#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Police Brutality Costs, VP in Poland, Lays v. Rap Snacks, Bill Pay w/o Penalty, Don't Say Gay Bill

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

3.9.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Police Brutality Costs, VP in Poland, Lays v. Rap Snacks, Bill Pay w/o Penalty, Don't Say Gay BillBetween 2010 and 2020, billions have been spent paying out police misconduct claims.We'll break those numbers down.The Pennsylvania officer who shot a 12-year-old in the back is getting fired for excessive force.Florida passes the controversial "Don't Say Gay" Bill. The bill limits what can be taught about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. Florida State Representative Michele Rayner will explain why the bill faces so much backlash.Vice President Kamala Harris landed in Poland a few hours ago to talk about what the U.S. and allies should do about Russia's Ukraine invasion.Georgia Republican Congressional candidate Vernon Jones has a meltdown during an event. You have to see it to believe it.Lays potato chips might have some explaining to do after releasing their new chip bag that looks real similar to rap snacks. W have the CEO of rap snacks here find out what's going on with that.And if our Tech Talk, a black-owned government payment platform, is helping folks pay their debts without the penalties. The CEO of Promise Pay will explain how it works.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: 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. Thank you. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black power. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. 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 scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Teksting av Nicolai Winther Today is Wednesday, March 9th, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Between 2010 and 2020, billions have been spent paying off police misconduct claims.

We'll break down those numbers and also talk about the case out of Pennsylvania where the cop who shot a 12-year-old in the back is getting fired for excessive force. How about trying that cop for murder? Oh, I'm sorry, was I clear enough, Dan Abrams? Forced as enforced. How about trying that cop for murder? Oh, I'm sorry, was I clear enough, Dan Abrams? Florida passes the controversial Don't Say Gay bill. The bill, of course, limits what can be taught

about sexual orientation and gender diversity in the classroom. Fourth State Representative Michelle Reiner will explain why the bill faces so much backlash. We'll also show you the remarks of a black state senator there who is same gender loving and his, of course, impassioned speech on the floor. Vice President Kamala Harris landed in Poland a few hours ago

to talk about what the U.S. and allies should do about Russia's Ukraine invasion. And Georgia Republican congressional candidate Vernon Jones, the fool who was running for governor, but now he's running for Congress, or is he running for United States Senate? I don't know what the hell he is,

but he's a whack capper. Folks, he has a meltdown during an event. Trust me. You know what? I might make that as crazy as white people say. Also, folks, Lay's Potato Chips might have some explaining to do after releasing their new chip bag that looks real similar to Wrap Snacks.

We'll have the CEO of Wrap Snacks here to find out what's going on in our Tech Talk segment. The black-owned government payment platform is helping folks pay their debts without penalties. The CEO of Promise Pay will explain how it works. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, right here on the Black Star Network.

Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics.

With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Yeah. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martin.

Martin. It's amazing how quiet conservatives are. You know, the people who talk about spending too much government money. It's amazing how quiet they get when it comes to police brutality. The cost of police brutality, folks, is reaching all-time highs. As a Washington Post report reveals, the payouts from the nation's top police agencies surpassed $3.2 billion over the past decade. According to the Post, the data reflects nearly 40,000 payments at 25 of the nation's largest police and sheriff's departments over the last decade.

The investigation also identifies the officers behind the payments. The post found more than 1,200 officers surveyed were the subject of at least five payments, and more than 200 had 10 or more. Officers whose conduct was at issue in more than one payment accounted for more than $1.5 billion, representing nearly half the department's money to resolve allegations. Of course, this comes on the heels of the story out of Philadelphia, where the undercover police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Thomas Sadeo in the back last week is going to get fired, according to police commissioner

Danielle Outlaw. She says the undentified officer violated the department's use of force policy. He's gonna be suspended for 30 days, then dismissed from the force. But could someone explain to me why he's undentified? He's getting taxpayer dollars. He's on the public roll. Let's go to Kentucky, where a former officer at a Kentucky jail is indicted on charges that he used illegal force against an inmate.

A federal grand jury found sufficient evidence that Gregory Evans used unlawful force against a pretrial detainee while Evans was a captain at the Madison County Detention Center. Evans is charged with one count of deprivation of rights under colored law, one count of writing a false report of the incident, and, of course, one count of making false statements to law enforcement. He's facing up to 20 years in prison. Now, we talk a lot about these particular cases all the time, and, again, it's very interesting how people get caught up in the good cops,

the good cops, the good cops. Folks, $3.2 billion. Now, remind you, the Washington Post story, the top 25 law enforcement agencies, that's not all. So the number is actually even higher than that. Who is spending that money? Taxpayers. Think about that. $3.2 billion over 10 years? That's $320 million a year. What could we fund for $320 million a year? I thought the issue is training. I thought the issue was lack of resources. Well, I'll say the cops, maybe the resources are going to the payments. And see, here's part of the problem. Because of your qualified immunity, they're good. The cops, their pensions don't get touched. They don't have to pay.

They have no liability. So this is the equivalent, folks, of working on a job. Let's say this is the equivalent of somebody working for my show and deciding to walk out of here with that television and walk out of here with that camera and still come to work tomorrow. That's essentially the same thing, that they can just do whatever they want

and don't have to worry about any consequences of those actions. Robert Petillo is Executive Director for the Rainbow Push Coalition, Peachtree Street Project. Lauren Victoria Burke, she writes for the NPA and the GRIO, Calabathea Communications Strategies. Glad to have all three of you here.

Lauren, I wanna start with you. You have family members who are in law enforcement, and so you see all perspectives here. And what this comes down to are all the folks who sit here and they embrace and they hug law enforcement, but they say nothing about the money. I don't hear Grover Norquist talking about how this is costing taxpayers. I don't hear

Republicans complaining. I mean, you hear them talking about, oh my goodness, what is going to be the impact on budgets in Congress? But I don't recall hearing any conservatives decrying how much money taxpayers

are spending for brutal cops. Yeah, sure, Roland. Your points are very well taken with regard to the expense, and the Washington Post story was very well documented. The thing I think that is sort of left out of the discussion is how dangerous police work has become in this country where we have more guns than people, and we have a national FOP that, for some mysterious reason, will not speak out against any sort of gun

control. So it just makes it difficult for police to do their work and not be thinking that they're going to walk through the wrong door on every single call. And for sure, there are so many examples, as we all know, of police brutality that have been documented, well-documented by you and so many others. And they shouldn't happen. It's no excuse for any of this. But increasingly, when you have a situation where it becomes a more dangerous job, you do have these mistakes that are high stakes.

These are not the police are not just your average government employees. Obviously, they have the right to take people's liberty away. When they make a mistake, it can be a very big mistake to cost somebody their life. And that's why we see these huge damage awards. There was actually one just the other day in Virginia down in Portsmouth for $11 million because somebody was killed during a police chase. And but, you know, today, in Washington, D.C., there was a doctor killed who was working at Georgetown. He was carjacked at Florida Avenue and 18th. You know, policing has become

difficult. Our society has become very violent, frankly. And these mistakes, I think, are largely not only the result of racism in our society and systemic love for law enforcement and all that, but it's also the fact that police increasingly think that they're going to be hurt or injured while doing their job. And there's this sort of overreaction, quite frankly, in a lot of cases. And that leads to these situations as well. I know what I'm saying is unpopular. Yeah, but here's the deal, though. I do have a lot of cops in my life. And I do hear their perspective often. And I think that it's a job, policing

is a job that most people don't have to do. Most people don't have to do the shoot, don't shoot drill. Most people don't have to make a life and death decision with their gun. So I think it's something that we need to think about when we think about policing as a whole. But it's not always life or death. The lead item right here in the Post story, Robert, details cops in Detroit busting through this man's door and saying he had a search warrant for looking for illegal drugs.

He read the warrant. It was the wrong address. We can go, if you go down the line and look at a lot of these cases, it's not about the dangerous job. It's literally about idiot cops operating with impunity and not double checking things. Breonna Taylor is dead because the cops there didn't go back and double check the warrant

and would have realized the guy they were looking for was already in jail. Was already in jail. And so we see these examples. Oh, gun accidentally discharged. Ayanna Jones killed in jail. And so we see these examples. Oh, gun accidentally discharged. Ayanna Jones killed in Detroit. Oh, the grandmother hit me and I accidentally shot and killed Ayanna Jones. Come on.

Well, Rome, see, I think the more troubling part of it is that despite the billions of dollars that have been spent on these police settlements, that that's not enough money. Municipalities have simply decided this is just the cost of doing business. They've given the choice between paying out tens of millions of dollars in settlements every couple years because a cop has committed another atrocity. They've decided that it's easier to simply keep the police unions happy, keep the Fraternal Orders of Police happy, keep the officers happy, because we saw what happened when police en masse respond to social justice. We saw sick outs around the country, mass resignations, police officers

and the entire department saying they won't respond to anything besides an officer down call. And because of this, they can hold cities hostage by simply not policing the way that it's appropriate. We have to get out of this binary type of discussion where it's either we have unfettered and uncontrolled policing, like we saw in Chicago where you had to call the United Nations in, or on the other hand where you have no policing at all and we should have a balanced outcome in the community. And right now police departments have decided that instead of simply having the most simple criminal justice reform, they would rather act with impunity and simply have the cities pay out these amounts at the price of doing business. So until we can get to the place where we get rid of qualified immunity and officers have to pay individually, not simply the

taxpayer, you're not going to see change happen because it doesn't personally affect the officers and therefore the unions continue to stand up for the bad apples instead of protecting the good apples in the bunch. Here's the deal here, Kelly, and again, I get Lauren's point, but the Post lays out from the highest amount awarded down to the lowest. Go to my computer. $9.8 million. False arrests. $9.8 million, false arrests. $6.2 million, false arrests. $4.4 million, excessive force.

