#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Ras Baraka Sues After Arrest, CBO Blasts Big Beautiful Bill, Crockett for Top Oversight Panel Spot

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

6.4.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Ras Baraka Sues After Arrest, CBO Blasts Big Beautiful Bill, Crockett for Top Oversight Panel Spot Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is breaking his silence and taking legal action after his controversial arrest outside an immigration detention center, he says it was politically motivated, and he's joining us live as he campaigns for governor. Plus, a scathing new report from the Congressional Budget Office drops the hammer on House Republicans... "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." The CBO says it could blow a $2.4 trillion hole in the deficit and leave millions without health care. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett makes a bold move to lead Democrats on the powerful House Oversight Committee, hoping to bring the Democratic Party back from the Brink. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart podcast. 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 One, Taser, Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Taser, Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser, Inc.

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me, carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree.

It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepaperceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two 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 is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes, we met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. coming up on Roller Martin on

football streaming live on the Black Star Network. We're joined by Newark Mayor Roz Moraca, who is talking about his legal action against a Trump use attorney, plus his run for governor of New Jersey. A scathing new report from the Congressional Budget Office shows the Trump big, beautiful bill will put a massive amount of money on the United States credit card. Hashtag we tried to tell you Elon Musk is attacking the bill. Boy, that's pretty interesting. Man, Education Secretary Linda McMahon,

she gets smacked down by a couple of members of Congress of the CBC. That's pretty interesting. Plus, more than 2,500 Jamaicans, they're sent back home we'll tell you about that plus Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett just just tears into Trump and his people folks it is he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine And when it breaks he's right on time and it's rollin' Best belief he's knowin' Puttin' it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks he's rollin'

Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roroyo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rollin' with Rollin' now. Yeah.

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best. You know he's Rollin' Martin now. Martin. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you.

I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. over the issue of him being arrested. Of course, outside of the ICE detention center, she made all sorts of different claims. And he said, oh, really? This is how you wanna roll? Gotcha.

All right, I'm hitting you with a lawsuit. He says it was peaceful, lawful visit with him and members of Congress. Charters were dropped. He's still filing a lawsuit. Of course, Barack is also running for Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey. She joins us right now.

Mayor Barack, glad to have you on the show. First and foremost, why you found this lawsuit? One, I just think they shouldn't have the ability to get away with what they did. They put it out that they dismissed the case so that we can move on. But they dismissed the case because they were wrong. They had no charges, my arrest was unlawful. They had no jurisdiction to arrest me whatsoever. And honestly, I think somebody passed the word down to them to come out of that

facility and arrest me on the sidewalk to do anyway. And they took those orders and went ahead with it and they were wrong and should be held accountable for it. And obviously she made all sorts of comments about you when it came to this particular arrest. And then later, of course, they dropped the charges. Right. They said that, you know, I broke the law. I wasn't above the law.

Some of them are still saying that, actually. We may have to extend the lawsuit to include other people, saying that we bust into place, we kicked our way in, slammed ICE agents, all kinds of fabrication. Even with videos present, they should have known that the video would tell the truth, and it did. Well, we are talking about the Trump folks, and so it's not like telling the truth is something they are very good at. They are actually

excellent at lying repeatedly and we see this all the time and one of things that I keep saying is when you're dealing with a bully you got a punch of bully back. You can't negotiate with them. You can't capitulate. You've got to make it clear that you're gonna fight them as hard as they try to fight you. Absolutely, and that's exactly what we're doing. Like, they think they can just do this and walk away. They fingerprinted me twice, took a picture,

took my mug shots twice, did it in the jail, and then at the courthouse, they humiliated me dragged me in the basement to do it twice for a classy Mr. Mina charge that I could have got a blue summons for $500 fine is the max of that. There's no such thing as federal trespassing trespassing is a state charge these guys did whatever they could to humiliate me so now I'm going to Suit them for and they keep saying over and over again in the press and the media things that just didn't happen.

Let's talk about, so you got that going on, but let's talk about your run for governor of New Jersey. You got the primary coming up real soon. Main reason why you want to be the leader of the state? The primary is actually Tuesday, June 10th. But, you know, I think that ultimately New Jersey being one of the most wealthy states in the nation, also one of the most segregated, the deep inequities that exist here. African American women die seven times more in a hospital, giving birth to our

Children three times more for the age of one. The wealth gap under Democrats just doubled from $300,000 to $600,000 in this state. They spend less than 1 percent of the state's procurement dollars on black, brown and women-owned businesses here in the state of New Jersey. Between Newark, where I live, and Livingston, which is eight miles apart, there's a 14-year life expectancy difference. New Jersey has very serious problems, deep-seated problems around equity that we need to solve, right? We have been carrying other people's water, electing them.

Everybody has a plan for everything, except the most marginalized, except working-class families of all nationalities, and particularly black and brown families as well. And I think that that needs to be at the forefront of this. And ultimately, I think our economy remains stagnant until we include a whole bunch of people that have been left out and marginalized, and we need to bring them into it and create a universal economy that has a pathway for us all. And I don't think nobody else can do that. I don't think it's on their mind.

I don't think they see anybody, see us honestly, and our campaign sees all of the folks in New Jersey, sure, and we're gonna create policy that helps all, everybody in New Jersey, every family. One of the issues that I covered two or three years ago dealt with a lawsuit by a black private equity company against New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, it dealt with access to pension funds,

things along those lines. And one of the things that is important that people don't understand is that when you talk about how do you expand opportunities, the reality is pension funds are the greatest source of money that venture capitalists go after. And black people, black private equity is locked out. Then when you talk about a lot of these deals out here, you don't have black law firms, black accounting

firms, you don't have African Americans getting contracts. So when you look at the number of African Americans in New Jersey, these public workers and even the taxpayers, are you seeing real equity on the state level when it comes to African-Americans being able to access these state contracts? Absolutely not. That's what I just alluded to. They did a disparity study that showed less than 1% of the state dollars go to black businesses, brown businesses, brown businesses, women businesses.

Deplorable. And the counties get worse and worse the farther the farther you go down. We actually, in Newark, in the last three or four years, gave $200 million to black, brown and women businesses, which is more than the entire county of Essex did. I mean, this is pretty bad in New Jersey. And you're right, I'm very aware of the lawsuit and the big funds. It's interesting that Goldman Sachs has had governors, you know, have had at least three governors in the state in modern times who handle some of our pension funds.

At the end of the day, we need a public bank, not a commercial bank, but an investment bank. We need, you know, these kind of black, you know, investment firms to be able to manage our pension funds, begin to put that money in the places we need it and invest in black and brown communities and economically distressed communities, the communities that are not necessarily black and brown but have been historically and economically neglected because of the poverty line there. But we have to invest in these communities, and we need to be in control of our own funds to be able to do that.

You know, I did a story today talking about how the Trump folks want to get rid of the federal DBE program. That's $37 billion that goes to minority businesses and white women. And I say white women because the W is not women, it's white women. And I was texting someone about that and a sister said to me, she said, well, you know, who are these black businesses?

I said, y'all need to understand something. I said, last year on the federal level, $10 billion went to black owned businesses. It was less than 2%. I said, but it was still a record $10 million. I said, y'all need to understand something. I said, when y'all just saying this stuff, y'all don't realize those black-owned businesses,

they, a lot of them, most of them employ black people. They're employing black vice presidents, black directors, they're playing black staffers, receptionists, assistants, accountants, law firms. I'm like, so when you start, when you don't, when black-owned businesses don't have access to city contracts, county contracts, school district contracts, state contracts,

federal contracts, all of this talk about, let's grow black businesses, I say, look, everybody. 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 One. Taser, Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. 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 Glod. And this is season two of the World on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star studded a little bit, man.

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

Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamouche. 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 podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts are 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 podcast. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepaperceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Nobody can't have a Black-owned t-shirt company, okay? There are actual businesses and there are services that New Jersey and other states,

they are spending billions of dollars every year of taxpayer money, and we're not getting a return on the investment. That's absolutely correct, Roland, absolutely, positively correct. Whether you talk about construction contracts or infrastructure contracts, paper contracts, technology contracts, all kinds of stuff, business services, professional services,

all of those things that go into everybody but us. And so we absolutely need to be engaged in all of that wholeheartedly. And if you take all of the cities, all of the counties, and then the state together, and kind of add up all of the money that's being spent and invested in businesses and what we're losing or what we're leaving on the table. Tremendous, tremendous. And like you said,

a lot of public workers are black and brown whose pension funds are responsible for paying for a lot of this stuff as well. Absolutely. And so I think people need to understand what happens when you do have black leadership. When David Patterson became governor after Eliot Spitzer resigned, one of the first things that he did was make massive changes to black, to contracting, and you saw a significant benefit immediately for black-owned businesses.

I just don't think we can just underestimate what happens when you have a black governor who's in charge who can say, no, we're doing this. We're not asking, we're doing. Absolutely. And New Jersey has one of the strongest governors in the country in terms of what we're able to do. Most of the positions are appointed from judges to every department, to boards and commissions,

to the attorney general, to everyone, which means we have an awesome amount of authority to make sure we diversify what government looks like, what government has its hands on, and not just at the top levels, but all the way down in the bureaucracy of government as well. We can make sure that it clearly resembles the state that is diverse. And it's a good way to push back against what Donald Trump is doing nationally to do in New Jersey what these people are afraid to do and be successful at it. You're in the final stages.

