#RolandMartinUnfiltered - NY Lt. Gov. Resigns, Whiteness Fast, BLM Leaders Speak, Ethiopia's War,Halo 7 Rum

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

4.12.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NY Lt. Gov. Resigns, Whiteness Fast, BLM Leaders Speak, Ethiopia's War,Halo 7 Rum The search continues for the man responsible for this morning's mass shooting on a New York subway. New York's Lieutenant Governor resigns after getting indicted on bribery, honest services wire fraud, and falsifying records charges. A suburban Chicago church has been "fasting from whiteness" for Lent.   Reverend John Edgerton, the Lead Pastor of First United Church of Oak Park, Illinois, will explain what whiteness they are fasting from and what they hope to gain from it. Ethiopia's conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and other armed insurgents has continued since 2020. We'll have two journalists who have witnessed firsthand tell us how this war is leaving Ethiopian Black bodies piling up. Black Lives Matter's leadership addresses the reports of the organization's purchase of a $6 million California mansion with charitable donations. We have a portion of the State of the Movement from Patrisse Cullors. I'll break down what was said at yesterday's meeting. As distrust of the police grows, there's an organization trying to convert trauma to trust. The program's executive director will explain how they plan to restore trust in the police. Tonight's Marketplace is for you rum enthusiasts. Two black women created their own rum. The founders of Halo 7 Rum will tell us how they got into the spirit business.   Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. We'll be right now. I'm proud. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. I thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape.

It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The black lieutenant governor of New York State has resigned in disgrace. He was arrested today on corruption charges. We'll tell you about what took place

to now former Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin in New York State. Also on today's show, a white leader in Chicago says, you know what, we must deal with whiteness during Lent. Hmm, it's a conversation you don't wanna miss. We must deal with whiteness during Lent. Hmm. It's a conversation you don't want to miss. We'll talk with him on today's show. Also, the conflict in Ethiopia continues.

Our continuing focus on strife on the motherland, where so much focus is on Ukraine, what's happening in these various African nations. We'll tell you about it. Also, Black Lives Matter leadership. The addresses, these stories done by conservative media about a $6 million home being purchased. They explain why that home was purchased. And we'll hear from a former leader and the co-founder of the movement, Patrice Cullors.

You don't want to miss that. Also, on today's Marketplace, folks, two black women have created their own rum. That's right. They'll join us on the show as well. Lots to break down, lots to talk about. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. Let's go. He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Marten, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martel now Martel Folks, welcome to the show. This man here, Brian Benjamin, worked his butt off to get to the highest levels of government in New York State, eventually becoming lieutenant governor. After Governor Mario Cuomo resigned and Kathy Hochul took over as the governor. She tabbed him just a few months ago to be her number two. Today, he resigned in disgrace after he was arrested by federal

authorities this morning as a result of corruption when he was a state senator. Here's the deal. He was running for comptroller for the New York state. Feds allege that he participated in a deal with a Harlem investor who made straw man donations to his campaign. Essentially, this individual was paying for multiple people to give money to Benjamin's campaign for comptroller in exchange for business. Well, what happened was he was arrested for bribery, fraud, and falsification of records while he was a state senator. This is just a few moments, a few months ago when he was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of New York State. With your left hand on the Bible and your right hand raised, please repeat after me. I, Brian A. Benjamin.

I, Brian A. Benjamin. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support the Constitution of the United States. That I will support the Constitution of the United States and the duties of the office of the lieutenant governor. Of the state of New York. Of the state of New York. According to the best of my ability. According to the best of my ability.

Congratulations. Well, folks, that was in September when that took place. He now has resigned. Of course, he appeared today in a federal courtroom where he was notified in the reign of the charges. Again, Brian Benjamin, Lieutenant Governor of New York State, has resigned as a result of being arrested today on federal bribery charges, also steering state funds to a group controlled by a real estate investor developer who also was a donor to his campaign.

I want to bring up my panel right now. Glad to have them here. Dr. Masafa Santago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice for the EPA. Teresa Lundy, principal founder of TML Communications. Lauren Victoria Burke, writer for the NNPA and the GRIA. Lauren, I want to start with you. Here we go again. Corruption in New York State. I swear between New York State, Illinois, and Louisiana, they've got to be the three most corrupt states when it comes to politicians. Look, innocent until proven

guilty, but here is somebody who worked his way up the political chain there in New York State. I've crossed paths with Brian for a number of years at Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. In fact, I remember one year, I was a guest at a day party,

him and some other guys through, and ran for comptroller, lost. Then he was a state senator. Hochul picks him to be her lieutenant governor. Number two, they are running on the same ticket. Unfortunately, even though he got arrested and he's now resigned, his name is still going to appear on the ballot come June when they have the primary. And it's very possible that Hochul could have, as her lieutenant governor on the Democratic side, someone who doesn't like her.

Yes, that's very possible, actually, that that is exactly what's going to happen. This, I think, was a huge surprise to a lot of people. There was an awareness that there was an investigation going on, and there was the news that he was cooperating with that investigation. So I think it is surprising to see headlines that he's been arrested. I mean, usually in these cases, particularly white-collar cases, people turn themselves in in a quiet way. You know, he very quickly resigned, and the statement indicates that he wanted to handle this legal case and maybe return to public life after he's handled this legal case. I'm a big believer in seeing the evidence, no matter what anybody says. Damian Williams in New York is a new prosecutor. This doesn't mean he's not competent.

But, you know, we have seen cases before that were, you know, big media and it blew up and so-and-so is getting arrested and this is happening and that's happening. And then later on, when the evidence comes out, it's not what people said it was. I'm not implying that this is the case in this case. I'm just a big believer in seeing exactly what's going on. And I understand that there was a $50,000, you know, grant of some type involved. The first thing, I can't deny it, the first thing I heard, I thought of when I saw this in the news this morning was, wow, why isn't Donald Trump getting this type of treatment? It seems like in New York there's plenty of investigation, certainly of the former governor, Andrew Cuomo, and now the lieutenant governor, Mr. Benjamin.

But somehow the Trump crime family somehow never gets this treatment or at least hasn't gotten it yet. I know that that's not over yet, but we'll see what happens and we'll see what the details are in this case as we move forward. Teresa, of course, Philadelphia had to deal with something similar. The former D.A. resigned. You also had former Congressman Shaka Fattah, who went to federal prison as well. Look, black politicians, we said all the time, hey, you better double check everything, cross every T, dot every I, because there's a target on your back. Absolutely. You know, I tell politicians every time they want to run,

it is so important that you follow the paperwork to the T. It is important that you uphold integrity. That oath of office is no joke, because when the federal government decides they want to start looking into your background and you are not compiling the right way, your direction of living has also changed. And I think that's a lot that we have seen with Lieutenant Governor Benjamin in his case. But, you know, I kind of agree with Lauren. We haven't seen this same rollout for the Trump family and their, you know, crime sprees.

You know, we have been always been it's been a mention, you know, crime sprees. You know, we've been, always been, it's been a mention, you know, that something's coming, it's happening. But I think, you know, Benjamin should have his day in court like everyone else and allow the evidence to speak for itself. And whatever the verdict is based upon that, that should be what it is. But elected officials, newly or existing, should absolutely take campaign finance reports, bribery very seriously as they, you know, go into public office. Now we're good. Mustafa, we see it all the time, the people who are, again, running for office.

You've got to be very careful when it comes to those folks who are donating to campaigns. Yeah, you've got to pay attention. You've got to dot all the I's, cross all the T's. If you're a person of color, especially an African-American person in politics, you know the spotlight is on you. You have to be above reproach, first and foremost. But you also know that you can't make any mistakes. So, you know, as you said, you know, innocent until proven guilty. So let's hope that the charges that are brought against his brother, you know, don't have merit or weight. But, you know, for them to come at him like they have, that must mean that they feel pretty confident in the case, at least initially. So we'll just watch how it plays out.

All right, folks, let's go to our next story. I have consistently told y'all about whiteness, white fear here in the United States. My book, White Fears, dropping in September. And the reason this is important, folks, for the folks to understand is that what we're now dealing with in this society, what we're dealing with, are folks who are not really happy with how America is changing,

how folks who are not white now get to actually have a voice in all of this. Now, if you watch Fox News, you know Tucker Carlson is the leading white nationalist over at Fox News. And if you don't believe me, here's an interview that he did with a professor who was at the law school,

a major Ivy League law school, who herself, she might as well just go ahead and just keep her clan robe on. This is a conversation with the highest-rated host in cable news on the highest-rated network in cable news. This actually happened, y'all, this week. How is that different from vandalism? It just seems like people coming in and wrecking everything that was valuable in an institution that they never built themselves. It's very reckless and destructive. It's very vindictive. It's very angry.

Yeah. Where does that anger come from, do you think? I think there is just a tremendous amount of resentment and shame of non-Western peoples against Western peoples for Western people's outsized achievements and contributions. I mean, it's really unbearable. I was actually, you know, leaving aside American blacks who I think do feel that resentment and shame and envy. I mean, it's this unholy brew of sentiments. I was talking to Glenn Low you about this bizarre fact that Asian and South Asian Indian doctors at Penn Med, which I know people there and I know what's going on there, that they're on the ramparts for the anti-racism initiative for Dump on America. America is an evil, racist place.

These are immigrants. The number one highest income group in America is... Right, hate America. Right. A goodly number of them, not all. But you're from a group... I mean, first of all, I hate even thinking in terms of groups anyway, because what matters is the individual, obviously.

But as long as we are, if you're a member of the highest income, highest achievement group in America, and you're looking down another group, native-born whites, for example, and saying you're the problem, like how does that work exactly? Well that is to me utterly bizarre and fascinating and... Why does anybody put up with that? Right, I'm not saying all in the United States are this way, I'm just saying you look at the roster of you know who's leading the programs, you know the endless number of programs where they talk about diversity and racism

and all the racism that people have to encounter and medicine and how racist medicine is and all this. And you see these brown faces or you see these Asian faces and you think, I mean, literally you think, so you're coming from your country, which you're implying is equal or better than our country. And you're telling us how awful we are. Well, what's the explanation for that? China's an ethno-state, by the way, which no one ever says. It's about the Han Chinese, and if you're not,

that's the problem with the Uyghurs. That's their religion. They're not Han Chinese. Whatever, I'm not even judging. I'm just saying people from there have no right to judge the United States. But they very much feel that they do. And so take... People from there have no right to judge the United States.

