#RolandMartinUnfiltered - No Charges in Peter Spencer Murder, Black Town White Takeover, HU Non-tenured Faculty Protest, BLAPP

Episode Date: March 17, 2022

3.16.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: No Charges in Peter Spencer Murder, Black Town White Takeover, HU Non-tenured Faculty Protest, BLAPP On a hunting trip with four white men, the only black man ends up dead. No one will be charged with killing Jamaican immigrant Peter Spencer. The district attorney says the unidentified man who shot Spencer nine times was justified, calling the shooting self-defense. Tonight, the Spencer family representative will tell us how the family is dealing with the findings and what's next. Breonna Taylor's mother met with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke to request the DOJ investigate the murder of her daughter.   A majority-black town in Tennessee is near the future site of a huge manufacturing investment. The state comptroller is taking it over because of financial problems. Mason, Tennessee's vice mayor, will tell us what's going on. Non-tenured faculty members at Howard University are threatening to go on strike. We'll have two of them here tonight to explain what they are demanding from the school. HBCUs that received bomb threats are eligible for federal funds, and McHarry Medical Collage gets a $20 million donation. And in our Tech Talk segment, a comedian found a way to help black businesses make money. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bP Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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-♪ -♪ Wednesday, March 16, 2022, coming up. Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Folks, he was on a hunting trip with four white men. The only black man ends up dead. Now no one is charged with the killing of Jamaican immigrant Peter Spencer. The DA says the undefined man who shot Spencer nine times was justified,

calling the shooting self-defense. Tonight, the Spencer family representative will tell us how the family is dealing with these findings from the DA and what is next. Grandma Taylor's mother met with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark to request the DOJ investigate the murder of her daughter. Majority black talent in Tennessee is, folks, near the future site of a huge manufacturing investment.

All of a sudden, the state controller is taking it over because of financial problems. Mason, Tennessee's vice mayor will tell us what the hell is going on. Non-tenure faculty members at Howard University are threatening to go on strike. We'll have two of them here tonight to explain what they're demanding from the university.

And HBCUs that receive bomb threats are eligible for federal funds. And Meharry Medical College gets a $20 million donation from a big-time billionaire. Plus, in our tech segment, a comedian found a way to help black businesses make money. We'll tell you all about that. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Yeah. Rolling with rolling now. It's Rollin' Martin, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best

You know he's Rollin' Martin Martin You're going to... Pennsylvania District Attorney, folks, says no one will face charges in the killing of a Jamaican immigrant. Peter Spencer was shot nine times while on a camping trip with four white co-workers. Sean White, the

Vernao County DA, said the shooting was self-defense, adding the victim brought weapons to the trip and instigated the altercation, which ultimately led to his death. The ballistics and the toxicology to try and help answer this question for me, showed that the witnesses could not be proven wrong on their theories of what happened that night and what they saw and what they heard. In 2011, the Pennsylvania legislature decided to strengthen its self-defense laws. The law under the Stand Your Ground establishes that an actor who is not engaged in criminal activity, who is not in illegal possession of a firearm,

and who is attacked in any place where the actor would have a duty to retreat, they changed it and said that actor has no duty now to retreat. That's the Stand Your Law. It came along with the castle doctrine. So you must look as to whether or not the suspect in this case had a reasonable threat that some deadly force was going to be used on him. The first thing you must ask, was the actor in a place where he had a right to be? It's his family's dwelling. Was the actor in a belief that it was immediately

necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily injury? The AK-47 assault rifle was pointed directly at him after he had already witnessed, the suspect witnessed, that the gun had been pointed at the other witnesses. They were prevented to leave and their personal property taken from them at threat. The person against whom the force is used displays or otherwise uses a firearm. That's what the AK-47 is in this case. Under the use of force, we believe in this case that there is enough evidence presented for self-defense that we are not going to be able to overcome our burden and show that this was not self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. And for that reason, there will be no charges filed against the suspect in this case because

we're not going to be able to overcome that burden. And that's the explanation that we've needed to give to you now for quite some time. But I want you to know again, the last piece of evidence I needed was the autopsy report. That came to me February 25th. It didn't take us very long afterwards to have our meetings, to invite the FBI, to talk with everybody that we needed to from a standpoint of collection of evidence, ballistics. I've spoken to Dr. Vey personally about this report. We've gone around the room on two or three occasions to discuss if there's anything else we needed to do.

I don't believe there is. All right, y'all, so we got to unpack a whole lot here. Let's go to William Anderson, the Allegheny County D.A. Democratic Black Caucus Chair who joins us right now. I'm glad to have you on the show. Okay, I'm really confused here, William. So they claim that Peter just brought guns with him and just started shooting?

Yes. First, thank you for having us, Roland, and staying on top of this. It's absolutely, you know, ridiculous. You know, of course, all their stories would be, you know, ridiculous. You know, of course, all their stories would be, you know, they would have their stories together after having over three months to prepare, right? I have a five-year-old granddaughter that can, you know, if you give her a week, she can, she'll remember lines and stuff like that, let alone having, you know, three months to prepare and get their stories together. So, you know, these claims are outrageous. And it's just another case of, you know, black lives not mattering in this country.

Again, I listened to the DA. I listened to him unpack all of this, and I'm still confused. I'm still confused. I'm still confused. So as he lays this thing out, all of a sudden, Peter goes crazy. It's four other people with guns. Peter just starts shooting? Yes.

So what their story is, what they said, is that the toxin collagen report now says that Peter was taken, was under the influence of shrooms or some type of hallucinogenic, and he held them under siege, was the district attorney's words, for almost two hours, right? So they're armed there for over two hours. He holds them under siege. Then all of a sudden, Nathan Myers shoots him nine times, right? Nathan Myers fires 11 shots and hits Peter nine times. The district attorney says that the reason that Peter got shot in the back is because once Nathan, he was facing Nathan and he shoots him, he bends, falls forward and that causes the shot in the back.

This is so the DA didn't state, what, did they see him ingesting drugs? First of all, didn't they pick up Peter? No, his girlfriend dropped Peter off. So his girlfriend drops Peter off.

Peter's fiancee drops him off, and then when she returned, he was dead. Yeah. This is quite confusing. The family is going to be holding their that he stands by his decision that Peter was hunted, and Peter was shot, and Peter was executed. So they had the Venego County coroner who, you know, I believe this is probably her first case like this, her record against Dr. Searle Webb, who is one of the most, you know, educated and the most famous pathologists in the entire world. Certainly the family has to be shocked to hear what the DA laid out. You know, they were devastated.

And we spent over, they spent over two hours, you know, in conversations with the district attorney prior to him having this meeting. And the district attorney, you know, allegedly didn't say a word in the meeting. Right. The meeting was ran by the state trooper, you know, and conveniently the African-American state trooper at that. So this is just—you know, it's just another case of our lives not mattering, no matter—black men in this entire world, no matter where you're from, you know, no matter where you go, you know, or we're, we're in danger. Uh, wow. This is, uh, again, uh, quite confusing. The fact that it took this long, uh, no, no one arrested again, four white guys with guns and, and, and okay. So, And I'm also unclear.

So the DA said that, what, he brought his AK-47 with him? Yes, he said he brought two AK-47s with him. And now that, you know, after all this time, now he alleges that the attorney general was investigating Peter for selling ghost guns. And said in the press conference that Peter one of the weapons that they found that Peter brought

allegedly the serial numbers were scratched off. So if Peter's girlfriend corroborate that he brought two AK-47s with him? No. All of this is coming from the Venango County District Attorney. This is something that we've heard for the first time.

So they say that Peter got dropped off by his girlfriend and brought two AK-47s with him. Have y'all talked to Peter's girlfriend? Did she say that he brought guns with him? As far as, you know, as far as my knowledge is, she has no knowledge of that. You know, as far as what I've heard, you know, we aren't aware of Peter having, you know, having any weapons on him.

And AK-47s are not easy to slip into your pocket. No, not at all. Not at all. And if someone is, you know, firing an AK-47 at you and you're firing a 9mm, nine times out of ten, the person shooting the AK-47 wins. That's why it's a weapon of war. So you don't just spray an AK-47 and no one gets shot, right? There's no damage. There's no bullet holes in any property.

There aren't any. The vehicles don't have holes in them. And we know just from regular street violence on the street, anytime someone shoots an AK-47, there's all type of collateral damage that is a result. And you can tell that an AK-47 has been shot more than just saying that you have cartridges, right? It leaves holes in things. Wow. When is the family going to hold their event next week? We're not exactly sure on the day, you know, because the family going to hold their event next week um we're not exactly sure on on

the day you know because the family is so devastated and you know and the mother has basically have had a total um relapse of what she had when she found out that peter was murdered so she basically has gone through everything all over again right And had all of our dreams and our faiths in the system and the faiths in our country, you know, all of that has collapsed. Gotcha. All right, William Anderson, we certainly appreciate you

joining us, giving us the latest update on this. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. I'm going to go to my panel right now. Breonna Cartwright, political strategist, Robert Petillo, executive director. Rainbow Push Coalition. Peach Tree Project. Monique Presley, legal analyst, crisis manager.

Robert, I'll start with you. We've been covering this story, and it was strange from the outset. One guy, he's a black guy's dad. Four white guys, never brought into the police station, not detained. The family was confused by this all along. He's dead. Now all of a sudden, we hear this story how he just lost his mind. He was on mushrooms.

He brings two AK-47s. He holds them hostage. And then all of a sudden, he gets two AK-47s, he holds them hostage, and then all of a sudden, he gets hit with nine bullets. Yeah, the number of inconsistencies in this case, I think, definitely demands a statewide investigation. And we saw this in the Ahmaud Arbery case, for example, where you have the local district attorney there in Brunswick, Georgia, who refused to prosecute. Then a second district attorney refused to prosecute. And finally, a third district attorney referred it to the attorney general's office, where they did finally prosecute.