You're about to do, I think, what? You headed to phone banking or block walking canvassing canvassing right now. What is your closing message closing argument with less than a week before election day? Yeah, that's why I'm in a car knocking jumped in going back out to knock again. I mean, obviously, I think that we are in a moral moment in this country. And we—I know a lot of people are afraid, but fear makes you make safe decisions, not the right one.

And I think it's time for us to make the right decision. We know in our gut here in New Jersey what we need to do in terms of challenging inequity, in terms of lowering the costs, in terms of making housing affordable in the state and challenging the health care companies and the insurance companies and the hospitals. We know what to do to make child care affordable, to make sure transportation is in our community, that it gives us the opportunity, the jobs, the marketplace, that we need a governor that sees all of us.

And people know what my record is, and they don't have to guess on it. They're clear about what we have done, and so they should know what we're going to do. They also know that we're not weak. We're not moderate. We will defend this state against the overreach of Donald Trump, not just by words, but also by actions. We're going to protect our residents here in this state, and we're going to build an economy that's universal, that all of us can be a part of at the same time and stop giving super tax credits to the super rich in this state and make sure we take care of working families here across all nationalities. So if you want to do something bold, something big, something different, then you would vote

Ras Baraka. If you want to do the same old thing, get the same old results, you go for all of them. And I've been saying there's only two people running for governor, me and all those other guys. So I implore you to do the right thing and come on out on 10th and make history in New Jersey, the very first African-American governor the state has ever seen. All right, then. Well, we've got one black governor in the United States, Westmore in Maryland would be nice to have another one. And of course, they both would be alpha. So let's make it happen, New Jersey.

Mayor Baraka, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, folks, gotta go to break. We'll be right back. And talk about this race and other politics right here.

Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. This week on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, and other politics right here. Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. This week on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things, faith, family, and fatherhood. Men step in and out of our lives in a variety of ways as fathers, uncles, cousins, and different ways in which we enjoy their company and presence and in other ways when they get on our nerves. This week on our show, we'll be talking about

what it means to be a father, how women can support the men in their lives, as well as how do we heal the wounds that we've had from poor conversation, lack of desire, and all of the other ways that we sometimes as women check out and cause our men to feel emasculated. That's all this week on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. Parkour, executive producer of Proud Family.

Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer of Proud Family. Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin. Folks, my panel today, Andrew Clark, managing partner, district legal group, joining me out of D.C. Glad to have you here. Dr. Zachary Kirk, educator and content creator out of Atlanta. Glad to have you here as well. Zachary, I'll start with you.

The theme for me, you're seeing Mayor Barack run for governor of New Jersey. You've got MAGA Republican Winsome Sears running in Virginia. You've got Garland Gilchrist, Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, who's running for governor in Illinois. You've got, you know, you got black candidates running for the United States Senate. I mean, we have seen the change over the past decade where so many African Americans could not get to that top position, being able to run statewide. But now they're running statewide, but now you still gotta cross that hurdle to win.

Of course, we know the United States Senate, you've got, of course, Raphael Warnock out of Georgia, you've got Cory Booker out of New Jersey, you've got Tim Scott out of South Carolina, you've got, of course, Lisa Rochester Blount out of Delaware, so you have four black United States senators, and of course, you got Angela Also-Brooke out of Delaware. So you have four black United States senators. And of course you got Angela also Brooke

out of Maryland as well. But governor, that seems to be a lot more difficult. You know, since reconstruction, only three African-Americans got to the governor level. Governor Doug Wilder out of Virginia, of course Deval Patrick two terms out of Massachusetts and now Westmore there in Maryland. And so that's critical when you talk about being able

to be the governor, the chief executive officer of a state. It's essential. We are living in the timeframe when we need strong leaders at the head of every single state. There are people constantly asking online, saying, you know, what are Democrats doing to fight back against the Trump administration, against the rollback of American democracy? Our senators and our representatives are not able to impact a lot of the things that are

hurting people at the state level. That work and the stopgap would fall on that governor. So it's in my, I believe firmly that it is essential for Mayor Baraka to win that seat. And he came on here tonight and gave to me an amazing piece of amazing speech that shows me this man is ready for the opportunity. But of course we know that from his credentials, we know that this man is a Howard graduate man

was an educator who committed his life to service. And he's continued to do that very, very well. It's my hope that he's going to cross the finish line, but it's not going to be easy. And it's going to be incumbent on the people of New Jersey to rally behind him, but not just the people of New Jersey, but the Black people, the brown people, the people that are being most hurt and most impacted by the policies of the Trump administration to mobilize together to get this man over the finish line. And we have to do whatever we can to use our platforms to amplify his message and get the troops rallied

to fight for Mayor Baraka. You know, Andrew, I laid out there in terms of what I kept focusing on the contract piece. And when you look at what happens when black mayors take over cities, you then begin to see how things expand. And I always say if you ain't having a money conversation in America, you ain't having an American conversation. And that is critically important.

It's one thing to say we need services, but we also can't be talking about how do we build and grow and sustain Black-owned businesses if you can't get contracts, if you do have a business, you can't get, you can't build capacity. Yeah. And one of the things about the governor of a state is the governor is almost akin to, if you think about the president for the United States, the governor of a state is the governor is almost akin to, if you think about the president for the United States, the governor is akin to running and setting the policy for a state. In the great state of Maryland, we have Westmore, who is an amazing person. I mean, personally, he's a very, very down-to-earth governor. But his policies on business are

very friendly for small businesses to succeed and also for Black businesses to also succeed. Prince George's County has the largest Black delegation in the country. And you see that. You see the economic impact that that has on businesses and Black businesses in Maryland, made up of mostly mine that I have seen with some of the abilities that they have to get contracts that you may not see happen in South Carolina.

You may not see happen in Georgia. So for Ras Baraka to potentially be in that position for New Jersey and so much well down in the Jersey store, down in North Jersey. I grew up in Westchester, New York, so I'm very familiar with that North Jersey area. For him to be in a position to set aside some of those contracts and also to promote small and black businesses is going to be huge

for the state of New Jersey. The state when you look at city county in the state, Zachary, it's $129 billion spent in New Jersey. I don't think people understand, when we talk about the federal government last year, more than 700 billion, just the federal government. So when you start talking about New Jersey State, New York State, we start talking about North Carolina,

South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, we go on and on. We're now in the trillions of dollars. And what we see is, if you're seeing.5, 1% black owned, look how much money we're not accessing when we talk about those contracts. And when I say that, it's always amazing when I post these things on social media. Doesn't get many likes.

Now if I post some bullshit, if I chose to talk about Cardi B and Offset going at it, if I chose to talk about something else, oh, I might see a ton of likes. And I'm like, yo, we got to follow the money. We got to follow the money. We got to follow the money. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the World of Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. It's kind of started 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 band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamouche. 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 are 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 podcast. I always had to be so good. No one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepapersealing.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. And we got to follow the opportunity that leads to that money and that's why it's essential that we get people elected to office who are gonna care

about the interests of all people, not just white males. Yeah, Andrew, I mean, the rally is black folks today, we're not where we are if you don't have, if you don't have a Hatcher in Gary, Indiana, Stokes in Cleveland, Maynard Jackson in Atlanta, Marion Barry in DC, Coleman Young in Cleveland, Maynard Jackson in Atlanta, Marion Barry in D.C., Coleman Young in Detroit, and on and on. That's how, those opportunities in the 70s

then leads to, you begin to see the rise of black owned businesses. Then you got the people who say, well, you know, that's the boule class. That's all BS because if you work for one of those firms in a capacity, guess what? Those firms have security guards, they have receptionists, they have assistants.

I mean, the plethora of jobs are there. That's what people don't seem to understand. I mean, listen, this small business here, I talk about it all the time on this show. When we moved into this studio, we moved into this studio, more than $400,000 was spent building an office control room, the green screen, building this set, the

lighting, all of these different things. That money went to black-owned businesses and that's what we're talking about. So imagine and so those black-owned businesses, they have black employees. They were coming through here. Right now our IT infrastructure is being handled by a black on I. T. Company. That's a $40,000 deal. So again, so now imagine that black owned businesses are now able to expand from private business to corporate business. Now, down to again, your city, your county, your state, you totally changed the game.

Same thing for our business, is advertising. Guess what? The state of New Jersey, the state of New York, they all advertise. So people don't see, I mean, it drives me crazy when we're having these discussions and we literally are talking about billions of dollars that's funding white America.

So when black folks are sitting here going, man, look at all these country clubs and look at all these multimillion dollar houses. I don't see many of us. That's why. Yeah, and just locally, if you look in the Washington DC area, where Trump has spent a lot of time cutting resources, Yeah, and you know, just locally, if you look in the Washington, D.C. area

where Trump has spent a lot of time cutting resources, not only jobs, but also federal contracts as well, you look at how the suburbs in Prince George's County were built. The top five wealthiest counties in America for black people exist in Prince George's County. No, no, no, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me do that.

I understand that point. Okay, but I gotta stop you there. Here's why. I don't use that phrase because they're not wealthy counties. And I don't use that. Let me explain why I don't do that. They're not wealthy counties.

They are places where homes, the value of the homes, exceed half a million dollars, 750,000, a million dollars or more. But we saw what happened in 2008 with the home foreclosure crisis. Those places got decimated because black folks had subprime loans on those homes. So those black people are not wealthy. I know what you're talking about and if I see one of those stories, I do not use the phrase those are wealthy counties because they're not wealthy.

