NFL, unprompted by me at least, came up with the idea of we're going to tie developing minority talent who become head coaches and GMs and reward the number one currency in the NFL draft choices to those teams who develop people who become.

And that's a great way to break down some barriers that might happen subtly about who's included or not included when you're developing the game plan for this Sunday and that kind of thing. But even with all these reforms, we went backwards on the head coach side, I believe, because the message of either positive forms of accountability, like what happened with the Lions, or a negative message, like what happened with the Raiders, is even more powerful than these reforms and adjustments that have been made the last couple of years. You read the 58-page lawsuit by Brian Flores. Your thoughts about it? Yes.

Well, again, I admire Coach Flores for his courage. He has raised some serious allegations. I mean, obviously the Bill Belichick text messages gives a lot of credibility to what he said, that they made a decision to go a different direction before he was brought in for the interview. If that's true, that is definitely a violation of the Rooney rule that should be seriously looked at. But I you know, as someone who's on the front lines of doing civil rights cases, I can just tell you every time someone steps forward, they're the underdog. The law is stacked against civil rights plaintiffs.

Unfortunately, thanks to our Supreme Court, they've done that. So, and as you know, Roland, you and I have talked about it. There needs to be strengthening the civil rights laws. And I fortunately wrote an article that has led to a way to strengthen one of the key statutes, Section 1981. But, you know, it's an uphill battle. There's no doubt that's going to be tough for Coach Flores and his team. All right. Cyrus Binry, we appreciate it, man.

Look, I posted this on all of my social media that this is not just the NFL. This is Wall Street. This is corporate America. This is the NFL. This is Wall Street. This is corporate America. This is ad agencies.

I mean, we can go on and on and on. You were involved in the Madison Avenue project as well, trying to deal with this. And at the end of the day, I've always said, you can't show me anything in America where folks did something for black folks voluntarily. It had to be a fight and a battle because we're talking about jobs that

make millions, industries that are billions of dollars. And so it takes someone like a Brian Flores to have the guts to say, I'm going to risk it all but somebody has to do it. He's sacrificing for others, no doubt. All right, then.

Thanks a lot. All right, Roland, take care. Thank you very much. All right, folks. I'm going to bring in Recy Colbert, Black Women Views, who joins us right now. Shout out to Dr. Greg Carr. He's not with us today because there was a funeral today of his mother. And so I just wanted to say our condolences are certainly with the Carr family.

We'll be joined by some other panelists in just a moment. Reese, this lawsuit is quite interesting because, look, the brother had no other thing he could do. And that is and I love these people who say, well, you know, what's his end goal?

Well, he spells out what his end goal is. His end goal is to end the racism in the NFL and to create opportunities for black coaches and others. Absolutely. I think he's doing an amazing job of exposing the fact that this is not a meritocracy. It's about who you know and how well you know them. I think, Roland, as you pointed out,

there's a social aspect to it that really disadvantages black candidates. And this isn't just an NFL thing. I've experienced this same type of activities in corporate America, where they have a similar rule where you have to interview a minority, a woman for manager positions. And so what ends up happening is they sit up there and they trot out the blacks into these interviews. And I've seen them interview people that are clearly not qualified for it, for, I mean, high-level management positions. And they don't have any worthy amount of experience, but that's a person who applied and they have to check the box. And so we see this kind of all the black folks I know are interviewing for jobs and getting none of them.

And that's at varying levels of qualifications. And so this is not just a scam that the NFL pulls. This is happening across the country, wherever you have diversity and inclusion metrics. And so it's important to expose not only just how detrimental it is in terms of actually getting the most qualified candidate in there, but how detrimental it is to the mental health and to the esteem of people who are wasting their time being interviewed for a check-the-box exercise. It's unfair on so many levels. And the thing here, of course, the NFL,

their knee-jerk reaction, we absolutely dispute these things, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But the numbers don't lie. Well, I mean, it's not a coincidence. How do you just coincidentally never have, for instance, in the case of the Giants, a black coach in 100 years? There's seven.

There's seven NFL teams that have never had a black coach. Black head coach. Right. And, you know, we've had some incredibly successful black coaches. I mean, you just pointed out several of them Super Bowl coaches where you have Levy Smith and Tony Dungy going up against each other. And so there's this indisputable that black coaches, when they're put in a position to succeed, we've seen that they actually have better records than even some of the, you know, and they're fired with better records than their white peers who were still head coaches of different organizations. You know, even though these coaches don't make decisions together, these are 32 independent organizations, the systemic attitude towards selecting a candidate is a problem. And you cannot say that that's a coincidence that 32, you know, that, well,

like you said, seven teams haven't had head Black coaches. But the bottom line is there's a problem in all of the organizations. And that's what needs to be addressed. And it takes a lot of courage for what Brian Flores did. And I just hate when people say stuff like, well, what is your point? Where are you going to get out of it? Even if he doesn't benefit from it directly, he's exposing it and he's going to force court proceedings and depositions and evidence discovery to come out and really shine a light on what people, Black candidates across the NFL are actually experiencing.

Absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back. We're going to talk about the case out of Louisiana, the Ronald Greene case. We'll talk to Greene's mother about his ongoing case and why Governor John Bel Edwards knew about what took place to her son, but never said a word about it on the campaign trail. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. Shit. Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach,

and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. Pull up a chair. Take your seat. The Black Tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network.

Every week, we take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. from Blackist. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, folks, parents in Republican-led states are still trying to make critical race theory a major thing. It's not. They're lying. There's a push to take dozens of books by black authors

off of library shelves in Texas. Yeah, but I told y'all that was gonna happen. I told y'all this wasn't my critical race theory. This was about diversity, equity, inclusion. It was about black people. In Florida, Governor Ronald Sanders is pushing the Stop WOKE Act to protect white people from being uncomfortable having conversations

about these topics in Florida, not just in state institutions, but private businesses. Well, last week, Florida State Representative Ramon Alexander gave an impassioned speech about the lies as a false narrative that Republicans are pushing surrounding the teaching of critical race theory in schools. He joins us right now. I'm Roland Martin. I'm with Representative Alexander. Glad to be having the show.

It's great to be here. So a lot of people have commented on your video. They've seen it. They've been talking about it. And what's so interesting was listening to the chair, you know, you're going to have to stop. You know, that's enough, that's enough. Not wanting to hear the truth about why this fake thing is happening. Well, that was my point, Roland. And first of all, it's great to be on the air with a gray alpha man.

I'm a member of your fraternity and I'm a big fan of yours. I appreciate the invitation. But I will say this. There's so much subjectivity and objectivity in regards to how you view your perspectives on the world. And the one thing that you cannot change is implicit bias. We all have our own life experiences. We all have our own life experiences. We all have our insights. But you can't take away someone's First Amendment right to express themselves and to be able to think critically for themselves to determine what is and what's not. So that was a challenge. I was able to express that and show that this is exactly what's going to take place in the school system where some school teachers

will be felt in a very difficult situation trying to determine what is and what's not. And they will be at calls and be liable and the school districts will be liable and face lawsuits for giving factual information and not whitewashing history. It's so outlandish and crazy because, you know, to your point, I mean, at the rate they're going, you got, oh, if one parent, you got Iowa Republicans saying, let's put cameras in the classrooms to live stream what's happening so if a parent watching the live stream objects to what a teacher is teaching,

they could call in. It doesn't sound like conservatism to me. It is the exact opposite. There's a certain role for government in regards to making sure that our future has the opportunity to be exposed to a wide range of content to be able to critically think for themselves. That is not the role of government. I call it fake conservatism. They continue these tactics, these boogeyman tactics to distract away from real issues. You know, right here in the state of Florida, Roland, 3.4 million households in Florida are asset-limited, income-constrained, and they are employed. They are living paycheck to paycheck. And then when you look at the poverty index, there's another 33 percent of Floridians that are living at below level,

then being asset-limited, income-constrained and employed. And so when you look at that and you look at the 67 counties in Florida, Roland, 29 of those counties are financially constrained. Twenty-eight of those 29 counties, they vote Republican every single time. They vote for Donald Trump. They vote for Ron DeSantis. And so what they're utilizing as a tool is race to distract them from the broader issues that are impacting their quality of life

every single day. Well, I've long said, and my book actually is coming out in September, we're dealing with white fear that's being driven by the browning of America. That's what we're dealing with. We're dealing with people fear that's being driven by the browning of America. That's what we're dealing with. We're dealing with people who don't like the fact that we as African Americans now get an opinion.