$4.1 million, false arrests. $3.75 million, false arrests. $3 million, false arrests. $3 million, false arrests. $2.8 million, other civil rights claims. $2.5 million, excessive force. 2.5 million, excessive force. 2 million, excessive force. 1.7 million, false arrest. 1.6, 1.5, 1.25, excessive force. 1.25, other alleged misconduct.

1.2 million, excessive force. 1.1 million, other civil rights claims. 1.2 million, false arrest. 1.2 million, false arrest. 1.2 million, false arrest. 1.2 million, false arrest. 1.2 million, false arrest. 1.2 million, excessive force. 1.1 million, other civil rights claims. 1 million, 1 million, excessive force.

1 million, false arrest. 912,500, false arrest. 842,500, 850,000, 850,000, 800,000, 800,000, 760,000, excessive force. 750,000, 750,000, false arrest000, 800,000, 760,000, excessive force. 750,000, 750,000, false arrest. Excessive force. Look at this.

False arrest. Other civil rights claims. Excessive force. False arrest. Excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive. Other civil rights claims. Excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive,

excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive, excessive. The thing that jumps out to me, Kelly, is that when you look at the top 10, one, two, three, four, five, six, of the top 10 are all because of false arrest. No, I, I understand. I don't want to say I understand because I don't, but I do. I am just as concerned as you about this because at the end of the day, the, like you said, at the beginning of this segment, you don't hear Republicans complaining about this. You hear

Republicans complaining about our or, you know, some Black people's cry to defund. And it's stuff like this that is behind the rationale to defund the police. The fact that you are using excessive force, the fact that you are doing false arrest, the fact that you are basically being judged during execution or when you're only supposed to be a cop. And I understand the other side of this being cops basically just wanting to get home at the end of the day. They just want to do their job and get home at the end of the day. But what is missing here is the nuance that their training, frankly, sucks because they do not understand that there are nuances within the community such that you don't have to pull out your gun for every situation. You don't have to elevate or exacerbate the situation in order to do your job. And that's where you get the excessive force allegations and settlements from.

That's where you get the false arrest allegations and settlements from. So there's nuance here that is just not being addressed when it comes to this conversation. Like Rob said, it's not a binary issue. There are several layers to this that just aren't being addressed. And until we address those things,

we're going to keep seeing excessive force, false arrests, other civil rights claims being, you know, infringed upon and people having to suffer under these things and having to spend millions of dollars in taxpayers in order to try to make somebody whole. You know what? I'm sorry. I can't lay this at the feet of bad training.

I just fundamentally believe, Robert, that what you have, and we've shown enough videos. We have shown a lot of videos on this show in the last three and a half years, on four years of News 1 Now, four years of Washington Watch. I think the problem that you have is you have cops who know the moment they get that badge and gun, the law is completely on my side and I'm damn near untouchable. We've seen examples when white folks have been pulled over, and the cops have been courteous, and the cops have been calm,

and the cops have asked for information in a very courteous way. Yet we've seen they roll up on black folks hands already on the gun tone is different. We've seen it. We've seen the actions. We saw when Sandra Bland got pulled over. Well that cop knew first of all he pulled her

he pulled her over because she got a lane over because she was getting out of his way. He was waiting for her not to turn on her signal light. And then when he arrested her, we heard over the dash cam camera where he was literally going through the law to figure out what to charge her with to come up with something that it'll stick.

So I'm not going to say this is training. I think what this is, this is conditioning. And the conditioning is we can do what we want because you know what? It's your word against mine. The cops in this Philadelphia case, they were plainclothes cop, didn't have cameras on them, so we didn't see what happened. But guess what we did have, Robert?

We had the ring cameras of the residents, and that's how they saw what happened. This cop, this guy in Kentucky, the jailer, lied on the report, lied to investigators. We see that happening all the time as well. We saw the case in Chicago where there was a judge who was so sickened of cops lying on the stand, he literally reached out to the oversight board and said, I am sick of these cops coming in my courtroom and knowingly lying. That's not, hey, it's the tough streets.

That's conditioning. They know they can get away with it. And Roland, look, I think we have to reevaluate how we try to attack these issues, and let me explain why. Because we go about this on a case by case, individualized basis

instead of attacking it systemically. So the same way you read down that list of all the excessive force cases and the false arrest cases, what we're going to have to start happening, and we need state legislatures to step in on this and pass laws to give a private right of action to individuals to basically waive sovereign immunity so that you can bring suits of this nature against the state. But once legislators put a private right of action in there, we need class action suits against police departments and jurisdictions. It's one thing to settle a case for a million dollars or $800,000 piecemeal one by one. But if you get all those

cases and wrap them together in a nice bow and file them together, and you get class certification against the state, well, now you're talking about unlimited damages, unlimited torts, punitive damages being available. Remember, that's how the tobacco industry got brought down. Remember, that's how Willie Gary brought down the funeral home business. When you get those large, massive class action suits that really hit them in the pockets, and we're not talking about millions or tens of millions,

but into the billions, well, that is when you're going to start seeing these things change magically all of a sudden. But that's going to take courage on the part of victims who often can't imagine turning down a six-figure settlement in hopes of getting an eight-figure settlement down the line. It's going to fall on the line of state legislators to put those rights of action in place. It's going to fall on the backs of civil rights lawyers to not run after settlements so often, but be ready to take these things to trial, put the money up front to prove the cases,

file this as a class action, and really change things going forward. Lawren, the average settlement comes out to be $17,500. There are very few case times when it reaches six figures or seven figures. But the thing that also has to happen is, and that is, enough with the excuses. I mean, enough with the excuses.

Enough with cops covering up for one another. When you had the cops in the Laquan McDonald case who went to the Burger King, they erased the video. They erased it. They looked at it, and they erased it. And then Rahm Emanuel and the city fought for a year for that tape not

to come out because they knew Jason Van Dyke was lying. And I've said on this show that if a cop lies on their police report, they should be fired. You've got to change the laws where, oh, a cop can't actually give a give give give an interview in

Investigation till three or four days later or in the cases where all they can examine the evidence before they talk. No Yes Can you imagine you at being on a job and you get accused of theft? And then it's like, oh, I can't talk to you for four days. And then, oh, I get to see all of what everybody else said about me stealing. Then I get to talk. I'm sorry. That, at any other world, that's not called a fair system.

Yeah. And in most jurisdictions, these things obviously are illegal. It's obstruction of justice. The question is will the prosecutor actually prosecute? We all know that prosecutors and law enforcement work hand in hand. The other thing we might want to think about is you'll notice in a lot of these cases, I know this was the case in Tamir Rice's case and so many others, is you have a cop that keeps magically popping up in situations with regard to use of deadly force, and somehow that officer either ends up on another department or stays on the same department and shoots or hurts multiple people, you know, which that, if we could get to that one.

And in some state legislatures, they've actually tried to deal with that issue. Obviously not a training issue. It's just that it's a matter of, I think, a lot of these jurisdictions, a matter of low standards with regard to hiring is a problem, particularly in smaller towns. I mean, the bigger police departments tend to have some sort of standard with regard to at least two years of military, two years of college or something. But in towns like Ferguson, you could end up with anybody on the police force. So if there was a national standard put in place, which of course was part of the bill that Cory Booker was trying to pass, the George Floyd Act, you know, that would be helpful to have that.

I mean, these are basic common-sense things. But as was mentioned, the police union has a ton of power, a ton of political power, and politicians are completely obsessed with never wanting to say or do anything against police officers, never wanting to say or do anything against law enforcement. And there you have it. I mean, it's a difficult paradigm. It really comes down to lobbying and lobbying money and the fact that we have so many cops in this country, I think 600,000 to 700,000 police officers in this country. So everybody has at least one cop or somebody that they know, particularly if you're a public official. And that complicates the situation as well

in terms of passing common-sense things that would, you know, that would purge from police forces bad actors. Well, I just think, Kelly, final point here is that you've got to change this whole view that whatever cops want to do, they can do, and the public, frankly, lets them get away with it. And we have way too many district attorneys who are absolutely in the pockets of police unions

and don't want to prosecute them. No, you're absolutely right about that. The fact that we do have so many officers who do things like this, it's just incredibly unfortunate. But no, no, you're absolutely right. Folks, got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about the Don't Say Gay bill in Florida. Does it make any sense whatsoever?

Then again, we are talking about Republicans in Florida. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Norske kvinner 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. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Alright folks, let's talk about Florida. Now it's always crazy things happening in that state, especially when you have Republicans who have a veto proof majority and control the governor's mansion.

Today they passed the controversial bill commonly especially when you have Republicans who have a veto-proof majority and control the governor's mansion. Today, they passed the controversial bill commonly referred to as the Don't Say Gay Bill. The actual title is the Parental Rights in the Education Bill. It bars discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in grades kindergarten through third and limits discussions in other grades. Conservatives say the bill gives parents more oversight about what the kids learn at school and that LGBTQ-related topics should be left to families to discuss at home. Opponents of the bill warn it could lead to further stigmatization of gay, lesbian, and transgender children.

On Monday, one Florida State Senator became quite emotional on the floor as he talked about his struggles coming out as a black gay man. So my dad, who is an amazing human being, he wrote a book not too long ago. And the book that my my dad wrote it was inspiring most of you know my dad's a pastor down in south florida the book that my dad wrote was inspired by the loss of my brother but then as i continued to read the introduction of my dad's book for the first time

he just came out about three weeks ago it was also dad talking about it was my dad talking about his disappointment after me his disappointment. After taking 30 years of just wanting to make him and my mom proud and just coming out and just saying who I am. And so when I see these kids, I don't think y'all understand how much courage it takes for these children to show up every day. Just imagine living your life for 30 years and you coming to your parents and you're talking about who you are and you're lying to them about who you are. I never wanted to disappoint my dad.