They have homes that are valued at a high price value, but a lot of those people are government employees, or they may have contracts with the government. And so what happens? You start whacking employees, you start whacking contracts, those folks are filing for bankruptcy, or they're putting their homes up for sale. So that's the only reason I wanna stop you there,

because I just want us, when we use the phrase wealthy, I want us to understand what wealthy actually means. Go ahead. Yeah, and when you're talking about wealthy, and I'm talking about the top two and the top 1%, and the example that I use for that area is because exactly to your point, right? When we have a black governor or a black president,

and they're in control of these decisions on who to award or put the people in control of who to award contracts to, then that has a direct impact on the communities. When you're looking at a place like New Jersey or New York, where their makeup of their government doesn't quite look as diverse, you're seeing the type of people that are thriving in those communities, when, yes, the same thing, where those houses are, for example, in Ardsley and Scarsdale and Westchester, New York,

are over a million dollars, and there are white people that are working and living in those communities, and you don't see black people in those communities. That's what someone like Ross Baraka is gonna be able to change in New Jersey. He's gonna be able to award those kind of contracts, give those businesses not a leg up, but almost,

not a leg up, but they'll be able to level the playing field for their businesses. You know, Zachary, one of the things that's interesting to me, You know, Zachary, one of the things that's interesting to me, and it actually pisses me off when black people fall for this, and so allow me to unpack this. And I had this little black conservative always running his mouth. And I need everybody to listen to what I'm saying right now to really understand this. Let me try to unpack this for folk to really get.

When we make statements such as, we gotta do for self, we gotta stop depending on the government. Do y'all know that last year, matter of fact, let me just go ahead because some of y'all might say, I don't know what I'm talking about, but I knew know what I'm talking about, but I knew exactly what I'm talking about.

Here's a great story, this is the Washington Post. This is the Washington Post right here. And this story deals with the richest person in the world. His name is Elon Musk. See, so I want, this is specifically for all of the do for self, we don't need to be dependent on no government. We need to just simply pool our dollars. And I understand that whole point, because I built this.

I used my own money. I went out, I got, I started with one sponsor, one advertiser. We were in a small space across the street, and we built it up to where we are now. But I'm saying this for a reason because this is the danger of when you fall for the okie doke of the we don't need no government. Why are we always trying to go for the government? Man, the government

can't be we need to stop begging the government. Here we go to my iPad. This is from the Washington Post three months ago. Elon Musk's business empire is built on $38 billion in government funding. Subhead, government infusions at key moments helped Tesla and SpaceX flourish, boosting Musk wealth. And then when you go into the story, you'll begin to see it breaks down the contracts. Look at this right here. Shortly after becoming CEO of a cash strapped Tesla in 2008, Musk fought hard to secure,

Musk fought hard to secure a low interest loan from the energy department. According to two people directly involved with the process, holding daily briefings with company executives about the paperwork and spending hours with a government loan officer. When Tesla soon after realized it was missing a crucial environmental protection agency certification, it needed to qualify for the loan days

before Christmas. Musk went straight to the top urging then EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, who said this was a sister, I know her well, to intervene according to one of the people. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. It says nearly two thirds of the 38 billion in funds have been promised to Musk businesses

in the past five years. In 2024 alone, federal and local governments committed at least $6.3 billion dollars to Musk companies, the highest total to date. And you see, they have a chart right here. So folks, follow me here. When I hear black folks, do for self, do for self, do for self.

Explain this. Do for self, do for self, do for self. When we say we don't need the government, you do know there's a reason. See some of y'all, let me just go ahead and pull it up. Let's see here. Corporate CEO. See, this is why y'all gotta stop.

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 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. of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six 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 We're on Drugs Podcast. Sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the We're 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 band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Caramouche. 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 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 Podcast.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUS Kids,

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Watching these other BS shows who went to Saudi Arabia with Trump. See they ain't teaching y'all all this stuff. This is specifically for all of the people, for all of the people who love to yell, do for self, do for self, stop asking the government help, you always looking for a government handout, don't be doing all this sort of

stuff. This right here, boom, this is CNBC. Trump joined by dozens of CEOs during his Middle East trip and look at the article right here. They sit here and they say Elon Musk, Alice Karp, Kelly Ortberg, Boeing, Jensen Wayne, NVIDIA, Sam Altman, Open AI,

Andy Jassy, Amazon, Larry Fink, Black Rock, Ruth Peratt, President and CIO of Alphabet, that's who owns Google, the CEO of IBM, the CEO of Coca-Cola,

the CEO of Uber, the CEO of Alcoa. Okay, that's just their particular article here. All right, then if you go, let's see here, Fox Business may have, give me one second, I wanna see if they have a separate list. They have all of the same thing. They got a story here of all the folk who are going. All right, this right here is the Hill newspaper.

This is what they say in the article. Hold on one second. Let me close these boxes out. They said, here are the 32, this is what they say. Here are the 32 individuals the White House said joins Trump's lunch with Saudi officials. Right here, Elon Musk, Steve Schwartzman, Blackstone, Larry Fink, BlackRock, okay?

Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, Ben Horowitz, the venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, co-founder of LinkedIn. Ben Horowitz, the venture capital firm, and Dreeshan Horowitz. Sam Altman, Open AI. Jenny Johnson, Franklin Templeton Investment. Arvind Krishna, IBM. Jane Frazier, CEO of Citigroup. Michael O'Grady, CEO of wealth management company,

Northern Trust. Kelly Ortberg, CEO of Boeing. Ruth Peratt, CIO of Google. Andy Jassy, NvidiaVIDIA, Palantir, the CEO of Baker Hughes, an energy company, Lorenzo Simonelli, Jeff Miller, CEO of Halliburton, Olivia Lapouche, CEO of Schlumberger, an oil field services company based out of Texas,

Dena Powell, Vice Chairman of BDT, and MSD Partners, a merchant bank. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates. Marcelo Clar, entrepreneur, works with Fast Fashion Company Shine. Travis Kalanick, the guy who founded Uber. Neil Blue, billionaire who serves as chairman of General Atomics.

John Ballas, law firm Kirkland and Ellis, Jake Silverstein, CEO of Enfield Investment Partners, Tina Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, Kathy Warden, CEO of Northrop Grumman, James Quincy, CEO of Coca-Cola, the CEO of Uber, Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami, William Opplinger, CEO of Alcoa, William Meany, CEO of Iron Mountain, an information management company.

So I need all of y'all pull yourself up by the bootstraps we need to do for self. We don't need no government help. I need y'all to answer the question, why are 32 of the biggest corporate leaders in America. Why did they travel to Saudi Arabia with Trump? Answer that. We own, this is, y'all, we own K Street. Do y'all know what K Street is known for in D.C.? This is the street where where the lobbyists are. I need y'all to understand.

If I got out of this seat, if I got out of this seat and walked outside my building, and I walked two blocks up the street, I'm standing in front of the White House, Lafayette Park. Do y'all know what's to my left? Banks. Do you know what's to my right? Banks.

Do y'all know who's a block away from us right now? The most repiction, used to be the most repiction association of America, now it's MPA. Who's across the street from them? AFL-CIO. They're lobbyists. They understand the power of government. So all it so when y'all are watching these shows and y'all listen to all these

people talk and y'all know what I'm talking about because a lot of y'all watch they shows and y'all follow them and they run their miles and then yeah damn all that see y'all sitting here Yeah, you shitting damn that we don't need that we don't need that. It's no do for sale do for sale No, we don't need that if we want to fix our community and we're gonna fix our community We gotta look inward. We got to do it for ourselves. We got that But you had 32 CEOs, because you know what they recognize? They recognize that they need government.

See, y'all don't get it. They love us saying, yeah, yeah, oh, look at them, yeah, we don't need government, we don't need government. And see, because what they've done is, they got you thinking, yeah. Matter of fact, and so, see this little fool, see I don't even like dealing with these fools like this little boy King Randall, okay?

But somebody responded, because I responded to him complaining about Job Corps getting cut and he told me about, we need to have the money replaced by local and state. I said, boy, it's amazing. You ain't said nothing about Gamaga. You didn't even mention Trump. So he gonna post this tweet exactly, Roland Martin don't want talk solutions.

I never said that Trump was coming to save anything. I literally said the complete opposite last year. They conveniently won't share these videos or act like they didn't see it. Okay, so I'm gonna play this video, y'all. So I want y'all to listen to what he says and I'm explaining to y'all why he has no idea what the hell he's talking about.

Listen. There's not one politician that we need to blame for the way our communities look. There's nobody that's going to help us fix our communities but ourselves. We are using politicians right now to cope with our inability to actually affect our own communities.

Our communities are only going to be fixed by us. Joe Biden is not the reason that your community looks the way it looks. You are. Trump is not going to come save our communities. We are. We have to fix our communities on our own. If you put- So let me explain that. We have to fix the communities on our own.

Okay. So if I take what you just said. So if the same Trump ends the DBE program that will wipe out $37 billion in contracts. And 78% of the DBE contracts go to white women. Native Americans get a significant portion as well. So we, last year only $10 billion, $10 billion was less than 2% of federal contracts went to African American businesses. But it still was a record 10 billion. And see, this is what the king of randals of the world

and a lot of these other folk who yelled the same stuff, they don't seem to sense. In order to fix your community, how you gonna fund it? community how you gonna fund it. Do y'all know, y'all know that in Montgomery County, there's a golf course called Hampshire Greens. Matter of fact, let me just pull this up for y'all so y'all can understand. Because see, I really want y'all to understand.

