#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Ozy Media CEO charged with fraud, MO AG fallout, OK State Supt Anti-Woke, VP Harris HBCU presser

Episode Date: February 25, 2023

2.24.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson arrested and charged with fraud,  MO AG fallout, OK State Supt Anti-Woke, VP Harris HBCU presser  California Congresswoman Barara Lee is running for the Senate. We will speak with her about why she's now running for Senate. Carlos Watson, the founder of troubled digital start-up Ozy Media, says he's not guilty of the federal fraud charges. I will break down the 43-page federal indictment and what this could mean for Watson. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is trying to force St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner out of office after the St. Louis mayor says Gardner has lost the people's trust. She will be here to tell us about the case that has the AG ready to push her out. Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters is questioning sending students to state colleges and universities because the schools are "too woke." We will speak with Oklahoma State Representative Monroe Nichols on the state's plans to ensure student education is not censored. Vice President Kamala Harris and Senior Advisor for Public Engagement Keisha Lance Bottoms held a press briefing with 47 Historically Black College and University Student Journalists. We will show you the full historic press briefing. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #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. And Feinstein announced that she was not going to seek a new term. It's caused several Democrats to not fear running for her position in the United States Senate. Among them, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of Oakland. She joins us right now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Congresswoman, always glad to have you here. Nice being with you, Roland. Hello. All right, so let's talk about this run.

California is a huge state, going to take a lot of money. You got to raise. Why do you believe you are the best person to be the next U.S. senator from California? Thank you, Roland. First of all, I have a history of champion causes relating to the daily lives of every Californian, really. You know, when you look at what I have done in the past in terms of my experience on racial justice issues, economic inequality, all of the issues around reproductive justice, on housing, we need in the Senate a lens of a person such as myself, an African-American woman, to really

be able to bring the voices of marginalized people, people of color, the poor, working families, low-income families, to the body politic. And there are huge gaps in the Senate, and I intend to step into those gaps. You don't hear many senators talking about what we're going to do for unsheltered people, for example. We need to bring the voices of people to the Senate. And people know me in California. It's going to cost a lot of money. I waited to file until Senator Feinstein indicated that she was not going to run. I indicated the next day that I filed my candidacy, and I intend to win this. I just saw a poll that was dropped showing Representative Adam Schiff at 22 percent,

Representative Katie Porter at 20 percent, you at 6 percent. That's a very early poll. When it comes to really reaching those voters, how are you going to separate yourself to show how you are more distinctive than the other candidates? Thanks, Roland. And remember, I just launched my campaign video a couple of days ago. And what I'm doing is traveling the state, making sure the voters know that I see them, making sure they know that I have been a progressive champion for everyone over the years, and making sure that they know that I connect with their daily lives and what the challenges are, such as child care, such as the climate crisis, such as police reform, all the issues that really speak to the dreams

and aspirations of the California voter, I'm going to take my message directly to them, because it's the voters who count. We're going to register voters. We're going to have a media campaign. We may not be able to raise as much money as the other two opponents, but when you look at Karen Bass, Mayor Bass, to 9 million to 100 million, there are ways that women, women of color, black women run campaigns and can win. And that's what we're doing. We're

going directly to the voters, speaking to them, using what I have done as an experienced legislator, bringing life experiences that they can relate to into the Senate? Obviously, California is such a diverse state. It has a small Black population total, significant Latino population. And so when you're connecting with different constituencies, really, what do you see as the right formula in order to win the nomination, to be able to connect with the voters? Rowan, we have to find common ground on so many issues. And being born in El Paso, Texas, in an immigrant community, coming to Los Angeles County, breaking barriers as the first black cheerleader at San Fernando High,

and working with coalitions. You know, I've worked for Congressman Ron Dellums for many years, our beloved Ron Dellums, who really was the father of coalition politics. And when you look at my record, just very recently, for example, delivering for the AAPI community, for the Latino community, and for the Black community, targeted funding the Black community targeted funding to address the COVID pandemic. That was, in large part, my work. And so I think people know that I've always been a champion for everyone, breaking barriers for myself as a Black woman, for Black women, for Black people in general, but also for Black and brown people and for people who just have been living on the edges, poor people, you name it. And putting together that coalition is really important. I mean,

I have chaired the Asian Pacific American Caucus's health task force for over eight years and have introduced health equity bills with the Tri-Caucus in Congress. And so it's the coalition building, building alliances with people who have common interests. And my record, I'm not new to this, my record speaks for my ability to cross party lines as well as ethnic lines, as well as gender lines. I was one of the first vice chairs of the LGBTQ plus caucus when Barney Frank asked me to do that to help with addressing many issues in the LGBTQ plus community. And so I have a long history of working with people from different backgrounds. And that's what it's going to take to win in California. I'm going to demonstrate my history, my experience and what I've done and what I intend to do when I get into the Senate.

Looks like you've got former Speaker Nancy Pelosi talking to a lot of people and trying to clear the debt for Representative Adam Schiff. Again, it's going to be a whole lot of that going on. And so people put a lot of stock in endorsements. They put a lot of stock in endorsements. They put a lot of stock in, obviously, fundraising. But at the end of the day, votes are the only thing that really counts. Well, listen, I respect the speaker's decision to support whomever she supports. And it is connecting with voters. It's about going to voters, going to voters to let them know who I am in terms of what I have done in the past, but how I have developed policies that really speak to their needs and aspirations as a voter

and as people who are just struggling to make ends meet and as a candidate for Senate who sees them and understands what their daily needs are in terms of the cost of living, bringing down the cost of inflation, addressing police misconduct, all of the issues that we care about. So it's about the voters. It's about communicating with the voters. It's by being authentic with the voters. And it's about letting them know who I am and what I've done, yet what I intend to do for the future. And so that's what I'm doing with my campaign, going directly to voters. And yes, it's going to cost a lot of money, but believe you me, we're going to raise the money that it takes for me to run my campaign the way I'm going to run it and win.

Last question for you, Congresswoman. When we're talking about Black candidates running statewide, you get a lot of people complaining, well what the Democratic Party did not do for Mandela Bonds in Wisconsin, running for the United States Senate, Sherry Beasley in North Carolina, Congresswoman Val Demings in Florida. Speak to that in terms of what the party has to do to ensure that they are supporting black candidates when it is black people, black women and black men who are the number one and number two highest participates for Democrats. Well, Roland, you've laid out what the barriers and challenges are for black people in general running for public office. We've got to get to public financing of campaigns. But until

then, we have to make sure that we speak directly to the voters and make sure voters understand $5 a month, $10 a month. They can go to my website. It's barbaraleeforcalifornia.com or 4ca.com, either one, to know that their $5 a month really matters and build an army of donors who can afford to support candidates like myself. They're barriers. They're real challenges. They're systemic in our campaign financing system.

And so people who you, candidates who you just listed, were unbelievably progressive Democrats who had a record of service, who would be wonderful in the United States Senate to lead. And what happened? The money with regard to what should have done from our major institutions just didn't get there. And so we know what those challenges are. But I tell you one thing, we can't sit back and let the system that has real systems of racism embedded in the finance system and donor kind of system in terms of finance, you know, campaigns, we can't let that stop us from running. We've got to go to our own base.

We've got to go to people we believe in what we believe in. Yes, we need large donors. Yes, we need everyone to contribute. But we also need large donors. Yes, we need everyone to contribute, but we also need low donors. I'd love to have 100,000 low donors to submit or, excuse me, to contribute $5 a month. I mean, that would really be an unbelievable effort to involve people in the decision-making, but also in the whole campaign structure of financing. And we have to do that. And we're going to do that.

