#RolandMartinUnfiltered - PV alumni demand changes from Texas A&M; Farrakhan, Father Pfleger remember Harry Belafonte

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

4.27.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: PVAMU Alumni Association's Concerns, Chicago Charter School Closing, Remembering Belafonte Prairie View A&M Alumni Association says the Texas A & M University System is not handling the HBCU's financials as it does with the predominantly white institutions.  I was at today's press conference.  I'll tell you their concerns and what they plan to do. The state of Illinois is closing a black charter school.  The Chief Academic Officer of Urban Prep Academies will explain why the state swooped in and shut its doors. The white woman at the center of Emmett Till's 1955 lynching has died. The "People's Lawyer," Alton Maddox, Jr., passed away. And we are continuing our tribute to Harry Belafonte.  Tonight, I'll speak with Chicago's Rev. Dr. Michael Pfleger, the Senior Pastor of The Faith Community of Saint Sabina andMinister Louis Farrakhan. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.comnoThe #BlackStarNetwork is a 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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Today is Thursday, April 27, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Streaming live on the Black Star Network from Houston, Texas. Prairie View A&M alumni are demanding changes from the Texas A&M Board of Regents. They say they even want to look into leaving from under that university arm. They also want access to that billion-dollar permanent university fund

that is a domain of the University of Texas and Texas A&M. We live streamed the news conference today and we'll show you some of what took place at the news conference on the campus of Prairie View A&M University. Also, folks, we've lost another ancestor, the people's lawyer, Alton Maddox, has passed away. We'll talk about his impact as a lawyer in New York and other parts of the country. Also on today's show, the state of Illinois, they're closing a black all-male charter school. We'll tell you about the controversy surrounding urban prep and what is the future for that school that has had such success but now is facing shutting down.

And we continue our day three, paying tribute to Harry Belafonte. We'll talk with two gentlemen who knew him very well. Longtime friend, Pastor Michael Flager of St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago, and also in Chicago, National Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. Folks, and today's my 34th Alphaversary, and it's the birthday of my alpha brother, Dr. Greg Carr. It is time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered 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 find. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. 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 Rolling with rolling now It's Roland Martin. Yeah. Rolling with Roland now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know. He's Roland Martin now. Martin. The racist white woman who accused Emmett Till of whistling at her and her, that statement led to his lynching by her husband and others. She died today at the age of 88. Carolyn Bryant was declared dead by a county coroner in Louisiana.

It was in 1955 when Carolyn Bryant said that 14-year-old Emmett Till had whistled at her and made sexual advances towards her. Those accusations were enough for her husband and others to go and kidnap Emmett Till as well as lynch and viciously murder him. It was that lynching that struck a nerve in black America and really led to the launching of the black freedom movement. For years, folks have been advocating for Carolyn Bryant to be brought to justice for what she did. There was efforts by lawyers and the others to actually have her charged, have her indicted for perjury, but that decision was never made. Emmett Till, killed at 14, she lived to be 88. If you look at social media, black folks are having absolutely no empathy or sympathy whatsoever for her dying.

Many of them saying Satan is welcoming her with open arms. My panel right now is Dr. Greg Carr, Department of African American Studies at Howard University. Also, Lauren Victoria Burke, Black Press USA. Dr. Jason Nichols, Senior Lecturer, African American Studies Department, University of Maryland, College Park. Greg will be joining us in just a bit. I'll start with you, Jason. From a historical standpoint, you know, her name lives in infamy. She will always be associated as the racist white woman who lied on Emmett Till and it's

her lies that led to his lynching. Absolutely, and it's very well deserved. There's no amount of, you know, she never really gave a real apology. She did say that he didn't deserve what happened to him, nothing that he did. But we also know that there was an open arrest warrant for her that was never served. And when we look at this, we can't say that this is any form of justice. She got to live out her days. She has at least one son that I'm aware of. She got to live in a nursing home and in hospice care and get care and all of the things that we know

that Emmett Till never got. He never got to live out his life. He never got to have children. He never got to get married twice the way she did. He never got all of the care that others got when, you know, she got to pass peacefully in hospice. And I think it's infuriating, and I think that there's no empathy for someone who does that and never gets held accountable. You can't tell me that Mississippi has changed and Mississippi is so different

when people don't get held accountable when we have the evidence and we have a confession and we have a confession and we have an arrest warrant. One thing I'll tell you about the Israelis, and I'm not going to make this, you know, a whole international thing, but one thing is if you are a Nazi, they will keep you on a respirator in order to take you to Israel and make you face justice. They don't care what end of the earth you live on. They don't care if you're in South America, if you're in Brazil,

if you're in Argentina, if you're in freaking Antarctica. The Israelis will find you. They will dress you up in a dress. They've done this before with men. They've dressed them up like women in order to get them on a plane and take them back to Israel and face justice. But yet, Carolyn Bryant, who we knew where she was, she never faced justice in the United States of America. So if you're going to tell me that the United States is a just country, and you won't even do what the Israelis will do when they saw something that they think is wrong. They just tried somebody in Israel who was in their 90s. And when they worked with the Nazis, they were in their teens. They were like 17.

And they still tried that woman and found her guilty. So you can't tell me when there's an open arrest warrant that you're not going to execute it. It's a disgrace. It's a disgrace in our country. The thing here, Lauren, again, there were efforts the last several years for that to actually happen. And, again, if you look at the social media reaction today, it is clear it is vicious. And folks have no love whatsoever for Carolyn Bryant. And folks are pretty much saying not, hey, you know, RIP, but folks like, no, absolutely have no rest in hell.

That literally is what people are saying. And that is what they should be saying. And happy birthday to Greg Carr and happy birthday, Coretta Scott King. You know, the entire Carolyn Bryant story is says a lot about American history and what this country is really about and who this country really cares about. And if there's one group that this country really does not care about, it's black men, particularly not only just in this context, but I think certainly present day we see the vestiges of this type of thing. We can't go two weeks in this country without seeing a story from the Innocence Project usually of some black male who's been in jail for 20 and 30 years that was innocent, and somebody said something at trial, there was no evidence, and somebody's life has been

destroyed by something that was a false allegation. Carolyn Bryant got away with it because society allowed her to get away with it because we don't care. We don't care about anything around the justice of what she did. There is no justice, of course, in what she did, and she was never brought to justice. The story of Carolyn Bryant is the story of disparate justice in the United States when it comes to black males in particular, and the fact that nobody was moved to actually try to bring her to justice

and she dies of old age after everything we know and everything we found out basically tells us all we need to know. Greg Carr? Yeah, no, and thanks, and happy anniversary, brother, and thanks. Happy anniversary, brother. And thanks, Lauren.

And thanks for that birthday, which is, you know, Carolyn Bryant, in my mind, died in August 1955. And ever since then, she's had every day to try to reclaim a little bit of her life. Today, her body joined her character, her reputation, her name in eternal death. I have been thoroughly enjoying our people on social media. And the old miss is dead. And I say that very particularly because the University of Mississippi still goes by the name old miss. And when you look at the history of University of Mississippi, old miss was a name that they took because it refers to the white woman who lived in the plantation house. The old miss is dead. The New York Times and others keep referring to her

as a former beauty queen. She is a beautiful example of white supremacy. And since we are in a criminal enterprise called United States of America, and as far as I'm concerned, there is and there will never be a we referring to us in the United States, it's very clear that she was protected by the United States, the federal very clear that she was protected by the United States, the federal government. She was protected by the media that Roy Bryan and his half-brother J.W. Milan sold their story to after they were acquitted.

She was protected by the state of Mississippi. She was protected by Dr. Timothy Tyson, who took her confession and sat on it until he could write his book, The Blood of Emmett Till, a book that I have, but not that I bought, because I would not spend one penny on an academic that held that for 10 years. The old miss is dead. She died in August 1955, and her body today joins her character, her reputation, and her name. And wherever she is,

it ain't where Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley, it ain't where Megha Evers and T.R.M. Howard, it ain't where none of the Africans who are venerated ancestors are. She dies today. Denise, it's over. Folks, going to a break. We come back. We'll talk about the passing of the people's lawyer, Altan Maddox, in the Bronx. We'll also share with you Prairie View A&Mamont University demanding changes from the Texas A&M University

system when it comes to the governance of Prairie View, including access to the permanent university fund, which is a multi-billion dollar fund in the state of Texas that funds the largest two institutions, higher learning. They also say that they want to see finally a member, a Prairie View A&M graduate as a member of the Texas A&M Board of Regents. We'll have that for you. Also, we'll talk with the leaders of Urban Prep in Chicago. It has gained a lot of attention over the years for sending 100% of the graduates to college, what they've done with young black boys there in Chicago. They're now about to shut down. It is a significant fall from grace.