And that woman is Penn Law Professor Amy Wax. She's absolutely a white nationalist. We know the Christian church has been very much supportive. Some call it slaveholder religion when you talk about racism in America. Well, my next guest over the last 40 days of Lent, Good Friday, of course, is this Friday,urrection Sunday, they have been fasting from whiteness. Hmm. Let's hear from him to explain that. Joining me right now is the pastor with First United Church of Oak Park in Chicago. Glad to have you on the show, Reverend John Edgerton.

So where did this idea of fasting from whiteness, how does it originate? This actually began with our Sunday school, because this is something that you need to teach people right from the youngest ages. So we have been teaching our Sunday school students a curriculum that is an intentionally anti-racist curriculum that we call Tell Me the Truth About Racism. And this is an age-appropriate way of teaching these things. The youngest ages, my daughter is in the youngest age group, four years old, and we tell history, things like the Trail of Tears, things like Jim Crow. We teach history through a spiritual lens as Christians, and we teach these children about how God has created all people and

loves all people. And there is what we call the lie that some people are better than others. And so we have been teaching this to our children, and we have a six-week series, and Lent has six Sundays. And so we decided, hey, why don't we do this six-week series and make this the whole focus of our entire church program? We're just a local church. We don't have any national notoriety or anything like that. We're just trying to build a program that makes sense. So we have adult education programs built around this theme. We have our worship built around this theme. And I thought, you know what? A way that we can talk about this is fasting from

whiteness, because fasting is an ancient Christian practice. It's about trying to clear out space in your spirit for God to enter in and that we are going to highlight and place at the center of our lives of faith for the period of Lent, the contributions to the Christian faith of the global majority of Christians, which are people of color. See, the thing that is interesting about this, when you just listen to what Amy had to say, what Tucker says, is this whole deal, oh, no, we don't see people as groups. Yes, you do.

And then this whole idea of how dare you bring these things up? How dare you mention these things? America's great. America's grand. America is wonderful. But it's as if we literally can't have the conversation about whiteness in America. It's just like if you're there in Chicago, if Mayor Lori Lightfoot met with a group of pastors, they were all black, the headline would be Mayor Lori Lightfoot meets with black pastors. Yet if she met with a group of pastors and they were all white, it would be Mayor Lightfoot meets with pastors.

That's right. That's right. The assumption is that whiteness is the norm, that wh we are not the center of the story of redemption, then the more faithful that we can be to the gospel, the gospel which was first preached and proclaimed and lived out by dark-skinned women and men living under the oppressive boot of an empire that is following a savior who is a brown-skinned man from the poor parts of town who was executed for standing up for justice. If white Christians don't extricate whiteness from our faith, then we cannot be true to the gospel. And that right there is, I think, what is important that we must confront and we must deal with, Pastor.

And really, the thing, I dare say, it has to be challenged. And this is what Dr. King even wrote about this in Chaos on Community, Where Do We Go From Here? And that is white folks have got to talk to white folks about what's going on Jane Elliott talks about this here Tim Wise Talks about this here

When Bill Hybels and Pastor Bill Hybels And Reverend James Meeks When they actually traded Youth choirs And congregations They said the Christian church has to Confront its focus on

whiteness and trying to run away from it, trying to act like it doesn't exist, trying to say, oh my God, I didn't do these bad things, so therefore I have nothing to do with this. But if you still are supportive of a system, and yes, a system that still emphasizes and reacts to the power of whiteness, you are still a part of the same problem. That's right. That's right. I may not personally have built this whole system, but I benefit from it. And so I am in a position where my responsibility

as a Christian, my ethical responsibility as a Christian is to dismantle those kinds of systems. So, you know, it makes me think of the prophet Amos who looks up and God takes a plumb line and holds it up to the wall. And the plumb line shows something here is not right. Something here is crooked. It needs to be straightened. And that that is what the Christian faith ought to be. The Christian church in America, we are supposed to be the conscience here. works and recognize that whiteness, white centeredness, white fragility, these things are a huge problem with how our country is. And it hurts and it kills, it kills, it kills black and brown

people. The other day, that was a conversation that took place on MSNBC with Joe Scarborough. And I'm trying to find it right now. Where Joe Scarborough was talking about how, ooh, that whiteness is running amok. Wokeness is running amok on white Democrats. And it's a problem. And that blacks and others are very conservative. And this is causing a big problem. First of all, part of the issue here is how, let's just be honest, how a lot of white folks

are using the word woke as a replacement for the N-word or other words. Now all of a sudden, wokeness is becoming a negative. It's now becoming bad. It's becoming horrible because those are the same folk who don't actually want to deal with the reality of whiteness.

So therefore, they complain about wokeness. Yeah, I thought maybe he'd said whiteness at the beginning and told on himself. So the yeah, I think I think it's that this is absolutely a problem. There's so many people who will who have sent us these messages, these these, you know, these ill-informed and vulgar kinds of messages. And they're using that language of wokeness. We have some people saying, you know, woke churches should be called from society and other kinds of things. You know, we've received thousands of harassing messages. We've received, we've also received amazing support from the church. And the way that this term has become a cudgel that is to be used to silence people, even for raising issues. We're just a local church that put up a little banner on our little lawn that said, we're going to not have whiteness at the center of our church this Lent. And this is the reaction.

It's so outsized that we must have touched on a nerve here. And the use of that word, wokeness, as a cudgel, it's absolutely a part of how this whole script works right now. In fact, I just pulled this up, so I'm going to play this here. Guys, Joe Scarborough just recently tweeted this, where President Barack Obama a couple of years ago was talking about political wokeness. And I just want people to understand, again, the game that's being played.

And that's also why your church is being attacked. So, folks, listen to this. This idea of purity and you're never compromised and you're always politically woke and all that stuff. You should get over that quickly. The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids. And you know, share certain things with you. And I think that one danger I see among young people, particularly on college campuses,

Malia and I talk about this, Yara goes to school with my daughter. But I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media. But I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media, there is this sense sometimes of the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people. And that's enough. Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn't do something right or used the word, wrong verb or then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself.

Because, man, you see how woke I was? I called you out. Let me get on TV. So, Pastor, I just want to just unpack that a little bit. I get the point the President was trying to make there, but I also

find it problematic. And the also I find it problematic. And the reason I find it problematic is because I think politically what happens is, I mean, I hear what he's saying, people, oh, look, we have disagreements and they're people, they've got children and there are other things that we do well. But when I think about John Brown, John Brown was very clear.

Slavery is wrong. I'm not about to compromise on this issue. And the reason I would disagree with President Obama on that one, because I think at some point you cannot make excuses. You cannot allow yourself to be a participant in someone else's BS without calling them on it. Because, you know, I think about just the other day when Mitch McConnell was being interviewed by the reporter with Axios, and he was asked the question about moral red lines. And Pastor, this is what I find to be interesting. I'm going to play some of this because, in fact, you know what? I was going to play the second. It was about three. It was a little long. The folks at the Lincoln Project put an ad out dealing with this.

It's a shorter one where they show you the difference between an individual who says something, but then when it comes to being politically expedient, they don't actually have moral red lines. I think this is a perfect example of what you are having to deal with when you're talking about fasting from whiteness. I want to get your thoughts on this after it's done. January 6th was a disgrace. Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President.

They did this because they'd been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth. Because he was angry, he lost an election. Former President Trump's actions preceded the riot for a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. If the president was the party's nominee, would you support him? The nominee of the party? Absolutely.

Liz Cheney, who has the same view of you as of January 6th, she said she doesn't want Donald Trump anywhere near the White House and she's going to work to not make that happen because she thinks that there are some things more important than party loyalty. Well, maybe you ought to be talking to Liz Cheney. Really, it's not a gotcha. I'm just actually trying to understand, like, is there any threshold for you of what someone could do on a moral level? Well, you know, I say many things I'm sure people don't understand.

Where do you draw your moral red lines? Pastor, that right there to me is the point. What you are laying out is you're drawing a moral red line. What you're saying is to your congregation, if you call yourself a Christian, this is how we have to behave. We cannot, and I get what President Obama was saying, but we cannot make excuses when it comes to what should be a moral decision. And the reality is racism, white supremacy and whiteness. That is a moral choice that people are making. Yes. And I'm glad that you raised, you know, John Brown, I remember that what he stood up in the church and said, I do

hereby before God and in the presence of this assembly, dedicate my life to the abolitionist slavery. And that's what, that's how he began his ministry, that work, John Brown. So I don't believe for a minute when people say, well, this person was just of their time and this and that. We're in that era. There were people of conscience who knew what was right and who were willing to work to do what was right, to be faithful to the gospel. Because this is, again, he did this in a church before God. That's what John Brown did. And so to me, this absolutely is a question of Christian ethics,

of Christian morals. But also, as white Christians, when we put ourselves out of the center, what we find is the unbelievable and beautiful spirit-filled contributions. We have had some of the best church in Lent. We have sung every week a group called Amen Siakou Dumisa, which is an amazing freedom song by Stephen Cuthbert Malefe, who's South African of Sotho descent. We have been singing Savior God Above set to Duke Ellington's Come Sunday. Church has been great. That's the thing about morality is that when you live after God's law, when you follow righteousness as God

talks about it, when you serve justice, this is when you find that great blessings come. So moral, yes, you need to have not only moral red lines, but you should be in the moral middle of the road. Absolutely. That's part of being Christian. Pastor John Egerton, we certainly appreciate it. Yeah, you have been getting phone calls and emails, but I'll say this here.

If you're a Christian and nobody's mad at you, you're probably not doing something right. That's right. That's right. And with the devil been kicking my butt as hard as he had this week, I can't wait till Resurrection Sunday. All right, then. We certainly appreciate you joining us here at Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. All right.

