#RolandMartinUnfiltered - OJ Simpson Dies, OH Cop Shoots Black Teen With Fake Gun, DEI & Corporate Responsibility

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

4.11.2024  #RolandMartinUnfiltered: OJ Simpson Dies, OH Cop Shoots Black Teen With Fake Gun, DEI & Corporate Responsibility We are remembering Orenthal James Simpson. The college and pro football hall of famer, actor, and broadcaster has died of cancer at age 76.  Bruce S. Gordon, former Verizon Executive and former CEO of the NAACP, will join us to discuss the importance of corporate responsibility and DEI.  House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calls Trump out for his lies about his stance on a national abortion ban. The white Ohio officer who shot a black teen with a fake gun was fired three years ago but negotiated to get his job back. We have the bodycam video of the shooting.  It's Time to Bring the Funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network #BlackStarNetwork partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbaseAli Siddiq 👉🏾 https://www.moment.co/alisiddiq"Shirley" NOW available on Netflix 👉🏾 www.netflix.comBiden/Harris 👉🏾 https://joebiden.com/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #BlackStarNetwork 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.See 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 Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded 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. 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. Thank you. Folks, today's Wednesday, April 10th, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live from the Black Star Network. I'm here in Augusta, Georgia, courtesy of McDonald's, attending the Masters. I'm going to give a little shout-out to the Morehouse men's golf team, as well as the Eastside Golf Boys. I'll have that for you on today's show. Also, Chicago police fired 96 shots in 41 seconds, killing a young black man during a

traffic stop. We'll show you some of the body cam footage and talk to the family's attorney. In Florida, Florida Sheriff's Deputy get disciplined for strip searching a black man in broad daylight. We'll talk to the reporter who broke this story. In the Mississippi Goon Squad, they tortured two black men. They will never know what freedom feels like again. We'll tell you about those sentences right here on the show. Also, we'll be joined by Pro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith, who wants to emphasize the importance of black ownership in a casino project in Virginia, his home state. Folks, that and more.

It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, of the Black Star Network. Let's go. Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's a go-go-royale It's rolling Martin Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best Here we go again.

Another simple traffic stop results in the death of a black man. This time, a seatbelt violation in Chicago leads to 96 shots being fired in 41 seconds. It took place on March 21st when tactical officers with the Chicago Police Department stopped 26-year-old Dexter Reed before gunfire erupted on both sides. The released body cam video sparks questions rather than providing answers. How could the plainclothes officers see Dexter was not wearing a seatbelt when his windows were tinted. And how was Dexter supposed to know who these plainclothes officers were when they didn't announce themselves while they surrounded his car with guns drawn? Now, what you're about to see is very triggering. So we want to give you a heads up to turn away if you do not want to see this video. So we're going to give you that time.

All right. This is a two minute and 45 second video, folks. Watch what happens. Do not roll the window up. Do not fucking roll it up. Open the fucking door. Unlock the door now. Open the fucking door.

Unlock the door now. Open the door now. Open the door now. Open the door now! Unlock the door now! Open the door now! Open the door now! Open the door now! Turn right! Turn right! Stop firing! Stop firing! Where? Where?

That way. One here. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you.

I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. We're in an ambulance in route. We gotta have a listen around. I got you. I got you over there for near neighbors. We have an officer down. Don't fucking go. We got animals around.

We're OK. Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move!

Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move!

Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move!

Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move!

Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move!

Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move!

Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Don't move!

Don't move! Don't move! Don't move! Here's, I'm just going to give an example. I remember when I lived in Chicago and I was, I pulled over. This car was at a green light, wasn't moving. I pulled over, you know, and I took off. Car behind me starts chasing me. And I don't know who the hell it is. So I keep going.

I don't know who the hell it is. So then we go another block. Then the car pulls up beside of me and he's yelling, get over, get over, get over. So then he gets out of the car and then comes up to my car, windows up. Then he shows his badge and then he goes, why the hell you didn't pull over? I said, I didn't know who the hell you were. Yes. You were in an unmarked car. Okay, I can't tell who you are. Why the hell am I going to pull over? Because some dude is telling me to pull over.

When I see this here, what I saw when that body cam started, at no point did I hear anyone yell, roll your window down, Chicago police. This is an order. Now, have you seen anything where these officers identified themselves to this young man? Roland, not only did they not identify themselves as Chicago police, they rolled up on him, cut him off, unmarked police car, plainclothes officers wearing hoodies and baseball caps. Dexter Reed had no idea from what I've seen on the video that they were police officers. So what we see is an unconstitutional, unreasonable, pretextual racist stop on the west side of Chicago.

And as you know, Roland, they've got these tactical units that do unconstitutional policing with decades of history regarding abuse in black communities. So to me, what started as a- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now, now I'm sure you're telling me that he's driving down the street. All of a sudden, cars pull out in front of him. They block him in. Plainclothes folks jump out over a seatbelt. But we don't even know if it was a seatbelt because you can't see in those tinted windows.

They had no reason to stop him. It was a pretextual racist stop by tactical officers working. And here's the thing, Roland, that's so disturbing. As you know, there's a federal consent decree pending. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action.

And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we'll take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,

even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution.

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

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

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

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. against the city of Chicago. And part of the historical evidence shows these tactical units are terrorizing citizens on the West and South sides. And so it's tragic. And then in the middle,

dozens of rounds fired. And then at the end, you see an execution style military shooting of Dexter Reed as he lay dying on the ground next to his car. It's tragic on multiple levels. How many black and brown men... Are you telling me that, because I cut the video, are you telling me that while he

is laying on the ground, a shot was fired into his body while he was laying on the ground? Three more shots. He came out of the car unarmed. You can see him unarmed. They shoot him again. And then when he's laying next to the car, the one shooting officer pumps three more bullets into him while he's laying unarmed by the car. And we've asked the state's attorney to consider criminal charges against the officers. We've asked Mayor Johnson to disband these tactical units that terrorize black folks on the west and south sides.

You know, there's so many issues rolling with this case. Now, they're going to say he had a gun. There was a weapon recovered in his car. But let's talk. This all started with an unconstitutional pretextual stop over, they say, a seatbelt violation, which they couldn't even have seen because he had tinted windows. It is stunning to actually watch that. And again, we've done these stories so many times. and another black man dead because of a traffic stop, in this case, supposedly a seatbelt, before it's been an air freshener hanging down, before it's been a taillight,

before it's been a license plate. It's always something small that all of a sudden escalates. And also, last question, how many officers were involved here? I mean, you need that many officers? Roland, great question. Listen, check this out. A seat belt not being worn.

Five officers in an SUV, four men and one woman. One of them is wearing a hoodie. The other one are wearing baseball caps. They jump out. They're called the jump out boys. They jumped out, surrounded the unit, pulled guns, pointed into the car, and it just erupted into gunfire, and it ended in an execution. And the city of Chicago and Mayor Brandon Johnson has got to commit to the consent decree and reform. How many black men need to die before we'll change the behavior of certain

members of the Chicago Police Department, especially these tactical units. 96 shots in 41 seconds. Andrew, keep us abreast of what happens in this case. Appreciate you, Roland. Thanks for having me on. Folks, I'm going to go to a break. We'll come back.

I'm going to talk about this with my panel right here on Rolling Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. I'm Faraji Muhammad live from L.A. And this is the culture. The culture is a two way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's The Culture, weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million

and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Me, Sherri Sheppard, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network. Let me introduce my panel, Robert Portillo. He is host, People, Passion, Politics, News and talk, 1380 WAOK out of Atlanta. Scott Bolden.