Barbara Lee, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much. OK, thanks a lot, Ro. Nice seeing you. All right. Take care. I'll see you soon. All right, folks. I've got to go to a break. We'll be back. Roland Mark unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone,

and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valetia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others?

Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. -♪ The Black Star Network. -♪

Most people think that these television shows that tell stories about who we are as Black men, and then they paint these monolithic portraits of us, they think that they're being painted by white people. And I got to tell you, there are a whole bunch of black folk that are the creators, the head writers, the directors of all of these shows, and that are still painting us as monoliths.

So people don't really want to have this conversation. No, they don't. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shantae Moore. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.

You can also now watch us on Amazon News, on Amazon Fire. And then you can also tell your Alexa, hey, play the Black Star Network to actually hear the audio as well. My pal today, Kelly, the Fair Communication Strategist, Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney. Glad to have all three of you here on the show. I'll start with you, Kelly. Look, it's going to be a tough battle for Congresswoman Barbara Lee running in that. California is a huge state. Expensive television markets.

We talk about Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento as well. And also, she's running at a deficit already. You look at Adam Schiff. He has $20 million in his war chest. Katie Porter has several million dollars. Congressman Barbara Lee, not even close to that. She may be at a very economic disadvantage, but she's going to have to run a different type of race

because it's going to have to run a different type of race because it's going to be hard as hell to keep up financially with those two. Absolutely. But her point to having small donors, like a lot of small donors contributing to her campaign, that really does work. People really think that you need all this money to donate to campaigns so that their candidate can win. But I have seen campaigns that have run on $5 a week, $5 a month, $10 here, $15 there. And when you see the numbers, there are so many more people with those type of contributions than the ones who are giving $1,000 plus each and every month or however many times they are allowed to per quarter. So for those who are in California who think that they

can't, you actually can. That $1 a week, a month, however often you can give it, it really, really does make a difference. Do not let big money fool you or discourage you from contributing to the candidate of your choice, because every single penny matters. Every single dollar matters. But also with her campaign, people think that just getting L.A. and getting these progressive districts are going to win those things. No, it's the whole state. California has a very hybrid type of political layout, and that is something that she's going to have to consider as well. I wish her all the best. I have no doubt that she's capable of winning, but those small dollar contributions are going to have to kick in, and people who are teetering the line as moderates are also going to have to kick in as well.

Well, the thing here, Matt, when you talk about, again, California, it's not this automatic where everybody is far left Democrats. No, you do have some moderates. You have red portions of the state as well. So and it's different issues in different parts of the state that the candidates are going to have to tap into. It's not simply one or two issues that will dominate. I think that's right. But the ones that I heard her talking about tonight

and when I was preparing for the show, I think she's already striking the right tone. First, in terms of affordable housing and in terms of climate issues, you know, California has pretty great income inequality, right? So you've got a lot of walks of people, but you've got a pretty wide divergence between the rich and the have-nots, if you will. So I think she's striking the right tone in terms of affordable housing, in terms of talking about unsheltered people, and in terms of talking about the climate crisis, because you might have reported on the show, but I know California

is one of the states that's having issues with water and water contributions and how much it's able to pull out of certain water tables. So with that being the case, I think she's looking at it correctly. The question is just whether that carries the day in terms of a platform, particularly when you have as wide a swath of voters as California presents. I mean, I think that's going to be a formidable task, but it sounds like she's at least done some good research on the front end in terms of what people care about and trotting out her bona fides to that end. Michael. Yeah, well, and you know, she's a fantastic woman and she, I saw the interview that was done on MSNBC with Barbara Lee, and she's someone who's been homeless at one point. She was a teenage mother. She talks about having an abortion as well.

So she's had real people problems, okay? And she's somebody who identifies with the problems that real people have. It's an uphill battle. You know, 39 percent of California's population is Latino, 15 percent Asian American, only about five or six percent African American. So she's going to have to craft out a strategy to target each one of those different ethnic groups and appeal to their issues as well. But hopefully she's successful. All right, Ben. Folks, got gotta go to break we come back uh republicans continue to target kim gardner in st louis they're now trying to blame her and her office uh for a guy for a guy who killed someone while driving her office is fighting back saying don't point your fingers at us

look at the judge in the case we'll talk to her next right here. This exclusive interview on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the US Capitol.

We've seen shots. 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 every 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. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture, with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hi, this is Essence Atkins. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered.

All right, folks, if you're watching our YouTube channel, be sure to hit the like button, hit the share button on Facebook. Also, love your comments. We're seeing them on the Black Star Network app as well. You might remember we spent some time in St. Louis talking to Kim Gardner, who is the St. Louis Circuit attorney. Republicans have been attacking her viciously since she was elected, even while she got reelected. Now the attorney general of Missouri is giving her an ultimatum saying resign or I'm going to fire you. It's all because of a tragic accident involving a teenage volleyball player

and a man who they say should have been behind bars. They're blaming Kim Gardner and her office for that man being out and driving around. Now, here's the back story. Tennessee volleyball player Janae Edmondson was in St. Louis participating in the volleyball tournament where she was hit by a car in an accident caused by 21-year-old Daniel Riley. He's had dozens of bond violations. He faces multiple charges related to the crash, including second-degree assault, two counts of fourth-degree assault, armed criminal criminal action and operating a vehicle without a license.

Now, what has happened is folks have been complaining, saying it's the fault of Gardner's office that this guy was not actually behind bars. Her office is fighting back even have the mayor of st louis to shower jones saying that the people have lost confidence in kim gardner's uh uh ability to lead the office and so here you have the black mate black female mayor democrat republicans hitting her she's catching it from different sides now for this exclusive kim gardner j right now. Kim, glad to have you back on the show. So your office has put out several statements on social media laying out facts behind the case. And so how have your critics arrived at blaming your office for this guy being out? What y'all put out is like, we don't control what the judge does. So what's going on here?

That's a good question. Um, this was a surprise to my office to actually be blamed for something that is a criminal process that the prosecutors do not control. So this is, uh, something that's to, is shocking. But at the same time, we know what it is. This is a politically motivated attack by the unelected attorney general and the actual governor, who from day one, since he's been in office, has tried to take my duties as the elected prosecutor in the city of St. Louis. So, first of all, what authority does he have to, quote, fire you?

You're elected. Well, that's the problem. You know, right now in Missouri, we're participating in what is called voter suppression. We want to push voter suppression laws in the state legislature. Originally, they have a House Bill 301 that has made it out the House that basically gives the governor the ability to appoint a special prosecutor in all cases as murder first, robbery first, armed criminal action, assault first, and other violent criminal acts. And this special prosecutor will be appointed to have exclusive jurisdiction in the city of St. Louis. And there's many individuals who are championing this because, of course, we want to blame the violent crime of the city of St. Louis on the first African-American elected prosecutor, which is, as we know, a problem. Now, this sounds familiar to Baltimore, where Marilyn Mosby was being attacked constantly

by the governor there when it came to doing the exact same thing, appointing a prosecutor to take over cases in her office. Yes, it's a tactic of actually around the country where you have individuals who, like myself, who consider themselves innovative, minded prosecutors. People like to say we're progressive prosecutors in terms of we like to pursue justice, not really convictions. But at the same time, we like to have what's called evidence. And we have individuals like the unelected AG in Missouri who like to speak about the rule of law. You know, it's unfortunate that last week, you know, this office, first time in history, helped exonerate a man who was wrongfully convicted by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in this jurisdiction through a prosecutor that, in my office, that the judge

found was totally innocent. But now we want to talk about the rule of law and how I cannot handle this office. This is nothing more than a political ploy of the unelected attorney general, who, by the way, follows a Trump rhetoric that has been based in Missouri for a very long time. So the so it's interesting. So now they want to change the law to control your office. The governor appoints a board that controls the police department only in Kansas City. I thought Republicans believed in local control and hated big government and Big Brother. Well, I agree. Local control is only for certain jurisdictions, and that's not in urban areas that I represent. You know, the will of the people who elected me two times should not have a voice per the AG as well as the governor. And the rhetoric they're using is they have a moral obligation to follow the rule of law.