Thanks a bunch. Teresa, I want to start with you because this really is a fundamental issue that folk don't want to confront. And I know some people, I see y'all comments in the chat, come on, Roland, I mean, you know what President Obama, no, no, no. You can't, if America says

we will not negotiate with terrorists, I'm sorry. I'm not going to sit here and play games with white domestic terrorists. I'm not going to play games with bigots. I'm not going to sit here and, well, you know, we come from different backgrounds and people have

children. We simply disagree. No. You got to call some stuff out for what it is. Yeah, and I think that's what the move of reform, the move of equality for all actually

means here in this country. So if we don't call out the things that are still keeping us down, then we are still going to have these continued issues. We can't see any economic growth. We can't see any generational wealth. So there's so many issues

because we keep coming back to the same discussion of, you know, white people are, you know, not the... I do think, you know, let me just kind of go back a little bit. I think, I think that conversation has had me think a little bit about some of the, uh, discussions I've been having with, you know, some of my white friends about the situation. And I think part of it is, uh, I think they're having, uh, conversations within their own selves about, not am I racist, but is it still necessary to keep talking about some of the past issues in this way? And I think the answer is yes, but also it's a path to change thyself. So I think just a lot of times people are just not seeing what that pathway actually looks like. And so we're still at this stuck place where, you know, when we put up a sign that says fast from whiteness, it's taken in a derogatory way versus taking it as, you know, hey, let's fast from being hateful. Let's fast from being derogatory. Let's fast from not giving someone else an equal opportunity

to be in the position that I am. So that self-reflection, I believe, has been taken out of conversations and thus has put us in this position today where people feel like they're being attacked. And it's not really an attack. It's more self-reflectiveness and bringing out change within all of that. And Mustafa's not really an attack. It's more self-reflectiveness and bringing out change

within all of that. And Mustafa, one of the things that we keep hearing is that you look at these bills in Florida and other people, oh, let's not make folk uncomfortable. But what we know and understand, and we're going to talk about this here after the break in our next segment dealing with Ethiopia. You

cannot make changes to any situation unless you make some folk uncomfortable. You have to. Change doesn't happen if folks aren't willing to, you know, push. And to force sometimes change to actually happen. You know, it's interesting we're having this conversation.

I appreciate the pastor who was on because I just call it what it is. You know, racism is a sin. Racism is a poison. Racism is a cancer. And we got a lot of folks in this country who don't want to exercise the racism out of our system. And because they don't want to do that, they don't want to have that exorcism, then, you know, they can then justify, well, it was a part of the past. And it's not as bad as it once was. If I have cancer, it doesn't matter if my cancer is, you know, stage four or stage three. Yeah, I might die a little faster from stage four, but eventually it's going to turn into that if I don't address it. So until we are willing to really call it out for what it is

and for folks to do the hard work that's necessary instead of continuing to whitewash everything, because that's what folks continue to do. They just whitewash almost everything so that they can justify not doing the things that are necessary to actually help our country heal. But not just heal, but then also make sure there's justice a part of, because justice actually brings action to the process. So I'm interested when folks are going

to deal with the sin of racism and do something about it, just like they want to talk about all these other sins that they want folks to address. See, this is why, Lauren, we talk about even what's happening with police departments. Folks, look, resources, we need time. We need time. Well, there's a reason Dr. King wrote, he said, why we can't wait. It led from a Birmingham jail. And so what we're now dealing with, we're now dealing with people who are like, hey, hey, hey, I need y'all to hold up now. I mean, y'all pushing too far. Now it's like, ooh, ooh, wokeness.

And let me be real clear. You got some white folks out there who are young. I need y'all to hold up now. I mean, y'all pushing too far. Now it's like, ooh, ooh, wokeness. And let me be real clear. You got some white folks out there who are young. You got some people, yeah, who may go a little too far. But I just got a problem when the Joe Scarboroughs of the world try to play this game like, ooh, ooh, look, the white people are driving black people away. That ain't what's driving black people away. No, that ain't it. And he can talk to Reverend Al Sharpton all he want to, talking about, oh, black people, Latino people, you know, they're nationally conservative.

Yeah, nationally conservative, but getting shot by cops. Naturally conservative, but like our civil rights, like being able to vote as well. So I'm like, and it's like, don't tell me who they driving them to, because we know the one party that's standing up for those white relics, those Confederate monuments. Yeah. Well, I mean, what they're really discussing here is who gets prioritized and who is the default position of the important group. So the default position that's always been the important group in our society has been white men. We're changing as a society demographically. People can see that. It's very obvious that there's some changes and that there's some voices entering into political debate that were completely ignored previously. You saw Jonathan Swan ask Senator Mitch McConnell, you know, what could happen morally? Like,

what standard do you have? What standard do you have that would make you say to yourself, OK, I'm going to throw Donald Trump over the side? And he couldn't get an answer. You know, that's, I think, the difference between Senator McConnell and President Obama. President Obama is not talking about, you know, things like slam dunks, like white supremacy being some sort of moral hazy thing. President Obama is talking about the fact that increasingly we live in a culture where people think that tweeting is activism, being outraged is somehow activism or action. And we know that it's not. It takes a lot more to change society. You can't do it from your Twitter account. I think that's what President Obama's getting at,

because that's what he said. He said something very similar at Hampton when he made a speech. But at any rate, when that default position, that default group gets changed to another group, or we're in really the midst of that change to other groups. The groups that have been empowered historically get very insecure and very uneasy. And that is what we are seeing in real time in the era that we live in right now. Indeed. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about the conflict happening in Ethiopia. It's not getting the attention from mainstream media. No shock. The reality is whiteness rules in mainstream media. So what's happening in Ukraine,

all of these stories, all of the fundraising, them being mentioned at the Oscars, them being mentioned, of course, at the Grammys. Cameroon wasn't mentioned. South Sudan wasn't mentioned. Ethiopia wasn't mentioned. You Sudan wasn't mentioned. Ethiopia wasn't mentioned. You would think the largest continent, the youngest continent, folks would actually care about atrocities happening there.

Well, we do. We'll be discussing that next. YouTube folks and Facebook folks, hit the like button. We should easily have more than 1,000 likes on both of those platforms right now. Hit the like button right now. Also, download the Black Star Network app. Our goal is to get 50,000 downloads by May 1st. Android phone, Apple phone, Android TV, Apple TV,

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We're talking about, again, conflicts in Ethiopia. It's an important one. We'll have it next. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Owned Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll learn how wealth begins at home and how it can set the right path and the right course. Wealth building, specifically in the Black community, is about making sure that we have assets that can last beyond our lifetime. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life,

the Bible says that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. After two years of hunkering down, we can all relate to that. Spring, sun, and fun, we may be ready to get out there, but our bodies may not be ready to party. On the next A Balanced Life, we're going to get our mind, body, and

spirit on the same page. That's A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on the Black Star Network. 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. Folks, so much attention has been paid to what's happening in Ukraine as a result of

Russia invading that nation. We've heard all kind of stories about atrocities taking place, families finding loved ones murdered. all kinds of stories about atrocities taking place, families finding loved ones murdered, all kinds of shocking and devastating things. But the same thing is happening in South Sudan, Cameroon, Ethiopia. Yet unfortunately, mainstream media in America doesn't care. Folks in other European nations don't care. That is often the case of what happens in African nations

Folks, what is happening there is disturbing It is shocking And my next two guests, they have had to witness these atrocities They shared with us extremely graphic images And also graphic details Now, some of y'all yesterday have hit me They're really graphic images. And they're also graphic details. Now, some of y'all yesterday have hit me, said that a warning was placed on our YouTube channel.

YouTube does that when certain content they deem to be not applicable to children. We had that happen with police brutality videos. So apparently the video that we showed yesterday of the protester being pushed to the ground and then hitting his head and bleeding, YouTube made the determination. I would not be shocked if YouTube does the exact same thing, what we're going to be showing you here. And so just understand that.

So if y'all start seeing all of a sudden you must sign in to mention you're an adult, well, understand why YouTube does that. Folks, a new report from the Human Rights Watch at Amnesty International reveals widespread abuses against civilians in the western part of Ethiopia's Mbedo Tigray region amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report claims that security officials and civilian authorities have perpetrated

crimes in the neighboring Amhar region. The report found abuse is part of a widespread and systemic attack against civilian population that amounts to crimes against humanity as well as war crimes. However, Sheba Takesta of Push Start Media says there's more to the story. She joins us now from the capital of Ethiopia. Adisa Ba, Jamal Countess, a freelance photojournalist, was with her on her latest

mission. He also joins us from D.C. Glad to have both of you with us. Sheba, I've been following your reports on social media. That's why I first learned about you. And I said, definitely, let's get you on the show. And I certainly appreciate that. And Jamal, you also tweeted me about your work there. And so I said, let's get them on as well.

So Sheba, tell us, give people a sense of what you have seen, what is going on, and how are we even at this point of this conflict happening and how shameful it is, it's not getting necessary attention by Western media. Well, Roland, first, thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to get on your platform to talk about this, because as you said, we don't really ever, almost ever get any attention

when we have the truth on our hands. So this conflict in Ethiopia has started November of 2020. The TPLF, which is an armed insurgency group that was the previous regime and government that was in place for 27 years, has waged a war on the country. And the TPLF is known and has been a terrorist group. They have now caused atrocities, massive destruction, looting, loss of life, and complete travesty in the nation for over a year and a half. However, Western media has typically, and in normal normal form just highlighted things that suits the interests of whatever superpowers want to depict. What you're looking at in these images is from our trip to Ethiopia, where I myself had a personal mission to go and discover for myself the facts on the ground because we had almost no coverage of the things that were really happening, which are that the TPLF now

is attacking afar, has five regions under control for the past 27 years and plus, actually over 30 years, they have caused mass, mass killings and ethnic cleansing. And in the part that they label as Western Tigray, which is really Welkite and Tagare in the Mhara region, we are now finding that there's multiple mass graves in some places, perhaps up to 59,000 or more. People have been buried there after being tortured in prison camps or torture camps. So lots of things that the media doesn't want to cover. But yet, you know, we had a space today on Twitter with Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch spewing complete falsities. You know, while we are on the ground exposing what's really happening, we blatantly get the, you know, ignored. massive amounts of people are suffering due to this completely horrible ethnic-charged war that's been going on for quite some time.

GEOFF BENNETT, National Public Radio Network, National Public Radio Network, USAID, Jamal, you have been photographing a lot of this. How long have you, how much time have you spent in Ethiopia? And just give folks a sense of what you have witnessed through your lens? Well, I started going to Ethiopia in 2013 and eventually started living there towards the latter part of 2014, 15, met my wife, raised a family, and moved back here to the U.S. in 2019. So I was very familiar with the TPLF regime, which I lived under up until the prime minister, the current prime minister, was placed into power. So all the pictures that you've seen, that you've been showing, have been from my six trips to Ethiopia, because I noticed that there was a serious inconsistency with the way

it was being reported, because my wife being Ethiopian, she looks at local news. And of course, here, I'm looking at, you know, the big news services and the big news programs. And I saw that there was a serious disconnect. So, you know, the TPLF was a longtime friend and ally of the U.S. going back to the Black Hawk Down days. And they basically became the watchdog over the Horn of Africa with the U.S. and the U.K.'s blessing and actually the European powers blessings, resources, training, equipment, all of these kind of things were given to the TPLF to wage this, you know, to basically mount this mission of counterterrorism or what have you. But what happened is they turned those resources and that training

and all of those things they got from the West into tools to divide and, you know, subdue all the other ethnicities that lived in Ethiopia. So when they were forced out of power because of protests from Amhara youth and Oromo youth, the country's groups, they retreated back to their region of Mekelle. They did it, you know, begrud and 100 soft targets as part of a coup attempt to regain power. was a planned ethnic cleansing of this region, Wolkite, which Western sources say is a contested region, but Wolkite was actually part of Amhara lands for almost 1,000 years. So I've noticed that certain big stations or big outlets in the West and political entities don't even mention these attacks on the Northern Command bases, these five military bases.