I do think that this will be one of those cases where the local prosecutors should refer this both to the statewide investigatory bodies and also to the Department of Justice in order to investigate this because there are inconsistencies. If this is a hunting trip, then there will be nothing odd about bringing, quote unquote, an AK-47 with you. Now, it's very important also to understand the distinctions and differences. When someone says AK-47, more than likely they're talking about an AKM, not a natural Russian-made AK-47, something of your Chinese variant or Romanian variant. Thereafter, you have to ask, are you talking about a Draco, a mini Draco, something of your Chinese variant or Romanian variant. Thereafter, you have to ask, are we talking about a Draco, a mini Draco, something that has a full stock on it, something that's made for long range shooting, or as the attorney previously said, just a very street sweeper

that's meant to enact maximum carnage. Then you go to the additional question of, well, they're saying that this is self-defense. Well, are we simply going by the word of the three people who may have been in cooperation, maybe co-defendants in determining this was self-defense, well, are we simply going by the word of the three people who may have been in cooperation, maybe co-defendants in determining this for self-defense, or is there any independent verification of this? So there are many questions involved in this case, and I hope that we do see higher judicial bodies investigate this so we can finally get to some truth and reconciliation, because right now there are too many holes in this for anybody to find comfort in the outcome, which has currently been determined.

This is so I'm looking at this. You say today's story here, Monique, and according to the investigation, the shooting suspect and witnesses describe how Spencer had earlier fired numerous gunshots from the AK-47 into the air, how he had called himself a god while demanding others to gather more firewood at the camp, how he had pointed the rifle at two witnesses while taking their vehicle's keys and ordering them to the ground. Investigators said alcohol, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms were present at the camp. that is strange here is I mean, you're the DA. The only thing that you have here is what these guys said. So it's

one dead black dude, three live white guys. They're like, yeah, dude lost his mind, went nuts. We shot and killed him up. Self-defense. Peace out. But a lot of times, it is a he say, she say in the beginning, and that's the point of proper investigations. And so it baffles me, especially since someone was shot in the back,

that there wasn't even a trying of the case. I don't think that, you know, I don't think that someone would go on a hunting trip with someone who thinks that they would turn around and shoot them in the back. So there's a lot of inconsistencies in the stories for me as well. And I don't understand why we aren't prosecuting it, but I also think that it's a slippery slope to start deciding we aren't going to prosecute Black cases and we're just going to say that it's self-defense. And until proper investigation, which we won't really know,

I think that it's unfair. This case has been strained from the beginning, Monique, and it was just weird the moment we heard about it. Sure, but strange things happen. So I can't say that anything that

the witnesses said is not true because it's strange. As far as I've read, it is accurate that there were hallucinogens and other things present on the scene. And if it's contrary to something that we know, if there was no drug in his system, if there was no reason why he would have been acting in this manner, that's one thing. But we don't have what we had in Ahmaud Arbery. We don't even have a video. And it took months and three prosecutors, as Robert just said,

even with a video. But we don't have one here. And as Robert also said, some people think it's strange that there would be AK-47s. No, not necessarily. His family says that he was an avid outdoorsman. He was going on a hunting trip. It's not completely out of the spectrum of reality that he would have shown up with weapons. The use of them is different, though. So I just think we need more. They've done an investigation. If it is fishy or if we just decide because it's white people and a black man that it's fishy,

then it's going to take another investigative body to get to the bottom of it. Well, the only part I push back with you in regards to that, because you're correct that, you know, strange things do occur. But it stated that there was multiple gunshots. I think you said 19. And even if it's in self-defense, I don't understand why there'd be rounds and rounds and rounds and rounds. And so that's the part that's disturbing of, OK, I was in self-defense. I shot and stabilized and then figured it out. So we can say that the black person was on drugs, but were the white people on drugs?

Were they hallucinating and thought he did X, Y, and Z? I'm not quite sure that there was. And some of this stuff, I mean, there is investigations in the sense of the police, but also the part of the prosecutor, some of this stuff and questions and showing it by jury allows for us to see more of this evidence or see what's occurring. And I think closing it off ends it too soon. Well, we'll wait to see what the family says next week, folks. Speaking of no charges in Chicago, Cook County prosecutors said no charges will be filed against the police officers who chased and fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo

and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez during foot pursuits within days of each other last year. State's Attorney Kim Fox said that was insufficient evidence to charge the officers in either case. However, Fox was critical of the officers in the shooting death of Alvarez. She said the officers in either case. However, Fox was critical of the officers in the shooting death of Alvarez.

She said the officers created a situation that put them in danger. In response to the ruling, Toledo's family has filed a wrongful death suit against the police officer involved in the death of the 13-year-old. You know, when you hear that, Monique, where the DA says, hey, cops, you contributed to this. Even though charters are not going to be filed against him, that's one of those things that cannot be overlooked, where police have a responsibility not to also heighten or instigate a situation that will lead to somebody dying.

Certainly they have that responsibility, but they're civil and then there's criminal. So the attorney has made the decision. The state's attorney has made the decision. And other than that, what can we do but file a civil complaint? And that's what the family has chosen to do. And that's the right thing for them to do. But the thing here, Robert, that I think is important is that this is where, if you're the police superintendent, you've got to let officers know, look, if somebody's running away, you don't,

do you necessarily have to pursue them and shoot to kill them? Again, death is death. There's no coming back from that. And so what do you think the police department should take away from what Kim Foxx is? Well, you know, I think this is that price of doing business that police departments are willing to absorb, that millions and millions and millions of dollars, as we articulated a few shows ago, go towards paying out these settlements to families for police brutality cases instead of simply changing the policy within the department. The city of Atlanta, Los Angeles, other jurisdictions have instituted a no-chase policy unless there's an imminent threat to life and to the life of either officers or to the public. This was the Toledo case in particular did not appear to be an imminent threat to the community case. So there should not have been a chase initiated. We have technology now. We have helicopters. We have cameras all around. We have better ways of apprehending individuals who are of question other than simply chasing them and escalating situations.

This also goes to that point of creating federal standards around police training and police and the level of equipment and also the type to criterion standard need to be police officers that if you're going to get federal funds, if you're going to get all these federal military surplus equipment, riot gear, rocket launchers, grenades, those sorts of things, tear gas canisters, the types of things we see police forces pull out whenever there's a quote-unquote riot or civil disturbance, well, in order for you to get that, there should be federal levels of training and federal levels of standards to go into who's on that force so we can have some consistency across the board instead of being

mishmash of rules depending on what city is often, what district within the city you're even in. So I think this reinforces the case for that George Floyd Justice and Policing Act for us to have some congressional hearings on what needs to happen to get some really recommendations there. Go back to Barack Obama's 21st century policing initiative. Put many of those things into action so we can stop these things going forward. Because families do not want civil settlements. They want their family members to be alive. We have to keep that as a guiding principle.

Brianna? Yes, I totally agree. I think that there's not enough justice that we receive in Black America, and we need to really push prosecutors to go to the fullest extent. I do think that, you know, one of the main issues just within the police force, the rule is, you know, you said, Roland, to not shoot to kill. They're instructed that if you're going to actually shoot, like if you're going to pull out your gun, it is to kill. Because if you do not, that means you're not at threat and then thus you should not use your gun. And so there is that dynamic that's playing within

the police force that said, okay, well, if I use my gun, I'm supposed to shoot to kill. If someone is running and fleeing from you and you want them to stop, it becomes an ego trip of you using your gun just to make them stop. You should only utilize your gun when there's actual threat. And I think there's more and more blurry lines about whether there's a threat or not, whether we go from the hunting case, right, when we say it's self-defense, or we go to the police officer when someone is not complying. And I think that we're seeing now over and over and over again in all these cases that the standard in the line, the rule, is not properly applied across the board. Well, folks, let's talk about the treatment of African-Americans by police.

In a new poll by Associated Press NRC, African-Americans feel little has been done to close the racial equality gap in America. The poll reveals 70 percent of blacks believe a lot more needs to be done to improve the treatment of African Americans by police. Sixty-five percent say the criminal justice system needs to treat African Americans more fairly. And 49 percent surveyed are pessimistic about police relations improving in our community. This is what happens when, again, Monique,

you do not have the George Floyd Justice Act being passed, and also we've yet to see actions taken by President Biden when it comes to executive orders, but also all these people who tout, oh, black folks don't support defund the police, they want to see more cops. This also speaks to how African Americans feel about still beingund the police. They want to see more cops. This also speaks to how African-Americans feel about still being treated by police. Right. I mean, and African-Americans feel the way they should feel because we are disproportionately mistreated by police. So it's not bearing

anything out, but truth and facts and everything that you say is true. There is no George Floyd justice and policing act. There should be. There's not. That's the fault of the Congress, not the fault of the executive branch. And whatever executive orders they come out with, frankly, are going to relate to things that are pretty much already happening because it's federal and where we need the changes at the state level. So voting matters. And I know people are exhausted and probably tired of hearing me say that, but we don't have the balance that we need to push these things through. It's not the Democrats that don't want them. And we don't live in Russia. Joe Biden is not a dictator. He can't force Manchin to do anything. He can't force Sinema to do anything. He can't force Marjorie Taylor Greene to have a brain.

None of these things happen that way. We have to vote and our vote matters. And when we have enough votes, we get the change that we need. That's all I got. Robert? Well, the only thing that I'll push back on is that it's funny how they can always find these bipartisan agreements when it comes to their money, that we've been trying to get a criminal justice bill, a police reform bill, pushed through for years now. We have the Tim Scott Justice Act. We have the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act. And we cannot get a bipartisan agreement on it. But when it came to passing that $1.5 trillion bill that they dropped on Wednesday and passed into law on Friday, they got that done real quick. There were no questions asked. There was no Manchin won't do

it. Sinema won't do it. The Republicans are obstructionists. When they want to do something, they can get it done. They found like $15 billion to send to Ukraine. I guess it was some couch cushions or under the mattress or something, but they found that and they got that done and turned around in a week. So we need to be pushing our political leadership to put the same level of interest, put the same level of intensity in protecting the lives of African-Americans here as they are in protecting Ukrainians in Kiev. We have to ensure that they want our votes again because they're going to come back this year looking for our votes for the midterms that are going to play the same old civil rights commercials,

saying this is the most important election of your lifetime, X, Y, Z. I want you to do whatever it took to pass that $1.5 trillion bill that you passed last week in three days, put all that effort into passing criminal justice reform and passing police reform so we no longer have to fight these fights again. I don't think there's anything wrong with us demanding that from our political leadership and not taking anything left for an answer. Yeah, but they're racist, Robert. They're racist. They're racist. So you're bringing up things that people get done because they don't mind getting them done. Maybe, yeah, they got to be squeezed a little bit. They got to have their

wrist pulled back. They got to, you know, get something in return for it a little bit. But it's something ultimately that doesn't go against everything in the fiber of their being that says that we are less than and deserve the treatment that we are getting. We need people who don't have that belief system. I can't change anybody's heart. Joe Biden can't change anybody's heart. Vice President Harris can't change anybody's heart. If their heart is black and full of hate, there's not enough bargaining in the world to change that. That changes elsewhere. So they have to go. That's all that has to happen. And so, no, I'm not laying this at the feet of our president. I'm not laying this at the feet of the Democrats who from day one have been putting up

legislation that if passed would have us in a better position on voting, a better position on criminal justice, a better position on a better position, assuring us principles for Roe v. Wade, because the Supreme Court is jacked up all across the board. It's in there. I mean, H.R. 1 to H.R. 5001. It's in there. So, no, no, it's it's it's it's the ones who don't care about us. They're the ones I'm quoting Michael Jackson now, which means I should stop talking. But I also say, Robert, the difference between, right, them getting a deal done and compromising on money and our lives. Where is the bipartisanship in it? We don't have

a compromise. There isn't a middle ground. What needs to be done is them to stop killing us in the street. There's not like, oh, you know what, we'll just stab you and let you bleed a little bit, you know. And, like, there's no really compromise. There just needs to be action. And so when we're talking about negotiating of how to keep money in the pockets where they can understand and, you know, everybody understands that, that's different. But when you have hate in your heart, as it was stated, no one wants to talk about, you know, how we change black people getting killed in the street, how we change prosecutions not going forward and investigations not occurring. And so, yes, it's easier to say, well, let's just deal with money, right?