This same AG and his office that he's taken basically wanted to prosecute to the fullest and uphold the finality of a wrongful conviction for 28 plus years. So one has to say, what is going on in St. Louis? What is going on in the state of Missouri? What is going on is voter suppression. It's about the people in the city of St. Louis having the right to vote their elected officials like the prosecutor by election. The election is coming up in 2024. Why is it that the attorney general as well as the governor want to use this tactic? Well, I know why, because I've been elected twice. And the possibility of the people having a voice,

that causes them some great fear. So, well, the mayor says you lost the confidence of the people, but you've been reelected. You know, when we... I'm not going to talk about the mayor. What I'm going to talk about is for some individuals who chose on this case to have willful ignorance of the criminal justice system and to actually say that I control every part of the criminal justice system, even the bond of a judge and a GPS monitoring situation of this individual that caused the unfortunate tragedy of this young lady, Ms. Janae Edmondson, that is simply false information.

And it's the continual attacks of the status quo, tough on crime rhetoric that has, one, been the actual issue in this state and across other states. So in the statement that your office put out, y'all talked about the, y'all asked for a bond revocation. The judge denied that. A continuous, the judge denied that. And so I'm curious, for all the people out here who are complaining, why are they not complaining about this judge? Is this judge elected?

What's going on here? Why the targeting of your office, and again, not the judge who's ruled against requests from your office? It's interesting you say that, Roland. I'm the only elected official in the criminal justice system. The judges are appointed in this jurisdiction.

The police chief is appointed by the mayor in this jurisdiction. The public safety director is appointed by the mayor in this jurisdiction. So it's funny how me, the prosecutor, the only elected official, the only voice of the people is being targeted in this situation. What is next? First of all, what is this individual here? Where is he? Is he in jail? What's what's what's what's next when it comes to the case, but also what is next when it comes to this battle between you, Missouri Attorney General? Well, first of all, the man is held right now with no bond because he has other charges that we charge in this case, in this unfortunate incident with Ms. Janae Edmondson. But what's next is the attorney general used a court warrant

which in the history of this office has never been used. The last time this has been attempted has been in the 1970s. This is a very unclear process that the attorney general, who is unelected himself, will try to remove me from my position and have the governor appoint another prosecutor. This is setting a dangerous precedent that when another elected official has questions about another elected official's job, they are able to use tactics to remove them from office. Last time I checked, we have a process called elections. And why is Missouri so afraid of having the people of the city of St. Louis elect their prosecutor? We know why.

Wow. A whole lot going on there in St. Louis. And as I said, you know, you have been under a constant assault from forces since you were elected. Surely keep us abreast of what happens next there in St. Louis. And it's not just you also. Can I say one thing? Yes, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Can I say one thing? I just want to also say, you know, it's interesting that the biggest critic has been the police union. And this is also started by the police union of St. Louis that from day one has even stated that I should be removed from office by force or someone taking me out in a violent way. So the police union, along with the

Ethical Society of Police, which are made up of a group of black police officers, have decided that they will support one appointment of a special prosecutor, as well as taking them out of local control under state control. This is a very serious situation that's going on in Missouri, but it's about the people of the city of St. Louis having an individual in this office that they elect. It's also about the money that they will spend creating this kind of, I guess, shadow prosecutor's office, because they're going to take serious violent cases. And they're also, you know, when you think about the cases they're trying to take, we have, we're like number one in officer-involved shootings. So those cases are also murders.

So that's what this is really about. This is about an individual getting into this office who is controlled by the governor that will rubber stamp these investigations and justify most of the officer-involved shooting cases, which, you know, that they need to be investigated and reviewed by my office. So this is an attempt for the police union and others who want to continue the status quo to usurp the people's voice. All right. All right. Kim Gardner, we appreciate you joining us. Thanks a lot. Thank you. I appreciate you.

All right, folks. We'll talk about the drama in St. Louis with our panel when we come back. Also on the show, we're going to talk about all the drama, the issues that Carlos Watson is facing. Founder and CEO of OZ, folks, the 42 page charge dropped by the U.S. attorney is stunning at the level of deceit and fraud that they were involved in. We will break that down as well. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Next on Get Wealthy with me,

Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. Listen to this. Women of color are starting 90% of the businesses in this country. That's the good news. The bad news? as a rule, we're not making nearly as much as everyone else. But joining us on the next Get Wealthy episode is Betty Hines. She's a business strategist and she's showing women how to elevate other women.

I don't like to say this openly, but we're getting better at it. Women struggle with collaborating with each other. And for that reason, one of the things that I demonstrate in the sessions that I have is that you can go further together if you collaborate. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, a relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it. That's right.

We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge. Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. 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. Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Stay woke. Thank you. Să ne urmăm. All right, folks, let's go back to our panel. Matt, it's crazy looking at this, the constant attacking of Kim Gardner. It is clearly personal. The police union, as she said, hates her. And they've been trying to take her out from the beginning.

They thought they were going to beat her in re-election. She won that. And this is a constant assault on her and her office. And it's a constant assault on our system, how it works and autonomy. I had the great pleasure of meeting Kim six years ago when I worked for the current DA here in this county. And unironically, that DA is actually facing a lawsuit for exactly the same thing. Republicans here filed a lawsuit saying he's incompetent and needs to be removed from office. And they're essentially, via the legal system, trying to undo a second time that he was duly elected just like

him. This is happening across the country. And this is how we descend into despotism and tyranny. I mean, and I'm not saying that from like a histrionic standpoint. It's the truth. Ron DeSantis is doing the same thing in Florida. They're doing this in Missouri. They're doing it here in Texas. And what they're trying to do is they're trying to combine dog whistle rhetoric with the idea that these black and brown people who have been duly elected are not competent. They're grossly unable to manage their offices or whatever, whatever, despite the fact that the people elected them twice and they're exercising discretion. And what I think Kim did really well in this situation is she released a statement that she noted talking about where the judge's responsibility is. What infuriates me about this is that the prosecutor, if he or she is embattled, is always the first person that people go to to show that the criminal justice system is failing. But her office asked for a bond revocation,

which means a prosecutor stood up and said, Judge, we want Mr. Riley to be put in jail because he's not abiding by the conditions of the bond. And a judge decided not to put him in jail. So how she becomes the person who's having to answer to the failings of this criminal justice system when her office did exactly what it's supposed to do, shows you that it's not about actually checking power. It's about saying who you believe should not have power and trying to divest them

of having power despite them having elections. So this is something we're seeing across the country. And this is something that we as people have to push back against, because otherwise, our democratic institutions have absolutely no value if they can be run over by a person based on their whim and what they think is politically expedient. Michael, I keep trying to explain to control black folks in these states. We've seen it this week with what's going on at Tennessee State University, Prairie View A&M University. We're seeing what's going on in Florida. We're seeing what's happening here. And so folks had better understand what's happening. It's clear. I mean, it's loud and clear what's going on here.