And they try to control the narrative and play in favor of the TPLF by saying that, you know, Abiy Ahmed launched an offensive into Tigray. But the reality is that on the nights of November 3rd and 4th, at least 6,000 soldiers were killed, most in their sleep, by these surprise attacks. And 60 percent of the mechanized and artillery hardware was confiscated by the TPLF. And that's how this war basically started. And that has always been kind of missing from the explanation of what exactly is happening in Ethiopia. Sheba, it is utterly ridiculous when you look at just the flat out ignoring of this stuff by American media. And it has to rise to the level of the atrocities in Rwanda for all of a sudden people to go, oh, look what's happening.

Yeah, that's right, Roland. Jamal just said it. I mean, American media, CNN, and Western media in general actually has completely ignored facts on the ground from the very beginning, starting from claiming that the Ethiopian government or the Ethiopian armed forces is waging atrocities and crimes against humanity, et cetera, on the people of Tigray. There's a blockade on Tigray, et cetera, et cetera.

We have seen this over and over, where while, for instance, the media was taking a huge, huge PR campaign against the nation, we had, in reality, on the ground, TDF or the Tigray Defense Forces attacking Amhara regions, attacking Afar regions for months after a ceasefire that was put in place at the end of June of last year, in 2021. And while the Ethiopian armed forces has backed off trying to protect the country for the sake of saving lives, what we had was the TDF making all these attacks, killing so many people, looting, destructing,

and we're getting all these reports from the ground, yet we're getting Tigray genocide and Tigray is under siege. And it was the exact opposite of the reality. And just to give a context, we have over 115 million people in Ethiopia. And of that, I think it's estimated around six million are people in Tigray or Tigrayans, of which over two million live outside of the Tigray region. And you had a massive, massive amount of people all over the world and in Ethiopia protesting, saying no more, saying fake news, and doing everything possible to make ourselves heard.

And yet the press never reflected the facts, and instead continued to be very aggressive towards Ethiopian. The Ethiopian government and Ethiopian armed forces even went to the extent of America sanctioning Ethiopia, taking away development programs like AGOA that were helping hundreds of thousands of women in the south of Ethiopia, which is nowhere near the conflict in itself. And right now, we're facing even more sanctions with H.R. 6600 and S.3199 that are belligerent and draconian. And you said Rwanda, but what we're looking at is the next Libya or the next Zimbabwe that's in the making if we don't get this stopped. It is certainly unfortunate. Jamal, final comment from you.

When you've reached out to American media, how did they respond? They didn't. I saw a report on CNN in mid-November of 2020, and I wrote an email. And I figured, I mean, you know, we're in the same circles, more or less, and we see the same producers, some of the same people. So I figured, okay, somebody would respond. And I wrote to CNN twice. Nobody responded. I wrote to The Independent. Nobody responded. I've had talks with my colleagues at some of the big wire services, and they've just gone unheeded. So I just decided to take the steps to, you know, cover the story accurately and objectively without bias. Well, it is certainly unfortunate

the lack of media paying any attention. We certainly appreciate both of you giving us this update, letting us know what's going on there. And folks, please be sure to follow both of them on social media so you're getting an unfiltered view of what's happening there in Ethiopia. Sheba Jamal, thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. This right here, Lauren, is, again, a consistent issue. Whether we're talking about Africa,

whether we're talking about what's happening in African-American communities in this country, when you have a mainstream media led by white folks, decision makers in position, this is what continuously happens. Right, sure. They care about what, I mean, you see with the Ukraine coverage, we're getting wall-to-wall Ukraine coverage. I often think that the coverage is really contingent on whether or not the people involved in the coverage look like the people who are covering it. And so much of the time in our media, those are white folks that really care only about other white folks. We see that too with when people go missing. We see that, you know, in coverage decisions all the time with major American newspapers. It is a huge reason for why there is a big need for the black press and why the black press is a

hugely important institution in this country, because there's just certain stories that would never get covered, never get paid attention to. And along those lines, it's not just race. It's sometimes class. What I find, what I've seen with a lot of the bigger news organizations that I've worked for is they hire the same types of people who all go to the same schools. And they come to work with the same sort of thought patterns, and they don't think outside that box. And obviously that impacts the journalism that they put out. I remember being at ABC News,

and we seemed to always be doing some sort of story on au pairs or getting an extension onto your house. And that was because a lot of the producers had au pairs and were putting on an extension onto your house. And that was because a lot of the producers had old pairs and were putting on an extension onto their house because they were all making six figures. So you have certain types of stories that just get told over and over again. And of course, they get told at the expense of other stories that should get a lot of attention. You know, and the thing here, I'm always talking about this here, Teresa, when it comes to resources. So I've seen some new reports out

that Discovery plans on making some serious cuts to CNN+. And if you look at, you know, all the people they've been hiring. So CNBC just dropped this. Look at this headline. CNN Plus struggles to lure viewers in its early days

drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users. Wow. Let me help everybody out there who's watching. We get 10,000 daily users on the Black Star Network. They've already spent by $300

million. See, part of this issue of the inability for black-owned media to cover these stories is when you don't have the dollars. I told y'all Gerald Horne's book dealing with Claude Barnett and the Associated Negro Press and the Jim Crow paradox, where he was pulling stuff together and providing insight on what was happening in African nations and Caribbean nations where you have black folks. And, of course, as Jim Crow began to subside, they lost interest because people were not subscribing to black newspapers in the way they were before. And I keep telling people,

y'all, y'all can sit at home, y'all can watch CNN, Fox News all day. You can do all of that. In fact, I was just sitting here looking at a tweet where that white nationalist Jesse Waters was complaining, saying that mainstream media is going to ignore the subway shooting in Brooklyn because the—here's he right here. Jesse Waters says mainstream media is soon going to bury the New York City subway shooting story because it's a black suspect and Asians are possibly targeted. But do you know how many mass shootings Fox News ignores every single day? Oh, the suspect black. Oh, Fox News about to play this sucker up. Oh hell, we about

to have wall-to-wall coverage trying to track this negro down. What we're dealing with again is when we don't get the resources, we can't hire a Sheba or Jamal to report for us. Lauren can tell you, there is no full-time black media correspondent covering Capitol Hill. I'm talking about five days a week. Yeah, at the White House, April Ryan's there for the griot. Ebony McMorris is there for American Urban Radio Network.

But I'm talking about how you're able to cover it. This is the issue. When we don't get about how you're able to cover it. This is the issue. When we don't get the money, we can't cover it, and then those who do get the money, they control the narrative and they control the story. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And, you know, in cases like this, it, again, shows the responsibility of mainstream media

where it needs to do better partnerships with the nuanced media. I mean, we can actually see the consequence of some of the actions that mainstream media has done. So, I mean, we can look at Newsmax. That's a new conservative station that is backed by millions of dollars. And the reason why Newsmax started their television program was because Fox News didn't want to keep being a ploy in some of their, a lot of their conservative values. And it's just on a whole other narrative. But that's another channel that is getting fully funded. And so they can tell whatever narrative.

They can stop talking about Ukraine week after week, even though that crisis there is absolutely imperative. But when we want to talk about the stories that are happening here in America, happening to black and brown people, happening where we need the funding in order to ask the right questions, to be in the room, we can't get the invitation. And so part of it, you know, I'm actually taken back by that article, you know, where they're like, oh, we're cutting CNN Plus because they don't have subscribers. But are you looking, you know, Discovery Plus channel for additional mediums and outlets that can absolutely give the people exactly what they need? And the answer to that is no. I mean, and primarily is because of the narrative that they want to push. And so, again, we got to make sure that the resources are going

back into our community. When Roland is saying, and other, you know, Black podcasters are, you know, going up and saying, we need to do more and we need your support, that doesn't mean just, you know, looking at it. It means sharing the news. It means financing and funding it. Because part of it is, if we're not a part of the nuance of how media is being driven now, then we

will ultimately miss out on the bigger picture, which is, again, to make sure that we are getting all of the news information when we need it at the right time. Mustafa, I did, I participated in a Black-owned media pitch today that Byron Allen arranged with one of the media outlets. I also had a meeting in person and then one virtual with two major Fortune 500 companies that we're trying to lock some deals down right now. And the reality is those resources will allow us to be able to do what we say. And I've said this any time before. Imagine if we all of a sudden go from where we are to, let's say, doing $10 million in revenue. Literally, literally, 20 to 30 people can be hired. Literally. You talk about completely

expanding the footprint. And we're talking about actually covering stuff. We're not talking about all of these so-called new black media people who all they do is sit on YouTube and talk about other people.

They trash talk what other people are doing. They read what somebody else is doing and then they talk about other people. They trash talk what other people are doing. They read what somebody else is doing and then they talk about them. No, we're talking about actually covering the news, actually being on the ground. The reality is, with Sheba and Jamal, they are there. They are reporting with their own eyes what they saw in Ethiopia. They're not reading a dispatch from the BBC or from CNN or from The Guardian

or somewhere else. That's what is required. And I think what we have right now is we got way too many people, and let me just go ahead and say it, and I don't care if I'm stepping on toes, we got way too many fake people calling themselves black media who cover nothing,

who are not journalists, who do nothing but trash talk other people. And then you have black media, black owned and black targeted outlets who focus on entertainment and sports and gossip. And we're literally laughing and gossiping ourselves to death when real things are happening. And then we go, well, I didn't know that was happening. Yeah, because you caught up in the gossip of who got married, who got divorced, who had a baby, who's screwing who, who left who, who walked out on who. So we don't cover the bullshit on my show because there are things that are important to our people that somebody has to be able to cover. And these stories that's coming out of Africa are critically important. And you got to

be able to tell these stories and you got to be able to, again, own the platforms where you can give an unfiltered view as opposed to going through the prism of white media. Without a doubt. I mean, you know, we got so many folks who do a bunch of the surface level reporting. And to be able to dive deep, you got to have the resources. So you know, if you had the $10 million, and it will come, but it's only going to come if we all continue to push and donate and hold other people accountable who should also be supporting. You know, the stories change.