Let's talk about inflation, which is an issue, right? And she stated all the things that Democrats have done to help us within our community for the issue, that's not going to take away of the part of changing the hearts and minds, right? As she said, Sinema's not going to get a brain. She'll stay a scarecrow. And the only way that we can do that is within our community, right, is organizing ourselves and making sure that we're there for ourselves. We're giving back money to ourselves and pushing people out to the polls and having people that represent us that look like us, but also not just look like us, but understands the pains that we've gone through and ready to free us, right?

Because there's people that look like us that eventually we're going to have one that looks like us and represents us on the Supreme Court. But as it stands right now, we have someone that represents us, but can't really speak up for us. So there's a difference in regards to that. And I just think that it's time for us to not just solely lay, you know, like you said, lay ourselves at the Democratic Party, because at the end of the day, it's still political parties. And the political party in itself can't save anybody. It's time for us to save ourselves. But the point that I'm trying to make is, so let's take the last five months or so. We had the big infrastructure bill in December.

I was at $1.25 trillion. They got it pushed through. You have the federal spending bill last week, $1.5 trillion. You get pushed through. You look at the fact that someone like Manchin and Sinema are just two people, and they're able to hold up the entire Democratic agenda for an entire year. The Congressional Black Caucus is the biggest caucus in the entire Congress. So when it comes down to these big spending bills, when it comes to the priorities that they have this bipartisan agreement on, why is no one willing to lay down on those tracks and say, no, we're not moving anything until we move voting rights.

We're not moving anything until we move criminal justice reform. We're not moving anything until we move the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act and put some real teeth into it. The point is that if you have people like Manchin and Sinema who are willing to lay down and die on that hill to stop what they don't want to happen,

we need to have people who are willing to lay down and die on that hill to ensure we get our agenda pushed through because happen. We need to have people who are willing to lay down and die on that hill to ensure we get our agenda pushed through, because there's only so long we can keep going back to our communities, talking about what we would have, should have, could have had, and how we just need to simply get a bigger majority and a bigger majority and a bigger majority. Most of us were here in 2008,

when Democrats had the majority in the House, 60 votes in the Senate, the progressive Supreme Court, and a mandate for Barack Obama, and they still couldn't push things through for our community. And they said we still needed more votes even after that. So we're going to have to start standing up with the courage of our convictions to push these things through or be willing to shut the government down. Ted Cruz will shut the government down over the debt ceiling. Marco Rubio or Rand Paul will shut the government down over or put a wrench in the anti-lynching legislation just because we don't have the people, the lions in the Senate, as Ted Kennedy used to be called, who are willing to make that stand to put their feet into the ground and said this with no further.

I think that's what most of the American people, particularly African-Americans in this country, want to happen. Someone just simply stand up and say this and no further from here. Well, Robert, the problem is here. The Congressional Black Caucus could do that, but they have 54 members who are in the House. So the problem is, you can do that in the House. You can do it in the House.

But at the end of the day, the House cannot tell the Senate what to do. But, Roland, my only point is we got two Black senators. Sinema and Manchin can shut down all of government for a year. Why can't the two black senators do the same thing for black people's stuff? That's my only question.

Okay, but because the point is, you're going to shut down. Here's the deal. You're going to shut down the Senate and then what? Sinema and Manchin still not move? Then what happens? You got to play brinksmanship. You don't know what people will negotiate to until you take them to the negotiating point.

You can't just take no for an answer the first time they say it. I feel like that's what many people in the African-American community feel. We'll suggest it one time, we'll have a press conference, but after that, nobody's going to lay it on the line. You literally had multiple votes for the People Act, and they failed. They did not get the 60 votes, and you did not have two Republicans who crossed the aisle to

the Gates Cinema and Mansion. You just didn't. Okay, good. And so you guys don't want to do my thing? Good luck on your infrastructure bill. I think that's the brinksmanship you have to have at this point in time because these people will not move otherwise. You want to have your pet project. You want to have your... Look, the

other side has already decided on gridlock as being the only determining factor. So either we play the same game as them or we keep getting run over on the way to the bank. Yeah, but the deal though is the bills you're talking about, they can actually pass. But again, it's two Democratic senators who

are actually standing in the way and what you're just saying, one of the Democratic senators, you want to do that? He needs to get re-elected. He's up for re-election in November. So, he can't. But here's the deal.

The reality is, he can try that but if he loses in November, Warnock's gone. Ossoff got six years look well roland the thing about that is in a state like georgia you're going to need record african-american turnout to beat the republican wave that's coming they're already campaigning here for uh i got it i mean i i got it but the problem the problem the problem is you still, it is abundantly clear that the two Democratic senators are so obstinate, it doesn't matter. They ain't, they ain't, I mean, what hasn't been done?

You've had folks roll up on Manchin's yacht. You've had people go to his office. You've had West Virginians. You've had preachers who supported him initially who turned on him. You've had people close to him him initially who turned on him. You've had people close to him who have said, you're wrong. He hasn't budged. Look, what will move people, I think,

there's $765 billion in military spending in that bill that passed last week, only $750 billion in domestic spending. I think if you hold up that money to those military bases, those pet projects, those new F-35s, those new B-21 Raiders that are getting built, particularly in that jurisdiction. That ain't going to move Manchin? That gets people moving. That ain't moving Manchin. No, Robert, Robert.

Robert, Robert. That ain't moving Manchin. Bruh, Sinema Sinema refuses to even meet with people in her own state. They are two obstinate individuals who do not care. That's all well and good, and I say we play the same game with them. You don't want to vote on it?

We can all go home because we ain't voting on nothing. I think that's what it has to be because otherwise we're going to— And you know what's going to happen? And you know what's going to happen? They ain't budging. Look, I get your point, but the only way that works is if the person who

you're trying to get to move has something that they need you. It don't exist. It don't exist. Sinabug don't give a damn. They needed us on the budget last week. We had to have all of the Democratic votes to pass the spending bill last week.

Yeah, that's the spending bill. But that's not something that specifically Sinema and Manchin wants. And see, this is the whole deal. People talk about LBJ. Pork barrel projects are pretty much out of the way. The old way of, oh, you don't move, I'm going to withhold from you,

it doesn't exist anymore. So when you got rid of pork barrel projects, you took the actual leverage away to say, oh, I'm going to dangle this in front of you. I'm going to snatch it. If you don't support me, that's now gone. Look, I agree with you. I believe in sitting here pushing as hard as you get, as hard as you can. But these two folks here, they don't give a damn about nobody but them and the fossil fuel dollars and the Republican money that's coming both of

their way. That's what's going on. So I hear you. And people keep saying, well, the CBC should do that as well. But they're in the House. The Senate don't give a damn if they lay down. Remember, Congressman Joyce Beatty got arrested in the Senate building for over the voting bill. They didn't give a damn and they still don't give a damn. Senator went to the floor praising John Lewis and still said, I'm voting against in the filibuster.

They don't care, which means you've got to win more seats to negate their two votes. I've got to go to break when I come back, folks. The story I tend about Tennessee is strange. Why is the state trying to all of a sudden take over this black town in Tennessee?

We're gonna explain when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. GONG Femte død. I was in the telephone booth on 63rd and 3rd Avenue. Brought my coins in and dialed a number. Mr. Parks, this is Richard Roundtree. Oh, yes, yes. Well, you know, it looks like you got the role. I didn't know whether I'll go blind. Oh, really?

Okay, wait, wait, wait. You can't tell anyone. Can I tell my parents? And I'm walking around town, and my fellow actors and models are saying, hey, you know what? Tree, I think I might have gotten that role. You hear this two or three different times. Right.

Like, did he come? Well, wait a minute. Was I dreaming that? Then Gordon calls me up. I call Gordon, and he says, we're having the press announcing you are the chef. I get in a limo, and I pull up and saw this. Oh, Lord.

What we used to call, I'm shitting in high cotton. Yes, in high cotton, yes. I get out, and all the press is there and actors, and I walk in and Gordon announces, yes, this is Richard Bountry, and he's going to play the character Shaft. Oh, magic. Hi, I'm Gavin Houston. Hey, what's up, y'all?

It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. had a protest on campus where they made their demands. They made it clear, if they don't get what they want, they are going to be going on strike. Roll it. The university's leadership has made clear

that a better working environment and a better learning environment is unimportant to them. We were scheduled to meet with the leadership again on March 18th, that's this Friday, but they have gone silent. We have been left with little choice. If the leadership of this university does not reach an agreement with us on March 18th, this Friday, then on Wednesday, March 23rd, on Thursday, March 24th, and on Friday, March on Wednesday March 23rd, on Thursday March 24th, and on Friday March 25th, the adjuncts union and the lecturers union in alliance with SEIU

local 500, we will be holding an unfair labor practice strike. We are calling on our tenured and tenure-track colleagues to stand with us and honor our picket lines during the strike. We're calling on our students, alums, and all of the HU community to support us in our effort to overcome the unfair labor practices of university leadership and to better the university as a whole. We ask you to stand with us in solidarity. We seek to stand with you in solidarity. Like I said earlier, these have been individual fights for far too long, and we have not seen the movement any of us need. So now we all need to come together and get the movement that we require. Thank you.