Yeah, the battle has always been in the state legislature, especially in southern states. Even though Missouri wasn't part of the Confederacy, it stayed loyal to the union. You still have some of the same politics here. And I'm glad she was able to get information out about how it was the judge's fault and not the fault of her office. But, you know, Roland, to be honest with you, I'm not I can't figure out why Mayor Tashara Jones, who is an African-American female, is is is following some of the talking points, it seems, of some of the Republicans. You know, that's problematic right there. But hopefully this turns out well for Attorney Kim Gardner. And remember, former Attorney General William Barr was at odds with her as well.

She was facing it not just from—she was facing pressure not just from the state level, from Republicans in St. Louis, but also from the Department of Justice when William Barr was attorney general, and he was against those progressive prosecutors like her. So this is another example of why elections have consequences. And so it's so important to vote the right people in the office and vote the wrong people out of office. And the thing here, Kelly, it goes to show you Republicans don't give a damn about local control. All that crap about old big brother. They don't care when they have the power. They will exercise it. We see it in Alabama and Mississippi where they have passed laws saying local leaders cannot get rid of Confederate monuments unless the state approves it.

They only like local control when they are the ones in control. I think it's a situation in which it's not about whether it's local control, state control or federal control. It's about control, period. And it shows when you see the bar being moved with each situation in their favor. So it doesn't matter whether, like you said, it does not matter whether it's state or local or federal. It's a matter of who is in control. If we are in control, then it's good. If we are not in control, it's bad. And that's just the bottom line of it all. It is disappointing that Kim Garner does not have the support, what it seems to be, of her party in St. Louis in this matter. It seems like she's just kind of out in the wind by herself,

and it's unfortunate because the work that she's doing in St. Louis really is to make jurisprudence there better for the citizens of St. Louis. I hope it works out for her, but it's not looking so good. Matt, again, we talk about the fact that she's been elected twice uh they thought they were going to get rid of her after the first term the voters said nope we want her uh and so i find it ironic that these folks uh have a problem with the fact that the voters clearly want her prefer her and it also goes to show you, as she pointed out, all of these public safety officials are appointed. They are not accountable to the voters directly.

Right. And in situations where you have appointments, a lot of times you have retention votes, right, where the people get to decide if they want to keep that judge that was appointed. But in her instance, she's popularly elected, which means at the polls, people in St. Louis voted her in twice. And what's really, I think, intellectually disingenuous about these conversations is they're very often rooted in the idea, like if you look at DeSantis in Florida, by analogy, they're rooted in the idea that the prosecutor is doing what they're statutorily allowed to do. So statutorily, she has discretion to make the decisions on her cases that she makes. If the people don't like that, then they vote in the next person. Clearly,

the people like her more than whomever she ran against. So to try to make it seem like her exercising authority or any prosecutor exercising authority is somehow an affront to public safety is intellectually dishonest because the rules allow them to do that. And that's what I've seen from the beginning with Kim is that she hasn't done it the way they've wanted her to do it. And from day one, she's been in battle. And that's what's really frustrating about this is that they don't even hide the racism. It's day one, a black woman's elected. She could not be competent by virtue of who she is based in their estimation. So from day one, they are attacking her just incessantly. And that to me is intellectually dishonest and

straight up racist, if we're going to be honest about it. Because if she had a string of things that were failures, then that'd be different. You'd be able to say, here's the evidence showing she's not doing a good job. But day one, she steps foot in office, and that'd be different. You'd be able to say, here's the evidence showing she's not doing a good job. But day one, she steps foot in office, and based on her platform, they're saying she's not competent. That, to me, is dishonest, and that's what we're seeing around the country, and that's why I think it's going to be a slide into tyranny if we allow that kind of thing to happen.

If you're duly elected, you should stay there until the people duly unelect you. And the real deal here, Michael, I mean, let's just be honest. They hate progressive prosecutors, especially if they're Black females. Absolutely. They definitely do. And what you see here is with the progressive prosecutors like Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore and others, you see them at odds with the police union oftentimes. You see them many times prosecuting crooked police officers or exposing crooked police officers. And I remember, if I remember correctly, it wasn't in Marilyn Mosby who had a list of police officers who she said were untrustworthy and they couldn't be used when it comes to prosecuting people, things like this. The testimony couldn't be used. Yeah, that's Marilyn Mosby. And then when it comes to being smart on crime, backing off of trying to charge low-level nonviolent drug offenders with the harshest sentences, all types of things like this.

You see Republicans at odds with this law and order, and you see the police unions oftentimes at odds with this as well. So we need more prosecutors like Kim Gardner, Marilyn Mosby, and the prosecutor as well in Chicago as well. So once again, all this goes to voting, Roland. Kim Fox. All this goes to voting strategically. But also— Kim Fox, I'm sorry. It does.

And again, I'm sorry, Matt, go ahead. I was just going to say, also, Ken Paxton has been under indictment for seven years in Texas. The Republican AG here has been under indictment for seven years. They can't figure out how to prosecute him, right? But Kim Gardner doesn't even make the decision. And got re-elected.

Beating the drum. Sorry, go ahead. That's how it goes. All right, folks, hold tight one second. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Next, on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter,

which simply put is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vletia Watkins, our legal round table team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture.

You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. We'll be right back. Network and black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and

entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. We told you about the attacks on DEI, on diversity, equity and inclusion, anything dealing with race. DeSantis in Florida, Abbott in Texas. Now you've got this nuthouse superintendent in Oklahoma, Ryan Walters. He actually is questioning if students should attend Oklahoma colleges because of the ideologies they might encounter on campus. Listen to this nonsense.

We have, and I appreciate the board's due diligence on this. We did make some slight changes. We took out any kind of woke language here. Our emphasis is to equip students to be ready for the workforce, not be social justice warriors. So this is an agency where what will go to die. We are going to focus on standards. We're going to make sure that our students are workforce ready because there's nothing more you can do for a child and give them critical thinking skills and give them the ability to be successful in the workforce. Not be social justice warriors.

He made his comments, folks, after requesting an accounting of all money being spent in Oklahoma, in Oklahoma colleges on diversity initiatives of The Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education found the state colleges have budgeted $10.2 million for diversity, equity, and inclusion activities in the current fiscal year. The state contributed $3.7 million of that money. Oklahoma lawmakers will address at least five bills this session to limit diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in education. The measure aims to limit political testing, amend parental rights, and report spending in education progress.

Joining us now, Oklahoma State Representative Monroe Nichols. Representative Nichols, glad to have you on the show. I mean, I just keep trying to explain to people. There's a reason I wrote my book, White Fear, how the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds. That's all this is. They are trying to attack DEI everywhere because they don't like the fact that people of color are gaining power. This is about trying to control people of color. Thank you for allowing me to be on.