He is, of course, a lawyer in D.C., former chair of the National Bar Association in D.C. Chamber of Commerce PAC. Scott, listen, I understand the role of officers. I understand when it comes to combating crime. But it takes all of that for a seatbelt violation? No, it doesn't take all of that. But, you know, I love breaking these videos down. If you look at the subversive units. So we're going to do this here So we're going to do this here.

We're going to do this here. Make this point right here. And we have a video from several angles. And so what we're going to do is we're going to play these videos. And then we're going to go through that and we can sort of describe. So make your initial comment. Then I'm going to have them replay the first video. Then guys get the other videos ready so we can actually break it down.

First, tactical units aren't hired and aren't on duty to make traffic stops. That's the first thing. Even if they saw him coming from the front window of his car and said he didn't have his seatbelt on, that's not what tactical units do. And if it's a traffic stop, you don't go up to the car with your guns drawn saying, put your windows down. So that's blown away, regardless of what they investigate. Secondly, on 91 shots in 41 seconds, there are officers shooting from 100 to 200 feet away, right? Which means that's dangerous for people around them. It's dangerous for the officers. And the victim gets out of the car unarmed with his hands up. And when he gets to the back of the car, they're still shooting. And those bullets, after he's got his hands up and he's outside the vehicle, that's when he gets shot. And you can see he gets gunned down by three, four, five, six, seven different shots, including

it looks like the officers from a distance who's behind the car just firing and reloading and firing. That makes absolutely no sense. There's a lot more going on here as to why they stopped him. But more importantly, just irresponsibility in regard to just

unloading your firearm on a traffic stop like this. Simply because he's got a gun. Makes no sense. And he didn't have a gun when he got shot. Folks, go ahead and play. Right. And the other deal is you can actually carry a gun. And people carry guns for protection.

Roll a video. No question about that. They didn't even ask him did he had a weapon, by the way. And there you go. Audio turned up. Open the fucking door. Unlock the door now. Open the fucking door.

Unlock the door now. Open the door now. Open the door now. Open the door now. Open the door now! Open the door now! Turn back, turn back, turn back! Where? Where? Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!

Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!

Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!

Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire.

Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire.

Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. I got you. It's over there for near neighbors. We have an officer down. Don't fucking move. Unit, step it up.

We got ambulances around. Don't move. He's dead. He's not going to move. We're all good. Do we have any information on the offender? He's dead. He's not going to move. We're all good. Do you think? Do we have any information on the offender? Hey, you got us. Watch out.

There's a kid over there for him. Do not fucking move. I don't know where the gun is. He's got a gun on him? He started shooting at us. Hey, dude. My gun. My gun.

My gun. Okay, we got a third of the kid alive. shooting at us i don't know where he is What's on him? Whoa! All right, do we have any information on him? We got a case right here, watch your feet, watch your feet. I don't know, he said it's on the doorstep. Anybody there, give us the information. Yes.

Yes. We are aware. We have a man who wants to request this. Alright, folks. Now, cue up the next video so we can look at it from that particular angle. And go ahead and press play. Don't roll the window. Don't roll the window. Okay. Do not roll the window. L'Angle and go ahead and press play. All right. So there's another angle.

Let's play that one. Put your window down, man. Roll the window down. What are you doing? Roll this one down, too. Do not roll the window up. Do not fucking roll it up. Open the fucking door.

Unlock the door now. Hey, unlock it. Unlock the door now. Hey! All right, so we've got three more videos. Press play the next one. 11-32. 11-32. Open the door now.

Open the door now. Open the door now. Open the door now. All right, next video. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business,

taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

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

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

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Bye. Why are they approaching with his guns drawn? This was a tactical stop. This was not a traffic stop. All right. Okay.

Last. Okay. Here's the last video. Here's the last video. Here's the last video. Press play. All right. So we've seen that video there. All right.

All right. So, so, okay. So Robert, we played six different videos. At no point in a single video do I hear cops say police. Now, in the fifth video we played, you see somebody with a vest on that says police on the back.

I'm assuming it says on the front. But when they come up to the vehicle, nobody identifies themselves. And I don't see a badge dangling from their neck. I don't see anything. How in the hell am I supposed to know who you are? That's one of many questions I think all of us have. This is an outrage for that community and for any community.

And when we hear all this hyperbole around why are we still marching and protesting and demanding accountability and even demanding from the Biden administration federal legislation on police brutality, this is why. There are so many points where the police could have de-escalated this situation from the beginning by identifying themselves, by finding ways to talk these things down. And I'm not even quite sure who fired the first shot in this situation, but in those sort of circumstances, should 91 shots be needed for this type of interaction? Not to mention you're in a populated area. The thing about the collateral damage that could have happened, these cops are firing from 100, 200 feet away at an individual. So it is an absolute atrocity that has taken place in this situation. And I'm hoping that as evidence comes out, we find out exactly what motivated these cops to respond in this manner. Scott, I think back to the shooting of the black couple in Cleveland when a cop jumped on top of the car and was firing

shots down. Shots have been fired as well. And you just, granted, that was after a car chase. This is, I mean, I get unmarked vehicles, but I'm sorry. I don't care. If you're

in Chicago where people got, well, carjackings, things like that. I'm going to even even when we played, even when they got out of the car. And to your point, Scott, guns were already drawn. He had his window all the way down. I'm sitting here waiting for somebody to say we are Chicago police. So they're talking. He's like, I don't know. I'm raising my window up. Who the hell are y'all? Yeah, and the other question that's going to be raised in the investigation is there were unmarked cars, but one of those cars in all of your videos had lights flashing, but they were on the back.

I don't know whether they were on the front or not. That's one thing. Some of the undercover had police on the back of their jackets, but not necessarily on the front. You didn't see the badges dangling, as you say, like you have in New York. But this was a tactical stop. This was not a traffic stop. It just wasn't. It doesn't take five people to do this. They had their guns drawn. They were looking for something, whether it was drugs, gun. He was a suspect. They approached that car to get him out of that car, which means decisions were made before they stopped that car. Right. This isn't him just driving and they do a traffic stop. So that's part of the investigation. They don't appear to find drugs, but they found a gun in the car.

But it reminds me of Laquan McDonald. Whatever the case may be, if there's a gun on the scene, or even if he has a gun like Laquan did, from Wisconsin, not Laquan, it was Philander. Philander somebody, right? Philando Castile. Philando Castile. That's right. When the training of these police,

if there is a gun or they believe shots are fired, they are, it appears to be trained to just empty their weapon, whether there's a threat or not. The reason the 200 feet away with that one angle with the cop firing, right, he's firing 200 feet away, and he's emptying his 9mm. He doesn't even see that the victim walks into the line of fire. He's just firing at the car. He's just firing at the car. He gives no way he's going to hit the victim who's in the car. He could hit other police officers. He could hit community people. His police officers could walk in the line of that fire.

That's completely irresponsible and ridiculous. Because if you see on the video, the victim walks into the line of fire, he's walking to the back of the car with his hands up, and he walks into that gunfire. That's what that video shows. And if he walked into that gunfire, he didn't have a weapon on him. He left the weapon in the car. And then lastly, when they approach the car, right, look how they escalate it. Don't roll your windows down.

