#RolandMartinUnfiltered - No Charges in Amir Locke's Death, Okla Great-grandmother taunted by cops, African Conflicts, KweliTV

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

Starting point is 00:00:48 We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:01:08 We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Thank you. Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches!

Starting point is 00:02:23 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. Stay Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

Starting point is 00:02:39 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? Today is Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin on the filter, streaming live on the Black Star Network.

Starting point is 00:03:15 No shock, the cop getting away with murdering an innocent man. That's right. Today, no criminal charges will be filed in the case of Amir Locke. We'll talk with the family attorney about what is next. A 70-year-old black great grandmother gets taunted and laughed at by Tulsa, Oklahoma police while possibly going through a mental crisis. We'll talk to her attorney, Damaro Solomon-Simmons, and two of her children. We'll be looking at the conflicts in Africa and examine why people don't know about what's

Starting point is 00:03:45 happening across that continent, especially in two countries. New Jersey mayor publicly apologizes for being caught on camera using racial slurs after he lied, saying he didn't. And racist posts cause an Illinois police officer, police chief,

Starting point is 00:04:01 to resign. He believed in white supremacy, y'all. In today's Tech Talk segment, a streaming service celebrates black stories from around the world. We'll talk to the founder of Qualate TV. And we'll cover some other stuff as well. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it.

Starting point is 00:04:23 Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. Let's go. He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Marten Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Marten

Starting point is 00:05:00 Now I know he's rolling Martel now. Martel. Folks, there'll be no criminal charges related to the February shooting of Amir Locke, who was shot and killed while Minneapolis police were executing a no-knock search warrant. The Hennepin County District Attorney, Michael Freeman, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison released the findings earlier today. This is the reason why Freeman and Ellison said Officer Mark Henneman will not be charged. After a thorough review of all available evidence. However, there is insufficient admissible evidence to file criminal charges in this case. Specifically,

Starting point is 00:06:12 the state would be unable to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt any of the elements of Minnesota's use of deadly force statute that authorizes the use of force by Officer Hanneman. Nor would the state be able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, a criminal charge against any other officer involved in decision-making that led to the death of Amir Locke. Amir Locke is dead. Amir Locke was simply sleeping on the couch when cops burst into the apartment, shot, and killed him.

Starting point is 00:06:58 Karen Wells, the mother of Amir Rice, excuse me, Amir Locke, says she is not disappointed, but disgusted by today's decision. If you had time to kick a couch two times, not one, but twice, you had time to de-escalate the situation of my melanin black son. Now, you're going to have to deal with me. I've never been Minnesota nice, and I'm not from Minnesota.

Starting point is 00:07:30 And I said that from the first day that I stepped soil on that city. I am not Minnesota nice. You got something different right here. I'm from a different state. We stand up. We speak up. This is who his mother is. I'm from a different state. We stand up. We speak up. This is who his mother is. I'm not going

Starting point is 00:07:47 nowhere. On Tuesday, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Fry, placed a permanent ban on no-knock warrants for the local police department. The policy takes effect Friday, April 8th. Jeffrey Storms is

Starting point is 00:08:03 the attorney representing the Locke family. He joins us from Minneapolis. Jeffrey, so what? A guy dies and it's nobody's fault? Nobody's held accountable? This mother has to deal with the grief? Like, literally, a man is dead. It's one of those to form. It's hard to form words,

Starting point is 00:08:33 Roland. I mean, you know, if you look at this report, it's like 40 pages that says this was really tragic and it shouldn't have happened. But no one's to blame. You know, the ether is to blame. The air is to blame. It's policies. And it's it's very, very disheartening and enraging. You know, I don't know how we can look at people of color in this country and tell them, hey, the constitutional amendments apply to you. You can lawfully have a gun. You can lawfully be safe from unreasonable searches and seizures. I mean, a young man couldn't lawfully possess a gun while sleeping on his own couch and couldn't even be given to so much as 10 seconds to wake up and understand what was happening. And so, yeah, you know, you'll probably see statements for us where we talk about disappointed. But Karen's words, I think, are very true and speak louder to how she's really feeling right now. But this is the BS that we often talk about, how the law is with cops in so many ways, and it's as if, sorry, he's dead, next.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Well, yeah, think about the times that young Black men have been charged with crimes in this country on flimsy evidence, right? And now we look at 40 pages of a report and hired experts all to basically say, hey, we don't think we can overcome issues with an affirmative defense. And the number of people of color who have stood in front of a jury on flimsier evidence on this are legion. And it's really hard to look at our brothers and sisters of color and tell them that this makes a lot of sense. What is next? What is next for the family, for the attorneys? And we're ready to fight, Roland. I mean, you heard it from Karen, right? And the family's

Starting point is 00:10:24 energy and determination is going to, you know, help push us and guide us. You know, the resolve deepened today. You know, criminal justice is one part of it, and it's an important part of it. But, you know, between, you know, Attorney Crump and myself and Attorney Romanucci, you know, we've collectively done this for 60 or 70 years, and no criminal charges is business as usual. We shouldn't become complacent with the handful of charges there have been. And that's why civil rights lawyers exist in this country, to push for civil remedies, monetary but also non-monetary, to ensure that there are real policies in place that are implemented, there is real training,

Starting point is 00:11:04 to continue to push for local and national legislation. And so Amir, people like Amir, can do something as simple as sleep without fear of being shot by law enforcement. So the family and the legal team, you know, is ready to keep on pushing as hard as we possibly can. Jeffrey Storms, we appreciate it. Certainly keep us abreast of what happens next with the family in this case. Thank you, Roland.

Starting point is 00:11:33 I want to bring in my panel. A. Scott Bolden is the former chair, National Bar Association Political Action Committee. He's an attorney here in Washington, D.C. Tarva, excuse me, Tanya Washington-Hicks, professor, Georgia State University College of Law. Monique Presley, a legal analyst and crisis

Starting point is 00:11:49 manager. Glad to have all three of you here. Clearly, Scott, Attorney General Keith Ellison looked through the law as much as he could to find something here.

Starting point is 00:12:06 They simply could not figure out what to charge these cops with. But it says a hell of a whole lot that when these police are using these no-knock warrants, busting into apartments, shoot and kill this young man who's sleeping on the couch, who's lawfully possessing a gun.

Starting point is 00:12:29 Basically what this is saying to black people, yo, you ain't got no second amendment rights. Roland, I gotta tell you, I got a lot of trust in Keith Ellison, one. Two, as a former prosecutor, I've reviewed these types of cases. And I got to tell you, under Minnesota law, the law allows the police officers, whether it's a no-knock warrant or not, if they didn't have a no-knock warrant and went in, they went in, he had a gun. He was under the covers.

Starting point is 00:13:01 They may have just woken him up. He may not have known what he was dealing with. He could legally possess that gun. But in that circumstance, once they see the gun, once he pulls it out, once he points it at the ground, whether he points it at them, the police, in their judgment, have the right to fire. This is a clean one.

Starting point is 00:13:24 It's unfortunate. This is a clean one. It's unfortunate. It is a tragedy. But, Scott. This is a clean shoot right here. But, Scott, hold on, Scott. Scott, hold on. I can accept everything you say. Scott, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Starting point is 00:13:34 But he had a gun. Scott, Scott, Scott, hold on, hold on. Scott, hold on, hold on, hold on. First of all, we have the video. Now, roll the video. At no point does he point the gun at cops. No, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm not reading the report.

Starting point is 00:13:50 My eyes. Roll the video, guys. Roll the video. Scott, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on. You see the video. First of all, y'all, fix that audio. I don't know what the hell was going on there. Why was it in slow on. You see the video. First of all, y'all, fix that audio. I don't know what the hell was going on there

Starting point is 00:14:25 while I was in slow motion. You see the video there. They come in. Dude's under the covers. All of a sudden, I see flash... No, no, no, hold up. I see flashlights and literally, it's not even

Starting point is 00:14:42 two seconds. It's like, boom, covers come up, pop out. But look, the covers came up, right? They see the gun, whether it's pointed at them or not, they see it. And now remember what the police are there for. It's a high-intensity warrant for murder, right? And the report also says that the people they're looking for are armed and dangerous. So when they go into that apartment, they're looking for people, they're looking for guns,

Starting point is 00:15:17 and it is the most dangerous high alert they're at when they go in. Now, when they see that gun, they see an individual. They don't know who he is, but they see that gun, they see an individual. They don't know who he is, but they see the gun wherever it's being pointed. I doubt Amir even knew what was going on because he was sleeping, and it's really tragic. But once they see the gun, right, and they tell him to drop it,

Starting point is 00:15:37 they don't give him enough time to drop it, whether he lawfully owns it or not, and they fire, okay? Can you file criminal charges against the police in that circumstance, in that tragedy? No, you cannot, at least not under Minnesota law. The thing... That's the legal deal.

Starting point is 00:15:55 That's the legal deal, and it's not gonna change. The thing here, the thing here, Monique, is they were executing a no-knock warrant, and the other police department didn't want that. They insisted on this. Had they followed the St. Paul Police Department, there would not have been a no-knock warrant. But they pursued it themselves and say, oh, we'll help you all, and we're going to do it with a no-knock warrant, but they pursued it themselves to say, oh, we'll help y'all,

Starting point is 00:16:26 and we're going to do it with a no-knock warrant. Okay. I mean, this is, so we're left with. Scott just said. Go ahead. Doesn't negate anything that Scott just said. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always

Starting point is 00:16:56 be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated.

Starting point is 00:17:23 I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

Starting point is 00:17:53 And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player,

Starting point is 00:18:06 Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

Starting point is 00:18:18 of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

Starting point is 00:18:30 MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes

Starting point is 00:18:41 of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

Starting point is 00:19:18 I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I can't hear you. I couldn't hear you. I can't hear you. Say one more. Oh, one. I don't know. Okay. Now you go. Now go ahead. Can you hear me now? Yes. Oh, great. I said it doesn't negate anything that Scott just said. I agree with you.

Starting point is 00:19:49 And it is unfortunate. It's tragic. It's terrible. attorney, to me is, it's, I don't know how else to say it, except for one thing does not lead to another. You said, I mean, a man is dead. Well, actually, I'm sorry, your phone is breaking. And certainly those of us who are here on your panel, those of us who are here on your panel know just because someone is dead doesn't mean that a crime has been committed, that it has to be run through the law. There has to be a determination made about what the charges are. And I agree with Scott in this analysis. And, you know, I have great respect to the lawyers who were involved.

Starting point is 00:20:43 I'm sure that they will bring a wrongful death case. I'm sure that it will be successful. They've already cured the no-knock warrant issue. That should have happened before. But again, that's not criminal. That's civil. But Tanya, when Monique says one thing doesn't lead to another, actually it does. And this is precisely why you cannot have no-knock warrants. This is

Starting point is 00:21:05 precisely why if you're trying to apprehend somebody, it can't be this. You don't know who's on the other side of that door. I totally get homicide investigation. I totally get all of that. But the reality is there's a dead person who was innocent, who was not involved in any of this on the other side of that door. And if you do not have this no-knock warrant, they're not going into the apartment. The man is not sleeping, and he's not shot and killed under a blanket. Well, I'm glad the policy finally changed.

Starting point is 00:21:38 Unfortunately, it changed too late for Mr. Locke. No-knock warrants were created to deal with drug enforcement, to ensure that people didn't destroy the drugs that the police were trying to capture. But they're being used in too many instances in circumstances that result in dead Black people. And I'm sure it rings hollow to the family to hear that this is tragic and unfortunate. That doesn't bring her child back. And I think the question we need to ask is that if people can be held harmless under the current law, what do we need to change the law

Starting point is 00:22:20 to be so that these kinds of actions are considered criminal and treated as such? This is where there has to be a pursuit to change policies, procedures, and the law, Scott, Monique, and Tanya, because I keep saying this, death is death. Ain't no coming back from it. And the reality is, if you did not have a no-knock warrant,

Starting point is 00:22:56 if you had a different situation here, this young man is not dead. And so I'm not done. I'm not done. I'm not done. We can talk about, well, police and in terms of all the other things here. But again, we want the bad guys captured, not somebody who's innocent, who ends up dead, caught in the crossfire of this. And that's why when you had Nekima Levy Armstrong, who confronted the police chief

Starting point is 00:23:35 and the mayor at the news conference and said, we told y'all to ban these long ago. We told you to ban these no-knock warrants before. Now you're going to do it after the fact and another black man is dead. But, Roe, what does that have to do with charging Hanneman?