So you know, what's going on in Ukraine is devastating. And we all pray and we all hope that that ends. But only about a thousand people have died so far. Now, let's say that we had the resources that were necessary to tell the truth and the fullness of what's happening in Ethiopia. Over 500,000 people have died. So let's just hold on to that for a second. If you've got half a million people who have died, why isn't there more substantive reporting that's happening? And if you've got a thousand people who have died in another location across the globe, everybody is paying attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Both are important stories. But we know that when it comes to our communities, when we know when it comes to Africa, that folks see that, you know, that continent as less than, the people who live there and who come from there as less than.

And for us to make sure that we are continually to keep it in front of folks means that we have to have the resources to make sure the fullness of the stories are being told. So that out of making sure that you have that reporting that's happening, then real actions that the State Department, that the UN, that all these other folks are actually digging deeper into trying to make sure that there is a resolution that happens, that the peace becomes a reality. But that's not gonna happen if you don't have that continuous set of lenses and individuals sharing

the stories of what's happening. Indeed, indeed. And so, folks, I hope you understand why when I am making this point, when we're fighting for resources, when we're targeting money, I love these loudmouths who are upset that I was challenging the Biden administration of the lack of black-owned dollars, black-owned media getting federal advertising dollars. So I guess I should just be quiet and let the white folks keep getting all the money, huh? Billion dollars being spent every year, and some of y'all are mad, or that he go big in the Biden administration for money. Well, we should be getting the money, whether it was Biden, whether it was Trump,

whether it was Obama, whether it was Bush, whether it was Clinton, whether it was Bush, whether it was Reagan, whether it was Carter, or Ford, or Nixon, or LBJ, or JFK, or Eisenhower, or Truman, or FDR, and on and on and on. Y'all, we're never going to be able to grow if we broke. And I'm going to say it again.

I'm tired of black people talking about surviving. At some point, we'll be talking about thriving. You cannot build and grow if you're just scrapping by. That's why we've always failed. Enough is enough with being happy with surviving. It's about thriving. And the reality is Africa is the youngest continent today. The potential for Africa is great. But Africa as a continent would never be able to grow and thrive as long as it is caught up in conflict, in war. And so when it gets ignored, the atrocities continue. Media must do better.

And if white media ain't going to do it, then we can. We will. We should. But it requires the resources, and that's why we're going to continue fighting that battle every single day, as long as there's breath in my body. Folks, coming up next, we're going to talk about an effort in Maryland to deal with violent crimes. You don't want to miss what this group is doing to combat that. Also, we'll talk with two sisters who have their own rum company.

Now, I don't drink, but I see y'all in the chat. I know a lot of y'all drink. And so y'all don't miss this conversation in our Marketplace segment, where every Tuesday we focus on black-owned businesses right here on Roller Market Unfiltered. Folks, hit the like button if you're on YouTube and Facebook. Let's blow those numbers up.

And also, my Facebook people, you know what? Y'all might as well just come to the YouTube channel. Facebook clearly is throttling our numbers. Y'all can't convince me that we got 1.3 million followers on Facebook, and yet every day only about 250 people watching Facebook. We see what y'all doing. Y'all are throttling our numbers. The same thing that happens on Instagram because y'all trying to get us to pay

to boost, to pay to get to boost to reach the people who already follow us. Yeah, game recognize game. So don't think for a second that I don't see what's going on. And so we see that. And so I see we got nearly 3000 folks on YouTube. We got another thousand who on the Black Star Network. We want to hit 50,000 downloads of the Black Star Network app. If you have not done so yet on you can do it on multiple devices, folks. Android phone, Apple phone, Android TV, Apple TV, your Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Download the app on all those platforms. Don't forget, if you give to us on YouTube, we only get 55 cents of every dollar. So if y'all want to give, give to us directly so we can get the whole 100%.

You can send a check or money order to PO Box 57196 Washington, D.C. 20037. Cash app. This is the only cash app we have. Do not give to anybody else. It's $RMUnfiltered. PayPal is

RMUnfiltered. Venmo is RMUnfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. We certainly appreciate if you are able to support us there, folks. I'll be right back. Roland Martin Unfiltered, back in a moment. When did you know that this is what I wanted? I think right after high school,

because in high school I was in all the plays. I was always funny, but I didn't know nobody would pay me for it. And then I saw Eddie Murphy. This was like 84 when I saw Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy was the hottest thing in the whole wide world. Not just comedy, but anywhere. He saved Saturday Night Live. If he hadn't started that, that show would be gone.

He had done 48 hours, trading places, his first Beverly Hills top, could wear the hell out of a red leather suit, and he wasn't but 23 years old. He was rich enough to pee cream. And he got all that telling jokes. I said, shit, I've been funny my whole life. I didn't know people gave you money like that,

so I went and got some Red Fox albums. I went down to my mama's basement, where I was living anyway, and I stood in that mirror and played them albums and them jokes until I could tell them like they were mad. Wow. And that started me doing jokes, and then I went and did comedy in the street. I was standing on State Street, telling jokes that passed my hat, and white folks would come up and just hand me money.

And I liked it. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life, the Bible says that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. After two years of hunkering down, we can all relate to that. Spring, sun, and fun, we may be ready to get out there,

but our bodies may not be ready to party. On the next A Balanced Life, we're going to get our mind, body, and spirit on the same page. That's A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shante Moore. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I told y'all Facebook is throttling. I just checked. 71 people watching on Facebook. You know what? All 71, y'all Facebook is throttling. I just checked. 71 people watching on Facebook. You know what? All 71, y'all just go on over to YouTube. Just go ahead. Go on over to YouTube or download the Black Star Network app. Go watch it on the app.

Don't even waste time with Facebook. We see the games they're playing. That's exactly why we launched the Black Star Network app. And so my goal, what I would love to do, is for us to be able to get this thing up to up to, you know, 50, 100,000, 200,000. That's really what our goal is. And so we're going to keep doing that. So don't worry about that, folks. So trust me on that one. All right, y'all. Let's talk about our next story. Every day we are reading about violent or deadly encounters.

People, especially black folks, have with police. For centuries, those encounters have led to mistrust regarding the police. Well, Equal Justice USA wants to change that with its Trauma to Trust program to bridge the gap between community members and the police. Jamila Hodge is the executive director of Equal Justice USA. She joins us now from Bowie, Maryland, to tell us more about Trauma to Trust. And so, all right then. So, tell us, Jamila, Trauma to Trust, what is it? How long have you been around?

And how have you impacted community and cops? Hi, Erland. Thank you so much for having us and for this opportunity to talk about this important work. So Equal Justice USA has been around really about 30 years, if we go back to our original founding. But the Trauma to Trust program specifically was launched in 2016 and it was launched in response to one,

just an understanding of the role of trauma. A big part of our work is really helping people understand that justice does not equal punishment. And that, unfortunately, in our country, we are obsessed with punishment. So when we talk about justice, often people, what they mean is punishment. And when we redefine justice for it to mean things

like healing, repair, and safety, that requires us to deal with issues of trauma. And both understanding trauma, being trauma-informed, and then understanding where we are as a country, probably more divided than we've ever been across so many levels, but particularly after the uprisings in 2020, the tragic murder of George Floyd, the separations we're seeing between police and community. And so this program is really important to helping heal some of that divide.

What it is is 16 hours of training that police officers do with community members, and they all are sitting together in a space learning about trauma. Well, in understanding both what personal, individual trauma looks like, what historical intergenerational trauma looks like, it allows for sharing space and conversations

and stories about how trauma has shown up in our own lives. And in seeing that happen and having that space together, what we see every time we host these trainings is an opportunity for people to see each other beyond a police uniform and for police beyond community who don't trust us, who are out to get us, who don't, you know, just think we're the enemy, that instead seeing each other as human beings and realizing there's, particularly where

we do this in Newark, usually a whole lot more in common than there is that separates us, especially since a number of the police officers in Newark are from Newark and grew up in Newark. And so, you know, from the same neighborhoods. So it really creates this opening in space where people can see each other, and we've seen just some powerful moments of healing that come from it. All right, so what happens, though, in these 16 hours? I mean, so what are the conversations?

I mean, what is going on to create these moments? So we have some amazing facilitators who come in. So there are a couple of things I think are important, right? When you are trying to create space where people can share and actually get to know each other, I think many people would agreerecognized ingredient to Trauma to Trust is really good food that we get from local restaurants there in Newark. But we start with, you know, some of the same kind of centering exercises. So we're going to open, you know, with, you know, going around, sharing something about yourself. And I know when I sat in on the training myself, I wanted it to be clear, I'm not sitting here today as the executive director of Equal Justice USA. I think this conversation is so important. So I told them, I'm showing up today as someone who worked in

the system as a prosecutor, who has a father who was the victim of a violent robbery, who has a brother who had been incarcerated for a period of time. I'm showing up with wearing all of those hats, not just as the executive director of Equal Justice USA, and having people be able to, even from the very beginning, show up as themselves. And then we go through a series, some of them are videos, to learn literally what does trauma mean, what does historical trauma look like.

And then it leads to conversation. So when we're talking about historical trauma look like? And then it leads to conversation. So when we're talking about historical trauma, and particularly what Black people have faced in this country, when we begin to have conversations about, for instance, the legacy of policing, that the legacy of policing comes from slave patrols, then it creates some understanding that when a police car rolls up

on the block and people are, instead of feeling welcoming, feel instead occupied and nervous and scared, that there's history behind that. So creating the space for those conversations. And then, yes, we break, we eat together, and then we come back for more conversation. And then we do it, we separate it over two days so that the first day almost always is a little bit more distant. Officers sort of sit on one side, community members sit on the other side. We share that learning and the meal and some time together. And then what we find is when we come back a couple of days later for the second session, you see more mixing.

People have now had conversations. And so the officers aren't all in one group on one side of the table. We're more interspersed. Questions from our panel. First up, I'll go to you, Mustafa. Yes. Well, first of all, thank you for the work that you're doing. You know, I'm curious about the violence reduction that you all focus on. And I appreciate the healing justice paradigm as well. What results have you seen in the locations that you are working in? Because we know that, you know, violence has been increasing and there's a lot of attention on that and trying to find solutions and tools. Yes. So the place that we've done the most work is in Newark. And if we look at the results we're seeing in Newark, it's incredibly balanced.