We now hold political office. We now control economic positions. We are mayors of cities and things along those lines. And it's driving them crazy that we no longer are accepting what is being called as, you know, the definition to be an American. It has always been determined through the prism of whiteness. Now we say, no, we're going to reimagine what America is for us, not based upon what y'all have always said and done. Absolutely. I agree 100 percent. And this whole idea that we live in a post-racial America,

this idea that white supremacy does not still exist in America, white privilege, systemic racism, structural racism, trying to help people understand and wrap their minds around it. You know, it is a traumatic experience just to sit down and read a 1,000-page bill that has this type of content in it. I mean, it was an emotional experience for me. I tend to be a very pragmatic member of the legislature.

I work behind the scenes. I secure hundreds of millions of dollars for my constituency. I happen to represent the only predominantly African-American county in the state of Florida, Gaston County, as well as I represent Tallahassee that has FAMU, Florida Indian University. And so I recognize my responsibility that I have to work on critical issues. And so for me to have that type of reaction, I hope it got some of my colleagues' attention that this is very offensive. It is very short-sighted. And for a member of the body to say that race doesn't matter,

that color doesn't matter in America, it just shows you how far we still have to go. See, what I keep laying out and what we're confronting and what we're dealing with is very simple. And that is this wasn't about Trump. It's not about anything else. What this is about, and I keep saying to people, this is about to be the next battle for the next 50 to 100 years.

I mean, we're talking about by, you know, some estimates 2032, 2036, 2037, 2040. There's different estimates we've heard that we're at 2043. There will be a nation that's majority, that's majority minority, or say the emerging majority. And that is what is troubling for many of these folks. And it's like, oh, we've got to hold on to this power

as long as we can. And now this whole deal of, oh, yeah, we don't want them to be uncomfortable. First of all, what the hell does that even mean? And then you have these Republicans who supposedly care about privacy, but now you want to tell what private businesses can do with this bill by DeSantis. What Ron DeSantis is doing in your state, he is appealing to white racists as well as white conservative MAGA people.

It has nothing to do with anything else other than he is trying to appeal to that group, and I dare say Ron DeSantis is even more dangerous than Donald Trump. I agree with you, and they have a major geographic and demographic problem. If you look

at the state of Florida's role in the last four gubernatorial elections, the last four races have been decided on average by less than 1% of the vote. And so we passed back in 2010 a referendum or a constitutional amendment on the ballot called Fair Districts, Amendment 5 and Amendment 6. And so because of these geographic locks, you have these low-density rural areas that are voting red, voting Republican, and you have going into the Eiffel Corridor in Tampa and Orlando, these districts are trending a different way. And so they have a major problem on their hand.

And the only way they can keep their constituency together, as you said, is using race as a tool to distract from the real issues. I call it the third and final period of redemption. You go back to Jim Crow or you go back to Reconstruction, and I know you're a historical competent person. I watch you all the time in discussing the historical natures of our country. But I call it the third and final period of redemption. And it's going to be our responsibility to really talk to the issues that are impacting our state every single day.

They want to talk about banning books, but we're talking about dealing with the rising home insurance rates in our state, the rental rates. We're talking about expanding Medicaid. We're talking about dealing with public education and a wide range of issues. So at one point we have to acknowledge ignorance, but we can't entertain that ignorance. But we have to make sure that we are explaining clearly and precisely what they're doing,

exposing the falsehoods, exposing the false narratives, so that we can move our state forward and get away from these methods of distraction, which I call boogeyman tactics. I want to bring in my panel here, of course, Recy Coburn, Black Women's Views, as well as Teresa Lunding, Communications Strategist out of Philadelphia.

Teresa, you get the first question here for Representative Ramon Alexander. Well, one, Representative, thank you so much for continuously fighting the good fight. But I think one of the questions that I think most American people are asking, what do we do next? What are some of the solutions that we can collectively do to keep the pressure on? Well, first, we have to do a better job of cultivating talent. We have to be intentional with identifying individuals that can run for office or run campaigns, be involved with grassroots organizing, electoral politics, and develop them and cultivate them.

You know, I was exposed to this process at an early age. You know, I served as student body president at FAMU. I led a 36-hour sit- sitting in the governor's office for the death of Martin Lee Anderson. I worked on the local level. And so me being able to come in, I was able to put my foot down and move in the process in a very competent way. One of the things I see with a lot of our elected officials and many of our Black elected officials, they get into a position of power and they sell their souls out. And so it's not about a matter of getting to the position,

but making sure that you are prepared and you understand the value-added proposition of the role and the responsibility to make sure that you represent the best interests of our communities. So the first thing I would say, we've got to do a better job of training and building on our bench and vertically integrating them into our communities so that they can be in positions to have a seat at the table to make an impact and not sell us out. Racy. Thank you, Representative Alexander. My first comment slash question is, one of the things that Republicans are really good

at is gaslighting. And one of the things I noticed about the dialogue around the Stop Woke Act is that the Republicans are asserting that they are not banning the practice of, quote-unquote, objective teaching of things like slavery and the Holocaust and things like that. What they're trying to do is eliminate the subjectivity. But at the same time, this act injects so much subjectivity by talking about how it makes people feel to hear about these topics. Can you kind of deconstruct or explain a tactic and how you explain to your constituents or to Democratic voters or people who aren't necessarily following this closely, how do you explain the

disconnect and the gaslighting that Republicans are doing so that they understand what's really at stake here? Well, first thing, we have to communicate with them. I think this whole tactic of just sitting back and just turning the other cheek and not calling it for what it is, I think that's a failed strategy. I think we have to speak truth to power. They're talking about them feeling uncomfortable. Well, we have to make sure that we are expressing ourselves in a way so they understand how uncomfortable it makes us feel. And so I think the first thing we have to make sure that we are expressing ourselves in a way so they understand how uncomfortable it makes us feel.

And so I think the first thing we have to do is have trust. It comes down to the three methods of communication, the method, the message and the messenger. And so sometimes certain people may not be the right messenger. And we have to find the right methods and integrate ourselves into our community and empower our next generation of leaders, not push them down, not isolate them, but empower them so that they can take ownership and responsibility, so that that rolls right into the election cycles. Now, in regards to the actual bill and the content of the bill, we have to do what we're

doing right now, have these detailed conversations to expose the hypocrisies and the fallacies that come along with these type of bills. You know, the mere fact that you're talking about ideology, the sponsor of the bill in the Republican Party of Florida, where they're actually using an ideology to purport their idea in order to determine what is and what's not. And so the hypocrisy is within hypocrisy. For us to want to shy away to say we can't talk about racism or talk about what a racist idea is and people feeling uncomfortable with that,

we have to have those difficult conversations and we have to be at the table and we have to have the right messengers and the right methods to communicate that information. And credibility is important. If you're out doing one thing and saying another thing, you don't have credibility with your constituencies. I have credibility with my constituencies because I walk the walk and I talk the talk. All right, Ben. Representative Alexander, we certainly appreciate it, man.

