#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Ohio cop kills teen; DOJ probes policing practices in Mlps; Ga. clergy call for Home Depot boycott

Episode Date: April 22, 2021

4.21.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Ohio cop kills 16-year-old girl Ma’Khia Bryant; DOJ probes policing practices in Minneapolis; Rep. Val Demings rips into GOP Rep. Jim Jordan; Georgia clergy call for Home Depot boycott; Senate narrowly confirmed Vanita Gupta; Louisiana school bus driver lost her job for comments she made about George Floyd to a 6th grader; A North Carolina man was fatally shot while deputies were serving a warrant.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers,

but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Wednesday, April 21st, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Hours before the guilty verdict was announced in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, a 16-year-old girl in Columbus, Ohio, was killed by a cop there who will talk with the mayor of Columbus as well as community activists about that particular shooting. The Department of Justice, they are opening an investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of three counts of murder yesterday for the death of George Floyd. Folks, you don't want to miss the verbal beatdown Congresswoman Val Demings, a longtime police officer, gave to Republican Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio. Oh, my God, was it indeed delicious. And speaking of delicious, wait until you see how Stacey Abrams just checked a U.S.

senator from Louisiana. And speaking of Georgia, clergy from across the state have initiated a boycott against Home Depot. We'll tell you exactly why. And the U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Vanita Gupta as a number three position in the Department of Justice today. And in Louisiana, a school bus driver lost her job for comments she made about George Floyd to a sixth grader. In North Carolina, a man was fatally shot while deputies were serving a warrant. With all of that and more, coming up on Rolling Mark and Unfiltered. It's time to bring the funk.

Let's go. right on time and it's rolling best believe he's knowing putting it down from sports to news to politics with entertainment just for kicks he's rolling it's rolling Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martel. Yeah. Martel. Votes yesterday after the George Floyd, after the decision in the George Floyd murder, Derek Chauvin was found guilty. People were shocked and stunned when the body camera footage was released showing a Columbus police officer named Nicholas Reardon shooting and killing 16 year old Makia Bryant outside of her home.

We are warning you right now that this is a shocking and stunning video. The body cam footage was released by the Columbus Police Department last night. And so if you do not want to see this footage, I'm going to give you another 10 seconds to please turn away. It is a shock. So many different people and folks are asking a lot of questions about this shooting and how that police officer in 22 seconds from getting out of it, opening his door to the first shot being fired, how that decision was made. Here it is. Hey, what's going on? Hey, what's going on? Hey, hey, hey. made. Here it is. Hey! What's going on?

Hey, what's going on? Hey! Hey! Hey! Get down! Get down! Get down! Get down! Hey! No! You ain't shooting my mother, baby! You shot my mother! Are you fucking serious? I didn't do anything!

I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything! She had a knife. She just went at her. She's a fucking kid, man. Are you stupid? A fucking did? I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you.

I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. I shouldn't even be here. Who the fuck is trying to tell me? Alright, what do you need me to do? What do you need me to do? What do you need me to do?

Alright. What do you need me to do? You need me to pull her down? Pull her up this way? Alright. I'll take this. We're out this way. All right. She came at her with a knife. It was Makia Bryant who called police to her home for help against attackers. When police arrived, Brian had a knife in her hand to

defend herself according to witnesses. We showed you that particular body camera footage there on the city of Columbus held a news conference earlier today where McKee is 911 phone call was released.

911, where is your emergency? 911. 911. 911. 911, where's your emergency? 911? Hello? It's 3171. Leave your way. Is there an apartment number letter? What's going on? Come up here. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed.

The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed.

The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. The underpass is closed. What's going on? Come up here! This is 3171. We got these grown girls over here trying to fight us, trying to stab us, trying to put our hands on our grandma. Get her now! Have you seen any weapons? Ma'am, have you seen any weapons? Ma'am, do you see any weapons?

We need a police officer here now. Do you see any weapons? We need a police officer here now. Ma'am, do you see any weapons? Go! As you can tell, a very chaotic scene. A video shot by a witness shows officers attempting CPR on Bryant while the officer who shot her stands by and watches. Again, warning you, if you want to turn away, please do so because it's fairly graphic footage. Why do you always do this to people?

Why do you always do this to people? That is fucked up. That is fucked up. You're so racist. You didn't have to shoot her. Y'all always trying to kill people. Oh, my God. I can't believe this.

Moments after the incident, witnesses questioned and reprimand several police officers, and one of them yells, Blue Lives Matter. Yes. Blue Lives Matter. Crazy. Insult. Especially at this place right now. Yeah, it's definitely an insult. You sound stupid as fuck, bitch.

That flag is a Blue Lives Matter flag. The fuck that girl just got shot. Did he just say that? He said Blue Lives Matter? He just said that? Boy, shut the fuck up because Blue Lives don't matter right now. I don't wanna hear none of that dumb shit. The fuck is you talking about? The fuck this 15 year old just got killed, and you're talking about blue lights, mother? Get the fuck serious, bro. He shot her because she had a knife. He didn't ask no motherfucking question. You talking about blue lights, man?

Get the fuck on my face, bro. For real. Sounding stupid as fuck. The victim's mother, Paula, shared a few thoughts about her daughter. Micaiah was named after a male prophet in the Bible. She was a very loving, peaceful little girl. She was 16 years old. She was an honor roll student.

And Micaiah had a motherly nature about her. She promoted peace. And that's something that I want to always be remembered. Her foster sister shared a video of her dancing and enjoying life in a tweet. She said, this is my foster sister, Makia. I want her to be remembered as a sweet, full of life young girl she was,

not as what people, go ahead and play the video please, I can read it, what people are painting her out to be. I refuse for her to be painted as anything but the amazing girl she was, hashtag Makia Bryant. Bryant shared this video to her TikTok just hours before her death. We're joined now by Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther. Mayor, you previously were with us in a previous shooting took place there in Columbus.

There was a lot, a lot, a lot of confusion on that 911 phone call. Has it been established that it was Ms. Bryant who called 911 for assistance? Well, Roland, thank you for having me on such a tragic, tragic day here in the city. And not only am I the mayor here, I'm a father. And to have lost the dear life of a 16-year-old in our city is tragic and heartbreaking, but I appreciate you having me on. We haven't been able to confirm that yet, and that won't be confirmed and validated until an independent investigation is conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and overseen by the state that is conducting the investigation right now.

So we don't know who the caller was from that 911 call. There were two calls made. We heard the one, another one came in, but the caller hung up quickly after the police arrived on the scene. And so there are so many questions, obviously. The scene where she was killed, was that her home? I can't confirm that. I believe that she, we were notified last night by Franklin County Children's Services that she was a foster child in placement.

And I believe that that was where she resided as a foster child. One of the things we've been really focused on here is, as you've already alluded to, is getting as much information out to the public as quickly as possible, really trying to make sure they're as quickly as possible, really trying to make sure they're being transparent as possible. We had this body-worn camera footage out within hours of the incident. Today, we released more footage, the 911 calls, and we're going to continue to share information with the public. I think in a high-profile police-involved shooting like this, where a city and a community is furious at the continued death of African Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

The last time I was with you was after Andre Hill was shot, an unarmed African American in our community. We took swift action to terminate former officer Coy, and he's already been indicted and will be facing charges in a court of law. We intend to have the same sort of swift action, making sure that we're being as transparent as possible, getting footage out, getting these 911 calls out, letting the Bureau of Criminal Investigation conduct this independent investigation, which is new to our city. I signed an executive order last summer that any death in custody inside the city of Columbus or police-involved shooting had to be investigated independently

for the first time in our city's history. And we think that's an important part to transparency and accountability and independence. Do you know if the officer, do you know if he also had a taser? All of our officers are outfitted with multiple tools. And so I don't know if he had a taser on him at that moment. That's something that I think will be confirmed by the investigation. But all of our officers, as you know, in our previous conversation, body-worn cameras were my top priority when I was running for mayor back in 2015. And we implemented, for the first time in the city's history, body-worn cameras on all of our officers by the end of

2016 and in fact after the death of Andre Hill We are making a significant new investment to upgrade our body-worn camera technology because we believe that it helps with accountability on both sides of the camera and it gives us the ability to be more Transparent when things like this happen to get that footage out to the public so they can see actually what happened on the scene. And so all of the things, a lot of the questions you may have, I know will be finalized and investigated fully by BCI? Because we saw in the video there, we saw where Officer Reardon, after it, first of all, he came on saying, hey, what's going on? And after he fires the shots, he tells other folks around, she had a knife, she was going to stab the other girl. The moment I saw it, I began to, you know, again, I'm sitting here, lots of questions. Was this her home? Was Makia defending herself?