Starting point is 00:23:54 What does it have to do with charging Hanneman? What should he have been charged with because of this failing of the city? What is the point in outrage over a police officer doing what was lawful that he was ordered to do under... Because the outrage

Starting point is 00:24:10 is somebody's dead! But you can't charge a police officer to somebody dead! The outrage is somebody is dead! Okay, but do you want the wrong person charged? Does it matter whether it's... No, no, no, what I want is

Starting point is 00:24:25 for police officers not to continue to kill black people, and in this case, when people are yelling, oh, Second Amendment rights for your protection, what it also says is black people, don't buy a gun, don't have a gun yourself,

Starting point is 00:24:41 because even if you have a gun, and you lawfully have a gun, you can still end up dead by having a gun. Let me add a few points. If they pulled their gun, they wouldn't be arrested if they had lived because they would have had a right to use their gun in that situation. white or black, pulls their revolver on an officer under the current law, as Scott already explained, the shooting, they're not going to be able to bring charges for. And that is the misfortune and the tragedy of the state of the law. But what I asked you is why we are justified in being outraged about Hanneman not being charged when the law plainly says that he should not be. Because, again, there's a theme called

Starting point is 00:25:33 just law and unjust. Scott, go ahead. Here's the deal. And I'm not blaming the victim. Let me tell you about no-knock warrants. If you didn't have a no-knock warrant, they'd knock, announce that they were the police. If that door doesn't get answered right away,

Starting point is 00:25:49 they're kicking the door in, and Amir is there with a gun, that doesn't necessarily mean he wouldn't get shot if they come in after they've knocked and nobody's answered. What it does mean, though, if they did knock, he potentially could have been awakened and hearing, hey, police, That could have happened. And then what? He still got

Starting point is 00:26:08 the gun? No, no. Because if he hears police and then all of a sudden I hear... No, no. Allow me to finish. If I hear police and now I hear that, yeah, I might not grab the gun. But if I'm sleeping on the couch, if I got

Starting point is 00:26:24 covers over my head, and all of a sudden, a door opens, I don't even hear anybody walk in, and next, all of a sudden, I see flashlights. I don't know who the hell's in here. We had the brother on the show from Florida. When the cops bust in, same thing, no knock warrant. The guy fires a warning shot in the air and fires a shot at the officers. He don't know who the hell is busting down his damn door. We got a home invasion. We got a home invasion

Starting point is 00:26:52 all over the country. You don't know who's busting in your door. They were in uniform and they announced that they were the police. Stop it, Robert. Hold on one second. Hold up. Hold up. Wait, wait, wait. Hold that point, Scott. Hold that point. Run the video. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Why is he in an apartment with a potential murderer?

Starting point is 00:27:06 Scott, hold that point. Hold that point. Run the video. Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police!

Starting point is 00:27:16 Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police!

Starting point is 00:27:23 Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! 7 seconds. Matter of fact, run it again. Police! Police! Police! Run!

Starting point is 00:27:44 Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police!

Starting point is 00:28:00 Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! Police! They said, police, search warrant. He starts moving undercover. He's asleep! Okay, but they don't know what they have to do. They're looking for people who committed a murder. He don't know what the hell is going on.

Starting point is 00:28:13 They're armed. That's what they're looking for. They gave him 10 seconds. So what you're saying, Scott, what you're saying is, if you're asleep, if Scott Bolden is asleep, and all of a sudden, folks bust into your bedroom, lights, and awake you, and your gun's right here, what's going to be the first thing you're going to do?

Starting point is 00:28:33 No. His gun was under the cover. Right. That's the point. He showed it. I'm asking you, Scott. I'm asking you, Scott. If it's the police, you're going to get shot. Scott, I'm asking you. And they can legally shoot you. No, Scott, I'm asking you. Scott Bolden it's the police, you're going to get shot. Scott, I'm asking you. And they can legally shoot you. No, Scott, I'm asking you.

Starting point is 00:28:46 Scott Bowden is asleep. Scott Bowden is asleep. Come on, man. His gun is under his pillow. Covers are over his head. Under his pillow? Scott, Scott, let me finish. You sleep.

Starting point is 00:28:56 Covers over your head. Gun is right next to you. Bust into your bedroom. Wake you up. What's going to be your first reaction? My first reaction? My first reaction is, what the hell is going on? But I ain't in an apartment with some alleged murderer.

Starting point is 00:29:10 That's your first reaction? I'm not sleeping with a gun under my cover. I don't sleep with a gun under my cover. And I'm not sleeping where there's some alleged murderers there and the police are looking for them. It's unfortunate. A whole bunch of people. Why has he got the gun? I know a whole bunch of people. Why has he got the gun?

Starting point is 00:29:26 I know a whole bunch of people. But for the gun? Scott, I know a bunch of people. He would probably still be alive. And it was his gun. I know a bunch of people who grew up with me in Clinton Park, who grew up in Third Ward in Houston, people in Chicago who deal with home invasions.

Starting point is 00:29:42 Gun right next to him. Tanya, go ahead and weigh in. I was going to say that there are a lot of people who sleep with their gun in proximity to them, including in the bed. The Second Amendment allows that. The gun, he was a licensed... Not in every jurisdiction.

Starting point is 00:29:57 In most jurisdictions, in most jurisdictions, you've got to have it unloaded and you can keep them separate. May I finish, please? Yes, go right ahead. I'm sorry. I think it's important for us to consider that even if he didn't have a gun,

Starting point is 00:30:13 I'm not sure he would have survived that. Because he could have had anything, any of the things that police somehow see and perceive to be a weapon when they bust in under these circumstances. And so I think the outrage is that this keeps happening. And as unfortunate as we characterize it as, it continues to be excused. That's the outrage.

Starting point is 00:30:38 But we can't afford to make it about if the facts had been different than this, it likely would have been the same. I understand why others would want to do that. But my obligation is to say that on these facts, as a legal analyst, what the attorney general did and what the state's attorney did was evaluate the evidence that is known to them. If more facts become available and come forward that somehow change what happened, if some intent surfaces for one of those officers, if one of them insisted on a no-knock warrant for a house where they knew the suspect was not present, anything like that changes. We're looking at a different factual scenario and therefore different legal analysis. But on these facts, what is clear is that the no-knock warrant was a problem. It was the

Starting point is 00:31:39 determining factor that he did have a right to have his gun and that he did what any law abiding citizen living in perhaps that neighborhood and that apartment would have done and reach for his weapon. And what is also clear is that when someone does that under the law, when it's an officer, they have a right to shoot to protect themselves or others. And if we want that to change, then we need the facts to change and the law to change. It is not about the fact that this is traumatic and unjust. We know that, and we know that we die more than anybody else because of it. So the answer then is not to charge Hanneman, who did the shooting. He's not the one who perpetuated the criminal act. The criminal actors are the city for maintaining no-knock warrants. And even that is not criminal

Starting point is 00:32:34 because it was not against the law. So the law has now been changed and this death was wrongful and that will be answered. And unfortunately, that is like the balls and strikes of it of where we are. And so I don't want people being upset thinking that they reached the wrong decision. In my opinion, based on what I know of the facts from what I've read and from the conversations that I have had with counsel who are involved with the case, this was the only decision on those facts. And this is precisely why laws need to be changed, policies need to be changed, because at the end of the day, Amir is dead,

Starting point is 00:33:12 and the family can never bring him back. Got to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about a case out of Tulsa where the cops just grossly mistreat a black woman there who was having a mental episode. We'll talk about that, the family and their attorney. Folks, you're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered. Be sure to download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone,

Starting point is 00:33:32 Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Samsung TV, Xbox, Amazon Fire as well. Also, you're watching on YouTube. Hit that like button. We should be at 1,000 already. We've got more than 2,000 folks watching. Y'all hit the like button. You can also support us by joining our Bring the Funk fan club where your dollars make it possible for us to cover the issues that

Starting point is 00:33:51 matter to you. P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037. Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zale is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zale is rolandat, rolandsmartin.com, rolandat, rolandmartinunfiltered.com. I'll be right back.

Starting point is 00:34:09 I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

Starting point is 00:34:37 comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Starting point is 00:35:18 I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

Starting point is 00:35:30 We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL

Starting point is 00:35:54 enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Starting point is 00:36:07 Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family.

Starting point is 00:36:39 They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. On the next Get Wealthy, did you know that the majority of households headed by African-American women don't own a single share of stock?

Starting point is 00:37:14 No wonder the wealth gap continues to widen. Next on Get Wealthy, you're going to hear from a woman who decided to change that. I have been blessed with good positions, good pay, but it wasn't until probably in the last couple of years that I really invested in myself to get knowledge about what I should be doing with that money and how to productively use it. Right here on Get Wealthy on Blackstar Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat at the Black Table. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Blackstar 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. That's Kim Whitley.

Starting point is 00:38:08 Yo, what's up? This your boy Ice Cube. Hey, yo, Peace World. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. The Tulsa Police Department under scrutiny after releasing a video showing police officers taunting a black woman in distress. I want to warn you, the video you're about to see is very disturbing. We will show you what happened to 70-year-old LaDonna Perez, who locked herself in a bathroom while possibly having a mental health crisis. All right, folks, watch this. bathroom while possibly having a mental health crisis.

Starting point is 00:38:47 All right, folks, watch this. This is gonna be so fun. I don't mind I need you to get in there. Stop it! L.H., L.H., stop it! Starvin', you're hurting me. Okay, I'll go to jail. I don't mind. I don't mind. Starvin'! Give us your arm! Give us your arm now! Ah! Oh, boy, my shepherd, my boy.

Starting point is 00:39:38 You need to be so light-hearted. Believe me, it's us. You always can do it. All your stories, Michael. Sure makes a decent person. You're playing me all day. Get your hands off my pants. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.

Starting point is 00:39:49 All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.

Starting point is 00:39:57 All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Can we clean up the blood? Yeah, we're gonna clean this up.

Starting point is 00:40:06 Do not kick him! No, he is free for this. Do not kick him. Sit down. LH, this is not right. It's not right, sir. My brain's causing this. Get up. Thank you. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:40:22 Can we get him, sir? This is not right. I said sit down. Sit down. I will. I will. You're hurting me. Please. Joining me now, the attorney for Ms. Parris, Demario Solomon-Simmons from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Two of her children,

Starting point is 00:40:39 Kendra Jackson in Texas, Chris Williams in Arkansas. First and foremost, sorry you, of course, had to see that video there, Kendra and Chris. Does your, was this a mental breakdown? What was this? What actually happened here? Well, thank you for having us on. Go ahead. But thank you for having us on, Roland. I don't know if that was too big. No, no, no. That was actually to Kendra or Chris. Kendra, Chris. That's fine.

Starting point is 00:41:09 So mom had been having hallucinations early that morning. I want to say about 3 a.m. She was texting the family. She was seeing things. And we had been trying to get in touch with her for several hours. Eventually, we were able to locate her. She was at school. She was at seminary, where they were very concerned about her behavior and had called me. And I had called my brother, Chris, to come to the school because I was out of town. And that's kind of where it started. And then the paramedics were called out to her school because they recognized that she was having an episode, and they did not want to put her behind a wheel. So that's that's how it started.