Thanks a bunch. Keep swinging. You got to have folks in the fight. But that's what alphas do. 06. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks.

Going to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about, of course, a case out of Louisiana. Ronald Green. Just an unbelievable case, folks, where the state troopers just did this brother wrong. But, a couple housekeeping notes. Don't forget, folks, you have until

February 28th, 25 days left to apply for seven of the $15,000 each scholarships from McDonald's. This is a partnership between McDonald's, yours truly, and my frat, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, in honor of our seven founders. This is the 115th how to qualify, go to tmcf.org. Tmcf.org. Again, the deadline is February 28th.

So please, please, any student at HBCU who's a junior or a senior can apply. That's important information. You've got to be a junior or a senior in the 22-23 academic year for you to qualify. Folks, don't forget to also download the Blackstar Network app. You can of course download it on all available platforms.

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Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Folks, I'll be back in a moment. I'm sorry. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Do you ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together,

pull ourselves together and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. It's time to be smart. Roland Martin's doing this every day. See you next time on my big screen. 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 gotta 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. Roland was amazing on that. Hey, Black, I love y'all. I can't commend you enough about this platform that you've created for us to be able to share who we are, what we're doing in the world, and the impact that we're having. Let's be smart.

Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be black on media's be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be Black on media and be scared. You dig? The test of character is the amount of strain it can bear. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm repping at Virginia State University. I'm wearing their gear today on the show. And so, you know, one of their graduates was hitting me up, man, when you going to wear this?

You on the show. And they ain't going to try to tag in the university president, my frat brother uh trying to force me he was like calm down roland got our gear and so i want to go ahead and rep rep their uh their their gear today on the show so oh i'm sure you got the back of the jacket so that's the back right there so i want to go ahead and show y'all that so yes uh always representing so y'all know how it is. HBCUs that I've attended, I've spoken at, that's the only folks I get to wear their gear on the show. And so

that's why y'all see. So if you ain't seen your HBCU, that's because I ain't never been invited to speak at your HBCU. And so that's why, how we do it. So don't forget, I'm going to be at Grambling on Monday. Looking forward to speaking on the campus of Grambling State University on Monday. And so it's going to be pretty cool. All right, folks, let's talk about our next story. A father and son team in Chicago, they're developing a hub for black life in the city's south side. Reverend Dr. Byron Brazier, a lead pastor of the Apostolic Church of God, and his son, developer Jay Brazier, will use eight acres of church property to build commercial and residential spaces along with technology and entertainment venues.

And so this here is, do you all have the video? Roll the video. Okay, roll the video, please. So it gives you a really good idea of what they are doing. The project would have cost $300 to $600 million and promote black entrepreneurship and success. The space will be near the Obama Presidential Center and draw in tourists.

Joining us right now is Dr. Brazier and his son, Jay Brazier. Gentlemen, how you doing? Good, Roland. Very well, Roland. How are you? I'm doing good. Doc, it's been a while since I've seen you. I try, you know, I haven't been, you know,

I get in and out of Chicago every now and then, but, you know, it's January, it's February now. It's too cold to be visiting y'all in February, so I'm just letting you know. So I'm going to try to see y'all in June or July or August. Well, we'll be glad to have you anytime you come. So I'm going to try to see y'all in June or July or August. Well, we'll be glad to have you anytime you come. So let's talk about this here.

How did this whole thing start? Were you working on this before News of the Obama Presidential Library? How long has this been germinating? Well, I will tell you that we started this project some six, seven years ago, where we really began to take a look at the four elements of every community, education, safety, economic development, and health and human services. And we determined that if you have high education and high economic development, you will tend to have low safety needs and low human service needs. But at the same time, if you have low education and low economic development, you will have high safety needs and high human service needs. But at the same time, if you have low education and low economic development, you will have high safety needs and high human service needs. And so as we began to take a look at this and we began to address each aspect, when we got to the economic development side, we really began to plan this out. And this was before the Obama library.

And that is when I called my son and we began to have some conversations, him being the creative about Woodlawn and what Woodlawn would mean and created a plan for 2060, which all the residents in Woodlawn were a part of. In fact, we met with the community every 90 days for three years, and there was never less than 300 people in the room. And we really began to flush this out through any number of urban planners, and we came up with the 2060 plan that has now been accepted by the city of Chicago. You know, it's interesting, as you were talking about that, I remember when I first got to Chicago in 2004 to run the Chicago Defender. And I remember being,

I was somewhere in the Woodlawn area, I remember having this conversation, it was a restaurant near there we were talking, and these two brothers were going off on gentrification. And they were going off and going off, and they said, well, you know, you're the editor, the defender, and, man, this ain't right. It started going on and on and on.

And I said, brother, let me help you out with something. I said, have you ever owned a business? He said, no. I said, do you understand what thriving communities look like? He's like, what do you mean? I said, they're based on home ownership. I said, when you own a business, you're looking not for transient folks. You're looking for folks who are going to have roots there.

So we began to talk, and he was really upset. I said, do you own where you live? No. I said, that means you have no power. He goes, yeah, but I'm paying rent. I said, no, the person who owns the home has power. You just paying rent. And he was a little upset by that.

I said, if we want to change the condition of our communities, bruh, you can't have people who are largely renters. We've got to have owners. I said, and then when you have owners, owners are more concerned about sidewalks, streetlights, more concerned about police controls. Then when you own the business, you know you're going to have stable, stable traffic. And so as we

were getting to talk through this thing, he was really shocked by it because he thought I was going to fall right in line to his whole point. And my last point to him was, and I love it because of what y'all are doing is this here. I'm not interested in having a conversation about white folks buying up

land in black neighborhoods when we can buy the land ourselves? Well, and that is true. Everything you said is correct. And that's what our economic development plan actually looked at. It looked at the makeup of Woodlawn and what displacement had already taken place

in Woodlawn decades ago, which made it ripe for gentrification and other things to come in. But what we're doing right now is that we're not looking at city-owned land. We're looking at the properties that the church owns. So these are the eight acres of properties that the church owns that were the catalyst. We look at this as the catalyst project for woodlawn. And we put everything that we put in the 2060 plan will be some form catalyzed by the church properties.

Jay Brazier, let's talk about, look, $300, $600 million. How do you finance this deal? How do you make this thing a reality? You know, we've seen other visionaries across the country. I remember when former pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, Kerber John Caldwell, was talking about doing this massive development of homes and other things along those lines in Houston. That was what they were talking about.

But it also comes down to the money. Right. Money is always a factor in development. And the great part about what we're doing is, again, we own the land and it's free and clear. So that brings a lot of interest to other co-development opportunities. The performance that we're building are not just, again, for just residential, but they're for a commercial side. There's 214,000 square feet that's going to be available for commercial use. That we're going to have an initiative for black business and black business infrastructure. So there will be a combination of both emerging as well as already existing businesses that will join into this 215,000 square feet. And so the leveraging of the performance and also the value of the land, it being a trans-oriented development. There is, it has transportation available to it. We are in the, probably the market rate side of

the community, which means that we are closest to all the natural assets like the lake and the park. We're a five to seven minute walk from the Obama Center. So what we're doing is synergistic to what the Obamas are creating over just a short walk away. I don't know necessarily or couldn't say positively that we would be doing this without the catalyzation of the Obama Center, but it has certainly brought the economic ability to develop on our parcels. All right, so let's do this here. I'm going to, so right now, so first of all, like I said, we're here in our new studios,

and so I want to do this here. I'm going to walk over to our other screen, and I want to look at the map here. And so when I look at this map here, and y'all should be able to see me as I'm standing before. And so your church is right here. You talk about, of course, your 63rd quarters over here, Cottage Grove. And then, of course, you talk about where the Obama Presidential Library is going to be here.

