#RolandMartinUnfiltered - PA Bridge Falls, Bridgeport Police & the Black Community, Texas GOP Lies, Black Farmers v Pepsico

Episode Date: January 29, 2022

1.28.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: PA Bridge Falls, Bridgeport Police & the Black Community, Texas GOP Lies, Black Farmers v PepsicoIt's Friday, January 28, 2022, and here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network.A Pittsburgh bridge collapses on the day President Biden is scheduled to visit the city to talk infrastructure and promises to fix all the crumbling bridges across the nation.Lies sent a Black Pennsylvania man to prison for 37 years. Now he's out and suing the city that put him behind bars.A Tennessee man is shot and killed by 9 cops! And it's on video. We'll show you what happened.Plus, there was another woman found dead on December 12 in Connecticut. We've told you about Lauren Smith-Fields. But another family did not find out until days later that their loved one, Brenda Rawls was dead. The President of Greater Bridgeport NAACP joins us tonight. He'll tell us what they are demanding from city officials.The National Black Farmers Association President is calling out Pepsico for ongoing discrimination. John Boyd will explain what promises have been broken.A retiring GOP Texas senator admits under oath that Texas violated voting rights law during redistricting in court. We'll have a Texas Legislative Black Caucus member tonight to tell us what that means.Plus, in our Education Matters segment, we'll take a look at the importance of tutoring.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partners:Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Stay 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 scary. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Friday, January 28th, 2022.

Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here on the Black Star Network. A Pittsburgh bridge collapses on the day President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the city to talk infrastructure. Oh, did y'all know that the Republican senator from Pennsylvania voted against that particular bill? Yet he was tweeting about how they were in contact with the people who were impacted. All right, folks. Lies sent a black Pennsylvania man to prison for 37 years. Now he's out and suing the city that put him behind bars. A Tennessee man is shot and killed by nine cops. It's on video. We'll show you the tragic shooting. Why aren't they arrested?

Plus, there was another woman found dead on December 12th in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We've told you about Lauren Smith Fields, but another family did not find out until days after their loved one, Brenda Rawls was dead. The president of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP Jones us tonight.

He'll tell us what they are doing to demand action from city officials. The National Black Farmers Association president is calling out Pepsi Co for what he calls ongoing discrimination. John Boyd will explain what promises he says has been broken by PepsiCo. We also have their response. A retiring GOP Texas senator admits under oath that Texas violated voting rights law during the redistricting process. He literally signs it. We'll have the Texas Legislative Black Caucus member

tonight to tell us what that means. Also in our Education Matters segment, we'll take a look at the importance of tutoring. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's rolling Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's rolling Martin

Yeah, yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah He's bulk, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's rolling Martin Now Folks, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, they're looking into the fatal shooting that took place involving nine police officers. Now, let me warn you before we show you this video.

It is extremely disturbing. It is triggering. If you need to turn away, please do so right now. This video went viral yesterday when it was published when someone shot a video from their phone. Folks, again, it shows you the type of actions we see all too often from police and how they respond to situations. Now, here's the, so I'm going to go ahead and play the video right now. Just drop it, brother. Landon, come on. Landon, come on, brother. Let me help you out. You will not end up in jail.

Landon, look at me. Look at me, Landon. Look at me. No, don't do it. Don't do it. Do not do it, brother. Landon, don't let me. Don't let me go home with this today, brother.

Please. Come on. Landon. Landon, look at me, brother. I'm talking to you. Hey. Please. I gave you my word.

My word means something, okay? I keep it. You will not go to jail today. I promise you, you will not go to jail today. Whatever you're worried about, we can fix it. Let us get you some help, you will not go to jail today. Whatever you worried about, we can fix it. Let us get you some help though. This is not the answer. You and I know it. You don't want to, you don't want to hurt me. I know you don't. And you know, I damn sure don't want to hurt you. Right? Come on, brother. Just put your hand up drop the knife and let's figure this out Landon come on brother. Let's do the right thing here, okay?

It's Gus let's get you some help brother, please That's all we're asking bro No, don't Landon. No, don't do it Landon. No Landon don't don't do this, bro Let's end the Landon just drop the knife brother, let's help you out Landon don't please brother. Hey, I've been out here for 30 minutes talking to you, bro. Let's go home. Let's go home, Landon.

Please drop it, brother. This is not the answer. You know I don't want to hurt you. Come on, Landon. Landon, don't. Hey, we don't want to hurt you. We don't want to shoot you. And you don't want to hurt us. Right? I got to shoot you. And you don't want to hurt us.

Right? I got kids to go to. I got a family to go home to. And I was on my way doing that. But my God put me here so I can help you out today. And you know it. And you damn sure know it. I know it.

Come on, brother. Just drop it. Landon please brother don't do this. Please don't. Please. We've been talking to you the whole time, brother. Please. Do it for me. I give you my word, I will help you out.

Okay. Look, he took them off. Come on, brother. That makes you feel better. Take the sunglasses off. No big deal. My sunglasses off. Come on, brother. That makes you feel better. Take the sunglasses off. No big deal. My sunglasses off. I don't know.

I've been talking, brother. Look, I don't even have a damn vest on. And I still stopped at the interstate because I want you to go home today. I don't want you to end up dead inside the interstate. Nobody wants that. These folks right here, they got kids in the cars. Look at that. Kids over there just sitting by.

Don't give them that show brother okay please they're gonna have to live with this too not just me and you please just drop it brother that's all you gotta do i promise you get your hand out your pocket drop the knife and i guarantee you i will have an ambulance here to help you out you will not go to jail that's what you're worried about come on Landon please help me help you that's all I'm asking for come on brother just drop the knife get your hand out your pocket if that's a gun what you got in there don't worry about we'll figure it out we'll fix it I'm not too worried about that right now I'm worried about you I'm worried about

you Landon come on brother just drop it come on I know you can do it I know you want to do the right thing here. And this is your chance. Landon. Come on, brother. Landon, please, brother. Don't do it. Don't do it. No, no, no, no. Landon. Get the car! Get the car! Come on, brother. How long is this? Okay, y'all. So, 37-year-old Landon.

Pull that back up. I'm going to talk over this. Okay, pull that shot back up. No, that ending shot, that wide shot from the second angle. 37-year-old Landon Estep was sitting on a guardrail along Interstate 65 Thursday afternoon. When a state trooper approached him, Estep became agitated. Police tried, as you heard, they tried to de-escalate the situation for more than 30 minutes. But then the suspect, they pulled out a silver object out of his pocket.

Thinking it was a gun, nine officers opened fire, including members of the Nashville Metro Police Department and Highway Patrol. That silver object turned out to be a box cutter. Now, here's why. So let me bring in a panel. Michael Imhotep hosts the African History Network show, Kelly Bethea, communication strategies, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney. OK, so please bring this shot back up. So, Matt, I want to start with you. This is the problem that I have in situations like this.

OK. You've got nine cops surrounding this guy. You've got significant distance between him and the officers. Now, what I don't understand, and this is just me, well, I don't understand why the officers don't have their cars there and why they are not standing behind their cars. So he reaches into his pocket. You don't know what he pulls out. Here's what I don't understand. Does the law say that if I reach into my pocket and pull something out, that means cops get to shoot? Should they not ascertain what's being pulled out of the pocket? I mean, I keep saying death is death. It's nine cops. So he pulls something out.

You don't know what he's pulling out. So you unleash nine cops firing bullets into the guy when, in fact, he's pulling something out. He's not charging at you at all. Clearly, he's agitated. So does this even make sense? I don't think this makes sense from the standpoint of the overwhelming force with the nine officers who were there, especially because in a circumstance like this, this is a prime example of where a police department should call what's called a crisis intervention team or some other team where they believe there's a nexus with mental health to help de-escalate and get

the person help. I will say, though, maybe being devil's advocate here, when I read the article that corresponds to this video, it indicated to me that he actually had the box cutter out at some point before. Now, that doesn't mean they shouldn't have been behind their cars. It doesn't mean this is necessarily proper police procedure. But there is a body of thought that if you have a weapon, you can close distance relatively shortly. And I think it's important to know whether that box cutter was out or whether it was actually what was pulled out of his pocket.

Because in that respect, I mean, generally, the law allows officers who are in fear of their life to use deadly force if they believe they're being faced with deadly force. And under a circumstance like this, where he's pulling something unknown out of his pocket, I do think that there's at least a legal question about whether they would reasonably be using that deadly force. I know that's not what people want to hear, but that's the reality of how this will be construed. But I do think that if he already had the box cutter in his hand, then I think all your points are definitely valid,

considering they're so far away from him, there's no way he could have closed distance, which would make this wholly excessive and wholly unreasonable to use a firearm when somebody is further than 20 feet away from you with a box cutter in their hand. So that's what I see here, and I think that's important to know. But, Kelly, this is precisely why people who say defund the police say you don't send cops in situations like this. You send professionals who can talk someone out.

You hear the officer. Now, look, the officers were saying the right thing. They were pleading with him. He said, we've been here for more than 30 minutes. You mean to tell me you didn't have enough time to say, hey, get a mental health professional out here. You have hostage negotiators whose first thing is you don't fire. So you're surrounded by nine cops. You've got the guy blocked in. Again, he's dead.

You can't go back and undead somebody. They're dead. You're exactly right. But for me, it goes beyond just you could have called somebody. You could have done this. You could have done that. It's, while it appears that they did everything they could, quote unquote, there are several layers to this

that just were not addressed. They had tasers on their bodies from my understanding and they were never deployed. The fact that he brought a gun, I'm sorry, a knife to a gunfight, quite literally, it wasn't even a gunfight. That looks like a firing squad to me. That looks like a firing squad. And while they're saying the right things, look at a situation in which even the suspect, being this man, would feel safe enough to surrender when the cars are that far back, when they've cleared out the area,

when you are basically surrounded but for guardrail with officers ready to kill you. This is not a situation in which I would feel safe to do anything. Like, I do not understand why it is so hard for officers of any color at this point to actually bring themselves to a point of relating to the suspect such that they do not fear the skin color of this man. Because I guarantee you there are instances in this country where the person, where a white

person will have a gun, where there's a hostage actually involved and they get home or they are able to be arrested. All we're saying in these videos, every pundit who's going to be talking about this, at the end of the day, just arrest somebody like they're white if that is how you have to conceive it and perceive it. Arrest them like they're white and make sure that everybody... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

This guy is white. First of all, this guy here, he was white. But the thing that... I couldn't tell. Yeah, the guy here, he was white. But the thing that... I couldn't tell. Yeah, the guy here was white. The thing, Michael, that is still, death is the last option. Right.