I mean, y'all, y'all this, they are playing absolute chess. And we ain't even playing checkers. There's a golf course, go to my iPad, called Hampshire Greens. It's in Ashton, Maryland. It's a really nice golf course. I wanna see if I can pull up some photos.

Give me one. It's a really nice golf course, y'all. Excellent golf course. It's a public golf course. Let me go back over here. I'm gonna go back over here so I can pull up some photos. I played the course. It's excellent. It looks great. It's amazing. These are, this is, I'm trying to find some of the photos. Again, a really, I'm trying to find some of the photos. Again, a really, really, really nice golf course. You can just go ahead and go here.

Here's some of the photos. Y'all know what happened, go ahead and show it. So y'all know what happened the first time I played it? I went, oh, I see what happened. It's a lot of nice homes. It's a lot of nice homes near Hampshire Greens golf course. It's a lot of nice homes. And I was looking at the homes,

and I was looking at this golf course. And I said to myself, these white folks done built them their own country club. But I want you all to listen to why I said that. So I'm looking at this golf course, and I'm looking at, it's a county golf course, and I'm looking at the homes around the golf course, and I immediately said, oh my God. Do y'all know how much the value of the homes near this golf course increased? Because of the presence of the golf course.

And so when I sit here, when I look at certain amenities in neighborhoods, see, I'm getting back to what King Randall don't understand. What I understand is that when people petition government, 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 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, Inc. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the World on Drugs podcast.

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

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouche. 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 podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. it real. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSkids, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. For certain things, it's building and increasing the value

of their homes, their land, and their businesses. See, when we listen to folks say, ain't no politician going to save us, we got to do for self, we gotta fix it on our own, here's what they never ever say. We have to learn how to properly petition government. We've got to learn how to use our collective action, our vote, to be able to get something from government. Tell me this, why would the richest

men in the world, why would Jeff Bezos? Jeff Bezos doesn't need any more money, Jeff Bezos doesn't have to kiss Trump's ass? So why would they have the inauguration? Why was he there in Saudi Arabia? Why are these corporate titans sitting over companies worth, with a market cap of one and two and 300 billion and almost a trillion dollars, why would they be there? Because they understand the power of government. The chip makers understand what happened

when Biden signed that bill, spending billions of dollars to build computer chips in the United States? Oh, see y'all, oh my God, y'all better understand Biden and computer chips. Y'all better understand how these things work. See, y'all got to understand what's going on here. Why is Elon Musk all of a sudden against Trump's big, beautiful bill? Oh, because the bill gets re-up electric vehicle tax credits, and that will decimate the growth of his business. Man, y'all better understand

when the Biden-Harris administration announced the CHIPS initiative. Oh, y'all better understand. Look at this here. Biden-Harris administration announces CHIPS initiative. Oh y'all better understand. Look at this here. Byte Harris administration announces CHIPS incentives award with Texas instruments to expand U.S. capacity of current generation mature node chips. Look at this right here. Look at this right here. Up to 1.61 billion CHIPS investment will support multiple projects in Texas and Utah to help increase production of semiconductors important for U.S. economy and national security. Oh,

keep reading. Look at this here. The Biden Commerce, Department of Commerce awarded 1.61 billion in direct funding. Keep going. The award follows the previously signed preliminary memorandum of terms announced on August 16th, 2024, and the completion of the department's due diligence. Keep reading.

This funding will support TI's investment of more than 18 billion through the end of the year. So guess what? Texas Instruments says we're going to invest 18 billion dollars over a decade when it comes to construct three new state of the art facilities, including two in Texas

and one in Utah. Texas Instruments does not commit to spend 18 billion in new facilities unless the federal government brings 1.61 billion. I need y'all to do the math. The 1.61 billion from the federal government represents 10% of their investment. So when Texas instrument goes to the banks and goes to their stockholders, they are

sitting here going, we're going to invest 18 billion over y'all over 10 years. 18 billion over 10 years is 1.8 billion a year. billion over 10 years is 1.8 billion a year. But the federal government, without the federal government 1.61 billion, guess what happens? They don't build three new plants. So now tell me this. Why would black people say,

do for self, we don't need nobody else. Black people can fund this, no we can't. Y'all, you're falling for the illusion. I need y'all to listen to what I'm saying. Black spending power is $1.6 trillion a year. Estimates 1.2, 1.4, let's say it's 1.6. Half of the money the average person spends, half, some as high as 60% is spent on housing. So if you take the spending power of black people,

you're gonna cut that shit in half because half is going to housing. Now you're left with 800 billion. We ain't talked about food, clothing, healthcare. We talked about partying, drinking, smoking. We talked about all this sort of stuff like that. So that number gone down, down, down, down, down, down. So now you're left with how much money

does black America have to reinvest in communities? So now you're left with, wait a minute, hold up, Roland, now I'm confused. Because now I don't understand what you're actually saying. Are you actually telling me, Roland Martin, that black people should be looking to government to invest in black communities? And the answer is yes. Because you know why? Texas Instruments does it.

IBM does it. Oh, y'all, since y'all wanna go to school, let's see here. Virginia and tax incentives to Amazon. Huh, here we go. This is the, give me one second, because this is behind the paywall, but let me get that from outside of the paywall so y'all can understand. Amazon, one of the richest companies in the world, when Amazon decides that they want

to come to a city, what do they do? They ask for tax breaks. The city, the county, and the state, in order to lure a company like Amazon, will offer them tax breaks because they are bringing jobs. When you bring jobs, you're bringing people to fill those jobs.

The people that fill those jobs buy homes. The people that fill those jobs buy products. So therefore, they're paying property taxes. They're also paying sales taxes. And guess what? They are actually building, creating whole damn neighborhoods. Go to my iPad, Henry. April 13th, 2023, Amazon requests first HQ2 incentives from Virginia, nearly $153 million.

Let me go down here to the story. Boom, Virginia committed in 2019 to give the tech giant up to $750 million for new jobs it was creating at this Northern Virginia campus. Y'all, I'm trying to get y'all to understand that you've got to stop listening to these simple 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 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 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 Glott. And this is season two of the We're 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 podcast? Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

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

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Karamouche. 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. really does it makes it real

Listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeart radio 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 podcast on Apple Podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. ... who stand up here and say bullshit that sounds cute is tickling your ears and you like that's right that's right I like that young brother do for self we don't need them we don't need them we don't need them and why yo ass is sitting here saying we don't need them you know what these white folks are doing yeah we need them

what can we get what can we get in terms of tax incentives what can we get in terms of breaks what can we do here what kind of investment can we get? What can we get in terms of tax incentives? What can we get in terms of breaks? What can we do here? What kind of investment can we get? What kind of R&D can we get? Research and development. They don't call it welfare, they call it R&D. They don't call it welfare, they call it tax incentives. They don't call it welfare, they call it subsidies. And so when we are sitting here listening to people say this, if black folks would just do for self, if we would just fund our own, so fund our own without contracts,

fund our own without loans. I just showed y'all Elon Musk'm about to mess y'all see this here? Agricultural Federal Credit Union, AFCU branches, Employees, National Finance Center, Retirement Plan. Y'all see all this here? Do y'all know what happens? Banks don't build a lot of stuff in rural America. So do you know where they go to get projects financed to build and rule America?

The US Department of Agriculture. David Scott is a congressman from Atlanta. Being real sick, he became the first African American to ever chair the House Agricultural Committee. Do you know what my frat brother, David Scott, told me? David Scott told me, and it was a story relayed to him back in the 70s from another CBC member. And David Scott said, matter of fact fact see if you can call Davis Scott right now call see if you can get Davis Scott uh Carol on the phone right now

because I want y'all to hear so Carol check your cell phone I'm sending you his number right now matter of fact yeah Davis Scott was told a story where a racist white member of Congress told a CBC member, there's one thing you can guarantee in life, a nigga ain't going to never be head of this committee. You know why? Because the USD, USDA budget. See, I just had to take y'all to school today.

Uh-huh. Largest federal department budgets. Hmm. Now we all know defense is number one. We all know that defense is number one. Y'all know what's in top three?

Agriculture. Uh-huh. Agriculture department. See, when Marsha Fudge was trying to get a cabinet position under Biden, she didn't want HUD. See, HUD has always been the Negro position.

It's a Negro in that position right now. If you go back and look at presidents since the 1960s, you always guarantee it was gonna be a black HUD secretary. Okay? It's gonna be a black HUD secretary. It's always the case. It's always the case. You're going to have that. She didn't want HUD. She wanted agriculture. She wanted agriculture because she understood the budget of the USDA, the billions and the billions. The farmers didn't want nobody black to be over USDA. So what did Biden do? Biden put in

Tom Vilsack. He put in Tom, he put in Tom Vilsack. Think about that. Tom Vilsack. Who's Tom Vilsack? Tom Vilsack was the airco secretary under Obama. What's he before that? He was the governor of Iowa. So y'all gotta follow the money.

What I'm trying to do here, I'm about to bring in Andrew and Zachary in a sec, I'm trying to connect the dots because we as black people have got to stop listening to people tell us y'all need to stop going to the government, y'all need to stop going to the government. Y'all need to stop asking for handouts. When white corporate leaders all across this country,

they understand the power that emanates from that building two blocks away. They understand the power of a governor, the power of a mayor, the power of a county judge, the power of a school board president. When are we going to understand that politics is business? The United States economy is a $30 trillion economy.