All right, folks, joining us now are two contingent faculty members, Anika Panther and Sean Perez, both from the English department. Folks, glad to have you here. Is it Anika or Anika? Anika. Anika. All right, well, Anika. So first and foremost, walk through, demanding better working conditions. So it laid out all the terms you're seeking from Howell University. Do you want to go ahead, Anika?

I know one of the things we're looking for is the end of the seven year cap, where if you are not a master lecturer or tenured or what have you, if you are yearly renewed, you can't do that longer than seven years. The other is that we're looking for just more of a streamlined process for reapplying for our positions, getting longer contracts, three to five years, and then a process that's a little bit more streamlined for renewing that. Sean, did you want to? Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. I mean, I think the way that the university has structured this now, where you're not able to renew your contract again after seven years, puts people in a really hard position because they give seven years of their life to the university. And even if their department needs them, even if their students love them, even if they're a great teacher by every metric that you can possibly measure a teacher by, the university has this, what we think is really arbitrary rule

that just does not allow them to renew those contracts. And we, Anika and I, you know, every year we see people who are really talented teachers who love the university who are lost. And we frankly haven't been able to hear a reason from the administration why they want to keep this rule. And it's not reasonable. Yeah. Is seven years a standard? Are there other universities that have the same seven year? Or is this unique to Howard? Well, I did speak with several other universities, for example, say NYU.

They don't have that. If you are doing your job well, you have good reviews, even if you're not a master lecturer or tenured or what have you, that you can retain that position indefinitely. There have been teachers there at the lecturer or adjunct position for decades. So I do know NYU, I believe, is it Fordham University? Sean, what were the others? There are lots of universities that, I mean, I don't think any university in D.C. has this rule. I don't know about other HBCUs and whether they have this rule. I've never heard of one.

It's possible that they do. I know that there are some institutions that have it. Harvard is one that often gets referenced by administrators. But, you know, our view is it's an exploitative practice and some universities do exploitative practices. But we don't think Howard, given its tradition, given given the legacy it's trying to live up to, it's we you know, we don't think it fits in with that. And and I think a lot of universities have also been moving away from it because it is exploitative and because faculty have been pushing back against it. How many people are we talking about? How many faculty members are we talking about here?

Who are impacted? It's 140 or so people in our bargaining unit. And then there are also adjuncts who are also bargaining for a contract. And I think that's also about 140, if not a few more. But there's 140 full-time faculty who are impacted by this rule. And then, of course, there's the economics, too, which is as much an important part of this fight, I think, as the job stability question. Yeah. Questions from my panel.

Brianna first. Yes, I have the students of Howard striking due to inhumane conditions in the dorm rooms. And then we had the nurses at Howard University ready to strike because they didn't get the amount of money that they needed within their contracts and they were going to walk out because they're not getting paid as much. And now that we have this as another trilogy of Howard University professors striking, I see a commonality of it, and I don't know if that's necessarily true, but is the underlining money, is there a difference between, you know, seven years, waiting that seven years versus the way that they're doing it now? Would that allow them to not spend as much money? Is there an economic point of why they're making

maybe this decision? Well, even if the seven, let's say I finished my seven years, they would hire a new master, a new lecturer that would be full-time. And that's what doesn't seem to make sense. If it was about finances, like one of the things we said is if they want to open up more opportunity for more tenure track positions or more, if they made obtaining a master lecturer position a little bit easier to obtain, and that's why they're being this strict, that could make sense. But at the seven-year cap, you're just dismissed, and then they hire someone to take your position who is now allowed to teach for another seven years in this position. But if you didn't, if they did not dismiss you, would it cost them

more to either, I guess, continue? Is it at a lower rate when you come in the first? Is it a gradual weight increase from the first year through the seventh? Would they have to change how much they'd pay someone if they stayed on the eighth year versus saying, OK, you did seven years. Now let's bring someone else for seven years. So are you saying is because we're getting like increases each time and getting paid more each time as we go? I'm not saying it. I haven't looked at the contract, nor do I know.

But I'm asking you, is that your situation? Each year, do you get a pay increase for, say, first years get this amount of money, second years get this amount of money? Is that something that occurs? No. To my knowledge, and Sean, you've been there much longer than I have so far. I haven't. Yeah, no, we don't get any reasonable person would to have a raise every now them to, to, you know, to pay people lower wage than their, than their, uh, kind of, uh, value is really worth.

Um, that's the kind of argument. So I do think that there's an economic component to this. And I think that, um, I think for a long time, Howard has been under resource, severely under resource for decades. Um, and for the first time over the past couple of years, we've seen it just have a long, long overdue, tremendous influx of resources. They've been able to give a raise to all faculty, except they didn't give a raise to the faculty who have unionized. And so I think that they actually have the resources. I wonder whether

now it's, we've gotten dug in and a kind of debate over whether or not there should be a kind of union on the Howard campus among the faculty or not. There's many unions on the Howard campus, but so far there hasn't been a faculty union except for the adjuncts. Robert. So kind of piggybacking on what you just said on the resources conversation, we've seen massive investments in HBCUs over the course of the last several years, particularly since the Freedom Summer of 2020. We've seen McKenzie Bezos giving billions of dollars. Melinda Gates, we saw Ralph Lauren

is doing a summer collection for Morehouse and Spelman. Don't know how Clark Atlantic wasn't included in that, but that's another story. How can we ensure that these additional resources that are being provided to HBCUs are working their way back down to faculty and staff and not simply being absorbed into administrative salaries or into new building funds or those sorts of things. What can HBCU alumni in the community at large do to ensure that this money is getting to where it needs to go? Anika, do you want to speak to that? Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest things is somehow if the university could show how much they value those who aren't tenured, who place value on the non-tenured faculty, gave us opportunities to shine as opposed to being the ones who kind of do the grunt work. Even though I love what I teach, I could do this until I retired.

I think if we felt valued and the community and even the world saw what we offered, that would show even leadership where money should be directed. Yeah, I agree. And I'll just add, first of all, I think that they need to be building buildings. This was part of the Blackburn protest, was the quality of the housing on campus. And they are putting a lot of money into housing, and that's a good thing. But I do think that this presents an opportunity as well to ameliorate long, long structural inequalities in terms of the pay for faculty as well.

And frankly, it makes it hard to retain quality faculty. What I've experienced just being at Howard for two years is that it makes it hard to retain really high quality African-American black faculty. I've seen a lot of my colleagues leave because of this seven-year rule or because of the low paid. I mean, Howard is the lowest paid for our job type in the D.C. area. When you account for cost of living, it's a lowest paid HBCU. So I think this is, I think, and that Mackenzie Scott donation that you referred to, that was $40 million to Howard, and it was earmarked for faculty retention. So this really is where we think the money should be going. How do you get there? In this case, unfortunately, I think it's going to mean a strike just because of how intransigent and

how much impact we've experienced at the bargaining table. All right, then. Folks, we appreciate it. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see what happens. What date have you all set? Is it by Friday, and then you go on strike? Yes. That's right.

All right. If we don't reach an agreement by Friday. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. Folks, Howard't reach agree. Yeah. An agreement by Friday. All right. Well, appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much, folks. How University sent us this statement. How University strongly values our faculty and their longstanding dedication to developing our next generation of leaders. We also respect the rights of our adjunct and non-tenure track faculty to use their voice to express opinions regarding financial sustainability and job security within the higher education field.

As an institution, we remain deeply committed to ensuring our esteemed faculty of educators and researchers have the adequate support and resources necessary while providing the highest quality of education possible for our students. Over the coming weeks, we will continue advancing good faith efforts to reach an agreement with the union for both adjunct and non-tenure track faculty that addresses the needs of all parties involved. Folks, today at the White House, there was an event where Vice President Kamala Harris

spoke about resources the federal government is going to be providing to HBCUs who have been hit with a variety of bomb threats. This is what she had to say. Today, we are announcing that HBCUs that have received threats that significantly disrupt the learning environment are eligible for grant funding through our Department of Education and the leadership of Secretary Cardona. These short-term grants, known as Project Serve Grants, can be used to hire more mental health professionals, to enhance campus security, and to provide specialized training to security staff.

And again, they will only be given to schools that have received threats that significantly impact the learning environment. In addition, our administration is releasing a resource guide for colleges and universities with detailed information on detecting, preventing, and recovering from threats and acts of violence. And we will continue to work together with schools

and houses of worship and all other impacted institutions to ensure safety and security. The FBI continues to investigate bomb threats made against at least 36 historically black colleges and universities in January and February. No devices were ever found at the schools. Also, folks, in HBCU News, billionaire Mackenzie Scott donates $20 million to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. The donation is one of several she has provided to historically black colleges and universities.

Meharry President James Heideth says the money will go towards campus infrastructure upgrades and academic program expansion. Meharry is the nation's largest privately independent historically black academic health sciences center dedicated to educating minority and other health professionals. This, of course, Brianna,

look, she's donated a lot of money to HBCUs in the past year, and in many ways, her donations has doubled, if you will, or quadrupled the endowment of a lot of these HBCUs. This says a whole lot about the lack of resources they have. Right. And as Robert stated, we just need to make sure that we're pushing them to use their resources correctly.

I don't agree with that. Maybe buildings don't need to be built because the older they get, there does need to be some reconstruction. You can see differences of campuses when they do building projects. But I do think that it needs to be allocated properly. And I'm glad that a lot of HBCUs are receiving the funding. It's just sad to constantly see, though, the money is given, but there's still a lot of disparities with other schools especially when they have high endowments and stuff like that so still encouraging alumni to get involved and keep up our HBCUs within our community as well. Obviously that's critically important but Robert no doubt the resources that McKinsey is providing is critically important, and it shows you again

how one person can have a huge impact when it comes to supporting HBCUs. This is probably, I mean, I think it's the 10th or 12th HBCU that she's given at least $20 million to. You're right. I think this also points to the fact that we've got to start, one, engaging our alumni more so, and also engaging our community in a broader extent. We shouldn't have to depend on Mackenzie Bezos to float the HBCUs. We should be able to depend on our own community and make, we were very thankful for the gifts from her, but we can't account on those coming often. know elon could probably uh chip some money in jeff bezos bill gates all of them could but we have to make sure that we internally have a sustainability model where we are funding our communities because the majority of our black doctors are coming from hbcus the majority of

our black lawyers are coming from hbcus the future business leaders of america those of us who are nerds and fbla in high school those people are coming from the majority out of The future business leaders of America, those of us who are nerds in FBLA in high school, those people are coming from the majority out of HBCUs. So we have to ensure that all of us on our individualized levels are giving back to these institutions, are putting the money where our mouth is, and are investing in our future. Because if we do not invest in them, then we will see HBCUs be back on the brink of closing, back on the run again. So we have to continue these investments going forward and increase them and ensure that everybody put a chippy in their fair share to keep the institutions both open and growing.