You're 100% right. Not only is it about the controlling of people of color, what we know is so many people throughout our history have built political power by using race and dog whistle politics. That's exactly what Ryan Walters has done. You mentioned the amount of money that's being spent on these DEI programs in Oklahoma. When he requested this audit of these programs, think over the last decade,

we found that we spent one-tenth of one percent of the higher ed budget on these programs. So to say that these are the problem in Oklahoma is absolutely ridiculous. But to your point earlier, we're seeing it in Florida, seeing it in Texas, obviously seeing it here, it's disgusting. But it also is, you know, it's something that we know we cannot take any time and rest and those types of things because it's important. The things that he was talking about, they got out of the standards. You know, he said all the woke language. It was diversity, culture, and equity. Those are the things that he wants to get out of a state that is home to 39 federally recognized tribes, a state where we saw the largest individual race massacre in this country's

history. That is the state he wants to remove diversity, culture, and equity out of the state's standards for education. I mean, this is simply a direct assault on black and brown people. And this is about white domination and not wanting to teach people the reality of race in America. That's right. That's right. You know, you looked, I pulled some numbers from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I live. And in my community, black folks in this city are two times less likely to be employed. Poor students are five times less likely to be employed. Poor students are five times less likely to read on grade level by third grade. The eviction rate is 40 percent higher in non-white neighborhoods. And Hispanic Tulsans are three times less likely to get a high-wage job.

And so what we know is true is that this assault that we know is that there are reasons why, right? We know we have a fundamentally flawed system. Instead of thinking about ways we can fix it, the direction we're going in now is to say, oh, not only do we not want to talk about it in schools and accurately talk about history, but we want to also say that it's the fault of the folks who have pushed for advances for people of color that are the problem. Claire Looper, who did sit-ins before they happened in the Carolinas, is the problem. Ada Lewisper, who did sit-ins before they happened to Carolinas, is the problem. Ada Lewis-Supia Fisher, who challenged separate equals at the University

of Oklahoma before Brown versus Board of Education, is the problem. They're saying that these folks who continue to fight for justice are the problem, for equity is the problem. And, Roland, you're exactly right. We have to start calling what it is. I think for a long time we tried to say, oh, you know, we shouldn't call folks racist or we shouldn't use emotionally charged language. We are past that point now. And it's to the detriment of black and brown kids. It's to the detriment of black and brown families. And now it's to the detriment of the policymaking environment at the state of Oklahoma and states all across the country. Well, I keep telling folks, this is going to continue. And but isn't there another issue with this guy is this guy, Ryan Walters, is so such a nutcase

that that he made he made some changes and that is actually going to jeopardize potential funding and accreditation to the school districts. And so aren't state lawmakers trying to limit this guy's power? That's right. I tell you what, right. The one good thing, Roland, that I'll tell you about Oklahoma is there is bipartisan agreement that this man is not capable of leading the state's education system. And so we have we're a state like a lot of Southern states with a super majority on the Republican side. But he's so far off that I have my Republican colleagues that are right now working to limit his power as state superintendent because he's, I mean, and Roland,

just to give you a little context, he's been state superintendent for about a month and it's already gotten this bad. This is a man who wants to send federal funds back because he doesn't want to, you know, he woke ideology in federal funds, and he wants to send state money to private schools and that type of stuff. This is a person who, at the end of the day, Roland, he's just not that smart is what it is.

And what we see all the time is folks who are not smart, who don't have a plan to move things forward, what do they do? They do exactly what he's doing. And like I said, there's bipartisan agreement that he's not the person to lead the state's education system. And this is what happens when these right-wing MAGA people elect these gun cases and they're in power. But all you got to do is win a primary. You know, this is what happens. And so we now have a state that the entire education system for 700,000 Oklahoma kids is run by somebody who represents probably about 25, 30 percent of the population. And that's a dangerous, dangerous

thing. He ran a campaign talking about this kind of stuff. Folks didn't listen. We got to stop thinking that people are going to moderate themselves when they get elected because what we've learned over and over again is that they don't. They do not moderate themselves after they get elected. So the next time that somebody tells you that they're going to dismantle public education, then you might just believe them and make another decision at the ballot box. But again, Roland, what else is happening across the country? What are they trying to make it harder to do for people who look like us? Vote. So, I mean, like, this is not, we should not just look at this as a vacuum.

This is all that's coming together. We want to retell how history is taught. We want to limit your voting power at the ballot box. And we want to dismantle the public system of education where our kids, our families are overrepresented in that system and they're siphoning money from it as we speak. Lord, Representative Nichols, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Absolutely.

Kelly, I've been warning people. I mean, I mean, since 2009, I've been talking about this notion of white fear. And folks are like, oh, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, it's playing out. We're seeing it. I mean, it's like over and over and over again. And I love these people going, oh, you're just, you're just, you're a race baiter. What the hell?

All you're seeing, they despise DEI. They despise multiculturalism. Likely despise affirmative action, like they despise quota. It doesn't matter. They do not want to confront America's reality when it comes to race. They don't want to confront the reality that they are becoming the minority. I think that is really the core issue here. They don't want to feel the repercussions of what they've been dishing out for centuries now that the tides are turning as far as demographics are concerned in this country. It is unfortunate, but they're just going to have to buck up and deal with it because it is is happening. You know, brown and black people, people of color, indigenous people, BIPOC, whatever you want to call this conglomerate of minorities, we are outnumbering white people who want

to continuously invest in white supremacy. That is threatening to their livelihoods. Too bad, but it's happening anyway. And like you said, you're going to see stuff like this if and until they come to the realization, which seems like never, that we are, I don't want to say taking over because it gives the wrong context, but we are becoming more prevalent in this country. And DEI is going to be a thing in this country so that we can all succeed. There's room on the mountaintop for everybody, not just racists. Michael?

Yeah, Roland. You know, this is the fear, the browning of America, and the reason why you have people like Ryan Walters and others who keep talking about attacking wokeness is because they want us to stay asleep. Okay. They're telling us what it is. They want us to stay asleep so they can keep manipulating us. And this is understanding what racism is. Racism is a system of advantage and privilege distributed based upon race. And it's interesting that this would take place in Oklahoma where the Tulsa race massacre happened. The worst race massacre in the history of this country, pretty much. The Tulsa race massacre. And this is taking place in Oklahoma. So,

yeah, you know, we have to watch. This is, once again, at the state level, understanding how important the state legislature is. It's not just federal government. It's the state legislature that's so important and state legislature and state government. Matt. Matt. Well, yeah, my name is Ryan Walters and I'm going to run for office down the road. So I'm going to say stupid things now. Look, that's why these three Republicans came out and said, yeah, we got to pump the brakes on that. We want people to go to college because a college degree has been shown demonstrably to help people down the road. He was loud and wrong and clearly didn't read the room on what even his fellow Republicans would think is necessary. And what's especially stupid about

that is that a lot of corporations are adopting DEI right now for the very purpose of trying to at least theoretically make their corporations better places to work. Sorry, can you hear me? Yep, I got you. To say that there's somehow no nexus between these programs in college and what would actually happen in the workforce is obviously not true when we see corporations adopting these very policies all right uh folks hold tight one second we come back when god talked about this carlos watson ozzy case i don't know if y'all read the 42 page uh indictment uh from the feds oh, this dude, what they were engaged in, absolutely nuts when it comes to fraud and deceit.

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I'm Will Packard. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Carlos Watson is in some huge trouble. He, of course, the founder of Aussie media, yesterday arrested by federal authorities and hit with significant fraud charges. They named three individuals as being involved in this conspiracy. Two of them have already pled guilty. Folks, let me tell you something. I spent time reading this 42-page indictment, and it is unbelievable.

It is unbelievable. Look at this indictment here. And so when you look at this here, it's crazy. I'm going to bring my panel in here. What they lay out in this indictment, no, guys, come to my iPad, please. Look at this indictment here, Matt, Michael, and Kelly. It's unbelievable. It shows in here the amount of debt that they had. It shows how they were lying about their money.