The second largest economy behind America is China at 19 trillion. China ain't close to us. They're $19 trillion. And we're running around here, listening to people say, ain't no politician gonna save us? You can ask Elkhart Indiana. Obama saves, see this is what happens y'all

when you know how to read. Boom, Elkhart Indiana. Go to my iPad, story from The Guardian. Elkhart, Indiana finally sees Obama recovery. Obama gets scant credit in Indiana region. While President Obama can't get enough of this small, let me go ahead and hit the PBS story, May 31st, 1960, here we go.

While President Obama can't get enough of this small town. Look at this right here. Obama's stimulus plan, guess what? Look at this right here. Because of the stimulus plan, the Obama policy saved Elkhart, Indiana. Do y'all know what's in Elkhart, Indiana? That's the RV capital of the world.

If you have a RV or a Sprinter or a vehicle like the one that we had, the one we just bought, guess where that sucker was originally built? Elkhart, Indiana. The Obama stimulus plan literally saved the manufacturing in Elkhart, Indiana. Now I need you to understand what I'm talking about when we talk about our communities,

how we need to be thinking differently. We are being played when people stand before us and tell us, stop begging, stop going to government, stop doing this. Well, guess what? If that shit's good enough for Amazon and for Tesla and for IBM and for BlackRock and for Blackstone and for every major and for Blackstone

and for every major, for Citigroup, for all these companies, what dammit is good enough for Black America? Stop being played by simpletons who don't know shit about politics. You're listening to people who have no clue. So when folks stand before you hollering how they pan-African and they Afroric and they tell you your vote don't mean nothing, they have no idea

what the hell they talking about because the problem is what we have not done is we have approached voting from a singular position as opposed to a collective position. What did Dr. King say on April 3rd 1968 at Mason Temple in Memphis Tennessee? He said black people collectively. He said individually we What did Dr. King say on April 3rd, 1968 at Mason temple in Memphis, Tennessee? He said black people collectively. He said, individually, we represent one of the poorest economies with poor people in the world. Yet collectively we represent one of the top five economies in the world. He said, when black people move as a collective, things can change.

So what King Randall, he's dead ass wrong. Anybody else said it is dead ass wrong. If a black community of 100 or 200 or 300 or 400 or 500 or a thousand people begin to descend on city halls and county government seats and school boards and state legislators and all of a sudden begin to demand a plan of action when it comes to resources and then say if you do not deliver We're gonna vote your ass out. I can guarantee you you're going to see the research I

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

This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. really bad. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

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

Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Caramouche. 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 Podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent,

like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUS Kids, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council.

Sources come hard and fast, but you need to understand the game of politics because it is a money game. Zachary. The whole time that you were talking, Roland, all I could think about is, of course, the fact that this man is teaching, this man is 100% correct, and he's laying it all out there. But when you look at what King Rendell is saying, and what people like him are saying, they're completely ignoring history, and how many times Black people have come together

in communities, and they've done exactly what the hell he's saying they should do, only to have the government destroy it. Yes, I'm talking about Greenwood, Oklahoma, which we recognize the decimation of that community this week because it happened, you know, the 104th anniversary or I think something like that recently. Yet the living survivors, the people that are still here that lived through that massacre have not received an ounce of recompensation for what they've lost, for what they went through.

However, had that been any other community, we know that they have gotten their payback. They have gotten paid for what was taken from them and the loss they've suffered. So that to me completely obliterates any argument anyone like King Randall from Georgia could say. And when you're also looking at the fact of what we're owed, that the money that our government is giving to the multi-billionaire Elon Musk is our money. This is our money.

We black people in the black community living in black neighborhoods pay taxes. The money the government is giving away is our money. We are owed our fair share, and our businesses, our companies, our organizations, our farmers, they all deserve their stake. And what we're living through as a government doing all they can to take that away, make us believe that we have earned or that what we should be getting is not owed to us

because it's DEI, but in reality, it's what we should have been getting all along because every single American should have the exact same opportunities, but we're the Americans that have been denied those opportunities. Bro, that's all I can think about when you lay out the law. I just, it, Andrea drives me crazy when I hear this crap because again, it's tickling the ears of people. And they go, yeah, that's right, that's right, he right. See, do for self, we don't need them.

We could do it ourselves, we could do it ourselves. And I'm not saying don't build. I'm not saying that we don't. My parents were co-founders of a civic group, civic club. Where it was about how do we change the dynamics of our community. And they came together and they picked up trash, they did those things.

But Andrew, you know what they also did? They understood the role of government. They said, man, how do we get rid of these abandoned houses? They couldn't just go there and tear them down because somebody owned it. Andrew, that was a legal process. Well, in order to get this abandoned home torn down, you have to file this paperwork and then it has to be condemned. There's a certain period of time you must wait, notify the owner, they then don't respond, then you can begin demolition proceedings. Know what they said? as a certain period of time you must wait, notify the owner, they then don't respond,

then you can begin demolition proceedings. Know what they said? Okay, cool, that's foul. Then it was like, okay, this house, they got overgrown a lot, it's got rats, and it's all kind of other stuff, it's tre, how do we deal with that? That was government.

Oh, I'm sorry, I grew up in Clinton Park. It's in Houston. They were like, it's Clinton Park Civic Club. And they said, hey, you know what? Crime is an issue, we need stepped up police patrols. You know what they did, Andrew? Okay, all right, well, who's over this area? Well, guess what?

There's a commander who was over the area where Clinton Park is. So there was Clinton Park that was across the way. That was another black neighborhood, all black neighborhoods, Clinton Park, Clinton Drive, all these areas right here. Who was the commander? Okay, we gonna go to the commander,

not the police chief, not the sister police chief, but the commander over the area. Direct relationship, police department is government. That's what that is. And so when I listen, the reason I laugh, cause the school King Randall got, he got from the school district.

That's government. He had to do an agreement cause he came on this show claiming he had the school and the school superintendent released a statement saying he's lying on TV, he does not have an agreement. So even when he got his school, he had to go, he had to petition government to turn the former school over to him because they own the property. So folk need to understand when they saying silly shit like this here.

We don't need government, we don't need government. There is nothing in America, there's nothing in America that government does not play a role. Even hell, if y'all think I'm lying, Andrew, let you talk on this one right here. Trump and bad, y'all, I'm about to mess y'all up. This fool who is sitting in the Oval Office,

for all of y'all people, for all y'all simple simons who are telling me, I don't know, you don't know what you talking about. Yo, government, if you own it, if it's private, government can't tell you nothing. Government can't tell you nothing. Really? Hmm, let me pull this up for all of you who don't seem to understand that.

Oh my goodness, look at this headline. Trump's Bedminster Golf Club flagged for 18 health violations in latest inspection. Earned lowest grade in county. See, Andrew, what that means is when you read the story, Donald Trump's golf club received a 32 out of 100 health inspection score in May. There were 18 violations, including all three requirements

in the quote food protected from contamination category. Hmm look at this here it said they were they were violations including expired milk, raw meat stored improperly and a dish water that may not reach the required temperature. The inspector also cited four separate hand washing violations including sinks without soap or paper towels, one lacking a required sign and another used to store a sanitizer bucket. This is from Forbes.

Huh. So you could occupy the Oval Office, own a private country club, and you still must abide by government health standards, so the government health inspector came in and slapped Trump's private golf club with health code violations. Andrew, please tell me again

how government has no role. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think that the disconnect between our people and the government also comes and stems all the way back to public housing. If you think about that great experiment where the government said, I'm gonna build buildings and I'm gonna give you at least some kind of basic standard of living, right?

I'm gonna give that to you. And the thought and the notion and the connotation around that was that somehow we were being given something. And it was to us as black people being given something. We've always been told that's just not the way to do things. You have to earn it. Even though, like you're saying, $38 billion, right? Wait, wait, wait, wait.

But Andrew, here's the problem. It's right here. This is the problem, Andrew, because what you just described, this is why it's a problem. Go to my iPad. Andrew, they call it low income housing tax credit. So that's the problem, Andrew.

See, it's for them broke people. It's them low income people. Because it's called low income housing tax credit. Finish your point, and I'm going to come back and I'm going to show folk what happens when it ain't low income housing. Go ahead. And exactly, Roland. So for us, whenever we're getting something like welfare or food, food snap benefits,

it's always seen as this is a, that we're giving this to you so that because you feel like you need it. And the difference, I think you're about to talk about that, is in the phrasing. And we as the people, we have to start looking at that phrasing and using the government. The subsidies are there. The money is there.

We have to start using this money to our advantage. And it starts at the polls. We can't get these things done without having the right people in our local government, in our state government, and in our federal government. And so for folks who don't understand what I'm saying right now, what then happens is, and you see the story right here from the Pew Charitable Trust, it says, how states can design effective incentive to spur office to residential conversions.

This is one of the many stories. So I need everybody watching. When y'all see these stories, a new development is coming to Washington, DC. It's coming to Houston. It's coming to Dallas. It's coming to Charlotte. It's coming to Atlanta.

And oh my goodness, what's gonna happen is they're gonna come in, you know what they're gonna do? They're gonna build an amphitheater. They're going to build new affordable housing. And they're going to have shops. They're going to have downtown parks, all these different things. Y'all, those are tax incentives.