Lethal force is the last option. There are nine cops. If each cop fires one bullet, he's hit nine times. Look at this. You're talking about, you know, you're a great, even if the man, go back to this, even if the man pulls something out of his pocket, don't you have to ascertain what it is? I mean, we've heard these examples before. Somebody, you know, they reach their pocket, they pull a cell phone out.

It's what a cop say, no sudden moves. But, again, I go back to, if I've got cars surrounded, and I'm going to use the perfect example, this is where I have a problem. So we talk about the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson,

but a lot of people might forget that a few weeks after Michael Brown's death, Kajima Powell was shot and killed by St. Louis cops. Mentally unstable brother. that Kajima Powell was shot and killed by St. Louis cops. Right. Mentally unstable brother. Mm-hmm. And it was 16 seconds from the moment the cops arrived and opened the door

to the first shot that went out, that was fired. I'm gonna play this video again. It's triggering, folks. If you want to move away, please turn away. To Kelly's point, why are you not using tasers? In this case, they said there was a butter knife in his hand or a steak knife. When they called 911, they said mentally disturbed man.

That apparently wasn't relayed to the police officers who arrived. But again, just like this situation here, I need people to understand, and I want to see how the cops sort of operate. So I'm going to play this here, so watch this. You know what I'm saying? Man, that's a boy, though. Now the police are going to pull up. Y'all call the police?

We called the police? He baggin' up. He got his gun out. Aw, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. They got their guns out. Oh, they just kicked guns out. Stop it, bro! Oh, they just killed his man. Damn!

Guy yells, shoot me now, MF. Cops roll up. They step away from their car. He steps towards them. They unload. Again, I'm not a cop. But this is how I think. This is just me.

Henry Gowatt. This is just me. If something is happening, if something is happening, something is happening, if something is happening, something is happening, if you are across, if you are across, let's say,

like where the camera is, I'm not going to walk around here. I'm not going to walk around here and stand in front of you. This is just me. I'm probably going to stand behind something that creates some distance between me and you. So if you try to come at me, the table's blocking. The cops there

roll up. They get out of the car. 16 seconds. Seven shots fired. he's dead. I'm like, seriously? And guess what? The law says if they believe their life is being threatened, they get to actually open fire. These cops in Tennessee are probably going to be, get away with this, say they follow all procedures,

they try to talk to the guy, try to calm the guy down. But he's dead. This is where you've got to have police departments who, they've got to change how they respond to mental health situations. Yeah, I agree, Roland. That was the first note that I made dealing with this case. Did they call a mental health expert to the scene? You heard the officer, now the video clip is from Metro Nashville police officer Jason Kidd's body

cam footage. You heard one of the police officers say, we've been here 30 minutes or so, something like that. So I'm wondering, okay, did you call to negotiate? It's clear it's clear that there's some type of mental distress. Secondly, looking at the piece on this from the USA Today, his name was Landon East Step, East Step, the person who was killed. He had his right hand in his pocket throughout the negotiation and held what appeared to be a small black object in his left hand. So when the... One, secondly, I would think that they would move the cars in front of them to take cover as well, as you said, Roland.

I would think they would take that precaution because you don't know if he has a gun or not. Yeah, the guy says, I got no vest. Well, if I'm standing behind the car, I'm standing behind the door, if he pulls something out, I should be able to say, hey, identify what that is. It's nine cops.

Right. If he takes five steps, I got enough time, enough firepower to take him down. To Kelly's point, nine cops, nobody got a taser? Right. So your first resort, and this is why you don't call cops in a situation,

because their first resort is the gun. And they are trained shoot to kill, not to wound, to kill. Um, so there's, wound, to kill. So there's, to Matt's point, there's something called a 21-foot rule. If you go through training with guns or something like that, handguns, CPL, you learn about this, the average person

can reach you, can cover 21 feet in a second and a half. So there um, there's... You know, I want to hear some use-of-force experts, uh, deal with this, and I want to see what the statements are coming from the National Police Department. But

I think there was some steps that were missed here. I've never been in law enforcement before, but I've covered a number of these cases. I think there were some steps that were missed here. Well, I'm telling you. Well, first, I'm telling you right now, they're gonna get cleared. Matt, I'm gonna play one more before I go to the break and go to my next story.

Dallas, Texas. Black woman calls the cops. Her mentally ill son, she's like, I don't know what to do. Her name is Jason Harrison. Again, these cops were cleared. But same situation. Triggering y'all, turn away.

But I'm showing you how three different shootings, three different parts of the country, end up being the exact same thing. Watch this. I'll pull it back. Glad y'all here. I can't control him. Young man comes out.

Y'all, I want y'all to see this. He got a screwdriver in his hand. For some reason, Jason Harrison was enamored with this screwdriver. I hate that we can't hear the audio because there's another video that actually has audio. You hear the cops say, put it down, put it down. They're backing away. What do you think happens? Right here. Look at this here. Y'all, he opened the door. They are standing not even 10 feet from him. That's his taser. To Kelly's point, you see his taser right there. His first choice, he pulled out his gun. Boom. Dead. Y'all, let me go back. Mama opens the door

right here. I just want you to understand. They open the door. 36, 30, right here, mama opens the door. At the 57 second mark, she says, I don't know what to do with my son. Y'all need to help me. Shots fired, he's dead. Y'all, that was 13 seconds. Right.

It was 13 seconds. Matt, 13 seconds from when the door opened. And this man is shot and killed. This is what, and we see this over and over again, the cops get off because, hey, the law says, man had a screwdriver. Cops had reasonable belief uh, reasonable, uh, belief that their life might be in danger. They're trained to use lethal force.

It's inexcusable, Roland, but it does show you the gap in the law. The problem is, from a criminal standpoint, when these officers are prosecuted, they're able to avail themselves of the same law that an average citizen would be able to use in terms of self-defense. And they're doing it in the context of their job, which is why we see them beating these cases all the time. So what needs to happen is there need to be stronger, one, criminal penalties

for officers who use their weapons, especially in a lethal context when it's unreasonable, number one. But number two, there needs to be an actual way for families to get recourse. It is, it's so difficult to prosecute these cases from a civil standpoint, because not only do they get cover on the criminal side, they get cover on the civil side. So this is also a matter of a gap in the law, because officers need to be held to a higher standard. They shouldn't be treated the same way your average citizen is, but they are, which is why they customarily beat these cases. And this is why a lot of folks, they're afraid to call the cops when they have folks who have mentally ill family members because they might end up dead. Sad. So we'll see what happens

there in Tennessee. Got to go to a break. We come back. What's happening in Bridgeport? Oh my goodness. Another family says a loved one ends up dead. Cops don't even notify the family. We'll talk to Heather Bridgeport, NAACP, next to Roland Martin, unfiltered, right here on the Blackstar Network. Norske Kulturskapet I'm sorry. Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you.

So watch Get Wealthy on the 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. Hello, everyone. I'm Godfrey, and you're watching... Roland Martin Unfiltered.

And while he's doing Unfiltered, I'm practicing the wobble. We'll be right back. She is 5 inches tall, weighs 125 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. If you have any information regarding Arianna's disappearance, please call the Cleveland Police Department at 216-621-1234. 216-621-1234. We've been covering the story of Lauren Smith Fields, the young black woman who died in her Bridgeport, Connecticut apartment. Her family says police have completely mishandled and bungled this case.

Well, there's another black woman who died on the same day. Brenda Rawls died on December 12th. Police did not notify her family after several days of no contact. They went to a friend of Rawls who told the family that she did not wake up from her sleep. The friend gave the family that she did not wake up from her sleep. The friend gave the family the clothes Brenda was wearing.

Connecticut State Senator Dennis Bradley will be introducing a bill in honor of Lauren Smithfields requiring police in Connecticut to notify immediate family members within 24 hours of someone passing away. The Randy Bridgeport NAACP is challenging city officials to do better. Joining me now is Rev. D. Stanley Lord, the president of the Bridgeport, Connecticut chapter of the NAACP. Reverend Lord, glad to have you here. We have had the family attorney for Lawrence Smithfields on, and they've talked about how this case has been bungled. They've talked about just how they've conducted it. You know, what are what the

hell is the police chief there saying? Well, you know, what are the we have the president pro tem the city council on as well. I mean, are they embarrassed by how this investigation has been conducted? I actually the chief I spoke to the deputy chief today, the acting chief is actually on vacation in Florida, a pre-scheduled vacation. But the reality that most people don't know is that the man who she was with is a city employee the from the what the parents from the family says is that only one officer showed up maybe they were two but there was no investigation and there's a question of whether or not the body was sent as a jane doe and then the family had to go find they had to call the undertaker say well what do you do when you can't find your child and they're dead? They'll say, well, call Farmington, which is the morgue and where they do the medical examination.

And that's where they found their loved one. We have given numerous press releases. We've tried to meet with the mayor on different occasions when issues of police wrongdoing, but he always gives us his cronies. He has never met with us, and I've been in office for two years. So what is next? The president pro tem told us the city council was going to pass or send a letter requesting the state take over the investigation. That was supposed to happen yesterday. To your knowledge, has that happened? To my knowledge, I'm not sure.

We will be sending a letter. We sent a press release demanding yesterday, demanding that the state take over the investigation, the state narcotics and the state DEA, because Bridgeport Brass has proven that they are inadequate when it comes to doing a proper investigation. And again, as we talk to folks, and this story is finally picking up attention across the country, and it's shedding light on the police department, on the city itself. And again, I would think that you would have a much more proactive police department

and city leadership because the last thing you wanted is a level of negative attention. Reality is this. This is a predominantly black and brown city of which we have less than 15% officers of color. We have only one officer, uh, in leadership and the detectives bureau, only one black. We have no leadership of the top ranks of the Bridgeport Police Department. And that's the problem. That's why we have insensitivity issues. Okay, so if...