I even told him to watch this today. I don't think y'all understand that even rerunning for office it was it was difficult because people calling your names people saying things to you and all you want to do is serve I never knew that living my truth would cause church members to leave my dad's church. Or friends to stop talking to me. Or families to make jokes about who you are. in my heart I don't believe any of you in here my colleagues many of who I've known for years

I believe that we all want to do right but it seems as if politics has we have gone down a road to where we're scared to just step out to make sure

we're not hurting people joining us right now is Florida State Representative Michelle Rayner glad to have you on the show so opponents first of all those who support the bill say it's wrong to call this don't say gay bill. They say that's wrong. How do you respond? Well, first, I'm so excited to be with you. I've been a huge fan and my mother is very excited that I'm on here with you. You know, yes, I understand in the plain reading of the bill, it doesn't say don't say gay. But when you are, you know, singling out a group of people

when it says you cannot talk about sexual orientation or gender identity, I mean, you're basically saying don't say gay. It's semantics, right? And that, you know, it's interesting. It's called the parental rights bill, but all of the parental rights that is in this bill have already been codified into law. They were passed last year and before then. And this is basically a bill that singles out and marginalize LGBTQ youth and their families. So, okay, so what is the rationale given for why this bill has been passed? Is it all a part of the attacks on critical race theory, these attacks on this whole notion that old parents don't have enough say

in what happens in the classroom? You've got Republican lawmakers in Florida who literally, excuse me, in Iowa, who literally want to put cameras in the classroom so parents can see in real time what's happening. I mean, Roland, I think you know, this is the slate of bills that the GOP is rolling out. All of this is a concerted effort. We saw it in Virginia. We're seeing it across the country. So it's not just this don't say gay bill here in Florida, but we also have the CRT bill. We just were debating a voting rights bill. I think we're still debating it right now on the floor. We just did this, Emma, we just debated and unfortunately passed an

immigration bill. All of this is a slate of bills that is directed at the Republican base, the most extreme part of their base, because unfortunately, it seems that Republican lawmakers don't know how to talk to their voters and their base without making sure that someone else isn't harmed, right? It's all about the red meat. And really, what we're seeing in this legislature is that we have both chambers, the Senate and the House, doing the bidding of the governor because he wants to run for president. And we have his spokesperson who is saying the quiet thing, the quiet part out loud, that if you are an opponent of this bill, whether you're an ally

or whether you're LGBTQ, you are a groomer and a pedophile. And so we know it's these buzzwords that really is just trying to appeal to the most extreme part of the Republican base. This video here that I'm showing was on your Twitter page. This was from a few days ago where students were actually there in the state capitol. We've seen massive protests by students in Tallahassee and other parts of Florida, and they've been letting their feelings known.

And for many of them, they're going to be voting in November. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that, you know, what we're seeing is that these people, these young people, I always say they're going to save us all. You know, they're letting their discontent be known. We know that civil disobedience is a part of this nation's fabric. And, you know, when I did my debate on the Don't Say Gay bill, you know, there's a point where you just stop talking to the lawmakers in the building with you because they've already made up their mind. Right. So I started talking to the people. I started talking to the children and their parents and our constituents and even folks who may not necessarily be impacted by personally impacted by this bill to let them know what's going on and to let, you know, them know that there are lawmakers

that are fighting for them and believing in them and that they are wanted. And here's the thing, I think that we also have to think about this as Black folks. We know that if whatever happens to anybody, when it happens to us, it happens to us on a more deeper and bigger scale, right? So we understand that Black LGBTQ youth, they're more likely to attempt suicide and even complete suicide. We know that a lot of times our people don't necessarily have the means to, A, move their children into a school that is more inclusive, or they may not have the means to make sure they have the appropriate therapy, or they may not even have the means to possibly sue a school district if they're discriminating against their child. So, we know that this bill is not only going to, you know, harm LGBTQ youth, but really the most harm that it's going to do is to our

black and brown babies. JOHN YANG Questions from the panel. I'll start with Kelly. On to the show. Um, I've been following this relatively closely, and every time I read an article about it, it just makes me angry because at the end of the day, the first question that comes to mind is,

how on Earth is this constitutional? And... that comes to mind is how on earth is this constitutional? And because I don't see how this speech is not protected, considering that you are dealing with a class that needs to be protected. And my main concern is even if it is unconstitutional, the chances of this being overturned by SCOTUS at this point is, you know, slim to none

because we still have a minority of 6'3", even when future Justice Jackson takes the bench. So it's not necessarily a question, but if you can expound upon that a little bit, and just how this is not about protecting children but preserving bigotry. I mean, I think, Kelly, you're absolutely right. You and I both know we're both attorneys. We get it, right?

And, you know, I've been making the argument, and one of our state senators actually laid out really beautifully in his debate, I think, a real constitutional challenge to this bill. I've said, you know, listen, I know that this bill is written vaguely for a purpose, right? I think it's written vaguely for a purpose, one, because I do believe the bill's sponsor and the governor, they want to trigger a lawsuit because they're hoping that our conservative Supreme Court here in Florida is going to side with them and is going to side with them and is going to codify discrimination. And, you know, even if it does get appealed all the way

up to SCOTUS, to your point, I am concerned about that. And, you know, this is not the first unconstitutional bill that we've passed in this legislative session. We passed a 15-week abortion ban bill where the bill's sponsor admitted she knew it was unconstitutional. She said, and she's a lawyer, she said, well, the court's got it wrong. And so I'm just, we're going to pass this bill in hopes that SCOTUS upholds the Mississippi, you know, ban, and we'll be able to kind of slide on through. So this is not the first time in this particular session that we are passing, you know, unconstitutional bills. And really, to your point, this is not about protecting children.

This is not about giving parents their rights, because we all agree parents are the first teachers. But really what it's about is this red meat and to amp up the political ambitions of Governor Ron DeSantis? Lauren? So, in the language of the bill, the Republican argument seemed to be that we should be talking about math and teaching kids how to read

K to third. That whole argument about, you know, why are we even talking about this from kindergarten to third grade? So my first question is, is there any sex education at all in the Florida school system? And the second question is, I suspected the answer was no to that. And the other thing is, did the language in the bill make it illegal for kids to be talking to each other, or was it just class instructors that cannot bring this up K-12?

Thanks so much. Yeah, so I think your questions are great, and they actually go to the crux of the issue. One, there is sex education that's outlined in the Sunshine Standards that we have, and that errs more towards abstinence. And so what I really also wanna point out, in the bill it says K through three or age appropriate. So when I asked the bill sponsor, what does age appropriate mean?

There was no real clear answer. So it could be K through 12, it could be K through three, and then there was no clear answer of who decides what age appropriate is, right? So once again, you have the ambiguity that goes back to Kelly's question about being able to challenge this and being able to cause a lawsuit. Then we're thinking about, you know, to your question, does this stop children from being able to talk to one another? That was specifically asked of both the bill sponsor in the House and the bill sponsor in the Senate. And once again, there was no clear answer. And what we're really concerned about is that if you have a child that comes in and people who have younger children know that you do the, you know, tell me about

your family story, right? And so you say, okay, I'm little Johnny and I have two mommies. And you do your, you know, your family history. And, you know, little Sally says, well, why does little Johnny have two mommies? What is the teacher supposed to say then? And when that specific question was asked in a hundred different ways, each bill sponsor in both chambers had no answer for that. So once again, I believe that this bill is vague purposefully to once again challenge to have a lawsuit with hopes that our conservative Supreme Court here in Florida will codify and will put their stamp on approval of Rhonda Sands' and this Republican legislature's bigotry.

Robert? Thank you. So I think for the people who aren't following the Bill and haven't followed the legislation closely, could you kind of articulate just how draconian this is? Because things like the reporting requirement, if a child comes out to a teacher, they are forced now to report that to their family. Can you talk a little bit about just how deep this goes? Because it's not something you can't talk about. It's as if they're trying to deny the existence of gay people writ large.

I mean, I think your point is absolutely right. And this bill is really regressive. And there are, you know, at first there was an amendment that if a child came out, that even if the teacher knew that there was going to be abuse, abandonment or neglect, they still had to tell the parents. Right. And so we had to defeat that. And so now with this standard that's in the bill, there still isn't clarity of how do you let a parent know? And if there's abuse, abandonment or neglect, is that still a way to not have to out this child? Because you and I know all of the grown people that, you know, are on this. And hey, listen, I'm a black queer woman, right? And I came out to my mama in my 30s and I was nervous as hell.

And, you know, and my mother and my father loved Jesus. And I was still nervous. So can you imagine a child, right, being able to have to having to come out to their family? And, you know, thank goodness I knew my parents were going to be supportive and they loved me. But what if you don't come from a family like that? Or what if you come from a family that's already abusive? So you're putting teachers in untenable situations. And, you know, my wife is an educator.

I've had many educators reach out to me and say, this is the hill that they will die on. They will not out a child. And so that means their license is going to be taken. If they're going to be sued, they're like, so be it. Because we can't talk about protecting children unless we protect all of our children. And then also, did they ever explain exactly what that means for a child to come out? Because we're talking about younger children. So if a child says, hey, I think I'm in love with little Johnny, is that coming out or just saying they like playing in the park with them? What exactly is the criteria around this?

How exactly is it going to in any way be enforceable? So I'm going to bring you to committee next time this bill is up, and you can ask those questions because you're absolutely right. Those are the questions that we've been asking, and we have not gotten an answer. We have not gotten clear answers. Because you could say, I am Sally, and I'd like to wear boys' clothes. Okay, well, what does that mean? I mean, I was a tomboy,

you know, but I'm not trans. I mean, I, you know, I'm a cisgender, you know, woman. So, I mean, what does that mean? And so I think once again, because of the ambiguity and because of the governor's office saying the quiet part out loud and the senator that carried this bill saying that, you know, being gay is a trend, and he likens gay people to drug abusers, and, you know, that, you know, LGBTQ folks are, you know, groomers and pedophiles, and if you think this bill is wrong, you're also a groomer and a pedophile. I think we're seeing what the bill really is on its face. It's just meant to be discriminatory and to marginalize some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Well, we see exactly what's going on there. DeSantis says he's going to sign it. And you're absolutely right.