To your point there, the amount of traffic traffic, again, that you anticipate coming here, the reality is if they're coming here, they're going to need places to shop, places to eat, things along those lines. And so when you talk about being a catalyst, not just for servicing people who are coming here, but also explain to the folks who don't understand also how Chicago has always been set up, because the reality is, you know, so this is 65th Street, 63rd Street. You know, if you go up about 40 streets, pretty much Chicago for the longest just stopped at 22nd Street, and then they ignored everything going all the way down where you're centered in essence you're literally

Positioned perfectly from 60th up and then 65 down and so this it just just what we said That's what that was your whole goal. This really becomes sort of like this gathering place for folks They don't have they don't they don't have to go downtown or have to go to the south suburbs. Right. And so the 2060 plan, Roland, as this is a catalyst, it is to go west from Stony Island to State Street, and that's, well, to King Drive,

which is where the border of Woodlawn meets Washington Park. Chicago, you can't go east. Right. Everybody watching, I just want y'all to know, this is east. This is Lake Michigan. Right. Right.

And so when we looked at the 2060 plan, it was really to make sure that we built and baked in the entire community plan that also hits to the West Woodlawn area. And so there are closed down schools that have been closed and vacant for a while, which we reimagined as cultural destinations. And so on our campus, this is a mini version of what that 2060 plan is. So there's agriculture and vertical farming. There is renewable energy with the microgrid, which is attached to a data center, a call center and resource center that focuses on AI, AR and VR, which is research and development, and education. So there is going to be several programs that are for community people, young people, to be able to join this kind of new world of technology that we're building in.

If we looked at the black community as what it would be had we not had the current history. Where would our communities be? And so that's where we really started without having to relitigate our history, but to actually ask the question, where would we be right now? And what were the things that we would need right now to be both regenerative as well as socially sustainable. So again, so now we have, this is another one of the renderings here. And so the church is here in the center. In terms of housing, how many housing units are we talking about?

Then also we talk about cost. The estimated number of houses is about 870 on the aggressive side, maybe about 650 on the conservative side. And that's going to range. It's a multi-income community. We want this to be a multi-income community. So this is a multi-income campus. So there will be some luxury. There will be some market rate, and there will be affordable. Now, we're talking about, again, this map here. What's your projections in terms of how many shops and different things are going to be in here as well?

So it's all ground-level commercial. So there will be 214,000 square feet of commercial space. Right now we're being courted by several restaurateur investors and retailers. And in between the, at the top of the screen, you'll see the stacked type of structure. In between those is a promenade, a retail promenade. So you'll be able to walk through the internal structure of these four type of buildings that you see that are then centerpiece with steps that we're calling legacy steps, because on the risers, there will be the names of all of the historic black American figures who we should acknowledge and remember, making sure that Woodlawn is remembered as a historical black community. And so this right here, so this right here is a current photo of the church right here.

And so this here would be the new expansion? That is a possible expansion because to the far right, that is Stony Island. And at that spot, that's the YMCA. And so when you see the metro tracks, everything in white is all future possibilities. Everything to the left of that, all of the buildings to the left of that, the technology center, the hotel. All of these right here?

Yeah. To the left. Yep. That's the high rise and the steps and the promenade in between that. So there's two high rises, two mid rises. To the right of that, the black building, that's the technology center. To the right of that is a 153-room hotel. To the right of that is a residential market and affordable and lux. Down right in the middle, just behind the church, you'll see a gray

box with the, yep, that will be the microgrid there. No, that's the black box theater. To the right, yep, that's the microgrid. That's about 13,000 square feet. And to the, all the way to the left, you see the greenhouses on the top. That's the parking facility. It's a nine-level parking facility. So we'll be replacing all the parking that we've taken from the church and put it right there in that structure. So, so, so Bishop, all your parking right now is surface. So your whole deal is what's the whole point of having all that surface level? We can go up. We can, we can certainly go up and it really provides a legacy for the future for the church.

Well, this is absolutely fascinating. Is your plan for this to be completely privately financed, or are you looking at tax increment financing districts, city, state resources as well? There's going to be a combination. All of the above. The three Ps, public, private partnerships. Recy and Teresa, y'all might have some questions. Recy, I'll start with you. First of all, I lived in Chicago, Southside, Bronzeville for four years. So this is exciting.

It's more south than where I lived. One thing I noticed about Woodlawn is that it's the 87th most walkable area in the Chicago area. How will this development improve the walkability, and was that at all a consideration in how you guys developed how the land would be used? Walkability was also, was on top of the list. Walkability is why people move to New York or any other of the dense major cities that also have culture and destination. So, again, this campus is just a reflection of what we want to produce throughout the entire community. And Chicago, as you know, is known for its corridors and nodes, you know, Michigan Avenue, North Avenue, Damon. And then when you get on the interior, there's nothing to get to unless you walk to those corridors. So what we'd like to do is to make sure that in that walkability that goes from one side of the community to the other,

that there is your convenience right down the street. Right next door, there's your cleaners. Next door to that is your favorite restaurant or things that make living in urban areas more convenient, we want to make sure that we create that and get that score of walkability up. And I think that becomes the attraction to incoming residents as well as the existing residents. Well, I really like, I mean, again, looking at this rendering here, I mean, the available open space, because, you know, when I left Chicago 2010, when I went back, you saw, I remember when I was there,

it was all the building, all the construction that was going on, and you would go downtown, and after all that construction, they had all of these open plazas where people could actually come and sit. And again, and I lived downtown. I lived right across from Weber Grill, State and Grand. And part of the problem, the point that Reesey was just talking about, if you live on the south side, if you wanted this experience, you literally had to come all the way downtown, which now meant that your money left the south side of Chicago.

It left Woodlawn. It left Bronzeville. And so African-Americans, people always talked about, man, we just want a place to be able to go, sit down, eat, and enjoy ourselves. And really the only place on the south side, University of Chicago, that little area. And then you talk about University of Illinois, Chicago, what they've created there. And so, you know, here what you're talking about now is

if you're African-American and you come to Chicago, you want to be able to spend your money with our people. And so that's also, I think, what was also just great about how you all have put together this development plan. Yes. That's exactly correct. And we're looking for this to be a place of destination. And clearly the church is in the middle of it.

And we do want to address the things that deal with our communities. Many times people have a complaint about African-American churches, and we don't do anything. And then when we do do a lot, and then there's still some complaint. But the reality is, is that we'd rather, if you're going to complain, we'd rather you complain about the magnitude of what we do do. And many of the churches, the whole extent is, how can we develop people's lives, both spiritually as well as their living lives? Teresa. Yes.

Well, one, I'm from Philadelphia and I visited Chicago one time and I was just so impressed with the architecture there. So one, kudos to you guys. I just, and I think, you know, Dr., you already hit it right on the nose about the community and the impact that you guys are going to have surrounding that with this project. So I'm just very curious about how the response to the community is. Are they welcoming? Are you guys having any pitfalls? And is there something that, you know, that can be done to make sure that, you know, the vision is very clear in Chicago? Well, let me say that my father, who was the pastor for 48 years, beginning in 1960, really laid out the legacy that dealt with education, safety, and economic development.