Starting point is 00:41:51 Chris, was this the first time this is she's ever done this? It's not the first time that that she's done this. It's not the first time that this has happened. But, you know, as if you have someone close to you that's dealing with mental illness, you know, it's a sliding scale. So she lives on her own and she's productive. But this is something that she has been diagnosed with later in life. And I was actually headed. I was headed to Tulsa from Little Rock to try to help and try to intervene whenever all of this was happening. And I didn't get there in time. And by the time I got there, I drove around and looked for her in Tulsa and couldn't find her.

Starting point is 00:42:40 And I just happened to log on to the Tulsa County website to see if by chance if they took her to jail if there was a misunderstanding because I knew she was scared so I didn't know what might have transpired and so I just happened to log on and saw that they had taken her to jail and that's where we that's where it started. Demario this is a perfect example when people have talked about defund the police, of shifting resources away from police officers, going to the scene of mental health issues, mental breakdowns, and having professionals. But the beginning of the video

Starting point is 00:43:28 was what also was disturbing, that these cops were essentially taunting her, laughing at her. Yeah, Roland, I mean, they were saying, hey, you're going to get tased. I don't know if it's shown on the video, but the officer, Wani, who we're calling

Starting point is 00:43:44 to be immediately fired, she was saying, I love my job. This is going to be so much fun. And she says over and over and over that Ms. Paris was 85. And 85 in Tulsa police speak means she's mental. She's having a mental health episode. They're also on video saying, we know she's having a mental health episode, and we have the CR team, the CERT team, critical response team, but we called them, but they're busy. They can't come here. So they knew for a fact that she was having this mental health breakdown, and they treated her like less than an animal. They treated her worse than they would treat a dog. And not only did they do this to her, did they cause her physical injuries? But they put seven bogus

Starting point is 00:44:25 charges on her. They charged her with assaulting a battery-armed police officer. They charged her with resisting arrest. They charged her with animal cruelty. They charged her with attempted arson. Completely bogus. Took her to jail. They took her to the Tulsa County Jail. They didn't give her any help. They knew she was having a mental health breakdown. They took her to jail and, Roland, and for everyone that's listening,, need to understand, she spent 30 days in jail, two weeks in solitary confinement as they kept saying they were going to let her out because they knew she was needing mental help. They never let her out of jail. 30 days in jail, two weeks in solitary confinement over some bogus trump-up charges. This is what the Tulsa Police

Starting point is 00:45:06 Department does to Black people on a daily basis here in Oklahoma. They started with the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and they've continued to this very day. And as you stated, Roland, this is a perfect example of why we need less funding for police and more funding for better

Starting point is 00:45:22 services for people, but we need more accountability for people like this officer that violate the constitutional rights and the basic dignity and human rights and respect of people like LaDonna Pairs, a great-grandmother, a seminary student, an author, a very accomplished woman treated like that on camera. It's an outrage. The thing

Starting point is 00:45:45 that is crazy to me, Chris, spending that long time in jail? For what? Yeah. Real quickly, just to give you a little idea of what happened, I had been corresponding

Starting point is 00:46:01 with the person that was over the mental health area in the jail. And she told me she told me that she was taking notes and she was going to be going to the judge before the arraignment. And I shouldn't have to worry about it because she'll be transferred to the Tulsa Behavioral Center for the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health. So she could get some help because she really shouldn't even be there. And so November 1st came, the day of her arraignment, and she never went before the judge. And my wife contacted me and said, have you looked online and checked at the updates? And her court date got pushed back to December 1st at that point. So at that point, we were just like, she's just going to be sitting here. And

Starting point is 00:46:45 it's just, it's just, and I just want to say one more thing, Roland, I wasn't prepared. I knew that something wasn't right whenever I requested the body cam footage, but I received the body cam footage in the mail and I just started to comb through the hours of footage, and I couldn't believe the stuff that I saw. It was sadistic, the way that she handled the situation, the way that she laughed and mocked my mom, knowing that, as Demario said, that she was in mental distress. And the other officers didn't intervene. But she just, she had a great time. It's the only way I can say it. Kendra, what do you want to happen to these police officers? but she just, she had a great time. It's the only way I can say it. Kendra, what do you want to happen to these police officers?

Starting point is 00:47:30 I want them to be held accountable. Obviously, I want her to be fired. My fear is that if she knew she was on body cam and if she was treating my mother in this way, someone mentally ill, you know, how does she treat people when the body cam is not there? And so extremely concerning. So she does not need to be in the Tulsa Police Department serving and protecting the citizens of Tulsa. I do want the other officers held account. I think we've learned in a recent past that officers that just sit idly by when other officers use and abuse other

Starting point is 00:48:01 citizens, that they need to be held account as well. But certainly she needs to lose her job. DeMario, what has actually happened? Anybody put on suspension, desk duty, administrative leave, or nothing? Absolutely not, Roland. This officer, and her name is Ronnie Carisa. I think that's how you spell it, say it. This officer has not had any type of discipline to our knowledge. And in fact, Roland, last week, the city of Tulsa Police Department came out and said everything this officer did was his end policy. And the city of Tulsa mayor came out with a statement and stated that he has full trust and belief in the investigation of the police department. In other words, they are condoning this particular behavior against Ms. Parris and black people here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is why I get so fired up about this, because if this can happen to Ms. Parris, a great grandmother having a mental health breakdown that they knew she was having on video, they knew they would be videot, and they still acted like animals and savages. Imagine what they do every single day to black and brown people around this country and this city when they think they can get away with it. So that's why we're calling for her to be immediately

Starting point is 00:49:14 fired. We're calling for these other officers to be disciplined, and we're calling for the Department of Justice to come in and open up a civil rights violation investigation against this officer. She intentionally violated the rights of LaDonna Paris. They must be held accountable. We will not stop until we see these officers and the city of Tulsa held accountable for what they've done to LaDonna Paris. And I hope everyone that's listening will go and sign our petition telling the city of Tulsa Mayor, Mayor G.T. Bynum, to fire this officer immediately. Here is the statement from the Tulsa Police Department. The video that was sent to my attention

Starting point is 00:49:53 is edited down from 90 minutes to just under six minutes. To be clear, the banter between the officers outside of the presence of the suspect can be received as unprofessional and has been addressed with the officers. The overall actions of the officers and has been addressed with the officers. The overall actions of the officers and the way in which the call was handled is within the policies of the Tulsa Police Department. In summary, we were called to a location by staff to remove an individual who was trespassing.

Starting point is 00:50:18 The suspect used an aerosol can and lighter in an unsuccessful attempt to set a fire. Officers attempted to call our community response team to the location, but they were unable to respond. After 34 minutes of unsuccessful verbal coaxing, Parris still refused to open the door and surrender. Officers forced entry into the small bathroom and quickly secured Parris with minimal force. When loading Parris into a vehicle,

Starting point is 00:50:42 she kicked an officer during During and after transport, Paris was compliant with officers. Chris, you're shaking your head. I am. I am. Well, first off, what they initially said in that statement about it being condensed down to six minutes.

Starting point is 00:51:00 Listen, regardless of the span of time of the complete body footage, the officers did what you saw on a six-minute video. And it's disgusting and it's vile. And, I mean, without getting too granular with it, a lot of that stuff that they're saying is ridiculous. And it's just so sad that I'm not surprised, but it hear them say that, well, it was edited down, but also shouldn't it be a concern to a police department that your community response

Starting point is 00:51:52 team didn't get 34 minutes and they still hadn't arrived? That's a problem. Yeah, also with that statement, Roland, they completely did both face lying. Number one, the call from the Habitat for Humanity, they knew Ms. Paris and they were concerned about her. They knew she was having a mental health breakdown and they communicated that to the police.

Starting point is 00:52:13 She was not trespassing. Number two, a week around the same time that they said they waited for 45 minutes, they had a standoff with a white individual that was having a mental health breakdown who had a sword, who was trying to get into the next apartment next door, trying to get in and stab the next person in the apartment. They waited seven hours for that to let that situation calm down. So this talk that they're trying to say they needed more time is completely bogus. They needed to do what was right by wait for the community resource team. Because another aspect of this story is they had already had some contact

Starting point is 00:52:50 with Ms. Perez at her seminary. This was well known that she was having this mental health breakdown. And I know they were saying, well, this was something that was within policy. If this is within policy, as you always say, Roland, not only does policy need to change, but it also shows that this is the pattern, practice, and custom and culture of the Tulsa Police Department, which was actually stated by the city council last Wednesday when this issue came up. So this particular police department, we need the Department of Justice to come in and open a pattern and practice investigation immediately. They killed Terrence Crutcher with his hands up in the air. Nothing happened for that. They killed Joshua Harvey, tased him 27 times, another client of mine.

Starting point is 00:53:32 Nothing happened for that. They killed Ollie Brooks, a black man that they came in and tased a dozen times, unarmed. Nothing happened after that. They've done, left down her parents, treated her like trash, bloodied her, put her in jail for over a month, bogus charges that's been dismissed by a judge. We need the Department of Justice to come in. We need this

Starting point is 00:53:51 officer fired and we need some real accountability and justice. All right, folks, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. DeMario, Solomon Simmons, Kendra Jackson, as well as Chris Williams. Thank you so very much. Thanks for having me. Folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, more on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We'll talk about some of the news of the day. And got a few thoughts about Magic Johnson, Howard Stern, and what happens when you actually don't have power, even on a show with your name on it.

Starting point is 00:54:32 You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered with Blackstar Network. On the next A Balanced Life, April is Autism Awareness Month. We will be having a very special conversation on education, advocacy, and working in that space. Whether you have a child on the spectrum or not, this is a space for you. This is a conversation you don't want to miss. Join me, Dr. Jackie, on A Balanced Life on Black Star Network. 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.

Starting point is 00:55:27 And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Blackstar Network. Hey, I'm Deon Cole from Blackist. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

Starting point is 00:55:57 But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Starting point is 00:56:22 It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

Starting point is 00:56:48 I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

Starting point is 00:57:03 It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

Starting point is 00:57:26 MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

Starting point is 00:57:34 It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

Starting point is 00:57:43 your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals.

Starting point is 00:58:09 Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. So, Apple TV, Apple Plus has a docuseries coming out April 22nd that features Magic Johnson. And in this docuseries, they're talking about Magic Johnson's life. They're talking about him playing for the Lakers, his family. And as a part of that, they talk about when he was on, when Howard Stern came on his

Starting point is 00:59:27 ill-fated late night show that Magic Johnson hosted. And Howard Stern made some comments directly to his face. Joked with him how much fun Magic had to have had by catching AIDS. Magic has to correct him saying it was HIV. He talked about that how it was during how he was blacker. He was he was he was blacker than Magic Johnson told him he should have used is he should use Ebonics on the show. And so Magic has been quoted as saying, man, I wanted to punch the guy. But but the thing that caught me the most when I saw this, when I saw

Starting point is 01:00:07 the segment, was that Magic said that, well, you know what, the bookers, the producers, hey, they ran the show, and really there was nothing more that I could do. And I thought about that for a second. And, you know, one of the things that I think people do, people are very quick to talk about how so-and-so has power. You hear that all the time. The most powerful person in music, the most powerful person in Hollywood, the most powerful person in media, and oh, how much power. I remember when Michael Jordan was in the NBA, and folks talked about Michael Jordan is the most powerful basketball

Starting point is 01:00:53 player in the NBA. Folks say right now that LeBron James is the most powerful person, and what I often have to remind people is that no, no, Michael and LeBron, in this case Magic, no, they had influence. They had influence. They had leverage. They didn't have power. They didn't own. They didn't control. They had leverage and influence.

Starting point is 01:01:24 In fact, when Michael Jordan came out of retirement to play for the Washington Wizards, the Wizards had never in their history made more money. They never made a profit. Stands were filled. Then Michael decided that, you know what, I'm done playing. So he said, I'm going back to get my job. So he walked into a meeting with Ted Leonis, who was the owner of the Washington Wizards, and he comes in and gets his job back. A. Pollan is sitting across the table. And A. Pollan says, well, Michael, you know what?