This is all about him running for president. Representative Rainer, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Tell your mom I said what's up. I will. Thank you. All right, then. Folks, got to go to a break. We come back. We're going to talk about Vice President Kamala Harris going to Europe, talking to the folks in Poland.

Boy, what is conservatives really trying to call her dumb? I keep trying to tell y'all, you don't attack this sister this vigorously if you ain't scared of something. Also, we'll talk with Alicia Garza about the Black Citizens Project

as they want to get the thoughts and perspectives of more than a couple hundred thousand African Americans about the issues they care about the most. Folks, be sure to support us at Roland Martin Unfiltered. Download the Black Star Network app. Our goal is to get to 50,000 downloads by June 1st. We want to hit 100,000 downloads by the end of the year. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku,

Amazon Fire, Xbox One, also Samsung Smart TV. And of course, please join our Bring the Funk fan club where every dollar you give goes to support this show. Of course, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Cash App is dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is rolling that, rolling this martin.com. And, of course, all the folks who give during the show, I'm going to be sure to shout you out and publicly thank you for supporting us,

supporting black media. So let me give a shout out to Napoleon Jemison. Thank you very much for your support, Napoleon. Larry Ray has given during the show as well. And let's see here. I got a couple more before I go to the break. Let's see here. Let me pull up here. We've got Paul Griffin.

Thank you so very much, Paul, for your support. And I'm going to do one more. Let's see here. I'm scrolling, scrolling, scrolling to pull this up. Because again, I appreciate all that y'all are doing to make it possible. Because trust me, you don't have millionaires and billionaires like these conservatives sending us checks.

This is about what you guys are doing. Amelia Rivera, also, I appreciate your support for the show as well. And so, folks, if you give them the show, I'll give you a shout-out. Alright? I'll be back in a moment. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Nå er det en av de fleste stående stående i verden. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go.

I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go.

I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. When did the damn Woo Woo song just become, like, stupid crazy? I came home, and I'm playing it around the house, you know, and my daughter was three, Tiffany was three years old at the time. So I'll tell you how long ago. Yeah. And she kept walking by singing Woo Woo, and she said, Dad, I love that Woo Woo song. And I'm like, you can barely talk.

That's not the Woo Woo song. It's called You Should Be Mine. No, it's the Woo-woo. And she said, Dad, I love that woo-woo song. And I'm like, you can barely talk. That's not the woo-woo song. It's called You Should Be Mine. No, it's the woo-woo song. I called the songwriter and I said, my daughter said, this is the woo-woo song. And they said, well, maybe she's right. So they kind of named it the You Should Be Mine, but in parentheses. Right.

It's called the woo-woo song, right? Wow. So the record company went out in the street with microphones in the city and had people sing Woo Woo Woo. And people were going crazy over just singing, can you woo woo woo woo woo? And that song just blew up. And from then, now people are calling me the Woo Woo Man.

Right. I'm like, the Woo Woo Man. Exactly. The woo-woo man, exactly. All right, folks, we want y'all to support, of course, watching that Rollin' with Rollin' with Jeffrey Osborne. Today is Jeffrey's 74th birthday. And so he still sounds like he did a long time ago. So trust me, I think you're going to enjoy that conversation with the great Jeffrey Osborne. Alright, folks, let's talk about our next story.

And that is the Black Census Project. We told you about this last year. The Black Futures Lab, they've been conducting this Census Project 2022 to find out what black folks care about the most. Now the website, you go to the website, their goal is to get 200,000 African Americans and get their information about various topics, including generational oppression, police violence,

inequities in healthcare and economic access. Alicia Garza, the principal of the Black Futures Lab, joins us from San Francisco. Glad to have you back on the show, Alicia. I can't hear what's up think you're on mute how about that why is it

every time why is it every time you got to have a technical issue with me it's my signature all that work I put in trying to get you straight on your technology. Lord have mercy.

You know, you know, blame it on me being in the middle of a move. But as I was saying, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be on with you today. All right. So let's talk about this here. First of all, last time y'all did this, how many folks did you have respond? The last time we did the Black Census was in 2018, and we had over 30,000 respondents

from all 50 states across the nation. What we're so proud of with this survey, Uncle Roland, is that it is currently the largest survey of Black people in America in 157 years. This year, we're shooting for 200,000 responses, which would break our own record of being the largest survey of black people in America. Now, black people, when we see polls and surveys,

black folks say, ah, didn't nobody call me. Well, here's a perfect example. You'll need to be called. You can actually fill it out yourself. Exactly. This is what's so great about this survey. It's quick, and it gets right to the point. We don't sell your information.

In fact, you opt in to giving us your information. We don't collect anything personal unless you want us to have it. And what we do in this survey, Uncle Roland, is we're talking about the things that Black folks care about. We want to hear from you. What are you experiencing every single day? What do you want to see for your future? Some of the new questions that are coming up in this survey include talking with our communities about COVID-19 relief and recovery. We're also talking about white nationalism and

asking about experiences with that. We are also very much wanting to know about where it is that our communities take political action. What we know is that we're coming up on a midterm election that has incredible consequences for our futures. And there's a narrative out there, right, that we just don't care and we don't participate and we're just fed up with everything. But the fact of the matter is our communities are mobilizing, we're active, we're engaged. And so we want to be able to also tell that story. What we're going to be doing with this data is making sure that we are compiling it into a revised and updated Black Agenda 2022, which we will use to activate and energize Black voters

in our priority states and across the country to turn out to vote, not for personalities or politicians, but for who is going to best represent us on the issues that we care about. But the other thing, the other reason why, again, this is important is because when it's done, when y'all are able to say this is the most extensive survey on what black people think. Now, here's the question. How do you verify that black folk are actually filling a survey out? We have a very active presence on the back end of the survey because we know some people are out here trying to cat off and skew responses

and put in fake things and whatnot. But we do a lot of work on the back end to filter out responses that we know are trolling, and we pay a lot of attention to what's coming in. We're not, you know, we're trying to make sure that this data is very much dependable. And we're not just collecting data online. We're also collecting data

in person, face to face. So in just a couple of weeks, we're going to be unveiling our Black Census Project organizing trainings in our priority states, which include California, Louisiana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Georgia. And what we'll be doing there is training locally based Black-led, Black-focused grassroots organizations to take these surveys out into our communities. We're doing focus groups with communities that are often traditionally left out of surveys like Gallup polls and things like that. We want to hear from folks who are living in rural areas. We want to hear from Black people who are migrants to this country. We want to hear from black folks who are currently and formerly incarcerated and on and on. And so what that takes is peer to peer contact. Oftentimes those traditional polls don't reach

folk like that, but we're going to go out into our communities and make sure our voices are counted and that our community's experiences are heard. All right. Let's see here. Questions from our panel. I will start with Lauren. Hey, Alicia. Nice talking to you. Good talking with you. I just wonder logistically how you do this. You obviously know 40 million Black people in the country and the government says census costs billions of dollars. How do you how do you feel confident about getting enough responses when obviously the goal being 200,000? I don't know nothing about math, but can you take that 200,000 or 30,000 and then be able to say accurately that reflects 40 million people? Like, how do you handle that? Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you for the question. It's excellent. And you're right. This is a massive undertaking. We have, you know, the government census, which costs billions of dollars, and they still can't figure out how to get to our communities. But that's the problem. It's that they don't activate us to activate each other. And they continue to kind of form questions and stories about this project, their project, in such a way that leads us to be distrustful. What's unique about our process is that it's about us, by us, and for us.

And we don't try to project one single message for all black communities. And, in fact, one of the things that we really emphasize is that the responses of these 200,000 Black folks that we are seeking are reflective of the complexity of thought, experience, and opinion in Black communities across the nation. We couldn't pretend to speak for all Black people, but we don't even try to.

What we want to do is make sure that all of our communities are being engaged, that our experiences are at the forefront of shaping public policy, and this is the first step in doing so. Thank you. Robert. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you for everything that you're working on. So in 21st century data very much is the new natural resources, most important thing, frankly, that companies can have. How will this information help to shape things like public policy, legislation, how we interact with corporate America by gathering this amount of data about black America? What this data allows us to do is dig into the complexity of black political thought, experience, and solutions. What we've done with this data over the last four years is we've translated it into good public policy,

and we do that in a few ways. Number one, through our Black Agenda, which looks at the core issues that black people in America are identifying that they want to see dealt with, and then also the solutions. And we turn that into policy language that can be moved in, and then also the solutions. And we turn that into policy language that can be moved in cities and states across the country. And in fact, even with this new administration, we used some of this data from the Black Census to impact and influence our Build Back Boulder agenda. And we had several conversations with various levels of the Biden-Harris administration about public policy that would reflect the needs

and dreams of Black communities across the nation. We also, at the Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund, use this data to inform our Black to the Future Public Policy Institute, where we tap grassroots community organizations across the nation, and we train them on how to turn these issues into public policy that rewrites rules in our communities and makes life better for us. So for us, and we've also used it in terms of mobilizing, activating, and educating Black voters to turn out and to get engaged in their communities. One of the things we heard most commonly in 2020 as we were getting voters to turn out was that they really weren't impressed with politicians.

They really wanted to understand what are you going to do about the issues that we care about. We put that agenda in front of people who seek our votes, and we tell them and we ask them to commit to a list of things in that agenda in order to gain our support. And so there's a ton of ways in which we use this data to build Black political power, and we're just getting started. Kelly. Hi. Hi.