Okay, I'm trying to understand. Well, if that's the... If you have that racial makeup... So... Let's see here. African-Americans makeup, according to Let's see here. African Americans makeup, according to what I have here, 32.3% of the city.

White, Hispanic, 20.3%. White is 20.1%. So you're talking about 53, 54, 55%. What's the racial makeup of the city council? City council is... about 60-40.

60-40 what? Black, brown, or white? White. White. Okay. So... So what's going on? Are black folks there not voting folks out? Reality is this. Our city council doesn't run the city. The mayor does.

The city council answers to the mayor, not the mayor answering to the city council. So we have it backwards here at the Bridgeport. Wow. Well, that's certainly not good leadership there. What's next for the NAACP there? We'll be making a major announcement on Monday whereby we have to take a next step

and ask the U.S. Justice Department to come in and investigate the pattern and practices of the Greater Bridgeport in a... Greater... Excuse me, I'm used to saying our own own name the Bridgeport Police Department okay all right then well certainly keep us abreast of that Reverend Lord we certainly will be you know covering this story to its conclusion we appreciate it thanks a lot and thank you for all that you do in keeping out our news before the people

appreciate you thank you very much sir thanks do in keeping out our news before the people. I appreciate you. Thank you very much, sir. Thanks a lot. Mike, I want to start with you. This is the thing that I continue to say while we talk about voting. We saw this with Ferguson. Ferguson was 67% black. Right. Had never had a black police chief.

Had never had a black mayor. Had limited black folks in the city council. This is where black folks have got to be using our voting power. You control the city council, you control the mayor. Mayor is one vote. You can control the process,

but if you don't use your political power, then you can't control the political process. Absolutely. Now, in the case of Ferguson, Missouri, and once again, this is an example of how politics is the legal distribution of scarce wealth upon resources and the writing of laws, statutes, ordinances,

amendments, and treaties, and adoption, interpretation, and enforcement. In the case of Ferguson, Missouri, the way that city government worked is that the city manager was the one who had the power. The mayor worked part-time. I'm not disagreeing with you. But even in a city manager form of government,

the council hires the city manager. Right. So, exactly. So I just want people to understand. It's some cities, it's like some big cities don't have a city manager. It's the mayor and city council. In Ferguson, Missouri, the way it was structured, and it's probably based upon the charter, which is something that is like the constitution of the city, which is really important for people to understand the charters of those cities, because those charters can be rewritten as well. And it sounds like in Bridgeport, Connecticut, it sounds like that charter needs to be rewritten so that

there's a balance in power between the mayor and the city council. There are a lot of cities across the country where you have that. Look, I covered Fort Worth City Council where they had a city manager form of government. City Council has a city manager and a city manager ran the city. City of Dallas has a city manager form of government. City council, how the city manager, city manager ran the city. City of Dallas has a city manager form of government.

There are a number of cities that do that. Again, the difference, though, is the city council tells the city manager what to do. You've got to have a robust city council that is putting that pressure. So, again,

what I'm talking about here, Kelly, voting power. If you don't maximize it, then you're not in a position to be able to change things. Mayor needs citywide votes. You tell a mayor, keep playing games, we voting your ass out. But you got to do it.. You gotta actually make it happen. I mean, and that's with anything, right? You have to make it happen. But with going back to the core issue of the fact that these Black women

have been dying pretty much at the hands of the law enforcement is just certainly a scary... No, no, no, no, no. No, that's incorrect. That's incorrect. That's incorrect. They're not dying at the hands of law enforcement. I understand that the law enforcement aren't actually killing them, but the fact that they're not doing their due diligence, that's what I mean, at the hands of.

It was more hyperbole than... Okay, well, no, no, but that's that... When you say dying at the hands of, it sounds like law enforcement is killing them. I was... I get it. But, um, to your point, we need to take these matters more seriously. And I thank God for shows like yours that actually take this matter seriously, because we really do need to protect Black women. But you're absolutely right that a start to protecting Black women

is to get people into offices that have that kind of mantra behind their policies and their platforms, such that when they do vote for anything, they keep Black women in mind, especially when it comes to law enforcement and safety. See, the thing that, Matt, that just drives me crazy again, I remember what happened with Ferguson. I was sitting there going,

how in the hell are you a city that's 67% Black and you never had a Black mayor? I mean, it was just, it was just, it was just, it was crazy to me. And again, I think, you know, look, I know that I was, we were dealing, a few years ago when I was at TV One, we were dealing with some cities in Mississippi.

Black mayor, black council, what they did was they had hired a white city attorney. And so we were dealing with them because the way the cable business works, the city determines who gets the cable contract. because they had hired a white city attorney. And so we were dealing with them, because the way the cable business works, the city determines who gets the cable contract. So we would try to explain to them, use your power to city council

to say to the local cable contract, why in the hell TV One's not on here? We want a black network. So you had these white city attorneys who would say, oh, no, no, y'all can't do that. We were saying to the black people, this is y'all's city. Like, y'all got all of the positions. What are y'all doing?

And this is the thing where it's, you have to use your power. As they are demanding answers there in Bridgeport, I believe you've got to have folks who are mobilizing to also say, keep playing games. We're going to take every single one of y'all out of office. Y'all keep playing games. I think you're exactly right, Roland. I don't know that I have too much to add because I echo those exact same sentiments. But I think what's important is in this case, you've got a mayor council form of government, as you and Michael were just discussing, and that imperils the mayor, especially where he or she decides not to meet with the people. So that's what I don't understand is how do you have a mayor who decides

not even to sit at the table with you when they are the one who's on the chopping block if things don't go the right way? I mean, you need a strong city council. But where you have the mayor, who is the ultimate executive, then they are the ones who are in peril if they don't do what they need to do. So we absolutely need to use the power. And beyond using the power, we need to determine who is most at risk for being removed in the event they're not doing their job. And what I don't get here is how this department can bungle two high-profile situations involving black women where they had evidence on scene of nefarious activity, didn't take anybody into custody, botched the investigation, and didn't even notify the families.

I mean, the incompetence is beyond description. And I don't understand how anybody still has a job after that kind of situation. I just want people to understand, even in the city manager form of government, council hires the city manager. Change the council, you can file the city manager. Who controls the police department? The city manager. So you make clear to the manager, we want to see changes in the police department hierarchy or city police chief, you're out. City manager, you're next. Y'all, I've seen it happen. Again, I covered city council in Fort Worth. It was a city manager form of government, and that's exactly what they did. They said, get your departments together, or we're going to sit here and bounce the city manager. Trust me, they don't want to lose their job. So we'll see again what happens there next

in Bridgeport. All right, folks, gotta go to break. We come back. Black farmers say PepsiCo not doing right by them. PepsiCo says, yes, we are. We'll talk with John Boyd, who leads the National Black Farmers Association, next right here on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Hi, this is Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I'd like to ask you a question. Is your life teetering under the weight and stress and pressures of everyday life? Well, let me tell you, balance isn't easy.

Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Living a Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, cheer ourselves on, and pull ourselves together, together, learn tips and tools that will help you with the everyday stressors. So join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. 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. Hello, everyone. It's Piera Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco.

And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. -♪ All right, folks. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Uh, let's talk about, uh, National Black Farmers. We've talked about the plight that they have been, the fight they've been involved in with the federal government when it comes to getting COVID relief money. Now the National Black Farmers Association president is calling out PepsiCo over what he calls empty promises. John Boyd says the company has been all talk and has not issued any contracts to black farmers after vowing to increase the number of contracts awarded last year.

He joins us now from Virginia. John, John, glad to have you on the show. So exactly what what's what's the issue that you have with PepsiCo? What's going on? Well, the issue, Roland, thank you for having me. The issue has been going on for a very, very long time. We've been challenging PepsiCo to do business with black farmers where we helped raise the issue about Aunt Jemima Pancake to face this on the box. They changed the picture on the box, but they didn't change the way that they do business. They aren't doing any contracts in the form of potatoes or corn, two things that every black farmer in this country can grow. I don't know a black farmer that can't grow a potato and a ear of corn.

And they refuse to do any contracts after leading us on for a year and a half. We met all of the criteria to grow the potatoes and corn, soil and contents and things of this nature. All of these things we can do. And we proved that to the company, PepsiCo. And after we'd done that, we crossed all the hurdles. At the 99th hour, when we were ready to move forward with contracts, the company says, oh, well, now we're going in a different direction. And we don't think that we're going to be contracting with black farmers. There's only two directions to go in here, black, which they don't have any black growers, or you continue to do more business with white farmers. All of their farmers' contracts are rolling are white men, white male farmers.

And it's time to change that. You know, they say these things and they put out these great diversity statements on how they're going to include blacks that never trickle down to the actual people who are supposed to be doing and benefiting from these contracts. So we reach out to PepsiCo with regards to the press release that you issued earlier. This is what they just sent us.

It is incorrect to equate our decision not to pursue a further relationship with John Boyd with a lack of interest in working with the farmers of the National Black Farmers Association or black growers in general. Unfortunately, despite our repeated requests made of John Boyd, we were unable to meet with NBFA members and were not given the opportunity

to assess their operational capabilities. As part of our racial equality journey, PepsiCo remains committed to increasing black representation in the agricultural supply chain and working with black growers on efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. We are proud that over the past two years, we have increased our spend with black growers on efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. We are proud that over the past two years, we have increased our spend with black suppliers by more than $150 million, including a significant increase in our spend with black-owned farms.