And was, with him being a convener of the community, put together 17 different developments that are still in existence across the community. And what we're doing is we're taking the land that we have and we have talked through this with the community from an economic development standpoint, going back five to seven years, creating the 2060 plan. And now that we're saying this is the catalyst for what we've already agreed to, we've had very little pushback from both either on the public side, whether it be an elected official, or from the community side. We've had very little. In fact, it's expected that here's what we're going to do to put our money where our mouth is. Here's what we say we want the developers to do. But instead, we're saying here's what a community should do.

And we're the community. And we should have our own plan, not a developer's plan. We should have our own plan, which we created. And now this is the catalyst for that. So it has gone on extremely well. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm looking at, like, so in Philly, we probably have three megachurches with a lot of property, right? And outside of the church, I think it just expands. Like this project in particular just expands on what they can do.

So, you know, I'm hoping you guys, you know, get this going and get it running. And then please come over here to Philadelphia and do some competition. We certainly hoped and planned that this would be a national model and a faith-based driven model for those churches who do own swaths of land. Because you can't sell the land and then also help the community. That's right. So here's an idea of where we can reimagine black American culture, create a black American destination like a Chinatown or Ukrainian village or little Italy. These same types of culture that get monetized for specific support in their community that really leads to good education, good safety, good economic development. We can have that too.

And we are global influencers. So there's not very much that we haven't influenced in the world. So we should certainly be able to utilize that influence and monetize it for ourselves and distribute it for ourselves as well. Now I'm looking at y'all rendering right here. Let's just make sure y'all got your own snowplow

people. In case the city don't clear that street off fast enough. That's a lot of snow on the ground there. Last question, when do y'all hope to break ground? 2023. And for some people, that's very aggressive, but we've been at this since 2019, so we look to break ground in 2023.

And we'd like to be finished at least 90% by 2026. All right, then. Well, look, this is, I mean, the renderings are fascinating. I can't wait. And also, I can't wait for us to actually bring Roland Martin Unfiltered on one of those warm, sunny days. I ain't coming when it's cold. So we could be on that plaza, outdoors, doing a broadcast from the location there. So congratulations. This is absolutely fascinating. And it's one of the things that we talk about

all the time on this show. We talk about economic, economic, economics. And again, there are a lot of people out there who, and people hit me up, man, what did you talk about reparations? And I'm like, look, that's still asking somebody to vote on something. And again, there are people who are fighting for that.

I applaud them. But I'm talking about right now. And what y'all are doing, you ain't waiting for anybody else. You own the land. You're developing the land. We talk about all the time, getting our own real estate. Same thing. People told people like, oh man, I wish you can get a show on MSNBC or CNN. No, thank you. I own this. And so I'm like, we ain't got to ask nobody. I've had people already come by who want to sit here. Anthony, I'm walking over here. People who had people already come by who want to sit here.

Anthony, I'm walking over here. People who have already come by and they want to sit here and they want to use our facility. They want to rent it out. Can we do productions as well? And that's the only way we change the game when we own versus asking somebody else, can I? Right. Well, look, I appreciate it.

And, of course, your dad, I'm sure, if he was, he's an ancestor now, but if he was still with us, he'd probably be saying, 2023, why are you taking so long? Why can't you start this year? Well, I'll leave you with this. Mike Flager sent me a note after he saw the announcement. And he said, he said, Doc, congratulations. And the one thing I told him, I said,

listen, I said, I had a great father and I have a great son. And the Lord has blessed us down through the years. There you go. Gentlemen, I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. And we'll see you soon when it's warm. When it's warm.

I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thank you. All right, y'all. I've got to go to a bunch. And we'll see you soon when it's warm. When it's warm. All right. All right, bro. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thank you. All right, y'all. I got to go to a break. We'll be back.

Hey, the mother of Ronald Green is going to join us tomorrow. The meeting in Louisiana ran late. She's going to join us tomorrow. And remember the trooper, the brother who was the whistleblower? Well, that brother has been fired by the state. He will join us tomorrow as well. Y'all don't wanna miss Roland Martin Unfiltered tomorrow. See, this is why y'all gotta support this show, why you gotta support our panelists on here,

why you gotta support the shows that we've launched, because let me just say it right now, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business, they're not going to have that conversation on their networks. And they're not going to give that much time to them on their networks. And so that's why we have to support our own. That's why we build our own. And so, again, we need y'all downloading the Black Star Network app.

We need to be hit. We have 800, and let me check right now. What's the last number? We have 824,385 subscribers on our YouTube channel. We should have 824,000 folks who have downloaded the Black Star Network app. Let me say it again. We cannot keep talking about having our own. We cannot keep talking about we need to build our own. We can't keep talking about, man, if we had our own.

Anthony, switch to this camera because that thing is covering the camera up. You don't see that black piece? Yeah, switch to this right here. We can't keep talking about that. We got to be about that. And so this is why we are doing what we're doing. This is why we are building this. This is why we had these conversations. I was literally on the phone with a major corporation before the show who wants to partner with us. And I said, look, I'm not interested in talking about how we can buy more of your products. What I want to be driving to our audience is how we are benefiting, how you are an economic accelerator for the black community.

And they were blown away because they said, no one has never really talked about it in that way. And so that's why we feature the segments that we feature on the show. That's why we have a Nagast, a black-owned footwear company out of Atlanta on the show. That's why we have Marketplace segment on Tuesdays where we're talking to black business owners. That's why we have a tech talk. We're talking to African-Americans. That's why we have a tech talk. We're talking to African Americans who are in technology as well. What we're trying to do is,

I'm not interested in the same bullshit we've been talking about. I'm tired of hearing, let me just go ahead and say it. I'm tired of hearing us talk about gentrification and the land is sitting there, so why we don't buy it? I'm tired of us sitting here saying, man, we don't have any money, when the fact of the land is sitting there, so why we don't buy it? I'm tired of us sitting here saying, man, we don't have any money, when the fact of the matter is,

we can actually pool our resources and create investment funds and real estate funds to be able to buy things up. So Teresa's there in Philadelphia, Reese is here in the DMV. We run around talking about, oh, Prince George's County is the richest black county in America.

No, it's not. It's Negroes owning expensive houses. But what happened in 2008 when the housing crisis hit? A whole bunch of them lost their homes because they lost their government jobs. So they weren't rich. They were paying mortgages. Some of y'all gonna get that a little bit later.

And so what we're trying to do here, we're trying to re, let me say this right now. We're trying to re, matter of fact, kill the music. I'm gonna bring Teresa in this here. We're trying to reprogram black America. We're trying to get folk to stop

thinking in an old way and reprogram. That, to me, Reese, is critically important because if we do not reprogram our people, we're going to be having the same conversations in 2057 or 2052 that we're having in 2022. Right. And let's be honest.

This country is going through a reprogramming right now. And you see what the Republicans are trying to do. We just had a segment on it with Representative Alexander and this whole quote-unquote stop-woke act. So the reprogramming is happening, but they, like we've said many times, have a lens towards the long term. That's why they're getting in at the elementary school level, middle school level, high school level. CRT is not a thing at that level. But what they've done is they've used that as a pretext to get in and start to indoctrinate

young children with a certain mentality. And so a show like this and the Black Star Network, what that's trying to do is say, let's control the narrative. Let's reprogram our lens towards how we view the community, our empowerment within the community, how we ingest our news, how we analyze it, and how we take political power. Once we put all of those things together, we will be able to truly harness the power that we have. But until we recognize the power that we have, we won't be able to utilize it to its fullest potential. And when that happens, then we abdicate our power to everybody else, and they're seizing it.