Does stand your ground apply? And what really jumped out was, again, coming to that scene, it's a chaotic scene. You know, a gun in the hands of a police officer, that is the most lethal of all weapons. And the first thing I thought of of why wasn't that taser fired to take her down and then assess okay what's going on on this scene because again some people on social media going oh she he say the light the girl in pink well first of all we don't know who she was was she was she an aggressor was Bryant trying to defend herself none of that was ascertained before those shots were fired in 22 seconds.

Well, and that's why this independent investigation is so important. You know, and so the BCI will be interviewing all of the witnesses. They'll be gathering evidence. They'll determine if there were any, you know, violations of both law and then the Division of Police will look at it if there were any violations of police policy and procedure as well. So there, you know, potential criminal review as well as policy and administrative review if this officer did not comply with, you know, both legal and policy guidance from the Division of Police and State Law. Have you communicated with the mother, the grandmother of Makia Bryant?

Our office has been in touch with her mother. She was having difficulty getting information about her daughter's body. And we put her in contact last evening with a contact person at the county coroner's office. And so both the Division of Police and my office have been in touch with the family. Now, it is it is, you know, the thing that I keep saying, even after Derek Chauvin was found guilty, George Floyd was 46 years old, can't be brought back. Makia Bryant, 16. I mean, lethal force, there's no flips out to death. That's it.

And it is shocking and stunning. You know, Roland, there's a sacred bond that law enforcement has with the community. Law enforcement isn't given their power by some supreme being. It's granted to them by the community. Police officers have exceptional power, power you and I don't have. The governor and the president didn't have the ability to stop someone, to detain someone, to question someone, to take away their freedom and arrest someone, and ultimately to use force and potentially take an individual life. So with that great power comes great responsibility and oversight and accountability. And that's exactly what we're going to do in this circumstances we have in other

police involved shootings, independence, transparency, accountability. LeBron James sent out a tweet calling for accountability of the police officer involved here. Since the previous shooting, you talked about body camera footage, you talked about policy and procedures. Has there also been additional training, additional review, additional conversations with police officers in terms of how they handle situations along those lines?

Because again, for me, if a taser is fired, if it brings her down, hey, taser's hurt, but she's still living. And so what has been happening internally within the department with your police officers in dealing with this here? There's been additional training around implicit bias, de-escalation, and use of force since the last time I was with you. We have a new June police class that starts in June. It will be the most diverse police class because, as you know, it's part of the overall comprehensive reform. We need a division of police that reflects the beautiful diversity of this community, and it doesn't. It doesn't even come close right now. And our goal and vision is

to double the number of officers of color on the division of police over the next 10 years. So this June class, there will be additional implicit bias training as well as de-escalation and community engagement training to make sure that our officers, when they come out of the academy, are able to serve and protect everybody in the community. And as you know, we are in the process of setting up a civilian review board for the first time in our city's history, who will have an inspector general and subpoena power to be able to investigate and make recommendations for discipline for police misconduct. So it's part of our comprehensive effort to reform the Division of Police and go

from a 20th century law enforcement organization to a 21st century community policing organization, which requires us to make a major cultural shift. I'm also in the process right now of hiring the first external chief of police in our city's history. It will be somebody from outside the division of police, a transformational leader that will help us change the culture of the Columbus Division of Police. Samuel Senyagwe, who is a data specialist staff at University, he's worked with Campaign Zero. He sent this tweet out at 134 this morning. Columbus police have killed more than 40 people since 2013.

Black people were killed at five times a higher rate than white people. Data shows 6% of Columbus officers do 50% of all use of force. But when one finally gets fired, the police union contract mandated arbitrator reinstates them. Is that correct? Are you aware? Is that the situation there in Columbus? Yeah, I can't speak to all the statistics. I'd be happy to confirm or get confirmation on those things. What I think is correct is the fact that we have a broken FOP contract. And one of the things that we're working very hard on in this round of negotiations, and quite honestly, I started when I became mayor, is to really get an FOP contract where the community has influence and has an impact and input on discipline, oversight, and accountability.

And that's why the Civilian Review Board is so important. But there are many issues that we need to change in the FOP contract because the FOP contract as it currently stands is a major barrier to reform, to dealing with issues like police misconduct, use of force. And I think the last part of that tweet is absolutely right. I have fired, the safety director has fired, you know, officers who have used unacceptable levels of force only to be reinstated by a media. Absolutely unacceptable. You know, officers who had stomped suspects who were in custody laying down in the street, reinstated and given back pay. I mean, we have

an entire system, not just here, but in cities across the country that has to be addressed and fixed because, you know, quite honestly, the people of this city and cities across America do not feel as if they control and are in charge of their divisions of police. Mayor, I hate to ever talk to you on these conditions, but certainly we're going to be continuing to cover this story. Prayers certainly go out to the Bryant family. And it's just tragic that this honor roll student, 16 years old, has lost her life. Well, I appreciate you having me. Please continue to lift the Bryant family up. We are as a community and, you know, really trying to focus on where we

go from here. How can we demand justice, reform and change, but doing so in a peaceful way? And so thanks for the chance to come on and look forward to talking more about our progress and success the next time we're together. Mayor Gunther, we really appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, today, hundreds of people occupy the Ohio Union to protest the murder of Ms. Bryant. Here's some of that video. Mappingpoliceviolence.org released this graphic showing there have only been three days in 2021

where police in America did not kill someone. Just three days. Shocking and stunning. I want to bring in my panel, A. Scott Bolden, former chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Monique Presley, legal analyst and crisis manager. Scott, I will start with you. When we look at that video, as I said, from the moment the officer opens his door to the first shot that goes out, it's 22 seconds. I've had some lawyers already who said tragic. He's not going to be prosecuted or indicted. He simply will get off. They will simply say that was a threat with the knife.

What say you? Yeah, tough case, tragic case. I've got three daughters and a granddaughter and a video is hard to watch. The problem is that these are split-second decisions with tragic consequences, and there was a knife involved, and the threat, at least a perceived threat, of someone else being harmed. But there's a broader issue here, which is what upsets you and me and the community, right? Not the split-second. The fact is, why is deadly force always the alternative with the police when it comes to black people? Why is it zero to deadly force? If these were white

girls fighting with or without knives and what have you, deadly force would be the last resort, not the first resort. You see this over and over again. We've talked about this on this show over and over again. And be honest with you, I'm tired of having this conversation with you and your listening audience. It's about de-escalation. Where's your taser? Where's your police dog? Where's something, right, versus killing black people. It's because they don't see us, right? When they come into the criminal complaint room in the prosecutor's office, they call us perps and dogs and mope, whatever those are, right? They treat dogs better. They wouldn't pull a gun out on a dog, but they would pull a gun out in a heartbeat when it comes to

black people and have no problem using it. And what did the police officers say after he shot her? Very callously, she was going after another person with a knife. He didn't apologize. He wasn't even emotional about it. He had no remorse whatsoever because they don't see us as human beings. That's the implicit bias you got to get through in all of these police departments around the country. It's going to take a lot of time. Monique, how do you assess looking at that particular video and people are calling for this officer to be indicted? Well, at a minimum, he should be on something other than administrative leave. I do not disagree with anything that my colleague and friend, Attorney Bolden, said. And I've had to make those arguments, here's where I believe there are a number of

specific distinctions that it is important for us to push out and for media at large to push out and for our community to understand. When you are looking at what an officer subjectively will do in those circumstances. And there is a big difference between what an officer can do and what an officer should do. So what is reasonable, what the reasonable officer would do under those circumstances is going to be judged based on what officers similarly situated would do. We don't have to guess about that here because there were other officers who were on the scene, who were on the scene before this guy shows up and 20 seconds later unloads on a teenage black girl. They didn't have their guns drawn. They didn't shoot.