Roll them up. Don't roll them up. Don't roll them up. Don't roll them up. They've got guns drawn. And as he rolls his window up, the voice inflection of the police officer, they begin to yell. They begin to yell. They all begin to yell, and they're holding their guns, because I get it that they don't know what they're dealing with, right? But they have a sense of what they're dealing with, but he hasn't shown

a weapon yet. And then they have this conversation, but they're yelling, yelling, and their shots are fired. Who knows who fired the shot? If the young man fired the shot, even if he did, right, then they're free to fire, but not recklessly fire, right? If they fire into the car, they've got to see whether they hit something or not. Remember, they don't know who else is in the car, too. There could be a passenger. There could be kids in the back.

This is irresponsible at several levels. I could do a lot more analysis, but that's my immediate response to this. This is crazy. Robert, final comment. One of the fundamentals of gun ownership and gun training is never fire or even point your weapon unless you not only

know exactly what you're aiming at, but what is beyond it. And then this is the question. They are firing blindly into a vehicle. And as Scott said, there could have been children in the backseat, could have been explosives in the backseat, for all they know. And they are firing blindly into it. How is that going to be self-defense or defense of an officer? How exactly do you explain the need for 91 shots?

What I think at some point in time, they thought the other officers firing was the victim firing back at them. And so they started firing at each other ostensibly because that's what they were doing. Did you see how jittery they were, how scared they were? This is not a job for people who are jittery or scared. And that showed in their reaction. And I'm hoping we'll get more information on this, but our prayers to the family and, of course, the victim in this case. Yeah. Absolutely insane.

All right, folks, we'll keep you apprised of this story. We'll be right back on Roland Martin. I'm Phil Titt on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the street. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action.

And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,

even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

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

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

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter. Liz

Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. podcast. It's a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash.

This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million

and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until then. 2022, a black man was strip searched in broad daylight in Jacksonville.

Well, the results of that is that the sheriff's office has said that those officers were wrong and violated a policy. Ronnie Reed was stripped in the middle of the street in front of his family members. The officers did not find anything, but he was arrested for selling cocaine. The state attorney's office, the state state's attorney's office dropped the charges against Reed in February, but only after spending more than a year pressing him to accept a plea agreement that would have sent him to prison for at least four years. Nicole Manna of the tributary, the investigative reporter who broke the case, joins me now from Jacksonville. Glad to have you on the show, Nicole. Hi.

So now the sheriff's department goes, yeah, they really didn't follow the rules in how he was pulled over and strip searched. Right. So the sheriff's office actually opened their investigation into the arrest after our reporting on what had happened, our reporting that questioned if they broke policy, if they broke state law. That investigation was opened in March of last year and it was closed in September. And we only learned about it by filing another records request asking for that investigation. They had never notified us that it was closed, despite the fact that our reporting is because of our reporting is why it was opened. So now I'm confused. Okay, so the arrest takes place in February. They opened investigation after the fact. What was he initially stopped for?

So the arrest actually took place in September of 2022. We didn't publish our first story until March of 23. So that is when the investigation was open. What happened in that arrest is the police were doing a kind of drug operation. An undercover officer gave $20 to a different man. And that man was seen walking toward Ronnie Reed. He went, that man went back to the officer, gave him whatever amount of cocaine. And then those officers approached Ronnie and searched him down, patted him down, didn't find any drugs, didn't even find the $20 that police had given the original man. And then that is when the strip search occurred. Wow. So they never actually saw Reed give this guy drugs, so therefore they assumed he was the drug dealer. Right. That's how it seems. The original arrest report on Ronnie isn't exactly clear of what happened other than this

other man walked toward him. In the investigative file from the internal investigation, we saw an extra line that says an officer witnessed a drug exchange. But again, there were no drugs found on Ronnie either at the time of the arrest or at the jail. The $20 that was given to the other man in exchange for cocaine was found in his hand when he was arrested. That money was never found on Ronnie Reed either. And his defense attorney told me that she brought that to the state attorney's office and said, I've never seen a drug dealer give on credit. Wow. Again, another one of those crazy stories of what cops say one thing and something else, you know, actually happens. But what was nuts here, they were trying to get this man to plead guilty. Right. They spent more than a year trying to persuade him to plead guilty and take a four

year prison sentence. But he kept fighting. He went through multiple defense attorneys and ultimately the case was dropped in November. I believe it was November 14th or 15th. I'm sorry, February. I believe it was February 14th or 15th. And that is when the state attorney said that they did not have enough evidence to bring him to court and prosecute him. Questions from the panel. Robert, you first. So, with this, will there be any sort of apology, restitution, anything paid to this man for what he's had to go through in this situation? Because I've had similar cases to this.

This is not an isolated incident. What systemic changes is the police department going to make to stop this from happening in the future? So one of the interesting things that came out in the internal investigation is that the officers who stripped Ronnie said that they were actually never trained on what the search policy is. And they didn't even know that what they did constituted a strip search. So, of course, we asked JSO, knowing this information, have you done additional training in the department? We never got an answer back on that. JSO told one of the local TV stations here that they do offer and do require training on searches. But again, we don't know if there's anything that they're doing beyond what training they say they already have. And I do know Ronnie

is talking with a civil attorney. Scott? Yeah, Scott Bolden here. He needs to talk to a civil attorney about this. You know, the idea that the police believe that they could strip search someone in public because they didn't have proper training. I had good home training. I had good upbringing. Taking somebody's pants down or making them strip in public just seems to be just at your core. We shouldn't do that. We should take him to the station or we should put him in the police van or something. Just your core should tell you that, whether you're a police officer or not. But here's another question, similar to Robert's, right? What about training and what about reformation of the prosecutor's office? I'm a former prosecutor from New York City.

Either you got the evidence or you don't. Theoretically, philosophically, rather, ethically, under most state bar rules and the ABA, if you can't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, if you can't prove the case, you don't bring the case, then you don't sit there for a year and try to get them to plead a something. Because that means they're not trying to do justice. They're trying to get a conviction, right? Any discussions with any groups or that state's attorney's office about that reformation piece or that ethical piece, because the Iranian ought to bring ethical charges against the assistant state's attorney for

how they handled this case. Because if they were going to dismiss it anyway, what were the internal memorandums about whether they could prove the case or not? And was there a memo that said, oh, just get him to take a plea, as opposed to dismissing him and doing justice? Roland, that's the difference between doing justice and just going after a conviction. Go right ahead, man. I think that is something that he's exploring with his civil attorney. We actually haven't heard too much from the state attorney's office on that, on why they decided to continue to pursue these charges. When we first wrote the story, the answer was essentially

a crime was committed and we are moving forward with this case. We haven't heard much of an apology or any other details of why this was dropped or what the internal communication looked like. But that is information that we are looking to get, hopefully, through future record. I'd make that part of your investigative reporting because that gets lost sometimes. But that's a huge issue because the police are one problem, but the prosecutors drive the investigation, drive the prosecution, and they've got to be ethically based. And if they violate their ethics, they ought to be brought to accountability. Yeah, there are definitely two parts to the story, just like you said, JSO and the state attorney's office. So, yeah, we're going to continue reporting on this and seeing what we could find out.

And, Roland, one of the first cases I did with Henry Daniels back in the day was a case similar to this where a man had half an aspirin on the stove, and they tried to charge him with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, and it took us over a year to get that case dismissed against him once they finally got lab results to show there was half an aspirin. So this is not an isolated incident. Just thank God we have a legal attorney so we can actually deal with issues like this. Yep. Absolutely crazy. Nicole, great job reporting.

Keep it up. Thank you. Thank you for having me. We come back. We'll talk to the Goon Squad getting sentenced for their attack on two black men in Mississippi. You're watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Support us in what we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club.

Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each a year. That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. So if you're checking money, order the PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-710196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo's RM Unfiltered,

Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartin.filter.com. We'll be right back. Janet actually called me and she said, do you remember us having an argument in the studio, whatever, whatever? And I said, no, not really, because we never argued in the studio. And she said, well, there's this piece we found and can you come over and watch it with me? And I said, sure. And I went over and watched

it and I loved it I just started laughing I said this is great this is great and she said okay so you're okay with this I said yeah I'm fine with it because literally we worked together for I mean I don't know how many days we've been in the studio together and literally we had maybe one argument like that right and it was captured but of course that's the thing that you know absolutely people want to see but yeah that kind of thing happened some, that's the thing that people want to see. But yeah, that kind of thing happens. Some days that's with, you know, your voice isn't good today. Let's just go see a movie or let's go just chill. You know, some days it's tough love.

Like, you've got to do that again. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone,

sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibbillion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

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

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Folks, we've talked about the goon squad in Mississippi. Six white cops who brutalized two black men. Well, they pled guilty to federal charges. Now they have learned their fate in state charges. The five former Rankin County deputies and a former Richland police officer pled guilty to state charges in August for their involvement in a racist assault against Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker.

The disgraced law enforcement officers have already been sentenced between 10 to 40 years in federal prison. Rankin County Circuit Judge Steve Radcliffe sentenced Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, and Daniel Opdyke to 15 years for hindering prosecution and five years for conspiracy to commit hindering prosecution. Joshua Hartfield got 10 years for hindering prosecution and five years for conspiracy to hinder prosecution. Christopher Detman got 20 years in prison for burglary and five years for conspiracy. Hunter L. Ward got 20 years for aggravated assault, 20 years for burglary and five years for conspiracy to commit a hindering prosecution.

The state sentences were run concurrently with federal sentences. They must permanently surrender their law enforcement certificates. I mean, you see right here these six thugs and what they did. And the bottom line is, let's not even believe for a second this was an isolated incident, Robert. Yes, exactly what I was going to say, Roland. You know, for every one case like this that comes to light, we had this with the Red Dogs in Atlanta years ago. So many law enforcement agencies around the country have squads of this nature, have groups of this nature. And often in the name of public safety, in the name of

combating crime, because no communities, when crime goes up, they get very lax on human rights all of a sudden. They're able to put these units out there. But we've seen over and over again the excesses that happen when you give officers this type of power and this lack of accountability. I'm glad that these officers have been brought to justice, but we have to work on making the wholesale changes to law enforcement and criminal justice reform in this country. This is why it's important for us to still push forward, even in this election year, that George Floyd Justiceices policing act. What you see here were just simply six thugs, six gang members with badges and guns, Scott.

Yeah, and there are goon squads like this still in existence. The police department and police chiefs, who should resign in this case but hasn't, tolerate it as this kind of mantra that to catch thugs or to stop crime in the roughest parts of the neighborhood, you need a rough unit. Well, no, you don't. You just need a unit that's going to do good police work and do it by the book. But this whole idea that you don't want to know, you don't want to know how we solve crimes in tough communities because it's the price you pay for democracy or your constitution or for a safer community. It's all bullshit, basically. There's nothing good about what these people did. They've done it before,

and senior management and police departments know they exist. They tolerate it with a blink or a nod until something like this happens. And nine times out of ten, it happens to poor black people, the least, the lost and the left out. And then they're prosecuted or they're fired from the police force. But the damage has been done already. It's just pathetic. Yeah. And so certainly glad to see these thugs brought to justice. Speaking of bringing a judge, a thug to justice, Donald Trump's trial begins on Monday. This fool, y'all,

this fool tried to sue the judge. I mean, he will delay and delay and delay. I mean, Scott, this is one of those where the judge has got to say, man, sit your ass down and stop this nonsense. They struck that down. This idiot also, let's also today, Allen Weisselberg, who was his numbers guy,

got sentenced today to five months in jail for committing perjury lying about that. So, I mean, you've got to be stupid to say, yeah, I'm willing to go to jail for committing perjury, lying about that. So, I mean, you've got to be stupid to say, yeah, I'm willing to go to jail for Donald Trump. Well, Weisselberg benefited a lot from that inappropriate

relationship, but he got another five months. He must like jail. He wouldn't like it, boy, but he done met somebody in jail because he keep going back for Donald Trump. But the judge in this case, you know, made a very quick ruling and basically says, sit your ass down. Your day is coming. Your day in court is coming. And it's coming fast. Your first criminal trial, the first time you've ever faced

a criminal justice system, not the civil justice system. And I'm going to tell you, it's going to be tough on Donald Trump. I keep telling everybody that. Those I'm going to tell you, it's going to be tough on Donald Trump. I keep telling everybody that. Those cameras are going to be in the courtroom. You're going to see that this is a day of reckoning because he's going to get convicted of some of those counts, if not all of them, because it's a paper case. It's an easy case to try. It's about fraud.

It's not about hush money. The lawyer for Donald Trump, they've got key witnesses, but they also have corroboration, written corroboration that regardless of what his lawyer pled to and went to jail for, it doesn't matter. They can corroborate what he's saying. And so his day of reckoning is coming. The press and politics and political folks make out like this is the least important case. 31 felonies is the most important case. And that judge will sentence him to jail. And whenever that happens, right, they're going to have a hard time getting him out of serving that jail time.

They could keep him out while the appeals work. But at some point in time, your day of reckoning is going to be upon Donald Trump. It's hard to imagine him winning the race convicted with 30 or less or more felonies. It really is, because he won't be campaigning. And a lot of that money he's raising right now has got to go towards legal fees. So the Republican Party is in a hot mess because Donald Trump is leading the Republican Party right now. Very unfortunate for the Republicans who are not caucus supporters. Robert, this man has attacked the judge, attacked the judge's daughter.

I guess he thinks that that stuff flies. No, player. So they slap him with a gag order. And then, am I the only one who found it strange that Michael Avenatti was on MSNBC last night talking from federal prison, saying Trump can't get a fair hearing? Your man's sitting in jail for 17 years for stealing everything else. For stealing, that's wrong. I don't want to hear his ass. Robert, I ain't trying to hear no Michael Avenatti jailhouse confessions.

Look, this is what we talk about when we talk about the auction nature of the criminal justice system. When you have money, when you have access, when you have political connections, you have a completely different experience

in the criminal justice system than the normal person. We have a completely different experience in the criminal justice system than the normal person. We have to tap back down on that if we want to actually have a functioning system. One of our founding fathers, John Jay, talks about the legitimacy of our system and the criminal justice system and the courts. The courts do not have armies. They do not have enforcement mechanisms. Therefore, the people have to actually believe that the system is fair or else the system collapses around itself. What we see is if you have unlimited money, you can file unlimited lawsuits and motions and delay, et cetera, along the lines. That is something that is not available to your average defendant.

In these cases, have to put guardrails in place to ensure that no one can use money or political connections or anything else to face a different criminal justice system than your average everyday person. Because once you start establishing that as a rule and as a fact, then people have no reason to believe in the system as it is. And that's how you end up with failed states like we see across the world right now. Absolutely. So it's nuts, nuts, nuts. So we'll talk about this on Monday. All right, folks, we come back. I mean, please, I'm like Michael Albinoni.