Folks, I'm going to go to break. We come back. Breaking news regarding Jesse Smollett. We'll tell you about that when we come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Watch our network. I'm sorry. On the next A Balanced Life, as we grind down to the end of another long winter, it's easy to slip out of balance and into the foggy doldrums. On the next A Balanced Life, ways to push through the gray days until the warm days of spring arrive.

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 and we're going to talk about it every day right here on the culture with me for rajimuhammet only on the black star network what's up y'all i'm will packard hello i'm bishop t.d jay and you are watching rolling Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, some breaking news out of Chicago. An appeals court has ordered Jussie Smollett to be released from jail. His attorneys had appealed him being in jail because they say, first of all, he said he should not have been placed there,

that the judge should have allowed him to stay on bail pending his appeal. You might remember the judge in his particular case sent him to Cook County Jail immediately. His attorneys have been fighting to get him out. There's been lots of drama back and forth over his stay there. This, again, this right here is WGN. If you go to my computer, please, this is what they're reporting.

Justice Ouellette, again, is being ordered out of jail. Actually, he was order released today by an appeals court. They agreed with his lawyers that he should be released pending the appeal of his conviction for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack. Now, his attorneys argued that, look, even if the case was overturned, he would have already served that time and be off of

probation as a result. Remember, he was given 30 months probation, but that included 15, 150 months, 150 days, I'm sorry, in the Cook County Jail. Robert, what do you make of this decision? He, him, there'd been people posting videos. He had been critical of being placed in the jail. They were also, uh, he was only drinking water. They were not trusting of the food there. They had him in a psych ward. And he kept saying, look, I'm not, uh, he said, I'm not mentally disturbed. Uh, and his supporters have been posting various videos on his Instagram page every single day.

His family has been extremely vocal, but the feeling is that he was being mistreated in the Cook County Jail, and they also said that he wasn't safe being in the jail. This case has gone so far off the rails from any normal procedure in any regular case, all the way from the investigation to the initial accusations, all the way through the conviction phase and the sentencing phase. Now, the concept of an appeals bond is not outlandish in many cases, that if an individual does not pose a immediate threat to the community, if there are any issues that they think need to be taken up by a higher tribunal, then often an appeals bond is granted. In this case, it sounds like the lawyers are making the argument and that the higher tribunal agreed that, well, if the amount of time that he'll be sitting in jail waiting for the appeal will indeed be longer than the sentence that he's been sentenced to.

So there really is no reason not to simply wait for the appeal to be heard. And then if the conviction is upheld, then they'll remand him to custody. If it's sent back to the trial court, then there'll be a new trial in the case. So I think that's really the outcome here. But there's so many twists and turns in this case that it's very difficult to keep up with, I think, both for lawyers and the community in general. And I think that it is something to watch whether or not there is any proof that accusations made by the family of mistreatment, of course, Mr. Smollett yelling out, I'm not suicidal, kind of to countervene the idea that he might commit suicide or someone might, as they've been saying on the Internet, Epstein him while he's in jail. So if there's any evidence along those lines, I think that would be important to come out before the appeals court.

But I do think this is a very, very strange case from the beginning, and it continues to be a strange case to this point. Brianna. Yeah. So I find it weird that you would say Epstein him, because I don't really see why there would be to an extent where they would, you know, there's theories on what happened to Epstein and so forth and why it was beneficial in the federal government. But the thing that confuses me about Jesse is, okay, I don't realize, I think it's a constant, even when, in the beginning, right,

there's always a constant belief that someone is attacking him, right? And so even someone within, and maybe he's saying he's not suicidal or shouldn't be there. I do not know any which way. I really haven't been following it. However, every single time I hear stuff in regards to it, it doesn't sound right. It does sound like there might be mental instability if he did decide that it was okay to fake him getting mugged. That doesn't come from somebody who is mentally stable. And so there might have been tests for him, and they might have determined that that needed to occur. But in regards to him being released until after his appeal, that does sound fair, because he would serve his time.

But I also want to stress, there's a lot of people who don't get that privilege, right? And so we're talking about, like, poor Jesse, he's only drinking water. There's a lot of that inhumane treatment just on a regular person, and it's being amplified. But it's also, you know, it's like you said, there's keeps on different facts that add on to it. And at the end of the day, I have to remind myself, he's an actor. And so it gets too extreme and dramatized. And he, you know, was originally said to do all this in order to get attention and get publicity and so forth. And he's received it. It's not positive. We don't know where it goes from here. And I do think that it's fair that he's out on bail.

But I also think that that needs to apply to other people who don't as privileged of Hollywood. Yeah, but first of all, but it's not a privileged deal. I mean, look, it's a low-level felony. As the Cook County State's attorney said, these cases don't even go to... It's by felonies, right? Huh?

By felonies. No, no, no. These cases don't even go to trial. Initially, as Kim Foxx stated, there was an agreement. Charters were dropped. Community service paid a fine. Then a special prosecutor is brought in. Then they indict him.

They actually go to trial. The reality is they decided we're going to make an example out of him. If this was not, if this did not blow up the way it did, this is not a trial. You do not expend this amount of resources to put Jussie Smollett in jail. You don't. This is not

oh, you're on Jussie's side. No. It's just not. You don't even calculate. Here's the thing. When you listen to the judge and the prosecutors talk about, oh, how much this hoax cost the city of Chicago, aren't you spending more money to prosecute him? Then aren't you spending more money to put him in jail? So don't try to make the economic argument when it doesn't work. You're right about that, Roland. But at the same time, he could have just said, look, I made a mistake. I did it. I'm sorry.

But hold up, hold up, hold up. There probably would have been a pre-deal. It would have been done. Hold up. He could say that. But he has a right to say, I didn't do it. So all of us can say, nah, bruh. We can, 100,000 people can say, nah, bruh. A hundred thousand people can say, nah, bruh, you guilty.

He still has a right to say, I didn't do it. He stands by his side, I did not do it. It doesn't change the fact it's still a low-level crime. But, Rola, understand that, look, as a defense attorney, I completely stand by that, and I believe that. But at the same time, when you make that decision, you also make the decision, well, I'm gonna take this 150 days in jail, and

these fines, and all this probation, and my record, uh, having a felony on my record, and all those things. So you can't just say, well, I'm standing on my truth, but also not accept the verdict of the jury, not accept the verdict of the state against you. I want him to explore every option for appeal going forward. I want him to take it to every tribunal possible.

But at the end of the day, if you are convicted of those things, you can't try to use your celebrity, your wealth, your notoriety to get out of the same punishment that Leroy on the street might have because of who you are, who you're connected to, who your family is. I think we all want fairness and justice and equity in the system. And then nobody should simply, because of wealth or because of notoriety, have a different standard than other people. And there are plenty of people sitting in jail right now on low-level felonies or misdemeanor charges who did not get an appeal bond. Actually, hold up, hold up. I got to stop you there. Illinois governor has been very vocal about not putting people in jail for low-level crimes.

And so, again, here is the oxymoron. You right now, you have a state's attorney who has been running on that. Why are we imprisoning people for low-level crimes? You have a governor saying the same thing. And now because it's just, oh, no, throw his ass in. The bottom line is this here. I can see this for exactly what it is. Chicago cops, the city was pissed off.

They got lots of attention from it. Got it. Okay. But the fact of the matter is this low-level ass crime has been going on now for three years. Here's it, and remember, the state's attorney, she adjudicated the case. They dropped the charges, fined community service. A judge appointed a special prosecutor

who investigated her office, and then, so they reopened it so again here's my point you can't on one hand complain about how this hoax cost the city all of this money of cops investigating when you then then when you then come back reopen the same case to spend more money on cops reinvestigating the case and then more money on prosecutors prosecuting the case and more money to then put them in jail. The argument

simply doesn't hold up. This is frankly, frankly, the folks in Chicago can be pissed off, but let Kim Fox do her damn job. They should not have appointed a special prosecutor to reopen the case to spend more time and money. So they can't complain about the time, the money,

and the length when actually the reopening is the reason why you're spending more time, more money, and we're still talking about it. But, Roland, I think also, we talk about this being a low-level case, and it's a low-level case because they kind of figured out what was happening pretty quickly. But imagine what would have happened if instead of the two Yusamura brothers,

I can't pronounce their name, instead of them coming forward, well, they had just found two white guys and arrested them for the crime and convicted them and sent them to jail. You know, it's very serious when you start accusing people of crimes of this nature. So it ended up being low level. This could have indeed cost people their lives. No, no, no.

What we're not going to do is the woulda, coulda, shoulda. No. No, no, no. Was anybody else arrested? No. Was it investigated? Yes. Was it investigated? Yes. Was it two white guys arrested? But Robert, Robert, it's not a question of what could have happened.

Okay? Now, what you described is if what you described actually happened, then what you're saying then applies. But the hypothetical of, well, this could have happened, so therefore, it doesn't apply. I will say, though, I will challenge, too, Roland, though, in the sense of it's not low-level. If actually what happened occurred to Jesse like he said it would, it wouldn't be a

low-level crime. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Stop. Stop. See? Y'all are conflating things. If what happened to Jesse would not be a low-level crime. No, what Kim Foxx is saying, the hoax is a low-level crime. You can't, the two ain't the same. See, what y'all are going to is, oh, if this had happened and if it was true and if these things happened. Okay. Kim Fox, the state attorney said, no, it didn't happen.

It was a hoax. What he was charged with, that is a low level felony. And so I'm dealing with what actually happened, not the hypothetical of what could have happened if it was true. Nobody gets charged on if this actually had happened and it was true. The bottom line is this here. Would we be talking about this case if it wasn't Jesse? No. Would the story have gotten the amount of attention?