We're also proud to serve on the Corporate Advisory Board of the National Black Growers Council, working to further increase our spend with black growers and remove systemic barriers for their operations. Now, let's address the first item here. When they say we were unable to meet with NBFA members and were not given the opportunity to assess their operational capabilities. How do you respond to that? That's definitely not true, Roland. And they wanted us to give us intricate details about our membership list, where we invited PepsiCo to come out to our conference

and to be a speaker at our conference. And neither one happened. They're the ones who haven't been responsive. As a matter of fact, they haven't been responsive for years. And, you know, that's what these Fortune 500 companies do when leaders like myself call them out, when we called out John Deere. They'll run and find a black, a softer black face that will say nice things about the company. But in all reality, John Deere doesn't treat us any better than it did before. And PepsiCo comes out with a similar statement that John Deere just did. And all reality, we still don't have any contracts. After we met all of the criteria from soil samples, their specialists came out and said, hey, we should be doing business with you guys. And then they retract and say, you know, we want to go in a different direction.

That's what these companies do, and they need to be held accountable in the Black community, and other Black leaders should be accountable for their actions when they let these companies off the hook, and they don't provide any real subsident contracts and things that benefit, in this case, the Black farmers community across the board. So, okay. And so in terms of this, in terms of assessing operational capabilities, when you say they wanted the list, and so did y'all ever sit down and meet? Did you, did NBFA ever lay out, These are our, this, this is what our members are. This is our capability. Uh, and so, and so, and so were these in-person meetings,

were they Zoom meetings due to COVID and how often did y'all meet? Yes. And great questions. These are all Zoom calls. And, uh, the person, uh, that was at the table was Keith, Keith something at PepsiCo, who was supposed to be the buyer for potatoes and corn. And for the people that are watching, this isn't something new. These talks have been going on for a year and a half. And now all of a sudden they say they own somebody else's board. They're going to try to do something with other people. Roland, that's what these companies do to blacks and black leaders in this country. It's called divide and conquer.

And this is one time I'm not going to sit back and not say anything. It's not right when people sell you out and not get substance contracts and things for black farmers in this case, either in John Deere and in this case, PepsiCo. I'm not letting these companies off the hook. We met all the criteria. And like I said earlier, I don't know a black farmer in this country that can't grow a potato if he was provided a contract and can't grow an ear of corn if we were provided a contract. The issue here is PepsiCo hasn't granted us any contracts. They can do the same thing that they're doing with white farmers. I don't need a different contract than what they get. Give us the same opportunity to provide those goods and deliver

on time and see and give us the opportunity to fail here. And we were never able to give them that opportunity. And that's what these companies do to blacks in this country. Divide and conquer and wait us out. They waited until the Aunt Jemima thing calmed down. And then all of a sudden, we want to go in another direction or we're going to try to do something to work with some other people. And I'm here today to say on your show, Roland, because you've been a leader on these issues, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's time to draw the line in the sand with corporate America, and it's time for them

to deliver on Blacks and stop pimping us out here, because that's what they're doing. What is, for people, I mean, I got people in our chat room that are asking this question as well, and I got a question, I'm sure each of our panelists has a question. What is the National Black Growers Council? What council what is that some group they probably came up with they was helped to formulate with uh john deere's when uh they really came out and said that they were

going to uh support and uh work with a uh core group at john deere and the person who's head of that is an African-American male, Mark House, an executive with John Deere, who helped put the group together. And that's what they do, Roland, to try to go around when we put pressure where John Deere wasn't servicing black farmers, servicing white farmers and getting to black farmers in milling by harvest when they got good and ready. And I called them out on it, and they went and found some black faces to say, hey, John Deere is good. In all reality, John Deere still isn't servicing black farmers, and the way that we're greeted at these local racist dealers isn't any better than it was when I brought the issue out

on your show, Roland, a few years ago. And PepsiCo is probably doing the same thing. That's what these corporate people do. They use fancy lines such as, we're gonna move in another direction. That's a favorite line of corporate America, which simply say, we're not gonna do any business with you. And Black America needs to hold them accountable.

How many cans of Pepsi does a Black star drink not going to do any business with you. And black American needs to hold them accountable. How much, how many cans of Pepsi does a black star drink in this country, but we can't get a damn contract with them. And they're sitting there trying to tell me that something's right with that. And it's not, we can meet the demand. We can meet the capabilities. We can deliver and we can grow a damn Taylor, like we say in the country. And I can grow a unicorn, and PepsiCo is full of it on that statement. Any questions for our panel? Matt? Yes. Michael? I have a question. Matt, I'm sorry, what's your go?

Good evening, Brother Boyd. I have a quick question for you. Did your members do things like consultants or experts to determine what they would be able to do in terms of output? Like, what costs did your members incur based on the verbal agreement that Pepsi had that they were going to give you all contracts? Well, first of all, we used their people. It was their experts who came out and looked at the test of the soil and said that, you know, we met the criteria.

So it was their experts who said we met all the demands. And after we met the demands, I really pushed them to execute the contract. And they said, well, we're not going to do it this year. We're going to do it probably the first of this year, which would have been January. And we're just going to start on a smaller scale and build from there. And when it got on the Zoom call, that's when I was looking for the details on how to move forward with the contract. And all of these executives are on the Zoom call with me saying that PepsiCo would not be moving forward with Black farmers if they were going in a new direction.

And that's when I asked them, what direction is it? When all of your contracts, I want to be real clear on this show, all of their contracts for all of the years with PepsiCo have been with white male farmers, not a black farmer in this country has supplied a potato or a ear of corn to PepsiCo. And I think it's unacceptable that we let them slide on this type of thing. And we buy their products, Frito-Lays,

potato chips, and Pepsi can and Pepsi two-liter drinks. I think PepsiCo can do a lot better. Kelly? Sure. So, granted, PepsiCo is

like you just alluded to, an enormous conglomerate of goods, you know, from chips to foods, everything. But that being said, if they're not supporting Black business, obviously it's going to be hard to boycott Pepsi. You can't. I'm not going to, you know, discredit that. But in the interim, who can we support that will support you? Are there any other PepsiCo equivalents that are either Black-owned or Black-encouraging? Not encouraging, but, you know, endorsing, you know, in terms of buying Black, supporting Black business, et cetera. Like, are there companies out there that you already work with that we can support that in turn will support you? Del Monte has been good to the National Black Farmers

Association, and we're beginning to do some formal contracts with Del Monte. But, Roland, I did leave out as well that I'm looking to meet with the president of PepsiCo. I would like to sit down with him to get a more clearer direction of where they said there's new direction that they're going in. You know, what is it? What does it include? And, you know, why are we left out, I think, is, you know, what I would like to meet with the president about. And if there are any blacks that you know that have significant shares of PepsiCo, reach out to them and let them know that none of their business or contracts or potatoes or ear corn has went out to a black farmer in this country. And if their shareholders, they're way in at the shareholders meeting as to why we can't be a part of this company. That's the old reality.

Corporate 500 in this country has to start doing business with blacks in the form of contracts for other small black businesses, whether it's black farmers. These companies are getting away with not doing business with us, but we continue to be consumers and buy their products hand over fist every day. But we don't demand that they put some resources and commitment back into the black community. Well, and that's one of the things that we've been making when it comes to advertising things along those lines and and you know i i do i would love for look here's the deal we extended the invitation i would love a pepsico to come on the show

uh to share this when they say in their statement that they increased their speed with black suppliers by more than 150 million including a significant increase in our speed with black on farms i want to know what's that actual number when you say significant increase. And so I want to know what was the number before, what's the number now. It's the same thing that we asked of General Motors. We asked of McDonald's. We asked of Target, Walmart, all the companies that we were talking about. So when people were saying, hey, we're spending significant, we said, no, no, no.

What's significant? What's the actual number? And then what's the percentage? So we can then sit here and do the apples to apples comparison. I would love to do the exact same thing with PepsiCo. Michael, go right ahead. Brother Boyd, thanks for coming on and giving us this valuable information. In 2020, Pepsi's net revenue was $70 billion in North America, $70 billion.

Do you know what percentage of that $70 billion came from African-American consumers, one? And two, are you looking at, back in about 1981, Reverend Jesse Jackson, that a successful economic boycott against Coca-Cola, a nationwide boycott. Are you looking at doing something like that as well? Well, I tell you, that may be the next steps of looking at a national boycott against PepsiCo, because what we allow these companies to do is make these statements and put out these huge numbers. And we can't point to the people that are who they say are actually getting the business in the black community. As far as the total number of how much input or what we buy from

Pepsi Cola, I'm not sure what that number is. But I certainly have drunk Pepsi before and had a Frito-Lay potato chip. I'm not going to lie to you, but they aren't putting the resources back, not only for black, but for black businesses in this country. And they can do better. And if we band together, I believe this is one time we can hold PepsiCo's feet to the fire. And I'm asking other black leaders, don't be don't be sellouts. Make sure that there's something in it for everyone before we let a company off the hook. Just because they put out a fancy statement doesn't mean I'm going away or others. I'm not going away. Roller can tell you how long we've been at this game. A very, very long time. And thank you, Roller, for continuing to put black news in our living rooms and in our communities and our families so that they know what's going on out here.

This type of thing is very, very important. And also, I left that one piece. We can meet the demand as Black farmers if we're provided a contract. And I think that we can deliver just like any other farmer. So I want to put that piece to rest, that these companies keep alluding to the fact that we can't produce. I've been farming for 39 years, and I've never missed a crop season, whether it was a dry season or a bad season. I just finished harvesting 400 acres of soybeans. I had 300 acres of corn. People, I'm competing in the top three commodities in this country, corn, wheat, and soybeans, and I can fulfill a potato contract, and I certainly

can fill a corn contract for PepsiCo if we were provided that same opportunity as they're providing white farmers in this country. All right, then, John Boyd, National Black Farmers Association, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Fab. And just for our folks to know, again, this right here, the National Black Growers Council, this is their board of directors right here.

We'll be reaching out to them. Would love to have them on the show. This is their corporate advisory board. You see Frito-Lay, Farmer Credit Bank of Texas. You see Bungee North America Farmer Credit Bank of Texas. You see Bungee North America, John Deere, Bayer FMC, Great American Insurance. That's the corporate board members.