He can't get a fair trial in New York. Shut up. Go back to your jail cell. All right, we come back. Bruce Smith, former NFL player, pro football Hall of Famer, now is a part of a casino being in

Virginia. He says black folks should be participating economically in these areas, especially when they're in majority black cities. You're watching Rolling Mountain Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Next on the Black Table

with me, Greg Cox, a conversation with Professor Toyin Falola, a man described by many as an African intellectual legend. He is without a doubt the most important and prolific writer, thinker, teacher, and servant of African studies in the modern world. And then today we have George Floyd, the Black Lives Matters, and the reimagines of radical Black thoughts. We're honored to welcome him to a very special, can't miss,

episode of The Black Table, only on the Black Star Network. Fan Base is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest.

For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer of The Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin on Tilted. So Virginia has a commission. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up,

so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action, and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into

the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms,

the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

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

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. 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.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. in Richmond. Now you have an effort that's in Petersburg, Florida, and Bruce Smith, Pro Football Hall of Famer, says, you know what? Why are these casinos being built in black cities and black people not participating? Well, he has joined several others to bid on that casino. There are a number of people who are vying for that license. They are very lucrative licenses. And so Bruce Smith joins us right now. Bruce, glad to have you here. The reality is, since Don Barton died, there's not been a single African-American owner of a casino in the United States. Well, and hi, Roland. It's good to be on your show. And thanks for having me. I hope that we're about to change that. There's too much at stake. There's too many people that have paved the way for this opportunity, and we cannot let it pass us by.

It's not the fact that the project in Richmond didn't have African-American participation, the majority of these folks were not from Virginia. And when we have these economic opportunities, groundbreaking economic opportunities and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that come in our doorstep. And for Virginians not to have a major stake at these opportunities, I just think that it's an injustice. And we need to make sure that Virginians have a seat at the table, because we live here. We spend our money here. We send our kids to school here. And we know how to strengthen our communities and what's needed in our communities and to help uplift our people, as opposed to folks from out of town coming in here

and telling us what we think we need or what we should have or the opportunities we should get, quite frankly. And look, we've seen this before where licenses come up and people outside buy for those licenses. I look at Bally's in Chicago that buy for one in Illinois. So you have these international casino companies. But your whole point is, hey, if you're a state and you're a city, you should really be looking to the people who are from there to participate in the economic viability of these projects. It strengthens the fabric of our communities, our cities, and quite frankly, the state.

We just had these opportunities come to light when legislation was passed to build five casinos in the state of Virginia. Just like with marijuana licensing. I'll give you the prime example of what I'm talking about. There's a casino in Portsmouth, which is a predominantly African-American city. There was an out-of-town developer and vendor, well, not developer, but casino operator that came here. And there's only 5% African-American participation in a predominantly African-American city. That speaks volumes.

So when this opportunity came along, because of my long history with the Cordish Company, one of the things that I emphasized that we had to have a significant stake in uplifting this community and having a seat at the table. And they agreed. And I think we're about to make history if we are chosen to be the developer of this resort casino entertainment development. hundred people. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that will go to the state as well as the city in tax revenue, new tax revenue. So I just think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the citizens of Petersburg and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Virginians to have an opportunity to invest in this generational project that will create generational wealth

and will also decrease the wealth gap in our state and in our cities. Scott? Hey, cities. Scott? Hey, Bruce. Scott Bolden here. Bruce, if these are licenses that have been awarded, are they going to be voted on by a referendum, or are we beyond that? I can see Urban One is a client of mine,

but I did not represent them in regard to the Virginia licenses and stuff. But I know a little bit about it just on the periphery. These five licenses, do they have to be voted on by referendum or are they locked in and there's a commission that's going to award them based on an RFP? Yes, this casino license will be voted on by referendum. So the process, I'll give you the short version. And the short version is the city sent out an RFP. There were five vendors that answered the RFP.

We happen to be, in my opinion, the strongest team. The Cordish Company has over 100 years experience of development. I've got over 20. They have. Yeah, I'm familiar with them. Yes, they have. They do business all over the world. They are very strong.

They have they built and they own casinos in a number of major cities. But the fact that and let me get back to your referendum. So the person that will be selected, the group that will be selected by the city council and the committee to move forward as being the vendor. First, they have to become a host city, which means it has to go through the House and the Senate. They have to pass it. The governor signs the bill, and after the governor signs the bill, then it becomes law. There's a holdup right now. There is language in the bill that talks about that it has to go back. The governor took that language out, which was, and I'm losing my train of thought right here for a minute, but the governor took the language out. So now it's up to Don Scott to do the right thing.

And doing the right thing will be doing the right thing for the citizens of Petersburg that has high rates of unemployment, poverty, food deserts, limited resources to fund schools. There's just so many problems that exist. And this will be the economic engine that this city needs to provide hope, entertainment, and give these folks a shot in the arm with good-paying jobs and a prosperous future. Yeah, but Bruce, I'll just share this with you. I don't think you have to worry about Black people in Virginia supporting this initiative

because they certainly want it. Your opposition is going to come from those who don't live in the community and those who have a view of the world that you and I don't share, given the melanin in our skin. That's the first thing. And the second thing is local support. There was no issue with local support. You may have even more. But those prior efforts had good local support. It's that your opposition is well organized, financially backed,

and they are a force to deal with. Do not underestimate them, because those referendums, those two referendums that were lost already, they made all the sense in the world for people that look just like us. So I'll leave it at that. Good luck, brother. Well, and the word I was trying to recall at the time, I probably had too many cushions while I was playing in the NFL. I didn't say that. You said that. But it's called the reenactment clause.

The governor took it out. So the governor did his part. Now Don Scott has to do his part. And then it's not time to play politics with the people of Petersburg. These folks want to work. They want their city to be uplifted. This city has been forgotten about for decades and generations. And this can be the economic engine that puts them on the map and spark for new growth within we go into this referendum and make sure that the people of Petersburg understands what's at stake and who's opposing what's about to take place. You said House Speaker Don Scott must do the right thing. Specify that. What do you mean by that? Well, the bill just needs to be clean. It needs to be a clean bill so the city of Petersburg can do their business. This this opportunity should not be delayed not one single day longer.

These folks in Petersburg desperately need this economic engine, this opportunity for this once-in-a-lifetime project to delay it any significant amount of time would put people in the same state that they've been in for a lifetime. They need this project in the worst way, and we want to do everything we can to make sure that we bring a project that brings massive number of jobs, big tax revenues, so they can repair their roads, so they can fund their schools, so they can have the tax revenue and the jobs that are created to sustain families, and they can feel proud about it. All right, then. Bruce Smith, man, I appreciate it.

Good luck in your efforts. Roland, thanks so much for having me on, man. And appreciate all the work you do throughout all the communities all over this country, man. Much love and respect. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks, going to break. We come back.

Donald Trump says, I know why Jewish people and the blacks are voting Democrat. I'm going to tell you why. Yep. We're going to show that race is next. You're watching Roland Martin unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, nurses are the backbone of the health care industry.

And yet only 7% of them are black. What's the reason for that low number? Well, a lack of opportunities and growth in their profession. Joining us on the next Get Wealthy is Needy Barnanilli. She's going to be sharing exactly what nurses need to do and what approach they need to take to take ownership of their success. So the Black Nurse Collaborative really spawned from a place and a desire to create opportunities to uplift each other, those of us in the profession, to also look and reach back and create pipelines and opportunities for other nurses like us.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Headline. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, louder and prouder.

Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Michaela Boyd was last seen at her Columbia, South Carolina home on March 8th. The 15-year-old is 5 feet tall, weighs 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Michaela Boyd is urged to call the Columbia, South Carolina Police Department, 803-545-3500, 808-543-3500. All right, folks, Donald Trump says he knows why Jewish and black people are voting for Democrats. It's out of habit.