No. I do not believe that you should be prosecuting people because of the level of attention a story got. I think you let the state's attorney do her damn job. Because here's the thing that I keep saying. Using their precedent, hell, you could appoint a special prosecutor to investigate any case that a DA. How about, okay, she announced those cops, we did earlier. She announced those cops are not going to get charged in the shooting

deaths of those two Chicago guys. Okay. Why don't a judge, why don't a judge, a special prosecutor, reopen those cases? Now, are those cases are the shooting deaths of two people? Are those cases more serious than Jesse Smollett?

Yes or no? Of course. Yeah, of course. I think so, yeah. So, what they have now done is establish a precedent that we can go to a judge, get a special prosecutor to reopen any case regarding Cook County State's attorney if we pissed off with the result of it.

That's actually the end result of what we're talking about right here. But, Rola, look, this is the issue. You talked about precedence right there. So imagine if you just simply let this off with just a slap on the wrist. You say, well, go about, pay your fine, don't worry about it.

Then the next case that happens is a white woman accused of two black men of a crime. They find out she's telling a lie, and then she cites the Justice Smollett rule, and it says that she needs to get probation also, that she should not be prosecuted for those crimes. This is why it's important that you adjudicate these things, go through a jury of your peers, have a sentencing

hearing, go through the appeals process, and follow the law as it's set out. No, no. It thereby has to be set out evenly. No, bullshit. This is why you let a state's attorney do her damn job. See, let's not overlook what actually happened here Okay, people in Chicago Were pissed off at the black state's attorney

Chose to adjudicate the case. She made a decision as to how to end this case They were like bullshit damn you Kim Kim Fox, we gonna do something else. We can't overlook that. And so, again, if some white woman makes the accusation, then Kim Fox, the state's attorney, gets to make the decision as to how she prosecutes that case.

Happens every single day. Yes, but then it goes back to what you're saying of the unfair treatment, right? Hold up! How is it unfair when y'all bring up a hypothetical? No, because that's what the law of the land is. No, the law is not hypothetical. Y'all saying, oh. In law school, we do hypos all the time down in Renato, my cases.

It's a Socratic method. Hold up. Y'all are literally saying, well, if this happened and a white woman accused two black people and then she got sentenced, here's the deal. Do we know that Kim Fox will take it to trial? No. Do we know that Kim Fox would not adjudicate it differently? No. Do we know that she wouldn't give it the same thing?

No. So what are we saying? When we use the Socratic method, oh, sorry, Robert. But when we use the Socratic method, oh, sorry, Robert, but when we use the Socratic method, we have to use these different cases, right? And we have to decide, okay, if we do this, this, and this, then this occurs. When we're talking about, okay, we already know that it's guilty, guilty, right? And so then we have to go into what is the punishment for the crime. And so another example is, okay, I mean, don't go into hypos, but that's how legal theory is actually applied. But

say that someone sees Jesse do this, he gets tapped on the wrist, and then we start seeing copycat crimes, and then we have to a point where a black community, it's like Colin Wolfe. And then we have a larger issue, so when there is, you know, really, we have lynchings and so forth on the trees again. Oh, seriously? Hold up.

We literally are about... We are talking about Jesse, and now we go into lynchings. Y'all, stop. Seriously, stop. This is absolutely nonsensical. He brought up lynchings, brother. We ain't bringing up lynchings.

Okay, okay, okay. Let me go back to what happened. The state's attorney decided we're going to drop the charges, community service, pay a fine. That means the case was adjudicated. People in Chicago were pissed off. No, damn that. We need him to pay. Went to a judge. The judge appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the state's attorney as to how they arrived at the decision.

Out of that investigation, the special prosecutor decided to indict Jesse. It goes to trial. He's found guilty. He's found guilty. He's sentenced. So we skip it over that they decided to say to the black state's attorney, damn you and your decision making and your authority and the wide discretion. The special prosecutor literally said that she and her office abused their wide discretion.

Oh, but there was nothing criminal involved. How do you abuse your wide discretion when the law gives you wide discretion? She made a decision to dismiss the case. having this conversation. And the only reason we were discussing Jesse being released on appeal is because they blew her off and then chose to take it to trial. We can't skip over that. Would you be equally upset if they decide

to do a special prosecutor for the case in regards to the black guy getting shot in the woods with his white friend? I'm not making no comparison between Jesse and somebody who got shot To to the black guy getting shot in the woods Comparison between Jesse and somebody who got shot and killed Damn, y'all Are you serious? There's no way in hell that I'm gonna sit here and compare yeah a brother gets shot and killed, he dead.

He dead. And I'm going to say over here, there's a special prosecutor for an actor who they're accused of actually involved in a hoax. He alive, the two other dudes alive, everybody alive. I ain't making no comparison between those two.

They ain't even apples to oranges. We were just talking about the question of whether or not a district attorney should be overruled by a special prosecutor or a state's attorney. The first story we did tonight was about a district attorney making the wrong

decision in all of our determination and the need for the state's attorney or special prosecutor to step in and prosecute that case. I don't think there's anything wrong with that when there's questions. The whole point is fairness, setting a standard where everything can be judged by and adjudicated by. We want to make sure that anybody, regardless of

your celebrity, regardless of fame, regardless of race, that you can expect a similar outcome. We can't simply have capricious outcomes based upon the whims of the district attorney. We also can't have capricious outcomes when, oh, we pissed off in this case, so now we gonna request a special prosecutor.

Look, a special... How about this here? How about this here? A special prosecutor should be requested in special circumstances. A bullshit hoax ain't no damn special circumstance. It don't... I'm sorry.

That's BS. Okay? And the fact of the matter is, to complain about the money and the time spent, when you choose to prolong the case, to prove what? Oh, we gonna make you pay because of what you did here. Man, that's some bullshit. Melina Abdullah, she's with the Black Lives Matter. She joins us right now.

They've been, Patrisse Cullors and others, they've been posting videos of Jussie's Instagram. They've been talking about Free Jussie. Melina, glad to have you here. Again, what's amazing to me with this story, and again, if you think that Jussie

is guilty, fine. That's fine, but it's a low-level crime. So, how can, on one hand, we talk about we should have the First Step Act and release folks from prison who have committed drug offenses, non-violent

offenders, never convicted before, this was non-violent, all the factors, but then, oh, no, no, no, throw them in jail. Bottom line is, we see what happened here. They were like, yo, you're going to pay for this. We're going to make an example out of you. And this wasn't theft. It wasn't a shooting. It wasn't murder. It was none of that. That's right. That's right. So from day one, Black Lives Matter has been saying that we stand with Jesse. I can say that I believe him. I believe him. I believe he is actually a hate crime victim. setup comes from a long history of Chicago police especially lying. But also, when we think about

what happened, the idea that Kim Fox's ruling, that the agreement that had been reached where he had already done community service, paid a restitution, could be then overruled by a special prosecutor is absolutely ridiculous. And I'm not a lawyer, but it feels like double jeopardy to me. I also want to lift up that this is a class four felony, which means in most states it's not even a felony. It's a misdemeanor. It should never have come with jail time. I was fortunate enough to be in the courtroom during the sentencing hearing. And by fortunate, I mean because I got to experience the love of the Smollett, the strength of the Smollett family. But what it felt like, the judge, Judge Lynn, felt like a slave master, like the way that he it was white supremacy, seething white supremacy when he thought that it warranted near 30 minutes scolding, telling Jesse that this is not just about the crime, but about the person that

he is, calling him arrogant, which is to me the equivalent of calling a black man an uppity negro, right? This was absolutely an effort to comfort Jussie because he's a black man, because he's an outspoken gay black man, because he stands with the movement, because he refused to go silently and kind of put his head down and issue an apology for something that he didn't do and shouldn't be apologizing for. See, look, here's the thing here that, again, jumps out on this point that I need people to understand, how we even got to this point

and really what's going on here. You've got folks in Chicago who are cops who are still pissed off that Jason Van Dyke was prosecuted in the death of Laquan McDonald. You've got cops in Chicago who are pissed off that Kim Foxx, the Cook County State's attorney, as well as the governor Pritzker, they have been releasing people for marijuana convictions and getting them out of jail. You have literally happening there an effort to say, why should we be locking up low-level offenders? Folks, listen to me. You've got a white sheriff, Tom Dart, who has been saying, we are

incarcerating too many people in Cook County Jail. He's the sheriff. He's the one who runs the jail. So, if I am to take all of that into account and then say, who should we be putting in jail? This ain't got nothing to do, oh, it's because it's Jesse.

No, what I'm saying is, if we're going to say on one hand, we shouldn't be putting low-level, nonviolent offenders in jail, then why in the hell is he in? And this ain't caping for Jesse. It could be anybody. But this is part of the deal. What we have to recognize here is that this is all, no, we going to make you pay. And here's the deal.

If you actually believe that Jussie lied and this was a hoax, that's fine. It still don't make sense to sentence the man to 150 days in jail. I would rather have people who are in jail who need to be in jail. If I, you know what? If the judge said, you know what? I'm gonna hit you with 150 days of home confinement where you can't leave your home electronic monitoring.

I ain't got a problem with that. Now, somebody might still say that's too much, but if that was a deal, I'm talking about literally the amount of taxpayer dollars being wasted to make an example out of Jesse Smollett, and it can be Jeffrey, he could be Jamal, he could be whatever. That's really what's going on here, Melina.

That's what we looking at here. That's absolutely right. The one point I would make is, one, I do believe Jesse. Your point is absolutely right. You don't have to believe Jesse to believe that he doesn't belong in jail, to believe that the sentence is wrong. And this should open up conversation on what we should be doing with our dollars. We should not be spending taxpayer dollars to confine, to prosecute, to go through special prosecutions of people who pose no risk to society. I want those dollars. Chicago has a lot of need, right?

I want those dollars to go to resources to people in Chicago, and we should all want that. The other point I'll make is I do believe it was a targeted attack on Jesse. But more than that, as you were saying, it's a targeted attack on progressive approaches to criminal justice, on saying that everybody doesn't need to be locked up. We need more dollars for resources, not more dollars for confinement and imprisonment. So, all right, so Robert and Brianna, I'm gonna ask y'all this, this is y'all lawyers.