And so, and again, love to have PepsiCo on here. Our goal, just, and I need people to understand as we walk through this, when we talk about where's our money, we have these segments on the show. What we are doing is we are attempting to, what I call, reprogram black America. John Hope Bryant talks about a reboot. So what happens is, in the history of America,

we have been excellent consumers. We've been fantastic consumers. We have been amazing consumers of numerous products, soft drinks, fast food, cars, clothing. I mean, we can go on and on and on. Yet when we begin to talk about the money, then things begin to shift. Now what people have to understand is part of the problem here

is that when we have this discussion, a lot of times, the battle is with folk who look like us. Oh, I got people who hop on my Twitter page, my Instagram page, man, why are you out here begging white folks? dollars is spent every year on advertising in America and black-owned media should not be getting our

fair share? Is that what you're saying? Really? Henry, get a shot of my wall there. And if not, I got the graphic on my phone. Let me try to find it.

The thing that I'm trying to get people to understand is when I say we have to reprogram, because too many of us are tripping because you got somebody black who's saying yeah, I think we deserve what's ours economically. That's what Operation Breadbasket was about. That's what Reverend Leon Sullivan

was doing. That's what the black collectives were doing in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. That's what all this is. And so I'm not saying PepsiCo's right. PepsiCo's wrong. What I'm saying is John Boyd has made a claim. PepsiCo responded. I would love to know how much has been spent. How much are black farmers getting? Black farmers getting. Mm-hmm. Who's getting it? Because, see, if you tell me, if you tell me that, oh, we've increased our spend, okay,

what were you spending before? $1,000, $100,000? And then what's the increase now? By $100,000, $1 million? $2 million? Or was it $2 million before, $30 million now? What's the number? We are not

going to, and again, this is the thing that I have been sitting here saying to people. There are people out here and I see y'all. I see y'all comments. Y'all saying, reparations now. Okay? Who's going to vote for it?

And when is the vote going to take place? And then if they vote for it in the House, how's it pass the Senate? And then if it gets past the Senate, goes to the president for signing. Then it's going to be a lawsuit. John Boyd was just on. Their provisions in the bill passed by Biden and Congress

to give billions to black farmers. What happened? White farmers sued. Money's being held up. So what I'm arguing, while the people who support reparations Are fighting for reparations We should be demanding

Our fair share When it comes to Corporate America I told y'all Matter of fact I'm going to pull it up Just want y'all to understand Because I think a lot of people Y'all think I'm just throwing this stuff out here as if I'm crazy. Holmes Norton asked the General Accounting Office to do a report on the spending, on the spending

on federal government contracts for advertising. All this is related, y'all. So whether you're talking about advertising with black-owned media, contracts with black farmers, Matt's a lawyer. Contracts with black attorneys. Y'all remember the General Counsel of Coca-Cola said to the major law firms, hey, you know what? Y'all ain't getting this thing right. We're going to start snatching contracts.

Ooh, law firms got really upset. But he said, that's the only way we're going to fix this thing. So all of this is the same. So pick the industry. Black folks ain't getting their fair share. I mean, I don't care if we're going to fix this thing. So all of this is the same. So pick the industry. Black folks ain't getting their fair share. I mean, I don't care what it is. I don't care what it is. We ain't getting it.

In this report, you'll see that it says it right here. The 41-page report revealed that over the past five years, five fiscal years, federal government agencies spent $5 billion in advertising. $327 million went to minority-owned businesses. Black-owned businesses netted just $51 million, about $10 million per year over the five years covered. That means that black-owned businesses received 1% of the total federal advertising contracts. 1%.

Do you know what's the difference between us getting 10% and 1%? Easy. If I show you the CNN D.C. offices, multiple floors across from Union Station, if I took you to NBC News Channel, where we used to do my TV One show. Multiple floors. And I show you black-owned media. Maybe one

office on one floor. That's what happens when you get 1%. That was 1% over five years, y'all. So what we are trying to do with this show is to get you to understand our political power and where we're lacking,

our economic power, where we're lacking, dealing with health and all these issues, because we have to change the dynamics for the future. We have to be thinking, Matt, Kelly, Michael, with a legacy mentality. We have to be thinking that, okay, I've got to ensure that I'm changing the game for the next generation. So they're not having to fight over 1 percent 25 years from now. That is 5 or 8 percent or 10 percent by then. But we've got to have those who are watching. And I see somebody sat here and said, Michael, rebuild Black Wall Street.

You cannot rebuild Black Wall Street if you do not reprogram Black people to buy Black-owned products. Right. And for a lot of folks, this is a theoretical discussion versus a real-life discussion. Michael. This is an extremely important discussion, Roland. Number one, one of my teachers, Dr. Claude Anderson, has been teaching for years, we have to renegotiate

our relationship with corporate America. And this is exactly what John Boyd and you were talking about. Because we spend billions of dollars a year with these white corporations. They take our money and give contracts to white small businesses, white-owned businesses,

white farmers, things like this. And then our businesses, our advertising agencies, our media can't grow like they should because we're being locked out of these contracts. So this is extremely important, and we need to take this.

We need to hold all these corporations that we spend dollars with each year accountable for this because power can seize nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will. And when you talk about Black Wall Street, it's important for people. I've done lectures dealing with the history of Black Wall Street. I've studied it extensively. One, there were poor Black people in Black Wall Street. So don't act like there wasn't poor Black people there. Yes, we can rebuild

it, but you have to have some certain things. But the foundation of Black Wall Street, a lot of those early landowners in North Tulsa, okay, the Black business district was called Black Wall Street or the Greenwood district. A lot of those early landowners got land from the federal government through the Black-Freedman-Indian Treaties of 1866 also. And lastly, when we talk about reparations, what people miss is what you laid out. One, it has to pass

the House of Representatives and the Senate. You can't name me ten Republicans in the Senate that are going to vote for reparations. You can't name one. You can't name one. Scott already said he ain't going to vote for it. You can't name one. He's Black. He ain't going to vote for it. You can't name one. He's black. He ain't going to vote for it. The only people that support reparations are Democrats.

Go to congress.gov, look up HR 40 2021, 117th Congress. All the co-sponsors, last time I checked, there's 190 co-sponsors. They're all Democrats. And then you have to be able to keep it once you get it. If somehow you do get it, it's going to be challenged in the courts as you just laid out. This is why federal federal judges are important. Federal judges are nominated by the president. This is why U.S. Supreme Court justices are important. Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president as well. Confirmed by the Senate as well as federal judges. So we have to understand how all these pieces come together and get past

this theory and actually understand the process of bringing into fruition what it is that we say that we want. I'll tell you, Kelly, it is quite interesting when and I said this and people thought I was I said this last night

and I want to bring this up again because I think it's a perfect example of what we're talking about. And that is when we begin to, we talk about demanding fair share, we talk about, you know, what's ours, what we should be getting and all sorts of stuff like that. It's amazing to me when I have folk, man, they validate, they argue, they fight.

And I tell people about priorities. I posted this three days ago, Kelly. Go to my computer. And I said, I really wish 50 Cent and all the actors on these stars shows would ask execs in Lionsgate why they spend virtually no money on advertising with black-owned media.

They're building their network on black eyeballs. They want their talent on our shows but spend no ad dollars. I'm 100% with black folks in front of the camera and behind the camera, but the ecosystem media extends beyond that. I get inundated with press releases from these media companies,

get pitched to have their talent on Roland Martin Unfiltered, before this, Tom Jordan, TV One, and all the black newspapers I have run. Yet when we inquire about advertising, crickets. So our shows are good enough to have talent come on, but not to advertise. I wish more black actors, producers, and directors

would ask these networks these type of questions and demand they support black-owned media. good enough to have talent come on but not to advertise. I wish more black actors, producers, and directors would ask these networks these type of questions and demand they support black-owned media. Hashtag black-owned media manners. Now why did I say that? It's because we demand our black actors to get better parts and better roles. We demand better diversity and inclusion on the screen.

What I'm arguing to those black actors, y'all got to be doing the exact same thing when it comes to resources. But I'm going to show you again priorities. On that particular item, it got 362 hearts, 43 comments. I posted about Fox likely ending Our Kind of People, a show that's on Fox, black talent, network we don't own. Go to my computer.

You'll see right here. Folks, 8,255 hearts, 2,521 comments. So Kelly, on one post, I'm talking about

black economics. 43 comments. I'm here, I'm talking about a black targeted show on a network that we don't own 2,521 comments. We also got to look at our priorities. Go ahead. I understand what you're saying and everything you've said thus far is valid.

However, when you compare posts like that, tying it back to what Michael just said, you're not going to need... Like, there were poor people in Black Wall Street as well. Similarly, you're not going to need all 8,000 of those hearts to get what you need accomplished when it comes to getting Black media dollars. Yes, you do.

If anything, you might just need however many hearts you had on the original post regarding Black media advertising matter. Nope, you need 8,000. I'm sorry? You need 8,000. You know why? You know why? You know why? You know what Starz is going to do?

Starz is going to go, I just see 43 comments. Oh, trust me. I have been in these negotiations. When they see 2,500 comments they go oh shit when they see 40 they go y'all we good

trust me I guarantee you I'm just gonna give you an example I'm not gonna name the company we went after one company last year the company called a black after one company last year. The company called a black ad agency and said,

can you get us the impressions on Roland's post? The black company called me. They said, Roland, can you send me the impressions? So we pulled together that video that was on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, all platforms. Sent the impressions on a Friday night. No, no, I got the call on a Friday night. I sent the impressions on a Saturday morning.

They were meeting with me on Monday. But if my impressions were low, Kelly, wouldn't have been a meeting. Oh, I can get... Oh, they have... I know for a fact, they click on our Instagram page to see, oh, we good. It's about 20, 30 comments.