Listen to this fool. They don't want to talk about that. They don't want to talk about the attack of October 7th on Israel because Biden is no fan of Israel. Any Jewish person that votes for Biden does not love Israel. And frankly, it should be spoken to how a Jewish person can vote for Biden or a Democrat because they are on the side, 100 percent of the Palestinians. And he doesn't know how to get out of it. He's stuck. But he is if you look at what he's done, he is totally on the side of the Palestinians. And frankly, it's incredible that historically Jewish people vote for Democrats.

To me, I cannot. I know you're Jewish, Wayne, and I know you vote for me, but I don't understand it. And you probably don't understand it either. If you take the 10 worst presidents in history, add them all up, they haven't done damage to our country like this lunatic has done. And that's not even including the weaponization of the DOJ against me, his political opponent, and all of the other things that are taking place. He has done more damage to this country than any other president. And and multiply it times the 10 worst. There's never been anybody like him.

It's horrible. And, you know, when you talk about the Jewish people, you can also say the black people, African-Americans have been brutalized by this man. And by the way, if you look at his statements about them in the 19, his statements about them in the 1990s, he was he spoke horribly. Very racist about black people. Horribly about. And I mean, like at a level that very few people have heard. Yeah, he's a racist. His best friend was Senator Byrd. You know, I really think a lot of his habit wayne a lot of its habit i see you caught on to that when i said it initially in the program a lot of its habits all the jewish people by habit and it's changing just they vote for the

democrat and black people by habit vote for the democrats but now uh the african-american population is we're at the highest level anyone's ever been at as a Republican. It still should be much higher because of what I've done with criminal justice reform, with funding the black colleges and universities, with all of the opportunity zones. Nobody's done more than I have. I say nobody's done more since Abraham Lincoln. I actually wanted to go beyond Abraham Lincoln, but some people thought that wasn't a good thing to do, so I left it at that. That is the biggest lying fool you've ever seen. And see, this is what happens when you keep telling a lie,

folks start believing it. Trump sat there and said, I've done more for the African-American people than any other president other than Lincoln. You a damn lie. Then he lied about HBCUs. Y'all notice Trump and his supporters

can never give a number. They can never give a number, Scott, as to how much money they gave the HBCUs. Sir Tim Scott, Trump, they can never give a number. Then he talked about what I did for criminal justice reform. First of all, it's not what you did.

The Democrats passed the bill in the House. Then when the bill got passed in the House, it was tripped in the Senate only because Senators Dick Durbin, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker said, this ain't strong enough. So, and then he loves some opportunity zones. Scott, I have yet to find, and I've been looking, I have yet to find any data on these opportunity zones that shows how they benefited black folks, low income people. Can't find it. Cannot find it.

And I'm telling you, what Biden and the campaign has to do. They got to say lie, lie, lie. Don't give me that. Well, you know, misstatements. Don't get. No, you got to say lie, lie, lie. And then if they ever debate, which is up for question, then Biden's got to say stop lying. Still lying. You are lying because that's what he is.

He is a liar. And, oh, Biden made some comments that I disagree with, obviously, in the 90s. But let's remind Donald Trump was sued out of the gate because him and his dad were keeping black people from renting the apartments in the 70s. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take

you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future

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

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute season one, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

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

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

He forgot how he won. The ex had the death penalty for the Central Park Five, now the Exonerated Five. Nah, you ain't getting off the hook like that, sucker. Yeah, you know, the Biden campaign needs to run an ad about that. If they're spending multiple millions on black and brown voters to keep them in line, they need to do an ad that says just that. Donald Trump says, hey, lie, and then the reality, okay? He gave some money to the historical black colleges,

but that's not offset by what Biden has done in regard to historical black colleges, or better yet. But Scott, hold up. It's not that he gave money. In his budget, and my friend, Dr. Walter Kimbrough, who's been president of two HBCUs, has worked with several others, he said Trump zeroed the program they keep touting was a program that only accounted for about $90 million of HBCUs. Let's just be clear. That's the program they keep saying was made permanent. But Trump kept zeroing that keeps it was made permanent. But Trump kept zeroing that program out of his budget. And so they

never want to talk about that. And so it ain't even a question when it comes to the giving. But he is a liar. And then they say, well, black people vote Democrat out of habit. No, actually, black people have been voting Democrat. Let's be real clear. Black people started voting Democrat with Kennedy in 1960. Before that, black people were voting real clear, black people started voting Democrat with Kennedy in 1960.

Before that, black people were voting for Republican because black people were voting for Republican based upon policies from Lincoln's Best Place Proclamation all the way through the 1800s and 1900s. But it was policy, not habit, policy. That's right. That's right. That's right. And the other thing is, why would black people vote for Donald Trump or Republicans now? So if you want to talk about policy, what policy or initiatives does the GOP have that says, yes, we want black people, we want to empower you, and we want you to vote for us?

That's the question I always ask black Republicans and stuff. Republicans are anti-gay, they're anti-DEI, they're anti-abortion, they're anti-gun control, they are anti-criminal justice reform, police reform, anti-voting rights. I mean, they're anti-pre-child care. So that's eight policy considerations right there. Whether you intellectualize your vote or not will give you reasons as to why you vote Democrat as opposed to Republican. You got to give me some policy that says that black people ought to be here with me. And you just don't have that.

I'll tell you something else, too. He lied about Biden, too, and this Hamas war. I don't agree with Biden, and I think he ought to be doing more. But we're talking about humanitarianism. We're not talking about supporting Palestine or Hamas. We don't support Hamas. Nobody does. Or the Jewish people.

He doesn't know. Those are our bombs being dropped, right? Those are our financial and military support being dropped. And our concerns about humanitarianism are being ignored. So I don't know what he's talking about if you're Jewish and you vote Democratic because Democrats don't hate, don't like Black, don't like the Jews. No. We support Israel. a two-party state solution. We also support the Palestinians' right to live. Instead of bulldozing Gonzaga, there's got to be Gaza, there's got to be a way to eliminate Hamas,

who, by the way, isn't even in Gaza. The leadership is elsewhere in Qatar. But just bulldozing them through military, you know, you're not going to outrun these images of Palestinians and children in hospitals and camps being bombed because there are one or two Amas leaders there. There's got to be a better way. And you got to give these people a way out and you got to give them food. Hell, they're over there bombing aid workers. They bombed and killed the hostages, right?

And what about the hostages? We've got to bring them home. Those are men. Some of those people are Americans, too. But just bombing your way through to stay in office, B.B. Netanyahu, to not face criminal justice charges, to stay in office because you don't want a referendum or you don't want new elections, right?