It's welfare. It's subsidies. And then what they do is they create what's called a tax increment financing district. It's called a TIF. You know what a TIF is? So what that means is they create what's called a tax increment financing district. It's called a TIF. You know what a TIF is? So what that means is we establish a zone around an area and then everything is located

in that tax increment finance district. When they pay their taxes, it doesn't go to the city's use. It stays in the area. The TIF, the TIF, TIFs in America, what the TIF then does, the TIF then funds the various things in that particular area. The TIF then funds, right, the TIF then funds, boom right here, this is from the U.S. Department of Federal Highway Transportation

Tax increment financing is a value capture revenue tool that uses taxes on future gains in real estate values to pay for new infrastructure improvements Let me go ahead and make that plain as Joe or the late Joe Madison say put it where the ghosts can get it When you pay your taxes, it doesn't go to the city The taxes stays in the tip and that funds road improvements, policing, sewer, lights. So your tax money is only funding the things in the tax increment finance district. That's also called corporate welfare.

That's called subsidies. That's a government creation. So imagine, imagine if a King Randall and the rest of these black MAGA folks I call the help, Imagine if they did what I just did. Gave a 30 plus minute history lesson on how white America has always used government to rebuild their neighborhoods, rebuild their cities, rebuild states, and rebuild America. Who does that? Nonprofits, corporate America, small businesses.

That's what they do. Restaurant associations, engineering, y'all, it's happening. But just like we are the only people who listen to people tell us not to vote, can y'all please show me the last time you had so-called white leaders tell white people, your vote don't mean nothing, your vote don't make a difference, can y'all please, please by all means, show me the video. Please show me where that happens.

Because they don't. Now, you might say, we haven't gotten enough for our vote. True? Does it mean you don't vote? Nope, that's stupid. That's literally neighborhood suicide. What you then do though, is you take your vote and you wrap it around a power dynamic

and you wield it like a billy club. And you say, and you go Cola Purple, until you do right by us, you will not win. Y'all, I'm trying to tell y'all to understand the game. Every community, corporations, they're looking to government, to finance all that they're doing, their future investment, their employees, their expansion. And we got black folks telling us, don't look to them,

don't count on them. And I say this well, you've never heard me say, don't, if you were a city, don't negotiate the Trump administration, you damn right you should, because you are a taxpayer. And y'all have heard me say, I don't care if you're mayor, or you're council member, or you're state legislator, or you're state senator, or you're governor,

if they Republican, and you didn't vote Republican, you're still a constituent. You should be demanding something. 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 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 Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, two, and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. 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 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 band. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette, MMA fighter Liz Karamouche. 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 podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcast. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper.

The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepapersealing.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Because you are a damn taxpayer and you and your neighborhood and your block and your street, your community, deserves the same access to city, state, and federal dollars as any other neighborhood.

I'll be right back. Side of change. Mass incarceration, Trump administration is doubling down on criminalization and how it is profitable. And there's something really, really perverse about saying that we need to put people in cages in order for other people to have jobs. Like that is not how our economy should be built. Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Marissa Mitchell, a news anchor at Fox 5 DC. Hey, what's up? It's Sammy Roman and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I wasn't planning to do all that.

That was not literally none of that stuff was on the damn agenda. Thank God we only had one guest the whole show because none of that was planned. Now y'all understand, Carol talking about messed up my show. I don't know, listen, I'm gonna tell y'all what I told the people at TV One and the people on the show right here.

You're supposed to do your job. You're supposed to write scripts, you're supposed to get the people on the show right here. You supposed to do your job. You supposed to write scripts, supposed to get the video ready, all that stuff. Now when that red light, normally it's a red light, it's called a tally light, but we don't have a red light. But normally when that red light come on, then it's my time.

So I take the show wherever the spirit moves me. And that's what that was. And so if you wrote a nice little script that's cute you did your job you can get paid for it but I am on the new obligation to read that shit just letting y'all know how this show goes all right Andrew like I'm Andrew I'm telling you I'm just straight up Andrew exactly like damn do he go there listen listen it when that when the show starts everything that you wrote is optional it is not guaranteed I'm gonna Did he go there? Listen, listen, when the show starts,

everything that you wrote is optional. It is not guaranteed, I'ma get to it. So that's just how things work on this show. All right, y'all, I'ma tell you, had another rough day on Capitol Hill, that dumb ass Linda McMahon. Y'all know she the education secretary. Her ass came from WWE.

This is what happens when you get a wrestling person and you put their ass over the education department. So she got her ass lit up today in the House Education and Workforce Committee. When Congresswoman Summer Lee of Pennsylvania lit her ass up on the crackdown of so-called illegal DEI programs, roll this shit. I think that in very many ways we've been talking around

a lot of the issues with this administration. So to be honest and to be very clear, I want to say that this administration has undoubtedly revived the culture of racism we haven't seen since the Jim Crow era. They've made it clear that open attacks on black and brown and other marginalized communities is not just tolerated, but it's encouraged. So when they call for removing of equity and inclusion and diversity and accessibility from schools in favor of quote unquote traditional American values, it's indistinguishable from

post-war, post-civil war South advocating to write history with the lost cause narrative to censor truths about slavery or as they disappear students who write dissenting op-eds, it's reminiscent of the suppression of abolitionist newspapers. And this department's financial aid policies harken back to a time when higher education was reserved for affluent, well-connected, and predominantly white students. So I have a question, I have some questions,

excuse me, about why this department is taking its leads from Jim Crow. Secretary McMahon, you've claimed that you want to drastically reduce the already very small federal role in education and also that you will not cut Title IA funding. That is still your position, correct? Correct. Thank you. I'd like a yes or no answer.

Do you believe your April 3rd attempt to revoke Title IA funding from states unless a signed a certification of compliance with your political viewpoint was consistent with giving states more control over education There's been no reduction in funding for title 1a as of now there has not been yet But again, and it is not in going forward in the budget. So you believe that that's so you do okay Yes, or no is Title IA funding actually secure for every school district and state that currently receives it, or is your goal

to make Title IA conditional on states refusing to provide students of color, LGBTQA students, students with disabilities or other marginalized students opportunities to participate in diverse, inclusive, equitable and accessible learning environments? No, that's what I answered. IA funding is intact. Okay.

So let's talk about so-called illegal DEI, as you all have called it, a phrase you've continually bring up that I'm still unclear on, especially after three federal judges have preliminarily ruled that your illegal DEI guidance is likely unconstitutional and unenforceable. Illegal, as it were.

Secretary McMahon, during your confirmation hearing, you were asked by Senator Chris Murphy if an African American history class violated the administration's position on diversity, equity, and inclusion. You said you'd like to look into it. You've been on the job for a few months now. Have you been able to look into it?

I do not think that African studies or Middle East studies or Chinese studies are part of DEI if they are taught as part of the total history package. So that if you're giving the facts on both sides, of course they're not DEI. I don't know what both sides of African American history would be.

Well if African American history is part of, part of history. Certainly, but what we recognize throughout public, what we recognize throughout education is that a course is only one year or one semester, It would be impossible to teach African history and say European history at the same time. Do you not agree that it makes sense that there would be separate courses for these courses of study and has happened throughout history? We're able to do it not just in history

courses, we're able to do it with different types of literature courses or different types of music courses. One wouldn't learn about Baroque music and necessarily have to also learn about African drumming at the same time, right? We can separate those courses. Yes, we can. And I think just as we teach US history, it's a separate course.

Certainly. So you do agree that African-American cultures and African history should not be eliminated from courses, particularly AP African history. Well, I think that African history can certainly be taught and not be considered a DEI course. Oh, thank you. I have a few other examples that I would like your thoughts on, simple yes or no.

If this is a legal DEI example, would you say that it would be an illegal DEI for a lesson plan on the Tulsa Race Massacre? I'd have to get back to you on that. Do you know what the Tulsa Race Massacre is? I'd like to look into it more and get back to you on it. OK, so I look forward to that. How about the book Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges, for instance?

I haven't read that. Have you learned about Ruby Bridges? If you have specific examples, you'd like to write. That was a specific example. I'll be very happy for you. It was an incredibly specific example. I named the specific book. I'll submit questions and I will look into it

and get back to you on them. Thank you. How about a school having a voluntary celebration for pride month? Well I think that um voluntary well let's make sure that in our schools yes or no we're looking no it's not okay. How about social studies standards that teach a president Biden won the 2020 election? I think our school our study should all be taught accurately. Yes or no? I think our studies should be taught accurately. No, no, no. The question was, do you believe that social study standards that teach that President Biden won the 2020

election is an illegal DEI? Yes or no? I think I have said we should teach accurately. We should be on all sides. No, you have not answered the question. All right. I don't understand why you're incapable of answering. I'm just not giving you the answer you want. No, I want the answer, whatever your answer is.

I just gave you the answer. No, the answer is yes or no. No, the answer is I think our voices should be taught accurately. Gentle ladies, I miss. Thank you so much, I yield back. Yeah, on Downwell, she don't know who the Ruby Bridges is. She don't know about Tulsa. Her illiterate ass.