Oh, shit. 1,000 people commented. We need to do that meeting. Trust me. They pay attention. And that's also very valid, which is all the more reason I kind of want to go back to talking about Black farmers,

which was the beginning of this segment, because if what you say is true, and I believe it is, you have no reason to lie about it, we need as many impressions regarding Black farmers getting what they need out of these big companies so that they can do the work that they feel like they were put on this earth to do, which is farming. So shout out to Del Monte, who has a plethora of product as well. Not as much as PepsiCo, but substantial enough for us to know that name and have a weight in regards to our lexicon regarding groceries and product. Kudos to them for actually supporting

Black farmers and shout out to those in the future, those companies in the future who want to support Black farmers as well, but PepsiCo definitely needs to get on the ball and hopefully other companies like Del Monte will follow. The thing that I'm trying to impress upon the people who are watching and I'm looking

at their comments, Matt, is to understand when we click like, when we post a comment, keep it going, it impacts the deal-making and What I am saying to our people When we are quick to comment on a show that features black people, but that we don't own on a network that we don't own a Network that does not actually employ a lot of us But then when they didn... But then folk like, man, we need black media talking about our story. Y'all, we can't cover the stories

if we can't pay staff to cover them. Precisely. Precisely. I mean, people have to patronize, uh, our own. And beyond that, what we all know is going to happen in four days is all of these Fortune 500 companies are going to start putting hip-hop back in its commercials, right, so that they can advertise to us. And then the other 11 months of the year, they can do what they choose, which is not giving us our fair share. And beyond that, what I found particularly interesting about Brother Boyd's segment is he used the word pimped, which I thought was really important. Because what this company did is sat at the table with them for months on end, told them everything they needed to do to meet the capacities and to get the contracts.

They did that. They proved it. And then the company went back on it and said, you know what, we're not going to do business with y'all after all. I guarantee you they're not doing that to the National Farmers Organization. And every one of these companies that's going to try to sell us a bill of goods in February saying we care about black

people, we know it's BS. We know it's BS because you're not giving us our fair share. And again, PepsiCo denies that and here's the deal. I got no problem having PepsiCo on. I got no problem doing whatsoever and I still want to know what's the spin. And let me be clear. If a company is doing right,

we're going to put the information out. Ain't going to be a problem. I got no problem doing it. If PepsiCo comes and says, yo, here are the numbers, John wrong. Got it. That's fine. This is why we have no problem putting information out.

But what I'm trying to argue to our people, and yes, I got the company sitting there going, Roland, what's your Black History Month plan? I'm like, y'all know I do black every day. Right. So don't, see, I'm telling y'all, I'm telling, man, y'all would be blown away if y'all heard some of the conversations that we've had to have with people

who are like, Roland, do you have a Black History Month calendar? I'm like, yeah, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January. July, August, September, October, November, December, January. They're like, I'm sorry, what do you mean? I'm like, I don't only talk to black people and about black people in one month, 28 days.

So how about y'all support us 12 months? And then people get real quiet and then don't return emails. All right, y'all. We're going to keep fighting the fight. And again, appreciate John coming on. Appreciate PepsiCo with the statement. Again, I want to see numbers. And that's important

to give facts to the audience. All right, y'all. We come back. We'll be joined by Texas State Senator Jasmine Crockett. We'll be joined by Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Y'all can believe this story. A white Republican came forward and like, yeah, yeah. Oh, it's voter suppression. Yeah, yeah, yeah, always voter suppression.

Yeah, we violating the Voting Rights Act. Signed. I'll explain next to Roland Martin and the filter. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Nå er vi i Norske Norske. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wel... Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape. With me, Dr. Gregg 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. Hey, I'm Cupid, the maker of the Cupid Shuffle and the Wham Dance.

What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan. And if you're ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Y'all ain't gonna believe this. In a sworn statement, a retiring Republican Texas state senator said he believes the GOP violated federal voting laws when they redistricted Senate District 10 in the Fort Worth area.

In November, Texas Senator Kel Seliger said, having participated in the 2011 and 2013 Senate Select Redistricting Committee proceedings and having read the prior federal court decision regarding SD-10, it was obvious to me that the renewed effort to dismantle SD-10 violated the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. Y'all, he literally signed this in affidavit. Now, Texas maps were redrawn and approved by Governor Greg Abbott in October. Some of them diluted the voting power of minority voters and increased districts with majority whites. Joining us now is State Representative Jasmine

Crockett of Texas. This has to be quite surprising to you to have one of your Texas legislature colleagues, a white Republican, come out and say, yeah, my party in this district deliberately wanted to violate the Voting Rights Act? First of all, Roland, it's good to see you. You know, people don't understand what all goes on behind the scenes. Our lieutenant governor's race is a race that nobody is really talking about. But people don't understand how much power our lieutenant governor's race is a race that nobody is really talking about. But people don't understand how much power our lieutenant governor has. And so to me, this is a result of the war that the lieutenant governor decided to wage, not only on Democrats, but on some of the Republicans as well.

If they didn't line up fast enough or quick enough, he decided that he was going after them. And so you saw a number of Republicans that retired that didn't want to retire. They retired because he messed their districts up. And so I think this is a little bit of that backlash for him going after some of his own. And for folks who don't know, in Texas, the lieutenant governor controls the Texas state Senate. They literally have more power than the governor in Texas. That's how that goes. Jasmine, Representative Crockett, it's been a constant battle in Texas when it comes to voting rights. They're being sued. The Department of Justice is also going after them as well.

But these are the type of shameful things Republicans are doing to hold onto power. Oh, absolutely. It's a matter of by any means necessary. They don't really care about fairness and they know that they're wrong. They knew that they were wrong when they did it. The difference is they felt as if they had all the cards in the deck. They felt as if it didn't matter because the federal courts weren't going to side with us. They felt as if it didn't matter because even if it went to the Supreme Court, by the time it gets to the Supreme Court, we'll probably be looking at redistricting again. They also thought that because the Voting Rights Act had been gutted for the vast majority of it, that it still wouldn't matter. So they thought they had all the cards. And that's why we were fighting so hard for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and fighting for something, even when Republicans kept saying that we just wanted to ignore our jobs.

No, we were fighting. And if you will remember, it was the Texas House that decided to leave. The Texas Senate did not break quorum. Both chambers could have broken quorum, but it was only one chamber that did. And so if people just better understood how powerful that man is and how he wages his power amongst like everyone, then they would understand kind of what was at play here. You know, Beverly Powell is somebody that historically has worked across the aisle. And so it seems like she was able to reach across the aisle to a colleague and say, listen, we both got messed up, but you know what happened to my district was wrong by law. Please stand with me. And he was in a position where he had nothing to lose. And so he told the truth. The sad part is this happened in both chambers. This was the whole point of everything that they were doing. They knew they were wrong.

They knew that we had 95 percent of our growth due to people of color. And they knew that they never intended to have any new majority minority districts in the state of Texas when it came to the congressional district. Well, look, it is a continual battle that we see all across this country. And the bottom line is this here. The battle continues. We saw today where a court in Pennsylvania threw out the the ability to vote for no excuse voting. Donald Trump is gloating in this. But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court

could very well overturn that decision. And so the battle continues in the courts, which is why we keep trying to explain to people, you got to vote because guess what? Those judges are also on the ballot as well. And when Republicans control the bench, then they can pass the laws as well. They're guaranteeing the laws will never get overturned

because they control the bench. Absolutely. I mean, you bring up another good point. We had 40 to 60 percent so far of our vote by mail applications that have been thrown out in the state of Texas under the new law, 40 to 60 percent. Now, when we look at the fact that Trump lost for those of those those people that don't know, when we look at the fact that Trump lost, for those people that don't know, when we look at the fact that Trump lost, we saw that there was a lot of vote by mail. We saw that Democrats, especially in the midst of the pandemic, were preferring to do vote by mail. And so when you see these sinister laws that were going through the state houses, then you better understand what the overall scheme was. It's what we kind of have been yelling and screaming about since this summer.

But so many people wanted to ignore us or ignore the fact that we continue to say that our democracy was crumbling right before our eyes. We see that we can't even rely on the courts. And so the only legislature that seemingly has the power to make a difference right now is the federal legislature. That's where the Democrats control the House, the Senate, as well as the executive position. That is where we have to get some sort of help. Because when you're looking at states like Georgia or Texas or Florida, it ain't coming out of the state houses. It's going to have to come from the big house. And so we are hoping and praying that, you know, they come up with a creative way to work through this filibuster block that we have on the U.S. Senate side.

Because it's not about just Texas. It's about this entire country. And honestly, if you see the democracy in the United States start to fail, then what's going to happen around this world? We are the ones that normally go in and tell everybody that, hey, we want a democracy, dictatorships and authoritarianism. It's wrong, right? It's not the way of the world.

We're the ones that say that. But it's more like, don't pay attention to what I do. Just pay attention to what I say. So we've got to do better. And I really need to see some courage on the federal level soon. Well, I wish Arizona Senator Kristen Sinema and Senator Joe Manchin would wake the hell up and realize what's going on across the country. Representative Jasmine Crockett, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks.

Faith leaders across the nation are urging the NFL to move the 2023 Super Bowl from Arizona as the state moves to enact voter restriction laws. In this letter, more than 200 faith leaders signed will sit to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, after Arizona GOP lawmakers proposed a bill that would allow them to reject election results. According to the proposal, if legislators reject the results, a voter could then file in court to have the state hold a new election.

In addition, if passed, the proposal would make other changes in the state's election procedures, including eliminating Arizona's early voting by mail program and requiring election workers to hand count ballots. You know, we're seeing these type of utterly ridiculous things all across the country, Kelly. And again, what people need to understand, none of this is happenstance. This is a heavily funded, clear, precise assault on voting by the Republican Party because they know if they can shave off 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,000 votes, they know they win Arizona in 2020. They win Georgia in 2020. They know that's what's

going on. And so people have to understand why folks like us, why civil rights organizations are taking this so seriously, because if they are successful, as Jasmine said, if they got the legislature and they got the courts, they can literally rig the elections in their favor, even if 55 or 60% of the people in the state vote Democrat, they'll still control all the levers of power. You're talking about how Republicans are saying if they can just get a certain number. I mean, we saw, or at least heard,

the footage of Donald Trump asking the Georgia voting commissioner, however the title is, asking for the exact number of votes needed in order to beat Donald Trump. Look, just go get me $11,000. $11,405. He ain't saying $12,000.

I was just like, that's specific. So they know exactly which numbers that they need. But on top of that, what I found most interesting about this entire situation regarding the redistricting in Texas, on top of the fact that this man just straight up said, yeah, we did it. But in his rationale, in the article that I read, it says, quote, the Voting Rights Act says, if you can create a district in which a, and this is the important part, historically marginalized minority can elect a candidate of their choice, you must draw that district. So that is the clause that they used in order to make this happen and have it within legal boundaries.