It says, in or about between 2008 and 2021, the defendants, Carlos Watson and Ozzie, together with Ray O'Han and others, engaged in a scheme to defraud Ozzie's investors, potential investors, potential acquirers, lenders and potential lenders through material misrepresentations and omissions about, among other things, the financial results. They will lie about they will lie about how much revenue they were making. Oh, we're 11 million in revenue. Oh, we're going to double the 22 to 35 to 45 to 65. They were claimed that one company to get one investor to come in. They claimed that this company was going to buy them for 600 million. What's crazy, Matt, is, I mean, I'm reading this and I'm kind of like, are you serious? Perfect example, right here. Go back to my iPad. They had an email stating that Ozzie raised $12 million in revenue in 2017,

had already booked $14 million in revenue in 2018 against a $22 million goal. But Watson knew at that time that Ozzie had earned less than $7 million in revenue in 2017 and had not booked $14 million in revenue at that time in 2018. All right, so I'm going through this. Matt, they're impersonating a media company. They created fake emails. They actually forged documents, created fake contracts. I mean, this thing went on and on and on.

And here's the crazy thing. These major companies, General Motors, Group M Advertising, were giving them dollars. Do you know what's even crazier? Two weeks ago, IPG, they had their upfronts, their media upfronts, where you go and pitch your stuff. They let Carlos Watson pitch. He was under federal investigation. The SEC is suing him, and they let him pitch to advertisers. And I'm like, are you serious? Two weeks later, he's arrested. I've seen some crazy stuff.

This is brazen, the stuff they were doing or alleged to do. Alleged. Thank you. You knew what I was going to say, because here's the thing. Nothing has been proven against Carlos Watson or anybody else. And yeah, this is a scary indictment. I mean, if he hired me to represent him, I would be very concerned about these charges because generally if the feds are investigating you, they don't play around and they have a very small conviction, I mean, a low conviction loss rate. So you know that the feds are coming with it. However, I will say, in a corporation of this size, sometimes these cases can be difficult to prove at least all of the counts because you have to prove that he was actually involved.

So even if Ozzie was alleged to have done these things, he might have a defense where he wasn't aware of the actual numbers that he was putting out were fraudulent. Now, what is concerning is two people below him. Hey, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, I read it. Matt, I read it. They got him on emails. They got him on text messages. They got, in fact, they got, they got one, at one point,

so remember when this whole thing started, the New York Times did a big story where they were, where the COO was impersonating a YouTube executive, okay? Well, Carlos, we're on Today Show, we're on The Breakfast Club, and said, oh, this guy on today's show. We're on the breakfast club and said, oh, and say, oh, this guy had a nervous breakdown. That's what happened. I wasn't aware.

Guess what? In this indictment, the feds say not only was he involved, he was in the room and he was texting the guy what to say on the phone. They got the text messages from Carlos to the guy. All right, maybe they cook him on some of the counts, but nothing has been proven yet. And like Jay-Z said, not guilty, y'all got to feel me. Until the evidence comes in front of 12 people and they say unanimously that he's guilty,

the man is presumed innocent. We talk about the rule of law. We have to believe in the rule of law until they prove it. Oh, yeah. He's innocent. It's not guilty. And it does sound like the feds have a very robust investigation. So I don't mean to trivialize that.

It sounds like there are some serious problems over there. What I was going to say, though, the biggest problem is two people below him pled guilty. That's a huge issue. If your CEO pleads guilty and your other coach pleads guilty... No, remember, the fans say there were three involved. Two of the three pled guilty.

That's what I'm saying. So that's a problem, right? Because if the homies take the L, you are likely taking the L, let's be honest. But jokes aside, unless they can show he was actually involved in all of those allegations, he may walk on some of the counts. But, you know, when you're looking at a max of 37 years in prison,

it could be a very serious outcome, despite my jokes that he may walk on some of the counts. So, I don't know. You're right. And this is to approve. You're right. And this is to approve. You're right. And this is to approve and guilt. Let's go back to my iPad here, Kelly. To induce Bank Lender One to make the loan and make it sooner,

the defendant, Carlos Watson, directed the then CFO of Ozzie, an individual whose identity is known to the grand jury, to send Bank Lender one a fake signed contract purporting to be the second season despite the fact that negotiations with cable network one were still ongoing when the then cfo refused washington and rail agreed that rail would send a fake contract to bank lender one with false terms that were unrealistically favorable for Ozzy and a forged signature for the representative of Cable Network One.

Damn. That's not funny. That's not funny. I'm sorry. That was like a nervous giggle when you don't know what else to say or do, right? Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hold up. I got to go to the or do, right? Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hold up. I've got to go to the next one, Kelly. Check this out. Okay. Later the same day, after receiving the email with the fake contract, the then-CFO emailed the defendant, Carlos Watson, and Rayo,

to say that she was resigning effective immediately. She explained, quote, This is illegal. This is fraud. This is forging someone's signature with the intent of getting an advance from a publicly traded bank. She continued, To be crystal clear,

what you see as a measured risk, I see as a felony. Did either of you, Carlos, when you asked me to put together a contract, and or Samir when you sent the email, have any idea, or did it even occur to you to care that I could go to jail for forgery and bank fraud? Clearly not. Or maybe yes, and they didn't care, because here

we are, right? And what's ironic about it all is that if you think about it, and correct me if I'm wrong, Matt, this is almost bar for bar what Trump and his people have been doing for eons now. And if the law is finally catching up to them, you know, super white, old men, racists in New York,

what makes you think they're not going to catch this black man doing it? I get it. I understand. You want me to continually I understand. You want me to continually say allegedly? You want me to continually say allegedly? I can say that until my face is blue. I get it. I get it. But still,

you wouldn't take this case, Matt. Oh, I would definitely take this case. The question is, what would I charge to take this case? That part. That part. But the one that got me Oh, I would definitely take this case. The question is, what would I charge to take this case? That's the question. That part. Yeah.

That part. But the one that got me the most, Rolla. Hell no, Matt ain't take... Hey, Matt ain't gonna take this case. He might not get paid. That part. But what got me, Rolla, before you even got to, you know,

bullet points 40-something, in 22, just something as simple as him trying to look like he was having plausible deniability by getting BCC'd on email so that on its face it would look like, oh, Matt, on or about March 1, 2019, while blind carbon copying the defendant, Carlos Watson, allegedly emailed an investor a set of purported closing documents, you know, wiring $2 million, and then preferred stock in exchange for preferred stock, which in fact had not been issued and the issuance of which had not even been authorized by the board of Aussie. So again, allegedly...

Girl, listen. Wait a minute. Ray O sent Watson and Hahn a draft email for another investor that changed the annual revenue target. Come on, go to my iPad. For 2020, from the $65 million that was told to Middle East investor one to $45 million, which was still $10 million higher than the target Watson communicated internally.

That same day, Rayo sent the email to the other investor with the $45 million figure copying Watson. Ozzy ultimately earned approximately $11 million in revenue in 2020. They were just straight-ass lying about everything, Michael, allegedly.

Yeah, you know, reading the article from the New York Times, and I remember the interview from the Breakfast Club. I remember the initial investigation from the New York Times. And in business school, you know, we study, we had case studies. We study fraud, okay? And this sounds like some Trump stuff. I'm serious.

When I was reading about this, I said, this sounds like something Donald Trump has done. And then, but they got caught sooner than Trump has gotten caught. You know, and you look at the charges. Wait, wait, wait, wait, Mike, Mike, Mike, hold on. Hold on, Mike, Mike, Mike, hold on.