The other thing that you're going to look at is even if because of the knife in his failure to assess the situation properly or in his quick and I believe errant assessment of the situation, he decided that it was necessary to use force. And maybe he even calculated that there wasn't enough time for him to pull his taser and to be in close enough proximity to stop what he perceived as a threat to another person. What says to us is that there was a lack of concern for human life. As Scott just said, what says to us is that he was not using the minimal force necessary. He didn't shoot once. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Right. Or what? Why? No, it was not reasonable subjectively or objectively and it was certainly not necessary and when you compare it to all the videos that we have seen of white men, sound mind, not sound mind, drunk, sober, wielding guns, having knives, charging officers with their bodies, with cars, with machetes, and living to tell about it. That's when I say no. So on the one hand, yep, I can make a cogent legal argument for why this officer could or could not be charged. But when you assess it through the lens of what it is necessary to do for this black girl to be human enough that his first instinct wasn't to unload his Glock on her.

Then we know. Then we know that police officers are doing their jobs because he was not just responsible for his own safety. He was not just responsible of the safety of the other young girl who he perceived to be in danger. He was responsible for the safety of Micaiah Bryant. He had no idea what was happening on that scene. And so to show up and to come in like the mighty, mighty cowboy. Hey, hey, hey, hey. And then the next thing you do is you shoot. No, sir. It is unacceptable. I want the folks in the control room, I want you to re-cue the video. And folks, I don't like having to show the video.

But very much like we did with the Kojima Powell case when he was shot and killed in St. Louis. It was 16 seconds from the moment the police officers arrived and opened the door was 16 seconds before the first shots fired to kill Kojima Powell. And so be prepared to stop the video. So go ahead and play the video please okay stop right there now what you just heard you heard him come to the scene and say hey what's going on what's going on you see the young lady in pink approach the officer what you see there

please drop the lower third please drop the lower third, please. Drop the lower third. Drop. Okay. You see, well, you can't see it well. You see right there, first of all, it looks like a total of three police cars that are there. Two behind this play the video please freeze now you saw where Makia was charging with a young girl who was in on the ground and then went towards the young girl in the pink you see these two adults you to these two I guess it's two gentlemen who are standing right there okay press play she goes down gentlemen who are standing right there. Okay. Press play. She goes down. You see right there. You hear them.

Freeze. Hold on. Don't freeze it yet. Freeze. Freeze. Right there. You see the officer on the left. Okay.

He's coming up. And he has this look on his face like to the other officer. Again, you can't know what a person is thinking, but the look is like, what the hell did you just do? Press play. He's like, now I'm waiting. What are you doing? Freeze. Freeze.

A second cop. So all of a sudden, you now have three police officers who are now there. He's still holding his gun as if she's a threat. Press play. Still holding gun. Still pointing at her. He's saying, back up. She had a knife.

She went at her. Stop. You see, it's a woman there, it's a man there. He's talking to other people. She had a knife, she went at her. Again, to Monique's point, he hasn't ascertained what's going on on the scene. Who's the aggressor? Press play. Gun is still drawn. Fourth cop comes from around the other side of the car.

His gun is drawn. He now holsters his gun. Then CPR is being performed. Now, I wish a lot of people out here would stop spreading all kinds of crazy information. There are people who have been, stop right there. All right, folks, if you back up just about two seconds, I saw some people out here talking about she had a butcher knife. Y'all, that's not a butcher knife. Okay? If you play it, that's not a butcher knife. What I need for people out there to do is stop throwing stuff out there that you know nothing about and making stuff up. That, folks, is not a butcher knife. At best, that's a steak knife. That's a difference.

Scott and Monique, again, the reason I went through all of that, again, how I saw it. And, yes, I am not the police officer. I'm not making a split decision. But if I'm coming to a scene that's chaotic, the 911 call told you it was chaotic, and I'm coming up to the scene, and then if I see this, my taser is lethal, but it's less lethal than my gun firing four shots. This officer has only been on the force since December of 2019. There it is. There it is. Your taser is less lethal. Let me just say this. Hold on one second. Scott DeMonique. Let me just say this. The other point that you have not made is that when he comes up on the scene as a rookie, essentially, there are other police officers there. Right.

He doesn't even talk to them, nor when he draws his weapon, does he tell the assailant that he would ultimately shoot to drop the knife. He gives her no command whatsoever. Right. To drop the knife. Hold that right there. whatsoever, right? To drop the knife. Hold that right there. Hold that right there. Just hold that point right there. Cue the video up because I want, and again, folks, I am not, I don't want to have to see her being shot. But just like with Sandra Bland, just like with previous videos, we need to understand exactly what took place. Okay. And I want you to turn the audio all the way up.

And I want you to listen to the commands that the officer gives and what he doesn't say to Ms. Bryant. Yeah. Hey. What's going on? Hey, what's going on? Hey, hey, hey, hey, get down, get down, get down, get down. Freeze. Hey, hey, hey, get down, get down, get down.

Scott, at no point does he say, drop the knife. Right. Nothing. He yells, get down, which is really an instruction to the other people i'm about to shoot her i need y'all to get out of the way or no one knows what that means when he just walks up on the scene get down get down get down i if it were me i'd look at him like what do you mean get down get down and remember there are other police officers on the scene, right? So for whatever reason, their guns aren't drawn. They're trying to de-escalate. He walks up,

he's escalating, right? All he does is see the knife, right? He sees these girls fighting, and he draws his weapon. He goes from zero to deadly four. And that's what I mean. That's what the problem is. You're not de-escalating and you're going to be cowboy jack on them, right? Again, if they weren't black. I'm sorry, through the prism Monique says. If you're not black, you get the benefit of the doubt. If you're black, you get shot, basically, because you go from zero to deadly force. Monique, I love seeing these people who say, oh, Roland, you're ignoring the fact that a knife was there.

Let me remind all of you simpletons who didn't hear what I said. Right. The home was where Bryant lived. That means you are on your property. We don't know. We don't know. Keep the shot and I'm gonna go to the second. We don't know who the aggressor was.

We don't know who started what, who was defending. We know none of that. So with that being in mind, do you go for your lethal weapon, your gun, or do you try to neutralize her with a taser? And here it is. That's his taser right there, the front of him. So if you're saying split second, I see a knife. I have no idea if she's defending herself. I already said, folks, that Ohio has strengthened their stand your ground law. You know

none of that. So I'm going to shoot now, figure everything else out later. That is what is troubling and why people are saying, why did you have to resort to lethal force? Go ahead. There are, at least from my looking at it, about 30 independent troubling things that mean that there could have been and should have been a different result. So even when you're looking

at the other officers, it's very plain from the angle that two of them came from, which were closer to the action of the incident to discharge weapons, to even give commands because you don't hear them saying anything. And they are in seconds away. They're split seconds, especially the ones that are coming from the left and coming immediately behind from the right of the officer who took the shots. Then, though we're slowing it down and looking at it, the important thing about what the video looks like in its totality running in real time is not just that the officer has to make split-second decisions.

It's that the officer doesn't have all the time we have to even assess the way we look at the actions of Micaiah Bryant and think that she was turning and then about to do something to injure the young woman in pink. That's not necessarily the way that it could have looked from all the angles. When I see it immediately before the shooting, it looks like the young girl who's in pink was filming. I have no idea whether she was even really involved in the action that took place. I don't know if she was one of the disruptors or if she was an observer or if she's one of the people who called the police or if she even knew any of the people who were there. There's no way for us to know that because the action involving Micaiah had to do with the woman who she was,

it looked like chasing off of her property, who she came out behind from toward the door and came forward toward the lawn. And by the way, the other brother, the brother who was in the scene was kicking the woman who was on the ground. That said to me that we missed a lot of action and that the young woman who was on the ground was the aggressor in that action because that's who they were trying to run off.

It's not like there's no circumstance to the extent that the place we were looking at was where Micaiah Bryant was placed in foster care. She didn't go anywhere looking for this fight. So if she took the steak knife from the kitchen in order to defend herself, and the officers we know got a call about something that involved a knife. It's just, Roland, there are problems from start to finish. And the only way that these officers end up properly charged is if it is seen through the lens where Black girls are not Black women and Black girls, Black people are humans equal to other humans deserving every opportunity to live and for those who are saying but there was a knife but there was a knife but the other girl but there was a knife again you are supposed to secure an entire scene and keep everybody possible that you can safe in the scene and and and hello

i know we're used to to them being being able to shoot us if we have a weapon but that's not what the law said right you're supposed to be wrong and still live scott hold on one second i want to bring in columbus community activist Jasmine Ayers, who joins us right now, and Kyle Strickland, attorney and Columbus Police Civilian Review Board member there. We also have Columbus City Council member Shayla Favor. Folks, glad to have you here. Let me first start with Kyle. Kyle, you there? Yep, I'm here. Thanks for having me. So Kyle, so tell us, you're the Civilian Review Board. What role do y'all play in cases like this?