We'll tell you exactly what is going to happen next with urban prep. And also, I got a few words to say about fraternities, sororities and hazing. Yeah. Plus, in our second hour, Father Michael Flager and Minister Louis Farrakhan will share their thoughts and reflections on their good friend, the late Harry Belafonte. Lots for us to cover here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. Next on The Black Table with me,

Greg Kopp. We look at the history of emancipation around the world, including right here in the United States, the so-called end of slavery. Trust me, it's a history lesson that bears no resemblance to what you learned in school. Professor Chris Mangiapra, author, scholar, amazing teacher, joins us to talk about his latest book, Black Ghost of Empire, The Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation.

He explains why the end of slavery was no end at all, but instead a collection of laws and policies designed to preserve the status quo of racial oppression. The real problem is that the problems that slavery invented have continued over time. And what reparations are really about is saying, how do we really transform society, right? And stop racial violence, which is so endemic. What we need to do about it on the next installment

of The Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. 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 scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? I'm Bill Duke. This is De'Alla Riddle. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer.

I'm Chrisette Michelle. I am... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

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

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

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers,

but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

Kaylee Rose and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. ¶¶ ¶¶ A A prominent defense lawyer in New York who took on a number of high-profile cases, many of them involving African Americans, has died. Alton Maddox Jr. died at the age of 77 in the Bronx just a few days ago. Actually, over the weekend, he died in a nursing home. No cause of death was released, but Maddox had suffered from dementia. He was born in Michigan, grew up in Georgia, graduated from Howard University, and received a law degree at Boston College.

A violent encounter with Georgia police cemented his commitment to fighting against rampant racial injustice in police departments. He worked for the Harlem Legal Services and went on to lead a juvenile justice project for the National Conference of Black Lawyers. He began his law practice in 1981, quickly gaining reputation in New York for advocating for black victims of police brutality, using the media to deploy accusatory rhetoric. And New York's law enforcement described himself as an attorney at war. He was also often called the people's lawyer.

There were a number, a number of cases that he was involved in over the years, oftentimes standing with, working with Reverend Al Sharpton, as well as fellow attorney C. Vernon Mason. Those cases involve Cedric Sandeford, one of the black men who was accosted and chased by a group of whites in the Queens neighborhood of Howard Beach. Also, he represented the family of Michael Griffith, who died after he was struck by a car during the Howard Beach attack. He also

represented Tawana Brawley, the black teenager who claimed that white men had raped and abducted her in 1987. They later determined that that was a hoax. When you look at the coverage today, Greg Carr, of his passing, all of these various media outlets have locked and loaded and focused on the Tawana Brawley case.

But that one case does not define the legal career of Attorney Maddox. No, it doesn't, Roland. And, you know, again, everybody listens to this, and those who will watch it later on the various platforms, and if you haven't downloaded the Black Star app, you need to do that. This is the only place where this conversation is going to take place. This is the importance of black-owned media. Alton Maddox was and will always be a hero.

I clerked the summer of 1989 at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York. And as you well remember, Roland, and covered at the time, I'm sure, this man was at the center of the cases that framed the 80s and 90s, Michael Stewart. He framed the Howard Beach incident. He got two special prosecutors put in place, one for Howard Beach, the brother who was killed by the white boys out there, Yusef Hawkins in Brooklyn. This is the man, Al Sharpton was facing almost a 60-count indictment, the tax evasion. Al Sharpton's lawyer was Alton Maddox, and Alton Maddox got him acquitted. Alton would say, put 12 in the box, and I will win. He said, I don't believe in plea bargains.

I'm not going to plead. He didn't plead for his law license when they drove him out of the courtroom because he was too effective. It is a tragedy that we don't know more about this. And I'll end with this. Alton Maddox, I spoke at the Slave Theater. He was a columnist for the Amsterdam News. He had an organization he and his wife, Leona, called the United African Movement. I spoke for them a couple of times, once in Brooklyn at the Slave and once in Harlem. All the Maddox, I never saw him down. I never saw him sad. He always had this

great optimism, this abulence. And he would say, Black people must contend with this American legal system, but we should never, ever expect justice from it. When we go into the courtroom, we are going to war. That man was a hero, and I'm glad you're covering him tonight. Lauren, again, when you think about New York City in the 70s and 80s, We're only talking about being a decade, two decades out of the Black Freedom Movement. And there were so, so many cases. And Alton Maddox was the go-to attorney for many African-Americans who were dealing with racial injustice there in the Big Apple. Yeah, he was on TV all the time. I remember when I was a kid, he was on TV all the time,

obviously, with Al Sharpton. And, you know, as Greg just said, not just for the Tawana Brawley case. There were so many cases, there were civil rights cases that seemed like nobody would take or were obviously unpopular to the mainstream white media in New York. and Alton Maddox was a part of those cases. And in fact, you know, you referred to it, Roland, the difference in coverage. The Clyde Haberman obit in The New York Times tonight, that should be a, that should be used in any class when we talk about implicit bias and race and the difference in media coverage when it comes to black people and white people and how black people are covered. You know, I mean, it is an outrageously bad obit by the New York Times. I'm not really I'm not really completely shocked, but the obit

really only covers, of course, Tawana Brawley. And it goes through every negative thing that they could come up with about ultimatics and then leaves out everything that he did that would be the work of any civil rights attorney. But it is an extremely good example of the double standard in the media when it comes to race. And when somebody, particularly when somebody is fighting for racial justice or anything having to do with racial justice. There are these two stories that are told. And so when you read the Amsterdam News obit, it is, of course, nothing like and not nothing like what The Times does, which is complete inaccuracy on the life of

ultimatics. I mean, Jason, that's why that's why the nation's first black newspaper, Freedom Journal, said we wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. I was talking to some folks earlier in a group chat, and they were angered by the white mainstream media coverage on the passing of Alton Maddox Jr. And they should be. And, you know, I'm just sitting here looking at some of the obituaries and seeing the real differences between the different media, including it's not just the New York Times, it's the Washington Post, it's the AP, which is supposedly like nonpartisan. Everyone says the Tawana Brawley hoax. That's what they bring up. Which, by the AP, which is supposedly like nonpartisan. Everyone says the Tawana Brawley hoax. That's what they bring up, which by the way, if you go to the black community in New York and I'm, you know, I'm originally from New York and I, you know, you would talk to my grandfather, he believes something happened to Tawana Brawley to the day he died. You know what I mean? There

are people in New York who still believe something happened. Now, I'm not saying that's the case, but, you know, there's definitely people who still believe that. The other thing is, if you look at what the black media, the Amsterdam News, even the New York Daily News, which is not black media, even they are saying, you know, hard-charging civil rights attorney. And he did, he was involved in all these other cases that were mentioned, you know, earlier. And I was so glad to hear our good brother over there at Howard University bring that up, the fact that, you know, the Howard Beach cases. I remember those situations where black people couldn't go into certain neighborhoods in New York City. Everybody thinks that New York City is the Manhattan of today where they gentrified everybody, all the brown people out. So all of a sudden you have this and that it's the 42nd Street of today

and all of that and everybody kind of gets along. And not that that's the case even today. But, you know, there were certain neighborhoods you couldn't go into Bensonhurst, you know, when I was young. You couldn't get on the wrong train and end up in Bensonhurst and walk up that train platform. You couldn't get off in Howard Beach or certain parts of Queens, the parts of Queens where our former president comes from. You couldn't do that. And I wonder if, you know, because there's the E. Jean Carroll case going on where they say that Donald Trump actually is a rapist. I'm not accusing him.

Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. But I wonder if any obituary in the country is going to say, accused rapist, Donald Trump, dies. Are they going to say that? I doubt it. You know, because they're going to talk about, or a person who was behind an insurrection at the Capitol, Donald Trump, dies. I don't think they're going to say that. But yet with Alton Maddox, a black man,

they all of a sudden, his entire career gets summed up into one incident. One incident as if those other cases that were significant for the black community never happened and didn't matter. That's right. That's right. That's right. In fact, in fact, well, if you don't mind, I want to make a final comment. Yeah, Jason, it's so important. Yeah, go ahead.

What you said, Doc, is so important because the reason that they came against him around Toronto Brawley is because he would not put her in harm's way. Remember, the disciplinary board called for Maddox and eventually suspended him from the practice of law because he would not come to testify about how he handled the Tawana Brawley case. It wasn't a matter of whether she did or didn't do it. It was a matter of you're not going to throw this girl to the wolves. This is a very important lesson for us to understand. So these racists, and this is what I'm talking about.