When we talk about our balance reduction initiative, what we're talking about is creating a public safety ecosystem that does not rely solely on police. And there are many. So this is not a simple thing. It's very, you know, I would say, complex and complicated. And that's because one thing we have to understand is that what causes violence isn't simple. And so the answers to reducing violence aren't going to be simple. The drivers of violence are things like shame, isolation, poverty, exposure to violence. And it's why the answer, when we're trying to reduce violence and so many people call for just more police, isn't getting us to less violence. I think, unfortunately, what we see in

New York happen today is a great example of that. New York's police department is one of the most well-funded police departments in the country with more than a $5 billion budget. And if you look at pensions and other things, it's actually closer to an $11 billion budget. But I'm digressing a little bit. So what we talk about is an ecosystem where you are bringing in community-based organizations. And really what's at the heart of this is understanding that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solutions and really should be closest to the power. And so how do we make that happen? So there are organizations who specifically serve survivors. there are organizations who specifically serve survivors. There are organizations who specifically work with youth. There are organizations who are

those credible messengers. So people who have been justice involved, they've been in the system and they want to interact with the young person who is not making the best decisions, and to help them understand what those consequences can look like. And so having multiple levers that can be pulled when you are trying to prevent violence or when violence happens. And it really began with Mayor Baraka recognizing that gun violence is a public health issue. He made that statement. He had a vision for a different approach

and it's really been under his leadership. So we at Equal Justice USA, we sort of, we basically help support this ecosystem. Um, there's a public safety round table, which is an amazing space that's created every other week. We regularly have between 50 and 100 people show up. And this is, it's, we co-facilitated with the Newark Community Street team, which is a group of amazing outreach

workers who are on the ground. It was started by Akilah Shirels, who did this work out in Los Angeles and was called by Mayor Baraka to come and bring this work to Newark. And we co-facilitate this space where the issues are addressed in real time. So if there's a particular issue that's happening on a corner, we get the stats from the police department. So they're at the table. And I want to name that. That's important. Police are at the table, but they don't control the space. It is a space that is community run, that is community led, and their voice and their information needs to be there because they are a significant part of how public safety is addressed. But the difference in Newark is they're not the only lever that is pulled for public safety. As we were in the midst of this global pandemic coming out of uprisings, I think importantly, seeing more guns coming in across the country and such a spike that we that I think is under

we're not talking about enough in many cities across this country. We saw significant upticks specifically in homicides, specifically in New York City, which is not far from Newark. There was a 40 percent increase in homicides in 2020. There was no increase in New York City, which is, you know, not far from Newark, there was a 40 percent increase in homicides in 2020. There was no increase in Newark. And this increase was happening not just in Democrat-led cities. It was in Republican-led cities. It really didn't matter whether you were a law and order jurisdiction or a reform jurisdiction. We've seen this uptick in homicides, but not in Newark. And so so and we believe a big part of that is because public safety isn't solely the lane of the police and that there is this new approach that is really drawing on the incredible resource of the community.

Let's see here. Teresa, your question. Yeah, thank you so much, one, for partnering and having this vision. There's a lot, you know, as I'm listening to you guys and I'm gathering, what can. If you were to come to Philadelphia, what is something that, you know, particular because our gun violence has been on an all-time high. And I'm not sure that law enforcement is really working with some of the organizations like yours and some of the partner organizations to really meet their full potential of keeping public safety, but also mental health another priority. So is there any suggestions that you could probably even give our police department who may be looking or listening? Yeah. I mean, there are a couple of things that come to mind right away. I probably want to underscore more than anything the importance of engaging the community and making it a grassroots

effort. So it certainly is involving the police and getting their openness to being part of trainings, being part of conversations, being open to new approaches. But the power really lies in the people. And so it really begins with organizing the community in Philadelphia. And I know that's a place where a lot of reform has happened. And we've seen it even in the election of your DA in Philly. So there are definitely some organizing. And in fact, I'm aware of a statewide coalition that we're at the table with many other organizations. So there are some efforts that are already happening in Pennsylvania. I think they're pretty early at this point. you need community members and particularly community-led organizations and resources to be able to fill those gaps

and respond in ways that police just simply aren't equipped to. And so a big part of that, of course, is then resources, right? You know, just hearing so much of the prior conversation about not surviving, but actually being at a position where we can thrive. A big part of the advocacy and that grassroots work is around making sure that resources are allocated to these different approaches, so that, instead of just every time something violent happens, you know, it means we have to throw more money at the police department, which hasn't. You know, if we really look at the results, it's not reducing violence. They're showing up after the fact

and instead resourcing those organizations that are addressing the drivers of violence. And then when you empower the community, what they can do is hold accountable their leaders, whether it's the mayor who is controlling, you know, the budget and the purse strings, whether it's your police chief and getting them to be open to things like a trauma to trust training and new approaches to how they approach policing. But it really all begins with empowering and organizing the people. Lauren. So I just typed into Google here and saw that the Newark Police Department is about 1,400 people. How many cops go through the program?

And does it also include the cops who are lieutenants and captains, sergeants, or is it mostly privates? Thanks a lot. Yeah, no, that's a great question. We are getting close to almost 300. So I think the last number I saw was around 270 officers. And then we always do this in combination with community members.

So I think the numbers are somewhere over 500 in terms of total people who've been through the program. And it is at all levels. So it is not just sort of your street officers who are walking the beat, but you do have those supervisors, those lieutenants who are also part of the training. So, and I will say we were able to access some data from some of the officers who went through the first year of the program. And what that data showed were officers who had gone through the Trauma Trust training had a 50% reduction in their use of force complaints. So we are in the process of working with MPD now to make sure that having data going forward will be part of our work together because that particular statistic to me is very telling. Like this is something that's actually

changing how officers are approaching the people that they interact with every day. All right then, Jamila Hodge, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Where can people go to get more information with regards to Equal Justice USA? Please check us out on our website and sign up at ejusa.org. Please follow us on Twitter.

Follow me on Twitter. We are really trying to basically raise awareness. I just think people don't know that there are other ways to address violence, that it is happening in a place like Newark. And we're really excited that this summer we'll be releasing a case study that is documenting the parts of this ecosystem and the results we've seen. And looking forward to making sure we have media and others present and helping us to get the word out. Got it. I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, we come back. Some breaking news.

Police in New York have released a name and a photo of a person of interest in the subway shooting today. They injured 29 people. Also, Black Lives Matter organizers. They talk about what happened with this $6 million home that was purchased in Los Angeles. We will have that for you as well. Plus, Black-Owned Rum Company. Two sisters who own it. We'll talk to them in our Marketplace segment featuring Black-Owned businesses. Folks, don't forget.

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Cash App is DallasSideRMUnfiltered.. PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I'll be right back. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you'll learn how wealth begins at home and how it can set the right path in the right direction. Wealth building, specifically in the black community, is about making sure that we have assets that can last beyond our lifetime. All right, let's do this here. I need to rumble to the other side of the desk. This is Washington Commander's box taking off. Pull up a chair. Take your seat. Move to that side over there.

With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation. How long is the Black Lives Matter audio? On the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life,

the Bible says that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. After two years of hunkering down, we can all relate to that. Spring, sun, and fun. We may be ready to get out there, but our bodies may not be ready to party. On the next A Balanced Life, we're going to get our mind, body, and spirit on the same page. That's A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on the 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, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, breaking news out of New York City, where police have released this photo here of a man who's a suspect of interest in today's subway shooting in Brooklyn. This is the tweet from the NYPD News. This is Frank James. He's a person of interest in the shooting that took place on the N train in Brooklyn. This is the tweet from the NYPD News. This is Frank James. He's a person of interest in

the shooting that took place on the N train in Brooklyn Tuesday morning. Anyone with information on his whereabouts, they're asked to call NYPD tips at 800-577-TIPS, 800-577-TIPS. Now, according to police, he is 62 years old. They say that the suspect was wearing a gas mask and threw some devices into the subway station. And so, again, it took place this morning. Some 29 people have been injured. Mayor Eric Adams saying they are doubling the number of police officers in subway stations as a result of this. And so, again, this shooting took place in New York, in Brooklyn today. And so this continues. So again, NYPD are looking for, there's a citywide

manhunt for this man, a person of interest. He is not named as the suspect. He's being called a person of interest. His name is Frank James, Frank James. And then this is his photo right here. Again, you see the Crimestoppers number at the bottom, 800-577-8477. All right, folks, let's turn our attention to Black Lives Matter. There's been a lot of attention being paid to Black Lives Matter as a result of the use of their resources, what has been purchased, what has been bought, and a home that was being purchased for some $6 million in Los Angeles is being talked about as well. And that has raised lots of questions.

People have been saying, what is the expenditure for? Well, yesterday, there was a Zoom conference with a number of Black journalists, where Patrice Cullors, the former leader of Black Lives Matter, former also co-founder, where she talked about this whole issue, along with activist Angela Davis. Here is some of that conversation. As you know, I'm Patrice Cullors, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter and formerly the executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. I want to really on the top of this call kind of explain just for 30 seconds the ecosystem of Black Lives Matter. There are three

organizations. There's Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which I'm the former executive director of. There's a Black Lives Matter PAC, which endorses candidates and policy. And then there's BLM Grassroots that was really founded from the chapters and specifically Dr. Malina Abdullah, who's going to speak today. And I think it's really important for folks to understand the differences in these entities, as they have different operations and different goals. Same goal for Black liberation, but a different take on that. And Dr. Milena Abdullah is going to speak to that. So I want to speak very directly to the recent New York Magazine

article that then turned into a right-wing blitz and just set the record straight. So it's really important for folks to understand that the acquiring of the multipurpose property happened in October of 2020. For us, it was a huge accomplishment. And I'm speaking specifically to Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. Despite what has been reported, BLM has not been financially solvent. Our money really did come in 2020. And it was really important for us to do a number of things. One, get that money to the ground and get those resources to the ground, which we did. But also secure a space like so many other organizations, not just across Black movement, but across nonprofit organizations do. We found the place and we hired Dane Pascal, who is a known Black real estate consultant

here in Los Angeles and across the country. He's facilitated similar processes with other organizations like Community Services Unlimited, which is actually an organization that was founded by the Panther Party here in Los Angeles. And they have a space that they were able to purchase. And so Dane was a natural facilitator for this process. This purchase was made six months prior to my resignation. And the property needed some renovations. Like most properties do,

we hired a management company to help get the property together for public use. But almost immediately upon closing, the attacks on me and BLM, which also means on Melina and others escalated. So we did use the campus as a haven, as a safe place, and it derailed an announcement strategy. It wasn't a secret. Conditions changed, and that's it. As you all know, and you've seen BLM, the organization, but also many of the leaders are under constant surveillance. There's serious security issues.