Of course. So this is, you know, Columbus's first Civilian Review Board is being officially established right now. And we have yet to be officially seated. And so the fact that this is happening right now, this likely will be a case that could come before the Civilian Review Board. But all those factors haven't been determined yet. But it just highlights the importance of why we need extra independence and also why that alone is not going to be enough because it is retroactive. We need to be also talking about proactive steps that are taken so that steps aren't taken to try to justify any sort of incident where we see loss of life like this at the hands of police. Shayla, what role will the city council play here? Because the questions that we are raising are the questions that I have been seeing all night that people are asking.

Yes, split second decision, 22 seconds. But at the end of the day, somebody's dead. Right. Let me first set the scene and extend my condolences to the family of Miss Bryant. You know, the role that Columbus City Council would play, we acted very swiftly after the murder of George Floyd, launching our Reimagining Safety public initiative, where we promoted alternative crisis responses and violence prevention, very quickly enacted legislation around no-knock warrants and prohibiting hate group affiliation, demilitarizing our police. But what we're seeing tonight, what that video demonstrates to me, that we must elevate our alternative crisis response system in Columbus. Right now, we have a mobile crisis response team where an officer is paired

with a mental health specialist. It's imperative that we scale that model in order to make it more accessible to our residents. I keep thinking about the fact that our crisis intervention specialists, our community-based intervention specialists, our administrators, our teachers, they are trained in de-escalation. And thinking about the fact that she was a child, and what we keep seeing over and over again is the adultification of black girls. That means that black girls are punished more harshly and more frequently. We're not extended the grace of adolescence or the benefit of the doubt. And my God, if the benefit of the doubt would have been there last night, she'd still be here with us today. And so what you can expect from me

is to continue to talk about and to ask that we elevate our mobile crisis response system and that we ensure that all officers who are crisis intervention trained. We have to find better ways. We have to find better ways, more meaningful ways to reduce these number of dangerous interactions between residents and law enforcement. We can't keep being in this situation. We're still grappling with the deaths of Casey Goodson Jr. and Andre Hill, both at the hands of law enforcement

just this past December. Shayla, the questions that we are raising, is that what activists, is that what people in Columbus are also asking? There seems to be more questions than answers. I'm sorry, sir, I missed the first part. I'm sorry. I actually admitted for my bad there. I wanted to bring in Jasmine. Jasmine, is that what folks are asking? There seems to be more questions right now than answers.

So I think the mobile crisis unit is one piece of a larger puzzle. I think at this point, we have had decades of patterns and practices of racist and violent policing. And I think the Department of Justice needs to come in. And I would greatly appreciate our leadership making that phone call. The other thing that we need to discuss is that before people, the hiring process is under the purview of the mayor and the city of Columbus. So we are hiring racist police officers, right? And so, yes, we need to have a mechanism to punish them afterwards. And yes, we need to support officers that come in with training. But we're hiring bad apples to begin with. And I would like to see our mayor, I know our council has been working on

some things, but our mayor oversees the Civil Service Commission. And I would like to see our mayor. I know our council has been working on some things, but our mayor oversees the Civil Service Commission. And I would like to see him step up and make some changes because it is very clear to me that we are hiring racist cops and cops that aren't prepared for these situations in the first place. I mean, there are just so many iterations of things that could have happened that could have deescalated this situation. And it was very clear that this young man had absolutely no idea what he was doing. And when you're not intimately connected to community, the state of Ohio told people that you can no longer mandate hiring from a neighborhood or from a city.

And so now these officers, some of them live two counties away. And so you don't care about people the same way when you don't live by them. And so we have some state level policy changes that need to be made. But overall, I think we've done, we've seen what can and cannot happen. And I believe that the city of Columbus needs to call the Department of Justice. A number of people have been saying this, Kyle. What are you talking about, Roland? That officer saved another life.

The officer says in the video that she had a knife and was going after the other young girl. But what I keep arguing is we don't know, first of all, who was that other young girl but what I keep arguing is we don't know first of all who was that other young girl was she an aggressor did she come on Bryant's property was she one of the antagonists that led to her calling the cops so first of all rolling to your point here is exactly right, which is, you know, people sit here and say, well, we have to wait for all the facts. And of course, yeah, we're going to wait for the facts. We'll let situations play out. But don't also then simultaneously make your own narrative of what occurred and what happened. And what we are already seeing right now is the justification of what occurred and without having all of the facts.

And so what I think people need to do is take a step back and understand that a family needs to grieve. And we also need to demand accountability, a full investigation that is underway. But we cannot lose sight of the context in which this is happening. Black people get killed by police, then they're having to defend their own humanity, and they're blamed for their deaths. Period. Point blank. That happens every time. We saw it time and time again. We saw it with George Floyd, and we're going to continue to see it. And so let's not act like it's neutral just to step back and then to wait for all the facts. We also have to be honest about what's happening in America. And that means reckoning with these issues.

And she was seen as a threat as a black woman in this country. The thing that jumps out here to me, Shayla, is this. And I keep saying it, folks. There's no flip side to death. OK, if you're shot in the leg, you got a leg wound. If you hit with a taser, hey,

you're stunned in your days, but you're not dead. You know, I, um, I believe I heard a family member say last night that Makaya wasn't perfect, that she had her problems, but she didn't deserve this. I think it was her aunt. And that statement broke my heart because what child at age 16 is perfect?

But black kids, brown kids, they don't have the ability to make mistakes, right? Or to go with the wrong crowd or just to do something stupid like we've all done at age 16. Because it's the difference between life and death, literally, for black and brown children. We saw it last week in Chicago with the killing of Adam Toledo. And now here in Columbus. And so my initial thought is I'm watching this and now having seen the other two body camera videos that were released today, the taser was right on his belt. Why shoot to kill? You can assess the situation

and recognize that these are teens, right? And so shooting center mass four times, right? There's a difference between one shot and four shots and a shot to the chest and a shot to the leg or a taser. That's what I mean when I've been saying all day. There was another way. And I refuse to go back and forth with people today that keep wanting to say, but the knife, but the knife. My response is, but her life.

We saw Kyle Rittenhouse, what, 17 years old, cross state lines, armed with an AK rifle, killed two people, walked past law enforcement and still be taken alive and then can await his trial. It's currently awaiting his trial. What about Dylan Roof? But for kids like Trayvon, for now, Micaiah, we don't get the same grace. My heart is just absolutely broken tonight. It is certainly sad. Jasmine, your final comment. I appreciate that. Again, I would just like to send my condolences to the family.

But what I would say is that Black people are never allowed to have a weapon. They're never allowed to defend themselves. And they're never given the benefit of the doubt. And we see it time and time again. Like you mentioned earlier, we just passed the stand your ground law. You do not have a duty to retreat. This young woman was clearly in distress and had clearly called for help and was defending herself. And I just, I hope that our local elected officials will take action. But we have not seen anything significant and we are immensely hampered by the FOP and the police contract. And so again, I think the only way that we're going to see substantive change in the city of Columbus is that the Department of Justice comes to investigate.

Jasmine Ayers, Kyle Strickland, and Shayla Faber, I appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you. Thanks so much. Real quick to Scott Bolden, Monique Presley, and Robert Petrillo, who joins us right now. What about that? We saw today Merrickrick garland the attorney general announced the doj is going to do a an examination of the minneapolis police department we told you what happened right here in columbus 40 people shot since 2013. what about what um she just said should there be um an examination? Should Columbus, Ohio be saying to the Department of Justice, please come in to investigate our department? With 40 deaths? Absolutely. In fact, I think we got too many police departments in the country.