And you know what, Teresa? I gotta go ahead and do this here. I love it when people say stuff who don't know what the hell they're talking about and they don't fully think it through. So let me go ahead and bust out Cheryl R. Lee

in the YouTube chat. So let me break this down. Teresa, this is what she said. Roland talked this shit, but as soon as Bezos Bloomberg Buffett offers his black ass a billion dollar check, this network, this beautiful platform is over. Let me help you out, Cheryl, because I'm about to educate you since you clueless. You know, there were a lot of people, there were a lot of people who were angry when Bob Johnson and Sheila Johnson sold BET for $3.3 billion. They were upset.

Man, why y'all sold it? Because first of all, I had to remind people that it was Sheila and Bob Johnson who put up their $20,000-plus to get the network started. Now, all the folk who were complaining about why did they sell BET, not one of those folks complaining ever paid the payroll of BET. Not one of those people ever made sure the lights stayed on at BET. But here's what I need all y'all complain about BET to understand. No other black business has created more millionaires than BET when it got sold. Now, let me further make you look silly, Cheryl R. Lee. More black people today work for Bob and Sheila Johnson took the money from the sale of BET. And Bob Johnson right now owns something called a REIT.

Let me explain to you what a REIT is. It's a real estate investment vehicle that's publicly traded, Cheryl. Bob Johnson owns multiple hotels across the world. Sheila Johnson owns a luxury hotel business and management firm that's across the world. They own multiple, y'all ain't hear me, Cheryl. They own multiple businesses. Cheryl, you don't realize that Sheila Johnson is one of the major investors in the sports group

that owns the Washington Mystics, the Washington Wizards, and the Washington Capitals. Without the money from the sale of BET, they could not have bought the hotels, could not have bought the dealership. Cheryl R. Lee, you don't even realize that Sheila Johnson owns a private jet company. So if I'm looking to book a charter jet, I can call her company to book the jet. understand business, Cheryl R. Lee, you will understand that when you sell something, you can take the proceeds from that sale and acquire and do more things with it. Why? Because when they owned BET, they were not, quote, liquid, meaning they had an asset, but they did not have money in the bank. So they owned it. And last point before I go to Teresa, Cheryl R. Lee,

in the history of America, no black-owned business has ever sold for a greater multiple than BET did. By the way, Sheila Johnson has invested in other communication mediums. Bob Johnson created the Urban Movie Channel and other communication vehicles. So when you're sitting here complaining about somebody who sold something,

maybe what you should be asking is what they did with it. Then you might understand how business works in America. That is your Econ 101 lesson for today, Cheryl R. Lee.

Go ahead, Teresa. Absolutely. Listen, one thing about, you know, if we want to talk about black and brown communities and how we further invest in those communities, one, you do absolutely have to understand

the basic elements of business and growing a business. As a millennial myself and a business owner and a woman of color, I have to always think about some of my own assets and the relationships I have with my clients and understanding how we can grow some of these platforms and also generating more income for the company. The goal is, and if we use the example, BT is not to keep beat black entertainment as is. The goal is to sell. The goal is to encourage others with the same impact,

the same opportunity and grow it across different spectrums because that's how you create legacies. And that's how you create not only the narrative, but you create lifelong stories. So I think it's very important that people not only think about, you know, just having a business or just having a nonprofit organization, but think about growing that organization. Think about the economics within it and think about how you own some of your services and abilities. So you are in a position that companies and organizations and maybe angel investors are saying, we want to buy this business because there is something there that we can't create.

So I think it's an opportunity that, you know, we stop looking at, you know, rental payments of, like, if you want to live in a downtown area, you know, you're spending between, you know, $1,500 to $3,500 for maybe a one to two bedroom, or you can take that money and you can reinvest that into a property and then you can own that property. And then you can start collecting rent for someone else and then maybe go back to that downtown living and live in there yourself. So I think there are little things that people can do to save. Sometimes it's not in a 401K.

Sometimes it's not, you know, waiting for the next opportunity. But sometimes it is about smaller investments. It could be smaller stocks. So I think everybody has the opportunity to do so. And the resources and the tools to do it are right there at our fingertips online. And for folk who understand, and look, I understand the value of owning media, but let me remind you, Rupert Murdoch, he sold Fox Entertainment to Disney

for $71.3 billion. $71.3 billion dollars. And gave each one of his kids two to three billion dollars. All I'm simply saying is if we're going to have an economic conversation, let's have an economic conversation.

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Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Going to break. I'll be back in a moment. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Nå er vi på Norske Norske. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Blackstar Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive

into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. No one can figure out your worth but you. Entertainer Pearl Bailey. Pearl Bailey. Demetria Burns has been missing from Alexandria, Louisiana since last week. 37-year-old is 5 feet 6 inches tall. She weighs 160 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. If you have any information,

contact the Alexandria Police Department at 318-449-5099. 318-449-5099. All right, folks, President Joe Biden has nominated Dr. Lisa Cook to the Federal Reserve Board, the first African-American woman in history nominated to the board. Lord, the Republicans have been losing their damn mind. They mad, they upset, attacking another black woman as they do. Today, she had her confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. Here's what she had to say. I am humbled and honored to have been nominated by President Biden to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. I earned my Ph.D. at Berkeley, served on the President's Council of Economic Advisors, and have spent decades teaching, studying, and researching economic growth and monetary policy. That's the only video y'all got? The depth and breadth of my experience in both the public and private sectors

qualified me to serve as a Federal Reserve Governor. And should I be confirmed, I would be honored to work with my colleagues to help navigate this critical moment for our nation's economy and the global economy. In terms of priorities, I agree with Chair Powell that our most important task is tackling inflation. High inflation is a great threat to a long-sustained expansion, which we know raises the standard of living for all Americans and leads to broad-based shared prosperity. That is why I am committed to keeping inflation expectations well anchored.

All right, Recy, you got some of these old punk-ass Republicans talking trash, talking about, oh, how she doesn't have the credentials and she's not qualified. And then this whole deal, oh, we don't need a woke fed. I mean, woke for many of these folks is a new N-word. That's exactly what it is. Woke just is a euphemism for black, which is a euphemism for, like you said,

the N-word. The reality is that she has impeccable qualifications. Biden certainly isn't out here handing out nominations just for shits and giggles. He's nominating people who are exceptionally qualified. It's actually abhorrent that this is the first time a black woman has ever been nominated to that. But it is not an affirmative action pick. And I mentioned her nomination several times on this show before. The bottom line is this. No matter what happens, they're going to always call Black people

affirmative action candidates. It doesn't matter if he publicly makes a pronouncement like he did with the Black woman SCOTUS nominee that he plans to nominate. He said very clearly, unequivocally he would nominate a Black woman who would also be qualified. Or if he just did what he did in this case with Dr. Lisa Cook, he just nominates her. But if you look at her background, she has all the credentials that people tend to like, at least in white candidates. She has an Ivy League background. She's a well-studied person. And there's absolutely no reason, no substantive or objective reason to reject her, except for the fact that she's Black. And this goes to the point that they just don't want us to be represented anywhere. And they fear that any presence of us, no matter how small it

is, mind you, she's just one person out of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, is a threat to their white supremacy. That's why they count you as a woke person. Well, I don't know anything about her background that suggests that she's whatever they want to describe woke as in terms of ideology. She's a Black woman who is going to be pretty much in vain of other people, but she's going to have a different lens

and a different background that's going to make her, obviously, rightfully more focused on equity and other items that have long been neglected by this particular body. Teresa, look, it's just real simple. Black person gets nominated, all of a sudden they want to talk about qualified. Okay?