But it got better. Then Congresswoman Johanna Hayes of Connecticut want to end on the farm. And mind y'all, Johanna Hayes is a former teacher, national teacher of the year. Roll that shit. It's interesting I took a lot of notes I had prepared questions but I think I'm going in a very different direction. We've heard other colleagues talk about the NAEP scores and I heard you say that the president was angered and embarrassed by these and I think we all should be but when you disaggregate those scores they clearly show that low income students

score significantly lower than their white and higher income peers, and that is mostly in part to ongoing disparities in educational access and quality, which makes much of what I'm hearing today that much more relevant. You mentioned Connecticut. We both come from the state of Connecticut. Connecticut relies on property taxes to fund education and we have the large one of the largest income gaps in the nation which means by designer default low-income students face multiple challenges including

limited access to resources and opportunities outside of schools which is why I don't understand many of the decisions made in this budget. One of my colleagues asked about collecting data on family composition and background. The Department of Education Office of Civil Rights is mandated by law to do that. I was pleased to hear you say that states do not, I mean the federal, the Department

of Education does not control curriculum, instruction, instructional materials, the teachers that are hired, which makes your words contradictory because every argument you have is to put local control back into this into the states, but states already have local control as anyone who has any knowledge or background of education would already know. The role of the Department of Education would be the civil rights enforcements of those local controls, which again the irony of the Department of Education would be the civil rights enforcements of those local controls, which again, the irony of this budget zeroing out American history and civic education programs

when you couldn't even answer a question about Ruby bridges or the election of President Biden, which are as basic as it gets. So I really, really don't understand it. But you are making the argument for me because when you respond to questions from my colleagues by saying that sounds like an issue for state legislatures, that is why the Office of Civil Rights is necessary because state legislatures made the decision that Ruby Bridges did not have the right to a free and appropriate high quality public education. So you, Madam Secretary, are actually making the argument

for the role of the department, not to dictate local curriculum instruction or instructional materials, but to make sure that those things are carried out by the department. I mean, that states follow the law, that they are doing those things. So 49 million children in this country

receive public education services. About 3 million children are in charter schools. There are not enough charter school slots. So my questions are mainly focused on, what about those other 46 million children? So I'm gonna, I mean, it's mind-blowing. I hear you talk about safety, keeping students safe on school campuses, but not a word

about the 390,000 students who have been affected by gun violence. I was in the classroom on the day Sandy Hook happened, and the federal government came in with almost $2 million to rebuild that community and provide programs for the surrounding communities. In your opening, I heard you mention student athletes and LGBTQ students twice, not one word.

And even when my colleague asked you if you thought it was a public health crisis, you can't answer questions that affect the majority of students. So I'm not really sure. I mean, I try to, I am an educator by nature. I try to be supportive of what the Department of Education does because I need for you to succeed, for my students to succeed. But when you come in and say your final mission

is to eliminate the department, it says to me that the 46 million children that are not receiving services do not matter. I've ran out most of my time, but this bill defunds literacy programs, eliminates 21st century community learning center, eliminates preschool grants for children with disabilities, eliminates, reduces funding for career and technical education, like all of these things. I'm going to ask you two really quick questions. Do you think that Holocaust education in our schools is a DEI program?

There's no card for that. That's just yes or no. I can look at whatever card I choose. Holocaust education, is it a DEI? You can have a press conference to say whatever you want. I just need a quick answer to this. You're soliloquy. Is Holocaust, because this is my time, is Holocaust education a DEI program?

No. Is African American studies a DEI program? No. Is African American studies a DEI program? I think I answered that with one of your questions. I'm asking it again. Just yes or no? We should be able to teach courses. My point is they are DEI programs, both of them, because students need diversity, equity, and inclusion to understand their environments. So both Holocaust education and the teaching of African American history are important, which is why this. 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 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 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 Glod. And this is season two of the We're 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 for Brothers Osborne.

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

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. 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 podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcast. Good plus on Apple Podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. The state of Connecticut requires it in our social studies curriculum. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth. You can't support one without supporting the other. And looking at what happens in the schools and actually deferring to teachers, parents who are on curriculum committees, local boards of education and states who actually do the hard work and listening to what they say would be incredibly helpful in this role.

I yield back. This was the early 90s, somebody got ethered. Dagger? Roland, I am a proud educator and I'm so proud of Representative Hayes. That was a beautiful breakdown and not only it was a beautiful breakdown, it was an amazing case for why diversity, equity, and inclusion is a cornerstone of American education so that all students have windows into other worlds and mirrors to look back at themselves.

I'm sitting here still kind of like speechless at how beautiful Representative Hayes made that case. And also a little bit dumbfounded that secretary, you know, our secretary of education was a little bit dumbfounded too in what she does not know and what information knowledge she isn't carrying within herself. Had she perhaps had a more well rounded education,

she would know about Ruby Bridges and she perhaps had a more well rounded education that included Black, brown people, that included the true information about Nazism and the Holocaust and Holocaust survivors, maybe she would have been able to answer some of those questions that were presented, and she would know about Tulsa and Greenwood and the atrocities that have happened to American citizens on American soil that don't look like her and that don't come from her socioeconomic class and that don't come from a socioeconomic class

and that don't come from our economic background. Andrew. Yeah, I mean, you know, the sad part is, is that we're dealing with an educational system that we're gonna have to deal with over the next 15 years. What she does over the next four years is gonna have such a huge reverb for the next generation that it's just mind blowing.

And the fact that she gets up there and she doesn't even really have much of a history or lesson before, right? No one can pass her a no card and say, oh, Ruby Bridges, you remember desegregation? I mean, the gall that she's going into these meetings unprepared, and it's just OK, because that's what we're expecting from this administration

and all of the heads of these agencies is to go into these meetings and Congress and to have absolutely no idea to fall back on, well, I'll get back to you later, and we'll figure it out. We never get back to them, we never get an answer. And then we're asked a very simple question in who won the 2020 election,

and there's not even a direct answer to that. That's the type of administration that we're dealing with. Absolutely. Folks, we've talked about, of course, these deportations. It's impacted Jamaica. The Jamaica's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson-Smith,

has confirmed that about 2,500 Jamaicans are set to be deported from the U.S. She spoke at a news conference at the office of the Prime Minister. Johnson-Smith dismissed reports claiming that 4,000 Jamaicans will be returned to the island as part of Trump's immigration crackdown. Allow me to be clear that 4,000 Jamaicans are not being returned now.

For some time it has been in the public domain that the U.S. authorities had close to 4,000 persons in their records with final orders for deportation against their names. It is no or understanding that approximately 2,500 have been confirmed for removal over a period of time, over a period of time, to be determined by logistics, their own legal processes, and other factors. She emphasized that deportations are not a new development, and it reaffirms the government's commitment to upholding its international obligations

while ensuring national security and public safety. She also noted that the government has expanded the National Reintegration and Rehabilitation Strategy to better coordinate support services for returning deportees. We've made this clear that he don't want black people here, Andrew. Let's just be real clear.

Yeah. And as a first generation, making myself, my family, my entire family immigrated here from Jamaica to New York, to Delaware, to Georgia as well. So now here, you know, that these deportations have been happening, and it's been kind of swept under the rug until, you know, it was made national news. For a while now it's disheartening, because the island is really not that big. So if they're deporting 2,500 people back to Jamaica, even if it's on a yearly basis, that's still a lot of people that are coming here,

looking for some kind of freedom and then being sent back to a island where their living conditions were not great. This brings me back to the entire thing that's happening with South American citizens as well, because as Jamaicans and my family as well, you know, the accents, they don't leave. So if you're now targeting certain subsets like Jamaican or El Salvadorian, you know, you're going to be able to tell just by listening to a Jamaican who a Jamaican is.

There's certain things that would say like washcloth. There's certain things that would say like wash rags that's gonna be able to identify us. I don't want my Jamaican massive to be scared to now go and leave their home because if they feel like they're gonna be pulled over by police now, that's gonna create an even more dangerous situation for them. So I would like to, you know, definitely hear more

about who is being deported and what kind of legal process is being followed. Because what we know about this administration is that they don't care anything about the rule of law. Zachary? They're ignoring the courts. They are ignoring court orders to cease and desist with what they're doing and go through the appropriate and proper channels that have been created by our government to protect all American citizens. So they're doing and go through the appropriate and proper channels that have been created by our government to protect all American citizens.

So they're ignoring that and there's no consequence being faced to it. So I'm horrified for my friends that are first generation who are born in the United States, but who may have an accent or who may look a certain way or who may live in a particular community. This, when we saw immediately upon Donald Trump becoming the 47th president of these United States the mass deportations of our brown brothers and sisters, I knew that it was only

a matter of time before this would creep out to impact our brothers and sisters of the African diaspora and it would then become hard and heavy against those communities. And then, again, we start with our Brown brothers. Then we're going to go to our Black brothers and sisters of the diaspora. Then they're going to come for us. And we are the ultimate target all along. And we need more Black people to see that.

I also wish that more Black people, more of your watchers, more of your viewers, would understand the interconnected nature of the black dollar and the black economy, which has been a big focus of this show in regards to our brothers and sisters who are Jamaican. All of our businesses, we are all interdependent on each other.

I eat at a Jamaican restaurant at least once a week. I eat at a Jamaican restaurant once a week. I use my black dollar to support those black businesses so they can speak their black families too. We're all interconnected. What's happening to them is also happening to us and we have to fight against it now to protect and save them so we can protect and save ourselves. Uh indeed indeed. All right y'all going to a quick break we come back. Fox News just loves tax cheats. So what's that on Trump? Wait till I show you what Trump's pardons are actually said.

Are these people thinking we stupid? We're not. Folks, support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. The information you get here, you ain't getting nowhere else. Y'all know we gonna bring the funk no matter what we do.