I'm really personal. There are three lawyers who I personally knew who I said made me reconsider perhaps practicing law. Almanac was one. Chokwe Luman was the other. And Abel Muhammad was the third. This man was not only fearless, he was a brilliant courtroom lawyer. Every obituary that drags him reveals the lack of character and the worthlessness of the

white media. You don't have, you shouldn't have the honor of putting Alton Maddox's name in your mouth. This is why this network is important, and we, if you don't know the name Alton Maddox, if you know Ben Crump, you better know Alton Maddox. Facts. Alton Maddox. Facts. Alton Maddox Jr. passed away at the age of 77 years old.

And we'll certainly provide for you information once we get it with regards to funeral arrangements. And as Lauren said, if you want to check out a proper obituary on his life and career, go to the Amsterdam News, black newspaper, the Amsterdam News. All right, folks, I go to break. We come back. We'll talk about urban prep. A school for black boys in Chicago has had a huge success. Why are they closing their doors? We'll talk with the leader of that campus next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a

story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now

isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you gotta pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services and the Ad Council. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it.

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Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on Black Star 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 Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. Hey, what's up everybody?

It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet. And you're watching... Roland Martin Unfiltered. And... A charter school in Chicago that has generated significant attention and success over the years is slated to close its doors.

Urban Prep Academy. They have been denied by the Illinois State Board of Education. They've been denied the school's appeal to keep control of its two remaining campuses. The state board says Urban Prep was poorly run and not financially responsible in recent years, saying it did not have the best interest of students in mind. Now, school leaders continue to deny these claims. Joining us now from Urban Prep is the chief academic officer, Dennis Lacewell. Dennis, glad to have you on the show. So first and foremost, for a lot of people, we heard about Urban Prep,

Tim King. He was lauded in magazines and newspapers and by groups in all around the country. So where all of a sudden did things go wrong with Urban Prep based upon what we're seeing here. Tim King is no longer involved with the school. He was forced out, the foundation as well. There were allegations of him being involved with former students, all sorts of things like that. And so what in the world happened to what was a huge success story. Yeah, yeah. Thank you for this time to get the record straight. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of misinformation out there regarding urban prep and our success

for almost 20 years now, where we've had 14 consecutive years of our graduates being accepted to four-year colleges. Well, it started in January 2022. We actually received a letter, formal letter from CPS stating they were pleased that our financial metrics, we met all the financial metrics that we were doing very well. But then two weeks later, we received a memo referencing Haas financial challenges. I mean, I know you worked in Chicago for some time, but when Governor Rauner was the governor of Illinois, there was no state budget for two years. During those two years,

the Chicago public schools decided to cut the budget in the middle of the year, twice. Instead of other schools that cut programming, fired teachers, Urban Prep, we did not do that because we wanted to make sure we provided those services, experiences, and opportunities for our young men. So we took out loans. We, you know, used credit cards to close that gap. And back in 2022, now CPS came back and said they had issues with that. We explained each issue, and any credit card transactions are accounted for.

But they went back to previous years in terms of questioning our finances. They even had issue with us getting a PPP loan, which the federal government, the SBA, is in charge of, and there was no issues that they presented. So this is the first time that, you know, it came to our attention. And as you referenced, we had a 29-year-old man who made an allegation on Facebook, and he just stated verbal abuse on Facebook. And then CPS

started digging into that, and then they made allegations against our former CEO. But there were three independent investigations, two by DCFS, who's in charge of such issues, came back unfounded. And then we had an independent investigator, and they found that there's nothing substantiated and unfounded. It was only CPS who claimed that these allegations were true. And so this is the stem of all of these issues. But last Tuesday, we filed a lawsuit against CPS because in Chicago, in Illinois, the state legislator passed a law in December 2021 that there should be no school closings until 2025 when there's an elected school board. If you remember in 2013, Chicago closed about 50 schools in black and brown communities, and this caused a huge problem. So state legislator

made a law that stated that until there's an elected school board, there should be no school closings. So we have a pretrial hearing next week where we feel very confident and we hope that this case definitely will get heard. It will be some time, but we've also filed a restraining order against CPS for taking this action to close our schools. So right now, is the school still open? Yes, there's no impact on any of our schools or anything through June 30th. As a matter of fact, I have my Winston-Salem State University hat I'm a graduate of. We had our 14th annual signing day downtown at Daly Plaza.

So we had all our students there. And similar to what you see with five-star athletes, we had each of our students come up to the microphone and announce where they were going to college. And then they donned that hat. And so if you check our website, you can see those visuals and images. And we challenged the city and the media, who a couple weeks ago broadcast across the world, where we had a lot of Black youths and Black boys downtown, you know, being unproductive. That was broadcast everywhere. But we challenged everyone to broadcast this event we had today where we had hundreds of young black men celebrating their brothers who were announcing to the word of

four-year colleges they were going to. Questions from my panel. Lauren Burke, you're first. How many students graduate generally every year at Urban Prep? If you count all our campuses, a little over 100. We've had 2,200 over the past 17 years. Fortunately, we've felt the impact of the decline in enrollment in Chicago public schools as, unfortunately, black families are leaving the city of Chicago. So we felt, we felt that impact. Uh, but, uh, this year we have a hundred seniors. Thank you, Jason. So you have a new mayor, uh, mayor elect in, in, uh, the city of Chicago. Uh seems to be, he has an education background. Is there any hope that he

will intervene on your behalf in order to keep your doors open and keep the success of your young black male students going for the next 14 years? Yes, yes. Thank you for that question. As you may or may not know, in Chicago, currently, the mayor is in charge of the schools. They appoint the board members and the superintendent. And with Lori Lightfoot leaving office, we're hoping that Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will step in. You know, some people have concern because we know he was funded by CTU and CTU, Scholar Teachers Union, having been friendly to charter schools. But our teachers are unionized. We hope that he's willing to step in because we agree with the statement he made about those events

that happened a couple weeks, that we should not demonize our young people, particularly when their communities have been starved of opportunities. And Urban Prep, for almost 20 years, have fed the community, and particularly black boys with experiences, opportunities for them. So we're looking to get a meeting with him. He's inaugurated on May 15th. We hope that he does step in and reverse this decision.

But if not, like I said, we're prepared to go through the courts because we understand as black people to get our rights and laws enforced, you have to go to court. Thank you. Greg Carr. Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Brother Lacewell. I have a couple of questions. One, they say they're not going to close the schools, but they may have a transition to another formation in CPS. And so I don't know what necessarily that might look like. But the other question I have has to do with the two state board members, members of the

board from the state, Donnelly and James Anderson, who abstain from voting. I know Dean Anderson very well. He's a legend in the field of African-American history of education. And he abstained from voting. I know Dean Anderson very well. He's a legend in the field of African-American history of education, and he abstained. I'm assuming that's because he's so recently appointed to the board, maybe. But Donna Leak also abstained, and she said it's important to have options for black boys. Any insight on why these two black members were appointed, of course, by the governor of the State Board of Education abstained in this case? Yeah, thanks. Great, great question. First, I'll address in terms of this replication

that CPS is referring to. In court, in our lawsuit, we are referencing that because never in the history of charter schools in the city of Illinois has CPS ever not renewed a charter school and then say we're going to adopt the model. This is just a ploy in which initially they were trying not to use the word close. They were using takeover. And initially they were using the words we're going to take over urban prep, so it would be CPS run urban prep. But we quickly reminded them and sent a cease

and desist letter because we own the copyright and trademark of urban prep and everything that we do. And so then they now change that to a like model and they haven't given any details. And again, they've had 60, 75 years in terms of the focus on black boys and they haven't done the job that we've done. And so they're not going to, we do not believe and no one should believe and there's no evidence that they'll do as well as job as we will and then in regard to you know the abstaining i actually spoke you know at the board meeting uh last week i referenced dr anderson's work uh as the founding principal i used his work in terms of establishing you know know, our schools. And, you know, really disappointed because, you know, I hate to use this reference,

but, you know, if there's a lynching and they invite, you know, us to it, if we just watch and say nothing, what are we doing? You know, and so, you know, I was just really disappointed that they just felt to abstain. You know, we got to do more than just have a seat at the table. Yes, sir. Thank you. So, again, you are going to have, with your lawsuit, a hearing next week? Yes, yes. And what we expect from that hearing that the judge will give CPS an opportunity to respond to what we submit, our briefs that we provided to the court. We'll ask the court to, you know, make a decision on the temporary restraining order that we've asked be put in place because school lets out June 9th.