We spent four years of a whole bunch of white folks being nominated. And Republicans didn't want to hear say nothing about qualified, qualified, qualified. And we had some grossly unqualified people who were in positions in this White House. And so I'm just like, and see,

there are some people who've been saying, oh man, you know, we got to defend this. This is what I said. I ain't having no conversation with none of these fools about qualified because they only want to use the qualifier qualified when it's somebody black. All these folks with their comments,

oh, this is affirmative action quota. They can kiss my ass. I ain't even about to sit here and waste my time with these punk asses when again, you got white folks who don't say nothing. It's just automatically assumed they are fantastic. They are amazing. They are

awesome. They are incredible. And this whole deal, well, does she have the proper monetary background, the proper experience? Get the hell out of here. Theresa, go ahead. I mean, you know, I think part of that mindset is, you know, white America always thinking that they always have to

take care of black America. And black America is not capable of holding their money. Black America is not capable to lead, but we are able to organize. And so I think there is a distinction there in why there has always been a longstanding tradition of white America that has always been assumingly saying that black people are not responsible

to handle their own economics, black people are incapable to rebuild or reconstruct. What they're able to do is serve. And that's why you see so many labor jobs that's always available to us. But when it comes to the executive leadership jobs, there's always the huge qualifier. Where did you go to school? I can't tell you countless times that I've been sitting in a meeting and I've been asked my age,

I've been asked where I went to school, but then I bring somebody on my team who's Caucasian, and then they're asked, oh, so how long have you been working here? There's no other qualifiers. And so it's a very interesting dynamic, especially when you have the lead. But part of it is, I do answer the questions, but I do understand where I am. And where I am is a white America that's not willing to change their ideology, not willing to change their traditions. You'll get some that is willing to change, and for those that are willing to change,

are the ones that are able to make progress happen. Yeah, you nice. I ain't answering shit. All right. Uh, speaking of... I gotta pay my bill. Speaking of not answering shit, uh, check this out. This reporter, let me pull up his name.

His name is Pablo. Just give me a second. He goes by Pablo Reports on Twitter. Pablo Manriquez. He's a correspondent with Latino Rebels. And so they were talking about, you know, appointments and things along those lines. Check out what he hit Mitch McConnell with.

How many black women do you have on staff and how are they informing your decision to move forward with the SCOTUS nomination? And same question to the other senators. How many what? How many black women do you have on your staff and are they informing your decision on how to move forward with the SCOTUS nomination?

And same question to the other senators. How many black women do you have on staff and how are they informing your decision? Y'all don't have his answer? How many black women do you have on staff and how are they informing your decision? Yeah, actually, I haven't checked. We don't have a racial quota in my office, but I've had a number of African-American employees, both male and female, over the years in all kinds of different positions, including speech writer. They ain't asked your ass how many over the't see race, but you see that black woman ass sitting right there.

Mm. And let's be clear. You did not need that question repeated three motherfucking times, Mitch McConnell. Do you have a black woman? Do you have... You heard black, black, black, black. I know how... I know that black is like a...

a bell going off in your ear. You heard it right the first time, but I don't know, maybe them wheels was turning. Maybe they turn a little slower these days for you to try to figure out how the hell you were going to answer that question. And he did, he bobbed and weaved talking about over the years, including speechwriter, speechwriter. We're talking about a deliberation process for the Supreme court justice, the next Supreme court justice. And you talk about at some point in time, you had somebody writing speeches for you, get a fucking grip. And I did not like the quota thing,

but what I did like about it, if Dr. Carr were here, he would say, thank you, Mitch McConnell, for making it clear, Addison, as Clay points out, it's his real name, thank you, Addison Mitch McConnell, for pointing out that unless you're forced to hire a person of color, a Black person via a quota, you ain't got no interest in it. Maybe one day you'll get somebody, and he tried to make it about more

than just Black people, more than about just Black women. But the bottom line is they have no intentions of actually having Black people in positions of deliberation. I think, as Teresa said, they're fine with us being the mules, they're fine with us doing the labor, but when it comes to the intellectual capacity that we bring to the table and the life experiences, they don't want to hear it. Theresa? Yeah, you know, we just saw the political spin

full force, and it's interesting that, um... As many African-Americans we did have elected in the Congress and in the Senate, that we aren't pulling how many black and brown people that are in their offices serving and in what capacity, right? Some of them are just special assistants. Some of them are speechwriters. But are they policy directors? Are they chief of staff? And those positions are so important because as we talk about what the agenda looks like on the Republican side or on the Democratic side, if we don't have people that are from those type of backgrounds helping those see

the light or helping those actually being woke, then we will never see progress happen if we, you know, keep having these discussions about, you know, well, how many Black people are in your office? Well, they don't know because it was a concern to them. So we have to keep making it a concern and making it intentional for them to put people of color in their offices. All right, folks, a murderer is now out on the streets in Chicago. Today, former Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke walked out of prison a free man. He was sentenced to nearly 70 years in prison for the murder

of Laquan McDonald. But Van Dyke got out early due to good behavior. He served less than half of the term. Laquan's family and civic leaders are demanding federal charges be filed against him. In a statement, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said people should see Van Dyke's conviction as progress instead of worrying

about his release. She pointed out he was the first officer convicted of a crime committed in the line of duty in more than 50 years. Really, Recy? Laura, that's your response. Progress? What the hell are you talking about? This is nothing more than evidence

about how the system is really two separate sets of systems, not just for black and white, but also for police versus non-police. You know, this case and him being paroled or released, however it's being characterized, reminds me immediately of the Julius Jones case in Oklahoma and the way that the there had to be a national public galvanization just to have the governor even take half of the recommendation of the parole board there, which was to grant Julius Jones commute his sentence to life with a possibility of parole, which would have made him eligible for parole based on the amount of time served. And after so many protests and so much

pressure put upon him, he stayed the execution, but he kept the life without the possibility of parole there. And he's likely innocent. There's evidence to that. Or at a minimum, he should be eligible for parole. And so the parole is another scam that's used to pick and choose who gets a second chance after they've served their time. And we see with Jason Van Dyke, this is another instance of justice not served, and it's not even what I would call accountability at this point. Teresa. Yeah, I agree with Rishi. She's absolutely right. This parole board has been very interesting in some of the decision-making. It's unfortunate.

I have to think about, you know, if Jason Van Dyke was a person of color, what, how long he would be in. You know, three-quarters of a year is at the midnight being released is not saying that I've served my time. It's saying we did the public appreciation that he went into jail, but in terms of serving his time, no, we're just going to let him out after midnight with no cameras. And so, again, when we start thinking about some of these state rules and some of these state reforms that we need to happen in these states and make sure that it is not only controlled, but it is continuously reviewed. There are people that have been sitting on parole boards because some of them don't have expiration dates and they've been there since, you know, the beginning

of time. So you have people that have been there with the same mindset, with the same agenda, you know, don't care really what the circumstances, don't care if you've actually been rehabilitated to go back into the society. And they letting people out, you know, or they're not letting people out and they're just keeping them there. So I think there has to be a total reform inside when we actually look at governor races, because, you know, they are picking and choosing these appointments. And for those who have the same mindset of, you know, a mindset of zero change, they will absolutely continuously do what they do. Folks, four men have been arrested for the overdose death of actor and producer Michael K. Williams.

Federal prosecutors say Irvin Cartagena, Hector Robles, Luis Cruz, and Carlos Macday were allegedly arrested for allegedly being part of a drug trafficking organization that sold deadly fentanyl-laced heroin to Williams and others. This photo shows the alleged transaction between Williams and the suspects. Folks, show the photo, please. That ain't it. That's not it. All right. I'm not going to move on till y'all find it.