Hold on. I gotta read this one because this is funny as hell. Go to my iPad. Watson, Rayo, and Hahn all knew that Ozzie was not on track to earn $52 million in 2020. One week earlier, Finance Employee 2 had informed Watson, Rayo, and Hahn that Ozzie was on track to earn only approximately $8.3 million in 2020. The tip is out. Watson, Rayo, and Hahn also knew that Ozy was not profitable. On or about August 12, 2020, Watson had sent a text message to Rao in which

he complained that a new person had been hired to work on one of Ozzy's newsletters, stating in part why. WTF? Are we profitable? And I do not know it. Right. Ozi, in fact, lost over $8 million in 2020. Damn, bruh, you're telling other people you're profitable, but you put in a text message, we're not. Right, yeah. So, you know, this is allegedly fraud on top of fraud, but to be honest with you, Roland, this is something white people have been doing for decades, okay? I mean, the Savings and Loans scandal, Ivan Boski, William Madoff, Enron, Donald Trump. So I'm not for this.

But Michael, he ain't got the complexion for the protection in the words of Paul Mooney. But the other thing is, most of those other ones went to prison, too, and they were white. Most of them went to prison, they were two and they were white. Martha Stewart, she was a billionaire. Here's why I need people watching to understand. The advertising agencies decided Carlos Watson was the safe Negro.

They gave him millions. He was lying. Let me tell y'all how I knew he was lying. I went to his YouTube channel and we launched his show. They would have these videos, a million and a million five

views, but 20 comments. Y'all, that's impossible. That's impossible. And I called Kenan, my digital guy said, Kenan, is that something they doing that we don't know about that?

How are you getting all these views? You ain't get nobody commenting on these views. And so I said it's fraudulent. And so what happened was when the New York Times story came out, what they discovered was that basically they were buying traffic they were doing certain things to uh basically it was under it was being shown underneath so so just so y'all know come on go to my ipad so remember i told y'all they were doing come on go to my ipad i told you they were doing like a million views after they got busted these are they videos 3 600 views 4 900 4 000 4 200 4 500 4 700 5 100 51 000 54 000 56 000 56 57 87 10 000 15 k not one of their videos in the last six months has hit. You see that right there. Only one video exceeded 100,000 views in nine months. It was all lying. And here's my problem. All these venture capitalists were just giving them money, shoveling them money like no big deal,

feeding them the money. These ad agencies were giving them the money. Group M did a $75 million deal with them, and it was all fraudulent. Yet we out here, legitimate, real numbers, and in two and a half years, all I've gotten from group one are meeting, group M are meetings. No money.

We got real audience, real shows, real accountability. And so I just need people to understand these corporations and these ad agencies, and I'm going to break this thing down further on next Wednesday, show the graphic when I deal with the special show we're doing, folks, on how these corporations and these ad agencies are destroying black

owned media by starving us of the dollars. That's what's going on here. And so I'm just saying Carlos going to need a real good attorney what's going on here. And so I'm just saying Carlos gonna need a real good attorney. And Matt, if two of your compatriots

flipped and pled guilty, if I'm his lawyers, I'm trying to have a plea conversation right now because this 42 page indictment does not look good for homie. Maybe. And, by the way, when Carlos,

no, it don't look good. When Carlos Watson got busted by the New York Times and he got mad because I called him out and he and I had a conversation, his ass actually said, could he and I work together on advertising? I called him out and he and I had a conversation. His ass actually said, could he and I work together on advertising? I told him, hell no.

Thank goodness I did. Going to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country.

It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valithia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves,

how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. Most people think that these television shows that tell stories about who we are as black men, and then they paint these monolithic portraits of us. They think that they're being painted by white people. And I got to tell you, there are a whole bunch of black folk that are the creators, the head writers, the directors of all of these shows

and that are still painting us as monoliths. The people don't really wanna have this conversation. No, they don't. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevillian. Hey, I'm Amber Stephens-West. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

All right, folks. Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is over the Office of Public Engagement for President Joe Biden, yesterday sat down with students in person and virtual, 42 HBCU journalists, and asked a variety of questions. I'm glad they did, but it'll be nice when they sit down with black-owned media. That hasn't happened yet, and so it'd be nice for that to actually happen. But they got an opportunity to talk about funding for HBCUs and some other issues as well. Here's some of that conversation with the vice president.

We have a very special guest. As you all know, I know you have been waiting on this special guest, our vice president. You all know so many historical firsts for this extraordinary woman. She's a graduate of Howard University. Who's here from Howard? All right. She's a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Okay, I see some pinkies up.

She has been the attorney general. She's been the Attorney General, she's been the District Attorney, she has been a Senator, and now we are honored to have her as our Vice President. So will you all please stand as she enters the room? Hello, everybody. You can clap. It's okay. Hello, everybody. Hi. You can clap. It's okay. Hi. Hi, everyone.

They're all shrugged. I'm so happy. If you haven't seen, we're going to have a conversation, Mayor. It's good to be with you. All right. All right. How's the day been? Good.

Oh, that's so good. I'm so happy. See, when I look out, don't you agree, we know that the future of our country is bright, right? Yes. Yes, it is. Okay. So I am opening up for questions. That's correct, Erica. is there someone I should call

on first? You gave me that sheet. I'm sorry. I'm all struck too. Okay. So we have Xavier Turk from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and he is virtual. Oh, so, am I good to speak? Yes. Okay, how are you guys doing? My name is Davion Turke. I am a graduating senior here at Wiley College, majoring in mass communications focused on journalism. I think my question would be, what is something that you feel like is not portrayed in the media enough when it comes to black education or just being a student at an HBCU in today's age what is not to you broadcast enough as a politician or someone that's in politics so So that's a wonderful question. And I think that there's a short answer and a long answer.

There's a whole lot that's not, I think, in the mainstream media that fully understands the depth and breadth of the American experience, everyone's American experience. When I first took the stage as a nominee to be vice president and vice president, I took the stage and I talked about my family and how my family is such a big part of what brought me to that stage. And this is now a national, if not an international audience, because we're talking about, right, who's going to be the next president, vice president of the United States. And so I went on about who family, family to me is. And then on the list of family to me, I said, my divine nine family. And there were people looking at each other,

what's Divine 9? And I thought to myself, you about to find out. But there you go. As a very quick, small example of my point, people who are covering who will be the next president and vice president of the United States, unfamiliar with the divine nine. So that's a quick example of a point, which is that, sadly, there is still a lot that we are counting on you all as leaders and journalists to help us do to continue to educate

The people of our country and our world about who we are as Americans Because of course the history the presence and the contribution of going with my example members of the Divine Nine, of which we both are, is very much a part of the history of our country. So I say that also to say that as a proud graduate of an HBCU, and as we all have that common experience, one of the blessings that I realize now so many years later that I can tell you already have figured out while you're still there special responsibility because you have had the good fortune and blessing of being in

an academic environment that in every way from the walls that were constructed in your classrooms and why they were built, you have the unique ability to know that we are counting on you, that you represent the best of who we are, and that we are requiring you to lead, because we have also learned in those places, if not in our own families or communities, that we stand on broad shoulders, who imagined that we all right now would be having this conversation at the White House. Somebody gave me, Mayor, somebody gave me a T-shirt, and everyone here should be wearing it, and the T-shirt said,

I am my ancestors' wildest dream. All of you should be wearing that t-shirt too right but you you have the you have the experience of also learning that you will be in an environment that will not allow you to be anything less than the best that you will be required to take full advantage of all those who want to nurture you and educate you and lift you up and then you go out there and you remember you are never alone because most of you will be in rooms and I'll speak for the two of us if I may. You will find yourselves many times in a room where you are the only one like you,

who looks like you, who has had your life experience. And the other thing you learn at an HBCU is to remember, no, I come from people. There are a whole lot of me out there. And so being in that environment gives you the charge to have the confidence to then be in those rooms and never feel small and never feel alone and never be convinced that you're the only one like you and therefore alone.