And our families, our students, our staff need some indication in terms of their educational futures. And so that restraining order, we would ask that everything be halt and that CPS is forced to the table, and we are allowed to continue the school through next year while this case is being heard. All right, then, Dennis. Look, we certainly appreciate it. Keep us abreast of what happens. Again, I mean, Urban Prep has gotten lots of attention over the years, accolades and praise. And so it certainly would be very sad to hear of its demise there in Chicago.

We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right. Thank you. And all that you do. Thank you. All right, folks, going to break. We come back. Today's the 34th anniversary of me crossing the burning sands into Alpha. I got a few words to say about hazing that I think needs to be said. And I'll do that when we come back. You're watching Roland Martin on the Black Star Network. Be sure to, if you're watching YouTube, hit that like button, y'all.

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Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the US Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call

white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson

at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs,

they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives, and we're going to talk about it every day. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

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

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

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

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Stay right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Blackstar Network. Thank you. unfiltered. All right, folks, in today's Black and Missing, we have Guinevere Smith. She left her Salt Lake City home on March 19th of this year, has not been seen since.

The 16-year-old is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 125 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She may go by the nickname Gwen. An email with information about Gwen Avira Smith is urged to call the Salt Lake City, Utah Police Department at 801-799-3000. 801-799-3000. All right, folks. At 8.38 p.m., 39 seconds, tonight, 34 years ago, I crossed the Burning Sands into Alpha Phi Alpha. Today, it's known as my Alphaversary. And it has been a glorious ride the last 34 years, being a part of the Brotherhood of A-5-A. I did an interview a few weeks ago with Vlad TV and was asked a series of questions.

And one of the questions was asked about the idea of hazing. And I began to talk about what I refused to allow to be done to me when I pledged and how I disagreed with others on this. I talked about how I said there's no way in hell I would let somebody my age beat me for some damn letters. And so I've gotten emails and phone calls from different folk and I've seen other folks post excerpts of what I had to say on various platforms, folks saying, oh, you're a paper alpha.

I don't really give a damn what you think because that's stupid to me. And then folks like, oh, you didn't earn it. And so others like, well, we, you know, we, we shouldn't be doing those things. Others are like, well, no, that's the problem. We got people who haven't properly earned their letters. So this is why I think it's important to say this. If you are somebody who believes that physically beating and hazing a brother or a sister to wear these letters, you have no, absolutely, you have no reason or credibility to even wear them. Now, why am I saying that?

There are people who criticize the intake process today for our fraternities and sororities. Why do we have today's intake process? Because of the fools who were beating and hazing folks before. There is a young, there is a, earlier we talked about Emmett Till being lynched at 14 and Carolyn Bryant dying at the age of 88. And as I sit here talking about this being my 34th year of Alpha, I think

about a young man who didn't get to see 34 years of Alpha. And this actually happened in 1989. There's a young man named Joel A. Harris. Joel A. Harris hailed from the Bronx. Joel A. Harris should be celebrating his 34th Alpha

Versary. But Joel Harris died while pledging Alpha at Morehouse in 1989. Joel Harris had open heart surgery when he was two years old. And when he was pledging, he was repeatedly struck in the chest, punched in the chest. Joel eventually died from being punched in the chest. No black parent sends their child to college

expecting them to come back in a body bag. And if there's anybody out there who has a problem with my hardcore stance against hazing, you can kiss my entire ass. Because you are operating with the same thuggish mentality as gangs. Will they beat up a gang member as their entry into the game? Alpha. Or a member of any other fraternity or sorority. That became great.

Because of how they were pledged. They became great. Because of what they did. After they left college. And so when we talk about. How are we supposed to be making great alpha men, great aka women, great delta women, great omega,

kappa, zeta, iota, sigma gamma rho, sigma. You don't do that by beating the hell out of somebody, by damn near waterboarding them, by making them run until they fall out. I remember that I was reading a New York Post article from several years ago where there was a guy who was pledging a grad chapter of Omega. He was beaten so severely with a paddle he was hospitalized. I remember there was a AKA chapter, I think it was in North Carolina, where they were branded A's on their arms. Why

is all this important? Because I would hope a young person who's listening right now who wants to join one of our fraternities and sororities will have the same mentality that I had in 1989 when I said, ain't no way in hell I'm letting somebody beat me. That is not going to happen. we have got to change this sadistic mentality because what it has done it has literally cost our organizations millions of dollars in settlements and it is actually cost people their mental health because there are people who are still suffering from the trauma and the PTSD from how they were beaten when they pledged.

And yes, there are mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who've had to bury their sons and daughters and brothers and sisters who are simply trying to join one of our organizations. That, folks, is not black excellence. That is not who we are supposed to be. And again, if you don't like what I have to say, and let me be real clear,

if you think by calling me, oh, you're a paper alpha, I really don't give a damn what you think. Because what I've done in 34 years of alpha is properly represent alpha in what I do and wherever I go. And I'm completely unfazed by the childish names and phrases folks use to describe someone who had the decency to say, ain't nowhere in hell you're going to whoop my ass for some letters. That was never going to whoop my ass for some letters. That was never going to happen. Greg Carr, your thoughts. Well, brother, I don't think anybody can justify violence. And those of us who have pledged, certainly, at 58, I suppose, to this younger generation, we went through the dark ages, so to speak.

But to the people who were before me, I think about one of my jaggers, Nate Norman, who pledged alpha at Ball State. He said, you know, we pledged a whole year. And if I thought 1985, when I was 19, was bad, that's how I have to say this. I joined Alpha Phi Alpha because I was in the March to Manor, Tennessee State. We went up one afternoon to go look at the fraternity books because my friend wanted to be a Sigma. And I didn't know anything. I'm the first in my family to go to college.

And so they're looking at the Sigma book. And I saw the Alpha book. And I said, let me see that one. And when I saw Martin Luther King and Paul Robeson and Duke Ellington and WB Du Bois, you name it. I said, I said, uh, now can you be in more than one? And they were like, no. I said, well, all the people we look up to are in this book. So why would I want to be in any of them other ones? That's how I made my choice at 19 years old. I'm not proud of some of the things I submitted to in order to get into Alpha Phi Alpha. And if I had to do it today, I wouldn't do it

the same way. But as you said, Ron, when I got to law school, that's when those waves of cases, people drowning, and brother, you mentioned in 89. And at the law school, of course, we had access to Lexis and Westlaw. We were looking up the cases and you began to see this

wave of brutality now exposed to the world. But I'm going to tell you right now, if you don't think the white fraternities were doing it, let me tell you all, compared to what black people were doing, the physical violence — and this isn't an excuse. I don't bemoan physical violence. These white boys was doing stuff like, in Vanderbilt, they would put their pledges on a railroad car and send them blindfolded to places like Alabama and Mississippi and tell them to find their way back. What I'm saying is this whole

culture of barbarity, this culture of barbarity pervades fraternity and sorority life. Our frat brother, Walter Kimbrough, has written about that. And the psychological violence. Oh, man, let's not even talk about the sorority. I'm not even talking about physical violence. And I'm saying it persists to this day. Young people, particularly at these HBCUs and other places around the Divine Nine, y'all stop putting this psychological warfare on these other young people. Because I'm telling you, Roland,

it's going on today, and it isn't physical now as much as it is emotional and psychological. And it isn't just the Divine Nine. It's everybody with Greek letters, and it has to stop. I just think this is pure idiotic. Lauren and then Jason, Lauren. Yeah, I think there's just some sort of a weird need to be able to like brag about the tough time that you went through when you when you pledged. And I think that's what people are hanging on to when they when they say, which makes no sense to me,

that somebody is a paper alpha. And it just absolutely makes no sense. But in some of these organizations where people know that it's hard to get to the point of membership, I think the older members just want to brag about what they went through. I mean, I've got older members just want to brag about like what they went through. I mean, I've got a relative that went to West Point and in the military, it's the same sort

of culture and sort of, you know, wanting to refer to what was done decades ago. And if you didn't go through that same thing, then you're not real and all of this. And I have to tell you, I have a lot of favorite alphas in my life, two of whom I'm talking to right now. And one of whom is Congressman Bobby Scott. And I always sort of bother him. You know, I always bug my alpha friends to try to find out what the initiation thing was. And, you know, true to the alpha code, you know, nobody will tell me. But I remember Congressman Scott telling me one time that there was some sort of rule in there about if he was in the library, he was protected from being hazed. And so he was in the library all of the time. But inadvertently, I guess, a good thing in terms of avoiding hazing.