If you looked at the numbers, like in the thousands, right, and the amount of money we give to them to militarize their police, whether it's a large community or small community, they all need to go under review. I'll be honest with you, because it's going to take time to clean this up. Back to this shooting of this young girl, the witness that was there after he shot him, he said, what did you do that for? She's a child. You killed her? And what were the other police officers doing, the ones that were there already? Their guns weren't drawn either, Roland. They was kind of standing there and trying to assess the situation. There was a lot of arguing going on. And then the shooter came in gun and badge and shot this young woman. So yes, they ought to be reviewed in Columbus

and every other jurisdiction as well. Do a complete review of all of them and shut down some of these police departments because we got way too many of them. It's time to be smart. When we control our institutions, we win. This is the most important news show on television of any racial background.

Y'all put two, three, four, five, 10, 15, 20, $30 on this and keep this going. What you've done, Roland, since this crisis came out in full bloom. Anybody watching this, tell your friends, go back and look at the last two weeks, especially of Roland Martin and Filch. I mean, hell, go back and look at the last two days. You've had sitting United States senators today, Klobuchar and Harris. Whatever you have that you have, you can bring to Roland Martin unfiltered to support it. Please do, because this information

may literally save your life. Watch Roland Martin unfiltered daily at 6 p.m. Eastern on YouTube, Facebook, or Periscope, or go to RolandMartinUn 6 p.m. Eastern on YouTube, Facebook, or Periscope, or go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans distributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

In Georgia, clergy from across the state, they have initiated a boycott against Home Depot. The group says the company has yet to speak out publicly against voter suppression laws passed by the Georgia legislature and signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp. Pastors also say Home Depot has refused to meet with them to discuss the issue and their demands. Home Depot did release a statement that says, quote. OK, guys, thank you. You got to pull a statement up. Thank you. We believe that all elections should be accessible, fair and secure and support broad voter participation. We'll continue to work to ensure our associates, both in Georgia

and across the country, have the information and resources to vote. Joining me now is the pastor of Transforming Faith Church and former CEO of DeKalb County, Lee May, who's with us. Also, Dr. Kendra King-Mohman, Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Oglethorpe University. All right, certainly glad to have both of you on so you have that statement there clearly uh pastor uh made that is not enough absolutely not enough man that's milk toast lukewarm at its best and uh that's trying to play both sides of the fence and and, you know, we have a faith. We say, look, we want you to be hot or cold. Just show us what side you're on.

And by their silence and even tacit support, they're really showing us where they are. And I guess the disrespectful part of this is that they even refuse to have a conversation, to meet with us us to understand what our perspective really is and that's just unsatisfactory and so we launched this boycott just the other day directed towards them we support those who support us and we're gonna make our dollars talk for us and speak for us and speak for those we support and those we don't support. Well, Dr. Kendra, first off, has Lowe's taken a position? And so if they have,

are you directing African-Americans and those who want to support this boycott to go shop at Lowe's as opposed to Home Depot? I think we should take our dollars everywhere that count. And that's just not for the African-American community. I think one of the things that Pastor Lee talked about are allies. And so I think our dollars everywhere that count. And that's not for the African-American community. I think one of the things that Pastor Lee talked about are allies. And so I think for anyone who says they're an ally of the cause, then put your dollars where people and corporations are supporting the cause. One of the things, Pastor May, in reading about Operation Breadbasket, Martin Depp's book. They laid out a strategy in terms of how they did that. And so what exactly is your strategy?

You call for the boycott, but what's the plan? You know, what are you doing? Are you going to be launching picket lines at various Home Depots across Georgia? What was actually how you're going to execute this boycott? Well, the reality is we represent at our press conference the other day, we had a litany of pastors standing there with us, but we represent over a thousand churches in Georgia. The Bishop of the AME Church here in Georgia, Bishop Reginald Jackson, has really been the initiator, the catalyst for this, the AME Church is here, Bishop Thomas Brown of the CME

Church, and we have so many others, the State Bishop for the Full Gospel Fellowship, Baptist Fellowship is a part of it as well, and we are continuing to spread through our congregations. Look, we're not going to spend money there. And it starts there. It starts there. We have different phases that we're looking to, you know, we're going to be rolling out here soon, you know, various aspects, contractors, you know, businesses who have, you know, who shop at Home Depot as a part of their business. We're going to ask them to begin a transition away. Local municipalities, as you mentioned, I was a former CEO of DeKalb County. I know that DeKalb County and other counties and cities all across the state have POs,

procurement that they do with Home Depot as well. So we're going to be rolling out strategically over the next coming weeks how people can participate. But it really just starts with our members asking them not to support Home Depot with their dollars. And we're not pointing them to... Go ahead. But the reason I'm specifically asking that is because, again, when I studied Dr. King and Reverend Jackson in Operation Breadbasket, successful boycotts happen because they are properly organized. They're not disorganized.

And so if you are a black-owned construction company, if you are someone along those lines, first of all, you've got to go to a place that has supplies. And so if I'm looking at Home Depot, Lowe's is one of their biggest competitors. So what I'm asking is, so knowing that, what I'm saying is, do you know if Lowe's has taken a position in Georgia? And if so, are you then saying, hey, folks, if you have construction needs, don't go to Home Depot. We're boycotting them. Go over here.

And if I'm African-American and I roll to a Home Depot, how do I even know there's a boycott? Am I going to see people? Are you going to? That's what I'm saying. So I want to understand the mechanics of the boycott. Absolutely. And that's that's a good question. So, number one, you asked a few questions there. So we're not pointing people to Lowe's. We started with companies here in Georgia who have headquarters or a major, major presence here as well in terms of our conversations. We're not pointing them to a competitor because, as you stated, if we've not sat down with them and considered their stances as well, they may not be better than Home Depot. But what we are telling people is to refrain from going to Home Depot. If you're a small business, I mean, there are small businesses that you can go to to be a part of it. There's other options as well that are not Home Depot. The mechanics will continue to be

fluid. Let's be clear. This boycott was called, and I'm a part of a group of pastors that called it, and then we'll continue to lay out what that looks like in terms of how we're communicating with them through social media, through our local, our particular websites with our churches, our social media pages as well, our email databases as well, to just let people know that we are, for now, we are reframing from shopping with them until, see, we're asking Home Depot some specific things. So this boycott isn't intended to go on forever and ever. They can come to the table and sit down and have a conversation with us. And we have four points that we're asking them to. Number one, we're asking them to

come out publicly in opposition to Senate Bill 202. That's the bill here in Georgia. Number two, we're asking them to come out in opposition of other bills around the country that are similar in nature to Senate Bill 202, which are suppressing the vote of black and brown people. Texas, for example, I pulled up their bill that they're going through right now, and it's almost identical to the Georgia bill. We're asking them, number three, to support federal legislation that expands access to the ballot box and provides restrictions for those who seek to suppress

the vote like what you're seeing here and around the country. And then number four, finally, we're asking them to support litigation that will oppose these measures that have been brought forward here in Georgia and then ultimately if others are successful around the country. So those four things, we're intentionally telling them. These are the four things that we want. But let's sit down and have a conversation because what we want from these corporations, we want them to put their government relations muscles in place, their lobbyists. They all have lobbyists, internal and external, that they can do real work to oppose these measures and support those measures that will expand access to the ballot box.

Dr. Kendra, obviously, again, in order for it to be effective, I think about what Dr. King said on April 3rd, 1968. We must redistribute the pain. And so that has to be clear. It has to be decisive. And so speak to that again, the importance of organizing and how you also drive in the messaging. How are you getting the word out? Because you have folks like Stacey Abrams who've said, no, we don't want companies boycotted. You've got people who are following her.

You've got all the brouhaha over the All-Star game. And so how do you deal with communicating to these congregations when you have conflicting messages coming from black leaders in Georgia? Well, I think, Roland, that speaks to some of the issue here, right, in terms of just that there are myriad voices that represent the African-American community. And so if we go back to Dr. King, if we go back to Operation Breadbasket, if we even go back to what Mayor Hartsfield said in 1960, that Atlanta was a city too busy to hate, what we're seeing now in 2021 is that Atlanta, the state of Georgia, may have been the city of the state too busy to2, for me, the issue is that it's supposed to be an election integrity bill, but there are lapses of integrity in this bill, which has cause for the boycott. So for me, if I was a part of this clergy coalition, which I am not, I would say, let's focus on the local issue before we expand out.