Starting point is 01:02:11 We're going to go another direction. A. Pollan hands him a $10 million check. He thanks him for his services. Michael is confused. What's going on? Michael gets pissed off. Michael gets up, walks out, leaves a $10 million check on the desk. And Michael storms out, gets in his Jaguar, drives off the lot.

Starting point is 01:02:39 And folks are like, oh, my God, I can't believe that happened to Michael Jordan. And I said, when I read the book, I said, Michael Jordan learned the difference between leverage, influence, and power. And we were talking about this idea of power, Tanya, Monique, Scott. I'm always trying to explain to people, you better know the difference between the three because we too often make the mistake by saying somebody has power when all they have is leverage and influence. Scott. Roland, I think you're absolutely right. I think you're absolutely right about that. And there's a huge difference.

Starting point is 01:03:22 Just like there's a big difference between being rich and being wealthy. You got to know the difference. So, you know, when you own something, you're in the ultimate control. You own the show. You own the rights, the trademarks and what have you. You decide who gets to say what, do what, what the program is going to be, right? When you are an influencer and you're getting paid by the owner, you have far more, you have far less influence, right, and control than the owner. But power is perception. And so third parties and the masses believe if you're rich, if you're famous, and if a baseball team or football team pays you and you're a superstar, then you are a powerful human being in the United States of America. Not so fast. You are influential, right?

Starting point is 01:04:16 You are popular, right? powerful if you can't decide what you're going to do, who's going to do it with you, and how you're going to implement the plan and goal of either your team or your business or what have you. And so for me, I love being an owner, part owner of a big law firm, right? Because I generate business. I argue about my money at the end of the year, but I can't be fired as a lawyer. They can do a lot to make me resign my partnership, but I can't be fired because I'm not an employee. I'm an equity partner. And that's a good example of the difference

Starting point is 01:04:57 between working for a firm, a big or small, and owning that firm. And you can apply that across the board with any industry. See, the reason I bring this up, Tanya, because I have these conversations with a lot of people, and when we're talking about these things, folks, oh, yeah, I mean, that's power. When I hear people say things like, you know, we own the culture. We control the culture. And I go, really?

Starting point is 01:05:31 Well, who tells you when you can put your music out? Who tells you when you can put your clothing line out? See, I think for a lot of people, what we have to understand is for a lot of us, we think signing big deals where we're given a so-called big check is power. But if you're being handed $10 million, I think back to Master P when he had a meeting with Jimmy Iovine and Jimmy Iovine offered Master P a million dollars to sign with him, and Master P said, you know what? I'm going to run some errands. I'm going to think about it. And Alvin said, if you leave here and don't sign this deal, take this million dollars, you'll never sign another

Starting point is 01:06:16 deal in this town. And he got on a plane with his brother, C. Murder, they were flying back to Louisiana. And so C. Murder goes, man, what were you doing? It's a million dollars. He said, if that white man offered me a million dollars, he said, how much you think I'm really worth?

Starting point is 01:06:32 That's somebody who's thinking totally different when it comes to power, influence, leverage. Absolutely. I'm glad that you used Michael Jordan as an example because as much as he was paid to play, the real comparison is how much money was generated when he came to a city to perform. I mean, restaurants made money. The city made money. I mean, he was generating more money than he was paid. Power is often, and power brokers are often invisible.

Starting point is 01:07:08 We don't know who they are. But those who are influencers and those who have leverage only have as much influence and can wield as much leverage as those in power allow them to. See, Monique, I love when we talk to certain people, and I love it when people talk about who has power and who's doing stuff. And a lot

Starting point is 01:07:34 of people out there who watch boxing, they crack jokes about Floyd Mayweather. Folks say, oh, he didn't slug it out, stuff along those lines but Al Heyman taught Floyd Mayweather about power Al Heyman was a music was a music promoter he

Starting point is 01:07:53 promoted the old Budweiser Superfest he was a concert promoter and so Heyman sat with Floyd Mayweather and he said Floyd why you boxing for the small amount of money and Bob Arum, the promoter, making way more money than you? He said, have you read your contract? He said, you know you can buy Bob Arum out for $750,000 and you can promote your fights yourself.

Starting point is 01:08:28 So when Floyd did that, so when people hear these stories, Floyd Mayweather made $125 million. What they don't realize is had Floyd Mayweather stuck with the previous deal, Bob Aaron would have been the one making $60, $70, $80, $90 million. Floyd would have been making $15, $20, $30. Now, I'm not scoffing at $15, $20, $30, but I would think $150 million is more than $15, $20, or $30 million. And they flipped the power dynamic.

Starting point is 01:08:58 All because he said, read your contract. If you pay him the $750,000, you can control your own destiny. And that's why Florida's able to fly away once on private jets. He owns buildings in New York because he made more than $500 million

Starting point is 01:09:17 because he flipped the switch on that deal. He changed the dynamics of who had leverage, influence, and power. Yes, but power is not money, right? Power is autonomy over your own actions and over the actions of others. It's a measure of control over outcomes

Starting point is 01:09:43 for yourself and for others. But that is the money. It didn't only bring the money part. Because what he then did was create his own promotions company. Al Heyman shifted control in boxing. And then all of a sudden flipped the deal from HBO to Showtime. And so we talk about power. Who right now is the most powerful person in boxing?

Starting point is 01:10:04 It's a black man named Al Heyman because he understood the money dynamics and also how the system works. Go ahead. Right. I'm really my analysis is just about the difference between power and leverage and influence. And, you know, Bob Maxwell always talks about how leadership is influence. So if you are able to influence other people, it's a leadership dynamic. It's not necessarily a power dynamic. Power means you may also be able to influence and control other people, but you don't necessarily have to use it that way.

Starting point is 01:10:36 So Joe Biden doesn't make near the most amount of money in the world by any stretch of the imagination. But he's arguably the most powerful because the decisions that he makes affect a globe. When we are talking about personal power and personal autonomy, that is something different. That means that I decide if I go to work or if I don't, if that's what I want to do with my power. Or perhaps it means that I utilize it in order to make the lives of others better, but I have it at my disposal to be able to do. So I just think that the conversation is more nuanced than that, that there are people who have a lot of power and who are terrible leaders and have zero influence. And there's a difference, obviously, between being an influencer and that you have followers,

Starting point is 01:11:20 like a million people following you, but you couldn't get that million people to pay a dollar. So in all the different lanes, it depends on what the true definition is that you hope to utilize it for and whether your power is individual or collective, say with voting. We all have power because as powerful as Joe Biden is, we control whether he's in or out. So I just think there are lots of different ways that we can look at this. I don't think that the person who goes to a job is necessarily less powerful because they choose to not have their autonomy in that area, but they may be able to well exert it in others. So. Well, and again, the person still, the person who goes to a job is a lot different than the person who can call them and say, you don't have a job today.

Starting point is 01:12:10 And so I just think a lot of times a lot of folk make that make that mistake when we talk about the person who is indeed in power. And so I just want folks to understand the difference between power, leverage, and influence. Now let's talk about what's happening on the continent of Africa, folks. We've been seeing the stories about Ukraine, but there are several conflicts happening across the continent. Friday, we talked to Simon Ding, a former enslaved Sudanese child turned human rights activist, about what was happening in South Sudan. Well, Sunday, South Sudan's president and his deputy agreed to unify the military command of the security forces, hopefully ceasing clashes between government troops

Starting point is 01:12:49 and forces loyal to Vice President Rick Mushar, raising the threat of another outbreak of severe fighting. In Cameroon, the conflict is between Cameroon's military and separatist forces from the two Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions. This conflict has been going on since October of 2017. There's daily civil wars between two colonizing governments, the French and the British. So why don't we hear about what's happening much in these African nations as we

Starting point is 01:13:16 hear about Russia and Ukraine? Right now, Milton Alamadi, he's the publisher of Blackstarnews.com and an adjunct professor at Columbia University and John Jay College. He joins us from New York. And I would assume that Blackstarnews.com comes from that one. It was Marcus Garvey's cruise ship. Also, you have the Black Star there in Ghana that was erected under Kwame Nkrumah, correct? Correct. 100%. He is the inspiration. Which is also why this is called Black Star Network. Glad to have you here. As someone who covers these things,

Starting point is 01:13:53 give people an understanding of the death toll that has been experienced in these conflicts, not just South Sudan or Cameroon, but also happening in Ethiopia. Well, I don't even know where to start. I think the best way to understand conflicts in African countries is to what degree do Africans have control over these conflicts? So let's look at Cameroon, for example.

Starting point is 01:14:24 You have a person who's been ruling, the same person ruling the country for 40 years now, president slash dictator, imposed and supported by the French. And the French have no qualms about the number of people being killed in this conflict because they support the French-speaking side. Cameroon has a unique history. That same country that now forms the nation of Cameroon has a part that was French colonized, as you indicated, and that's the majority population,

Starting point is 01:15:02 and the other side, which is the Southwest, which was English colonized. And how did it come about like this? After Germany was defeated in World War I, England and France then split up that territory that used to be controlled by Germany. And then after independence in 1961, the United Nations conducted a plebiscite, and there were only two options. Either the English side could unite with Nigeria or unite with the French-speaking side. There was no option for independence, which is actually what they wanted. And then they had a federation, a federal government.

Starting point is 01:15:44 The president came from the French-speaking federal government. The president came from the French-speaking side. The vice president came from the English-speaking side. But then about 10 years later, the French decided to ditch that constitution and had a unitary constitution and all the powers concentrated in the presidency. And that's when the conflict really started to flare up, because the southern part, where the oil is actually concentrated, now it became marginalized. And what they started to do was to try to impose French language in the schools, in the judicial system,

Starting point is 01:16:18 throughout the country, including the Southwest. And that's why we have the second flare-up from 2017. Tens of thousands of people have died because obviously the French-speaking side has the bigger army, the national army, supported and financed by France. And get this, the so-called president of the country himself lives most of the year in a luxury presidential suite,

Starting point is 01:16:42 not in Cameroon, but in Geneva, in Switzerland. And that's where he runs, supposedly runs the country from, you know. So that's why the people in the Southwest are now agitating. And in 2017, they were asking, their demand was, let's go back to the federal system we had. But now they're saying because of the brutal reaction by the government, they now want a separate nation of Ambarzonia. And that's what they've been fighting for. So the death tolls, of course, amounts in the tens of thousands in Cameroon, the same thing in Ethiopia, the same thing in South Sudan.

Starting point is 01:17:26 And at the end of the day, this is what I like to say. If Kwame Nkrumah's argument had won the day in 1963, when the Organization of African Unity was being formed, and he said, folks, let's form a United States of Africa, we would not be having a lot of these conflicts. Because number one, Africa, as a United States of Africa, will be able to control its resources and not have to be subjected to what we actually have is a neocolonial environment by the former colonial powers, primarily France and Britain, and now joined by the new neocolonial power in Africa, which is the United States of America. I mean, that really speaks volumes. And so here we have French weighing in on what's happening in Ukraine, but saying nothing about Cameroon. Right. I mean, it's preposterous. And, you know, but it's folks like us that can make this demand that this be inserted

Starting point is 01:18:23 into the conversation. And I'm glad you brought up Ukraine. Look at the anti-Black, anti-Africa racism that Africans who study or work in Ukraine were subjected to. And if you notice, the so-called mainstream media had ignored that story for several days. The New York Times didn't pick it up until like four or five days later when it had been all over social media. And here's the disappointing part as well, Roland. Many of our own brothers and sisters who work for many of these corporate media outlets were not brave enough to speak about this story. It's as if we need permission. They do. From? They do. American. No, no, no, no. It's not as if they do. So let me stop. They do. No, no, no. Let's be

Starting point is 01:19:15 real clear. They do need permission. They just can't decide that we're going to put this on our show. They can be overruled. And that's, which was what I was just talking about, talking about power. When you own, you can now discuss it. Otherwise you asking somebody's opinion or you asking permission and they can actually tell you no. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

Starting point is 01:20:02 comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st

Starting point is 01:20:33 and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Starting point is 01:20:51 Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher.