But the whole thing to me is just sort of oddly connected to wanting to brag that you went through something crazy. But, Roland, you're absolutely right. I mean, nobody cares. I mean, the Alpha Phi Alpha is such a storied fraternity. I mean, the Martin Luther King alone being in the fraternity is incredible. And so I have no idea what else this is connected to other than the wanting to brag that you had been through some crazy, crazy ritual oh yeah and and jason that literally is the mentality folks will go oh i went through great about folks played it for a whole year i mean people like you played for

four weeks oh my god how dare you and i i had to remind people i said first of all when we play it my number one was the first black drum major in Texas A&M history. Number two was the president of the National Association of Black Accountants. Here I am going to the board of NABJ as a student representative. Number four was a starting point guard of the basketball team. Number five was student government vice president. That's going into alpha. So this whole, see, again, this whole idea that we have to beat people and, oh, you got to earn your letters by being hazed.

I'm saying that is beyond idiotic because that's not how you actually build character. Because, again, when I'm looking at, that brother should be celebrating his alphaversary. He's dead. He literally died because somebody repeatedly punched him in his chest ain't no hell i'm gonna cape for that jason i got a real maybe comment before i gotta go to a break and then do our third day by hallowed bella fonci tribute yeah i'll just really quickly say you know i'm not qualified necessarily to speak on fraternities or sororities since I'm not a member. But I will say that I think as a community, we need to think about how we approach violence. You know, I think the same

thing when we talk about beating our children. You know, I think there's a lot of people out there like, well, I did I got whooped when I was a kid, so it's fine and I'm OK. And I'm like, you're probably not as OK as you think you are. And number two, that doesn't mean we need to do that to our children. So I think there's a culture of violence that we need to let go. I think some of it does come from our period of enslavement, and we need to let go of that mentality in so many different ways. And yes, if I were part of a fraternity, I would want people like Greg Carr and Roland Martin in my fraternity because I know they represent what the fraternity stands for. I don't need the toughest guy all the time. I don't need the guy with the biggest muscles.

It might be fun to jump around at the party. I wanted to pledge a fraternity that wasn't at my campus at the time. And I was literally lifting weights because I wanted to take my shirt off at the party, you know, and be a part of a frat, you know. But now I realize that what really helps those organizations is when they have real solid brothers who do for the frat, who do for their brothers, who are there for their brotherhood. That's what really makes those attractive to someone like me who's not a member and i'm like man that organization or that chapter is dope it's not cool because they got beat down it's cool because they have a strong brotherhood that wants to help one another and their community all right folks uh i gotta go to break we come back. Pastor Michael Flager reflects on his longtime friendship with Harry Belafonte.

In the second half hour, we'll be joined by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. I will also share his thoughts about the man who supplanted him as the Calypso King. We'll talk about that. For folks who don't know that story, they probably will get a kick out of how Belafonte and Farrakhan were both linked to Calypso. Yes, you got to wait for it. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. I lost my daughter. I didn't know where she was. So I had to figure out how to survive, how to eat, how to live. I don't want

to go into the details because she's here first of all. She may not want me telling that story. But possession of her, the family broke down. I was homeless. I had to figure out I didn't have a manager or an agent or anybody anymore. And I'm the talent. So I got to figure out how to be the agent. I had to figure out how does business work. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, Dexter Jenkins is a faith-based financial mentor with more than 20 years in the financial services industry. He's passionate about helping families build generational wealth. Even though I'm talking about things like prayer, I'm talking about things about reading the word,

I'm talking about things like fellowship, I'm talking to members who are dealing with losing their houses or I'm talking to members who, because of a lack of the handling of finances, they're working two or three jobs. And so what I'm finding is that they're not coming to church because they don't have a handle on their finances. We're talking how to get wealthy through faith and our finances

on the next Get Wealthy right here. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers,

but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's Dadication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

Only on Blackstar Network. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Ever since Harry Belafonte passed away on Tuesday morning at the age of 96, many folks, and us included, have been reflecting on his life and legacy. So many things this man packed into 96 years, not just in the United States, but all across the world. A few years ago, when I was in Chicago, I had an opportunity to listen to Mr. B give a lecture at St. Sabina Catholic Church. That is led by Pastor Michael Flager. They have known each other for years. And so Pastor Flager joins us right now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. How you doing? All right, Roland. Good to see you. How you doing, sir? Good to see you as well. First time you and Mr. B met. Wow.

Probably some 30-some years ago. We met. There was an event here in Chicago, and I ran into him, got a chance to speak to him at that, and then invited him to come on out to the church. And he came for year after year after year after year to come and speak here at the church. Whenever he was in Chicago, he'd come by here to visit. Many times he had this movement of the gathering that he had formed and had their meetings here when they were in Chicago. Went out for his 80th birthday celebration in New York, and then he was turning 90 the last

time he was here. And so we had a celebration for him here at St. Sabina, and you saw the picture there of the cake we celebrated for his 90th birthday. But one of the most amazing human beings I've ever met in my life. And look, when he came every year, it was always a packed house because so many people wanted to hear what he had to say. And he was not afraid to touch on many of the thorny subjects of the day. No, he one of the things I so loved about him, Rome, was his boldness. He was what he what I THINK HE WAS A GREAT MAN. HE WAS A GREAT MAN. HE WAS A GREAT MAN. ONE OF THE THINGS I SO LOVED

ABOUT HIM WAS HIS BOLDNESS. HE WAS WHAT HE BELIEVED AND WHAT HE STOOD FOR HE WAS UNASHAMED ABOUT AND HE SPOKE IT FREELY, SPOKE IT WHEREVER HE WAS AND WHETHER IT WAS IN A PULP IN A CHURCH OR IN A CONVERSATION AT A RESTAURANT. HE STOOD BY WHAT HE BELIEVED by what he believed and paid the sacrifice for it.

I remember for, here it is on Coretta Scott King's birthday, I remember at her funeral, we were both on the program to speak. I was meeting him in the hotel where we were both staying. That afternoon, we were going to go to dinner, and then we were going over to the visitation at Ebenezer. I WAS GOING TO GO TO DINNER. I WAS GOING TO GO TO DINNER. WE WERE GOING TO GO TO DINNER AND THEN WE WERE GOING OVER TO

THE VISITATION AT EVEN EASER. I'M WAITING IN THE LOBBY WHEN SOMEBODY CAME OVER TO ME AND SAID ARE YOU FATHER FLAGGER? I SAID YES. HE SAID MR. BELFONTE IS ON THE PHONE FOR YOU. I GOT ON THE PHONE AND SAID

WHERE ARE YOU? I SAID I'M WAITING FOR YOU IN THE LOBBY. HE SAID MICHAEL, I'M NOT COMING. I SA, you're not coming. And he told me that the night before he had received a call, and I guess President Bush had, people had called Eddie Long, the bishop over at New Birth, where the funeral was being held, and told them that if Belafonte was going to be on the program and there on the dais, that he was not, Bush was not going to come and he could not be in the dais. And Eddie Long agreed to that and had Harry Belfonte canceled from the program and said he could sit in the audience. And I said to Mr. B, I said, listen,

sir, nobody has probably had more influence and support to the King family as you. He paid for Dr. King's funeral. I said, you need to be here. And he said, it would be too painful. And so he said, I'm not coming. And it was very, very, I talked to him almost every day for the days immediately after that. And it was very, very painful for him. Remember it vividly. And I remember when MLK the third came to Chicago, I was running the Chicago defender and we had quite a contentious discussion about what took place. And it was actually, and it was really a couple of days ago, we actually showed the video i was also there at the national action network conference in 2017 11 years later when when harry publicly uh said let's close this uh and but yeah that was that was that that angered a lot of people uh because of what did, not only for Dr. King, but for Coretta Scott King,

for all of the children. And folks said, so you wanted all living presidents to be there, and you literally would sacrifice the very man who saved you, who paid for housekeeping, who paid for school, who did all those different things. Yeah, that was a very, very hard thing for him to have to deal with. Yeah, I think more he was angry about, but what I saw time and time again was his hurt. He, as you well know, he absolutely loved Dr. King. I remember him sharing with me the first time he met Dr. King down in the basement of Abyssinian

when after Dr. King was speaking there and there's this beautiful picture in his apartment of that meeting that took place. And he said he walked away from that meeting saying, I will do whatever I have to do in my life to support this man personally and financially. And he did. I mean, he brought in Sidney Poitier to the movement and reached out to Sammy Davis Jr. and so many others and brought them in to the movement to support and to be present in it.

And he gave his finance. He sacrificed. There were places he was banned from after that because of his political stance and his support of Dr. King. Was unimportant to him. And as you said, he sent his housekeeper down to the King family after Dr. King was killed to help Mrs. King with the children. He loved Dr. King and told me I don't know how many times he just was going to spend the rest of his life trying to continue to keep his legacy alive. Hold tight one second.