Thanks for coming on the show again. I just love talking with you. So similar to Robert's question about how you guys use the data, in the reverse, are there any theses that you guys are trying to back. Is there any of those that you have at your disposal regarding the kind of questions that you guys administer to those who answer the survey? Absolutely. I mean, we have some assumptions

and we want to use this data project to test those assumptions. Every month or every other month, we do running polls of Black people that we call temperature check polls. And these are around issues that Black people throughout the country want the Biden-Harris administration to prioritize. What we've seen over and over again throughout these polls is that the kind of top three issues that Black communities who are being polled want to see action on is COVID-19 relief and recovery, specifically in the form of an ongoing stimulus payment of $2,000 a month that they say they will

use for rent, utilities, gas, and all the things that we need to kind of get by. The other thing that we're hearing is that black communities want to see concrete action to address extremism and white nationalism. And that looks a bunch of ways. The solutions that people are putting forward you can find at black2thefuture.org. But some of the solutions people are talking about include weeding white nationalists out of federal and municipal law enforcement. Other solutions that people are putting forward is expanding the civil rights division at the Department of Justice to be able

to monitor, track and hold accountable white nationalists and folks who are engaged in extremist violence. The other major issue that we're seeing that people want to see action on is voting rights and protecting existing rights and expanding those rights. In our Black Census survey, we are talking to more people than we do in our temperature check poll. Our temp check poll only talks to 1,000 Black folks every other month. This survey will talk to 200,000 Black people in all 50 states. And so it will give us a better sense of, you know, are there trends regionally? Are there other demographic trends inside of Black communities that we should be paying attention to? And more than that, it'll give us a sense of

what's really going to motivate people to participate in the processes that are impacting and shaping our lives. All right, then. All right, Alicia, tell everybody where they can go to fill this Black Census out. Please go to www.blackcensus.org to fill out the survey, and you can also share it with your friends and family. Again, we need 200,000 black folks to take this survey, so we need you to help us get out the word. And if you want to figure out and find out how to get involved with our organization, just visit blackfutureslab.org

and sign up to get involved. We've got plenty for you to do. All right, Alicia, I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thanks for having me. All right, folks, gotta appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thanks for having me. All right, folks. Got to go to break. We come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

We'll talk about Vice President Kamala Harris going to Poland. Ryan Coogler got arrested for trying to withdraw his own money. Really, Bank of America? That's how y'all do it, brother, in Atlanta? Also, we'll talk with the CEO of Rap Snacks, who says, Laze, why y'all trying to bite off our look? We'll break that down as well. And we also got some headlines to share with you.

Lots more to discuss right here on Roland Martin on the filter of the Black Star Network. Folks, don't forget, you wanna support us, what we do. I told you, those of you who support us on the air, you're going to get a personal shout-out from me. Of course, when you give, again, every dollar you give makes it possible for us to do what we do. Anthony McCants, Imani Woods, thank you so very much. Joel Clark, I appreciate it as well.

Thank you so very much for y'all's support. Let's see here. Andre Morgan, thank you as well for hooking us up on Zelle. Folks, again, if you want to support us and do what we do, please cash out. Dollar sign RM unfiltered. PayPal's R Martin unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at Roland S Martin dot com.

Roland at Roland Martin unfiltered dot com. Venmo is RM unfiltered. Of course, you can send a money order and check to PO Box 57196, Washington, DC, 20037. Back in a moment. Teksting av Nicolai Winther I'm sorry. Nice. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network

for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Blackstar Network, 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. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching

Roland Martin right now. Joseph Johnson was last seen in Brainerd, Minnesota, on February 28th. The 13-year-old is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. If you have any more information regarding Joseph Johnson's whereabouts, please call the Brainerd, Minnesota Police Department at 218-829-2805, 218-829-2805. Vice President Kamala Harris is in Poland right now to talk about the Russia-Ukraine invasion. She tweeted this upon her arrival. I am en route to Warsaw, Poland, and later this week to Bucharest, Romania. This trip comes at an important moment as the United States continues to demonstrate unity with our NATO allies

and provide support to the people of Ukraine in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. rejected Poland's plans to make fighter jets available for Ukraine. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby called the proposal too risky as the U.S. and NATO countries try to avoid a direct conflict with Russia. And what's more interesting is you have all these conservatives who are attacking Vice President Kamala Harris. Yet, of course, Meghan McCain tweets something stupid saying, oh, send a more experienced diplomat to negotiate on America's behalf. She's the vice president. And I, of course, I tweeted back at Meghan.

You really shouldn't be talking about vice president considering your daddy, John McCain, picked Sarah Palin as his VP. Yeah. Sarah Palin. I can see rushing from my porch. And also, you have this on Fox News, where Greg Gutfield, who just makes a continuous ass of Adam himself, he said this BS. To Geraldo's point, that this is not a discussion we should be having with the world about, like, how this all went down. But I think it was because the polls tried to force the White House's hand on it. And now she has to go over there and try to clean it up. I don't know if it can be.

Yep. Go ahead, Greg. Yeah, I wonder how her laugh translates in Polish. That's mean. It is mean, and I'm going to get meaner. She is supposed to be delivering a three-part message. That's right. It's like a book report, I imagine.

Part one is the intro, part two is root causes, and part three is the index, right? This is the first time I've seen virtue signaling as foreign policy, right? They were just sending her there to send her there, and it replaces actual real progress or action. That's the problem with virtue signaling in general. People go on Twitter, they type something, and they, instead of actually doing something. So this is exactly like that. I go back to the crazy idea of the mediation. Why not do something, an audacious diplomatic act where you send people of actual grand substance to American presidents, Obama and Bush or Obama and Trump? What a road picture that would be. And they go and they meet with these two guys.

And what that does is it solves some issues. You might get a ceasefire out of it. You give the proper deference even to the madman or the evil man. And you might actually get somewhere. This is just, I think it was you, it's kind of a slap in the face. You're sending the least qualified vice president ever to do something in the first ground war that we've seen in Europe in decades. And this is how we respond. This is pure virtue signaling, meaning it's entirely worthless. I just think we should get Obama

and Trump on the same plane together just to do this. This is the wackiest idea I've ever come up with. That's the dumbest damn idea you've ever heard in your life. Robert, it's interesting to listen to these fools. You had like Ben Shapiro, who a couple weeks ago was saying, stop rushing oil from being imported. And now, when Biden

has done it, now going, oh, he's only doing it to avoid getting blamed for gas prices. These people are sheer idiots who listen to conservative talk radio and conservative news. Well, you know, it's entertaining because somehow Kamala Harris as a senator will be less qualified than the host of The Apprentice to go negotiate us out of World War III. I mean, what are these people talking about? The guy who bankrupted casinos is supposed to all of a sudden be a foreign policy expert.

And let's look at the facts. Donald Trump's first big scandal was because he was sold up to the Russians. His second big scandal was because he was sold up to the Ukrainians. So why would we ever trust anybody even within that orbit to have anything to do with this conversation? We have video after video, President Trump in Helsinki, prostrating himself to Putin, saying he trusted him over the intelligence agencies. So these folks have absolutely no area to talk. They fomented this crisis over the course of the last four years and then dumped it again on Biden's lap.

And, Kelly, seriously, ooh, I got a radical idea. Let's send Obama and Trump. No. I'm sorry. We can do probably better by sending, oh, Wayne's World, okay, as opposed to Donald Trump. I mean, I'm a better choice than Donald Trump. Everybody on this panel is a better choice than Donald Trump. Everybody on this panel is a better choice than Donald Trump. But to, again, you know, just diminish and dilute the power of a Black woman in the second most powerful seat in the nation,

just because you're salty that it's not you, it's rich. If anything, just by way of her record and her career up until this point, Kamala Harris might actually be the most qualified vice president we've ever had in the history of this country. Her being a black woman is just another accomplishment on top of that, as far as I'm concerned. And she was born into that. So meanwhile, this man has I don't even know his name. All he has is Fox News, which more or less is a farce of a new show news network in the first place. I, you know, ascribe to the saying I ignore ignorance. That's exactly what I do when I see clips like this regarding the vice president of the United States or any powerful black person who this white man could never. And, you know, Lauren, it's amazing listening to some of these fools who clearly have never read anything. First of all, NATO is an alliance. And the way it goes, if a NATO country is attacked, then all are attacked. So the reason they said no to Poland is because if Poland sends

Polish planes for Ukraine, that means NATO is now fighting Russia. If NATO is now fighting Russia, the United States is fighting Russia. This is, again, clearly none of these people paid any attention to government class growing up. You know, Roland, and even if they did pay attention to government class growing up, it doesn't matter. The reason that they're attacking Kamala Harris is that they are scared of Kamala Harris. And if you notice... Okay, hold on, hold on, y'all. It's Kamala. Oh, you and Robert said Kamala. It's Kamala. Her name is Kamala. Okay, go ahead. Thank you. Okay. And it's Vice President Kamala Harris. It's Kamala. You learned that on the plane.

No, no, no. I've known it a long time. It ain't Kamala. It ain't Kamila. It's Kamala. Okay. Okay, I got it. It's Kamala. Okay. So, the reason that they're attacking her is they're afraid of her. You'll

notice that the stupider the people are, the more the attacks, the great Gutfelds, Tucker Carlson, it's because they can never be her. If she retired tomorrow, they still would never do more than what she's done already in her career. She was the AG of California, and then she's a U.S. senator from California. Now she's the vice president of the United States. And they know there's probably going to be some sort of inter-family discussion in the Democratic Party as to whether or not Joe Biden is going to go again. Obviously, he probably will. But, you know, there's a chance that it could be her in two years. You never know. And even if it isn't, there's a chance that it could be her in six years. They know that. So every move that she makes, everything that she does, they criticize no matter what. It is jealousy.