Starting point is 01:21:15 Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

Starting point is 01:21:30 It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Starting point is 01:22:07 Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. And that is the shameful thought. And then look at this. Look at the insult upon injury. And then what does Ukraine, what do the Ukrainian authorities then do? They start going around the world, including to African countries, to recruit African mercenaries, young Africans who are unemployed, to go and fight in Ukraine against the Russians. So they went to South Africa. They went to Nigeria. They went to Senegal. And their embassies were putting these signs on their Facebook page, trying to recruit Africans

Starting point is 01:22:57 to go and fight in the same country where they were being treated like fifth-class human beings and being assaulted, being prevented from fleeing the country. Many of them, in fact, as we were trying to flee, were being told, no, we're going to keep you here because we want you to fight with us against the Russians. And that's so preposterous. You kick them out, treat them like dirt, and then you run to Africa to try to recruit Africans to go and fight on your behalf in Ukraine. And I'm glad this attempted operation was quickly shut down

Starting point is 01:23:30 by most of these African countries, even though many of the people, young unemployed people, were actually willing to go and fight. That's how desperate they were. And that goes back to my indictment of the failure of many of the African leaders to properly harness political power. And that is why young Africans would still be willing to go and fight in a country where they saw Africans being abused. JOHN YANG, Let's go to our panel. First off, Tanya, you're first. TANYA BIRCHMAN, Well, what I was thinking about as he was speaking was our own history of discrimination in our military forces. And we had many African-Americans who fought bravely in all of the U.S. conflicts at home and abroad.

Starting point is 01:24:18 And they were fighting for principles and rights for other people that they were denied in their own territory, their place of birth. And so this hypocrisy is nothing new. I have been very disturbed by the fact that while we are inundated with news about Ukraine, these ongoing conflicts in Africa are not even a blip on the radar screen. And I think it speaks to the choices that media is making about what constitutes news. A lot of it is racialized, and it has to do with who those in power see as a victim and as worthy of coverage and who they choose to ignore because their humanity is nonexistent. Right.

Starting point is 01:25:10 I agree with you, sister. And here's the other part. I'm glad you brought up the fact that Africans in America or African-Americans fought on behalf of the establishment, including both world wars and Vietnam, and then coming back to the United States and still being treated like fifth-class citizens. And the same thing was happening for Africans on the continent. So about three million Africans were recruited to fight on behalf of European empire in the so-called world wars, conflicts that Africans had nothing to do with. But they were taken from the French colonies in Africa and the English colonies in Africa to go and fight in Europe. And tens of thousands of them died. And when they went back,

Starting point is 01:26:08 they went back to the same colonial environment where they were still treated like dirt. So the similarity between what happened to African-Americans in this country and for Africans that fought on behalf of empire is exactly identical. Somebody needs to do a good book or a documentary about that. And then in terms of the focus on the Ukraine conflict, as you noted, it also actually reinforces that agenda

Starting point is 01:26:37 to have we as Black people devalue our own lives. Because if the narrative and the focus is being set on the suffering of Europeans and you're suffering totally ignored, then you start to digest this unconsciously and you start to devalue the lives of fellow black people. And that's the other downside of that.

Starting point is 01:27:03 Absolutely. All right, then. Let's go to Monique. Thanks so much for just sharing your wealth of knowledge with us. What, if any, are the action items? What can people who are listening now do to help? Okay, very good. In terms of the focus, we need to have focus on conflicts in Ethiopia right in Ethiopia, and the region of Tigray, signed a secession of hostilities agreement. So this should be built on.

Starting point is 01:27:55 And what is very important in that is that the federal government had indicated it would be willing to lift the embargo because the Tigray region is landlocked. So without communication and transport from any other part of the country, they would not be able to get the necessary humanitarian resources, medicines and foods. So during the fighting, farmers were displaced. The farms destroyed. The food stores destroyed. So now they face a situation

Starting point is 01:28:25 of famine. So obviously, more media coverage could compel the parties to honor the obligations per the agreement and to build from there so that they have a permanent ceasefire and then go on to political discussions, how to resolve the political differences they have in the country. Cameroon gets no coverage at all. And that is primarily because, obviously, the U.S. and French, fellow neocolonial powers. So it's like, you know, you scratch my back, I scratch your back. And I think it's very shameful that corporate media, which often in this country, as we know, reflects

Starting point is 01:29:06 the position of the U.S. administration, even though they deride media in Russia without looking into the mirror at themselves. So, it's platforms such as this where we're now having this discussion that we can shame the other media to also do the right thing and do the coverage, but we should also be able to put pressure on the United States government that even though this is a French field of influence, as Africans in this country, we care about our sisters and brothers, so you should take an interest in this as well. Scott? Yeah, the history, Doctor, thank you for sharing. The history of the exploitation of black people, whether it's in wars or something. Scott, hold on one second. Doc, go ahead. Say it again. Well, first of all, that's a black thing. We call everybody Doc, so don't worry about that.

Starting point is 01:30:05 So you can don't worry about that. That's a black thing. Scott, go ahead. Now, you know, black people, black people, you see the channel. What up, doc? Don't worry about that. Scott, go ahead. Doctor, you should take that compliment and don't correct me.

Starting point is 01:30:19 Precisely. Thank you. You're right. Exactly. But thank you for sharing. The exploitation of black people is as old as history. Men and women of the darker you all around this world. And so given that fact, what is the formal or official position on on these African conflicts, these African these conflicts in African countries by the U.S. as well as the U.N.?

Starting point is 01:30:47 And does it say, whatever their position is, does it say anything about how they perceive the geopolitical importance of these African countries who are having civil conflicts or conflicts with their neighbors? Right. Okay. To be honest with you, they really don't care. They don't care at all. And which brings the other more serious question. Are these countries come to the conclusion that it is better to have neocolonial regimes in African countries. So, in other words, you may have an African prime minister or an African president, but all of them effectively serve the interest of the global European establishment, Europe and the United States. So they get a blank check. So that is why they can kill as many fellow Africans without any

Starting point is 01:31:56 retribution from the West, because they're not really doing anything that violates the interests of the West. So let me give you the classic example. In 1990, October 1, 1919, Rwanda was invaded from Uganda. Uganda has a neocolonial U.S. puppet who's been in power for 36 years. His name is General Yoweri Museveni. So, Museveni had convinced the United States that we can actually displace French neocolonialism from Rwanda with U.S. English-speaking neocolonialism and use me as the conduit. So, from 1990 to 1994, even though fighting was going on in Rwanda, exacerbating ethnic tensions between the Tutsi minority population and the Hutu majority, nothing happened. France, the neocolonial power, brought the issue to the United Nations Security Council

Starting point is 01:33:01 and said the invasion from Uganda is a war of aggression and could escalate things drastically in this country, which has ethnic volatility. So we should treat this as a war of aggression and force Uganda to withdraw. The United States blocked that attempt because the United States obviously was interested in displacing French imperialism from Rwanda. Fast a little forward to 1994, the plane carrying the Hutu president is then shot down, and lo and behold, things that had been predicted for the four years that the fighting was going on suddenly erupted, the genocidal massacres. Hundreds of thousands, estimates range from 800,000 to 1 million people killed. The United States was a big part of this conflict by having supported

Starting point is 01:33:56 the Ugandan invasion. But you don't get that in any of the narratives. And what was the primary target? The primary target was to take control of Rwanda in order to have access to the phenomenal resources of neighboring Congo, Eastern Congo. Eastern Congo, perhaps per square inch, perhaps one of the richest real estates in the world. You find anything and everything there. You name it. And here's the other thing. After the French influence was displaced from Rwanda, the invasion then went on into eastern Congo. And anybody can do the research. The estimates of people that have died in eastern Congo range from six to seven million. But at the same time that mountains of bodies are being created, guess what? Western companies were mining resources from eastern Congo.

Starting point is 01:34:58 This was a very well-planned, genocidal, profitable war. If anybody goes to the website of the United Nations and search which companies benefited from resources of Eastern Congo during this conflict, it will list major Western companies. So in other words, the UN did a report indicting these companies, but obviously it did not get major coverage in corporate media. And some of us here may be hearing this for the first time.

Starting point is 01:35:32 So that's why I say they don't really care about African lives. Anytime they take some action or pretend to care, it's just a question of a crocodile tear. Because otherwise, somebody needs to explain why the U.S. allowed the genocidal war in Rwanda as well as in Congo. Hey, Roland, you got time for one more question? I suppose, Kappa. If all of that is true and there's no reason not to believe that, then China is introduced into the African countries.

Starting point is 01:36:06 How do you justify their interests and their access to these African countries when the U.S. and the U.N., other countries, seem to be hands-off, as opposed to China that has heavily invested in Africa in several countries. Right. Okay. And I'm glad you asked that question because you can imagine how sickening it is to me when I hear these Western countries condemn China for not caring about human rights in Africa. This is what I just spoke about. And China's people are there too. Of course.

Starting point is 01:36:56 China, and that is why they're really envious of China. And I'm not saying this to praise China, because China, in a way, is a new imperial power in Africa as well. But the difference between China and the West is that China has never been behind any genocidal war in an African country. China, yes, has sent hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of Chinese to Africa. China has built infrastructure in African countries, built roads, bridges, built major buildings. But at the same time, China is now also leveraging and working itself into controlling African countries by virtue of all these loans that China has been lending. But the last person to tell African countries,

Starting point is 01:37:46 to warn African countries about China, the last person should be anybody from these Western countries who are actually behind all these genocidal wars. One final comment I'd like to make. I like the fact that Roland started this conversation by talking about power. African countries own all the resources that is creating wealth and prosperity

Starting point is 01:38:07 everywhere else around the world except in Africa. So while they may hold all the resources that the West and China now covet, they don't have power by virtue of not controlling the price at which those resources are sold. Well, as the president of Ghana said to me, he said, how can the richest continent in the world have the poorest people in the world? That simply cannot be the case. Mohsen Alamadi, publisher of BlackStartNews.com. We certainly appreciate it.

Starting point is 01:38:43 Thank you so very much. Thank you so much. All right, folks, going tonews.com. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you so much. All right, folks, going to a break right now. We come back. Our Black and Missing person of the day. We always, of course, talk about that. Plus, you'll hear from Senator Gary Peters, who's leading the Democrats' effort to

Starting point is 01:38:58 take back or keep control of the U.S. Senate and expand their control. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Now, did you ever want to do a soap opera? I did it before on Another World. I did it years ago with Joe Morton, Morgan Freeman,

Starting point is 01:39:15 called Another World. It's the funk now, but that's how I started in TV. You? My first job. You? My very first TV job. Joe Morton and Morgan Freeman were on a soap opera? Together.

Starting point is 01:39:25 Yes. Wow. I know. Oh, I loved it. I played Freeman were on a soap opera? Together. Yes. I know. Oh, I loved it. I played a prostitute. I was real raw. My name was Lily Mason. I was a hoe on Tuesday, and then I owned the town two weeks

Starting point is 01:39:35 later. That's how they do you. Right. That's how soap opera. You evolve. So now I'm on this, but I'm rich right from Jump Street. So I'm on this, but I'm rich right from Jump Street. So I'm loving it. My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson Whitfield.

Starting point is 01:39:59 And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey, everybody. This your man, Fred Hammond. And you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Unfiltered. DeMarco Bradbury has been missing from Hamtrap, Michigan, since March 28th. The 16-year-old is 5 feet 1 inches tall, weighs 139 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. Anyone with information about DeMarco Bradbury's whereabouts should call the Hamtrap, Michigan Police Department at 313-800-5281, 313-800-5281.