I've got to go to break. We come back we'll uh got more for you my panel they have some questions for you as well uh and i do want you uh to share for folks who didn't understand who do never got a chance to meet him uh the absolutely wicked sense of humor of herr belafonte we'll talk about that next with pastor michael flager you're watching roland Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns.

This is a genuine people-powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people. $50 this month. Rates $100,000. We're behind $100,000. So we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. The cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie,

we talk about a hard, cold fact. Not all health care is created equal in this country, especially if you're a person of color. So many of us Black families, we rely upon each other heavily. A lot of us aren't necessarily sure how to best communicate with our health care providers. How to take charge and balance the scales. Your life may depend on it. That's next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 We're going to chat with Pastor Michael Flager about his longtime friend, Harry Belafonte, who passed away at the age of 96 on Tuesday of this week. Father Flager, we talk about loyalty.

He was in Chicago. This probably was either 2012 or 2013. I had this brouhaha with the folks at GLAAD who were upset with some tweets I made that they characterized something that wasn't. And he had heard about it. And he called me. And he said, he was told about this here. And he asked me about them.

And I told him exactly what happened. And he said, understood. He said, if asked, he said, I will absolutely stand by you and be with you. He was someone who was loyal to people who he believed in. Absolutely. And I'm a testimony of that. When I went through that accusation a couple of years ago, he was one of the first people that reached out and said, what can I do for you? What do you need me to do? And I said, sir, just keep me in your prayer.

He said, I stand with you 100%. And he said, and whatever you need me to do, let me know. And he was like that throughout his life and all the time that I've known him. You know, one thing, you know, Rowan, as you know well, we're in a day with a lot of pop-up activists. They're pop-up today, they're gone tomorrow. They're here for a minute, they disappear. This man was consistent all his life. I mean, he was an activist before he was a singer. And he used his career to use it to another, take it to another level and support the fight for justice and freedom. And he was loyal to the people, like you say, that he believed in and stood by them all the way to the end

and never walked away, never took the easy way out, but always standing, fighting, uncompromising. And, you know, the other thing is he had this amazing sense of humor, just this wit about him. He always used to say to me, what kind of mischief should we get into this year? I THINK HE'S A GREAT GUY. HE'S A GREAT GUY. HE HAS AN AMAZING SENSE OF HUMOR. JUST THIS WIT ABOUT HIM. HE ALWAYS SAYS TO ME, WHAT KIND OF MISCHIEF SHOULD WE GET INTO THIS YEAR?

I HAD AN ALBUM IN MY ROOM ONE TIME WHEN HE WAS HERE AND WE WERE SITTING THERE TALKING OF HIM. HE SAID THAT'S ME. I SAID, YEAH, I SUPPORTED YOU. I BOUGHT YOUR ALBUM. HE SAID GIVE IT HERE. HE TAKES THE ALBUM AND HE GETS it here and he takes the album he gives it it's a pen and writes across it um if ever you get into

hard times and have to put this on ebay call me first i love you harry and that was him that was him always him but he was so he was was so consistent. Questions. No, absolutely. Questions from our panel for Pastor Michael Flager. I'll start with Jason first. So, first of all, it's an honor to meet you, Father Flager. I've always seen what you've done in the community over there in Chicago, and I've been an admirer for a long time. So it's an honor to meet you. What do you believe would be Harry Belafonte's parting message? What do you think he would want to say to an increasingly divided world,

particularly one on the basis of race and gender and sexual orientation. What do you think would be his message for the rest of us who are still here on planet Earth? Well, Jason, first of all, thank you for your comment. I spoke with him a few months ago on the phone. His wife, Pam, called me up with Dan. She said, Harry woke up from a nap, and he said to get you on the phone. And we talked for some time. And one of the things that he was making very clear is, is that in the day in which we live, nobody can afford to be a bystander.

Nobody can sit on the grandstands and watch what's going on. We had a moral obligation to stand up and to fight and to be vocal about what we see. He was very, very clear about Dr. King's message that we begin to die the moment we're silent about things that matter. And he believed that everybody had a moral responsibility to fight, to bring back the moral consciousness,

if you will, of this country. Thank you so much. Thank you. Lauren. Father Flager, Lauren Burke here. I see behind you a lot of photography and it looks pretty interesting. I wondered if you had a favorite photo with Harry Belafonte or a favorite moment with Harry Belafonte that you could share with us I'll tell you one. I haven't got the photo right here, but it was a photo of him We were he were getting up to speed. This is the last time he was here for his 90th birthday and we were getting up to speak. This is the last time he was here for his 90th birthday. And we were getting up to, he was getting up, I was bringing him to the podium and he grabbed my arm

and he said, if you let me fall, I'll bring you down with me. And I look at that photo all the time. It just reminded me that even in the moment, getting up to speak in the moments of, in the midst of a program, he was the friend. He was the man who was serious and who was also had a great sense of humor

and was just uncompromising in what he believed. Thank you. Greg Carr. Thank you, Roland, and thank you, Father Flecker, for everything you've done. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes,

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

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir.

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

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

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on

not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's that occasion. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. The year is what you continue to do. Thank you for always looking out for our Howard students when they've come out there for Alternative Spring Break Chicago. I think about young Malik Thomas and so many others that you've worked with over the years.

You know, absolutely. Thank you for that. You know, one of the pictures that we've seen several times with you and Mr. B is with your brother and comrade, Jeremiah Wright Jr. And it raises a question in my mind, something that, Roland, when you said, you know, he packed all this life into 96 years and all this work. To use the word packed, I think is appropriate. So my question to you is about Harry Belafonte's inexhaustible energy. It's a question I have of Baba Jeremiah when I talk with him. It's a question I want to ask you. Where does this inexhaustible energy come from, this capacity to just work all the time? Could you help us maybe with some insights not only about Herb Belafonte but with yourself,

this struggle that seemed to just wear you out, but you just seemed to be getting stronger, and he did as well. Well, I believe, I certainly know with my friend and my pastor, Jeremiah, and I believe with Harry, you know, Harry wasn't one that would often attend church a lot because he said he had not, he had actually stopped going, and he said that Dr. King brought him back into it, and he used to say, I'll come to your church. I remember when I was speaking out of Riverside in New York, he showed up out there out of surprise. But it was his faith. He was a deeply rooted man in faith. And I think that's the same thing with Jeremiah, same thing with me, is that, you know, I read the end of the book.

Justice wins. Love wins. Peace wins. And I always tell people, and Jeremiah and I joke about this often, that because of my faith, I'm a prisoner of hope. And even though you get discouraged and you get down and sometimes it's painful and you cry and you weep, you get back up because like Muhammad Ali said when he was lying on the floor of the boxing ring, the ground is no place for a champion to be. And you get back up and you fight because you know, if you know that this is temporary and this isn't the end of

how it's gonna end then you get up and you keep fighting and you keep niching away it's a marathon race I I think one of the problem we just add this Andy one of the problems today is everybody wants to see everything happen right now and when you don't see that you get frustrated and you submit or you assimilate or you just quit. And Mr. B and I used to speak often about the fact that when you really are a person of faith and when you're really committed to the fight of justice, you understand your job is to pick up the baton in your season, plant the seed,

and know somebody is going to eat the fruit off that tree. You don't have to see it, but you do it because it's the right thing to do. And Mr. B was one that always used to say, you know, to me, we do what we do because it's right. Not because it's convenient, not because there's going to be some reward from it, but you do it because it's right. And I just believe that. And I think Mr. B and up until he's 96 years old, as well as Jeremiah still today, you get up and you fight because you know

the end of this is a win. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Pastor Michael Flager, always great to see you. Great to share with you your final takeaway before I go to break. Well, I think the last thing I really want to say, Rowan, is that Mr. B and I spoke about this often, that we have to raise up Harry Belafonte. We have to raise up Rosa Parks. We have to raise up Martin Kings. We have to stop waiting that somehow this is going to magically happen. It's going to happen because we all decide that

we are going to take up that mantle. The best way we honor Harry Belafonte is to take up his mantle and take up the fight. I agree 100%. Good to see you, my friend. Pastor Michael Flager, always good to see you. We'll connect next time I'm in Chicago. Yes, sir.

Peace. All right. You take care. Folks, got to go to break. We come back. We'll chat with Mr. Louis Farrakhan, who will share his thoughts and reflections about hair. Bella Fonte to next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Ahem. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 hatred on the streets a horrific scene a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial.