I was called by the FBI twice, but the first time I was called by the FBI to tell me that there was a credible threat against my life, I did stay in the property for four nights, and that's it. I stayed there for four nights while the FBI was doing their work to try to figure out what was happening with the credible threat. And once I resigned, I never visited the property again. Now, Angela Davis, she also spoke on this call as well.

Here is some of what she had to say. Now, this is a very difficult moment. It is a moment that can produce an enormous amount of possibility. But at the same time, we see conservative efforts to turn the clock back, to discredit the movement, to pretend as if it might be possible to live life as we have previously experienced it. I'm referring to the fact that from the White House, we have heard calls for more police, and we've heard efforts to discredit the progress, at least the ideological progress that we have made since the advent of Black Lives Matter. I personally knew from the outset, from the time Black Lives Matter was created, that there would be attacks similar to the historical attacks launched against Black leaders, particularly when we saw the FBI come up

with this notion of Black identity extremists, this was a sign that there was continuity with COINTELPRO. I can't say that I would have predicted exactly how these attacks would express themselves. But I was convinced that they would happen. You know, whether you're talking about attacks on... All right, folks, let's talk about our panel. Mustafa, Lauren, as well as Teresa. Lauren, here is the most fundamental issue.

One, I encouraged on this show, publicly and privately, for Patrice and the folks involved to actually do this call to say it need to happen, you need to talk to black journalists. That did happen. But here's the problem. She left May of last year. She's no longer with Black Lives Matter. And I've communicated to the existing leaders of Black Lives Matter, where are y'all?

Why are you not talking? Why are you not out here explaining what's going on? I was sent an actual story from News 1 where they label an exclusive explaining what the house is for. I saw that, and I got it. But still, and I understand they're sitting here getting all of these various hits. They got people who are attacking them. But the former leader of Black Lives Matter cannot be the one, Lauren, who's out talking about what's happening now.

It has to be the existing leadership who's doing it. Yeah, absolutely. It has to be the existing leadership who's doing it. And they do have to have some sort of accounting that the media can in some way evaluate for $90 million that was, I believe, raised in 2020 after the death of George Floyd. You know, all this talk that we've heard from Black Lives Matter in the past about not having

leadership, a specific leader, and, you know, wow, everybody's a leader and all that, at some point that has to come to an end because someone, of course, has to lead with regard to where the money allocation is going. And I'm not sure why. I mean, I do understand that obviously $90 million is a lot of money, and I understand why that could get complicated. But in terms of large purchases of any type, it should be fairly easy to demonstrate to journalists what those large purchases are, you know, and what the general focus of their, you know, monetary situation is. Because as they should have, I'm sure, have figured out by now, you know, the New York Post and right-wing media is completely invested in some way disenfranchising and damaging

a very powerful movement of Black Lives Matter. I mean, that is what they're invested in. Now the story, of course, went from right-wing media, as it typically does, to what I would consider to be mainstream media, starting with the New York magazine. And now all of a sudden there's a column in The Washington Post. Well, of course there is, because that's how right-wing media pushes something into the mainstream. And now you see a column in The Washington Post about this. But the way they should answer this is very directly and in detail about their account, because the movement is very, you know, it's obviously too important to be damaged by this type of thing. And some of these criticisms, some of the criticisms that they get from grassroots leaders,

particularly those in Ferguson, on the ground, I think are fairly valid. I mean, this is a movement that has made a substantial amount of money in 2020 when George Floyd, after George Floyd was murdered. So you have a movement making a lot of money off of the death of a black male. And so the question is, how is that money being allocated? What is that money being allocated for? And when we talk about police brutality, that is something that disproportionately impacts black men. So I think they have to have that entire discussion.

Somebody should have that discussion at some point. Well, bottom line is, you gotta, again, you gotta step up. I'm gonna show these tweets here. So they sent these tweets out yesterday, folks. Uh, and so look at this here. Uh, pull them up, please, on the television. Uh, they said, Black creativity is necessary

in vital to black survival. BLM has always held that tradition sacred, partnering with artists of every kind since our founding. That's why Creator's House was purchased to provide a space for black folks to share their gifts with the world and hone their craft as they see fit under the conditions that work best for them

and outside systems of oppression in creative industries. Over the last several months, BLM GNF, that's the Global Foundation, has provided $3 million in direct support to families struggling to navigate the impact of COVID. They said, we have granted over $25 million to black-led frontline orgs around the world. Then they also tweeted, the organization provided investments to orgs run by families impacted by police violence. We work with BLM grassroots to collect 60,000 signatures in support of Andrew Joseph to end qualified immunity, and will work to build support among policymakers

for federal legislation like the BREATHE Act and the People's Response Act. Then they also say that, let's see here, we demanded a full investigation after the attempted coup on January 6th. They laid that out. Then they also talked about the Black Futures Month concert that took place. And then

they also tweeted, we're embracing this moment as an opportunity for accountability, healing, truth-telling, and transparency. We understand the necessity of working intentionally to rebuild trust so we continue forging a new path that sustains black people for generations. And then that is

the last tweet there. You see that was sent out again at 9.15 a.m. on, first of all, it's April 11, 2022. Here, Teresa, your communication strategist, here is the whole problem. Why in the hell are we seeing these tweets a year, almost a year after Patrisse Cullors left in May. This is what should have been sent out in June or July or August or September or October or November or December or January, February, March, April. It should not be sent out in response to conservative attacks. That's what you send out to preempt those type of attacks. You know they're going to come after you for the money.

I've talked to people on the inside there. They're trying to deal with the communication apparatus. What you also are dealing with is you have a fundamental problem with their hierarchy. Who in the hell is leading the organization? Who is the executive director? Who's the deputy executive director? Who's the head of finance? Who's the head of IT? And I get their point that many of their leaders have come under attack and have been targeted by hate folks. But the reality is this here. If you are over a nonprofit, you are a public entity. You can't be anonymous sitting over a nonprofit. You've got to have the information.

They've got to be able to anticipate these type of questions You can't do it by being quiet and hoping Patrice can somehow take all the hits or Alicia Garza could take all the hits They are no longer involved with BLM the folks there now. They must do it You're absolutely right and it actually does a disservice to the public, you know when The senior leadership decides not to speak on crucial issues after raising $90 million for their organization to combat some of these injustices that we are still dealing with every day, it is almost just heartbreaking, to say the least, that the organization infrastructure was not in place once she left. I think you're absolutely right. People

absolutely wanted to leave the scene and wanted to try something different. But again, there was no strategy, no leadership. There was no way that BLM could meet its full potential. If anything, money's, you know, we're now questioned in the hands of this nuanced global leadership. But I think they're now seeing the destruction that is happening. And I believe they are now on the right path to getting their house in order, per se, versus not seeing anything at all. So, I mean, I'm glad something has been led, but I hope that the new leadership is also taking a lesson and making sure that it's learned for future opportunities. But the right absolutely saw the same thing you just named, Roland, where there was a lack of leadership, there was a lack of responsibility, there was a lack of narrative in the messaging in order to explain themselves, they absolutely did what they were... their agenda is, which is to, you know,

deconstruct an organization that is combating racism at every hand. And... Yeah, there we go. And Mustafa, look, this is real simple. The moment they came out announcing the money, somebody should have said before they announced it, we better be able to articulate

what we're doing with it. I've been told the NAACP actually raised almost $140 million after the death of George Floyd. That's more than Black Lives Matter. I've been told the National Urban League has raised several... I've been told the National Urban League has raised several,

I've been told anywhere from 50 to 80 million dollars. All black groups were able, saw increases after the death of George Floyd. BLM was the only one that actually put their figure out. So let's also be clear. They're transparent. Other groups that got money, they ain't said a word.

But the deal is, if you spend $6 million on a house, you damn sure better tell folk when you do it, you don't announce a year later, oh, we have a home for creators or whatever. No, you got to be able to say that. And if the home is also a refuge for people who are under attack. I get that as well. But again, you have to be able to anticipate the level of attacks because the right wing will love nothing more than sow seeds of discontent, take them out. And let me also say this here,

while also I push them to talk to black media because part of the problem, and I saw this in the last several years, a whole bunch of these black groups step out of here and do stuff, and they run the white media to give them the exclusives, and then when they get their ass kicked, they want to call us to bail them out. No, you called me on the front end and the back end, and so that's what also is important, because the problem is a lot of black folks, especially a lot of these so-called black media outlets,

they see something being reported in mainstream media and they just run with it, never ask the question, hmm, what's the real story here? That also has to happen. You know, my auntie always says, put it on Front Street. That way, can't nobody say that they didn't know, that they weren't informed, and that hopefully they were a part of the process.

We know so many folks who were a part of the process. We know so many folks who are a part of supporting Black Lives Matter, been doing incredible work since 2014. So it is a part of the narrative. You know, the narrative, as was shared in those tweets, are critically important. But you also got to make sure you have the infrastructure, transparency and accountability for any organization to be successful, because, you know, you're going to have haters. Haters don't come and you got to be prepared for them. Absolutely that.

Absolutely that. All right, folks. Got to go to a break. We come back with our Marketplace segment. We're going to talk to the owners of a black-owned rum company in our Marketplace segment where we feature, of course, black-owned businesses. That is next. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network.

Blackstar Network is here. Hold no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. We support this man, black media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be Black. I love y'all.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network.

Hey, I'm Deion Cole from Black-ish. Hey, I'm Arnaz J. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke. Now, y'all know black people are real special.

So I don't drink. I've never drank in my life. And so that's just, I'm naturally ignorant. My brother said, I don't even want to see your crazy ass drink. And so when I announced at the top of the show, we were doing this segment. I got a text message here, and the text message said, send that rum to me. Yeah, that was my daddy. See, my parents, they love visiting me because people give me alcohol.

And so him and my mama, they love coming drinking wine, champagne, all the stuff folk give me. So Carol's in the control room. Carol tried to claim the rum. I was like, Carol, you already lost. You too slow. You too slow. Daddy hit me at the top of the show.

And I guess he figures it's his birthday, April 25th. He like, look, I already got me a gift. So that's the case. So our next guest has two sisters. They actually own a rum company. Y'all know in this segment here we're always focused on black-owned businesses and what they are doing. The company is called Halo 7. Halo 7.

And y'all know we love featuring folks who are doing great things. And this particular company, based here, are y'all based here in D.C.? No, in Chicago. Chicago, but you're here. Alright, so our next two guests, folks, Janae Stanley, she joins us from Chicago,

Ashley Jackson with me here in D.C. So first of all, Halo 7, who started this? What was the idea? We were just sitting in the backyard and brainstorming, and we were probably drinking cocktails. Yeah, that's what I'm about to say. Were y'all drinking? Were y'all drinking?