But what's more insidious about this is that it implies that white people are historically marginalized minorities in Texas. I just want that to sit in for a second and how absurd that sounds altogether. The fact that he was able to basically say that white people are historically marginalized and a minority in Texas, and that's why the redistricting needed to be the way it was. That's crazy. Uh, Matt, you're there in Texas. People look...

And it's not... People go, -"Oh, it's Texas." -"No, it's Texas. It's Arizona. It's Georgia. It's Arizona. It's Georgia. It's Florida. It's Alabama. It's Tennessee. It's Arkansas. It's anywhere where Republicans are in control. They trying to pull the okey-doke in New Hampshire!

We know what time it is. We know what time it is. We know their game plan. We know exactly what they're doing. We see what they're doing. But if I may, Roland, if you'll indulge me, first, I want to shout out Rep Crockett, who's actually running for Congress and who is a fighter in this state. So she was too humble to say it, but we absolutely need to support that sister because we need her in the big house, as she said, fighting against this. This is the game plan. Now, what I think is interesting is there's actually precedent for this as it relates to Arizona, because back in 1991, it's my understanding that issue. The Super Bowl is going to generate millions of dollars. So telling the NFL, hey, unless you get this right and because of this voting rights bill in Arizona,

unless you move this, you know, you're going to have issues. That's how you hit people in the pocket, and that's how you hold them accountable. And I'm hoping that it gets some traction because the Arizona legislature, just like all these other legislatures, are straight up saying we don't care about a certain group of people and there's nothing you can do about it. And here's our game plan to keep marginalizing them.

We can't continue to allow that to happen. Michael. Yeah, Roland, this is another example of leveraging our economics to enforce our politics. But you only do this if you respect yourself. You only protect what you respect. You only protect what you respect. You only protect what you respect. So they should definitely do this. And if the Super Bowl is not moved by 2023, when it takes place in Arizona, we should not watch it. I haven't watched the NFL game since Colin Kaepernick left the league. So you know I'm down with this.

Absolutely. So when you just talked about Texas and the voter suppression bill in Texas, people need to go back and read the article that Ari Berman wrote for Mother Jones in about May of 2021 that dealt with Heritage Action, the Heritage Action Organization, which is the sister organization to the Heritage Foundation. And Jessica Anderson, who's the CEO of Heritage Action, was caught on tape talking about how it was their organization that crafted the voter suppression bill in Georgia, Senate Bill 202, and then how they were crafting similar bills in Republican state legislatures that are being pushed by Republicans. This stuff didn't just all happen by itself. It's orchestrated and funded,

and then once the bills pass the state legislature, then Heritage Action and other organizations put pressure on the governors to quickly sign the bills into law. So we have to understand how all this comes together. Just like that effort is funded, the voter suppression, the fake attacks on critical race theory is funded by dark money groups as well. So we have to get smarter and leverage our economics and force our politics and launch economic withdrawal strategies against many of these corporations who are financing many of these Republicans who are voting against our own interests and suppressing our votes. Absolutely.

Alright, folks. Gotta go to a break. We come back. We're gonna give the information regarding the McDonald's HBCU scholarship deadline on February 28th. Trust me, y'all, $15,000 scholarship. There's seven of them. So, I don't think you wanna miss that. I'll give you those details.

And also, the power of tutoring in our next segment as well. And a Florida state rep just lays it out over the issue of critical race theory. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app on all platforms, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Samsung TV,

Xbox as well. So again, download on all the platforms. And then of course, support us with your resources. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. Cash app is Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, RM Martin Unfiltered, Venmo is RM Unfiltered, Zale is Roland at RolandSMartin.com,

Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I'll be right back. Nå er det en avorske Norske. Hi, this is Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I'd like to ask you a question. Is your life teetering under the weight and stress and pressures of everyday life? Well, let me tell you, balance isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Living a Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, cheer ourselves on, and pull ourselves together, together. Learn tips and tools that will help you with the everyday stressors. 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. It's a huge part of our lives, and we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. I'm Bill Dukes. 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. Alright folks, if you have a student who's attending an HBCU, that's right, and they're looking for financial assistance, then they can apply for seven of these scholarships. I'm partnering with McDonald's in honor of the 115th anniversary of Alpha Phi Alpha. Our seven founders, the seven jewels, that's why we're giving seven scholarships. They're $15,000 each. Now, again, you must be enrolled full-time as an undergraduate, junior, or senior at an HBCU during the 2022-2023 academic school year.

To apply, go to tmcf.org, tmcf.org. That's the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. And, again, all the details are on there, all the requirements, what you need, you know, all the stuff is on there. The eligibility requirements is all there. The deadline again is February 28th. February 28th.

And so we want as many of you to apply as possible because this is about, of course, keeping the students in school. The reason I specifically asked to do this, because there are a lot of students who cannot afford to stay, people who get to their junior year, they don't have the resources. Again, now you have an opportunity to land one of these seven $15,000 scholarships.

And so, we appreciate McDonald's and Thurgood Marshall Fund. We're all partnering in this. And again, it is about keeping our students in schools. Speaking about keeping our students in school, folks, that is tutoring matters. And look, bottom line is this here. A lot of students don't necessarily get all they need in the classroom from teachers. And so as a result, they've got to have some additional help when it comes to their classes. So it's not complicated education. It's not complicated education.

It's a tutoring business that focuses on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and standardized test preparation. The company uses an individualized and fun approach to tutoring. The virtual component allows students to access their services across the country. Joining us now from Dallas to share more information about the company is Jay Veal, founder and CEO of Inc. Education. Jay, glad to have you.

And so, how does this program work? How does this program work in terms of tutoring? Is it all virtual? Do you have people who are appearing in person? How does it work? Yes, sir. So first of all, thank you so much for bringing me on, Roland. Great to see you. Glad to be here. So Inc. Education was started actually in the middle of 2015 and is a program that encompasses tutoring services or education services dedicated towards STEM, but we do all subjects from K to doctoral level, not just K to 12. We tutor students at every level for everything. They can get tutoring virtually and or in person. And in addition to that, we don't do just the

tutoring services, but we include mentoring services, we do resume reviews and writing, literature reviews, ghost writing for those that wanna be authors, and a whole lot more services in this space. But we tailor our services from K to doctoral in the general scheme of things. So you've been doing this for seven years, and so how many students have you worked with, assisted?

Yeah, so we have helped over 11,000 students now in the education space. We have a success rate so far at a 95% success rate of our students of color and all students at this point, but primarily students of color getting A's and B's in over 50 different content areas throughout the United States. Our team is very vast. We have about 85 people on our team throughout five to six cities in the United States, between Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, D.C., Austin, Atlanta, and Houston. We're a primary millennial-based team, so we relate more so to the

students of today. But the main thing is this. There's not a tutoring company that really focuses on building solid relationships. And in education, relationships is key for the students to be successful. We build relationships with the students and the parents first, include different stakeholders into the process of their learning. So parents, teachers, counselors, students, and our team to make sure everybody's on one page academically and pedagogically, we mentor our students and then provide them back-end support. So it's a 360-degree system that we utilize so students don't have anywhere else to go but up in success. And it's been proven through our numbers and our timeline throughout the six years why we're so successful in what we do as a tutoring brand.

All right. Questions from our panel. So first up, Matt, what you got? Well, first, thank you for providing this service and congratulations on the extraordinary efficacy. My question was just how do people get connected with a tutor in particular?

So obviously if they find the service, what is the vetting process to determine, I guess, who would be best for their needs and precisely how to help them accomplish their goals? Yeah, absolutely. Great question. So first off, one of the things that we do differently in our process of hiring our tutors on the team and our staff in general, we don't go through a hiring company. We don't go through a staffing company. But what we do is you cannot make it on our team unless you're recommended through a senior level executive or a C-suite member on the team and or you're recommended

internally through a regional manager. So that's one thing. Because of that, we tend to bring on very high quality individuals on our team who are tutoring consultants to work with. Now, once somebody comes into the fold and wants tutoring services, what we do is we have the consultation that's complimentary to our clientele or to our students and our parents. deep into building that relationship with them, finding out what they need, where their history has been, how we can utilize an ecosystem of support to make sure that they're successful, and then we pair them with a tutor on our team. That pairing process is not just, hey, here's somebody on our team, boom,

you're going to work with this person. We take a lot of time to really figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the student, how we can move that along to the tutor that's going to work with them. Does their personality match? Can they mentor that man, that man, the young man or that young woman effectively

to bring them up in our organization as great students? Are they able to succeed in the timeline that we're working with? Do they want to do virtual? Do they want to do in the timeline that we're working with do they want to do virtual do they want to do in person do they have any learning disabilities like all those kinds of things are what we look for to not ensure to ensure building a relationship and to pair them with the right person and once that's done uh we make sure that they're successful through learning plans and then we check in with those if they're at schools that uh they have a teacher in in the classroom obviously right so we're gonna work with that teacher to say hey

we know on the front end you're working with them and on the back end we're also working with them so what kind of things have you noticed um that that student needs to work on we'll take we'll take that information and data and then we'll make sure that on the back end we have everything else covered. And we do check-ins with that teacher for tests and quizzes and all those things that they do on their end so we can effectively work with them and bring them to success. Kelly. Sure. So I'm sure you have, you know, countless testimonials about the success of your program, but if you can share like your favorite one of a child who's been helped in the best way through this program and

what they're doing now. Man, I would say one student actually attends Prairie View A&M University right now. I have actually been tutoring this student. It's an awesome young female here who is from Dallas. And I've been tutoring her since eighth grade. So we've been bringing her up for the past, let's see, four or six years now within our organization. She actually came into the company not necessarily wanting to get tutoring or liking tutoring or really wanting to get that help. She's kind of a little bit resistant at first. But oftentimes when you kind of take that barrier down, let them know that you're really there for them and you really have their best interests at stake.