This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist

in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Koff. We look at the history of emancipation around the world, including right here in the United States, the so-called end of slavery. Trust me, it's a history lesson that bears no resemblance to what you learned in school. Professor Chris Mangiapra, author, scholar,

amazing teacher, joins us to talk about his latest book, Black Ghost of Empire, The Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation. He explains why the end of slavery was no end at all, but instead a collection of laws and policies designed to preserve the status quo of racial oppression. The real problem is that the problems that slavery invented have continued over time. And what reparations are really about is saying, how do we really transform society, right,

and stop racial violence, which is so endemic. What we need to do about it on the next installment of The Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. I lost my daughter. I didn't know where she was. So I had to figure out how to survive, how to eat, how to live. I don't want to go into the details because she's here first of all. She may not want me telling that story. But possession of her, the family broke down, fell apart. I was homeless. I had to figure out I didn't have a manager or an agent or anybody anymore. And I'm the talent. So I got to figure out how to be the agent. I had to figure out how does business work. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-ibillion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season One. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes

4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way.

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

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. Arapahoe, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. So imagine you're Harry Belafonte and you are selling records all across the globe. You become the first artist to ever sell a million records for a day. And people are loving your Calypso music. And then people say, yeah, you're all right. There's a guy in Boston who sings way better than you named Gene Walcott. Well, many people know him today as Mr. Louis Farrakhan. He joins us right now on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Mr. Glad to have you back. So I started that way because literally people were just mesmerized by the voice of Harry Belafonte. But there were others where you grew up who said, oh, we got a guy who sings better than Harry. Well, I will not join that. I love Harry. I love his voice. And I love what he did for the music of the Caribbean that I loved so much. I was a young Calypsonian. I danced, I sang, and I sang ballads. And I heard of Harry Belafonte when I was 16 or 17 years of age, and I studied my brother.

And how I met him was I was going to try to audition for his part in the Broadway show, Almanac, when he went to California to do the movie Common with that very beautiful sister, oh boy, Dorothy Dandridge. Dorothy Dandridge. So I went to New York and auditioned to play his part in that Broadway show. Unfortunately, I didn't get the part, but that night after I auditioned,

they invited me to the show to meet Harry Belafonte. And we had a meeting after the show and talked a few nice words, but for me, Harry Belafonte is about the best of the Calypsonians because he made Calypso popular in the United States of America so that all Calypsonians, including myself, had a broader audience to sing for or dance for or play for. I love that man very, very much. And I'm deeply saddened by his passing. But I know that all of us who live to the age of 96, we suffer from the ravages of time. And it's only a matter of time before time that brought us into the world, time will take every one of us out.

So my brother is gone, but I celebrate that man as one of not only, and not just Calypso, but he was a man of supreme integrity, honesty, commitment. That's the Harry Belafonte that I know. And the last time I had a chance to talk with him, Brother Roland, was maybe a few months ago. I asked one of my helpers to get in touch with his daughter, Gina, that I might be able to say something to him. And I persisted, and finally, Harry Belafonte came on the phone, phone and he said, Farrakhan, why are you like desirous of talking with me? What is it?

And I said, oh, Brother Harry, I just called to tell you how much I love you and how much I thank Almighty God for your mother and father who brought you into this world. And I thank God for the gift that he gave you that you have shared with millions. And I just was getting old, and I know you're a little older than I am, so before time took me or time took you,

I just wanted you to know from the depth of my heart that I love me some Harry Belafonte. My wife loves and adores him, my children, and so we're a part of the fan club, if you will. But more than that, that man to me came from God. Only God gives life. Only God fashions life. And I can say this to you, Brother Roland, that you are fashioned by God, and that's why you can't be any different than what you are. You are a fighter

using your gifts to make life better for those who would hear you is that to me, and I shall miss him terribly. But thank you for having a program like this that Father Flager and I could be blessed to come on your show to talk about a man that both of us love. The moment I heard of his passing, I called Father Flager. Because it was Father Flager when I was on an operating table in 2007 for 14 hours, which gave me what they call a pelvic exoneration, many thought that I had reached the end of my days. And Father Flager brought my idol, so to speak, to the hotel. I'm sorry, to the hospital to greet me. And from there, we've had many, many wonderful conversations. Going to a break. We've had many, many wonderful conversations.

Going to break, we come back more with Mr. Louis Farrakhan. And the day three remembrance of Harry Belafonte folks who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 96. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, Dexter Jenkins is a faith-based financial mentor with more than 20 years in the financial services industry. He's passionate about helping families build generational wealth. Even though I'm talking about things like prayer, I'm talking about things about reading the word,

I'm talking about things like fellowship, I'm talking to members who are dealing with losing their houses or I'm talking to members who, because of a lack of the handling of finances, they're working two or three jobs. And so what I'm finding is that they're not coming to church because they don't have a handle on their finances. We're talking how to get wealthy through faith and our finances on the next Get Wealthy right here, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering

and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on 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 Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. B one two and three on may 21st and episodes four five and six on june 4th ad free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts

i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs podcast sir we are back in a big way in a very big way real people real And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

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

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's Dadication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Welcome back. We continue our conversation with Mr. Louis Farrakhan with regards to the passing of Harry Belafonte. Mr. Farrakhan, so you go from Gene Wolcott. You link up with Elijah Muhammad. You join the Nation of Harry Belafonte. Mr. Farrakhan, so you go from Gene Walcott, you link up with Elijah Muhammad, you join the Nation of Islam, you become, you come into the Nation of Islam, and while the nation had its view of the civil rights movement and what black folks should be doing, here you had Harry Belafonte who committed himself to following Dr. King. As you think back during those days, what were you thinking as here he was on the front lines

with Dr. King and you growing and being shaped and formed in the Nation of Islam with Elijah Muhammad? ELIJAH MOHAMMED, Well, to look at my brother, I never saw him as someone different, because he focused on the civil rights question with Dr. King. I disagreed with Dr. King as a student of Brother Malcolm and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. But you know, as time went on, I grew to love Dr. King. I grew to understand more the struggle of the Christian family as they pursue justice in America. And so, Harry to me was King family after Dr. King's passing. He's a man of extreme integrity and deep and profound love. And when you're like that, you could hear it in all his songs when he was like a folk

singer, and a Lipsonian. All the heart that he put into his music is what he put into closing years of his struggle for justice for us. And he was looking at Dr. King one day, and Dr. King seemed rather melancholy. And he said, Martin, you seem so melancholy. Why are you so sad? And Dr. King said, I fear that I'm integrating my people into a burning house. That burning of America is going on as this program is going on.

And we see and are living in and a part of watching the unraveling and the fall of the greatest nation on this earth in the last 6,000 years. So I admired Dr. King. I admired all of those that fought with him, not against him, but with him for our civil rights. And we would not enjoy the things that we enjoy today, some measure of freedom, some measure of political sagacity and power or office that we hold if there were not a Dr. King and a Harry Belafonte and a Jesse Lewis Jackson. So when my brother Jesse said he was going to run for president.

I had just spoken at the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington, and Reverend Jackson invited me to a church where he was preaching that night. And when I listened to him afterwards, he said, Farrakhan, I would love for you to help me in my struggle to become the nominee in the Democratic Party talk it over of the nation, and I'll get back to him. speaker for Reverend Jackson and the movement that he so brilliantly led as he moved toward becoming the first Black president of the black church. And because of Reverend Jackson, and because I loved Dr. King and loved Reverend Jackson

for taking that bold step, and then he was assaulted. And since we had the FOI, the male members of the nation, with me and with us, we put them behind Reverend Jackson to protect him and his family. And that's how my controversy with members of the Jewish community began. I joined Reverend Jackson, and I saw an atmosphere being created by the media that could have had Reverend Jackson assassinated. And I reached out to members of the Jewish community, and I told them, we can stand to lose an election, but we can't stand to lose our brother. And that's when I was called a new black Hitler, and the dance of death began. And for 40 years now, I've had to wear the ugly label of anti-Semite or anti-Semitic hater, bigoted person. So I've survived.

And Reverend Jackson, though he dismissed me from being a speaker on his behalf, I never stopped cherishing the move that he made and the work that we did together to help his campaign. And I heard you earlier. I have three panelists. Go ahead. Brother Martin talking about hazing. And I so much agree with you. But to stand by and watch my brother strive to do something consequential for us as a people and not stand with him, not stand by him, not stand for him, and not be willing to make the sacrifice, if necessary to protect him.

And that's what Harry Belafonte was all about. He was a man of moral stamina, moral conviction. And so are you, brother. First time I met you, you've been the same ever since, always challenging falsehood, always challenging weakness, always challenging those who want to lead us, but question us, to help us to get our act together. So I thank God for you, too, and your wife and family. And I know that you will be successful in whatever you desire to be, because that's who you are, Brother Roland. And that's why I celebrate Father Flager. I celebrate Martin Luther King. I celebrate the civil rights fighters that made life better for us, even if we didn't march with them when they marched, we benefited from what came as a result of the changing of laws and the benefit of that. So I thank God for you, and I really thank you, brother, for opening this show, for Father Flager and myself to take some questions and whatnot, because our people really are in need of clear guidance today. Because we're in trouble.