Starting point is 01:40:48 All right, folks. First off, YouTube, Facebook. Y'all need to get y'all likes and shares up, okay? We should be at 1,000 on YouTube. We should be at a larger number on Facebook. So by the time this Senator Gary Peters interview ends, we should be at more than 1,000 likes on YouTube, especially with more, almost 2,500 of y'all watching right now. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the

Starting point is 01:41:12 time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

Starting point is 01:41:49 I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

Starting point is 01:42:22 Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

Starting point is 01:42:43 We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet, MMA fighter, Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

Starting point is 01:43:04 It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast season two on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content,

Starting point is 01:43:19 subscribe to lava for good. Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's that occasion. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. All right, folks, earlier today I talked with Democratic Senator

Starting point is 01:44:02 Gary Peters of Michigan. He leads the Democratic Senate Congressional Committee, which, of course, is tasked with reelecting and winning Democratic seats in the United States Senate. We talked about Judge Katonji Brown-Jackson, what they're going to do to speak to African-Americans in this midterm, and how are they going to overcome the low poll numbers of President Joe Biden. Here's our conversation. All right, Senator Gary Peters, let's get right to it. First of all, glad to have you here.

Starting point is 01:44:31 It's been a couple of years since I was there in Detroit when you were in that tough re-election campaign against John James. Yeah, absolutely. And it was wonderful to see you in Detroit. And it's really a privilege to be on your program. Thanks for having me on. Well, I want to use it as a setup. I mean, you were in a very tough reelection campaign in 2020. Now, all of a sudden, you're leading the Democrats campaign efforts to not only just keep control of the Senate, to expand your majorities. You've got some critical races, North Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky. You even have, you know, Gary Chambers in Louisiana talking about 300,000 unregistered African-Americans in Louisiana, an opportunity to actually do something

Starting point is 01:45:18 there with Democratic Governor John Bill Edwards, who won his reelection campaign as well. You're trying to hold on to Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, New Hampshire. But you also have hard poll numbers because of the economy, because of inflation. And so what really is your focus, your strategy to ensure Democrats are able to hold on to the United States Senate? Well, and I'm confident we will. But as you mentioned, I don't want to just bring back incumbents. That would be 50-50, which may make sure that we're still in the majority. But I think we have an opportunity to expand that as well. And let me just first say that the incumbents that we have running, and you mentioned Georgia with Senator Warnock and Senator Kelly in Arizona,

Starting point is 01:46:02 Senator Hassan in New Hampshire, and Senator Cortez Mesto in Nevada. They're all great senators, are all great campaigners. Those are tough states, but these are candidates who are battle-hardened, are used to winning in tough races, and I'm confident that they're going to win again. But as you mentioned, we have opportunities. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin is two examples, states that Joe Biden won. We have great candidates. We have primaries in both of those states right now, but great candidates. Any of them can win. And basically, the way we win is about a contrast. Elections are

Starting point is 01:46:34 about contrast. Where have Democrats been? Where have Republicans been? And when you look at just getting through this pandemic, the Recovery Act, which helped families get through the pandemic, helped small businesses survive, helped families put food on the table, providing child tax credit to help families with their children. Those were Democratic initiatives and not one Republican voted for them. They were against all of that help that people received. We've also made substantial investments in infrastructure, and we're focused on lowering costs. And you'll see this in the coming months as we fight to lower prescription drug costs and help families. And you contrast that with the Republican message.

Starting point is 01:47:12 We have my counterpart over in the Republican campaign committee. In his plan, he says if Republicans take the majority, they want to raise taxes on half of Americans. Folks, middle-income and lower- income folks. That's where they want to raise taxes. And they say zero about companies, major corporations in this country that pay zero taxes. That's OK for Republicans. But for hardworking Americans, they want to raise taxes. We have a very clear contrast to offer the American people this election season. But one of the things I've been out there, and there is a lot of apprehension. There are people, I could tell you specifically African

Starting point is 01:47:49 Americans, who are very frustrated. George Floyd Justice Act didn't pass. For the People Act, John Lewis Act didn't pass. And those are a couple of things. And the White House is sort of said to me, oh, we've done this, this, this, this. Those are two major things. There's a belief among African-American voters that not enough has been done. You're going to need black black turnout, especially in Florida, especially in North Carolina, especially rural, and Georgia, and even, of course, in the critical places in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, but also with Wisconsin and Milwaukee. Also, you got Ohio, so same thing, Cleveland, Akron, Dayton, Cincinnati, all those different places. And so what do you say to African Americans who are watching right now, listening, who say, I'm frustrated. I feel as if we gave you the majority and you didn't do enough with it? What do you tell those

Starting point is 01:48:49 voters? Well, I tell voters, certainly, we will continue to do more. We have to be able to expand that majority. That's why I say 52 is so important. But I think we should celebrate what we have accomplished as well. In fact, we're going to be celebrating something this week, which is Judge Jackson's confirmation to the United States Supreme Court. This is historic. And we have heard from Republicans who have said that if they were in the majority in the United States Senate, she would have never been confirmed at all. Here we have an amazing, highly qualified African-American woman is going to be placed on the court. She's going to bring amazing experience that we don't have on the court right now as a public defender, as someone who was on the sentencing commission,

Starting point is 01:49:38 someone who wasn't just in an ivory tower but was in trial courts directly working with people who's going to sit on the highest court on the land that's going to touch everybody's life. This is truly historic. We should be celebrating that and understand and believe Republicans when they say, and you'll see it in their votes, that they would not support her despite her incredible qualifications. So I would hope that we would celebrate the successes we have and understand we can have more successes, but that's why we're going to need to have more Democrats in the Senate and 52 would allow us to do even more than we've been able to do with 50-50. I've talked to Black Democratic strategists and pollsters and others who also say it is going to

Starting point is 01:50:20 be important to put the resources on the ground, boots on the ground, but also reaching out to Black-owned media and others. I've been highly critical in the past of Democrats and their efforts when it comes to providing those dollars to Black-owned media outlets. We, not just politically, but also when it comes to the federal government spending a billion dollars annually, only 1% going to African-Americans. And so are you also making it clear to the DSCC staff and to the candidates, do not give short shrift to Black media, the people out there who know how to reach African-Americans, because every vote is going to count. We saw that with the Warnock Ossoff runoff, and we saw that with Biden winning in Georgia and Arizona as well.

Starting point is 01:51:02 I couldn't agree more. And actually, I'm living proof of that in my race in Michigan, which was a very, very tight race, was absolutely critical for us to be able to get to the majority that we're in. And we made investments two years out, not just right election time, being in the community, engaging community activists from the community that will engage folks in their own community, it makes a difference. It was a critical difference for me in Detroit and Flint and other communities in Michigan, which was the difference between me winning and Joe Biden winning. I'm living proof of that. So now as chair of the DSCC, I'm making sure that that same template is used in every state that we have. And I also want to say, let's celebrate some of the amazing candidates

Starting point is 01:51:51 we have running for the Senate with Val Demings in Florida. I can guarantee you she knows how to win. I'm so excited about her candidacy and Sherry Beasley in North Carolina, who will be working in communities across North Carolina to turn out votes necessary to win. So we understand how important African-American votes are, not just for the Democratic Party, but for our country. We absolutely have to have those voices not only being heard at the ballot box, but seeing that in key places of representation, both in the Senate and now in the Supreme Court. Well, look, it's definitely going to be a whole lot of things happening between now and November. It'll be very contingent. Certainly, we'll look forward to having you back. And also, please encourage those senators who are running to make sure they

Starting point is 01:52:41 also are reaching out to shows like ours. I know a lot of people love, they want to focus on mainstream media, but again, it's all about the margins. And again, I think it's going to be an extremely long night come November because Republicans and their voter suppression efforts, and so every vote, absolutely going to count. Absolutely, Roland, and that's why I appreciate you focusing on that issue because it is about turnout. And as you know, this is a midterm as well, where people don't turn out to the same level as they do at the presidential year. But it is every bit as important. In fact, any gains that were gained in a presidential year can be very easily lost in the midterm if people don't show up. And it's certainly incumbent on candidates. It's incumbent on the DSCC. It's incumbent on all of us to make sure folks understand that there is a clear choice in this election. It'll make a major difference in their lives.

Starting point is 01:53:31 And the only way they can have some control over that is by going out and voting and making sure that their voice is heard. All right. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Great to be with you. Thank you. All right, Monique, I'll start with you. A new poll out today shows Hershel Walker leading Senator Raphael Warnock by four points in Georgia. Granted, it's very early, but the reality is if you look at the concern about the economy, inflation, rising prices, poll numbers of the president down, the Democrats do have a very difficult task, especially when historically the party that's in power loses seats. This is going to be a critical midterm election.

Starting point is 01:54:12 It absolutely is. And it's critical for Georgia. I mean, whatever you all did the last time, guys, you saved this nation and not just yourselves. But now, especially yourselves, will need saving because the options between your current senator and the frontrunner right now could not be more stark. And I am picking my words as carefully as I can, but this situation is dire. So let's vote, guys. Scott. Yeah, I think it's too late. I think without the George Floyd Act and the Voting Rights Act

Starting point is 01:54:56 and with inflation and this war, I think it's baked in with most of Black voters. And, you know, I challenge you, other than the Republicans are going to win, give me your top three reasons why black folks would come out and vote again for Democrats that haven't delivered on their promises. I just think it's too late in every polling. And I know you say it's early and what have you, but you're going to have to give black voters in Georgia and elsewhere more than Katonji as the reason to vote for the Democrats, because the two most important things for Democrats and for Black people is the Voting Rights Act and George Floyd Act, and we just simply did not get it done. Tanya? I absolutely agree with that. And I'm here in Atlanta, Georgia. We organized under unprecedented circumstances in the middle of a pandemic to deliver both two senators and a president. incredibly contentious. But we can't out-organize voter suppression and voter nullification

Starting point is 01:56:06 efforts. I mean, we just can't. And so I really appreciate you asking the senator to make sure that media, Black media outlets get the resources they need. These on-the-ground voting, voter registration and voter mobilization organizations, many of which are run by Black women, they need to be resourced. If you want people to make the persuasive case that Scott's talking about as to why you should stand in line in a pandemic where you can't even get water because it's against the law, you need to give them a reason to vote. Now, I'm going to vote because I'm 51, and I feel like my grandmother would turn over in her grave if I didn't.

Starting point is 01:56:47 But young people, it's like, what have you done for me lately? You don't give people what you want them to have. You feed them what they eat. We asked for protection from police brutality and death. We asked for laws that would protect the integrity of our franchise. And as much as I'm excited about Justice Jackson

Starting point is 01:57:08 ascending to the U.S. Supreme Court, for the lives of many Black people, that doesn't address the present need that they're dealing with. So I don't know. It may be too little too late. So here's why... Monique, go ahead. I pray that no person responsible for mobilizing on the ground is listening right now, especially

Starting point is 01:57:37 to my brother Scott and getting their hopes and their desire to create change crushed in the process of these words. It is quite obviously not too late. It is not too little. It is, frankly, before the voting ends, not too late. And as for the why, to me, it's obvious. And if we can't enunciate it to people who have not been around as long as we have, then that is our fault. That is not theirs because the differences cannot be more stark. And people are capable of doing that. Hold on, Scott. Fifty and fifty is a tie. And we've got a vice president. That is not the same thing as a majority as the senator was just discussing. So yes, there are things that we wanted delivered and we all fought for them. God knows I fought for them. Y'all fought for them. Roland fought for them. We all fought

Starting point is 01:58:35 for things for our people. Some of them we got, some of them we didn't, but I can guarantee you the things that we didn't get won't even be a whisper, not a thought, not a prayer, not a hope, not a plan. It certainly won't be legislation. The legislation was drafted from day one by the Democrats in the House. It was voted on in the House. It was passed in the House. It is the Senate where we do not have the votes nor the power. Now, if we want for there to be voting legislation, if we want for Roe v. Wade to be secured, if we want for elections to be secure, if we want any of these things to happen,

Starting point is 01:59:15 then it is necessary for our livelihood that we vote. If there is any hope of police reform, it only comes with our boats. It only comes. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait. Scott, Scott, wait. I heard all three of y'all.