At the expense of 30,000 Palestinians, something's got to get. All Biden is saying is, listen, we support you, but there's got to be a better way to do that. How is that anti-Israel? It just simply isn't. So, you know, I don't know why we give credence to anything he says, because he just lies all the time. You say it enough time, he believes it, and he... But I don't believe it. But the reality is, you got people who

believe the lies, and we have to say no, here's the truth, and I'm telling you right now, okay? I don't care what any poll says. If you are black, and if you are broke and white, if you broke and Latino, you've got to be a fool voting for Donald Trump. That man don't give a damn about

none of y'all. He ain't letting y'all walk through the lobby of any of his hotels. This man is an absolute ingrate. He is demonic. He is evil. He deserves absolutely no votes whatsoever. And it manifests itself. He's told you who he is,

believing, right? And we just won't. Since when did we oppose Biden because he's too old? All of a sudden, we don't like his aim. You don't like his energy. Really? Well, I like what he's doing with the economy, for sure. I like what he's doing with the economy, for sure. I like what he's doing with climate change, for sure. I like what he's done on the abortion issue. I like all that. And there's more than enough reason to vote for him for those reasons alone. I'll tell you one last thing, Roland. This abortion issue, I'm going to tell you, you can talk about the economy, you can talk about criminal justice reform, you can talk about all this. Let me tell you something. The value differential rate, if that's a word, the value differential in this election may be democracy and all that other thing, but abortion, driving

a wedge issue and leveraging that issue on abortion, where you have white women around this country telling their stories, because it's more than just abortion. It's life sciences. It's health care. It's the ability to have babies or to save your life if you've got a bad birth process, if you will. That's got to resonate with every woman in here. I don't like seeing women get abortions, but it's a woman's choice. The government ought not be in it. And 80 percent, I'm sorry, 75 percent of Americans, wherever you poll, maybe 65 percent, say it ought to be a woman's choice, even in red, poor, conservative states. Those numbers are there. And so I think it's going

to be a real wedge issue. If the Democrats don't put their foot in and drive a truck through that issue, then I don't think they're going to win. But abortion has got to be front and center. You know, I got some fool in our chat talking about

rolling stop line. Point me there. Point out the lie. Show me how much money went to HBCUs under Trump compared to Biden-Harris. I'll wait. Donald Trump only accidentally went to HBCU because they had this event that they were going to give him an award, Benedict College, that got ridiculed and slammed because it was really put on by some Republicans.

This man is a fraud. All he cares about are the rich in this country. And I don't, for the life of me, I don't know what y'all folks with no college degree, only high school diplomas are thinking by saying you're going to vote for this man. He don't give a damn about nobody making $40,000 or less. Hell, he don't care if you're making $100,000 or less. He is unscrupulous. He is a fraud. He is a shameful individual, and he keeps lying. And I'm going to call out the lie when he says it. Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. L-I-E, not L-Y-E. Lie. L-I-E.

He's a liar. And again, I dare any of y'all watching, please bring to me the proof how Opportunity Zones have been effective. I'll wait. Let me go to go to break i'll be right back on a next a balanced life with me dr jackie it's spring hallelujah but hold on it's not all fun and games with the sun and the warmth comes the need to clean the clutter mentally, physically, emotionally, socially. All of those things need to happen. Getting rid of the clutter and clearing the cobwebs in our head and in our home. That's next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network.

Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million, and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Me, Sherri Shepard, with Tammy Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass,

former Congresswoman Karen Bass, she says she wants to see California Congresswoman Barbara Lee replace Marsha Fudge as secretary of HUD. Fudge, of course, announced her decision to step down. She's a former congresswoman from Ohio. And the White House has not indicated who Biden is going to name as his next HUD secretary. They're responsible for billions of dollars when it comes to housing. But Baz says she wants to see Lee. Remember, Lee ran for the United States Senate. And so she's not running for her congressional seat.

And so her term will be up when the new Congress is sworn in July. So we'll actually see what happens there. Folks, I'm here in Augusta, Georgia, where the Augusta National Invitational, also known as the Masters, is taking place. I'm guest of Mercedes Benz here. And I was at the course today. Today was a practice round. It was also the part three context. And I ran into a couple of groups that uh that mercedes uh has invited out and they've been invited uh the east side golf we've had them on the show in addition to the morehouse golf team check it out hey folks roller martin here we are at augusta national and i'm sitting here walking off the course uh then i ran to these guys, Morehouse Golf Team, Eastside Golf,

here enjoying the festivities, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz. Y'all good? Yes, sir. All right. All right. So we're going to have a little fun, and, of course, y'all have been a great week. Certainly was glad to see them out there, and one of the things that they are doing with the Masters is reaching out, paying colleges, the HBCU that's here in Augusta,

reaching out to the folks as well, providing an opportunity to experience one of golf's majors. And so I'm sure, Scott, that's music to your ears being a, aren't you about now that Morehouse grabbed, aren't you on the board or something like that? I chair the governance committee on the board of trustees. And I just want to know, did you play them young boys from Morehouse? And how'd your handicap go, up or down? Because I know you're in heaven. I did not play them.

You are in heaven, Sebastian. I did not play them. We, of heaven, Sebastian. I did not play them. Of course, we were there. We were just watching the Part 3 contest. But I ain't got no problem cracking my clubs out if necessary. And, yes, my golf handicap is a 3.7, so it's pretty damn good. How do you get a 3.7 handicap? Like, where are the other.3?

What is that, just an average? You know, usually you have a 3 handicap, you have a 10 handicap. I got a 20 handicap. No, no, no. 3.7, how do you get that? That's what happens when you're working alongside or when you've got bootleg friends of yours who don't actually

turn in their scorecards who don't turn in their scorecards uh where they can actually uh showcase uh their handicap and so uh when i put yeah so yeah so i have a uh golf handicap index from um from uh the folks at USGA. We got skills. You've shown me that several times. You show it to whoever wants to see it. Wherever you ask. I'll be happy

to bring your little behind out to the golf course and take some of your legal money. I'm going to invite you to my private country club and I'm going to let you play. They only have so many blocks. What's the name of your legal money. I mean, so all you got to do is pick a day. I'm going to invite you to my private country club and I'm going to let, I'll let you play. They only have so many

black people. What's the name of your club? And I'll make you one of those. What's the name of your club? What's the name of your club? Lakewood Country Club in northern Bethesda, sir. Oh, you belong in Lakewood?

Have you played that? Oh, okay. Have you played that course? You belong in Lakewood, okay. Hey, I'll be, I think I played Lakewood, so I'll listen. Okay. Northern Bethesda. Have you played that? Have you played that course? I think I played Lakewood. I will be happy to come there and take... I want you to come out and play my team.

Hey, you can... Hey, you can put your little team together. I ain't got no problem dusting off some short... I ain't got no problem dusting off some short... They big hitters too. They big hitters. They big hitters.

I put teams together to win golf tournaments. That's what I do. Because I can't play worse shit. I put teams together. You know what? That's probably the one thing you and I have agreed on the most. You can't play worse shit.

I can't play worse than that. I did run with shit. I did run to a couple of capitals on a golf course and one guy was like, he said, you got that red? I said, no, let me help you out. The colors of my show are my high school colors.

Jack Yates High School of crimson and gold. That's why I have the shirt on. That's why I have this here. So I let them know. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action.

And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,

even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1,

Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir.

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

John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. 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. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to

Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You know, and again, us Alphas, we can show y'all how to wear red. So that's how we do it. You don't look that good in red. We've got dinner. You don't look that good in red. I actually look dinner. Actually, I look much better in black and gold. Oh, God. I look great in red, but I look much better in black and old gold.

Your mama told you years ago that you were a fine black man, and you believed it. You believed it, right? That's the first problem. You believe what your mama told you. My mama said it. My daddy said it. My daddy said it. My grandparents said it. My aunts and uncles said it.

They're prejudiced. They are prejudiced. They're prejudiced. They are so smart. I got to go. We got dinner in 20 minutes, and so I'm cutting the show short. Do your thing. That is it.

Enjoy. Yes. So now you ain't got to complain about, well, you know, I mean, I've been in a lot of other golf tournaments. So look, there were a number of people. And listen, there were a number of folks, a number of folks who I ran into. There were a number of folks. You know what? Let me show this here. Let me go ahead and show this.

Hold on. Let me just do this here. Are you going to start showing? No, no, no. No, no, no. I just remembered because I want to go ahead and do this. There were a lot of people.