I got your new book. And I started reading. White Fear, I think it was. And they're terrified at the rise of black people. back from the Supreme Court to the local courts, from the FBI to the local police. We suffer, but that soon will come to an end. Our time is short, but today is the birthday of Dr. Greg Carr at Howard University. And so I want to give him an opportunity to ask a question. Roland, thank you, brother. And assalamu alaikum, brother minister. Wa alaikum salam.

Yes, sir. And I will confess to being prejudiced in terms of your same career, my absolute favorite, and I play it all the time, is a white man's heaven is a black man's heaven is a black man's hell. To sell a man his merchandise. I just can't. But anyway, I wanna ask you just about standing up to power. One of your former neighbors, Barack Obama,

when he became president of the United States, Harry Belafonte said, you gotta stand up. Where is the moral truth and courage? How important is it? What lessons can we learn from Mr. B, you know, you've got to stand up. Where is the moral truth and courage? How important is it? What lessons can we learn from Mr. B, from yourself and all of the colleagues and comrades you've fought with over the years about the importance of standing up to power and not being afraid to speak truth to power, Brother Minister? And thank you. Thank you for your question, my brother. You know, dear brother.

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Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves.

We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

There's a verse in the Bible that said, Perfect love casteth out fear. One of the great enemies of our speaking to power is our fear that if we speak too straight, too strong, too black, will lose some advantage that we have gained from friendship from white people or Jewish people or people of substance who have opened the door for us. I wouldn't be known all over the world if it were not for the Jewish people who felt so terrified that a black man would stand up and not bow down. A black man would be critical, not hateful, but critical, and not apologize for telling the truth. When you love deep enough, Brother Roland, speaking truth to power becomes easy,

and every day that you love deeper, you preach stronger. Every day that you love deeper, you become one with God and one with the truth and one with the God who is love. So that's what makes Harry so great. He's in love with justice and truth and in love with his people. He loves America. He wants America to be better. So he made sacrifices. So my dear brother, Deepen our love for self. Deepen our love for one another. We can't claim Jesus Christ and not understand what he taught when the last word that he mentioned before his crucifixion. Love ye one another even as I have loved you. His whole demonstration was a love for the Father and a love for the truth and a love for the people. And that's why he spoke truth.

And unfortunately, when the people said crucify him after he made the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak and raise Lazarus to life. That's the painful part because now many of us have opportunities that we never had before. We have wealth that we never had before. We have a level of comfort that we never had before. And we've been brought out of obscure lives and put before the world on television. And now the world knows us, but we did not know that they were making us comfortable and giving us wealth and nearness to them so that one day when justice would come to them and they know that they're going down and they want to take us down with them, then they will call in the chips. So don't get too happy over the money that you got and the fame that you got and the

shows that you got and the records that you sell, let me tell you, he's going to ask you to denounce a good man. He's going to ask you to be of those

that are hateful of us. That's right. And if you love comfort more than you love truth, if you love the beautiful home that you may have more than justice, more than speaking truth to power, you will compromise your position to hold on to a material thing that's going to die anyway. Teach me. So, my brother, as I thank you from the depth of my heart for your question, and I thank Brother Roland for allowing me this time to be with you. I urge us, love yourself.

Love your people. Yes, some of us are just ugly acting. It's true. But it's not because that's the way we are by nature. That's the way we've been made by circumstances. So my job as a student of the honorable Elijah Muhammad is to look past the fault and look at the need. Suffice the need and you'll crush the fault. Our people need to be loved.

Our people need to be taught. Our people need to throw away the blindfold that keeps us ignorant. And after that, we'll be all right. So thank you so much. I know time is running. Thank you. Well, there's little doubt that Harry Belafonte, there's little doubt Harry Belafonte absolutely had a love for black people. Mr. Louis Farrakhan, we appreciate you sharing your remembrances of Mr. B. And two weeks from today, you will be celebrating your 90th birthday. So happy early birthday.

Thank you so much. I pray that God will bless me to see 90. And, uh, God bless you with long life. Keep up the good work, Brother Roland. I know you've suffered a lot just for being the man that you are. But if we can't take the heat and you love to cook, we shouldn't be in the kitchen. So you're heavy in the kitchen. I agree.

I love you much, Brother Rowland. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Be well. Thanks a lot. Thank you. To Jason, Lauren, Greg Carr, we appreciate y'all joining us on today's show. Folks, we have spent the last three days remembering Harry Belafonte, Anthony Getashot.

They're in our studio. You can see the portrait that I had commissioned of Mr. B. That was actually done eight years ago when I emceed an event for the gathering at the Apollo Theater. A young artist, she did that. I should have bought that when they auctioned it off, but when we launched our studio, we commissioned that portrait, and that's why we have the black drape on it. That black drape will stay there until he is funeralized. We will continue celebrating his life tomorrow. We will have a filmmaker who is working on a film on Harry Belafonte. And still, folks, the people pouring out different messages and videos are just talking about the

enormity of this man. And so if there's someone who's, and I've had some people hit me up, they said, Roland, you've done numerous specials of many of our ancestors who have passed away and I and I will say this this one asked well well why have you done so many different ones on Harry Belafonte besides the fact that I knew him that we had a 12-year friendship friendship at great respect for him I absolutely believe that when you talk about historical figures, historical Americans, when you talk about African Americans, I was born six, seven months

after Dr. King was assassinated. There's no doubt when you look at Harry Belafonte, going from Paul Robeson, MLK, Mandela, and so many figures, you're talking about one of the greatest Americans of the 20th and the 21st century. Everything that we've done, he deserves and much more. And so we will continue to educate folks today who maybe didn't read about him, who didn't know about him. People didn't even understand that when hip-hop rappers in Cuba were not allowed to rap, it was Harry Belafonte who went to Fidel Castro and told

him, you need to allow those young brothers and sisters to do what they do. And a year later, when Harry Belafonte went back to Cuba, those hip-hop artists thanked him because it was him speaking to Castro that freed up the rappers in Cuba. There's so many stories like that that we can cover. And so that's why we do what we do. And this is why black owned media matters. When you look at the stories that you have heard, we talked about it with Alton Maddox passing away. We've talked about this when Cicely Tyson passed away, when others have become ancestors, mainstream media. Even when Sidney Poitier passed away,

they didn't spend time like they did with Betty White talking about their life and career. But this is why black owned media matters. This is why the show was created. This is why the Black Star Network was created. And the Black Star Network is named after the cruise line of Marcus Garvey. And why did he create the cruise line? Because he said he wanted to connect the African diaspora with one another. And that's why we have this network to do the exact same thing, to share these stories.

You're not going to hear Father Flager, Minister Farrakhan, Michael Eric Dyson, Carmen Perez. You're not gonna hear Chuck D, all the folks that we've had thus far on sharing their thoughts and reflections about Harry Belafonte. Because there are producers and executives at those networks who decided that, eh, we know he was a major figure,

but he's not deserving of such airtime. For us, he is. Be sure to download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Folks, none of this is free. Your resources make it possible for us to continue to do this work, to do this five days a week.

We did not get to the Prairie View A&M story because of what our interviews with Father Flager. We'll have that tomorrow. When I was at Prairie View today,M story because of what our interviews with Father Flager. We'll have that tomorrow. When I was at Prairie View today, we live streamed it. We're going to restream it later today. But Prairie View A&M is making demands of the Texas A&M Board of Regents. Again, this is why we do this. I was the only media outlet that was there today at Prairie View A&M University. No other media outlet. No other black media outlet, all these so-called new black

leading people, none of them were there. This is why we do what we do. Support us in what we do, folks. Checking money orders. P.O. Box 57196 Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Brownie of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. They'll be at bookstores nationwide, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target. Download it on Audible.

Tomorrow, I will be live at 3 p.m eastern from jackie's high school while we were presenting two of my annual scholarships to my alma mater and so look for that on the black star network folks until then i'll see you tomorrow again uh shout out to my lbss, John, Freddie, and Paul. Today's our 34th anniversary, Alphaversary. And rest in peace to our number one, Kevin Roberts. Kevin actually died on the 10th anniversary of our pledging in a plane that he was piloting. He died April 27th, 1999.

So condolences to his family on this day, our Alphaversary. Folks, y'all take care. © B Emily Beynon Thank you. Thank you. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.