It is trifling. It is embarrassing. And they'll never be where she is in the spaces that she's been in. And it kind of reminds me, I forget whether it was Serena or Venus Williams, but they, you know, I think it was Serena. They had a press conference and, you know, finally, you know, she did an interview where she basically said, look, you know, these dumb, dumb questions that I get from reporters, I realize I'm answering questions from people who can never do what I've done in my life already, can never achieve what I've

achieved. That's the position that Kamala Harris is in and Katonji Brown Jackson are in. They're constantly having to deal with people who are never going to do the things that they have done, and they know it. And they're ticked off. They're pissed off. You know, they're jealous. And so it's interesting to watch, because, I mean, to Kelly's point, I mean, the stupidity of what we just watched over the last four years. We just had the stupidest president in American history in that White House for four years. This is the guy that got up in front of everybody and told people to inject disinfectant into their veins for COVID. I mean, he's an idiot. And so none of them can speak to intelligence one way or the other. But for them to defend that and ignore it and then criticize Kamala Harris

is outrageous and embarrassing and stupid. Deep down, they know it when they go to bed at night and stare into the darkness. They know that this is all nonsense. But what they're really afraid of is her becoming president of the United States. It's the caucasity. Yeah, that's all it is.

And again, you sit here and you keep seeing the craziness as well. And then also, people, can y'all stop buying this silly stuff? Cheryl Lee on YouTube just said, Kamala Harris incarcerated more black men than all previous attorney generals in California. Y'all, you're the victim of a Russian troll farm. I mean, my goodness. Again, it's amazing what happens when I see folks who lay that out and who go here, not

even understanding that California had a three strikes law, law, meaning it was passed by the legislature. So it's a little hard to get around the law when you're the attorney general because you kind of got to enforce the law. So you might want to actually change the law. So I'm just saying, folks might want to just look at those particular facts.

All right, y'all. So let's talk about, first of all, I'm going to do this real, let's talk about business, and that is lays. Now, many of us eat potato chips, but, you know, when you're out there marketing, when you're out there trying to sit here and get your thing going,

then you could sort of walk into a little fundamental problem. Well, my next guest says that Lays is infringing upon their look. So Rapsnacks, they say that it's amazing how similar Lays is copying their style, if you will. And so let's break this thing out. Of course, this is the bag right here where they're honoring Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi. And of course, so they look really similar

to Rap Snack's Rap Icon series. And so joining us right now is the founder and CEO of Rap Snack, James Lindsay, joining us from Miami. All right, James, So, what's up? So, you're saying that Lays, y'all couldn't get creative? You really think that they're taking the style from Rapsnacks? Well, let me first and foremost say this, Roland. We didn't know anything about what they were doing

until our consumers actually talked about it on Twitter. And when we started to look at it, we really said, wow, this is pretty similar to what we're actually doing in the marketplace. And this is not new. a company like Wrap Snacks who is really disruptive to the marketplace, you're going to have these major companies that are going to try to really bite, you know, the image and the style, you know, from your packaging as well as flavor profiles, you know. So, but it's very similar, and we think so. All right. And so, what kind of, so here's the tweet.

So, go ahead and pull it up, y'all. Here is the tweet that he says here. A lot of y'all have tagged me with the bag on the right, asking if we collab or if I'm consulting or working with him. The answer to both is no. The bag on the left are my Rap Snacks Icon Series, designed featuring Biggie, Master P, and Snoop. The right is their goat edition. Have y'all reached out to Lays to say, hey, what up?

Not at all, Roland. I mean, we know what's going on. Like I said, Rapsnax is a disruptive brand. We are innovative. We're definitely doing very well in the marketplace, and we know that they're going to protect their market share anywhere they can. So we're prepared and ready to move forward with some of the things that we're doing

to keep innovating the marketplace. And so no challenge to them, no cease and desist. You're just saying, hey, we see it, but we're just going to keep moving. Yeah, we're going to keep moving because, you know, when you are a band, you're very successful, and you have somebody, you know, as a giant, you know, brand that they are, you know, copying you,

it tells you that you're doing something right. So we're going to keep doing what we do right, keep moving forward, and we'll see what happens in the future. First of all, in terms of Rraps Next, how are you guys doing in terms of across the country? How are your sales going? The sales is going phenomenal. We're growing leaps and bounds every year.

Like I said, people are enjoying our brand, particularly enjoying the flavor know, the flavor profiles and really, you know, the supported difference of what we're doing every day. And we're bringing, you know, something to the market that hasn't really been done. You know, it's a contrast to what our black imagery has been, you know, for years where you talk about the Aunt Jemima's and Uncle Ben's, which has really been a mockery, you know, of our race. You know, we're doing something that, you know, people can look up to and say, hey, we're actually promoting, you know, just artists who are really great business people, and we're creating, you know,

role models in the next segment of branding that will come right behind us. One of our YouTube folks said, wait a minute, I thought Master P owned Wrapsnacks. Master P is a partner with Wrapsnacks, but James Lindsay, which, you know, I started the brand, I own the brand,

he's a partner with our brand. And how many states, how many stores you guys are now in? We're in every store you can name. We're in Walmart. We're in Target. We're in most of the convenience store chains around the country. Like I said, we're growing very fast.

And, you know, this situation is really just telling us that we're heading in the right direction. All right. James Lindsay, Roush Snacks. I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate direction. All right. James Lindsay, Roush Nax. I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate you. All right, folks, we'll come back. More of Roller Mark Unfiltered

right here on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. Fyre! Shit. I'm going to put 10 in here. 10, and you don't come out until you die. And you eat him, he pooped in. Oh my god. You know what? I'm Gavin Houston. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now.

Eee! All right, folks, part two of our trip to Ghana, 16-19-2019, the year of return, will air at 8 p.m. Eastern on Friday right here on the Black Star Network. So you don't want to miss that. It was an amazing first part last week, and so we cannot wait for you to see

the second of our 10-part docuseries. Okay, folks, we go from Africa to Wakanda. Today in Atlanta, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, who happens to be in Atlanta working on Black Panther 2, decided to go to Bank of America. And he wanted to withdraw $12,000. So he goes to the counter. He has a mask on.

He hands the teller a note. I would like to withdraw $10,000 cash from my account. Put it back up, please. Put it back up. Thank you. I would like to withdraw $10,000 cash from my checking account. Then he says, of course, he wants the money to be counted elsewhere because I like to be discreet.

Well, the person at the bank, y'all, thought Ryan was trying to rob the joint. So they called the cops. Cops come there, handcuff Ryan. Ryan had two or three of his associates outside, handcuffed them. Then the cop says, hey, BOA screwed up. This was on them. Explained to them, apologized, then released them.

Kugler released a statement stating that BOA has reached out to him. It should not have happened. This is what Bank of America said. We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened, and we have apologized to Mr. Kugler. Robert, the note said, I want to withdraw $12,000 from my checking account. How in the hell does that go, hey, black man trying to rob the joint?

Look, this is part of being African American in this country, particularly being a black man with the way that this country sees you. Let's understand, when we talk about white privilege, for some reason people think that just by being white things will be perfect for you. No, we're saying that very often you don't have experiences such as this. There isn't this presupposition or prejudice against

you where they believe only the worst about you. But this ain't white people! The teller was black! I understand that. What I'm saying is that it's so deeply entrenched in our culture, in our media, in the way that black men are seen in this country that there is a presumption of criminality that takes place. I had a very similar experience like this happen to me when I was cashing a settlement check from a case for $100,000.

And the next thing I know, there are four police cars outside in Atlanta. This is a systemic problem that we have within this country where they can, when they see a young African-American male, their first thing they think is rapper, drug dealer, something criminal, not something that you're a successful black man doing business the way you're supposed to do business. Lauren, uh, Kugler said this should have never happened. Uh, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction. And we have moved on. This took place on January 7th. And again, here's Coogler wearing a

hat, sunglasses, and a COVID face mask. He goes to the counter, and it's clear. I mean, and he handed the teller a withdrawal slip. It's a withdrawal slip. That's what

it's supposed to be. And I don't understand, I don't care if you're black or white, how your ass get confused when it says 12,000 cash from my checking account? You get confused because you watch too many TV shows and have a wild imagination

and the person standing on the other side of the window is black. That's how you get confused. I mean it's completely ridiculous and I'm surprised that he hasn't sued their assets quite frankly. I mean there's no way that should have happened. So this is too funny here Lauren, this is too funny. I'm reading the Variety story. The teller misinterpreted the situation as an attempted robbery when the amount of the transaction exceeded $10,000

and triggered an alert notification from Coogler's bank account. The teller then informed her boss that she suspected it was a robbery attempt, and together they called the police. Lauren, how hard is it to say, Sir, could you please present your identification?

He probably presented it. I mean, most people... I had a large transaction about a year ago. And, uh, a similar... It wasn't a similar thing in terms of they called the cops, but, you know, what I found is that any transaction at a bank involving a Black person over $5,000 to $10,000 is cause for alarm, apparently. I had a transaction that involved

a check on a sale of a property. So it was a fairly large check. And the bank tried to freeze the money for two weeks. They just invented that rule for me. Walking into the bank, I said, we're not freezing the money for two weeks. What are you talking about? It was just crazy. I mean, so part of this is, of course, the jealousy of, I hate to get back to the subject of jealousy, but let's be real. The person on the other side of the window probably doesn't have that much money in their account. The average bank account in this country, I think, is under $2,000. So if you have a transaction, and of course, the Patriot Act, I think, mandates that over $5,000 has to be reported to the government. You have a bigger transaction. Everybody wants to get

crazy and wants to get excited. And I have absolutely no idea why. I mean, he's in Atlanta. You know, the shocking thing about this is he's in Atlanta, Georgia, where there's a lot of black people sitting around with large sums of money doing business and engaged in all sorts of creative things that would involve transferring a hell of a lot more than $12,000. So this is a bank teller with too much time on their hands. I mean, it's crazy. And, uh, I don't know. I don't know what to say. The cops must have been like, what the hell is this about?