How would y'all feel, how would you feel, Brianna, if you're Jesse's attorney and you negotiate a deal with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and charters get dropped and then he gets fined as community service, you think the case is

adjudicated, it's over, and then all of a sudden, a year later, they come back and go, hey, yeah, I know that thing y'all negotiated. It still stands, but we also now are going to charge him, indict him, and now go to jail. His attorneys are saying that's double jeopardy. I'm telling you what actually happened. How would you respond if the attorney to say, oh, we adjudicated the case.

We're going to come back and get you at a second time. If I were representing him, which I'm not, but if I were representing him, I would also reference the Bill Cosby case, right? Because they had an agreement. Things got closed. Somebody decided that wasn't okay, and they reopened it. Then he went to jail, and then, you know, during COVID or whatnot, was released off of those technicalities. That has happened, and we have seen the standards.

So I would use, like Robert and I are saying, I would use other case standards to say, hey, this has happened. This cannot, this happened here. And they let them go. So this is similar. And so I would want my client to be released, too. I do understand what you're saying. And I think the way that you might look at the case is whether or not you actually believe him or not. If this actually happened and he has to go through three years of this for just reporting something that was hate towards him,

think about how that deters other people from reporting hate crimes. And there's always been a deterrence, right? There's always been someone saying, oh, that didn't really happen. Oh, it wasn't a hate crime. It didn't elevate to that. It's a higher standard to prove that it was a hate crime. And so having all that influence and how we go forward with the other cases is very important. We have seen that standard in the Bill Cosby case. So I would say if I were representing him, I would, you know, it was,

the time was served, the sentence was given. The time was served and is closed. And we need to go forward. However, I'm not representing him. And they have to argue that. I want to, first of all, it looks like we're joined by one or both of the Smollett brothers. Jacque Smollett. Jacque, glad to have you on the show. Just give us your thoughts to this breaking news of the courts ordering your brother released from jail.

Thank you, Roland. So I'm very excited about the news. I think it's really just a result of all the pressure that we applied. All the folks who are finally realizing that this case is bogus, even the state has realized this case is a bogus case, it's why they released my brother. They looked at the evidence that those were most of the claims that we made, and the reason why Justice should be out of jail is that this case is absolutely bogus, and the state agrees.

And so this is a huge win for us, but we are focused ultimately on getting my brother's name cleared, and so we have to stay focused on the longer term appellate case. But I think this is a big win for us. And I'm very happy about it. And again, the appeals court has not fully ruled on this, but they simply stated that he can remain out of jail on bail as his attorneys are appealing the case. And so the appeal of his conviction and the sentence will still move forward. But the court is saying, yes, he should be released from jail. Yes, the court has effectively suspended his conviction

at the moment. So that's a big deal. If the state is suspending the conviction and saying, hold up, we need to take a look at this and figure out if he actually deserves to be convicted, then that's a huge deal. Are y'all, first of all, have y'all communicated to him this? Are y'all on your way to the jail?

What time is he supposed to be released? They haven't given us timing yet. We have been told it's going to be tonight. And we're ready on standby. We are ready to pick him up and make things happen. And of course, with the judge also rules that he is not required to stay there in Chicago or Illinois, he can return to his home while he is still on probation. Yes. Yeah. So he's allowed to travel, to my

understanding. We're trying to figure out all those travel arrangements and where he goes and all that good stuff. We'll certainly keep us abreast. We'll be, of course, y'all are having a news conference outside of the jail when he gets released. Is he going to speak to the public

when he gets released? My brother will not be speaking to the public. He will not be speaking to the public tonight. There are serious issues of security, and we're not going to be doing that tonight. Will his attorneys be speaking, or will you and the family be speaking publicly?

Our attorneys will be speaking tonight at the press conference, yes. Got it. Okay. All right. I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much, Roland. Thank you very much. Melina, I appreciate you joining us as well, just sharing your thoughts and insight on this case. I can't hear Melina. She's on mute. There we go. Still on mute. There we go. Okay, can't hear you.

Okay, who's hitting the button? Is it her or is it us? It's y'all. But thank you for lifting it up. Thank you for covering this. We appreciate you. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch.

Final thoughts in here, Robert, I'm going to go to you. Again, what I want people to understand what's going on here. This, what we're talking about here, this is not fully about Jussie Smollett. This is about people not liking Kim Foxx and the decision to override her decision. This is not, out of all, you think about the cases coming out of Chicago,

this is not a major case. But they decided, no, no, no, no, no. We're going to go after you, Kim Fox, and question your integrity, your character, and your discretion when it comes to this particular case, and that's why we're at this point right now. I think, well, also, people need to understand exactly what's going to happen next in the case. So when you have an appeals bond, that simply means that you're going to be out of custody

while you await the higher tribunal, the appeals court, to review your case. It's not a whole new trial. I think a lot of people get that misconception. When it goes to the appeals court, what you're doing is simply reviewing the kind of procedure of the trial. So the appeals court will be ruling on whether or not there was plain error on the part of the judge, whether or not the jury instructions were wrong. Was there evidence let in that should not have been let in? Were there motions that were objected to, that they failed to raise an objection to, that should have been objected to, those sorts of things.

More of a ball-to-strike type hearing. Now, if it is found that there were trial errors at the trial court level, then they do have the ability to remand the case back to a trial court, either for an entirely new trial or simply to rehear the particular issue that they found there to be an error on. So there are a lot more steps here before we can say that Jesse's name has been quote-unquote cleared. This is more of a procedural issue allowing him to be out of custody while they are working those issues out, primarily because the amount of time that will elapse between now and when the actual appeal is heard will be more than the

time that he is sentenced to. So I do think there's something that people need to monitor and pay attention to what precedent is being set by these issues, because since it is a high profile case, there will be lawyers looking at this all around the city of Chicago who will be making the same motion saying, well, look, my client is a nonviolent first offender. Also, he should be out on appeals bond awaiting sentencing also. So we do want to see what precedent this will set and what criteria are being put out there because it will reverberate through the legal community for years to come. Indeed. But I want our people to be very well aware

why we're even having this conversation today. Because it's a procedural conversation. It's a procedural conversation. No, it's not a procedural conversation. No, it's not. It's not a procedure conversation. No, it's not. We're at this point today. It's because there are people, as Kim Fox

put in her editorials that ran the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, there are people who do not like progressive district attorneys. Understand what just happened in Texas. You had 11 prosecutors run district attorneys. Understand what just happened in Texas. You had 11

prosecutors run against progressive judges in Harris County who put forth historic bail reform. They were backed by the police unions. I need

people to understand there are forces in this country who are pissed off that low-level offenders are being released. You have the attacks on Alvin Bragg, the district attorney in Manhattan, on the same thing. There are people...

Everybody listen to me right now to understand what's going on. There are people who do not want folk released from jail. There are people who have made their careers off of locking people up who look like us. There are people who want to keep folks in the prison system for a variety of reasons. And so if these folks did not target Kim Foxx, we're not having this conversation today. There is no judge calling out Jussie.

There is no sentence of 30 months probation and the first 150 days in jail. There is none of that, but they chose to say, "'Damn you, Kim Foxx, you don't get to do your job,' which the people of Cook County elected her to do. They said, no, we're going to override your decision. That is what I want people

not to forget what's going on here. That they purposely overrode the decision of the black female prosecutor in Cook County. Don't get confused by what's going on here. We don't fall for the banana in the tailpipe. Folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, I'm Roland Martin, Unfiltered.

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We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. tall, weighs 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Paris Jones should call the Sumter County, Florida, Police Sheriff's Office at 352-569-1600. 352-569-1600. Folks, the family of Breonna Taylor is demanding the police officers involved in her death be held accountable.

Breonna's mother, Tamika Palmer and civil rights attorney Ben Crump met with the Department of Justice to ask them about getting justice for her daughter. They brought more than 20,000 signatures of those who want to have the officers involved in Brianna Taylor's death, charged with them. Among the folks there, you see Untell Freedom, Maison, Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, Monique Presley was with them as well. Melanie Campbell was with them speaking in the news conference as well. Taylor was shot to death in March of 2020 after Louisville police officers delivered a no-knock warrant to her apartment.

And so we'll let you know what the DOJ decides there, folks. Speaking of the Department of Justice, I got this note just a few moments ago. The DOJ, they have actually charged a former Louisville police officer with using excessive force. The federal grand jury in Kentucky today returned an indictment charging an Indiana woman with violating an individual's rights while acting as an individual while the individual was standing on private property and not posing a threat to the defendant or others.

This took place on June 1st, 2020. Cruz is charged with using unreasonable force. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. This announcement is not a new one. The defense has not yet been able to determine whether or not the defendant is guilty. The defense has not yet been able to determine whether or not the defendant is guilty. This took place on June 1st, 2020. Cruz is charged with using unreasonable force. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

This announcement was made by Kristen Clark, who heads the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Amazon has committed $2 billion in funding to build affordable housing in the D.C. metropolitan area. Housing rates have skyrocketed in the area, and Amazon believes it can help the housing crisis by giving low-income residents housing options near metro stations and job opportunities. The two properties are expected to be completed by late 2023. Tuesday, the Senate confirmed the first African-American woman director of the Office of Management and Budget. Shalonda Young will manage and oversee the execution of the federal government budget. Young previously served as the acting director of the agency. She also worked at the House Appropriations Committee and had several Democratic staff roles.

She is the fifth black woman in President Biden's cabinet and the first one, of course, to lead this office as well. All right, folks, got to go to a short break. When we come back, our Tech Talk segment. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on Blackstar Network. Nå er vi på veien. Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond,

and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, folks, do you have a hard time finding black-owned businesses in your community? Well, a black entrepreneur has created a way for you to find local black companies in one easy step. The Black App allows black merchants to sell products to app users directly. It's B-L-A-P-P. App users will be able to shop local while supporting businesses that range from black-owned restaurants and bars to black florists and plumbers. The founder is comedian John Laster.

He says the app is like a black shopping mall on your phone. He joins us now from Brooklyn, New York. Glad to have you here. So John, how did you decide to do this here? What was the impetus? The impetus was watching somebody get choked out on TV that was my exact same height, exact same weight, exact same skin color. And I decided to do something about it this time.

And so with this here, was it a particular business? Were you going somewhere? Were you like, man, I would love to know some Black-owned businesses around here? Yeah, man. You know, I've just been always one of those people that, you know, believe the yelling and screaming and boycotting and marching is good to highlight a problem,

but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't going to last. So I was trying to find something to do, man, that would actually have lasting change in our community. And the circulation of the dollar is, you know, is where a lot of our problems start and end. So I was trying to find a way to do that. And it just so happens that the technology was ready to meet the idea. So how do folks so how do you collect the data to know that the businesses exist? Well, what we ended up doing was we were able to, it's called an API, but scrape the public data API for Black-owned businesses and, you know, we found out there was 40 or 50,000 of them.