Starting point is 01:59:36 Here's why I do not believe on April 6th that the world is over. You've got Congresswoman Val Demings, who's running in Florida. You've got Senator Raphael Warnock running for re-election in Georgia, a prolific fundraiser. You've got the candidate who's leading in a significant way in Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes, who is the current lieutenant governor.

Starting point is 02:00:03 You've got Sherry Beasley, the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, who is the Democratic candidate in North Carolina. You've got Charles Booker, who is running against Rand Paul in Kentucky. You've got Fetterman is leading in Pennsylvania, but you've also got Malcolm Kenyatta, who is also on the ballot as well. And so then, of course, you have probably the candidate who will win in Ohio is going to be Congressman Tim Ryan. So out of all those states I just mentioned, then, of course, we also had Gary Chambers, who's trying to become the Democratic nominee in Louisiana based upon the jungle primary. So the seven states I mentioned, you've got five black candidates who are running. And so when you talk about the issues that folks care about, to Bonique's point, when

Starting point is 02:00:50 you change the dynamics, we know right now the fundamental problem for Democrats is that you had two Democratic senators who stood in the way of making massive changes, Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin. If Democrats are able to hold on to New Hampshire, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, and you pick up three of the six, you're now at 53-47. You negate Sinema and Manchin.

Starting point is 02:01:22 So the very things that we're talking about that could get passed could very well happen. But here's the other issue. You still got to hold the house. Exactly. No, but I'm not. Hold up. And, Scott, I'm surprised you, you know, being Mr. Law, I guess you skipped all of the successes that the legal coalition, that Mark Elias of NAACP Legal Defense Fund,

Starting point is 02:01:46 the Lawless Community of Pacific Rights Under Law, how they have been operating, they have had court victories against the Republican voter suppression efforts. In Wisconsin, Republican-controlled Supreme Court. In Ohio, Republican-controlled Supreme Court against gerrymandering. They have had wins. Matter of fact, he just tweeted that they have a win today in Montana where the Supreme Court

Starting point is 02:02:10 has supported them. They have actually had wins in red states, and so the belief that the Republicans were going to be able to gerrymander themselves into a majority, they have been very successful in beating that back. So Democrats

Starting point is 02:02:26 may very well hold on to the House. I'm not of the belief that all is lost in the Senate. Now, Scott, then Tanya. Okay. Okay, so okay, and we had victories two years ago

Starting point is 02:02:42 and four years ago in regard to voter suppression. I don't know. No, no, no, no. We did not. That's not true. No, no, no. Hold up. That's not true. You've talked about it repeatedly two years ago. No, not that you said victories. Go ahead. Well, you had. Well, you at the federal court did not have redistricting four years ago. So what are you talking about? You didn't have anyricting four years ago.

Starting point is 02:03:05 So what are you talking about? You didn't have any gerrymandering victories four years ago or two years ago because there was no redistricting. That only came about after the census. You're not listening. Oh, yes, I am. Well, then you would have heard me say we had victories in regard to voter suppression two years ago. But listen, guys, I hope I'm wrong. Listen, hope springs eternal. But with a very unpopular administration, nobody's really given those top

Starting point is 02:03:35 three reasons why, in short order, Black people ought to go to vote for this administration. And given the inflation, they lost, they lost this elec... Let me tell you something. The Democrats lost this election when they decided to invest in the infrastructure plan and the Build Back Better plan that was... had broad appeal to black and white people and everybody else in the country,

Starting point is 02:03:58 as opposed to focusing on-on-on the, uh, Voting Rights Act. They had no votes. They put all their resources elsewhere. They had no votes. And you know what? That's gonna cost them this election. But here's the deal rights act. They had no votes. They put all their resources elsewhere. They had no votes. And you know what? That's going to cost them this election. But here's the deal, Scott.

Starting point is 02:04:08 Scott, you didn't have the votes. Scott, this is very simple. I agree. They didn't do enough to get the votes because they didn't invest in it. Scott, Scott, Scott. Scott, at 50-50, Scott. Not just me.

Starting point is 02:04:22 You said that. Scott, here's the whole deal. Let's be real clear. I've had Reverend William Barber in the Populous Campaign on this show numerous times. They've been leading massive protests in West Virginia. No, no, no.

Starting point is 02:04:34 And guess what? If you haven't moved Manchin with a 50-50 tie, you're not going to do it. It didn't pass the Senate. That's the whole point. We have had numerous conversations about how to move Manchin. You said yourself,

Starting point is 02:04:49 get in the streets, keep the pressure on. And guess what? Did it work? No. Why? Why didn't it work? You don't have the votes in the Senate and you don't have a president. No, no, no. Why didn't it work? At all costs. Why didn't it work? You didn't have the votes and you have a president. No, no, no, no. Why didn't it work? At all costs.

Starting point is 02:05:05 Why didn't it work? You didn't have the votes and you have a president that's failed to get those votes. No, you couldn't. Here's the deal. He couldn't get the votes. So the point I'm making,

Starting point is 02:05:15 and Tony, you're next. The point I'm making is if you have an opportunity, if you have an opportunity to pick up wins, to negate the two folks standing in the way, then that's what the focus is. Tanya, go.

Starting point is 02:05:28 You know, one thing that I wanted to mention was that I thought we put misplaced energy on protecting a procedural device, the filibuster, instead of ensuring that legislation that

Starting point is 02:05:44 was promised to Black voters would be delivered to Black folks. And all I'm saying, and I agree with Monique, that these are dire circumstances. I don't think that we wouldn't survive another Republican administration, but I hate to think what that experience is going to be like. but I'm talking about Black folks on the ground who can't afford to fill up their tank and put food on the table who are still experiencing the worst of the pandemic in terms of loss of life and employment,

Starting point is 02:06:19 convincing them that it is important in Georgia to stand in a line and be further exposed to vote when you can't even pass out work. We have people go to the polls and talking about kind of existential threats that they can't necessarily relate to right now when we already did that. And we didn't get what we were promised, is a very difficult needle to pick. Yeah, and it's going to be a very... It's going to be a steep hill to climb, but I will say this.

Starting point is 02:06:56 All of the things that folk wanted, we are absolutely guaranteed never to see if they are in control of the United States Senate. That's an absolute guarantee. All right, y'all. Got to go to a break. We come back. We'll talk about first black mayor in Milwaukee.

Starting point is 02:07:16 Also, white sheriff in Illinois. He had a white police chief out of a job because he was fully supporting white supremacy. A white mayor in New Jersey apologizing for the N-word? Boy, crazy-ass white people say we're going to be real busy. You're watching Rolling Rock Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Black Star Network

Starting point is 02:07:38 is here. Hope no punchy! A real revolutionary right now. We support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Hey, Black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going.

Starting point is 02:07:55 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 scary. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

Starting point is 02:08:35 But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Starting point is 02:09:10 It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 2, and 3 on May 21st,

Starting point is 02:09:25 and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Starting point is 02:09:42 Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

Starting point is 02:10:08 We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

Starting point is 02:10:23 It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up.

Starting point is 02:10:49 See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org,

Starting point is 02:11:11 brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I'm B.B. Winans. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. No charcoal grills are allowed. I'm white. I got you, Pearl. Yeah, and illegally selling water with our permit.

Starting point is 02:11:34 On my property. Whoa! Hey! Give me your ID. You don't live here. I'm uncomfortable. Law, we got a couple of news that's as crazy as white people. A veteran Springfield, Illinois police chief officer

Starting point is 02:11:49 resigned after his hate-filled racist post were discovered online. Aaron Paul Nichols wrote anti-black and anti-Semitic posts on Twitter and far-right websites. Here are some of his posts. When I seize power, hate crimes will be encouraged. Niggers ruin everything. Even if it's white doing the stealing, they're likely selling the meat to black-run restaurants or trading it to niggas for dope. Real talk. I'll say it in English. I'm a supporter of as many holocausts as it takes to cleanse this world of Talmudic influence. Wow.

Starting point is 02:12:25 The Springfield Police Department said the Springfield Police Department was made aware of comments reportedly posted to social media by an officer using a personal profile. Upon receiving this information, the department immediately launched an internal investigation. The officer has been placed on an unpaid administrative leave and his police powers have been removed. These are serious allegations and will be investigated thoroughly

Starting point is 02:12:42 in accordance with the Springfield Police Department procedures and the officers' collective bargaining agreement. The Springfield Police Department does not condone the use of racist comments by any of our officers at any time. Statements like this erode civilian trust and confidence in our department and are not tolerated. The views allegedly expressed by the officers do not align with our oath or the mission and philosophy of the Springfield Police Department and in no way reflects the views of the over 200 officers within our department. Nicholas had been a cop for nearly 20 years. Springfield's black population is 20%. In New Jersey, last week we told you how a New Jersey town paid nearly half a million dollars to whistleblower

Starting point is 02:13:19 who recorded the mayor and other city leaders on tape making racist comments. Well, the mayor of Clark, New Jersey, lied. Oh, oh, I didn't do that. I don't recall making any racist comments. Until yesterday. He admitted to making those comments. Y'all want a good laugh? Here's some of his apology.

Starting point is 02:13:41 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Mayor Sal Bonacorso. I'm here today to make a statement. I'm here today to say I've made mistakes, and I'd like to apologize for the pain I caused to the residents of Clark, my family, my friends, and all those that were offended by my comments. They had a right to expect more from me. My words should not reflect on any of them.

Starting point is 02:14:17 I deeply apologize for my hurtful and insensitive language. It was wrong, I'm embarrassed, and ashamed to have spoken that way about a race of people. I've learned and I have changed, and it will not happen again. However, a true measure of a man is whether he can admit an error and then learn from it. Let me tell you what I mean. Back in 2020, when the BLM marches came through Clark, I thought I understood why people were drawn to the street to participate. After interacting with people of all generations and races at several rallies and hearing their moving stories,

Starting point is 02:14:57 I started to see a much bigger picture of how discrimination played into a complex history. These experiences challenged my assumptions. I have never discriminated against anyone based on race, gender, and or any other groupings. I always treat people respectfully and fairly. I also learned after my interactions at these local rallies that people didn't see me or maybe my beloved town that way. I never forgot that. It's been about two years since my experience at the marches revealed my blind spots. Since that time, I've made a shift mentally.

Starting point is 02:15:46 I went to those marches in 2020 thinking I was going to hear people out. Instead, I heard much more inside my own head. I now realize that not sharing my insights and lessons from those rallies with this community was a missed opportunity. That day day I started a journey of awareness and that I should have shared my personal discoveries with all of you.

Starting point is 02:16:13 Regarding the insensitive nature of my comments about a female Clark police officers, they were hurtful and I'm sorry. They were also a part of a larger, difficult conversation we were having about performances of several officers employed by Clark PD. The truth is, I do not have a memory of every conversation I've had, and these are over four years old. I can say that I am a very different person in 2022 than I was in 2020. And for that, when those tapes were made four years ago, because the world is a teacher and I've gotten through good fortune to learn from it. A person's age doesn't determine growth. It's ongoing. I was blessed through a mutual friend to meet a gentleman by the name of Mark Bullock, a Raleigh resident, a community leader, a CEO of a nonprofit group, New Life CDC. After a long, heartfelt,

Starting point is 02:17:31 truthful conversation with Mark, I've decided it's time to continue my learning with action. Starting immediately, I will be working with Mark and members of his organization to contribute to communities and to bring people together. I would like to thank him for meeting with me, and I look forward to working in partnership with him. I can't play no more of that bullshit, Tonya. I just can't. First of all, four years ago, he said a person missed their mistakes.