Everybody's wearing a mask when they go in the bank, so everybody's used to that. Uh, this is back in January. I'm surprised we're just hearing about it now. But it's outrageous. It should have never happened in a trillion years. I-I we're just hearing about it now. But it's outrageous. It should have never happened in a trillion years. I-I-I just... Kelly, I...

And I'm sure... I mean... I'm sure that Black bank teller... I hope she don't tell nobody it was her. I mean, I would take that to my grave. Like, you can get that out of me. An affidavit, sworn testimony, nothing. Like, that is going with me to my grave if I were that bank teller.

Not just because I put a Black man's life in danger. Um, that's enough. But I don't know who Ryan Coogler is. Like, we missed that part. How do you not know who Ryan Coogler is? Like, we missed that part. How do you not know who Ryan Coogler is? Especially, like, he... The Black Panther movie. Chadwick Boseman.

All the things. Fruitvale Station. Just, like, the blissful ignorance of it all is astounding to me. But that aside as well, why would you want to count $12,000 at the counter? That just does not seem safe to me anyway.

So for me, him asking the teller to do that, I would have thought that's protocol. I mean, I'm not balling like Robert and just has six-figure deposits all willy-nilly. I don't know those things. I'm not at his level yet. I'm going there, you know, praise God. But until

I get to that point, I don't know these things. So $12,000 at the counter when you got people behind you, that seems more unsafe than to go in the back and be in a more secure environment to count the money. So it's just messed up on

so many levels, but primarily how do you not know as a black person who Ryan Coogler is? Well, first of all, look, I mean, Ryan ain't the most public person. He's not, he doesn't do tons of interviews, so it's very easy

not to know who the hell Ryan Coogler is. It's not. The problem I have, though, is that, look, transactions happen in banks every single day. Right. This is real simple. You come up. You present a slip. You ask, this is what I want.

They check to see if the money's in the account. You turn over the necessary identification to get your money, and then they hand you the money. That's it. Real simple. Not hard at all. So, yeah, Bank of America, y'all screwed up big time, big time here.

All right, folks, I'm going to go to a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk for our Tech Talk segment with an entrepreneur about her unique concept when it comes to government. Dollars, getting paid. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Glad I ain't got a Bank of America account.

When did the damn woo woo song just become like stupid crazy. I came home, and I'm playing it around the house, you know, and my daughter was three. Tiffany was three years old at the time. So I'll tell you how long ago. Yeah. She kept walking by singing woo-woo.

And she said, Dad, I love that woo-woo song. And I'm like, you can barely talk. That's not the woo-woo song. It's called You Should Be Mine. No, it's the woo-woo song. I called the songwriter, and I said, my daughter said, this is the woo-woo song. And they said, well, maybe she's right. So they kind of named it the You Should Be Mine,

but in parentheses. Right. It's called the woo-woo song, right? Wow. So the record company went out in the street with microphones in the city and had people sing woo-woo-woo. And people were going crazy over just singing, can you woo, woo, woo, woo?

And that song just blew up. And from then, now people call me the woo, woo man. I'm like, the woo, woo man, exactly. Peace and love, everybody. I'm Purple Wonder Love. Hey, I'm Don. All right, y'all. A black-owned government payment platform has created a space for people to clear their debts

without penalties. Promise partners with government agencies to help those with financial struggles pay off government debts. To explain how all of this works, the CEO and co-founder of Promise, Phaedra Ellis Lamkins, joins us from Oakland. Phaedra, how you doing?

Good. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. All right. So tell us, what's this promise all about? Promise is a way for people who have government debt to get interest-free installment plans. So the easiest way to think about it is you can't pay a water bill, and you're able to say, I can't pay it. And instead of having your water shut off, you can take six months to pay it off. And there's no interest. So when you say government debt, so this is a local state, local, county, state, federal, are there any limitations? Excuse me.

State and local governments. So it's everything from water to child support to the criminal justice system. We want people to not face the consequences. And so instead of losing your license or losing your barber's license... So hold tight one second. I'm going to do this here. I'm going to let you get a drink of water so you can clear something that's in your throat so you can be able to talk. And so, what I'm going to do is I'm going to come right back on

the show. And so, actually let's do this here, okay, folks? I'm going to do this here. I'm going to talk about this throughout New Jersey and then I'm going to come back to Phaedra and talk about this here. So, again, I'm going to give her time to get her particular throat straight. A man in New Jersey, folks, of course,

was involved in a hate crime. Now he is having to pay the price. Well, thank goodness he's having to pay the price. We told you yesterday where, of course, Kristen Clark was testifying before Congress about the situation that we're seeing in terms of hate crimes in this country. It's increasing in this country.

We saw it go up dramatically under Donald Trump. Well, Michael Mariota pled guilty to making threatening interstate communications to a black Maryland woman and her family. He admitted he used an anonymous text messaging service to threaten physical harm and send racial epitaphs to describe the woman. black Maryland woman and her family. He admitted he used an anonymous text messaging service to threaten physical harm and send racial epitaphs to describe the woman.

According to a plea agreement, Mariota wrote, I know where you live now. I'm coming to rape your family and eat my bullets. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. His sentencing is set for May 25th. Those are the type of things, again, that we are seeing where the Department of Justice is getting involved in targeting other different people.

Let's go to Bridgeport, Connecticut where the death of two women has gotten the attention of the state lawmakers. The Connecticut Judiciary Committee held a hearing today to discuss HB 5349. It's a bill requiring police to notify the family within 24 hours of the discovery of death or document the reasons why the family next of kin wasn't notified within that time

frame. Lauren Smith-Fields and Brendan Lee Rawls down on December hours the discovery of death or document the reasons why the family next of kin wasn't notified within that time frame. Lauren Smithfields and Brenda Lee Rawls died on December 12, 2021. Neither family was notified by any Bridgeport official of their deaths. That's unfortunately, we've been covering those cases. And so hopefully that bill is going to move forward. All right, Phaedra, you good? So much. I feel so much better. move forward. All right, Phaedra, you good? So much.

I feel so much better. Thank you. All right. So you were talking about Promise and what the debts, and they cover a wide variety of areas. Yes. So we work with child support agencies, water agencies, and we basically say to them,

rather than sending someone to collections or facing the consequences, that we should give people the time and we provide software that allows government to offer interest-free payments. And so the same way that people who have money get to buy a Peloton interest-free, we think people who are struggling should have the same opportunities to have flexibility and not have consequences. So is there an individual limit for people to participate? There is not. The only requirement is that we have a relationship with the government, and that's everywhere from Louisville to Baltimore to Buffalo. And we work with those folks. But some people work with us in multiple places.

And we find that's important because government debt has some of the most serious consequences. And so being able to offer that flexibility is critical. So if someone owes $500 or somebody owes $25,000, how do you determine if they get support? I mean, is there an approval process? There's not. And so some of our clients owe $25,000. You might have large buildings or you have a business that was impacted by COVID. We work with government agency. And so usually the requirements are that you're behind. And we have a 93% repayment rate. And the reason we have such a high repayment rate is because, you know, most people don't want to face the consequences. You don't want to lose your driver's license. You don't want your electricity shut off, but income changes. It's volatile. And so we recognize that not everyone has the same amount of money per month. Um, and so we can give governments predictability, but we give people options. So we only limit it when people don't succeed. And, uh, but otherwise we want people to have opportunity and we think government should make it easy to pay their bills. Why would we make it hard for people to pay these bills?

You know, it doesn't it doesn't make any sense and to make it difficult. And in some cases you have to it used to be where you had to bring in your taxes. You had to come into an office to be able to put yourself on an installment plan. And that doesn't make sense because for people who have money, it doesn't work that way. Panel questions, Robert. And so where have you already rolled this out at? And what's been the response thus far when you reach out to partner with different agencies? Yeah, we're in places like California, we're in Alameda County, Marin County, Solano County, San Francisco, Long Beach, getting ready to try to work with Los Angeles. And so we're also in Cincinnati.

We're in Milwaukee. We're in Richmond, Virginia, Alexandria, Virginia. So we're in pretty diverse areas. And the response is pretty good because we're going to people and saying you're behind. We want you to be able to make your payments and not face the consequences. And we see this a lot, you know, pay, you know, get it now, pay later. And so we want that same flexibility for people. And so we've had a very positive response.

We've been growing pretty rapidly because we can have a high repayment rate, give predictability to government, but also make the experience better for people who need support. Kelly. For, are there plans? If it doesn't happen already, I'm looking on the website. I just want to make clear, is this in all 50 states? Are you able to serve all 50 states yet? And if you're not, what is the plan to do that so that everybody can get this kind of help? That's a great question. We're trying to go

as quickly as possible. We're just limited by our sales cycle, how quickly we can onboard people. And so we're in most states, but not in every state. And it really requires that the government agree to work with us. And so part of what we've been trying to do is to put pressure on governments to say, you know, we're in the midst of a pandemic. No one should be having their water shut off. Where the consequences are mostly black and brown people, it is not acceptable that, you know, when you look at the people impacted by losing their driver's license, it tends to be an entryway into the criminal justice system. And so we are not in every state, but in most states. Lauren?

So is there any restrictions with regard to income? Like, you serve everyone, whether rich or poor. And also, you said Richmond and Alexandria. Obviously, Alexandria is pretty affluent, and Richmond isn't. Are you, you know what what has been have you noticed? Have you noticed that in the results with regard to payment or has it mattered any these affluent areas? What can you say about that? Yeah. Thanks so much.