Let's get a win there. Let's bring the Home Depot to the table and ask for some clear resolution, some clear, if you will, negotiating strategy around this initiative for the state of Georgia, then branch out there. I think the challenge, what makes this tricky, and Ryan Coogler said this, that they're not going to boycott Georgia in filming Black Panther 2 because it will hurt the very people that this bill is targeted against as well. So I think that, again, I respect what Pastor May is doing and those who are part of that. I'm a pastor as well. And so I have no bones about that.

But I think from a strategy perspective, we have to start with the fact that all politics at the end of the day are local. That's where the greatest amount of change is going to happen. And again, when you look at this bill, when you look at why it emerged, this bill was reactionary because of the misinformation and the nomenclature that the state of Georgia was stolen and stolen by, quote unquote, Stacey Abrams' leadership, which is just fundamentally not true. And so I think one of my biggest concerns about this boycott and even about this particular bill that was passed for the unaware voter, for the unaware contractor, for the unaware clergy person, they may not know where to go precisely to get their information.

So, Pastor May, you said something. You said this is not intended to go on for forever. What Home Depot says, we're not changing our position. The things that you want us to do, we're not going to do. What are you going to do? Well, again, they're the deciding factor of that. And I'll give you a good example. You know, initially there were conversations about Coca-Cola and Delta. They initially, they immediately

reached out after the public communication was that there was a plan or desire to possibly boycott there, had a conversation. And it's something about, you know, sitting down in a room to have a conversation about what's going on. It never fails. You'll figure out that there are some commonalities there, some things that you can discuss that can bring you on to the same page as well. But Home Depot just refuses to even have the conversation. And it appears that they're following the political lead of the governor. While we were having our protest, our press conference, rather, the governor tweeted out that the left-leaning Democrats will do anything to get their candidates elected. And my response to that was the governor just doesn't get it. And clearly,

Home Depot doesn't get it either. For us, this is an initiative that is led by pastors, right? Not politicians, not political parties or anything like that. These are pastors. We're all pastors at our press conference. Only pastors spoke in terms of prepared statements and all of that. If you want to be an ally and come along, that's great. But this is a position that we're taking. We believe it's the right way. And there's going to be a myriad of thoughts about it and people who agree or don't agree as well on both sides of that. We get it. We're not trying to force anyone. We're not even saying we're the absolute right way. It's the way that we're going, though. It's the way that these pastors, over a thousand churches, and my response to those who say don't do this, then my response to them actually is, well, what is the solution? And if they have a solution that they're going down that route, fine.

In Georgia, Senate Bill 202 is passed. It's law. It's been signed by the governor. He signed it in an unprecedented fashion, immediately, the day after. You never do that. And then, of course, we saw the picture that was painted above him with the room full of white men. So it said to us clearly, and let's be clear,

we tried to meet with the governor, the speaker of the House, the lieutenant governor, the Senate majority leader prior to the bill. They didn't want to meet. We met with one individual, the Senate majority leader, about it, and no one else even wanted to have the conversation. And so if you're not even going to talk to us, Home Depot, then this has to be our response where we're concerned. And the mechanics of it, I hear you rolling, you're right. The mechanics of it have to really be laid out and be strategic about that. That's not rocket science. It's just getting us all on the same page. Absolutely. And we're rolling, we're operating through that and taking it phase by

phase, you know, in that. That will come. But that is our solution for this right now. Stacey Abrams, again, everyone has their kind of own agendas to a degree. All of our agendas, I believe, at least that names that we've been talking about, is to make sure that we have free and unfettered access to the ballot box and suppressive Jim Crow kind of tactics that's been passed. We can't stand for that. I think we agree with that. But we might have some differences on how you get to the other side of that. And that's fine. But we're coming together as a coalition of pastors representing a whole lot of people and a whole lot of churches to get this done. Kendra, final word.

Yeah, listen, let's be clear. This is sectarian politics at its best in terms of Senate Bill 202, right? There's discrimination in it. And here's the thing. While the entire bill is not discriminatory, if some of the bill is discriminatory, it is harming people. So there is work to be done in the state of Georgia. From the picture of the bill signing to the elected official that was arrested, we know that there's a division in this state. For me, my focus is how do we heal the divide and who do we work with allies on both sides of the aisle to make that a possibility? So that's what my hope is as we move forward. All right, then. Well, I certainly appreciate both of you for being with us. Thank you so very much.

Thank you. All right. Have a good one. Thank you. You too. All right, folks. Yesterday, yesterday, of course, we covered this convicted murderer, Derek Chauvin. Let's stop. I need you to fix the prompter. So Kenan will have to edit this. And so here's what we're going to do. Let's fix the prompter. We're going to go through

some of the other elements of the script. So let's just follow me with that. Just keep Okay. Okay. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Ah-ha. Here we go. my god y'all got to get this script straight chauvin is the second story at the columbus not this north carolina story so why you got north carolina story i don't mind it's still making sense so let Chauvin, let's go. All right, here we go. Three, two, one. Yesterday, we saw a former cop,

Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd, escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs. Well, this is his new photo. This is his mugshot right here. It was released today. Of course, he is at the minnesota correctional facility oak park heights in solitary confinement because obviously he is a police officer for his safety he'll be there until his june sentencing and while prosecutors are pushing for the maximum sentence chauvin's time in prison would depend on several factors including the fact that he has no prior criminal record so we'll'll see exactly what's going to happen there.

Now, remember, the three other officers are still facing charges aiding and abetting second degree murder and aiding and abetting second degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Their trial for those three officers will take place in August. As we said earlier, the Justice Department, they are launching a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. Chief Madaria Arredondo says he welcomes the investigation and pledges his department's full cooperation. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the investigation will look at all of the police department's processes

and procedures. Yesterday's verdict in the state criminal trial does not address potentially systemic policing issues in Minneapolis. Today, I am announcing that the Justice Department has opened a civil investigation to determine whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing. The new civil investigation is separate from and independent of the federal criminal investigation into the death of George Floyd that the Justice Department has previously announced. The investigation I am announcing today will assess whether the Minneapolis the investigation will be conducted in the same manner as the investigation that the justice department has

previously announced. The investigation I am announcing today will assess whether the Minneapolis police department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, including during protests.

The investigation will also assess whether the MPD engages in discriminatory conduct and whether its treatment of those with behavioral health disabilities is unlawful. It will include a comprehensive review of the Minneapolis Police Department's policies, training, supervision, and use of force investigations. It will assess the effectiveness of the MPD's current systems of accountability and whether other mechanisms are needed to ensure constitutional and lawful policing. If the Justice Department concludes that there is reasonable cause to believe there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or

unlawful policing, we will issue a public report on the avoid further violations. The Department of Justice will be unwavering in its pursuit of equal justice under law. The challenges we face are deeply woven into our history. They did not arise today or last year. Building trust between community and law enforcement will take time and effort by all of us. But we undertake this task with determination and urgency, knowing that change cannot wait. Folks in Louisiana, a white school bus driver no longer has a job after making a racially insensitive comment about George Floyd to a black student boarding the bus. Yes incident took place a couple of weeks ago. The student told his mother the bus driver scolded him after his face mask fell below his nose. The student said that he was out of breath from trying to catch the bus. The white bus driver admitted she told the student, since George Floyd, that's what you all say, but I don't see a knee on your neck. As soon as a reach school superintendent doris voitier she quickly quickly announced the driver would no longer work for st bernard paris

school district some folks y'all just don't get it uh it wouldn't be wise for you to be cracking jokes uh to black students uh in using george floyd just saying saying that's not smart at all. But then again, bigots have really never been too damn smart. All right, folks, let's go to North Carolina, where another African American is dead, shot and killed by Elizabeth City Police this morning while officers tried to serve him a search warrant. Andrew Brown was driving away from officers when they shot him. The city council has called an emergency meeting to discuss the incident. Keith Rivers, who is president of the NAACP there, is demanding the immediate release of the body cam footage.

It is not yet clear if a video of the incident exists. We certainly will keep you updated with details when they emerge in this case. And so, again, just so unfortunate, another one of these shootings, which we talked about, of course, earlier, only three days in the last month where we've actually seen no shootings whatsoever. All right, folks, in Louisville, a Kentucky Metro police officer was repeatedly seen punching a protester in the head while he laid face down on the ground. In the now-viral video, several officers are seen arresting DeNova D. Garrett during a

police brutality protest that took place on Sunday afternoon. By placing him in handcuffs, officers force him to the ground and one of them begins punching him. I'm not in the way. Shut up, boy. Don't flex on me. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie.

Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie.

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Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie.

Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie.

Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie. Hey, there's Charlie.

Hey, there's Charlie. Okay, but if I'm gonna stop your hands behind your back. Stop fucking hitting him. Put your hands behind your back. Put your hands behind your back. Stop fucking hitting him. I'm gonna punch you again. Stop it. I got it on camera.

Stop it. Stop it. Stop fucking hitting him. Say this question in his fucking face. Shit. I got it on camera. I got it on camera. He fucking broke his glasses. He's just sick.

An arrest citation stated Garrett was causing a disturbance in the middle of the street for about 30 minutes before his arrest. It also stated he resisted the officer's movements to put his hands together close enough to put handcuffs on. The bystander who recorded the video said she watched the arrest and did not see Garrett resisting police officers. Garrett was charged with disurly conduct and resisting arrest. Folks, a heated exchange between Florida Democratic Congresswoman Representative Val Demings and Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan took place on Tuesday during a House hearing. Jordan attempted to interrupt Demings as she spoke about law enforcement doing a debate over the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. The act aims to combat the surge in offenses

against Asian Americans since the pandemic broke out. Demons was speaking out against an amendment Republicans had introduced to stop any defunding of the police, even though the bill, the legislation, does not seek to do so. Watch the fireworks. Mr. Chairman, I want to make it quite clear that this amendment is completely

irrelevant. I served as a law enforcement officer for 27 years. It is a tough job. And good police officers deserve your support.

You know, it's interesting to see my colleagues on the other side of the aisle support the police when it is politically convenient to do so. Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day. They deserve better, and the American people deserve... I have the floor, Mr. Jordan! Did I strike a nerve? Law enforcement officers deserve better than to be utilized as pawns. You and your colleagues will be ashamed of yourself.

The gentlelady will suspend and the clock will be stopped. I want to admonish member I want to admonish members they must not interrupt someone who has the time. Mr. Chairman, can I ask a question? You simply can't shout out if you think that someone is saying something. I agree. Mr. Jordan, you don't know what the heck you're talking about. You know nothing about what law enforcement officers do. I know about my motive. And you're using them as pawns because it serves you a now everyone must suspend i am making the point no one may shout out when someone else has the time not mr gomert the question mr chairman not mr jordan nobody not mr sicilini not. Demings. He didn't do that. Not Mr. Jordan.

Not Mr. Cicilline. Okay, no, but I agree with that. Then how do we, everybody, I have a question. I will simply, there is no question. Nobody may shout out. When you give a speech, Mr. Chairman, about motives and questioning motives, and then our motives are questioned, how do we address that? The rules allow a request for words in an inquiry. This is emotionally charging for me because I was a law enforcement officer.

I have watched them live and die, and you know nothing about that. And to utilize them as political pawns is a knee off. Mr. Chairman, I have a point of inquiry. Mr. Chairman. The rules do not permit shouting out when someone else has the time. The only thing you may do when someone else has the time is you may raise a point of order, if you think it proper, and the chair will then rule on the point of order. Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

The general state is point of order. So you gave us a lecture on people questioning our motives. When someone questions our motives, how do we address it when they're in the act of questioning our motives? It is not a point of order. Yes, it is. That is not a point of order. Mr. Chairman, may I continue, please? It is not a point of order. Ms. Demings has the time and the clock will resume. General ladies, record. Mr. Chairman, I'm glad to hear that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are on the side of law enforcement now. Because I don't know that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are on the side of law enforcement now. Because I don't know where my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been over the last four years,

including on January 6th when police officers who protect us every day were fighting for their lives because of the big lie that was told. And my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were silent as one person after another person took the microphone and said go down there and engage in combat fight like hell they use the bicycle racks as deadly missiles against the law enforcement officers that you all say you care about so much. And thank you, Mr. Cicilline, because you're absolutely right. The only person who voted to support local governments and pass legislation to support

local governments that includes law enforcement were the Democratic members on this side of the aisle. But now today, you support law enforcement. Well, that's I'm delighted to know that. But don't support them when it's politically convenient for you to do so. Support them when they're under attack

by people fighting them and spraying them and knocking them to the ground and beating them with poles but carrying the american flags and pipes unbelievable mr chairman i thank you and i yield back oh my goodness jim jordan that's a grown black woman right there you might want to leave her alone all right, let's go to Iowa, where a black man was shot in the neck by a city of Cedar Rapids police officers. He's getting an eight million dollar settlement, the largest amount for a police misconduct case in Iowa history. In 2016, Jareen Mitchell got into a scuffle with an officer during a traffic stop. The shooting left Mitchell paralyzed from the neck down.

A grand jury declined to charge the officer in the case, but the police department has fired the officer as part of the settlement. The settlement still needs to be approved by the city council. Well, it's kind of important. All right, folks, let's go to South Carolina, where a judge denies the motion to toss out a 20-year sentence to a convicted police officer who shot a black man in the back. Michael Slade, a former North Charleston police officer, pled guilty to murdering Walter Scott during a traffic stop in 2017. In his motion, Slager claimed he had ineffective counsel. In the judge's written decision, he said Slager attempted to blame the victim and now he wants to blame his defense team and the trial judge. But Slager has

no one to blame for his present predicament but himself. Slager is the architect of his own demise. You might remember in that particular case, there was a hung jury, and then he pled guilty to civil rights violations of Walter Scott. In the United States Senate, Vanita Gupta is now the third highest ranking official at the Department of Justice. I would guess if the American people could give us a word of advice in the United States Senate, they would suggest that we do our best to work together, that we try to establish priorities and meet them, and that we try to bring to the new administration of President Joseph Biden the most competent, qualified people that we can to help our nation through this pandemic and our economic recovery.

And it's in that spirit that I close the debate on Vanita Gupta to be the next Associate Attorney General of the United States. All post-closure time is expired. The question is on the nomination. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change his or her vote? If not, the yeas are 51, the nays are 49, and the nomination is confirmed. Thank you, Madam President. First, I just want to say, before I move on a motion to discharge, it is really so good to have Vanita Gupta now installed as Associate Attorney General. She will be – to have someone with such a background in civil rights at this time in American history is so important

and so vital to the country. And I'm so glad that the Senate has now approved her and she can do her vital job, including dealing with the systemic bias we've seen in policing and in law enforcement throughout the country. The vote was 51 to 49. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to cross the aisle to vote for Vernita Gupta. Doesn't matter. She is now confirmed. All right, folks, speaking of the United States Senate, they had a committee hearing yesterday that dealt with the issue of the right to vote. It was called Jim Crow 2021, the latest assault on the right to vote. Well, Republicans were not too happy with that label. It really was really a hearing that was all about Stacey Abrams.

That's really who they were trying to attack. Then you had Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy. No, he's nothing like the late President John F. Kennedy. This dude is stuck on stupid. He actually thought he was going to corner Stacey Abrams. Want to see somebody get served? You're against the Georgia bill, I gather. Is that right?

I'm against certain provisions of it, yes. Okay, and I think you've called it a racist bill. Am I right? I think there are provisions of it, yes. Okay, and I think you've called it a racist bill. Am I right? I think there are provisions of it that are racist, yes. Okay. Tell me specifically, just give me a list of the provisions that you objected. I object to the provisions that remove access to the right to vote.

It shortens the federal runoff period from nine weeks to four weeks. It restricts the time a voter can request and return an absentee ballot application. It requires that a voter have a photo identification or some other form of identification that they're willing to surrender in order to participate in absentee ballot process. If I can stop you, that's where they're going to not comparing signatures, but to voter ID? Yes, sir. And as Ms. Eiffel has pointed out, we would become only the fourth state in the nation to require voters to put at risk their ability. What else? What else? It eliminates over 300 hours of dropbox availability. Okay, what else? It bans nearly all out-of-precinct votes. Bans what, I'm sorry?