The barrier gets broken down a little bit. So at this point, you know, she wasn't doing so well in school, you know, was making C's in classes or making D's in classes. And to this day now, not only did she graduate high school, you know, with an A average and at this point loved tutoring and wanted to come. You know, every time we had a session, she was excited about it. She was writing notes down all the time. Her parents were very excited about the process, and her grades were increasing when she graduated and then went to school. I was able to tutor her then for test prep in the ACT and the SAT.

She got into school with some scholarship money, and now she's in her junior year at Prairie View, wanting to be a veterinarian doctor. So she's making her way through all the science and STEM courses and still utilizes us currently right now to make sure she's on the pathway to graduation there so she can effectively go to med school. As a matter of fact, last week, she just hit us up and was like, hey, I need statistics help now. So we continue to guide the pathway and bring our kids up, you know, within a five to six year, five to six year timeline sometimes. But once they're in, they love to stay. But our goal is

we're not trying to make you stay into tutoring, but we want you to learn enough information and be so successful that you can then teach your peers and let them be successful as well. All right, Michael. Wow. All right. This is a great concept, Jay. I was wondering, how do you, what type of support do you offer once they leave the program? I understand the example you just gave, and that's fantastic, but is there a support mechanism once they graduate from the program? What type of services do you offer support? Absolutely. So once a student graduates either from high school, going to college and or college, going to the corporate world or to,

you know, the real world, as we say it, right, in education, we provide them mentorship into the careers that they want to go into. The cool thing about our organization is that we have multiple different people in different careers on our team. We have educators, instructional coaches, IT consultants, engineers, shout out to NSBE. I was a part of NSBE. A lot of folks that was in NSBE out there.

A med school students. We have doctors and pharmacists. All of these different careers that we're able to encapsulate on the team, we can share with the students, hey, I, being able to share pathways with them on different careers that they can have and how they can get there. Two, if they still need tutoring support when they graduate high school and or college, they're still able to reach out to us and we become that person to work with them. Three, we're also a big brother and sister to these students. So oftentimes it's not just about the education and the tutoring. Sometimes the student may come and say, you know what? I'm having an issue with bullying.

I'm having an issue with, you know, with a disability that I have. I'm having an issue with communicating with some students that I have issues with. Like I have an issue with, you know, with social and emotional learning and those kinds of things. They're able to come to us. And it's not about about just hey i you're coming to see me during tutoring but it's about i i'm here for you i care for you as a person i care for you as a student and your family is part of our family and our and us as tutors are part of your family. So when we're working with students, it's about an extension to the family.

And that's what everybody that works with us calls us as. You know, we're working with Inc. Tutoring or Inc. Education, but we're also working with somebody who has now become an extension of our family. And we have a lot of people that come to us who we tutor their whole family, from their kids to some of their cousins and the whole nine. So that's what makes the difference and kind of how we do that.

I did a TED Talk on building relationships with students of color, and that's very important across the board. All right, what's the website? Website is inkeducationllc.com. If anybody wants to come on the social media side of the house, we have IncEducation on Instagram.

Twitter is IncEducation, LLC. You can find us on LinkedIn as well and basically any other platform out there. We ran this thing from knocking on doors. We got it. It was a one-man show to now we're the top minority-owned private tutoring company in the United States. All right. All right, J. Bill, we appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Good luck with it.

Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Thank you so very much. I want to thank Matt, Kelly, and Michael for being on today's show. Thank you so very much. I'll be sure to see you all next week. We're going to close the show out with this here, y'all, this speech in Florida. Their controversial stop woke bills, oh my goodness, is passed through committee, but not without some pushback from a black Florida lawmaker, Ramon Alexander. I wanted to play

for y'all how he fought against this. There was still a two and a half hour discussion and debate. The committee passed it on the 14-7 party line vote, but he laid it down pretty good, and I love how he just broke it down, so we're going to end our show

showing y'all this. Check this out. Actually, it was not going to debate, but the last debate was actually offensive, and you know, I'm really sick of this stuff you know

and it takes a lot to even mentally prepare to participate in this type of situation you know I woke up this morning

early just to attempt to spiritually prepare myself. And so I hear about guilt and feeling a certain type of way. But you can only imagine how I feel just reading the bill. We can talk about subjectivity. We could talk about subjectivity we can talk about objectivity but when it's all said and done and I'm gonna say this as professionally that I can y'all got to find another way to communicate to your base you got to find another way to communicate. Representative Alexander, if you can keep it to the comment, your comments to the bill

and not direct it to the motivations of the members that are on the committee in either party please. Thank you. Yes, Madam Chair, but I think the motivations is the reason why we're having the bill. I understand that that may be your belief and why you think it's motivations, but we are not speaking about motivations. We are speaking about the content of the bill, and we have done a very good job of staying on the content of the bill

during the conversation today. So I would appreciate you trying to stay in that space as well. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I did that for a reason, to show you exactly what's going to happen in our school system. So let's try this out, for example. Let's go to the classroom, and the teacher talks about and explains what happened in slavery.

They go through the basic details, started in 1619. They give some input about slavery, some basic textbook things. And then the inquisitive student raises their hand. They say, well, Madam Teacher, why did it happen? Why did slavery happen? And then they may even add, how did it happen? And then the teacher steps they may even add how did it happen and then the teacher steps back and now what does the teacher do because there's going to be some subjectivity and opinion in their view when i was taught in school i was taught taught that Lincoln freed the slaves. I was taught that there was a civil war

and that determined and the civil war was fought because of slavery. Well, the civil war didn't start because of slavery. And do you know I know that because I was taught how to critically think. I remember taking a religion class in college. You're talking about a young man that was baptized at an early age dad's chairman of the deacon board mother is the chairman of the women's congress for the primitive baptist church go to church on monday go to church on wednesday go to church on friday boy scouts in the church every all day church and to sit in a religion class at my university and to hear different perspectives about the old testament and the new testament i had to develop the capacity to critically think for myself and determine what is and what's not and so this is a huge waste of time

and i have to all i have to literally and i'm going to debate the bill on the floor but i have to literally in the merits of the bill but i have to literally ask myself is this really worth it you know we have we have 29 physically constrained counties in florida and 28 of them vote the same way every single time. Think about it. People are struggling. They are living paycheck

to paycheck. A lot of them don't have a paycheck. And so instead of addressing systemic poverty, instead of addressing all of these issues that impact people's quality of life, we are using these distraction tools because you know what? If race didn't matter, if all these issues didn't matter, we wouldn't have this bill if race didn't matter and this stuff didn't pull well to get people to come out and vote and cause a dadgum insurrection we wouldn't have these type of bills and so we do it over and over again and we find the next boogeyman to distract from the reality that 28 of these 29

counties keep voting for you instead of addressing the issues that impact people's quality of life every day. I don't want to do this, but I don't think you can handle the truth. I do not like having conversations like this. It eats me up on the inside, because I know there's some admirable, good people over there. And half of y'all are uncomfortable with voting for this bill yourself. But you don't want to get primaried in your election. And so, no, I'm going to stop, because maybe I am inappropriate right now, but I'm going to speak the truth.

The last thing is, for a representative to say that race doesn't matter, what ozone layer are you on? Representative Alexander, those comments are inappropriate. No, it's not inappropriate. His comments, his comments. No, no, no. Please, please, please.

Listen, his comments are inappropriate. Representative Alexander. But my question is, I'm going to stop here. Why didn't you stop him when he made his comments? His comments were just as offensive to me that my comments are to you. I'll stop. But this is... Representative Alexander?

No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. We are done with debate. I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop. And I won't say anything. I'm going to end it here. And I respect you with the utmost respect. I'm going to stop. Let me say this.

We are better than this. I love America with all my heart and soul. And in spite of everything that has happened in America, I'm here because I love this country. I went to the Florida American Legion Boys State Program.

And the mission of that program is for God and country. And every time I stand up and I say the Pledge of Allegiance, I do it with pride and I do it with dignity. Every time I sing the Star Spangled Banner, I do it because I love our country. When I became a student senator at Florida Indian Diversity, the first bill that I introduced as a student senator was to make sure that the American flag was posted in the student senate chamber and that we recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Because after my first two meetings, I realized that the student Senate

did not have the American flag posted in the student Senate chamber. And we did not do the Pledge of Allegiance. So what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm not anti-American, but I am an American. And my voice matters just as much as your voice. My opinion matters just as much as your opinion. My reality matters just as much as your opinion. And you can't handle the truth. You cannot handle the truth.

Representative Ramon Alexander will be on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network next week. Alright folks, don't forget we've got some fantastic shows debuting next week. It's right beginning on Monday, folks. It's going to be great. Of course, Faraj Muhammad, his daily show will be at 3 to 5 p.m. Eastern. We'll also have Debra Owens' show, The Wealthy You Show, of course,

Dr. Jackie Hood Martin Show, Balanced Living, and then of course, The Black Table with Dr. Greg Carr. Looking forward to that. And don't forget, folks, we also have another edition of Rollin' with Roland. That's right. Next week, Bill Duke is going to be joining us and we're looking forward to that as well.

So, folks, a lot of things going. Real quick, Hampton University becomes the first HPV hospital in the state. Bill Duke is going to be joining us and we're looking forward to that as well. So, folks, a lot of things going. Real quick, Hapton University becomes the first HBCU to join the Colonial Athletic Association. Dr. William Harvey, president of Hapton, released a statement sharing the benefits of joining the CAA saying it's going to be the next step in the evolution of Hapton

University athletics. Several institutions of the CAA are located in their geographical footprint, which means that our student athletes will continue to spend less time traveling and more time in classes on campus. Of course, they're going to be playing with a variety of institutions that are not HBCUs. And I'm hearing some folks are not too happy about that.

So we'll be talking more about that as well. Alright, y'all. Again, as we always do, we end our show on Friday with our Bring the Funk fan club. Didn't have phone calls today because just sort of some technical issues, but we'll have the calls next week. That's it, I'll see you guys on Monday. Stay safe, stay well, put the mask on,

get vaxxed, social distance. We wanna see you around. Y'all take care. Hau! Text, social distance. We want to see you around. Y'all take care. Ho! Ho! This is an iHeart podcast