It depends on where we are. In some places, we've seen traditionally affluent areas that have been impacted pretty significantly by COVID. And so people who were kind of one paycheck away from poverty have lost that paycheck. And we're definitely seeing a large group of those people. Our repayment rate tends to be actually very high with people who are low income. And the reason is because people just don't get treated with dignity, respect, and flexibility. And so the worst thing that happens if someone doesn't pay us is we send them back to the government. And so people appreciate is what my income is, instead of trying to have someone prove it. And that's worked really well. In a couple places, we did self-attestation, and we retained the right to audit, which means if anyone ever came back to us, we could come back and ask you to verify that. And in two places, we had an audit because it was federal money, and both came through pretty flawlessly because people tend to not lie about what their income is, and they still have to pay it back. And so it's been

pretty impressive, but we don't see a significant difference between kind of affluent areas or people that have been COVID impacted versus people who have not. And a lot of what we see is seniors who are on a fixed income who have been trying to make decisions, as an example, every month, which bill to pay. So there's just not enough money to pay every bill every month. So we have to build payment systems that recognize that. Right. There's just people are struggling to make it. And we we can't assume that everyone has the same amount of money every month. We have to build systems that recognize that income is variable and that people need support and that the people who are struggling need it the most.

All right, then. Phaedra, great idea, great concept, and we certainly appreciate you coming on the show to explain it. Happy to be here. Thanks so much for having me. All right. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks.

We're going to close the show out today. Oh, Lord. Thank you. Take care. This fool out of Georgia. Now, I don't know how I told y'all, Vernon Jones is really just one of the dumbest people you've ever seen in your life. I mean, dumb, dumb, dumb.

He is a capper. So he used to be a Democrat. Now he claims he's a Republican. So he was not happy, y'all, recently when they had an event in Jackson County because he didn't like the damn speaking order. Y'all want to see a grown-ass black man show his ass? Here is this fool, Vernon Jones, out of Georgia.

I've got a lot of places around here, so good to have you here. Greg, I want to say this. Go right ahead. In all fairness, I want to say to people here, I came here because I'm sincere. I came here because I'm a fighter. I came here to earn your support. But I'm not going to be subjected to power tricks. Now, I was selected to be the second person.

Mike Collins was supposed to go first. And you're all now trying to change. Let me finish. I'm going to finish this real quick, Bernie. No. I'm going to finish this real quick. My man, you're here as a guest, sir. Don't want me to tell y'all.

You are here as a guest, sir. You're going to listen to what I'm going to say. I'm an hour and a half behind. I'm not making a dollar. Everybody's here because they want to watch people speak. Give your stuff. Let's go. As I said, they're playing politics.

Because Mike, he wants to go second because all he does, everywhere he goes, he attacks me after the fact, and I don't have a chance to respond. I'm not going to play that game. He has called me for three things. They actually tried to get my campaign manager tonight to go down and pull my name out of a hat that's have a drawing. No, we were told he was going first and I'm going second and that's what's going to happen. Now let's not play poetry.

I'm not going to do that. I don't play games like that. You know what I'm not going to do that. I don't play games like that. You know that you're a loser. So, you're not going to do it. Okay, we're going to leave. I'm sorry this happened, but I don't play games like that. I'm here for, I can't hear because I'm here. He showed up after 7 o'clock.

He showed up after 7 o'clock when the games had started. So if you weren't here, your time slot was 830. I was here before 830. And I was told well in advance that I would be the second person after Mike Collins. Now, they changed the rules on me. Now, if y'all don't think being fair is being fair, then that's fine. I'm not going to subject myself to this. That's not right. He does have the right to speak if he wants to, so don't hold against him.

Robert, that's your boy from Georgia. Hey, look, look. Y'all ain't about to play around with Vernon. Vernon let these people know he can be down in Jackson County. I'll be damned if I be in a room full of maggots in Jackson County, Georgia after sundown making a fuss. But that's who Vernon is. I met Vernon in 2002. He was a speaker at freshman orientation

at Clark Atlanta that year. And we got into an argument within six seconds of meeting. This is just who Vernon is. Vernon is always going to be Vernon. So no matter what, he is consistent. And look, I hope he got out of there before the sun went down and got back to Metro Atlanta. So more power to him. Lauren, go ahead. You know, you know, I never thought that I would be saying this, Roland. Okay. But I've been working in politics since I was 13. My mother worked for a politician in New York, and I worked for that politician. I was like 14, 15

years old. And I gotta tell you, there is nothing more obsessive than speaking order at political events. I have seen people melt down time and time again over speaking order. I've seen people meltdown over, oh, my God,

you know, the vice president or Barack Obama is going to speak at this thing, and I want to speak at it, and I've got to speak at it, and it's got to be at 830. I mean, I've seen this before. So even though I know Vernon Jones is nuts, I still, I kind of feel for him a little bit because I've seen this behind the scenes multiple times. And it's just the weirdest thing. People are obsessed with speaking order when they speak. And then if they get skipped over, they flip out. I've seen grown-ass adults flip over this multiple times. So it's kind of funny just watching it

because it's just one of these things. I could write a small impulse-vibe book over the times I've seen people flip out on speaking order. Kelly, I don't feel for that punk-ass Vernon Jones at all. At all. I mean, it was the people leaving in the background for me. Like, they didn't even care whether he was going to speak or not. And that's so typical local politics

to just kind of leave when you want to leave and come in when you want to come in. The irony is not lost on me that allegedly he arrived on CP time and still wanted his slot, allegedly. If you heard the tape, it said that, you know, the thing started at seven, but because he was supposed to speak at 830, he felt like he could come in late. Clearly, these color redacted people do not do CP time. So, you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles, Mr. Jones. Either speak or leave.

And he decided to leave. Oh, man. It's just so funny to watch that. I mean, it's just so crazy. It is. He stuck to his guns. And, like, as I said, I don't think any of us will be down in Jackson County speaking. And, look, the GOP wanted to reach out to minority voters and stuff, so they got to accept CP time now.

They bring you, open up the tent. We still going to get there when we get there. Well, the GOP has this affinity for these dumb, dumb black candidates, these Herschel Walker, Larry Elder, dumb, dumb. And basically, their only talent is to attack other Black people. That's their value to the Republicans. And, of course, Vernon Jones does that really well. I mean, it's just... He's a child.

But, you know, that's who they want in there, and that's what they got. They deserve each other. Well... I mean, it's unfortunate. It is unfortunate that, you know, conservative Black people have been relegated to this...

the furthest side of the spectrum of stupidity. Right. When you have people who are reasonable Black Republicans who cannot get that kind of time... And they can't... ...with white supremacy. That's really unfortunate of them. And they can't... That's really unfortunate.

And real black Republicans can't stand these grifting ass folk like Vernon Jones, Candace Owens, Brandon Tatum, Maj Touré. They can't stand they grifting asses. And so it goes.

All right. Robert, Kelly, Lauren, I appreciate y'all being on the panel today. Folks, we're going to close the show out with this here. First of all, let me shout out to people. This is one of the outfits they gave me in Liberia, so I had to go ahead and rock this today. It's cold as hell in D.C., so this thickness worked. Saturday was the memorial service for Iskiya Muhammad.

He died a couple weeks ago at the age of 76. He worked for the Final Call. He wrote for the Afro-American. He worked for other black newspapers, the Informer. And he, of course, did radio as well. And so, that was an event at Busboys and Poets in D.C. on Saturday. I went by and Poets in D.C. on Saturday. I went by and said a few words as well.

And there was a presentation that was done by Free Benjamin and Ayanna Gregory who is the daughter of Dick Gregory. And they sang this original song here on behalf of Iskia. And I wanted to close the show out today to, you know, again, recognize him and certainly pray it's about his family and share this with you. Certainly hope you guys enjoy it.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Take it away. Thank you. It's all about love We gotta put some where there's none Feel this frequency In our heart Chakra And our hearts shall grow.

Love heals. Love heals. We are filled with empty spaces. In between the lines. If you give it a chance You will find That love heals Love heals Heals Love Heals

So let yourself go High, high, high, higher There you'll find me. The lot of hills. The lot of hills. The lot of hills. Love heals. Love heals. Love heals.

Love heals. I love you. Yeah, I need the ring. Sing. All right, all right. Askia, my heart, man. Askia, my heart, man. Askia, ask him He'll find you somehow with freedom Ask him Askeel Your voice in heel girls Askeel Muhammad King

Warrior Liberator Man of peace and nobility, scholar, poet, writer, author, intellectual, brilliant photojournalist, musical curator, editor-in-chief, news director, radio and television commentator, son, brother, Mentor Servant of Allah Builder Visionary Healer

Soul brother Asher, Asher, Asher, Asher Asher Your voice frees Askia, your voice it freed us all Askia, your voice it healed us all always in He who does. Oh, oh, oh. May Allah, may Allah be most pleased with you now.

Be most pleased with you now. We must please with you now. Oh. Make. Ah. Make. Ah. We must please with you now. Yeah.

Love you. Can y'all sing this with us as we close out this song and offering to our dear? Love you. So if you would just sing with my sister singing. If the ladies and the women can sing. If they have an octave. So if the brothers can sing in a lower octave. So if we could just create a symphony orchestra for our brother. Love heals. You know that he can hear us right here.

Love heals. Your love for your people, my brother. Love heals. Your love and commitment to Islam. Love heals. Your love and commitment to Islam. Love heals. Askiya Muhammad, your love and commitment to your family. Love heals. Your love for truth and righteousness and ease.

Love heals. Your love for liberation and peace. Love heals. Your love for liberation, it heals. Love heals. Your love for integrity and compassion, it heals. Love heals. His love for change. Love heals. Your grace and nobility, my brother, it heals. Love heals. Your grace and nobility, my brother, it heals.

Love heals. Your gentle and powerful presence. My brother. Love heals. Your commitment to your people and to humanity, Askia. Love heals. Your healing vibration, Askia heals. Love heals. Love heals.

Askia. Love heals. Askia. I'm here. Askew. Here. This is an iHeart Podcast.