And then there's ways to clean up that search. But if I told you that, Roland, I'd have to kill you. How many businesses would you say you have on the app right now? I would say, man, somewhere around 40 to 45 to 50,000. And because it works around the world, you know, and first question a lot of people ask me, hey, does it work in Dallas? Does it work in St. Louis? Does it work in Seattle? It works in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It in Dallas? Does it work in St. Louis? Does it work in Seattle? It works in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It works in Eugene. It works in Toronto. It works in Amsterdam. We put a lot of work into this joint. Questions from our panel. Brianna, I'll start with you.

Yes. Thank you so much for doing this because it does really help us to keep our money in our community and fix some of the issues that we've been talking over this segment. One of my main questions is, does it have an ability, kind of like Yelp, so once we go to the business or so forth, for one of us to rate how our experience was, our experiences with the company, or it just itemizes the closest black hairdresser you have near you, et cetera. Right, well, what I did in the app for now,

just for now, was you are able to access Yelp and put your reviews in there. For the early going of this, I hate to say this, but I wanted to keep a lot of the negativity out. So I was like, let me let Yelp deal with that. And we'll just deal with identifying the businesses for now. At some point in time, we will probably have our own ability to review businesses though. Yeah, I think that it's important for that aspect because I think a lot of our people do not primarily go to Black-owned businesses if they feel the service is different or whatnot. But if they can also see that we have Black-owned businesses that are excelling, that have great customer service and so forth,

and we elevate those and reward those or have other ones go up to that standard, it helps. So just an idea. Oh, yeah, no doubt. I mean, the Yelp information is right there in the app. So it's not like it's literally at the bottom of the screen of the businesses. Like I said, we just chose not to do it inside the app. But if you open up the app, you'll see right there in the corner, there's a Yelp review that you can access in one touch. So it's literally a touch away if you want to access that. We didn't leave it out. Yeah. Is the app geolocated in the sense of...

Okay, perfect. Wherever you're standing, as soon as you open it up, it'll tell you what's... There's no thinking involved because I needed it to be simple. Oftentimes, people want to help you, but you've got to help me help you. I'm not going out of my way to do much of anything. So, yes, it's geolocated. Robert, question. Well, I think it's a great app. I think it's a great concept.

So if you are a black-owned business, how do you get yourself on the app? How can you make sure to people that you're included in this so we can get the maximum number of black businesses included? And I got a follow up after that. Okay. So in the event that, because none of this, you know, none of this tech is perfect in the back of the app and the third screen, we added a, you could just hit these three dots, but we have a feature where it says add a business. So if you are a brick and mortar business, you could just hit add a business, start typing it in, it'll auto fill, submit it,

and then the business will be cleared and uploaded. If you're an online business, because we also have online businesses, then we have to verify it on the backend and then we'll get it on the app like that. But we actually, just a couple of weeks ago, four or five weeks ago, added an add a business feature just for that reason. Absolutely. And me and Roland, we've had things like this before. We've talked about this. Is there a way to add a feature that lets you know what a particular

black business is out of before I get there? So, like, if you're out of Whiting, let me know you're out of Whiting before I drive there. You know, just something like that. Can we include that button in there? That's going to be in our Black Prime. If we go to Amazon, I see. Okay. Yeah, once we get to Black Prime... Yeah, just let me know before I leave the house what you're out of. That's all I ask.

I just want to know what you're out of before I get there. There you go. Yes. Yes. There you go. There you go. Robert, just pick the phone up and call somebody. That's all you got to do.

Just call. Y'all, the app is called Blap, B-L-A-P-P. You can download that. John, we certainly appreciate it. Good luck with it. Yo, Roland, I really appreciate you bringing me on, man, to help get some light on this joint. I truly appreciate it. Alright, I appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. Okay, thank you. Alright, folks. Our final story, it's a sad one. Chicago broadcaster and journalist Mary Dee has passed away at the age of 85. Dee was a Chicago TV star who was a former Chicago broadcaster and journalist Mary Dee has passed away at the age of 85. Dee was a Chicago TV star, 43 years in Chicago broadcasting,

nearly all spent at Chicago's WGN. She was an author, a motivational speaker, a panelist, a career coach, and an advocate for violence prevention. It was a number of years ago Dee was actually abducted, shot and almost died. As a result, she crawled away for help and that's when she began to fight on behalf of those who are victims of violence. Dee was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame.

She also got the Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the Illinois State President of AARP. She died at the age of 85, folks. What is so shocking and stunning is that this was her last tweet. It was actually sent yesterday and it was sent to the family of Purvis the Blues Man's fan. He passed away yesterday at the age of 89 from Alzheimer's. And you see sending prayers and love to Melody, Pierre and the family. Melody is the father of the family. And she's the mother of 89 from Alzheimer's, you see sending prayers and love to Melody,

Pierre, and the family. Melody is one of the daughters of Purvis Spann. Pierre is her husband. This was the last tweet that was sent out by Mary Dee. And her family posted this on her website.

With great sadness, our family announces the loss of our beloved matriarch, the brightest light in our lives, Mary sadness, our family announces the loss of our beloved matriarch, the brightest light in our lives, Mary Dee, who died peacefully in her sleep at home. As you can imagine, our family is simply heartbroken and asks for privacy at this time. This webpage will be updated frequently with final

arrangements, memorials and other details. Folks, I lived six years in Chicago. Often times crossed Mary Dee out and about. She was an absolutely phenomenal sister, gorgeous woman. Had a smile that, as you can see right here in the photo here, that lit up the entire room, a million dollar smile. She moved with grace. She was elegant. She was poised.

And she really was a treasure in Chicago. And so, it is so important to have that. She moved with grace. She was elegant. She was poised. And she really was a treasure in Chicago. And so, it is certainly surprising that she is now an ancestor. And so, certainly prayers go out to her family as well and all of the folks in Chicago and across the country who knew Mary Dee quite well. Folks, that is it for us.

Let me thank Brianna and Robert. We lost Monique earlier due to some WiFi issues in the hotel. and across the country who knew Mary Dee quite well. Folks, that is it for us. Let me thank Brianna and Robert. We lost Monique earlier due to some Wi-Fi issues in the hotel she was at. We appreciate her being on the show as well. Thanks a bunch. Folks, don't forget, if y'all want to support what we do,

our goal here is real simple, to speak to the issues that we care about and to also cover the stories that no one else is going to cover. And real quick, we were supposed to discuss the Tennessee story. We had the vice mayor of that town booked but she canceled at the last minute. She has agreed to come on our show tomorrow. And so, that's why I held that story. We'll talk about the takeover, the attempt to take over of that

city in Tennessee tomorrow right here on the show. And so, I just wanted to let you know what we're going to do with that particular story. But don't forget, folks, when you get to the over of that city in Tennessee tomorrow right here on the show. And so I just wanted to let you know what we're going to do with that particular story. But don't forget, folks, we need to get to 50,000 downloads of the Black Star Network app. We have more than 33,000 right now. Please download the app on your Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And, of course, you also please support us in what we do.

And that is our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. So many people have been, you know, supporting us, have been standing with us. Let me give a shout out to some of those people. These are the folks. I told you all folks been mailing checks and money orders. standing with us. Let me give a shout out to some of those people. These are the folks, I told you y'all folks been mailing checks and money orders. Bernice Mullen-Lewis,

Cheryl Dugan, Joseph Samuels, Vivian Smith, Charlotte Powell, Gwendolyn Hoyes, Timothy Major, Beatrice Madry, Kay Gamba, Cheryl Earl, Dexter Brown, Judith Williams, Henry Cochran, Melanie Tittle, Freddie Smith, Sheila Brooks, SRB Communications, Lisa Jenkins, and other, Cheryl Dugan, let me tell y'all, Cheryl Dugan, Melanie Tittle, as well as Lisa Jenkins. Let me tell you why, y'all, they literally tithe to us every single month. I get a check from them every single month supporting us on the show. So I just wanted to give them an earnest mems as well. Give them a special shout out.

Every month, their check comes in. And so they have been with us since we started. And so as much as I want y'all to know, there are some people who are supporting us, who are standing with us, who've been with us for quite some time. And I certainly appreciate all that they do for us and all of our contributors on the show, people who give to make this show possible. And so thank you so very much again. If you want to send a check or a money order, please do so too.

PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is martin unfiltered venmo is rm unfiltered zale is roland at roland s martin.com roland at roland martin unfiltered.com uh coming up next uh y'all can keep the promo please uh my conversation with the great richard roundtree he of course uh the original shaft we had a phenomenal conversation uh in los, talked about that iconic role, other things that he was involved in.

He talked about his family. Y'all, it is a fascinating conversation. You do not want to miss this. And so we're going to end this stream, and then we're going to come back. So please, there's more than 2,000 of y'all watching right now. Y'all need to come back. I'm telling you, you're just going to really be blown away

by the conversation with my man, Richard Roundtree. I appreciate him sitting down with us. And so, as I say holler, we're going to roll this promo for y'all to check it out. So I will see y'all tomorrow right here at Roland Martin Unfiltered. Ho! I was in the telephone booth on 63rd and 3rd Avenue.

Brought my coins in and dialed a number. Mr. Parks, this is Richard Roundtree. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Well, you know, it looks like you got the roll. I didn't know whether to go blind. Oh, really? Okay, well, wait, wait, wait. You can't tell anyone.

Can I tell my parents? And I'm walking around town, and my fellow actors and models are saying, hey, you know what? Tree, I think I might have gotten that role. Ha, ha, ha! You hear this two or three different times. Right. Like, did he come? Well, wait a minute. Was I dreaming that?

Then Gordon calls me up. I called Gordon, and he says, We're having the press... announcing you are the chef. I get in the limo, and I pull up the soddies. Oh, Lord. announcing you are the Shaft. I get in the limo and when I pull up the side, he's, oh Lord. What we used to call, I'm shitting in high cotton.

Yes, in high cotton, yes. I get out, and all the press is there, and actors, and I walk in, and Gordon announces, yes, this is Richard Bountry, and he's gonna play the character Shaft. Oh... magic. Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.