Because, no, you come from and have a whole bunch of folks who walk into every one of those rooms with you, even if you can't see them at the moment. You must always feel and know that we're all present. Thank you. So we're going to go to someone in the room, if that's okay all present. Thank you. So we're gonna go to someone in the room if that's okay, Erica, or do you want me to stay on the screen? All right. Well, I'm gonna follow the script. Kayla Foster, Russ College. Hi everyone.

My name is Kayla Foster, mass communications major here at Risk College. So my question actually goes kind of back to where we were earlier in discussion. It's about how the Biden administration plans to ensure the continuity of our historical black colleges and universities. Well, by doing the work that we have been doing as an administration that we are particularly proud of,

which includes ensuring that we put the financial resources into our HBCUs. So I think we may have had a discussion about the dollar amounts. And it's in the billions of dollars around what we need to do to invest. Back when I was in the Senate, actually, we also got a bill passed that put money into HBCUs around upgrading the infrastructure, because as we all know, so many of our schools are very old and need upgrade to literally the classrooms, the libraries, things like that. But also the work that we have been doing that has been focused on issues like student loan debt because we know the disproportionate burden that our HBCU students carry on that issue.

And then, you know, there is the whole thing about the ecosystem around an HBCU student that also requires support. And so there are many of our policies that relate to, for example, something I did yesterday at Bowie State, which was to announce what we are doing as an administration to bring down the cost of that even further. Because, of course, if we think about the next generation of HBCU students, if their parents have the ability to buy a home and build equity, that would make it just a little easier for maybe them to take a little equity out the home when their young, bright child says, I want to go to college to help them pay for tuition. So there are things that we have done that have directly been focused on HBCUs but things like that that are also about the ecosystem around an HBCU student thinking about

the fact that I think it's something like over 60 maybe 70 percent of the people diagnosed with diabetes or of African Americans people diagnosed with diabetes, or of African Americans are diagnosed with diabetes. And for our seniors, bringing down the cost of insulin so it's capped at $35 a month, because otherwise so many of our seniors... I mean, raise your hand if you have somebody in your family who has diabetes. There you go.

Right? And so bringing down the cost of insulin every month to cap it at $35 a month for our seniors so that they don't have to choose between paying rent or buying food and buying the medication a doctor prescribes. So there are a lot of initiatives. be able to see, and I would encourage you as journalists to always remind all of us, to see people in their full selves, to see people in all the facets and nuances in which everyone lives. None of us is one-dimensional. And we should always require of our leaders in particular that they see people as whatever their profession is, as whatever their age is, as whatever their race is, as wherever they are geographically.

Are they a parent? Are they a child? Are they a grandchild? Are they a foster child? Seeing people in the full relief of who they are. You know, in many old world cultures, and in particular in many African cultures, when you meet someone for the first time, the greeting is not, pleased to meet you. It is, I see you. I see you. I see you. And you as journalists have an incredible gift

to require us as the people who read your work, who listen to your work, to see. All right, folks, hold tight one second. Go into a break. We come back. We'll play more of the session with Vice President Kamala Harris, Keisha Lance Bottoms, with HBCU journalists. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand-new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valethia Watkins, our legal round table team,

join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people.

That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. This is De'Alla Riddle. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, here's more of Vice President Kamala Harris, again, at yesterday's session where she chatted with 42 HBCU student journalists.

All the dimensions of the things you cover and the people you cover. Great. Chloe Ryan Woolfolk from Norfolk State University. Where are you, Chloe? She has on pink. What does that mean? My favorite color is just pink. Yeah, it's a beautiful color.

Why, thank you. So my name is Chloe Ryan Woolfolk. I am a senior mass communications journalism major at the Norfolk State University and I must say it's an honor to be here representing my university. So my question is what is the administration doing to

address racial inequalities and the impact of climate change? That's a wonderful question, Chloe. So I've been doing a lot of work on the climate issue from years. Back when I was elected district attorney in San Francisco, I started one of the first environmental justice units of any DA's office in the country, and I'll tell you why. Because in San Francisco at the time, and I think still is the case, there's a community there called Bayview Hunters Point

that has, at the time, and probably still does, an annual household income of $15,000, $1,500, thousand dollars predominantly black and um what we were seeing is that community was being treated like a dumping ground and so we were seeing high rates of health outcomes right in that community and i decided to take that on and deal with the polluters and the people who were doing this to make sure there was consequence and accountability for the harm that was being caused to that community. I'm describing what is referred to as an environmental justice issue. Because it's about equity. It's about fairness and the environment, right? And when I think about then anything that is about climate, we're talking about the environment. We're talking about extreme changes to the climate that manifest itself in a number of ways, including extreme weather events.

Think from my home state of California, wildfires to hurricanes, tornadoes. Think about the climate issue in the context of what we need to do to deal with, for example, extreme heat and what that means in urban communities where there's only asphalt that just actually exasperates the heat effect and where there are no trees and what that means in terms of the public health consequences of that. Think about it as the issue of lead pipes in places like Flint and other places around our country and the babies of that community then drinking toxic water, which is having an impact on their learning ability. Think about where, that in some of the worst air quality zones in our country are also low income and communities of color.

And what that means in terms of high rates of asthma, which also means missed school to address those health concerns. Think of it then in the context of like I like to think about a lot of things in the context of a Venn diagram. I love Venn diagrams. Always ask, is there a Venn diagram for this? I'm telling you, it's fascinating when you do. So Venn diagram, those three circles, right? So on this, the intersection between climate, extreme climate, right, which is going to be about,

that's going to be also an intersection with human behaviors about greenhouse gas emissions, what we need to do around carbon capture, right? Intersection between that, public health. And then how we're thinking about in terms of the intersection between that, public health, and then how we're thinking about, in terms of the intersection between that and education. And if you wanna add some more circles to the Venn diagram, the solutions also look like what we need to do to invest in a clean energy economy.

And that's about a whole new economy with a whole new set of jobs that are going to require engineers and it's going to require people who are thinking about how to design in a way that accommodates climate adaptation and resilience and therein lies some of the opportunities when we think about the solution to the problems right and then if you bring that all back in a way that we look at that Venn diagram and also think about principles that are about equity, who is suffering the most?

Where then should we be putting in the resources? How should we be thinking about equity in terms of what should be equitable standards and the inequities on an issue like public health, education. Lead pipes, I'll give you an example of that on this point. So water coming out of lead pipes. The communities that have been dealing with this have been, the grandmothers and grandfathers have been telling us for years, it's having an impact on the children, on the seniors.

Okay. So one of the things about lead pipes that's interesting, lead was put in pipes all over the country. So it was not only in communities of color, poor communities. But here's the thing. If you have money, if you had equity in your home, you'd say there's lead in those pipes. I need to get rid of those pipes and replace them.

And you would buy some new pipes. If you don't have the money to replace the pipes, if you are a renter, what ends up happening? This is an iHeart Podcast.