And, you know, we were just thinking about what's something that we could do, a business we could start that, you know, goes to our, feeds our passion. And we were like, we like cocktails. Let's try that. Is that how that happened? Pretty much. let's try that is that uh is that is that how that happened pretty much i mean you know we're women of of the new century so we like to sip so there's lots of options out here and we got the simple guzzle oh we sip all day a lot so this is what we came up with it is um it's a craft rum and it is a spirit that is meant to be top shelf and to be sipped neat on the rocks or in a cocktail okay i don't know what the hell none of that means so what so what is a craft rum what is that so typically when we think of rum seriously

i don't yeah no that's fair my daddy sent me to the store to buy some beer, and I was like, say, doll, you need to be real specific with me. I'm going to bring it back. Hell, all I know is Miller Genuine Draft and Budweiser. I don't know. So y'all better be real specific with me, because y'all might get some beer you ain't never heard of. And he was like, are you serious? I'm like, say, man, I don't drink.

So craft rum. What is craft rum? Yeah, so when you think about, spirits have really kind of made a comeback. And so when you think about craft, it's small batches. It's crafted. It doesn't follow, you know, the traditional making of what you would think of like, you know, the Bacardi,

the Crucians that you may see on the shelf. And so we really wanted to create an elevated rum. You think of, typically it's thought of as like a party drink. You always mix it in a punch, but we wanted something that you would sip just like you would sip your whiskey, your bourbon or your scotch. And so that's how we decided on our recipe

and the direction we decided to go. Okay, so how did you, so this recipe, who put it together? Janai, how did y to talk and cocked it. All that what you do. So this is an original recipe that both actually and I created together. It took us some time and we've made several different batches of recipes in order to perfect kind

of all of the different accents. So behind job do it well,, like, in the kitchen? Well, yeah, we kind of started there. Were y'all with cups and measuring devices, and y'all were dropping stuff? Listen, we can't give you all the tips. How the hell you make rum? Like, how do you make rum?

We did it. We tried it. We came up with the flavor profile, and then, to your point, you can't just make rum in your kitchen. You could blow up the kitchen. So we did a lot of research. And then we interviewed master distillers all over the country. And we were finally able to find one that could really bring our vision to life, that could translate our recipe.

And so we distill out of Orlando, Florida. Gotcha. So you found a master of Orlando, Florida. Gotcha. So you're a master distiller. Yes. Gotcha. They black? Who are they? He is Hispanic.

He's of Cuban descent. How did y'all find him? Honestly, we just started Googling and calling people. Yeah. Can you make me some rum? Absolutely. Is that how it went? Hey, can you make rum?

Absolutely. You guys laugh, but that's what we did. Did I go ahead? This is a luxury brand. So, you know, this is like straight interview process as though you are, you know, going to make million million dollar company startup. So, you know, we really went out and did the research to find exactly who we were looking for. So are there any other black-owned rum companies?

Yeah, there are a couple. We're not, I mean, we're not the first by any means. And when you think about all of the rum in the Caribbean, you know, that's how we settled on rum and not vodka or tequila. So the name, Halo 7, where's that from?

Yeah. What is that? Well, I mean, so I could give you a little info. So our name... Well, I just asked you. I mean, that's... J'Nai, that is the point of the question. I'm here.

I'm just saying. So Halo 7 is what we would like to say is a love note to our ancestors. So, you know, in order to make rum, there are certain things that are key components of rum. And so Halo is the completion and so is the number seven. And if you notice on our bottle, we focus on the constellations, which is something that our ancestors have always used to kind of use as their guiding force. And so we kind of have that as our background of our history, and we bring it forward into a luxury brand setting to celebrate, you know, all of the

longevity of our lineage. All right. I'm going to go to questions from my panel, and let's see here. Mustafa, Lauren, Teresa, let me see which one of y'all probably drink. Let's see. Norm Mustafa, he's my alpha brother, and he's wearing that Kangol hat. I know you got some rum around your house. So, Mustafa, you get the first question.

I appreciate that, but I've never had a drink in my life, but I've been around a lot of Rome in the islands. You know, my question is, I appreciate you sharing with folks the significance of seven, which is completion, but it is also perfection, if you know numerology. And then, of course, if you know that Alpha was found by the seven jewels. Well, we do have several of your brothers on our team. So I'm sure they went along with Halo 7. Absolutely.

Of course. Sorry, Mustafa. Mustafa fell on alpha. Go ahead, Mustafa. Yeah, so knowing that you have a premium brand, who are you sort of focusing on? What sort of success have you had for those you're trying to reach? So I would definitely say we are focusing

on the premium craft market generally, which is a really broad spectrum of people. You would be surprised, you know, how you traditionally say, well, professional within, you know, certain income range. You really find that that's actually pretty broad. But obviously we definitely cater to our black audience. We definitely celebrate who we are.

We celebrate our team. Our team is predominantly black. And so we're looking at young to older professionals. And then we're based primarily out of Chicago, so that's where we have retail outlets, but we're also available via our website. You can order. It will get shipped

directly to you. Alright, let's see here. Teresa. Yeah, well congratulations. I think this is a very good business. So probably one of my questions is, are you guys thinking about doing any to-go rum packages?

I know that's kind of been like this nuance with this new generation. What the hell is to, again, what is to go rum packages? Like what? The little bit of ass bombs on the airplane? Essentially, I mean, so they, so it's like the pro-wine, right? So it's a foil top, so I mean, they have to

go liquor. So wait a minute, so Alex in the control room is an adult Capri Sun. Yeah, some of them are. Is that what. Yeah, some of them are. Is that what it is? Some of them are. I told y'all I don't drink. And if you grown ass walking around with a pouch

with a little... Anyway, go ahead, Therese. Ask your question. Is that something down the line you guys are thinking about doing in your business? Absolutely. I think accessibility

is something that's really important to us in creating a variety of platforms. We're definitely Ravinia goers. And so we've definitely thought about the variety of different types of platforms that we can kind of create for accessible outings. All right. Lauren, I know you drink. You know what? I don't drink, but my... You lying. You lying. When you start, uh... When they start with, uh...

Go ahead. My grandmother is from Barbados, and her cabinet has a ton of rum in it. Old-style rum. I mean, just labels that you probably have never heard of from, like, the 1950s and 60s. And me and my nephew sort of tried it out one day, and it really, quite frankly, knocked us on our ass.

I'm wondering what... Now, for me, it knocked me down pretty quickly because I don't drink very much, but... Operative phrase, very much. I drink like maybe once a year. I mean, maybe at a wedding or something like that. But how much, what percentage is wrong? Like higher percentage of alcohol?

Or I feel like that's the case. But am I right? Yeah, they vary. But ours is 70 proof, so it's 35% by volume. It has notes of caramel, coconut, and vanilla, so it's incredibly smooth. So even when you try it next to another rum that may be 70 proof, ours lacks the burn, so it's a lot smoother than your typical 70 proof or 35% by volume spirit. Nice. Wow. Nice. All right, then.

Okay, so the folks on our YouTube Black Star Network and Facebook chats are adding, asking, is there a Roland Martin unfiltered discount code for folks to buy the rum right now on your website? We have not set that up, no. What is wrong with y'all? What's wrong with y'all?

It's a hot item. What's wrong with y'all? Listen, we've just been trying to keep it in the store. Right. But we're trying to sell more. I know. Go to 807rum.com to get Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Tell them where to go. 807Rub.com to get your bottle.

Or if you live in the Chicagoland area, you may go to Kemp Art Liquors, but please call first. See, the whole point of the code is that way to track how many folks who watched the segment, bought it. I know. Who's over y'all marketing team? Shoot us.

Listen, if you reach out to us, we are very responsive. We will send you some love. Owners at Halo7Rum.com. No, no, no. I want them to buy it, but the whole point is we need to be able to track you. I know, I know. All right, so.

Right, we got to track you. We're going to get it together. It's okay. Yeah, yeah. Who else want to marketing department? We're going to make it together. It's okay. Yeah, yeah. We're going to go to the marketing department. We're going to make it happen. Which one of y'all over marketing? We're not going to throw anybody in the bus.

Okay, all right. Throw anybody in the bus. All right. Okay, all right. Well, look, it's Halo 7. Give them the website again where they can go check it out. Halo7rum.com. Okay, all right then.

All socials, same thing. Halo 7 Rum. First of all, how much, I don't even know, how much does that cost? Online it is $49.99 plus shipping, and then if you go to the store in Kimbark, it is $54.99. Oh, okay, all right, that ain't bad. That ain't bad to get knocked on your ass, Lauren. $49.99.

All right, I certainly appreciate it. Janae, thanks a lot, being Chicago-ass, I certainly appreciate it as well. Yes, thanks for having us. All right, folks. That is it for us. We went over our time, but it's all good because y'all probably don't get drunk now off that Halo 7 rum. Let me thank Lauren, Mustafa, and Teresa.

Teresa, your daddy drink rum? He does not. Oh, he don't drink. All right. I'm just checking because you know I, your daddy drink rum? He does not. Oh, he don't drink. All right. I'm just checking, cause you know I mention your daddy every damn time you on after that comment you made last time. You know every time your dad,

first of all, what's your daddy name? All right guys, have a good one. Uh-uh, Teresa, what's your daddy name? Teresa, I'ma ask you every week, so you might as well give me the name. We just call them pops. Uh-uh, I don't call, I can't stand that name. Uh-uh, that's daddy, I don't call them pops.

But again, because somebody put in the chat room, roll and remind Teresa about her daddy. They did, actually. Yeah, yeah, okay, all did, actually. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. I'm just letting you know, your daddy going to get mentioned every dog on time you on.

After that comment you made talking about we sitting here, we in the same age. Your daddy almost 80 years old. You trying to put me in the same age. Girl, I'm going to still cuss you out three weeks later. All right, y'all. We got to go. I appreciate it. Again, folks, be sure to download the Black Star Network app,

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PO Box 5, put it back up. PO Box 5, 7, 1, 9, 6, Washington, D.C., 2, 0, 0, 3, 7, Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandmartin.com, roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. Thanks so much. I'll see you all tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Don't forget, we got Tech Talk every single Wednesday. That's tomorrow.

And Joe Madison will be in the house on Thursday talking about his new book. All right, folks. I'll see y'all later. Hope! This is an iHeart Podcast.