First of all, let me tell you something. Everywhere we go, we run into fans of Roland Martin Unfiltered. They're people. They were on the golf course out there. I even ran into one white guy who said, I didn't get his name. He said, I'm a conservative. He said, but I appreciate your point of view, and I love your show. So I was like, I appreciate your point of view and I love your show. So I was like, I appreciate that.

So it was, but again, there were no brothers and sisters out there. I do love when you see black folk because they get looked like. And I was like, that's me. And so I helped them out. But that was when, after I finished going around, there was a young sister. It was so funny. She was taking me around. She goes to a high school. She goes to a high school here in Augusta.

She plans on going to nursing, University of Alabama. And she didn't know who I nursing, uh, university of Alabama. And, uh, she didn't know who I was, uh, but it's all good. And we were, uh, uh, I saw these two sisters who were working the tournament. They had pink hats on and they had pink hats and they had their green shirt on. And I said, I know y'all AKAs, uh, and I dropped by, uh, to see them. And, of course, they were. And so it was good to see them. Just give me a second. I'm going to go ahead and show this here.

And then also, I got to give a shout out to a brother as well. He runs all content. We worked together at CNN. And I got an opportunity to see the whole content center. It's a massive complex. This brother, he runs all of it. He's from New Orleans. I had a good time chatting with him as well. And so so let me shout out so let me shout out Derek Moore. Derek Moore, he, again, brought all the content stuff.

Fantastic brother. So I just want to give him a shout out. And it was good seeing the folks. And, again, I want people to, the reason I'm saying that, I want people to understand that, look, our people are here. Our people are here. Our people are working the event. The people who are attending, who are working in corporate communications as well.

And so I think it's always important to showcase folks who are doing. I also happen to, Carol, check your email and check your text. I put it in the group me as well text. Let me know when y'all, I put it in the group me as well. So let me know when y'all have it. So I pulled up, let me know y'all have it. So I was going around speaking to lots of different people and understand, I have not seen Ron Townsend. So Scott, you may not know him. He used to run Gannett Television. Ron Townsend in 1990 became the first African-American member of Augusta National. And then remember when they had a lot of the criticism for lack of women here, Martha Burke and her group, they were protesting. And so then it was around that time when Condoleezza Rice became brought in to one of the first female members of the club.

Saw her on the course, had the opportunity to speak to her. We're going to put the photos in a second. So here's the deal. So today was a practice round, the Part 3 contest. It's the only day you can take photos. You cannot bring – they don't even allow cameras on the grounds. And if they catch you with a camera, not only will they take the camera, they will also literally take your credentials and ban you for life.

So could not have any of that. But I did have the opportunity to take some pictures. And so to Derek Moore, again, who runs all of content for the Masters, a team of more than 1,000. He gave me a tour of the whole facility. We worked together at CNN back in the day. And so it was great to see him. We're going to show his photo in a second. Let me know when y'all got it.

And then I cannot remember the sister. Okay, check your text. It's also in GroupMe. So there also was, like I say, the sister who drove me around. She was showing, giving me the tour of the whole joint. That was too funny as well. And so she said, you know what? She says, she said, my apologies.

I don't know who you are. She said, but my mom and them probably do. I said, baby, you tell your mom and them who I said, when you tell your mom and them who you drove around, they're going to tell you exactly who you drove around. But, you know, one of the things that I do is I always, I speak to all, I speak to everybody. I speak to all of, you know, everybody who worked there. You know, that's how you're supposed to do it. So it was, so, you know, the brothers and sisters who worked the security, who working on the grounds, who working in concessions.

I ran into this one sister, she was Sigma Gamma Rho. Scott, we were in the concessions area, and she, I'm sorry, we're in the merchandise area because they do crazy business in merchandise. And so she, so we took a picture, and I said, because she didn't have a camera, I said, listen, we're going to email it to you. No, no, no. She said, I need you to autograph my hat. So, see, Scott, I know you don't know it.

Scott, I know you don't know this feeling, Scott. I know you don't know what that's like. So let's go ahead and pull the photos up. Oh, you did? Oh, that's like so uh so let's go ahead and pull the photos up i just oh you did oh that's right that's right people keep telling people right people keep telling you do you see they said yeah uh it's and they keep and they tell you to your face stop getting rolling the hard time so uh yeah so uh go ahead pull the phone go ahead and pull the photos up y'all we played so that's my man uh that's my man uh that's my man uh. So that's my man. That's my man. That's my man, Moore. Like I say, he runs the content deal. Great brother.

So good to see him. Derek Moore. This is the young sister who drive me around. If y'all know her, if her people know her, let her know. I'll put it on TV because she didn't realize i i

had a show uh and then uh what we got next uh that's the photo i shot uh that was in one of the part threes connelly's arise i got opportunity uh to speak to her as well so uh and that's another photo of her so uh look at my social media folks we're gonna have some more content uh and again today was the only day i could take photos, so I had to get as much as I can. So you know what I should have done? I should have took a picture of all the black people I ran into. But it was way too many. So the brothers and sisters are out here.

So that's it. Scott, appreciate it. Robert had to go early. Appreciate him being on today's show as well. Folks, I'm going to be live from here tomorrow as well. And so, again, I can't shoot video. I can't shoot content. So today's the only way I can get it.

But it was so great seeing the brothers at Eastside Golf. We featured them in our Marketplace segment. And great to see the brothers on the Morehouse Golf Team as well. Folks, that's it. Y'all watching. You're watching YouTube. Hit the Like button, y'all. We should easily move 1,000 likes.

Please support us in what we do. I also hope y'all understand that, you know, we appreciate Mercedes inviting us. I'm talking to them with love because, you know, we had a Mercedes Sprinter, got totaled. We're having it rebuilt. And so, you know, I'm talking to them about also being

a sponsor, partner of Roland Martin Unfiltered, the Black Star Network. But we appreciate the opportunity for us to be able to go places, cover these stories, because we get to interface with fans, people who support our show. There are people who say, man, I donate to your show as well. In fact, at dinner, there's a band performing. One of the brothers took a picture. He said, I got to donate now.

And I'm like, yes, you do. So that's what we do. And so we want y'all to support us as well because again, our goal is to cover the stuff other people are not covering. Talk about the issues that matter. You know, we hate the fact that we have to show these videos when brothers have been shot

and killed by police officers. But here's the whole deal. Other media is not covering that stuff. They're not covering it. And I'm going to tell you right now, these attorneys, they thank me because they say, Roland, if you don't, if you're the only one covering this stuff, we have an outlet.

We have a deal to reach our people, to put pressure on elected officials and others when it comes to these cases. I've had family members stop me and tell me, thank you for covering the story. My loved one was shot and killed, and you were the only place we were able to tell our story. So that's why we do what we do. And so if this show doesn't exist, we don't have that outlet. So please, your support is critical. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Senior Check and Money Order

at PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash Shappers, Dollar Sign R, Dollar Sign R, nine six Washington DC two zero zero three seven dad zero one nine six cash shop is Dallas and art Dallas and RM unfiltered PayPal are Martin unfiltered Venmo's RM unfiltered Zelle rolling at rolling s martin.com rolling that rolling martin unfiltered.com be sure to download the Blackstar Network app Apple phone Android phone Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Folks, that's it for us. I'll see you guys tomorrow right here. Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Howl!

Folks, Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punching! A real revolutionary right now. Black media. Support this man, black media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of black America, Roland. Hey, Blake Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America,

Roller. Hey, Black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media

and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Pull up a chair. Take your seat.

The Black Tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie.

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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 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. 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.

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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 star-studded 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 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.