Starting point is 02:18:02 That fool initially said he didn't say it. He lying. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy says Bonacorso needs to resign. he said a person missed their mistakes. That fool initially said he didn't say it. He lying. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy says Bonacorso needs to resign. I don't believe a damn thing he's saying. What he really saying is, damn, I got caught. I definitely think he regrets having been recorded.

Starting point is 02:18:19 And just as he said, he doesn't remember every comment he's ever had. But over the course of 20 years he's never discriminated against anyone. He just may not remember that he has, right? I'm sure this was not the only conversation he had, and I'm sure that if he has expressed opinions like this, they may have also consciously or unconsciously informed his behavior. Hiring decisions, firing decisions, how he's evaluated folks. So I think his statement was internally inconsistent,

Starting point is 02:18:51 and more than that, to me, it was insincere. Scott, between him and the white supremacist cop, man, y'all some grown-ass men. I ain't buying that BS. When he with his boys, when he with his boys, that's when he let his hair down. Using the N-word and talking about women aren't good cops. And, you know, them N-words ain't worth shit over in the south side of town. Let me tell you something.

Starting point is 02:19:23 He got caught. He lied for us. He got caught. And he's apologizing because he's trying to get reelected. But Clark, I think that's the name of the town. Clark has a history of police brutality, real and perceived. And on the other cop, that's the Heil Hitler cop, let's remember, you know, Southern Illinois is below the Mason-Dixon line. Collinsville, Illinois, Springfield, it's way down there. You ain't far from Arkansas. In fact, you right next to Arkansas down there. So nobody should be surprised that in Illinois, Northern Illinois, Chicago, Southern Illinois, you're going to get them white racist Southern

Starting point is 02:20:05 folks because that's what you've got down there. It's a long state. Well, I do want to remind everybody who's watching, the NAACP was founded after a race riot in Springfield, Illinois. Exactly.

Starting point is 02:20:21 Just so y'all understand the history of Springfield, Illinois. All right, y'all. Boy, it's always crazy. All right so y'all understand the history of Springfield, Illinois. Alright, y'all. Boy, it's always crazy. Alright, y'all. Tap on TikTok. Every day, we remind you that black-owned media and black stories matter. In today's Tech Talk, we have a tech entrepreneur who was sick of the lack of diversity on cable TV,

Starting point is 02:20:56 so she created a streaming service celebrating global black stories. Here's a look at Quayle TV. Does your girlfriend know we're here? Uh-huh. Yeah, she does. Oh, my God! Um, yes. This system had one intention, to put us in prison. It's just that simple.

Starting point is 02:21:43 All right, for those who don't know, Kweli means truth in Swahili. Joining us right now from Louisiana, Virginia, Deshauna Spencer, founder and CEO of Qualia. What's happening? Hey, how are you? All right, so how long have businesses you launched and how has it been going? How you been growing your subscriber base?

Starting point is 02:21:58 Yeah, so we launched in 2017 at a beta and things are, I would say, growing organically. That's how I would describe it. So when I initially started Kool-Aid TV, our goal was to be a subscription-only based platform. But as time has gone on, there are a number of different ways, a number of different things have really transpired. Like there are fast channels and they're ad-supported like Tubi. And so one of the things we've been doing is really diversifying how we create revenue for the company. And so while our subscriber base is going organically, you know, we also have rentals and we have a live channel that's ad-supported.

Starting point is 02:22:37 And we also have EDU and we're working with schools and creating opportunities for schools to have subscriptions to Kool-Aid TV. So we've really evolved and we we initially talked a couple years ago as far as how we reach people. Wow. And tell folks the type of content. So essentially, you're competing against the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming movies, movie and documentary services. Yeah, it's crazy, right? I started Kool-Aid TV with $20,000 in a dream. I always tell people that Netflix probably spends that in a day on toilet paper or something, right? And so I always tell people, like, not that we're competing. I think that when we started Quake TV, people called us the Black Netflix. I actually hated that term because I don't want to be the Black anything. I think where our goal is to chart our own territory

Starting point is 02:23:27 and our own terrain in this industry. But at the end of the day, yeah, I mean, like we are fighting for eyeballs, just like Black Netflix and HBO Max, all those other platforms. But I will say that as a Black-owned media company, it's something that they're not really able to do is really create community.

Starting point is 02:23:44 And those are some things we've been really focusing on through events and other ways in which we're sort of tapping into our customer base that those other platforms just aren't able to do. Scott, your question. The content, right? What are the standards for your content on your streaming service? And do you see any original programming in the future for your concept? Definitely. So as far as the type of content that we have, Kool-Aid TV, we have content from across the globe, all Black stories. So North America, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, even Australia.

Starting point is 02:24:25 I always tell people I have content everywhere except Antarctica because it's cold there and black folks haven't quite made it there until climate change happens. We all know that, right? I hear you. But what I tell people, too, is that for us, Chloe Meets Truth is all about telling authentic stories. And we also want to change the Black narrative. I really feel that media is such an important vehicle that shows a lens about all of our experiences. And we know the correlation between how we're perceived in the media and how we're treated as a community. And so my goal with Chloe TV is really to create a space that celebrates these independent Black films from around the world that's authentic, but at the same time not showcasing stereotypes or even showcasing Black death and Black suffering.

Starting point is 02:25:15 I mean, we've been through a lot in the last couple of years. And the last thing we want to do is while people are scrolling and seeing someone being arrested or someone being mistreated as a Black person to watch on our platform as well. So when you see other platforms like for Black History Month, they're showing slavery movies where we're getting beaten. You know, we want to sort of counteract that and show celebratory stories. Right. Congrats. Tanya, your question. Yes, I am just so impressed with this whole project, and I love the community-building aspect of it.

Starting point is 02:25:50 What has been the biggest challenge as you grow organically? And I love that term. What has been the biggest challenge, and how are you planning to respond to that challenge? Good question. So when we started Quake TV, there was no strong but glee. I mean, we were really at the forefront, really trying to

Starting point is 02:26:10 create this streaming experience. And I will say that a lot of times for our audience, because we are a smaller company and we haven't raised a traditional seed or series A round, that their expectations are as if we were a Netflix or HBO Max.

Starting point is 02:26:27 And we try our best to accommodate as much as we can and to be on different distribution channels and all of that. But the reality is that we just don't have the same resources. And so that is probably one of the biggest challenges that we have is just trying to, as Rowan said, really compete in a way, not trying to say we're trying to compete with Netflix, but compete with the expectations of our audience because they're used to certain things you can get on these other platforms. And two, I was actually, I was not aware of the challenges that Black people face trying to raise money. I had no idea that Black women only raised 0.2%. When we launched our beta years before, like two years before we were launching in 2017, we had customers,

Starting point is 02:27:14 they won and we had 30 day trials. So people were subscribing and we were making money within 30 days. It was shocking and pleasantly shocking because I didn't have a background in it. I didn't even know how well the company was going to go, but people were really excited about it. But the debate was in such disarray. It was, it was so bad that people literally had, people had to reset their password. They had to like email us, which was me. Cause I was my only employee for a while and having to actually reset the password for them. Like, how horrible is that?

Starting point is 02:27:45 Like, so many red flags, right? But people were like, we believe in you, girl. But it took us two years to launch on the beta because despite having these customers and people believing in us, we just could not raise the money to launch on the beta in a timely manner. And people started dropping off, you know, which makes sense. And so that's been a really big challenge is really trying to grow in a way that, you know,

Starting point is 02:28:08 we stay authentic and not adhere to like stereotypes, but at the same time, growing. So you have enough money to market and things like that, that we just don't really have the money to do. And so we've really been growing organically and growing at a pace that maybe I would not have expected. But I always say year over year, financially, we've been growing 40% year over year for our financials. And so I think as we're diversifying how we make revenue and how we touch our customers, it's really been helpful.

Starting point is 02:28:39 So let us know how much you per month? We are $5.99 per month or $49.99 a year. Gotcha. And you've grown to how many subs now? So right now we're at about 6,000 paying subs. So it's nowhere near, I know I met you years ago, like, oh, it'll be 10,000 in a year. We only spend about $1,000 a month on subscriptions. But we do have 46,000 registered users on our platform who watch our live channel,

Starting point is 02:29:06 they read content. We have schools that get subscriptions as well. So that 6,000 is being counted in like the students, but I usually count like one institution. And we also have conversations with higher education platforms as well. So we'll be onboarding like major universities to our platform and they'll be onboarding major universities to our platform and they'll be paying a much larger amount of money in the coming months. And so that's kind of where we are. But like I said,

Starting point is 02:29:33 I'm still happy with kind of where we are, even though we have not met the exact mark, but we've been growing every year and I can only be happy and pleased with that. All right, then. Well, congratulations. Folks, tell everybody where to go,

Starting point is 02:29:50 how to download the app. So you can go to our website. It's kweli.tv, so it's kweli.tv. You go to our website. Once you subscribe, it's a seven-day trial, and then from there, you can download any of our apps. So we're on Roku Apple TV, Amazon fire, Google play for Android,

Starting point is 02:30:09 as well as Amazon fire. So we have a number of different platforms. We're also in the middle of a platform, upgraded migration and we also would be creating like a Hulu model in a couple of months. So it'd be $2.99 plus ad supported. So look out for that as well. If you're, you know, have some interest in inflation, people have been talking about that lately. So we're going to be well. If you're having some issues with inflation, people have been talking about that lately. So we're going to be working a lot of different ways

Starting point is 02:30:28 in which we can touch customers at their price point. All right, then. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you. All right. I want to thank Tanya. Tanya, your first time on today's show.

Starting point is 02:30:38 I appreciate you joining us. Great job. Of course, Monique and Scott as well. Thank you very much for being on today's panel. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks, I'm just going to read this final story here. Last night in Milwaukee, history was made where they elected their first African-American mayor for the last. He has actually served as the interim mayor. But last night in the campaign, he actually won the final two years of the full term. A lot of elections have been taking place.

Starting point is 02:31:11 And we keep telling y'all, don't just focus on Congress, y'all. Things are happening all the time. And so Cavalier Johnson becomes the first black elected mayor of Milwaukee. That's a distinction. The first black elected mayor of Milwaukee. That's a distinction. The first black elected mayor of Milwaukee. So we certainly congratulate him. And trust me, I keep telling y'all that U.S. Senate race in Alabama is going to excuse me, in Wisconsin is going to be really important come November. And so I'm sure he is going to be playing a crucial role there in the

Starting point is 02:31:39 state of Wisconsin. So, Cavalier, congratulations. Look forward to having you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, that is it for us. Please support us in what we do. Download our Blackstar Network app. We're trying to hit by May 1st 50,000 downloads of the app. You can download on your Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also, please join our Bring the Funk fan club.

Starting point is 02:32:06 All your dollars go to make this show possible for us to be able to grow, cover the stores that need to be covered. You can do so, of course, P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Cash app is the only cash app that we have.

Starting point is 02:32:22 It is dollar sign RM unfiltered. Again, dollar sign RM Unfiltered. Again, $RM Unfiltered. PayPal, you could just type this link in. It takes you right there. It's paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is at rmunfiltered. Venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com forward slash RM unfiltered. Zell is Roland at Roland

Starting point is 02:32:45 S Martin dot com. We also have Roland at Roland Martin unfiltered dot com. Alright folks, that's it for us. I appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow right here on the Blackest, Coldest and Boldest show. Y'all know how an alpha does it.

Starting point is 02:33:02 Alright then, I'm going to see y'all tomorrow. Ha! Y'all know how an alpha does it Alright then, I'm gonna see y'all tomorrow HO! I know a lot of cops They get asked all the time Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Starting point is 02:33:38 Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the war on drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war this year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This is kind of star studded a little bit,

Starting point is 02:34:01 man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

Starting point is 02:34:13 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them.

Starting point is 02:34:34 Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.

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