Can we show the photo, please? Again, there were surveillance cameras that were all around New York City and they captured this actually taking place. And so this is the last known image of Michael K. Williams. Of course, he was found dead in his apartment. Prosecutors say the four-man charge kept selling fentanyl-lazed heroin even after Williams died. Cartagena, who allegedly gave Williams the drugs, is also charged with causing the actor's death

and faces a minimum of 20 years in prison if convicted. Williams, of course, was best known for his role as Omar Little on HBO's The Wire, and was found dead in September in his New York apartment. The medical examiner's ruled that his death was an accidental overdose. All right, folks, going to a quick break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered

on Black Star Network in just a moment. Nå er det en av de fleste stående stående i verden. Norske Kulturskapital Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. 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? We'll be right back. unfiltered.

All right, folks. Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended for two weeks by The View after there was a discussion on the show where she said that the Holocaust was not about race. Also, if you're going to do this, then let's be truthful about it because the Holocaust

isn't about race. No. No. It's not about race. Maybe it's ethnicity. No, it's about... Well, then you should have used a different race. But it's not about race.

It's not about race. Well, what is it about? Because it's about man's inhumanity to man. That's what it's about. But it's about white supremacy. Well, but it's about. But it's about white supremacy. Well, but it's not about race. But these are two white groups of people. But you're missing the point. You're missing the point. The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let's talk about it for what it is. It's how people treat each other.

It's a problem. It doesn't matter if you're black or white, because black, white, Jews, everybody eats each other. So is it... If you're uncomfortable, if you hear about mouths, should you be worried? Should your child say, -"Oh, my God, I wonder if that's me." -"No."

That's not what they're gonna say. They're gonna say, -"I don't want to be like that. Well, hopefully. I don't want to be cool. Yeah. Most kids, they don't want to be cool. No, they don't.

And we're living in an era where people... Well, that conversation led to a lot of heat. The ADL responded. Their leader came on the show the next day for a conversation. Whoopi apologized for the comments, saying she was corrected. There were people who were absolutely saying she needed to be shut down, needed to be fired. ABC then suspended her for two weeks. When it was also interesting, there were a number, I had different people, there were different folks,

some who were Jewish, who were saying that, well, Whoopi was right about that it's not a race. Others said it's a religious group. Others were like, she's absolutely dead wrong, that you can't deny this whole deal. Nareece, what do you make of the suspension? And others who will say, wait a minute, is it possible for somebody to simply make a mistake, get corrected, apologize, and stay on the air

versus saying fire them or get rid of them for two weeks. Your thoughts. Well, number one, she's a black woman, so she got her N-word wake-up call with that situation. Even though she's the leader of The View, they came right out and treated her like an N-word. So there's that. But I actually think that the suspension

is actually the best outcome for her. I think two weeks is enough time to where you have more people saying that it's excessive rather than people saying that it's not enough. And even people that have called for more, they're more so on the defense now, trying to kind of walk that back. And so even though, you know, some might perceive it as being unfair, at least she does her two weeks, and then I think she can move on from the discussion given that she's apologized fully, she's opened up dialogue. And, you know, as,

as a matter of course, it's just a good idea to usually stay in your lane. If you're not a scholar in certain things, you should really just stay in your lane. You know, I'm not going to speak on experiences that I don't have that, that worldview from, whether it's about LGBTQ issues or, you know, whatever kind of historic issues that are so many emotions that are involved within that people take very seriously. It's just usually a good idea to kind of take a backseat and talk a little bit less. Unless you are truly, truly, truly studied in that and she came out and admitted that she needed more learning on the topic of the Holocaust and all that kind of stuff, usually it's a good idea to just be a little more quiet. So lesson learned for her. And I think that she will be able to move on

and at least she still gets to keep her job. Seth Abramson is a lawyer also, a writer. He put this on Twitter. Go ahead and pull the tweet up, folks, and you'll actually see it. I'm going to read it for folks. Y'all should zoom that in. But he wrote, Jews aren't a race, period. Whoopi Goldberg was suspended for failing to take the Nazis' view of Jews that we are a race. While I understand the Nazi view of Judaism means the Holocaust was in a demented way about race, the reaction to Goldberg's comments was excessive.

Now, a lot of people disagreed with him. And he was sitting here going, wait a minute. I'm talking about me. And so it was like all this back and forth that was going on there. And so when you talk about, Teresa, just like, you know, you got people who support Joe Rogan, who are mad that artists are pulling their music from Spotify because of his comments about COVID on his show. Others are saying, oh, my goodness, we're going too far. Why can't people admit a mistake versus be completely decimated and suspended?

Just want to get your thoughts on it. I find it very interesting, you know, when we have it. When we again, it kind of goes back to our earlier conversation about owning your own mediums, right? So, you know, Whoopi is getting suspended for two weeks, but how many times have we seen individuals on Fox News, correspondents really, has been making so many objections and so many various issues against Black people, and yet they're still on the next morning. So it's like, really, you just have to really own that space. But I also, you know, I feel Whoopi did what she was supposed to do. She is on The View as a commentator, as an opinionist. So it's kind of hard for me to say, like, I don't expect Whoopi to give her opinion about something that historically happened.

I think any time we look at American history, there are so many interpretations. People still think, you know, us marching with Martin Luther King didn't make sense. You know, so there's so many narratives that I think can come from everybody's own perspective of what American history actually is. So to get, you know, punished for not just the lack of education, just for a difference of opinion, I think it's absurd. You know, it is. I mean, look, the reality is when you're in the business of giving opinions, this is likely going to happen. I mean, that is going to happen where you say something, you take some folks off. And look, and when you're dealing with people who are in charge, the reality is they are.

Look, how do you end controversies? How do you quell them? How do you stop them from continuing? You've got advertisers who start pulling out. There's a whole lot of factors that actually go into this. And so I think that's one of the things that you see happening here, that, look, I mean, this is the world that we're living in. And then, and all these people, I'm so sick of this stupid phrase, cancel. I mean, especially with people who yell about being canceled, but I'm going,

but you're actually on a media outlet talking about your cancel. So how in the hell are you on the media outlet? I mean, it gets so stupid with some of these people when they start talking about, oh my goodness, I'm being canceled. And it's kind of like, yeah, okay, no you're not, so stop it. So Whoopi will be back, folks, in a couple of weeks.

All right, that is it for us. Recy, Teresa, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Teresa. Thanks for pitching in at the last second. Dr. Greg Carr, he, of course, is with his family in Nashville. His mother passed away. The funeral was today. The home going was today.

Also, Faraj Muhammad is now doing his two-hour-a-day show on the Black Star Network. And so we'll be full steam ahead next week, of course. And so, folks, that's it. Don't forget, please support us. Download the Black Star Network app, of course, on all available platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox One,

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Shout out to Virginia State University. I'm rocking your shirt today with the Trojans. And this is the football that Coach Gaming when Grambling won the 2016 National Championship. So, Grambling, I'll see you all on your campus on Monday. Folks, I'll see you tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, go to the app. You can watch our great programming.

You can watch Deborah Owens' show. Of course, you can watch Balance Life with Dr. Jackie Hood Martin and of course Faraji's show as well. But tomorrow, Dr. Carr's The Black Table debuts on the Black Star Network. We're going to of course stream it

at 11 a.m. Eastern. We'll restream it after the show as well. And if you missed my interview with Director Bill Duke, you want to check it out. Ph.m. Eastern. We'll restream it after the show as well. And if you missed my interview with director Bill Duke, you want to check it out. Phenomenal interview. Y'all remember Bill Duke in Car Wash. He was in Managing Society. He's a director.

Phenomenal work. So great conversation with him. We talked about his book as well. So absolutely entertaining conversation. You don't want to miss it. And folks, that's it. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla!

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