It bans nearly all out-of-precinct votes, meaning that if you get to a precinct and you are in line for four hours and you get to the end of the line and you are not there between 5 and 7 p.m., you have to start all over again. Is that everything? No, it is not. No, sir. It restricts the hours of operation because it now, under the guise of setting a standardized timeline, it makes it optional for counties that may be

may not want to see expanded access to the right to vote. They can now limit their hours. Instead of those hours being from 7 to 7, they're now from 9 to 5, which may have an effect on voters who cannot vote during business hours, during early voting. It limits the voting hours. Okay, I get the idea. I bet you do get the idea. I bet you do get the idea.

That's why you shouldn't ask a really smart woman a question if you don't know the answer in advance. All right, folks, let's go to Georgia, where a group of pastors yesterday called for a statewide boycott of Home Depot. Here's Pastor Jamal Bryant speaking at the news conference. Good afternoon. My name is Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant from New Bern Missionary Baptist Church. All white men, nothing wrong with white men, but all white men in a room sitting down or

standing. Why is video playback on my computer why do I have a file that says video playback the chart air drop something to me okay I don't understand that cuz uh all right we're just gonna pick it up we're gonna pick up. Good afternoon. My name is Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant from New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia. I'm reminded of when Dr. King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail and he said to those who opposed him, we are here because injustice is here. And that is the reason why we're standing outside of Home Depot, is because we feel grave injustice is taking place, not just across the street,

but around the country from failing to operate in integrity from a corporation. One of the lead characters, albeit fictional, from the Avengers was Thor. And Thor's only superpower was that he had a hammer. That hammer, out of Norwegian mythology, suggested it was for defense and it was to bless. That hammer was to bless and it was for defense. But it never worked when it wasn't in his hand. The reality is that what is in the hands of the people is what makes democracy work. What is in the hands of the people is what the electorate works on.

It is, in fact, known as power to the people. In 1867, one of America's oldest corporations was Arm & Hammer. They said it was strong enough, but delicate enough, to handle every room and every circumstance. As a consequence, that baking soda, that baking powder, has, in fact, trust of the American people because it knows the strength of a hammer. Regrettably, all of Minnesota is collectively holding its breath. My mother and my grandmother taught me the importance and power of voting. All right, don't worry about it. We're going to cut that off at a certain point.

All right, so here's what's going to happen. We're going to cut that off, then we're going to pick up to the early part of the interview there that we did with the other folks. Okay, let's see here. Give me one second. Okay, so we're going to come out of the interview thanking them. All right, folks, time to go to a break. When we come back, five years since the death of Prince, and we'll recognize that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. could govern themselves. It was called the American experiment because there was no reason to believe it would work. A republic, if you can keep it.

Every generation has been called to defend and renew the promise of America. For some, it was on the battlefield. For others, it was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Now, the battle has come to the steps of the Capitol itself. Democracy is under assault like no time since 1860. We have a choice. Look away or stand up and fight. It's not about conservative or liberal. It's about freedom versus autocracy. We didn't choose this moment, but history has chosen us.

Which side are you on? The Lincoln Project is responsible for the content of this advertising. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett. Yo, it's your man Deon Cole from Black-ish and you're watching... Roland Martin, unfiltered. Stay woke. Folks, five years ago on this day, the world was shocked. We learned of the death of Prince.

He passed away, of course, accidental fentanyl overdose at the age of 57. Okay, what the hell was that? Start over. I need you to fix the iPad. Okay, it doesn't matter what the fuck happened back there. This is going to be airing. So I need you to fix the iPad. Yeah, but I'm saying it doesn't matter.

No, I'm saying it doesn't matter. No, I'm saying it doesn't matter. What's going on? See right there? Blackout's right there again. Okay, it has to be something because this is the preview right here. So roll that video back. It has to be something. Anthony, there's got to be something up there. Yeah, I got it. When it blacks out like that, it's a frame rate issue..

First of all, what's the file extension? extension. 1. All right, are we ready? All right, let me scroll down. I will use the same method for the other side. I will use the same method for the other side. I will use the same method for the other side. I will use the same method for the other side. I will use the same method for the other side. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 52, 53, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 59, 52, 53, 56, 57, 59, 52, 53, 56, 57, 59, 52, 53, 56, 57, 59, 52, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, Here we go. Three, two, 1. It's been five years since iconic entertainer Prince passed away of an accidental fictional overdose at the age of 57. Folks all across the world were shocked and stunned

at the announcement of his death. Today, Paisley Park, Prince's home, that has been turned into a museum, allowed a select group of 1,400 fans to visit the singer's creative sanctuary. For the first time in years, the urn carrying his ashes has returned to the atrium to be viewed by the public. All day, the legendary Purple Rain hitmaker's name has been trending on Twitter.

Of course, we certainly, our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Prince Rogers Nelson and, of course, his fans all across the world. Folks, the public memorial for DMX is going to be held at Brooklyn's Barclays Center on Saturday. New York State COVID-19 regulations restrict arenas like

Barclays Center to 10% capacity. The event is going to be closed to the public but will broadcast via live stream. DMX died, of course uh this month at the age of 50 and so many people have been remembering him and so his family they announced they were going to have that particular uh public ceremony all right folks got to uh announce uh uh some uh some good news uh for us uh we have been working for the past four months on this amazing project with the

folks at Facebook. And the project really is, they came to me and they said, hey, you want to do the six-part series? What do you want to do? I said, I want to host a series of intergenerational conversations. These conversations would pit young activists with elders and for them to be able to sit down and dialogue. Folks, the first one on Monday is going to be Dr. Janetta B. Cole, of course, President Emerita of Bennett College and Spelman College. And she's sitting down with Tiffany Lofton. Other conversations include Chuck D., Chris Payne, Alexis Herman, and Brittany Packnett, Bree Newsome, Reverend Dr. William J. Barber.

We also have Charles Cobb sitting down talking with Philip Agnew. I mean, I'm talking about just these really unbelievable conversations. And of course, we also have Ambassador Andrew Young sitting down talking to Cliff Albright, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. It's going to debut on our, right here on RollerMart Unfiltered, on our channels on Monday. Here is the first promo of the first intergenerational conversation. Dr. Cole and Tiffany Lofton. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. It takes all of y'all to represent your generation.

The African proverb says, the young go fast, the elders know the way. That is so freaking dope. What a powerful combination. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road. Like you said, giving folks the wisdom and we can go fast together. It happens in a lot of spaces. I don't think it happens enough. All right, folks.

Trust me. Looking forward to that great, great, great conversation. You don't want to miss it. All right, folks. That's it for us. If y'all want to support us here at Roland Martin Unfiltered, please do so by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support what we do here, bringing you the kind of news and information you're not going to get anywhere else. Post Cash App, dollar sign

RM Unfiltered, PayPal. PayPal.me forward slash rmartin unfiltered, Venmo.com, it's forward slash rmartin unfiltered, Zelle is rolling at rollinglessmartin.com and of course, you can send us a money order to New Vision Media Inc., 1625 K Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006.

But that is not it for us, y'all. Today, 20 years ago, my wife, Jackie, and I got married. And she put together this video here. Now, look, we probably don't get knocked off Facebook and YouTube because I chose to use a Willie Hutchins song, I Choose You. Y'all, he is a Houstonian. Kill the music, please. He is a Houstonian. And so, hey, that's what I do.

But anyway, here's a slideshow she put together. Hope you all enjoy. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, love, and I'll tell you why. You were there, but no one else could be in my corner. Telling me, it's you that I've learned to love And the place where we're going to love Oh, how can I ever thank you Except take you home and make you my loving wife So we can always be together Oh, ain't that nice We'll always be together, always at night

I choose you baby I choose No longer do I Have to shop around anymore No, no, no, no I found that once in a lifetime. Girl, that I've been searching for. No, baby, you're all right. How can I convince your girl that you're truly out of sight You're the kind of woman any man would be proud to know The kind of woman have a man bragging every way he goes

Oh, I, I choose you baby Oh, I choose you baby She was in the rain Cause you're sugar Oh, you're spice Woman, you're You're everything nice Love and goodness Oh, I feel real proud. Oh, I should, baby. baby oh

alright folks and so happy anniversary Jay Hood Reverend Dr. Jackie Hood Martin alright folks that's it I gotta go I always do chocolate cake for my anniversary Valentine's Day so I got to go have some anniversary cake I'll see you guys tomorrow right here on Rolling

Martin Unfiltered. Holler! A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways from tech billionaires to the bond market to yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chaston. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make or wherever you get your podcasts. Proposition. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council.

I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios.

Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.