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and how it is profitable. And there's something really, really perverse about saying that we need to put people in cages in order for other people to have jobs. Like that is not how our economy should be built. Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network. What are you doing? My name is Mark Carrot and you're watching Roland Martin.

Unfiltered, deep into it like pasteurized milk. Without the 2%, we're getting deep. You want to turn that shit off? We're doing the interview, motherfucker. Oh. Well, reality star Todd and Julie Chrisley known for their show, Chrisley Knows Best. You know, those tax cheats were released from prison

after Trump granted them a full pardon. They only had to pay the money back. They began serving a 12 and seven year sentence for bank fraud and tax evasion, committed to defrauding banks of more than 36 million to fund their lavish lifestyle. That was no shock to Trump, pardon them, because he did the same thing. Trump's pardons are, Alice Marie Johnson actually went on Fox News defending the decision, arguing they were victims of a weaponized justice system and got overly hard sentences. Listen to this bullshit.

I'm sorry, but the reason the Chrisleys are making the news is they had that reality show, Chrisley Knows Best. They're very famous. A lot of people around the country watch that show. And their attorney says that they were targeted for their political views. Their daughter spoke at the RNC, Savannah, but she was sentenced to seven

years in a prison in Kentucky and he was sentenced to 12 years in a prison in Pensacola, Florida. Seems like a long time for tax evasion. They didn't pay their taxes for three years and they use some bait. They're charged with using fake bank statements to get loans for luxury items and then after they get the reality show and they're buried in debt, they hid money from the IRS. And that's what a jury decided. They both get 12 and 7 years. I was talking to Emily Campagna yesterday on Outnumbered and she said, as a lawyer, she said if you're caught with tax evasion, she said usually they offer a plea deal. You go to prison for X amount and like a minimum security, you have to

pay it back. But she said, I'm wondering if they went to court and I don't know the answer to that if they did. They had a trial. Okay. So she says, usually in those situations, if you have a trial, you're going to get slapped with a huge sentence. They got it. Also, their accountant went to jail too. Yeah, I just think there's a thing with this president, when he feels like people are being overcharged. That's what Alice said.

And the punishment is too severe. I mean, you just got to look in contrast. You've got some violent criminals that have committed rape and murder that are back on the street. And then you have people for taxes, a nonviolent offense, that are locked up for almost 20 years. So when you looked at their background,

you see the fact that they did seem to hide money from the IRS. They were buried in debt to fraud banks. You're not saying that didn't happen. You just say they're overly charged. They were definitely overly charged. Without going into all of the elements of this case and this trial,

which if we had more time to talk about it, I'd be able to tell you all of the horrific things that happened in their case. But they will certainly. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glodd. And this is season two of the We're on Drugs Podcast.

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

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

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 them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs Podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcast. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adopt us kids dot org to learn more. Brought to you by Adopt US Kids, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Over a sentence and for that, looking at them, they don't pose a risk to society. In fact, I know that they're going to use their voices

and their platform to uplift the president's agenda. And that right there is what their goal was, to uplift Trump's agenda. Alice Marie Johnson should be ashamed of herself for what she just said there. These people are tax cheats. That's what they are. Tax cheats. Oh, we uncovered things that were shameful. No, they were prosecuted. Okay, Alice Marie Johnson, where's the pardon for Wesley Snipes who served his full prison sentence?

Where's the pardon for Ronald Isley who served his prison sentence? Both of them were convicted for tax evasion. Y'all, tax evasion. These folks didn't evade taxes. They literally cheated. They literally defrauded banks. And what Alice Marie Johnson, she wants them coming out and singing the praises and, oh my God, Trump is great.

Trump is wonderful. His policies are wonderful. And, oh, these citizens were overly harsh. Cheats. They broke the law. Oh, I thought y'all were the party of law and order. In-house, Lawrence B. Jones is a joke. Look at the people who committed rape and murder who didn't get this much time.

Name them. Name them, Lawrence. Come on. Don't throw the bullshit out there. We're supposed to go ahead and accept it. People are despicable. They will defend anything. Trump is a tax cheat himself. He's a convicted felon. He deserved it. And these people, they deserve to go to prison.

And you know what Trump has done? He's let out numerous people. And he, see here's the whole deal, y'all. He doesn't have to give full partings He could commute sentences and still require them to pay the money back. No full part in that wipes clean All these people that Florida got rich guy who used the money by himself a boat and His mama turned around and give a million dollars

to a Trump fundraiser, Trump's like, oh yeah, let him out. People are despicable. They're shameful. And I can guarantee you, Andrew, can guarantee you, Joe Biden did this, Obama did this, Lawrence Jones, Fox News, they will be losing their minds if that happened. Yeah.

I mean, right now what we're looking at is that the privilege is alive and well because there are so many people that have been either convicted that are innocent or harshly sentenced that need to be in front of the Chrisleys, let's be honest with that. And we really shouldn't be surprised about the pardons. Remember, this was the same president that within a month of taking office, he released 211 violent criminals from the DC jails, and just let them out on the streets.

So we really shouldn't be surprised that now anyone that aligns themselves with Trump, and we're gonna see a lot of Trump signs in the prisons now, right? Anyone that aligns themselves with Trump are now gonna get a chance at freedom. And the Trump administration is sending that message that if you stand up and you stand for what we believe in,

even if it's against your own personal interests, that we are going to reward you by making sure that you can be untouchable. Zachary? The only thing that I just saw, because I do not watch Fox News, so I was sitting there again. Dumbfounded. And how they were conflating and twisting

and word maneuvering this situation to make it seem as though these people deserve freedom after what they've done. The only thing that the attorney in a beautiful pink, and that's all I can say, I don't know her name, she was a beautiful pink outfit. She looked great. The only thing that she said,

and any way I could agree with is that this man poses no threat. Todd Christie clearly couldn't hurt a fruit fly. I look at him and I can clearly see this man could not hurt a fruit fly. However, he did indeed hurt Baines with what he did. This man literally, they didn't only defraud, they attempted to defraud the IRS,

they not only did tax evasion, but they also could have taken a plea agreement. They could have gotten the minimal security and all of that. They chose to go to trial and waste money and government resources knowing that they had done this and they also tried to hide this. And then they tried to hide money in addition to it. So it was crime on top of crime on top of crime. And now to see that commuted.

And then what adds insult to injury, Bill Barr, under Donald Trump's direction, they were the people that indicted the Chrisleys. Donald Trump's administration indicted the Chrisleys. You can't make this make sense. Right, like who y'all blaming? Your own Department of Justice. I told y'all these people are idiots.

All right, y'all. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who currently serves as vice ranking member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, is running for it to become the ranking member. Of course, remember, Jerry Connolly died. He had stepped down. She says the nation is facing existential

crisis under the current administration in place to hold executive branch accountable House House oversight committee is responsible for overseeing the federal government, including the president and executive branch agencies. The ranking member leads the minority party on the committee.

Crockett joins a growing list of contenders for the role, including members of Congress Robert Garcia, California, Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts and Quasaring food made for Maryland. The election is set for June 24th. All right, folks in Maryland, Democrat Aisha Brave Boy will be the next County Executive

of Prince George's County at the Tuesday night special election. State's attorney defeated Republican Jonathan White, a veteran of the Air Force. Brave Boy will serve the remaining two years. A former County Executive Angela Alsobrooks term. Alsobrooks was elected to the United States Senate in November during her acceptance speech as she outlined her plans for a time in office.

I'm going to start by cleaning up Prince George's County. Your roadways, the trees that need to be trimmed, the hedges that need to be cut back, the grass that needs to be mowed. And what I know is that everything is possible for our young people, that they can achieve. But we have to put them first. The government must take the lead in ensuring that the businesses that are in the middle of the roadways, the trees that need to be cut back, the grass that needs to be mowed. And what I know is that everything is possible for our young people, that they can achieve. But we have to put them first.

The government must take the lead in ensuring that the businesses that are in the middle of the roadways, the trees that need to be cut back, the grass that needs to be mowed. And what I know is that everything is possible for our young people, that they can achieve. But we have to put them first. The government must take the lead in ensuring that the businesses that are in the middle of the roadways, the trees that need to be cut back, the grass that needs to be mowed. And what I know is that everything is possible for our young people, that they can achieve. But we have to put them first.

The government must take the lead in ensuring that the businesses that are in the middle of the roadways, the trees that need to be cut back, the grass that needs to be mowed. And what I know is that everything is possible for our young people, that they can achieve. But we have to put them first. The government must take the lead in ensuring that the businesses that are in the middle of the roadways, the trees that need to be cut back, the grass that needs to be mowed. And what I know is that everything is possible for our young people, that they can achieve, but we have to put them first. The government must take the lead in ensuring that the businesses in Prince George's County are prioritized. And under my leadership, mark my words, that will happen. All right, congratulations to Aisha Brayboy. Folks, that is it.

Let me thank Andrew. Let me thank Zachary for being on today's show. I certainly appreciate it. Gentlemen, thanks a lot. Folks, don't forget to support the, that is it. Let me thank Andrew, let me thank Zachary for being on today's show. I certainly appreciate it. Gentlemen, thanks a lot. Folks, don't forget to support the work that we do. Join our Breed & Funk fan club. Your dollars are critically important for the work that we do.

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We're sending you right over to Truth Talks, which starts right now. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! Talks which starts right now. I'll see y'all tomorrow. 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 One, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids. org to learn more. Brought to you by adopt us kids, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs by a Cat. Last year a lot of the problems of the drug war this year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an iHeart podcast.